Goriel and beyond, part 4

[Drannin]

Harker smirked at his new customer. "Well, my good man, I think we can can come to an arrangement." The two started haggling. "So, anything else you're interested in, or did you only come to the market to look at my wares? Not that I can blame you."

[Alberich]

[OOC: Query: what's the status of the merchant Harker "replaced" - still on the scene, gone off somewhere, or what? There might be some other NPC's showing up and a local merchant, if he's still around, might have a thing or two to say about how business is normally done here...]

[Graybeard]

OOC:

[OOC: Query: what's the status of the merchant Harker "replaced" - still on the scene, gone off somewhere, or what? There might be some other NPC's showing up and a local merchant, if he's still around, might have a thing or two to say about how business is normally done here...]

The answer can be whatever it needs to be, but I had imagined him to be a vendor from out in the boonies who had gone back to his home camp after he sold out of the wares he'd brought into town. In this model, he wouldn't be in town any more. If it's more convenient for him to still be there, though, he can be.

The business model that I'd been assuming was that the marketplace itself was a much smaller and more chaotic version of, say, Izmailovsky Market, with which I have some past experience. The majority of the place would be run by the local "mob," with a small district for out-of-towners who are tolerated as long as they don't set up camp there for very long, but rather, come and go in a few days' time at the most. (Settle in for more than that, and you come under the thumb of the big clans.) That is the part of the thing that would have been occupied first by the guy that Therese wanted to deal with, then by Harker. Therese would much prefer to deal with an out-of-towner, the better not to be recognized, rather than by one of the "regulars" in the main, mob-controlled part of the market.

[Alberich]

Before returning to his home in the boonies, and after seeing something of yesterday's scene, the merchant had explained some of the "way of things" to Harker. Around here, a successful business, especially one that involved foreign or out-of-town trade, pretty quickly came under the "protection" of one of the clans, with the indulgence of whatever clans stood above them. After yesterday's visit from Malyuta Duravsky, it seemed that Harker's business would get its "patronage" from the highest clan of all, which would probably send a couple of layabouts with too many weapons and too much time on their hands - to signal the clan's protection and collect their share of the revenues.

As he'd added in a whisper, it really wasn't that difficult to give them a much smaller share than they thought they were getting...fierce warriors though they might be, these kinds of men were not that good with numbers. There were some exceptions in Clan Gibazov, but the Gibazovs were out of the running if Duravsky was doing this.

So, Therese noticed such men as that - but as just another customer, it was easy enough to avoid unwanted attention from them. They weren't paying close attention to anything except, sometimes, Harker's choicer artworks. They didn't stay around all the time either - their purpose being more to signal their clan's patronage than to monitor very closely what the business was doing.

[OOC: I've moved and will not be so "intermittent" now.]

[Drusia]

Argus grumbled sleepily. "Coming, coming..." A few moments later, he was up and blinking awake tiredly. "Hello, Drusia. So, what disaster are we dealing with this morning?"

"None so far," I reply cheerfully. "Just reassuring Rose that I am very much in touch with the local customs." Vague, but accurate. Anyway, the Eli situation isn't being dealt with this morning - and the conversation has already been had on that matter.

"I would like to speak with - Tim, was it? - at some point," I continue. "I feel we got off on the wrong foot yesterday due to my concern for Eli's situation."

-- Drusia

[Graybeard]

"No, no, just this. A -- pleasure doing business with you," Therese smiled as she handed Harker a few coins, in exchange for a carefully wrapped bundle containing the "art work." (She was privately repulsed by the implications of the thing, but at least it was equal-opportunity perversion, and she'd had to deal with worse to do business in Goriel.) The Duravsky goons seemed disinterested; good, that would make things cleaner.

As soon as she was sure she was unobserved, she bent her head closer to Harker's. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Please tell your master that I have business with Clan Chepilesky this morning. When I am done, we should talk again, on the matters we discussed last night. He will know where to find me." She set off without waiting for a reply. [OOC: Retconned to bring this into alignment with the way things had gone yesterday; I'd forgotten that Therese had already learned that Harker was Argus' familiar. Good; that makes some things easier, just as with the goons.]

