Sunday Night, and the downtown areas of Berlin are looking as pretty as usual; that is to say, there's a constant smell of smoke and smog wafting through the air; neon lights bright enough for any American city constantly flicker through the fog. So much for the European reputation of charm and grace; as the downtown area in a capital city, this part of Berlin seems to be quite able to do without it.
Despite the 'attractiveness' of this place, there's no lack of people walking around. The evening has really just begun; it's only about six-sevenish. Groups of teenagers wander about, dropping in random cafes and shops, quite willing to spend their parents hard-earned-money. Plenty of 9-5 blue and white-collar workers dot the streets, and most of them are smoking. Dozens of men dressed heavily in black coats wander around, the majority of which look simply tired.
Among them is one Cadfael Matthew Bowan, who has probably seen better days. Maybe. At least nobody is trying to kill/recruit him today, or in the past few weeks.
That seems to be about to change, though. As he drifts for alley to alley, he keeps noticing out the corner of his eye the same guy trailing after him. Dusty white hat and sleek black shades keep his face virtually hidden from any view, and while he seems to know how to be a tail, he doesn't seem to realise that Cadfael has spotted him at all. A slight glimpse reveals a bulge in his pocket that looks suspiciously like a handgun..
Stopping outside the closest cafe, Cadfael reaches into his pocket, pulling out his wallet to tally his limited supply of cash -- it doesn't take long. When he returns the wallet to his long, battered trenchcoat, he leaves his hand in his pocket, and with practiced ease locates the stone engraved with a Rune of Obscuring he carries for eventualities much like this.
With a look of flat-eyed apathy that only the chronic prey and goth teenagers can muster, he stands in front of the doorway to the cafe, heedless of the people he's blocking. He scans the area about the door, looking for a menu -- and also for a window or mirror that might show him the man who's tailing him.
Active runes are currently Stone's Steadfastness and Mystic Sight, as a reminder.
The constant fog blurs the windows and makes specific features difficult to pick out.
However, Cadfael picks out the guy; he's wearing black (like everyone else), but the white hat and expensive shades are what made him stand out. He's also smoking (like almost everyone else), but it's an expensive cigar (like nobody else).
He's approaching at a leisurely pace. He'll catch up to Cadfael in a few seconds. There's no aura of magic about him... but despite that, Cadfael can feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising a little.
It's unfortunate, Cadfael reflects, that he hasn't had time since that stupid scuffle in Hamburg to remake some runes for dealing with purely physical threats. But then, it's always better to try to avoid using magic anyways...
Reflexively, he reaches up to adjust the collar of his jacket, making sure that it's turned down and pulled away from his neck so that the Glyph of Peace is easy to see. Then he steps into the cafe, intent on getting his back to a wall, or better yet, a corner.
A corner seat in a lonely-looking coffee shop isn't hard to find. A waitress drops by; "Can I get you something, honey?" Worn features don't conceal an earlier beauty on her, but both age and life seem to have taken their toll.
The tail doesn't step into the cafe, though. He hangs about outside, as far as Cadfael can tell; doesn't stick around in front of the door or window.
"Coffee," Cadfael says quietly, without looking at the waitress. He pulls out his notepad without further ado, and pulls a pen from a pocket on the inside of his jacket, tapping it against the paper as if considering what to write.
The waitress takes your order, and promptly returns with a black coffee. It's not that hot, and there's no sugar.
The tail doesn't make a reappearance, though.
Poor coffee is still money spent, so Cadfael drinks the lukewarm stuff. As he slowly sips it, he circumspectly studies the coffee house, looking for a back exit, and studying the other patrons.
There aren't many patrons, and nobody else seems to be coming in. There's a couple of businessmen here, sipping coffee with thinly-veiled irritation, probably at the drink. There's also a woman with a baby, who's sleeping in a pram next to her table.
A back exit might be in the kitchen, which is behind a bar and looks fairly dark. Still, it extends in the opposite direction from the entrance. Another option might be the toilets, which are apparently located behind a side door. If they're as grungy as the rest of the place, though, they're probably disgusting.
Nope, this isn't a place anyone would want to spend an evening.
Mentally, Cadfael shrugs. Better safe than sorry, anyways. With a quick and practiced hand he traces out the Rune of Obscuring on his notepad, and when no one is looking, activates it.
While Cadfael doesn't vanish into thin air, nobody seems to notice him after that rune.
Well, just now, it didn't seem like anyone was paying much attention to him anyway.
Draining the last of his coffee, Cadfael rises from the table. Without leaving any money (since, after all, he has no plans to come back to this place), he makes his way over to the kitchen. When the door is opened, he slides in and examines the situation.
As Cadfael enters the kitchen, he hears a little confusion behind him; "Wasn't there a guy there a minute ago? I don't think he paid..."
The kitchen, surprisingly, isn't a mess. It's actually kinda neat- apart from the coffee machine, which looks like it might've seen better days.
There's an emergency exit in the back, accompanied with one of those 'Alarm will sound if door opens' signs. It looks like it's hooked up to some electric box, too.
No disturbances, thinks Cadfael, and he reverses the process, making his way back out of the kitchen, and from there, out the front door.
Once outside the cafe, he steps to the side, careful not to let others bump into him, and scans up and down the street for his shadow.
Cadfael's tail is talking into a phone, sounding a touch annoyed. It's difficult to make out what he's saying above all the hubub of downtown Berlin, though.
Cadfael carefully makes his way closer, splitting his attention between dodging the other pedestrians, watching for any other suspicious-looking people, and trying to listen to his tail.
"..no, he's gone. I think he noticed me."
The tail is speaking in English instead of German, and he has a very American accent. He slurs his voice a little, but speaks quickly and hurriedly.
"Yes.. yes. I'll watch out for him, but he's just one guy. It's hard enough to pick him up the first time."
The person on the other side of the phone, to Cadfael's perceptions, is shouting back.
"...no, I think I'dve noticed if they found him first. I don't think he'd go down quietly if they showed up. Right. Bye."
The tail puts away the phone and starts massaging his temples for a moment.
Cadfael stands still for a few silent minutes, thinking, and then nods to himself. No plans for the rest of the evening anyways.
His mind made up, he prepares to start tailing his own tail.
After spending a few moments looking around, the hat-clad man peeks into the cafe, then steps inside, and questions the waitress, giving Cadfael's description and asking if he came inside.
"Yeah, then he, like, vanished," replies the waitress, irritably. "Didn't even pay for his coffee. Bastard."
The man thanks her, then walks out the dreary cafe, Cadfael on his tail.
