CH. 10: Hard Choices

[Chris1234]

Shima puts her tools away and requips shield and spear ready to follow on behind.

[Haahque]

Having finished his performance, Haahqae collects his torches back into one hand and gives a low bow. "Thank you. I hope you all enjoyed my little demonstration here today, and I hope to see you at the full performance at tenth watch on Monday. Ticket prices are usually 1 steel a seat, but for those fine souls who help protect us every day, soldiers get in for half price, just five silver for the whole performance." One more bow, then Haahqae makes his way to the exit.

No damages were caused, Haahqae can be confident that his next performance here will be free.

For now, Haahqae should make his way over to the grinning goat to repeat his performance.

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra looks around cautiously as she walks over to the window to close it. She starts looking for signs that perhaps someone broke into her home.

[spyguy1503]

Ne-Chanz slips into the middle spot, staying vigilant.

[djhyland]

Arulia shakes her head at her sisters' question. "That's not how things work," she begins. "I don't know much about Fizban yet, and I don't know much more than you about magic, either. Healing your hand was a small thing, but even so, it was hard to do...I think that helping father would need more magic, more than I can use. But I think that even if I could, I don't think Fizban works that way. He's not like the Dragon Queen--even if I could, he wouldn't want me to strike down people like that priest of hers did to Darewind. He probably wouldn't want me to break down the walls or...or burn the building down, either." She sighs sadly. "I wish I could call a miracle to release Father, but I think we'll need to find different way to help."

Wishing to stave off her sisters' expected disappointment, Arulia asks, "How is your hand, Cassilda? Have you had any more trouble with Una?"

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (Grinning Goat Tavern)
By the time Haahqae reaches the Grinning Goat, it is Evening Watch. It will be curfew soon.

The place is bustling at this hour. A shady looking man with an eye-patch tends the bar, and the tables are packed with dangerous looking men and women in leathers, heavy cloaks, and facial scars. There are no draconians here at all, but there are numerous goblins, including goblin soldiers that are drinking off-duty.

Kendra Greylock (2527 Market Street, Greylock's Gorgeous Gems)
When Kendra closes the window, she spots a drop of blood on the windowsill. Searching carefully with her candle, she spots another drop over by the staircase.

Arulia Seroth (323 Three Forks, Seroth residence)
The young girls are obviously disappointed that their big sister can't whip up a miracle to get them out of this mess. "No wonder she's winning the war then," Camilla notes.

In response to Arulia's question, Cassilda says, "I keep my head low and try not to make waves. She kicks and hits me a lot, but never enough to leave bruises. And she hasn't burned me again, probably because I'm already slower with this bandage on. Speaking of which, how much longer should I wear it? It's been a week."

Grubnick (Noble Street)
There are no goblin soldiers in the noble district. The goblin soldiers only patrol the farmer and harbor districts, while the draconians patrol the merchant and noble ones.

Grubnick tries to watch where the soldiers go from his vantage point outside the district, but it's difficult due to the wall surrounding it. He thinks they turn to the south, but it's impossible to be sure and he can't sure. His attempts are noticed by the guards at the gate and they eye him suspiciously.

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (Haven North Sewers)
Felran takes the lead. He hopes the door and steps through, finding himself in a narrow corridor that runs north to south. Ne-Chanz's torch hinders his infravision so he can't see very far. But it looks like the way south leads to the other side of the bridge they were trying to cross earlier, while the north way leads to another room.

[TristenC]

Wow! Look at all those fancy houses! How much does it cost to live in one of those? I bet 30 guys could live in one of those things! He winds down as he realizes the baaz aren't in the talkative mood. Nevermind, rich humans are always so stuck up anyway... he turns back and heads to the mage shop, taking stock of things outside.

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra frowns and slowly follows the drops of blood towards the staircase.

[Haahque]

On his way to the Grinning Goat, Haahqae notices that it's getting late.

There are things he must do in the Tankard tonight, and it just wouldn't do if he's too late to have anyone around. The Tankard isn't exactly the most visited place of recent, but he's got to hit it when enough people are around for him to make his point.

Turning around, Haahqae hurries off towards the tankard to get there by evening watch.

[chese780]

"We want to check the time before we go any farther?" Felran says to the others. "We did spend a while standing around..."

