Chaper 2
Sunset Harbor
Inspector Renjin's office was windowless and dark, save for a stalk, that sat on a circular wooden base, in which magical filigree was carved from base to top, which glowed with a dull orange light, which became successively brighter toward the top, and shone a bright light, dully diffused by a green lampshade. The air was smothered by the smell of stale smoke… and fresh smoke… as Inspector Renjin never seemed to stop smoking. The walls of the very small office were lined with wooden filing cabinets that cramped the space around Renjin's desk, flooding out to the space behind it.
The desk itself, which was so cramped by filing cabinets Maggie only could assume Renjin had to vault over the desk every shift, was maybe once a stained maple, but owing to wear and misuse resembled the color of aged sawdust, and wasn't so much covered in buffs and scratches, as dotted lightly in areas in which were not. On top, aside from the desk-lamp, as a sickly green matte, on which sat papers and folders that, when Maggie squinted, roughly approximated a pile. A green metal ash tray, in which was piled so many used butts it had begun to resemble a mountain, sat next to the inspector, And a single concession to not having a window, a small metal stalk that placed into a base and lead to a ring at the top, covered in magical filigree, an air mover, which when on would circulate air through the metal ring. It had a a small note attached with some glue "Broken."
But nothing of the room bothered Maggie as much as Inspector Renjin himself, who was pale, wearing a white button up with suspenders, with a holster attached to the left suspender, in which sat a handle quite like the one on Star’s Pepperbox. He had black short hair, and sheet black eyes with no whites, that voided all light they touched. In his white claw-like hand was a smoking cigarette, and his eyes seemed, though Maggie couldn't be sure, to be trained on a piece of paper in his hand.
Maggie sat in a wooden chair, straight as an arrow, her hands at her knees, looking in frozen fear at the man reading the list in front of her. Behind her was Da'La, standing at attention with a cool and stern expression on her face. Next to Maggie, looking far lackadaisical about the whole affair, was Star, whose arm was draped over the beaten and worn back of the chair, as he gazed listlessly at Renjin.
"Destruction of property, discharge of magical weapon in an enclosed space," Renjin listed, his voice was deep and gravelly, as he read with exhausted contempt the list before him," endangerment, impersonation of an officer of peace, and let's not forget excessive use of force that--"
"I am a Sheriff." Star Corrected.
"A Sheriff of a small town in Heret Betar... maybe. It'll take weeks for me to confirm that." Renjin snapped back.
"You're a vampire." Maggie blurted, her voice cracking, as she grasped her sigil in her hand.
"Nosfasia," Renjin mindlessly corrected, looking back at his notes.
"Luckily for you, the Daring Titan is refusing to press charges, and it happened in transit, so it's well out of my jurisdiction." Renjin threw the pages in his hand on the desk, and took a drag of his cigarette.
"So... I'm free to go?" Star asked, coolly.
"Nothing I can charge you on. Normally, I'd figure something out here, but honestly I'm so swamped I don't have the time. What is your business here, anyway?" Renjin locked his black eyes into stars charcoal.
"I have an estate in Twilight Run." Returned Star, "just going to go settle it, and I will be on the next airship out."
"Going to have a hard time doing that." Renjin said, mindlessly picking up the papers, and applying a clip to it.
"Vhy?" Came Da'La, who stood still behind Maggie.
"Because the Gate in Twilight Run has been shut down, and the trains have been ordered to cease. It's gonna be a long walk." Renjin looked up at the Stoic C'Shyk.
"Gates?" Came Da'La.
"Gateways, oh gods, you are out-of-towners. In each city there stands one or a handful of large black gates, that connect to each other. It's how we generally get around. Twilight Run's stopped working 3 months ago." Renjin said, impatiently.
"We'll walk," Star began to stand from his chair.
"Wouldn't do that, between here and Twilight Run is the Faerie Wood. Wouldn't want to be caught there." Renjin warned, as he grabbed a fresh cigarette from the tin, and used the fire from the first to light it, dragging smoke into his lungs.
"You're a vampire." Came Maggie again, almost in a daze.
"Nosfasia." Renjin corrected again, now more irritated.
"Why was it closed?" Asked Star, sitting down.
Renjin sighed, "Reports came in about a gang taking hold. Call themselves the New Clade. They shut down the Twilight Run gate, and began raiding train deliveries."
"Vat about ze Vatch Tower? What are ze doing about it?" Da'La inquired.
"Probably sitting on their ass. I'd do something, but I have only 1 officer per 10 blocks in Sunset Harbor. We're understaffed as it is." Renjin said. "Look, I can see you want to get there, so maybe we can help each-other out, Sheriff." Renjin pronounced 'Sheriff' in the way one might pronounce 'flimflam.'
"Thought you'd have arrested me if you had the chance." Star fired back.
"Believe me, Star, I'd love nothing more to throw you in my cells, along side your companions, Lodak and Kunjao. But there is nothing I can charge you on, and besides all of this proves you're at least capable." Renjin tossed onto the desk three files, wrapped in dusty brown envelopes, and sealed by a string and a pin. "Three jobs. Low risk, low work grunt duty. The kind of thing I don't have the man power to deal with right now. Deal with these, and I'll arrange transit to Twilight Run for you."
"But you're a vampire!" Maggie blurted out again, her face in horrid disbelief of the absurdity of the situation.
"I'm a Nosfasia, you racist."
