Greed is Good (IC)

[Blarghy]

"You should find a few hobbies," he suggests, only partly joking. "It might take a little time for me to set up the meeting. I'll put in the request as soon as I have the chance, but you know how it is. Running a criminal empire seems like busy work. Tight schedules and whatnot. Finley might be quicker to meet us if he knew what we want, but I'd rather not tell his messenger that we're planning to cross the second notorious mob patriarch in Stormgate. Word gets around. Best to be discreet."

Spoiler

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Feel free to wrap up the scene, unless you can think of anything I've missed.

[The Orange Zergling]

Alec

It was true, Thorus didn't have too many hobbies. He was usually married to his work, and to women he could pay. He'd read all the books on dragons he owned many times over, and kept himself in shape whenever he could, but had no real commitments. Which was good, to some degree; he loathed the idea of being shackled to a schedule unless he could just walk away from it, but that had a tendency to burn bridges. "Makes sense t'me." He holds out a hand to be shaken. "Sounds like we've got ourselves an accord."

Spoiler

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I think that's it for me as well.

[Gullara]

In the Lord's Flagon, Cecily is wearing her latest disguise. She stands back from it all for a moment, taking in the entire bar and its occupants. Her attention is of course on the group of guards there, who she sizes up individually, but also what kind of crowd is there, the general air of the place, how much are people drinking, small details like that.

Cecily

The Lord's Flagon was as it usually was, which is to say loud and in generally high spirits. It looked like there was the regular brisk business going with the drinks, though her chosen group of guards weren't having very many of them, likely out of a desire to avoid being tossed in the street drunk, in or out of uniform. There were four of them, two of whom she'd seen before, around the keep or otherwise. Disguised as she was, of course, they wouldn't recognise her themselves.

[Cecily]

Well that she can certainly work with. Cecily navigates herself closer to the guards, but doesn't specifically approach them. She keeps her eye in their direction, and if one of them looks her way, she favours him with a smile. She'll let one of them come to her.

[Thorus]

"Do you really think that there's no possible other explanation for my state of dress than that I'm a prostitute?" Her voice rises a bit at the end there. She is highly offended. Not only that, but now she's going to have some suspicion on herself now that Thorus' notions of what she was up to have been corrected.

Cecily

Thorus furrows his brow. "What else would it be?" he asks, in a tone suggesting that no alternative would be logical. When he was in the army, that was what that sort of thing frequently entailed. That this would change given the completely different locale and circumstances does not seem to occur to him.

[Thorus]

"You're not that dim, Thorus. I know you're not. Think about it a bit longer before you say someting else dumb." The bard is still far from pleased with him. That comes out quite scathing. "A disguise maybe? Doesn't that sound more reasonable?"

Glaffin's Demonstration

"Thorus has the right of it, generals and noble with enough money to spare to become our patrons should be our first targets. After that, when we've made enough to hire and train people to make these alongside me and expand our business to anyone who can afford an engine for what they need. A lot of it will be specialization, this is just a basic model, but we should be able to figure out ones that will work better for stationary work, farming, ships, land travel, perhaps even siege engines." Though the last is distasteful to him, Glaffin is practical and to him, anyone who can afford an engine for their purposes, so long as he can fit the demand, is a valid customer.

Glaffin

He glances sideways to Cecily with a flickering smile. The military and aristocratic demographics aren't currently available to Alec, although he wouldn't mind changing that. In the mean time, Glaffin's other friend is a better choice for advertisement. She could kill two birds with one stone by continuing her investigation and using the contacts she makes to further Glaffin's business. Maybe he'll suggest as much later in private. Or see if Cecily comes up with it on her own; it's a simple plan, so surely she can think of it too, if not something better.

"That's a sound strategy. I'll do what I can. Even without our help, I suspect rumors will spread on their own. You've done something wonderful here; the world won't be long in noticing."

[Glaffin]

Cecily nods, considering their options. "Yes, we'll keep an eye out for you. I doubt we'll be looking long before you have more customers than you can handle. How quickly can you make these?"

[Blarghy]

Thorus

"Indeed we do." Alec firmly grips the other man's hand and grins suddenly and viciously; it's good to plan proper work, having been without it for some time now. "I'll be in touch." With that, he leaves, likely off to continue preparations for his restaurant.

[Destro_Yersul]

Midsummer 2nd

Alec

Despite the initial promise of information, it was some time before Audo's old friend got back to him. The intervening days were spent setting up his business which, as it turned out, was quite an undertaking. Furnishings had been bought and paid for, the staff were contracted and had started the process of finding food and figuring out what to put on the menu as staples. Alec's idea of having something a little different all the time was fine, they told him, but in their opinion you had to have a few signature items: things that were always available and helped define the place.

Ale was another matter entirely. If he wanted alcohol, he would have to either set up a still and make his own, which would take time, or buy some from somebody who was already making it. Or stealing it, as the case would likely be, if he opted to go through Finley.

