Caldazar briefly closes his eyes in resignation. Oh well, we might've gotten out of that cleanly, but no matter - to grip the stem we must learn to withstand the thorns. Perhaps I need to show this man that we aren't to be trifled with. Before opening them to Sclivian's attempted recovery.
The rant continues, sheer dramatic rage powering through the spell.
Seeing that the man remains unbowed despite Sclivian's words and magic, Caldazar steps up to him and grabs his shirtfront with both hands. His voice has a menacing cold edge that none of you have heard yet "Stop your whining. Take another look at our clothes, note the blood. Unless you want yours to join it, I suggest you calm down."
Intimidate:
"...."
"Really?"
"...."
"Ok but this was your idea."
In a strong barker like voice.
Caladazar grabs the man and he stops short in his rant and seems genuinely scared of Caldazar's sudden turn of character. As Pollux raises his arms and bellows out his lungs people start to gather around the group some cheering on the tenor even as he is on the verge of bladder release. He shoots Pollux a murderous glare before turning to the crowd with a weak smile. Even as Caldazar is holding the man people are screaming out song requests from their favorite opera, or dirty sailors song.
So please, free and proud citizens of Westcrown let us, with our voices unite,d cheer the great, the enchanting, THE PEOPLES CHOICE,
Pollux will begin the clapping and then slip away back to headquarters before this becomes a riot.
Releasing Thesig, Caldazar adds "Best be off, your public's waiting" before following Pollux's example and making scarce.
Before Merax leaves with the rest of the group he leans over to Thesing...
"I take it that free admission is out of the question now. A pity, I would have liked to toss you a rose at the end of your performance. Stableboys have been the unsung heroes of many a Knight, do not be ashamed of the role. Farewell friend." Merax then follows Pollux's exit strategy.
Tok is completely confused by the proceedings. "I don't want to hear this fool perform," he says as Pollux is shouting.
Seeing the rest of the crew making their way out of the stables, he follows as quickly as he can.
You slip away as Thesing is forced to deal with his "fans". Leaving Tok and Sclivian standing in the middle of the crowd.
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Sclivian takes the opportunity to blend into the crowd as best he can, while providing cover as Tok can head out. He is just perhaps a bit too curious to see how Thesing and the crowd manage to deal with each other.
Also, just as important, to make sure that Gorvio's family isn't caught up in any further berating.
"Friends, I suggest returning to Janiven's safehouse. We seem to have made enough enemies for one day. I need to clean this blood-spattered armor anyway."
As Scivian and Tok watch the crowd gather's around the tenor.
To your surprise he puts on a dashing smile and deals with the crowd admirably even singing a full song from the opera. Soon even some dottari start to show up to watch making you feel a touch nervous given your recent activity.
Caldazar is silent during the return journey to Janiven and Arael. He does not speak, but you get a sense that there are unanswered questions floating through his mind.
Each of you returns to the hideout to a small celebration. Everyone seems glad of Arael's return. You each get pats on the backs and congratulations all around for the success. Eventually things die down enouhg that the oddly subdued half elf approaches you.
"Janiven's been telling me about the past couple of days. I'm glad we've recruited such fine gentleman to our cause." Arael smiles through a good set of teeth that stands in stark contrast to the black bruises covering his face. "I think it's best if we lie low for a while. That goes for everyone!" Arael calls to the celebrating group of young people. He gives you a a thankful smile. "We'll talk more later. I think for now it'd be best if we all returned to our so called normal lives for a few days."
Unless someone stops him he will retire upstairs and I'll move into downtime bits.
Biting his tongue knowing that he'll be able to ask questions of Arael later, Caldazar keeps mostly to himself - tending his arms and armor.
Merax gets cleaned up and begins to clean his weapon and armor.
Tok stows his gear and looks uncertainly towards Ruttle. "I am still in your employ - though, apparently, the nature of what that looks like has shifted. Do you still desire my assistance in your future ventures?"
" I think for now it'd be best if we all returned to our so called normal lives for a few days."[/b]
Pollux and Castor appear confused by this turn of events. "Tell me leader of spirits, What is a normal life?" "A wife and children, a small apartment over a puppet theater. Working in the garment district selling cotton to the dyers guild every day for twenty years until the dyers finds a cheaper supplier. Unemployment. Taking to drink and expensive women. The slide into poverty and petty crime. The arguments in the home, the violence, all building to a sensational triple murder-suicide? That normal life?"
