• Graded • To Water Street Marketplace

[Yrmellyn Cole]

It was with a sinking feeling in her chest Yrmellyn realized how small the tunnel entrance was. A boy of Rudi’s size could easily run into it and the child had probably not even though of how it might be too hard for grownups to follow him and escape this way, due to how they would be forced to run in a crouched manner that would slow them down and drain them of energy way faster than if they had been able to run normally. The tunnel was however their only hope, regardless of how bleak it looked.

She stopped when Saeri gestured to her to do so. The eídisi had already turned around and assessed the situation, which Yrmellyn accepted without thinking twice. Following the orders of her temporary bodyguard she pulled out the pistol crossbow, aimed as well as the obscure light permitted and shot at the hare lipped mage. The disfigured man dodged, because he had heard Saeri shout out to Yrmellyn and anticipated the shot. The bolt continued past him and to judge from the roar Baldy gave it had found another target. If this would be a good thing or a bad thing remained to be seen...Yrmellyn had no idea where the bolt had hit the man.

While she fumbled with the reloading of her small weapon, clumsy due to the stress she felt, she took one more step back when Slacky attacked. The painter saw everything oddly slowly now, despite how fast it was happening. To her terror, Saeri just stood there like frozen in place, and started to tremble, the dagger point unsteady like she had lost all the proficiency at combat that Yrmellyn had trusted her to have. The moment after she noticed this, she felt a new wave of sickening fear roll in over her mind. For a moment she felt drenched in it, but fortunately it made her cling in panic to the pistol and the bolt instead of dropping them.

Slacky hit Saeri in the face. Like in a bad dream that loosens its grip on the dreamer, Yrmellyn saw the eídisi come out of the frozen stillness and start to move with the efficiency and skill of the experienced fighter she was. Yrmellyn came out of the stunning sensation of fear too, and though she noticed that Saeri was attacking Slacky and heard the poor half-witted man whimper, she didn’t have time to watch. She had Harelip to deal with. By now she realized the fear that caught and stunned them time and again emanated from him and that it was crucial to take him down, or else he might scare them frozen again and make them easy prey for Baldy.

She had to hit the target this time. Had to. This meant she had to use attunement to aim, despite how she feared overusing it and the consequences it might have for herself to get in touch with Harelip by magic. Necessity knew no law though. One more shot in the dark wouldn’t help them.

Feeling desperate and leaving all ethical doubts about right and wrong behind she allowed the spark inside her mind to open up her vision and let her face the other mage without any sheltering mental filters that could blur her aim. Her hand with the loaded pistol crossbow came up in front of her like by itself. Her magic kept it unnaturally steady and trailed at the target. Her mind swimmed like a relentless shark through the ocean of fear that poured out from Harelip in a way she could now feel was oddly uncontrolled and unfocused, like he wasn’t even trying to scare her, but just did it.

For a moment the sparks of the two mages seemed to connect, a surreal feeling she wouldn’t have been able to describe even if she had found time to do it. There was no room for putting words the experience. The knowledge was direct and horrible. She experienced a mayhem of what seemed like flashes of lightning, screeching sounds and other sensations she had no words for. Without words the insight rose in her that the fear was the natural state of Harelips insane and tortured mind, destroyed and ruptured by a failed initiation that had left him disfigured and trapped inside himself in an eternal nightmare.

Harelip stopped in his track and gurgled something. The words were impossible to understand with normal hearing, but the painter wasn’t listening with her ears but with her attunement. For a moment she heard him as clearly as if he had whispered to her in the spark inside her mind.

“Let me out, set me free.”

She shot him in the head in the point right between his eyes.

It wasn't entirely her doing though. She did shoot in the right direction, and it was true that a pistol crossbow is easy to use even for a beginner, but partly she hit that well due to what seemed Harelip moving his head to catch the bolt. Perhaps his own magic had enabled him to act in concert with Yrmellyn. The bolt went in and Harelips presence faded out, like a tune that reaches its end and leaves only the memory of the melody. The attunement closed abruptly and Yrmellyn came back to her normal perception. Dizzy and reeling she doubled over and threw up, due to a combination of overstepping and shock. She could hardly remember what they were doing there and she looked at Saeri in confusion. Behind the eídisi the bald giant was advancing slowly. Yrmellyn stared at him blankly. She might have just stood there and waited for the end if not for one thing.

Rudi shouted out to them from his position inside the narrow tunnel, his voice enhanced by an echo effect.

“Come on! This way!”

[Yanahalqah]

Baldy was not having a good day. For starters, when he had gotten out of bed that morning, he had bumped his head into the bunk above him. Then, while walking around on bare feet, he had stumped his toe on the door as someone else opened it too wildly. The bread he’d wanted to eat for breakfast had hardened into a grainy rock, and the milk for his coffee had gone sour. The cheese he thought he’d eat instead had grown mold. Perhaps if it had looked like blue cheese he might still have eaten it, but the hairy substance covering the dairy had been a poisonous green color. The ham he’d been drying to use as provisions had been used by a fly to lay her eggs in, maggots crawling around the otherwise delicious meat.

And that was only this morning.