He starts just wandering around the locale area, constantly glancing around. Worry starts to paint his face, and he sticks mainly to the local downtown area for a couple of hours, frequently asking people if they've seen someone 'of Cadfael's description'.
However, about an hour into this search, Cadfael feels a sudden flare of magic coming from down an alley- detection and locating magic. The man in the white hat gives a start, and slips a hand into his pocket.
Bad.
Cadfael immediately begins to move away, heading towards the heart of the nightlife activity. Once away from the tail (a few blocks and turns between them), he lets the Obscuring dissipate. He hesitates briefly, considering, and then, No. Haven't worked out that rune yet. Bad time to experiment.
Instead, he tears up the notepaper with the rune, and with obsessive care, throws three quarters of the shreds away in a total of five different garbage cans, and lets the others fall down to the street as he goes along.
He takes a wandering path, but his goal is the bus terminal on the other side of Berlin. Munich? Yes.
A crackle of electricity visibly slashes through a power line, quite a few metres above Cadfaels head. A sensation slides across his mind, like water passing over hot metal; slipping across, and not affecting. A sensation he has often felt of late; that of a divination spell bashing itself uselessly against his formidable mental defenses. The crackle, to the best of his knowledge, is probably a physical manifestation of such mystical powers. The natural- and often man-made world around mages can be made manifest in strange ways through magic, often completely unexpected.
Either way, Cadfael realises he's safe- for now. At least until they try the spell again. Generally, such spells have a relatively small effective range- only about twenty to thirty kilometres. Nothing like the crystal balls of old, which could reach far out across vast distances. But certainly enough to cause considerably worry, for these magics are highly accurate.
When they work, anyway.
Let them look, Cadfael thinks. He triggers the Rune of Mana Flare he was carrying, and drops it into the litter filling a nearby alley before resuming his course.
A bright flash hits Cadfaels magical senses, as he sees the rune start to do its work. It'll easily confuzzle any divination attempts nearby.. but it won't last forever, so it's not wise to hang around for too long.
Cadfael quickly makes his way to the nearest bus terminal.
To Cadfael's knowledge, the nearest bus terminal is a good twenty-minute walk away, so off he goes!
There's still that tingling feeling of magic in the area, but no direct spells being cast on Cadfael. However, every now and then, there's a crackle of lightning across the powerlines, emphasizing that magic *is* being done, and a lot of it.
However, he's not dead yet, so it's probably not targeting him.
<->
Upon arriving at the bus terminal, Cadfael sees a clock that states it is 7:30pm.
Assuming it doesn't matter where he goes, the next bus to anywhere (in this case, it's actually going cross-country and will eventually arrive in Spain) leaves in about half an hour.
Taking quick inventory of his cash, Cadfael checks the schedule for the next few buses after the first one.
Buses seem to leave in half-hour blocks, thus ridiculing the very concept that more than one could leave at once.
8:30 - Munich.
9:00 - Vienna
9:30 - Tyrol
10:00 - Paris.
Yup, this is primarily an inter-country terminus, it seems.
A ticket is in short order purchased for the Munich bus. Muttering something about purchasing a coffee, Cadfael steps outside the terminal.
Outside, he pauses for a second, looking up and down the streets, and then sets off towards the edge of the city.
The terminus isn't exactly near the edge of Berlin itself, but as Cadfael proceeds along, there's a markedly less amount of noise in the area.
There's a better selection of cafes around here, some of which use coloured paints inside. They smell a damn sight better, and they're more frequently clean than the ones seen in the downtown area.
Cadfael has, in the past, done this sort of thing before, and while it's never all that much fun, at least it has come close to routine. Once he reaches the edge of the city, he'll circle around, and then head to Vienna. Sometime early tomorrow, when enough time has passed to make a search area prohibitively large, he'll use Stone's Steadfastness to keep himself going as he trudges overland.
As Cadfael trudges through Berlin, he notes the shift the city takes, from slightly industrial office-areas, to fairly busy outer-city mall-type places, to downright suburbia. Hours pass as he walks, and before he quite realizes it, it's midnight.
He finds himself in a fairly dodgy-looking neighbourhood. Ramshackle houses abound, and frequently, dogs are heard barking about him.
Abruptly, he feels the familiar feeling of someone trying to search him out. But it's different, somehow. The familiar feeling of hot water- magic- is tinged with.. something that, in his own mind, feels a little acidic.
Either way, it feels, like ever, to slide off his mind. If it's a divination spell, it's probably much the same. However, it just doesn't *feel* like normal magic. And because most forms of magic boil down to essentially the same thing, that can be a little worrying.
There's no outside reaction in the world to this effect, either.
Odd.
Cadfael keeps walking, outwardly showing no signs of his experience, but his mind races. A different magic is dangerous, for obvious reasons, but also compelling. It was a search for a more controlled form of sorcery that led to runecraft in the beginning. Whatever this was...
Some things are worth the risk. Reaching into an inner pocket, Cadfael pulls out a sharpie, and quickly traces out the Rune of Mystic Sight on his left palm.
The Rune of Mystic Sight blessed Cadfael with.. a rather disconcerting vision. Usually, it gives a clear indication of where magic is coming from, if not what it's actually supposed to do. However, the mystic sight seems to manifest itself as an almost sickly green light that keeps popping up in his peripheral vision. He can't focus on it, and he can't tell where it's coming from, but it's always there, and it's a niggling thing that just doesn't go away, even when his eyes are shut.
Very odd. And bad.
Under other circumstances, Cadfael might have stopped to experiment. But he doesn't have the time, and any investigation might draw attention he's been trying to avoid. Instead, he continues on, but veers sharply off course, taking a new route to try in the hopes that this... effect might be spatially limited.
Veering off spatially doesn't seem to help much. Instead, the peripheral sensing of greenstuff seems to be getting stronger, starting- worryingly- to overlap his current vision, creating some disorientation.
Cadfael frowns slightly, marking the first time this night that anything other than a blank expression has crossed his face. Licking his thumb, he rubs the rune off his palm -- an unnecessary gesture, as he dispels its effect through will alone.
The green fuzz dissapates, but Cadfael can still feel a slight aura of wrongness about him. That's not so unusual with regard to strong magic. The weaker stuff might not be noticed by normal human senses, but ripping cosmic forces in a potent manner certainly does wonders for that sixth sense.
Try this, then.
Stepping off to the side of the sidewalk, Cadfael crouches down. Reaching inside his jacket, he pulls out a piece of road chalk, and with broad strokes, draws the Mana Flare rune. He pauses, unsure before activating it. Have to hope other watchers think this is a trick.
