Alarven, Kalve, Menden and Telorn find themselves in the home of the notorious tanner, Neldi. The wealth on display surpassing anything they have ever seen in their lifetimes. Seated as they are in the mans living room, surrounded by imported goods of unknown origin, overstuffed furniture, and paintings by who they can only imagine are famous artists, they have time to talk amongst themselves.

The evening air outside is chilly as is the norm for late spring, a thunderstorm rages overhead, but the air is dry and no rain falls over Asylums valley. An unfortunate trend that seems to have begun with the spring equinox.

Neldi has excused himself after guiding you to the room, getting drinks and food from the kitchen larder. Discussing business on empty stomachs makes for poor decisions he remarked as he left. The business at hand remains to be heard, but the hand written invitations were quite clear that the invited parties should keep the meeting to themselves until they have heard what Neldi has to offer.

Feel free to talk amongst yourselves and get a feel for posting and the personalities of your characters.

Telron, do you have any idea what going on.

"No more than you." I got the same note.

Alarven looks somewhat uncomfortable as he slowly sinks deeper into the over-stuffed chair he had found, eyes glancing around the room to see if he could spot a more comfortable placing.

No, everything looked equally uncomfortable, overstuffed, raised patterning. Carved decorations meant more for visual appeal and looking expensive rather than practicality or comfort of use. Somewhat stiffly, he is trying to not move too much in the seating. Hopefully, the part of his back being jabbed by a carved button would soon become numb.

"Hello. I am Alarven, and I am as much in the dark as the rest of you. Strange weather we've been having, isn't it?"

"Bondec's kid, right?" Telorn responds with a welcome smile, "I'm Telorn." he says, self-consciously smoothing out a stain on his threadbare shirt.

Alarven addresses Telorn with an uncomfortable smile.

"Yes, Bondec is my father. I don't see him as often as I should, but I don't have as much ... interaction with those who spend time at the Menhir. There's always a healthy dose of commentary about my little brother's supposed betrayal of tradition..."

Alarven makes the mistake of shifting his weight to the side and freezes again.

"The chairs. They're almost as dismal as our recent chances of proper spring rain."

Neldi bustles in with a large tray, smiling as he says, "Here we go, gentlemen."  He sets the tray down on the coffee table, revealing a large charcuterie board covered with varieties of smoked meats and 'exotic' imported hard cheeses, as well as a ewer of water, several glasses, and an unopened bottle of wine.

"I hope everyone is comfortable, we have a lot of business to discuss tonight. Please, please, help yourselves!" His smile broadens as he settles into one of the over-stuffed chairs with a glass of water and a slice of meat wedged between a chunk of cheese and a cracker.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:05, Sun 02 May 2021.

Telorn subconsciously dives in like a man who's never eaten before. As he sits back with far too much for etiquette, he looks embarrassed and confused about how to move forward from this. Flustered he sits stiff straight in the chair and nibbles on the snacks in an exaggerated idea of rich-folk etiquette, very much someone completely out of his element.

Supremely average in all obvious ways, one of the four men sits comfortably in one of the chairs, smiling to himself as he does and giving the chair a little shimmy that causes it to creak.  He seems about to speak to Kalve, the one other in the room who he is familiar with as their families are likely to become intertwined soon when their host enters.  He smiles, “Thank you.”

He tries to cut a piece of cheese for himself, managing to misjudge the sharpness, or lack thereof, of the knife and manages to loudly send his cheese nearly off of the board with his ineptitude.  He quickly slaps the knife back into its place and gathers his cheese while jostling everything enough to skew the previous presentation into something far more random.  “Umm... Sorry.  I, ah, appreciate the food, but I’m sure you didn’t just want us here for a social call.”

Relieved to have been given a reason to abandon the chair entirely, Alarven makes his way to the tray.

Not wanting to be the first one to open the grapes, he settles for a glass of water and a few pieces of smoked meats. The cheese appears to have been a carefully laid trap, like the bottle of grapes, ready and waiting to ambush the unprepared. Returning to his chair, he uses the ornately carved arm rest as a tiny table and stands alongside it instead.

"Don't be like that, Menden! Neldi entertains so infrequently. This could easily be a social visit to discuss ... I suppose an outfit he plans to have accessorized? That would explain three of us."
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:24, Sun 02 May 2021.

Telorn nearly chokes as his eyes widen, darting back and forth, "I'm...I'm no tailor! That can't be it, can it?" the panic clear in his voice.

Mendez looks at Alvaren strangely, “But there are four of us and what would I have to do with new clothes?  I suppose he could want my advice because of my sense of style.”  He points down to his unadorned clothes.  “It’s just that in my twenty some odd years no one has called me over for, hmm, a snack?  And, since I can’t divine a thread connecting all of us four it makes me wonder.”

Neldi laughs at the by-play, "No, my friends. I didn't invite you here for fashion advice or a new outfit.  I have a business proposition for the four of you."

He stands up, brushing cracker crumbs off his hands and doublet and stands forth boldly, commanding attention. "As you might know, Asylum is fairly isolated from regional trade. We get maybe two merchants come through a year, which limits the amount of money and goods coming into the town. I have plans to change that, by reopening one of the gemstone mines that I'm fairly certain hasn't been played out, and encouraging the local artisans to use the gemstones produced by that mine to draw more trade here."

He briefly pauses to let that settle in before continuing, "I brought you four here because you have talents and connections that would be useful in the endeavor of bringing the mine back into play. Telorn and Kalve to evaluate the quality of the goods, Menden to write a prospectus, keep the books, and help negotiate, and Alarven by recommendation of Ristalig. I'm planning an expedition, a day out to the mine, a couple days to evaluate it, and a day back. If the site is still workable, as I suspect it is, then I would like to take you on as partners to help run it for a percentage of the profits.  If, by off chance, the site is not workable, you'll all have earned a silver shilling for a week of work.  So..." Neldi pauses dramatically, "Questions?"