When noon came around, Slacky had bumped into him as he was eating hot soup. As to be expected, the liquid spilled all over his lap as a result, staining his pants and searing his flesh. Of course, Slacky had tried to apologize and clean up his mess, but that had consisted of Slacky rubbing a clean rag across the stain near Baldy’s crotch, which the others had found extremely hilarious. Except for Harelip, most likely. The whole situation had been more than a little awkward for Baldy, especially since Slacky had no idea what was so funny, and just kept rubbing.

Finally, when things did appear to return to normal, and the gang was about to make some cash, the painter had unbuttoned her shirt some, which the big man was in favor of. No problems there. The woman had some sort of charm about her, the bald man found, and with a few buttons more undone, it only became easier to admire her charms. The other two gang members that mattered had left him pretty much alone with her then, and she had complemented him on his singing voice, of all things. Truly, his luck was turning, he believed. Things were starting to go his way again.

Sadly, he had been mistaken. Moments later he’d been smacked on the head with a huge tome, and the Eídisi woman who’d accompanied the painter had hit him hard enough to break some ribs and leave him crumpled on the floor. To make matters worse, he had been vomiting all over himself too. This was the saddest trial of his life, with exception of the trial his father had drank himself to death, his mother abandoned him, and Baldy had been forced to live on the streets as a result.

The final piece of mockery necessary to make him snap came in the form of a crossbow bolt that buried itself into his left butt cheek. The big man roared in pain, anger and rage, pushed himself off the floor and out of the puddle of stomach contents, and began to limp towards the end of the crevice, deciding that he’d kill those two women, and pay a shady taxidermist to have the painter stuffed for later use. Feck the money made from selling these bitches! He needed to calm his nerves, and it would need to be now! As he limped further and further into the crevice, he came across the corpse of harelip, and his rage only grew. Sure, he did not like the man, or know him too well for all that matter, but when Knuckles and Rat-face came back, he’d be blamed for the death of an asset.

A little bit further he saw Slacky rolled up into a ball. From the whimpering and the sobs the man-child-dog let out, Baldy knew he was still alive, but probably beat up rather badly. Or maybe just a little. It was hard to tell in the dark, and Slacky was a crybaby either way. The crevice was a dead end, only a small tunnel there they could have used to escape. It was obvious that the big brute wouldn’t fit if he still wanted to be able to move, and his rage built up even more.

He let out yet another beastly roar, bringing his club down on the pipe again and again, calling out to the escapees he would find them and kill them. Slowly and painfully. That they’d wish they’d never been born. He stomped and raged and yelled, but in the end, it did nothing to improve his situation. After a while, the adrenaline and anger left him, and he sunk back to the floor in pain, wishing he’d never stepped out of bed this morning.

[Yrmellyn Cole]

A bit later , after “an eternity” of running along narrow paths, all alike ... Groggy as she had been, Yrmellyn had lost all sense of time and she had felt like she had been running around in a dark maze for an eternity, guided by nothing else than Rudis voice and Saeri’s hand. The big bald thug’s enraged shouts had echoed behind them for a long time. Dimly she had known that she had been pulled into the tunnel by the eídisi in the nick of time.

Finally the three of them reached a wooden door which Rudi opened soundlessly. Yrmellyn was still feeling spent but she wasn’t totally groggy any more. She watched Rudi and Saeri step through,followed them and stopped right outside the door without saying anything. She let go of Saeri’s hand and tried to understand the new situation.

It hadn’t been damp in the tunnel. She was totally dry, but a look at her sleeve told her she was covered by dry, powdery dust. Feeling lost and unsure of everything the painter resorted to trying to brush and shake the dust off of her clothes and her hair. This made her realize that she still held the pistol crossbow in her hand in a grip so firm that it was painful. Slowly and carefully she put it back under her jacket and uncurled her aching fingers.

The weapon rested like a hard lump of horror and guilt against her heart.

The room they entered was fairly cold and obscure, but it wasn’t completely dark. The light from a lone oil lantern on the wall beside the door revealed rough stone walls, big barrels, crates and some shelves full of kegs. There was a stairway in one corner of the wall opposite to the door they had come out from . It seemed like they were in a basement. Noise of loud boisterous voices and laughter could be heard from above.

Wherever they were, they were not alone ...

There was no way back though. Yrmellyn turned around slowly, aiming to close the door, but she must have moved even more slowly than she was aware of, because Rudi went back and closed it before she had time to do it. She stared at the door in surprise. Oddly this side of it looked just like the rough stone walls around it, and if she hadn’t known that it was there she would never have guessed that it existed. The painter reached out and touched it with her fingertips. The surface wasn’t smooth, but it wasn’t stone. It was an imitation of stone, painted on the wood in order to hide it. They had come out from Water Street Market through a jib-door.

This insight raised a number of questions that jammed in her still somewhat dizzy head, impossible for her to deal with at the moment. Who would have jib-door to Water Street Market in the basement and why? She didn’t even want to think of what implied. Perhaps they had escaped out of the ashes into the fire! Who were the people who were shouting and laughing so loudly upstairs ... and the boy, Rudi, why had he brought them here, really?

The danger they had fled from had been real, and she had thought of the child as Vhalar’s answer to her prayers. Now she wasn’t so sure of that any more. Rudi was however already on his way towards the stairway like he took it for granted that they would follow him up to whatever awaited them there.

