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Before they leave to get the strange clothes Jin looks pleadingly at Laenid, "We want to get through this as easily as possible and without a confrontation if at all possible. I understand how difficult this is for you, but I'm asking that you trust me. Please?" She says quietly, hoping that her 'silver tongue' can get them through this without anyone getting hurt.
As they walk through the Bazaar with Naadhira she puts an arm gently around Laenid, "It will be okay, I promise. If you don't want to talk about it right now it's okay, we can talk about it later if you want...but right now time is of the essence and we have to get this person out of here without raising suspicions." She gets quiet as Naadhira starts picking out the clothes.
She gets lost in her thoughts for a moment before looking up at Naadhira, "It's fine, you will be compensated for what you have spent on the clothes and things. I was just curious, what is your place here? Like, what do you do here? Do you just act as a guide for others, or is there something else that you do? Do you like it here? You seem to know an awful lot about this place." She comments as she puts on the outfit that Naadhira picks out for her. Her rather petite form is easy to hide behind the massive furniture, so she doesn't worry about anyone seeing her change.
Going to the center of the room after she's dressed she sighs, "It kind of reminds me of my mourning kimono. The layers are nice, they hide a lot of the scrawny. We can put our clothes and regular armor into my bag for safe keeping." She says as she folds up her clothes and puts them into the bag, "How much was everything by the way Naadhira? I was distracted and didn't notice how much you paid for them."
"I am a citizen of this city, but I prefer to do as I please. I journey through different planes to attain knowledge of many different sorts," Naadhira answers. "I have long been curious about the universe, though Michael has informed me that there may be more than one. From simple things such as cooking to complicated subjects such as architecture, I enjoy learning about things."
She glances over her bookshelf, a frail wooden structure struggling to contain all of the efreet's books. "I stay here because opportunities seem to present themselves more often and I do not face persecution as I would elsewhere. And it was ten gold for all of your garments."
Jin walks over and holds out a platinum piece to her, "Here you go, and thanks for the help. Our objective is to save our summoner, not get into an all out confrontation with the slavers. I'd like to avoid bloodshed at all costs. Especially since there's so many more of them and they're probably much more equipped for a battle of that magnitude than we are currently." She looks at all the books and smiles, "I like learning things too, I really wish I could cook. I'm happy if I don't burn the house down." She laughs a little, "What I lack in culinary skills, I make up in music."
Naadhira pulls a book off of her bookshelf and hands it to Jin. "I've read through this one about a hundred times. You can keep it. It covers many of the basics of cooking."
She takes a deep breath. "Let's go. The city becomes much different at night."
Naadhira leads the way back to the slave trader's platform that Toni pointed out. She sees a small iron gong and bangs on it with a tiny hammer attached to it. A slender yet muscular male efreet emerges from a purple tent behind the platform and approaches Naadhira. "Good day. Taking the slaves for a walk, I see."
"I am interested in acquiring another," Naadhira says. "One with talents with magic and summoning."
The male efreet smiles slyly. "Whatever for?"
"My business is my own," Naadhira snaps. She gestures to the other platforms, which are much busier than this. "Your questions don't seem to help your business, do they?"
The efreet feigns offense. "I do not handle common slaves, my lady. My collection is exquisite and unique, like yourself."
Naadhira snorts. "I will not pay extra for flattery. Show me what you have."
The slaver nods and brings out five slaves: a male half-orc whose body is covered arcane-looking tattoos, a male halfling who bears an orange sigil on his forehead, a female elf with a red sigil on her forehead, a female gnome with several tattoos along her arms and a male kenku bearing a green sigil on his forehead.
Standing next to Naadhira she takes on the posture of someone that knows their place and respects their Mistress, but also has a sense of importance. Looking at the slaves she gives a somewhat dismissive snort, "If it pleases you Mistress, I don't think there's anything special about any of them. They all seem quite ordinary to me if it pleases my Mistress to know my thoughts." She says, giving the efreet a polite nod of her head before bowing to her Mistress.
