"Oh, you're trying to haggle, how interesting. But let me tell you, I'm ignorant to the historical value of those things. You can visit Randolf Burston III in his antiques shop if you think that brings you more money."
Taking a look at the stuff brought along she adds "You might want to not offer him this chair though. He might not see what it is made of, before he burns his ass on it."
After Grergof picks the amulet and the ungulent from the pile Abomentolor suggests "All of it. Ardan says we need some protection. The magic kind. Against evil mind penetration and such."
He takes off his cloak. "That in better and whatever is within the monay on the table to add to that."
"Sure." Lini assesses what is on the table [ooc]and by reading Ardans thoughts [ooc] decides to present a horseshoe and an ioun stone in addition to a new cloak. "Anything else, or something for the other gentlemen?"
I am all set, thank you very much.
"Mrs Lini, could you provide an adamantine longsword for our lady of fire here?
Grergof picks up the suggested items and drops his old cloak.
I think I am good also. Thank you Mistress Lini.
Lini checks in her extradimensional pouch and produces the requested sword. "You're sure is won't melt in your hand?"
She then stuffs in all of the items she got from that sale and produces the coins for the reminder of the price.
"A pleasure to do business with you. As always."
She moves on on her way through Magnimar.
Lini checks in her extradimensional pouch and produces the requested sword. "You're sure is won't melt in your hand?"
...
Atua replies sardonically "If it's real adamantine, not chocolate covered with foil, it shouldn't."
In a much more serious tone, she turns to the party "Thank you milords, I will endeavor to use it well."
Anything else anyone wants to do before we rest and tackle the underwater area tomorrow?
All set
"Then it's up to the bar I guess. Tomorrow at nine?"
Make it noon, I'm going to get soused
I will be ready after my devotions at dawn, there are many in town depending on us, so I would prefer not to wait until late in the day….
Grergof says seriously.
He waits for the others to decide what they are doing before heading back to the chapels of tge Dawnbringer to lend aid in whatever way Fiona can point him to.
"Come with me." Abomentolor tells Spugnoir. "Even if you're hangover, you'll be at least at the right place an hour after dawn and the ale is free."
Toss in a bowl of fried pig ears and you have a deal.
"We'd have to visit the market if it has to be that. But you can get some food for sure." Abomentolor replies.
"You come too?" he asks Ardan and Atua. "See you later then." he tells Grergof goodbye as he turns to leave.
As Grergof come sto the temple Fiona sits in front of the altar with a dozen kids. Some are listening interested to her teachings about Sarenrae, others are daydreaming. But one kid especially nerve bending.
"Uncool!" the kid calls out, while poking one of the other kids. "I don't want to become such a boring doo-gooder."
Grergof laughs from behind them and makes his armor appear like priestly robes.
Are you sure young master? Who knows what amazing things might be in your future as a "do-gooder"... After all, as a boy I just wanted to play ball with my friends. But my Lady had other plans for me.
He squats down so he is close to eye level with the sitting kids.
Plans that mean I have faced down ghosts and Dragon Liches, stood at the the top of the Gallowspire and walked on other worlds.
I've wrestled with creatures from beyond the bounds of the known universe, and been blessed to look on the face of a goddess.
But even after all that, you know what is the best reward ever?
Seeing a friend smile because you helped them out when they were really stuck. There is no treasure I would take that is more important then the friends I can trust. And being a "do-gooder" gives you that. Ask yourself, If I was worried only about myself, what kind of friend would I be? Would you want to be a friend to someone like that?
He looks up at Fiona. Sister Samsley, what lesson are we learning today. With your permission, maybe I can tell a story from my travels that will show this lesson in a new way.
I almost forgot, Abo. My bombs will be unusable under water since I won't be able to throw them.
"That's a pity. And your gun won't work either?"
...
"You come too?" he asks Ardan and Atua. ..
Atua replies with a smile "I'll happily come see your bar; show me how you celebrate... Do you dance, Abo?"
I almost forgot, Abo. My bombs will be unusable under water since I won't be able to throw them.
Ardan smiles at Atua flirting, and makes it a foursome heading to Abo's bar.
My gun will not work underwater either. This is a quandry.
The kids stare in awe at the towns hero.
"Good day Brother Grergof. Because of recent events in the orphanage I try to teach the kids, that punching someone in the face is no proper reaction to express disagreement."
Atua replies with a smile "I'll happily come see your bar; show me how you celebrate... Do you dance, Abo?"
"Sure. Question is, if we find someone to make music." Abomentolor repleis.
