CH. 11: The Show Must Go On

[Chris1234]

"Thanks Tulbas," replies shima. "Although right now I've go no visibility of when I'll be able to pay you."

{OOC: Jaded, is there time for Shima to go see the woman who gave Felran & co the job, talk to her (if she's there) and still get back to gregeddin's place before curfew? If yes, he will. If not, he goes to Gregeddin's.}

[Haahque]

"Ok, I'll head back to the Tankard. See if you can get that book, if not I might show up tomorrow." Haahqae then goes to make his way home.

[djhyland]

"Well then, I'm glad you enjoyed it," Arulia replies somewhat dubiously. "Just a moment and I'll be done closing up the shop, then we'll go home. I suggest, though, that you don't tell Mother about it all so enthusiastically. She'll be worried enough as is, I'd guess."

Once Arulia finishes up closing the shop, she starts towards home with Camilla.

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (Steel Tankard, Common Room)
Haahqae returns to the Tankard, lugging the bag of silver with him. It didn't weigh nearly as much as the heavy thoughts swarming in his head, however. When he arrives in the common room, he finds the normal motley group of patrons that normally stay the night here. There's that pregnant woman, the woman with the eye-patch, and of course, Cassandra tends the bar.

He does notice another person that he recognizes but hasn't see for awhile. It's Bear, the man who ran the iron mine that he helped save from kobolds and sligs. He sits at the bar, drinking copious amounts.

Grubnick (Grand Market)
After giving Shima two steel pieces, Tulbas says his goodbyes and walks off. Shima then hurries off himself. Haahqae leaves shortly after that.

This leaves the goblin all on his own.

Kendra Greylock (Prefect's Mansion)
Tethys nods. "So I'm told. The temple believes there may be a rogue cleric in the city, following one of the lesser gods and seeking to undermine everything we've built here. That they would conjure up a monster in the middle of a peaceful juggling show reveals how evil they are. Which is why it's important we find them before they can strike again. So I ask, once again...did you see who was responsible for this attack?"

Tulbas Erogund (Mageware Shop)
Although the dwarf is wearing rather expensive, custom-made masterwork armor, Tulbas believes him when he claims he hasn't eaten and gives him two steel coins. He then makes his way back to the mageware shop where Magnus is waiting for his dinner. "I expected you back sooner," the wizard comments.

(OOC: I think Tulbas just got played. Shima is actually the third richest PC in the game right now. )

Arulia Seroth (323 Three Forks, Seroth residence)
After closing up shop, Arulia and Camilla return home. The others are already there waiting for them. Vera is setting the table for dinner. Niniva is helping her. Cassandra arrives shortly after they do. "Hey, did anyone hear about the ruckus in the market today?" she asks. "When I was working, I heard shouting and stuff coming from there. I wanted to go see, but we weren't allowed to leave the forge."

Shima Longfoot (Grinning Goat Tavern)
Shima accepts the two coins from Tulbas, not mentioning that he had already received a free lunch (more of a second breakfast, actually) from the minotaur and that he was carrying plenty of coin on him already, as well as a gemstone. But if the elf was giving away free coins, who was he to refuse?

He then hurries off and returns to the Grinning Goat. The place is empty, save for the bartender, who is busy putting the chairs up on the tables. "What do you want?" the man asks, turning his good eye to Shima. "We're closing up here."

==============

Tulbas gives Shima 2 STP.

[Chris1234]

"I was hoping to talk to that lady, 'Jane'," replies Shima.

[TristenC]

Grubnick heads back to the high hand

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra thinks back towards the performance for a few moments. "There was a dwarf that seemed kind of out of place," she admits. "I didn't think much of him at the time because I thought he was just kind of lost. He just kind of disappeared after the fire elemental appeared."

[Haahque]

Asking for a supper at the bar, Haahqae takes the initiative to sit down at Bear's table. He needs food after a performance like THAT, and there's no reason to eat alone when one can have company right?

"Greetings Bear. Last time I saw you drinking like that you had an infestation in your mine. What's the occasion today? Mine dried up and you need to find a new one?"

[djhyland]

Arulia gives her mother the two steel coins she's earned, then joins her mother and sister in the dinner preparations but guiltily avoids looking at Niniva. Once everything is on the table, she sits down for dinner with her family.

"I don't know what happened in the market either," Arulia replies, with a cautionary look to Camilla. "I heard that there was some sort of a monster attack, though. I heard the ruckus, too, but only rumors and hearsay for anything else."

