[Poindexter]

"You had a run-in with Oakley!?  I won't tell anyone about your friend's little secret, but you know the Cutters are looking far and wide for wizkids and others with even an ounce of the talent.  I keep my eye on the Jungle's matrix chatter and from the sound of things, they feel quite out-mojo'ed against the power of Ea'van that Kubiak and his followers wield and they won't make a move until they feel confident enough that they can hold their own against it.  The peace Kubiak has worked hard to build isn't as stable as most in the Jungle think. I can't afford to get involved." 

You mean you fear to get involved. Not only are you free with personal information, but also a coward, but at least you are brave enough to wear them outwardly. Few cowards do. Xem listens to the doctor speak, his crazy, bloodshot eyes never blinking nor breaking their lock with his, despite one of them being nearly closed due to swelling.

"I'm telling you, if he was a normal elf, maybe I could do more, but I mostly give out antibiotics to gangers who've got the clap. Here take this, it's called a stimpatch.  Even if Kubiak can heal him with the power of Ea'van, he's gonna feel like shit for a while and it might help.  You might also need it if the Clean-up crew finds you and gives you some more licks.  Oh, and don't be giving it away, it's expensive."

After giving the moment juuuuust long enough for Rat to reach for it, Xem finally reaches forward in a flash of motion from his bony arm, snatching the patch from the doctor's outstretched hand the way a stray dog would do with a piece of meat from a person it didn't trust yet. Still in one motion, the crazy-eyed little elf turns and walks out the door while pocketing the stim, leaving only a "Bring him along, friends!" to Rat and Werner.

[gradivus]

For a second there while he was snatching the stimpatch Xem seemed like some sort of feral animal to Werner. And then as he bolts out the door he again appears to be just a skinny little elf child.

Man, the adrenaline surge must be playing tricks with my mind.

Werner motions to Rat and follows after Xem.

[inca1980]

Keeping to the upper levels of scaffolding in order to avoid the eyes of pedestrians on street-level, the four of you start huffing it again toward Ibleaf square trying to be as gentle as you can with your limp friend.  Managing to avoid most eyes you finally descend and reach the majestic foot of the Ibleaf tree. 

Looking up into the foliage the sun, filtered through the grey translucent tarp glints iridescent as the leaves slowly sway to and fro on a soft breeze only they seem to feel.  Rat called Junior with his survival knife as you left Doc Robinson's street clinic and the young cyclops came through for you.  He sits there on a root waiting and as soon as you arrive he runs over and takes a look at Chaim. 
"Boy-o-boy chummer, he's in bad shape.  Who did this to him?  We're gonna have to take him to Kubiak fast." 

He places a comm-call and then tells you to follow him.  Just before you get underway with him he pauses for a moment. 
"Does this have anything to do with Sarafin?"

[HydroRaven]

Already annoyed they had to seek help, and had to reach out to Kubiak on top of that, Rat simply decided to let out a "What does it matter?" to Junior's question. He tried to stay as calm as he could, for the sake of their friend, but this question the young Junior had asked grated on Rat's nerves.

[gradivus]

Werner eyes  Junior for a second before replying.

"If you really want to know it was Oakley and the Cutters. Sarafin wanted blood and didn't care if it came from the guilty or the innocent. I'm not to happy at the moment. Rat seeems to be even less happy than I am. I suggest for everyones sanity and well being we just get to Kubiak now."

Werner thought to himself, Feel like bopping Junior over the head. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have gone seen Sarafin in the first place and Chaim wouldn't be in this mess.

[inca1980]

The urgency of the situation begins to set in for Junior and he almost starts running as he leads you into an old  5 story office building right next to Ibleaf square.  Most of the windows are broken and graffiti figures more prominently than any old rusted logos.  You follow Junior in the first floor and the inside looks just as dilapidated as out but an elevator at the far end of what once was a lobby seems to looks somewhat cared for but  you're still surprised it works as it takes you up to the top floor.

As soon as the elevator stops and the sliding doors creak back open, the four of you feel something you've never quite felt before.  The hallway in front of you is dimly lit by soft candle-light and the hair on the back of your neck begins to stand on end.  You struggle to keep your thoughts straight but they're rushing by at an unbelievable speed.  Each of you has felt the soft caress of mana, some of you in your muscles and senses, others at the command of your fingertips, but this is so much more powerful and makes it a little difficult to concentrate. 

