"When I was younger, I always told myself that the sense of 'belonging' was a lie we all tell ourselves to feel better about conforming. If belonging meant changing who I was, I didn't want to belong. It's silly, looking back; the sort of petty thing a person says when they're jealous of others. 'I didn't want that anyway!' you know? There was nothing I could change about me back then to belong. Now, I understand that belonging isn't just about changing yourself, but also about changing those around you." Gill turns to regard Mirabelle. "Things are changing; slowly, sure, but it's happening. I'll be opening the first real clinic in the sewers, hopefully soon, to make things easier while those less fortunate wait for the necessary change to allow them to belong. I wonder if, even a year ago, anyone imagined even that could happen." She turns to look inside as Augustine begins speaking again.
"She saved the best for last, it seems! Everyone, please give a cheer to Halcyon d’Orsay! Assist her with the stairs, won’t you Vince?"
GM Only:
Overhear Halcyon whispered conversation
roll + ability + rank + class Perception:1d20 + 3 + 4 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 + 4 + 3 = 22 Based on the map, I appear to be ~55 feet away, so I'm considering the DC to be 17 + 5, or 22 total. Therefore, :D
Gill holds her hat with her arm as she carefully hooks the mask back in place. "Back to business, it seems."
"Black eez such a dreadful color, dear, eez all your wardrobe like this?"
"Most of it, sadly. Stained leather is an expense I can't justify for my clinic. I own some more traditional clothing for when I'm not working, but I rarely have the opportunity to wear them." Gill carefully removes the mask, hanging it by some of its hooks from her backpack rather than properly stowing it, but does not remove the coif or pull her hair from her cloak before accepting the hat back. "Merci, Mademoiselle," she adds as she returns the hat to her own head.
"Mask eez off, business eez over, no?"
"Only a break. The eye of the storm, if you will." Gill forces a wry smile. "I considered the bar, but just about everyone in there has already paired up, and I'd hate to intrude on an ongoing conversation. Besides, the wind feels nice out here." Gill turns back to the west, closing her eyes as she takes a great breath. She smiles as the wind plays with the bits of hair that have escaped the coif, tickling her face.
Finishing her tea without further answering Lucia, Gill looks over at the stage. "It looks like it's almost time to start," she sighs. Reaching into her backpack, she digs out the mask and coif, setting her glasses onto the eye holes and securing the fasteners. She removes her hat and carefully tucks her hair back into her cloak, then pulls the coif onto her head, places the mask over her face, pulls the leather strap down. Once it's in place, she very carefully attaches the small hooks to the coif, then pulls her cowl up and returns the hat atop her head.
"Special?" Gill sets the tea down, articulating herself. "I suppose... We're in a similar...line of business? Is it weird to call what I do a line of business?" She lifts the mug and sips at it again. "And I may be overstepping, referring to him as a friend. It hasn't been...formalized? Are friendships formalized? I mean, we've only recently met, after all. Hmmm..."
Gill sips quietly on her drink. "A friend invited me, and it's for a good cause," she offers after a long moment. "I'm here primarily to show solidarity, so the fiscal and social elements are just mild inconveniences."
Gill gives a wry smile. "Today, the mask is just a symbol. Though I imagine that, if you were both deaf and in need of my services, you would prefer I prioritize my ability to render services over my ability to converse with ease. Perhaps I am wrong, but that has been my experience, at least." After Mirabelle leaves, Gill turns back to the bar, awaiting her drink.
"Primarily as a seller. I'll be selling potions today, on behalf of my clinic," Gill answers, looking over her shoulder at Marcus. "And yourself? Will you be buying or selling today, I wonder?"
Gill smiles, and counters, "Au contraire, Mademoiselle Zephirine. Business has yet to begin - I will have to put the mask back on when the auction starts in earnest. It represents my position as a doctor."
"A drink, Monsieur!" she calls to the bartender. "Something...befitting the time of day. Tea, with honey if you have it." As she waits, she first removes the coif and pulls her braids and hair out from her cloak, then works the spectacles latched over the mask's eye holes loose and places them on the bridge of her nose, before returning her hat to its place atop her head and stuffing the mask into her backpack. She returns her attention to those gathered around, but does not immediately add to the current conversation.
Gill offers a knowing smile. "The sewers remind me of home. I am a dwarf, after all. I'll be available for both clinics. I can't speak for my staff, but I imagine at least some of them will be willing. And, either way, I'll need more nurses and doctors to keep both clinics operating smoothly." She pauses, chewing at her lip for a moment as she considers the map of the sewers. "This location does seem most ideal," she says, tapping the location Verrill indicated previously. "I'll begin making the necessary arrangements."
Deceive or Lie (Free Action)
Obfuscate a half-truth to Verrill
roll + ability + rank + class skill + trait + feat + circumstance Bluff:1d20 - 2 + 1 + 3 + 1 + 4 + 5 ⇒ (5) - 2 + 1 + 3 + 1 + 4 + 5 = 17 Successful Sense Motive: The sewers remind Gill of home, and she is a dwarf, but the two are unrelated.
Failed Sense Motive: The sewers remind Gill of home because she is a dwarf.
