2022-01-21: The Gang Decides to Blackmail God

From Dream Chasers
Jump to navigation Jump to search 


<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "I suppose it may not be of primary concern presently," Citan says all of a sudden as they are encamped outside of Guadosalam, "but there is something that I had come across recently that may be worth passing along." He pauses, glancing at the others around the campfire. "Particularly, as we are currently far away from Glenwood or Meribia?"

    It happens shortly after their arrival at Guadosalam, and a little while before any of them make the attempt to reach the well-protected gate within the city, in that short timespan in which they are still making their plans for their approach.

    "It was not long ago that I had the opportunity of making the acquaintance of Professor Raydon Wellington, an esteemed individual from Hyland. I will not trouble you with the particulars, but he was in need of assistance during an investigation in Meribia's sewers." He smiles a touch sheepishly. "It just so happens that I had been the only one of us about in Meribia at that particular moment, or otherwise..." He shakes his head. "Regardless! I decided to lend him my aid. He is a professor of law, you see, and had been investigating a gang of criminals that had once used the sewers of Meribia as their base of operations."

    He is getting to the point, if slowly.

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon looks sideways at Citan, as he starts to speak. His silver eyes blink once -- and then he tilts his head once. He stays quiet, but there is a clear expression of interest. Even if he doesn't involve himself too much in the affairs of Lunar, but he tries to stay abreast regardless. He -- and the Black Wolves -- have been sucked in before.

"Professor Raydon Wellington, hm?" Leon says. He muses, for a moment, and then he nods his head. "Far be it from me to complain if you decided to help, and none of us were present."

He nods once. "You learned something, then?"

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"Best time or not, I'll take intel if you've got it," Lily answers. "Glenwood and Meribia?"

Lily Keil has been working on her plans for the approach, and she listens to Citan's story. Sheepishly... "It's fine," she says of assisting the Professor. "He seems like your kind of guy anyway, from what you're saying."

She pauses. "The criminals in Meribia..."

He's getting to the point slowly, and Lily sees no reason to particularly rush him beyond Leon's efforts. So she waits.

"Color me interested. That sounds like the kind of thing we'd get involved in." 

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia is very much in agreement with keeping involvement in Lunar's affairs to a minimum. She can't help it - even if she weren't led by strong feelings of needing to protect Filgaia in particular, her experiences on Lunar just haven't been quite that positive, for the most part. Still, she's always ready to join her fellow Black Wolves wherever they may go, if there's a chance she might be able to help.

Guadosalam... funny how a city that once acted as the main safe haven remaining in Spira during the war now feels wholly unsettling to her. Though if she were completely honest, at this point that's kind of true for Spira in general. And Sin doesn't even have a whole lot to do with that. It's always having to wonder whether the people around her are actually still alive.

She listens to Citan a bit absent-mindedly at first, but is shown to have been paying attention when she suddenly speaks up. "Oh, uh, I haven't been in Meribia in forever. Was I supposed to?" Shows where her priorities have been, indeed.

She nods when Lily has it sounds like something to get involved in. "I mean, if there's criminals that need beating up over there, that's always fun." Completely straight-faced of course, Xantia as usual means things exactly the way she says them. 

<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.

Billy Lee Black...IS HERE!! Loaded for bear, as always. Spira was where he plied his trade as an Etone unencumbered for some time. As dire as the continent's relationship with religion is at this point - and his own - he has fond memories of the good work he did here.

SO maybe that's why there's a little more spring in his step as he idly checks his weapons.

He is, at this point, used to Citan needing a while to rev up to the point. "Sewers?" he prompts, and swings his revolver barrel back into place. "Not surprising. Lots of things find their ways to such places." 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei Fong Wong is eating maceroni and Hob Cheese.

He swallows once upon hearing the name Professor Raydon Weillington.

"Ah yes... He was quite the adept puzzle solver. There was some kind of fight in the sewers under Meribia?" Fei shrugs a bit as if he doesn't expecti t to be all that important. And that he doesn't really remember too much anyway!!

"Yes, he was a real gentleman. Maybe one day..." He trails off. 

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"I thought that he was... memorable," says Elly, who has also had a bowl of the same stuff Fei has, for some mysterious reason (Fei may have cooked it, if the origin is not otherwise established.)

"Dealing with criminals is almost... heh," Elly says with a faint smile. "I shouldn't think mildly. Anyone who hurts people is wrong, whatever the scale." She glances approximately towards Guado'home of the afterlife (sort of)'salam after this, before spooning up another biteful of one of the surface's finest dishes.

