Re: The Battle Royale S2 [Round 3: Endymion]
06-04-2011, 07:55 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.
By the time Keen finished speaking in low, urgent tones into the little handheld thing tied to the wall, Serran had grabbed a trio of cups from what evidently amounted to a kitchen nook in the corner. They were quickly filled with something hot, sweet, and quite welcome after the chilly rain, and Geoff accepted his gratefully. Keen picked his up from the tiny, wooden table, sipped it appreciatively, then said, "Just got off the phone with Weather, they say we shouldn't be having rain for the next three days."
"They take the steam into account?", Serran asked. "You know how they're always forgetting that."
"Nah, I thought of that, and so had they. They're getting calls from all over, it seems. That's not the half of it, though."
Geoff arched an inquisitive eyebrow at him.
"Tenet says they're getting reports that the sun's gone."
Serran spluttered on his drink. "The sun... How can the sun be gone?"
"Beats me. All I know is that's what people are saying."
"Guess we'll find out in a few hours," Geoff commented.
Keen frowned at him. "A few hours? How do you figure?"
"When the sun comes up, it either will or it won't. It's hard to mess that up."
"Geez," Serran snorted, "how old are you? This moon's tidally locked to the planet below, everyone knows that."
"Sorry, I just got here, I'm not familiar with-"
Both natives stood up sharply, staring at the Hattallan. "You came here from off-moon?!", Keen demanded.
"Yeah, I was going to-"
-
"Kol's sake, Geoff, now what?!"
Geoff and his client, a cobbler named Murray, were running full-tilt down a dirt road, with half a dozen guys behind them.
"Everything's fine, Murray!"
"Fine?! I don't know if you noticed, but neither of us have ever been to Tentwell City before this, and before we can even get the lay of the land, you go and piss off the very group you're supposed to be infiltrating!"
"Just stick close!" Geoff ducked into a stable, one attached to a relatively large inn. "Most horses aren't used to strangers and will try to buck you off if you don't know them," he told Murray as he untied a pair of reins. "An inn's dedicated mounts, though, are used to being lent out for all sorts of errands to all sorts of people. They'll be used to strangers, and we don't have to worry about being thrown off by an uncooperative ride."
-
Geoff couldn't find any horses, stables, or even anything resembling an inn. Keen and Serran pounded the cobblestone road behind him, their feet splashing in the increasingly-common puddles.
A ladder loomed out of the steam on Geoff's right, and he lunged for it, pulling himself up as fast as he could manage. His willowy pursuers, though, were faster than he was, and he soon found himself just running again, this time along another catwalk, and now with his pursuers just a few steps behind him.
The pipes that weaved in and out of the mist around him loomed closer, enveloping the catwalk in a bit of a tunnel. They grew thicker, too, some starting to show up as wide as a tree. He could hear water rushing through some of them, a muffled gurgling and whooshing that started to follow him as he went, growing louder around him.
The catwalk split, going left and right, and Geoff ducked right, still running for what he assumed was his life. He could only go twenty paces or so before he gad to choose again, this time left, then another turn, right, and another, right again. Another, and another, and another.
He was just starting to realize that Keen and Serran were no longer behind him when the catwalk suddenly ceased to exist below him. Instead, he stepped about half a meter down, into cold, flowing water, and it grabbed his foot and yanked it back the way he'd come. He slammed forward, rather grateful to be slapping hard into water and not the solid metal of an empty pipe.
After some coughing and spluttering, he managed to grab a few reasonable breaths from the empty top third of the pipe he was being pulled along, and he settled himself in as best he could. The open top had long since gone away, and he had no real choice but to go along for the ride.
By the time Keen finished speaking in low, urgent tones into the little handheld thing tied to the wall, Serran had grabbed a trio of cups from what evidently amounted to a kitchen nook in the corner. They were quickly filled with something hot, sweet, and quite welcome after the chilly rain, and Geoff accepted his gratefully. Keen picked his up from the tiny, wooden table, sipped it appreciatively, then said, "Just got off the phone with Weather, they say we shouldn't be having rain for the next three days."
"They take the steam into account?", Serran asked. "You know how they're always forgetting that."
"Nah, I thought of that, and so had they. They're getting calls from all over, it seems. That's not the half of it, though."
Geoff arched an inquisitive eyebrow at him.
"Tenet says they're getting reports that the sun's gone."
Serran spluttered on his drink. "The sun... How can the sun be gone?"
"Beats me. All I know is that's what people are saying."
"Guess we'll find out in a few hours," Geoff commented.
Keen frowned at him. "A few hours? How do you figure?"
"When the sun comes up, it either will or it won't. It's hard to mess that up."
"Geez," Serran snorted, "how old are you? This moon's tidally locked to the planet below, everyone knows that."
"Sorry, I just got here, I'm not familiar with-"
Both natives stood up sharply, staring at the Hattallan. "You came here from off-moon?!", Keen demanded.
"Yeah, I was going to-"
-
"Kol's sake, Geoff, now what?!"
Geoff and his client, a cobbler named Murray, were running full-tilt down a dirt road, with half a dozen guys behind them.
"Everything's fine, Murray!"
"Fine?! I don't know if you noticed, but neither of us have ever been to Tentwell City before this, and before we can even get the lay of the land, you go and piss off the very group you're supposed to be infiltrating!"
"Just stick close!" Geoff ducked into a stable, one attached to a relatively large inn. "Most horses aren't used to strangers and will try to buck you off if you don't know them," he told Murray as he untied a pair of reins. "An inn's dedicated mounts, though, are used to being lent out for all sorts of errands to all sorts of people. They'll be used to strangers, and we don't have to worry about being thrown off by an uncooperative ride."
-
Geoff couldn't find any horses, stables, or even anything resembling an inn. Keen and Serran pounded the cobblestone road behind him, their feet splashing in the increasingly-common puddles.
A ladder loomed out of the steam on Geoff's right, and he lunged for it, pulling himself up as fast as he could manage. His willowy pursuers, though, were faster than he was, and he soon found himself just running again, this time along another catwalk, and now with his pursuers just a few steps behind him.
The pipes that weaved in and out of the mist around him loomed closer, enveloping the catwalk in a bit of a tunnel. They grew thicker, too, some starting to show up as wide as a tree. He could hear water rushing through some of them, a muffled gurgling and whooshing that started to follow him as he went, growing louder around him.
The catwalk split, going left and right, and Geoff ducked right, still running for what he assumed was his life. He could only go twenty paces or so before he gad to choose again, this time left, then another turn, right, and another, right again. Another, and another, and another.
He was just starting to realize that Keen and Serran were no longer behind him when the catwalk suddenly ceased to exist below him. Instead, he stepped about half a meter down, into cold, flowing water, and it grabbed his foot and yanked it back the way he'd come. He slammed forward, rather grateful to be slapping hard into water and not the solid metal of an empty pipe.
After some coughing and spluttering, he managed to grab a few reasonable breaths from the empty top third of the pipe he was being pulled along, and he settled himself in as best he could. The open top had long since gone away, and he had no real choice but to go along for the ride.