So downtime.
A week passes before you are contacted by the children of westcrown again.
So you can return to your normal lives, work, research or interact with eachother or the various npc's.
If you have housing arrangements for yourself go ahead and describe how it works in as much detail as you like (i.e. your house, or apartment or whatever). If you need housing arragements made go ahead and discuss how the children of westcrown give you a hand in this regard (living at the temple is sadly not an option).
Still have a long post to make regardingevents in thatweek but my fiance has ensured i dont havethat time right now.
In the meantime if you wish to interact with the npc's/eachothre feel free to do so.
I'll have a post about pollux and theepic hunt for a day job up later.
Recently returned to the city, Caldazar secures a small apartment in a reasonable part of the city and offers anyone without a home to share it. Most of his days are spent walking the streets and markets, listening to the city - or with the Children in the hidden temple.
Caldazar is strident in his views, but does not seek to press them upon others unless initiated by them.
I'll have a post about pollux and theepic hunt for a day job up later.
During the week Meraxilar resumes the search for any traces of his sister, Frixia.
Diplomacy (Gather Information)
Also, he will keep an ear out for Hellknights possibly closing in on the group due to the Arael rescue shenanigans.
Diplomacy
Keeping an Ear to the ground:
Diplomacy Gather Infomation anyone can make this if just wanting to know rumors about town.
~The new nightshade theatre being built promises to be the premiere theatre in the city...made with tax payer gold.
~The bastards of erebus killed another two people on the night you were trekking through the sewers a weaponsmith adn his wife...
~Calseinica Nymmis is a rising star in the opera! It's unfortunate that Visba ronetess Delour Aulama injured her leg on the night that Calseinica got her big chance.
~The Order of the Rack were hunting down rebels that night! They say several groups of them went into the sewers to find them and never returned...
~The Order of The Rack is giving pretty bad beatings to those who talk about it but they say that some brigands attacked one of their prisoner escorts and made off with the prisoner after brutally murdering some of the guards and their leader. The news is both exciting and worrisome and some worry that it marks the begginning of the end of Westcrowns relative peace and prosperity even in the face of the House of Thrune.
~Thesing, the opera singer, had a slight off note in one of his improptu performances the other night. Critics note that it may have somehtign to do with the spontaneous performance he put forth, in front of all places, a humble stable. One of the horses kicked an actor as well.
~Rumor has it that the nightshade theatre will open to a very special play that has nt been run uncut for many years. The mayor is palying it close to the chest however so no one knows the name of it only that several major actors and a famous director have been fingered to ahve some role in it.
Pollux's day job
Janiven tells Arael of your situation shortly after your very joker-like dissertation on the implications of normal life. They both agree you need somethign to keep your hands and mind busy and hopefully away from your troubles.
They arrange for you to take a job helping build the nightshade theatre. Arael feels like it's a horrible decadence but if you benefit from it then perhaps it's worth it. The arrangement allows you to stay with Vitti who lives alone outside the city.. You find privacy easily as workers don't interact with you unless necesasry and Vitti spends much of his time carving, selling his carvings, or searching for discarded wood fallen off trees to make carvings from.. His home is simple with numerous animals also sharing his abode. After castor asserts his dominance ver the resident rats you find far fewer rat droppins in your bed at night. You spend much of your time mixing buckets of paint to pas out to the painters who use them on the already completed portions of the theatre. You provide a bargain to the builders as many of your materaisl are scavenged from the back alley's by the efforts of you and castor. It amuses you to think that the perfect off white that will brighten up the diva's dressing room will be made from the stinkiest nastiest garbage from the lower ends of westcrown.
Fitful Dreams
You have a strange dream one night after mixing a particularly noxious batch of asmodean red. You find yourself chased around a ridiculously sized house by a ridiculously large cat with the face of Meraxilar. As you flee for your life from claws that are like axe blades you look up to see a 50ft tall Sclivian dressed like an old maid cowering high above you on a table screaming at meraxicat to kill the Pollrat!
You take refuge in a hole and back quickly from it as Meraxicats scything blades come through the whole and swing woldly for your throat. As you catch your breath a squeaky voice interrupts your recover.
