Naya, Mavec, and Illaria
The tavern was the first stop for the trio. What good party could happen without beer and other intoxicants? Illaria took the lead, heading towards the counter. It was nearing noon, and not very many people were there yet. It made sense; most day laborers were too busy to be here now.
"What can I do you for, beautiful?" the buff Aasimar asked as he looked up from polishing a glass. Illaria ignored the comment but leaned in just a bit, giving him a vibrant, warm smile.
"I know it might be last minute, but we were hoping you could cater an event for tonight," said Illaria
"For tonight, that would be rather hard to do. Normally, we need a few days' notice. What's the scale of this event?" he asked as he set the glass down on the countertop.
"We'd like to host a block party here on Scythefell Street. To officially celebrate moving in," Illaria said. Though this wasn't a permanent place for her, she still wouldn't mind knowing the neighbors a bit better. She'd already been away from the sea long enough to miss it.
"What's the budget, and will you pay extra for the rush job? I'll have to contact my part-timers and ask them to come in," she took out the purse of coins Alvec had given her and slid seven of them across the table.
"Ah, I see. Will you want us to stay as servants the night? Or will it just be set up?" he asked.
"I don't think we'll mind cleaning up," Illaria stated. "We might have a bit of gold, but we're not incapable of doing some work ourselves. So just supply and set up the food and drink, then you're welcome to join in."
"I accept," he said, as he palmed the eight pieces of platinum from the table. "You guys own the compound of the Six Strengths, right?"
"Yes, and dare I even be asking this. But do you, perchance, happen to have any sort of "cheese" beer in stock?" Illaria asked.
The man laughed. "It's not very popular, but Ben from Archers Market sold us a few barrels of it. He's hoping it will catch on, but thus far, it's been a little lackluster."
"Please bring some of that. Bait will lose his mind over it."
The man let out a sigh. "You keep some strange company for such a pretty lady. Mind if I ask why you run around with him?"
"I sail with the Blue Banner army. So does he. When you be fighting pirates, you either want a friend who can keep you alive or a friend who can make your enemies dead. Bait is the latter. He's an expert with that musket and has saved our lives many times just by killing things, meaning to be killing us," Illaria said, her smile twisting to a smirk.
"Alright, that makes a lot of sense. Anyway, we'll see you all later. I've apparently got a hectic day ahead of me," he said as he left the counter unmanned.
"Where to next, gang?" She asked, turning to her companions who had let her handle the negotiating with the muscle angel, as Bait had called him.
"The Bakery, of course! We need some treats if we're having a party, right?" Naya asked rhetorically.
"She's not wrong," Mavec said.
The group departed, Naya took the lead this time toward the bakery. She entered first. Echo stayed outside, leaning through the windows. Naya laughed as she glanced outside to see Echo's head nestled into a flower planter filled with irises. Bandar manned the counter once more as someone else shuffled behind him doing some cleaning.
"Welcome back, little miss. These some of your friends you talked about last time?" he asked.
"Yes, they are; thank you so much for last time's sampler. We're going to be hosting a party tonight! You're very much invited, and we'd like to purchase some stuff from you today for it. Illaria, how much gold do we have to spend?" she called back over her shoulder.
Illaria stepped forward and placed a single coin into her palm. "We'll take as much as possible for one of these," Naya said as she placed the single platinum onto the counter.
His eyes went wide. "Usually, I don't deal in coins this valuable. A gold piece alone buys you one of those samplers I gave you last time. This'll get you ten times that... And considering the number of items I have ready... you'll wipe out most of my shop for the day. Do you just want deserts, or do you want some loaves of bread too?" he asked before he stepped out from behind the counter, opened the front door, and flipped the open sign around to closed.
"We've got the tavern down the road supplying most of the food. Mostly desserts sound like a good bet to me," Illaria stated.
"Toss in a few loaves of fine bread, though! The tavern's bread can't hold a candle to the baker's bread," Mavec said.
