Revision as of 15:04, 27 April 2018

Participants

• Fenris
• Lidara
• Mal

Date

27/4/481

Log

The ornately twisted wrought iron gates stand open to a finely paved walkway leading to a wide porch. The store, Amar's Wonder Emporium, is closed today. A pair of servants in clean, white robes stand to either side of the door to welcome guests.

A Coyote wanders up the street, looking around before spotting Amar's residence, cutting a path across the road to the house. He looks at the shop and blinks. "Huh, never knew this was here," Mal mumbles, before looking between the two robed servants and tipping a non-existent hat. "Thank ya," he says, stepping inside...hope his boots are clean.

Luckily, that coyote wouldn't have to wait long for the other adventurer that's going to be joining him! A lone cat wanders through the streets of the semi-rundown looking area, his head on a swivel while he tries to find the building he's searching for.... Between the servants out front and the familiar face that's already heading towards the building itself, it isn't particularly difficult for him to pinpoint it, and once he does he calls out a quick, "Mal, wait up!" and jogs on over. Once he's there, he simply falls in step alongside the 'yote. "I'm glad you could make it too," he gives with a grin. In addition to his normal robes and backpack, the cat now openly has a shortbow and quiver on his back, as well as two daggers at his sides. At least he's come prepared.

One of the servants, a tall, thin feline woman, bows to the pair of Freeswords as they arrive. "Welcome," she says, "Master Widestripe awaits you inside. If you would please remove your shoes?" She points out the other servant, a willowy male feline that could pass for her twin, who is holding soft slippers for wearing indoors.

"What, and miss a chance to get paid? I've got habits to feed," Mal says with a grin. "Do you know how much crafting tools cost? Too much!" The Rogue shakes his head, taking note of Lidara's weapons.

The Coyote grumbles as he's asked to remove his boots, but...reluctantly takes them off, taking a knife out of each boot as he does and setting them aside. "If you insist..." Mal pulls on the slippers, wiggling his foot as he looks at his new footwear. After a moment he looks up to the Servants. "Lead the way!" he says, grinning.

"That's a fair enough point! I might not craft much myself, but I do know very well that paying for such things can get.... rather expensive," Lidara says, glancing down to his daggers and adjusting his bow. There were his instruments too, but he doesn't have those on him at the moment. In any case, the servant quickly gets the feline's attention when she speaks up, and although the request earns a curious look from him, he certainly doesn't put up any argument. He slips his own boots off and eases into the offered slippers; unlike his companion, he doesn't need to take anything out of his shoes beforehand, either. He likewise simply waits for the servants to lead the way afterwards.

The two servants wait for the two freeswords to change their shoes, stowing them in a little shelf by the door. Once that is done, they open the double doors wide and lead the way into what looks like a large, indoor garden.

The floor is made up of some kind of dark wood, with a wide, open area in the middle where bamboo and other, leafy plants grow. The sound of trickling water and the occasional clonk of a deerscare come from an unseen water feature.

Off to one side of the open, garden area, well within the shade, Amar widestrip lounges on a low, wide couch in a sea of cushions. The purple tiger is utterly massive, he strokes his wide, soft belly idly with one huge paw while the other is attended by another white-robed servant. He dismisses the servant with a wave when he sees the freeswords, stroking the short, pointed beard that hangs over his prominent double chin.

"Only two of you?" he asks, "Ah, well, ah well, fewer ways to split the reward, yes?" The fat feline waves a beringed hand and a large grizzly bear in fine, leather armor steps forward with a small box. "This is what you are looking for today," Amar says as his bear opens the box to reveal a vial filled with a silvery substance set on a velvet cushion.

Mal leans in, staring quizzically at the Vial. "Shiny," the Coyote states, before following up with a question, "What is it; some kind of liquid silver? Caaaan I hold it?" The Rogue stands up straight and grins at Amar. "Amar, I've worked with you before; you know I can get the job done on my own, if I need to." Luckily, he doesn't have to prove that statement; he's got a Cat to lend a helping hand!

Unlike Mal, Lidara's attention is more on the pretty garden they're currently in rather than the vial, but he does remember to commit the look of the substance to memory. Especially once he sees exactly how shiny of a liquid it is. There is another important question that comes to mind in addition to exactly what the substance is, though.... "Where are we going to be searching for it, exactly? I imagine it is going to be quite as simple as walking somewhere, grabbing it and then leaving." After all, one likely wouldn't hire mercenaries for such a thing.

Mal's braggadocious attitude does earn him a glance from the feline, a smile forming on his muzzle as he adds, "From what you've told me, it sounds like you would've been in trouble during a few of those jobs if you didn't have people with you, though." His tone is more teasing than anything else, at least.

"I'm sure you can" Amar says, "And no, you may not hold it." The purple tiger reaches out and lifts the vial out and holds it between two sausage fingers. "Very good, very good. It is silver, of a sort. It is commonly called quick silver, or living silver, not to be confused with mercury, rare though it might be. This material is very rare and very useful. It is incredibly responsive to mathemagic, and while it is naturally in a liquid state-" he pauses and closes his hand around the vial.

"Its uses are beside the point," Amar says, shaking his head, "The point is, I have discovered a rather remaekable deposit of living silver in a small firemount near Firebough. I simply need you to subdue it."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, miss," the Coyote says with a huff, returning the grin before looking back to Amar and blinking at the fat cat's explanation.

"...Subdue it?" Mal asks after a moment, commenting on Amar's...interesting choice of words. "Amar, Quicksilver isn't normally a thing you...subdue..." The Rogue leans towards Lidara, whispering, "I mean, am I wrong? I'm not wrong, right?"

