CH. 3: Mages, Mages Everywhere

[JadedDM]

Night passes, and the following morning begins.

Haahqae (Steel Tankard Inn, Room 15)
Having spent the night studying Sekla's book and scrolls, Haahqae eventually drifted off to sleep in his warm bed. When morning arrives, he awakens to the sound of rain falling on the roof above. He involuntarily shivers under his covers. Today is even colder than yesterday was. Winter is coming, and it won't be long before that rain turns to snow.

Rising, his first order of business--as always--was to crack open his own spellbook and memorize any new spells for the day.

Kendra Synclair (2527 Market Street, Greylock's Gorgeous Gems)
Kendra awakens in Norris' bed to the sound of rain hitting the rooftops. It was a cold morning, and the windows were frosted over. Norris was already gone, likely downstairs preparing his shop for the day. She had managed to get out of doing anything last night by citing her wounds, and so he had left her alone. Speaking of which, she felt slightly better today. That spear wound she had taken the day before, when that slig in the pit trap suddenly threw the weapon at her, was starting to heal up. But it was still quite tender. Had she not been wearing her armor, it likely would have killed her.

Gregeddin (15 Market Street, Gregeddin's parent's house)
Gregeddin wakes up in his own small bed that morning to the sound of rain falling on the roof. The windows to his house were frosted over, but it was still warm inside, thanks to the fire in the hearth. His parents were already gone--likely off to their jobs for the day.

Peeling off the bandages that Coroccoco had applied to him yesterday, he finds that wound that kobold gave him seemed to be on the mend. Perhaps with another couple of days of rest, it would heal entirely.

Darga (Clover Park)
Darga had spent the night out in the cold rain, in the park. He had found a group of people that had seemed friendly and joined them. They were a pair of humans, a man and woman who claimed to be husband and wife. The man was a large fellow with a black beard and a nasty scar across his left cheek. The woman was smaller, skinnier with filthy blonde hair. Mistaking Darga for a hill dwarf, as many humans do, they welcomed him to their little camp warmly.

With no bedroll or even a blanket, he had done his best to try and get comfortable by the small fire they had started, covering up with his cloak.

It had been a miserable night. His wound ached and he felt weak still from his near death experience. As the night passed, the rain grew heavier and the air colder.

When he wakes the next morning, the family is gone and the fire is dead. What's more, he finds that his pack had been emptied. The 200 copper pieces, 613 steel pieces and three gemstones are gone. Luckily, he still had his magic staff. Likely, due to his carving on it, the thieves believed it to be worthless.

Tulbas Erogund (Erogundali Mageware Shop, 253 Herbalist Street, second floor)
Tulbas awakens in his bed, up in the attic of his uncle's mageware shop. He can hear it raining outside, the wind blowing some of it across his window, which is all fogged up from the cold.

Shaking off the weird nightmares, he starts his day with his spellbook, memorizing a spell of slumber that he hopes will be useful later on. To his surprise, he finds he still has the energy to memorize a second one. Chalking this up to the power of his mother's ring, he sets to memorizing the same charming spell he used on that Holy Guard not long ago.

===========

It is now Autumn Harvest 16, Dream Dance, 351 AC. It is third watch (9 AM), raining moderately and the temperature is 33 F (0.6 C).

Kendra regains 1 HP after a night of bed rest.
Gregeddin regains 1 HP after a night of bed rest. His condition improves from seriously wounded to moderately wounded.
Darga loses 200 CP, 613 STP, a mottled blue gemstone, a light blue gemstone with yellow flecks, and a aqua color gemstone. He is no longer encumbered; his movement rate increases to 6.
Tulbas memorizes Sleep and Charm Person.

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra lets out a small groan as she pulls herself out of bed. She was still wounded, even though she was feeling slightly better. It takes her a little longer than normal to make herself look decent before she finally makes her way downstairs mostly to see what Norris was doing. "Is there anything that can be done for these wounds?" she asks.