And then, without giving himself another chance to reconsider, he activates the rune.
Crackles of lightning accompany the mana-flare, and apparently, does pull off some good, because the prickly feeling slips away from Cadfael easily.
That being said, the area around the manaflare is going haywire. An electrical box practically explodes, and half the lights in the houses nearby turn off, quickly followed by a series of vocal curses.
Such is to be expected. Magic rarely cooperates.
Quickly, Cadfael rises, dragging his foot through the rune to partially erase it, and then resumes his trek to the edge of town.
While the eerie feeling has initially dissapated, after about fifteen minutes, it soon comes back- and you're getting a headache. A constant, throbbing pain.
Options seem few at this point. The only option would be to do more magic, and that would only lay a more obvious trail. On the other hand, should whatever is happening get worse....
Worth a shot. Cadfael pulls out the sharpie again, and this time inscribes the Mindshield rune on his palm. Hopefully, this rune is passive enough that its use will be hard to detect.
OOC: Might be misremembering the rune's name, don't have my character sheet at work.
The familiar feeling of a spell slipping off his mind is felt by Cadfael (it's really getting old, tonight).
Almost immediately, despite the fact that his manaflare rune has been cast out, Cadfael feels another surge of magical power in the locale area. Doesn't feel like a divination spell, though. More like one of them-force effects that younger mages seem so fond of.
Like, say, a spell of Great Speed.
It's coming your way, and looks to be around that southern corner, near the ramshackle shanty with an outhouse and crackling power lines.
Quickly, Cadfael looks around, trying to find an alley or other dark place to take cover in.
You could dive behind a fence, but it's pretty dark around you, at any rate.
Excepting, off course, the car that rockets around the side, bathed in crackling lightning that's causing windows to explode, blaring exceedingly loud rock music and causing that mystical sight thing to go haywire as Cadfael notes the car is most definately sheathed in a spell of 'Lightning Speed', or some such.
The Cabal is usually more subtle. The car is screaming along to your position, and it'll be there in, what, five seconds, tops?
Acting on instinct, Cadfael's hand dives into his pocket to grab his prepared Rune of Obscuring. The rest of his body, however, throws him towards the nearest fence, with the intent of getting something between him and the possesed automobile.
The automobile screechs to a halt, about 10 metres north of Cadfaels position. The lightning fades away, and-
About three doors open, and angry screams in German start lancing out. The blaring rock music drowns out most of the voices, but even Cadfael winces at some of the obscenities thrown out.
The inhabitants of the car don't care much, though. One of them gets out, and lo, it's the same guy with the hat from mid-Berlin.
He pauses, looks around, and starts to yell. You can detect a hint of magic about him, too; his voice has been sonically pumped, and slightly amplified with a compulsion spell. Falls of your shield, though.
"Cadfael! I know you're around here somewhere, and believe it or not, we've got no intention of harming you.
The Cabal is on our tail, but it's on yours, too, and they'd give up chasing us if they found you. They've trapped you in Berlin, and you'll never get out.
You've got ten seconds to come out and come with us, or we're gone, and you'll be dead."
Cadfael freezes, and considers. Take a chance, he decides. He has weapons, both subtle and not so. These people certainly don't seem to be Cabal. They might prove a liability in the long run, but the concern now is for the short term.
Moving closer to the car, Cadfael speaks up. "Talk more," he suggests. "What trap?"
"They've been combing overt tracing methods with a hidden, electrical tracking device," he replies, urgently. "They slipped it on you downtown. They havn't closed in on you yet because they're waiting for you to exhaust yourself. Either way, they're going to be here any second!"
Tracking device? Cadfael frowns. That might be possible, but... when?
A portion of his mind falls automatically into theory, trying to devise a new rune to locate electronic devices. A modification of Mystic Sight, to detect electrical energy instead of mana. Not entirely trivial, since the spectra involved are not directly comparable, but a combination of the eighteen whorl with the twenty-seventh hexagram instead of the twenty-sixth ought to...
The other part of his mind -- the one he actually thinks is entirely his -- makes him nod at the other man. If they were Cabal, they'd have already tried to kill or capture him outright -- no need for such trickery. And if they werne't Cabal, then the Cabal would be after them too. That's enough for a temporary alliance. "All right," he says, moving towards the car. "Talk more as we go."
As you approach the car, the white-hatted man comes in clearer focus. He looks like a Berliner, and talks like a Berliner, though this may or may not lead to the conclusion that he is a Berliner.
"The simple thing is, we need your help," he replies, shrugging. "And it appears you need some help yourself. Mutual gain in the balance, we decided to try and track you down. You're a hard man to find, I'll give you that."
"Not much choice," Cadfael says, studying those who stayed in the car. "Who are you?"
"Call me Barry," replies Barry, taking off his had and revealing a bald head. "I'm just a guy who hasn't been paid yet."
He gets in the back seat of the car, gesturing for you to follow.
Cadfael gets into the car, taking a look at the other occupants as he does so. "Name's not enough," he points out.
The guys in the front, conversly, both have long blonde hair, tied in identicle braids, look about the same height, and when the turn around to look at Cadfael, have the same sort of Eurasian features that are getting increasingly common, these days.
"Mmm. We're disparate mages, of sorts," replies Barry. "Strength in numbers and all that, we've been trying to get together more of our ilk.
Oh, and not just mages. Anyone with awesome skills. Why, we pulled in some psychic the other day, didn't we? Never had any idea they existed, but this guy knows the stuff."
It's not the first time Cadfael has been in a car, but it's fairly close to it. He shifts about uncomfortably in his seat, trying to look in all directions at once. It's... uncomfortable, not having a clear escape route.
"Groups are easier to find," he observes flatly. "What about the Cabal?"
"Individuals are easier to squash," replies Barry, dryly. "Check out the rear window."
An ominous-looking black sedan is rounding the bend, and unlike the car Cadfael is currently in, it's travelling at an easy pace. Doesn't look rushed at all.
This makes Cadfael distinctly uncomfortable. "Plan?" he asks.
"To get out of dodge," replies Barry.
There's a low hum, and Cadfael is half-blinded by the magic the starts emnating from the car. What is it? Speed, protection, non-detection.. the things got a veritable pile of spells heaped upon it- and they seem to have been there for some time. Evidently, it's seen quite some use.
"You wouldn't have any, er, firepower on you?" asks Barry, hopefully.
"Some," Cadfael replies, twisting around to keep an eye on the car behind them. "Why?"
"Because we're about to take part in a car-chase," replies Barry, sounding for all the world like someone announcing what the weather was.