Grergof settles down and sits cross-legged in front of the Children.
Hmmm... I Think you are all are old enough to learn this.
Let me tell you something I used to teach young knights of the Sarenrae.
Even if you are not the best student, and think you are very strong, Your strongest tool that can solve any problem is still your mind. Thinking and talking will get you what you want with far less consequences than hitting someone.
Once you hurt someone, your chance to think and talk is over. You will be giving up your strongest tool, for a tool that is far more limited and will end up hurting you as well. It may not happen now, but every time you hit someone it makes someone more determined to hit you harder, and no matter how fast or strong you are there is always someone stronger then you.
There are only 2 situations where punching someone or something should be the first thing you try.
He holds up one finger.
One. If you have to act right now to save someone's life.
Not to keep people from being slightly hurt or losing something. But when a life is truly at risk. When those machines came in and started knocking down buildings with people in them, I didn't have time to talk, I had to break them to keep everyone safe.
He holds up a second finger.
Two, when you are dealing with something that does not have a brain, then you have physically stop it. So if say a basket falls from a window on the top floor and is going to hit someone, you can punch the basket to keep the person safe.
In every other case, talking should always be your tool of choice. It doesn't matter if you don't like the person, or if you think it won't work, you are better stopping and thinking/talking every time, as it is more likly going to get you what you want and have less consequences then hitting someone.
Let me give you an example.
Just over a year ago, I was helping people look at what was happening in a large dangerous building. We found out it was suddenly a haunted building.
Now, I'll be honest, I don't really like ghosts. They sometimes hurt people and that isn't nice is it?
He lets the kids respond before continuing.
Well, let me tell you if I had just gone and hit every ghost I found, It might have made the building safe for a short time. However, my companions and I chose to talk with everything we found., Yes, even with Ghosts.
It is from one of the Ghosts that we found that a group of necromancers had put a spell on the building, and that normally good spirits were being prevented from going to the boneyard, and instead were being turned into ghosts and were about to be forced to go to attack a nearby town. With the help of one of the ghosts, My companions and I were able to Break the spell and send all those spirits back to rest. We also got clues from the ghosts about the group who caused this, and were able to follow them and stop them from hurting people ever again.
Punching a ghost might have sent that one spirit to the boneyard for a time, but then we would never have learned about the spell and many people would have been hurt and died.
The same thing happens if you punch your bunkmate at the orphanage. If you do it you might possibly get what you want for the moment, but you will not only get in trouble with the adults, but you have just made it so that whoever you punched, and all their friends, will not help you in the future.
Think about it, if you were to find out that a baker down the street was giving away free cookies tonight at dinner time, would you tell someone that punched your friend last week?
If instead your friend's bunkmate asked for something and figured out a way to trade your friend for it, would it be much more likely that the three of you go down to the baker and get cookies together?
Air bubble can help with my gun, but my bombs are the biggest way I attack. Hmm.... Maybe I can stick to support.
"I have enough friends who will tell me about the cookies."
"I think Brother Grergof is a prime example of mastering the teachings of Sarenrae. He is strong enough to vanquish evil that is beyond redemption when it crosses his path. Like Sarenrae when she fought the rough beast. But the true strength lies in the humility not to judge and smite but to offer redemption, by talking. Like Sarenrae tells us to do."
"But to put it in a way that is really easy to understand - if you still disagree, that talking is the way to settle disagreements and punching is the way to go - then why don't you tell Brother Grergof to his face, that all his words were a waste of time, and he should have instead punched you to start with?"
You can clearly see, that this kind of behaviour of the child is really testing Fiona's patience and her self control and it is only the fact that it would nullyfy the lesson it should learn, that this one doesn't get a proper whopping.
Peace, Sister.
He looks at the boy and says:
Do you really think that if you continue to punch people that you will continue to have enough friends or will they be people who follow you because they are afraid of you?
People who only follow someone out of fear, will leave you as soon as someone stronger comes along.
Do you really want to be facing someone stronger without your mates to support you? Or do you want to have people who help you even when things get bad, because they know you will do that for you?
I’ve seen it happen far too many times to other people, and it would be no different for any of us if we were to go down that path.
The boy's eyes widen and his jaw drops at the suggestion to tell Gregof to punch him. At the end of Grergof's lecture his lip starts to quiver. "But nobody likes me."
At Abomentolor's temple/tavern the usual crowd enjoys lively chatter over an ale. Maybe two dozen patrons and Isabella that keeps their mugs from running dry.
