CH. 11: The Show Must Go On

[Chris1234]

Shima waits to see what Felran intends to say, but takes the opportunity to blend into the shadows.

[BishGada]

Tulbas realizes the time goes by. So far this day was quiet productive and interesting, it would be a pleasure if his mentor was Raetmal, but it is not and as much as he tries to accept the new reality it is still hard on him to spend so long time with Magnus. Avoiding provoking the evil mage Tulbas just says, "Understood. Ready to move on."

[Haahque]

To Gobax, Haahqae will reply; "Yeah, I've hired some baaz to guard. They should be trustworthy cause that's what they're payed to do, but don't trust them too much."

Kendra's conversation with Camilla, while interesting, is not something Haahqae wants to weigh in on. Instead he answers the questions that Kendra directed towards him. Time to bring them up to date. "No certainly, I've done my best to assure him that we mean the best for you and that our tasks are very much as safe as possible. It would be good if we could do another job together someday, but I don't have anything planned right now. No money in helping the needy these days, so I'm putting on a show. Soldiers have money right?" Question one answered, or was that question two? Either way, there's an answer for the other question as well!

"Yeah, I've been busy losing money. Tulbas got himself captured by a cult when we were on a job for the church, so I had to scrape together a group to go rescue him. The church didn't even pay us for that job. Haven't seen Gregeddin in a while, I wonder if he ever finished that merchants job, probably not, or he would have told me about it. Performances at the tankard aren't going anywhere. No one has money there, and the soldiers arrested the innkeeper without giving a reason. Ismene is doing okay, although Miriam's trying to convince her to leave, I hope she doesn't. Have you done anything exciting while being a soldier? Or is it just boring patrols and check points all the time?"

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Kendra and Gobax (Grand Market)
"I don't wanna get married or be a 'lady,'" Camilla complains. "Maybe if I become a soldier, I won't have to. They get paid, right?"

It is, at least according to the sun's position in the sky, around Eighth Watch. The show is scheduled to begin in two hours.

Tulbas Erogund (Mageware Shop)
Moving on, Magnus places a gag on Tulbas to prevent him from speaking as they proceed with the lesson on impaired speech. In this lesson, Tulbas learns how useless a mage really becomes if they can't speak. There are a handful of spells that do not require verbal components, but they are quite rare. There is very little that will aid a mage who cannot speak properly. Familiars won't help, nor will the Ventriloquism spell. But there is one spell, the Vocalize spell, which allows a mage to cast without speaking. It's a rare spell, though, and often difficult to find.

Once they are done, Magnus removes the gag. "Any questions before we move on to impaired movement?" he asks.

Arulia Seroth (Thoron's Blacksmithy)
"Seven, huh?" the man repeats, scratching at his beard again. "More than I'm used to paying...but not as bad as I feared when I noticed how much prices have gone up all over the city. I guess I can still make some profit with that. Alright, I accept," he says. "At least this way I can make a little bit of coin before winter sets in."

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (North Sewers)
Felran grabs the club from the sleeping guard. He immediately notices it's very sticky for some reason. Ne-Chanz then grabs the guard and puts his sword to the dwarf's throat. The guard slowly wakes up, smacking his lips and blinking his eyes. "Me no wanna wakey...two more minutes," he mumbles. Eventually, he notices the minotaur holding him and the cold steel at his throat. He begins screaming in panic.

This of course, grabs the attention of all of the other dwarves in the room. At the sight of the half-elf and minotaur, they all begin screaming, running around in circles, waving their arms in panic, and otherwise making a massive ruckus.

Meanwhile, Shima remains in the hallway, not entering the room but staying in the shadows.

[djhyland]

"Times are tough, and you're not the only one worried about having coin over the winter," Arulia explains as she begins to prepare for the job. "If you had more ore I'd be happy to charge you less for each batch, but with only one, seven is the least I can charge and still make any profit." She pauses while she carries the sack of ore over to the furnace--while she can't carry it with anywhere near the ease Bear can, she manages to do it on her own. "And if things were back to normal I wouldn't be so worried, but with the Dragon Army here...well, it's going to be a tough winter." She shakes the dark thoughts from her head. "But you aren't here to listen to my problems, are you? This shouldn't take too long. If you let me know where to find you, I can send for you when your metal is ready."

Once Bear pays for the work (OOC: or at least pays half in advance, if he's unwilling to pay all at once), Arulia begins to work at readying the furnace in earnest.

[BishGada]

Tulbas takes a moment to stretch his jaw after the gag is removed. It really hurts. Then he asks, "Do you happen to have access to the Vocalize spell by any chance?" he asks eye brows high.

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra glances to Gobax for a moment before she turns her attention back to Haahqae. "You most likely won't see Gregeddin for awhile," she says. "He has been arrested for trying to attack the prefect," she explains. "And since he was on a mission for the trade guild at the time, they were arrested as rebels." She lets out a frustrated sigh, and looks to Camilla to answer to question. "Yes, they do get paid. Though, do you have any skills as a warrior?"