Abruptly, the car zaps into motion. There's really no other way to describe it. One second it's standing still, the next it's going at, oh, 100kph. With expert control, it starts swerving about sidestreets and backalleys.
"Once we get to an open stretch, where no Cabalite is going to throw lightning at us," says Barry, "Well, we'll show you something really neat."
There isn't really anything Cadfael can say to that, so instead he watches the car following them, and starts to figure out how to add inertial compensation to the Rune of Gating.
"What sort of firepower do you need?" he asks aburptly, as a thought occurs to him.
"Something that can stop a car?" replies the guy in the front passanger seat, hopefully. "Y'know. A LAW. A fireball. I don't think we need to worry about collateral damage at this point."
Sixth hexgram ascendant over third trigram, seventh whorl binding to the well. Apply Maxwell's Derivative to redirect the resonance, and...
Cadfael pulls one of the flat stones from the pouch in his left pocket, and quickly sketches out a rune on the surface. A brief glance activates in, and then he turns to Barry. "This goes under their wheels," he says. "Can you do that?"
OOC: Inventing and casting the Rune of Grasping Ground -- 2d6 Entangle, triggered on touch, works by binding the target to the ground through increased friction. Costs 25 AP.
[19:26] <C-Rat> : 3d6 because I can., 3, 4, 1 , Total: 8 (SS: Runecraf)
[19:28] <C-Rat> : 3d6 for Power: Runes., 3, 3, 2 , Total: 8 (-2 for AP penalty)
[19:28] <C-Rat> : 3d6 for Power: Magic., 2, 6, 4 , Total: 12 (-2 for AP penalty)
"We should be able to slip it out the window," replies Barry, glancing back. "They're not on our tail just yet, but they will be any second."
Handing Barry the stone, Cadfael advises, "Don't touch the rune. Make sure their wheel does, or it's no good."
Barry nods. "How many of these can you make?" he asks, curiously. "There's probably more than one Cabalite Car, and with the magic this thing gives off, they're going to close in any-"
With a loud crashing sound, a blast of energy smashes into the roof of the car, causing it to buckle somewhat. However, it doesn't seem to effect the driving overmuch..
"Shit!" swears the driver, anyway.
Cadfael ignores the impact. A reaction would not increase the likelihood of survival.
"Can make as many as I want. Only one will work at a time," he says. "But only one needs to work at a time."
Barry doesn't respond, looking out the back window.
"There's nothing there!" he shouts, as the guy in the passanger seat opens his window..
"Obscurement?" Cadfael suggests. Can't use Mystic Sight with this rune prepared. Can't do anything with this rune prepared. Patience.
A flash of energy comes crashing down- but misses the car. Instead, Cadfael can see it out the side window- it came from above, and hit the nearby road.
"Above," he says, and rolls down his window, sticking his head out in order to take a look.
Craning his neck out the window, Cadfael can make out a black-coated guy matching pace with the car, waving his hands wildly. He coat flares out behind him, and he looks for all the world like some kind of night-monster, especially with that crackling energy forming. It's difficult to guage how far up he is, but you'd guess about 30 metres or so.
"Flyer above us," Cadfael reports, pulling his head back in. "Have something?"
"Maybe," replies the guy in the front seat. "But I don't like my chances of hitting him..."
Nonetheless, he starts mumbling and chanting, himself. Another blast of energy flashes down, dangerously close.
Cadfael keeps quiet, watching to see how the other mage's spell works. His hands, moving almost independently, grab notebook and paper, and Cadfael starts to sketch a rune -- not activating it yet, since he doesn't want to waste the Grasping Ground.
The mages spell was actually kinda simple; a spell of dispelling. However, it didn't really work so well; the mage in flight wobbled a bit in the air, and perhaps as a result, lost his concentration. However, in a couple seconds, he was right back to casting..
With some regret, but no hesitation, Cadfael dispels the Rune of Grasping Ground -- he has a more immediate problem to attend to. Instead, he sticks the notepad with the just-finished Rune of Shining Stone out the window. "Eyes," he advises the other occupants of the car, and then triggers the rune.
There's a blinding flash from the stone, which, thankfully, nobody in the car got a clear look at. The high-flying mage did, though, and he starts spiraling around in the sky. If being blind on the ground is disorientating, it must be even worse in the sky.
The car leaves him behind, and Barry gives you a glance. "Handy," he comments.
Cadfael doesn't say anything in response to that. It seems to be a fairly superfluous comment.
He sets aside the now-useless stone with the dispelled Grasping Ground. A new rock is quickly produced and similarly marked, though having learned his lesson, Cadfael does not yet activate it. That done, he turns around in the seat and watches for the car that had been following.
There's no sight of it. The car you're travelling in is quite fast, after all.
"How'dya like the 'Slipstream'?" asks the driver in the front, proudly. "The ultimate synergy of technology and magic! Especially when we do... this."
There's a high-pitched whining-sound from the back of the car, followed by a sputtering, and a loud pop.
Silence for a moment.
"I knew that wouldn't work," replies the other guy in the front, groaning.
"New plan?" Cadfael inquires, keeping a steady eye out behind them.
"We can still outmanouever them!" shouts the guy in the front, visibly upset. "I mean, do *you* see any cars around?"
True to his word, there aren't any about. "Look, all we need is five minutes to fix the goddamn drive."
"Then fix it," Cadfael suggests.
"Yeah, yeah," grouses the guy in front. "They'll catch up to us in about three minutes, though, so I hope you're ready."
The car pulls up in a deserted-looking alley; the very best of the outskirts of Berlin. The place is deathly quiet, and the little light of the moon and stars is blocked out by the surrounding houses, which seem to tower in the dark.
"We've gotta fix it," say both the blonde guys. "So you two gotta keep an eye out. Capiche?"
For a second, Cadfael considers just walking away. It doesn't seem these people have anything to offer him, and with their recklessness and lack of preparation, there would need to be a million of them before "safety in numbers" would be anything but a joke.
Somewhat regretfully, he concludes this is not the time. With this much Cabal attention, the odds of sneaking away are low indeed. Better to help for now.
With that in mind, he steps to the foot of the alley. Brushing the ground clear with a booted foot, he pulls a heavy stick of chalk from a pocket of his baggy cargo pants, squats, and starts to sketch out a rune. "Not sure if this will work," he says quietly, engrossed in his drawing. "Better have alternatives."
OOC: Cadfael is setting up a Rune of Gating, with the AOE advantage changed to Line (total AP: 32). The gate will run the width of the alleymouth, and be directed into one of the neighbouring buildings.
