IC: The Sun Never Sets, IC thread for The Sun Never Sets Options

[Tecumseh]

Infiltration is not Smohalla's strong suit. Perhaps it stems from his unwillingness to lie, his aversion to deception. He steps behind a bush but it's not enough. One of the lads across the river spies the movement and calls his friends over. The man with his arms raised turns and, with a vague sense of relief, follows the others over to the river separating them from Smohalla. Stogie and Ellesar - with their camo jackets and superior crouching abilities - remain out-of-sight. The young men laugh and shout across the river.

"Hey, pops!" one calls. "What are you doing back there?"

"You live here?" another one asks. "Are you from town?"

"Come talk to us, old timer!" another waves. "Tell us some stories! Old people love telling stories, right? C'mon!"

They smile and laugh and are obnoxious but not overtly hostile. They seem amused by Smohalla and his clothes and his "hiding" spot.

[phlapjack77]

Never one for skulking in the bushes, Smohalla decides to approach these newcomers.

His hands sign quickly to his teammates Stay hidden as he walks out into the open.

The eagle shaman stops at the river's edge and calls across to the men.

I am not from this town, yet I have interest in what has happened to it.

If you wish to speak with me, you must come meet me here at this place of renewal.

[Tecumseh]

The three men up front exchange a look with each other, then laugh at Smohalla's rebuff. The fourth man - the one in the silly coat - stands back from the trio. He seems to be watching things carefully, studying Smohalla and his reactions. He seems content to let the others take the lead. He looks slightly anxious about the encounter, uncertain of where it will lead.

"Don't be so stubborn, old timer!" one of them shouts.

"Where else can you go?" the second one asks indignantly. "There's cliffs on two sides and the river on the third. You have to come this way eventually. Don't be such a crotchety old man - come talk to us!"

"Don't make me get my threads wet!" the third one laughs. "There's four of us and one of you! C'mon over here if you know what's good for you." His tone is more light-hearted than threatening, but Smohalla can sense that their patience will only last so long. Peccant youth!

[phlapjack77]

Smohalla's predator gaze selects the weakest of the herd.

The painted one - I will talk with him.

Send him here.

[Tecumseh]

The three men spin around, almost surprised to find the fourth man there behind them. "Nick?" one of them asks rhetorically, before they all start nodding together.

"Nick! Get over there and do your thing! See what the old codger wants!"

Nick exhales and advances uncertainly. He moves down the river bank, the crosses the river gingerly. Smohalla judges him to be in his late teens. He's tall and willowy and not terribly coordinated. He loses his footing at one point and sets a boot down in the water to steady himself. The water splashes his leg and his coat, washing away some of the arcane symbols painted near the hem. He steadies himself then finishes crossing the river. He walks up the bank on the other side and presents himself in front of Smohalla with as much dignity as he can muster. He doesn't see Stogie or Ellesar. He raises his arms and speaks in an artificially deep voice.

"We are here to find the Three Weird Sisters!" he rumbles, projecting his voice almost comically. "Do you know the Sisters and where we may find them? Speak! The spirits command you!" He shakes his arms theatrically, causing the strange fetishes on his coat to rattle and shake from the motion.

[phlapjack77]

Be at ease, I mean you no harm.

Let us sit and have palaver.

I am old, and standing tires me.

With this Smohalla sits on the bank.

I first came here seeking the Three Sisters.

I found the town in ruins.

Why do you seek after these Sisters?

[Tecumseh]

The three men on the far side of the river exchange looks when they hear Smohalla confirm that he came here seeking the Sisters. Their smiles drop and their apprehension goes up a notch. They begin to fidget, putting their hands in strange positions near their waistbands and armored vests. They watch closely to see how the conversation will continue.

Nick remains standing, his arms still outstretched. He turns to face Smohalla, his back now to Ellesar and Stogie. He takes Smohalla's age as an excuse to raise his voice even further.

"We come to stop the destruction!" he booms grandiosely. "See the suffering that has befallen this town! The spirits here weep; can you not hear them? You would be wise to help us! Tell us what you know of the Sisters! Help end this threat, and you will be a hero to all who mourn for what the Sisters have destroyed!" His fetishes jingle in the breeze.

