Day 32: Starday the 20th, Lamashan, 4707
I woke up and Savah was still lying in bed. I got up and she reached for me and asked me if I could just lay in bed with her for a while. I agreed, so we just laid there. After a few minutes, Savah asked me if I was happy with her. I told her that I was, that this was fast but it was good. I told her that Aries usually fell into relationships quickly. She asked me what I meant by Aries. I told her about the astrology of Earth, how everything was based off of constellations, and how mine was a fire symbol of a Ram. She asked me what month that was, and we jointly figured out that it would be the month of Gozran here. She asked me for the day and I tried to playfully tell her that she didn't need to worry about that.
She didn't like that one bit, so I told her the date, and she filed it away. It turned out that her birthday had actually been the 18th of Rova, the first month that I was on this world. Doing some calculations, it turned out that her birthday was the day that I arrived in this world. I told her as such and her eyes lit up a little. I told her that I guess me coming to this world was her birthday gift this year, it was just a little late. Savah cuddled up to me and said that Madame Mvashti had told her that something would be coming to her this year for her birthday that would change her life, but she had not noticed anything on that day. I told her that my meetings with Madame Mvashti had led me to believe that she really did have a finger on the future's pulse.
Savah told me that she didn't get the connection with all the words that I used, and I apologized. I told her that I wasn't doing it to make myself seem smart, it was just that I was used to a lot of different idioms and that I would need to unlearn them. Savah told me that it was fine, but if I could explain them to her when they came up she would feel better about it. I told her that I would definitely answer any of the questions that she had.
Savah nodded and said that she would asked whenever she felt that it would help. I told her that I was going to get food for us. She nodded and said that she hoped that I was getting something good going. I made some food and orange juice. I also made some coffee for her and took my caffeine pill. I knew that I would have to start looking into the different types of tea, or maybe I could talk to Nisk or something. I brought the food back and she said that she was feeling a little better today.
I told her that I was going to talk to Hannah and Father Zantus about diseases because I was very certain that I had gotten myself cured of everything when I went to the Proctor of Abadar and paid him to cure me. Savah told me that this wasn't a me issue, that it was one of her issues. I told that I would look into getting her cured of any diseases that she might have. She started to tell me that everything was fine, and I told her that I should be looking into wasting money experimenting and making things when she wasn't fully healthy. She stopped me and said that she was having her moon cycle right now.
I stopped talking. It took me a minute to make the connection and I involuntarily laughed a little. She looked at me angrily, and I told her that I was worrying for the past four days that I had brought some disease from my old world with me and that I had given it to her. I told her that I was panicking this whole time because she wouldn't talk to me about it and I was trying to figure out anything I could to get her to talk to me. I told her that the laughter was that I wasn't as worried that I had brought her some super disease anymore.
She looked at me and laughed herself. I went to my bag and got her an aspirin and a Tylenol and told her that back on my old world, the combination of these two and caffeine, from the coffee, were what some women used to help deal with the pain that might come with this time of the month. She took them and asked if there was a stigma around it back where I was from. I told her that there was a little bit of one, but it was mostly due to concepts of hygiene, and by having magic in this world, it shouldn't be even close to be a worry.
She smiled and got up to hug me. I told her to take a rest today. I added that I was going to work on the material that I would need for the frame as soon as I got a steam plant set up for the bike. Once I got it running, I was going to let her ride on it with me. She smiled, and I told her that I think I got everything set up, now it was just a matter of time. I told her that I would have to apologize, but I was going to have to talk to the smith in town to vane something made. Savah warned me that he was a bit of a dick.
I thanked her for the warning and told her that she should take the day off. She shook her head and said that she would shut the shop up tomorrow, but she needed to be open in case anyone needed to get something. I wished her luck and told her that I was going to head out to try and get things done quickly today, that Cyrdak wanted me there a little earlier today. Savah told me that she might try to make it tonight, but that she would definitely be there tomorrow night. I thanked her and headed out.
