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Merisiel sees Kavor begin to follow her. "We'll know soon enough if there is a problem. But I have a good feeling. I would like to cross the bridge into Old Kintargo, in the South of the city. There is supposed to be a smithy there called Olmer's Smithy. We can see what he sells and make a connection there."
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Andracar tags along, wearing a very plain hat. He doesn't particularly like wearing very plain hats, but with the laws being what they are, he can't dress in his usual fashion. "This will go down as the worst assignment, positively. Can't wear fun clothing, can't pet dogs... at least we have a nice pet."
Vendalfek was not around to hear him being referred to as a pet. :)
Crossing the Bleakbridge , you notice that during daytime hours, it also doubles as Kintargo’s busiest market, for along both sides of the bridge, numerous small shops beckon and tempt the traveler. Bustling markets thrive at each end of the bridge as well, and until Barzillai Thrune arrived, passage across the bridge was free of charge you hear. Today, the new city government excises a tax of 3 cp per crossing for citizens who wish to use the bridge. .
After your bridge crossing, you walk due west, which takes you to the northern slopes of the tall hill that holds the towering Temple of Asmodeus . You find it hard to believe that the grand structure was once devoted to Aroden... today, its large central dome and facades of have been reinforced with iron and magically transformed to be adorned with images of devils and Hell itself. As you cross in its shadow momentarily, you feel a chill deep in your bones, and it is not until several minutes after the sun reappears on the other side that you start feeling warm again. The belfry atop the central dome rings out mysteriously when the chill finally departs your bones.
The rest of your walk to Olmer’s Smithy is uneventful. You realize that it sits a mere one block west of the Opera House and Aria Park, which is odd. Merisiel tells you that the majority of Kintargo’s smiths moved shop to either Jarvis End or Yolubilis Harbor, but this shop (which appears to have been built a very long time ago, based on the architecture) somehow stubbornly remains in this neighborhood, which now appears mismatched to the current, existing zoning arrangement.
As you enter, you hear the sound of an apprentice or two working in the back of the shop, clinking pieces of metal together, with the odd hammer sound ringing sharply. A gruff dwarf sitting on a tall stool behind a high counter is looking into a finely wrought piece of iron with an intricate design, squinting close to it with his monocle, close to an iron bar shiny with a bright light dangling from the ceiling on a fine steel chain, which in turn is wrapped around a small winch in the rafters. You note all manners of steel piping and cables running through the rafters, and a multitude of switches and levers on a wall panel behind the dwarf, as well. But what you note the most are the fine suits of armor on display all around this fancy front part of the shop, the most noticeable being an amazingly crafted chain shirt in a glass case with golden lion motifs worked into the chain links, and also on small golden epaulets resting on the shoulder of the chain suit. You even see a row of three fitting rooms for the privacy of clients near the entrance to the actual shop in the back of the display room.
The dwarf puts his piece of iron down with a sigh, and says, "What do ye lot want? I don't need anything, and ye don't look like ye need anythin' either... make it quick!"
"Items out here on display are all fer sale; rarer items can be found or ordered with half the money up front," answers Olmer, staring at Kranzer as if inspecting sheep at the annual spring fair.
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Merisiel walks in with the others. "Wow, this place is just like I remember it! Amazing it is still here, when the other businesses have all moved. Olmer, what is your secret?" She grins good-naturedly.
She looks around the shop as she listens to the answer.
Is he open because he is closely aligned with Thrune? That doesn't make sense though, martial law has just started.
The dwarf looks up Merisiel through his monocle and says, "I stay outta politics an' stick ta business. Like I'm not goin' to ask ye whatch' yer doin' around town all dressed to kill and stuff, an' instead ask ye 'yer buyin' or leavin'?' "
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"As a matter of face I am looking for a few things. Do you work with cold iron and silver?" she glances at the weapons already here. "I could use a rapier, like this one, but of exceptional quality and made from cold iron. I am also looking for an alchemical silver light mace."
"I'm sure these are trivial for you to make. I can pay for them, naturally."
"Dressed to kill? We're adventurers." She grins. "Pays to be well armed. We defend places against monsters. Have you seen any?"
"I have silvered light maces in tha back, but no cold iron rapier. If ye put a half-down deposit, I think we could get one done by the end of next week."
NOTE: no weapons restriction, but I'm gonna say that it makes the curfew extra bad if you're caught.
