Gierixa looked over her shoulder at Larur, but continued to walk stridently to the Boneyard Cut. Wonder what he has in store for me?
It was a hard trek she was expecting, but she had made it a dozen times before. The garbageman preferred solitude, and the cliffs above the Boneyard were as solitary as any place in Riddleport.
The smell is the first thing that hits Gierixa. Fetid, the smell was communication enough;it told Gierixa that she was close to Hyram, and that he was busy.
Sure enough, as she crested the last of the incline, she could see him hard at work, piling thick and soggy logs on top of the smoldering blaze. The wind was strong and blowing in her direction, taking his heavy musk along with it in a gust.
The same gust robs Hyram of his cowl, which he is quick to replace; the flash of one furry ear goes almost unnoticed. He circles wide around the flames, throwing a pile of clothing now, onto the heap.
He does not turn to acknowledge Gierixa, but instead calls out to her;
"I hear you! Don't think you can sneak up on me! What is it you want of Hyram?"
"Actually, nothing I want you old rot. It's something I wanted but can't afford. That fertilizer you had ready for me - I'll need a few days before I can pay."
Gierixa stands with hands on her hip, looking at the steep drop over the cliff into the dump below. Not caring if she offends the orc, she takes her handkerchief and holds it to her nose to block the smell.
"Eye's bigger than your purse, woman?" Hyram moves a little closer to Gierixa, as if studying her.
"How bad do you need it? We can work some kind of deal, I'm sure. Real fair like." Hyram's gaze is tangible; it's as if he's looking right through her.
"Well what did you have in mind nothing bad I hope?"
Gierixa takes a step back, put off by the gaze of the orc. Suddenly she realized how alone she was out here. She could take care of herself, but getting hurt was getting hurt, regardless of the outcome. She had to be honest with herself - she didn't really think she could take the man.
"Well, payment, in full, when you get the coin, of course." Hyram throws some more garbage onto the fire. "And secondly, I'd like some of your crop. Just a little. It gets pretty dire up here sometimes, and you're obviously using this compost to grow something. Is it a strong smoke-weed? Or a hallucinatin' mushroom? It's gotta be something good, and I want a little cut."
"Well, payment, in full, when you get the coin, of course." Hyram throws some more garbage onto the fire. "And secondly, I'd like some of your crop. Just a little. It gets pretty dire up here sometimes, and you're obviously using this compost to grow something. Is it a strong smoke-weed? Or a hallucinatin' mushroom? It's gotta be something good, and I want a little cut."
"Well I don't know I don't think I have that in my garden but I could get some if you really wanted it. I'll say yes for now and try and get you some when I pay you."
"Whaddya mean you don't have any in your garden? What else could you possibly be growing that would be so important?"
"Look i aint lookin to make no trouble but if'n i can get ya something on the downlow ill bring it with the money kay?"
Gierixa attempts to think of something off-hand:
"If that be all we can call it a day if you want to sell my stuff go ahead." Not waiting for an answer, Gierixa turns to leave, relieved that she thinks the conversation is over. The stench is getting unbearable, and she covers her mouth with her handkerchief.
"No, it's okay. I won't sell it. I'll just leave it over there, in a pile, tomorrow. Bring the money whenever you can."
Gierixa recalls seeing some special mushrooms growing in the marsh, on the other side of the graveyard. They're easily identifiable by the purple glow they give off at night, but their psychoactive properties are only activated by being dried properly.
Gierixa leaves, making an effort not to look over her shoulder. Iihave to appear strong, she thinks, cant let him know im afraid of him. If unchallenged, she makes ehr way back into town. Curious about this Gold Goblin, she heads over to check out the establishment from the outside during the day.
Though she does not look back, she has the intense sensation of Hyram watching her the entire time she makes the trip down the steep decline. She doesn't see or hear anything that would alert her, but it's as if he is right behind her the entire time.
Emerging into the Rotgut district, she feels released from his presence, and disperses into the crowd that is starting to gather outside of the Gold Goblin Gambling Hall.