I headed over to Das Korvut's place. I can tell you after the fact that he wasn't a pleasant man to be around. I went to Red Dog Smithy, and the first thing I saw was him outside his smithy in an empty lot next door, standing over two recently dug graves. I patiently waited outside his shop door to try to give him and those he lost some respect. After a half an hour, he made his way into his shop and I heard movement inside. I knocked on the door and waited for an answer. I could hear the sigh when he yelled come in. I entered the store trying to be respectful of his time. He yelled out from the back asking me what I wanted.
I told him that I had a project that I was working on and that I would like to hire him to make the most important part. He stomped out of the back of his shop and took one look at me. He saw that I was wearing the armor that I had designed and had the weapons that I had sheathed were the ones from my old world. He sneered and said that he wasn't interested. I thanked him for his time and headed out. I guess that I'll have to look into a smithy in Magnimar or something. Oh well. I headed up Festival Street to check in on the vests at the Rovanky's Tannery. Larz told me that he was still working on it, but that the second one was going even quicker than the first one for some reason.
I told him that the second was cleaning was assisted with magic. He nodded and said that he might have to get some notes from me, because it would make his business much faster. I told him that when I wasn't studying for a performance or making other armor projects. He nodded and noted that he had seen the upgrade to the guard's armor. I asked him if he wanted to see that it was like, and he shook his head, saying that he had seen enough of it, and would likely leave it at that until he really needed a set. I nodded and thanked him for his continuing work on the vests.
I left from Rovanky's Tannery and headed down River Street to walk by the Turandarok. When I got to Prickleback Lane I headed to Vernah's Fine Clothing to pick up two yards of cotton. Rynshinn knew what I would likely be looking for before I even got a chance to get the words out, and just asked how many yards I needed now. I thanked her for her prescience and told her two. She cut off the material and I paid her the sixteen gold for the fabric. She took a closer look at the material my armor was made of and she noted that it was indeed her fabric changed from cotton to this new material. I apologized for ruining her work, and she just shook her head saying that I didn't really ruin her work, I just changed the material. She said that she could still identify her weave pattern and stitching.
I thanked her for all her work regardless. She nodded and asked if I needed anything else. I thanked her and told her no. I left and headed over to Bottled Solutions to talk to Nisk. He was there and had only recently opened the door. I asked him if he could reproduce some pills if I gave him a few of each and told him what they came from. He said that he could try, but no promises. I told him that if he succeeded, he could feel free to add them to his merchandise, that I was just looking for a local source.
Nisk said okay, and asked what it was that I wanted duplicated. I pulled out five of my caffeine pills and handed them to him. I told him that they sourced a chemical that was present in coffee and some types of tea. He took them and placed them into a jar that I secretly used my prestidigitation powers to clean before he could drop them in. I also handed him five of the aspirin and said that these were designed from a component of willow wood bark. I repeated the cleaning and he wrote some notes for each. I asked him what kind of turnaround he might need, and he told me that he would need a week or so. I thanked him and said that I would check back in with him in about a week.
I headed out towards the town hall and saw that Pillbug on a mushroom place. I went over and saw that the door was open, apparently it was a store after all. I went in and saw that there was a lot of different types of herbal medicines and such. I saw that there was a lot of what might be considered alchemical items. When I looked around and saw all of this, I figured that I would make the same offer as I did for Nisk. That was a mistake. Evil and vileness seemed to radiate off of this person.
I asked this man if he did specialty orders and he just looked at me like he was waiting for me to say something else. I was kind of lost and I told him that I was looking for some medicine to be made. He seemed to be even sketchier the longer that I talked to him. I finally ended up deciding to not continuing with any kind of deal with him, so I just told him thank you anyway and headed out. I might end up having to look into him at some time in the future. I mean, I can be sketchy, but not to his levels.
