CH. 01 - Crane's Angels

[Daos]

The garden of Si'ahl is one of the largest and most populous gardens in the land.  It is well renown for its great beauty, but also as being the seat of power for the Supervisor of Salt Whale, Crane Freewaters.

Si'ahl is one of many gardens on the coastline.  It is built on the ruins of some fallen Ancient city, but it would perhaps be fairer to say 'grown' over 'built.'  Buildings are usually carved out of crystal or within massive trees that are hollowed out.  Greenery grows everywhere.  Even the streets are covered with grass.  Bright, beautiful flowers of all colors can be found growing both inside and outside.  Like all Elonnori gardens, it lived in harmony with nature, as opposed to the Ancient cities that once blighted the landscape centuries ago, as the legends say.

Today is a particularly festive one.  Most of the year, the sun is hidden behind an overcast sky but today is one of those rare summer days where the sun is actually out and shining.  But more than that, today is also the local Coffee Festival, a day dedicated to celebrating and drinking coffee.  Coffee, previously known as Hot Brown Morning Potion before it was decided it needed a better name than that, is well loved in the garden. There are games and festival foods, and lots and lots of coffee, of course. Si'ahl has an inordinate amount of coffee shops (one on every corner, some joke), and all of them are open for business and each has a line extending outside onto the street.  Further, a number of shops have set up outdoor vendor stands to sell even more coffee.  Street musicians play music, children run around screaming at the top of their lungs thanks to too much caffeine, and people all over chat, mingle, and wander about the garden, enjoying the rare sunshine and fresh air.

Kalinda Raisa has the day off work from the restaurant, Quil's Place Chowder, which is well known for its clam chowder, among other dishes.  She walks the festival, trying to find shade where she can, and keeping her green tinted glasses up to keep out the harsh glare of the sun.  Normally, Si'ahl has little sunshine, and she never saw sunshine once for the first six months after her arrival in the garden.  But then summer came, and things started to change.  According to her roommates, the change is temporary; the sun will vanish again behind the clouds come autumn, but until then, she has to deal with it.  After wandering around a bit, she finds herself at Quil's Place Market.  Her restaurant is there, as well as one of the many coffee shops, The Siren's Song, plus several shops and inns, as well.

April Showers has just arrived at the garden in her pursuit of a criminal.  Her search is complicated by the coffee festival going on today, as there are plenty of crowds to disappear and blend into.  But then again, maybe this would be a boon.  Likely her target would be out and about, and so maybe she would have a better chance of finding him.  His description seems colorful enough that he shouldn't be too hard to spot in a line-up--male dwarf, bald, red beard, scar on left cheek, and most telling of all, a poison oak leaf tattooed on his left arm.  He is a suspect in a murder, a robbery gone wrong they say, of a respected druid back in Nyik.  April had eagerly volunteered to find the man and bring him in to face justice.  Now, as she steps into the Quil's Place Marketplace, she hopes to find some clue as to where this dwarf is now.  The market is bustling with folks of all races.  There are several restaurants, including Quil's Place Chowder, Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs, and Allanon's Ambrosia.  There are also a number of coffee shops, like The Siren's Song, and general stores like The Sailor's Way and inns such as The Orca's Tail.  Her quarry must be around here somewhere...

Penelope “Poppy” Roquet has just arrived in the garden in pursuit of answers.  Her search is complicated by the coffee festival going on today, as everything is hectic and chaotic.  But perhaps she'll get lucky and find the man she's looking for--a male dwarf, red beard, scar on left cheek and perhaps what will stand out most, a poison oak tattooed on his left arm.  She caught wind of this man in the west, and remembered that the people who killed her family also had similar tattoos.  It could be a coincidence...but it is her only lead, at least for now.  Now, as she steps into the Quil's Place Marketplace, she hopes to find the dwarf, or failing that, find someone who knows him.  The market is bustling with folks of all races.  There are several restaurants, including Quil's Place Chowder, Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs, and Allanon's Ambrosia. There are also a number of coffee shops, like The Siren's Song, and general stores like The Sailor's Way and inns such as The Orca's Tail. Her quarry must be around here somewhere...

