Even though The Vigilant Eye is out on patrol, Captain Karada is at the Temple today while his second captains the warship. Patrols are longer and more frequent now, keeping the ship busy while the crew itself swaps in and out to stay fresh. The main exception is Wynona, who still goes out with each patrol. It doesn't mean Karada can get away from paperwork though, as he copies patrol logs for the archives.
"Are you required to fill out forms for permission to fill out forms?" Alptraum inquires from the doorway. He's idly flipping a coin with his left hand, specifically the token he had examined at the mage's guild. "Sunala requires no forms for when people pass, at least. Now their relatives ..." He smiles slightly, adding, "Sorry, I deal with most things through humor."
"The Yodh are not used to maintaining a military airship," Karada notes, setting the ledger and quill aside and clasping his hands together atop the desk. "Things need to be recorded. Now, what can I do for the Barsunala today? Or.. are you here with news about our 'little' pirate problem?"
"Potentially," Alptraum says and flicks the coin towards the Captain. "It's possible those trinkets are what are giving away who has what. Through some joint work from the Yodhbarada and the Mage's Guild, this so far seems the best lead. Doesn't seem like much, does it?"
Karada catches the coin and examines it. "A casino chip.. what is the trick then?" he asks.
"By itself, nothing at all. It just has a very weak spell on it to help avoid counterfeiting. Not even really detectable by itself. Now, if you put a lot of them together, all those little echoes tend to combine and become a much larger one. Now, say the pirates have a mage in their employ, or a modified detector that works over some sort of distance for that ripple. Either someone on the ship, or by far, that can't be said yet. But ... any chest full of those would trigger the device, whereas a chest full of money ... would not," Alptraum explains and gestures a bit vaguely with his right hand. "I could also be completely wrong, but it is so far the only lead that seems to hold up under the restrictions this raiding event would have on it to keep the priates methods so hidden."
"So, if this is the means of knowing which vessel to attack, they'd still need to know where each ship is, or the route. Routes can change on the fly though if the captain is trying to be unpredictable. Can a mage be gotten aboard one of the ships without being too obvious, once the money and ballast chips have been loaded?" Karada asks.
"I don't see why not. All you have to do is have a trusted crew member act ill and require replacement. Then you shuffle the mage on as the replacement. Pick someone like a secondary navigator and the like, someone not very physical and they should fit in," Alptraum offers as one suggestion. "They could also check the ships a head of time for things stashed as well."
"Getting a Mage to go into danger could be expensive," Karada notes. "You've already consulted with one I take it?"
"I have," Alptraum notes. "I've also arranged for someone to be on the ship anyway, so we don't necessarily need a mage. Though one would help," he admits.
"Using the mage to find out which ship is going to be the target should be the safest option," Karada muses, leaning back slightly in his rather ascetic chair. "Checking each crew member would be ideal, but I don't know how to do that without giving away that it's being done. You can check for magic artifacts yourself though, can't you?"
"Not at the level a Mage could. My skills are not oriented towards general magic; mine tend to focus on, well, Life related skills," Alptraum admits and shrugs. "As for checking everyone, you might be able to do that indirectly. Airmen tend to be the ... celebratory sorts. So, if they have a gathering the night before departure, just set up a mage as an assistant barkeeper and have them check people as they buy drinks," he suggests.
"Mages are good at drinking, but bartending?" Karada asks. "My exposure to Mages is limited, but Windcaller has served on airships for almost her entire professional life, but doesn't seem to have learned anything about operating one beyond her specialty. Now, a server might work. Not much skill there, and sailors do tend to go for quantity."
Alptraum smiles slightly at the mention of Windcaller. "Skilled at all things or not, you are all lucky to have Windcaller serving with you," he notes. "But ... not her as a server. She lacks, well, coordination for that. So do most mages, really, but there has to be some that could ... that are unknown. Cyprian, for example, would be a bad choice."
"I hear you are very good at disguising people," Karada claims. "And you'd only need a.. Chaos Mage? They're the ones that can deal with general magic, right? I'm not clear on how things work in regard to detecting any sort of magic. What type is used on the tokens?"
Alptraum nods. "I can disguise people so that their family would not recognize them," he admits and agrees. "But, not many would agree to it; it can be quite a disturbing sensation to most." Then he pauses and arches his brow, and has to ask, "What else has been claimed about me?"