When the Northerner he had met did get back to him, the news was about what he'd been told to expect: Sam didn't think it was Peggy either, and had Finley picked as most likely for it. Most of Audo's other men were accounted for, but two of them hadn't been around when called on. Either they had moved, or gone missing. It was too early to say as far as Sam was concerned.

On the morning of Midsummer 2nd itself, something interesting happened. The first the pirate heard about it was from Adrian, who had been down by the markets fishing off a bridge. There was a new ship in port, a sleek little schooner called the Far Cry, that had pulled up in the middle of the night and done nothing since. It was taking up a spot at berth without loading or unloading cargo of any sort, which most of the dockhands found somewhat strange.

Thorus

Without much to do except wait for Alec to get back to him about meeting Finley, Thorus had plenty of time to pick up rumours around the city. Nothing in particular cropped up related to his particular interests, but with the dragons all gone that wasn't especially surprising.

He heard about other things, though. There was plenty of the usual gossip: Which merchant was seeing which mistress, who was swindling who, and so on. The other items were more interesting. There was some pie seller along the waterfront who was being rapidly pushed out of business after someone found an enormous rat's tail in their pie. There was a sale on imported silks from Simbai in the markets, after a trading ship stuffed to the gills with fabric came in three days ago. There was also a lot of minor reconstruction work being done in the district surrounding the Arcane Order's guildhall. Something to do with magical explosions, though most of the reports he got were highly exaggerated tales of gigantic multicoloured fireballs.

Glaffin

The worshop space Glaffin had rented was, at the least, easier to set up than Alec's restaurant. Most of the dwarf's time was spent remodelling it slightly, and filling it with tools and equipment. Ulfgar, true to his word, was a ready supply of metal as long as Glaffin could pay for it.

The rest of the dwarf's time was spent talking to prospective buyers. Word of his invention had gone around fairly quickly, what with the information network the Azure had. Guild Membership turned out to come with a good handful of unstated benefits, as well as all the ones he'd been told about.

Interestingly, one of his first offers came from the Royal Engineers. The guild was interested in buying more than just the engine, though - they wanted the design. Other prospective buyers included a shortlist of merchants five or six names long, many wanting to know the upper limits of what such a thing could drive, and the smith who worked out of Stormwatch Keep.

Cecily

Taking the coy approach to the guards she met turned out to pay off well. She didn't learn much at first, as a result of taking the slower method, but nobody seemed to have figured out what she was up to. Her new friend told her about the different shifts he worked at the Keep, and how the men who stood by the door during the Lord's meetings with Flint were usually different, and usually picked out by Flint himself for the duty. He also told her that it hadn't always been like this: The Lord was being unusually paranoid lately.

Spoiler: Cecily OOC

Show

Not enough time to play it out as originally planned. List off any questions you have, and make a Gather Information check at +4 because after a week of talking on and off this guy likes you.

[The Orange Zergling]

Around Town

Thorus always kept an ear to the ground when it came to rumors. Most of them were absolute hogwash, and most of the ones that weren't didn't concern him, but every once in a great while there was something that hinted at a great opportunity or something really bad about to happen. The ones he heard around town didn't seem particularly exciting on the surface, except for the one about the Arcane Order and its explosions. While it was quite likely exaggerated, it assuredly had a grain of truth in it; one did not publicly claim to see multicolored explosions unless there was something that could be mistaken for it. He decides to investigate by seeking out the Arcane Order's guildhall. Why not?

Cecily

Cecily's words didn't faze Thorus at all, but the fact that he had been wrong at all certainly did. He buries his embarrassment deep inside and replaces it with a far more acceptable emotion; anger. With that, he says something that he knows is pushing his luck, "From you? No."

[Blarghy]

Waterfront

Putting a pin in the murder mystery for now--at least until he can talk to his other informant, or a messenger from Finley--Alec goes down to the docks to ask around about sources of good, local food on which to base his staples. Seafood of some sort seems likely, given Stormgate's location, but he wants to make sure first-hand that the fishing crews bring in things worth eating. Depending on what he finds, he might even try to set up a long-term (long as he stays in the city and until it possibly descends into fiery anarchy, anyway) deal for regular supplies.

This is also a good opportunity to check out the Far Cry, something else he'll be asking his first thug friend about, once he's had a look himself.

Spoiler

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Gather Information: (1d20+5)[20]

I was going to roll my own Appraise check to judge any fish and other seafood Alec comes across on the docks, but I'll leave that to you, for fairness (though hopefully it's easy enough to tell what is and is not rotten, at least). If he utterly fails, on the bright side I assume the cooks will be quick to let him know how badly he screwed up. I'd have brought one of them along, but you never know what mischief Alec might find himself in while he's roaming this part of the city. Best not to invite witnesses.

And over the course of the skipped week, Alec gives Adrian 7 of his gold coins, one for each day, bringing his funds down to 10gp.

