Penny

Out on the Rim

Leyla’s first instinct had been to draw her guns, confident that her speed and precision would impress the hutt sufficiently but Cleo knew the situation better than she did so she represed the impulse. Instead she licked her top lip lasciviously in the crimelord's direction. The hutts eyes widened slightly in startelement and Cleo turned to see what she had done but by the time he had turned her face was once again pleasantly neutral.

“Ho ho ho,” Bogga rumbled, and the crowd of hangers on seemed to relax without noticeably moving. Conversation seemed to resume and the music began once more to pollute the air. Bogga guestured them closer so they could speak with what passed for privacy. Leyal followed Cleo closer to the hutts diaz trying to ignore the smell. She had visited a hutts lair once before, back when she had been a padawan, and it hadn’t one well.

“Well I think Jabba will have other things to worry about for the next while,” the corpulent gangster rumbled in Hutesse. He made a gesture to a nearby droid who obediently began projecting a hologram of what appeared to be a luxury space liner of some sort.

“Which is why he wont be worrying about what you are going to be stealing from his casino ship,” Bogga explained, his lips splitting into disgusting grin.

Dogs of War: Old World Mercenaries

Emmaline sat up, her head buzzing. Tiny flecks of gold drifted across her eyes for a moment as the disembodied voice of the skull echoed in her head. The spell she had just performed had taken nearly everything out of her, it had only been possible at all because she found the small bronze pin which had once been a part of the skeletal leaders chariot and thus provided her with a link to him.

The skull finished its oration and then seemed to waver for a moment before vanishing. The chill night wind blew for a moment as Emmaline beheld the ancient city beyond, perplexed by the powerful enchantments that had hidden the city for thousands of year. Even as she watched the eastern sky began to grow lighter, heralding that dawn was not far off. Sluggishly Emmaline pulled herself to her feet, leaning against Amal as they half hobbled, half walked up over the dune.

By the time the receached the crest of the dune the sun had broken the horizon and they had to squint to see the city beyond. It was vast and spawling with dozens of large buildings which might have been palaces or temples. At the center stood massive pyramid of white stone, taller even than the colleges of magic in Altdorf. The morning sun blazed around it like a halo as they staggered down the far side of th dune and onto the ancient and dust choked streets. By mutual agreement they staggered into the nearest building, finding relief from the already sweltering sun in the white washed stone edifice.

Warhammer Fantasy: From Small Beginnings...

CDC: The best thing you can do is get plenty of rest.
All Healthcare Workers: *Start writing wills*

Warhammer Fantasy: From Small Beginnings...

Sorry for my inactivity guys, I am up to my ears in Covid-19 meetings right now.

Star Crossed: The Duke's Rebellion

Rene nodded his head as though the information they had received hadn’t just completely up-ended centuries of Imperial thought on the Kalderi. It was possible that Lithyll was lying, though it was hard to see where that would create an advantage. The footage that survived from the Jeweled Armada depicted vast energy beams. Rene could easily see them boring into the crust of the world to release magma or exploit fault lines. Come to think of it, this very world might have had islands created by such a technique.

“We do have some warships, as you would think of them,” Lithyll continued, making an eloquent gesture with his palm and the tip of one wing to the ceiling above them, clearly indicating the guard ship in orbit.

“But that is more a matter of dissuading any unwise human raiders, we find we have little need of such things,” the alien declared. The Kalderi clearly understood humans better than humans understood Kalderi, it was easy to imagine raiders, seeing an apparently unguarded world, sweeping down on it, even with the lessons of history to advise against it. Unfortunately that meant getting ships from the Kalderi was likely to be something of a challenge.

A chime at the door rang and two slender Kalderi entered carrying trays of refreshments and flutes of what appeared to be champagne. They set them down before their guests with the precision of a drill team. The food seemed to be some kind of sushi cooked in a very acidic vinegar and Rene waited for Solae to take a bite before he joined her.

“Eat and drink,” Lithyll encouraged though he made no move to join them.