"Sounds good, but what time would you like us over there?" The baker asked.
"I believe we were planning for around sunset," Naya stated. "What else do we even need, guys?"
"Torches," Mavec replied. "We're going to need to have some small fires going and have torches; make sure we have some good light to party to."
"Music, we've got to find someone to play for us for a few hours at least," Illaria chimed in as she practically bounced with the thought.
"That shouldn't be too hard; once the rumors of this little get-together start flying, it shouldn't be too long until you get someone showing up offering to play it, I'm sure. Lots of hungry bards in this town, all looking for their opportunity to shine," the baker said.
"Any reason for that? Is Sha-Laial known as a good launching point for bards?" Mavec asked.
"Most would like to play in the concert houses of Ac-Aziza someday; good luck getting booked at any Ac if you don't even have a reputation filling taverns in a Sha," the baker replied.
"Alright, so it's more any Sha will do," Mavec said, nodding.
"And Sha-Laial is just well situated." The man said. "We'll have this delivered in time. My family and I will gladly attend for at least a bit. The young ones have a strict bedtime."
"Alright, we'll be running along then. We've still got to go invite everyone at the boarding house!" Naya said, heading for the door.
"Hey, is Ij supposed to be going into your place? I saw him sneaking in the side door when I was closing shop last night," asked the baker.
"Whose Ij?" Mavec asked.
"He's one of the kids who lives in the boarding house. He's near your age, a painter of some sort. Can't say I've really looked at his wares too much. I only see his work when he puts them out during festivals, and he always seems glum to be painting portraits of nobles."
"We haven't even met him, so he doesn't have permission," Mavec said, annoyance touching his voice.
"Well, he lives at the boarding house; maybe you should chat with him before he sneaks in again," said the baker.
"Oh, we will. We Will." Mavec said before he stormed out the door and stomped towards the boarding house. He knocked on the door loudly until someone finally opened it.
Edis looked out the door. "Ah, Marlvec, how can I help?"
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"It's Mavec, but anyway, we need to speak with someone who lives here. Names Ij," he said, as he jammed his hand on the door so that it couldn't be quickly slammed shut on him.
"We also want to invite you to a block party tonight!" Naya shouted from behind him.
"Alvec got it in his head to throw together a celebration to commemorate our official moving into the tower," Illaria added.
"Oh, that sounds lovely; Nora and I will surely attend!" Edis said.
"Anyway, where is this Ij fellow?" Mavec demanded again.
"He's going to be the third door on the right. Come on in," Edis said.
Mavec pushed the door open and slid past Edis, walked down to the indicated door and pounded on it repeatedly. "Ij, you open up right now, you rat bastard; we need to talk about your sneaking into our house!"
Muffled sounds came from inside the room, but no actual reply. Naya and Echo, still outside, saw a tall, thin young man with stylish black hair pulling a shirt over his head as he climbed out the boarding house window.
"Echo. Fetch, but be easy," she said as the man ran for the street. The wolf sprung into action, sprinting towards the young man. He barreled into his legs, taking the boy down. He tumbled hard onto the grass and a moment later found a wolf's paw pressed against his chest as it patiently sat beside him.
"Would you happen to be Ij?" Illaria asked as she approached him with Naya in tow.
"Are you death?" he asked, looking up at them both.
"Why do you ask that?" Naya asked.
"I just got attacked by a wolf, and now I see two heavenly women. I'm pretty sure I'm dead, and you're here to shuffle my soul to wherever it will rest for all eternity. May Sarosa forgive me for never realizing my visions."
"Oh, hush now, you're going to live. Echo didn't even use his teeth," Naya said.
"Now, what have you been doing sneaking into our courtyard at night?" Illaria asked.
More banging came from inside the house as Mavec continued to wail on the door. Naya cupped her hands over her mouth, making a funnel. "Mavec, we got him; he ran out the window when you started shouting!"