[Slii Arhem]

Glaffin's Smithy

The Royal Engineers would have to come up with a fairly tempting offer to get a look at his designs, but he didn't reject them outright, simply saying that he might require more than just monetary compensation if they wanted to scoop his business out from under him by making the same things he was. And all the while he sings the praises of the Azure guild for their aid in getting the word out, telling the merchants who stop by how good it is to have a guild that would go so far to support its members' endeavors, as well as telling them the rough specs of what they could get out of an engine, were they to purchase one.

He couches it in terms they'll understand, saying that up to the power of twenty steeds per engine was doable with the materials he had, but bronze was the only thing he could make it from that didn't rust, and it didn't have the strength to hold back more force than that. Still, unless they wished to haul more cargo than twenty horses could, he felt it was well within what they would require, and reasonably priced to boot.

As a demonstration piece the first night after his forge was put together, Glaffin made a tiny engine, no bigger than his palm, that he could place hanging over a candle to make a fan blow air in any direction he pointed it at. Just something to demonstrate the idea to customers without having to fire up the first full scale engine he'd made.

If any of the merchants are sufficiently impressed, he'll note down what they want out of what they're ordering in terms of power, figure out a price for them, and tell them that he'll add them to his list of orders on a first come basis. As a sweetener, he'll also offer to oversee the installation of their new engines, to ensure they'll run smoothly and have little trouble making them work.

[Destro_Yersul]

Thorus

Finding the guildhall was easily done - by now Thorus had a decent idea of where things were around the city, and getting directions to the guildhall was a simple matter of asking even if he hadn't. He got a few funny looks for his apparent interest, but that was the worst of it.

The Arcane Order's guildhall was quite large, as might be expected. It had one large tower, with a clock face at the top, surrounded by four smaller towers that were only two or three levels tall, at most. One of them looked like it extended out to the edge of the river, and by the sound of creaking wood emanating from that direction there was at least one large waterwheel attached. Most of the reconstruction he'd heard about was on the left side of the guildhall, where many of the nearby buildings looked scorched and blacked. The guildhall itself appeared to have a recently patched hole in its nearest tower, with many cleaner-looking stone bricks placed alongside much older and more weathered ones. The scaffolding for the tower had been taken down, but there was still plenty of it constructed near the non-guild buildings in the area. Some of those even still had holes in them, and one was missing a significant chunk of roof.

Glaffin

Twenty horses was more than enough to impress the merchants, at the least. Price was, of course, another matter, and they were happy to haggle with him for hours on that aspect. It was quite tiresome, really. The smith from the keep was happy enough to pay whatever price he wanted, on the other hand, as long as Glaffin came up and helped install it in his workshop. Unlike the merchants, who wanted to move cargo, this fellow thought it would be a good idea to use it for powering the water pump in his forge. It was currently powered by a donkey, and having a one-horse engine that he could run off fuel he would have been burning anyways sounded like a good deal to him.

The engineers were less forthcoming about what they wanted the design for. The representative they had sent furrowed his brow and huffed into his mustache when the dwarf told him to bring more than money. "What else would you be thinking of?"

Spoiler: OOC:

Show

Roll Diplomacy and/or formulate a convincing sales pitch on how much you want the merchants to pay for their engines.

Alec

Fish was easy to find at the market, and always seemed to be in high demand. In higher demand were vegetables and other food, things that needed to be brought in from outside the city. The nearby farms grew plenty, but if he wanted anything more exotic than the tubers and greens that could be got locally he'd have to pay through the nose for it. Keeping things fresh on long trips was an enormous hassle, requiring the attention of a ranking priest who was usually specially hired for the task. Dried goods were far more affordable.

Finding the Far Cry turned out to be just as easy. Getting close to it was something else. It was moored at its own little dock at the far end of the waterfront, sails drawn in and running no flag. There was no sign of activity on the deck, but a scarred woman in a striped shirt was leaning against one of the dock's pilings giving the evil-eye to anybody who approached. As long as they hung back, she didn't pay them any more attention than that.

Spoiler: OOC:

Show

Alec is able to easily source a fresh supply of local seafood and crops with a roll like that. Paying for it will come out of his restaurants profits, or lack thereof, in order to cut down on bookkeeping a bit.

[Slii Arhem]

Glaffin's Smithy

Glaffin will be happy to install it, and also recommend another engine for what he's calling an auto-hammer, if the royal smith can afford the expense. The smith will be his first customer if all goes well, and the price range for his requested engine will be about 425-460gp, depending on if he wants an extra horsepower to give him a bit more leeway on how much force he can put through his pumps.

---

1
To the representative that the engineers sent, Glaffin will be succinct, "If you want my designs and notes, I'm going to need access to some of yours. I'm not about to trade away my exclusivity for a tiny bit of gold now. You can offer me a guild membership, if that's what it'd take for you to be willing to share your own mechanisms with a humble smith, provided you can work something out with my current guild the Azure."

And that's as far as he's willing to go with that. He makes it clear that he is willing to sell them an engine just for gold if they require one, but that he's likely to have a long waiting list with all the orders coming in.

