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ST Corve's return to Brume had been a good one so far. Sunshine was in good health, being taken care of. Jaks was happy to be 'home' in his stable and Carmine was enjoying a dreamless time since leaving Great Forks, as was Corve.
ST And now he was going to have another meeting with Muriel regarding his unofficial work for Brume on the Black Vipers.
ST Amber Silk had let him pass with only a raised eyebrow and he'd been escorted by a pair of highly-decorated officers back to the Plutarch's meeting rooms where Muriel was currently signing papers. She'd told him to wait in the outer room for a few moments.
Corve sits comfortably in one of the chairs in the waiting room. It really is nice to be back home. He hadn't really had much time the last time they passed through, and being here for a little... well, it was pleasant. He waits, cleaning one of his six-shooters silently.
Muriel strides into the room and seats herself across from Corve on a bright orange, overstuffed sofa. "Assessor Corve, it is good to see you."
Corve raises a brow and holsters the gun, looking up at Muriel. "Plutarch Muriel... likewise. Though I think I was much more sure you'd be alive, than the other way around." He gives her a short-lived grin.
Muriel "Yes, there is that. But I have serious matters to talk with you about."
Corve "You know I'm always interested in serious matters while in business. Go ahead."
Muriel "First I would like a short summary of your 'adventures' so far."
Corve thinks for a minute. "Ah... well. We went to Chiaroscuro; in the airship, they tried to trap us and enslave us. Taking the ship back and... interrogating... the captain, and then being straightforward about it, got us banned from Chiaroscuro. We met an dark Exalted on the ship. He has been a pain in the ass. We got information in Chiaroscuro, however, which led us towards Sztangz-Ooul. A place which resides
Corve above a behemoth."
Muriel "Yes, I received some...information about the Chiascuro matter."
Corve "We spent a short time within the behemoth, and after gaining some more information, headed along the South. Eventually, we ended up in Yu-Shan, the Heavenly city, curteousy of a... friend. There, we gained information as to where we might go and attain valuable whereabouts of the cult. We headed down river, and split. Myrrh and Xar Rex went further, while we returned to Great Forks and I met the dark Exalt in a
Corve *duel. He escaped. We must now return to Chiaroscuro, to folow up another lead."
Muriel nods.
Muriel "Yes...I've heard about your time in Stzang-Ouol as well. And Great Forks. I am afraid, Assessor Corve, something has come of these encounters you've had." Her voice is quite serious even for the unemotional, distant Plutarch.
Corve shrugs slightly and smiles. "I didn't expect it would go unnoticed, Plutarch. Fortunately, you did not officialize any ties with me or my expedition, if you'll recall, so I suspect you have a very good reason so as to turn the other cheek."
Corve isn't too happy about that, but he tries not to show it much.
Muriel "I would, normally, yes. However Brume has been contacted now by three governments independently. Chiascuro simply to inform us of your banishment and the fine levied against you as due courtesy. There was no problem there."
Corve "And the problems surged when..?"
Muriel "However both the Theocracy of Stzang-Ouol and the Tripartite of Great Forks have made it clear they are quite unhappy with Brume because of your actions. You and your party created a considerable disturbance at a ritual of some import at Stzang-Ouol."
Corve "Ah, yes. We impeded the death of a young girl when she was to be sacrificed to Jajumani, the behemoth that lives beneath the city."
Muriel "And now Great Forks tells me that they wish you be ordered returned to their city for the duration of an investigation into six murders. Apparently one of their own police forces investigators has found evidence and witnesses to suggest you may have been involved."
Corve "Great Forks will have to wait. Besides, I haven't killed anyone." He shrugs. "It was probably Falling Darkness. At least one of them probably was."
Corve "Well, one was -for sure.- The others are probable."
Muriel nods again. "Yes, it will have to wait. However, the Grand Plutarch does not feel that we can simply ignore them. Stzang-Ouol, yes since they have proved to be in league with the Viper Cult. However Great Forks has not been proven to be in league with the cult and they are one of our most important trading partners."
Muriel "While I have recommended that you be allowed to leave Brume before we were, ah, prepared and able to detain you.."
Corve "I'll take care of anything pertaining the Great Forks when we're done with our... mission. Or when time permits."
Corve "I won't be staying here long, anyway. Besides- you never saw me. I wasn't here."
Muriel "Measures must be taken, for appearances sake at least. Great Forks only has evidence to suggest your involvement with six murders. There were nearly twenty killings within two days of your arrival at the city and they want you present for those investigations as well, which they suspect you may have been involved in."
Corve "I understand. As I said- I'll take care of the Tripartite."