"As for the type of magic, it's light-based I think," Alptraum adds.
"You can turn into black mist, walk through walls, summon demons.." Karada rattles off, idly waving a hand as if he doesn't really believe any of it. "The usual spooky stuff."
"Well ... actually all are true," Alptraum has to concede. "I could summon a demon right now if you wish," he offers.
"Would it have excellent penmanship?" Karada asks.
"And is superb with paperwork," Alptraum claims.
"Reading my hasty scrawls and turning them into legible scrawls are the main things," Karada claims. "Filing can be left to the Acolytes. Still, this could be the first big lead we've had. We just need to take advantage of it without the pirates finding out. Being able to stop them from figuring out which ship is the correct one does not serve the goal of locating their base of operations and their backers."
"Oh, I have plans of how to find their base. The spy I intend to plant will be an irresistible target for taking for ransom, and they can relay locations and beacon," Alptraum remarks as he leans on a wall now and closes his eyes. As for why, well, he taps a bit on the jewel on his hand and thinks, "Kaira, I need you out here! There is a duty that only your great skills can do..."
It takes a few moments, but eventually a miniature dragon crawls out of the exposed gem. "What is it?" she asks, looking around. "A demon? Asteroid? Trying to figure out which wine goes best with poached kraken?"
Alptraum tries to pull Kaira all the way out and off the gem! "Even worse. The most horrible beast there can ever be ... bureaucratic paperwork," he says in the tone of one facing the greatest demons of the underworld.
"So.. you need a secretary?" Kaira asks as she dangles from Alptraum's hand, giving him an arch look.
"Not me," Alptraum says and turns her around to see Karada. "He does."
"He looks like a navy type," Kaira comments. "Are you a navy type?" she asks.
Karada nods, one eyebrow raised. "I'm Captain Karada of The Vigilant Eye, currently serving the Yodhrephath," he says. "I need to copy these log ledgers."
"He is not the type that plunders booty," Alptraum notes to Kaira. He almost adds, 'much to Wynona's dismay', but even he knows better than to do that.
"By hand?" the tiny dragon asks in horror. "I suppose you need a Personal Demonic Assistant with handwriting recognition then.."
"I don't know what that is," Karada notes, and looks to Alptraum.
Alptraum is terribly amused, possibly because Karada hasn't even flinched from this. "That's why you are here, Kaira," he notes, "You are the expert in bureaucracy in the prison, after all. You're kind of a demon, after all."
"A dragon is way better than a demon!" the pocket-dragon squeaks. "Just go to the Imp Store and get one for him."
"We don't have an imp store," Alptraum points out and sets Kaira on the desk.
"Ugh, no wonder this city has so many problems," the dragon grumbles and sits up on the desk. She does grow a bit more, but still remains 'pet sized'. She holds an arm out to Alptraum and makes a gimme gesture with her fingers. "Shadow please.."
Alptraum extends his hand and produces well, amorphous shadow ... that spluts against the pet-dragon.
"Ack, you did that on purpose," Kaira complains, and peals and scoops the shadow off of herself. She holds her other hand out to Karada and makes the same gesture. "Pe.. Quill, and ink, please," she requests. "Pay close attention to this, Alptraum."
Karada passes over the requested supplies with a rather bemused look on his face.
Alptraum peers at Kaira, and suspects she's about to do something to him in revenge for dragging her out here.
The blob of shadow gets molded into what first looks like a tree, but turns out to be a hand of sorts with three fingers. The quill is stuck into the middle one, while the end ones get squeezed a bit more until they bulge out at the ends. "Let's see," Kaira says, and chuckles at some joke only she seems to understand before blowing into the bulges like balloons to inflate them a bit more.
Alptraum looks at Karada and shrugs a little, then mouths, "She's a little addled."
A hole is poked into each bulge with a tiny claw, after which they begin to lighten a bit.. eventually turning.. a rather ugly shade of yellow. The holes have widened into pupils, making it clear that the bulges are now eyes. Kaira sticks the.. thing.. between the ledgers and manually runs one eye over the original scribbles while moving the other over the cleaner scribbles. She does this until she reaches the point where the new ledger is blank, then sets the inkwell down, dips the quill into it, and then positions it at the start of the next blank line. "Now.. go!" she says, and pokes the 'imp' until it starts writing. It not exactly like Karada's printing, but it's close.