"Shut the door ya git your letting the meraxicat in! Weather's bad enough without a rain of blood and gore!" Behind you you see four figures playing a card game. Castor, the origin of the voice chews his cigar as he glares at you. One of vitti's wooden carvins sits there tapping its claws impatiently waiting on its turn. Next to hims is Sclivians viper who eyes you hungrily as you step closer. There is a spot open at the table for you.
"What's the game?" You ask.
The rat shrugs. "The game is souls and fate! Bet everything, lose everything, likely gain nothing win or lose! Care to join?"
Despite the suspicious nature of the offer you find yourself compelled to the table and take your seat. As your hand is dealt you see faces on your cards. One is undoubtedly the mayor, another the face of a tiefling with gold skin and another the face of Aroden crying tears of flame. The other two faces are Janiven wearing a stunning night gown and Vitti dressed in a robe of leaves cut and bloodied as if mauled by a tiger. The snake giggles a hissing laugh.
"I bet...the fate of the city!"
The woden carving shakes its head and throws down its cards in disgust obviously the bet too rich for its wooden heart.
The rat considers for a moment and nods. "I call your bet....and raise the heart of an empire!"
The serpent stops its hissing and seems genuinely concerned as both parties look to you to make your bet. You consider for a long time. It was a high stakes hand but you consider your options carefully. As you open your motuh and speak your response(which you cannot hear) the trio look shocked. That's when the table bursts into flames and you awaken.
Sleeping in a room where your god would not be inclined to fill you with destructive nightmares you dream a pleassant dream of the city burning all around you. Walking among the streets seeing towering monuments of decadence and infernal tyranny burn all around you your heart and soul exult in the soothin walk. Then you come to a square in the city to a bizzare sight.
In the middle of the square is a combination rack and wheel of pain. Upon it is Aroden crying tears of flame, the origin of the fire, There are four figures around the rack. The first is Tok, operating the wheel, each turn being accompanied by Aroden's agonized screams and tormented cries. Next to him is Sclivian, he reads from a long list of legal gibberish he appaears to be going down a long list of crimes. As he gets to the end of each paragraph he nods his head towards Tok who gives another turn of the wheel.
In front of the rack are two other figures. The first is Caldazar who holds his mornignstar out to you imploringly as you look at the morning star and up to him he whispers to your pleadiningly. "Destroy the rack. Save us."
The other figure is a Gug, a servant of your god, he holds out a wicked looking axe dripping with the gore of fresh victims. It chuckles an inhuman and alien laugh as it holds it out to you and croaks. "Kill the god. Serve your lord."
You smile and make your choice but as you reach your hand out your vision is blurred by a wall of flame. You wake up sweating.
You walk through an abandoned westcrown in flames. All around your monuments of decadence and tyranny burn alongside orphanagaes and homes of the innocent. You run through the smoking city crying out for help, for others, for anyone. You find yourself standing in a square.
In the middle of the square is a combination rack and wheel of pain. Upon it is Aroden crying tears of flame and the origin of the fire, There are four figures around the rack. The first is Tok, operating the wheel, each turn being accompanied by Aroden's agonized screams and tormented cries. Next to him is Sclivian, he reads from a long list of legal gibberish he appaears to be going down a long list of crimes. As he gets to the end of each paragraph he nods his head towards Tok who gives another turn of the wheel.
The other two figures stand in front of the rack adn stare at you as you approach. The first is Meraxilar smiling with his axe in hand as you approach he chuckles wickedly and holds the axe out to you as he speaks. "Grant him release from his pain." He grins wickedly as a pair fo demonic wings unfurl from his back and his eyes glw with malevolent flame.
The other figure is Janiven who appears to have been crying for some time. She holds your mornignstar out to you in shaking hands and she whispers imploringly. "Free us from his pain." As she says this a pair of colorful butterfly wings emerge from her back and fill the world around you with the scent of fresh flowers.
As you make your choice Meraxilar laughs and Janiven weeps. But with determination you lift your chosen weapon and strike. You wake up sweating.
The mst bizzare however happens ina fiery court rom. You are defending the god Aroden in an infernal court. The plaintiff is Asmodeus himself arguing a claim for Aroden's soul. It is being judged by Abadar who sits majestically. The battle is long and hard as your inhuman opponent has done this many times before. It is not a court case, it is a chess match, and you're losing.
Every argument you make backfires, every piece of paper you pull out is countered with cunningly worded argument. You are less than a student to this master of infernal politics. Not even half way through the trial and you feel that your fate is sealed.
