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Post by Admin on Sept 5, 2019 20:52:03 GMT
"I'm still thinking that they won't continue to try to escape through the sea lanes." Rilk says, "I imagine them to be thieves or spies or assassins and not willing to risk a confrontation with Gerard head-on. Dirty cads, all set for cloak-and-dagger stuff but too cowardly for a good old dust-em-up with their opponent. Check the train, the Marrakesh Express it was, and it is scheduled to depart early in the morning.
"I'd go with you - hell, I'd love to go with you! - but my age and these damn wounds would make me more of a hindrance than a help if any trouble erupts."
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Post by Hammett on Sept 6, 2019 4:36:19 GMT
"Well we should cover all our bases just in case." he looks between Rilk and Ferrari, "Put the word out that Captain Brennon will be slipping past the blockade in the next day or so and is willing to smuggle a few passengers out if they can pay."
Hammett turns to Brennon, "Shall we go see if we can turn anything up on the train? Scene of the crime and all that?"
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Post by Brennon on Sept 6, 2019 19:46:04 GMT
Brennon finishes his ale, but leaves the rest of his tequila on the table. It's not rum, it's not brandy, and it's certainly not Brandywine Fire from the relatively unknown shadow Erudrat.
"You were planning to come, too? Don't you need to be around to catch a shady contract like everyone else?" Brennon starts to saunter out. He won't stop Hammett from coming along, he's just a bit surprised at how quickly the man ignores business. Or pursues other business. Maybe that's why it was sometimes hard to get a hold of him, and the bouncers weren't always lying when they said he wasn't in.
He stops by a few tables for quiet words with his crew on his way out, and makes his way towards the crime scene via several other places frequented by his crew on leave, often giving no more than a nod and a few quick gestures to let them know something's up. At one brothel, he writes a note and tucks it in a mate's pocket, to give word to the ship herself.
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Post by Hammett on Sept 6, 2019 20:04:31 GMT
Hammett gets up to leave with Brennon, but then reconsiders, "Good point, Captain. There are a few other options I can look into. I'll try and meet you at the train in a bit, but if not, you know how to reach me and let me know what you uncover."
Hammett looks at Ferrari, "Maybe we should have that urgent talk you kept messaging me about this afternoon."
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Post by Admin on Sept 7, 2019 2:48:49 GMT
"It seems that we already have, old friend," Ferrari says gloomily. "I was hoping you and I could take care of it before anyone else got involved. Then Ugarte somehow got wind of it, then Gerrard shows up and tells Brennon."
He sighs. "Maybe it is time for me to cash in my chips, as you say, and head for some quieter locale. If I could sneak through the lines I could set up shop in Cairo or Baghdad or south into Transvaal. Interested in buying the Blue Parrot?"
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Post by Hammett on Sept 7, 2019 3:44:15 GMT
Hammett chuckles and slaps the fat man on the shoulder in a friendly way, "Ah, Ferrari, you takes these matters too seriously. Look around you, your club is as busy as ever, with a line-up out the door. We've all been through troubled times before. They blow through like a summer storm and pass just as quickly. Prince Gerard won't be here for long and once he sets sail business will go back to normal. As long as people need to escape Kasaba, your business will be booming."
He looks between Ferrari and Rilk, "I guess I should be on my way to do my part to send the prince happily on his way. I thank you for your hospitality and assistance. And, of course, if you hear anything further through the grapevine, please let me know at once. Even the slightest bit of information could help set things back to normal, which is what we all desperately want."
With that Hammett Hammett makes his way out of the club and on to the Kasaba streets. He makes his way back the few blocks to Wormwood's. He figured it was best to check in first and see if there has been any other visitors tonight before his next step, tracking down Renault to see what he knew and was doing about the murders.
Entering Wormwood's he spotted Conrad near the bar, and motioned him over.
"What's the word? Any one else come by looking for me?"
<<OOC: Will move back to my main thread until Brennon and I meet up again.>>
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Post by Admin on Sept 10, 2019 3:38:16 GMT
[[OOC: Sorry Brennon, I missed your post.]]
For Brennon:
While contacting his crew at their various pleasures Brennon is handed a note in return from one of them. A message passed to her from a supposed member of the French Resistance.
Beware of a traitor in your midst. It says and signed Le Peregrine
Continuing on to the train station he finds it a chaotic mess with people shoving and shouting at the attendants trying to get passage out of the city. The railroad bulls and Kasaba police try to impose order on the mob. Two quick blasts of the steam whistle indicate the train will be leaving soon.
"Back! Back! The train is full! The next won't be arriving until later this morning!" a station attendant yells his voice drowned out by the crowd.