“Our thanks .... ah by what title should we address you?” Rene asked. His military rank gave him the option to ask questions that might be too blunt for Solae to voice but might nonetheless prove useful to his fiancee.
“I am merely Lithyll Colonel,” the alien replied, “we do not use titles in the sense you understand. All here know that I am Lithyll and that I speak for the community of Ranal Pindi on the matter of your embassy.” Rene nodded in understanding though the information didn’t clear much up, he still had no idea how the Kalderi here or anywhere else organized themselves, but he would leave further questioning to Solae.

“Will you join us in a drink then Lithyll,” Rene asked politely. The alien responded with a grating sound that Rene interpreted as a chuckle.

“I am afraid not Colonel, I do not mean to be rude, but we are not evolved to digest ethanol, I would be dead within an hour if I were to have so much as a mouthful,” the alien explained.

Tales of Tamriel

Kris fell into a doze, for the first time in many years her dreams were empty of the events on the battlefield at Colovia. Purged away as she had hoped by the death of her long time quarry. She hoped that all the legionnaires who had died there would rest a little easier.

She woke sometime after midnight. Scouts learned how to tell how much time had passed, though no one had a good explanation for exactly how the trick was accomplished. Dax’ scaly hand covered her mouth in warning not to cry out. Instinctively her hand went for the heavy knife at her hip but she managed to catch herself.

“They search for us,” Dax hissed.

Kris, who had fallen asleep in her armor stood up feeling the painful spots where the leather had pressed into her skin while asleep. The Argonian gestured to the window and Kris could see torch light out in the street. Peering through the dusty pane she saw a squad of livered soldiers head into a tavern with weapons drawn leaving a half dozen men on the street to keep watch, arrows knocked in their long bows and red eye scanning.

“Shit,” Kris commented and glanced up at the city above. A faint red glow still lit the night sky, indicating that the fires had not yet been extinguished. She could feel the distant pull of magicka as the Dark Elf wizards used heir magic to chill the flames from existence, accompanied by nod doubt the vast majority of the garrison hauling buckets of water. That meant that Dax’ people had probably made a clean escape, with no one worrying about slaves at a time like this. She didnt waste time pointing out the obvious fact that if they were found here they were worse than dead.

“Lets go,” she told the Argonian grabbing her pack and whispering a spell. Cool healing energy flowed into her body, easing her aches and relaxing her muscles. Her mother had been a healer and had taught her the basics, though her daughter, wild and rugged had prefered running through the woods to lessons. The slipped wordlessly down the stairs and into the taproom. Quite a few of the denizens were awake, many smoking pipes or sipping at ale and casting nervous glances at the street. They might be reasonably sure they weren't the ones being hunted, but no man has a clean conscience when the watch come calling.

“Out the back,” Kris whispered and they moved to the back door. Pausing to whisper another spell Kris seemed to soften, chameleon like into the background and then slipped through the door. As she had expected a dunmer soldier stood at the end of the alley, though his eyes were out into the street at the tavern currently being searched. Drawing her knife she slipped down the edge of the alley until she was only a few feet behind the oblivious elf, then, with the speed of a striking tiger, she clamped a hand over the Dunmer’s mouth and yanked him into the alley, her knife sawing across his wind pipe and turning his attempted scream into a choking gurgle. She lowered his slackening corpse to the ground and then peeked out into the street. The remaining sentries hadn’t yet noticed their fellows dissaparnce.

“We have to move quickly, down the street towards the docks,” she told him. The both set of at a quiet run, moving as swiftly as they could while keeping quiet. It felt eerie to be in plain sight but there were very few other options. For a moment Kris believed they might make it but then a shout sounded behind her and a arrow buzzed spitefully past her ear. She skidded around the corner and down onto the stone docks, where long jettys thrust out into the inky black ocean. As she had several craft were in the process of getting underway. Ship captains had no cleaner consciousness than tavern patrons afterall.

A hue and cry erupted behind them as a half dozen soldiers reached the corner. A sleepy looking dark elf in stained livery stirred from his slumber just in time for Dax’ axe to take his head off with a sweep. At the end of the closest dock a long ship was casting off its mooring lines.