"Hey, it actually works" Alptraum blurts out, a bit shocked by this. Then he realizes something, and asks Kaira, "You're going to get me back for this, aren't you?"
"I'm going to make you practice making shadow-golems if that's what you mean," Kaira replies. "You can put real spirits in them, or simple instructions. Since the shadow has some rudimentary intelligence on its own it shouldn't be that difficult."
"I didn't know you had a tiny instructor built in," Karada says. "I can think of many biological functions that could benefit from having a tutorial."
"Except this one is snarky and complains a lot at me," Alptraum notes to Karada. "And tries to embarrass me."
"Yes, a tutor," Karada says. "We also call them sergeants. Of course if I could cough up some phlegm and have it clean my buckles by itself I probably wouldn't have made it to officer."
Alptraum looks at Karada. "Is that an insult?" he asks, not quite sure how to take it.
"No, just be glad you aren't in a position where you'd be making these things all the time to deal with minor tasks," Karada notes, then gives the imp another look. "How long will it last? Magic usually.. wears off eventually."
"I have no idea," Kaira claims. "Just don't have it fetch water from a well and you should be fine though."
"It can't be any worse than the stuff I deal with regularly," Alptraum points out. "I have to mitigate feuds between the Sisters, the Yodh, deal with regular monsters, deal with horrible people, and that's before I do my formal job."
Kaira decides to climb up Alptraum's arm and drape herself across his shoulders. "Plus you have to carry me around," she reminds him.
Alptraum pauses, then says the thing one never utters to a woman. "Have you put on weight, Kaira?" he asks.
"Are you going to tell the merchant captains about your discovery, or do you think they'd immediately try to take advantage of it?" Karada asks.
"I'm exactly as heavy as I need to be to make an impression," the dragon claims.
"Found all the ice cream the elves were hoarding, didn't you?" Alptraum counters.
"Nobody hoards better than dragons," Kaira claims. "Especially when it comes to finding other people's hoards."
"Plus, frozen unicorn cream is tasty," she adds.
Alptraum looks at Karada. "I don't know if this is helping, or hurting, my image," he admits.
"Frozen female, or male, unicorn cream?" Alptraum asks Kaira, just to see how she responds to that.
"It may hurt the image of dragons more than yours," Karada says. "Everyone needs a pet."
"Mare, mostly," Kaira explains. "Stallion cream is more of a topping."
This makes Alptraum twitch. "I was not being serious," he says.
Alptraum rubs his forehead. "When will the ships be loaded? And do you know if the crews favor any specific bars? If not, I'm sure the Yodhbarada will know that," he notes to Karada.
"Unicorns fart rainbows, what were you expecting?" Kaira notes, and then sticks her nose into Alptraum's ear and licks it.
Alptraum erks, and flicks his ear to whack that licking snoot!
"I have no idea, I'm afraid," Karada says. "Civilian sailors, I assume, stay close to the docks though."
"All right, I will use my contacts to find out. Also, I will let the mages know you are fine with working with them ... and by proxy, that should mean the Yodhrephath will not object," Alptraum says.
"The Yodhrephath have minimal oversight when it comes to my activities," Karada notes. "Military patrols and operations aren't exactly part of their repertoire."
"So.. they'll work with you, and you work with mages, so I don't think they can have any grounds to object," the captain points out.
"No, but politically it is still a good idea to show them deference appropriately," Alptraum points out, "Even if they can't say no, they need to appear like they have the option to object."
"I just hope this infiltration works," Karada says, watching the imp do its transcription work. "We're putting the crews at risk if they aren't told about the potential tracking method, as well as the Yodhrephath escort and your spy. It has to work, and we need to be able to swoop in with everything we've got when the time comes."
"I'm not asking them to risk anything more that I would," Alptraum notes, "I'll be in the thick of it, as it where."
"The quandary is whether to ask them or not, I suppose, but that is up to you," the captain says. "They aren't military, after all. But you know them and their feelings better than I do, I assume."
"And I can't risk telling the entire crew in case of of them is the leak. I can tell their captains, though," Alptraum notes, "Those I have cleared."
"They must be getting desperate by now," Karada says. "Good luck with them and whatever mage you get. If you can't get a mage for examining the crew.. there are Yodh that have magical talent. The trick with them is getting them to act as waitresses. Although I'm sure a Yodhbarada would do it."