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Post by Brennon on Sept 11, 2019 14:32:10 GMT
This is how effective Amber is at closing the city, is it? Brennon thinks to himself as he sees the scene. If that was the train the murder happened on, then he needs to get on it, crowd, departures, or not. If there's a train on another platform, he'll find the stationmaster instead, and let him know in a 'friendly, just letting you know' way of Gerard's edict on closing the city. With the crowd trying to leave, it's possible they already know. If they feel like incurring Gerard's wrath, that's their problem.
If he needs to get on the train that is about to depart, Brennon will simply walk around to the maintenance side and climb underneath or between the cars. If he's stopped, well, he doesn't have any Kasaban authority but he can claim to have been drafted into a Crown investigation just fine.
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Post by Admin on Sept 12, 2019 4:07:57 GMT
The crush to get aboard the train is odd considering that Kasaba is supposedly a free city while ll the lands around it are ravaged by war. It must be that the appearance of Gerard and the general feeling of impending doom has set the people of the city into a panic. If Gerard has any care about the trains it doesn't show, Brennon can see no sign of Amber troops or agents in the place. Mixed in with the crowd are local gendarmes, some Free French and German soldiers are in small groups trying not to appear on duty.
Railroad bulls block access to the train from all points other than where the conductor does his business but for a man like Brennon they are easy to evade and very soon he is grabbing onto a handhold and pulling himself up between two of the cars as the train begins to pull out of the station. A cry of dismay comes from the crowd as the train begins to move. Brennon is spotted by one child who gives him a friendly wave as the train eases into motion.
"Two hours, you wretches," the conductor yells, "Two hours until the next train comes for you!"
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Post by Brennon on Sept 19, 2019 1:31:13 GMT
Brennon will slip into the first coach and work through the crowd looking for rumors about the destination, the reason for leaving, interesting gossip.. and the murders he's supposed to be investigating. If he can't catch anything important, he will work through the next coach, and the next.. etc. If the doors between the coaches are locked, he will get someone's attention via broken pattern tendril to open/unbar it, and latch it after himself when he leaves.
He is interested most in the discussions of the train staff, but also in avoiding their direct attention. As he goes, he will also bring up a broken pattern lens to glance around the train, on the theory that the dead people from Amber, though not the official royalty, are more 'real' than the current shadow, and their belongings and papers will be correspondingly more real as well.
[p. 15, "ADRPG: Shadow Knight"]
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2019 2:02:47 GMT
The crowd on the train are mostly people who had fled the war by coming to Kasaba but now head back fearing Gerard's coming sack of the city. They are confused and lost, hoping that Marrakesh or Oran will provide a miracle for their safety.
The staff are competent and overworked trying to keep order in the cars. They have a feeling of unease and Brennon senses that they believe that the killings earlier in the day were just the beginning of greater violence on the train.
While working his way through one of the less crowded cars he comes face to face with the conductor. The man is average height, thin but moves with the lithe grace of a midweight boxer. His blue eyes are sharp, his pencil moustache sharper, and his uniform immaculate with creases sharp and badges perfectly aligned.
He gives a stern look at Brennon and says, "Your ticket, sir?"
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Post by Brennon on Sept 24, 2019 4:46:59 GMT
[ooc: can I use a tendril to make psychic contact, dig out a piece of paper, and make him think it's an authorization? Like, either a ticket or an inspector's certificate?]
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Post by Admin on Sept 24, 2019 15:03:18 GMT
[OOC: You can try. It should work....]
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Post by Admin on Sept 29, 2019 15:01:34 GMT
[OOC: since it seems that a tendril will work I will assume Brennon uses it. IF not I can rewrite this entry.]
The Pattern tendril quickly drives into the conductor's mind where Brennon discovers a sharp, orderly, and powerful intellect matching the man's physical appearance. Even so, he is just a creature of shadow and his mind can be altered enough to convince him that Brennon has the needed ticket.
Once the thought is implanted in his mind Brennon is surprised at a flash of silver as the conductor quickly draws something out from his pocket.
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Post by Brennon on Oct 21, 2019 19:17:14 GMT
[Sorry to take so long]
Brennon assumes the flash is a weapon, probably a projectile, and assuming the conductor lets him pass like a normal passenger, he will quickly put space and people between them to disrupt trajectories. It might be worse if the flash is from a communication device.
Either way, Brennon needs to find out where the murders took place now, investigate, and lay low until he can jump clear of the train, probably at a hill or turning when the train slows a bit. He's not expecting to take the fall unscathed, just not to take enough damage to be put out of action, and he is determined not to be on the train when it reaches the next port, wherever that is.
Brennon isn't the sort to enjoy digging through people's minds, so he doesn't consider using that as a means of finding the information he seeks. Instead, he is looking for bloodstains, scuffmarks, perhaps a lost button or a bullet casing. In theory, the official investigators would have found that, but with the feel he got from the city, and the fact the train is leaving so soon, he doubts that they bothered with more than a cursory glance.
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