Muriel "I do not think you do understand, Assessor. These are serious issues, especially now that Brume has made arrangements with the representatives of the Cult."
Muriel "To give you more time, we have agreed to a payment schedule. We must have the trade from Great Forks in full force to meet it."
Corve pauses for a moment, raising an eyebrow. "Then what do you suggest? I use the extra time you have bought to make sure you meet the payment that they wills urely take and then bring down the islands anyway? These people are not the honest type, Plutarch."
Muriel "I am aware of that. However, to pacify the Tripartite's wishes, we are beginning an investigation into your past. Your home and property will be searched. Your adopted daughter will have to be questioned, as will the family and friends of your aquaintances."
Corve "My father was a decorated officer of the force. My mother was a peaceful housewife. I have a rather upstanding record, barring the occurences as of late, which were rather out of my hands, mostly."
Muriel "I, myself, need no convincing that you are innocent of these murders, Assessor. But the gesture must be made."
Corve "Be gentle with my daughter." It seems to be the only thing he cares about.
Muriel "Procedure will be adhered to strictly."
Corve "Procedure will be gentle with my daughter."
Muriel "It will be followed." There is nothing in Muriel's eyes or tone that indicates she is willing to discuss this further.
Corve doesn't really seem to care. But he doesn't say anything else. There's nothing more to say. They had better be gentle with his daughter, because if she as much as cries...
Muriel "I advise you be most careful re-entering Chiaroscuro. If you are caught, Brume will be unable to offer any assistance. In fact, it may be for the best if you consider yourself already outside our assistance. Drawing more attention to a Brumish connection to your activities can only be a disservice to the people here, if the Cult were to become angered."
Corve "Plutarch... now it's -you- who doesn't seem to understand," he says, leaning forward slowly to look her in the eyes. "I never considered myself within your sphere of assistance. As far as I'm concerned, I've been acting independantly of the Plutocracy. Any assistance you have brought to our endeavours are simply a nice coincidence to me... I'm actually genuinely surprised you even tried, considering how much
Corve trouble it could bring you."
Muriel "We have not. I am informing you that presenting yourself as an officer of Brume's government may cause further problems."
Corve shrugs. "Fine," he says, reaching inside his inner coat pocket and pulling out his badge, and placing it in the Plutarch's hand. "I think I'm going to take a vacation, then."
Muriel "That may be for the best. I give you my sympathies. When I was your age, I was engaged in activities of a questionable nature and I too had to hide much I was proud of."
Muriel "I do have some good news for you, amid all this unpleasantness."
Corve "Oh? Do tell."
Muriel opens a laquerwork box on the table seperating her sofa from Corve's chair and withdraws a sheaf of papers. "This is the payment schedule for the Black Viper Cult."
Corve takes the papers and examines them.
Muriel "The exchanges are made via at least one neutral party and possibly a chain of parties between that group and the Cult themselves. But this may be of some help. The payments are made in the same location as the first was to be delivered to."
Corve nods slowly, reading as he listens to her.
Muriel The papers contain a list of the future times and people involved in the next five payments.
Corve "Well, I'll try to put this to good use... for the moment, though, we're going with what we got. It's the bes tway to make some sort of head way in the investigation. So far, we've been railroaded around the South and East... but we may be closer."
Muriel "That is good to hear. I wish you luck in your attempts, Corve. Ah, I would discourage you from going to see Sunshine Blossom before you leave. She is under escort in case any attempt is made to contact her. We must, after all, appear to be looking for you."
Corve stands up slowly, cracking his neck. "Right," he says. "You know, it makes it really hard to care enough when you say things like that," he adds, his smile sardonic.
Muriel "I am sorry, but it is necessary."
Muriel "You have my word she will be taken care of."
Corve "I'll hold you to that."
Muriel rises, putting an end to the meeting. "The officers outside will guide you out of the building. After that, you will be invisible for a few days, but I suggest you leave soon."
Corve "As long as you're not really looking, you won't find me." He smiles and steps out the door.
Guard "Assessor, are you ready to leave?"
Corve "Never been more ready."
Guard is the...um. Well. The one of the two guards standing on the right of you. The same height, build and general coloration the two are fairly indistinguishable.
Guard "I wouldn't worry, Assessor. It's just for show. Your daughter's already been assigned two of the best men on staff for her escorts."
Corve walks as they talk. "I'm sure she has. But she's my daughter. It's my job to worry."
Guard "I hear she's real nice, Assessor. I'm sure she'll be fine with Assessor Ivory."
Guard2 "He's good with the ladies, he'll take care of your girl."
