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"Lokaloka!" Clover runs up and hugs the goblin. "Good to see you again!" She eagerly takes a pickle and crunches it. "We've got to combine forces someday. I wonder if I can make a pickle soup at some point?"
Then Clover cleans her hands before shaking Jiggo's. "A party? Yes! Maybe that's why they brought us together. So we can have a party!"
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A goblin that FEELS like a Dwarf rolls in on a smaller version of Meat Wagon that some of you remember from a past mission. Once the goblin speaks you realize its Stitch, and yes, that is a scaled down version of his murderous conveyance.
"Yes I'm here, back for another field test, er mission!" He coughs, wafting away some of Meat Wagon's thick black smoke, eyeing the pickles. "Yes, pickle goblin, hand some of those up here!" He leans down and holds an open hand out to receive the offered goodness.
Stitch scratches his head, trying to remember if he's met Sal and Jiggo yet, being well acquainted with the others.
Lolly and Kreighton come into the room. As Kreighton is seating himself, Lolly begins to address all of you.
“We'd like to thank you for coming.”
“You're here in Oppara to attend a symposium regarding the warshards of the dead god, Gorum, and the interest the world seems to have with them. These pieces of divine shrapnel have set off a bit of an arms race, hunting these warshards as a means of acquiring their power, for reasons too numerous to name. We, of course, number among those. We're no stranger to acquiring dangerous things, but Taldor has proposed an excellent idea.”
Lolly then looks to Kreighton who smiles. “Beautifully put. Sorrina, who could not be here, and myself, leaders of the Spells and Scrolls working with our top mages, have pioneered a method to track and procure these warshards so that they may be held safely. I mean, could you imagine the Whispering Tyrant getting access to them? Frightening prospects. It doesn't work on every shard, but from what we've learned it can find ones that were once part of Gorum's helm, or at least part of a smaller part of that helm. ”
“What I have here are notes to an experiment we put together in connecting the warshards to one of our wayfinders, and let me tell you, that was one long ritual. I'm nearly positive I fell asleep in the middle of casting.”
He starts to go into a more details description when a gentle cough from Lolly interrupts his musings.
Lolly follows up “Although many of us respect the Master of Scrolls style in processing and expressing thoughts, we need to make sure that everyone can understand this information. While we'd normally keep this sort of thing closely guarded, this symposium will have some of the brightest minds in Golarion. We need to know what they know, and so we need to present our findings in earnest.”
With that, the meeting appears to be open for comments and questions.
Chuckling, Lolly says “No, no, not here. This is where you will be preparing the presentation but this event is hosted by the Grand Princess Eutropia, ruler of Taldor. The event will be held on the grounds of the Kitharodian Academy, Taldor’s premiere academy.”
Gesturing widely with her arms, she says “This will be an event to showcase Taldor and the Kith, expect a lot of pageantry.”
Looking at Clover but gesturing to the whole group she says “You will be going through our research materials here, but the presentation should not include any bait and tackle.”
Looking a little embarrassed, Lolly explains “That is how the locals all refer to the Kitharodian Academy.”
Kreighton looks like he is about to respond when Lolly cuts him off.
“Yes, your group will be presenting the information the society has collected. We are depending on your group to have the proper scholarly content while also presenting it in a simple enough fashion that someone like Grand Princess Eutropia understands the highlights of it.”
Kreighton pauses and wrings his hands. “I’m not good at simplifying things.”
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"The Grand Princess?" Sal'era's posture becomes much more formal and she shifts her weight. "Much more formal than the meeting rooms we've been dragged to before."
While Sal'era usually sticks to the shadows and keeps quiet, she's at the front now. It's Jiggo who is shrinking behind her.
"Jiggs, I told you we'd get fancy during a mission." She turns back to see his sweat and sighs. "Look, you handle the research, I'll handle the negotiations." Jiggo simply nods and she turns back.
"He's adorable when he's nervous."
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"Ooh... The Grand Princess?" Clover, like most of the free folk of Andoran, had two conflicting philosophies about royals. The first was the official Andoran belief that an Andoran citizen was the equal of anybody. The second was that royals were fascinating. Imagine living in that fishbowl of intrigue and courtly gossip every day. Like everyone else, Clover read Venture-Gossip's column and had heard extensively about Princess Eutropia's fashions and the latest on-dits about the royal court. But... despite all that, she had heard little of Eutropia's governance, which for a conference like this would be the most important part.
