|
|
Post by Daos on Sept 25, 2023 22:20:53 GMT -8
Malaika City is oft described as a beacon in the night; a city of prosperity, of dreams, where anyone can start with nothing and with hard work and maybe a bit of luck, climb their way to the very top. But it has a darker side. It is a city of monsters, both figurative and literal. Some of these monsters do not go bump in the night, hiding in the shadows, but are, in fact, running the place. They make soul pacts in city halls, patrol the streets with nightstick in hand, and defend the guilty in courts of law. The strong protect each other, and trample the weak. So where do the weak turn when they need justice?  Azedeth Investigations. "When the chips are down, when you're at the end of your rope, you need someone you can count on. And that's what you'll find here. Someone who'll go all the way, who'll protect you no matter what. Don't lose hope. Come on over to our offices, and you'll see there's still heroes in this world." Or so their fliers say, taped all over the city. Any poor, downtrodden soul who sees one might be surprised, upon following the directions to the address, to find a large and rather fancy looking, if not dilapidated and neglected inn called the Azedeth. Built some 70 years ago, it boasted 68 rooms, a dining hall, ballroom, lounge and several suites. However, when it was decided to divide the city up, it was left stuck in the poorer part of the city, and business dried up after that. It sat abandoned for years until recently purchased by a mysterious man named Mal.  Mal seemed a man on a mission. Something of a brooding loner, he tended to work alone, helping those in trouble from the shadows, then disappearing into them again. But as time went on, it became clear he could not save this city alone. Reluctantly, at least at first, he met others, made allies, and accepted their help. There was plenty of room at the old Azedeth where he stayed. Sure, the place was falling apart, but once the rooms were cleaned up, it wasn't too bad. Mal himself stayed in one of the suites on the top floor, although he was always last to bed and first to rise, so one wonders how much time he actually spent in there. Mal's a handsome man, human from the look of him with dark hair cut very short, dark eyes and the typical dark complexion of native Renosians. He seemed to always been clean-shaven, and almost always wore dark colors--particularly black. As the party descends the stairs into the lobby that morning after a long night's rest in their personal rooms, they find that--as per usual--Mal is already awake and probably has been for hours. He is sitting in the lobby at a table, looking over a map of the city, brooding in the darkness as the curtains are all still pulled shut, blocking out the harsh sun outside. But also making it a bit hard to see, at least for those without infravision. Noticing their approach, Mal takes a drink of his coffee and nods absently toward them. "There's more in the kitchen," he tells them, referring to the coffee. He makes a face. "Sorry, it's awful." =============== (OOC: It is currently Chrysote 24, Frostday, in the year 323, early morning. Casters may choose new spells for the day. Post at will.) |
|
|
|
Post by GravityEmblem on Sept 26, 2023 5:19:14 GMT -8
Nerisse sashes down the stairs, hanging her hat on the chair across from Mal. “Good morning!” she says as she takes a seat. “Aww, did you close the curtains just for me?” she teases.
She assesses the man as she waits for a response—she isn’t quite sure what’s going on with him. Her best guess is that he’s a bleeding-heart shining soul wannabe hero, dedicated to protecting the “good people” of Daemon…although he’s a lot better at keeping it hidden than the Human. What does she think she’s doing, openly following Octhanus in the middle of Renosia? She feels fine about THEM putting their necks on the line to help people, but why’d they have to bring her and Zemora into their little crusade? But she shakes the thoughts off. You chose to join this little enterprise, Nerisse, she tells herself.
[Nerisse prepares Armor as her First-Level spell slot]
|
|
|
|
Post by Marvoch on Sept 26, 2023 9:32:16 GMT -8
Following just behind Nerisse, Sylas interjects in response to her words: "Sometimes I wonder if he is not the drow in here, rather than the three of us."
He goes on to say: "Thanks for the coffee, boss. I'm sure I've had worse." He then approaches the kitchen, concluding: "While we are helping ourselves, would you like to tell us what you are brooding over?"
===============
(OOC: I'm assuming the kitchen is the next room or something like that.)
|
|
Matt4
Paragon
Posts: 3,545
|
Post by Matt4 on Sept 26, 2023 14:26:08 GMT -8
"I don't think I have." - Zemora thinks to herself, putting down the mug with the coffee. It truly was awful, or maybe it was just her general adversion to coffee. She didn't know why she thought this time in particular would have been different.
She sits down, massaging her temples and enjoying the dark: "Is it about some other desperate soul that cannot pay our salary but we have to help anyway?" - Zemora asks. - "Please, Mal, tell us that this one has at least enough to pay for half of our billable hours."
OOC
Oh right, spells.