"And mug everyone. I do know some ... Yodhinala, that remain," Alptraum notes then pauses and blinks a blot. "I just imagined Koldesh in a barmaid outfit..."
"One that would fit her or a regular one?" Karada has to ask.
Alptraum winces. "A regular one," he admits.
"That wouldn't last long," Karada notes, shaking his head. "She'd be naked and angry in ten minutes. Assuming she hadn't killed anyone by then."
"Ten minutes? She's angry all the time," Alptraum points out.
"Granted she's also quite hot naked," Alptraum says and rubs his chin a bit.
"Oh, I don't think she's angry all the time," Karada says. "She's fond of sweets, you know. She just tends to be rather masculine due to the potions they take.. to make them more masculine. I imagine that could make a woman angry though, since I doubt women are as used to dealing with such things as men are."
"I'm aware of it. Amusingly, if you give that potion to a guy, they become more girly," Alptraum notes with a grin. "She and I actually do get along fine. I don't want to ask them to do anything demeaning."
"Yodhrephath are trained to use spells, but not to be sensitive to magic," Karada notes. "Of those who can use it, they tend to stick to one specific spell.. sorry, miracle. Wynona is the only one who can use multiple spells, even though they're all air and weather related."
"She also sneezes a lot," Alptraum adds, "And is probably one of the kindest people I have met in Babel. She chose a hard path to try and help her people. I have to respect her greatly for that."
"I make certain that she gets that respect," Karada says. "I need her in order to be effective. I believe her entire life has been a hard path. She just feels better prepared for it now."
"Good. Not all Yodh respect her," Alptraum notes, "Those that have been flippant about it I have ... spoken to."
"Well, she's not like them, and shouldn't be any more than she already is," Karada points out. "She won't be one of them forever."
"Not entirely true. She will always be Repath's daughter, even if she leaves the order eventually. That part will stay with her," Alptraum comments, "It just doesn't define her completely like it does so many. She'll take the best aspects with her, and be better for it. And if she ends up with someone; that someone will be very lucky."
"I'm no fool, Barsunala, and I don't need Inala nudging me with her elbow either," Karada says. "I understand Windcaller's feelings towards me. And when we are done risking our lives together on the regular I will see about addressing them. Until then, we have our professional duties to carry out."
Alptraum's brow arches. "I wasn't suggesting anything, on anyone's behalf," he notes a bit tersely. "I was noting my impressions and opinions of her. I respect her a great deal and will protect her if I need to. You do not need to get ... unpleasant with me."
"I'm not, I just know who she wants to make lucky," Karada notes. "We'll see if her feelings hold up over time as she continues to get to know me. Personally, I don't see the appeal of a broken man who is driven by a cocktail of inertia, spite and pain. So I'll either get better, or she'll decide she doesn't need to fix me and then we'll reach a good place to consider a relationship."
"You implied I was acting on Inala's behalf, which I am not," Alptraum points out. "And you aren't the only one driven by those urges. Who do you think you are speaking to? I know you thought the rumors about me were mostly jokes." He pauses there and gestures to Kaira around his shoulders, adding, "For every act of silliness I may do, rest assured I've experienced something a hundred times worse, or witnessed unfairness on a scale that can barely be explained. There was a time I would have burned the world if I had the chance. And in spite of being as broken as I was, a woman loved me, and because of that and allowing myself to care in return I started to see the hope that was still in the world. So, now I cope by trying to find fun in the darkest of situations. When you stare into darkness, you can do two things; let it devour you, or learn how to laugh at it and find the small things that make life worth it." Alptraum then shrugs a bit and adds, "For what it is worth. I know what you
have lost, and I helped you find part of it again. Just don't decide your life is darkness."
"I just know that I'm not healed yet," Karada says. "Maybe when Babel itself is healed, I'll recover faster. Wynona does give me something to work towards, though, make no mistake. But right now, she doesn't need me or someone else trying to protect her, not when she's trying to get there herself. I don't want to be the cause of her backsliding into someone who just takes whatever misfortune falls upon her."