[GravityEmblem]

April looks over the crowd of people, a look of unease on her face. So many people, so close together. Though they laughed and joked with one another, all she could think of was how each one was a potential criminal. Each one could be a danger to her and the people around them.

She shakes the thought from her mind. The only criminal I need to worry about is that Dwarf, she thinks. The plan was to apprehend him as soon as possible so she could leave. Though the idea of grabbing a coffee after catching the murderer did appeal to her--a sort of celebration. Keeping her head down and avoiding eye contact, she hurries to The Orca's Tail. If the Dwarf was staying in Si'ahl for any longer than a day, he'd need a place to stay.

Once inside the inn, she approaches the innkeep (or at least, the person who looks most like the innkeep). Making an effort to stare directly at their eyes, she demands, "Have you seen a bald Dwarf with a red beard? He's a fugitive from justice. I'm charged with arresting him."

[Daos]

The innkeeper is an orcish woman with green skin, thick black hair tied loosely into a ponytail and dark brown eyes.  She looks to be in her late thirties, with a seemingly perpetual sour look on her face, and stands just over six feet tall in height, but looks more lanky than as muscular as most orc-blooded folk.  She stands at the counter, a cup of still steaming coffee before her.  The woman looks April over as she speaks, her eyes briefly lingering on the young woman's vestments and the icon around her neck.  "Yeah, I saw him; he's been staying here.  He just checked out twenty minutes or so."

[Matt4]

Penelope streches out her tired limbs, looking around at the crowd. - That's a lot of people. - She thought to herself, as she plays with one of her braids. More mouths that can spill the beans, good. But also more opportunities for the guy to get lost, bad.

She sniffed the air. She wasn't really a fan of coffee, but she could use one after her long travels, she thought as her eyes longed on the appealing 'The Siren's Song'. On one hand she wanted to get to the heart of the matter, on the other she was like really tired and she could use the energy boost.

And who knows, Brina used to read the coffee grounds for auguries about the future, maybe she too would find her answers in the bottom of a cup of coffee. It certainly would have been a nice early birthday gift.

She opened the door to the shop: "Hello~" - she said, with melodic voice. - "Can a tired girl get a nice coffee and a friendly chat in this nice shop?"

[HorizonsDream]

Kalina was simply at a loss at what to do within this crowd of people during the festival. Honestly, she was expecting to have to work on the day of the festival, but her boss must have had a heart attack to have given her the day off. She wasn't exactly complaining, but now that the festival was here, and it was apparently booming, she just didn't know what to do. All of the local spots were packed with people. She rubs at her forehead lightly, and decides that it was better to head somewhere inside instead of standing around in the heat. This was a coffee festival after all too, so she decides to head into the Siren's Song to purchase said coffee.

[Daos]

Stepping inside, Poppy discovers there's something of a line to the counter, where beleaguered baristas are frantically working to fill everyone's orders.  Thus, no one answers her greeting.  Stepping into the queue, she waits.  The people before her, an elf and an orc, reach the counter next and give their orders to the barista, a large and sour looking black dragonborn who looks a tad ridiculous in the Siren Song uniform, consisting of a bright green cap and apron, both bearing the shop's logo of a beautiful siren singing.

The dragonborn brings them their cups of coffee, positively scowling.  "Hey," complains the elf.  "What happened to service with a smile?"

"And what took so long with my order?  This coffee is almost room temperature," adds the orc.

"Sssmilesss cossst extra," the dragonborn remarks to the elf.  "And we are underssstaffed," he adds to the orc.

"Don't you know the customer is always right?" argues the elf.

"Yeah, we want to talk to your manager," adds the orc.

Poppy notes a slight hissing sound coming from the counter, and realizes that the dragonborn is literally biting his tongue, which is causing acidic spittle to spray onto the back end of the counter, sizzling upon contact.

As he deals with the two customers, the door opens and someone joins her in line.  She's a halfling woman, small even by their standards as she doesn't even clear three feet in height.  She has curly reddish-brown hair (on both her head and feet). Her eyes are brown and her skin is fair and freckled.  She is wearing simple garb, and is practically vibrating with energy.  "Coffeecoffeecoffeecoffee," she mutters to herself while waiting in line, fidgeting like crazy as she pulls out a thermos of coffee and pours herself a cup while waiting in line for a cup of coffee.