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "Not at all," he answers Xantia, she being one of... many present over whom he has been attempting to maintain a watchful eye (and all for rather varying reasons). "Rather, I found myself in that city while conducting a little 'information gathering' of my own. As you may recall, I missed your initial 'expedition' to Lunar. As a result, I have found myself woefully underinformed regarding that part of the planet!"

    As are others.

    "In the end, it was a 'happy accident', if you would?" He turns his attention towards Elly and Fei as they say they've met the man in question. "Have you, now? Well, it is good to hear that you were able to assist him in his work! He appears to have a daunting task ahead of him..."

    His answer to Leon, here, is a short one. "Indeed."

    Citan folds his arms over his chest, his head bowed. "Are all of you familiar with Blue Master Lunn? ...I admit that I had learned of the breadth of his importance, ah... largely post-mortem, as it were. He was killed in Spira many months ago, though he had been present prior during the invasion. Ah, but I am forgetting myself -- Blue Master Lunn is one of the Four Heroes of Althena. That would speak highly of the man's position within the hierarchy of the church, would it not? One would expect as much of one chosen by Althena, herself."

    He does not expound in this right away, the statement clearly one meant to lead into what else he has to say.

    "...At any rate, we had discovered, among other things, some papers left behind by the criminal group in question. It appears they had left the sewers in great haste. While much of what we uncovered was as you would expect, there were several that stood out."

    "Some of the correspondance we found... had been authored by Blue Master Lunn. It appears he was not only in correspondance with this group, but perhaps even in command of it." 

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"Not if you don't want to be," Leon tells Xantia. He flashes her a smile, then shakes his head. "But I am curious. And it can't hurt to keep an ear and an eye out."

He nods at Billy's assessment. "Kislev's were certainly ugly," he says. "And... nearly every... other city's sewers."

Leon looks at Fei and then Elly. Memorable, then? He cracks a smile at that, and then he nods, before he glances downward. "I see..."

He quiets down, as Citan explains. Leon did recall that he wasn't there; then, he tilts his head to the side. "I am," he confirms about Lunn. He pauses for a moment -- and then his eyes widen a little.

"One of the Four Heroes... commanded a gang of criminals...?" he says. "That's... after what we've seen back home, we have little room to judge. But... it's disquieting, for our worlds to share such things in common."

<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.

"Most are. It's why things end up there," Billy agrees with Leon. "Deeply unpleasant also means nobody wants to go there. It's a certain kind of security."

The wisdom of a veteran monster hunter, apparently.

And then...the point lands home, right between the ribs. "Ah," Billy says, and his eyes turn down. "Yes, I see," he says, and starts fiddling with his other gunsmoke. "I understand. Then, we will want to find what we can of this." 

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

You know that the only reason Xantia isn't eating that she finished her share of the food a while ago. Sometimes you have to wonder whether she's even able to taste anything.

Upon learning that this was a private matter and she hadn't missed a memo of some sort, Xantia visibly loses the mild tension in the face of having possibly let people down. Only to get it right back soon after, because she had missed a different memo.

"...Killed? Blue Master Lunn is dead? Awww... that was like the one thing I was looking forward to if we ever had to fight the Althenans again, possibly getting to fight that guy. He was supposed to be a really good martial artist... ugh, what a missed opportunity."

That's really the full extent of mourning she can do, having never actually met the man. Rather than regret not involving herself with the goings-on in Lunar quite as much, this feels more like she has one less reason to change that.

Of course to most people, that wasn't the actual news. That part is far less shocking to her, it just compounds the disappointment. "Oh, of course it would turn out that he's actually a bad guy. That would've made fighting him that much more satisfying!" She crosses her arms with a sour expression.

"Why'd he have to go and die like that? He had this whole gang of criminals, and they could still get to him? I dunno if this is worth our time then, they must be really lousy criminals." 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Almost a relief, compared to some of what they deal with? Lily can guess what Elly might've been about to say. She smiles faintly at her, and then looks to the others again. "I've heard of the Blue Master," she answers Citan after that. She also remembers how ugly Kislev's sewers were, for that matter.

But what he actually says about him...

"The group beneath--that was the group that..." She thinks. "If I remember right, a gang of criminals attacked the city, and were routed by Lunn. That's the story. But he was actually commanding them..."