[Graybeard]

Well, one more problem to deal with ... before getting to the big problems, thought Sister Rose. "Excuse me for a moment," she said. "I suggest you two talk about magical defenses to -- whatever is going on with Eli."

She stepped out to where Kirassia was waiting patiently. This girl is a gem, she thought. I wish we could take her with us ... but it just wouldn't be practical. "Thank you for your patience," she smiled, aware that this level of courtesy between a chieftain's wife and a getera wasn't totally normal, but no longer caring; the relationship wasn't like that any more. "I don't suppose you heard anything from Tim's chambers while we were -- conferring?" Now why is she looking at me like that?

"Interesting that you ask, my lady," Kirassia said. "Valentina came out a few minutes ago. She said that her master passed a bad night, a hard night. She said he would not allow her to comfort him." (Imagine that, thought Rose.) "But now he is in need of a bath. She went to fetch water and towels."

A bath? With her doing the honors? And he wouldn't let her touch him before? This sounds odd. "Thank you," she said, and went to knock quietly on the young man's door. "Tim? Are you decent?"

[Alberich]

"Mmmm....mmm?" said Tim. Hoisting himself to one arm, he looked around, slowly registering where he was - the awfulness of it taking a few moments to hit him. "Who's there?"

"Rose."

Oh good Lord what happens now...? And is Eli finished? Yet a tiny little piece of him was actually grateful that it was Rose. He was dreading this interview. But at the same time he wanted to talk to someone. He'd seen things through the Silka's eyes that he hadn't been able to piece together yet. Talk -- with someone who knew things -- would help. And who else was there? No outright heathen would begin to understand what was weighing on him. And probably not Brad either. With this dark-secret-deniable mission they were on, he wouldn't be allowed to discuss it with Father Boris or the other Orthodox at the embassy, even if he'd been given liberty to run back to them right now...Rose was really the only choice. And at least she hadn't thrown him to the elf. Unspeakable thought.

He scrambled to the door as fast as he could - he hadn't even undressed for bed - and pulled it open. He was looking disheveled, wild-eyed, and unshaven, and he wasn't standing up straight either. Yet he was glad she was here and triple-glad she was alone. He made a "come in" gesture, and backed up awkwardly, falling into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. There was enough furniture, and enough room, for her to take whatever position, and whatever initiative, she pleased.

Tim hadn't spoken a coherent word yet. The owner of this room wouldn't think much of how awkward he looked in front of this woman, but Tim wasn't giving a thought to that.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Rose would have just answered "Rose" rather than "Sister Rose," but it really doesn't matter, so:]

Luminosita's Nethers, Sister Rose thought. What's got into him? It wasn't just that Tim looked unkempt ... there was also the smell. Food poisoning? Too much to drink? (Tim?) Something else?

Every Luminositan cleric with any magical aptitude at all (which was to say, essentially all of them) was expected to learn a basic Hygiene spell. Many called it "Purification," but it was the same thing, and it was one of those services that went along with the Smiting rituals, particularly in the congregations where the smitings were practiced more -- energetically than in others. Tim knew the spell; Rose was well aware of that. Why hadn't he used it?

She didn't ask, but rather, launched directly into the spell, not worrying about the young man's appearance, but addressing the odor. There; they'd at least be able to have a civil conversation now ... and she put the ball in his court. "Rough night, huh?" she asked neutrally, pulling up a chair.

[Drusia]

"Excuse me for a moment," she said. "I suggest you two talk about magical defenses to -- whatever is going on with Eli."

I look at Argus. Argus looks at me.

"Um..." I say. "This isn't normally something an elf would say, but... I'm not actually very knowledgable about magic. Aside from my own, obviously. Other than 'fire' and 'summoned animal things' I'm not really sure what useful information I have to tell you about Eli's spellcasting. I was rather hoping you might have more information, actually."

I shrug. Typically, when dealing with a spellcaster, I rely on not being noticed in the first place and putting a sharp, vibrating object through said spellcaster's ribcage as quickly and unobtrusively as possible. Spellcraft was never my strong suit.

-- Drusia