Day 66: Fireday the 23rd, Neth, 4707
I awoke this morning to Bailey nudging me that they wanted to go outside. I knew better than to refuse the dog, as it would be me cleaning up the mess, so I hurriedly got some semblance of clothes on and took Bailey out to their house. After the standard checks, I leashed Bailey up and turned around to head back to the house, only to be confronted by Titus Scarnetti himself. He told me that he took offense to my (small) Solar Panel array and my receiver/transmitter Antennae.
I looked at him for about twenty seconds not saying anything, before laughing in his face. I told him that I'd do no such thing until I was damn good and ready and that he could go pound salt. Titus' naturally reddish hued face got even redder. He started to stammer about how I should obey him since he was a town noble and how I was just a lowly resident of the town. I told him that I would be glad to correct him of the notion that I was just a resident and that anyone had to obey him, but that it would interfere with the work that I was trying to get done for the Lord-Mayor of Magnimar.
Titus rushed off in a huff, likely to go out and besmirch my name. I looked up at the patio and Savah was standing there in her robe, looking down at me. I rushed back inside to explain to her what had happened. She met me in the bedroom and smiled. She told me that she was glad that I was standing up for myself and all of the common folk of the town. I told her that I always hated when people lorded their wealth over those beneath them. Savah then asked me what go pound salt meant. I told her that back where I was from, there was an idiom of telling a person to go pound salt, which was telling them to go do a menial/low skill job because that was all they were good for.
Savah laughed for a good long time. Loud enough to get the attention of Oren and Arika. Oren asked what the issue was, and Savah told her a truncated version of what had happened, but made sure to use the go pound salt and what it meant. Oren said that he would start using that phrase, to make people more closely associate us together. I thanked him and he noted that it was an amusing phrase, especially since salt was so valuable here. I told him that salt was cheap where I was from, which made the dig all the worse. Oren and Arika went back to the common room and told us that breakfast was already on the table.
Savah and I got ourselves set up for the day, and went to the common room to have breakfast. Oren and Arika were on South Bridge Duty today, and said that they would be able to make if for the conclusion of my story tonight at The Rusty Dragon. I thanked them for their vote of confidence. I told them that I was merely retelling an already existing story. In what must have been a rare bit of philosophy for him, Oren said that all stories were just retelling of other stories, just with different details. I nodded to that, and we all went about our day.
Savah got her store opened up and I went into my workshop. Veronica was working away on the power generation part of generator assembly again. Carefully creating what we needed with precision that could only be accomplished by working with a much closer eye. She was approaching it with the same level of dedication that I used to show when I was focusing on correcting military manuals in the yards. She was increasingly useful to say the least as my time here continues.
I couldn't spend the day working on another stun baton, as the batteries needed to a few days to charge up with the current rig, but fortune smiled upon me anyway because the first paladin from Magnimar showed up to Savah's store today. Actually they were waiting outside for the store to open. Savah brought them in shortly after having a conversation with them. I have to say that if this was a few months ago, I would have been shocked to see a half-orc paladin, but with all of the events that had pass, it wasn't anything odd anymore. I talked with the paladin a bit and asked them if Savah had explained the process. The paladin, who introduced herself as Ghinna, shook their head and told me that Savah had not.
I told them that the process was actually a conversion of material, and that they would need to get a set of either padded or quilted armor, tailored to them as good as possible, and that I would work on the conversion after receiving it back from them. Ghinna nodded and told me that they would go acquire it. I recommended that they go to Rynshinn Povalli's place, as she makes the best tailored items in town. I told Ghinna that if they mentioned that it was for one of my works, that Rynshinn might know exactly what was needed and might even be able to quickly tailor something off the rack for the paladin.
Ghinna went off to accomplish this while I started up the single oven that I had in the workshop that was made that can get up to the temperatures needed for the process. I knew that it would take a while for the fire to raise to the required temperature. While that was heating up, I checked the level of the Argon tank, and made sure that it was of sufficient quantity for the task at hand. Everything was good to go. By the time that the tank and oven was ready, Ghinna had shown back up, with the proper material in tow.
I asked Ghinna if she would like her holy symbol inset into the armor, and she agreed, handing me a small copper sword. I smiled and told her that I knew a Warpriest of Iomedae, and that I had made a similar set of armor for her as well. Ghinna asked a bit about Dame Rebekah, and I provided what details I thought Dame Rebekah would not mind someone else knowing. I also told Ghinna that she could visit them if she took a trip to the former Foxglove Manor. Ghinna said that she would while she was back out on patrol. I asked Ghinna if she could tell me how many Paladins had volunteered to do Ghoul patrol in the Farmlands, and she told me that there were only four who Chaplain Tira had charged with this task.
I thanked her and told her that I had just wanted to know because I needed to make sure that enough materials were ordered for this process for the paladins. Ghinna thanked us again for this, and I told her that I was glad to help keep safe the people who were keeping the farmers and such safe. Ghinna excused herself to go talk to Savah as I got back to work. Veronica and I worked on the armor quickly and without fuss. We didn't have as large of a setup as we did back at the Glassworks, but it was tailored to what we needed. Even with that, we would not be able to keep up with any higher level of demand than one suit every other day.