A moment later, the door opens yet again.  This time a drow woman enters, muscular with dark purple skin and lavender eyes hidden behind a pair of green-lens glasses.  Her shoulder length white hair is worn half up, half down with some fringe on the sides.  She's wearing a long light blue dress with off the shoulder straps and slits up the legs, making her look like some kind of dancer.  She silently gets in line behind the halfling.

[HorizonsDream]

Kalina was used to seeing some sort of line within The Siren's Song, but she wasn't quite expecting the line that she was standing in right now. She could see Aceber dealing with a couple of guests, and honestly her heart went out to him since he looked like he was about to bite their heads off at any second. Aceber was always nice to her, but she had seen his expressions and attitude change multiple times while she was standing in line waiting to order her coffee on a normal day. Though, her attention is drawn away from Aceber to the halfling in front of her. She raises her eyebrows as she watches the woman twitch as she pours herself more coffee. She even kind of leans over her shoulder, since Kalina kind of towers over her again, to make sure she is seeing things right. "...Are you okay?" she asks the woman. There was a very tiny accent in her voice, but it was kind of hard to place.

[Daos]

The halfling whirls around to face Kalinda, although she has to look up to see her face, as she is so short.  "OhyesquitewellespeciallyonceIhavemycoffee!"  She drinks heavily from her own cup, but her hands are shaking so hard she winds up spilling more than a few drops on the ground.

[GravityEmblem]

"Thank you for your assistance," April tells the woman, before briskly leaving the inn. She scans the area again, and her eye is attracted to the Siren's Song. With so many people entering, at least one of them should have seen something of the Dwarf, right?

She gulps as she enters, noticing the long line leading up to the barista. Her instincts tell her to march straight up to the Dragonborn at the counter and demand information, but she instead awkwardly shuffles into line behind the Drow and the Halfling. She barely notices the Half-Elf she brushes past.

Clearing her throat, she taps on the Drow's shoulder and asks, "Have you seen a bald Dwarf with a red beard? He's a murderer--a fugitive from justice. Tracking him down is my holy duty," she explains, gesturing to her symbol of Elonna.

[HorizonsDream]

Kalina was about to address the halfling in front of her, by pointing out that she was already drinking coffee, so she wasn't sure how much more was going to be of help to the poor thing. Of course, that was providing that she understood what she said considering she spoke so fast that it threw poor Kalina off guard. She looked down at the spilled coffee, and cleared her throat. She wanted to tell her that she didn't think that she needed more coffee, but at the same time it really wasn't her business. "...Right," she finally says.

She jumps a little bit once she is tapped on the shoulder, and she turns to look at the newcomer behind her. She was a little glad to see someone that seemed relatively normal. She looked down at the symbol of Elonna once it was presented to her, then back up to the woman's face. "No, I haven't seen a red bearded dwarf," she says with a shake of her head. "But finding one person in this crowd of people is going to be kind of hard," she points out. Honestly, all these people was pretty much the perfect cover.

[GravityEmblem]

"He has a distinguishing mark, though: a tattoo of a poison oak leaf," April explains, leaning over to check if any of the other patrons bear such a mark. The Halfling is especially suspicious to her. "We believe it to be the mark of his gang."

[HorizonsDream]

"I haven't seen anyone like that," Kalina says with a small shrug. She looks over to the halfling in front of her, and notes the way April is looking at her. "She's just really hyped up on coffee, I think."

[Daos]

Apparently taking Kalinda's remarks as an invitation to interject, the halfling says, "Did you know coffee has incredibly, magical qualities to it?  It can cure the sick, heal the wounded, why with the right breed of bean and enough of it, you could even bring back the dead!"  She pours herself another cup, her hands shaking so much that it continues splattering all over the floor at her bare feet.

==============

(OOC:  April can attempt a Perception check to see if she spots any tattoos on the people ahead of her in line.)

[GravityEmblem]

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[Daos]

From April's current perspective, at the back of the line, and only able to see the backsides of the people ahead of her, which are partially blocked by those behind them, doesn't reveal any sightings of any poison oak leaf tattoos.