Chapter 6 (Continued)

[AftermathGM]

He's ready. He tells himself he's ready, he takes that deep, deep breath and holds it. It's going to be fine, it's going to be fi--

Then Georg drives a fist into his gut and his insides feel like they've been crushed under a mountain. He can't breathe, he can't walk, he can't even think. His arms go reflexively to his midsection, which decides to void the morning's meal as he crumples against his assailant. As Georg lets him slide to the pile of rubbish, he lets out a low, whimpering moan and curls up into a ball. He won't be going anywhere or alerting anyone any time soon.

The back door is a simple one, and while there's a lock on it -- a familiar magically-powered lock that's commonplace throughout the city -- it doesn't appear to be engaged. A quick check of the handle confirms that. It seems the way into the building is now open.

[AftermathGM]

The back door to the factor's office opens onto a dark hallway. The floors are wood, but not well cared for from the looks of it. There's every chance that it's going to squeak at an inopportune time. Like so many of the buildings in this district, this one has simple construction with minimal embellishment. It's functional, not pretty. The ceilings are low enough that Georg probably doesn't want to jump very high and the walls are paneled in plain wood washed with a pale white finish that deters mold and rot, a perpetual problem down lower near the water.

There's a flickering light globe suspended from the ceiling farther down the hallway, providing enough light to see that there are single doors to either side of the hallway which ends in another single door, with an open passageway to the right of that door. It's too dark to see what lies down that passageway.

As soon as Asra steps inside where she can no longer see the sky, her nausea and disorientation ease though they don't completely go away. Whether that will continue to be the case the next time she uses magic is yet to be seen.

Before continuing down the hallway, Georg and Asra stop to listen. There are voices coming from somewhere down the hall, but they're so faint and indistinct that they must be either beyond the door at the end of the hallway or down the passageway.

[Asralynn Beauchaud]

Asra takes a few deep breaths to calm her no-longer-tumultuous stomach, glad to see that the interior is not spinning nearly so much as the exterior. She looks at Georg weakly, but resolutely, and nods to let him silently know that she is ready to move forward.

The voices up ahead are troublesome, but could be the ticket to finding out where Iana is being held. Holding up a hand to signal Georg to wait, she creeps further down the hall towards the noise. She's the better candidate for this kind of eavesdropping anyway, considering her soft slippers and the fact that she doesn't weigh as much as a horse.

[Georg Elsebethson]

Georg is relieved when Asra's episode seems to ease. He obviously couldn't leave her outside while he went into the building, and carrying her would have slowed him down considerably. He can be very quiet when he wants to be, but it takes a lot of very deliberate effort to move all his bulk around without making noise by putting too much weight on the floor too quickly or brushing up against something. Bonking Asra's head on a threshold would be an unfortunate way to reveal their presence.

He is still a little concerned about her moving ahead, but again, he can't move quietly and quickly, so it makes sense for her to slip ahead for a little eavesdropping. He doesn't let her out of his sight, though.

[AftermathGM]

"No, I don't know who she is," comes a gruff voice. Definitely coming from behind the door at the end of the hallway. Hard to tell whether it's a male or female voice from this position. As Asra creeps closer, she realizes that the dark passageway to the right leads to a stairwell, with access both to an upper and a lower floor.

"But you saw her, right? You delivered food, didn't you? You had to pick up on something about her. Come on Gava, I'm bored outta my skull just sitting here." That's definitely a male voice, but young. Reminiscent of the guard outside.

"You haven't been around long enough to know that boring is good. Boring is safe. Boring gets you paid without having to do anything stupid, dangerous or both. So if I were you, Athe, I'd shut my fucking mouth and not spend any time thinking about who's down in the basement, got it? When someone thinks you need to know something, they tell you and not a moment before that."

"Fine," the young man says petulantly. "This is not at all what I thought working for Chavon would be like."

"You ain't working for Chavon any more, Athe. This goes above him. And that's all I'm going to say."

Footsteps sound behind the door. Maybe (maybe) coming toward the door?

[Asralynn Beauchaud]

"No, I don't know who she is," comes a gruff voice. Definitely coming from behind the door at the end of the hallway. Hard to tell whether it's a male or female voice from this position. As Asra creeps closer, she realizes that the dark passageway to the right leads to a stairwell, with access both to an upper and a lower floor.

"But you saw her, right? You delivered food, didn't you? You had to pick up on something about her. Come on Gava, I'm bored outta my skull just sitting here." That's definitely a male voice, but young. Reminiscent of the guard outside.

