After placing her marker on the wizard's tower job, Qitris went around the crowd and met with Smith for a town addition. "Master Smith, I have a write up for a home plan. I understand it is you that I talk to to make the arrangements." She laid out the plans for her future home and a sack of coin to pay for it.

Smith accepted Qitris' money, and looked over the plan. "Consider it done. Should be ready to move into within a few days."

OOC: The amount of time depends on the number of rooms, amenities, etc.

Try as he might, Golun could not find Galenna the gnome anywhere in town. Forlornly he trudged back to the Town Hall and looked at the job board again, hoping something else might interest him.

Hmmm… a wizard’s tower. That might be worth checking out… maybe I should find these White Worgs.

Changed missions to Wizards and Worried Worgs

After signing his name, Tusk seeks out Erret. He approaches the settlement's benefactor, stopping just a few feet away.

"We are looking for the cleric so that we can escort him to the river for some incantation or other. Can you tell me who we are looking for, and perhaps where to find them?"

Smith replied to Tusk, "Ah, yes. Join me for breakfast just before dawn tomorrow, an I will introduce you to her. A word of advice for when you meet her: Don't judge her by her appearance, she's older and tougher than she looks."

Guyver wandered into the establishment. He looked over the job offers. Having little left of his previous life and in need of more income he placed his name on the board under the Envoys section, a series of dots and stripes.

Not knowing who the other people were who placed their names under the heading he just pointed his finger at the entry and deactivated until someone addressed him.

(Guyver joined the Envoy mission, we are complete)

From: Envoy to Swift Stream Village

It was the dark of night when Kiara came trudging back into the Town Hall, knocking the snow off her boots and ringing it out of her heavy coat. She looked about with her strange golden eyes, searching for any who might be up at that late hour.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:39, Sat 04 Feb 2023.

"I thought she'd never stop talking .. Azucondie I mean. I think she had business to attent to, she wandered off after we got back into town. You were very quiet on our way back. It is a quality I admire", he remarked to Kiara when they entered.
"It is too bad the orcs don't have the foresight to value progress, well-contented as they are to bash their enemies' heads in with crude hacking utensils and little finesse and living in crude huts. I could give them weapons with which they could kill prey from a far distance. Running water, hot and cold. Floor heating. But I fear their culture is fast approaching an end, and in their death throws they may yet pose a threat to our burgeoning community. I'm going to recommend keeping a close eye on their territory. Because when they come for our growing beacon of civilization, and trust me they will, they will turn our community into a bloodbath if we are ill prepared. Too bad, I hoped they wouldn't be so dismissive".

They had blessedly been able to escape, and the trudge through the night had been easy enough, all things considered.

”It was too cold, so I saved my breath rather than letting it freeze.”

She answered Guyver, her face a perfect mask of hospitality beneath the heavy scarf she had unwrapped.

”Where do you hail from, where such technological wonders are common? I’ve spent the last decade of my life among the ancient and the wise…”

Which was certainly one way of putting it.

”... and I don’t think I’ve seen even half the feats of magic and engineering you describe. More importantly, what are you doing down here in the Southern Wilds?”

A towering 8' tall firm ducks under the lintel of the doorway.  His stocky and muscular form clad in wool and leather clothes, With heavy boots and a broad leather belt.  At his hip rests a saex and handaxe, while slung across his back is a heavy maul, and several javelins. His bald head and beardless face are blockish and craggy, with two blue eyes gleaming like ice diamonds from beneath heavy brows.  He turns his head, looking for Smith.

"Exactly where I originally came from is unfortunately wiped by a tumultuous past following by the sleep of ages which lasted so long even your most ancient won't remember the era I'm from. How and when I was made I forgot, but they were a people capable of wondrous invention and insights and I am their heir apparent, the last remnant of a brighter yesteryear".

"The people I was last with were dwarves. We were stationed underground .. there was a war .. we were crafting weapons. Then darkness fell and thousand and more years passed until I opened my eyes again and the war was over and a new war had begun. That's when I met your people".

"I've seen others of my kind among your people but they appear to remember even less than me. I have to light the way because even though I have lost so much this is not the way the world is meant to be.".

"I have to set things right"

Smith is at his desk, as always. Its been rumored he has a cleric cast restoration on him daily so he never needs to eat or sleep.

Kiara had not spent much time in the company of the holy orders, but it seemed to her that those she had spoke much the same way Guyver did. She was pretty sure the Warforged was being sincere as well.

"Are the Warforged here as you are?"

She'd seen at least one more about, on her way in.

---

She approached the Governor, making enough noise that he could hear her coming.

"Chief Margul the Ancient of the Swift Stream Village offers the bounty of meats, berries, giant boar hides and tusks, vessels of clay, and within their limits, grains to Smith's Gambit."

She uttered, recalling the Chief's words perfectly.

"It took some convincing, but I think we've allies there."

She added.

"Very good, very good!" says Smith, and pulls your contracts out of a file cabinet, and then several pouches of gold from a safe, he hands each member of the envoy group a pouch and then frowns, "Here is your payment, as promised. I see one of you is missing. Did something happen to Santio?"

Members of the Envoy to Swift Stream Village party each get 1200gp, 2100xp, and 15 downtime units (Santio can receive his rewards upon return to Smith's Gambit.)

Kiara smiled.

"Santio wouldn't be my first pick for a diplomatic mission, but that would have been my folly. He braved the challenge Chief Margul set him admirably, and their hunters invited him to join them in the morning. He said he'd have no trouble finding his own way here, and I believe him."

