Era Victoria IC

Demonu wrote:'But my landlady's named Dahlia...' Smooth Talker interjected into the conversation in a tone that wasn't so much as accusing as it was said matter-of-factly.

Dahlia's head snaps to Smooth Talker. He does not say anything, but his deathly glare and his red embarrassed face say more than words ever could...

Crystalite wrote:

Demonu wrote:

Crystalite wrote:"You're not going anywhere without me, in any case," Battery insisted, wagging a claw back and forth. "You've contracted my services, after all, and it wouldn't do to have you assassinated while I'n halfway across town."

'I appreciate the concern,' Smooth Talker said, 'but if you really would want to keep me out of harm's way, not going into a criminal opium den would be the way to go, would it not?'

"Not so much, especially if I'm there watching," Battery said. "See, if this unicorn has other assets working on this, then they'll expect you to follow the proper recipient of this letter - an active threat - whereas in the den the only one there who wants you dead isn't worth much right now, according to the doctor here," he explained.

Smooth Talker raised his hand in retort before lowering it in thought. 'You do make a good point.' He admitted. Still, the very thought of brazenly striding into such a place seemed dreadful to him. If word got out that he was sighted in an opium den of all places, it could very well demolish his reputation.

Dahlia's head snaps to Smooth Talker. He does not say anything, but his deathly glare and his red embarrassed face say more than words ever could...

'Just give me a moment to think about it.' Smooth Talker said as he walked over to his writing desk, trying his best to ignore Dahlia's glare. Was it something he said? In any case, he pulled a fresh sheet of paper of a stack, sat down and took the cryptic letter. 'I'll make a copy of this just in case.' He said as he put his pen to paper and began scribbling.

"Sounds sensible." Chirurgeon paces a little around the room, thinking on matters.

It was true that Smooth Talker's reputation - and safety - would be at risk were he to visit the opium den. Even with Battery and Dahlia present, and in spite of his minotaur heritage, he is still a civilian. But splitting up, that does not settle well in his mind, even less so than bringing Smooth Talker to a place of danger. There is strength in numbers, and despite their squabbling, Battery, Dahlia and himself works well as a group. Combining Smooth Talker's influence and social graces, they have a truly formidable team.

"I would recommend going to the opium den first. The spellbreaking feedback may have taken out the unicorn for now, but there's no guarantee how long it will take to investigate Sharp Talker's side of things. It may seem more tame, but you'd be surprised how quickly things can go south. I certainly did not expect today to be as... exciting as it turned out to be."

"Not as if you made much effort to avoid it. Come on, you didn't even bother with a disguise."

Although a certain tension preceded the moment of uttering these words, Chrome did his best to make them sound like a calm statement, instead of a reprimend. He had no intention of making fun of this mare, despite her clearly malicious intent, as he was impressed by how she managed to keep her cool. At least that little was due. Moreover, the pegasus needed to focus, were the earth pony to discern anything valuable during the limited duration of the onmincalculator's duration... as he estimated a third of it passed by now.

"If you had any companions, i doubt they'd let you go like this. I'm guessing you're here alone for the revenge then?"

Not letting the pegasus mare out of his sight, Chrome reached for the rope he's had prepared under the counter, not showing it yet though. These traps were good enough for some as far as the initial moments went - but their effects melted away with time under the hooves of at least decently skilled escape artists. Hence, he had yet to assure that the one before him was harmless. So far, there was no assurance. Especially as he had to approach her in order to tie her up properly. At times, that proved difficult.

"I mean, it is revenge, right? You know my shop's not worth lifting, since i don't have that mechanism anymore?"

"Do we have an agreement, then?" Battery asked. "Because if, after all that, you still want to go see this Sharp Talker first, I won't stop you," he said to Smooth Talker. "But I am going with you, wherever you decide to go."

Crystalite wrote:"Do we have an agreement, then?" Battery asked. "Because if, after all that, you still want to go see this Sharp Talker first, I won't stop you," he said to Smooth Talker. "But I am going with you, wherever you decide to go."

