Smithing and Gold: XXVIII
As the drow fuck tumbled from the sky Asher felt a breath of release, stepping to the right Asher sidelined the murderer as he impacted the ground at Asher's feet. "Huh he's not dead.." He chuckled to himself, the drow groaned in pain as he lightly squirmed on the ground, he was bleeding in about four different locations, had frost on his left leg and a bit of soot in his hair. "Wow.. that looked like it hurt.. Thank god I was down here.. Where it didn't hurt.'" He joked.
"Arghhh" The drow moaned. Asher just snickered and poked him.
"So can we tie this guy up orr-" He instinctively jumped back as a tentacle was summoned from the ground wrapping around the drow. He eyed Markos with a bit of bewilderment. He just waved his concern away and looked out into the distance just as he thought the noise of that gunshot had brought the guards running.
"Hello officers!" Asher announced loudly. "Here's your elf killer, we did your job for ya! Please enjoy." he took a slight bow as he moved to the side.
"I.. ur.." the first guard stammered "This is the serial killer?" The guard asked. Asher blinked slowly.
"Oh.. I see... '' Asher paused. "Sir.. this is the elf.. Killer. Killer as in.. well, you see things are born. They live.. And then they stop. This guy makes them stop sooner in a bad way." Asher said each word slowly exaggerating them as if talking to a child. The guard looked frustrated but rolled his eyes. Asher stepped aside laughing a tad.
"Gregory.. Get the cuffs." The guard finally said, sighing at Asher's sarcasm. "You should count yourself lucky, doing the work of the city guard is never." Asher didn't let him finish.
"Yeah. No." He stated. "Some of your guard friends asked us to find the fuck, here he is, I'll take that in silver coins or gold." He added. Looking over at the party who were giving embarrassed smiles.
"What is going on here?!" Asher turned to his right to see Jalester and three other guards running over. "We ran here as soon as we were informed of the fighting." Jalester told the group.
"Evidently by how out of breath you are." Asher responded, Herod snickered at that.
"Sorry about my friend here." Riu interjected, pushing to the front, "He's a little power high." Riu added through grit teeth, She most definitely fit the bill of a bossy noble in his mind. Yet Asher couldn't shake the feeling of kinship with her, she wasn't the brightest bulb in the box.. But Asher knew the pain behind her eyes. He always took careful note to remember her vulnerabilities, trying to actually evade them when mocking her. "Anyway like he was saying we have dispatched the man killing elves." Riu advertised.
"You.. you stupid Biir!" The drow mumbled out feebly. Asher reached over and poked him with the butt of his sword.
"Asher, stop that." Riu said quickly. He smiled before hitting the drow again.
"Ah.. thank you for your assistance, bringing this man to justice has been a top priority, we will attend to him immediately" Jalester admitted though a tad off. As they reached for the drow, quickly the tentacle disappeared, unraveling from the drow straight back into the open portal below.
"So, are we getting paid now or?" Herod requested. Asher shot Herod a quick look, it was good to know someone was on the right page.
"I mean I did stab the guy.. So if we could get some coins for our trouble?" Asher added "What kind of payment can we be expecting here?" He inquired.
"Yes, non-believer! Are we getting paid?" Markos teased. Asher turned over to the purple eyed half-elf who seemed to be slipping a bit in the sanity department.
"Shut up Markos, we can't have an insane cultist right now." Riu bit back bitterly, he could tell she was desperate to control the situation, afterall she was the one overruled in letting the drow go. Asher sighed, Riu was well intentioned but somewhat of a ditz in his mind.
"Hey, you talk to god, they call you religious. God talks to you and suddenly you're psychotic." Asher replied to Riu in stride. "I mean aren't you a cleric? Who's your celestial sugar daddy?" He saw Riu's piercing blue eyes look over at him, her face flustered and her expression definitely not happy.
"Look you can expect about.." Jalester seemed to ponder as Asher looked around Riu's head to meet the gaze of the guard leader. Though her glare didn't stop. "Since you brought him back alive.. And we need to know what hell is going on. We'll give you three hundred gold pieces." His mind lit up, three hundred gold pieces? Hell yeah. Jalester motioned to one of the guards to bring over the gold. "I hope this will suffice the great service you have down the city. If I could further extend a branch of gratitude.." Jalester paused as he approached them, finally snapping Riu out of her seemingly blood lust.