__________________________________________________
The Westhill Spur, existed at the intersection between the two highest trafficked streets in Sunset Harbor, Carravaggio Row and Rockburne Mew. The two streets, which each were lousy with tightly packed Tudor buildings and block square towers, facing out glass shop windows and Magically enhanced signs competing for the bustling attention of the ever shifting and crowded foot traffic, came together at a sort of lazy X, in what was referred to as the Westhill Spur. The Westhill Spur was surrounded by large ornate stone buildings, some of which reached to the sky like towers, others more squat and traditional. The shingled Gothic roofs, copper domes, and towers square and cylindrical alike over-watched the still bustling cobblestone street, which dotted with glowing signs advertising entertainment and product alike. The traffic, a mix of foot traffic and horse drawn carriages moved at an unceasing pace, against the light of the lamp posts, all covered in magic filigree, which shined through it's carving a dull whitish blue.
The Graveyard, the police station of Sunset Harbor, was a mildly quaint building, comparing to its surroundings. It was a rectangularish building, made of bricks and windows, with two towers bulging from each corner and rising above the stone tiled roof like the turrets of an old castle. Three dormers lined the front of the roof, one of which shined an orange light, along with two other windows along the towers. A green canape stretched out above the double doors of the Graveyard, in which Star, Maggie, and Da'La exited.
"That could have gone better." Maggie said, walking alongside Star.
"Maybe you could have called him a Vampire a few more times, it seemed to endear him." Star said, unfolding a map he had nicked from the front desk.
"But he is a vampire! What is he doing running the police station?" Maggie said, in a hushed voice, as they moved closer to the building to be out of the way of foot traffic.
"He's the captain of the Night's Watch, he hardly runs the station. And maybe you should start calling me squidface, while you're at it." Star spoke, while looking at the map.
"What are you doing?" Maggie looked at the map.
"My job. Shouldn't matter to you." Star shot back.
"You're not going to be able to do your job in the middle of the night. Best we get some rest." Maggie placed her hand over the map.
Star jerked the map back, and locked eyes with the Ypfhar. "What do you mean 'we'?"
"The Pfharplace I've been assigned is in Twilight Run, so I'm helping." Maggie snatched the map from Star's hand, and began to look through it. "We'll be useless if we don't get some sleep."
"First off: I'm plenty rested, this is my job, and secondly--"
"I swear to Merne, if the next words out of your mouth resembles something like 'I don't need your help,' I will order Da'La to cut you down in the middle of the street." Maggie threatened, as she looked through the map. "We've proven ourselves on the Titan, don't go all sulky lone wolf on me. Now we've got to figure out somewhere to recollect, ah, this place looks good." Maggie pointed on the map.
__________________________________________
There seems to be a rule, kind of a law of the universe. That when a novel idea for a bar or saloon is thought of, no matter how stupid or ill informed, that bar will be built. Sunset Harbor exists on the edge of an archipelago, that floats and moves miles over a craggy mountain range. So it was inevitable that some person would get the wild idea to build a bar, that hung precariously over the side of the main island. It was also inevitable that such a bar would get its space in cash upfront from the local bank, and no property insurance salesman would walk within 100 feet of it.
The Over The Edge bar resembled a tall wooden saloon, that had been stapled to the craggy side of an upsidedown mountain, in such a haphazard way as to spark a decades long debate about archetecture among several premier Wizards. It was a large wooden panneled box, with windows that looked out over the skies, a small shallow sloped tile roof, and a balcony that lead to nowhere. A wooden crane attached to a rickety basket on the surface of the island was the only way in and out of the saloon that didn't require special flying spells.
It was here, within the saloon that dangled precariously over the edge, on the main floor, sat Maggie at a wooden table grasping for life at the pint of ginger beer she had in front of her.
"You were the one who wanted to come here." Star said, grabbing a glass of a liquid that shone a pearlescent purple, and turned to a purple air, as he negotiated it between his tentacles.
"I thought it was a cute name." Maggie said quickly, through her teeth. "I didn't realize it was--"
"Literal?" Star offered.
"Insane." Maggie corrected. Da'La, who by all measures was far more calm than Maggie, set close by and eyed the room with care. A wine glass with Merillian wine poured in front of her.
"Well, while you get used to it, we have three jobs to look over." Star negotiated through the breast pocket of his duster, and produced three envelopes. "Missing Person, Vandal Report, and a Dispute."
"I'm good at Disputes." Maggie offered.
"Yeah... seems it's the best to start you out on some investigating." Star looked through the notes. "I think we'll head there in the morning."
"May I ask you a question?" Maggie ventured.
"Why not?" The lawman folded up the notes.
"I've met Xericoz before, most don't refer to themselves using 'I' or 'me', they use things like 'our'."
"You're on a role today, going to ask Da'La how she prefers her fish?" Star negotiated the envelopes back into their place, and pulled out a stem and tin of cigarillos.
"No! I mean, I thought you guys were psychics!" Maggie blurted.
"Oh, Really!" Star chortled, as he placed the end of a cigarillo into the long hooked stem, and began to light it by the candle at the table.
"That's not what I mean, I mean--"
"I understand." Star said, drawing out the first puff of his cigarillo. "Yes, we're all psychic, no I can't read your mind. That either requires a link, usually made by Clades or the Great Commune, or specialized training. I can read emotion quite adeptly." Star brought the purplish drink to his face, and it turned pink as it dissolved into air and entered his nose.
"Well, are you part of a Clade?" Maggie inquired.
The was a pregnant pause before Star returned, "Not anymore."