Smooth Talker finished writing up a copy of the letter. 'I'd much prefer to meet with Professor Sharp Talker over going to an opium den.' He said as he put the original letter back into a desk drawer and locked it. 'But I don't like to throw my weight around if it's unnecessary.'

He neatly folded the copy and put it in his inner pocket before he walked back to the four guests currently occupying his living quarters. 'The good doctor suggest going to the opium den first. I suggest Professor Sharp Talker first. As you mentioned, you'll go where I go so that basically means,' Smooth Talker turned his head towards Dahlia, 'that your say in the matter has to break the tie.'

'Then there is also the issue of what to do with you, good sir.' Smooth Talker said as he looked down on the pony resting on his sofa.

Dahlia shook his head out of his angry embarrassment. He turned to the Battery. "Why do you think this guy will be safer with you anyway? You've got ponies looking out for you. Remember this morning? Do you think he'd manage to survive out there?"

Battery chewed his lip. "The miscellaneous people after me are a risk he accepted by associating with me," he explained. "Word is going to get around about the renowned Smooth Talker's newest book, and the dragon he's been consulting for it. Keeping me close lessens that risk, since I can probably handle random incidents better than he can."

Demonu wrote:
'Then there is also the issue of what to do with you, good sir.' Smooth Talker said as he looked down on the pony resting on his sofa.

" I need to go home, my family has been worrying about me acting strange for a while now and I need to tell them I'm ok now."

Terrestial wrote:"Not as if you made much effort to avoid it. Come on, you didn't even bother with a disguise."


"If you had any companions, i doubt they'd let you go like this. I'm guessing you're here alone for the revenge then?"


"I mean, it is revenge, right? You know my shop's not worth lifting, since i don't have that mechanism anymore?"

...ck your wait sis forgot her disguise typical, right time for Plan B. For a brief moment an evil grin flashes across the Pegasus's face before she launches into a full fledged state of panic. "I-I have noo clue what you're talking about!" Tears start to form in her eyes as she vainly struggles against her binding. "HELP! GUARDS! I'M BEING PONY-NAPPED!" She screams at the top of her lungs. The guard that walks the Witherschapel Road beat tonight... is the old pervert, a little bit of the good old feminine charm and he'll be putty in my hooves. He should have a response time of ten seconds, just enough time of everything to sink in for this bastard and for me to see the look on his face. And if he has a goddamn mechanical miracle stored up somewhere there is Plan C

"If you say so," is the response to the Battery, "As long as he knows that knives are gonna be more dangerous than words when with you then I don't care, he's not my responsibility." Dahlia looks around the room at the important creatures in it. "Personally, I don't even think we'll find anything about this unicorn in either place, but if the writer doesn't want to the opium den, he doesn't have to. Chirurgeon and I will head over to investigate the chimneys, you two can go after this professor guy."

Chirurgeon bites the bottom of his beak, but nods eventually, looking at each of the room's occupants in turn. "If that is what you would prefer, then I can work with that arrangement as well."

Chrome frowned at both the image he beheld and the mare's thoughts he's been reading. It seemed like she not only had no intention of playing nice, but was actually prepared to a much more significant extent than he's anticipated. It spelled bad news all over. The earth pony had little time to consider what her "plan C" might actually be, as he rushed to counter the current situation. Truly, if the incoming law representative was anything like how the pegasus has envisioned him, Chrome could be in a great deal of trouble. Hence, he hestitated not to cover the evidence. In that few seconds' period, the mechanic pushed, pulled and kicked rapidly a bunch of switches and levers. In response, the room he's been having his guest at, sprang to life. The multi-layered floor whirred, as the gears hidden beneath its surface began working. It moved and folded around the pegasus. squeezing her in a movement-depriving, thick and skin-tight wooden prisonbox. Complete with a gagging mechanism of sorts - as the pegasus mare soon got to experience herself. Her muzzle, kept in one place, got forcefully stuffed with a long, irregular wooden pole, designated to keep one shut without taking away the ability to breathe through the nose. To facilitate muffling of the soud, the gag was actually covered by a piece of clothing... courtesy of the mechanic, who threw his nearby winter sweater on the pole while the process of wooden metamorphosis took place. With the mare trapped inside, the box retreated into the confines of the ground below the house. A single, wooden tube, made to provide air via a clockwork refresher, linked the little box with what looked like just ordinary spaces between the wooden panels in an another room. Speaking of which, with the above done in jiffie, the shop became apparently clear of signs of ponynapping or anything of the sort... as in the room Chrome was staying in, the remaining wooden panels spread out to form a thin, wooden layer to cover up things in order to maintan a proper, innocent appearance..


