Adora snorted at Trager's comment on sell swords.

"At least your career can flourish under them. Adventurers ruin things for people in my line of work. But hey! this city needs capable folks with the undead and everything. If I was a different person I'd offer to come with ya if you were considering it. For moral support." She paused. She could be someone else. Easily. That brought a small smile to her face. It could be so good to pull one over on the very adventurers that would claim a bounty on her. Besides. Adventurers made better money than bandits.

"Ya know. i may know a person or two. If you're interested in finding out what really happened tonight, i might be able to find out for you. After the way my evening started, i could really use a good old fashioned beat down."

Trager tilted his head and looked at the Elf. "I didn't ask," he said, and threw back one of the shots, "what is your line of work, Miss Adora?"

He flipped the glass over and set it down on the bar, then lifted the other glass.

Oof. That question. Both the man and the warforged seemed so... Nice.

"I... am a collector. I collect things off people. Information, money, trinkets, stuff like that. Never enough to cause too much harm. I've got a code and all. I'm also handy at disguises. And I know people. Im no philanthropist, but what happened to you pisses me off, honestly."

She smirked and downed the rest of her drink. "By the way. The woman and the boy, that was me. So thank you both for finding out what really got those guys. I was worried for a moment."

EDi's brass eyes were practically gleaming in the dim tavern light.

"A collector?  Just like RinGold the Acquisitionist! He was famous for robbing and stealing from the evil slave barons and helping to free the very people they were trying to oppress!"   EDi was clearly getting excited at the idea of meeting someone like that...until Adora claimed that not only was she Adora, but she was the young human child from before....annnd the noblewoman that the soldier claimed to see? He seemed suddenly very confused.

"Hold on...wait....what? How are you all those people? That doesn't make any sense at all." EDi looked over at the old soldier, and then back to the Elf woman. Then back at the soldier...then back at the elf.

Adora was at EDi's excitement and drew delight at his momentary confusion.

"Its an illusion, really." She waved her hand in front of her face, changing it to show how she looked before her horrible scars. "Its half the reason I wouldn't take the coin from Trager. The other half was it felt like robbing a someone who had nothing. And that is why I'm buying his tab."

EDi nodded along a bit as she spoke. His brass eyes flickered a bit as she demonstrated her illusion ability.>   "Illusion? Oh! So its mage business then, eh? I gotcha. I met a few mages back where I was. Most of them didn't really talk to me at all...which was fine, they were soldiers, but one of them was friendly and would chat with me when he was drunk."   He nodded his head, mostly to himself as he filed this away in his mind. There was certainly a lot more to the world than he had overheard so far. Perhaps this journey was going to be a long one.

Adora chuckled EDi was a trip. Always so curious about things. "Well sort of. You don't get a face as pretty as mine from being on the back line of fighting. But that's a different story." She dismissed the illusion and ordered another drink.

"I meant what I said, Trager. If you want a piece of whoever ordered those guys to do that, I can help with that. I know it won't fix things back to normal, but it may help with closure."

Trager cocked an eyebrow as he watched Adora's demonstration of her illusory skills. He stared for a few long moments before shaking his head and sighing.

"I should have known something was up. No street child would have turned down coin." He pointed a finger at her. "And you shouldn't have either." He took the second shot and slammed the glass upside on the table. "I know how much coin I have, damnit," he grumbled.

He sat in silence for a few moments longer. "What's your plan?"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 21:22, Sun 27 Sept 2020.

EDi watched as the grizzled vet downed whatever it was that he was drinking. He certainly seemed very serious now. His brass eyes whirled back over to the elf maiden. Now there was talk of an actual plan? He thought that he might burst from the sheer excitement of what was going on. Some small part of his mind wondered if they might let him come along, even though the old man was a soldier. EDi tried very much not to dance in his backwards seat...but he still happily drummed his large metallic fingers on the back of the chair like an impatient child who was trying to appear civilized.

A slow smiled crept over Adora's face as Trager gave somewhat agreement to her help.

"So, in my line of work, I've got a few contacts in the - Ya know - Thieve's Guild" She whispers this last to avoid being overheard by casual listeners. "They can find out who would have provided the kind of poison that could have done that in the way that it was delivered. Can you tell me if anyone powerful or rich might be angry at you for any reason? This kind of loyalty or fear that could drive a person to commit suicide rather than be caught.. well, that doesn't come cheap. And if they are buying this kind of poison for their goons to torch a smithy, then they must be up to some other shady stuff. Which could gain us good favor with the guards and maybe rewards of the sort that would allow you to purchase or fund the construction of a new workshop. But baby steps!"

