With Raylyss and the Scaly Kids out in the mangrove Stinkwoods, frosty Osyl, the rather colourful Zalder, and the anime giantess, Kitsune (correcting the misspelling from last week, rendering her 'Wandering Hovering Spirit') went in search of a jewellery store to sell the loot they had taken from the 'Mall of the Ancients'.
Before getting there, an interaction with a 'friendly' fight prompted Zalder to blow his cover as a non-powered colourful freak, and caught a gent who had been knocked over a second-floor railing. The man was stupefied that this green-skinned, blue-haired, sugar-glider membraned person was holding him aloft, and asked to be gently put down. The assailant, his 'friend' made his way down the stair, to the consternation of the prostitutes they had been cavorting with in the room before the argument had erupted. Osyl, conjured a fabrication of 9 and change pounds of frigid water over the bruiser. The cold water worked in bringing the hulk back to his senses, and Osyl's attempts to sweet-talk him worked better than the player had planned, resulting in the big fella' suddenly being rather taken with her (to the further consternation of said working women). Zalder released his grip on the punchee and flew off as the Law made their way toward the group. A conversation between the deputies in the background suggested that they thought the rather WI Vrun-looking Kitsune and the somewhat Yirinn-looking Osyl didn't much look like cousins, but the WI nobles were prone to mate with whom they desired; and, was it really true that West Coast Vrun really practised bestiality? Kitsune managed to defuse the situation after being admonished not to associate with Muties, at least in town.
With Kitsune's week-long knowledge of Kryssaul City, they set out into the Good Part of town and to a heavily guarded two-floor Jewellery establishment. Ignoring a man who offered to look at their items before they stepped foot inside, the two went inside and marvelled at the collection of Auric Black Metal jewellery in a partitioned case occupied by an armed guard. The staff was knowledgeable enough to spot the quality and mark of the Ancient jewellery and then called the manager, who promptly invited the pair upstairs for a private meeting. The walk up the stairs revealed three full cold-cast plate-armoured over-under coilstock-armed guards on either side of the way, suggesting that such transactions were fairly secure. A brief event revealed a grizzled hunter in another section of the upstairs area, but he quickly disappeared from view. The business was prefaced by a friendly question session by the manager who asked as to the the provenance of the goods, how the girls came to possess it, and after their safety travelling alone on the wild ways with such a haul. Answers were provided in varying degrees of believability, and the sale of some rather remarkable pieces (including a circuitry embedded in a coin and a dagger of some sort of rainbowed-glass-like material), netting 10k count. A Letter of Recommendation and a private carriage ride to the White star Hotel marked the pair of 'cousins' as members of the Amlynn family (one of several known to have founded the ill-fated WICE fort later overrun by combined Aberrant, Dokirin, and Humanoid forces). The White Star Hotel executive suite (100 count per day, not including room service) proved much to the women's' enjoyment, affording Kitsune a relaxing hot bath, and Osyl time to 'chill-out'.
In the meantime, Zalder (having flown in over the mangrove canopy and spotted a pinnace) had been assisting Raylyss in wrangling his son (a rather cunning fisher) when he heard sounds echoing across the water, further out into a channel. Four folks in a dinghy rowed closer, and it was apparent that they were smugglers or pirate-types. Zalder, feeling michevious, experimented with the Water node, but was admonished by the Sisters and then drew upon an Air crystal to stealth up on them unawares. A failed death-stroke attack on an occupant while the three others were poking around for a submerged something alerted the others and the sloppy kill subjected him to wool-pistol fire and afforded the Durnsman (slave?) an escape from the other two. A further failed hatchet throw against the pistoleer and Zalder was hiding in the mangroves as the two survivors (a young woman/girl who was disguising that fact, and an older, relatively 'nice' guy) rowed back with their badly butchered comrade's corpse out to the ship.
The Durn watched as Zalder dredged up a pirate-chest-sized chest encrusted with muck and barnacles, and then floated it up using a large air bubble. The Durn warned him that the contents were holy, and would kill Zalder, and likely himself, if it were opened, but Zalder precoded to pick the lock. The Sisters, unable to speak with him, were clearly distraught for their proxy agent, and he relented, thinking that if they were powerless, it was likely a big deal.
Gadget-girl Kitsune sent a mechanical servant to deliver makeup, hair dye, and a robe to Zalder who then joined them in town at the gunsmiths, where the party purchased more revolvers, and Black Crown manufactured revolving carbines and ammunition, wiping out nearly 7k of their ten. The girls booked passage for the Riverland Peninsula, with special provisions made for a private trip, and entry to the big lake I cannot recall the name of at present, requiring the ship arrive there at high tide, on a full moon (up coming), so as to pass over the flooded shoal separating it from the bay. Full passage was paid and preparations to disembark that night were made.
Hotel antics. Science team brought up. Zalder returned at night with a carriage to fetch Raylyss and the kids, and to offer the Durn a ride, only to find a religious ceremony and a Durn congregation held in the mangroves. There were shadowy figures with luminous eyes and one held a knife to his throat until the okay was given. For his kindness, the priest gave Zalder a chunk of fragrant resinous wood. The return trip to the carriage showed that men were surrounding the vehicle, and a still-mounted rider oversaw the operation. Fighting ensued after Zalder head-shot the mounted feller and he went down hard. Cloaked, but against the night sky in moonlight allowed the shooters on the ground a better chance of striking, and a as if that weren't enough, a night-flying predator snatched him up in its talons before being struck in the fire, dropping him a full minute's swim back to shore. On route, Zalder was bitten by a fish, but it was dispatched in one blow.
We held it there.