"Good, keep him there!" Mavec stormed back outside, quickly joining the two girls. "So, the baker tells us he's seen you sneaking into our property. What have you been doing there?"
"Whoa, you guys own the Six Strengths compound. Neat." Ij said as he went limp, accepting that there was no point trying to even sit up while Echo had a solid paw on him.
"Hey, we asked a question; you going to answer?" Mavec asked again.
"Well, first, I tried to enter the tower, and WOAH, it was crazy. I've never felt so alive, man. That fear was just so primal, so visceral, reds and blacks and whites all swirling around in my eyes. So much sorrow and despair, mind green, cobalt blue... I had to paint it. So I brought my easel in the next night and subjected myself to it repeatedly until I just KNEW what I needed to paint. It was just so true; it didn't feel fake at all. Like I'd captured a snapshot of the essence of death and fear it evokes in the living. Like the moment transcending, both stretched taut over my canvas and stained so many shades of red. Ahhh, if I could only paint like that all the time," he said as he stared up into the sky.
Mavec stared down at him. This man was very nearly his antithesis. All this talk of the essence of death and whatever mumbo jumbo he was on about didn't concern him. It would, however, be an excellent chance to exploit the situation. "You do anything else while you were there, or was it just painting?" Mavec asked.
"I played with the colony of cats that lives there, and have you checked out that hot spring? Divine."
"Wait, there's a colony of cats there? Why haven't we seen them yet?" Mavec asked.
"I bet it's Echo's fault. Cats aren't exactly known for enjoying dogs. I can't imagine them possibly enjoying the company of a full-on wolf," Illaria stated.
"I can try to track them down without Echo when we return. If they mouse for us, that wouldn't be such a bad thing," Naya said.
"What's this about the hot spring being divine, though?" Illaria asked.
"Well, it's like water, but like the essence of water," said Ij. "It's all strangely dense, and if you hop into it, it feels like it's compressing you lightly. It's really cool; it almost feels like a massage. You should all try it out soon. Can't recommend it enough."
"Alright, well, if you want to paint and use our hot spring, you'll have to pay for it. We want a cut of anything you sell inspired by our house."
"Eh," said Ij with a shrug. "That's a bad business call. No one wants REAL art. Most people want portraits or derivative stuff. Nothing new, nothing exciting. People are painted to look better than they actually are as quickly as they can get one. How about this? I'll give you guys some gold whenever the next festival is. I'm hearing rumors that they're going to hold a Festival of Blades here. I'll be rolling in business then."
"A Festival of Blades?" Naya asked.
"It's a tournament held in big cities," Illaria supplied. "Sometimes nobles use it to bring in visitors, settle disputes, et cetera. Only happens if the city has money to spend on such a lavish event,"
"They were going to hold one a few years ago, but there was a flood, and it did a lot of damage to the docks," the painter on the ground added. "The city had to repair it to get everything running at full speed again. Cost so much that they scrapped the festival, but nothing has gone wrong this year, so we're all hoping we'll hear about it any time now. I'll give you 10% if you let me come in and do my work."
"Make it 20," Illaria responded.
"This is where most of my money this year will come from. I can't give you more than 10%. I'll be suffering enough for my art, eating that cost as is."
Illaria glanced down and had to agree with the mans assessment. His clothing was stained with coffee, and he looked like he didn't bathe nearly often enough. Thin as a rail to boot. "Ten percent, and a free painting," Illaria insisted.
"We have a deal... so uh, could you have this terrifying wolf get off my chest?" Ij asked.
"Let him go, Echo," Naya said, motioning for him to join her. The wolf immediately followed her command and let him get up.
"Alright, pleasure doing business with you. Now, do us one more favor and tell everyone else we're holding a block party here tonight," Mavec said.
"Alright, alright. I'll let Edis and Nora know, and it will be taken care of. Maybe I can paint a scene of it... he mused as he walked back around the building.
