Event: Ransom Demand - Chapter 3
| Location: Belleville
Oksana for her investigate created a
masterful crude drawing of a girl with one leg, pointy ears, and shoulder-length hair. She decided too start showing this parchment around to try to find some clues and answers to finding the one-legged woman.
Oksana walked around with her piece of paper and asked the same question: "have you seen this woman?" - in her own unique way. At first, she had precious little luck, but then, suddenly, a hit!
A twitchy-looking aberration addict perked up.
"Oh *ta*! Luuchan see her! *Yr ash* lady, luuca?" He nodded excitedly.
Oksana smiled bright and wide at a positive confirmation of the suspect. She took a hold of the addict’s hand, as she tugged on it.
"Bring me to lady, tak"The man - Luuchan - blinked.
"Oh, well... I have no good... yexon?" He grimaced and tapped the side of his head.
"This girl look small different." He glanced at her coin purse.
Oksana was unclear what he was saying, though it appeared he had a marble loose. She however understood the universal of sign of people being interested in money. It was a theme in Belleville in particular as well. She took a coin out as she pointed again to the picture,
"Bring to One-Legged Lady?"Luuchan nodded eagerly, reaching for the coin.
"Oh, this girl look different." He pursed his lips.
"Different... yr ash." He motioned cutting off a right leg instead of a left. Then, he rose with a twicthy sort of energy, dusted himself off, and gestured to Oksana.
"You come. You follow! I take you there." He began skipping.
Oksana turned the page around, so it shone through the other side, so the leg is the right way around, and nodded for future reference. She followed the twitchy man.
Luuchan merrily led her through the streets of Mudville, pointing things out along the way that went totally unheard. Partway through, when he noticed her quietness, he paused and tapped one of his pointed ears.
"You no can?'"I know a little" She nodded her head as she replied about being able to understand him through the language barrier. She pointed to her lips for emphasis.
"Ah!" he replied.
"luuca!" He made a thumbs-up gesture and they continued on their way. Before long, they were right in the shadow of the white walls.
"This girl," he said, trying to clearly enunciate his words,
"She live here, in a small house. We almost here. Many who like darkling come here." He paused for a moment, asking her a hesitant question.
"You like?""Duckling is Retannese speciality" Oksana made a gesture of a chef kiss,
"We hunt for food, or from herds. Duckling rare." She pondered for a moment,
"The taste good." She nodded.
Luuchan's eyes widened.
"You hunt...darkling?" He looked fearful for a moment.
"Those ones... be too dangerous." He shook his head.
"Wow." Then, they were in front of a ratty-looking bunkhouse - just about the worst building this close to the city.
"She was live in here." He stood back to let Oksana walk through. It was clear that he was not going to enter the place himself.
Oksana approached the door as she inspected it. With a finger bent, she knocked on it with a ratta-tat-tat. She waited to see if there was an answer before she attempted the door herself.
For a moment, there was no answer. The building was clearly large and there was a distinct reek emanating from it. Then, suddenly, a young woman bungled up in rags pushed the door aside and brushed rather rudely past Oksana. It yawned open and the inside beckoned…
Oksana entered the building that smelled of Tommy on a good day, as she hoped that she may be successful in finding the one-legged woman her picture depicted.
Immediately, she found two large women standing in her path: one yasoi and the other eeaiko. To the side was a third: an older human behind a battered wooden desk. A labyrinth of narrow wooden hallways and curtained doorways branched off in every direction and, in the distance, was a rickety set of stairs set against the building's rear brick wall.
The crone looked up and spoke to Oksana, for whatever good it might do. Her eyes flicked evaluatively up and down the young arrival.
"Ten Jacks for a bed," she announced, in a voice that
*just* about managed not to sound bored.
"Five for a space. One incantor for your own room. No men overnight." She blinked and regarded the newcomer expectantly.
Oksana displayed her picture toward them, and hoped they understood her request, and she offered a coin to help sweeten the deal.
"That a girl with one leg?" the old woman rasped, narrowing her eyes.
[color=amethyst]"Eet ees, me'em. Joost lyke -"[/color]
The elder held up a hand in a shushing gesture.
"We know 'er. She was here for..." She paused to consider, glancing at the other two.
"Roundabout a week."[color=amethyst]"E jaunkie,"[/color] the eeaiko confirmed.