Adora was getting excited. She had forgotten the thrill of a mystery. She had spent so long slogging away, robbing bits and baubles from people in town and on the road that she had forgotten about how things were before her injury, before her pact. Maybe, this time, she could make her patron proud of her.

"You're free to come with, but I don't know how they will react to strangers."

Trager shook his head slowly. "Not powerful enough to warrant that kind of loyalty, no," he replied. "I did probably piss off the valet of Lord Kirstane - but he's a very minor noble, his house holdings having dwindled over the years."

He pondered for a bit longer, gray eyes staring at a lantern on the wall. In its flame, he saw his home and livelihood burn. "No one," he responded again, looking back at her. "If you go, will you be safe?"

He swiveled to look at EDi. "How good are you with that gun?"

His head was still swiveling back and forth between the soldier and the Elf. EDi was snapped out of his already prolific daydreams by a short pause in the conversation. They had spoken to him! Quick! Try to remember what was asked! A moments pause as EDi tried to look very confident.

"I have fired it on several occasions, and dare I say often hit my intended targets."   He grinned inwardly, he was sounding like a real gunman now. Before he could stop himself, he kept talking, embellishing unncessarily.  "In fact, just early this morning, I faced off against 'DeadEnd Pete' in a duel just outside of town."  He froze as he finished the sentence, cursing his own foolish self.

both Trager, and Adora can roll insight checks

and please post the results in orange
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:39, Wed 30 Sept 2020.

Insight: 21:59, Today: Darhill Trager rolled 24 using 1d20+4.

In reply to Darhill Trager (msg # 37):

Adora made mental notes of what Trager said, noting the noble's name, just in case. His query about her safety genuinely touched her. "I should be. I've been there before. If you're worried, you're welcome along!"

The question about EDi's skill drew her attention. She glanced at his small side arm and listened to his description of his skill, nodding in appreciation. "DeadEnd Pete, you say? I haven't heard of him! Is he imfamous? Did you kill him and collect a bounty? You must tell me more about how you use that weapon of yours."

Trager stared at EDi, then tilted his head. "Hmm." He pursed his lips, spinning the shot glass on the bartop, then shook his head and turned back to Adora.

"I think I will join you," he said. "When were you thinking?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:02, Wed 30 Sept 2020.

Adora sighed thoughtfully. "Probably tonight. The sooner I ask, the fresher the trail. But if you need a moment to sober up a little, we can wait til, say... Midnight? The guild will still be operating then. At least they should be."

Trager shook his head. "Whenever you're ready to go. I'll need a few minutes to slip into something a little more... comfortable for the setting." He could feel EDi's eyes on both of them, and could practically feel the thrum of the machinery that simulated his emotions, and Trager sighed.

"EDi..." He turned toward the metal man. "There were no reports of gunfire outside the city today. There might be five firearms in the whole city, so it would have been huge news." He stared eye to eye with EDi, his gray to EDi's brass. "I'm going to give you another shot, cause we all make mistakes, but I'm only going to ask this once."

He let the silence hang in the air for several moments.

"How good are you with that gun, EDi?"

EDi looked up at the suddenly very serious old man. He was as tall as EDi, and heavily armed as well. Plus, he had been drinking. EDi had already experienced encounters with drunken soldiers many times, they rarely ended well for him. His hand slipped beneath the moldy rug poncho, and his fingers ran across his makeshift patch that he made with his name on it. He reached for the small, battered pistol...and slowly pulled it from its makeshift holster and opened its breach to remove the single bullet insdie. He set both the weapon, and the round gently on the table before him. The gun was old to say the least, and not the valuable kind of old. Spots of rust were there throughout along the metal parts. The grips were both cracked, and looked to be held on by bits of moldy leather wrapped tight. The front sight was loose, actually held on by a bit of string. There was also a large curved scratch across the weapon, the sure sign that a steel clod hoof had stepped on it. EDi's voice was lower now....softer, as he spoke.

"This...is Pistola de Basura. I found her on the side of the road, in a ditch, underneath some garbage. She used to look pretty rough, until I was able to clean her up and fix her a little. I can tell...I can feel that she is not proud of the life that she had before she met me. But none of that matters. She and I are a team now, and we take care of each other as best we can. So I am trying to be as good as she wants me to be, though I have a feeling it will be a difficult journey."   He carefully picked up the gun, reloading it and replacing it into his holster. He looked back at the soldier, meeting his stare in what might actually be as an equal.

"As for outside the city this morning, there was a shooting. But no one was hurt or killed. All I did was manage to scare some travellers and spook some horses." He leaned forward a bit, his brass eyes shining in the light. "But I Hit. My. Target."

Trager listened intently to the metal man's answer. It rang of something he would hear from one of his men, speaking of the weapon he had owned for years. It was something few understood, but the bond between a man and his weapon was a sacred thing. As EDi finished, Trager stared for several long seconds.