Jin looks over the ones with the sigils carefully, as she tries to determine which one it is. She had to remember which colors the rest of them were and which one was left. They couldn't afford to guess.
Jin realizes that the Summoner they are looking for is the halfling. Naadhira nods at the kitsune. "Speak."
She bows again respectfully, "Thank you my Mistress." Turning to the slaver she asks, "Why should we believe that your slaves are special? Are we just to take your word for it? Perhaps we would like a demonstration of some of their talents. My Mistress deserves only the very best and we won't be tricked into settling for anything less than the very best that you have to offer." She gives him a small polite smile.
Hitome watches quietly, studying the merchant.
"Sounds like a solid plan." Anyka says moving back. "Last thing we need is to rush in and end up surrounded."
"Okay, so how shall we lure them out a few at a time? Should we...stir up the nest so to speak?" She asks, curious as to what the others might come up with.
"Unfortunately, no," the slaver says. "Their powers are dampened for my safety and perhaps yours."
"That is disappointing," Naadhira says. "Perhaps we shall seek another slave elsewhere."
"Wait, most eminent one," the slaver says as Naadhira turns away. "Maybe we can work out some sort of arrangement?"
Before Naadhira can get more than a step away, Jin turns towards her while keeping her hands down in front of her. Looking at the ground she says, "Please wait Mistress, I apologize if I asked Honorable Sir for something he is unable to do. Maybe this trip doesn't have to be a complete waste of time? If it is slaves with summoning magic that you wish, then I suppose those three with the marks on their heads will suffice." She then bows her head and becomes silent as she waits for further orders from Naadhira, like any good servant would do as far as she could imagine. She hated that they couldn't save them all, but it would look suspicious and there was no way they could take out every evil thing here and free them all. As much as she hated giving money to someone that would just go out and enslave more people, she felt they had no other choice. Her teachers wisdom came to mind, 'Discretion is always the better part of valor Jin'.
The slaver takes the other two slaves back to the tent before returning. Naadhira taps her nose, as if in thought. "I think they all look scrawny, Jin. Which one do you think would fit in with the household? That is your concern, is it not? As my honored head slave, I leave the decision to you."
The slaver's eyes settle on Jin. "Which one shall it be?"
Looking up with respect at Naadhira she says, "You know that there is more to a person's worth, than what appears on the outside. Otherwise, you never would have taken me since I was pretty scrawny then as well." Looking over the three with a discerning eye, she finally settles her gaze on the Halfling, "We'll take that one there."
"How much for the halfling?" Naadhira demands.
"Five hundred gold," the slaver asks.
"Jin, pay the man," Naadhira says in a softer tone to the kitsune.
She nods silently and counts out fifty platinum before handing it to him with a respectful nod of her head.
The slaver unlocks the halfling's shackles and hands Naadhira papers of ownership. "A pleasure doing business with you."
Naadhira nods. "Let us go home."
She leads the way back to her house, one hand on the halfling's shoulder. He looks at the group fearfully, but says nothing.
Once they get back to Naadhira's and are safely behind closed doors she removes the hijab and lets out a long sigh of relief, "Whew...I almost messed up back there, thanks for saving my butt Naadhira."
"Thankfully, this should be your first and only trip here," Naadhira says with a sigh of relief.
She nods a little solemnly, "I hate that we had to leave the rest of them, but there was no way we could take on everyone here. It would have been suicide. Thank you for all your help, and the book. The city would seem kinda interesting from a merchants point of view, if it wasn't for all the corruption, greed, and general evilness of the place." She says with a sigh. Looking over at the Halfling she says, "Please don't be afraid, we're not here to hurt you, or own you." She says before stepping over to Naadhira, "Could I have the papers please?" She asks as the others start changing back into their regular clothes.