Expending one use of Fabricate

Fabricate - description:

Mechanics check: 23 + d20 (15) = 38

A few moments of silence pass in Chrome's shop before a orange unicorn with a gray mustache and a blue overcoat denoting his position as a Royal Guard bursts through the door. He rapidly scans the room before addressing Chrome.

"I... heard some screaming from here, is there anything the matter?"

---

Chirurgeon and Dahlia arrive at the Opium Emporium. The front doors are a massive affair made out of polished brass that shines in the light cast from two large braziers, near the center there is a smaller door sized for pony use.

---

The college is mostly silent when Smooth Talker and The Battery arrive. Classes have been out for the past two weeks but a few lit windows spread across several buildings indicate that at least some of the staff remain.

Battery felt nervous about the whole affair.

Everything he knew was screaming at him that this was a trap
And yet, here they were walking right into it.

Granted, they hadn't been accosted yet... Or so it seemed. In either case, it was out of the dragon's claws. Smooth Talker had been informed of all the risks, his job was to deal with them, if they arose, no lip given.

"So where are we gonna find this Sharp Talker character?" Battery asked, fiddling with the clasp on his cloak. He looked around cautiously, keeping an eye out for potential enemies as he summoned what he knew about the area. "'Cuz it's gonna be real embarrassing if he turns out not to be around."

Checks:

'How about we try the front door?' Smooth Talker replied to his companion's question. 'After all, if the lights are still on, someone is bound to be here.'

And with that said, Smooth Talker walked over to the main entrance.

Crystalite wrote:Battery felt nervous about the whole affair.

Everything he knew was screaming at him that this was a trap
And yet, here they were walking right into it.

Granted, they hadn't been accosted yet... Or so it seemed. In either case, it was out of the dragon's claws. Smooth Talker had been informed of all the risks, his job was to deal with them, if they arose, no lip given.

"So where are we gonna find this Sharp Talker character?" Battery asked, fiddling with the clasp on his cloak. He looked around cautiously, keeping an eye out for potential enemies as he summoned what he knew about the area. "'Cuz it's gonna be real embarrassing if he turns out not to be around."

Checks:

The Battery notices that there is a Steam Automaton carriage idling outside of the main entrance, the driver is definitely waiting to pickup someone, however unlike the one hired by Smooth Talker this one doesn't appear to belong to a taxi company.

The College is fairly small with only a few hundred total students in any given year and only three major buildings a dorm for students, a lecture and administrative building, and a library containing 200,000 texts.

Demonu wrote:'How about we try the front door?' Smooth Talker replied to his companion's question. 'After all, if the lights are still on, someone is bound to be here.'

And with that said, Smooth Talker walked over to the main entrance.

As Smooth Talker approaches the door it opens apparently on its own, however looking down Smooth Talker can see a Earth Pony very small in stature and clearly advanced in age with a deep purple coat of hair. It doesn't take long for Smooth Talker to recognize him as Sharp Talker.

tygerburningbright wrote:
As Smooth Talker approaches the door it opens apparently on its own, however looking down Smooth Talker can see a Earth Pony very small in stature and clearly advanced in age with a deep purple coat of hair. It doesn't take long for Smooth Talker to recognize him as Sharp Talker.

Smooth Talker stopped in his tracks. 'Professor Talker, I presume?' He asked in a soft-spoken voice as to not startle the elderly pony.