_________________________________________________________
The rooms at Over The Edge were small, with hay beds on cheaply made wooden frames, lightly covered in a scratchy sheet. Luckily, they did have slightly larger rooms, with actual bathrooms to accommodate C'Shyk guests.
C'Shyks are amphibious. A fact Maggie had discovered on the train ride over, when the overnight train-car had come with a bathtub. Thinking at first it was a luxury afforded for a lavender bath, and indeed it was used for such, Maggie discovered the Da'La secluded into the bathtub at night. While C'Shyks can operate like anyone else during all hours above land, they require reintroduction and submersion into salt water once per day for, what Maggie could only guess, was a long time. Da'La kept with her a large bag which seemed to have a bottomless supply of salt for this exact purpose.
Maggie lay on the bed, and felt the gentle swaying of the precarious building as her eyes locked on to the rafters, and lantern hanging from the ceiling. She kept anticipating the old style lantern to fall on to the straw bed and immolate her at any second. She could hear Da'La pouring granules into the water of the other room.
Da'La entered the room, wearing a button up shirt, untucked, and a pair of beige trousers. "Is zer anything can get you before bed, Ma Soeur?"
"Another hotel?" Maggie asked nervously, watching the fire lantern sway back and forth.
"I vill begin packing immediately," Da'La about faced toward the luggage by the bed.
"No, Da'La. I'm just nervous. I should have never bought the room." Maggie sighed, trying to relax.
"Zen vhy did you, Mon Divinica?" Da'La turned to Maggie once more, standing at attention.
"Because I can't be defined by my... fears." Maggie said, her voice lifting toward the end in an effort to not sound scared.
The building settled.
Maggie immediately whelped and climbed toward the headboard. "Ok, fine, it's because Star kept making fun of me, and I wanted to show him!"
_________________________________________
Star had met them, smoking a cigarette, and leaning on the crane as they were lifted from Over the Edge. Maggie, tired from a restless night, refused to speak to him as they trekked toward their location. A small neighborhood on the out reaches of the town, that could be mistaken for a rolling hills countryside, were it not for the fact that it was flanked on all sides by thick city streets. Druit Ct A gated community, with decorative terraces and manicured lawns of the kind uniquely disposed to gentlemen of leisure. The kind in which mansions generally sit overlooking acres of land. But Druit Ct wasn't occupied by mansions, but towers.
Each house on the block was a unique tower, often of unique construction. Gnarled towers of stone brick sitting on piles of stone and cliff side. Cylindrical spires made of precious materials of which must have been imported at a high cost. Dueling towers, that rose like old turrets connected by intricate buttresses.
Of importance to the three were two towers.
One resembling an octagonal pagoda, with orange wood and green tile roofs tapering up 5 stories. A large wrap around porch with wooden porch furniture and a wooden dog carved at attention near the front door, which was a sliding paper door. Everything about this house was near perfect, except for the giant hole in the third story, which was covered loosely by timber. The walkway was a cobblestone trail walking passed a two tier water garden, and lead to a bridge with a green banister, that arced over the water onto the front porch.
The other tower resembled an obsidian spire, piercing the sky like a black lance with no windows and seemingly no doors, just a circular walkway, flanked on each side with shrub animals, and surrounded by a waist high hedge maze. Leading to a set of circular stairs that lead to the tower.
The group stopped. Star pulled out an envelope. "The neighbors lodged a complaint with the Graveyard a few days ago." Star said, listlessly reading. "Apparently, there was a disagreement between Evoker Shao, that's the pagoda on the left, and Thoughtbringer Xur, the other one. This came to a head when a fireball was flung and destroyed part of Shao's third floor."
"By Merne, that's quite a disagreement." Maggie looked at the damage.
"Yeah." Star put out a cigarillo on the ground, and folded the envelope in his pocket. He moved toward the pagoda.
"What are you doing?" Maggie hurried up behind him.
"Going to take a statement."
Moving across the bridge toward the pagoda, Maggie spotted luminescent fish murmuratting below the surface of the pond, she gazed as two jets of water spilled out the pond as she past... and she grimaced as they took the form of two naked ladies dancing and bowing toward them. As they approached the paper door of the pagoda, Maggie noted the Batarian calligraphy on the door. Summoning her language training she read it as: "Moving Water, Flowing Air, Burning Fire, Crackling Lightning, And Shaking Earth." A small brass bell with a gold hued rope was hung beside the door.
Star grabbed the rope and began to ring it. It gave a slight magenta hue, as it took over the task, and began ringing furiously on its own. After a moment, the door slid open with force, and the ringing stopped. In front of them stood a small tan skinned man, with almond eyes behind bottlebottom glasses. Wearing old satin red and orange Wizards robes, and sporting a long white beard tied off at the waist, and what seemed to be a sleeping cap.
"What do you want?" Came the old man, piercing daggers through the ½” of glass on his face.
"Constable Star, Graveyard." Star flashed his old Sheriff's badge. "Evoker Shao?"
"Bout damn time you came here." Shao moved past Star to the bench on the porch. "I'm living next to a madman!"
Star moved toward him, "mind telling me what happened?"
"Xur, may cursed be on his name, blew up part of my house!" Shao gestured toward the hole in his pagoda.
"Yes, but why?" Maggie sat down on a chair. "I understand you're upset, but we want to figure out what's going on."
Shao looked thoughtfully for a second, "I'm a collector of sorts. I collect relics and trinkets. A way to pass my time in my old age. Recently I came into possession of an old Xericoz artifact, and Xur didn't like that one bit. He confronted me a few times after a party where I was showing it off. Telling me it belonged to the Commune."