[Yanahalqah]

They did not exit the tunnels for a long while, and when they finally reached the end of the maze-like system of interconnected passageways, they did not end up in Waterstreet, nor just outside of it, as Yana had initially expected. Instead, they found themselves facing a wooden door, which was strange by itself, but the fact that it led into a dimly lit vat room was even odder. The door on this side was camouflaged so it blended in with the wall, making it really hard to spot if you did not know it was there. The low lighting also helped in hiding it. There was a wooden staircase leading up in the vat room as well, and from above them the trio could hear the muffled sound of loud voices and bellowing laughter.

A secret passage? But where were they? The vat room suggested an inn or a pub, as did the noise coming from above. Why would a pub have a passageway in the basement connecting it to Waterstreet though?

Idly, Yana dusted herself off, watching as enough of the powder fell off her clothes and hair to fill a small bag of flour. Other than that, she was relatively clean for having walked through those tunnels. A little sweaty, yes, but there were no cobwebs sticking to her, and she could not recall having walked into one either. Which meant that those tunnels were probably frequently used. Rudi’s ease in guiding them through them seemed to support this.

She looked at the painter then, glad to see she was more or less back to normal. “Are you all right? You look a little better,” she said, hoping the painter wasn’t going to throw up again. Of all vile things the fleshling body could do, this was in Yana’s personal top three. “Was it your first time?” Killing a person, she meant. “Happens to everyone.” Though the smell of innards of Yana’s first had sent her reeling, she had been unable to throw up herself –Yludih anatomy and all that. The realization of what she had done had hit her only afterwards. By that time she’d already been in the military for a while though, and she’d been forced by the higher-ups to seek council from a therapist; as was the standard procedure when a soldier first killed another person. The military couldn’t just leave the mental health of their troops alone to fester and deteriorate.

“Try not to think about it for now,” was the Yludih’s advice, “focus on getting out of here, and dealing with the challenges to come. Then, when we are home safe, take a long hot bath with a glass of wine in hand. Let your thoughts dwell on it, come to terms with it. Mourn, if you feel that is in order. Do not beat yourself up though. You did what you had to do. Remember that. It was you or them. If you had done nothing, we could be dead, or worse.” She let a deep breath escape her nostrils. “But first, we find out what is up there.”

“Up there” was a kitchen, actually. A small thing, with only a large pot of stew placed on a cooking fire. Rudi was scooping some up with the ladle, slurping it up hungrily. “Needs some salt,” he muttered.

“It needs you to keep your filthy fecking fingers off it, brat!” Rudi jumped about three feet in the air and nearly dropped the ladle at the sound. The voice belonged to an older man. A Biqaj with a wild mane of hair and an intimidating face. He hadn’t seen Yana and Yrmellyn Cole just yet, as the Yludih had remained on the stairs to observe the kitchen to be sure it was safe, and the painter was behind her.

“I—I—I’m sorry Mr. Hemlock!” the boy stammered quickly, his eyes scanning the room frantically for the women he’d led here. “I didn’t think--”

“You didn’t think I’d come in, yes, indeed. I can see that. I have heard that excuse before as well!” he interrupted, snatching the ladle from the boy’s hand and putting it back in the pot after a moment of inspection. “What are you doing here, brat? And what is that on your back?”

Rudi’s face was an open book. It was clear to everyone that he was desperately trying to come up with a decent answer that would satisfy the man. In the meantime his eyes continued their search frantically. When he did spot Yana, his expression changed slightly, and his gaze rested on her. The Hemlock guy noticed, and followed his stare. “What the--? How the hell are you?! Where did you come from?! Did you bring her here, brat?”

Yana entered the kitchen then, seeing no merit in remaining on the staircase. This however exposed Yrmellyn Cole as well. “Another one?! What is going on here?!” He shot Rudi an angry glare as if to say ‘What have you done now?’. Yana gave Yrmellyn Cole a look of her own, moving her hands to form signs. “Should I make something up, or will you?”

[Yrmellyn Cole]

The painter nodded at Saeri LaChasse but didn’t say anything. Some things were better to not speak too much about, and besides the situation was already becoming tricky again.

The smell of the food made Yrmellyn realize that she hadn’t eaten for a long time. She was feeling weak after all they had gone through and just wanted to sit down somewhere, rest, have something to eat, anything that wouldn’t be about running for her life. She didn’t want a conflict with a tavern owner on top of all the other troubles this day had sent her way.

“We just wanted to have a look at the food” she said. “We decided to eat something, but couldn’t see you out in the tavern room. I guess you were busy with other guests. We went to the kitchen in to see what you have to offer today. My apprentice seemed to have been in the kitchen before so he showed the way...I apologize for the boy’s manners. He’s pretty new. So far I just use him to carry books.” She didn’t offer him her name, but if the tavern owner would care about it she would keep to Lyn Ecoline.

Technically Rudi had shown the way to the kitchen, just not the normal way. She was glad she had gotten rid of the telltale dust from the tunnel. If the tavern owner didn’t mention the tunnel she would certainly not do it. The knowledge of a tunnel from the tavern and into the criminal district Water Street Marketplace seemed like a dangerous knowledge to have, she thought to herself.

