Kiki slips from Loremaster Cronin's chamber after he dozes for a moment and like a shadow skitters through the fort, clinging to the walls, floor or ceiling as befits her mood and travel needs.
Moving past her are many guard patrols, servants and other functionaries and time and again she is forced to backtrack as she reaches blocked or barred doors. Sometimes she slips through a door with other people, other times she adjusts and slips her tiny body through the grated ventilation shafts and roams through them. She carries a small piece of chalk to mark her way as the maze of tunnels, shafts and access stairwells become a bit confusing.
She finds mostly nothing of terrible interest as she roams, but after a short while she hears some giggling echoing through one of the shafts. Thinking, Hey now, the disembodied giggling is my thing. she creeps closer to the source. She peers out of the shaft through the grate into a small chamber. Two women, or rather girls, perhaps, it is hard to tell with the mortal races, crouch together in what appears to be a storage room. One of the girls, they must be in their teens, appears to have dark hair and pale skin, tall and thin, but graceful, you catch the the hint of pointed ears, and decide she has some amount of elven blood, but certainly not full. The other girl is clearly a dwarf, stouter, with long thick braided blond hair. They are both in their sleep wear, bare foot and clearly up to something. One of them has a hair pin and seems to be trying to pick a lock on a crate. They are giggling and shushing each other, making more noise in their attempt to be quiet than not and failing unsuccessfully to open the lock. The tall half elven girl whispers loudly "I read about this in one of the adventure stories. The roguish scoundrels always open these locks easily with something like this. I know the beer is in here." The other girl, the dwarf seems more reserved, "We can get in such big trouble, if our fathers found out we were trying to steal beer. Can't we just ask for some?" The other girl looks at her friend incredulously, "Where is the fun in that?" as she furls her brow and redoubles her effort at the lock, rolling up her sleeves in an expert manner, and after another few minutes, sighs, slumping to the floor, "The stories make it seem so easy...Maybe we can smash it, no one will hear it way down here." The other girl's eyes go wide, "Are you kidding, my father has guards patrolling every inch of this place morning, noon and night. Someone will hear. It was only by total luck that we were able to sneak in here."
The other girl 'hmmms' a she holds onto the pin with her lips and puts her hands to the side of her head, shaking her long dark hair. "Let me think. We can do this, we will be like the heroes in the stories if we can pull this off. Our first adventure will be a success." She rises to poke around the room, and stubs her toe on one of the crates, she hisses in pain and open her mouth wide in a silent scream, her friend covering her mouth trying not to laugh, the both of them eventually bursting into giggles again.
Kiki decides to continue watching, after some internal debate, if she should mess with them, and if so in what way. her train of thought sumbles for a bit, as she realizes that the dwarf girl must be important, if the guards are her father's. 'lets see, what kind of chaos those two can produce. I think I will keep anything too bad form happening and maybe mess with them a litle bit'
Simon smiles gently, no teeth, with hands open and out as they enter the bar.
"We will be fast. We only wish to buy some ale or wine and we will be out soon. Sorry to be a disruption, sir. We'd like to buy a keg or two of ale and maybe a cheap bottle of wine if you have it. Prefferably something sweet.
"Not what I had in mind, but yes a small keg of ale to enjoy. Tomorrow we leave on another mission. If we were not to return it would be a shame to have only had water pass my lips. I prefer mead to ale if you carry it"
Goliath looks to the old dwarf.
Kiki watches the two girls wondering what they are doing. For a while they sit there talking, and Kiki listens, her mastery of the new Common tongue, still not perfect, but able to make out what they are talking about most of the time. As they talk the girls, mostly led by the taller pale half elf, tries to pry or pick her way into various locked crates. You wonder what beer is so valuable that they need to lock it up.
The dwarven girl says "Do you think this invasion will be over quickly? My father seems to think we will beat the giants."