The yasoi took a breath to speak but, at a sharp look from her superior, pursed her lips and said nothing.
"She left a couple days ago," the old woman concluded.
"It was strange. She'd already paid for the night, but I haven't seen her since." She shook her head.
"You girls?"[color=amethyst]"Noo, me'em."[/color]
The yasoi nibbled at her lower lip and hesitated, but then shook her head.
"Not that one, no," she admitted.
Oksana found it difficult to understand the Eeiako girl’s pronunciation. It was as if she had a piece of meat stuck between her teeth and was very animated in her attempt to dislodge it. Thankfully, most communication was through body language. The elder seemed to be the authority here, and the Yasoi girl acted as if she might know something. It seemed like they were attempting to protect her, so anything hostile would go badly in this situation.
"Art bad, One leg, Yasoi." she said, as she hopped on one leg. She held up the piece of paper and directed it towards the three, particularly the Yasoi girl, in an insistent and encouraging manner.
"Please, she can help friend." She rocked her arms in a nurturing manner, her eyes pleading with them. Shaking her head in a sullen manner, she put another coin on the table.
"Anything, need to save."The yasoi woman grimaced at the coin.
"I don't think you'll -""Well, I've told you that she's gone," the elder interrupted. Seeming to cue in that Oksana was hard of hearing, she waited until the youth had twisted her way.
"But if you're willing to pay that much, you can go look." She gestured down the hall.
"Just don't disturb anyone too much. Hmm?" The eeaiko's eyes flicked between the other three women. [color=amethyst]"Shoold saumwaun go weeth her?"[/color] she prodded, and the old woman nodded.
"Yes," she agreed,
"But not you. Nobody understands a word that comes outta your mouth, girl."The eeaiko's eyes went to the ground and she nodded sadly. [color=amethyst]"Auf coorse, me'em."[/color]
"Selitte, you go with her. Make sure she behaves!"It was at about that moment that a pair of raggedy women, their eyes wide and bloodshot like aberration junkies, staggered through the door, one laughing uncontrollably.
"Saurah!" shouted the old woman, and the eeaiko leapt into action, gently restraining them for going any further. They stumbled back, one reaching wondrously for the eeaiko's cheek and the glancing around as if she had no idea where she was.
"This isn't a charity, ladies!" the old woman could be heard saying.
"It costs money to run and the church doesn't give us a Benny." She held out a hand expectantly.
Swaying there, holding onto each other, they looked at her blankly and began laughing. Selitte's eyes searched for Oksana's.
"You wanna go look now?" She motioned with her head down the hallway. There were the stairs there as well and this place looked to have at least three floors.
"I can show you where she stayed.""Selitte, don't you go telling her any of your crazy stories!" the old woman shouted, in between trying to wrangle the two new arrivals.
Selitte's eyes flciked between her and Oksana and she nodded obediently.
“Of course not, Mama Cacci.”Oksana thanked them for their generosity with a light bow as she was led away by the Yasoi. She smiled brightly, feeling she was making progress, but the smile had the unfortunate effect of opening her nostrils to further invasion by the strong smells of the place. She hoped she was being led to where the one-legged girl stayed, and perhaps away from the old madam, so they could speak more freely.
As they moved out of the room, Oksana began to ask,
“You look as if you have much to say,” nodding towards her guide in an encouraging manner.
The walls were thin things, made of curtains and anchoring planks: designed to be flexible and resistant to the sudden depredations of the mad, desperate, or vicious - designed to be easily replaceable. If Oksana couldn't avoid the stench, she couldn't avoid the sight, either. It was dim and hazy and claustrophobic, with cell-like 'rooms' marked with coloured strips of cloth and symbols. At least three people leapt out at them only to scamper back in to their little cells once they saw it was just Selitte with some new arrival. The eyes of a few went to Oksana's finer articles - of which she did not have very many - and a couple went to her sword, which usually gave them pause. She was fresh meat, they must've assumed, and worthy of evaluation.
The one thing that she
*could* at least dodge was the sounds: mad laughter from a couple of rooms, loud sex from others; at least one woman talking to herself in a desperate, unsettled voice and another was singing - quite beautifully. From another rose voices in argument and, when they spilled out, entangled in a vicious hair-pulling, skin-gouging fight, Selitte separated them and sent both reeling back to their rooms, drowsy with Chemical magic.