The two guys who were in front have cranked open the engine and produced a toolbox, and are fiddling around with the inside. Barry has taken up position at the other end of the alley, scanning around- and he's drawn his firearm.
Looks like something out of Star Trek, really.
Having filled the mouth of the alley with his sketchings, Cadfael steps back to stand by Barry, drawing his own gun as he does so.
There's a screeching of tires, and Cadfael can see a car pull up a short distance away from the alley. Doors start opening, and black-coated men start emerging!
Cadfael stands quietly, trying not to draw attention to himself. Watching the presumed Cabalists carefully, he holds the pistol in his right hand and the stone marked with the Rune of Grasping Ground in his left.
The Cabalists fan out, carefully searching around. One of them produces a mobile phone, and yabbers quickly into it. It's difficult to make much out; something to do with 'residue', 'around here', 'somewhere'.
One of the Cabalists is approaching the alley from the footpath of the perpendicular block. The others aren't far away, but they've yet to check it.
Glancing over his shoulder quickly, Cadfael checks on the status of his temporary allies.
God knows what those two would-be mechanics are doing to the engine, but Barry glances at you with a vaugely questioning look.
Hope they work fast.
If there was time for anything else, Cadfael would probably indulge in a little annoyance. But as things stand, he instead returns his attention to the searching Cabalists.
-and the guy around the corner has just turned into the alley.
"They're here!" he shouts, and he lapses into casting a spell!
From what you can see, it's a fireball, which shows exactly how imaginative the average Cabalite has become.
Instantly, Cadfael lashes out, throwing the (now useless) rune-marked stone at the Cabalite to distract him, and (the second that it clears the marked line), triggering the Gating Rune.
Normally, the gating rune creates a slight, static ripple, but in this case, the ripple seems to start at the rune.. and then *expand*. As it flashes over Cadfael, his feels his vision blur slightly-
-and it realligns himself, as he finds himself across from the confused-looking Cabalite in a rather small house, complete with a fat man watching TV-
Well, he was, until, with a loud crashing sound, the car appeared on him, complete with the mechanics. It's now sort of just sitting on the floor.
"Finished?"
"Uh, just about," replies the engineer. "Can you deal with that punk? We're sort of busy."
He's referring to the Cabalite, of course, who is snapped into action and begins casting another spell.
Without saying another word, Cadfael snaps off a shot from his Glock at the spellcaster.
Following the report from the glock, the Cabalite screams and clutches his shoulder, his casting apparently forgotten.
"Dude, let's go! Uh, where's Barry?" says one of the mechanics, rushing towards the drivers door.
Hm.
Cadfael glances around, for the first time pausing to take stock of the situation. Looking up as well as around, he tries (with both sight and his connection via magic) to locate the gate -- and if possible, figure out where Barry is in relation to it.
Judging by your external senses, you figure that the gate didn't, for whatever reason, affect Barry (though you're sure it should have). More than likely, he's still back in the alley.
"Back in alley," Cadfael reports. Putting his Glock back in his jacket, he moves towards the car, opening the door.
The wimpy mage hasn't really recovered from the 9mm stuck in his shoulder, and he's not going anywhere.
"Right. I promise you, this will work this time," says the other mechanic, as he slips in the door. "Might wanna put that seatbelt on."
Following instructions, Cadfaels sits down and buckles up.
A loud, electrical-sounding crackle can be heard- but it's not coming from the car, it's coming from somewhere outside.
Meanwhile, the mechanic revs the engine, and accelerates. Lightning sheaths the car again, and it plows over the Cabalist, through the wall of the house, and into the street. With expert control, the mechanic swerves the car back around towards the alley. As he does, Cadfael can see that the Cabalists still on the street aren't completely shellshocked by the appearance of the car; in fact, a couple of them have started to cast spells.
With practiced efficiency, Cadfael pulls out a notepad and sketches the simple lines of the Singing Stone rune. "Cover your ears," he advises, then rolls down the car's window, drops the rune outside, and activates it.
A loud blasting sound is heard, and Cadfael gets a glimpse of a couple of Cabalites tripping over their own spells. No time for a good look, though; in a second, the car is back in the alley, and Barry is climbing in the other side, holding his ears.
"Ow," he comments.
There doesn't really seem to be a lot to say that, so Cadfael doesn't. Instead, he looks at the driver.
The driver is busy fiddling with knobs, dials, and levers. He rips the car out of the alley (causing a fireball to miss), and steamrolls his car over the stationary sedan, leaving the now-berefit of transportation Cabalites to scratch their heads.
"Right. This had better work," comments the driver, pushing a final button. Lightning streaks about the car, rendering sight of the outside world impossible! The light becomes so bright, the mere use of your eyes is painful.
And just as abruptly as it began... it stops! Your eyes ache (as does your stomach), but nonetheless, it's a treat to see that you're in an empty parking lot, in the daytime, in what looks to be some Asian country, judging by all the weird neon signs about that use strange characters.
"Where?" Cadfael inquires, craning his head around to get a better look.
"Our office, in Japan," replies Barry, hopping out. "At least, that's where we *should* be." He narrows his eyes at the driver-guy.
"Hey, I swear it worked this time!" he replies, angrily.
Listening to their bickering quietly, Cadfael covertly sketches the Mystic Sight rune on his palm with the sharpie he had yet to put away, before taking a look around, both to take a closer look at the occupants of the car, and to see what there is around them.
The car has magic around it, but there's not enough time to determine what it is before the driver turns it off, and the magic dissapates.
Barry himself has no magic about him whatsoever. The ponytailed guys, however, have the standard image of a mage; a slight tingling about them, but no overt power... yet, anyway.
The parking lot is behind a tall skyscraper, and it's difficult to make out the sign on the top from your almost-verticle angle- as well as the fact that it's in another language. It's a fairly modern looking building, too, with what looks to be modern design and fittings. There's a couple of doors into the building, and you can vaugely make out reception desks behind them. The building doesn't appear to be magical at all.
"Office?" Cadfael prompts.
"Yeah," replies Barry, shrugging. "It's as good a name as any, really. Come on, let's go."
He hops out the car, and starts walking towards one of the doors.
Cadfael follows his lead, getting out of the car to stand somewhat awkwardly, looking about, before setting out after Barry, with head bowed and shoulders hunched as his eyes dart nervously about. One hand drifts into his pocket, to hover over the prepared runes he's carrying.
"You're not hurt or anything, right? Hungry? Thirsty? Tired?" asks Barry, as he waves at the receptionist and heads into an elevator.
"No," Cadfael replies succintly.
He can't help but look around -- office buildings have never been the sort of place that really encouraged his presence.