Command, Light, Cause Fear
|
|
|
|
Post by Daos on Sept 26, 2023 14:56:32 GMT -8
“Aww, did you close the curtains just for me?” she teases. "Sure," Mal replies dryly, taciturn as usual. It was strange, that despite his actions, he didn't fit that expected 'heroic' archetype all that well, really. He tended to keep to himself, he didn't speak much, he didn't give moral lectures on Virtue and Honor or what have you. But if he was not motivated by altruism alone, one does wonder what drives him so hard to fight for the marginalized and downtrodden people of this city. "While we are helping ourselves, would you like to tell us what you are brooding over?" "Not brooding, Just...thinking deeply," Mal objects. The distinction between the two seemed lost on him. Or perhaps he was making a joke. Mal was often so deadpan, it was hard to tell when he was being serious or not. "Is it about some other desperate soul that cannot pay our salary but we have to help anyway?" - Zemora asks. - "Please, Mal, tell us that this one has at least enough to pay for half of our billable hours." "Not exactly," he answers. "Last client couldn't afford to pay. Coffers down to almost nothing. Might need to hit the pavement, find some new work. Unless anyone here has any ideas?" |
|
|
|
Post by Marvoch on Sept 26, 2023 20:49:38 GMT -8
Sylas sits down at the table with the others and takes a look at the map Mal was studying, trying to figure out if there is an area of the city he's particularly interested in. Then, while enjoying his cup of hot coffee — yeah, he had worse — he says, "Better a lousy paying job than no job at all and sitting on our hands all day, Zemora, don't you agree? Boredom is a cruel company." He then adds teasingly with a little smirk to cheer her up, "Not that you were that generous of an employer anywhy, so less grumpiness and more energy."
Turning his attention back to Mal, he goes on to say: "So, boss, no new work today? Do we keep plastering the city with flyers? It doesn't seem to be working. Shouldn't we try a fresh approach? Maybe simply combing the underclass sectors will yield us some jobs on the site. Sun be damned, but as you said, we need to hit the pavement."
|
|
|
|
Post by HorizonsDream on Sept 27, 2023 2:55:18 GMT -8
"...Why? Why do you have to wear that shade of red?" Ellasandra asks as she walks down the stairs with her twin sister Isabella. She was absently trying to fix one of the loose buns on the top of her head as she was lecturing her sister on the shade of lipstick she was wearing.
Of course, this was a tame reaction from Ellasandra. Nothing beats the reaction she had a couple of weeks ago when her twin sauntered into the old hotel with her hair chopped off ti about her shoulders. Ellasandra was so angry, amd it was hard to figure out why exactly. It seemed completely unreasonable to have that type of reaction to her sister changed up her look, but it happened all the same.
"Good morning," she says to everyone else as she goes to get a pot of bad coffee, seemingly completely defeated, even if it was just the beginning of the day. "Is there anymore cinnamon?"
|
|
Matt4
Paragon
Posts: 3,545
|
Post by Matt4 on Sept 27, 2023 10:41:28 GMT -8
"You saying this after you sucked all the money I had left out of me... You stirge!" - Zemora says grumply in response to Sylas' joke. But he was right, at least about the boredom. - "If we have no new clients, I can go to court and see if there is some lawyer or someone in need of an investigator. I know, I know: no clients that are obviously guilty this time. Sigh." - Even though those cases were the most engaging to win.
Regardless of work, Zemora loved going to court. People that were payed to fight and argue, plot twists, dirty tricks, loopholes. It was all really engaging, so she always tried to spend time there.
|
|
|
|
Post by Daos on Sept 27, 2023 14:56:53 GMT -8
Turning his attention back to Mal, he goes on to say: "So, boss, no new work today? Do we keep plastering the city with flyers? It doesn't seem to be working. Shouldn't we try a fresh approach? Maybe simply combing the underclass sectors will yield us some jobs on the site. Sun be damned, but as you said, we need to hit the pavement." "Might be necessary," Mal agrees. "It's not like a wealthy widow is going to stroll through those doors, looking to hire us." A hush falls over the group and everyone looks over to the door, just in case, but alas, nothing happens. "...Why? Why do you have to wear that shade of red?" Ellasandra asks as she walks down the stairs with her twin sister Isabella. She was absently trying to fix one of the loose buns on the top of her head as she was lecturing her sister on the shade of lipstick she was wearing. Of course, this was a tame reaction from Ellasandra. Nothing beats the reaction she had a couple of weeks ago when her twin sauntered into the old hotel with her hair chopped off it about her shoulders. Ellasandra was so angry, and it was hard to figure out why exactly. It seemed completely unreasonable to have that type of reaction to her sister changed up her look, but it happened all the same. "Good morning," she says to everyone else as she goes to get a pot of bad coffee, seemingly completely defeated, even if it was just the beginning of the day. "Is there anymore cinnamon?" "It looks good on me," Isabella insists. "It'd look good on you, too, if you ever wore makeup. Perhaps if you did, you wouldn't spend every weekend here, alone, dateless," she remarks with a smirk. As if sensing her twin sister's thoughts, Isabella ran her fingers through her short hair, as if rubbing it in. "And yes, there's just a bit left here," Isabella said as she sprinkled it into her coffee. "Whoops, guess that's it. Oh, well." She offered Ellasandra a shrug and sipped her coffee coyly. "If we have no new clients, I can go to court and see if there is some lawyer or someone in need of an investigator. I know, I know: no clients that are obviously guilty this time. Sigh." "You can try," Mal offers. "But the lawyers tend to have their own investigators, and the sort of clients they get probably don't need our help." |
|
|
|
Post by GravityEmblem on Sept 27, 2023 16:12:19 GMT -8
"I think it looks lovely, Isabella," Nerisse says, grabbing a cup of coffee. "Don't listen to that silly sister of yours!" She knows full well that Isabella didn't need to be reminded of that. She just happened to share her pleasure in riling up her uptight twin. Nerisse grimaces as she takes a drink. It's as bad as Mal described.