“Having a look at the food ... down in the basement?” The tavern owner’s gaze darted between Yrmellyn, Saeri and Rudi like he was searching for sings of lying. All three of them kept a blank face though. Rudi came to stand beside her like he expected her to protect him. Saeri hadn’t spoken yet. Yrmellyn looked at the eídisi, feeling exasperated and in need of reinforcements.

“We thought you might be down there ...” she managed feebly. “But enough of this. I’m terribly hungry as I have been working hard all the day. With this...new...apprentice who answered my shout out for an employee...I have had my hands a bit fuller than expected. If he didn’t happen to be amazingly talented I would have changed my mind. I can tell you that stealing soup is the least troublesome he has done today. I can’t even guess at his upbringing ... but talent is talent and art comes first!”

The tavern owner snorted. “His upbringing! Brats like him aren’t brought up, they just grow up. He’s been around before...actually...he has been running errands for me so I’m afraid he belongs to me. Sorry to bereave you of your apprentice miss, but the little scoundrel is already working for me...I’ll speak to him while you go back in and get a table for your dinner!”

He turned to the boy, reaching out to grab him and shove him down the staircase. “Right, Brandon! I don’t care about the talents you have lied about to this...lady. You have no “talents”. You work for me and I don’t like to be betrayed. Get down to the basement! Now!”

The boy dodged. “It’s not true miss Ecoline!” he cried. “I haven’t done anything! It wasn’t me!”

Yrmellyn still kept a blank face, but with effort. She was spent. The use of attunement and the up close and personal sharing of Harelip’s terror and death had made her unstable. The calm she had managed to maintain was starting to crackle. For the sake of keeping her promise to Vhalar she stepped between the tavern owner and the boy, despite how the brat was starting to seem like a liability and seemed to have as many names as herself. She would squeeze his true name out of him later.

“It was Granny! Granny Anne!” the boy blurted out behind her. “She said I had to go and look for a job because she wouldn’t be able to feed me, the way her business was derailing. So go and speak with a...nice lady who can make something of me...try to be of use. And I do have an upbringing! I have family! I have!”

The tavern owner laughed out loud. “Anne, that bat crazy old wretch, she’s getting even more addle-brained than before if this is true. Sent you to look for a job? She was always snooty and full of ideas about being meant for greater things far above her standing. Boy, even if your granny doesn’t get it, you need to understand that commitments already made must come first. Be loyal. That’s how people get by and live another day. Those who fail their duty tend to not last for long. Just a good advice.”

The tavern owner tried to walk around Yrmellyn in order to grab the boy, but the painter stepped to the side and the boy stayed behind her. A promise to Vhalar was a promise to Vhalar. She was going to do all she could to stand her ground.

“Okay, okay, I’ll buy his contract with you, if you have one” she spat out. “I need him. Running errands can hardly require the talent this boy has for art! You can find someone else for that kind of work! But I'm ravenous, so can we please have dinner first and sort out this mess afterwards?” Her voice went really, really shrill when she spoke about the food. She felt like she would soon lose her temper and scream right out if this debate would continue.

She glared at the still inactive and silent Saeri. The eídisi was supposed to be her body guard. It was time she did something to help out!

[Yanahalqah]

Yana wasn’t really sure why the tavernkeeper hadn’t thrown them out of the kitchen yet, but she suspected it might have something to do with simple curiosity. Or maybe amusement at the weak excuse Yrmellyn Cole had come up with. Or perhaps he really wasn’t sure if they were telling the truth or not; he had caught the boy trying to eat some of his stew, after all. The way the owner observed their expressions one by one seemed to support this idea. All three of them kept a straight face though, and he probably was none the wiser when he was done. The subject of the … conversation… then became the boy instead, and how he apparently was working for Hemlock. Yrmellyn obviously was not liking the development, and Yana wasn’t sure what she should do about it. Instead, she was thinking that she should have made a contract with the painter, along with negotiating payment. The woman had really struck a bargain here; a whole lot of nonsense which Yana had needed to interfere with for a measly zero nel. It was basically theft!

The painter’s voice breaking snapped the Yludih back to the present, catching the glare sent her way. It was obvious she desired her to do something, but as Yana hadn’t really cared about the boy’s situation, she hadn’t really been following that discussion. “Dinner would be good, yes,” she said, trying to come up with something else to say.
“Then get out of the kitchen and get a table,” Hemlock replied bluntly, crossing his arms. “This is a restricted area.”
Yana turned her stare to Yrmellyn Cole and the boy hiding behind her. The woman’s expression said enough. “The boy will eat with us.”

Rufus Hemlock rolled his eyes in annoyance. “If you want to waste coin buying the brat food he’d gave gotten anyway, then be my guest. But he is mine, and he’s not going anywhere.”
“We will continue this after dinner, mister Hemlock,” Yana said with finality in her voice. It would give her some time to think of something, she hoped.

***

Of course it was too much to ask to have Hemlock leave them in peace until they had eaten. Instead he brought them their dinner –which Yana was expecting Yrmellyn to pay for—and sat himself down at their table, bringing the subject back to the boy. Yana really was not happy about this, and she had no idea what Yrmellyn Cole expected of her. She had agreed to play the role of her bodyguard, yes, but as far as she knew bodyguards did not have to negotiate deals with barkeeps about children. She would protect the painter from threats. The boy was not part of that agreement, and even if he had been, it would have cost extra. Considering Yana wasn’t paid even a single copper nel, she was not having this. Hemlock blabbed about duty and loyalty and keeping your promises and such things to justify his claim of the boy. Yrmellyn Cole was doing something alike but with art and talent and whatnot. Blah blah blah.