And by all standards, it's a fairly flash office building. The walls in reception features a blend of polished marble and enameled wood, and it's all very shiny, and perfectly maintained. Interestingly, there were no signs or anything indicating who owns the building, or what it's used for.
The elevator itself is big on mirrors. Cadfael can see his own reflection from every direction, and it's not hard to conclude that he could probably use that shower. Later, maybe.
The front part of the elevator is made of glass, to give one a view of the rest of the tower, and as it shoots up and up and up, Cadfael is treated to
the site of several sprawling floors. The elevator rises through a glass tube in the middle of these floors, and there's a large, open area that can be seen on each one. More worryingly, that open area looks much larger than the building itself.
"Pretty impressive, huh?" says Barry, not sounding impressed in the least.
"Showy," Cadfael murmurs. "Not hidden."
Barry cocks an eyebrow. "You think so? Well. Maybe it is. I guess."
He sounds dubious, even as the elevator leaves the long tube and starts ascending through a more typical shaft, covered up on all sides.
A short while later, the elevator stops, and the doors opening, revealing a spartan corridor with a door at the end. It's not dressed up like the rest of the building, but left very bare. Barry steps out and heads towards the door, and opening it, reveals a small, office, likewise in a spartan fashion. There's really just a desk, a filing cabinet, and some chairs. A door is in the back of the room.
After a quick glance around, Cadfael casually walks up to the filing cabinet and opens it, taking a peek at its contents.
"Don't do that," warns Barry, as Cadfael's hand drifts towards the cabinet. There's a dangerous undertone to his voice.
"Why are we here?" Cadfael asks, letting his hand drop back to his side.
It occurs to him, at this point, that there's a problem with office buildings that he'd never considered before: a lack of escape routes. Once again, his hand goes to his pocket, to rest on his woefully inadequate store of prepared runes.
Barry pauses.
"You want to get back at the Cabal, hmm? This is the office of the person who'll help you do it. You're a very lucky man, Bowan," he says, leaning against a wall. "There's something you can do for her, and apparently, nobody else can. I can't imagine what, but I'm sure you know better than me."
The error in that notwithstanding, Cadfael doesn't bother to argue with Barry. The man is a servant of someone else, and only as important as that warrants.
However, that doesn't mean that Barry doesn't merit any interest whatsoever. Looking over Barry carefully, for the first time in full light, Cadfael observes, "Not a mage."
"Nope," replies Barry, shrugging. "I'm just a guy."
That seems unlikely, but Cadfael doesn't pursue it any further -- partly out of consideration for Barry's privacy, but mostly because he doesn't really know how. Today has had more conversation than the past three weeks already.
"How long?" Cadfael inquires instead.
Barry shrugs. "A couple of minutes. She's not of-"
The side door to the office opens, revealing a perky-looking young woman, dressed in a business suit. Flipping her long, auburn hair over her shoulder, she walks straight up to Cadfael with a disarming smile, and extends her hand.
"I'm Shizue Kinomoto, and you're Cadfael Bowan. It's a pleasure to meet you," she says, and Cadfael notices- with perhaps some trepidation- that's she's really quite attractive, and would probably be described as 'Buxom' in polite company.
The undisputable beauty of Miss Kinomoto stirs feelings in Cadfael with which he has little experience or grasp on, and so in his time-honoured fashion of dealing with such things, he utterly ignores them as irrelevant.
Nor does he reach out to take her hand, instead choosing to study her carefully with Mystic Sight -- utterly unaware that it likely makes him seem as if he's ogling her. "Bargain?" he says, with a faint hint of curiousity in his voice.
Shizue doesn't pay much attention to Cadfaels strange look dropping her hand and shrugging, slightly. "Straight down to business, eh? I like that in a man," she comments. "Well, take a seat."
There's no hint of magic about her. The business suit she's wearing doesn't lend itself to concealing weaponary or anything like that, either, and she has a relaxed, open manner. Doesn't seem like someone with much to hide, on the surface, at least.
Cadfael looks around for a seat, being careful out of instinctive paranoia not to move in such a way that either Barry or Kinomoto lose track of his facial glyphs.
Shizue is taking a seat behind her desk, and Barry is leaving through the main door. There's a pair of seats on the other side of the desk, however- comfy looking, high-backed chairs.
Taking the seat which allows him to see both Kinomoto and the door behind him, Cadfael pulls out his (by now slightly battered) notebook and pen. With pen poised, looking as if he's about to take notes, he patiently regards Kinomoto, waiting for her to begin.
"I should introduce myself properly, shouldn't I?" she comments, wryly. Placing her hands on the table, and leaning back on her chair, she beings to speak, keeping a crisp, accentless tone;
"I run an organisation based on information and discovery, Mr. Bowan. I want to know everything that's happening in the world. I want to know why. And I want to sell this information to those who can make use of it. It's a simple business of mine that has developed into quite the corporation. Now we buy, sell, trade, and deal in just about every substance known to man, and a few that aren't.
I want to know about people like you, Mr. Bowan. People who break the laws of physics- or at least look like they do. Not just mages such as yourself, but anyone who boasts unusual abilities. I'm sure you've seen a few strange things in your time. I won't go into detail there.
I want to hire you, Mr. Bowan. I want your help with a project; I'm told you have access to a unique form of magic; I'm told you're very skilled. But even if you were the worst mage on the planet, I'd want to hire you. I'm interested in hiring anyone who wants to be hired and has something to offer. It just so happens you have alot to offer."
She pauses for a moment, looking you up and down.
"What?" Apparently idly, Cadfael doodles on the notepad as he unhesitatingly meets Kinomoto's eyes.
"The details of what I want you for are technically classified, but being a CEO has perks," continues Shizue, drumming her fingers on the tabletop. "I want you to go to a dig site in the southern US. The coordinator claims that only you could possibly understand what's going on there. I understand you're a practitioner of runic magic?"
The normally blank visage distorts as Cadfael narrows his eyes slightly. Ignoring the fact that she both misinterpreted (or evaded) his question, and her own inquiry, he says, "Coordinator. Who?"
"You seem paranoid, Mr. Bowan," remarks Shizue, rolling her eyes. "The coordinator is one Donald Melba, a mage who's been in my employ for some time. Apparently, he crossed paths with you while working in the Cabal."
There's a vauge memory of Melba in there. A nice guy, really. Was only working in the Cabal because he didn't want to get stuck fighting them. Maybe a bit of a wimp, but who can blame him? Not a particularly good mage, but what he lacked in raw talent, he made up for in study. If he'd been keeping up that pattern since you left the Cabal, it's not hard to imagine him as a formidable man.