[BishGada]

Tulbas answers, "So was I, master. I went to see the performance in the marketplace put by the Gnome and suddenly a Fire Elemental appeared and started to attack the soldiers. Kendra which is now one of the prefect guard, attacked it and I tried to help." He then goes fix dinner for both of them continuing speaking in the process, "Eventually she killed it, but all that happened brought few questions to my mind. The first, which meets our training I believe, is if there are special spells or magic usages which works best against Elementals or any other type of creature out there? I've noticed the thing was immune to normal attacks and I thought he might be immune to spells or spell classes as well, although blinding him with 'Light' spell seemed to work. The second questions is who could conjure such a creature? Or could he teleport himself? The church was targeting true clerics, could that be the outcome? What do you make of it? And what about that job the church issued? Any idea how to hunt down clerics?" Tulbas asks while serving the first ready dish to Magnus and then starts making his own, "Lastly, since I thought of the church job, I was wondering if you have any tasks for me? Such that will involve gaining experience in the Art and help me with the preparation for The Test." After his own dish is ready he takes a bottle of water and goes to sit at the table.

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (Steel Tankard Inn, Common Room)
Bear looks at Haahqae without recognition at first. But the memory seems to come to him through the misty haze of the alcohol in his system. "Oh, yeah...I remember you." He frowns at the mention of his mine. "Not my mine anymore. Belongs to the army now. I came into town to smelt what little ore I had left before they seized it."

Kendra Greylock (Prefect's Mansion)
"A dwarf, hmm? How many dwarves live in the city?" he asks the butler.

"Approximately 160, sire," the old man responds.

Looking back to Kendra, Tethys asks, "I don't suppose you can narrow that down any? Can you describe this dwarf? And what makes you suspect him?"

Tulbas Erogund (Mageware Shop)
"A fire elemental...?" Magnus repeats, intrigued. "How very curious. Conjuring one is no easy feat. It's even beyond my own ability, without the use of a scroll or staff or other summoning device."

He follows Tulbas into the kitchen to continue listening. "Elementals are quite powerful. An apprentice like you wouldn't be able to do much to them. Although blinding it like that was a good idea. Your normal attack spells would have probably worked, except the fire based ones which it would have been immune to. Any weapons would have been useless, unless they were potently enchanted."

He continues, "As for who could do such a thing...the only person I know of would be the high priestess of Takhisis. But nobody else in the city has that kind of power, not even myself. Not unless they had help--a scroll of summoning, or a magical item or staff that is designed to summon such creatures. They are incredibly rare, but they do exist. I have a scroll of conjuring myself, in fact--for emergencies. This means either it was a weaker caster with help...or a very powerful caster that has somehow slipped into the city and evaded my notice."

Sitting down, he says, "Church job? Ah, you are referring to the open bounty they have placed on any heretic priests." He scratches his chin. "If the elemental was conjured by a heretic priest, then I suppose that is your first lead on finding them. If it was instead conjured by a mage, then they are likely a renegade and must be hunted down. The Conclave would never approve of summoning a dangerous elemental in the middle of a populated city." He frowns. "Magic has a bad enough reputation as it is among the mundanes. Either way, whoever is responsible is a serious threat."

After they begin eating, he says, "A task, eh? I might be able to come up with something appropriate. What did you have in mind?"

Arulia Seroth (323 Three Forks, Seroth residence)
"I heard that it was a monster made out of fire," Camilla adds.

"Who did you hear that from?" asks Cassilda.

"Just some people," Camilla answers vaguely, shrugging. "They said it was as big as an ogre and that one of the soldiers attacked it and killed it bravely."

"Was anyone hurt?" asks Vera.

"Some soldiers died, but not a lot. They'll probably start recruiting new ones now to replace them," Camilla says.

"Goodness...some kind of magic, obviously, but..," Vera says. "Why would anyone attack the city like that?"

Grubnick (High Hand Inn, Common Room)
Grubnick returns to the High Hand without incident. Green Tears is behind the bar, as usual. The locals have all vacated, as have the soldiers. All that remain are the travelers that currently stay here. He spots Harrin, the lute player. His lute is still broken and he looks a bit rough around the edges these days. There was that quiet man who always has his nose in a book. There are a few others, too, but the goblin doesn't recognize any of them.

There's a bit of buzz as people are discussing what happened in the market today. Some are curious as to where the monster came from, others are afraid more of them might appear.

Shima Longfoot (Grinning Goat Tavern)
"She's not here," the barman answers. "If you have a message, I can send word to her."

[Chris1234]

"Yes, thanks. It's 'if I needed to get some help to finish the clearance job, would that be permitted? I could make sure they didn't know where it is.' Thanks," Shima nods, and then bustles back to Greggorin's place.

[HorizonsDream]

"The hood of his cloak was up, but I remember seeing a little bit of red hair," Kendra explains.

[TristenC]

Grubnick orders dinner and tries to avoid Harrin, hoping the man doesn't recall their brief conversation about the old gods. He speaks to Green Tears, How are things here today? Any news aside from the obvious?

[Haahque]

"Wow, that sucks. What did they give you for it?" Now the army is taking heroically-liberated mines from people? Haahqae doesn't care that much about what happens to people after they gratefully see him off for doing a good job, but he does like feeling like he's making a positive difference in the world. Having the people he saved from the giant carted off as slaves and the mine he rescued seized by the army makes him feel even worse. He's tried so hard, but since the army arrived everything, everything has been going wrong.