She smashed her fist into the table, sending the bowls of stew and cups of water a couple centimeters in the air. “Enough!” She was by no means yelling, or even raising her voice, but the tone of it was indicative of her mood. “You two sound like toddlers arguing about who gets to be friends with a third. ‘I have known him longer than you, so he is my friend’. ‘He likes to draw and so do I, so he is my friend’.” She made a disgusted noise. “You can share the damn brat. Work something out between the two of you.” Yana turned towards Rufus. “Change his schedule if you have one, make him work when you would need him most, and let him spend his leisure time all in one go. Then you--” she shifted her gaze to Yrmellyn “—teach him to paint. Something like that. Talk to each other like the adults you are supposed to be. Work something out.”

Yana sighed and shoved a spoonful of stew in her mouth. “If he is working to pay of some debt, and painting would get in the way of that, I am sure she will help pay it off. And if this is not about debts or whatever, then what is the problem here anyway? That you will lose a cheap employee? I am certain you can find dozens of gutter rats willing to work twice as hard as him just for three meals a day and a bed to sleep in.” With that, Yana focused herself on her dinner, hoping that this was the end of that.

[Yrmellyn Cole]

Saeri LaChasse was starting to seem tired of the drawn out negotiations the painter and the tavern owner were involved in. Yrmellyn found it understandable. Her eagerness to keep the boy and her statements about his enormous talent must seem really odd to the eídsi, who knew he was just a street kid picked up at random not long ago. The loyalty to the boy could hardly make sense to somebody who didn’t know that Yrmellyn was motivated by religion and a promise to immortal of keeping one’s promises, Vhalar. You just don’t promise the keeper of oaths something and then break that promise, but Yrmellyn felt it would destroy her position in the negotiations if she would explain this to the eídisi when the tavern owner could hear it. It was bad enough that he was aware that she would be prepared to pay...she didn’t want him to think he could charge a totally immortal price for letting the boy go.

Miss LaChasse’s advice to “behave as adults” didn’t go totally unheard though. It gave Yrmellyn new ideas that could be worth a try.

“I’m not a rich woman, Rufus” Yrmellyn said and leaned a little bit closer to Hemlock.

She didn’t lean blatantly close, just enough to make the man feel she could actually have come a bit closer if they asked him. “If I may call you Rufus, my friend. I feel we are already learning to know each other. Now...my companion has a point, when she proposes that you and me take a pragmatic stance and find a way to collaborate, don’t you think? I’m not a rich woman, I don’t have any money, but I’m a woman of many talents. I could help you increase the profit of this place. Attract more guests. Sell more beer. I improve your business, and in return the boy comes with me.”

Hemlock didn’t answer at once. Yrmellyn didn’t try to rush him. Instead she turned to Saeri LaChasse.

“This dinner is on me of course ... my dear Chassie." (It was best to keep to faked names, she supposed.) "And ... I can possibly give you a kind of compensation for all you have done today, if you can accept something that is worth way more than the money I don’t have. The art I can create is something special, with properties beyond what meets the eye...tough we can speak more about it another time, I never speak about the secrets of the art in public. Just wanted to let you know that I’m not ungrateful. Right should be right. I promise that you will get something unique only you will own.” She smiled at Saeri. “I even promise this to the immortal Vhalar, the keeper of oaths.”

This was true, but in addition it was meant for Hemlocks ears. She hope it would intrigue him and make him feel there was something spectacular he had been missing out on. Her goal was to speak to his greed, which seemed to be the only way to convince him to accept the risk of allowing the boy to work for someone else. (Just wait. Yrmellyn would get the full story from the boy once she was alone with him. She was for sure going to try to make Hemlock speak too, at some point, if she would succeed at striking a deal with him ...)

She waited for Saeri to answer. Whether the eídisi would accept the offer or decline, Yrmellyn would smile and nod at her and then turn to Hemlock again.

Finally the tavern owner made up his mind. “Maybe I can be interested. Tell me more miss Ecoline”.

Yrmellyn leaned a little bit closer. “You can all me Lyn.”

Without looking at Saeri she explained to Hemlock that a tavern without art is like a bar without beer. Though people often aren’t aware of it, art is what pulls them into a place and art is what they keep them there and makes them spend their money. Her offer was to make a truly amazing painting for the tavern, something that rumor would make people come to watch, and that would keep them watching, which would keep them buying more food and drink, and in general frequent the tavern more often. She had skills, she said mysteriously, unusual skills that could be used to create unique things indeed, though this was something he would only learn more about if this dinner would be on the tavern and he would take the offer she had proposed...the boy would assist her in her work!

Perhaps her offer seemed shadier than shady, but he counted on a man like Rufus Hemlock to be used to shady deals with an insanely high potential benefit at equally insanely high risk. A man who had a secret tunnel between the basement of his tavern and the criminal district of Rynmere was probably already involved in so many shady things that it was what he’d find normal. There ought to be a chance...

A long silence followed.

The boy was still eating, despite how he must have had enough long ago. He ate like he was stuffing himself while he could, a strategy Yrmellyn was well acquainted with. I was the behavior of children who never knew when they would see food next time.