The half elf girl responds, "I hope so, I would like to get back to normal living. I haven't heard much, I hardly see my father and he doesn't share information about his marshals' patrols."
Her friend replies, "Me too, I haven't seen mine in two days, although the other night I heard him shouting in his sleep. I think he is exhausted. He was shouting something about a fell hammer and some other gibberish. He is very short tempered as well, having to deal with all these monstrous newcomers. Have you seen some of them?"
"Oh yes, I caught a peek at some the other day, they are very strange! They talk some peculiar language, and they are all monsters. There's like orcs and cat people, and lizard things, and I heard there are ogres. How can they allow them here, what if they are spies? Maybe they are nice though."
"Where did they come from? I haven't seen any yet."
"Immani Ji says they came from the hills to the north with those goat savages. She says they actually came through a magical portal though from what she overheard."
The dwarven girl's eyes widen, and she hisses, "You were talking to Immani Ji? Your father would lock you away forever if he knew you were talking to the brothel mistress!"
"Shhhhhh, she's a nice lady, and she hears and knows everything."
Astounded, her friend replies, "But you know what goes on at that place right?"
The tall half elf girl responds, acting all mature as if she was worldly and adult, "Oh, of course I do. Did you know I saw Norton Trothers visit that place once?"
"Noooo! Wow, well no one likes him anyhow, so I guess he has to buy it." She laughs and they both snort and giggle some more.
The half elf girl hisses, "I should have brought my knife and we could pry these boxes open." She stifles a yawn. "Maybe we should try some other time.
The dwarf girl replies nervously, [b]"Yes some other time perhaps, what if someone is looking for us or finds us. That creepy old priest Stonehammer is always lurking about. I don't like him, he looks at me strangely. I have told Father about it, and I think he asked Father to arrange a marriage."
"Ewwww, he must be two hundred years old." scoffs the pale girl.
"I know, I'm barely forty. He is disgusting... and violent I hear, all he cares about is fighting and the battlefield."
"Well maybe some giant will clout him a good one."
"Shhh don't say that! If they knew you talked like that it could be trouble!"
"I don't care! Some day I will be free of this place. I will ride a griffon away to the horizon. Father says I can imprint one, but he keeps saying that. Soon, soon, always some day." she says with a frown.
'Interesting. hmm, could it be that this girl is Hawks daughter'
Kiki continues listening, and after deciding on what prank to play looks for the oldest of the locked crates and boxes.
'Interesting. hmm, could it be that this girl is Hawks daughter'
Kiki continues listening, and after deciding on what prank to play looks for the oldest of the locked crates and boxes.
It is challenging to see from where you are, so you slip down into the room to find one of the crates. They are all in reasonably good repair and service, none of them are old, and if they are storing beer, they are probably recycled often enough. You do your best, but even the worst one is probably about the same as the others aside from minor cosmetics.
Quassine bows, "Goodnight Lore Master Cronin, sleep easy." Quassine turns to Xanya and others that may be still with them, "I am going to speak with Jopple." He then turns to the guards, "How do I get Jopple and is she open right now?"
@Kiki: Most of the crates appear to be uniform in manufacture and similar in quality. Knowing the dwarves their crates are probably on some sort of organized replacement schedule whether they need it or not. You mentally roll your eyes at the silly dwarves and their rigid ways. Based on the girls' talk these crates probably all contain beer, and thus are probably all about the same value, as they are all similar in size. One crate is as good as another it seems.
One of the dwarven guards replies, "Eh, you want what? Oh you mean the crippled little halfling urchin? I'll see that one of the servants finds her in the morning and that she pays you a visit. She seems to tolerate you folk enough."
Loremaster Cronin replies to Quassine, "Thank you. I don't sleep very well lately, and the stresses and demands on my time are great. It will be a troubled sleep if I do. I fear as Xanya suggested, that dark necromantic rituals were or are being used to fuel this item. I have a hope that we can somehow turn that into our favor."