Since I was in the area, I decided to stop in at Jonathan's Bolting Barghest Tavern to see how things were going. I saw that the place was open already but there were not a lot of people in. Jonathan was basically just standing at his counter when I came in and he leapt forward to come talk to me. Shayliss moved over to be behind the counter to be there if anyone wanted to order anything. I asked him what they served for breakfast. He told me that he was confused, and I realized that I had not told him what burger joints back home would do for breakfast.
I pulled Jonathan aside and told him that for breakfast, a lot of places would use a different type of bun, and make the sandwiches with fried eggs, cheese, and sometimes either bacon, ham, or sausage. Sometimes there were other things than that, but these items should be enough to get him a clientele for the mornings. I added that since the eggs were likely not washed like there were where I was from, they could sit unrefrigerated for a week or so. He nodded and asked if I could do a quick sketch of what I was talking about. I went over to a wall and used my prestidigitation power to make a sketch of an Egg Muffin from a famous chain back there, and an Egg Croissant. They were both spread out to be about a square foot worth of drawings, but it worked. I used my other ability to transfer the pictures to a piece of paper and told Jonathan about hash browns while I did.
He thanked me and I finished with telling him that offering coffee, tea, and some kind of juice probably would not go undesired. I told him that the to-go bags that he was using were a great idea and that I might talk to him about some other things later. He thanked me and Shayliss brought over a burger for me. I tried to pay but Jonathan shook his head and said that it was on the house for everything that Savah and I were doing for him and Shayliss. She had a second burger for Savah after I grabbed the bag with the first. I thanked him and headed out to get back to the Armory.
Alma's was on the way back, so I dropped in. She had the standard fare of breads baking and other pastries. I asked her if she ever thought of doing special baking runs for morning breads. She noted that she had not. I told her that she might be getting some orders from the Bolting Barghest for a few different types of bread for their morning foods offerings. I told her that I felt a little bad for that, and that I could give her an idea for her own breakfast offering. I drew up a basic donut, and told her how people might like it to have fruit or sugary toppings. I gave her a list of some things that people from back home liked, and she wrote them all down. I thanked her for her time and said that I had to get back to Savah. I told her that I would try to get back to talk to her with some more ideas later.
Alma thanked me and said that she would appreciate hearing more from me about ideas. I thanked her and was about to leave and she stopped me. She whispered to me thanks as well for the strings that I pulled to get Arika on the guard. Alma noted that she had heard about what Arika was doing, and turning her towards useful, and safer, endeavors was a big help. I told her that it was Oren that had convinced her to apply, and that he should get all the credit. She just shook her head and said that she "knew the truth". I shrugged and thanked her, and said that I had to get back to Savah. Alma nodded, said good luck, and went back to work.
I got back to the Armory and Savah was there tidying up. Not many people were out and she was just waiting for her first customer. I gave her the burger from Jonathan's that Shayliss had given to me for her. She took the burger and noted that it was a little early for lunch. I told her that I would be glad to reheat it later, if she wanted. She shrugged and handed it back to me for later. I just shrugged and said that I had did my rounds today, and that I was hoping that Nisk could copy the pills that I had dropped off with him. Savah noted that his work was kind of sketchy. I was a bit confused, and then told her that I had went to that Pillbug place and he seemed really sketchy. Savah agreed and said that between the both of them you could sometimes get what you needed, but you had to be pretty careful. I told her that I would keep that in mind.
I gave her a kiss and told her that I would be working in the workshop for a half day today, and she wished me luck. I went back and got the material cut into one inch strips, two yards long. I then prepared the material to be in the second tank. I got the oven up to temperature and did a purge of the tank. I double checked that there was no air left in the tank and waited to make sure that there was no trapped air. When I checked it a second time, it was still good. I got the tank into the oven and started watching it.
The tank got up to temperature fairly quickly, and I used my prestidigitation power to keep the temperature in spec, based on the three indicators that I had. It was a fairly grueling four hours watching after that, because I was being extra careful. I didn't know exactly what had happened to the first tank, so I couldn't afford to take many chances. I spent some off minutes making sure that the first tank was fully repaired and ready for operation. When the four hours were up, Savah came in and we had lunch. I reheated the burgers and fries for the both of us. We ate while the tank was cooling. Everything seemed fine with the material. Savah asked me what I was going to use it for.