[Haahque]

Flipping through his spell book Haahqae chances upon the spell 'Read Magic'. "Ah yes this could be useful," he agrees with no one in particular, "I've been wondering what's on that there scroll, and there's nothing that I hate more then something which I don't know."

Once he's satisfied his morning readings have gone well, he puts his book back in it's hiding spot, gets dressed and descends the stairs to the dining room.

(Ooc: Haahqae memorizes the spells read magic and Audible glamor today.)

[JadedDM]

Kendra Synclair (2527 Market Street, Greylock's Gorgeous Gems)
Kendra finds Norris downstairs, preparing his shop for opening. "Yes," he says. "You can stay in bed and wait to heal," he points out. "Moving around is just going to open your wounds and make it harder to heal up."

Haahqae (Steel Tankard Inn, Room 15)
After memorizing his new spell, Haahqae descends to the dining room. The place is packed, as usual, mostly with refugees. It's surprisingly warm down here, likely due to all of the body heat. Nevertheless, most of the people cram themselves together as close to the hearth as possible to keep warm.

The barkeeper--Haahqae still can't seem to recall the man's name--stands behind the bar, serving watered down ale to customers. Various beleaguered servers wander about, taking and delivering orders.

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

(OOC: Staying in bed the whole day, 24 hours, will heal 3 HP instead of 1.)

[HorizonsDream]

"But I'm not one to really just lay around in bed all day," Kendra admits. That idea was pretty boring. "I probably need to turn in my uniform to the Seekers at some point too."

[mgbevan]

Gregeddin wakes and assess what he needs to do today. Meet at the mage shop in the morning. There was no point lugging this pack around, Gregeddin thought to himself. He decides to leave his pack and most of the coin here at home. (550 stp will be left at home). He keeps his new sword and the remaining 34 or so stp and the copper on his belt, and with his armour heads out into the city. Food and cold. The first thoughts he had. A detour via the market could solve both of these. Warm bread, and a nice looking coat, no maybe an important looking coat. One to match the part of this nice sword anyway...

[BishGada]

Tulbas wakes up. He needs a moment to recollect himself. 'What a strange dream.' He thinks to himself. Tulbas goes down stairs to freshen up thinking again on the development of the plot he entered himself into. Today I will have more time to work with the people we met last evening. I wonder will they turn out to be honest or betray Daxia or me at some stage. He thinks while filling bowl of cold water to wash his face. All freshened up Tulbas returns to his room, clears his mind and focuses on memorizing the spells he thought the last night would help him in saving Daxia. Being able to memorize twice the spells he used to be able to, both amazes and pleases him and he feels a little bit invincible.
Smiling to himself he takes his packs and goes down again to have a breakfast and talk with his uncle, Raetmal.

[Haahque]

Haahqae looks around the room hungrily for a place to sit down. "If I was workin' inna mine and I got paid to do it, I guess that must make me a minor. I never thought mining was such a brief and pleasant job."

Finding a seat, Haahqae sits, signals a server and rummages around for some change. "Oh my, I probably shouldn't spend my last steel on food. I hope I can get something scrumptious for just a hand full of copper. I should be able to, after all I bet half these refugees aren't spending steel on their meal every day."

When the server arrives Haahqae asks her, "What's the best breakfast a minor can get for five copper?"

[JadedDM]

Kendra Synclair (2527 Market Street, Greylock's Gorgeous Gems)
"Yes, you ought to check in with them," Norris agrees. "They probably think you are dead at this point."

Gregeddin (Grand Market)
Leaving his backpack, most of his coin, and his extra swords at home, Gregeddin finds it's much easier to move around now. He heads out to the Grand Market to pick up some food and maybe a flattering cloak.

Upon arriving, he finds that while the market had been reopened after the recent riot, it's still in quite a mess. Holy Guards patrol the area in heavy numbers, attempting to break up any rallies or protests the refugees are trying to form. There are quite a few people wearing grey robes, signifying their allegiance with the Master. Likely out of fear of trouble, most customers keep their distance, meaning not too much buying and selling is actually going on in the area.