“Run for it!” she shouted and bolted for the ship. The crew gave up their attempt to undo the lines and grabbed for axes, cutting the heavy ropes just as Kris and Dax reached them. Steeling herself for an axe thrust she leaped into the ship. There was no deck and she plunged into the thwart with crash landing in a tangle on a pile of rope. There was a second thud as Dax landed beside her, a little more gracefully. She made to get up but a fur clad nord with a tight expression and a rusted axe pinned her to the deck with a foot and raised the blade, pausing to cast a questioning glance back at a red beared giant who stood at the tiller.

“You there, hand over those fugitives at once or I’ll have you skinned alive!” snarled an aristocratic Dunmer voice. The red beared man shook his head at the crewman and the pressure on her chest eased as she was allowed to stand. The ship was already sliding out into the ocean two horse lengths from the docks and gaining.

“Tell your mother to go back to fucking horkas!” the Nord called sounding for all the world as though he were wishing the officer a pleasant morning. The crew howled with laughter, adding their own insults impressive both in their creativity and in their flavor.

“You are aiding the escape of criminals!” the Dunmer screamed, “our ships will hunt you down!”

“The day a fucking dark elf sea cow can run down Halfdan son of Haifiar, ill cut off my own fucking skin!” the Nord yelled. Arrows whizzed through the air but the Nords merely ducked beneath the shelter of the gunnels. Men grabbed oars and began to stroke, driving them farther and faster away from the docks. Within moments the arrows merely splashed into the water astern. The Nord, Halfdan apparently, jumped down from the steerage board and thumped over to the two stowaways.

“And just what the fuck to do you two think you are doing?” he demanded, his voice was loud but good humored.

“Working passage,” Kris replied, “at least I hope so.”

WoT: The Dark One's Own Luck.

Mave smiled at Johanna’s joke. The young woman had been good company since they had joined the merchants caravan. While she missed Ali’s company, a situation forced on her by the necessity of not attracting too much attention, she had to admit that it was good to be around another woman. Since coming to the Tower her world had been a female one, other novices, and Accepted and of course Aes Sedai with males largely being the occasional glimpses of Warders and their students. She also had to admit that she was, at least in part, distracting herself from what awaited her in Illian.

The great port city stretched out before them, as they road along the causeway she could see dozens of ships making their way around the point and heading towards the mouth of the great harbor. In Watch Hill she could convince herself that the place was too small and insignificant to have Darkfriends, but here, it was a certainty. There was no way for her to know how much her shadowy opponents knew of her task, but the risk increased as she neared her goal.

“Are you sure you don’t want to say lass?” Rocye asked as she moved to the front of the wagon train to rejoin Ali. The man looked nervous, she suspected because he had never seen a city the size of Illian before.

“I could use a woman that knows her numbers and knows her way around herbs, I’d make space for young master Alidren too,” the old man wheedled. Mave smiled at him. Rocye’s son had fallen sick with a fever during the trip. She had made some show of treating him with herbs and then, once he was asleep had performed a healing weave.

“I’m afraid not master Royce, I have family business here in Illian I must be about, but I wish you safe travels,” she responded. As always she was careful not to tell an outright lie. This was the business of the Tower, of which she was a daughter after all. The merchant sighed theatrically.

“Well you can’t blame me for trying, the Light shine on you both,” declared before shaking Ali’s hand. The both smiled and made their goodbyes before slipping away into the city. An hour later they had found an inn by the unassuming name of the Rosegarden. Mave used some of her dwindling supply of gold to pay for a single room as well as food and access to the bath house. Ali still looked a little unsettled and she resolved to have a talk with him after she bathed. It had been a long time since they left the stedding, the last place she had a chance.

Mave luxuriated in the water, allowing her dark hair to float behind her as she steeped. She had paid of soap and had cleaned herself thoroughly before allowing herself to relax and enjoy a few moments. The smell of the stew that was being prepared for dinner was faintly detectable over the fires that heated the water. Perhaps she would take Ali for a stroll and show him some of the city. She had never been here before but Tar Valon and Caemlyn had prepared her for the sight. She thought she heard a faint sound behind her and turned to find an ordinary looking man standing in the single room of the inns bath house. Her eyes slid off him and she returned to her musing for a moment before the feeling something was wrong washed over her she turned back to the man who was now only a few feet away, a gleaming knife in his hand. Her eyes began to slide away again but the man lunged at her and the motion was enough to restore her interest. She snatched Saidar but the man was on top of her before she could form a weave, she managed to catch his wrist, foiling the knife thrust but he shoved her down under the water with the weight of his body. She clung to his wrist for dear life even as the water closed above her. The man, if that is what he was, dropped the knife and grabbed her with both hands, holding her under the water as she thrashed and struggled.