Corve "Let him know, if you see him, that I say to swear ladies off during the time he's watching my little girl, will you?" He smiles. It's not a nice smile. It's an 'or I might have to not be nice when I get back' smile.
Guard2 nods quickly, as does his partner.
Corve "Thanks boys, you're good men. Look me up if you make it to Assessors, will you? Always in the look-out for a good official partner."
ST After his meeting with Muriel and his short chat with the two policemen escorting him, Corve had determined that his first order of business before leaving Brume would be to go and see Myrrh's wife, Calidrei. Not only was she the one they'd left Sun with, but according to Myrrh she was seeing a man from the South with a tree-shaped mark on his arm. Corve only knew one of those!
Corve will wait until Sun and her escort aren't around, of course- since he shouldn't be seen near her so as to not arouse suspicion.
ST Sun has demanded that her escort, Assessor Ivory and his partner Nacre, take her out for the day as she is tired of being inside. After Corve spots the three leaving, he has only to avoid the single guardsman left behind to watch the estate, an easy affair for him.
Corve approaches as close as he can without compromising his position, and envelopes himself in shadows and night, obscuring his presence from those that are not keeping an eye out for him. When the guard isn't looking, he slips by him, surefooted and sly, and through the entrance.
ST Now inside the mansion which Calidrei owns and spends much of her time in, Corve can move about with relative freedom since the guards are posted on the outside. Calidrei doesn't like having them around inside the building, they are an affront to her personal privacy.
Corve is currently affroting her personal privacy, but he and Myrrh have made sport of it in the past long years, and Calidrei and he have always more-or-less gotten along. He believes it's because he's the only one that gets Myrrh to come out of the estate, and that leaves her with more... 'privacy.' With stealth in mind, he begins to search the estate for its owner and, if he's lucky, her new lover.
ST Corve's search proves effective in the extreme as he's able to find Ugly Tree, sleeping by himself in one of the many guest rooms. From the noises in the next room, his doorman or assistant or someone else has come with him from the South, but only one man's snores come from inside the room where Corve is certain Ugly Tree is sleeping.
ST As far as he can tell, Calidrei left earlier that morning to do some business on Pelf and won't be back for three days, leaving Sun in the care of servants and the police escorts. Just for a few days, of course.
Corve tries the doorknob to see if it's unlocked, but not enough to make any significant noise.
ST The door is unlocked.
Corve opens it a crack, spying inside to see what the situation is before making any real attempts to enter.
ST Ugly Tree is alone, sleeping on the bed. A few of his personal items are scattered on the furniture around him. Drinks, personal care items, spare clothes, that sort of thing. Nothing obviously of evil intent or origin.
Corve steps inside quietly, closing the door behind him. Unholstering his rifle, he activates its silencer- just in case- and then grabs a chair, jamming the door quietly. Calmly, he heads to the bed and takes another chair, sitting down next to it and pointing the barrel of his rifle at Ugly Tree's face, and cocking back one of the hammers. He wonders if the man remembers what that sounds like, and if he'll recognize
Corve it in his sleep...
Ugly Tree snores right on, totally muffling any sounds Corve might make, including the sound of his gun cocking.
Corve rolls his eyes and jabs the barrel at the man's forehead. "Wakey wakey, porn man."
Ugly Tree snorts and struggles towards wakefullness. "Jaguar, is that you?"
Ugly Tree looks around blearily
Corve "Close. But no."
Ugly Tree opens his eyes wide as he sees and, then several seconds later, recognizes Corve. "How did you get here?! Calidrei!! Calidrei!! SOMEONE!"
Corve "Stop screaming or I'll shoot."
Ugly Tree stops screaming.
Ugly Tree settles for whimpering.
Corve "-Thank- you. Was that really necessary? I mean, if I wanted you dead, I would have just killed you in Chiaroscuro, don't you think?"
Ugly Tree "I don't know. Maybe you wanted to follow me. You did follow me!"
Corve "Pfft. Follow you? Do you even know where you -are?-"
Ugly Tree "I'm on Brume, of course."
Corve "Right. And what are your masters threatening to destroy?"
Ugly Tree "Brume agreed to the terms!"
Corve "Uh huh. Now, why would I have to follow you... when you're on MY floating island? Where did you think I was from, dumbass? Whitewall?!"
Ugly Tree "You weren't supposed to come back! You were supposed to go off searching for information and get killed!"
Corve "Your Abyssal buddy screwed the pooch, my friend. He tried- he tried plenty- but uh... yeah. As you can see," he says, poking at the man's forehead with the barrel of his rifle. "I'm not a ghost yet."