"Have they stated what the dress code will be for this event? Royal visits usually require court costumes, but we're going to be seeing scholars from all over Golarian. I don't want to make the mistake of either over-dressing and appearing pretentious, or under-dressing and appearing like clueless country bumpkins."
Kreighton says “Being a scholarly event, make sure you don’t have any food stains on your robe.”
Lolly winces, then says “It would be best if you cleaned and mending your clothing. It isn’t a royal court appearance, but do wear your best robes. Polishing armor and weapons would also be good.”
She then gets some papers out of her pockets and hands them around. “Hear are the tri-fold flyers for the event. As you can see we have quite a diverse group attending.”
“Make sure your wayfinders are polished as well. If any of them need a little repair, I can work on them.”
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"Yes, polishing the wayfinders would be good." Jiggo takes out his wayfinder to be polished, almost dropping it. "Sorry, I'm not good in front of fancy courts."
Sal'era lightly hip checks him. "He's modest. He brought me back from... well, whatever happens to demons when they die. And he convinced a heavenly council to do it." Another feather falls off her wings as she ruffles his hair. "We'll get something nice. Flexible, but nice."
"Well" Jiggo stammers. "the Staff of Healing I bought? Used most of our savings." He holds up the staff. "Worth every gold piece, though. The water wheel crushed someone's foot as we were installing it. I couldn't heal the pain but I was able to stop long lasting injuries, at least."
Sal'era maintains her gaze (Jiggo knows she's annoyed) and maintains a steady tone. "We have enough for one dress. Buy one for me and we'll use one of your spare shirts. You don't have to dress up." She smiles and Jiggo breathes a sigh of relief.
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Lokaloka stares at Stitch. "I's remembering Stitch was dwarf. I's remember right?" she scratches her head, though she does absently hand Stitch a pickle...
She also stares at Professor Bun Bun in wonder. "What yous do?" Then she brightens. "Oh! Yous rabbit like friend Bun Helsing! Yous like pickle too?" She hands the professor a pickle, though she drips brine all over his robes...
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Clover frowns at the hem of her skirt. Were there food stains there? Goodness knows that if you spend time in a kitchen, you're occasionally going to get spattered... Although she could prestidigitate it clean, the whole outfit was a little worn. Thinking over her funds, she gets excited and then takes Sal'era's and Lokaloka's hands. "Maybe we can go shopping together! Girls trip? I haven't had a new dress in ages!"
Then she turns back to Kreighton Shane and Lolly. "You talked about research. What sort of research? Are we researching the study you completed of connecting the godshards to wayfinders, or are you asking us to do research into what the other scholars are doing?"
Lolly says “Although I don’t mind you going shopping in order to make yourselves look your best, please recall this is a scholarly event. We need you to prepare our materials for the presentation. Our presentation follows the representatives from Kyonin.”
Looking to Clover, she says “Think of that wayfinder as the culmination of our research. You are to go through the materials from Three Gates Lodge where we got the first fragment, the materials given us by an expert that appraised our fragments, and all the reports from agents involved in these efforts. You will also be given access to the research that Muesello and I did with respect to adjusting a wayfinder as well as notes from Kreighton and Sorrina.”
“We have multiple copies for each of you to study in preparation for this symposium. Once your preparations are completed, we'll be recovering the notes and binding them all into a beautiful book that will be on display for all to see. We believe each of the participating organizations are doing similar, so that we can share our notes and knowledge.”
Kreighton says “I will attending the symposium as well, to provide my expertise answering questions about the details.”
Lolly asks “Any more questions?”
As the meeting finishes, Kreighton comes over to Clover and Sal’era. He hands them a card for a tailor in the Imperial Square. “You may find this contact useful when looking for something suitably fashionable.”
Shortly after that, Lolly joins the group. She says “Opal Vergild of Lioness Jewerly may have some specialty jewelry for this event. She had done similar things in the past. If you need other recommendations, see if you can get an appointment with Evanine Valborne as she knows the imperial court very well.”
“Just make sure this doesn’t interfere with the work you have been assigned.”
"No questions for me. Jiggs will get a kick out of this religious stuff. He also figured out the waltz, we'll make a... passable couple on the dance floor." Sal'era takes Clover and Lokaloka's (probably brine soaked) hands in good faith.
"Jiggs can keep track of the time, unless there's some kind of volunteering event along the way. He has to come along, I can't stray too far from him or I get sent back." She sighs. "Ready when you are."
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Clover looks at the business card that Kreighton handed her, and then stares at Kreighton's clothes. Kreighton's clothes are actually pretty good looking but the style isn't anything like what she's seen in Oppara so far.