She took a little time to let the place make its impression on Oksana and for Oksana to make an impression on her.
"I have much to say," she said, turning to face the Vossoriyan.
"But you don't hear." She pointed to her ears and shook her head.
"Do you?"Oksana nodded her head.
“Little,” she said, then mimed the opening and closing of her mouth.
“See. Feel.” She placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder.
“Vibrations. Though, Avince not best.” She shook her head sadly.
“Will do my best to listen well.”“Man said ducklings are bought here,” she gestured to the rooms.
“Occupants are quackers. Aberatsiya?” She questioned, inquiring about the state of the others present.
For a moment, Selitte suppressed a giggle.
"Whew," she managed.
"Whew. Ahah." She shook her head.
"Darklings," she repeated, trying to exaggerate her pronunciation a bit.
"'Dark', not 'duck'." Her mirth soon settled, however, and her face became sober.
"I'd say three quarters of the people here are addicts." She shook her head.
"Maybe more." She swallowed.
"The woman you're looking for seemed to be, too..."She paused and her voice lowered, not that Oksana would've noticed very well.
"But I don't think she was." She shook her head.
"She talked to herself a little bit. She stumbled in late at night." Selitte pursed her lips.
"I remember her well - in the before time, I had to be good at remembering details - she was short for a yasoi, brown hair, mousy face, missing her whole right leg, even some of her hip, I think. She hobbled a lot, like it was a new injury." She regarded Oksana steadily.
"But she never spoke with the others any more than she had to. She never caused even a bit of trouble." Selitte gestured about.
"And everyone here causes at least some." She bit her lower lip.
"I swear, one night, I saw her hurrying back and she was *fast*, not like she'd just lost a leg." They were at the end of the hall, and light streamed in from a barred window and through the skeletal staircase. From a nearby room came loud swearing, and the walls wavered.
"I think she was a spy."Oksana nodded as she followed the best she could. 'Dark' made more sense than 'duck' as well. She paused as she thought of a response.
“A man, Jaxan, she with him?” She indicated a possible companion.
“He sought to do charity work, went missing. Last seen with her, maybe.” In truth, she had nothing indicating this, but perhaps tying something together might help.
The yasoi shook her head. Then, she furrowed her brow and considered.
"Well... I saw her with a man once, in the street: very tall." She paired it with a gesture.
"White hair." She shrugged.
"Nice clothes, but I don't know his name..." She glanced about, ever alert in this place.
"She disappeared a couple nights later."Oksana nodded in affirmation.
“That would be Jaxan. She must be with him.”She paused as she tried to formulate her next question.
“Do you know where she goes? Where can she go?” She circled a finger for their current location, then gestured toward the madam.
“She said no man.”"Mama Cacci thinks my idea is crazy she's a yan - not a soldier and she doesn't know Tarlonese like I do." Senitte shook her head.
"She was telling the truth, though. The one legged girl paid for the night and then left, suddenly, maybe because of that man." She shook her head.
"Their body language when they spoke: it was not a rich man helping a poor girl or paying her for sex." She shook her head.
"They were equals. As far as I know, she never brought him in here. That was the only time I saw them together." She paused to consider.
"We have to be careful how we bring it up, but we should talk with Saurah."Oksana faced a hurdle when it came to talking to the Eeaiko, which she shared with the Yasoi girl.
“I cannot hear her,” she said, indicating her ear and then her lips, to simulate the potential mismatch between the two of them.
“I need your help.”Senitte reached out with both hands to take Oksana's.
"I am happy to help, suunei." Wasting little time, she led the Vossoriyan back towards the front.
"Not there," called Mama Cacci,
"Eh?" She shook her head apologetically.
"She was until... the day before yesterday, even -""Mama Cacci," Senitte interrupted,
"Can I borrow Saurah for just a minute?"The old woman shot the young one a crusty glare.
"Oh, and we just leave the front unguarded?" An aberration addict stumbled out into the warm afternoon air, waving drunkenly at the reception area. Saurah waved back and managed a smile.
"Sounds like a great idea! Got any more winners in there?" She tapped her head mockingly.
"Literally just a minute," Senitte promised.