"Well, did it?" Star inquired.
"Of course not. The commune didn't spend 18,000 Kayt on the sphere, now did they?" Shao snapped, Maggie's heart dropped. That was a not inconsiderable fortune, the kind of money that could buy towns. "I bought it from a reputable dealer from Triasq. Any claim the Xericoz Commune has to it died years ago."
"Then what happened?" Star probed.
"Well, it came to an argument while I was at my water garden. Xur came over threatening me with shears, the argument became pitched, and he threw a fireball right at my house." Shao continued. Star scribbled on a notepad. "That's not all, after I patched up the hole until a crew can come out and repair it, and went to bed. I woke up and the artifact was gone."
"Really?" Maggie chirped in, "and you think Xur had something to do with it."
"Little girl, I know he had something to do with it. Nobody else made such a fuss."
Maggie nearly spoke at the slight, but Star cautioned her with a look. "And what does this artifact look like?" Star inquired.
"It's a sphere, about the size of a head, and looks and feels like opaque glass." Shao described. "Within it are hypnotic swirls of beautiful shades of purple, and the feeling around it is warm, like coming home over the summer to visit family." Shao spoke, nearly nostalgically.
Star closed the book. "I think that's all I need." He stood, "Thank you Evoker Shao."
"Thank you, my boy. And please, hurry up and arrest that man." Evoker Shao said, darkly.
As they made their way across the porch, Maggie turned around abruptly, "Can I just say something?" She spoke, fuming. Shao tilted his head at the sudden outburst.
"Maggie, no." Star said hurried and hushed, placing his hand on her shoulder.
"You have a very... lovely house." Maggie forced through her teeth.
__________________________________________________
The terrace below the obsidian spire on Druit Ct was surrounded by well manicured, and rare flowers of all kinds. Blues, purples, reds, and golds shone in the noon sun, just outside of a stained oak veranda, in the lattices of which was weaved with care and attention a set of vines that sprouted a pure blue flower, whose smell brought forward happy summer memories.
The furniture on the terrace was simple, but elegant. A small table, surrounded by wooden chairs, all painted a just off white. In one which Maggie sat, hands in lap, looking with a giant smile at the well manicured garden around her.
She looked at Da'La, who sat at attention next to her, appraising the horizon as if a marauding band of overzealous topiarists would storm the pagoda brandishing spades and shears.
"This place is absolutely beautiful." Maggie said, beaming around.
"Focus, Sister." Star lounged in one of the chairs, kicking his boots up on the table.
Maggie knocked his boots down, "Don't be so rude, he invited us onto his patio. He's fixing us drinks."
Star sat up, looking at Maggie, "We're here to question him, not for brunch." Star said.
"Don't be so suspicious, Star. We haven't even heard him out." Maggie returned, looking at a pot of carnations.
"He blew up his neighbors pagoda."
"You met him. Five minutes with him, I wanted to blow up his pagoda." Maggie turned to Star. "Besides, he seems nice."
"Yeah, bad people aren't nice to authorities." Star's sarcasm bit the air, as he adjusted his hat.
"I hope we won't be dismissed because we served tea, before we're able to finish the biscuits." Came a soft, genial voice, whose resonance tickled the back of the mind. Thoughtbringer Xur was tall, even by Xericoz standards. His skin was a deep charcoal, that faded into a deep purple at the tips of his tentacles. The ridges in his head sparkled coral patterns like the inside of an amethyst. His tentacles had small chain, that weaved loosely between them, and wrapped around a few the tentacles. Two of his five front tentacles were capped off by two platinum covers, that resembled thimbles. He wore a black waistcoat over a silk purple shirt, buttoned to the top with no tie. And a chain coming from each fob of the waistcoat, and weaving through the buttons to a weight on his chest. He carried with him a silver plate, which held four small white cups arranged on saucers.
"I'm sorry, Thoughtbringer Xur, we didn--" Maggie began, flushing with embarrassment.
"Occupational hazard, we could tell what you were talking about from inside, we're afraid. Please can we finish tea before we are arrested?" His eyes smiled as he doled out the plates. A black coffee in front of Star, a lemon brine with a hint of jasmine placed in front of Da'La, and for Maggie, a chamomile tea, doped with lavender, and spritz of orange. Maggie looked up at Xur as if he had just performed a magic trick. "Another occupational hazard, we're afraid."
Xur picked up his tea, a blood red tea that smelled of citrus and the feeling of a light drizzle on a hot day. He produced a bag from his pocket, reached in and produced a salt, which he sprinkled in the tea. "We have come to enjoy this particular spice with out tea, would you like some?" He turned to the rest, and before they could respond, "Oh, of course, it isn't psychoactive, but we understand your precaution." Xur looked at Star.
"You can stop that now." Star said in a matter of fact tone. "I haven't had anyone probing in my mind for a long time, I don't want it now."
"Of Course," Xur said, genially, bringing the cup through the sheet of tentacles. "Now please, you have questions?"
"Yes," star produced a notebook, and opened it. "Shao says you had an altercation a few days ago, mind filling us in."
"Ah, Shao had collected an artifact, which rightfully belongs to the Great Commune. We had attempted to negotiate with him since the collection, but he had been stonewalling us. So we confronted him at the meeting of our yards." Xur explained, casually.
"He said you threatened him with shears." Maggie chimed in, "By Merne this is good by the way," she cheerfully added.