I gave Gill a +5 circumstance bonus on account of the fact that neither statement Gill made was false, but were juxtaposed to present a misleading implication. "The sewers remind me of home" is a true statement, and "I am a dwarf" is a true statement, but the implied connotation of "after all" to imply that the sewers remind her of home because she is a dwarf is false. I chose +5 specifically because all circumstance bonuses and penalties for Bluff on the SRD are multiples of 5. If you disagree with the bonus, you can adjust or nullify it at your discretion.
“Certainly, certainly. We can find somewhere just outside the city walls even, if you'd prefer.”
"Such an extreme is not necessary. I just worry: you mentioned the southern part of the city, and I was not sure if you were referring to my own location, or the future location of yours. If we are too close to one another, it will be inefficient. Your people are concentrated beneath the city, so outside of the city walls would also be inefficient. My infirmary is in the southwest, so the southeast or northwest would be have a greater need for an infirmary."
“Verrill is friends with chemists all over the city. We have created a, um, let’s say “stockpile” of potions that we can give to your facilities. Verrill could move a bit over, hmm, four hundred potions by tomorrow.”
"I would be greatly appreciative of such a gesture. We could certainly put such potions to effective use."
“Small event planned to help Verrill’s kind next week. Verrill doesn’t like working with partisans, but Mlle. Bellerose is an exception. Mercier is also attending, another do-good chemist such as ourselves. Verrill will be clearing out much of Verrill's old chemist gear, attend if only to strike a bargain for a good cause.”
"I would love to attend such an event. I do not know if my purse is currently deep enough to make a significant contribution, but perhaps I can donate some equipment to be sold?
"There is another matter that comes to mind, as well. This talk of infirmaries and accessibility has got me thinking. Perhaps we could set up a clinic in the sewers to provide immediately accessible care for the ratfolk, and any others who find their homes beneath the surface? While the ultimate goal would remain integration with the surface, I believe that such progress will take time, and this could serve to alleviate some of the hardships your people face in the meantime. What are your thoughts on this?"
“We ratfolk? Quite the question. Verrill doesn’t like to call it politics. Dehumanizes, er, make us an issue rather than a people. I’m told eight or so generations ago we sort of appeared in the city from somewhere Far Away. Our generations, not yours. One of us is an adult a bit after a decade, and near dead when your kind reaches maturity. Verill believes our life expectancy ties with our biolog- nevermind. Rambling. I’ll give you the abridged story. We came for opportunity and found it amidst the sprawling sewers. Presently our numbers grow larger, uncountable now. In a generation our numbers will quadruple. There is seldom space in our cage, and we have nowhere to go but up or out.”
"Politics are dehumanizing for everyone involved. It's why I've stayed out of it, for the most part, though, in retrospect, I wonder if it was designed that way to keep people like us out in the first place." Gill offers a small smile, before continuing, "Still, with how rapidly your people are growing in number, it sounds like you will need to go both up and out. Roland alone cannot bear such a burden, but Durendal may. Of course, in either case, I suppose the obstacles remain the same. I am not sure how we might overcome these obstacles, but I am ready to render assistance in any way I can."
“Fungus in the sewers. Not uncommon. Uncommon that such measures had to been taken. Caught Verrill’s intrigue, almost as much as you did. Rare for a rarer affliction to be treated on Verrill’s kind. Seldom do we have the means to pay. This means you honor humanity, but what Verrill finds more important, you honor ratfolk life.”
"It isn't my place to value one sort of life above another. The preservation of life is my calling, regardless of whom that life belongs to."
“When Verrill works, he charges. Not for Verrill, but for the ratfolk. Potion or concoction, they gather gold for the cause. Verrill has amassed quite a bit. Enough for say... An infirmary, bit smaller than yours in the southern part of the city. Verrill has a building in mind. Perhaps something for Verrill’s people, perhaps something of a project between the two of us?”
"The idea certainly intrigues me, though I hope it's not too close to my own. This city needs more clinics where the less fortunate can be treated, but spread out to maximize accessibility. Still, I would be honored to work together with you on such a project, wherever it might be."
"You confuse the gods and the faith, or rather, use them interchangeably in error. The gods are able, but unwilling. They delegate to the faith, which is sometimes willing, but often unable. And so the faith delegates to people like me." Gill pauses and takes a sip of the tea. "When one comes to rely on magic to fix one's woes, one becomes complacent in one's thinking. Or at least, that's what I assume to be the case. Indeed, I think that a cleric with the right materials would have had an easier time than I, if only they'd stopped to think outside the box, and perhaps been willing to part with some money. Though I suspect that the latter would be an issue even if the former were overcome. So often, it seems that what the faith gives back in alms is eclipsed by what it receives in tithe." Gill pauses. "But I'm rambling. Tell me about the ratfolk. I am tangentially aware of some the issues your people face, perhaps highlighted by this most recent incident, but I've been too busy with my work until recently to really involved myself in the politics of this city. Things are finally starting to stabilize at the clinic, so I'm looking to branch out, if you will."
"Oh, uh... tea, please. With honey, if you have it." Gill smiles. "It's nice to meet someone with a similar sense of...decor, if you will." She finds a chair, moving some books and an unlit candle onto the floor to clear a space for her to sit.