She frowns.

"That's concerning. The Guard has some shade to them, sure, but this is different." 

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"I... were they really criminals?" Elly says, blinking several times. "It wasn't -- something like, a band of rogues who did petty thefts, carefully staged, so they had a reputation among the underworld, were they?" Elly read a series of gella novels on this theme recently.

Her tone is forlorn.

"... If he's in active contact with them and it's not something... like those stories," Elly says to Xantia, "It's not anything good... Do you know if the rest of the Guard knew? Perhaps... he was being blackmailed...?"

Elly eats the rest of the macaroni then, not really believing these hopeful possibilities.

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    Something like concern crosses Citan's face as Xantia speaks of her desire to have faced down the Blue Master in combat, now forever lost with his death. But he doesn't remark upon her sentiment, seeing fit to only watch her for the moment.

    "Is that so?" he asks of Lily, raising an eyebrow. "So, he fought them off, or at least, that is how it was portrayed at the time... I know little of the man, but it appears he had been quite the schemer."

    Did Blue Master Lunn command a gang of criminals?

    "It seems as if it may be so," Citan says, frowning as if in thought at Leon's remark. "It is possible it could be a forgery. Or, yes, that he had been forced in some manner," he says, acknowledging Elly. "But the Professor did not feel it was so, and without any reason to believe otherwise, I must agree. Which, brings me back to what I had been speaking of before."

    "If he had been in regular command of a criminal gang, it is likely so that this was known among the church hierarchy. If Althena is in truth..."

    He trails off here, shaking his head. "...It is uncertain, and that is why, should we pursue this, we must tread carefully. Not only did Lunn pass a hero to the Althenian church, nobility, and commonfolk alike, but it is likely that there were others in their hierarchy who knew of it, and may have abetted and profitted from this arrangement."

    He is silent for a moment. "It is... our choice whether we involve ourselves in this. Our concerns largely lie elsewhere. Yet, we have become entangled in the affairs of this planet as well, and it would be remiss to say that 'it does not concern ourselves at all'."

    He glances over towards Billy a moment, thoughtful.

    "Plainly put, we will need more information. Regarding the workings of the Guard, of the church, of this 'gang' commanded by Lunn..." 

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon watches Billy carefully. As the commander of the Wolves, it is part of his job; it is even more so, because he doesn't know Billy half as well as he knows some of the longer-time members. "Are you all right, Billy?" he says. "I realize... this is rather close to the experiences you had. In the feeling, if not the specifics."

He glances, momentarily, back at Xantia. He hesitates a moment -- and then he shakes his head once. "I don't know. By all accounts, Lunn was a very skilled fighter. I think if he was killed... it wasn't an accident. It speaks to the strength of who did it, and how it happened." He glances back at Lily.

Then he nods. "I wonder what the Guard knew. If they knew."

Leon looks back at Citan -- and then his brow furrows. "Yes," he says. "You're right. We may know better, but it'd be a bloody shock if the Althenan Church let the truth about him be known. It can't hurt to look into things... at least to know more, and help friends and allies who are more invested. If the rest of you want that."

He frowns. "There is the question of what to do with this information, too. If we tell people. And how."

<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.

Billy does not answer overly quickly this time, taking a rather pointed few seconds to finish checking the gunsmoke over before flipping it into its holster under his colt. "I'll be fine," he says, a bit stiff. "It seems like an epidemic of men abusing...no, rather, whose position consists of such acts. I can't say I'm finding the act any better than the first time."

He hooks his thumbs into his gunbelt, seeking some kind of neutral posture that even he can sense as standoffish. "As you say, revealing something like this would be a shock that many people likely don't deserve. Best to look further before saying much. I'm interested." 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"So he seems," Lily agrees with Citan, likewise concerned and frowning. She is less concerned with facing him in combat, though it could've been interesting. And Billy... Billy says he's going to be fine, but Lily is concerned about it. "...Yes," she agrees. "We can't just reveal it without considering the consequences--people wouldn't believe us in the first place, if we just said it. ....But I think you're right, doctor. Others must've known. But I think we can't, as you say, say it doesn't concern us."

She nods to Leon. Looking into it...

"As far as I know," Lily says, "The group were... Assassins," to Elly. 

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly's head tilts downwards and she looks at her emptied bowl. "... oh..."

Elly takes a deep breath and lets it out. Her eyes shut.