"I feel like we've made some headway, even if we haven't gotten to the bottom if. I wish you a good night sleep Loremaster." Xanya then brightens up. "Actually I do have something like a cure for troubled sleeping, cuddling! You'll find that I'm an awesome cuddler." Xanya proudly puffs out her chest. "I am also a proud champion of Desna, the god of dreams. Sleeping in my arms is bound to bring you better dreams than if you did otherwise. Why don't we join you in your quarters for the night? I'm sure we'll find the others tomorrow. Quassine doesn't sleep much though. Would be nice if he could browse through your books for recipes for magical items while we are off in dream land. Of course we aren't taking the books, but ideas on what to do in order to create them could help if we can't find anything to buy."
The Loremaster seems a bit flummoxed by Xanya's offer, "Ahem, well yes, your um suggestion is noted, but, I am an old man, and prone to snoring and restlessness. Yes, and well I don't think that is appropriate in any event young lady." The Loremaster seems caught off guard and a bit uncomfortable by Xanya's suggestion. "It is very kind of you to offer to warm these old bones, and although my wife passed away long ago, my memory of her is always with me." He looks away briefly, somewhat wistfully, then returns "I will make some herbal tea to help as I have always done. Regrettably, I must lock up my study, it isn't that I don't trust you, but it is a good habit to follow in these times. If you would like to return after you break your morning fast, that will be fine, and we will get back to our research and attempt a few experiments."
"In the morning there is shopping time. So I'm afraid I can't join you." Xanya says with a smile. "I do like shopping, even if I'm not as crazy about it as some of the people from my old town. The most passionate ones would litterally kill each other in order to buy what they wanted. I'm not that crazy. Then we'll head out on a mission again. No time to lose if we are to keep everyone safe. Maybe we'll return with another piece of the puzzle."
If there is nothing further she turns towards Quassine and pulls his arm to go with her. "Let's go and see if we can find the others by the lake. That sounds much nicer than staying indoors."
The old man (not a dwarf) nods slowly at Goliath and looks questioningly at the dwarven escorts. They just shrug their shoulders. "Let me see your coin. I'll get your casks."
The man shuffles to the back and recruits a lad from the back room washing dishes to help him carry some casks up from the cellar. After several minutes they return to the table with a cask of ale, a bottle of wine and a bottle of mead. Trying to be polite and business like the man says "Where are you....fellas..from? Heard about your sort in the fort? Heard you are trying to help us out too. Never saw an ogre before or a..lizard person. Wait 'til I tell the wife. Ahh, she'll never believe me anyhow."
"Anyhow it will be 4 silver for the wine, 1 gold for the mead and 8 silver for the ale. I charge you double since you drove my customers away." He smiles apologetically, and you see he is missing most of his teeth.
"Sorry for the trouble. Here you go. I hope this covers any losses of the night." Goliath put a platinum coin on the bar.
"We came through a portal to find this world. We are in search of our master. He taught us all many things. He taught me of knightly virtues and heroic acts so doing what I can for your people is an honor for me. We hope to make the city safe from these barbaric tribes and collections of giants. Kiss your wife with a reassurance that while my heart beats my blade will guard this city."
He smiles knowing the man didn't understand him as well as he spoke but his point still got across.
"Come now brother Simon. We have our drink. Let us get some rest for tomorrow brings new adventure."
He looks at the coin and his eyes widen and he smiles, "Forgive me Sir. I didn't not know. You are a knight?" His eyes look to the dwarves for confirmation but they remain steely eyes and stoic, paying the man little heed.
"Thank you good sirs. I shall. I will pass on good things about you and your people."
Day 12 - After midnight, Day 13 early morning
Goliath, Simon and Aster make their way from the Acorn down to the docks, hoping to find some way back across the lake to take up a spot outside the walls for camping.