Xur chuckled. "We were tending to our hedges at the time, we happened to have the shears in our hand while we talked. The conversation did get heated, as Evoker Shao can be quite intense at times." Xur explained.
"Heated is appropriate, considering his pagoda." Star gestured toward Xur's neighbor.
"You're talking about the fireball spell. We didn't cast it." Xur folded his legs, and sat straight.
"Told you," Maggie smarmed at Star.
"So, while you were in an intense argument, some other wizard in the neighborhood strolled by and fired a Fireball spell and hit Shao's pagoda." Star said incredulously.
"Vell, it is a neighborhood of Vizards." Added Da'La, who had since focused in on the conversation, Maggie pointed and nodding in agreement.
"Evoker Shao cast the fireball." Xur said.
"At his own house?" Maggie asked, this time incredulous.
"No, at us. We deflected it and it slammed into his house. You can ask Shao." Xur said, zenly, bringing the tea to his mouth. Watching a Xericoz drink was incredible. The curtain of tentacles opened and the cup disappeared into the maw, then pulled out with some liquid missing.
"So, you deflected it…right into his house." Star pressed.
"Come on Star, Shao fired it at him, at that point so long as it didn't hurt a person, who cares if it hit his house?" Maggie said.
"Regrettably, we didn't have time to aim it at a safer location, it was an instinctual reaction." Xur added.
Star looked at his notes, his eyes frustrating. "Ok, so can you tell me about the relic? Why fight over it?"
"It's not just a sphere. It's a communal memory box containing the minds of a thousand Xericoz. It's value to the Great Commune is immeasurable." Xur explained.
Star sat up, Maggie looked confused. Star spoke, "That's an incredible find." Star said. "And an incredible motive to steel it." He accused.
Xur looked puzzled. "You think we stole the orb?"
"You're the psychic, you tell me." Star shot back.
Xur sat silently for a moment. Maggie spoke, "Star, you're really reaching here. We have nothing to say Xur here stole the artifact." Star shot Maggie a look.
"Regrettably we can't prove our innocence, even a psychic against a psychic would be dubious. But we did not steal it." Xur spoke, drinking his tea.
"Well, then give us something to go on, because if we can't get it back, this entire ordeal is just going to keep happening until one of you is dead, or your towers burn to the ground." Star said, lifting his coffee and bringing it to his mouth.
Xur paused, "We haven’t a clue. We were speaking about the ordeal to Barmik-Qo the other day, while getting spices. He was the one who suggested talking about it to Shao, before something like this happened--"
"Barmik-Qo?" Da'La spoke, looking puzzled at the psionisist.
"Yes, he runs the spice shop off the Parsloe Quay. Kind man, unfortunate neighborhood, but best spice shop this high off the craggy peaks."
Da'La looked at Maggie, and they exchanged a glance.
_____________________________________________________
The Parsloe Quay was a run down cobble street in which half the cobble had turned to gravel. Half the buildings had boarded up windows and were dilapidated. The street lamps were mostly broken, tilted over with occasional blue spark jetting out from the dying filigree and arcane marks littered the walls like street tags. The street sign was bent and broken, and the sign for Parsloe Quay was missing. What little was open in the street looked worse for wear, the exposed wood rotting, the paint and stucco walls peeled and flaked on the streets, and a broken carriage, whose both wheels had long gone, the axle broken, and only half the seat remained, sat across the way from a decaying saloon with a half missing sign, called the Lying Locust.
On top of the half seat, sat an old skinny man with leathery skin and no shirt, and white matted mane around his head that passed as a hair and bear. The most notable features included his permanent three tooth grin, and the fact that he only had one arm.
"This is a long shot, and you know it." Star said, as he followed Maggie and Da'La as they negotiated the street, that not so much had potholes, but was a long continuous crag of potholes.
"And the alternative? Arrest a wizard because we think he might have taken breaks from gardening and making tea to commit larceny?" Maggie shot out, moving through the street.
"Do we even know where this shop is?" Star asked.
"On the Parsloe Quay." Maggie said, as she scanned the road.
"Helpful..." Said Star.
"Hey!" Maggie called at the old man, who sprung to attention and smiled, "Can you help us out?"
"Don't yell that in the street." Hissed Star. Da'La closed the distance protectively behind Maggie, as she scanned the area.
"What wif?" The old man asked. "Oi got wares." He whistled as he spoke, pulling the most absolutely filthy bag Maggie had ever seen.
"No, not that, I was looking for the Faerie Spice shop." Maggie said, finally approaching the broken cart.
"Oh, dat all? Jus' behind meh a few buildin's on the left. Gotta wern ya, is a bit run down." The old man laughed.
"Thank you," Maggie said, "uhh..." She searched for a name.
"Dey call me Stumpy." The old man smiled, his gums a mixture of red and black, with rotted nubs of teeth still clinging on.
Maggie managed a smile, "Thank you... Stumpy." Maggie said, and began to move around the cart.
"Fore ya go, wanna 'ear a joke?" Stumpy's eyes followed the firebrand girl.
"No," Star said, annoyed.
Maggie shot Star a look, and said "Sure, Stumpy."
Stumpy sat up, excited for a moment he scratched his stomach, and clutched the broken seat in front of him so he could lean in.