"I suppose we can start here," she says, "and since it's a tailor shop we can take the Professor and Stitch with us too. If we don't find something suitable there, we can maybe check out other shops too?"
Kreighton says “Certainly!”
Gesturing to the card he just gave Clover, he says “Do not feel pressured to use this tailor, I just wanted to make sure you had at least one whom I knew to be competent.”
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Lokaloka looks on, wondering what the Pathfinders are talking about regarding a 'dress code'. She does, however, polish her leathers (with pickle brine, of course) until the dirt and grime from the road is gone. Though she wonders why everyone else is staying a bit farther away from her...
"Longshanks strange" she says to no one in particular...
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Kreighton says “Being a scholarly event, make sure you don’t have any food stains on your robe.”
"There'th no food thtainth on my..."
She also stares at Professor Bun Bun in wonder. "What yous do?" Then she brightens. "Oh! Yous rabbit like friend Bun Helsing! Yous like pickle too?" She hands the professor a pickle, though she drips brine all over his robes...
"Oh dear." The rabbit looks at his robes in dismay as he meekly accepts the proffered pickle. He sighs and takes a bite.
"Perhapth a quick shopping trip might prove benefecial after all." He sighs and takes one of the flyers for the event to peruse at leisure later. "I thuppothe we should get moving. We'll want plenty of time to properly compile our research."
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At the door to the tailor shop, Clover looks down at the card once more to check the address. "This must be the right place."
She opens the door, "Hello?" She smiles. "I'm Clover. Um, we're Pathfinders and we're looking for clothes to wear to the symposium that look stylish and professional, but also that we can move in case of trouble. I was thinking of a sleeveless silver dress, with the skirt just below knee length so that I can run, and just a bit of silver embroidery around the bodice. Would that be something that might work? I want simple, but elegant."
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"Maroon. Burgundy. Dark red if you don't have them." Sal'era begins inspecting the dresses. "Must be flexible. At the least I'll need to dance with a... inexperienced partner." Jiggo finds a chair to sit down on, only to shoo off the attendants when they check his shoe size.
"Needs to be very flexible, by the way." Sal'era performs a split, dropping prone for a moment. "It shouldn't tear when I do this or stand up." She shoots up. "Jiggs is paying for mine." She points back to Jiggo, who nods and then stares at the outfits with a mix of confusion and curiosity.
He reaches for his coinpurse, "Um... do you have any you'd be able to donate? The Temple of Iomedae down the block is looking for coats to help people stay warm during the winter."
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A bell rings as you enter the shop.
The front of the shop is taken up by a greeting room with a table at the window, several mirrors and some small curtained alcoves that are most likely changing areas. There is a tea tray and a pot-belly stove with a tea pot warming on it.
There is the expected counter with a curtained off area behind it. You can hear a male voice call out “One moment and I will be there!”
Shortly after that an Aiuvarin-male comes out and greets you. He is dressed in what could be considered the classical tailors garb; slacks, button-down shirt with cuffs, vest that is also used as a pin cushion, and a tape measure over the back of the neck.
Smiling widely, he greets each of you. His name is Sebastian.
He seems quite a pleasant fellow, offering you tea and scones as he hears your requests. He checks when you would want the clothing by and if this is for a specific event. Making a point of noticing the wayfinders, he also asks if there is any need for concealed pockets or other specialty tailoring.
After hearing each of your requests, he asks for just a few minutes. He goes behind the curtain and you can hear the sounds of fabric being moved about.
He comes out with two different silvery clothes along with some silver trim that is shaped like a vine of some variety to show to Clover.
He has two different shades of maroon along with something slightly darker for Sal’era with some light blue trim. He also has a length of matching light blue he suggests as a scholar’s robe for Jiggo so that the clothes match.
While you are examining these fabrics, he goes into the back again and brings out a strange fabric in a light green color. Bringing it to Lokaloka he says “This material is very popular with our Azarketis clients. It sheds water quickly and will hold any pleats or creases even after swimming in it.” He allows Lokaloka to feel the fabric, seemingly not worried about the pickle still in their hand.
Looking at Professor Bun Bun, he asks “Are you looking for clothing, or mending of your own stitches? If it is the later, I feel that I should recommend you to another shop. The gnome there is a toy-maker and known for handling any special requests the rare poppet client may have. If it is a little of both, I have worked alongside her before.”
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Clover pushes Stitch forward. "Do you have any of that azarketi fabric in a male cut?"