Astral:

[ Spoiler ]

Nick's aura is a mess. It's a mix of honesty and deception, good intentions and false reasoning. It's impossible to tell what he thinks; perhaps he himself does not know.

[phlapjack77]

These Sisters, they are powerful magic wielders.

Already some who sought them have been killed by spirits conjured out of thin air.

Are you sure you wish to find out just how powerful they really are?

Are you sure you wish to pit your...magic...against theirs?

Think hard on this, Nick of the Painted Coat.

Smohalla lowers his voice to a volume meant for the two of them.

And if you are in trouble and in need of help, I can give it.

[Tecumseh]

Nick opens his mouth and looks like he's going to respond when Smohalla's final aside brings him up short. He stops, caught off-guard, and looks down at Smohalla. He tilts his head to the side, almost like an eagle would, to consider Smohalla anew.

He glances up. His back is to Stogie and Ellesar, his face is toward his friends. His eyes flicker to them.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," one of the elves bellows. "We see what they did here. We're not some yokel townfolk, unaware and unarmed. Magic is a gun, and I'm a mage." He lifts up his shirt to show a large revolver stuck in his waistband. It looks terribly uncomfortable. "If we can cut them, they can bleed. If they can bleed, they can die. If they can die, they ain't tough." He spits to the side, sending up a little puff of black ash.

Nick looks back down at Smohalla but doesn't say anything further. His arms start to lower subtly as the fatigue of holding them up sets in.

[phlapjack77]

Still speaking in a voice pitched for Nick's ears only, Smohalla says

This much will I tell you.

Those three are no match for the power wielded by the Sisters.

If you continue with them, you will surely die.

Choose wisely, Nick of the Painted Coat.

In a normal voice, Smohalla addresses the group.

I have told you all I will.

Our paths now must diverge and be our own.

I will be going now.

[Tecumseh]

Nick still seems floored by the side conversation. His arms finish their fall to his sides. He looks down at Smohalla, speechless, mouth slightly agape.

The three others don't seem to notice Nick's reaction. Instead, they laugh again and elbow each other in a get a load of this manner.

"Where you going, old timer?" one of them shouts after their amusement subsides. "Ain't no way out except across this river. You gotta come talk to us; there's no way around it. Besides, what the hell else you doin'? Your social calendar doesn't look too pressing from here!" They laugh again, expressing their shared opinion that these country yokels are good fun, if not a little cuckoo.

[phlapjack77]

Smohalla cocks his head in the same manner as Nick previously had done.

His eyes are on the youth in front of him as he addresses those across the river.

What more do you wish to talk about?

[Tecumseh]

"You know more than you're letting on," one of the elves says. "You said you came here seeking the Sisters too, but you didn't say why, or what you found. Then you say that the Sisters killed some who were seeking them. You obviously know more than you're letting on."

He laughs. "Didn't think I was paying attention, did you?" He taps his temple a couple times. "Elves, you old coot. Forever young, forever sharp."

The human on the other side of the river pipes up. "Stop dragging your feet; we just want to help! Do you want to see another Greenwater go up in flames? Come give us a braindump so we can curbstomp these witches and get back home in time for dinner and some 'trid, savvy?"

[phlapjack77]

This elicits a smile from Smohalla.

Yes, it seems I have told you much already.

Yet you have told me little of value.

Let us be on equal footing here.

What do you know of the Sisters and how to find them?

[Tecumseh]

The other elf puts his foot up on a piece of rubble and leans his elbow on his knee. "The Sisters done pissed someone off," he says with an affected hayseed accent that doesn't match his green-and-blue mohawk. "Must be someone out there that don't approve of their town-burning hobby. They earned themselves a price on their heads, and a handsome one at that. We're here to do our civic duty and to get paid doing it. Just concerned citizens, really." He smiles wryly.

"Greenwater ain't exactly a leap in logic. Nick'll find us a trail to chase; we'll take the Tata here and do some off-roading. So tell us what you know and give us a leg-up on some of the other 'runners that are bound to follow. Not everyone is as service-oriented as ourselves." He smirks, as elves often do.