---

1
And to those merchants who come later, Glaffin lays out the benefits of the engine in full, bringing out huge reams of gold calculations on just how much they could save, "So as you can see, if you neglect the frame and housing for the engine then each horse worth of force costs less than half what even a small work-horse would in straight price. When you consider the lack of need for stabling, feed, hired hands to tend the beasts, and the other assorted costs that come with just owning so many animals, the benefits jump astronomically, not to mention the variance of price. Firewood's even cheaper than grain in most cities, and that and water's all you need to feed one of these." He pats his first full sized engine with pride.

"My prices are based on my costs in materials and time, with a bit of overhead to keep the forge going. I'll go as low as nine tenths my asking price for anyone buying an engine of ten horses or more, but that's because you're my first customers." It doesn't make sense to have the lower powered engines put at a discount since it takes more time to hammer out several of them than it does one big engine. But if he can give an incentive for buying a larger one then he will, even if it hits him a tiny bit in the pocketbook.

[Blarghy]

Waterfront

Local greens are preferable to foreign in this matter; the whole point is to find fresh, stable food to offset the irregular but more interesting meals he hopes to use for drawing in crowds. Alec notes the sellers with the best price-to-quality ratios and moves on.

He's got a feeling about the Far Cry. His initial theory is balanced by Stormgate's strong police force: this ship seems too suspicious to really be that suspicious. In other cities, pirates or smugglers might bribe the locals for the privilege to remain in such plain sight, but here, why hasn't a team of watch investigators stopped by yet? He can't be the only one who's curious, especially not with that sentry glaring down the people who pass by her. Much of a low profile as Finley seems to keep, Alec doubts this is one of his ships, not even in the heart of his territory. At the same time, Finley has surely noticed. If the Far Cry isn't his, then maybe he'll be grateful for news.

Not wishing to draw attention to himself at this point, Alec decides to do any real snooping under the cover of night. For now, he casually looks over the docks for people watching the ship. Knowing who's keeping an eye on it, be it the police or thugs, could tell him something.

Then he's off to track down his informant at their usual bar.

Spoiler

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Spot: (1d20+5)[19]

[Destro_Yersul]

Glaffin

The castle smith was happy enough with that price, though he did ask if there was a way to make the larger engine run both the hammer and the pumps. If there was he'd take that route, even if it cost a little extra, as the more efficient option. If there wasn't a way to run both off one engine, he said he'd prefer to see how the first one performs before ordering a second.

---

1

The representative from the engineers, on the other hand, left somewhat unhappily. They would have offered membership, Glaffin had been told, but belonging to two seperate guilds was a pretty clear conflict of interest. Nor were they interested in merely buying one engine. By the way their representative was glowering as he left, the smith got the impression that this wasn't the last he was going to hear from them.

---

1

The explanations and demonstrations outright were sufficient for two of the merchants, who happily ordered one discounted ten-horse engine each. Three of the others balked at even the discounted prices, telling him that they hoped he succeeded, but they'd hold off on buying right now. The last was a haggler - he wanted three smaller engines, but could he get a bulk discount on those because he was ordering so many of what was obviously a very expensive item, for which most people would only ever buy one, and on and on.

Spoiler

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The last merchant wants three five-horse engines, and he wants them at 20% off apiece. Feel free to try and change his mind.

Alec

Spotting a man who looked like one of Finley's lot wasn't especially hard to do. It was one of the men from the warehouse where he had met the boss himself, sitting under the eaves of a nearby tavern and playing dice with a few friends. The others didn't seem interested in the ship, but every so often, when it wasn't his turn, Alec's mark would turn and squint at the lookout to see if she was doing anything alarming. There was no telling how long he'd been there.

That much seen and noted, Alec had no trouble tracking down his usual friend, the easily-bought-thug.

"Hello, mate." he said, as the pirate approached. "What can I do for you today?"

[Slii Arhem]

Glaffin's Smithy

Glaffin does some calculations for the smith and says that a four or five horse engine will do both jobs, but that he would have to custom make and install two separate gearing systems for it so that both machines could be hooked up to the single motor. The hammer assembly would come with its own gear system, and probably add another fifty crowns to the price, while the gears that would originally go with the water pump would be included in the quoted price. Altogether, that brings the price of the engine to anywhere from 570 crowns to an even 600, which is about two hundred and fifty less than he'd be spending for two smaller, individual engines.

---

1
Glaffin makes a point of reminding the representative that membership isn't necessary on his end, just that he'd prefer an equal sharing of knowledge that benefits both sides, rather than him selling away his designs for a smaller, immediate sum. He'll be amiable enough with the parting engineer, even if the man is put out that he couldn't acquire what he came for.

---

1
The two simple orders are taken, and the haggler's offer is considered. Glaffin will acquiesce to it if the merchant purchasing the three engines will pay four tenths of the price up front when it comes to be his time on the waiting list, directly after the Royal Smith's. He'll explain that the money will cover the material costs of each engine and ensure that there will be no delays in getting the rather large order underway.

That order, with the 20% discount, will amount to 1320 crowns, with 545 of that upfront. The two simpler orders of 10 horse engines will amount to 635 crowns each.