As you pass various open doors you see followers dressed similarly to Junior in their simple grey ponchos and facial tattoos with unknown meanings.  Many of them are running between rooms and they don't seem to notice you as they tend to various sick people.  You even recognize a few of the older Jungle citizens laying on different cots or on mats on the floor.  The vibrations of energy at times grow so strong that they even manifest visually as streamers of multicolored light.   A double door which at one time may have been the entrance to a board-room stands in front of you and Junior pushes it open and asks you to wait for a moment.  He quickly comes back out and motions for you to enter.  The scent of incense wafts toward your face and the pulse of music thumps in your chest and inside you see the room is filled with crooked bookshelves and oaken desks and the walls and blackened windows are covered with talismans and crystals.  In the center stands a man who looks very concentrated with sunglasses that seem out of place given the dimness of the whole floor.  In his arms is cradled a small ape which he treats with much care.  He takes his attention away from the streamers of light which he is twisting and molding with his hands and  turns towards you. 



"Bring him in and place him on the floor in between those four candles.  We'll save the introductions for when he is safe again."


While you lay Chaim in between the candles he puts the ape down and it quickly pounces and climbs its way to a higher perch.  He removes his gloves and nods to Junior and the young cyclops goes over to a shelf and retrieves a balm which he begins to rub over Chaim's face and head.  The strange man concentrates for a moment with his palms pressed up against your friend's temples.  All the streamers of light floating in the room begin to swirl and slowly seep into the wound in Chaim's head and as the last streamer  gets sucked in, the elf's eyes pop open.  The man lets go of his temples and reaches around his under-arm to help Chaim up who is blinking wildly confused.  He smiles and turns back towards you.

"Ea'van has looked favorably on this one today.  Perhaps because she has a purpose for him.  Maybe she has a purpose for you as well....."  He puts his gloves back on, presses a button on his commlink which tops the music and and reaches his hand out to you as he still holds Chaim upright. 
"I am Kubiak and it is a great pleasure to meet you.  I was told you have a problem with the Cutters and I am curious to see how we could help each other out."

OOC: Chaim is at full health for physical track.  Oh, and Background count is 2 aspected towards Ea'Van.

[Poindexter]

What do I know about Ea'van? (Int 5 + Magical threats 4): 9d6t5 3

"Ea'van has looked favorably on this one today.  Perhaps because she has a purpose for him.  Maybe she has a purpose for you as well....."  He puts his gloves back on, presses a button on his commlink which stops the music and and reaches his hand out to you as he still holds Chaim upright.

The disheveled little elf boy doesn't like the lofty attitude this guy is giving off. Something about the way he talks, or dresses, or carries himself; he doesn't know what it is, but Xem doesn't like this guy.  He stays near the rear of the group and only pipes up when the human starts talking about purpose. "Thanks, but I've already got my own purpose," he spits out while chewing on his left thumbnail.

"I am Kubiak and it is a great pleasure to meet you.  I was told you have a problem with the Cutters and I am curious to see how we could help each other out."

There's that fucking word again. Xem is getting really tired of help, giving, receiving, and even just hearing about it. There is no true help in this world. If someone does something for you, it's because they believe you'll do something for them. Either that, or they believe you won't do something to them. But these are thoughts best suited for another time. For now, there are matters to set straight. He adopts a tone and mannerism of an old timey preacher, but sort of spastic, like he was on Novacoke. "No sir! The fault in action and deed lies not with the Cutters. No! For they are but a gang of base creatures who do what they do for mere money. No sir, the problem lies firmly in the lap of the merchant named Sarafin. Twas his word that spoke false witness to the gang of brutes! Twas his coin that lines their coffers in exchange for our assault! Twas his very hand that reached for my own under the false guise of trust, only to grasp it in combat! Oh yes in-deedy-DO! If there is a debt to be paid, it shall be paid by that dirty motherfucker, or by none!"

He stops and gasps, realizing he's barely been breathing, his rage growing so fierce in his heart. His gaze stays firmly on Kubiak as he regains his breath though. His grey/white hair has started to clump up from the blood in the ends and it really makes him look like some crazed hobo, twice his actual age.

[HydroRaven]

Rat had seen similar setups in his young life, from various hustlers and con men in the Barrens, but he was truly impressed by the results. It had seemed to him that Chaim's wounds had closed themselves, and the elf had come back from the brink of death without any other assistance. The ork went over to Chaim and quickly examined him, looking for any signs of procedure on his body or medical tools around.

Rat was truly amazed; he couldn't explain how his buddy had miraculously recovered except than to say that it was genuinely magic. The young ork had felt a tingling sensation on his neck ever since they had arrived on the floor, but this was something else. He simply muttered a "How did you...", looking at Kubiak in somewhat amazement. Of course he had heard of magic before, but he had never actually seen anything like what had just happened.

Of course this didn't change anything in Rat's eyes. If anything, it made Kubiak even more suspicious than before: why would someone with a genuine gift for magic stay in the Barrens? Why wouldn't he just fly away to any better part of Seattle?