It took all of the rest of the day, but Ghinna's suit would protect her at least as well as Field plate armor would provide, at a fraction of the weight. Ghinna came back in to take it to try it on in the Common Room. While she did, I went into Savah's store to check in on her while I waited. Ghinna came into her store and thanked us both. She told us that this armor would be much stronger than her former chain shirt. I nodded and told her that if her armor was magical, she might be able to talk to Faunra about transferring any kind of enchantment to the new suit. Ghinna said that her former armor wasn't magical, and said that she was leaving it with Savah as thanks.
Ghinna headed out to continue her crusade against the undead, and Savah asked if I was hungry at all. I had not realized that I had not actually eaten at all. I told her that I was, but that we needed to rush to finish off the story. Savah said that she had already locked up and was ready. I gave some brief orders to Veronica and we headed to the Garage. Oren and Arika would be at the Rusty Dragon tonight, so I quickly brought Bailey into the house and locked everything up. Savah and I quickly went to The Rusty Dragon.
When we arrived, Oren and Arika were already seated at the booth that Savah and I usually sit at. Bethana quickly got us some drinks and told us that the crowd was really ready for the third part of the story. Savah spoke for me when she said that I had not eaten yet today, so it would be best if had a brief meal before starting. Bethana winked at her and said that she would get something right away. Oren noted that it was good to have a reputation, and I told him that it was just that everyone was waiting for me to tell the story.
Bethana came back with a platter of meats and cheeses, and we all started eating. After eating a fair amount, I washed my food down my throat with another cider, prestidigitated my hair, clothing, and teeth all clean and properly tidy, and headed over to the stage. The tavern goers all cheered when they saw me and I told them that I would start very shortly, that I just needed to set up the stage. All of the children in the tavern audience that were here last night tried to help out with reminding me where everything when on the screens.
Once everything was correct, I started the story with telling everyone that several years had passed since the events of the last story, and that the town had gotten much safer for everyone. There were rules that were passed after the events of the previous story that enabled the town sheriff to lock up people who committed crimes easier. I continued with the rest of the story of the Dark Knight Rises, adapted as needed to be understandable for the audience.
After a couple of hours of storytelling, I was ending the story. The redeemed villainess and the retired hero both enjoying their time together. I finished and thanked everyone who listened to me for the past three nights. Lots of the people who listened provided me with applause for my efforts. I looked around and saw that Ghinna had joined Oren, Arika, and Savah at the booth that I had left to tell the story. I took down my screens and gave them all to Bethana.
I made my way over to the booth and Ghinna told me she had never quite seen a storyteller such as me. I told her that I am choosing to take that as a compliment. Ghinna told me that she had walked in to The Rusty Dragon part way through the story, after getting food at a place called the Hagfish. I told her that I was glad that she got a chance to listen to the story. Oren and Arika said that they were headed home, as they had another day of farmlands inspection tomorrow. Ghinna said that she would be going into the farmlands tomorrow as well.
Oren spoke up and told her that they travelled pretty quickly, so they hoped that she could keep up. Ghinna said that she was certain that her steed could keep up with anything they had. Oren just chuckled and said that they will see. Savah said that we had to get home, so we excused ourselves and headed out of the tavern. As we got onto my bike, Savah asked if we could take a trip around the town to get some air before we headed back to the house.
We took the bike through the streets of Sandpoint until Savah saw some unsavory characters lurking around the outside of Jonathan's restaurant. She yelled out to them by name, asking if they wanted their relatives to know what they were planning. The group took one look at us and fled. Maybe it was the bike's burning skull headlight, but I think it was all Savah. She smiled and we headed on back to the house.
When we got close, Veronica sent me a thought that Bailey had started barking at something. I told her that we were heading back, and would not be more than a few minutes. Veronica noted that she would keep us informed. I relayed this to Savah and she told me to go faster. I pulled the bike up in speed and we headed on to the house. We dodged around buildings and zipped past a couple of people just leaving Risa's Place. About forty seconds later, we were back at the house. There had been no further updates from Veronica the entire time.
Just before we had pulled up to the garage, the barking had stopped. Veronica told me that whatever Bailey had been barking at must had left, because Bailey stopped. I sent to Veronica that we had just arrived, and that we would be coming in through the garage. I opened up the garage door and we pulled the bike in. We shut the doors behind us, as Oren and Arika would probably be a while.
We made our way into the workshop and Veronica was there, working steadily away on getting the ingredients into the correct forms and percentages for another batch of the boron carbide cloth. I sent to her that we would do a sweep of the house and that I was glad that she could tell me about these issues. Veronica nodded and said that she would continue working on what she could, but that we would likely run out of materials before we could make another six sets of armor. I acknowledged the receipt of this thought and nodded to Savah. We both got our favorite weapons out and started heading around the building.
Savah and I made a sweep of the building, checking top to bottom. There were no opened doors or windows, and everything was locked from the inside. That didn't mean as much in a world where one could teleport, let alone simply lock a door from a distance. Even mundane means of detecting entry are not foolproof, since just about anything can be tricked by magic. Hm. I'll have to think on this. With this crisis averted, Savah and I got changed and started to relax for a bit before heading to bed. This was the start of her weekend, and I wonder what she wants to do with it.