Searching for dragons. Part I.

[Orran]

Deciding that a useable entrance is probably enough work for one night, Strixi returns to the worthless rest and goes to sleep, leaving the window open for Kane.

[Kredine]

The sound of bells penetrates your sleep. Light is just coming in through your window. You can hear the scuffling of feet from outside the windows. It seems the farmers are going to work. It would be easy to wake now and feel rested, or you could grab some more sleep.

[Orran]

Knowing that he needs 8 hours has made Strixi quite lazy, he goes back to bed until he thinks most people would be awake proper. Feeling quite hungry after not really eating yesterday, he goes downstairs to ask where the best place for a hearty breakfast is.

[Kredine]

As you go to head downstairs you notice two pieces of papers have been slipped under your door.

The first seems to be a note from Ashara, a standard pamphlet for new guests.

I hope you enjoyed your stay at the Worthless Rest. You may stay in your room until 12 noon. If you are still in room at this time, you will be charged for an additional nights stay. Breakfast is served at the bar, or there is a small restaurant just outside of the pits that will cater for all races before the hours of 2pm.

The second is a much shorter note.

We will see each other again.
-A

Down at the bar their are two Orcs, eating sizeable breakfasts. Neither Ashara nor her Hobgoblin partner are about. There is what appears to be another shield guardian at the bar, though this one is older, obviously damaged in places. On top of the bar is a sign.

No ones home right now.
Tinny the barman will serve you

[Orran]

Hearing movement from inside, kane flies in through the window, apparently he had been waiting out there for the kobold to wake up, apparently used to his morning schedule.

Morning buddy, anything to report?
Assuming that his hunt was uneventful, kane does not respond.

After picking up the notes, the two of them head downstairs. That girl must be loaded, I'd probably take the days off too if I had that many construct servants. In fact, I should earn some scratch here and get her to find me one. Nodding politely to the two orcs, they head to the nearby restaurant.

[Kredine]

A few streets outside the pit is a restaurant called Phil's Fine Foods. It is a small building, but outside there are many tables, with many customers enjoying the food.
There is a small queue to be seated, but it appears to be clearing at a moderate pace.
[Time ~ 8:30am]

[Orran]

Strixi joins the queue, his appearance back to that of a dragonwrought, but otherwise normal kobold, he is wearing his hooded cloak, however for now he feels comfortable enough for the hood to be down, where Kane is taking a nap. While he waits, he takes stock of the clientele, they apparently will serve anyone here, but does that put off the humans?

[Kredine]

At this time of the day most of the patrons are those of the lesser races. However, dotted around the tables are some humans, and other common races.

The queue clears some. You are the next to be served.

[Orran]

As a Kobold, quality of sustenance has never been a key concern, consequently he orders a pretty much random dish, giving slight favor to one that sounds like it's packed with meat.

[Kredine]

From the menu you pick out an item called "A Whole Days Meat". You are served a plate layered in meat, the first layer (Bacon) the size of the plate, with each layer (each a different meat) growing slightly smaller to form a vague pyramid of meat.

The dish costs you 1 gold piece.

[Orran]

Impressed. The little dragon devours the pile clearly not meant for someone of his stature, in the desert this amount could have sustained him for a week nearly, but temperature is directly linked to appetite in kobolds.

When finished, he returns to his room and meditates to earn his spells for the day, this 15 minutes focuses his mind and body for whatever he intends to do. It is during this time that he realizes he doesn't really know what to do just yet today. His purpose here is research, but he can't get the first of his relevant papers until that night, clearly he'd need to get unorthodox to find the scaleless underbelly that exists in every human society. That's the problem with trying to enforce Law on a race that's not built for it, it just creates unnecessary bureaucracy and forces creativity.

Firstly, he heads to the market district to buy a normal nonmagical blank book, and some parchment, hoping to find a shopkeeper that will serve him without too much difficulty.

[Kredine]

The waiter does seem surprised when he comes back to a finished plate.

"The tall folk rarely finish that meal. Well done sir."

You find a market stall selling the supplies you require, though it appears the market buildings only admit entry to those with papers of passing.

[Orran]

"If I were to need magical items identified, but didn't hold papers of passing, is there anywhere I could go?" Strixi asks the stallkeeper.

[Kredine]

"There's a stall past hoarder's treasures that'll do that for ya. It's twice as much as any of the other shops though"

[Orran]

Strixi thanks the man and heads towards the stall he was told about, he takes a look at it then approaches the owner. "So how much are you charging for identifies?"

[Kredine]

The gentlemen looks you up and down.

"325 gp buddy"

[Orran]

"That's quite the profit margin you got there buddy. Now we all know that there's not a lot of options for some of us, but that's why I came to you first." Strixi says with a smile, wondering if the stallkeeper has worked out this is a little non-standard. "I'm in the city for a few weeks, and I can do it discount l, I'll subcontract under you, and identify 2 items a day, all I ask is 100 gold for both. I can drop by in the mornings, but you charge people whatever price you want."

[Kredine]

"If you can do what you claim, ow come your coming to me? All sounds a little fishy to me"

[Orran]

"I don't have the time to stand around and wait for people, and I bet there's a license required somewhere too. You have the custom already, so I figure we can both make a little more scratch this way." Strixi extends his claw. "Deal?"

[Kredine]

He takes you to one side.
"Look, I can't be seen to be dealing with a kobold in public. I assume you're staying in the pits? I'll meet you in the worthless rest later tonight and we can talk about it"
He stands up straight.
"Look mate, its 325 and that's final"

[Orran]

"Very well." The kobold says before he leaves.

There are a few things he can do over the course of the rest of the day, but first he figures that getting a research assistant ready for tomorrow would be useful, so he heads to the common ground that Ashara mentioned last night, hoping there will still be one or two workers there with a few brain cells.

[Kredine]

[300xp for the bar scene, albeit a few posts late]

The common grounds is the ring of mostly housing that surrounds the rest of Osmath. The last section of the city to be built, after the city began to accept all citizens for entry. The common grounds hosts primarily commoners, most of which work the farms of tend for their families. Some skilled workers live here, though most of those trained in a craft reside in worker's home.

Exploring the common grounds it does not take you long to find some tattered children playing. They look like they could use some work.

[Orran]

Tattered children doesn't really seem appropriate, not to mention how their parents could react, but it's a good start off point as any.

"Hey kids, your parents around anywhere?" says the kobold with a friendly demeanor, attempting to seem as uncreepy as possible.

"Dipplomacy" - (1d20+16)[27]

[Kredine]

The children seem intrigued, even excited about your appearance. Ignoring any normal social boundaries they surround you, poking and prodding at your skin.

[Orran]

Strixi allows them to satiate their curiosity, Kane hops out of his hood and flies around the childrens heads. After a minute or so Strixi asks the oldest looking child again where their parents are.

[Kredine]

They children are entranced by you lively friend.
"Our parents are on the fields. Well, some of our mothers are at home, why you ask mister?"

[Orran]

"Well I need a smart young boy or girl to help me with some reading, I imagine one of your parents could help me find one." Kane continues flying around, he's not that fast, but he is erratic.

[Kredine]

"We're super smart mister! We can read. Or, if you need someone smarter than there's Ezzy!"

[Orran]

"Well I need someone who can read and write, preferably a couple of languages for hours, could be pretty boring. Who's this Ezzy, is he an adult or just really smart?"

[Kredine]

"No. He's not an adult. All the adults work the farm all day. He is smart though! I've seen him read lots of things!"