Clover inspects the two sets of silver clothes that Sebastian brings out. One is the sleeveless dress she requested, and the fabric pools like liquid in her hands and reflects the tiny sparks of fire in her hair. The other is an elegant form fitting tunic and pantset. "Oh, I like them both. The pantsuit might be good for a court appearance if I need to do more serious legal work. I'll purchase both sets."
Clover pushes Stitch forward. "Do you have any of that azarketi fabric in a male cut?"
“…but of course.” Sebastian then looks at Stitch and adds “Unfortunately grease, oil and other such substances used with clockwork items would still stain it.”
He thinks a bit, then says “Darker colors would help hide such things, but perhaps just a couple of pockets to hide a polishing rag or such?”
“Certainly! Did you like the cloth I showed you? Would you like it in a different color?”
"Perfect." Sal'era observes the garments. "Jiggs, stop scaring the staff and try out the robes. If it's a good fit we can get both." She hustles him towards a changing room. "He's not used to this attention."
"I didn't think about a blue trim, but... it works." She looks at her reflection before lifting her left leg. "Mmm, and degrees of freedom. I love it. Let's take it."
She looks at Lokaloka, then to Sebastian. "She's a musician, pan flute. Also, something that can deal with pickle brine will go a long way."
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Sebastian takes a moment to inspect (without touching) Lokaloka’s current clothes a little closer and then goes back behind the curtain. The most observant of you realize they were looking at the stains on the clothing.
You once again hear from behind the curtains the rustle of fabric being moved, along with the scraping sounds that most likely indicate crates being shifted to the side.
A young Aiuvarin woman comes out asking if anyone needs more tea or scones. “Father might take a few minutes as he tries to find something.”
It does take him a little longer, but finally he comes back with two different choices. One is a lighter shade of green with yellow undertones. The other is a more colorful green dress with different colors of polka-dots and some white accents. You notice the polka-dots are not uniform in size nor shape. They are both made of the fabric he said Azarketis favor.
He presents them to Lokaloka, saying “See if either of these will do.”
Sebastian politely declines a pickle and his daughter seems to have disappeared sometime during the presentation of the two dresses for Lokaloka.
Having finished your shopping, you return to the shop. There are literally mounds of paper to go through.
The group hits the books, collating and organizing the information the society has collected about the war shards.
You have the reports of the first warshard collected at Three Gates lodge from Venture-Captain Kukuha Mukai and the group of agents that were on site when it fell. You have observations from several members of the society on what happened during the Godsrain at a variety of locations. There are reports appraising warshards signed by the dragon Valashinaz. There are reams of reports from researchers following up on the appraisal with their own findings based on that report. Then there are the research notes of Kreighton Shane and Sorrina Westyr on their experiments with the shard. Finally you have some notes from Lolly on the principles used to embed it in a wayfinder.
You are also advised on certain expectations of the presentation itself. The presentation style is to be a performance. Bombastic and entertaining behavior is not only encouraged, but expected, including weaving in joking insults to other schools to amuse the audience, especially Grand Princess Eutropia. This is considered all in good fun, and part of the Taldan academic tradition. No one will take permanent offense at any subtle and tasteful jibes shown toward their school.
Lolly encourages you to practice a few and has basic information on the other groups that will be presenting so that you can try to prepare for that as well.
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Clover raises an eyebrow when she learns of the performance aspect of the presentation. "At least four of us have some experience with performing, that should help!"
She changes into more comfortable clothes, gives Mr. Potbelly a thorough cleaning job and a mirror shine, and then settles into research.
She spends a little time each morning spending time with Mr. Potbelly offering samples of cool fruity beverages to students and teachers of the Kith, trying to get all the best gossip on the other teams.
The bulk of her time she dives into paperwork they've been given, especially the material on tying warshards to wayfinders in order to use the compasses as a long distance warshard detector.
And in the remainder, she spends some time with the rest of the group discussing the approach of their presentation. "We should definitely do a demonstration of how this works. Do we want to do this with musical accompaniment?"
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"Hey everyone, I looked at the official invitations that Lolly gave us!"
Clover starts writing down names of the different groups on the blackboard. "Here's our scholarly comrades and what we know so far of the other groups."
She writes:
"The dwarves are up first, and they apparently talking about forging godshards into 'godly weapons'." Clover looks up. "This doesn't sound like the best idea to me, but I suppose I should keep an open mind until the presentation itself."