"... Doctor Uzuki," Elly says, "I want to say something in the spirit of an open exchange of ideas, and -- and you can tell me if this is just coming to my mind because of Jugend, if that's alright?"

Is this Jugend? Elly wonders. Where is this thought coming from? Is it the church? Why does Billy make me think these things? Am I just trying to make apple juice from rotten apples?

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia continues to look mildly ticked off and unsatisfied by this news spoiling something that she had designs on doing at some point. Perhaps due to her memory only going back a few years, she hasn't quite grasped the concept of windows of opportunity that may close unexpectedly. In her perception, this isn't something that's supposed to happen. It feels unfair.

Leon's take on the matter at least distracts her from sulking, and she silently considers that a moment. "Well... if he died, but his gang is still around, then whoever did it either wasn't very thorough... or they were only after him." Her tone switching on a dime, she sounds way too cheerful in adding, "Hey, whoever killed him has to be even stronger, right? I guess we'll just have to figure out who it was, so I can fight them instead!"

That moment passed, she seems a bit non-plussed regarding the matter of what this says about Althena's Guard. She looks between the other Wolves, waiting for a pause in the conversation before sharing her own perspective.

"I thought that it was obvious that something's wrong. If what people say about Althena is true, then she wouldn't order a war that would make so many people suffer. Even Clarine... and other Seraphs, they couldn't keep following the will of their goddess after that. For them, that's the hardest thing ever, but they still made that decision. I don't know, did I miss something? I don't understand why people haven't already looked into all this."

Others must have known, indeed. And yet... well, Xantia isn't the most informed on the subject, but from where she's sitting precious little seems to have been done about a very serious problem for far too long a time. Perhaps it really is up to them, then. She looks frustrated... though is quick to turn her attention to Elly, at the exact moment she says the word 'Jugend'. Probably no coincidence. 

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    After what had happened in the Ethos Headquarters -- and what had come and gone after that...

    Citan isn't the only one with an eye on Billy, though he does not interject when Leon speaks more directly to the elephant in the room, simply nodding the once as if to indicate he is in agreement on this front.

    His expression moves past thoughtful, into muted concern, at Billy's response. "..."

    He fidgets, briefly, with his spectacles. "...Yes. It could be that they were unaware of his... dealings," Citan says. "Or perhaps it was known. I do not think it would be unusual if they were aware. When you are someone of note, it is more difficult, if not impossible, to keep such things private. Managing a group such as this," and he pauses just long enough as Lily speaks to shed a little more light on the situation, of such quality that it prompts him to blink, "...Assassins? You are certain? ...Ah, as I had been saying, there is the matter of payment, of equipment -- moving such things around is hardly simple when it is in the open, let alone when it is in secret. Even if it were done under surreptitious means, there would be those who knew."

    And even, as Xantia points out, there has been something 'fishy' about the Goddess from the start.

    "It is more than even that. Some years prior to declaring war, it appears that she had banned such things as dancing, singing, and alcohol. Even taking into account the purported logic, does it not seem a little odd? And this had come but only a few years after her reappearance into the daily lives of her people, following an absence of one thousand years. Could it not be possible...?"

    He doesn't dare speak the possibility aloud. But the idea is set there, for the lot of them to consider.

    "I agree. This is why I thought it best to discuss with the rest of you. To simply reveal it... I do not think that would come to much good. There are many who would refuse to believe it, and should there be a conspiracy, then we would only put ourselves in danger. ...It is possible, yes, that his death was no accident..." Bowing his head, he might seem the scholar considering an elaborate theorem for the moment.

    But Elly has a question.

    He straightens where he's seated, glancing but once Xantia's way as she reflects that she could at least fight whoever killed Lunn. "...Yes? Please, go right ahead, Elly." 

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"I'm inclined to agree. An epidemic," Leon says. He closes his eyes -- and then nods. "And you're right. Revealing it could cause damage. But... looking is wise."

He raises an eyebrow -- assassins? That seems like a problem. Then, he looks at Xantia. "They get comfortable, Xantia. People... tend to get comfortable -- to explain away what they know is wrong, because change is frightful. So large changes seem small. Small changes seem inevitable."

Leon sighs. "A luxury not afforded to we Drifters."
He looks at Citan, then nods. Someone must have known. The Doctor, he decides, is quite right. "Hmm. Problems that get deeper and deeper..."

Leon quiets, though, and looks to Elly.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly toys with her spoon.