Inside, Quassine, Xanya and Cryxial do the same, leaving the Loremaster's study and asking some of the guards how to get to the subterranean docks, or how to get to the front gate. Wondering where Kiki has gotten off to, they assume she is exploring or went to meet up with the others and decide not to worry.
The guards within inform Quassine and Xanya that the subterranean docks are only used for special occasions and you are better of heading outside to the surface docks. Several of them escort you to the gate, through the elaborate layers of security. They give you a hard eye grumbling that it us usually against protocol to leave to late in the night, but you gather that your special status must warrant some exceptions, given the aid you have rendered so far. You are curious how much the rank and file are aware of your exploits though, particularly since you have only just arrived. Word would not have traveled about it yet, if at all.
You make your way to the docks at the lakeside.
---
Goliath and Simon find the docks, and have to ask around repeatedly to try and find someone who will ferry them over, all however refuse as no one is let in or out at night without an escort by a marshal or someone else of sufficient importance in the command hierarchy.
You ask around further and find the dock marshal on duty and ask him if it is possible to obtain permission to exit the town at this hour. He seems quite hesitant, given that he had no warning or orders of your exit. Guessing that it also means extra reports to be filed, you suspect your chances are low of getting permission.
---
Inside the fortress Kiki continues her search of the crates, moving stealthily as the two young women chat nearby, probably close to giving up their little plan.
As Xanya and Quassine head towards the dock area, you see how much of the town is still working day and night. You hear construction and there are preparations and moving of supplies even at this hour. It seems even some pubs are open and you even see a food cart or two selling hot food to the late night workers. You also see people who could be working or perhaps sleeping staggering home from one pub or another. A small band of drunken youths staggers your way, to stand and stare and mumble to each other drunkenly. Your two dwarven escorts tells them sternly to move along. The men, six of them, human, don't seem to move along though. Several of them mock the dwarves and make farting noises. One of the men tries to get his companions to go but in their drunken stupor they decide this is the right thing to do here and now. They jape and laugh as they stagger about, whispering to each other as they stare at Xanya and Quassine, the booze either making them forget what an illithid is or perhaps they have never heard of such a thing. They ogle Xanya in her skintight clothing and making wooping noises and other baudy remarks. Your mastery of the tongue hasn't learned much of the gutteral slang, and as drunk as they are its hard to make out what they are saying, but their gestures and actions are clear enough.
One of the dwarves, having had enough, raises a whistle to his mouth and blows on it. You aren't clear on who has authority where and when, but it doesn't seem likely that your escort from within the fort can arrest these guys, and they aren't going to bust heads in the street. It seems they are calling in the regular night watch.
Goliath looks to the dock marshal.
"Authority. We travel here with the Thane's royal guard. I'm sure you have at least heard of our return. We dispatched one scout group and will set out in the morning to take care of another on Head Marshal Hawks order. You paperwork is not a concern of mine when the giants move closer. Even now you delay in me getting proper rest. I will make sure Head Marshal knows the reason of our failure if we could not receive proper rest because of the bother of doing paper work. I'm sure he would understand."
Goliath stares on for a moment looking to the dwarf.
"So you will take us across now then?
Kiki kicks off her prank as the girls are laying on the floor discussing leaving. She makes the noise of the chitinous insect by scraping her own spidery legs against a crate and then throwing her voice.
- fail
- fail
The girls look at each other, seemingly trying to listen. "Did you hear that? I hear scratching and a voice? It was muttering jibberish then said free me." The other girl scrambles to her feet, wide eyed too. "Yes, I heard it too. I thought the sounds were nothing but the voice was creepy!"
They look about for a few seconds and calm down, but then have a puzzled look on their face. "Which crate did that come from?" asks the half elven girl.
The dwarf girl replies, "I don't know, but I think we should go. How can something in a crate not be dangerous? What if it tries to eat us?"
The other girl thinks for a moment, "Ok maybe you are right, but I sort of want to know what is going on here."