She turned to look at Guyver.

"What's next for you? I intend to find a bed for the evening, and then pay a visit to the local Enchantress. Hexia her name is?"

She looked back to Erret Smith.

"Do you have anything that needs doing next, or shall I just wait for Santio to return and find something on the Job's Board? Oh, before I forget, is there anyone here with a Library of Arcane Lore?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:07, Thu 09 Feb 2023.

"I read something about an expedition to explore underground locations .. since i found myself waking up underground this seems a reasonable way to find possible answers to my past. the mapper, Keenbellow, asked for bodyguards. I can supply a modicum of protection", he patted his gun.

"I should also set up shop in town to start creating more of my inventions, to which I should have a private discussion with mister Smith",

Guyver signs up for:

First Keenbellow Underground Expedition

Body Guards Needed!

"That young man is more capable than he appears, that's for sure. You should look at the job board, it what it's there for, after all," Smith says, cheerfully.

Then he turns to Guyver, "A private discussion? Sure thing. Follow me." Smith leads Guyver to a private office upstairs.

Soon enough, Santio returned to Smiths Gambit ... and in short order (personally, or by message) he allowed Kiara to know the fact.
He would be ready to join her on her next mission, should she find use of his services, at her disposal.


Feel free to sign me up, with Kiara, to any job she wishes:   she may speak for me on this matter

It was midmorning when Kiara returned to the Town Hall, walking straight to the job board to double check, and then finding the Govenor.

”Santio, Sovok, Boneclaw, and myself would like to take the job along the ruins west of the Burning Stag.”

She announced, finding herself a comfortable seat and waiting for the others to arrive. Her golden eyes found Santio, and lit up.

”Ah, there you are. I hope all went well in your hunt?”

Sovok ducks under the lintel, his eight foot height causing him to tower above the others present.  He wears chitinous armor, a pack, and a maul slung across his back.  A large saex, a handaxe, and a quiver of javelins hang from his belt.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:34, Fri 17 Feb 2023.

Santio joined Kiara in his usual way:  casually making his way to the table in a way that encountered as few patrons as possible, keeping his head low, and hoping to not bother anyone.

As he sat, he smiled at the elven woman.
"They, um, wouldn't let me hunt.   Rightfully so.   Their task wasn't to hunt, or feed anyone.  It was to scout the edges and expanse of their territory for any signs of, you know, intrusion.   Hunting would slow that down, and distract them", he replied, seeming a little disappointed at not having had the chance to hunt.

Santio didn't know Nutcracker, and had been a little anxious to leave the party soley in the Kenku's hands for their return.
"You made it back safely?" a slight hint of concern in his voice.

”Save for the cold, we had no issues. What sort of intruders were they looking for? Other Orks, or our own people?”

Kiara answered,  with a voice that was honey and woodsmoke, then turned to their new companion.

”You must be Sovok then?”

She was an odd sight, to say the least. Slight and thin, she did not even reach five feet tall. Her impossibly pale skin baring a sheen to it that looked more akin to ivory than flesh. All told, it made her look alien and strange, a supernatural mein that could not be ignored.

She was clad in fine studded leather, with a shield slung over one shoulder, and an ornate sword at her side. Santio might have noted that she bore a new implement as well, an ivory rod that looked to have been carved of mammoth tusk, carved with runes within which had been poured molten gold.

”Glad you could join us, If sent word to Boneclaw as well, as they were the first to put their name on the board. Santio, what manner of being is this Boneclaw?”

"The latter, is what they told me.  But we only scouted one of many sections in their territory ... and I reckon they'd be on watch for others as well.  Us and more"


As Kiara spoke to the other person who'd come up behind Santio, the young man turned in his seat to look up ... then up, and up some more ... to eventually find the big face towering above him near the roof.  His eyebrows raised; for that was one big man.

Santio was, to look at, not much bigger than Kiara.    A human, he stood at around 5' 7" or 8": which wasn't insignificant for a human, but certainly must seem small to this Goliath.    Santio also seemed more 'rugged and athletic' than muscular.  All in all, he was an unassuming image.


Turning back to his companion, Santio smiled, "He's a big old Blackbird of Happiness, like our friend Nutcracker".

The door swung open, letting in the cold wind. Death's representative had arrived. In the doorway stood a smallish Kenku dressed in black clothes. It pulled its hood back with a ashen colored withered left hand and shook its head puffing up its feathers. From its belt hung a ceremonial dagger, several pounces, and a stylized symbol of the god of the dead, Kelemvor, a skeletal hand holding a set of scales.

Boneclaw Looked at Santio and from its beak Santio heard his own flute song unfurl, the one santio had been practicing during the time he had travelled with Boneclaw.

".. Santio ..", he nodded and winked as he spoke with Galenna's voice.
Then in Spark's voice:"this will work out nicely".

"I'm up for doing something about this threat. I would suggest forging on, as a team", in Santio's own voice.
The sentences sounded awfully familiar to Santio.

In Lukas Verbant's voice:"Let us be on our way. Santio has served as scout"

Santio smiled, and much unlike his usual quiet demeanour, rose to meet Boneclaw.
He said, quite specifically, "It is nice to see you again, my friend", then gestured him to the table Kiara and Sovok were at.

Santio made introductions:  his fondness and friendly comfortability with both Kiara and Boneclaw being obvious, and somewhat bringing the reserved little woodsman out of his shell somewhat.