A part of Cadfael -- the inner part that is only Cadfael, and no one else -- thinks, Of course I'm paranoid, you silly ditz. And if you don't even understand why, you must truly suck at your chosen line of work.
But the inner part, perhaps luckily, is rarely given the lead and never voice. Instead, Cadfael changes tack slightly. "What are you offering me?"
"What do you want?" replies Shizue, leaning closer. "I can offer a great deal, Mr. Bowan. People from your fringe tend to be diverse in their goals, wants, and needs, so it's now my policy to hear your demands before making an offer."
Cadfael simply stares at her for a while, trying to marshal the words that express the things he simply knows. Then, "No. You know what I have to offer you. I don't know what you have to offer me. You tell me what you have that I might want, and that lets me know that you are as good as you say you are."
That speech out of him, he slumps a little in his chair, almost as if embarassed about his outburst. His eyes never change though, staring steadily at Kinomoto.
Shizue leans back, her grin widening slightly.
"I can offer you a great deal of money, for one," replies Shizue, producing a chequebook on the table. "Do you want a million dollars? Ten million? An investment portfolio guaranteed to last you through life? Price is no object, here.
As I've already told you, we deal primarily in information, here. If there's something you need to know, we will find it out for you. It's what we do. The location of some ancient spellbook? The plans of some paramilitary organisation? The middle name of some Middle Eastern warlord Information on numbers, equipment, and details of virtually any well-equipped group on the planet?
Maybe you could use a legal identity. Then again, maybe you don't want one.
Maybe you need equipment. Material resources, which can't be bought with money. Weapons? Specialised recording and detection equipment? Transportation? It's all in our purview.
Or you could just want to stay safe. I can assure you that nobody will touch you while you're in this building. I can assign bodyguards to your case, if you wish.. and no, they won't be the rabble that brought you here."
Shizue pauses for a moment, and straightens herself. "Does that bring up any ideas?"
Cadfael sits quietly for a long minute, staring blankly at Kinomoto. "Anything I want?" he asks, quietly.
Kinomoto leans back. "As far as I can give. And I'll see that it is given."
That makes Cadfael nod. "Want that in writing. Exact price to be named at later time."
Kinomoto raises an eyebrow. "I'll have a contract prepared. It will be a few hours before it's complete. While that's being done, I would ask what you have in mind."
For the first time in -- well, a very long time, Cadfael smiles, a tight, hard grin. It is hardly comforting, and in fact, highly unnerving, as the tattoos on his cheeks crawl out of the way, distorting about his moving lips to preserve their shape, vicous pools of brackish oil sliding about over flesh-coloured water.
"Resources."
"I see," replies Shizue, leaning back in her chair, remarkably unfazed. "For now, it looks like you could use some rest. And maybe a shower. I'll have details worked out for you in a few hours, but for now, head back outside.
Barry can see that you get what you need..."
Rising, Cadfael heads back out into the reception area, without a word of acknowledgment.
Not sure I should trust them.
Barry's waiting outside, tapping his foot expectantly. "How'd it go?" he asks, wearily.
"Have an agreement," Cadfael replies. "Supposed to bathe."
Barry blinks. "That's quite an agreement," he replies, shaking his head. "So, let's see. Did you want any food with that? Maybe a change of clothes? Or are you just fine the way you are?"
Cadfael considers that. "Food," he agrees.
"Well, first, to the baths!" announces Barry, heading to the elevator.
Not seeing too much alternative, Cadfael follows Barry.
And Barry eventually steps out of the elevator into quite the bathing complex.
It's not a bath- it's more of a giant swimming pool, more like the Roman Baths of old. The elevator stands in the middle, and there are four large pools arranged around the shaft. Beyond them are walls with doors that look to lead to changing rooms, showers, and the like. Marble pillars, scupltures of well-endowned-looking men and women abound, and there's a pleasant tune in the air; a soothing piano piece that echoes the gentle state of the water. Bright lights adorn the roof of the complex, making it easy to see the entire room. There are a few people luxuriating in the pools, which you can see are different temperetures thanks to some well-placed signs, ranging from almost-freezing to blisteringly hot.
This is... not at all what Cadfael was expecting, really.
"No private?"
"We do, though not many people use them," replies Barry, shrugging. "This way."
He leads Cadfael to a side door, and opens it, revealing a lavishly decorated bathroom, with burgundy tiling and shiny- is that real gold?- taps, pipes, and knobs. A towel rack is suitably furnished with material, and there's a basket filled with shampoo, conditioner, body wash, listerine, and pretty much everything else one could want for their bathroom.
"I can bring you some new clothes, if you want," comments Barry, leaning against the doorframe.
"I'm fine," Cadfael replies to that. Standing in the middle of the bathroom, he carefully scans it, turning in a complete circle (and, by native paranoia, using Mystic Sight to scan for any signs of magic in the area). Once he's done a complete turn, he stares, unblinking, at Barry.
There's no magic about, unless it's really well hidden.
Barry coughs, and moves out the door, closing it behind him.
There's a few second pause as Cadfael stares at the door. ... and physical energy instead of mana. Seventeeth trigram to third whorl, declined with the Gordian root.
Then he rubs out the rune of Mystic Sight on his palm, and quickly sketches the new one he's been planning since the discussion of bugging devices -- the Rune of Storm's Eye.
OOC: Storm's Eye: Same as Mystic Sight, but Sense Group: Electricity and Electronic Devices.
The newfound rune is either broken, or there's an awful lot of electrical equipment in the area. Apparently, the whole room is controlled by electronics; the water is heated with electronic timers and mechanisms; the taps are actually dials linked to a small computer; and there's a small security camera that isn't readily visible, which you only notice now.
It wouldn't register on his face even if he had been, but Cadfael is not surprised. Instead, he grabs a bar of soap, reaches up to the security camera, and sets about making sure that the lens is thoroughly obscured.
The lens now has a large smudge of white soap in it, and it doesn't look like it's detecting anything, no-sir.
Some basic privacy thus ensured, Cadfael quickly strips and gives himself a thorough scrubbing with some soap and a hand-towel, ignoring the shower. Done in a matter of minutes, he dresses again, and steps out of the bathroom.
Barry is nowhere to be- oh, there he is, talking to a naked blonde woman in one of the baths. It's one of the hot baths, so there's lots of steam, but very little is left to the imagination in any case.
Slouching inconspicuously along, Cadfael enters the elevator, and studies his options.
Cadfael can head to ground level, and below; the building, apparently, ranges from 6 basement floors to the roof, which is a hundred floors up. Unfortuantely, none of the floors are actually marked with purpose.