“Roight, guy walks by a ‘ore ‘ouse. Sees a sign that offers free drinks fer life. He’s like: “Fuck Ya!” An’ rushes in. The batenda grabs a giant jug an’ sez, “All ya gotta Do is drink this ‘ere gutpiss in one swoop.” an’ den Dere’s a Dire Wolf in the back room wif a sore tooth, you gotta pull it out with yer bare ‘ands. A den, dere’s an ‘ore on the Upper Level ya see, she ain’t never gotten off in’er life. You gotta make that roight.” After considerin’ it, ‘e goes why the fuck not and takes that whole bottle to the ‘ead, walks back to the room an’ da patrons they done ‘ear thrashin’ an growlin’ an’ bitin’. Dude come out drunker in shit yellin’ “Now where that ‘ore with a sore toot’!” Stumpy finished the joke, and like a master comedian let out a roar of laughter, as Maggie’s face stood, stunned, gaping at the howling old man, who kept yelling through his tear. "Git it? Git it? That ‘ore with a sore toot'!"
Star stared at Maggie’s agape face, and let out a laugh.
_______________________________________________
The Magic Faerie Spice Shop, like many buildings looked run down. A large sign, broken in half and the left side dangled over hanging down, put together said “The Magic Faerie Spice Shop.” Outside of was a street lamp, with a broken glass top, behind it was a bench with black steel arm rests, broken in the middle, that collapsed to the center. A large shelf window, like a kind of bar top, in front of what once was an open window for order was on the right side, the window had been heavily boarded up, and hangers of what used to hold up a cloth awning still protruded from the top. The door was propped open by a steel doorstop.
The group stood outside looking in. "What's the plan?" Star ventured.
"You're the detective, you tell me." Maggie said.
"You mean you came all this way, with the expectation of just saying 'we know you stole the orb!' And they would just hand it over, like this was all a big misunderstanding?" Star hissed.
"I thought I would figure something out when I got here." Maggie said, emptily.
"Oh, for Merne's sake." Star turned away.
"You're praying to Merne," Maggie beamed at star.
"It, mayhap is not good Idea to be standing in ze street, looking into the ze shop." Da'La offered.
"She's right," came Maggie, who gave a quick thought. "Just, use your empath thing to check if he's lying, I'll lead." Maggie said with a certainty and headed in.
"'My empath thing'?" Star started, but Maggie had already begun to walk in.
Inside the floors were rickety and smelled of strong curry and flowers. Along the walls were wooden spice bins, filled with magic ingredients. At the back of the shop a butchers counter, with one glass pane, and the other boarded up with plywood, inside more magic ingredients were displayed, with ice on the edges, and a blue glow coming from the top panel. On top of the counter were candy jars filled to the brim with incandescent candies, potions next to the jar were set in order, and a glass mason jar with a pickled hand sat proudly on display.
Behind the counter was a well-dressed older man, with slicked black and graying hair, and a weathered face covered in wrinkles and crow's feet. He wore a black waistcoat, with a purple diamond pattern satin shirt, black trousers, and a silver wrist watch on his left hand. His eyes glowed a light azure. Star looked him over, and groped for a base reading of his emotions but was met with an empty void. A Manifest, thought Star. Even if he could get a psionic here to probe him, it would be no good.
Maggie casually looked over the spice trays for a pregnant moment, gauging the stock with an appraisers eye. It was quite well stocked. The usual, Cumin, paprika, coriander, to the exotic Blue sage, morning zest, white krystal. She looked over and sighed, then approached the counter.
The shopkeeper smiled as she approached. "Welcome to the Magic Faerie, I am Barmik-Qo, how can I help you?" His voice was notably upper crust, though kindly. The kind one wouldn't expect running a rundown spice shop.
"I'm looking for some special goods." Maggie said to Barmik.
The shopkeeper smiled, "Ah, well, let me see what I have." He brought out a handful of boxes, all containing kits and potions of sorts. "You can look through these."
"No," Came Da'La, a smile across her lips as she locked eyes with Maggie, "Ve mean somezing very special." She said, stressing her syllables.
Barmik-Qo stared at them for a hot minute, his jovial expression unchanging, and he closed the boxes. With a flick of his wrist the door closed, and the open sign flipped over. "Sorry, I have to maintain privacy for my private stock," he assured. Star looked nervously at the door, then the girls who seemed unfazed by this.
Barmik-Qo reached under the counter and produced a set of boxes, which were covered in a deep blue filigree, and warded runes. He cast a minor incantation and the runes and sigils on the boxes dimmed. He one-by one opened the boxes, revealing silk lining in each, one contained a set of metal balls that glowed with a dull enchantment, the next a jagged orange crystal, and the last a large sphere with swirling purple mist that ran the gamut of purple hues, and radiated the sensation of coming home from a long trip.
Maggie stared at the orb, and looked back at Star. Who nodded at her. "This one." She said in a half whisper, pointing toward the orb. "How much?" She asked.
"It's quite expensive." Came Barmik-Qo, as he lifted it from its box. "It's quite the relic, it holds powerful psionic energy. I couldn't let go of it for less than 3000 Kayt."
Maggie's heart dropped, 3000 Kayt was more money than she would stand to make in 11 lifetimes, much less could afford in a shady spice shop in a rundown neighborhood. She let out a nervous grin, "Let me confer with my... associates."
Her and Da'La moved to Star. "You were right." Star admitted in a hush.
"Yeah, but that kind of money for a fenced good... I don't know a king." Maggie said, "Maybe Shao can drop the money for it."
"And pay for it again?" Star asked, "I'm sure he'd be thrilled."
"We could inform Renjin," Maggie offered.
