Zelvin instinctively tries to hold back his enthusiasm in the Torch manner of not gaming a sale, but even he can't hide his pleasure at the terms Sanvil is offering. "That's a mighty fine arrangement, mister, and one I don't reckon you'll find many folks reluctant to sign on. The town owes us our bounty for bringin' back Mister Khonnir, so I can promise you our credit is good. But we've also got a mess of objects we pulled with us from under the hill. Would you estimate we've got enough in trade right now to take that serum back to our patient?" He shows Sanvil the various technological devices they have found during their adventures.
Sanvil grins and eagerly shakes Xaerai's hand. "Not to worry, my friend, I know you're good for it. You can have the serum now on faith, and just come back when the town gets around to paying what you're owed. Glad I could help."
Zelvin beams. "That's mighty good of you, mister. Let's get that serum back and make sure Mister Khonnir recovers, and then you can share in the celebration with us."
Serum in hand, you return triumphantly to the Baine residence, where Master Kyte and Val are waiting for you, visibly anxious.
"I think he's getting worse," Val says, wringing her hands.
Master Kyte nods with a grim expression. "I hope this does the trick."
Khonnir looks up as you enter his room, giving a weak wave and a smile. "My boys," he says, eyes shining. "Joram has been telling me all about your escapades while I've been gone. I'm sorry you and your friends have had to go through so much trouble for an old fool."
Zelvin brushes off his adopted father's concerns. "Don't worry yourself, Mister Khonnir! This serum Sanvil sold us ought to bring you back to normal. It sounds like those machines pumped you full of nanites that were wrong for your physiology, but Sanvil assures us this mixture contains the proper kind of nanites for you!"
Now that Khonnir Baine is awake, Zelvin introduces the newcomers. "This is Xaerai Stormforge, and that's Shesik, and over there is Tyn Foil. All three have saved me and Hekau more times than I can count." He smiles. "When you're feeling better, we would love to hear everything you remember about your own adventures."
Xaerai posts herself by the door, respectfully silent of the Baine's moment--one that could be turn to grief or celebration, depending on the efficacy of this strange, ancient tube of alien machines.
"All three have saved me and Hekau more times than I can count."
The dwarf ponders this statement, then frowns in concern at the half-elf.
Seeing Xaerai's frown, Zelvin briefly elaborates. "During our adventure beneath the hill, Xaerai and Shesik often charged ahead to draw our opponents away from Hekau and me, and Tyn's specialized alchemical knowledge has been invaluable against the undead creatures and constructs we faced."
Allowing those with a more relative relationship to get their pleasantries in first, Tyn remains quiet-until acknowledged by Zelvin. Cuffing his left hand over his right, Tyn gives a bowing nod,
"Tis an honor to have been involved in your rescue, Baine! My alchemical knowledge is ever at the service of your younguns and the crew we we have. At least that part of my ability has been more reliable than my aim this far. Still shaking of the rust from being relegated to the minors for too many years..."
Hekau considers Zelvin's words. He believes he understands exactly what Zelvin means and so helpfully explains:
"The uncertainty in calculating the precise number of times that Xaerai, Shesik, and Tyn have saved our lives is that we do not have a known counterfactual of what would have happened in the absence of their aid. It is possible, though unlikely, that we would have survived the various dangers.
Without knowing the details of how various foes would have acted in the absence of our allies, I estimate that, in total, there were 7.2 hostile encounters that would have resulted in fatal injury to myself or Zelvin had it not been for the assistance of our new companions."
"Khonnir Baine, while you may be past the average midpoint of a human lifespan, and therefore 'old' by some definitions, I do not believe you to be foolish. I have learned much from your teaching.
As Zelvin states, Sanvil Trett sold a technological remedy that may be able to cure your condition. It is called 'vitality serum', and includes an injector."
Xaerai watches with fascination as the serum is administered, wishing she better understood the processes behind nano-fluid, and concerned about what effects it might have on her new companions' father-figure.
After several tense seconds she clears her throat. "Well, Master Baine...how do you feel?"
Khonnir's smile brightens significantly as each of you is introduced, and even more when Hekau overexplains.
Khonnir winces slightly as the needle pierces his skin, and a soft glow spreads out from the injection site before fading. As Kyte applies a bandage to Khonnir's neck, you all wait for some other sign of it working. Some time after it becomes awkward, Khonnir coughs.
"I can't say I feel any different at just this moment, but I don't feel any worse, either. That's a bigger relief than you might think."
"I suppose we'll see how things are in the morning. In the meantime, he needs more rest," Kyte says, rising to his feet and ushering you back out of the room. "And you all have a meeting with Dolga, don't you?"