They stand there at an impasse, eyeing the crates but not daring to venture towards them.
The marshal at the dock looks a Goliath as he tries to get moved transported out of the lake. Nodding to the dwarven guards he says "Their presence is likely as an escort, the internal fort guards do not have the authority to demand your transport across the lake. If there were orders to allow you across the lake, they would already be in my hands." He seems uncomfortable, with Goliath's large size looming but he continues, "Your mission is of course important, but very few people come and go as they please, and you are not on that very short list. We must maintain security and knowledge of those who come nad go. Any entry or exit must be authorized."
A unit of guards that patrols the docks, sighted you coming in, hard to miss really, and the come over, hastening slightly as they hear the discussion unfold.
"Marshal, is there a problem here?"
The (human) marshal replies to the unit of dwarves, "No, there is no problem. There has just been a misunderstanding regarding our security rules by these, er, gentlemen here."
The dwarf unit leader states, as if somehow you didn't understand it when the marshal explained it the first time, "No one comes or goes at night without orders from the Head Marshal or upper command."
The marshal continues, "I'm sorry but I don't have any orders stating you are leaving this night. Perhaps you misunderstood something." he tries in a placating tone, talking slowly for benefit of your linguistic mastery, or lack thereof.
"A misunderstanding indeed. Rules are rules and will honor your rules while in your city." He looks to the guard escorts.
"Take us to our rooms then so we may get some sleep."
Goliath offers the dock marshal a nod as well to the others on patrol before heading off to get some rest.
After the discussion with the dock marshal, the group heads back to the fort, and the escort takes you to some quarters for the evening after talking to some of the staff. Eventually you get to bed after a long night.
Quassine looks at Xanya and speaks in New Common, "I think they like yous deer sister and want fight." He then talks to the Dwarf, "I'll help if fight breaks out and use no kill fists or crack skulls if yous prefer."
The dwarf replies, "There will be no fight. The watch will be here shortly and they know it. They will be on their way soon enough. There will be no bloodshed here."
Sure enough, in short fashion the night watch appears, a unit of four humans and a dwarf, and they surround the drunken fellows and wave you on your way so that you are not there causing any more issues. As you move on there is some discussion back and forth between the watch and the drunks but you get to the dock soon enough. When you arrive you go through much of the same issue that Goliath and Simon encountered. No permission to leave the town at night. Grumbling, tired and probably hungry you have no choice but to turn back and seek quarters in the fort again. You complain, but somehow it makes sense given the heightened security, and your special status. Will you ever fit in?
You make back through the elaborate defenses if the fort and after inquiries, the escort find the quarters where you have been housed for the night. Settling into bed probably just as the sun rises.
Kiki contimues with her ventriloquism "come a bit closer, I am sooo hungry"
@Kiki:
The half elf girl starts to creep closer to the crate. The other dwarf girl whispers "Are you crazy, this is not safe? You don't know what is in there!" She seems a bit frantic. Her friends calms her, "Ok, ok. You are right, I don't want to get eaten by a crate. It is pretty creepy. Maybe we should go now."
The two look over their shoulders and head for the door, listening at it, and then then peer into the hallway before slipping out and it sounds like they lock the door too.
Kiki spends a moment to grin and giggle. After she finishes the spiderling moves back into the air duct, trying to find a way to the room she slept in last she was here, thinking 'I can still do it:)'
Kiki wanders the ducts for a while, following her chalk trail back the way she came avoiding guards and sentries, making her way through a complicated route as many doors are locked and sealed. Despite the heavy security she is able to the area where your people are often housed. It takes a while to find what room your friends are in, but eventually you find it.
The group tries to get what little sleep they can. For some it is much less than the others, but it should not adversely affect the group.
The group rouses themselves early enough. Shortly after the wake, there is a soft knock on the door. "Hello, its me Jopple. I was told you need help in the markets."