"You haven't been around long enough to know that boring is good. Boring is safe. Boring gets you paid without having to do anything stupid, dangerous or both. So if I were you, Athe, I'd shut my fucking mouth and not spend any time thinking about who's down in the basement, got it? When someone thinks you need to know something, they tell you and not a moment before that."

Asra listens in close to the door, trying to place the two voices. In her mind, she pictures these two, gruff men talking. Clearly the first voice is higher up the chain, so their information is more reliable... or at least something to go off of.

As soon as she hears talk of the basement, she looks back at Georg and mouths "Basement" to him while pointing towards the stairwell.

"Fine," the young man says petulantly. "This is not at all what I thought working for Chavon would be like."

"You ain't working for Chavon any more, Athe. This goes above him. And that's all I'm going to say."

Footsteps sound behind the door. Maybe (maybe) coming toward the door?

Her faces sets in a stony grimace when she hears Chavon's name. But this guard, Gava, claims this goes above even his head.

But those thoughts are cut short when she hears movement coming towards the door. She's not sure she has anywhere to hide, so she picks the best place she can think of...

Behind Georg.

[Georg Elsebethson]

When Asra indicates the hallway with the stairwell, Georg starts moving quietly in that direction. It's a good thing, too, because then she suddenly scurries back and hides behind him, which, assuming it's because she's heard someone coming, isn't exactly going solve the problem of the exposed giant.

So at least he has less ground to cover when he scoops her up and tries to stealthily duck into the passageway before anyone emerges from the room.

[AftermathGM]

As Georg and Asra move toward the stairwell and past the door, the scuffling footsteps from behind the door are clear enough that they have to be right at the door itself. Then the latch clicks and the door starts to open.

"Hey Gava?"

The answering voice is clear through the slightly cracked door. "What?" Gava says with a weary sigh. It's a woman's voice, that's clearer now.

"Are we... doing the right thing?" Athe says. "I need a job, but taking people hostage? I don't know."

The door closes again. There's probably time to sneak past and down the stairs.

"If the person we were taking hostage was putting your family in danger, would it be the right thing then?" Gava says. Her voice is curiously empty.

"Is she? Gava, why didn't you--"

"Athe! Calm down. I didn't say she was or she wasn't. What I'm saying is that the lines are blurry sometimes and..." A sigh. "Sometimes you have to do shit you don't want to do for a better payoff later. Not sure that makes it any better, though. Best you can do, I guess, is listen to your conscience. It's when you stop wondering that you should turn and run the other way. Look, I gotta go. Keep your head down and don't make waves. If you wanna... talk later," she says, the word 'talk' coming out a little choked, "We can do that, okay?"

[Asralynn Beauchaud]

So at least he has less ground to cover when he scoops her up and tries to stealthily duck into the passageway before anyone emerges from the room.

Asra is already tense, so being scooped up like a doll is alarming to say the least. But given their circumstances, she's glad her reflexes are fast enough for her to stifle her squeak of alarm and mild indignation with her hands.

As Georg and Asra move toward the stairwell and past the door, the scuffling footsteps from behind the door are clear enough that they have to be right at the door itself. Then the latch clicks and the door starts to open.

"Hey Gava?"

The answering voice is clear through the slightly cracked door. "What?" Gava says with a weary sigh. It's a woman's voice, that's clearer now.

"Are we... doing the right thing?" Athe says. "I need a job, but taking people hostage? I don't know."

The door closes again. There's probably time to sneak past and down the stairs.

Georg seems to freeze as the door opens, and they catch a bit of the conversation inside. It should probably fill her with some measure of sympathy or even hope that Iana wasn't kidnapped by completely heartless people, but her heart is pounding so loudly that she's too worried that the sound is going to give them away.

When the door closes again, she thumps Georg's chest rapidly with her palm.

"Go, go, go!" she urges her human howdah quietly.

[AftermathGM]

The air grows damp and musty with the faintly acrid scent of mold as Asra and Georg descend. Though the stairwell itself is dark, internal to the building as it is without a functioning set of light globes to light the way, there's a dim glow at the bottom that helpfully suggests they won't have to figure out how to see in the dark.

At first it seems silent as they creep closer to the room that opens at the bottom of the stairs, but then the scrape of a chair along the floor breaks the illusion.

"Take this up to the boss," a man's voice says. "She's touched it, so they should be able to get what they need from it."

"How they gonna make her talk, if all she's done is touched the tray? That don't make no sense at all," comes another man's voice, whinier than the first.

"Magic, you halfwit. It's all magic, and ain't none of the likes of you and me knows how it works, so just do's you're told, yeah?"

The whiny man makes a wounded little noise. "Don't got to be mean about it," he mutters as Asra and Georg hear footsteps shuffle toward the stairs. The stairs where they're standing (or riding, as the case may be).