• Closed • [The Red Hand] Getting The Ball Rolling

Kura recruits Max into her plan.

10th of Ymiden 719

Once an isolated and dying township, an influx of academics, adventurers and thrill seekers have made Scalvoris Town their home. From scholars' tea shops to a new satellite campus for Viden Academy, this is an exciting place to visit or make your home!

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Kura Wolfsdotter
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Re: [The Red Hand] Getting The Ball Rolling

Kura nodded when Max said she would have the bartender look for a bard. "Just make sure they can actually sing. Went to a place like this once, except the bard sounded like a stuck pig. Everyone payed more money to be sat as far away from the bard as they could." she said, frowning at the memory. She had only visited that place once, and she had been about thirty at the time, and actually far calmer than she was these days. She had still almost shot the damn bard halfway through ordering her meal.

When Max commented on her voice, Kura grinned slightly. "Of course. Cain't be gittin' nothin' done if'n I don't be doin' proper like in the first place, won't I?" she said, a slightly laugh to her harsher accent. The point about a name was a good one though, and Kura thought about it before shrugging. "Call me Nell. Nell di Bellona if'n anyone ever needs a full name." she said, an oddly melancholy note in her voice. Nell di Bellona had worked for Kura once. She was decently certain the young woman had died at some point in the past handful of arcs, though.

Once they got into the morgue, Kura stepped into the room without bothering to pause at the scent. When one hunted, one got used to the scent of dead things, after all. She looked at the bodies, being careful to note the details most likely to give the body double away if someone looked too hard. Height, body type, skin and hair color. Eventually, she settled on a body that looked about right. A pale brunette that looked about her height. The body type wasn't identical, more malnourished compared to Kura just being skinny, but it was close enough to work. At least providing there weren't any obvious identifying marks on the body, which a second check verified weren't present.

Her body double chosen, Kura gestured over to Max. "This one. Grab a gurney." she said, before looking around for a moment. There didn't seem to be any smocks or any other indicators of a uniform around, so she just had to hope that no one saw them on this. When Max brought over the wheeled table they could use to transport the corpse, Kura helped her co-conspirator get the body out of the room. "Once we're out of 'ere, I'll git a carriage. I'll need to 'ead to the office for a bit to make sure I'm seen, but it won't take me very long. I'll 'ave Pierce drive it, he's done this sort of work a few times before." she said, her tone calm. "I'll 'ave him bring it by you first, before he picks me up from the office. He'll help you get the body in and get everythin' ready to burn."
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            Max
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            Re: [The Red Hand] Getting The Ball Rolling

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            She could tell the councilwoman had thought about this plan for a while. She crossed the threshold into the morgue without so much as a hesitation. Kura didn't need to stop and contemplate what was best or what was required. Everything had already come to fruition in her strategic head. She was at peace with what she was preparing to do and confident in its execution. From the doorway, glancing into the hall now and again, Maxine watched her work with her lips pressed into a line.

            The ex-convict didn't care about body-snatching. She had no qualms with deceiving the public, throwing the discourse of Scalvoris into disarray, or adding a plethora of new crimes to her growing rap sheet. Still, she couldn't shake the subtle feeling of being...unsettled while she watched Kura choose a worthy corpse. She crossed her arms while the woman shopped. It was ironic, really. Just a cycle ago she'd shown up at her cabin with every intention of spilling blood. Her mind had been changed that night. It seemed the councilwoman had the annoying ability to accomplish that and placate her worse impulses toward productivity. Now they'd rounded back. Max had committed to killing her again in a way. That seemed to be what life was now. Operating in a cruel, unapologetic circle. Before long Kura had made her choice.

            "Looks like it'll do," she commended her choice dryly. She maneuvered over to a gurney without hesitation, and wheeled it over toward the chosen cadaver. She peered down curiously at the dead woman. It wasn't often she stopped to look at the deceased. Usually they were in bloody heaps, still warm but cooling by the time all was said and done. This one was ripe. More ripe than she was used to. Her nose scrunched. It dawned on her that she was going to have to touch it.

            She helped the councilor put the body on the gurney, making haste of the unpleasant task. She maneuvered over to the back of the gurney and took control of the handles to push it forward. The mention of Pierce brought a smirk to her face. The first and last time she'd met the "butler," he'd threatened to provide a violent challenge for her. The sentiment had amused her more than it offended her. There was something familiar, something to be respected about the man that kept his warnings from getting under her skin.

            "Three blocks over behind the shipping warehouse," she responded wot Kura's directions with a nod. "If it's good enough for a drug deal, it's good enough to stow a body. Have Pierce meet me there. Do what you need to do. I'll be where I'm supposed to be." The marked woman threw a sheet over the body and gave the gurney a shove, carrying the body out of the morgue and with haste through the abandoned halls. Once she started she didn't stop. In the cover of night she maneuvered the short distance to the proposed meeting place, settling the gurney against the building and dragging some left-behind debris in front of it. It didn't hide the smell, but it at least made what she was protecting a bit less obvious.