Indeed, you find Councillor Freddert waiting for you in Torch's town hall, in the same room where you first met with her less than a week prior. She stands in front of her desk, smiling, and pats a decently sized coffer resting atop it.
"Outstanding work, my young friends. As promised, your payment for returning Khonnir alive. Inside you'll find five thousand gold, the town's scroll of resurrection, and an additional gift from the temple of Brigh: a bag of crushed diamonds." She shrugs. "I'm no jeweler, but Master Kyte says it's useful in some magic spells and is worth about ten platinum.
"One last thing: Emelia Otterbie, Gerrol's fiancée, came around looking for you while you were in the caves. The girl's heartbroken, of course, but the families are grateful that you returned his body, and so she's asked her father to provide you with new weapons as thanks. Stop by his smithy when you get a chance."
"Your generosity is appreciated, Councillor. I hope we're not putting your town in a difficult spot, without the resurrection scroll," Xaerai responds, accepting the payment.
As they leave the Councillor's offices, the group divides up the payout, and Xaerai pays a call to the Otterbie family, offering her condolences regarding Gerrol's death and tactfully inquiring about the smith's potential creations.
Hekau searches his memory banks for information on crushed diamonds in spells.
"This diamond dust may be useful for Restoration if physical or spiritual functioning is impaired. It may also be useful for Stoneskin to prevent injury. It more frequently used in more powerful spells."
"I will visit the smithy to pay my respects."
He looks to Zelvin. "Zelvin, what do you recommend we do next? We have recovered Khonnir Baine and found a cure for his condition.
We know that someone has entered the ancient vessel and begun activating systems or tampering with systems. Should we acquire suitable gear and then continue our explorations?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"The town can afford it," Dolga says, waving off Xaerai's concern. "As long as you lot can also figure out what the hell happened to the flame on Black Hill."
"Well, now that it looks like Mister Khonnir is on the mend, I think we should pay Mister Trent what we owe him. I suppose we might as well mosey over to the Silverdisk Gambling Hall once we're done shopping-- I'd rather not have a bunch of coins rattling around in my pouch when we make an appearance there, but I reckon it can't be helped."
After providing the details of her request for a suit of breastplate armor, Xaerai also manages to wrangle a space for herself to work on her own pistol, carefully stripping it down and replacing damaged components to improve its function. She hums while she works (slightly off-key) and ponders the capabilities of Numeria's skymetals and the purple flames of the Torch's titular forge.
Once that's completed, she nods along in agreement with Zelvin's suggestions. "S'good to pay back your debts quickly and in full, aye. I don't know what this Garmen Ulreth fellow wants with us, but best to have it all out in the open. Then, the rest of the ruins--Torch's future may well depend on it."
Tyn's tail perks up and starts thrumming against the wall at the mention of the Silverdisk Gambling Hall. Realizing his overexcitement may be giving away his poker tell, he snatches it deftly. Coughing abruptly, then clearing his throat,
"Yes...ahem...it would feel awfully rude not to show up at the ole Silverdisk with an open invitation on hand. A solid game of chance is one of the pinnacle behaviors that seperate us civilized folk from those abhorrent alien mechanations! Epecially when given a line of credit..."
A hard faced man waits outside the Silverdisk, but his demeanor changes considerably once you present your invitation cards (and the associated line of credit).
"Oi!" he calls out to another rough looking fellow sitting just inside the doors. "Boss's guests are here," The other gentleman sets down his book with a sigh before getting up and, presumably going to notify Ulreth while you exchange your invitations for gambling tokens.
You don't have to wait long, at least, as a man with an immaculate goatee, a braided ponytail, and glittering eyes heads straight for you.
"Welcome, welcome!" he exclaims, shaking each of your hands in turn. He raises an eyebrow when he gets to Shesik, and adds in a low voice, "Particularly to you, madame."
"Thank you all for coming. We're all busy people, so I won't take any more of your time, but I wanted to express my gratitude for what you've done for Torch. You're clearly some up and coming folks, and some entertainment is the least I can do for you. Please, let me know if there's anything I can do for you. In the meantime, enjoy yourselves!" With that, he departs as quickly as he came, leaving you to your own devices.
Hekau will gratefully accept a Masterwork Dagger from Master Otterbie, preferably one matching Zelvin's.
He examines the games carefully. This Bounder game seems appealing. He approaches the table hesitantly and places down 50 gp.
Hekau will gratefully accept a Masterwork Dagger from Master Otterbie, preferably one matching Zelvin's.
A bored looking croupier at an otherwise empty table perks up significantly when Hekau approaches, and actually smiles when the android sets down his bet. After pausing a moment to see if anyone else intends to play, he hands Hekau a set of dice and then rolls one of his own, one with an unusually high number of faces.