“I’ll give you a chance” said Hemlock slowly. “The dinner is on the house. You work your wonders for this tavern. The boy assists you. If you really deliver what you say you will deliver, the boy is yours. Just don't try to cheat me. ”

While the tree guests finished the dinner, Yrmellyn and Hemlock worked out a few practical details, behaving like adults all the time, leaning their heads together as they continued the discussion. She and the boy would come back to the tavern a few days later and try to do what she had said they would do ...

[Yanahalqah]

Thankfully, her little ‘outburst’ did its job, getting through to at least one of the parties involved. Yrmellyn Cole approached the situation from the “I am a great painter, I can make you money”-angle, which seemed to work out pretty well for her. Then again, money was a good motivator for just about anyone, even Yana herself. Some said that ‘please’ was a magical word, but Yana was fairly certain it was ‘money’ instead. Rufus Hemlock sure felt the magic working on his mind, agreeing to go along with this for now. If it did not make him a profit, he would void this spoken agreement they had. Yana herself had also played her part in this not-so-subtle manipulation, of course. When given the option to be paid with something unique and valuable, she had naturally said yes, aware that the painter wasn’t speaking to her exclusively. Yana was bait, and Rufus was the real catch. He’d been reeled in nicely too.

While the painter and the barkeep discussed some details of the deal, Yana and Rudi just focused on the food in front of him. Rudi shoveled bowl after bowl into his seemingly bottomless stomach, causing the Yludih to wonder where he was putting it all.

Sometime later, when all three of them had filled their bellies with stew –one of them having eaten far more than the others— Yana led the painter and her newly acquired disciple out of the seedy pub and back onto the streets. The Yludih did not find it wise to trust the little scamp, especially after having replayed the parts of the kitchen discussion she could recall in her head. She hadn’t been listening to the entire conversation, but she’d caught a few pieces of dialogue nonetheless. It was odd that the hag Anne would be this boy’s guardian. After all, the hag had not been friendly towards the boy, and Rudi had even stolen a book from her. Then the woman had come to Yrmellyn Cole, seemingly under the belief that Rudi was the painter’s son. Unless the woman was completely coocoo, the rat had to be lying. Well, not that it was any of Yana’s business; she wasn’t going to be dealing with the kid anymore anyway.

“Well, Miss Cole,” Yana said, turning towards the woman. “I do hope those books will be worth their cost,” She said, adding and the boy worth the trouble in her mind. “I have a whole morning of drilling exercises ahead of me tomorrow, so I will take my leave here.” She wasn’t looking forward to those, not one bit. Though she did suppose they were preferable over a repeat performance of today. True, they had managed to get away unscathed, but Yana did not want to go through it again anyway. “Mind returning my knife though?” she asked, fixing the weapon to her belt after the painter handed it over. “Thank you. I will be seeing you around, I am sure.” With that, the Yludih turned and walked a couple steps, only to stop and look back over her shoulder. “One last word of advice, Miss Cole; lay low for the coming trials. Those thugs may very well come looking for us. Stay inside as much as possible, and if you need to go somewhere, stick to the larger, more crowded streets. Avoid alleys if you can.” Yana herself would be quite safe. Not only did she know how to defend herself, she would be surrounded by Iron Hand members just about every moment of ever coming trial. No thug with more than two braincells would even entertain the thought of risking revenge in such circumstances. Once more did Yana turn her back on the painter and the gutter rat she’d adopted, and walked away for real this time, raising a hand as means of saying goodbye.

[Yrmellyn Cole]

Yrmellyn raised her hand in response. Farewell, Saeri LaChasse...she hoped they would meet again someday.

She looked down at Rudi ... if that was the boy’s name. Right now she didn’t care. They boy stood there beside her in the dark Culys evening, still carrying the big book. He had no jacket and no proper shoes. She saw his small face in the light of a street lantern, impossible to read.

“We’re going to my place. Come on.” The painter took a step forward but the boy didn’t follow.

She stopped and looked at him, unsure of what to say or do. “We’d better get indoors. In case someone bothers to search for us they will do it tonight. Come now.”

The boy didn’t move. He glanced back in the direction of Blacksmith Arms like he considered running back there instead of coming with her. It hadn’t occurred to her that the boy might not be in on the deal she had made with Hemlock. Maybe the child had been so busy eating that he hadn’t even understood what the adults had been speaking about.

“I was thinking that you will be my apprentice now, because you helped us escape. I thought you wanted to come with me and...yeah.” Yrmellyn felt helpless. Here she had been prepared to take on the boy but now it seemed like he didn’t want it. “What is the book about?” she asked, in order to try to find something more neutral to speak about.

“Granny said it’s payment for if you give me work.” The boy didn’t sound happy. “I want to go home” he announced.

“So ...your...granny...”

The painter looked around, uncomfortable with standing still on the street. She wanted to move on.