"He'd deny it's even here." Said Star, "And even the most powerful psionicist they have on staff couldn't truthsee on him, he's a Manifest." He added.
"Merde alors!" Maggie cussed under her breath.
"Ma Soeur, may I have permission do so somezing drastic?" Da'La turned to Maggie.
Maggie eyed Star, who while not seeming thrilled, seemed to have no better answer. Maggie nodded to her companion.
Da'La held the blade at her back, as she moved toward the counter, and in a swift motion pulled the blade from the sheath and stuck it in the counter between Barmik-Qo's fingers, whose eyes couldn't contain the shock.
"So, let's be clear Fils de pute. Ve know zat orb is stolen, and ve know exactly vhere it came from." Da'La locked eyes with the Manifest. "Ve three are hire constables from Inspector Renjin, here to retrieve zhat orb." Da'La leaned in, her face becoming colder and more menacing, though her voiced didn't change in cadence.
"Really?" Barmik-Qo's eyes narrowed, as he stretched the fingers on his right hand.
"I vill bet you every coin in my purse, I can move quicker zen you can cast, Barmik," Da'La threatened. "Now you are left vith two choices. Eizer my companions walk out of zis shop, and alert ze graveyard of a fencing operation, and ze graveyard can find ze information zemselves from vhat I leave of you." Da'La leaned in closer. "Or ve all valk away now vith the contents of zhat box, and everyvone is happy."
Barmik shot his glance to Star, who had pulled his Pepperbox, and Maggie, who grasped her symbol menacingly.
Barmik-Qo let out a smile, "Fine! That's fine. Take it." He closed the box, and handed it to Da'La. "Not the way I wanted to do business, but that thing aparrently attracts unwanted clientelle." Barmik-Qo said through a smile.
_______________________________________________________
The group walked down the gravelly streets of the Parsloe Quay, moving at a clip away from the shop.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Star asked his companions, who strode next to them, Da'La holding the box under her arm.
"Star, nobody is born pious." Maggie said, knowingly. "You become it."
"Your visdom knows no bounds, Mon Divinica." Da'La said through a grin. Star could see he would get no more.
"I have a question for you, Star." Maggie said after a moment, as they turned the corner onto a busier street. Star looked over at his companions. "What is a memory box?"
"All this time, and you didn't know what you were collecting?" Star said, as he loaded a cigarillo into his stem.
"I was too embarrassed to ask Xur!" Maggie protested, "I'd figured I would figure it out when I got it."
"Too embarrassed to ask the psychic, who likely already knew you didn't know what it was?" Star lit his cigarillo.
"Are you going to answer my question, or just tease me?" Maggie demanded.
Star sighed, letting smoke mist out from beneath his tentacles. "All Xericoz are psychic, we talked about this."
"Then you called me a racist," Maggie muttered, Star ignored her.
"Well, then it stands to reason we typically view the world different than individuals..." Noticing the query look from Maggie, he added, "our name for the rest of you." Star took another drag from his cigarillo and continued. "We're used to feeling each other's presence, a sensation we feel our entire lives. So when one of us must leave our Clade, or put your way, our family, or the Great Commune, we take with us an item. This item contains the impressions and memories of our closest relatives and friends. It's a psychic resonance that helps us feel connected even when we're away. We update it regularly to keep them current."
"What happens when you don't have it?" Maggie asked.
"Well, memory becomes difficult. We rely on it so much to memorize key factors, that many of us can end up forgetting important parts of our lives if we don't have it. And, well... then there's the loneliness. You individuals are used to having relationships external to yourselves so it's impossible to explain what it's like having a relationship where a persons entire mind is open to you. You get used to the other minds around you. Many go insane without one." The lawman took another drag of his cigarillo, and ashed it on the ground as he walked. They turned the bend on a main road.
"What about you?" Maggie asked. "You're an individualist, how do you cope without one?"
"I don't." Star reached into his pocket and pulled out his Sheriffs badge. He flipped it around to reveal a bulge on the back. "It's special made. It contains only my memories and reflects them back on me. It gives me the sensation of being around others, even though it's just me." Star explained.
Silence. They walked for a moment before Maggie broke the silence, "That sounds lonely."
"It's liberating." Star said defensivley and put his badge back into his breast pocket.
Maggie decided against pressing further. As they went forward down the streets, Maggie spoke again: "We have to give the orb to Xur." She said.
"We can't do that." Star said, coolly.
"But you said they're memories, they belong to the Xericoz." Maggie insisted.
"That might be the case, but we can't decide ownership of the orb because we think we know better." Star explained. "If constables decided what they would do with found objects based on some moral compass--"
"It would make the world a better place?" Maggie argued.
"That is if we could rely on all of them having a good moral compass." Star shot back. "Shao bought the orb, it is his by any law. Xur may think it's better that he and his have it, and even may be right. But we can't just take this into our own hands."
Maggie sighed, and relented, "maybe you're right."
Star stopped in the middle of the street. "Look, I've got this from here, it's getting late, why don't you and Da'La go back to Over the Edge, and I'll take care of this."
"No way!" Maggie protested, "you're not cutting us out--"
"I'm not cutting you out. It's just, the right thing isn't the correct thing here, and I can’t have your ethics muddying it up. Sometimes being a lawman means you don't do what's right, you do what's orderly. I want you to keep doing what's right." Star said, firmly, his voice stern and certain.
Maggie locked eyes with Star for a long minute, as the procession of people passed by on all sides in the street. After a moment, she spoke through her teeth, "Da'La, give him the box."