Music will be no issue, even though no one is playing right now, there are at least three bards present that have an instrument in reach.
As the party enters, the patrons move chairs to make room for the new arrivals.
"I'll be with you in a minute." Isabella tells as she passes with six mugs in her hands.
Later on, with a mug of ale in hand, Ardan asks "You know, if this is going to be very difficult for Spugnoir, perhaps we should consider the alternative to going down - the teleportation circle. I am pretty sure we are going to have to follow it anyways."
"But nobody likes me."
If you help people, they will start to like you. Punching and taking things from others does the opposite.
It might take some time, but I promise it will happen.Plus I'll make a deal with you all.
He looks at the whole group.
If I hear from Sister Samsley that you all have been paying attention
and being nice to each other, sometime next week I'll visit the Orphanage with treats after Supper. Would you all like that?
All kids jump up and scream "Yay" in unison.
Fiona gets up and claps her hands twice. "Now the session is over. Make sure you don't forget any of your stuff here and walk back to the orphanage. It's time for supper soon."
After everything is sorted out and she actually managed to shoo the kids out she turns to Brother Grergof. "Thank you. That was very helpful."
"I agree. I don't like water. I still think we should find a way to get the water out before exploring that part."
When Isabella comes past he asks "Do we have fried pig ears? Spugnoir asked earlier."
"I prefer roast, like most here. But if you insist I can offer the roast to the dog and ask him to part with the pig ear. I'll manage to deep fry that quickly."
It was my pleasure. I do miss teaching, but that does not seem to be my role right now.
You are doing the right thing, even if it’s hard.
He smiles slightly
And hopefully the promise of treats will make your job a little easier the next week or so.
You wouldn’t happen to know of any really good bakeries that make pasties and cookies do you?
And I should probably contact the people who run the orphanage to set this up with them after the kids go to sleep. Do you have an address or way you normally contact them?
Who knows what will happen tomorrow and I don’t want the kids to be disappointed if something happens and I can’t make it. The kids have been through enough so they shouldn’t miss out on treats too.
Mmmm..nice crispy, crunchy ears. *slobber*
"Yeah, that's what the dog said too. I'll see what I can do."
"You've met Gwenhwyfar, my daughter, already. The Orphanage is just that direction. You can't miss it, as its one of the new buildings here. If you're not sure which one, follow the noise of kids. All the kids from Underbridge play on the place in front of it."
"As for a bakery, I don't usually buy baked goods but make them myself. But you find the bakers's guild and most of the bakers in Dockway. Which is on the main street behind the docks."
"If you're interested I can tell you a bit about the recent history of Underbridge. It is the part of town where those who ran out of luck live. But the darkest places are where the light is needed the most, and so Gwenhwyfar brought me here to operate this restored temple."
"Abomentolor needed something big for his ego, so he rebuilt the Shadow Clock and put his face on it. Through some diplomatic complications that could have backfired on the mayor, he eventually got free reign over Underbridge. That led to some quarrels with a local gang, the Scarnys, who then got purged from the Irespan pillar named The Gull".
That led to freeing quite a number of urchins that were abused by that gang for criminal business. Abomentolor then built a brewery in The Gull and Gwenhwyfar and her spouse scrapped everything between the temple and The Gull and rebuilt it for social housing and the orphanage.
Now everything in the vincinity of the temple serves the purpose of helping the poor people who can't afford to live in the better parts of town."
"But it is hard. I'm from Sandpoint, a small village without such problems, and I was just one acolyte of many, serving under the lead of the High Priest. It is nice to have someone like you who is much more experience than me around again."
Thank you Sister, What else can I do to help you before I go talk to your daughter about how I can help her beyond just treats next week.
"Nothing at the moment. But you could stay for supper. It's stew and bread and Gwenhwyfar will be over too." Fiona suggests.
"It's a good thing we're doing here for the people and for the honor of Sarenrae, but this temple definitely has not enough dedicated followers."
Isabella comes back after a while with four plates with food."One serving of pig ears and three servings of roast with dumplings." Isabella puts the plates on the table and moves on to move the next round of ales to the thirsty patrons.
Spugnoir's plateis full of deep fried pig ears, and contrary to her earlier statement, they look not gnawed on at all.
"One thing to consider is, that I don't do teleportation. As we don't know where that circle will take us, we should consider how we will make it back if that isn't a bidirectional thing." Abomentolor continues with the discussion.
Spugnoir crunches an ear. Hmm..We could still use the special wayfinders to get in.
"Right. I always forget about those. If the place we go to has doors, we're good."