"A wealthy widow is awfully boring, though," she remarks. "What we REALLY need is a mysterious stranger with hordes of unexplained wealth, who wants us to solve the murder of...some seemingly unrelated person. Seemingly," she emphasizes.
|
|
|
|
Post by Marvoch on Sept 27, 2023 17:41:46 GMT -8
Sylas, having enjoyed his coffee rejoins the conversation saying: "Well, as an adage from the depths goes: 'If you want something, take it.' I guess we'll have to hit the streets since it doesn't seem like there are better options on the table this morning."
Before continuing he whispers: "Sadly.", then he goes on saying: "Hopefully in the meantime, we'll chance upon said mysterious stranger looking for witty minds. Who knows, maybe Crizza will favour us and the man will come with a set of full pockets. After all, we have a jar of cinnamon to fill and a smile to put on Zemora's face. Boss, any advice on where to start?"
Then turning to Ellasandra, he adds: "Will your sister join the hunt today?"
|
|
|
|
Post by HorizonsDream on Sept 27, 2023 20:18:09 GMT -8
"I'm right here," Ellasandra says to Nerisse as she watches her sister use up the last of the cinnamon. Ellasandra really only seemed uptight and even unreasonable when she was around Isabella. If there was a chance for her not to be around Isabella, then Ellasandra was a little bit more chill (only a little bit). She always seemed to have a bit of tension about her though, but it was hard to figure out just why she was that way. It wasn't really that typical of a follower of Octhanus to be so uptight. "And you know I prefer to be dateless at the moment," she finally says to her sister before she saunters over to the table and sits down. She takes a couple of sips of Mal's coffee, and manages to restrain herself from audibly saying "ugh".
Now with a little bit of coffee inside her, she relaxes a little bit and looks over to Sylas. She still didn't have a great read on the three drow that worked with Mal. She and Isabella were the newbies at the hotel. "Probably not," she says as she looks over to her sister. "She hardly ever joins us when we are looking for work."
|
|
|
|
Post by Daos on Sept 27, 2023 22:57:38 GMT -8
"I think it looks lovely, Isabella," Nerisse says, grabbing a cup of coffee. "Don't listen to that silly sister of yours!" "Thank you, sweetheart," Isabella responds. "Let me know if you want to borrow any." "Hopefully in the meantime, we'll chance upon said mysterious stranger looking for witty minds. Who knows, maybe Crizza will favour us and the man will come with a set of full pockets. After all, we have a jar of cinnamon to fill and a smile to put on Zemora's face. Boss, any advice on where to start?" Mal shakes his head. "As you said, we'll have to rely on luck and the gods. Maybe fortune will point one of us in the right direction." "Probably not," she says as she looks over to her sister. "She hardly ever joins us when we are looking for work." Isabella shrugs again. "Well, someone should stay here in case of any walk-ins, right?" she offers. |
|
|
|
Post by Igordragonian on Sept 28, 2023 4:45:17 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by Marvoch on Sept 28, 2023 9:03:49 GMT -8
"Oh darn it. Have it your way." He sighed and took his seat, and drank the coffee without complaining. A big and stuffed backbag was set near him, filled with traps and other trapping materials. He listened to the others carefully. "Maybe we need to lurk at the right place." "Hey business partner, 'morning.", says Sylas to Tukgruff, waving his hand. He then adds to Tukgruff's idea as he plays with the rim of his empty cup: "We could try the Three-Eyed Wolf later in the day in case we had no luck. The place is quite busy in the evening and someone might have heard something about a job we could work on." After a brief reflection, he gets up, throwing his cup in the air, catching it up distractedly in a habitual gesture when it reaches his torso. As he heads to the kitchen to wash the cup, he adds: "Otherwise, we could drop by the Grand Market. It's always bustling there, especially in the early hours." |
|