"Yes Comrade.. What is it?" Alekzandr asked from behind Asher. Asher pulled out his knife as he began to clean his nails. So.. that was roughly over five hundred on his part.. Just a little bit more, then it would all be good.
"We.. well we would like to offer each of you an opportunity to join the city guard." Jalester began as Asher continued to just clean his damn nails. "Since you've done so much work for us so far I think it's only fitting to offer you-"
"Nah we're good." Asher interrupted. "Unless of course I can get a home ballista." He started happily. 'Do they.. Give out home balista's? Apollo would be jealous.' He thought. Riu cleared her throat, 'this is gonna be good'
"The invitation was for all of us, Asher, the team? Not just you." Riu fumed. "And I think we should all be given proper time to.." Riu stopped as he cleared his thumb.
"Do you really have to do that right now?" One of the guards shrieked irritatingly at his nail cleaning. The blonde girl sighed, taking a deep breath.
"I like to keep my nails clean." Asher replied happily. "And last I checked while there is no I in the team, there is certainly a me if you jumble it up a bit." Asher added before he reached out accepting the gold. "If any of us want to join the guard we'll let you know." Asher concluded actually being serious for a moment.
"Thank you." Jalester added. "Come with us you filth!" Jalester's guards grabbed the drow by the arms as they led him away.
"That went well." He said finally. "I think it's time to head back to the tavern. We got some drinks to make! As for one being led to Tarturus." he grabbed Markos by the arm and Herod quickly followed suit.
"They're all insufferable." Riu was clearly upset as she walked with Alekzandr and Adleth. Asher took a moment to take in the surroundings. Nice calming water at his back, yet another humanoid woman pissed at his comment's a cultist who could start the apocalypse at any second. And three hundred fucking gold pieces! He giddly rushed them to the tavern ready to split the gold, hell amongst six people fifty gold pieces each was pretty freaking nice. The outside of the tavern while still covered in literal decayed wood and dirt, started feeling like home. Well that was probably because his closest thing to a home was thousands of miles away and an orphanage.. Though did his wife's house count? Did his old one? Asher didn't really care.
"Hey! Lif we're back!" Asher announced loudly as they opened the door. "Lets clear the tablessss" He led Herod and Markos inside.
"So, what's your plan with extra coins?" Herod asked as he approached the bar. Asher grinned, dumping the bag on the bar counter.
"I'm probably gonna divide up my part in half, and allocate it to my lawyer fund and various equipment." He told Herod happily. Asher began parting out the coins counting them to fifty each. The oak wood of the table below stretched a little bit against each coin, shoddy woodwork he thought. The entire tavern at this point had a more warm feeling with a cinnamon smell, or maybe that was a stroke settling in? He wasn't sure. Asher couldn't help but admire the gold dragons, a rectangular shape with two arcs cut out on each side, a golden dragon image stamped on the surface. "Heavy as hell, but gold is always a pleasant sight to see." As they worked Asher could hear creaking from the door. "So nice of you all to join us." He looked up to see Riu, Adleth, and of course the rifle-wielding drunk Alekzandr standing in the door frame.
"Good to be back." Riu groaned walking over to the bar. "It's so freaking lateee" Riu took a seat next to Asher. He smiled briefly before separating the coins and handing her a stack.
"It is late, however, payment is always fantastic." Asher concluded as Alekzandr sat down at the bar with Adleth in tow.
"Three hundred coins? Seriously?" Adleth asked. "I mean we took down a serial killer, the shit's should be kissing our feet." Adleth reached behind the bar counter and pulled out a bottle of ale. Asher reached back undoing the straps of his armor.
"You're not wrong." Asher grabbed his lot of coins and handed Markos a handful. "If only we were getting paid more." Asher looked over as Riu also removed her breast plate. Asher felt a nudge to his right as Herod offered him a beer. "Thanks." Asher said quickly, grabbing the drink and downing it. Asher breathed a sigh of relief as the beer flew down his throat, a moment of blissful ignorance consumed him, it was nice to be slightly buzzed. "So, what's our plan? The tenday Renaer wanted us to follow is thankfully over, I'm not sure how long I could go without kicking some ass." Asher looked over to Markos who was.. Seemingly playing with his trident, and then to Adleth who coined each of her coins carefully with a great deal of interest on her face.