"If we know their secrets," Elly says, "and we reveal them... maybe it will make changes. Maybe they'll suppress things -- or have a chance to conceal them -- or simply flatly deny them, and call us interlopers. And I suppose that part wouldn't be so false, would it."

"But maybe they wouldn't be able to do so," Elly continues. She looks upwards, and at Leon and Lily in specific, for some reason, weird, before finishing her thought:

"Or the threat could make them change their behavior... to avoid all the trouble it would cause."

"And then, of course, you can always reveal it later," she adds, as if that thought just occured to her, or perhaps she had a snap back to the mean while actually screwing up the courage to say it aloud.

<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.

'Could it be possible...'

Billy's eyes turn down again, fiercely focused. That...makes a lot of sense. In fact, with his level of distance, it seems almost obvious. But...perhaps that's just because it isn't his god?

Regardless, he does look up at 'assassins', grimacing further. He doesn't...entirely know what to say to that. Yes, of course it's assassins. That makes so much sense. He pinches the bridge of his nose for a moment and then nods. "More and more. Yes, I think I'd like to get this...discovered. We can decide if we expose it when we know more." As Elly says, more or less. 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"True," Lily answers to Xantia. "...We should be careful to make sure someone isn't going to try to take over leadership--we don't want to walk blindly into a nest of assassins."

Xantia has a point. ANd Elly... Well. Lily listens to Citan first. "Yes," Lily says. "They were called the Shadow Dragon."

"....Right," she says to Elly. "We look into it, and maybe the pain is worth the truth, when the time comes. People deserve to know. But not until we have proof--not until we know more."

She nods to Billy. "Exactly." 

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Oh yeah... the whole 'no fun' thing that Althena supposedly ordered. Xantia hadn't even thought of that. Back when she learned of that, they'd just arrived on Lunar for the first time, so absolutely everything was weird and that part didn't particularly stand out. But with what she knows now, that doesn't track with what she's been told either. A lot could happen in a thousand years, she supposes. She can't even fathom such a long period of time. The question is, what did happen?

Not a question that some people even want the answer to, apparently. She needs Leon's explanation to even begin to understand, but in the end she still has to shrug. "I don't really get why that's a luxury, but maybe that's because being a Drifter's all I know. Feels more interesting to me when it's not just the same things that happen every time. I guess some people prefer things to be boring? Weird."

Lily gets a smile for speaking her language. "Right, we could always go punch some assassins and keep them from getting anything organized." ...wait, was that the actual point?

She then listens to Elly's explanation, and... goes a little cross-eyed, because this isn't her language at all. Is this intrigue? This is intrigue, isn't it. Yeah, she doesn't get how that works, exactly. She can hazard a guess, however.

"So... we get information, but we don't do anything with it, and that will do... something? Is that the plan?" She furrows her brows, pausing a short moment before raising a finger. "Is this 'black mail'? I think that's what they call something like that, right? I don't know what it has to do with the color of packages, but..." 

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    That particular thought of Billy's is entirely the same reason why Citan is able to consider heresy: this is not his world, his people, his goddess. But even so, to mention this thought to any of their Lunarian allies -- it would be shattering.

    "The 'Shadow Dragon'... I see. Well, perhaps that will be useful for learning more about them and their operation."

    He rests his chin in his palm, considering what it is that Elly is saying with all due gravity. "What you say is not impossible, Elly. However... I would want to consider this carefully. Should we come forth with this information, we may ourselves become at risk, particularly if whatever happened to Lunn was not a mere twist of fate. We are dealing with forces we do not entirely understand, should it indeed run deep into this society. And, as you have said, we are outsiders -- no one is beholden to listen to us. With that said..."

    He pauses. "We are outsiders, and by the same token, not subject to the sorts of concerns and restraints that would affect a native Lunarian. Particularly should we, as you have implied, approach the power structure itself with what we know. Indeed, that may even be a strength in making our case: we are not part of this 'system', as it were." Pretty words, for what is essentially blackmail.

    Still, he looks towards Billy. "Before that, though... I would like to have more information. If we can build a case, if we are able to uncover more than just these letters, then that may provide us with more, ah... leverage." He might have glanced at Xantia towards the last. He fidgets with his glasses and has, again, the decency to look chagrined.

    "That may, ah... be an accurate assessment..."

Retrieved from "https://dreamchasers.space/index.php?title=2022-01-21:_The_Gang_Decides_to_Blackmail_God&oldid=11528"