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Kendra and Gobax (Grand Market)
Kendra glances at the goblin that Haahqae is speaking to. He's quite ugly, even as goblins go, bearing multiple scars and a nose that appears to have been broken more than once in the past. He wears a hood, likely to protect his eyes from the harsh sunlight that goblins cannot stand.

In answer of her question, Camilla responds, "I've never lost a scuffle before, even against boys that are bigger than me!"

Tulbas Erogund (Mageware Shop)
"I do not," Magnus answers. "It is a rare and hard to come by spell and the few mages that have access to it tend not to share it with others, as it gives them a larger advantage over would-be rivals."

Arulia Seroth (Thoron's Blacksmithy)
"Sadly, that's all I have left," he says, gesturing to the bag of ore. "The army seized my mine, and just after I had regained it after some kobolds and sligs had invaded it. Without the mine, guess I'll have to find some other way to earn coin. Because what I can get from selling the refined ore won't last forever."

He hands her seven steel pieces. The two extra coins of pure profit, when added to what she has earned so far this month, means she can now afford to ensure the safety of one family member next month so far. She has 17 days to earn enough coin to care for the others. "Anyway, guess I'll be at the Steel Tankard for awhile," he says.

[Haahque]

"He attacked the prefect?" Haahqae asks, jaw agape trying to comprehend what the heck was going through Gregeddin's mind at the time. "Why would he do such a stupid thing?" Is the occupation slowly turning people mad? Surely not, Haahqae's still fine, Kendra looks fine, Ismene is better then ever... but Gregeddin attacked the prefect? Did he have some sort of army that Haahqae didn't know about? No, surely that can't be the case. He must have gone mad. Hopefully it's not contagious.

"But how could the trade guild have been arrested? I bought lunch in the market just today and the vendor looked very much non-arrested to me. Besides, if the trade guild gets arrested then how can the city continue to function? What if people want new winter coats? Unless he did the stupid act when he was delivering the note to the prefect... who's names were on that list again? We mostly talked to the blacksmith and your husband. Your husband seemed rather pleased with the idea that we might get killed for delivering the letter. That's part of why I think he doesn't like me very much. I think the innkeeper at the steel tankard was there too."

Haahqae pauses.

"Oh. Maybe that's why they arrested him. Did Gregeddin go and get everyone arrested about three days ago? If the innkeeper is arrested, then they probably arrested your husband too. I'm so sorry. I never suspected Gregeddin would do something like that. If he did. Maybe the prefect lied about that so that he wouldn't have to negotiate about the taxes. But arresting the whole trade guild over that seems like a bit of an overreaction. What do you think? Did Gregeddin attack the prefect?"

[Chris1234]

Shima waits until either a fight kicks off or else Felran needs a translator for whatever he's going to offer the Gullies as an alternative venue.

[BishGada]

"Oh. I see. One last question if I may before we move on. I was wondering a lot about variation of existing spells. I understood from Raetmal" Tulbas says the name meaning to show Magnus his uncle memory still exist and his life work was not wasted, "that it falls into spells research, similar to creating completely new spells. Is it possible also in low level, given the time and resources? If you research a spell variation must it be a distinct spell or could you alter the effect during the casting itself?"

[TristenC]

"Gobax" is a little dazed at all the new information regarding Gregeddin and the trade guild being imprisoned. He listens closely to learn more from someone so close to the Prefect

[HorizonsDream]

"While he was delivering the note from the trade guild, he decided to take matters into his own hands without thinking about the consequences. Logically, the prefect took it as the trade guild sending someone to try to assassinate him under the guise of trying to negotiate. So, yes, that means my husband was arrested. This girl's father was arrested as well," Kendra explains as she motions to Camilla. "As much as I would like to say it wasn't true, I spoke to Gregeddin myself." Despite the fact that it has been a few days since she had that talk with Gregeddin, she still seems pretty pissed about thew whole situation. "He admitted that he acted before he thought, but I got the distinct impression that if he had the chance he would do it again. As a result, things like this performance you are putting on needs to be checked out, so I'm going to check out the area."

Kendra starts to walk away from the group, but pauses and turns her head to look over her shoulder to Camilla. "Why don't you come with me?" she asks. "We can talk about this warrior thing a little bit more in detail while I do my patrol."

[djhyland]

Arulia gladly takes her payment. "If you find a way to make coin, I'd be interested in how you do it," she says. "The smithy isn't making me enough money, either. The army has their own smiths, and nobody else can much afford anything." Slipping the coins into a pouch of her apron, she adds, "Anyway, I'll get started on your ore right away, and send for you as soon as I finish."

(OOC: Arulia will go home and recruit one of her sisters (if they're available) if she needs help with the smelting. Otherwise, she'll work hard until she's finished with smelting the ore.)

[TristenC]

He tried to assassinate the Prefect? the goblin blurts out incredulously.

Once Kendra has gone Grubnick tells Haahque, I'm going to find a sack for collections. He then goes back to tell Delarn about the new developments quietly. That soldier is one of the Prefect's personal guard! She's here to make sure the area is secure and there isn't any evidence of a plot. I think that means he's going to be here! You remember that crazy bard I mentioned? Apparently he got locked up for attacking the prefect or something! By the way, do you have an empty sack on you?