Diesel & Demons

[The SheoDovah]

Elisa

"Yes, because I have a great desire to be executed for being a mage and whilst i'm at it, I may burn the city down." Elisa snarked to Tobias before making her way towards the car.

After driving there with the others, she got out and walked up to the reception. "We're here to see the Governor." She told the man.

[Aarah]

Before entering the hotel, Tobias had left his gun in the car. The bullets he had removed and put in his inside coat pocket with the spares, and his hunting knife also remained on his person. However, he had taken it from his front trouser pocket and hidden it at the back of his trousers - his shirt untucked to help cover the sight of it, should he remove his overcoat.
It may well be discovered if they were searched, but if not, it was not openly visible, and it was much less of an issue than finding him armed with a pistol.

He stood behind Elisa as she spoke to the receptionist. As he waited, he reached into his pocket and took out the silver watch and photograph from the haunted house.

"Here. You can take these." He held them out to Guo as an offering.

[Baloth-Kul]

Guo left her weapons, toolbox, and morphine in the car. She stood beside Elisa as she greeted the receptionist, though turned to Tobias to see what exactly he was offering. "...No, thank you." Without another word, she turned her gaze to the receptionist, hoping they would be sent up at once.

[Aarah]

Tobias had hoped that Guo would take the items, but her refusal meant he had to reluctantly put them back in his pocket.
He pondered on what the Governor might say to them when they met.

[Dirty Spaceman]

Upon arrival at the hotel, Randolph got second thoughts about his plan to go in fully-loaded, and left his grenades and dynamite in the car. He kept the gun, though, as he felt it was the easiest thing to justify having on his person (despite being the one he was the worst at using).

He went to the front desk along with the others, adding to Elisa's statement as a point of clarification, "He sent a letter asking to see us."

[Kerr]

"Ah yes, the prince told me be expecting visitors. Let me see here." said the receptionist. He fiddled around behind his desk and looked at a piece of paper. He looked up at them again. "Can I your names please?"

[Aarah]

"Tobias Grunzel." Tobias stated plainly.

[Baloth-Kul]

"Guo Jian." Gigi replied courteously.

[Kerr]

The receptionist nodded, seemingly happy that they were the people who were supposed to be here. He pointed at the nearby elevator. "Go on ahead. Just take the elevator to the Penthouse floor. That's the 'P' button." said the receptionist.

[Baloth-Kul]

"Thank you." Guo headed to the elevator, and waited for the others.

[Aarah]

"Thanks." Tobias said to the receptionist.
He walked to the elevator and pressed the button to call it.

[Dirty Spaceman]

Randolph joined the others by the elevator. "Heh," he said quietly, "Before all this crazy stuff started, I never would've imagined I'd ever be meeting the Governor of all people."

[Aarah]

Tobias nodded. "That's life for you, kid. One minute you're sitting in some dump, the next you're at the Pyramid Hotel. Life is always out to surprise you. That's why you got to be ready for it. Don't let it catch you off-guard." He gave the others his words of wisdom.

[Kerr]

The mages took the lift to the penthouse floor and exited into an antechamber. To their left was a single white wooden door, presumably leading to the stairs and straight ahead on the far end of the room was a pair white wooden doors. The wallpaper was a mixture of gold and black and the floor was made of a white marble tile. Between them and those double doors was a pair of black armchairs with a small brown wooden table in the middle. Sitting on one of those chairs was Governor Alex Orlan.

Alex was wearing black trousers, black shoes and a burgundy shirt. They were dark skinned, skinny, clean shaven and had curly shoulder length brown hair. A glass on rum was in their hand, the bottle and several more glasses on the table next to them. There was also a brown rucksack by his feet. By the look of things, Alex was the only other person in the room. The governor looked up at mages as the elevator arrived. "Ah good, I've been expecting you." said Alex before taking a sip of alcohol. He coughed and gestured at the glasses. "Help yourselves. Where are the others?"

[Baloth-Kul]

With a polite curtsy and a smile, Guo greeted the governor. "Well-met, Governor. I am afraid the others have foolishly chosen to pursue...personal matters. Needless to say, that we are here, we are happy to assist with any colonial matters."

[Aarah]

"Afternoon, Governor Orlan." Tobias said.
He looked at the alcohol and glasses on the table, but payed them no further attention.
"We're very interested to know why you've asked us to come here today."

[Kerr]

"Well, it's quite simple really. I want you to work for me instead of Howard." said Alex. "I was going to offer you $20,000 each but I suppose with three less of you I can make it $35,000. I'm sure that's more than acceptable."

[Baloth-Kul]

"Of course, we graciously accept." Guo said with a smile and another curtsy. "...Although I would hope it comes with certain assurances. A degree of protection, that neither Mr. Howard or his associates might disrupt our work together."

[The SheoDovah]

Elisa

Elisa had remained quiet for most of the meeting and was happy at the prospect of earning 20k. It could be enough for her to sort out her life and get it back on track. "Out of curiosity, what did Howard tell you?" SHe inquired and was a bit annoyed that Guo had spoken for the group without giving people time to consider it.

[Kerr]

"Well that's the thing, Howard didn't tell me about this, Eolas did. And Howard and his associates are almost certainly going to try and disrupt our work together." said Alex. "You see I have Teoyohtica Tetl, that cube Howard has you scouring the entire colony for. And with your help, I'm going to bring it back to the temple you found it in and activate it. Although the temple is probably crawling with Howard's men."

[Dirty Spaceman]

Randolph started. "You want us to..." he trailed off. "But wait - you know what it does. What do you have to gain from activating it?"

[Aarah]

"And why do you need our help?" Tobias added after Randolph's question.
"We don't know anything about it."

[Kerr]

"I don't think my father will appreciate me opening a portal to hell, so I can't use my own people. You've been there before and it means you won't try and stop me." said Alex. He took another drink, a larger one this time and looked Randolph in the eyes. "Because I talked to Eolas and they're right. People shouldn't forgot who they are, otherwise it's no different than if they were never born again. If a prince could be reborn as a pauper and remember who they were, the world would be a kinder place. I'm only where I am because of circumstance of birth, I could have as easily been one of those poor [&@%!] in The Dumps."

[Aarah]

Tobias didn't like Alex's line of conversation.

"Been where before? The temple, or Hell?" He questioned with concern.

[Kerr]

"The Temple." said Alex clarifying with laugh.