Arrival in Port Sulala
The journey to Point Thoryn was uneventful, following a brief stop at The Hissing Lobster. Even the voyage on the Fairy Elephant was uneventful. The first problems didn't start until they reached the Customs Office in Port Sulala, but this time Nalaea was prepared for the Dwarven Bureaucracy. In an alley near the customs office, Nalaea and her 12 rangers were all huddled, speaking in hushed tones.
"So here's the plan." Nalaea whispered. "We'll void step directly into the Customs Office. That alone will put them in an uproar, as I know for a fact they're warded against displacement magic."
"Captain if I may, I have a less immediately lethal idea." A male Ranger offered. "How about a traditional party crashing at the front door? Thirteen Rangers at the front door will make even the most arrogant rockmuncher flinch."
Nalaea paused to think. Jhaan had a good point, crashing the party at the front door is a lot less likely to end with a pile of dead bodies. Furthermore, she always loved the idea of bullying the notoriously stonefaced guards of Port Sulala.
"Change of plans. Jhaan's idea is much better." Nalaea said. "I'll take point, flank me. Keep weapons away, but shoot to kill if the Dwarves fire first."
The Rangers all nodded as Nalaea gave her orders. Once Nalaea was finished, she nodded and they quietly slipped back into the crowd on the main street. Making their way to the massive Customs and Immigration Office, Nalaea whistled a tune that doubled as a signal for the other Rangers, alerting them to Imperial Guardsmen. At the front gate of the office, Nalaea met their first obstacle.
"What do you want, Leaflover?" One of the guards asked, blocking her path with his battleaxe. "Get back on your ship and leave, the Empire don't want your kind."
"I don't want to be here either, Hammerhead." Nalaea said, glowering at the Guard. "But we're here on Official Church Business." Nalaea pulled one of the parchments out of her uniform and held it up in front of the guard. "In the name of the Goddess, you will let me pass!"
"Wave your fancy papers in front of me all you want knife-ear, I ain't letting you through." The guard answered, sneering at Nalaea. "Go back to Karand you filthy treefucker."
The tempers started to flare as Nalaea and the Guard hurled abuse at each other, the intensity of which was rising to such a degree that the other Guardsman started to look nervous. Nalaea's rangers wondered if this was part of the plan or if she just got caught up in arguing with this Guardsman. Eventually the other Guardsman signalled to Jhaan, who carefully came over.
"Just go in while these two keep arguing." He whispered. "I'll make sure nobody gets stabbed."
Jhaan looked over at Nalaea. She was thrusting the air in front of the Guard and making some of the rudest gestures he had ever seen with her hands, while yelling something about the Guard's mother. She paused for just a split second to wink at Jhaan before going back at it. Jhaan looked back at the other Guard, and he didn't seem to have noticed.
"Ah." Jhaan said. It really was part of the plan. With a wave of his hand, Jhaan indicated for the other Rangers to follow him. He couldn't deny that Nalaea was certainly an unorthodox Ranger, but from his training over the past year, she was also extremely effective. Even now, he wondered why they ever feared Vordea to begin with. Once they made their way inside, Jhaan turned around and discovered Nalaea had already rejoined them, a smile on her face. She merely winked at him as she made her way back up to the front.
"Went perfectly." She whispered. "The customs officials will be a bit less annoying."
As they walked up to the desk, the Dwarf sitting at it looked up and sighed. A group of Elves. Of course.
"Yes, what do you want?" He asked.
"Temporary permission to enter to retrieve a divine artifact on behalf of our Goddess." Nalaea stated, pulling out a stack of paperwork and dropping it on his desk, which immediately started to glow blue in response.
This was new, he thought to himself. Examining the reaction orb on his desk, he noticed an oddity. They were registering as some sort of weird combination of divine, demonic and elf. "Oh nevermind. We'll be here all day if I do anything about this. Just go."
Nalaea was very surprised to find herself being politely shooed straight out the exit door and into the Empire proper without so much as a cursory investigation, and made it known once they were on the road out of town.
"What the fuck just happened?" She asked.
"You tell me Captain. So uhhh... Godsdrink, is it?" Jhaan said, shrugging his shoulders.
---
Back in the Customs Office, the clerk sat staring at the orb for a long moment after stamping the paperwork. It was still pulsing a faint blue. Finally, he reached under his desk and tapped a small button, which sounded a brass bell.
Another dwarf in full Imperial uniform trudged in from a side door, yawning. "What now, Begnus? Did an elf try to bribe you with tree sap again?"
"Look at the reading."
The officer squinted. His eyes widened and he carefully took the orb, covered it with a black cloth before tucking it into his pocket. "You did the right thing."
"So... how do we file this?" Begnus gestured at the pile of glowing paperwork.
The office barked a laugh. "File it? File it? You want to explain to the Imperial Court what's going on? Ha! Burn it, and if anyone asks, they were never here."
Begnus watched the paperwork smoulder but refuse to ignite in the brazier. "By the sands... why is it always me?"