Unlike Saeri LaChasse she didn’t think the disappointed thugs would want to spend time on searching for their escaped victims once the anger of this evening wore off and they found it more profitable to just go for new victims. They would perhaps not search at all. That kind of people just didn’t care enough about their own buddies to be motivated to take revenge. The other members of the gang hadn’t seemed to care much about Harelip when he was alive and would probably care even less now when he was dead. Yrmellyn found it safe to assume that they would just get rid of the body in order to not get in trouble. The bald man had been promising to come after them, sure, but he promises made by thugs in rage were seldom worth the air used to utter them. Ratface and Knuckles would probably just laugh at Baldy for having been overpowered. She guessed the big man wouldn't want the others to know the full truth about he had been outsmarted by being fooled into singing along. It was the kind of stuff he would be teased about for the rest of his life if they found out. Yrmellyn bet he would play indifferent and say the gang had more important things to do than bother with a couple of women who hadn't even looked particularly valuable. Then the thugs would go back to business. They would be more interested in money than in "justice". That was at least how Yrmellyn Cole guessed (and hoped) it would be.

It could however be best to not take any unecessary risks. It was best to go home at once, but she realized that she could hardly pressure Rudi into becoming her apprentice. She had promised Vhalar to offer the boy an apprenticeship, but Rudi had actually not promised anything at all. He didn't belong to her. Her promise to Vhalar didn't entitle her to just go out and buy a child from a tavern keeper and pay for it with a tavern painting! Also, to be honest she didn't wish to get an unwilling apprentice to take care of and try to force to work and learn. No. She would let the boy do as he liked.

“You can decide yourself, my boy ” she told Rudi. “You can go back to your ...granny... tomorrow if you like. You can visit her whenever you like. Tonight it's a bit dangerous though, don’t you think? Best to lay low?”

The boy nodded slowly.

“You’d better wait until those thugs get time to forget you. Well. They can’t have seen you clearly even, I think they don’t know it was you.” This was probably true. It had been very obscure in the crevice and Yrmellyn and Saeri had been much more visible than their small guide.

“So you could just come and sleep at my place and...meet my neighbor’s cat...I think I have some apples and other things to eat...and I need help to carry that book to a place where I can have closer look at it! ” She threw in everything she could think of.

“Okay.” The boy took a step towards her. Yrmellyn smiled. They started to walk at good pace and didn’t stop until they were indoors. She took her keys and put them in the lock of her apartment door. Behind her the boy was speaking about the neighbors cat, who had as usual sat waiting for someone, anyone, to sneak in with. “They don’t like Water Street, the cats” he said.

They went in, and the cat snuck in with them. When Yrmellyn had made a fire and lit a lantern the painter investigated her new books. The two books she had bought actually were about alchemy, which she found a bit surprising, as she had thought that at least one of them would be about totally other things. The thinner book was named “The Basics of Alchemy for The Adventurous Beginner”. There was no author name on it. It seemed like a very basic schoolbook. Yrmellyn felt content with this, as it seemed to match her nearly non existent level of knowledge. It seemed like a good start if she wanted to learn Alchemy on her own. The thicker book was named "Mixed Alchemy and Alchemic Blends". It was written by A. Marlon and contained a collection of alchemy experiments. She felt content with this too. Experiments was a good way to eventually learn more, and it appealed to her to do something in practice instead of just reading about it. It looked a bit like cooking recipes. she ought to be able to just follow those. How hard could it be? Nice! Finally she had a closer look at the thick book Rudi had carried all the way to her home. It was named “The Forgotten Secret Mysteries of Alchemy” and was written by one G. Anne Brandon, “Former honorary professor at the University of Rynmere”. Yrmellyn browsed it briefly, without finding anything she could immediately understand. It was clearly a book that would require some effort to read. She shut it and turned to Rudi again, but the boy had fallen asleep with the cat beside him. Her questions would have to wait until next morning.

*

The End

[Pash Raj'oriq]

Thread Rewards

Yrmellyn Cole

Overview

Wow! This was my first 3-page thread and I enjoyed every post of it. You have an amazing grasp of Yrmellyn as a character and I really love getting a look inside her thoughts and motivations. It was great to see you and Saeri work together, and all the NPCs made for a good time, even in combat … especially all the use of Attunement. Yes!

Points

XP:
15 | These points can be used for magic.

Fame:
Working together against the odds in combat +2, Standing up for others +1

Loot

Please don't forget to record these purchases in your ledger. Thank you.
One Pistol Crossbow, -7gn 5sn

Two bought books - 7gn

• “The Basics of Alchemy for The Adventurous Beginner” by Unknown author
• “Mixed Alchemy and Alchemic Blends”: By A. Marlon

Bribe received: One huge book in bad shape, named “The Forgotten Secrets of Alchemy” written by one Anne Brandon, according to the cover a “Former honorary professor at the University of Rynmere” given to Yrmellyn as payment for taking they boy Rudi as her apprentice.