The door opens and a pair of dwarven escorts leaves off a small halfling teen girl with you. She walks with a cane, but is proudly wearing parade armor. She seems to have a permanent leg injury. Her dark mop of hair is tousled and her dark eyes watch carefully. "I have helped your groups before. I was told you can speak our tongue somewhat. Can you understand me?"
Xanya summons Cryxial as first thing she does after waking up, she prefers having her companion there for everything, he is her spirit guide after all.
Xanya smiles when she sees Jopple. Finally someone else more like her size. She rubs her eyes sleepily. "Good morning Jopple. I'm Xanya, this is Kiki, Simon, Goliath, Quassine and Cryxial."
Once the guard leaves them alone Xanya walks over to the girl with a bigger smile and gives her a big hug. "It's nice to see someone helpful here, we've gotten some odd looks. Thank you so much. It would indeed be nice to have some help in the markets. We picked up quite a bit off stuff on our last mission that we can't use in a fight, and it would be nice to turn it into something that could increase our chances of survival on our next trip. I assume arms and armor will be easy to trade away, but gems might be tougher to get rid off. Is there anywhere in the city we can acquire exotic weaponry or perhaps even magical items?"
"Hi, its nice to meet you all." She smiles sleepily and yawns. "Sorry it was a late night for me. My studies keep me up into the wee hours." She returns the hug to Xanya and as Xanya noted is more her size. She is short and spindly for a halfling. "Gosh, you are so blue! I..Oh, I don't mean that its bad. I know lots of your other friends too, I am getting used to different peoples. I certainly wouldn't make fun of those who are different." She frowns a bit at her leg, and replies, "Yes I can help in the markets, I am quite familiar with the streets and the vendors have trusted me so far to take your people to some of the shops to acquire what is to be acquired. I must warn, that it is extremely hard to get many things. As the enemy approaches, weapons, armor and even the smiths' time is all being bought up. The Thain has his own forges and smiths, but the people of the town want to be safe too. This place is not that large, and sits on the edge of civilization. Before your arrival, few people came this way that were not involved in mining, logging or hunting. No one demands exotic weapons so its a waste of resources for the smiths to craft those things. Everyone needs horseshoes though!" She laughs at her own attempt at a joke.
"My mistress is able to craft and enchant some items given time, and occasionally I can help turn up other small enchanted items in town, but they are usually quite mundane. I hope you won't be disappointed if I cannot find everything you want."
She takes a deep breath. "Ok, give me a list and I can probably tell you right away what we are likely to get and what is not going to be found within a hundred miles. Oh, speaking of, it is possible to send off a request to other cities in the realm for items, but few merchants are coming any more. Special orders like that might take a while to arrive, but I have asked a few of the merchants how that might work out. There are a few that would be willing to seek out rare requests."
Xanya taps her chin in thought. "Hmm, let's see. At least one thing I hope it's a great chance we find. Amentum for our javelins, that'll make them useful at a much longer range. Kiki probably wants more swords like hers, but those are probably hard to get. Maybe we can commission them though? I could use some light material armor, mithral preferably, but that's probably impossible to get, but you know better than me. A bow for me might be possible, though I would want a really strong one, 7th rank at least. I've heard it's possible to make a bow that adapt to the strength of the wielder though, that would be even better. We don't know what sort of defenses the things we face will have. Some creatures are vulnerable to different weapons. A silver bludgeoning weapon, like an earthbreaker and a cold iron greatsword could help me with that. Goliath and Kiki might also want some weapons of different materials. Oh yeah I also need some ink and such for writing into my book, Quassine got a neat spell I would like to copy."