Kavor's assistance helps Rexus a great deal: similar to Geo's help a day or two ago, the time required to decode the documents have been reduced by one week! (5 weeks req'd instead of 7, but please do check the thread just in case I'm off)
Also, Kavor decodes
in and below the Kintargo Opera House; unfortunately,
no information in the documents indicates any other
safe houses the group may have maintained.
Unfortunately, Merisiel returns with no news from her venture in town.
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"Great job Kavor! If I had realized we just needed to read Elven I could even have jumped in to help." To the others she says "I am going to need someone else to help drum up missions. In the docks, and now in Old Kintargo I'm getting nowhere. Maybe someone with some charm?"
"Laria, do you have anything else for us that needs to be done in town?"
She thinks for a moment. "We had heard about the places that burned down. Maybe we can check those out if we have nothing else to do?"
@Kranzer: A lot of the inns and taverns seem to have changed since the last time you came here; you recognize no one. All new faces.
After many of you do your own thing you finally find each other together again at Laria's around suppertime. As you eat quietly and enjoy the mournful sound of a violinist waft through the opened windows of the Coffeehouse, you hear the thundering sound of footsteps running up the stairs from the Wasp Nest below.
One of the tengu sisters is breathless, and requires your help immediately, "Hellllp! wall came down!!! sssister's buried in rubble now... need your help!"
What do you do?
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Andracar of the miniscule might darts down the stairs as quickly as he may! Once toward the bottom he prepares a spell of enlargement, to help whomever gets there in lifting the rocks/rubble.
While doing so, he also retrieves his wand of infernal healing, so that as soon as the sister's plumage is visible, he can begin the healing process.
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Brute strength! This is a task Kavor Doan is happy to help with. The wizard rushes down to the Wasp Nest to clear rubble. He has his armor on, just in case this is a trap - one never knows.
He'll be happy to accept an Enlarge from Andracar. However, if he sees the gnome call upon the gifts of Asmodeus to heal the tengu, he will shudder and recoil a bit.
Treep is unconscious under rubble, but her sisters also eye Andracar furiously at the sight of the infernal runes covering that red wand.
Maggie verbalizes her anger, "I'd rather see her DIE! ...than end up in Hell later! are you trying to shackle our bloodline to Asmodeus! SQUAAAAAAAWK!!"
Korva and Jay, however, appear a bit more hesitant about the 'let her die' part, and tears stream down their feathered faces. Seems like Maggie has an incalculable hate for all things infernal... or Thrune...
With Kavor's enlarged muscles, large mammoth-sized pieces of rubble fly backwards, and in no time the fourth sister is freed! she's not dead yet, but quick action is required!
Merisiel carefully pours the content of her potion in Treep's beak... it is a bit delicate considered her massive injuries.
pts. of healing back
Treep's chest begin to rise and fall rhythmically, her breathing and pulse appearing to stabilize, but lower than normal. She's still unconscious but stable. The three tengu sisters squawk in relief and hug the Silver Ravens in thanks!
Maggie the Tengu is not going to let go of that one bit, and says, "How do you know it doesn't damn you? it's called 'INFERNAL' healing... do you really think this a gift from THAT god to the world of mortals? that he had a moment of weakness on his birthday or something? life is better than death provided you don't mortgage your soul to the Lower Planes!"
"No one! just me and my sisters! Squaawk!" answers Korva, visibly upset. "I thought this place was safe!!!"
Safe? No place is safe given the circumstances. Unless you move really far away.
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"Everything Asmodeus does is to serve his own ends in some way. I don't pretend to know exactly what his scheme is, but he is subtle and plays a long game. Don't you have Celestial powers of healing, Andracar? Heavenly fire?"
Kavor Doan looks around. "Have we been betrayed? Or tailed back here? Before we pursue other leads we should try to figure this out."
Korva brings a wing over Andracar, "Don't worry friend... squaaaawk... Maggie is on edge. I appreciate the effort and willingness to save our younger sister! one should use whatever tools he's been given in life I say... only fools worry about the thoughts of the gods!"
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"Precisely! I didn't try to worry about why my ancestor made progeny with a celestial being, why should I concern myself with the motives of above or below? It's entirely not my place to judge. I judge by individual actions." He pockets the wand he had prepared. He's a bit too preoccupied to consider the motives of the group at hand, though he does reflexively check his pockets, trying not to be too obvious about it.