Lidara shakes his head in response to that huff, but he can wait until after the job to tease Mal further! Instead, his attention turns to Amar, the cat's ears perking up to listen to his explanation of its properties... and especially the explanation about where they're actually going. Just like his companion, however, there is one part of what the purple tiger says that he gets hung up on. "I'm... just as curious about that. You did say it's also called living silver, but it isn't actually... you know, alive, is it? Although, I guess if we have things like elementals then that certainly isn't impossible...." He trails off to think for a moment, offering a shake of his head in response to the 'yote's whispers.

"Not quicksilver," Amar sighs, "Quick Silver. Like I said, Living Silver is very reactive to mathemagical energy, meaning that in large enough quantities and in proximity to beings, it will form itself into elementals. I need you two to 'kill' a pair of these elementals in order to collect the material." The fat feline raises an immaculate eyebrow at the pair. "You think you are up to the task?" he asks.

Mal blinks. "Right. Sounds...reasonable enough," he says, shrugging. The Coyote nods to Gavin and Amar before stepping back, waiting for Lidara. "...I need to invest in more Mathemagic..." the Coyote mutters under his breath, shaking his head.

Lidara isn't... quite as quick to accept the challenge, really. He thinks for a moment, glancing between that vial of living silver, himself and then Mal before finally nodding. "We can certainly give it a try, at the very least," he gives with a nod and a smile before turning around and falling in line next to Mal once more. "I'll readily admit, I don't know much about mathemagic either. I'm sure that we'll be able to manage without it, but... I've never fought elementals of any kind before. I'm not really sure how easy it will be," a short pause, "Not that I mind the challenge, but I'd prefer that nothing bad happened to either of us." He offers the coyote another smile, but beyond that he simply waits for them to be lead elsewhere.

"Of course, of course," Amar says, waving a hand, "I have no doubt that the two of you will manage just fine." He replaces the vial in the box that his manservant is holding. "Gavin here will accompany you," he says, "He will be able to collect the materials once you have done your part, and your reward will be ready when you return." And with that, it seems the Freeswords are dismissed.

Gavin, the bear, leads the duo outside to a waiting cart. It is a bit of a journey, but at least they get to ride in relative comfort.

As the Coyote climbs into the Cart, he turns to help Lidara in. "How've you been, Gavin?" Mal asks cheerily as he gets comfortable in his seat. "Done any good...guarding?" he adds, trailing off as he realizes he knows...not a whole lot, about the Bear. "What DO you do for fun, actually..."

Lidara happily accepts the offered help, slipping his backpack off once he's inside so that he can properly settle in. The cat isn't... quite so casual about things throughout the cart ride, however. Hearing the coyote so cheerful does manage to keep a smile on the feline's muzzle, but rather than talk, his own attention is devoted to giving his equipment a last minute check. The cat examining the blades on both of his daggers as well as a few of the arrows, making sure they're clean, examining them and... generally wondering if they'll actually even be able to hurt what they're going to be fighting.

"I'm not really a guard," Gavin says, keeping his eyes on the road. He sounds surprisingly young. "I'm more like Master Amar?s assistant," he explains, "Yeah, I do the bodyguard stuff while he is out in town, but mostly he teaches me stuff. I guess I'm like an apprentice? I'm kinda with Master Widestripe all the time except when I'm out on errands like this one."

The journey passes quietly, and the sun is high and hot in the sky when Gavin pulls off the main road on the way to Firebough. A bit later, he pulls the big, shaggy draft animals to a halt and hops down to tether the animals.

"This is as far as the cart goes," he says, "Can't let anything happen to the stuff in it." He nods to the foothills of a nearby mountain. "That?ll be the place, right there," he points.

Mal blinks in surprise; whatever he was expected from Gavin, it wasn't that. "Oh. Huh," he says. "Well, good luck with that."

As they reach the end of their journey, the Coyote checks himself for all his weapons, before hopping out, once again offering his assistance to the Cat. The Coyote turns to look in the direction that Gavin gestures to, nodding. "Then, let's get to it," the Rogue says, following after Gavin. "What's Amar want with this, ah, Quick Silver, anyway? Doesn't seem like an oddity to me; normally he's got us Freeswords off chasing treasure. Or Hill Wyrm eggs."

Lidara once more accepts the offered assistance, quickly hopping out of the cart, surveying the area... and then the cat is almost immediately left wishing that he had brought something lighter to wear. It's too late for that now, in any case, so the feline simply adjusts his backpack and weapons alike, then follows behind Gavin and Mal. Now that they're actually out in the field he doesn't quite move at the pair's sides though, instead stepping slightly behind them so that he can cover their rear. "I imagine that he'd either want to use it for some kind of mathemagic or sell it to people who want to do that. He did say that it's pretty reactive to that sort of thing, after all." Plus it being rare would skyrocket its price.

Gavin nods at Lidara?s explanation. "Usually, you would be right," he says, "Master Amar collects both rare objects and rare commodities. But this time he's after somethin' High Lady Longtail is needing for some big golem thing. I don't really understand the specifics, but they?re trying to make some new kind of golem and they think this stuff?ll help."

The bear leads the way to a tall crevasse in the side of the mountain. It looks like there was some kind of rockslide recently.

"This is the place," he announces, "This is where our information says the elementals were seen. They like hot places, I guess. You just let me know when you've done your thing and I'll come gather the stuff!" The burly bear gives a wave and turns to walk back to the cart.

Mal blinks as the Bear just...leaves. "...'Kay, that's cool," he says after a moment, turning back to the yawning crack in the Mountain. "There's (Quick) Silver in them thar hills," the Coyote says, with an accent likely to be found on a backwater hick. The Rogue steps into the fissure, turning back to look at his partner-in-crime. "This way's as good as any, I suppose," he quips with a grin.