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Storytime: The Heart of Leilani Part 2
🕑 Added 2019-08-01 02:02:13 +0000 UTCIf you haven't read part 1 yet, it's here https://www.patreon.com/posts/storytime-heart-28752671
I forgot to mention in the last Storytime, but in the Kaerwyn RP, the characters can use the rifter (Unlike in the comic). So if you're wondering how they're world hopping, they use that device.
When we left our intrepid adventurers, they had just managed to get the second clue from the Island nation of Albion. They still have four more cities to visit, and they decide to hit the next peaceful city of Sprevane, in the Kingdom of Alamannei.
Lorelei opens the rift to just outside of the heavily forested area around Sprevane. It's cooler here, almost evening. And they can hear the sounds of a festival even from outside of the town walls. The town itself is very humble. Small buildings make up most of the housing. Everything is in good shape. It's not dirty or falling apart like Llundien's streets. It's actually quite pleasant.
As they enter the city, the one thing that hits them first is the smell. BEER and Sausage. There are also other foods like funnel cakes and whatever else goes with an Oktoberfest style festival. But mostly, there are beer and sausage stands everywhere.
Lorelei continues to wander on. As all the roads seem to flow into the center of town, it doesn't take them long to find it. But the damn thing is smack dab in the center of the festival. There are all kinds of tents and events going on right around it.
From the actual RP Logs:
[18:55] <Lorelei> Okay, here's th' plan. Renard, we're married. Neek is our child we adopted from th' Save th' Kaetif foundation.
[18:56] <Neek> "...\what?!\"
[18:56] <Lorelei> And Neek, because he's a retarded child, wanted t'climb th' tower.
[18:56] * Neek \eyes\ Lore.
[18:56] * Renard laughs.
[18:56] <Lorelei> And you 'n' I are too drunk from th' beer to care.
[18:57] <Neek> "My dignity can only withstand so much shame."
[18:57] <Renard> "Then we need to get you some beer too."
[18:59] <Lorelei> Yeah, let's get Neek drunk.
[18:59] <Neek> "..."
[18:59] <Neek> "These plans are terrible."
[18:59] <Renard> "As is tradition!"
[19:01] <Lorelei> Just imagine th' look on Niixa's face when we tell her that her father had to get shitfaced drunk to fix her.
[19:01] <Renard> "I know. As it tradition!"
Lorelei then goes to buy the group some sausages, and beer. After mass consumption is completed, they head to the clock. This one faces almost due west. Lorelei convinces Neek to pretend to be barfing as a distraction so she can go poke the clock's cornerstone.
Finally a glowing remark that was encouraging. Maybe.
There's only one city left that isn't in control of the enemy of Eros, The Gallianne. Everyone hates them. So instead, they go to the city that no one can pronounce, Affärsidkarehamn, Norden.
It's right on the coast and fishing is a big part of their daily lives. Lots of fishing vessels are coming and going. There's also a lot of tradesmen of various types, woodworkers, metal workers. It's a very industrious little city. But two problems. Lorelei doesn't know where the clock is. And no one speaks the local language.
[20:16] <Neek> "Perhaps we could ask the locals through illustrations."
[20:16] <Lorelei> Might work.
[20:16] <Renard> "You heard the man, Lore. He has volunteered to perform the Interpretive Dance.
[20:17] <Lorelei> Well these people are like, tradespeople right? Surely someone speaks Creedmoori.
[20:17] <Neek> "Renard's gun has finally rendered him deaf."
[20:17] <Lorelei> Renard's not deaf, but not-listenin' is his superpower.
Eventually Lorelei finds a local shopkeep and tries to converse with him, with highly technical terms such as "Clocky Tower" and "Time". This obviously doesn't work. Neek draws a crude picture of a clock tower. The shopkeep chuckles and points down the road, towards the water. They all get a sinking feeling - literally.
They head to where the fellow indicated and find that, yes, erosion of the area has claimed this land for the sea. They can see where the clock tower fell over. Lorelei refuses to enter the water. The only compelling information they have here is that Lorelei cannot sense the cornerstone on this one like she could the others, the 'heebies' as she calls it. That leads them to find a place that might have taken the cornerstone when the tower fell.
