Wednesday, September 28, 2016

The Nisab Diary ep02 : 7th Sea

9/22/2016
The Nisab Diary



"Port and Porte"
Episode Two - 7th Sea

Reikion of the Eventide had arrived at Five Sails long before the others had.  He scouts the city and finds it to be generous with further options to head deeper into Eisen territory.  He identifies a possible Porte Sorcier who can give them a means to get into Eisen sooner, as well as a river barge option if the others choose to avoid any Sorcery related routes.  He spends time at the Billowing Bob, where he befriends a barmaid named Ella who takes a fancy to him.  He spends hours using the Sight of Matushka to spy on Tassine Anastasia Jade dela Croix Bullet as she travels down south.  He sees her best two ships single-handedly, swinging from mast to mast to disable both vessels before - unless some chicanery was involved - riding a cannonball back to her own ship.

Enroute by ship, Jan Volta and Walden Reichart are told by Diomedes Dorn to hurry below the deck and remain silent.  The two watch as the crew of Dorn's vessel quickly change into white robes and a different banner is hung upon their mast.  In the lower deck, they peer through a window and learn that all the fuss is regarding a ship with a red banner that is about to cross their wake.  Volta recalls stories of a man named Captain Reis who supposedly helms the Crimson Roger.  The pirate is known to be quite bloodthirsty and cruel.  Volta presumes the ship is pretending to be a vessel for the sick, so the pirate ignores them. Reichart, however, realizes the man at the helm of the other ship saw him peering from the window and hopes that didn't lead to complications down the line for the Vesten ship.

The three reunite at Five Sails, where they quickly decide on taking the Porte route as it could shave them the most time.  The old Montaigne, a gentleman by the name of Valeron Weiss, agrees to do them the service if they do one in exchange instead of payment.  He asks to meet them at a cabin outside of town by the eight hour of vespers.  The others spend time gathering resources such as food, traveling gear, and information.  Volta meets another of his people whom also has a dievas.  He learns the man has defeated two dievas previously and is infamous among those who have the Sanderis.  It gives him hope, however, to someday best his own.  Reikion visits the meeting place prematurely and discovers that Ella actually lives in the cabin with an old woman.  And Reichart catches sight of some female Ungetumjaeger who are hunting in the woods close to Five Sails for some monstrosity that has been abducting children.  

Night comes and the three reunite with Valeron Weiss whom they discover to be a close friend of Ella and her very rude mother.  He asks for their assistance to help him fulfill another task of his own - a job he has yet to manage - and in return, he will Walk them to Starke, a city close to the the Dracheneisen mountains, and not too far from Buche, their goal.  Reikion excuses himself to visit the woods, bothered by events and seeking guidance from Matushka.  He catches sight of a beautiful doe being brutally killed by a stalking mountain lion and nearly walks into a spider feasting on a butterfly that had gotten caught on its web.  He realizes there is evil and there is nature, and nature sometimes is not about morals but mortality.  They agree to help him in his task, which involves luring and capturing alive a monster that has been sighted in the woods.  Reichart reminds them they have to hurry, however, having seen the hunters searching most likely for the same prey.

They see the monsters in the woods, furry things of teeth and fangs, and while Reichart attempts to act as a lure to draw them close. He hopes the hexenwork he prepared earlier that evening would prove to be useful.  Valeron begs for time as he crafts a massive Porte to shunt the monster through, and gives Reikion an Eisen coin marked with his own blood to use in case he needed to find the Ussuran in the future.  Volta and Reichart realize there are more monsters than expected!  And Reikion risks his life to lure the thing towards the portal while Volta uses his favors with the dievas to trip the beast with its own shadows.  As the thing attempts to rake at Reikion, however, it tears into his clothes and rips the bloody coin from his possession.  Both the monster and coin land in the Place Between the Worlds, fulfilling Valeron's requirements.  He sends the three to Starke without delay.

*

Back in Rambaldi, however, Galena finds herself receiving a visitor who asks her to attend a function.  She refuses but he tells her if she would rather attend only when the function has become a wake for her cousin, Reikion.  She relents.

*

And at some distance, the Mastermind of the affairs peers through a spyglass, and marks notes on the wall that everything is moving at clockwork precision according to plan.   The scene pulls back to show a map of Theah, portrait sketches of different personalities, threads interconnecting certain faces, and a grand machine of some sort at the center of the room.

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