            When she'd gotten herself squared away in her shady spot, she plopped the rum bottled on top of a short crate stack. Back against the building, she pulled an Ambrosia joint from her pocket and held it between her lips. She lit it up and took a deep inhale. Once it filled her lungs she plucked it out again and eyed the burning end with a frown. Smoke slowly leaked out her nostrils, but the high that usually drove her craving mind into reprieve never quite came. Instead it was a dull reward by comparison. It barely lifted the heavy cloud that was starting to rest on her mind, making it difficult to think. She knew quality control was starting to become a problem for her. It wasn't until then that she was gathering how much of a problem.

            Shit's weak.

            Max ran a hand down her face. She'd have to shell out twice the coin and consume double the product just to feel right in the head. Another drag, and her suspicions were confirmed. The smuggler from wherever-the-fuck couldn't reach Scalvoris quick enough. She finished the disappointing vice up just as the rumble of carriage wheels rocked along the cobbles. She dropped the end of the joint on the ground and snuffed it with the bottom of her boot. By the time Pierce rolled up, the convicted criminal welcomed him with a smirk.

            "Hey, Handsome," Max heckled him as she pushed her back off the wall. "Ready to assassinate a high profile politician?"

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                      Kura Wolfsdotter
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                      Re: [The Red Hand] Getting The Ball Rolling

                      Kura nodded at Max as she said the body would do, then helped the firebrand get the cadaver on the gurney without much of a hint that it bothered her. When Max gave her directions, Kura looked up and nodded at her. "Don't let Sephira hear you say that. She'd be compelled to go arrest somebody there." she said with a slight grin. She knew about the sorta-friendship between Max and Sephira, for all the their main form of communication seemed to be snark and insults, and she was not at all above teasing either of them about it.

                      She and Max split up after that, and Kura reached down once she was sure she was out of everyone's sight and removed the ring she had gotten from that incident in Emea, returning her normal color palette. Now looking much more like herself, Kura returned to the council building, very much acting like she was in a hurry. "Alicia, I've got Pierce coming with a carriage, let me know as soon as it arrives." she said when she entered the building, rushing past her personal secretary and into her office, where she made a show of trying to find a specific file that she, privately, knew full well the location of. She was, however, deliberately making quite a mess, putting her files back in the wrong place, putting documents back in the wrong file, occasionally letting one slip out from the files and fall to the floor entirely. On the one hand, it helped to make her look frantic and worried, which was very much the impression she was going for. On the other, she also didn't want anyone to be able to easily put together what she was actually after from her office.



                      Pierce had been in service to Kura since long before she had moved to the international backwater of Scalvoris. Certainly, the place was an odd little island, constantly bordering on the edge of disaster as it was, but it had an infantile political system and seemed to be barely functional at the best of time. Which, he supposed, was why The Owl had made it a priority. Somebody needed to take Scalvoris in hand, clearly, and the local government seemed barely up to the task of deciding what to have for breakfast in the morning.

                      Despite that, however, Kura's request, and apparent goal, was a strange one, even for the sometimes half-mad Mortalborn that employed him. Faking ones own death just to throw an enemy off their feet seemed, to him, a rather drastic step. But, his employer never did anything without a reason, and today would be no different, so he did as he was told, getting a carriage and perfuming it as best he could to hide the smell of a dead body. It helped that the perfume he was using would burn decently well.

                      When he arrived at the meeting place that Kura had informed him about, delivered via Phelan and a note from his boss, he smiled at Max's banter. "Oh, always. I do so prefer poison to explosions and fire, though. Much less mess to clean up after the fact and it always pays to be courteous to the cleaning crew. However, I suppose that she must have her theatrics." he said, letting his amusement color his voice as he hopped down from the carriage to help Max load the body in. "You'll want to set these things to go off a little after you and her exit the carriage. And do tell me when you light them, I'd hate to mistime being thrown from the carriage as it bursts into flames. If I'm too late, it'll take forever to get rid of the smell of burnt hair." he said, his voice every bit as proper as if he were discussing the proper preparation of Kura's tea.



                      If Kura had her timing right, she had "found" the file she was looking for only a few moments before Max and Pierce were to arrive. As luck would have it, she was actually a little early and found herself growing a touch impatient at the wait before Sonia entered the room and paused at the mess for a moment before shaking herself. Kura's bodyguard was a loyal sort, and Kura hated having to lie to her for this to work, but the soldier was a terrible liar. She had left orders that if anything happened to her, she was to be re-assigned to Sephira's command. Sephira would keep her busy while Kura was dealing with this. "Pierce is here, councilor." the soldier said, snapping a salute.