Huh. Convenient, Battery thought to himself. He stepped back, looking away quietly - no need to draw attention to himself. He looked over at an automated carriage, idling away - clearly waiting for someone. Most likely the elderly earth pony that was, apparently, Professor Sharp Talker. The dragon locked eyes with the driver, his face impassionate and calculating as he studied the other's reaction...

Checks:

Dahlia leans to Chirurgeon. "So, you got a plan?" asks Dahlia...

Demonu wrote:

tygerburningbright wrote:
As Smooth Talker approaches the door it opens apparently on its own, however looking down Smooth Talker can see a Earth Pony very small in stature and clearly advanced in age with a deep purple coat of hair. It doesn't take long for Smooth Talker to recognize him as Sharp Talker.

Smooth Talker stopped in his tracks. 'Professor Talker, I presume?' He asked in a soft-spoken voice as to not startle the elderly pony.

The pony looks up to reply, "Yes, you presume correctly, and you would be the author Smooth Talker. Normally I would be delighted to make your acquaintance at the moment I have a meeting I must be off for."

Crystalite wrote:Huh. Convenient, Battery thought to himself. He stepped back, looking away quietly - no need to draw attention to himself. He looked over at an automated carriage, idling away - clearly waiting for someone. Most likely the elderly earth pony that was, apparently, Professor Sharp Talker. The dragon locked eyes with the driver, his face impassionate and calculating as he studied the other's reaction...

Checks:

The driver locks eyes with Battery for a moment before turning his head down with a nervous cough.
He doesn't appear to be any tough sort in-fact most would classify him as a easily intimidated and controlled.

Having not moved from behind the counter in order to put things into motion, Chrome resumed the position of a craftsman bent over his work... yet one roused away from it and looking at the far end of the shop, by the time the guard's arrived - as though it was not the orange unicorn's appearance that frazzled him. He jumped a little in his seat at the notion of the forceful arrival and turned towards the newcomer, addressing him in a slightly shaky, surprised, yet not scared tone:

"I-i heard that too, sir!"

Quite a true statement, that one. He pushed his seat away from his workplace, getting up and beckoning the guard, he rushed into the deeper part of his shop.

"This way! There's a back door here, behind which..."

However, upon reaching and opening it up to the, most probably empty and cold darkness of the minor alley it led to, he feigns a look of realization striking him as he looks around fruitlessly.

"Wait... oh god, no... if that's an another energy core malfunction, i swear..."

He growls, turning back to the inside of the shop.

"I have a certain suspicion, sir... that may've been my fault, let me check... please do follow, sir."

He leads the guard to yet another part of the house-shop, the proudest one of the humble lot. The storage room, messy with all sorts of machinery - both finished and semi-complete - as well as enough spare parts to satisfy any steampunk geek. Tracing a familar outline in this impressive pile, Chrome began rummaging in it for cover, not going directly for digging up what he inteneded to eventually. With the hasty movements of his forelegs, which he used to move stuff around, he flipped the switches of the desired mechanism along the way.* To provide further distraction, he "accidently" activated a few of the minor appliances present there, along the way.

"Ugh... it's gotta be around here somewhere... one moment please..."

Knowing the delay between switching the power on and the actual activation of the steamdrive, Chrome shifted away from it, apparently trying to browse a different section of the overbearing heap. The guard could observe how something stirred violently in a place different from where the earth pony was and could hear very clearly a loud, female shout, coming from under a few pony-looking, clockwork figures:

"HELP! THEY'RE TAKING ME! GUARDS!"

"Oh bother.."

The sound, which came from beneath was as reminiscent of the assailant's as Chrome could set it during his preparations just a while ago, round the activation part. ** As the earth pony jumped to help out the trapped thing, he was met with resistance, as his hooves got slapped away... in the process though, an enticing figure emerged. It was a slender, pretty-looking mare-shaped automaton, its masterful design just barely betraying its artificial nature. It cast its eyes around frantically and backed away from both the clockwork pony figures she's been under as well as Chrome. In doing that, she spotted the guard and darted towards his him, burying her nuzzle in his chest and taking hold of him in an embracing hug.