[phlapjack77]

What if I told you there is no trail to chase from here?

That you are too late in joining this endeavor.

The Sisters used magic to destroy this town.

And like all deeds done with magic the trail faded with time.

What then will you do?

[Tecumseh]

The first elf throws his hands up in mock exasperation. "Well I guess we'll just go home and let the Sisters get back to their town-burning ways then!"

The second elf throws his arm around the human. "Chummer here is on the 'soft and he's got the Pathfinder™ chip. Dry conditions, not a lot of foot traffic - the guide companies closed up shop, the hikers are all gone - we'll just find the trail leading out of town and follow it." He grins triumphantly.

His logic isn't entirely sound - who's to say that the Sisters were ever here in person? maybe they just sent their spirits and watched from afar - but it could still lead them in the right direction. Smohalla, Stogie, and Ellesar are all accomplished trackers. They all know that the elf is correct that tracking in these conditions would be easy. If this isn't some sort of bluff (the human is the one with cyber on his nervous system) then what they'll find are the tracks Stogie and Ellesar made leading into town last night, which, coincidentally, lead right back to the Sisters.

Now how well these boys can "track" while riding in the Tata is an open question, but that might not be important. The river valley is a straight line leading back to the Sisters with little, if any, opportunity to turn down the wrong path due to the steep mountains on either side of the river. Alternatively, Toothy is out there and presumably is still hungry. If he eats these bozos then maybe he won't bother you again.

[phlapjack77]

Smohalla tries one last time.

This destruction was the work of magic, a spirit conjured from the astral realms.

There is no mundane trail for you to follow.

A pointed look at Nick.

And you have no magic to find any other kind of trail either.

You're foolish if you think a chip and a few guns can defeat them.

Certain death awaits you if you continue.

[Tecumseh]

The men dismiss Smohalla with guffaws and blown raspberries. Nick shakes out of his trance long enough to act affronted, echoing the derision of the others as he returns to them across the stream.

"Old man, you don't even know!" one of the elves jeers. "We're the nice guys. Word of this is just now reaching Seattle. You know what breed of psychos that kind of nuyen will bring down on this drekhole? You'll wake up one morning to find every Barrens monster with a load of Kamikaze and a short fuse standing right here where we are and you'll be like -" he adopts a falsetto voice - "why didn't I help those nice young men who only wanted to stop the Sisters' reign of terror? woe is me, boo hoo." He rolls his fists in front of his eyes to mimic Smohalla's crying.

The others laugh at the impression. Their merriment complete, the elves look to the other human to begin tracking. He slots an optical memory chip into a small datajack behind his ear. His body goes rigid for a moment before he resumes moving. It's immediately clear that his behavior is now different. He walks in circles with definitive purpose, his head swiveling back and forth with focus and attention. He kneels down at a couple points to trace tracks in the ash. His assessment sounds familiar.

"Some dog prints. Skinny bitch here - 2 meters, 80 kilos. Wearing combat boots."

The elves tell him to track the Sisters, not his mother, at which point the laughing and the pushing and the yo' mama jokes resume. But before long they have tracks to follow that lead south. They move toward the Tata, which somewhat obscures the line of fire, loudly proclaiming their intention to drive south and bag the Sisters. They might have actually said 'teabag', but Smohalla's hearing is only so-so and that comment doesn't even make sense.

Oh, but speaking of tea, Smohalla suddenly remembers Ellie's shopping list. Sugar, eggs, tea.

[phlapjack77]

Smohalla addresses his friends in a quiet voice after Nick rejoins the others.

If they leave here, there is a good chance they will find what they seek.

Do we defend the Sisters now? Have we chosen our side once and for all?

[pbangarth]

Stogie stage whispers, "The contract we got isn't one. It's just a bounty. So we don't owe Gunny anything in terms of doing what he thinks we said we'd do. These jokers remind me more of the scum who attacked my farm than of saviors of civilization. I don't think they will be much of a challenge to the Sisters on their own turf, but a strike now on these guys will save the neighborhood some grief." He prepares his Enfield shotgun.

The farmer in him comes through again. Planting two different crops is a good hedge against hunger at the end of the season. "And we can always sell the Tata if we don't get Gunny's bounty."