Gierixa gets swept up in the gathering line-up and finds herself queued with all the others. Crowds of participants and spectators mill about on the street outside the Gold Goblin Gambling Hall. Registration for the tournament has started, apparently.
A woman, dressed in a devil costume is standing outside, shouting her practised speech at anyone who walks by;
"Welcome to the Gold Goblin, handsome, the hot spot for turning fortunes and winning wagers beneath the arch. Looking for the squarest games, most honest dealers, and prettiest damn barmaids anywhere in the port? Well, you found ’em, sugar! Ready to be a rich man? Hope so, ’cause tonight’s your night. Belly up to a table and get to winnin’; we’ve got the gold to make your dreams glitter. Good drink, fine food, and warm company’s extra, but we’ve got all that too—at prices so cheap we might as well be giving it away. So find a spot, honey, order a pint, and leave it all to us, ’cause here, even a goblin could win his weight in gold!"
Gierixa hears this speech a number of times before she actually gets to the registration table. A thunderclap overhead signals rain, and it starts to drizzle a little. That small amount of rain would normally be tolerable, but on account of the proximity to the Gas Forges, the rain stings the eyes a little. People begin pushing to get inside, and the workers move the registration table back a little bit, to account for the massive influx of people.
Overseeing this gathering is a larger-than-life-size statue of a goblin, apparently cast in glittering gold, that stands atop the entry stairs with a smirking expression of satisfaction on its face, as if personally enjoying the crowds that shuffle past it into the doorway beneath the gambling hall’s gilded dome.
Just inside the main doors, two sultry beauties scantily clad and wearing faux bat wings, devil horns, and tails play the part of alluring succubi. Both are employees of the Gold Goblin, and they cheerfully register contestants for the tournament and process entry fees. Armed guards stand nearby to either side of an immense treasure chest into which each patron’s entry fee is added.
Gierixa is handed a registration form, and a quill-pen already filled with red ink.
Feeling the crush of people around her, Gierixa uses her feet and elbows to make some room for herself, occasionally shooting a menacing glance at someone who gets inside her personal bubble.
might as well make sure these lowlifes know not to mess with me, she thinks. As she is handed the paper, those behind her would start getting antsy as she spends a good deal of time reading - not searching for details, but just making out the words. Careful observers notice her mouthing the words as she scans the page.
After some time, she looks up at the hostess. "whos this old scratch anyway?"
Terrified, one of the hostesses points beyond the queue.
Beyond the registration table is the hall’s game floor. Dozens of gamblers, waitresses dressed as succubi, and bouncers mill about the room, wandering amid tables offering various games while dealers shuffle cards, roll dice, and spin wheels. Moving through this throng are a dozen more of the barely clad, batwinged vixens serving drinks and batting coal-black eyelashes flirtatiously for tips. In the center of the chamber is a short podium atop which sits a massive gold chest affixed to the floor by similarly gaudy chains. On either side of it stands a bare-chested bouncer in the exotic garb of some foreign sultan’s court. Each stands with muscled arms crossed over his chest and with a naked scimitar of prodigious size tucked through his waistband. High above them, from the hall’s cloth-draped ceiling, hangs a brass birdcage that appears to be empty.
The waitress seems to be indicating the empty birdcage, but nothing can be seen there.
Worried for their safety so early in the tournament, the guests behind Gierixa wait patiently for her to finish. None try to push past her.
Gierixa looks around in disgust at the displays of baubles and shiny metal, and the lavish and revealing costumes on display. Expecting the worst, she takes a long look around the room to see if there are any plants at all.
As she looks around the room, she forgets about the paper she has signed, leaving it hanging at her side for some time. In fact, she doesn't remember it until somebody brings it to her attention.
Sadly, only a few drooping plants exist in the room. In large and decorative pots, these plants are obviously not from the same climate. Sunken and brown, they look like they need some serious care.
One of the succubus waitresses taps Gierixa on the shoulder. "Sorry, miss. But I'll need to take that parchment. Are you all finished signing it?"
Now with an idea of what she is getting into, she thrusts the paper into the hands of the "succubus" and brusquely states "ill be back later tonight wench".