"We'll both be coming," he finally said, turning to Adora.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:34, Wed 30 Sept 2020.

Adora watched man and machine verbally square off over the question that hung in the air. Her eyes traced from one to the other and back. She too understood a bonded weapon.

When Trager declared that they would both come with her, a slow smile spread across her face and she stood up. "Alright! Lets go!" she called over to the bar keep. "We'll be back for our rooms in a bit." She made her way to the door and waited for them, remembering Trager wanted a moment to change outfits.

Trager nodded and stood. "Give me a few minutes. I'll be right back."

He hefted his bag and approached the barkeep for directions, nodding his thanks again. He closed the door to the room behind him, looking about at the simple accommodations and nodding in satisfaction before setting the bag down on the bed. He emptied the bag; the items he wanted were at the bottom, thinking them the least likely item he would be getting out of the bag. How wrong I was he thought, setting aside the largest item and retrieving a large rectangular item wrapped in cloth.

He dumped it unceremoniously on the bed, and began sorting the items.

---

A few minutes later, Trager returned, clad in knee length chainmail and grieves. A steel pauldron was strapped to his right shoulder, but partially covered by the baldric he wore over the armor. The grieves were hardened leather, dyed black, on the shins and thighs, with chainmail in the rear and at the joints.

The baldric was cream, with a crimson eagle in flight embroidered on it, crossed by three black slashes in what looked to be dye applied with a brush. On his back was strapped his sword, covered by his shield; his hammer hung at his waist. Beneath his left arm he carried a helmet with two pointed oval eye openings, and a vertical gap between the cheek guards where the mouth and chin would be visible. The nose piece between the eye slits was pointed and hooked like a bird's beak; several pieces of steel swept back behind the head simulating feathers.

Trager flexed his leather gauntleted hand, working out some of the stiffness. "Let's roll," he rumbled.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:25, Thu 15 Oct 2020.

He was unsure of how the old soldier would respond to EDi's slight defiance. There was a very distinct pause between what he had said before Trager said that EDi would be allowed to come along. Part of him was elated, though he firmly restrained the urge to throw his hands over his head and shout exclamations of happiness. This wasn't quite the time. Maybe later, after whatever it was that they were about to do had happened. The scarred elf stood up, as if everything was natural and normal...breaking whatever tension had been creeping up EDi's support column. She agreed! Or at least didn't seem to mind him coming. She moved to the doorway and Trager went to his room. EDi made sure that his ammo sock was secure, and that Pistola was ready to go as he joined the Elf by the door. He tried to have an air of intimidation about his mosey, but was quite unsure of how it had come across.  This was just like in the stories! Heroes banding together for a common good! He could hardly contain  himself.

What if.....what if people write stories about Us? His mind wondered idly.

He thought about trying to make small talk with the Elf while they waited for the soldier to return, but thought better of it. Instead, he busied himself with trying to slyly get a decent look at her clothing. To himself he peered cautiously out of the corner of his eye, while to others, he seemed to almost be leering at her, eyeing her up and down. She seemed normal enough a person so far, plus she wasn't a soldier, so that might be a good thing. She had a large scar across her face, though with her illusion magic, sometimes it came and went, so he was unsure about it. Many soldiers he had mat had large scars somewhere, and most were unaffected by them, though he wondered idly what had caused the mark. It was then, just as EDi had leaned back a little to look at the reverse side of Adorra's belt, that Trager had returned, now dressed in full kit and looking like a recruitment poster for the veteran military brigade. He stood up straighter, fairly positive that his quick inspection of Adorra's gear had gone entirely unnoticed. Gunslingers like him were supposed to have eagle eyes after all.

At the soldiers quite statement that it was time to go, EDi was already standing there, his fists on his hips, mostly hidden within his ragged poncho. He gave a quick thumbs up that only slightly hampered the image of savvy gunslinger he was going for.

"Ready and willing."

As Adora waited, EDi came over and began checking his weapon. It was probably a good idea. She checked her armor for fit and the few weapons she displayed for ease of reach. In fact the only weapons visible were daggers. Her other weapons were easily conjured by magic. Especially her pact weapon.

Time passed slowly and Adora grew bored. Shifting her weight to thw balls of her feet she bounced a little as she waited. Trager was probably donning armor. She glanced at EDi again and he was looking... Was he checking her out?! What a weird machine!

"EDi! Hey! Eyes up here buddy!" She said pointing at her face. "Normally people cant stop looking at the scar once they see it."

When Trager returned she eyed his armor and insignia.

"Looking good! Not sure how well an emblem like that would go over where we are headed, though." And with that, Adora leads the way into the streets.