"And we'll be right outside."Saurah, sensing that it was important, nodded, eyes darting towards Oksana.
"I'm counting," Mama Cacci growled and, true to her word, she began.
They scrambled outside. [color=amethyst]"Okee. Yoo waunt too knoow ebaut te waun-leg goorl?"[/color] Saurah asked, glancing between the other two. [color=amethyst]"She went aut toowaurd te gete aun te nyght shee deesauppeered."[/color] The eeaiko pointed to the distant Seagate and the white walls that it guarded. [color=amethyst]"Baut Eye stend gaurd autsyde e laut."[/color] She nodded, hoping for acknowledgement of understanding. [color=amethyst]"Eye theenk tere ees e secoond waun, weeth red herr. Shee waus -"[/color]
The door swung open.
"Fun's over, ladies," came Mama Cacci's voice.
"Place doesn't run itself!"[color=amethyst]"There aur twoo!"[/color] Saurah quickly blurted, backing inside.
"She says the one-legged girl went towards the gate the night she disappeared. She thinks there's a second girl around, with -""Senitte!" came an angry voice.
"Move it or lose it!"She ducked back inside with an anguished face.
"Red hair! There are two!" With that, she was gone, and Oksana stood alone on the street. Across from her lay St. Vitus' church, a shelter by the same name, and a Red Pentact. Further up the road was a diagonal intersection with the Searoad and the white walls of Ersand'Enise behind the Seagate.
Oksana looked at the drawing and made some alterations to the parchment. She drew a second figure of a girl with brown hair, with the missing leg on the opposite side. She never thought there would be so many one-legged Yasoi; perhaps some of them might do it intentionally to emulate their fallen goddess. The thought disturbed her, but she knew others who had done worse for less motivation. She began to head towards the Sea Gate, pondering which location would make the most sense to check out next.
Along the way she spotted Xiuyang and Seviin, as she moved to meet up with them.
Seviin slowed to a stop, and Xiuyang followed suit. Like her companion, she groomed herself, but more out of a need to self-soothe than to look her best. She had a look at their destination, with some apprehension in her eyes. Then, those eyes caught Oksana, and hope returned.
"You found the place!" she chirped.
"Learn something?" she waited eagerly for an answer.
"We should stick together. It feels like a storm is brewing.""Oira, suunei!" Seviin waved Oksana over, hurrying up to her, and Xiuyang was full of questions as well. The yasoi nodded at her assertion and then made a point of facing Oksana as she spoke.
"We learned much. This matter is not simple. There are two people missing and I am guessing they are connected." She glanced at Xiuyang, equally eager for Oksana's response.
In the background lay the church and the Red Pentact. Though they worked with all sorts of injuries and maladies there, it appeared focused on addiction treatment. A handful of Dordian nuns hurried by, each sparing a brief but respectful nod in Seviin's direction. The priestess nodded back and made the sign of the Pentad.
Oksana waved to the pair as she joined them. She held up the crudely drawn picture, depicting a red-haired Vyshta girl and a brown-haired one.
"Two of them," she confirmed with a nod.
"Seen with Jaxan. They disappeared last night, last seen headed to the gate." She pointed towards the Seagate in the distance. In a single sentence, she distilled everything she knew.
Xiuyang also nodded towards the two nuns. If she was not one of them, she respected their work—and her work often coincided with theirs, at least. Then, there was Oksana's reply.
"Two?!" Xiuyang replied incredulously.
"You're sure?" What, was he gathering them all? She kept that particular absurdity to herself, though, and hoped to any gods that would listen that was not the case.
Here, though, she was met with a crossroads, and seemed uncertain.
"I think... should we still ask around? If Jaxan returned to Ersand'Enise, why has no one seen him? We don't know his state of mind or what he intends." She spoke while facing Oksana, but then she turned to Seviin. Xiuyang was apprehensive. Gone was the confident jokester everyone was used to. Was it because she'd ditched the mask? Did the persona follow suit?
Seviin blinked, trying to process the information. She blinked again. So there were
*two* one-legged women leading Jaxan into Ersand'Enise and they all disappeared last night...
She furrowed her brow.
"But we were already looking for Jaxan last night and he's been missing for at least *three* days." She glanced Xiuyang's way.