Morose from her prolonger contact with civilization, and filled with longing for her garden, Gierixa pushes her way back out through the doors of the Gold Goblin.
besides if things get rough im not really prepared she thinks, realizing only now that she forgot much of her other useful equipment. If she was going to win some coin, she would need something to gamble with.
Trudging down the street, she makes her way back to the Rotgut District, head down but a mean look in her eyes.
Heading down through Rotgut district, the place seemed quieter than usual. The throngs of people lazing about seems to have thinned considerably; most people have made it uptown to the Gold Goblin by now.
Gierixa does notices one thing; A man is standing near the entrance to her garden, looking around it.
He wears dark crimson robes, and a belt of small bones, teeth, and animal skulls. He wears a sash across his waist made up of raven feathers.
He seems to be enquiring about the owner of the lot. He doesn't see you approach.
Gierixa casually keeps walking, musing internally: hmm i suppose i should care about those cute little animal skulls.
She intends to walk around the block to approach her lot from the back and be ready for whatever this ruffian intends.
Bluff (to act as if she is just walking by): d20+1=11.
If the stranger reacts to her presence, she will put her hand to her sword and be ready to draw.
What have we here? I ask myself, as the comely young woman trudges down the street towards the garden. And enigma, to be sure. Such beauty and wisdom, but there is a dimness behind the eyes I am not used to seeing. I would pronounce her an idiot, were it not for the grace with which she walks.
"Excuse me lass,"I say as she approaches, swallowing the bile continuously rising into my throat in an effort at civility, "I am looking for the owner of this beautiful garden, as there are plants gowing in there I desparately need!" I reach out to grab her shoulder as I speak, to emphasize my plight, and am brought up short to feel the iron-hard thews of her arms coiled under that (greenish tinted?) skin...
Gierixa coils like a viper, for a brief instant it seems she might lash out with a clenched fist. But something in the man's eyes - something cruel - catches her fancy.
"nobody owns plants and you best need a reason for wantin' one." She speaks with a gruff contempt, glaring into the soulless eyes of the man. "if you be wantin' something you need to pay the plants don't tend themselves."
She puts an iron hand on the man's extended forearm. "now remove your arm before i break it off."
Yelex eyes go cold as the presumptuous woman speaks. How dare she speak to me thus.
"I assure you, wench, I will pay for what I require, how much are a few leaves, a few stalks? Why the world is full of rich vegetation, yet you demand gold for the island of verdure you tend in this cess-pool of a city!" Ok, I must calm down. How these people scrabble and scrape for the false allure of gold, it enrages me!
"Name your price, woman! I am sure we can come to agreement somehow." I non-chalantly pull out a gold piece and flip it in her direction.
Edit: here is the DMG listing for Striped Mushroom
Striped toadstool, Ingested, DC 11, 1 Wis, 2d6 Wis + 1d4 Int, 180 gp
Gierixa allows the gold piece to fall to the ground.
"what good is that to me? soil and seeds and fresh water cost money, so unless you have a way to pay me more or a way to get those things without shiny metal is suggest you be on your way"
"ah forgive my moments lapse i dont have what you are looking for but i know where to get some i am actually looking for some assistance in the matter but i need someone i can trust and that isnt you yet"
She lets go of his arm, staring Yelex in the eye for a long second. She backs away cautiously.
"if you want to help me help you come to the gold goblin i have a job there tonight and we can talk more"
"Oh I'll be there all right.."I say, stooping to pick up the gold coin. I can see this is a mistake, if I can't think of any other way to find supplies, I will take my leave and head back to the inn. Once there, I will look for a quiet, dark corner of the gaming hall for Lockjaw to stand sentinel without disrupting the crowd.
Gierixa gathers what she needs from her home, and heads back to the Gold Goblin Gambling Hall, her eyes stinging a little from the acid rain. A great number of people have gathered outside the place, all eager, and wet, to sign the release and get inside.
One of the succubi waitresses actually moves people out of your way when you approach, giving you a clearing into the festivities.
The crowd grows more tense as they wait for the festivities to start.
Gierixa is ready, willing, and able!