"You're here to save me... right?"

"Ugh... whoever thought of those damsels in distress models... does that sound like what you heard, sir?" ***

She shuddered as she said that, her voice sounding as if she were scared... though she began to get relaxed after just a moment of gripping him. Her coat was soft and pleasant in touch, as was her skin-like surface tender, owing to the materials used in her creation. Her body was warm, like that of a living being, due to the circulation of heat, provided by the steam engine, driving her motion.

"Am i glad... mmm..."

"Tch. That must have been the engine initialization issue... one of the reasons it found its way here in the first place... I'm terribly sorry for having disturbed the night peace, sir. I thought i took out the responsible circuit... must've missed it in the rush hours..."

The automaton released its hold, but it began to trace a hoof up the guard's chest. The next sentence she spoke had a completely different feel to it. Signs of distress were much obscured. The voice was alluring, heartmelting and served with a side dish of bedroom eyes:

"However could i could repay such a big, strong stallion~?"

As that happened, Chrome groaned and facehooved.

"Please don't judge me, sir... i'm just fixing this stuff for ponies who can afford it..."



*Create Crazy Contraption - Pretty, speaking automaton sex doll

Expending one use of Nimble Hooves

**Mechanics check: 18 + 5 + 5 + d20 (2) = 30

***Persuasion check: 8 + d20 (18) = 26

Chirurgeon steps towards the doors, keeping a keen eye on any shady activity. "What else but to go in? Unless you have something else in mind?"

He then takes a moment to look over the building in its entirety - noting its height, potential alternate entry ways, or just anything noteworthy. "Might pay off to take a look around first..."

Perception: 16 + 10 = 26

The pony looks up to reply, "Yes, you presume correctly, and you would be the author Smooth Talker. Normally I would be delighted to make your acquaintance at the moment I have a meeting I must be off for."

'Glad to know my reputation is still preceding me.' Smooth Talker thought to himself. The elderly gentlepony was obviously in a hurry so he decided not to impede too much on his time.

'Of course.' Smooth Talker replied, 'I just have something here that I believe belongs to you, Professor Talker.' Smooth Talker reached into his pocket, took out the piece of paper and offered it to the earth pony.*
----------------------
* I would like to use

Empathetic:

on Sharp Talker when he takes the paper and/or notices the writing.
Perception = 15(skill)+5(bonus)+10(dice roll)=30

Zebras, Deers, Griffons, Mules... Why do I have to work in such an environment?
I told them that another race war was a solution but they have ignored me and they've only muttered those buzzwords like "Xenophobe! Racist! Fascist! You intolerant bigot! We need Di-ver-si-ty..."
"Disgusting! Brainwashed ponies... "

"Only Griffons and Dragons seems to be somehow trustworthy..."

"On the other hand... personalities like this Zebra are quite fascinating! Furthermore, catching or killing her can make me rich as good ol' Griffons"

He realized that he was standing on the street hypnotized for a couple of minutes.

"Maybe I should walk in and inform those fatties about what is going to happen?"

"Or maybe interrogate those 'captains' "
"Jau seems to be the closest one "

Oirik hesitated for a moment and then he stated his decision.

" Jau probably heard about me and I want to surprise him if it's possible. "
Oirik was enlightened!
" Maybe... hire some poor Zebra to gather some information? Or even better... "

Oirik's plan was quite simple form the logistic point of view. Make a false letter from an imaginary Deer assasin, leave it nearby Jau headquarters, and kidnap him!

"Maybe not deer and not an assasin... make a false letter from... One of my old victims! I'm a genius! Nobody remembers random zebras or deers! "

That's why they call him Oirik " NO tears for dead deers" Marou

“Let's set a trap! “
Oirik grinned, showing his teeth, like never before.

Dahlia rolls his eyes slightly. "I meant more when we got inside. I have an idea what I want to do, I just want to make sure you've got your own ideas."