He scoops the die back up, then waits for Hekau to roll his own set.
As Ulreth walks away Xaerai snorts. "So. Are we just here to gin up business? The dangerous and exciting adventurers gamble here, so should you! Somehow I doubt it." Shrugging at the others, Xaerai wanders warily over to the Lightning Run track, at first worried the lizards were fighting each other. When she realizes its a race the dwarf relaxes, intently scrutinizing each lizard before picking one with grey-white paint named "Erasmus".
Hekau rolls the dice.
He calculates the probabilities, then decides to double his bet.
"I've got twenty crowns on Erasmus! Twenty crowns--or whatever you call the gold ones!" Xaerai hollers at the bookie, waving her credit chit from Ulreth at him.
The croupier collects the remainder of Hekau's bet, throws his die, and looks genuinely surprised when he rolls the same number.
"I'm sorry, sir," he says, clearing the table for another game. "Rotten luck."
The shocker lizards seem quite happy, oddly enough, lazing around on hot rocks between races. Still, when a nearby bell rings, each of them leaps into action, rushing for a quintet of tiny stalls that lead to the race track. Two try to get into the same one, snap at each other, and the smaller one backs off to find a different stall. A board behind the bookie lists the names of each lizard: Erasmus, Faster than Light, Gaits of Hell, Miss Fortune, and Moose.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The bookie snatches the bet from Xaerai, throwing it up on the board with the others, and without any further preamble, he pulls a switch and unleashes the lizards.
Stage One
Erasmus and Miss Fortune sprint out well ahead, followed by Moose, while Faster than Light and Gaits of Hell immediately collide and begin fighting with one another, eliciting groans from other bettors.
Stage Two
Miss Fortune suddenly veers into Erasmus's track, falling behind as the he scrambles over her, slowing him just enough for Moose to catch up as they close in on the finish line. Gaits of Hell and Faster than Light untangle themselves.
Stage Three
Faster than Light clambers over a confused Miss Fortune, leaving Gaits of Hell behind, while Erasmus squeezes out a win by a fraction of a second. As the bookie hands out prizes to the winners, including 40 GP to Xaerai, the shocker lizards claim their own prizes: bite sized chunks of red meat left out on their heat rocks.
"Attaboy, Erasmus!" Xaerai whoops before collecting her earnings. "I know a winner when I see one." Whistling merrily and off-tune, she wanders about a bit before finding herself at the Bounder table.
"Here, Hekau, have some of mine," she says, passing him 50gp worth of gambling credit. "So how does this one work?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"It is a game of probabilities, Xaerai, but one must keep in mind that probabilities are not guarantees. I see many in this hall who seem to believe that the dice are intelligent and malevolent, and are intentionally causing them to lose money. Observe how that one is yelling at his dice. As best as I can determine, the dice are not in fact intelligent.
In any event, the rules of this game are simple. The croupier will roll that icosahedron die. You will then roll three standard cubical dice, at which point you will have the opportunity to double your bet. The croupier will then roll the icosahedron again, and if your roll is between the croupier's two rolls, you win.
I was unsuccessful in my initial attempt. I will watch your attempt and 'cheer' for you."
If Xaerai wishes to try, Hekau will smile as she rolls the dice. "I hope you are successful!" he says with imitated enthusiasm.
The croupier waits patiently while Hekau does his job for him, collects Xaerai's 25gp bet, and then rolls his special die.
"Your turn, madame," he says, handing the dwarf her own set of dice. "As your friend says, you may choose to double your bet after rolling."
"Hmm...I'll double it!" The dwarf announces after mulling it over for a moment.
The croupier nods, collects the additional bet, and rolls again.
"Congratulations!" he exclaims, handing over Xaerai's winnings of 100 GP. "Care to play again?"
Zelvin enjoys watching his friends play the games of chance, hesitant to play himself. He seems content to let the others gamble with his share. He does shake his head ruefully at Xaerai's comment about Ulreth. "I don't know much about Ulreth," he says in a low voice. "I always suspected he has something to do with the local criminals, but if he is of a mind to be generous with us, I'm not going to argue."
Tyn watches with a bit of wishful-thought confidence as Hekau rolls a 10 to the house's 2,
"One big roll, c'mon!
...his jaw proceeding to drop when the house rolls another 2. If he had the ablility to rewind time and rewatch the events that unfolded, he would have made it a point to visually police the outcome of that second roll in his disbelief.
His thought process is then interrupted as Xaerai begins shouting for the lizard she's going to bet on. Not liking the odds of calling the exact winner of the contest, he wrinkles his nose at the race.
