Ustuck: Get Recruited by Troll Mafia [Closed RP]

...


What? You already did the packing bit. Remember, when you found out your lusus had been kidnapped, and you went storming off to find her? Good times.

You do swing back to grab a better mace, though. It's smaller and less ridiculously terrifying, but...it's also less ridiculous, so. You could only stay a little while, though. That brownblood's arm was really starting to stink. It was definitely that, and not for any other reason, that you were tearing up the whole time.

Besides, you have no idea when this Kezria troll's going to be in her shop. This time of night, she's probably closed up and back in her hive. Or to where this "team" is meeting up, which really could be just about anywhere. You would not lay good odds the group is just hanging around the shop waiting for you to show up.

It's times like these you're really glad you don't have a clear grasp of cosmic irony.

 

Hours in the past, but not many:

You sighed in relief. With your hive's sprawling floors and blue roofs in sight, there is little chance that you will be attacked - and if you are, Incubusdad will help you defend yourself. You finally feel safe enough to open Kezria's messages to you.

Iglora: Scream

You don't scream, but it's tempting.

insidiousHuldra [IH] began trolling faithfulIntellect [FI]

IH: I thought you weren't going to do 6usiness with him anymore?
IH: Why haven't we sicced Papa on him yet? It would 6e a close fight 6ut I'm pretty sure if he's hopped up enough Papa can take this Kingpin guy.
IH: Not that I'm not going to help you, though. I'm going to help you, whatever you need.

You stop outside your front door. It's sitting wide open, the lock mechanism torn clean from the wall.

IH: I'm going to have to get 6ack to you. Someone's 6roken into my hive.

Cautiously you slip inside, keeping your staff at the ready. Nothing much seems disturbed in the foyer - just the debt in the wall from when you killed the last thrall for bait - but there's a light on in your kitchen. You head that way first.

Your kitchen is trashed.

You can't even begin to describe the mess. Dishware is everywhere. Your toaster is lodged in the ceiling. Everything is covered in blood, red and yellow and - is that olive? You sidle around the counter. That is olive. The troll it came from is lying on the ground, bits of her skull sticking to the counter.

That's going to be a bitch to clean up.

You take a deep breath and follow the destruction out the far doorway into the hall. There's a yellowblood corpse here, a lance - a lance? - through his chest. You cautiously step over it. The door of the far bedroom has been splintered into pieces. The room beyond is dark. You step through, flicking on the lights.

"Papa!" you scream, covering your eyes. "What the hell?"

"It's okay," your lusus replies in Ancient Alternian, sleep and hopefully nothing else roughening his voice. "We aren't doing anything right now."

You peer through your fingers at your lusus and the shrivelled husk of the brownblood who'd fallen thrall to him under the torn sheets of the bed, another yellowblood corpse on the floor. "What happened?" you ask, not sure you want to know.

"Simple, little insect. They tried to take me away, and I would not let them."

IH: Kezria.
IH: Some trolls tried to steal my lusus.
IH: Tell me you've heard something a6out this, there isn't anyone left alive to interrogate and someone needs to pay.

 

Also hours in the past:

Your moirail has finally gotten back to you. You were basically twiddling your touchstubs trying not to get overwhelmed with everything. You have a bunch of trolls coming over in the evening and not much of a plan.

FI: (Iglora!)
FI: (Yeah, I didn't {want} to do business with him.) {But when I have an {{adult}} in my shop telling me to do a thing, I tend to do it!}
FI: (He's sending over a troll for help, and I've got Astroh on the line too.)
FI: (They're coming over tomorrow evening.) (Can you get here that soon?)

When she says someone's broken into her hive, you get a little worried, but you're confident she can handle it, as she has to deal with other, sometimes hostile, trolls all the time.

When she says someone tried to steal her lusus, you focus on the word 'tried' and hope that means they weren't successful. You try to explain the best you can about what's going on.

FI: (Oh no! I'm so sorry. Is he okay?)
FI: (I think I might know, it's what the job for the Kingpin is about. He says there's a lususnapping/smuggling ring that's operating on his turf and he wants me to get them to stop.)
FI: (Or join up with him. Or something?) (I think he wants a nonviolent solution.) (Or a less-violent solution.) *shrugs*
FI: (If you can come over you can help me take them down.)
FI: (As violently as you want.)

You don't usually like encouraging Iglora's violent tendencies, but you figure this is a special circumstance.
Even you would want revenge on someone for hurting your mom.

 

Yep, there's that weird feeling of cosmic irony again. You hope this isn't going to be a recurring thing.

But whatever. You're at the troll's shop now. Hopefully she's here and you won't have to go through another side quest to track down a strange suspicious troll who might know where your lusus is.

You knock on the front door. Not loudly, like last time, because you've been up all day and you're running on sopor fumes at this point.

 

You're trying to tidy up your lounging block in anticipation of the arriving trolls when you hear the knock at your shop's door. You give one last look around and consider it good enough. There's enough room to walk around and sit, so as long as you ignore the the piles of books and other things, it's fine, really. You go upstairs and open the shop door.

You were expecting Keeler, Astroh, or Iglora, but not Lukasz. "Oh, um. I'm sorry we're closed today. Did you forget something on your way out the other night? I'm awfully sorry about that, by the way. It's not something that happens often."

 

You blink. "Yeah, uh, I'm not here for that. The Kingpin said you were hunting down lususnappers. Can I come in?"