Listening to Xem, Rat had to agree with the scrawny elf. "Yeah, this whole pile of drek rests solely on Sarafin's shoulders. The old bastard will pay for this."

[gradivus]

Werner thought about it for a second. Maybe it was his earlier experience living in an arcology, or some other instinct, but he figured that you always at least listen to an offer.

"While I agree with you my friends that Sarafin need to be punished as the instigator of this, Oakley knew damn well we weren't the thieves when he attacked us.I say we hear what the man has to say before dismissing it out of hand."

Werner thought to himself, Hopefully Xem wouldn't go all sideways because I didn't fully agree with him. Sometimes I think that boy is schizophrenic or something-there are moments that he seems to hear voices no one else can. And then again, there's moment when he seem too bright for a kid that started in the Barrens and didn't have any corporate or even public education.

Without waiting for a response from his friends, "Well go on sir- how can 'WE' help each other."

[rednblack]

In one moment Chaim was rushing toward Oakley, knife held at the ready.  He remembers an errant piece of concrete catching his toe, throwing him off balance, and then a baseball bat that came swiping against his jacket, and then he was falling.  He doesn't remember the sight of the ground coming up to meet him, but he remembers the sensation.  He remembers feeling where the ground should have been, but he kept falling, as if he was falling right through it, as if at any moment he would hit, but it never happened, the ground never came.  There he was, limbs locked, waiting for his head to knock concrete, so he could stand up again, and finish was Oakley and his boys, but most importantly Sarafin had started.  All he needed to do was hit the ground, so he could get back back up, look Oakley in the eyes, and run that fragger through.

And then he's on his back, looking up at . . . Kubiak?  Immediately Chaim recognizes that he's not down at Sarafins.  He's inside for one.  And the air feels different, and Kubiak wouldn't be out at Sarafin's anyway, right?  Still, he bolts up, seizes a knife from around his ankle, and sits up to put eyes on Oakley.  Instead, he's met with the incredulous eyes of his friends.  Their expressions betray residual fear, concern, amazement maybe. 

The talking going on around Chaim doesn't make much sense to him.  "Sarafin's gotta pay?  Pay for what?  What pile of drek are you chummers talking about?"

The way that everyone is looking at him makes Chaim very uncomfortable.  Quickly he figures that he must have been knocked out, but he feels fine.  He's had worse from the punk kids down at school, and they were just swinging fists.  "Come on, guys.  I was just out for a second.  You guys are looking at me like I'm bleeding out my ears or sumin."

[HydroRaven]

Rat looks at Chaim with a mix of disbelief and surprise. "That chummer must've hit you hard, omae, because you seem to've forgotten what happened. You were out cold on the street, I think you even pissed yoself back there. Kubiak's magic fingers brought you back from hell" said the ork, wiggling his fingers in Chaim's face, trying to disgust him.

[Poindexter]

"Sarafin's gotta pay?  Pay for what?  What pile of drek are you chummers talking about?"

With a motherly tone and a gentle and kind manner, the crazy little elf speaks warmly to the risen hero. "Don't worry, Chaim. It will all come back to you." He reaches a hand out to help his friend up. It is good to cultivate to loyalty of a warrior such as this, early on.

"Come on, guys.  I was just out for a second.  You guys are looking at me like I'm bleeding out my ears or sumin."

Xem chuckles a bit. "You were indeed bleeding from your ears." He beams, showing his crazily uneven teeth as he does. The weird little fucker is clearly enjoying the humor of the situation. "From your mouth as well!"

[rednblack]

"I think you even pissed yoself back there.

"Nah, chummer, that ain't me," Chaim says standing up, and then looking down.  "Ahh fuck, what happened?"

Xem chuckles a bit. "You were indeed bleeding from your ears." He beams, showing his crazily uneven teeth as he does. The weird little fucker is clearly enjoying the humor of the situation. "From your mouth as well!"

Chaim takes a few steps away from whatever business Kubiak is working in and spits, noting the red tinge.  He was bleeding indeed.  Why couldn't he taste it?  Chaim tries to listen patiently as his friends explain the encounter, and when it gets to Kubiak bringing him back, he nearly lunges at the man with his knife.  Surely someone who could bring one back so easily, could snuff him out again with just as little effort.  It's scary.

When they get to the part of the story about Kubiak offering a mutually beneficial arrangement, Chaim is willing to hear it, and turns to the mystic.  "What'd you have in mind, chummer?"

I'm assuming that no one mentions Chaim being awakened around Kubiak, but they may figure he already knows.  If someone does say something to that effect, please put it in IC so Chaim can react.