Tulbas Erogund (Erogundali Mageware Shop, 253 Herbalist Street)
When he steps downstairs, Tulbas finds breakfast is already waiting for him--hot oatmeal and some tea. Raetmal is nearly finished with his own, having started early.

Haahqae (Steel Tankard Inn, Common Room)
The server--the same woman who was speaking with Darga last night before he disappeared--says to Haahqae, "Five copper? You can get some bread and cheese, maybe some eggs and a small ale with that."
===========

Gregeddin is no longer encumbered. His movement rate increases to 12.

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra grabs her seeker guard clothing, waves good-bye to Norris, and makes her way to headquarters. "I'm sure he is going to love this. One less person to help keep things under control," she says to herself.

[BishGada]

"Good morning uncle." Tulbas says cheerfully. "This morning I felt the ring's power. It's amazing. I know it's unreasonable but when I wear the ring I feel connected to the family, knowing it is a heirloom and that mom used it. It makes me stronger, emotionally. More determined and somewhat comforted." he says his eyes glitter.
"I heard some noises last evening. It wasn't that black robed mage again I hope, was it?"

[mgbevan]

This is certainly different... Pretty sure I prefer the old style of market
Gregeddin's features harden with his displeasure of the scene before him, though now his expression appears that he is a tired and glum citizen like the rest of them, instead of a hungry bard looking for a new coat.

He tries to strike up conversations with people that are neither holy guard or grey robed cultists, the act of trying to buy some bread should make him look inconspicuous enough, he thought, and given the atmosphere, he imagined it would take asking a few different people to find out all he wanted.

"Greetings, what's the word out today?"
"Since when have these grey followers become so bold?"
"And are the Seekers tolerating this now?"
"Are the guard being hard on the people of Haven?"

[JadedDM]

Kendra Synclair (Old Keep)
Kendra steps out into the cold rain and makes her way to the old keep on the hill that the Holy Guard use for their headquarters, barracks and armory. Her armor helps a bit in keeping out the cold, but she realizes she really need to start dressing for the cold; a hat and cloak would come in handy around now.

When she arrives, she steps inside, is directed to Orin's office at the front, and steps in to find him writing at his desk. He immediately stands upon seeing her. "Where the Abyss have you been? You never showed up yesterday, and your family had no idea where you were either!"

Tulbas Erogund (Erogundali Mageware Shop, 253 Herbalist Street)
"No," his uncle replies. "It was those adventurers we met yesterday, actually. They traded in a magic staff for some lesser items and purchased some potions, presumably for today's little excursion."

Gregeddin (Grand Market)
Gregeddin buys a loaf of bread for a few copper, and hugs it close to his chest so it doesn't get too soggy from the rain. As he moves around, he asks questions and listens carefully to the answers.

He learns that the grey-robed men, disciples of the Master, are growing in number every day--sometimes up to a hundred or two a day, in fact. The Holy Guard are outnumbered and don't have the prison space to arrest them all. Plus, word on the street is that they are afraid of causing more riots by arresting more of them after what happened when Darewind was locked up.

Furthermore, despite their already thin numbers, there are rumors that at least three Holy Guards have recently vanished. Their bodies were not found in the aftermath of the riot, and nobody--not even their families and friends--have any idea what became of them.

==========

Gregeddin spends 3 CP on a loaf of bread.

[HorizonsDream]

"I was helping someone, and it took longer than I expected it to," Kendra says as she holds out her Seeker uniform. "Which is why I assume I'm fired, so here is your uniform back." She didn't really seem all that upset about this aspect. Being a seeker guard was probably one of the hardest things she had ever done, and she was glad to be done with it.

[Haahque]

"Bread, cheese and ale? That sounds grand, please and thank you." Haahqae replies, and waits for the food while he starts going over what the third scroll could possibly be.

It's secrets are locked to the casual reader, which means it must be a spell, and probably one of some power, if the books he read are any indication. Judging by Sekla's book it's probably not extremely powerful, but you never know with scrolls. "Oh I hope it's some powerful divination." he says to no one in particular.