Star Crossed: The Duke's Rebellion

Solae and Rene followed Lithyll into the small palace that evidently served as his dwelling. There had been nothing on the overflight to suggest that the Kalderi, at least in this city, had anything recognizable as public buildings. Any Imperial settlement would have government centers, public service hubs and the other amenities of a community, the Kalderi seemed to be doing without such things, or perhaps they existed in a form too unfamiliar to the humans to be recognisable. Even Lithyll’s manor, though grand was indistinguishable from a half dozen other similar structures the sensors had imaged during the descent.

The interior of the building was surprisingly airy. Rene had expected that the towers on the exterior would make the inside space cramped and segmented, but the opposite was true, it was though they were within the bellows that powered a vast pipe organ with delicate stair ways tracing upwards into the towers above. It was also literally airy. Gentle breezes blue from a dozen different directions, not strong but obviously present. Works of textured art covered the walls, some were clearly designed to channel the winds, and Rene suspected if he understood the principles better, the less obvious ones did also.

“You come to us at an interesting time,” Lithyll explained as he lead them into one of the wings of the manor.

“I was pleased to be the one to take responsibility for you,” he continued before glancing at the humans. Seeing no obvious reaction the alien elaborated.

“I understand that in your Empire you have very strict hierarchies, an Empress, Nobles, Lords and so on. Even governors and elected officials. Among the Kalderi we prefer those in position and with an interest to take charge, for the Good of All.”

They entered a large circular room which was created by the base of one of the towers. Smaller rooms, separated by archways with what looked like falling water created the doors. Rene experimentally reached out and touched one of the doors, surprisingly it had form to it, though it wasn't quite solid, perhaps some kind of force field. Noticing this Lithyll reached out and placed his hand on the door and then rotated it. The door vanished as though it had never existed revealing a bed chamber beyond. Reversing the motion the door appeared again blocking the view.

“Unlike humans we enjoy the circulation of air, my people would feel trapped if we closed them off the way you do,” Lithyll explained. He gestured them all to seats around a central table made of some kind of polished stone. As protocol dictated Rene waited for Solae to seat herself before settling into his own chair. Lithyll waited for the whole party to be seated before taking his own ease. The long limbed alien seemed to fold himself into the chair crossing his legs as a human child would have done.
“I know you must be weary from your travels, but I have arranged for a … social gathering for tonight. Many of the Kalderi who make decisions on...Ranal Pindi,” he said, clearly pausing before choosing the human name for the world, “will be in attendance.”

Men vs. Women Race to 1000: Version 2.0

@Callousqueen
-135

Warhammer Fantasy: From Small Beginnings...

Marguerite stood at the back of the group keeping quiet. It didn’t come naturally to her despite her time in Shyalla’s convent but she was shrewd enough to know that while it was safe enough to practice her healings and various other potions among the common folk, it was a different story with people of higher social station. Such people were more likely to travel, more likely to gossip to others about a Sister of Shyalla working in their town, before you know it word would reach one of the convents where some busy body with too much time on their hands would take notice and investigate. Still there were times when a little risk could pay off.

“Herr Mayor,” she spoke up, surprising even herself.

“The boy may have run many miles and judging by the condition of his feet, much of it through the forest.” That much was certainly true, there had been a crust of pine tar and leaf litter on his feet, something she had needed to peel off before she could dress his torn soles.

“It may take us some time to find whatever it is took him, might we trouble you for a wagon and some supplies for the journey?”

The mayor arched a bushy eyebrow at her, clearly not having anticipated that a healer would be interested in accompanying such a group. Truthfully she didn’t have much inclination to do so but she had felt something during her dream and she didn’t want to ignore it. More than that, this way if she decided to blow town it would be with a wagon.

“Its a… religious obligation,” she temporized for a moment before inspiration struck.

“If I understand the cause of the boys malady, I might be better able to help cure him, tis often the way with diseases of the mind,” she went on authoritatively.