[phlapjack77]

So be it.

We will have to find a way to stop this bounty.

Else the Sisters will never know peace.

We make a start here.

Smohalla readies a spell, picking out the human of the group of bounty hunters.

[pbangarth]

"Shit!" Stogie curses under his breath. He whispers to Ellesar, "My shotgun is drek at this range. Ellesar, you're whiz with the bow. Lend me your rifle and I'll take out the driver. Even if I don't kill him, I'll make it hard for him to drive. You can get the other elf so's no one can quickly take control of the Tata. Smohalla is eyeing the human GPS unit. That will leave the fake magician Smohalla tried to chat up."

How many damn weapons do I need to have to survive this game?

Stogie takes a moment to draw magic and heighten his coordination for the shot.

[AtroposReborn]

Ellesar holds the Remington out in front of Stogie. "Only take this if you do not have murderous intentions in your heart."

He slides the bow from off of his back and quickly notches an arrow. Just scare them a little. Now is not the time for a slaughter. The sleek wood feels good in his hand, a virtual extension of his body. It had taken years to hone his craft and it made him proud to put it to good use. The small indicator light on the explosive tip flips from red to green as he pulls the bowstring back, a sign foreshadowing the implications of his actions. I hope this works.

Just before the arrow flies from his hands the elf calls out to the group. "Step away from the vehicle! This conversation is not done!" As the last syllable is uttered the shaft soars free, aimed just shy of the Tata.

[Tecumseh]

Stogie can see the seriousness in Ellesar's eye when he hands over the rifle. Maybe Ellesar's right, maybe there is enough death in the world without geeking these schmoes. Maybe sending a high-powered rifle round through their mohawks would teach them a valuable life lesson of their proper place in the food chain. Or maybe Stogie's right that these four aren't long for the world so why not be effecient about it? Maybe getting drilled in the brain box is a best way to go; now you see me, now you don't. It's probably better than getting torched or electrocuted or whatever else the Sisters might do. Or maybe there's a third way where none of that is necessary.

Stogie turns his attention back to the task at hand, flexing his Magic and waiting for the boost to his quickness. He feels his muscles smooth out - it's easy to bring the rifle to bear on the driver, with the barrel sliding into place just so - but the kick to his reflexes never comes. Instead he receives a muddled telepathic woof from Jake, who suddenly finds himself inflated like a puffer fish. The drain sinks into Jake, adding a dull headache to his swollen body and his sense of perplexion. It would be comical in other circumstance, and might still be after the current fuss has settled down.

Ellesar stands and shouts his warning, firing his arrow before the men have a chance to reach the Tata. The arrow explodes between them and the vehicle. The detonation is more like an obnoxious firecracker than a grenade but it certainly gets their attention. The two elves are obviously the experienced combatants. They both drop to one knee and spin toward the source of the shout as they whip out their heavy pistols. Stogie already had a bead on the driver and with his enhanced dexterity it's easy to adjust his targeting. He fires a single shot, blasting the man's revolver out of his grip. It rips out of his hand, twisting the elf's trigger finger to an agonizing angle before the revolver drops to the ground. The man cries out and vigorously shakes his hand up and down before his other hand seizes his throbbing finger and squeezes it.

Nick and the other human stare blankly with dumbfounded looks on their faces. Nick throws his arms up to cover his head from the tiny pebbles raining down on him. The other human looks too confused to react. Smohalla figures that the other elf (with pistol still in hand) is the logical target for his spell. He concentrates the clean mana around him before firing a bolt into the background count. It's not Smohalla's best effort and, astrally, he sees pieces of the spell shear off when it hits the background count, like a meteorite entering the Earth's atmosphere. The elf is looking toward Ellesar and is unprepared for a wave of energy coming from Smohalla's direction. The spell manifests on the physical plane as a huge gust of wind erupting out of the astral world. It catches the elf by surprise and forces him to turn his head as the wind pounds his eyes and face. He raises an arm to protect his head. The shift in weight pushes him off balance; he topples over backward onto his keebler keister. Smohalla's murmured prayers dissipate all the drain.

There's a tense moment as the dust settles and the men collect their wits.