She pauses briefly and gets a hopeful look on her face. "I'm really hoping you have magical items, though I know the chance is slim. If you don't have it though, it would be really nice to get materials for crafting them. Could you help us with that? There is something called a Quick Runner's Shirt that let you move faster in times of need that could be very useful. Some cloaks to resist the magic of our enemies is always a useful thing. Goliath and Kiki, what do you think about Pearls of Power? Have you heard about those, they might allow you to expand your number of spells for a day. Eyes of the Eagle might make it easier for Kiki to spot traps or other hazard as she is scouting. You can never be too safe against such things. I know there are belts to make your stronger or faster and headbands to sharpen your wits and charm. Do you know of such things? There are rods to make spells last twice as long, that could let us keep up our defenses the whole day while travelling, instead of only half. I've also heard about amulets that would enchant Quassine's fists just as well as Cryxial's claws. Picking up such a thing would be nice."
Xanya wipes her brow, as if somehow a bit tired from reciting that huge list of things they probably weren't going to get much out of. "As I said earlier, we picked up quite a bit of valuables on our trip, so selling that and getting matieral to craft our own gear might be our best bet. At least that should be possible I hope?"
She looks over to her companions. "Anything else useful that I might have missed that you can think of?"
"I need nothing and we waste time still allowing the giants to move even closer to the city. Goodwin gave us the tools needed to overcome. Make the city safe first and they may be more free with goods and deals for our people little sister."
Goliath waits impatiently but waits.
Quassine bows to Jopple when Xanya introduces him to her.
Quassine nods as Xayna reads off the list and then replies after her statement, "I agree with Xanya's list or perhaps if there are books and crafting materials to make our own on the road and while we are here in garrison, that would be most helpful as well? That way, we do not tax your artisans. I would prefer to purchase these magical item creation books outright but copying pages will work too. In addition ...or ... provide us a list of what is truly available for us to purchase. We are kind of in a hurry to get back on the road and the more we are out there harassing the enemy, the less likely they will harass Cliffort which your citizens and The Thain seem not to understand or maybe I am misunderstanding you lot or do not have the full scale of the war?"
Quassine bows again.
Xanya nods towards Goliath solemnly. "While I'm as impatient as you to be off, sometimes one needs to learn to walk before one can run. We had a difficult time last trip. What if we instead of one giant we face several? Not everyone have your phenomenal abilty to parry every attack. We should increase our chance of survival if we can, succeding is much better than dying while trying. Though of course we should not dally more than necessary. Please let us do this first?"
"They have been clear on what they have. They have weapons and armor made for dwarves by dwarves. You are wee, Kiki is even more wee, I am large and Simon is a wyvern. Quassine has the only hope of finding stuff of appropriate size and he fights with no armor or weapons. Perhaps Jopple can scrounge up some halfling size things or things made for children. We have taxed these people a great deal with our request already and they have been as accommodating as possible. You search for needles in haystacks while the enemy approaches. You are a skilled warrior little sister. You strike the enemy with a ferociousness much larger than your size. It will not be trinkets that keep you safe these next few days but your ability to read a situation and rely on your brothers and sisters to do their part. If we face several giants then a direct assault would be foolish. I am a proud warrior and would face down all that oppose me in single combat, but even with my skill Goodwin taught me of humility. My pride will not overcome my training and the greatest weapons we have are our minds. With that being said do you have anything little sister has asked for Jopple?"
Quassine nods to acknowledge Goliath's statements in respect and then adds, "Also Jopple, it would be great if we could perhaps copy spells from a library spell book or if someone here sold scrolls to copy spells into our or my spell books or memorize them? Than you in advance"
Quassine bows
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"Ok, well then. Let me think. I don't know what an amentum is, but if if goes with javelins, then its probably easy to find." She looks at Kiki's small sword. "Wow that is quite fancy. Umm, you will need to have someone make something like that. We can ask around. I don't think it will be a problem, it will just take some time. So tiny!"
"Mithral, no way! No one gets that good stuff. Any time they find a vein of that, the Thain or even the king is all over that, like flies to poop. That stuff disappears into the vaults and only the top tier nobles and royalty get to wear armor made from that. Sorry Xanya."