"You need more faith in her than that. I don't see her backsliding so easily at this point," Alptraum says, "You also need to have a little more faith in me. I know you're used to 'Gods' that enjoy the misery of others or do nothing to help. I'm neither, and I act on my choices, not on the Sister's vices. I guarantee you the person likely to suffer the most in tracking down the pirates is me. And no, I want no thanks for it, nor a parade, nor any such nonsense. In fact, publically, I'd prefer no one know of it. All honors and awards should go to you, Babel, and the traders. I want the city and its people to believe in themselves again and can stand on their own. I'm just in the shadows to nudge things now and then."
"That's well and good, but sometimes they do need a symbol to rally behind.. at least for the things that feel too big for them," Karada says. "It's something Babel has lost. Granted, the previous role models were horrible people for the most part.. but there were a few, here and there, that were worth it. Prince Boghaz was the last one, and now there's you."
Alptraum arches a brow. "Why not you?" he asks honestly. "You make a much more striking hero figure than I do."
"Because I let the Boomer get past me," Karada claims. "Because I survived when I honestly should not have, and because I did not become a thorn in the sides of those who gained by it. I saved my ship and my crew, and did only what I needed to.. to keep sane. I knew I just had to wait, and Thath would take care of it. And especially because I was a soldier who did what the Sabaoth ordered, and am part of the reason Babel was attacked."
"So am I. My existence was part of the reason the Sabbaoth ordered the attack," Alptraum notes and pats Karada's shoulder. "No one has pure and clean hands when it comes down to it. Shoulda, coulda, woulda. What matters now is what you do. Anyway, we don't need to compare our sins; lets just make things better."
"I still came by my sins by choice, so it is by my choices that I will atone for them," Karada says. "I don't think you can claim to have chosen your situation. You're innocent. It's those who reacted to you that are guilty." The captain then stands up, and offers his hand to Alptraum. "A good pledge, I think. This is Babel. If those with dirty hands cannot clean it up, who else is there?"
Alptraum accepts that hand, with his right, and shakes it. And also covers it in squirming shadow. He has to always be a little creepy, it seems. "If I learn anything more about how to identify and locate the pirates, I will let you know. Right now we have this possibility. Time will tell how it plays out," he says.
"Just give me a day to respond in force once you have the location," Karada says. "And if you can also identify who is a hostage, and who to capture to make everyone else drop their weapons, I will greatly appreciate it."
Karada then reaches over and pets Kaira on the head.
"The first two I can do, the last one, maybe," Alptraum admits as he watches the captain ... pet Kaira. He arches his brow, and possible to test how he would react (as it may help show how battle hardened people would), he pushes out the draconic aura. Slow at first, but building to an oppressive feeling that doom is about to devour all. (Because that's one feeling Vorg knew well, and Alptraum somewhat copied).
"Hmm," Karada says. "You need to get the smell too," he notes. "The feeling of waiting for the battle to start, or for the enemy to hopefully finish you off.. it needs the smell of death and feces too."
Kaira wrinkles her nose at that thought. "A draconic aura should not smell like crap," she insists.
Alptraum smirks, and relaxes that sensation. "No promises on being able to get people to surrender, I cannot manufacture smells," he notes.
"I could however turn them into a massive orgy," Alptraum adds. "That doesn't require smells."
"So long as it makes it hard for them to wield their weapons," Karada says. "And if they try to wield their 'weapons' at the Yodhrephath, the laughter will haunt them for the rest of their short lives."
"I almost want to see that," Alptraum has to admit. "And I am also sure you have much work to do. You and your, uh, fickle finger of forgery over there," he adds and gestures to the desk.
"If it starts to leak, just tip it over into a chamberpot," Kaira suggests. "But do not use it afterwards. Unless you want to play a really probing joke on someone."
"I'll keep that in mind," Karada says. "Try not to let the Yodhrephath fawn over your pet. They all secretly want pet dragons."
"Eh, once they had one though, they would instantly regret it. They aren't housebroken," Alptraum says with a straight face.
That earns another nose-in-ear-plus-lick. Housebroken or not, Kaira knows exactly where to cause the most discomfort.
Alptraum glurks! "This one seems to need more whip," he growls at his shoulder.
"My father bred pteras," Karada says. "At least dragons are decorative."
"We'll start with making rats," Kaira whispers to Alptraum. "Wait.. uh.. vermites. Rats are people here. So vermites. Then work your way up to monsters and people."
Alptraum just shakes his head. "My jokes tend to backfire," he admits to Karada. "Again, good day to you." Sighing softly, and with dragon on his shoulder, he heads out the door.