"Um, it looks like they want to use godshards to turn regular knights into supersoldiers." Clover shudders. "I'm not sure that infusing bits of Gorum into people is the greatest idea, either."
"Nature abhors a vacuum. How do we greet those who fill the void?" She pauses. "So, like what gods are coming to fill the positions of those who died in the Godsrain? Or something else?"
"It looks like the elves are using the aiudara to travel to other planets and planes and find out about what is happening with Gorum's death there." Clover points to the program. "That's pretty interesting, actually."
"I'm not enamored with our placement on the program. Everyone will be tired and needing the bathroom by the time we talk."
Clover sighs.
"Apparently, our talk is on the moral and ethical ramifications of harnessing the blood of a dead God." Clover perks up. "Maybe we'll be able to talk some sense into some of the other groups!"
"Ooh. 'What is lost is now found? Awakened animals hold the key to Jatembe's prize?'" She turns to the others. "Okay, that one sounds really interesting. What sort of 'prize' do you think they are referring to?"
Clover does not bother to write out the long name. "They haven't listed a summary of their talk, so maybe theirs is a summary of all of ours."
She turns to the others. "What do you all think?"
Lolly says “The Kith never likes to give away what they are presenting. If you ask around, I’m certain that you will find multiple conflicting stories about what they are going to do. Based on past experience, at least some of the stories are intentionally planted to mislead people.”
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Jiggo manages to dress himself with the robes without needing Sal'era's help! He's so proud.
Once they leave the store, he catches up to the team. "I've been thinking about the warshards of Gorum. They are his essence, but these are bigger than the expected size of godsrain. Their power isn't predictable, but they all have a War focus. Being Gorum and all, this shouldn't be a big surprise."
Jiggo returns to the lodge, takes a seat, a scroll and a pen. He can't wait to scribe. "Sal and I did work on our dance moves... we could definitely do some performance. Maybe we can explain the moral ramifications and dangers with a dance?" Jiggo starts writing theories and copying pages from reference books.
"Everyone has an approach to the godsrain. Weapons, supersoldiers, interspace travel..." he sighs. "No one is asking how they can help the people who live here and now. Can we use Gorum's essence to protect out lands from invaders? To protect merchants on perilous trips to remote villages who need their supplies?" Jiggo shakes his head. "We have this power, we should use it for good reasons."
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Lokaloka scratches her head, everything the professor said going clear over her head. "What is keynote speaker? Why yous upset? Here, have pickle!"
She rummages in her pickle jar. She pulls one out, takes a bite, chews thoughtfully for a moment, nods and hands the dripping pickle to the distraught professor, brine dripping over his new robes (of course!).
Three days have passed since the initial meeting with Lolly and Kreighton.
Taldor has made a bit of a spectacle of the event, with a carnival and festivities that flow onto the streets. The symposium begins just after lunch. The smells of cooked meats, perfumed nobles, and spent fireworks fills the air. The atmosphere seems geared toward showing off the generosity, prestige, martial skill, and resilience of the people of Oppara, and perhaps Taldor overall. Contests of strength, mock duels, archers, gymnasts, and the like spread along the sides of streets, or deeper into alleyways or parts, just orderly enough to never block the streets and provide and easy path to the Kitharodian Academy.
The brightness of the noonday shines as all dignitaries are driven by covered carriage to the grounds of the Kitharodian Academy, which seems a quieter, more scholarly place. If there are festivities here, they are nearly silent against the somewhat oppressive academic environs of this prestigious school. Even as the dignitaries and Pathfinders are disembarked from their carriages, there is almost a physical weight of importance or gravitas to this place.
As each carriage is disembarked, its passengers are walked inside by a small number of guards, before the next carriage is allowed to disembark. As each group is brought inside, they are gathered into a theater and are offered seats in specific rows based on when they will be presenting their research. The Grand Princess is seated in the balcony and waves politely to all research teams and attached dignitaries as they take their seat, a bastion of grace and politeness.
The provided pamphlet shows the order of the presentations: the Dwarves of the Five Kings Mountains, the Knights of Lastwall, the Sincomakti School of Sciences of Ustalav, Erages Academy of Kyonin, the Pathfinder Society, the Magaambya of the Mwangi Expanse, and finally the scholars of the Kitharodian Academy.
For each presentation, the group gets up onto the stage, pulls their specific research notes off a large table on the stage, and presents their findings, often in energetic and interesting ways. This is one part stage performance and one part academic exercise with many mixing in subtle jabs at other educational organizations, including the Pathfinder Society. One could easily see that this is as much a tournament as any joust or grand melee.