Though considering taking an opposing lizard to insulate her bet and raising his hand to get the attention of the attendant taking the bets, he finds himself a bit too late on the draw. With his finger still pointing vacantly in the air, he watches in disbelief as Erasmus wipes the floor with the other lizards. He stands there stunned, his mouth agog as the dwarf whistles off with her winnings.
He follows the dwarf back to the Bounder game, half staggering. As a very similiar set of circumstances seems to unfold with her, he makes it a point to watch that second dealer-roll closely...
Satisfied with the delivery and dazzled by the dwarf's apparent hot streak he guffaws,
"Impressive!"
He bows to the dwarf.
"Miss Xaerai, I am intrigued with the prospect of playing Desna's Favor and I wonder if you and your apparent superiorluck would accompany me to the table!"
He holds out his elbow, hoping she would allow him to escort her to the game in a gentlemanly fashion.
"Ha! Want me to rub your dice?" Xaerai chortles and takes Tyn's arm. "What've they got to drink around here?" As the game is explained to her, the dwarf's expression becomes skeptical as she passes over her 25gp bet. "Butterflies have never liked me much, and the feeling's mutual. But maybe She's willing to bury the hatchet..."
Xaerai scowls in half-feigned annoyance at the dice. "Hekau's right about the dice not being intelligent, but I'd accept a little de-vine intervention right about now."
"Alright, alright! I can take a hint!" Xaerai holds her hands up in mock surrender to the dice. "Sorry Tyn, not this time. I want a drink!"
The croupier at Desna's Favor raises an eyebrow at Tyn's large opening bet, but otherwise doesn't miss a beat, collecting the credit and handing over his dice.
Nabbing a drink for herself, and a second to keep the first company, Xaerai finds herself a table and studies the room.
Hekau observes Tyn's social interactions with Xaerai with some curiosity.
Does he wish to mate with her?
He does know enough about social graces to not voice that thought aloud, after having done so once concerning Val Baine and a local boy.
Zelvin sees Xaerai lose spectacularly at the dice game, and decides he might as well do the same. Sliding into the spot she vacated, he puts down all of his credit at once. "I'll put it all on one roll," he says casually. "One hundred gold." He blows on the dice and rolls them.
He shrugs, as it wasn't his money he lost. "Well, that's that," he says to his brother, rejoining him.
With Zelvin unwilling to raise his bet for another shot, the croupier collects the gambling credit and turns his attention to the next player who steps up.
As Tyn watches the outcome of the previous wagers, the gravity of the actual odds against him plows into him-but he is not going to go out like a coward at this point.
"May the blessing of the great Inventor thicken these bones as sturdy as that lucky dwarf's!
He watches in dismay as two ducks quack back at him. He slaps 100 gold down and takes the reroll die.
"And may Persistence reward me threefold..."
He curses under his breath and adds ducks to the list of abominations that shall be dealt righteously with!
The rest of your evening is spent on various other entertainments, but Ulreth doesn't seem to emerge from the backrooms again.
Zelvin eyes the exit to the back rooms suspiciously, but shrugs. "Yeah, I reckon we're done here. Do you think that having rested up we might be ready to keep exploring that strange cave system in the morning? Maybe we could find some clues as to why the Torch stopped working down there."
"Huh. I figured for sure he'd call us into a back room and we'd have a very dramatic palaver where he made an' offer we couldn't refuse. He seemed like the type." Xaerai shrugs, then finishes her drink. "Oh well! Let's get some shuteye and then do like Zelvin says--I want to see how the Torch forges work, and these good folk need to make a living."
"I too fail to understand Garmen Ulreth's purpose in inviting us to Silverdisk Hall. Perhaps it was to gain more insight into our character and decision-making patterns.
I agree with Zelvin that we should continue our explorations. I would recommend trying to follow the trail of the other group that had entered the cave system.
That group, consisting of orc, humans, and ratfolk, led by a woman with purple hair, may be responsible for the cessation of the Torch."
Val has bowls of steaming vegetable stew ready for the lot of you when you return to the Foundry, and Khonnir seems to be feeling well enough to join you at the dining table.
Later, she pulls Hekau and Zelvin aside for a hushed conversation.
"While you were out, there was some guy who came in asking about you. Nothing too weird, just where your friends were from, but I had a bad feeling and turned him out, saying we were closed. Thought you should know."
"I am grateful for your intuition and caution, Val. I do not believe I would have been so aware of danger. I do not get, as you say, 'bad feelings'.
Can you describe this inquisitive individual?"
Zelvin gives Hekau and Val a worried look. "Do you reckon we should tell them about him? I figure they've earned our trust, since we wouldn't have gotten Mr. Khonnir out without them. But there could be some ghosts from their past that are chasing them, and if so we've got to back them up. Maybe they know who it is, or have an idea?"