7.05a: Exploring the City

[Joshua]

"That has merit." Nate nods. "They would see a proper visit as legitimizing."

Nathaniel will continue to lead you through the relatively slummy area. A number of the houses are the multi-family boarding house types. A few of them are clearly brothels or similar places of ill-repute. All display a tag stating that they've paid for protection.

The streets are not very clean, although it's not as bad as it could be. There's no garbage on the streets, more a persistant grime.

The station itself is clean, not scrubbed to gleaming, but merely dingy, not dirty.

[Ruben]

Ruben motions Nathaniel to listen at the open window at the alley. "You don't have to join the incursion, but you've come too far to miss all the fun."

Then, turning to the front door, he thrusts both sides of a set of French doors open loudly. The drive has the desired effect: Chaos in the "squad room." Chairs fly as the protectors leap from the table where they'd been checking accounts, and fell back into a defensive formation in the corner. Ruben's voice booms as loudly as it has t any point in the trip, and freezes the men: "stand easy, men. We're here to talk."

[Wyvern]

Alys spends a few moments giving orders to Tinder, who then pulls off some impressive canine parkour moves, vanishing out of sight onto the roof of the protector's station. She pays little attention to Nathaniel - from her point of view, he's welcome to follow them in or wait outside as he prefers.

When Ruben enters the building, Alys follows just a step behind. She's smiling. It's not a very friendly smile. It should be fairly clear that she's expecting to play "bad cop" to Ruben's "good cop".

[Joshua]

Have you ever seen those movies where goons stand on opposite sides of the doors waiting to jump someone, and the hero walks through crushing his would-be attackers with the doors? It's a bit like that. One of the daggers is stuck in the back of, let's say, the left door as said thug winces and clutches his nose, there's a bit of blood on the door from him.
The thug on the right is in a similar state of injury but kept the presence of mind to hide whatever weapon he planned on using.

The main room does an impressive job of recovering from being startled. A heavy-set man, perhaps 5' 2" walks up and offers a hand. "Greetings from this precinct to Amber. I am Jericho, and what passes for a captain in these humble parts. To what do I owe this honor?"

[Ruben]

Ruben surveys the room, studiously avoiding making eye contact with the crumpled figures to the sides of the door.

Satisfied that he'd delivered the requisite level of "shock and awe" (whether the others agree is left open to debate), Ruben softens his glare and focuses in on Jericho.

"Whether this is an honor will be determined in due course. I trust her eminence and I require no formal introduction - or rather, that you know enough of who we are to allow us to move forward. We are here on a simple fact finding mission. We wish to learn more of the precinct's operations and direction. I deeply appreciate your boldness in stepping forward as a leader. I'll ask you to answer our questions, but first, a simple one : In your rank and authority, do you accept responsibility for these men and all they do?"

[Joshua]

"All?" Jericho asks. "Most. Certainly all they do as police I am responsible for. But their personal lives? We do some basic screening, and I can vouch for their character. Yet, do I control every action they take? No..."

He gets serious, "Was there a specific action you were thinking of?" He asks with pure, slimy, faux-innocence, even as the injured members withdraw from the room.

[Ruben]

"A wise caveat, sir. Thanks for your time. We're just touring the city before tonight's banquet and would appreciate hearing how you and your men are finding it? Is this your entire cohort? Who's winning out there?"

[Joshua]

Jericho shrugs, "What happens in the castle trickles down. We see a lot of extra commerce and preparations." He offers to see you to his office, even opens the door for you. (carefully allowing the thugs there to vanish) "Well, about half of us are making the rounds. We're winning in the neighborhood. Did you see how many of the stores have our protection?" He smiles and takes a seat behind his desk. "We're doing just fine here. Order and law are in charge here."
(Astute people, like well, everyone, may notice him shove a pair of thumb-screws into his drawer when he sits down.)

[Wyvern]

Alys snaps forwards like a striking snake, one hand holding the drawer open, while she looks through it. "Thumbscrews, branding irons," she rattles off names of a half dozen other implements, "and well used, too. Quite an interesting collection you have here Jericho. So tell me, under what conditions does torture qualify as protection?"

She pauses just long enough for him to realize that there is no right answer before adding, with a grin full of sharpened predatory teeth*, "Perhaps you'd appreciate an offer of 'protection' from Ht'gon?"

_____
* Ruben may note that previously, Alys' mouth has appeared to contain perfectly normal human teeth.

OOC: Also, should Ruben decide that the appropriate course of action is, for example, physically pulling Alys back, she'll let him do so with just a show of resistance. Similarly, telling or gesturing her to back off will get her to do so with "obvious" (read: feigned, but Jericho won't be able to tell that) reluctance.

[Ruben]

Ruben makes no move to restrain his colleague, but speaks up, addressing Lady Alys. His baritone cuts through the fear paralyzing Jericho's mind, but isn't enough to shake his gaze from the razor- sharp teeth facing him.

"Well, what will it be, son? Your silence isn't helping us advance matters, but your, ah, treacherous position seems untenable, and should lend it self to negotiations. Unless..."

He lets the uncertainty hang in the air for the moment.

"Unless you lack authority to speak on behalf of your outfit. Is there someone else we need to speak with? Someone who claims full responsibility for all the activities you did not claim earlier?"