"And the one-legged woman *we* know of - Thantra - has been gone for the same amount of time.""And she had... red hair?" remarked Xiuyang with a hint of uncertainty.
Seviin nodded animatedly.
"Yes!" she exclaimed, pointing to both her and Oksana's drawings.
"Just like here!" She nibbled her lower lip and her eyes were wide with an excited sort of thinking, as if it were all coming together.
"She mentioned an 'apple seller' - a Tarlonese agent - and that's who me and you saw!" She gestured between herself and Xiuyang.
"...and a childhood friend."Seviin's eyes slid to Oksana's drawing and so did her partner's.
"Another Tarlonese woman with one leg..." The priestess shook her head.
"I don't think this is a coincidence." She turned to regard the Red Pentact.
"And there was an aberration incident here three days ago!" She regarded the other two.
Xiuyang nodded grimly.
"It was info from the Colas, but we've found no reasons to doubt it: Jaxan can probably create aberrations, and it's likely he did so in there." She regarded the building in question with the polar opposite of Seviin's enthusiastic energy.
Seviin nodded, her excitement quickly overwhelmed by the sobering realization of just what sort of incident they were talking about. She came down a bit from the eureka of her momentary high.
"Oksana, are you sure that you didn't... misinterpret?" She furrowed her brow.
"If this other Tarlonese girl disappeared just a day or two ago and she was with the apple seller..."Oksana mumbled something in Vossoriyan, clearly displeased about something. She sighed, deciding to start from the beginning as she pointed at the girl with brown hair in the drawing.
"She’s been there for week," she said, indicating the building she had come from.
"Gone for two days but still paid up. Last seen walking towards there," she continued, pointing towards the Seagate.
"She was seen talking with a nice clothes, white-haired yasoi man." She pointed at the drawing again, emphasizing,
"There are two," and then gestured between the two girls in the picture.
"...Seviin," Xiuyang began shakily.
"Jaxan had... brown hair, right? I'm sure that's what the parents told us...""I... think so. Yes!" Seviin replied with a nod. She twisted to regard Oksana.
"This one, I think." She pointed to the brown-haired yasoi drawing.
"She was with a white-haired man and he's a Tarlonese recruiter." She pointed to the other.
"This one is Thantra. She went missing at the same time as Jaxan and she worked right here." she pointed to the Red Pentact beside them.
"He can generate aberrations - probably a timewalker - and there was an incident here just before he disappeared."She shook her head and twisted towards the Red Pentact, motioning with her chin.
"I've volunteered there." Her eyes flicked between the other two.
"Any good reason not to go in?"Seviin's eyes did not evade anything. They took it in, they made their judgement, and she said nothing but for,
"Then let us go."Oksana was silent, seemingly already on board with the plan. Seviin took the lead and brushed the curtains aside, walking into the makeshift receiving room of the tent. It was mere moments before a nun in the robes of a Sister of the Unconquered Sun brushed past, wheeling in a young man strapped to a stretcher and thrashing.
A Brother of the Sunset was using some rather advanced binding magic on an old human man. A
*Sister* of the Sunset was feeding a teenage yasoi girl who appeared utterly listless. She opened her mouth when prodded and swallowed, sitting there on a bed and staring blankly.
Others had various minor injuries, ailments, and issues, but the majority were aberration-addled. Most of them were quite ragged, as one might expect, but a surprising number looked as if they had been respectable enough folk before their recent trip here. Some were even human.
Then, there was a large East Severan woman blocking their way. She'd emerged from the doorway into the hospital proper. Her gaze flicked between the three women before falling upon Seviin.
"Sister Taxoiya.""Mother Grace." The tall yasoi bowed at the waist, her knees bending slightly too.
"Are you here to help? Are these..." She evaluated the other two before returning her gaze to Seviin.
"Volunteers?"Oksana allowed the other two to do the talking with their silver tongues and keen ears as she inspected the various people present.
A thought crossed her mind: what was a life when you’re no longer truly living? She looked at some of the blank faces around her. She wondered if she would end up like that, deprived of Eshiran’s mercy and the chance to meet her ancestors in the afterlife. Back home, the responsibility fell to the family and then the tribe to make these choices—those who loved and knew the individual best.
Seviin grimaced knowingly.