"Now a bow should not be too hard. They make those around here in plenty, and even for strong people. I don't know how strong you are, but they can probably adjust it for you. I am not an archer, but I think they just use some different cams and adjust the pull or something it was explained to me once." She scrunches her face up as if trying to recall some information.
"We can check around for cold iron or silver stuff. Mind you, there isn't a huge demand for that for the common folk. The marshals sometimes will have things like that made probably for fighting special monsters, but no smith is going to make a fancy silver earthsmasher or whatever if its going to on his store shelf for a few years."
"Ink I can help with! Lots of that to be had, they make it from some creatures that live in the lake."
"Ok lets talk about magic stuff. There isn't a lot to be had around here, particularly the really expensive fancy stuff. But some of the merchants do have odds and ends sitting around. Normally the Thain or the marshals will buy up the best stuff, things that can be used in battle. Occasionally something gets overlooked. We need to ask around."
"My mistress also sometimes makes magical items, though you understand it is time consuming. Making them on your own, is, well a matter of the right resources and knowledge. I don't know of any primers you can buy that explain it outright, but there may be books on enchantment theory." She acts like she is trying to speak knowledgeably, probably repeating something she hear, playing up her status as a barely wizard's apprentice.
"Crafting resources should be available, but are getting scarce because not as much are coming in now, and all the mines and logging camps are on hold. Luckily we have reserves aplenty to last, but its getting used in the defense of the fort. Come, lets go."
Jopple leads you through town and you visit several weaponsmiths first. Their forges are smoking away and the clinking of hammer on steel is everywhere as the smiths, master and apprentice alike are working as fast as they can to churn out resources for the defense of the town. You are able to obtain amentums quite easily as they are basically leather straps. You put in an order for a strong bow, and while they don't have anything immediately available, the bowyers advises if you return in a few hours he will have a bow adjusted for you, and he marvels that someone so small has such great strength.
Visiting a second weaponsmith, you are able to convince him to attempt some more wakizashi swords for Kiki. He seems bit creeped out by the spiderling, but admires the tiny sword and its quality. He inspects it at length, taking measurements, and notes and making some sketches. He advises it may take some time, but that he will try to work on them soon. He also says he can work with alternate materials, but that also takes time and requires a custom order as well .
You break for lunch and essentially get carry out from a local pub and eat it under a tree while Jopple scribbles notes, barely touching her food. "Ok next we talk to some more merchants." She gets up and starts hobbling slowly down some streets. She bangs on a battered old door in an alley and an old man answers. He raises his brows at the sight of the group, but smiles warmly at Jopple. "What have ye got yourself into lass?"
"Helping the new people!" She says smiling. "They are fighting against the giants coming, and they need special things." She shows the man a list of stuff, and he runs his hand through his thinning hair. "Och, well you folk are needing a small miracle, or a much larger city. I can help with a few of these items though."
He returns with a small pouch. Inside is a pearl. Jopple nods and you exchange the gold
"Sorry I can't help you folk any more than that. I don't use the thing these days so if it helps the town I will sell it."
Jopple thanks the mysterious old man, and you continue further. You eventually reach the place of her studies, and meet the enchantress to whom she is apprenticed. You discuss at length the possibility of having some items enchanted. She is willing to do it for the normal prices. It of course takes time and nothing you order will be ready immediately.
Quassine and the enchantress talk for a bit as well regarding theory and application of magical item creation. She returns with a few magically made copies of some diagrams and notes that can help. She doesn't have any books for sale or is willing to part with any of her library. She is willing to discuss scrolls however.
"You are right that our greatest asset are our minds. And while charging in at once might not always be the best strategy, it can can sometimes also help great if done at the right moment, just like we did with the fight with the fire giant and the gnolls. I do think you underestimate the value of gear though. However you seem be fine with going along for now, so I guess I'll drop further argument, let's just get through this." Xanya walks over to Goliath and hugs him "We are in this together, let's take care of each other."