The trial ends badly and as you sink to your knees in exhaustion Asmodeus laughs as he drags a screaming Aroden off in chains. Abadar pats you on the shoulder as your face sinks into your palms. "Don't worry." He says in an almost father like way. "You were a failure from the start why should you start winning now? What kind of lawyer doesn't keep a second copy f his most important records anyway?"
He walks away with a small chuckle as your vision spirals out of control and you awaken with a frightful cry.
Tok is the only oen who gets away with a good nights rest.
Your long search yields little. There are lots of gutter rats who claim to be from some fallen house in Westcrown, it's practically as common as rain here. Those in favor go to Egorian, those doomed to die are banished to westcrown to fight like animals over the few scraps of glory they can attain. It's almost poetic.
The order of the rack has put in petitions to retrieve Arael and eliminate the "clear and imminent threat" to the city. They're angry cries are falling on deaf ears however. They were already not liked and there handling of Arael's case was far from popular with the higher up's of the city. For now as long as the group keeps its head low the order will likely move on to more pressing issues than a "training incident"
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"I most certainly continue to require your assistance, Mr. Goldfist," Mr. Ruttle replies. "My adjudications will be required in areas that will be more dangerous, and your steady hand and cool head will serve us well in both protecting ourselves, and identifying cracks in our clients' defenses."
From the run-down back room that Sclivian found--a disused servant's quarters from a former client who had to vacate recently--Sclivian adds, "I wonder if it's calm enough now to go back to the old office and see what remains. I am still looking for a clue as to why my records were so specifically purged... which client had the claim that required destruction."
He leaves the question in the air a second before adding, "And I should see what Tarvi has been able to procure."
Sclivian turns back to the ledger he managed to retain all this time. "A second copy, indeed..."
Diplomacy:
@Caldazar: You will when the sevend ays have ended. For now you basically have seven days to kill however you like up to and including bugging the other NPC's like Arael if you wish.
If possible he would escalate that up to Arael for general inquiry regarding the Children's goals and aspirations and double checking that Arael's views are consistent with those of the Everbloom.
I can RP it out if you like, though it might hold up the rest so I'm comfortable advancing to the point where we are all back together in the temple
We can go ahead and RP it out. Shouldn't take long in any case and I'm still waiting on responses to above in some form or another.
As the week passes, Merax seems to have become more distant. It's plain that something weighs heavily on his mind. Aside from small talk here and there, mostly with Pollux and Caldazar, he says very little.
Seeking out Janiven after two days have passed without word, Caldazar finds her in Vizio's tavern . Waiting until most have left the common room and he can get to he alone, Caldazar approaches "Hail and well met Janiven. How fares Arael? - shall he recover from his ordeal?"
Seeking out Janiven after two days have passed without word, Caldazar finds her in Vizio's tavern . Waiting until most have left the common room and he can get to he alone, Caldazar approaches "Hail and well met Janiven. How fares Arael? - shall he recover from his ordeal?"
You head to the temple where you catch Janiven just leaving. with sack over her shoulder. She smiles and nods. "Yeah, he spent a day resting and Iomedae blessed him with some curative magic. He's still a bit tired from his ordeal. I'd stay and chat but I have to take care of some business on the other side of town. He's just inside tending to the shrine. Sclavo and Fiosa are helping him out."
With that Janiven continues on down the street leaving you in front of the temple.
[ooc]You know looking at the big post above I really need to start treating my posts like my other work and put it through a spellchecker. I type way too fast not to make mistakes with my giantic plate sized hands.
@Sclivian: Tarvi managed to gather everything you asked for but only three days later as she claims she had to work to embarass another frumpy overdressed peacock of a noble suitor her parents tried to set her up with. As you look on with mild shock she rolls her eyes and explains that she's sure the man will be able to sit down without aid of a specially made pillow after a week or two. With some hours work she manages to get her first couple of cantrips going, with quite a bit of excitement from her. She's learning remarkably quickly. You get the impression she had been reading and studying for quite some time but needed the right push. As before you get the impression she's not really good for something along your specialty. Perhaps something less "alive" like abjuration? Possibly transmutation?
"Thankyou milady" Caldazar tips his non-existant hat to Janiven and enters the temple, seeking to observe Arael and the two children tending the shrine for a moment before approaching Arael at an appropriate time.