Spoiler

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So Glaffin's schedule should now be:

• Royal Smith Order
• 3 Engine Merchant Order
• 1 Engine Order A
• 1 Engine Order B

The Smith order will cost him about 200 crowns for material and take nine days to complete if he takes 10 and doesn't hire any help. The three engine order will take 8 days per engine, and the 10HP engines will take 10 days per engine. I'm not really sure what else to do for roleplaying here while the other PCs do their things, unless you have something in mind to throw at him, since logically he'd now start throwing himself into his lucrative work and not be going out of his way to interact with people.

One thing I can see him doing is revisiting the church of Tharius in the evenings to talk with the priests there, and the same with the Azure guild. The other party members know where his forge is, so they can easily locate him if they need to talk to him as well.

[The Orange Zergling]

The Arcane Order's Guildhall

Thorus ignores the odd looks, making a mask of his face. When he arrives, he folds his arms and examines the damage more closely, trying to figure out if it looks unusual or extraordinary in some fashion (not that he's knowledgeable about this sort of thing, but it couldn't hurt. Surely, they wouldn't charge him for looking, too).

After that, he decides to look around for someone who looks like they spend a lot of time around here. Maybe a laborer working on repairing the damage, maybe a nearby guard, maybe a guild member watching the door. He strides over to them and asks, in a conversational tone, "D'you know what happened here?" as he points at the damage.

Spoiler

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Knowledge (Architecture) check: (1d20+1)[9]

This is untrained for Thorus, so the maximum result he can get should be 10.

[Blarghy]

Waterfront Bar

Feeling good about his correct guess (whatever the implications may actually be), Alec sits down with a smile. He debates what to ask about first, for fear of emphasizing it and having that interest drift back to Finley. Amicable though he appears, the man's still a crime lord. Letting him know that Alec is investigating a murder he might've ordered, or a territorial dispute that his enemies could take advantage of, sounds a touch unwise. In the end, Alec decides that he'd rather be known for his interest in the Far Cry than Audo, if something must make its way to the Old Shark. He should think of a way to test this informant's level of gossip. Maybe ask Cecily to impersonate another local thug and ask this man about him, see what he gives up. A plan with obvious flaws. He'll mull it over more later.

"I'd like to set up another meeting with our friend, to start." Might as well, since he's already got the chance; why delay matters further while waiting for Finley to call on him again? "And, due to being in the neighborhood, I noticed something peculiar. Seems there's a new ship in the harbor with a frightening sentry giving death-glares to anyone close enough. Caught my notice, she did. Would you know anything about that?" Gold coins scrape together faintly under the table, between Alec's fingers. He doesn't mention the ship's name; if his informant can guess by that information alone, it lets him know how fast word has already spread. If he doesn't know, maybe he'll step up his performance in the future, fearful of appearing out of the loop, and thus not useful to his employer. Using greed to build a better spy? Alec likes that.

Spoiler

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If you think it's appropriate, I'll take a Sense Motive roll to judge the man's reaction concerning the Far Cry. Secretive, hesitant, fearful, amused, and so on.

[Destro_Yersul]

Glaffin

The smaller price for a bigger engine was far more appealing to the castle smith's coin purse than the more expensive multiple-engine option, at least for now. When the smith left, Glaffin was holding an officially stamped piece of paper entitling him to 200 crowns for materials, the rest to be paid on delivery. He'd have to make a visit to the bank to cash it, but it was better than nothing in advance. The merchant with the larger order offered, instead, to pay it all up front if it moved him up on the list, and the agreed upon four-tenths if it didn't. The other two told him they'd pay him when their turns came, and provided the dwarf with contact information. If his engines were as good as he said, they were happy to do a little bit of less-lucrative in-city trading until the engines were ready.

Spoiler: OOC:

Show

I'll have something else for Glaffin in my next update. Since he's taking a long time to do his thing, I'd like to get some long-term plans from the others as well, if possible.

Alec

"Yeah, I heard about that. Word travels pretty quick around here. That what you want to talk to our mate about? I mean, I can ask him regardless, but it's probably faster to just go to some of the other lads."

Shrugging, the thug held his hand out for the coins. "This isn't the first time that ship's been around here."

Thorus

Far as Thorus could tell, it didn't look like whatever had blown up had taken out anything structurally important, a theory supported by the fact that very little seemed to have fallen over. The guildsman at the door didn't want to talk about it, and told him it wasn't any of his business. The labourers having a meal break nearby were far more talkative.

"Oh yeah," one of them told him, between bites of hard bread. "The guild's got a standing contract with the boss, for repairs due to 'Arcane Mishaps.' S'the reason rent around here is some of the cheapest this side of the river."

"Probably one of the novices was testing a new spell he'd learned. Takes a lot to crack brick, though. Maybe he hit some of them alchemical reagents?"

"Or he had friends." Said the third, a sallow-skinned man in a flat brown cap. "Maybe a few of them got together, managed something bigger."

"S'against Tharius, that is."