                      Kura nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Sonia. I want you to take Alicia home, all right?" she said, her tone intent. Sonia paused, aware of her primary duty, but ultimately nodded. Kura smiled and rushed past her, holding the file that contained all the information she had on every strange event that had happened since, and including, the expedition into Ishallr that had ended with the discovery of the Portal Stones. Even the strange maybe-a-dream with the ghost pirates. As she passed her secretary, she paused for a moment. "Alicia, Sonia is goin' to take you home. No arguments." she said, as Alicia started to speak. Then she hurried out of the building and into the carriage, Pierce opening the door for her and closing it behind her. "Pierce will tell us when it's safe to set those off." she said, gesturing at Max's bottles as she slipped the file under her coat and put her ring back on, turning it on her finger once to restore her disguised coloring.
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                                Max
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                                Re: [The Red Hand] Getting The Ball Rolling

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                                "Poison?" Max rolled her eyes playfully at Pierce's retort. "What are you? A female?" His particular personality was probably why he was better suited for his role than someone like the ex-convict. He was practical, methodical, and calculating. He took the route of least resistance that allowed his movements to be smooth and well executed. Max, on the other hand...well, she liked people to know exactly who sent them into the abyss when she stole their life.

                                Pierce popped the carriage open and the two quickly stowed the rotting corpse inside. Once it was propped up on a seat, Max closed the door with a degree of finality, nose scrunched. She clapped her hands together. She'd talk with Pierce and get a feel for their route. Then, when the timing was right, she'd toss a good old fashion molotov cocktail to get the party started. At least that's where her conspiring mind was headed before Kura's lackey stiffly redirected her with his suggestion.

                                "What do you mean 'after you and her exit the carriage'?" Max raised a brow at him. She crossed her arms and glanced toward the carriage where the dead woman was stuffed out of view. "I ain't goin' in there." Nope. No fucking way. Pierce could climb in with his employer and pass her the reins. She'd rather deal with the linger smell of burnt hair than the smell of the dead that always lingered too long in the nose. She about suggested as much when she was forced to remind herself that she didn't know how to drive a carriage. That, and her holding the reins before an assassination on a Scalvoris council member was the worst idea conceivable.

                                "Dammit!" she hissed, defeated with a sour expression. Her arms dropped and she pouted her way to the carriage. She yanked the carriage door open and the smell smacked her in the face all over again. Her face twisted with disgust before she accepted the task set before her. "Kura's going to wish she was god damn dead," her muffled voice piped up as she got in and slammed the door shut behind her.

                                Pierce got them moving before long toward Kura's office. It was an absolutely miserable experience. Max was pressed to the opposite side of the carriage against the wall, far from the seated corpse as possible. With the curtains drawn tightly closed it felt like she was truly trapped with it.

                                A few times she couldn't help herself but glance at the stinking thing. The lifeless woman's face was sheet white and lips purple. The parts of her body that once rested upon a cold table were marked with dark pools of red and purple, the places where the blood gathered and sat. A fly buzzed near the slightly parted mouth. She let out a stiff exhale through her nostrils and tugged her eyes away. This evidence of promised death, the inevitable thing she so violently raged against, was staring her straight in the face. She hated it.

                                "Any trial now, Pierce," she grumbled, daring to peer through a tiny opening she made in the curtains. It was then that the carriage came to a sudden halt. The corpse slumped sideways to rest its decaying head on her shoulder. "Fuck! Nope. Absolutely the fuck not!" The carriage bounced as the ex-convict jumped in her seat, practically shoving the cadaver upright in its seat. That was it for her. Max jumped across the carriage to sit on the other side. Kura could have the distinct pleasure of sitting next to the charming body double she chose. When Pierce popped the carriage door open for the councilor, Max was vehemently brushing off the place the dead had touched her.

                                "I'll be ready when he gives the prompt," Max assured her, literally shaking off the skin-crawling sensation she'd just endured. The subtle slip of the ring upon the finger that restored the disguise wasn't lost on the observant woman. She snatched up one of the bottles and jammed an alcohol-soaked rag down the glass neck. For once her familiarity with chaos and stiff drinks would work in another's favor. "Just get out as soon as I light this one. All this isn't worth much if you actually go up in flames." The ex-convict leaned back in her seat and took another glance out the window before offering a knowing smirk. "Not like this is the first time I got stuck lighting the fuse of an explosion for you."

                                They bumped along for a short while. She kept the bottle close to her body, more so because the smell of the high proof helped battle that of the dead than any sort of meditative gesture. Then the sharp knocking on the carriage from the driver's seat echoed within where they sat. Max rolled her neck and shrugged her shoulders. It was time to light the fuse and make a quick escape. She did it just like she did in Rynmere. One deep breath in. One deep breath out. Then she was ready.