There's also the usual range of elevator controls, from 'Close Door' to 'Emergency'.
Cadfael racks his memory, and then hits the button for floor 61, which is where he recalls Kinomoto's office as being.
The breathtaking view of the expansive blocks is soon lost to the cold blackness of the elevator shaft, which quickly becomes an opening into Shizue's office. The door down the corridor is, once again, shut, and the plain space is still quite the contrast to the rest of the building.
Pausing just outside the elevator (and keeping an ear out to track if it is about to open again), Cadfael uses the Storm's Eye to look around for security devices.
There are several cameras in this corridors, this time, getting a look from all possible angles. There are also some other kinds of unidentifiable electronic devices; what could they be? The spell doesn't really make it clear. The corridor is laced with devices of some kind, hidden in the walls.
Electronics unclear to Storm's Eye... Cadfael's face remains blank, but his mind races. Should be able to tell. Can't. Not straight electronics, then? Resources are much better than they should be for a 'little player.' Hm. Bypassable? Probably. Mana flare bleeding into electromagnetic spectrum. Same trigram-to-whorl modification. Add twelfth and third pentagrams to split energy. Then...
For now, it's a thought experiment alone. But it's sufficiently complex to keep Cadfael's interest as he stands, passively waiting for someone to show up with his contract.
"You can come in now, Cadfael," announces Shizue, over a speaker in the corridor. "I believe you've been waiting long enough."
It takes a few more minutes to work out a tricky issue with resonance in this new rune, but when Cadfael has finished, he jerks into motion and opens the door to Kinomoto's office.
Shizue is sitting behind a desk, which has a new feature on it; a sheaf of paper looking vaugely legal-like and formal.
"It's all here," she comments. "Take as long as you need."
Taking the contract, Cadfael starts to read with the sort of stolid patience that can make others die of teeth-gritting.
Remarkably, most of the contract is incredibly boring, with little bearing on what actually has to be done. It clears up little legal issues, sets terms, and all the rest of the stuff contractors do.
Apparently, working for Shizue has some nice perks, including;
-Free Medical Attention!
-A significant salary on top of whatever other benefits she throws at you ($100,000 US a year!)
-Company-paid transportation to all places of work, by whatever means you prefer.
-At least two personal bodyguards, hand-picked by you if you prefer, or simply chosen for you.
-Access to personal protection; this includes firearms, body armour, and safehouses in most countries throughout the world.
-Kinomoto Industries has a reputation for employee protection. If anyone harrasses you, attempts to extort or blackmail you, or otherwise troubles you, it'll only take a quick call to a superior to sort them out- assuming you can't do it yourself.
-You can reserve the right to claim aid from Kinomoto Industries in whatever way most appeals to you. However, there are clauses placed on this (naturally). Basically, you can't ask for anything that is going to compeltely ruin the company, or significantly hinder it's other operations. No matter if it's financial ruin, ruin because a whole bunch of other companies get really peeved at her, or physical ruin (i.e. a bomb blows up in the main tower). However, it's quite broad, and you have good access to 'resources', as it's said. You're free to contact Shizue at any given time (though she may be busy) and make a request, which will generally be solved in a timely fashion. If, for whatever reason, she declines your request, it's open to appeal.
On the other hand, there's what you need to do for her.
-As an employee, you're technically answerable to her at all times, or her designated officer.
-Your life *will* be at risk. However, you will not be thrown into situations where your life is almost certain to be lost without your consent, and you'll get a significant bonus (if you survive).
-Your designated job will vary greatly. In general, all assignments given *must* be accepted without suitable reasoning otherwise. If you decline more than three assignments during the term of a year, you'll be released from service. As a mage, you'll generally be called upon to serve in a variety of capacities; it's recognized that you're not going to be doing much fighting, but you'll be needed in a variety of support roles, as well as for research and infiltration.
-You're expected to help out your fellow employees whenever doing so would not hinder your current assignment. Kinomoto Industries likes to foster good relations amongst its workers, and you're not to break that chain, either.
Many, many minutes later, Cadfael puts the contract down. "No," he replies.
"Dissapointing," replies Shizue, musing to herself. She doesn't say much after that.
Taking that as being rather final, Cadfael turns and makes his way to the elevator.
"May I ask why you decline?" asks Shizue, drumming her fingers on the tabletop.
Stopping and turning to face Kinomoto again, Cadfael explains. "Agreed to do single job. Not be an employee. Contract for one job, details all laid out. Afterwards..." Somehow, Cadfael gives the impression of shrugging without actually moving. "Another contract, maybe."
"I see," replies Shizue, nodding. "I'm not entirely fond of contracting in this fashion, but I'm willing to make an exception in this case. In the intrests of not keeping you waiting, I'll talk and write at the same time."
She produces a small laptop from somewhere and sets it in front of her.
"Specifically, you're going to go to a dig site. You're going to be taking orders from the coordinator. He will primarily be asking you to identify and interact with runic symbols of some kind or another that have killed two men and are preventing further progress into the location. After that, you'll be expected to help around the site in whatever capacity you can, and accompany the archeologists into the site proper, where your skills will be used as the coordinator sees fit. You'll have the transportation provided, and medical attention if need be. You forfeit personal bodyguards, but I have enough security on the site that you won't need them. If you need equipment for the work, it will be provided. Housing and food will also be given.
In return, I'll do something for you. Name it, and it's yours. Specifics aside, don't ask for anything ridiculously out of proportion. I'd much rather you specified what you wanted now, but you seem reluctant. Allow time for delivery. I'll pay you $8,000 now, and another $8,000 on completition, plus a danger bonus if you're in combat or at risk for any reason beyond the actual runes you'll be dealing with themselves." She pauses for a moment, perhaps to catch her breath.
"End of contract?" Cadfael inquires.
"For a month," replies Shizue. "If the dig-work is still in progress, it will be subject to renewal. We're still not sure how much there is to go, and we don't know how much there is after the current stumbling block, so you could just have this month, or you could be offered a year."
"One month, or end of dig," Cadfael corrects.
"Well, of course," replies Shizue, nodding. "Is that acceptable?"
"Acceptable," Cadfael concurs.
Shizue nods. "You'll be starting as soon as you're able to go. I assume that's tomorrow or so, judging by your lack of other commitments. Was there anything you wanted to prepare before you left?"
It is Cadfael's experience that runes can be prepared anywhere, really, and so he replies, "No."
"Well, then, get some sleep, and you'll be shooting off tomorrow," says Shizue. "Your room is on the sixty-sixth floor, number 7."