(OOC: Rule of Thumb: Always check the time before you enter another segment of a 'dungeon')

[djhyland]

Arulia frowns at her sisters' disappointment--while she doesn't expect them to understand, she can't help but feel that she's let them down.

In response to Cassilda's question, Arulia asks, "Well, Father's burned himself at the forge before, hasn't he? How long has it taken him to heal?" She thinks for a moment, trying to remember the last time it had happened--Father is careful enough around the forge that he doesn't burn himself often, and she can't remember him ever burning himself as badly as Una burned Cassilda.

(OOC: Arulia would like to use her Healing proficiency to estimate the time it takes for a wound like Cassilda's to heal. Unless you say otherwise, she'll give her an answer based on the results of a check.)

"I'm very sorry that Una beats you," Arulia continues. "Just...just keep your head down, work hard, and don't draw her attention. I'll keep looking for a way to make things better, but...well, with Father gone, it's going to be even harder."

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (Steel Tankard Inn, Common Room)
Haahqae hurries back to the Tankard before he gets caught out after curfew. Cassandra is the only one on staff, and she's hurrying to cater everyone by herself.

An old woman sits near the fire, nursing a drink. Haahqae recognizes her as Agatha, the wife to Mad Marvin the herbalist. She is sitting with an elderly dwarven woman, and the two are chatting.

To the west sits a young woman by herself with long brown hair. She has some soot on her hands and cheeks and is wearing a leather apron. She is speaking with a young man with a frazzled beard and wild eyes.

Two strangers sit at opposite ends of the bar, wearing heavy cloaks with their hoods up. They both seem to keep to their own business and have little interest in what is going on around them.

A lone kapak sits alone near the entrance, watching everyone who comes and goes. Three baaz sit near the bar, drinking and swearing and laughing. Cassandra gives them full priority, jumping the second they call for her; which they do quite often.

Kendra Greylock (2527 Market Street, Greylock's Gorgeous Gems)
Kendra climbs the stairs to the second floor warily. She notices her bedroom door hangs open, and she spots a bloody hand-print on the door jamb. The blood is still wet; it is very recent. As she approaches the door, she hears a loud 'thump' like a body hitting the floor, coming from within the room.

Arulia Seroth (323 Three Forks, Seroth residence)
Thoron was always careful at the forge, but sometimes accidents happen even to masters. And his apprentices would burn themselves fairly often, at least at first. Arulia has treated enough of such burns to know that one as severe as the one Cassilda had would take about three weeks to heal. It has only been a week so far, so she would need to keep up the charade for at least two more weeks. The real issue is, often the pigmentation of the skin is different after the burn heals up. As Cassilda's burn was healed magically, it looks as if it were never burned in the first place. This might be difficult to explain, if anyone knowledgeable about such things notices.

Cassilda nods at Arulia's advice, but Camilla frowns deeply. "So what are you going to do? If even your god can't help...I mean, that was the only thing we could even think of. If this dragon goddess is so much more powerful...maybe we should ask her for help instead."

Grubnick (Mageware shop)
Grubnick arrives at the mageware shop at Evening Watch, meaning that curfew will be in effect soon. He finds the shop is currently closed for the evening. He can try knocking to see if someone will answer.

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (Haven North Sewers)
The three continue to discuss what they should do.

[TristenC]

Grubnick knocks, making sure he will have time to get back to the High Hand before curfew and hoping silently that Tulbas is there alone.

[Chris1234]

"Well you wanted the women that stole from you. The job here was to remove monsters. Plural. So we haven.t done the job yet and you won't get your women. And it's not been an hour yet that we've been down here," rationalises Shima. "But just a minute, let's see what the rats that we saw across the bridge were eating."

But if the others actually do proceed forwards through the door then Shima will follow them, otherwise will quickly explore to the south to identify remains, look for anything useful or valuable.

[BishGada]

Tulbas nose is deep in the books as he works carefully to copy the new spells to his own spellbook. Suddenly he hears the knocks, looks at the window and wonder how fast the evening has set. He quickly goes to the ground floor and first peek from a side window to see who is a the door. Seeing Gobax he quickly opens the door and let him in. "Hi! Welcome!" he says still trying to return to reality after his great effort. "Did you find anything about Gregeddin?"

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(OOC: During the time from noon to now Tulbas will try to copy 1) Protection from good 2) Scare, Stinking cloud.
Can he try to copy 3d level spell? If so he will try to copy Monster summoning I too).