 

You blink back. "Uh, yeah. Sure." You move aside and let Lukasz in. You take them to the back door of your shop that leads down to your hive. "Here, we can wait in my lounging block until the others arrive."

The stairs lead straight into your lounging block, which has two lounging platforms, a hot beverage stand, and a few chairs that you've dragged in from other rooms. It is also completely covered with junk. Organized junk, but junk nonetheless. There are carefully cleared pathways from door to the chairs and around the stand and to the other doors that lead out of the room, so that it's possible to walk around without knocking anything over.

You step aside so Lukasz can come into the room. "Here, please take a seat. How come you know about the Kingpin and the lususnappers?"

 

She lets you in and you perch awkwardly on one of her chairs. You don't have a lot of chairs back home. Papillona knocks them over whenever she gets fluttery. You really hope she's okay.

The place is a mess. You're starting to wonder if maybe this troll lives here. Or she's just that much of a hoarder. Maybe both. It does make you feel better about the state of your hive, decomposing troll arm notwithstanding.

You're not terribly surprised to know the Kingpin didn't tell Kezria you were coming. He seems like that kind of douche. You almost sort of begin to feel a smidgen of sympathy for the shoptroll, who seems nearly as out of her league as you are. But not much. You still don't know how involved she is in all this.

"Well," you say. "I know about the lususnappers because they took mine. And I know about the Kingpin because I stabbed him."

 

"You too? I'm so sorry--Wait, you WHAT!?" You look at this troll in a new light. "How the hell did you mange to do that?"

 

Maybe you're more tired than you realize. It kinds of sounds like she's asking how you stab someone. "Um, I took the pointy bit and...swung it? Into him? I'm not sure what you want from me here." You shrug. Maybe she's one of those weird nonviolent types.

 

"That's not what I meant--Oh, nevermind. Anyway, there are a few more trolls that are going to show up. A couple of friends of mine, and a troll that the Kingpin is sending. Then we're going to try to figure out how to track down these trolls and get as many lusii back to their trolls as possible." You sigh, cross your arms, and lean against the door frame. "Unfortunately, I'm not even sure where to start. The Kingpin didn't give me much information."

 

==>
When you get to Kezria's hive, you stare at the door for a while, working up your nerve, until finally you knock.

 

==>

Perhaps they didn't hear you knock? Maybe you should try a different approach.

autonomousIcarus [AI] began trolling faithfulIntellect [FI]

AI: Are y0u at y0ur h1ve?
AI: 1 just sh0wed up. W00ld y0u bee able t0 let me 1n?

autonomousIcarus [AI] ceased trolling faithfulIntellect [FI]

 

Your palmhusk buzzes and you fish it out of the electronics drawer in your organizer modus.

FI: (Oh, sorry. I didn't hear you, I was talking.)
FI: (I'll be right there.)

"Excuse me," you tell Lukasz. "Keeler is here, I have to go let her in. One moment." You job up the stairs and let the troll into your hive. "Hi, I'm Kezria. Nice to meet you, though it would be better under different circumstances. Please, come in and join me in my hive down below." You lead her down to where you left Lukasz.

"Lukasz, this is Keeler, the Kingpin gave me her information and she's here to help. Keeler, this is Lukasz, their lusus was taken and we're going to get it back."

 

You look around. You've never seen this much stuff before, let alone all in one place. How...?

You shake your head. Best not to get distracted.

"Nice to meet you, Lukasz. Kezria, do you have any leads on where the lususnappers might be? Three of us should be enough to handle them, right?"

 

You can't help but tense as Kezria gives the introductions. You're not that androgynous, are you? Okay, sure, the hood leaves a lot to the imagination, but still.

> Lukasz: Reassert masculinity?

Maybe later. First you have to deal with this new troll and her blase dismissal of the entire situation. "Please," you snort, glaring at her. "If my lusus couldn't handle these trolls, we are going to need a lot more than just the three of us." You whip around towards Kezria. "And my lusus is not an it, she's a she."

 

Your face heats up with embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know that she was a she, so I was just... I'm sorry." You keep putting your foot in your mouth around this troll. You take a breath and try to move past it.

"Well, um. My moirail and another friend of mine are also coming. And Kingpin mentioned another troll that we might meet, but didn't give me anymore information than that."

 

You're taken aback by the glare you're receiving from the hoodie-beswaddled troll in front of you, but you recover quickly from your momentary freeze and lean back, away from this cranky grey-and-black ball.
"Well, I'm sure I meant no disrespect, gentletroll. Please, forgive my gaffe. Do you think twice that will be sufficient, or should we see if we can find more for this almost-certainly-illegal quest? I'm sure I don't need to inform you that being caught working outside the law has a very high cull rate. Where should we start posting applications?"

 

> Lukasz: What.

What indeed. You decide you really don't like this new troll. Even if she has a point. Especially if she has a point.

You feel yourself start to flush in embarrassment. You tug the bottom of your hood above your cheeks--a necessary survival tactic--and mutter, "Whatever. Let's just wait for these other trolls, then."

 

You look back and forth between the two trolls. You hate it when people get upset at each other. "Come on, guys. Let's not fight. We need to work together if we're going to do this at all. It's still early in the evening and the others should be here soon. Just let's not get upset at each other. Please?" You hope that helps, at least somewhat.