There were similar theories, expounded on as the labourers bickered amongst themselves about whether or not there was some idiot apprentice delving into forbidden magic, but the one thing they agreed on was that the Order would never say even if something was going on.

[Blarghy]

Waterfront Bar

Judging by his cocked eyebrow and slowness in handing over five shiny disks, Alec doesn't consider that much of an answer. "And that's all you know about it? My business with our friend is another matter."

[Slii Arhem]

Glaffin's Smithy

After some consideration, Glaffin will agree to bump up the merchant who is offering to pay full price, and then go look for some likely fellows who need a month's worth of work. If he can get enough men on the job doing the grunt work of hammering plate and cutting gear teeth and welding rivets, then the fine detail work will take much less time for each engine.

He'll ask for five smith hands from wherever he can find them, and this time he'll try to find dwarves interested in a fancy bit of machining rather than risk getting a fumbler that can't even assist on the basics. If he can't find all dwarves, then he'll pick up an extra man, or someone more skilled than an apprentice, to protect himself against any potential bumbling.

With that sort of manpower, he should be able to complete the engines in half the time he would on his own, and still satisfy the Royal Smith and his other orders far earlier than anyone expects of him.

Spoiler: Crafty Numbers Stuff

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Alright, so there's a lot of mechanics going behind this that Destro might want me to explain, but the short hand is that the 6 engines would take 53 days total with a DC 25 check and a 25 on the result (from taking 10.)

What he is doing instead is hiring anywhere from 5-7 blacksmiths and having them use Aid Another on him to good effect. Ideally he's looking for dwarven smiths, which would have enough to auto-pass the AA check, but if he can't find 5 of those he'll take either level 2 smiths of a different race for the same reason, or a couple of buffer 1st level smiths to keep himself insured from any 1s.

If he can buff up his 25 to a 35 and increase the DC on the craft check by 10 as described in the SRD, then the engines take 27 days total instead of 53. I can give a breakdown of how much each one takes, as well as prices for each and how much of each is eaten up in material costs and labor costs, if need be.

If I get a list of what smiths Glaffin finds that are willing to work with him, then I'll roll for each of them in OOC after that.

[Gullara]

Cecily

Taking the coy approach to the guards she met turned out to pay off well. She didn't learn much at first, as a result of taking the slower method, but nobody seemed to have figured out what she was up to. Her new friend told her about the different shifts he worked at the Keep, and how the men who stood by the door during the Lord's meetings with Flint were usually different, and usually picked out by Flint himself for the duty. He also told her that it hadn't always been like this: The Lord was being unusually paranoid lately.

Spoiler: Cecily OOC

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Not enough time to play it out as originally planned. List off any questions you have, and make a Gather Information check at +4 because after a week of talking on and off this guy likes you.

Cecily appears to hang off the man's every word like what he has to say is the most interesting thing in the world. It is interesting, but not for the reasons the man hopes.

She has a number of things to ask:

• When did the Fire Lord start having so much security?
• Does the guard know if anything has been happening to cause this?
• If not, what does he think is going on?
• Is there anything going on with the guilds or nobles that could be causing this?
• Are there any nearby conflicts that could be the cause?
• Is the guard getting any other new orders from Flint since this started?
• Does he know any of the guards that are chosen to guard these meetings personally?
• Are there any rumours among the guards what the meetings are about?
• Otherwise she'll try to get him talking about being a guard in general so she can get a better impression of the guards. Especially details like his experiences, personal anecdotes, how he gets along with other guards, etc.

Spoiler: Roll

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Gather Information: 1d20 + 7 + 4
(1d20+11)[14]

Cecily

Cecily's words didn't faze Thorus at all, but the fact that he had been wrong at all certainly did. He buries his embarrassment deep inside and replaces it with a far more acceptable emotion; anger. With that, he says something that he knows is pushing his luck, "From you? No."

[Thorus]

Cecily's lips form a thin line. She doesn't let her emotions get the better of her like earlier, but she's still just as angry. "Well it's good to know what you think of me. If you don't mind, please leave. I have more important ways to be spending my time than continuing this conversation."

[That One Guild Tower]

Later, Cecily finds herself approaching the base of operations for the guild whose name her player forgets but knows that Destro knows what he means. What she's heard of the guild sounds promising, and she's keen on investigating. So she approaches the guild and presumably knocks to announce herself.

[Destro_Yersul]

Cecily, asking questions

Cecily's new friend, somewhat unfortunately, had never been picked to run guard duty on one of the meetings, he told her, and even if he had it would be wrong of him to tell someone else about them. No matter how much he enjoyed their company. Most of the guards that got picked were inner circle, the Old Boy's club - they'd been around for as long as the Fire Lord had been in charge. A few of them were under his command when he was in the army.

The general feeling was, he needed people he could trust, for whatever reason. The guilds and nobles were shut out of those meetings, and there were more than a few people who were unhappy about that. The Lord was the Lord, though, and they had to put up with it.