Ugly Tree "I can see that" he says glumly.
Corve "Good. Now, do you know who's house this is?"
Ugly Tree "Nellens Calideri lives here."
Corve "Who else lives here?"
Ugly Tree "I don't know, I was just sent here to gather information! She's a well-connected business woman. She said her husband was away!"
Corve "Her husband. Good! You have a very ignorant way of getting questions right." He smiles, leaning forward, lowering the gun down to Ugly Tree's crotch. "Now, guess who her husband is..."
Ugly Tree tries to cover himself with his hands. "I don't know, she never said!"
Corve smiles a little wider- and very menacing. "Alright- guess where her husband went away to..." and to that he adds a wink.
Ugly Tree "They told me you weren't married!"
Corve rolls his eyes. "Oh lord, you really -are- all looks..." he says. "I'm not her husband, you dumb shit... but my best friend is." Brings his hand to Ugly Tree's face, slapping it softly, condescendingly. "Now... I'm going to ask you a few questions... to which you will answer -honestly,-" he makes a point of jabbing the rifle down a little, and fingering the trigger. "And then, I'm going to give you a suggestion-
Corve and you're going to take it. Deal?"
Ugly Tree nods rapidly
Corve "What information -have- you gained so far?"
Ugly Tree "Ah, well, not much yet. Just that Brume is preparing the first payment for shipping and they don't seem to be planning anything sinister.."
Corve "Nothing else?"
Ugly Tree "I was supposed to be looking for information about, well, you and your friends. I haven't found much! I didn't even know this was his wife!"
Corve "You're a seriously pityful man, you know that? Have you found out anything else?"
Ugly Tree shakes his head
Corve "Words, please." He rolls his eyes. "We've been through this before, Tree."
Ugly Tree "No!"
Corve "Good boy. What's the Cult's plan now, aside from collecting their ill-gotten gains?"
Ugly Tree "I don't know! I didn't know what it was before!"
Corve sighs. "Fine. Now for your suggestion: you're going to have a talk with Calidrei when she gets home. You're not going to mention anything about this conversation. Then you're going to book a flight as far away as you can- say... Cherak, for instance. And then, you're going to -take- the flight... and you're never going to see me again."
Corve narrows his eyes a little, and smiles. "Aren't you?"
Ugly Tree "Never see you again! I promise, I'll go!"
Corve "Good. I'm glad we see eye to eye on this... and by the way... if -anything- happens to the people that are currently residing in this house, I will hold you -personally- responsible, hunt you down, and revisit anything that happens to them on you. My girlfriend, you remember her, right?- she's still mad at you calling her average. So I'm sure she'll be glad to keep you alive and conscious with her medical skills
Corve throughout the whole thing. Neither of us want that, do we, Ugly Tree?"
Ugly Tree "That wasn't me, the artist called her average!"
Corve "You nodded."
Corve glowers threateningly.
Corve "In any case, let me remind you- as soon as Calidrei comes home, you leave. And if anyone finds out I was here... you won't have -time- to suffer anything before a bullet runs you through," he says, standing up. "Agreed?"
Ugly Tree nods several times "Yes, yes, I'll do it!"
Corve "Great," he smiles happily. "Let's not repeat this, hmm?" And then he clocks Ugly Tree across the top of his head to knock him out.
Ugly Tree slumps, out cold.
Corve holsters his rifle and engages in a stealthy exit from the room, and goes looking for Sunshine Blossom's.
ST Blossom's room is on the other side of the mansion from Ugly Tree's room. The door is open, making it particularly easy to identify the suite of three rooms as Sunshine's because of her collection of clothing, her pet winged penguin's honking noises, and the smell of the perfume she's convinced Calidrei to buy her.
Corve steps inside and pets the winged peguin. "Hey buddy- I'm just going to leave Sunny a little note, hmm? You be quiet." He shushes the critter with some more pets.
Corve petting*
ST The winged penguin responds as it usual does to Corve's attempts to pet it: it bites his fingers.
Corve rolls his eyes. "Damn thing. I'll sic Jaks on you again if you don't stop doing that," he says, shaking his hand and muttering as he heads to Sunshine's bed and pulls out a small note he wrote for her before he came into the house.
Corve slips the note- a short affair that says: "Sunshine- I have to go again. Be good. I'll be back soon. I love you. -Dad." under the girl's pillow, and then shakes a finger at the winged penguin, and slips out of the room, disappearing into the halls.
ST The penguin honks angrily, but that isnt unusual and anyone listening will ignore it.
Corve makes a quick exit from the estate, evading the guard outside in the same manner as he did when entering.
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