"Why is he going that way?" Naya asked. He paused for a moment.
"When I lept out of my window, I may not have grabbed my key, so the doors remain locked. I probably should have thought to grab more than my shirt." He waved goodbye and disappeared around the side of the building.
"What a strange fellow," Naya said. "He was strange, right?"
"Oh yes, he rightly was," Illaria confirmed.
"Artists," Mavec said as they regrouped and continued to hand out invitations to the coming party. They stopped by a shop and exchanged the remaining platinum pieces for gold coins. Some of which Mavec took for himself for a "secret" project he refused to share with the girls. The rest went to Illaria, who booked a few different musicians to perform live for them. Between buying appropriate lighting, the remaining coin was quickly spent. Mavec, upon returning home, retreated into his room with haste, leaving Illaria and Naya to begin setting up where to put the torches and candles. It turned out that the property had plenty of tables they could drag out with Echo's help to set up for the party. It was all coming together.
Bait: The tower
Bait had done everything in his power to make the room his. Several empty jugs of water lay beside him. He had done it; others would have said it was impossible, but he had done it. He had ur-in-ate-d in every possible inch of his room. It stunk, just like a good den should. Now, now all he needed to do was further enhance the natural musk of his room. He needed fur, and bedding, stuff to curl up on and retain his scent. Bait no able to gunsmith in a good goblin room, but dat was ok. They had other clean buildings to house the black powder he would need to make his alchemical cartridges. He would have loved to do his gunsmithing or cheese smithing here, but Illaria insisted that he do both things in clean places. Especially if he wanted anyone to try the cheese. While Bait want to eat cheese, he did hunger to share cheese with Empire. Cheese one of few things that make cividzation worth participating.
No cheese or no boom booms? No Goblins. Ok, maybe Gobo's enjoy some other things. Alcohol big hit with Goblins, but have to put up with things like baths, and smelling clean. He grimaced at the thought. Bait not bathe since last time Illaria made him. That was many moons ago now. It would be many moons more if Bait could get away with it. How else would things stick to Bait? It was important Goblin skill, unique skill, keep things on skin even with no rope or other tools. Mean cheese knives could cling even if Bait no have clothing or pockets, or rope.
Goblins never unarmed if goblin sticky. His task complete, Bait left his room and prepared to dirty up the other spaces he planned to occupy. As he descended the stairs, he noticed he was not moving alone. A red fox was creeping behind him. Alvec's pet fox. No good; it could do voodoo magics and tell Alvec about Bait's plan to sanctify the kitchen and common room. Too risky, Bait have to abandon plan. Fix up kitchen and living room later. Bait need drink more water anyway, reserves empty. What could Bait do instead? Bait need fur, lots of fur to make den good. Many cats living on property. Others not find them yet. Bait could catch them... kill them, skin them. Cure their hides and make den full of fur. Bait could do it... but Bait could do many things he wouldn't do. Cat idea dumb, new plan... steal their fur. He could use this thing called a brush. It pull out hair, and leave cat alive. Bait get cat fur, cat get to live; good solution.
Cat small dough, maybe find bigger animal? Sheep haves soft fur; maybe Bait go find sheep instead and cut their fur. Too many options of where to get fur. Where Bait even find sheep dough? Ask dumb nay-bores? Plan have too many steps, back to combing cats. He snuck outside the tower creeping around until he saw his first victim, a tuxedo cat. He tiptoed as goblin quiet as he could till he was nearly upon the poor cat. Bait soared through the air, pouncing onto the poor thing, brush in hand. He pinned it to the ground with a tiny green hand and started to comb it viciously, harvesting its precious fur as he did so. Getting a small tuft of fur from the hissing and squirming creature took several minutes. Bah, dis no work fast enough. He'd need a whole army of goblins to wrangle enough cats to harvest their fur. He released the cat, which bolted away from him. Bait had new idea head towards the marketplace. Much faster to acquire fleece. Maybe with sticky hands.