Shutting the guilds out, and increasing security, had all happened at about the same time as the keep's treasury had been opened up to buy all sorts of things. Food and wine, and more recruits for the standing army. There were plenty of rumours floating around that some of it had been sent off in wagons, under heavy guard, but nobody knew where it had gone once it left the city.

As for personal opinion? Well, he liked the job, thought it was pretty easy work. Nothing troubling ever really happened this side of the river, near the keep. The Watch kept things safe, and the keep guards were left without a whole lot to do. They stood their watches and played cards or dice, and most of the people on the different shifts knew each other fairly well. Nobody was really disliked.

Cecily, with the Hightower Merchantmen

The Hightower, as it was unsurprisingly called, rose above the roofs of the surrounding shops and businesses in the heart of the market district. It was built from fitted stone blocks, and kept in good repair. Being just a tower, it was unlikely guild members stayed there much, but then most of them were likely to be out and about on their own pursuits. The guild was predominantly a guild of travelling salesmen, after all.

Cecily was greeted at the door by a portly halfling in scholar's robes. They were neatly tailored to fit a person of his size, and the guild's symbol had been embroidered on the sleeves.

"Hello, hello. How can the Merchantmen be of service to you today? Not a complaint, I hope."

Glaffin

It took some asking around, but not a huge amount, for Glaffin to find what he was looking for. There were enough dwarves in the city for him to find 5 looking for a bit of extra work. Outside of a hold, of course, it was difficult to find people with proper experience, but the smiths he picked up seemed to know what they were doing well enough, and were quite excited to be assisting once he'd explained what he wanted.

The fact that he was paying them probably helped. They brought their own tools, and set up in his shop, familiarising themselves with the layout and what sort of things he had available and the materials they would be working with. Once they'd got a good sense of the setup, all that was left to do was for Glaffin to take the lead and start telling them what, exactly, he needed done.

Alec

"Different thing, got it. I'll let him know." The thug squinted at his hand, perhaps looking for the gold that had utterly failed to materialise there.

"You wanna know more about the ship? Umm. Far as I know, it belongs to 'Respectable Gentlemen,' as stop in here every so often to unload goods and things, sell 'em off, y'know? Normally a few crates and barrels get pulled off the ship and trundled off to market, and who knows where they go after that, but this time they haven't unloaded a damned thing. Maybe they just needed to resupply."

[The Orange Zergling]

The Arcane Order's Guildhall

Thorus raises an eyebrow, intrigued. He files this information away to tell Alec later, though he is sure the pirate already knows some, if not all of it. He sniffles and thumbs his nose, looking both ways to make sure the wrong ears aren't too close, before asking "Don't s'pose you know what sorta things go on in there? What kinda experiments they're workin' on, er some kinda project they got goin', that sorta thing." He knows it's a long shot, asking a manual laborer, but might as well.

Cecily

Blood boiling, Thorus's teeth grind and his fists clench. Who was she to tell him what to do? His thoughts go to permanent solutions to the problem, but he somehow manages to rein himself in enough to only give her a stony glare and then march off, head held defiantly high. Once he is a few blocks away, and decidedly alone, he vents his rage with a furious cry as he punches a nearby wall, oblivious to the pain and bloody knuckles.

[Blarghy]

Waterfront Bar

The coins drop one by one, jingling, and a new five soon come to Alec's hand. He's evidently pleased with the information.

"Maybe. Do they usually keep such an angry watcher? It seems a pointless gesture that only attracts attention to the people who least want notice. Hm. Can you guess where most of the crew might be staying while they're in port? Some inns are usually more receptive than others to gentlemen like these, respectable or not."

Chatting with a few sailors would be simpler if they were off the ship, and ideally drunk. With such an odd situation, Alec won't be shocked if the crew is under orders to stay aboard for some reason--he increasingly suspects that trouble's involved--but most seafarers are very eager to enjoy the perks of dry land after weeks or months without such luxuries. If worst comes to worst, he can always try the sentry--so long as he's careful to stay on the docks where she'd find it difficult to skewer him.

[Slii Arhem]

Glaffin's Smithy

Glaffin quickly puts them to work, having the specifications of what they'll be doing drawn up for them to go over. Certain thicknesses of plate need to be hammered down thinner, then rolled into cylinders and riveted together to form the boilers walls. Plenty of rivets need to be made from scratch, and gears need polishing so they'll operate smoothly. There's enough work for a smith at each station, and he'll quickly try to figure out who is best at which task, rotating out people on the rivet making since that's quite tedious at the best of times, and no one should be forced to do all of it for a month's worth of work.

[Gullara]

[Thorus]

Once Thorus is gone, Cecily goes back to what she had been doing, much more angry than she had been prior to that fight.

[Asking Questions]

Cecily doesn't push any more for more information. She finishes the conversation with friendly small talk. Eventually she leaves him and the tavern behind, having gotten what she came for.

[With the Hightower Merchantmen]

"Not at all, not at all. I was hoping to find someone that could help me with something. I've heard a thing or two about your organization, and I was considering joining. I wanted to learn a bit more before deciding anything, though." The bard smiles sweetly at the man.