[inca1980]

Kubiak motions to his chimp and the little guy hops down from the top of a book case and jumps up onto his shoulder.  "Let's go somewhere else to talk, somewhere where we can get some air."

His gate is smooth as if his feet were floating half a millimeter off the floor.  You follow him out of the strange and mystical room, back down the hallway and then up the elevator to the top floor where a short stair case leads out to the roof of the abandoned 5 story office building.  Towering above you whispers the Ibleaf tree, it's luscious green leaves play games with the light and their iridescence hypnotizes you.  The chimp jumps off Kubiak's shoulder and starts swinging on ventilation pipes and old scaffolding happy to be in the fresh air.  Kubiak breaths in deeply and exhales.  You yourself can't resist yawning as the smooth breeze fills your nostrils with the scent of lilac, a refreshing break from the garbage smell that pervaded most of Sarafin's market.

"Do you smell that?  If you live outside of the Jungle and you only smell that while slotting simsense."  He turns his back to the Ibleaf tree and faces you.

"I was hoping the four of you would one day find your way here.  I didn't think it would be today though....."  He removes his sunglasses and his pair of silver irises startle you. 
"It is rare to find young ones with the talent.  It is even rarer to find four young ones with the talent who for reasons perhaps unbeknownst even to them have found each others' company."  Realizing that his gaze is unnerving he puts his sunglasses back on.

"The Jungle is a gift that has been given to us.  She's not without her problems but she nonetheless is an island of refuge in infinite sprawl beyond her borders.  She is still young and fragile and in my short time here I have sought to use the power of Ea'van to maintain the peace.  One would think that the birth of the Ibleaf tree would be reminder enough to all of the Jungle's citizens that we have something special here but apparently people quickly forget.  Our methods have worked for the time that they were meant to work for but now I can see that we need to start becoming a little more......creative."   He pulls out of his coat a credstick and looks it over as if it fascinated him. 

"Up until now we have relied on gaining the people's trust and insisting on not using the same methods that people like Oakley and his handlers, the Cutters, use.  If what you tell me is true, people are starting to choose sides and Sarfin won't be the last.  Just this morning he contacted me asking for help in finding the thieves who assaulted his market but little did I know that he had contacted the Cutters as well.  I can only conclude that he wished to create a spectacle where the followers of Ea'van proved ineffectual and the Cutters appeared efficient at extracting 'justice.'  Even if all the sick people downstairs and all the people lined up for food at our pantry feel protected, it's the business owners who are flocking to the Cutters to handle their problems who might just undo the peace that we have built.  I suppose all peace is fragile, but that doesn't mean we stop struggling to keep it."   He clears his throat. 

"The followers of Ea'van don't have their own Clean-up Crew, but that must be remedied.  I know you four took quite a licking, especially Chaim.  I also know that could have only happened because you held back.  You did not own the power that your very DNA yearns to wield.  I am loath to send anyone into battle, especially children, but you are no ordinary young-men.  I think it is time that the Jungle learn who you really are and who you stand with."  He offers the credstick over to Chaim.  A quick glance at the small display shows a balance of 2000¥.

"In order to repair the fear and intimidation the Cutters wish to sow, I need you to find them and teach them that the followers of Ea'van will no longer tolerate this.  Take this cred, use it to prepare, find Oakley and his boys and get your revenge.  I only ask that you spare their lives and no-one who wasn't involved gets hurt.  I also ask that you refrain from extracting your revenge on Sarafin.  No matter who dispicable he may be, he still serves an important role in this community.  The example of what happens to the Clean-up Crew should be enough to make him think twice."   He looks into your eyes a little deeper.

"If you decide to take this cred and do what I am proposing, the followers of Ea'van will have your back, especially once the whole Jungle knows you four are special.  I am trusting you with this cred and let Ea'van decide whether or not my trust is unfounded.  I will let you discuss this among yourselves, come to my study when you have decided."  With that Kubiak pockets the credstick and he and his monkey return to the roof-top door and leave you alone.

[HydroRaven]

The smell of lilac was definitely something new for Rat. The odour itself was quite pleasant, but all this fresh air was starting to give the young ork a slight headache. He wasn't impressed by Kubiak's speech, but his eyes widened when he saw the credstick. He quickly pocketed the credstick before Xem could get the drop on him once again, giving him the stink eye as the elf reached to try to take it away from him. His mind was racing with the possibilities ¥2,000 could afford him in the Jungle. But after all his fantasies, he did remember that he wanted to eventually be a runner, and that if he was going to make a living out of this he would have to honour whatever commitments he was going to take, and make sure he completed them on time.

Once alone, he turned to his companions and said "See, I told ya our luck would turn! We're practically runners now, chummers!"