                                "Get out," she said firmly. As soon as the carriage door popped open and the councilwoman made a move to leave, she lit the end of the soaked rag. It caught easily and burned quick. Max gave the driver's seat wall a knock, kicked her own side of the carriage open, and smashed the bottle on the floor on her way out. The bottom of the carriage was quickly engulfed, catching the rag-wicks of the other carefully stowed bottles tucked inside the carriage. In a couple trills the entire thing was up in flames. Max was deep in an adjacent alleyway by the time the theatrics started.

                                People started to scream, stressed voices filling the street as people uselessly panicked before the aflame carriage. Max made one glance toward her handiwork before she continued her escape. She'd be no good to Kura's efforts if the responding Elements pegged her at the scene as a murder suspect. Kura would know to find her at The Red Hand waiting for her return and a plan.

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                                          Kura Wolfsdotter
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                                          Re: [The Red Hand] Getting The Ball Rolling

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                                          Pierce smirked at Max's taunt about his assassination method of choice, but otherwise didn't react. He did, however, smile slightly when Max protested the plan. "K doesn't want you seen as an assassin. Professionally, it would make things tricky if you were to be arrested for her murder. Personally, I think she just wants to keep you of jail." he said, shrugging before Max came around and hopped up in the carriage. At the comment about Kura wishing she were dead, however, he just shrugged. "She saves that for her personal time, I assure you." he said, his tone calm.



                                          When Kura got into the carriage she sat next to the corpse with little more than a scrunched nose. She did, however, smirk when Max commented it wasn't the first time she had lit a fuse for Kura. "No, but hopefully things go as planned this time. No one goes crazy because they can't control their sanctimonious urges." she said, a sarcastic tone to her voice. While things had gone sideways for a time in Rynmere, Kura had never considered Max the cause of the issues. Frankly, she knew that Max was the majority of the reason that Rey'na had survived. Somehow, she didn't think Max was as clearheaded regarding her lack of guilt on that front, but people were always their own biggest accuser.

                                          When Max told her to leave the carriage, she nodded and ducked out the door of the carriage and headed into a side alley as the carriage exploded. She was in a back alley before a crowd had time to gather, and moving away with only a single backward glance at Pierce to make sure he had gotten away from the carriage in time to avoid getting injured. It looked like the spy had made it away just fine and Kura headed into the night of Scalvoris, making her way to the Red Hand. She had no interest in watching the carriage burn, and she knew Max well enough to be confident the firebrand had made a clean escape. If she didn't, Sephira would hopefully be able to extract Max without any trouble. For now though, Kura's role was clear, she had to to get back to the Red Hand. They had work to do.
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                                                    Doran
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                                                    Re: [The Red Hand] Getting The Ball Rolling

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                                                    Max:

                                                    Knowledge:
                                                    Deception: Faking an Assassination
                                                    Detection: Spotting a Disguised Person
                                                    Business Management: Building Relationships with Drug Dealers
                                                    Business Management: Building Relationships with a Prolific Gang
                                                    Business Management: Benefits of Hiring a Bard
                                                    Business Management: Concern Yourself with Employee Treatment
                                                    Intelligence: Using the Red Ravens' Network
                                                    Intelligence: Using a Tragedy to Reveal Conspirators
                                                    Larceny: Stealing a Cadaver from the Medical University
                                                    Stealth: Secreting Oneself into a Carriage Unseen
                                                    Stealth: Fleeing an Assassination Scene Unseen
                                                    Strength: Pushing a Body on a Gurney

                                                    Loot: -
                                                    Wealth: -
                                                    Injuries: -
                                                    Renown: -
                                                    Magic XP: -
                                                    Skill Review: Appropriate to level.
                                                    Points: 15

                                                    Kura:

                                                    Knowledge:
                                                    Acting 3
                                                    Deception 2
                                                    Athletics 1

                                                    Loot: -
                                                    Wealth: -
                                                    Injuries: -
                                                    Renown: 5
                                                    Magic XP: -
                                                    Skill Review: Appropriate to level.
                                                    Points: 15

                                                    - - -
                                                    Comments: I had no idea that Max owned a club once – and that Kura visited it. I found Kura’s thoughts about such places very interesting to read. I didn’t know that she used to be a Councilor before she became Albarech!

                                                    The atmosphere in the Red Hand was described well in my opinion, and I really enjoyed the dialogue between Max and the people in her club.

                                                    I took a break from ST for most of 2019, so I don’t know what exactly happened in regard to Ellasin and the war. Reading about Max’ life before the curse was most fascinating!

                                                    Kura and Max are two very different women which made their interaction and their conversation about Kura’s task so much fun to read. You two did a great job when it comes to writing their dialogue. The plan that Kura proposed in order to find the traitor took me totally by surprise. I really want to know what happened after this thread!

                                                    Enjoy your rewards!

                                                    P.S.: You can also find the XP and Renown for this thread in your UCP!
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