__________________________________________________________
Maggie sat in the saloon room at the table of the Over The Edge. In front of her, a wine glass half filled with a pink sweet wine, as she stared at the wall, glowering. Her companion, ever vigilant scanning the room.
"And another thing," Maggie said, angrily toward Da'La, slurring her words, "Hisss ssstupid face. I mean, what's with him?" She puffed up her chest and gave her best impression of a male voice. "Being a lawman means you don't do what's right, but what's orderly." She mocked. "What'ss with that? That's bullshit what it is."
"Yes, Mon Divinica, you visdom knows no bounds." Da'La said, supportively.
A small envelope hit the table, making Maggie jump from her chair "Merde!" She exclaimed, as Star sat down at the table. "Oh, what do you want?"
"How much of that has she had?" Star turned to Da'La.
Da'La measured the glass with her finger, "about zhat much." She said, matter of factly.
"What does it matter? I'm an adult. Jus' because I have ethis, ethicr, eth--"
"I negotiated with the two of them. Shao has agreed to allow Xur to copy the memories from the box to several smaller boxes to be used by the Great Commune." Star interupted.
"Wha?" Maggie stopped mid thought, staring agape at him.
"I thought about what you said, and I figured I could reach a compromise." Star conceded. "Giving it over to Shao seemed unwise, and a loss to all Xericoz. This way at least the Xericoz can have those memories."
Maggie felt a sting in her eyes, which she was uncertain was emotion or the dust from the table that hadn't been cleaned in decades. "Star, that's so--"
"Save it. You were right." Star lifted his hand to notice the waitress. "Oh, Xur in his gratitude gave me tickets to a Merilian opera in a couple nights. I figured before we leave, you and Da'La can enjoy an opera in your mother tongue."
"Oh, Merne, you beautiful man!" Maggie snatched the folder. "Where has this Star been! Oh you have to go."
"Nohohooho." Star waved his arm to catch the attention of the Waitress. "I do not do operas."
"Well, I have to get ready," Maggie started, excitedly, "I need a dress, some jewelry, oh some opera glasses! Star, thank you."
"Thank Xur, he's the one who gave it to me." Star returned.
"I'm going to my room, after this day, I think I'll have a wonderful nights sleep.
___________________________________________________________
Hours had passed, Maggie lay in the impossibly uncomfortable straw bed, eyes bolted open, as the lantern above swayed with the shifting saloon. Her mind conjuring images of broken bolts, and plummeting miles down toward craggy peaks.
__________________________________________________________
GMs Notes:
I have made it a habit, in the first couple of session, to make the first few sessions kind of one off sessions of any campaign. These light adventures tend to give the players enough to do, while being amazing for exploring who their characters are. This exploration phase makes it easier when bigger, longer adventures become the forfront of the campaign, and Role Playing becomes limited to planning a dialogue. A good suggestion for new GMs, start out doing lighter one offs before your campaign. The time the players use to learn their characters (and of course for you to introduce key concepts before their relevant) can be invaluable to making a game your players love.
This session was interesting when I ran it. I had planned out these three adventures as an optional set of side quests for the party, and they latched on pretty heavily. They were given to be completed in any order, and the order I will be presenting was the order they picked. It also ended up being the best order, but I'll get to that later.
I also ended up changing a few details in the retelling. As mentioned before, while she is run mechanically by another player, Da'La's out of combat speech and actions are dictated by me. As such, she did not figure out the Spice Shop clue from Xur, or take initiative and threaten the spice shop worker. That was done by Star and Maggie respectively. I decided to change it in the story, really to give Da'La something to do in this story. Aside from a handful of things, Da'La really didn't do much in the beginning, and I feel it makes a better story to have her performing certain actions. And, well the threatening of Barmik-Qo felt a little out of character for the naïve Maggie at the time. So I took a little liberty. Though the rest happened pretty much as dictated.
A note on Manifest. I didn't have the proper opening to explain the Manifest in the text, without screeching the pacing to a halt, so I'll explain them here. Basically, Manifest are beings of pure current energy (The Current being the name of the energy that powers magic, miracles, and martial arts in my world, an energy similar to Chi). While fully conscious when emerging, usually in places of high Magic concentration, Manifest are unable to exist without taking a host. Manifest prefer to take willing hosts, as they don't tend to fight the merging, wherein the Manifest and the Host blend minds and personalities to create a new being. A way of symbolizing this is that the Manifest takes on the name of the host, and of the Manifest itself. Barmik being the host, and Qo the Manifest in this case.
This merging has benefits. The host no longer falls to illness, their lives are extended, any illness is repaired, and their body heals itself. They also are immune to any form of psionic magic, as their mind is too alien to other people's minds for the magic to target. This also means they can't USE psionic magic, or gain no effects from potions, poisons, or alcohol. The spirit of the Manifest is technically indefinite. So long as they can find another host in 72 hours, the Manifest can merge again after their body dies, though finding a new host can be difficult. Which is why in all major cities exists a Manifest Station. A place in which not only do Manifest, well manifest. But also where they exchange deals with people in exchange for swearing the body to a Manifest when needed. This relationship between the Manifest Station and the general populace allows the Manifests to have easy access to new hosts, at least while near a major city.
Written by: Jack Shawhan
Proofread and Edited by: Alhana Escher
Original Characters played by:
Donovan Hill - Maggie
Stephen Kirk - Star
Schancier and all associated Copyright Jack Shawhan 2020.