"It's kinda obvious." Adleth said as she counted. "We go around looking for more mercenary work, hell this shit is more profitable than I ever expected." Adleth didn't look up but Asher got the message. The consensus of the group was pretty clear, doing more work like that sounded nice, and it was pretty damn profitable. Asher got the party to agree to the plan before they headed off to bed.
"It's been a long night, I'm gonna sleep in my bed while it isn't infested with termites." Asher stated as he opened the door to his room. His eyes caught a quick glimpse of Riu, her room was located directly next door, as she hauled her scale mail and mace over to it. Asher couldn't shake the feeling that something about her was off. Her shapely body was most definitely humanoid.. But her hair.. Her eyes and most importantly her guarded nature when they all met told him something was there. But screw that noise Asher thought as he opened his door and collapsed on his bed. Thinking of his kids.
"Steam and Steel you say?" Alekzandrs native tongue was thick, while he had spent years around that accent it was always jarring for Asher to hear. "Are we sure they do good work?" Alekzandr followed. Asher sighed as he handed Alekzandr a small pamphlet he had pulled from the shop.
"You can judge that yourself when we get there." He concluded as they walked, the road around them had become pretty recognizable, the walk to Steam and Steel was just around five minutes since they lived so close by. Asher watched Alekzandr purse through the pamphlet scanning through it with intrigue.
"What the fuck is this?" Alekzandr asked in an irritated tone. "It says.. Infinity calls you, please join my not cult." Asher's eyes got a little wide.
"Wait.. shit no!" Asher snatched the pamphlet out of Alekzandrs hands. Panicking as he looked at the black wavy textured pamphlet. White bold lettered writing on the front clearly spelled out that title. "Markos.." Asher muttered to the half elf behind him. "Did you switch the pamphlets?" He turned glaring a little, only to meet the smiling smug eyes of the cultist.
"Uh.. no." Markos responded instantly. Asher shook his head and just waved to Alekzandr as they paced through the cobblestone roads.
"Just.. you'll see how good they are when ya get there." Asher concluded He approached the hardwood inlaid steel doors and gripped the handle swinging it open. He watched as Alekzandr took a good look at the outside; the enormous anvil and metallic writing for the name was pretty jarring in the town where everything felt a bit bleak at times.
"Hello!" He could hear the familiar voice of Embric greeting them. "Oh, if it isn't our new friends at the TrollSkull manor." Embric announced happily. "What can I do for ya?" Asher looked behind him as Herod, Alekzandr and Markos filed in.
"I'm looking to trade these in for some new plate." Asher reached behind him as he pulled free his two new scimitars taken off of the drow gunslinger. Each blade was just nearly three feet long being shorter scimitars , however their curve was elegant unlike the continually used sword by Asher. They had white wood handles with brass inlays for decoration while the blades themselves ran with a polished silver engraved with eleven designs though the language was clearly of the drow.
"Hmm.. those are some nicely made Elvish swords. Mind if I take a look?" Embric inquisitioned kindly. Asher nodded, sliding the blades onto the counter before them separating Asher from Embric's flames. "Hmm.. they are a little used, if you're looking for something new we can probably give you some armor right away, or maybe.." Asher stopped Embric as he pulled free a piece of parchment paper in his back pocket.
"Actually, I was looking for some new leather clad scale male, mine is a tad.. old." Asher slid the paper to them. "I was looking for this kind of design,better for mobility, and of course some new signs on it wouldn't hurt." Embric frowned before taking the paper and unfearling it.
"Infinity calls you please joi-" Asher grabbed the paper. Turning to glare at Markos, how on Toril was that cultist slipping in his stupid pamphlet to join his cult.
"Seriously. Where do you get all these pamphlets??" Asher asked dumbfounded as he looked around, finding the actual paper stuck behind the cult book. Markos shrugged in response.
"Honestly I have so many in my bag I'm pretty sure I can't run out." Markos replied. Asher just sighed as he handed the new paper. Embric took the parchment and began reading and looking over the images.
"It's a tad crude.. But I can certainly do this, as for the symbols.. Those look familiar.. Like a crest.. I suppose you want this to match your mask?"
"It's just something I saw once in a book." Asher disclosed. "Yeah, somewhat matching that would be nice. Now what do I owe you?" He took out a pouch of gold and started parsing gold pieces. Asher could see Embric thinking as he turned the swords over pondering the trade and price.