"Arael, if you have time and an ear to lend I would bend it awhile."
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Sclivian shows Tarvi his personal method for recording his spells in his ledger, and then helps her to scribe her list through his. It is his hope that he can essentially duplicate his spellbook in Tarvi's, just so we both have a backup in the other's.
Since Tarvi wishes to keep certain suitors away, Abjuration sounds like an excellent school for her. Instead of attaching her to Banishment (his particular specialty) he starts showing her the basics of Abjuration and how to weave protective magics for herself.
Once her cantrips are done, her first first level spell will be Protection from Evil.
Sclivian would also like to take the time to pen some scrolls, but he is sorely lacking in funds, and will serve to help adjudicate local problems at levels lower than the nobility.
Sclivian also asks Tarvi--who was the suitor? Perhaps he knows him?
Knowledge(Nobility):
@Caldazar:
Arael is overseeing the polishing of a large golden idol made of brass when you talk. He smiles briefly as you approach.
"Ah, Caldazar, how can a servant of the Inheritor aid the Everbloom this day?"
@Sclivian: You know of the family, they're minor nobility who were enver either popular or infamous. Their biggest claim to fame is the ownership of a large gold mine in the Mwangi Expanse.
Chuckling with a wry smile on his face "As always with a strong arm in support of our cause, and a blind eye to when we must muddy the path to achieve our goals. Are you well recovered from your ordeal?" He waves a greeting to Sclavo and Fiosa.
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Sclivian spends the rest of the week tutoring Tarvi, helping her with a spellbook using the ones he has to start. He will also assist Tok in finding work--perhaps he'd be interested in a level of Profession(Bodyguard)?
Sclivian will try to earn a living wage for the week, but is fully aware that it might not be possible, with the tutoring and assistance.
Tok, following Ruttle's lead, spends much of the week with Mathalen, teaching her some basic unarmed fighting techniques. When he's not with Mathalen, he looks for work with Ruttle's assistance. He realizes that he has to be careful not to raise too much attention to his skills or techniques, as there are few Dwarven monks roaming the streets of Westcrown. This reality does hamper his job search quite a bit.
When not with Ruttle or Mathalen, he returns to a small commune of clerics and priests of various faiths in a very poor section of Westcrown. He stays in a shared room with several others, but mostly keeps to himself, meditating and training.
@Caldazar: "As recovered as one can be in the care of the Dottari. I don't relish the idea of returning to their hospitality any time soon."
@Sclivian: It's possible to tutor and work at the same time. However her progress will be slightly limited because of it. You can roll for each day you decide to work.
@Tok: Finding work is difficult. More than simply racial prejudices your work with him and the Children of Westcrown make a full time bodyguard job difficult. Yakupulio, the nasty little gnome in the children, owns a tavern however and is in need of a bouncer after he, as she claims, placed his personals in the merchandise on her time.
Pollux's day job
They arrange for you to take a job helping build the nightshade theatre. Arael feels like it's a horrible decadence but if you benefit from it then perhaps it's worth it. The arrangement allows you to stay with Vitti who lives alone outside the city.. You find privacy easily as workers don't interact with you unless necessary and Vitti spends much of his time carving, selling his carvings, or searching for discarded wood fallen off trees to make carvings from.. His home is simple with numerous animals also sharing his abode. After castor asserts his dominance over the resident rats you find far fewer rat droppings in your bed at night. You spend much of your time mixing buckets of paint to pas out to the painters who use them on the already completed portions of the theatre. You provide a bargain to the builders as many of your materials are scavenged from the back alley's by the efforts of you and castor. It amuses you to think that the perfect off white that will brighten up the diva's dressing room will be made from the stinkiest nastiest garbage from the lower ends of westcrown.
This life seems to grow on Pollux. For a time at least he tends more to method than to madness. He acquires a long yellow gabardine coat from somewhere and wearing this garment is easily able to move through most of the city.
Pollux and castor take their scavenging seriously. Ferreting out not only good sources for waste chemicals to go into paint but also finding broken furniture and disused clothing. A bit of the mending cantrip and Vitti's home is looking better. Decidedly odd as Pollux has rather unique ideas in decor but better.
"Nor I Arael, however I have felt restless these past two days. I would know if you have any forward plan for what we hope to achieve?"
"I feel more comfortable walking a path than being blown upon the wind."