Naadhira hands the papers to Jin. "They're yours. You paid for them, after all."
Toni runs her fingers through her hair after getting changed back.
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The halfling looks up at Toni. "You...you're the Szef, aren't you?"
Toni nods. "That's me. We came to rescue you."
Taking the papers from her she says, "Really Naadhira, thank you. We couldn't have done this without you." Jin then gives him a smile as she tears up the papers into itty bitty pieces. She then excuses herself to get out of the rest of the outfit and to put her own clothes back on. Coming back out to the others she puts her disguise outfit in a pile with the others before going to Laenid and standing by her.
Hitome changes out of the burka and back into her regular clothing as well, joining the others.
Gyrthr gets back into his own armor. "I pray that I never have to wear that many sashes again."
She looks at him a bit apologetically, "I know it was uncomfortable for you, some of you maybe more than others...." She says as she looks at Laenid to try and see how she's doing, "I'm just really grateful that we were just able to get through this without anyone getting hurt....but I'm sorry if...I just...I'm sorry we had to deal with it like that." She says, feeling regret at being able to do so little for the other slaves, and not wanting them to think that she didn't care about how they felt or anything.
Laenid gives Jin a smile. "There was no bloodshed, so I can't say it turned out poorly."
"Thank you for your help, Naadhira," Toni says, pulling out a few scrolls. She hands one to Malyoxa and Konstantyná. "We should get going though and we can do introductions and the sort back in Valwick. Gyrthr, Svanna and Mr. Halfling, you're coming with me."
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"You can call me Auric, Szef," the halfling says.
Konstantyná hands the scroll back to Toni. "I don't cast arcane spells, Szef."
Jin nods and puts an arm around Laenid while leaning into her slightly before looking at Naadhira, "You could always come for a visit sometime if you ever feel so inclined. I like hearing things about other places too...but I wish you well in your travels." She says giving the efreet a bow before walking over to Hitome with Laenid. As she hears Toni and Konstantyna's exchange she raises her hand, "I can cast that if you need me to."
"Oh, sorry," Toni says. "To both of you. Please come with me, Auric."
"Well, I can take three others and we have Jin, Hitome, Laenid and Konstantyná left."
Realizing she was talking a bit softly she speaks up a little louder, "I can cast that." She offers as she walks over to Konstantyna with Laenid and Hitome.
"Oh," Toni says. "Sorry, I didn't think to ask you, Jin, since you pretty much ran this mission."
She hands the kitsune the scroll.
She blushes and takes the scroll while looking down at the floor, "I'm sorry if it seemed like I was taking over. I didn't mean to."
Naadhira nods. "I shall consider your offer."
"Hey, it's fine," Toni says. "We all have different skills. I'm sure we'll all have time to shine."
She nods, "Okay." She says to Toni before looking back up at the efreet she gives her a little smile, "Good, it's a nice place to relax. I guess we'll see you some other time then, take care Naadhira." Letting out a tired little sigh she asks, "So, we all ready to go?" After everyone has their stuff from her bag she asks Naadhira, "You can keep all those clothes here if you want, or if you don't want them cluttering up your place I can just toss them in the bag and take them back with us."
Hitome smiles as they prepare to leave.
"You can keep them as a souvenir," Naadhira says. "I really don't have a use for them."
"I can go with Malyoxa," Konstantyná says, walking over to the drow.
Nodding she picks up the outfits and after folding them, places them in her bag. Giving Naadhira a smile she says, "I know someone that might be able to use the material." Going back to Laenid and Hitome she gives Naadhira a final bow, "Until we meet again Naadhira." Jin then takes the scroll and reads the words on it. As she does so, a shimmering light seems to appear around them before they disappear.
A few seconds later, they are standing back beside the magic school from where they departed earlier that day.
Toni, Svanna, Gyrthr and Auric appear a moment later. She notes that the sun is gone. "Didn't feel like that long since we left."