"If I could just.. Inspect that mask for a moment.." Embric reached out to touch him. Asher flicked his fingers rolling one of the scimitars back into his grasp with excellent perscission placing the blade between his head and Embric's hand.
"Don't." He offered meanicingly. Embric recoiled but nodded.
"It's a custom request.. And we could add some extra pieces.. Plus these are used.. Just twenty gold." Embric replied smiling Asher nodded happily and handed the coins to him. The armor in the picture was sketched just like his father had taught him, a bit tights but more flexible and malleable just what he wanted. "Now uh.. What is it you need?" Asher turned to see Markos moving over the front desk.
"I need someone to make coins." Markos concluded as he held an open book in his hands, it was large, probably around the size of your average world dictionary, if the world dictionary also included the means to end the world.
"Uhhh.." Embric grew a concerned look on his face as he looked around. Making eye contact with Asher before turning to the forge.
"Oh!" Markos moved a little closer. "I didn't mean like.. Money coins I meant like medallions, just stuff made out of silver." Markos added quickly, Embric seemed to sigh a breath of relief. As he waved his hand.
"Oh thank goodness." Embric stuttered. "Anyway, yeah that'll just be two silver per medallion you want." Embric added. "What do you want on them?" Markos reached into his long pocket and pulled out a sack of silver tossing it forward before handing the fire genasi two pieces of paper. Markos handled the pages with care as he pulled them from his pockets as if each one was a loaded explosive.
"I want them to have a hole just big enough to make into necklaces.. If you could do that as well it would be very much appreciated!" Asher frowned, Markos's insanity was difficult to gauge that day. "I just need all of them to be stamped on each side with those symbols." Markos referred to the papers. Embric nodded, though it didn't seem like he fully understood.
"And how many do you need?" Embric followed up as he studied the parchment. Markos looked around the room and for once Asher could almost see concern on his friend's face. The years of insanity washed over his tired eyes like rippling currents, their purple beams giving him an almost sympathetic expression.
"Probably eight.. No, make it nine." Markos said finally, giving them the nineteen silver plus a few extra. Embric seemed to study Markos's face and Asher got the suspicious feeling that the fire genasi knew what was on those papers.
"They'll be done in a day." Embric finished as he wrote the order down on a track sheet. "And you two?" Asher stepped aside to allow Herod and Alekzandr approach as they detailed their own orders. Asher thought about his purchase. To place his house's sigil on the plate? That was risky, and not a risk he had taken in years, but he knew it was necessary his pride could not be sacrificed any longer. They were dead, no one was coming for him... or his kids.
"Oh so you're a lover of inventions aren't you?" Asher looked over to Avi who was speaking to Alekzandr, the water genasi had given them the pleasure of entering the room. Alekzandr seemed to smile.
"Oh absolutely!" Alekzandr brought out a flask and threw it back. "You see in my homeland mother Rushiv. I designed this beauty myself!" Alekzandr gripped his Segeri as he showed it off. "And I'll have you-"
"Well then you would love the House of Inspired Hands, it's just perfect for your demeanor! All kinds of wizardly inventions, honestly Embric and I go there for a visit every so often, beautiful what you see over there." Alekzandr pursed his lips nodding in agreement.
"It is funny you say that, I was told by a good friend, Rishall, that I should visit the location" Alekzandr mentioned. "Where would I find it?" Avi pulled out a map showing the drunk wizard.
"As for your.. Handcuffs that can't be bullshitted out of.." Embric spoke with a curious tone and Asher just felt bewildered by the strange request from Herod. "While I'm not sure what that means.. I'll get to it immediately?" Embric offered. Herod nodded happily in agreement.
"Yeah, I need them for my friend over there." Herod pointed over at Markos. "Seriously Bullshit proof stuff to keep him from escaping is insane." Embric grew a slight grin looking at Herod.
"Oh I see.." Embric turned to Avi. "Dear I think we may have some new friends-" Herod just pushed down his hand.
"Nope. not like that, not out of wedlock and not with him." Herod announced loudly. "We're leaving, get me those Henderson proof handcuffs as soon as possible." Herod followed, grabbing Alekzandr by the collar. "Let's go find the apartment of neglected feet." He shouted as he dragged the drunk out the door. Asher followed suit laughing at his new idiots.