Knowledge

Skill Knowledge: (8+12 for 12 more posts)

• Acting: When in a combat situation it’s important to act fearless and focused
• Acting: To act confident and fearless in a dangerous environment
• Acting: To act seductively in order conceal that you are getting a weapon ready to use
• Acting: To display a knife in order to act dangerous and deter potential attackers
• Acting: To act seriously “adult” when the situations demands it
• Attunement: To use attunement to improve the aiming of a pistol crossbow
• Attunement: To use attunement to gauge people in a group
• Attunement: To detect the spark of another mage
• Attunement: The effects of mild overstepping
• Attunement: To stop in time and not overuse attunement
• Blades, knife: The basic stance and leg movements in combat
• Blades, knife: How to use torso and arms in combination with the basic combat stance
• Blades, knife: How to hold the knife in the right hand, close to the stomach
• Blades, knife: How to use the left hand to push the enemy’s knife hand away
• Blades, knife: A neck hit works best for a quick kill
• Tactics: To make people drop a goal by promising a bigger profit for something else
• Tactics: To concoct a scam in order to escape from a dangerous situation
• Tactics: To distract people by making them sing along
• Tactics: To hide and convey secret messages via song lyrics
• Tactics: To speak up the value of something before making a business offer

Other Knowledge:

• Location, Rynmere: Blacksmith Arms
• Location, Rynmere: Water Street Marketplace
• Location, Rynmere: Granny Anne’s Antiquarian Bookshop in Water Street
• Location, Rynmere: The Barracks
• Location, Rynmere: The secret tunnel between Blacksmith Arms and Water Street
• PC, Saeri LaChasse (Yanahalqah): Fascinating blue appearance
• PC, Saeri LaChasse (Yanahalqah): A person Yrmellyn wants to paint a portrait of
• PC, Saeri LaChasse (Yanahalqah): Has impressive combat skills
• PC, Saeri LaChasse (Yanahalqah): A taciturn personality
• PC, Saeri LaChasse (Yanahalqah): Surprisingly interested in books
• NPC, Rudi: A young boy
• NPC, Rudi: A whistleblower in Water Street Marketplace
• NPC, Rudi: Art loving kid in a place where art is hard to come by
• NPC, Rudi: Smart enough to understand and follow instructions by song lyrics
• NPC, Rudi: Offered to become your apprentice after saving you when you were in distress
• NPC, Granny Anne: The owner of Granny Anne’s Antiquarian Bookshop
• NPC, Granny Anne: A disheveled looking woman of uncertain age
• NPC, Granny Anne: Partly dressed in worn out scholar clothes
• NPC, Granny Anne: Aggressive, sly, smelling alcohol and seeming a bit crazy
• NPC, Granny Anne: Shrewd and greedy shopkeeper who rips people off
• NPC, Baldy: Big bald and mean Water Street thug with a good singing voice
• NPC, Ratface: Relatively smarter Water Street thug, thus a gang leader
• NPC, Knuckles: Simple common thug kind of Water Street thug
• NPC, Slacky: Innocent and mentally deficient Water Street thug
• NPC, Harelip: Tragic empathy mage Water Street Thug, delivered from by life Yrmellyn
• NPC, Harelip: Could weaken enemies by making them freeze in terror temporarily
• NPC, Rufus Hemlock : Owner of Blacksmith Arms in Rynmere
• NPC, Rufus Hemlock : Owing Hemlock a piece of tavern art to incease his profit
• Book, “The Forgotten Secrets of Alchemy”: By Anne Brandon, “Former honorary professor at the University of Rynmere”
• Book, “The Forgotten Secrets of Alchemy”: Hard to immediately understand
• Book, “The Basics of Alchemy for The Adventurous Beginner”: Unknown author
• Book, “The Basics of Alchemy for The Adventurous Beginner”: Easy basics schoolbook
• Book, “Mixed Alchemy and Alchemic Blends”: By A. Marlon
• Book, “Mixed Alchemy and Alchemic Blends”: Workbook. A collection of experiments.

Yanahalqah

Overview

I really enjoyed this thread—it was great to see these two well-written women work together and find themselves in somewhat unexpected situations. I always find Yludih and their many, uh, layers, interesting to read about. Thank you!

Points

XP:
15 | These points cannot be used for magic.

Fame:
Working together against the odds in combat +2, Standing up for others +1

Loot

N/A

Knowledge

Skill Knowledge:

• Linguistics: Practice makes perfect
• Linguistics: working around a limited vocabulary
• Linguistics: understanding less fluent speakers
• Intelligence: Scouting a location for later reference
• Intelligence: reading between the lines
• Intelligence: Child Spies as informants
• Acting: acting like your other persona
• Acting: feigning confidence
• Intimidation: wearing your weapon openly
• Blades: Dagger: How to move during dagger combat
• Blades: Dagger: where to stab to (permanently) incapacitate opponents
• Detection: searching for the fastest route through a market
• Deception: Spinning a false, though believable story
• Deception: Good lies have some truth in them
• Negotiation: brokering a deal
• Rhetoric: leading a conversation
• Unarmed Combat: Elbow to the ribs
• Unarmed: How to defend against daggers
• Leadership: Giving your teammates instructions

Other Knowledge:

• Andaris: Waterstreet
• Waterstreet: Grannie Anne's bookshop
• Andaris: Secret tunnel between Waterstreet and the Blacksmith's arms
• Andaris: The Barracks
• Yrmellyn Cole: Painter fallen on hard times
• Yrmellyn Cole: Does not shut up
• Yrmellyn Cole: Childhood
• Yrmellyn Cole: Wants to make alchemical paint
• Yrmellyn Cole: Has now a new apprentice
• Yrmellyn Cole: Owes Saeri a painting
• Yrmellyn Cole: Likes to use seduction during negotiations

Now that your review is complete,
don’t forget go back to your review post here and drop this image in!

Code: Select all

[center][img]/gallery/image.php?album_id=39&image_id=10124[/img][/center]