In which a theft, a reunion, and a fireworks festival occur in the largest city in The Known World.
5th of Fourthmonth, 9995 DK
The group entered Kusseth City and Xein immediately made every reasonable attempt possible to get rid of the presence of his time in the clink, even going so far as to get fresh clothes, see a doctor, and waste large amounts of marks on reasonably good quality food. Kethranmeer expressed a desire to see his maker, but had no idea where he lived. The group needed to resupply and Kethranmeer led them around the city to various establishments while also heading in the general direction of a friend, and warden, named Traith Harris.
Before tracking down Traith the group attempted to find a bank of some kind in the hopes that they could cash the bank notes that they found in the brigand fortress. They found and were logged by bounty hunters at KGoB Branch 76345 and set up accounts in the bank and were paid for their bank notes. After leaving the bank the group did more shopping, John and Xein had the good fortune to stumble upon a mechanics shop and were able to peruse some high tech equipment, John finally purchasing an early model steam rifle and using the mecahnist's facilities to craft some homemade explosive rounds.
With their shopping done, the group made their way to the 37th district of Kusseth City and Kethranmeer, in his frustration, assaulted the door of a station house. With no response from the station, Kethranmeer led the group east to the 39th district and made a scene in front of an apartment building and finally roused Traith from his home. As Traith, a sickly looking human of probably sixty years of age, began speaking with his old friend a series of gunshots rang out nearby. Traith, irritated by the prospect of work in his off time deputized the group and sent them to investigate after memorizing their citizenry numbers. The group discovered that a trio of karthak had assaulted two junior wardens and were in the process of eating them, the group intervened, killed the canines, and reported back to Traith. Traith used a telegraph and notified A'lst that the group was en route and then sent them on their way.
On their way to the 295th district the group ran into a group of bards and everyone remained fairly civil while the bards extorted marks from the group. After that it was a quick walk to A'lst's warehouse, which was fairly robust in nature and filled with a delightful amount of electrical equipment. A'lst paid everyone a ridiculous sum for escorting his friend home and even gifted Xein with a motorized battery that would run his fancy new sword electrically, rather than kinetically. A'lst expressed a desire to catch up with Kethranmeer and make some repairs on his friend's fairly abused body and the group was open to this, agreeing to return in one week's time to pick up their friend. Kethranmeer said goodbye to the group, D'Alton in particular, and they left.
On their way to an inn called the Waltzing Warhorse the group heard a young girl crying down an alley and moved to investigate. Gidaeon's immense insight into the behavior and attitudes of humans made him suspicious of the girl's false sounding sniffles. Derf, without any sort of investigation, began throwing rocks at her while Manwathiel scaled the side of a building and discovered a dozen members of a youth gang perched above the cul-de-sac waiting for the unwary to "help" their lure. Manwathiel returned to her companions and everyone agreed that they girl deserved to be raped and that they were going to leave.
Prior to entering the Waltzing Warhorse, the group encountered a somewhat smug looking soldier in the grey of Kusseth's infantry and were handed a message from their friend and ally Reginald E.C. Walthuler that detailed an account of his travels in the Whurent mountains. Upon entering the inn itself the group was accosted by a slightly bumbling (and malformed) thief. The theft of coin was discovered before the brigand could get away and the group chased him up a flight of stairs and murdered him hardcore, rather than dragging him to a warden or reporting him to one. Following that, the group was charged a ridiculous fee for rooms for the next five days to compensate the owner of the Waltzing Warhorse for damages done to the premises. The group spent the next four days holed up in their rooms together doing nothing.
14th of Fourthmonth, 9995 DK
Kussethian Independence Day. Kethranmeer observed the holiday with A'lst, everyone else stayed holed up in their rooms at the Waltzing Warhorse, which is unfortunate because Kusseth puts on a pretty good fireworks show.
15th of Fourthmonth, 9995 DK
Group returned to A'lst's warehouse and Kethranmeer, now new and improved and all shined up, rejoined them. After they left the premises of the Waltzing Warhorse, the owner of the inn lodged a complaint with a local warden and charges of murder and destruction of a business' property were added to the data associated with the citizenry numbers of the group (but not Kethranmeer, because he wasn't there). While wandering the city the group encountered Senior Warden Traith Harris and he told them that he was unaware of their involvement with the Beltan prison break and when he reported their presence in his reports an alert was wired to him by the analytical engines of Kusseth's lawmen and he was tasked with bringing them in. He mentioned that bards play nicer when Jack was out and about and that they were friends of Kethranmeer, so he was inclined to give them a head start to escape the city and his jurisdiction. Everyone procured horses and they left Kusseth City. As they were leaving Kusseth, D'alton stole two horses so that everyone had a horse to ride south, except Kethranmeer. The group rode south with no particular direction in mind, but they followed the highway that led directly to Tolon and crossed the River Nantul. In the evening they took their rest at a traveler's roost and waited for Kethranmeer to catch up. Xein and John attempted to one up each other in terms of pranks, but they were both too perceptive to be tricked by the other one's antics. John took the first watch and heard a rumble of thunder to the east.
Edit After The Fact: I've mentioned logging numbers and such previous to this breakdown of a scenario. For those of you not aware, Kusseth tattoos a ten digit alpha numeric identification number on each of its legal citizens. This code is used to track the actions of most citizens. Most wards in a Kussethian city have only a few routes to enter or exit, so most citizens are logged in their travels around a city by guards and wardens and such. The code has rules and guidelines in my notes somewhere, but basically uses the citizen's race and social class and background and such to identify them and track their movements. The usefulness of this means of tracking is somewhat debatable, but keeping track of all the numbers and storing data on analytical engines creates jobs in the bureaucracy of Kusseth's Wards of Government. I try not to think about Kusseth's government and economy too much, it leads to stroking out.
No comments:
Post a Comment