The dwarves are very forthright, no sly jibes and only minimal playing to the audience. They do include a warning of what happened in Larrad, where the dwarven god Grundinnar—son of Torag and deity of friendship and loyalty—disappeared. Many heroes disappeared in the same battle. It is as if they were wiped from reality and so far no signs of them can be found.
The dwarves are working on crafting weapons and armor from the shards. As Gorum was known as the Lord of Iron, much of their work is trying to come up with new alloys using the shards and various metals. Exactly what has been accomplished is difficult to tell as the audience quickly becomes impatient with their drab presentation.
The Knights of Lastwall at least have some concept of presentation. Their presenters march to the stage, executing precision marching. Their research has involved mutagens and serums based on the Godsrain. They are able to make the subjects resist fear, but often this also results in berserk behavior which is not well suited to their combat style. They have come up with several ways to neutralize or purify Godsrain and shards that demons corrupted.
The researchers from Ustalov are led by a gnome with brightly colored hair. She is a professor at Sincomakti School of Sciences. Much of their work has been to try and combine Stasian coils with a fragment of warshard. It is their belief that if they can find the correct frequency they should be able to form a stable field. The light show they put on is quite electrifying. Only one assistant needed medical help as a result of the demonstration.
The elven (and aiuvarin) researchers are very prim and proper. Their presentation is very elegant. Most of their material talks of how the shards interact with different dimensions. There is also talk of how the Godsrain has affected the aiudara (also known as elf gates). It seems their work could certainly help the researchers from Ustalov if only they could get an intermediary to keep the researchers far away from each other. There was a particularly well crafted jibe at them given in fey. Unfortunately it looses much of the impact when translated into common.
After a couple of hours, it is the Pathfinder Societies turn to speak. Kreighton steps up to the stage as they ascend the stairs “Good Luck and break a leg” Kreighton gives an awkward wink and a confident smile.
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Clover lends a handkerchief towards the wailing poppet. "A true travesty... but all the more reason that we should razzle-dazzle them to show them the error of their ways."
Then she turns to the others. "Let's plan our approach. I think that we should open up with a Performance that wakes the audience up. I'll sing, Jiggo and Sal'era will dance, Professor Bun Bun will make important observations after each chorus, Lokaloka can play the pan pipes and Stitch can craft us up a demonstration."
She pauses, and adds, "And then we'll likely need some substance... But we can still keep entertaining as we do so. What do you all think?"
"We can certainly entertain." Sal'era begins practicing her steps. "Jiggo knows about Religious matters and I know how to keep the hecklers quiet with some Intimidation. I'm not above overexaggerating our exploits with some Deception." She grins. "I can't wait."
Jiggo strains to peek outside the carriage as it travels. Sal'era holds his hand and squeezes it to get him to behave a little. Thank the gods their daughter isn't here, she would be too sardonic and sour the mood with her sarcasm.
For Sal'era this reminds her of the old days. Back at Home. Politics. Seduction. Trickery. All behind the mask of a prim and proper Lady.
Sal'era can't help but glimpse at the Grand Princess. So much power, but so many restrictions. That was Sal'era, once. She taps Jiggo so he stops looking up and pointing at her in amazement. You're supposed to be more subtle with awe.
Sal'era takes her seat while Jiggo fidgets to look at the various guests. As expected, the Dwarves are all business. The Knights of Lastwall are too zealous. The Gnomes are unfocused. The Elves are distracted by their immortality.
Finally, the Pathfinders are ready to present. "What was the plan?" Jiggo smooths his gown. "We open with a performance?"
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Stitch has clearly been distracted with some of his own work, testing and theorizing modifications to Meat Wagon. He mumbles and nods at the tailor's, head buried in his notes as the outfit is measured and crafted around him.
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For three days afterwards he half studies notes of the job at hand and half brainstorms how he could use those god shards to advance his own creation's power! "Yes, that would make a dent. Good idea!" He jots something down, responding to nothing more than the directing voice in his own head.
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At the start of the conference he rolls up on Meat Wagon, his new outfit put on, but a bit wrinkled and some fresh soot stains blending into the darker fabric. He rolls inside to listen to the presentations. The most interesting of course is the Dwarves, he hoots and hollers, clapping at the conclusion. "Brilliant!" Is all he can muster before the dour looks fall on the goblin faced Dwarf. The others are somewhat interesting, he jots down some notes of his own during each, but you can't quite tell if he's seriously paying attention or distracted again.