"We won't take much of your time, Mother Gracie, she began,
"but my friends are correct. There was an incident. Two of the people involved have gone missing: a yasoi woman named Thantra - she had red hair and was missing a leg - and a yasoi man named Jaxan'suul'doridax. His parents are -""Filthy rich and looking for him." The abbess shook her head and crossed her arms. Her eyes flicked between the three girls.
"Are they paying you?"Seviin did not notice it, for she was entirely focused on her conversation with Mother Gracie. The others might have, however. At least two the patients stiffened at Jaxan's name, perking up and looking their way. The spoon a nurse was holding bumped against the listless woman's closed lips.
As Oksana observed the others, she noticed how they perked up as something drew their attention. She looked around, questioning if someone had rung a dinner bell to cause such a response. Then it happened again, causing them to be alert like salivating dogs. She realized they were likely overhearing the conversation about Jaxan.
She approached as a nurse had difficulty feeding a listless woman, the broth just sitting in the woman’s mouth and drooling out a little. Oksana moved forward, tipped the woman's head back slightly, and stimulated her throat to encourage swallowing. The woman swallowed gently, downing the broth. Oksana encouraged the nurse to step aside and indicated for her to take over.
Once settled with the woman, Oksana continued to feed her as she began to ask a question.
“Jack-son?” she queried, though the response was muted. She attempted again to pronounce,
“Jax-” and already there was a response.
"That's Maribet. She'd not talk since the incident," said a hegelan volunteer, mixing up her tenses like most of them did. She shook her head.
"He stab 'er throated and it's heal, but the damage is deeper, methinks." She tapped her temple.
The yasoi girl was looking at Oksana, though, and the Vossoriyan tried again.
"Jax-" Maribet blinked. She reached out, seized the newcomer's hand, and there were thoughts by the dozens flashing through her large golden-brown eyes. Her lips quivered and she looked pained.
"Jaxan," she interrupted, her voice barely a squeak. She rose, pulling Oksana with her, and began moving. Her eyes were wide and bugged out and she looked like a mess. She glanced back beseechingly at Oksana and coughed, reaching up to massage her throat as if it hurt - as if its very abilities were unexpected and confusing. She breathed a few times.
"Mother Gracie!" shouted the hegelan, her bright blond hair bouncing in curls as she hurried off.
"Maribet's just talk!""It... still do not feel... right." she coughed again. She pressed a hand to her upper chest.
"He take it." Oksana could feel her trembling.
"Follow. I know where he be."Oksana was not strictly with them. One of the patients had her by the hand - had it been that girl who looked listless? - and was leading her out onto the street. Seviin's eyes followed.
"I... don't think we've been given a choice!"Two separate leads, both pointing in the same direction. What had come unraveled before - what had tossed them separately to the four winds - was now bringing them back together. If Dorothea had lost the trail, all three seemed to agree that they were well rid of her. If Lunara was with her, then perhaps the fiery Palaparese might be the only one among them able to exercise something like a restraining influence.
The boys were about somewhere as well but, if this was the lead that would bring the investigators, finally, to Jaxan and Thantra, then they had either fallen off of the pace or would come upon it separately, of their own volition.
Yet, Maribet, who had come back to the world as suddenly as she had left it after three listless days, who had departed with such haste and insistence that the nurses had been unable to muster anyone to stop her, continued in that vein. It was clear that, if the trio did not match her urgency, they would lose her trail.
"I shall look after her!" Seviin shouted back at the sisters of the Red Pentact.
"We shall return her safely!"They did not have so very far to go. Cutting across the Searoad with its bustling commerce and vigilant guards, and skirting the northern edge of Fascino, they found themselves in Miller's Hook. They found themselves at the townhomes. Maribet, momentarily confused, searched about. Reflexively, she reached up and stroked her throat. She shook her head as if to clear it.
"This!" She pointed to the house at the very end of the row and began walking toward it.
Seviin's arm shot out to bar the girl from going any further. She reached out with her senses and, inside, were a one-legged woman and an unconscious man... but there were two others. She was so focused, however, that she did not notice the third, as the crowd swirled and parted, Oksana and Xiuyang beheld two hulking skuggvars, and Abdel.
Vesuvius00
Izurich
Lemons
Ersa93
Pirouette
Lildear18
deegee
Fallenreaper
WhiteAngel25
BlackRoseSiren