And in their journeys, they find a museum slash ice cream shop. Don't ask. They head inside and the 'heebies' tell Lorelei that the cornerstone is indeed in here. Renard distracted the old man at the ice cream counter, while Lorelei and Neek found the Cornerstone. Though it was behind a glass case. Lorelei wants to break it and run. Neek, unfortunately, has more respect for the museum owner, and doesn't want to break it. Renard gets some information about the "Alde Berikken", a claw shaped mountain where all the old clocks face.
Neek decides to go back to the shopkeep and explain that he's a historian and he'd like to get a rubbing of the cornerstone. The Shopkeep respects a fellow historian, and will allow it for a small donation to his museum.
[21:42] * Lorelei will move forward towards it, and will try to put herself between the cornerstone and the shopkeep so he doesn't see it. She'll touch it when Neek is ready
[21:43] * Neek is ready, with paper and pen in hand.
[21:43] * Lorelei touches it. It does the glowy thing. Somehow the shopkeep is oblivious to it.
[21:44] * Neek jots the information down, then actually makes the rubbing to fulfill the alibi.
"Teamwork. Fuck yeah." - Lorelei
Oh, now the stones are getting threatening. Again, this will not stop them. But there are two cities left. One is in a warzone. The other is in the capital of the most hated country on Raekarta. Since the last two cities are in hostile territory, they decide to leave Neek on Kaerwyn to study what they've found so far, while Renard and Lore try to get the last two on their own.
They decide to go to Turicum first. It is on the border of the kingdoms of Alamannei and Gallianni. Both countries claim it as theirs. The city is in a constant state of war. It is bordered by large mountains to the south, and a river to the north. Most of the citizens have left, but many refuse to leave. It was only just recently that the fighting escalated to more destructive methods.
First, Lorelei and Renard rift to Sprevane to buy medical supplies. Then they rift to the Alamannei side of the border near Turicum. Their goal is to pretend to be from a neutral party bringing medical supplies to the residents of Turicum. They know that Alamannei's troops would buy this, but Gallianne's probably won't. They expect a fight. So they have with them two horses and supplies in the saddlebags.
When they get to the first checkpoint, the Alamannei guards inspect their cargo and question them. Finding that they are indeed only carrying personal weapons and medical supplies, they allow the two to continue on - with the caveat that should they find themselves in trouble, the Alamannei cannot be responsible for their safety or extraction. Agreeing to this, the two continue in.
The town is in ruins, like bombs have gone off. Renard and Lorelei have seen actual "modern" warfare and they're somewhat surprised to see this in a town on Raekarta. Since They have no map of the town, and no real way to know where the center is, they rely on Lorelei's ability to sense out the cornerstones. They decide to stick to back roads to stay out of any of the fighting. This proves to be a mistake.
Immediately they are fired on with what appears to be focused energy weapons. Lorelei takes to the alleys to get behind the ambushers, while Renard tries to get his horse out of the line of fire, somewhat unsuccessfully. Renard has to abandon the horse and hide in the alleys as well. As soon as Lorelei makes it back to the street, she sees the ambushers are raiding Renard's horse for supplies. She manages to stab one in the back, and distracts the other so that Renard can end him with the point of his sword as well. Unfortunately, Renard's horse did not make it through the scuffle. And, of course, the two steal the energy weapons.
How the Gallianni were able to obtain the energy weapons is a concern, but a concern for another day. They have to help Niixa in the here and now. Now with just one horse, but better armed than they were, the two had to bullrush through what was an active fighting scene in the center of town. They sprinted across the area despite the fires, the bombings, and the horrendous noise and smoke. They managed to find the remains of the clock tower with the cornerstone still intact.
"Enough with the goddamn riddles already!" -Lorelei
They manage to escape, but only just. Now, the last city looms - the stronghold of the Gallianni: Parisius.
Lorelei takes Renard to Parisius. She has been here before and so just opens a rift to a back alley near the center of town. Like Llundein, the city is a mix of beautiful architecture, and slums. It has some amazing, artistic buildings and statutes, and also people literally shit in the streets. What is wrong with them?
As they step out on the main street, they find that this might be the easiest one to get to. The clock is right there, in the center of a field. There are a lot of people just chilling around it. Many are eating lunch from one of the many food carts and restaurants in the area. And there's no guards at all.
And oddly enough, they just walk right up and get it.
That makes them super paranoid of course.
Now the task before them: Solve the riddle. Which I will try to get to, when I post Part 3 later.