[Destro_Yersul]

Thorus

"I dunno specifics, but there's always something going on in there. The Order, well, they're all wizards and sorcerers and that sort, right? SO they muck about with alchemy and trying to figure out new ways to make magic go 'whiz bang' and that sort of thing."

"Always getting funny-smelling deliveries, they are. Weird stuff. There's a lot of money in finding them things from Altyria, or whatever. I know a ship captain is always buying stuff in Cairath and bringing it back here. Made himself a bloody fortune, he did."

Cecily

"Oh, of course. What would you like to know? Though, I should warn you, the Merchantmen are a highly-regarded guild. We don't take just anyone."

Glaffin

Glaffin's new crew were a hardworking lot, and quite knowledgeable about the sort of things he wanted them to do. He hardly had to explain anything, and with everyone working together the boilers were built a lot faster than they would have been if Glaffin was working by himself. Occassionally, one of them would come to him with some problem or other, but these were always sorted out without any loss of time or materials.

The representative from the Engineers, or at least the original one, never came back. Once, Glaffin could have sworn he'd seen someone hanging about the shop, bearing their sigil, but the next time he looked that way they had gone.

Spoiler

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Can you roll me a spot check, please?

Alec

"Well, normally they'd stay on the ship, or in one of the waterfront places. I dunno if they're doing that this time, but maybe I can find out for you." The man's grin said, without saying: and you could pay me if I did. "They usually have a sentry, and maybe this one's just angrier than the others. Or maybe they're expecting trouble? Long as things are in order the Watch won't give 'em no trouble, though. They're paying for the berth, and they haven't unloaded anything illegal, like. Someone would have heard if they did."

[Blarghy]

Waterfront Bar

Alec isn't sure anymore how he might profit from any of this, but he's willing to invest on faith; he can probably use the information somehow. It's merely a matter of creativity. Once he talks with someone from the ship, hopefully he'll get an idea.

"I see. Well, find out where most of the crew is staying, and let me know if any other rumors come up. And speaking of rumors, I'm still curious about that body that floated up last week. The northerner. Have you heard anything new, now that time has passed for word to circulate?" Alec lets his newest gold coins drop one by one to his other hand for incentive.

[The Orange Zergling]

The Arcane Order's Guildhall

Thorus scratched his chin, intrigued. That was certainly something to keep in mind for later. "And the city is alright with them importin' dangerous goods like that? Wouldn't think they'd want this sorta business goin' on inside the walls. Might burn the place down if they ain't careful."

[Destro_Yersul]

Glaffin
It hadn't been his imagination. The next time Glaffin came back to his shop after going out, he noticed that the lock had been tampered with. It had been a decent job, though it looked a little rushed to his practiced eyes. Whoever had done it had tried to cover up what they were doing, too. Inside the shop, nothing looked different. A brief visual inventory said that everything he could remember having was still here, but the damaged lock was unmistakeable.

Alec
"Yeah. Audo, right?" Alec's friend leaned in, lowering his voice. "I've heard murmerings that old Sam thinks the boss did it, but I know it weren't him. If he'd caught Audo, there wouldn'ta been that much of him left. Our friend's not stupid enough to dump a man in his territory, either. Draws too much attention. Whoever did it, though, I dunno. They're being quiet, cept that bodies keep turning up. Back alleys, throats slashed, that sort of thing. Been two more this week, both Sam's men. He's keeping it quiet with his own people, as I understand."

Thorus
"See the walls? Built extra thick, they are. Plus, rent's cheap around here for a reason. They pay a lot of taxes, though. I think there's a deal set up with the city where the guild pays some part of the repair on anything they accidentally damage." The worker shrugged and scratched his chin.

"I dunno specifics. I just know they got a lot of money."

[Slii Arhem]

Glaffin's Workshop

The first thing Glaffin does in this situation, futile though it may be, is to invoke the blessing of his god over his sight, attempting to ferret out any magical traces around the place. If the burglars weren't looking to steal anything, or didn't find what they were looking for, then they may have set up a spell to catch him unawares. Even an alarm to tell them when he returns might be found, or some evidence of divination set up to spy on his work. He'll hold the spell in his mind long enough to can the entire area around the outside of his shop before venturing in and scanning the inside as well.

The second is to consider his options. The guard would likely be interested in this in a mild sense, but if nothing was provably stolen then it's hard to say. On the other hand, Alec may be able to ferret out more than even the most curious guard, and have a more vested interest in his livelihood being stolen.

Obviously, the first group responsible would likely be the guild of engineers, but he can't rule out an opportunistic thief simply coming by after seeing the parade of merchants making deals in his shop. Less likely, considering the unmussed state of things.

As an afterthought, Glaffin will drop his magic detection spell (assuming he finds nothing particularly noteworthy to examine with it) and activate a more obscure sort of vision, attempting to detect sources of heat around him. Used to find campfires in blizzards on the mountainside, and hidden dwarf-foes who think to bury themselves under snow drifts, this spell will allow him to see anyone who might be hiding out and watching him with more mundane means.