I told Savah that I would be using the material to make the chassis for the steam cycle that I would eventually make. I told her that I pissed off Das Korvut, so I would have to wait to make the frame until I got a chance to head to Magnimar again to see if I could find a sufficient smith that could make what I needed. Savah told me that if she knew what I needed, that she could help me find a person. I told her that I was looking for a small boiler, and I was going to be hooking it up to a cylinder for the rear wheel. I drew up the plans on the blackboard that had the fire triangle previously on it. I drew up the rough schematic and she took a look over it.
Savah thought for a minute and said that there was a gnome in Magnimar that she knew of that would be the best bet. I nodded and said that she would have to introduce me to them the next time we were there. I told her that I needed to talk to Taren to get more of the continual heat rocks. She nodded and said that he would probably be expecting us, based on last time. I noted that I would have to make some more money before I headed back there. She asked how much I might need. I told her that I had no idea, but that I figured that it would be a long term goal.
I shrugged and said that I might try to perform some more and get some money from that. She asked if I was sure, and I told her that I wouldn't look into getting any money from others as investment until I had a proof of concept. She said that she could understand that, and that if needed, I could always work for her, with a wink. I smiled and said that I would definitely consider that. I checked my phone for the time and saw that I needed to head out. I told Savah that I had to head to the Theater, and she wished me luck.
I got there a little earlier than the night before, and got into costume and make up. I did a quick skim through the script to try to refresh myself for my parts. I asked if there were any changes, and one of the actors told me that the only changes were to make it easier for me. I shrugged and said that I would try to perform better tonight.
The performance went through and I thought I caught the lines a little better this time. The audience applauded again, and the other actors didn't seem to hate me as much as last time, or maybe they thought that I was just the pet project of Cyrdak. I didn't know, and I had to head home after the show anyway. Cyrdak came up to me and said that I manage to not trip over the lines as much this time. He whispered to me after that I should try to get here even earlier tomorrow and that we could go over what I should do then.
I nodded and told him that I would definitely focus on doing that tomorrow. He nodded and wished me luck with Savah. I thanked him and said that I would try to make sure that she was here tomorrow night for the final showing. Cyrdak told me that if I did well after the advice I got tomorrow, he might want to bring the play back in three months. I told him that he might face a revolt from the other actors. He shook his head and said that if it went well tomorrow night, they would understand that I had not had any experience, but that I had potential. I thanked him for the support and said that I would make sure to get here earlier tomorrow.
I got changed and decided to head back to the Armory. The actors were all headed to Cracktooth's and I wished them good night. Some of them waved to me and others didn't look to pissed off at me. One of them ran over to me and asked if I really was the person who brought the fondue stuff to Cracktooth's. I told them that I was just the person who approached him with it. Jesk was the one who ran with it and is making and serving it. They thanked me for introducing it and ran back to catch up with the rest of the group.
I shrugged and headed back to Drunkard's Way to The Curious Goblin. The lights were all out, so I took Rusty Nail Alley to cut across to Sand Alley. I saw some sketchy people hanging all around the office side of the Armory. I yelled at them and they dispersed, heading off towards Rat Alley. I think that I might need to set a trap the next time I head back. Savah will be with me, so that should be a good time for all.
I got to the office door and it seemed like someone had been trying to pick the lock. I growled to myself and looked around. There was no one near, so that was wasted breath. I got in quickly and locked the door behind me. I looked around and saw that there were not any lights on. I made my way to the break room, unlocking and locking doors behind me as I went.
I got to the break room and no one was up. I got my tablet out and wrote down my notes for the day. It seemed like there was a lot more going on today, but I can't remember it right now. I went to the workshop and took some pictures of the designs that I would need done for the steam cycle before erasing them. Don't really need to have that kind of info up for just anyone to see.