The Royal Artificery Society - IC

[DeTess]

The meat itself tasted a bit odd. The texture was similar to chicken, maybe a bit tougher, but it tasted more like a white fish. Not bad, but definitely somewhat unusual.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

If Shandara's ever tasted snake, she'd recognize it as being snake now.

[WindStruck]

Shandara doesn't know what the meat is. She's pretty sure it's not chicken, but it could probably be some other thing she hasn't heard of. Perhaps some type of reptile? Well, she hoped it would be good for the owl...

She heads up to her room again. After lighting a small candle lamp, she sits in an old chair, reads through a book, and waits. Its not very long until a light rustling catches her attention, followed by some hooting. She was pretty sure it was here. She casts Detect Magic and gets up, slowly making her way towards the window, and peers out.

(assuming there's no traces of magic at all)

With that out of the way, now fairly confident that the creature is not already someone's familiar, but rather that it just chose to either frequent this place or roost here, Shandara slowly and quietly makes her way back to her chair and grasps the flute. She remembered that she had to be calm... and have no ill will or thoughts regarding the owl.

But of course, if you try not to think about elephants, it is pretty hard to stop thinking about elephants. A few perverse and unwanted thoughts about exactly what should not happen to that owl crossed her mind, so she instead tried to clear her mind and tried thinking of a different image. Perhaps something like her wandering through the city with it perched on her shoulder. It felt a little silly and all-too-glamorous, but at least it was more in line with her truer intentions.

Finally, with one last calming breath and a plate with meat scraps on standby, she brought the flute to her mouth and.. tentatively, she began seeing she could play something...

Spoiler: ooc

Show

charisma (no perform ranks): (1d20+3)[10]

Not trying to override the flute or anything, but kind of seeing how well she'd be at playing one of these flutes for the first time.

[DeTess]

It takes a little while for the magic of the flute to take hold, but eventually it guides Shandara in a soft melody, slow and low, evoking the image of nightly winds meandering through the trees. It isn't entirely clear to Shandara how long she'd been playing, as at least for a little while the magic induces a kind of trance, but eventually she realized that an owl is now sitting in her window, quietly observing her.

The owl's feature are difficult to make out as the candle Shandara had lit is now burning rather low, but it's large eyes and the striped pattern to it's feather are clearly identifiable. The owl itself is just calmly sitting there, it's head cocked slightly, as if to better listen to the music emanating from the flute.

[WindStruck]

After Shandara snaps out of her trance and notices the owl, she's not sure what to do. Part of her mind is on auto-pilot as she is playing.. seemingly both herself and the owl enraptured by the magic of the flute. But she still did have some cognitive awareness.

She wondered what exactly she would do next.. for the time being, she continued to play, observing the owl as it kept observing her. It was like a standstill, but maybe a good one.

Eventually, she tries reaching for the small plate of meat and somehow still trying to play the flute using only one hand, but the song inevitably falters. Trying to remain calm .. no, utterly serene and confident, and perhaps even benevolent, she slowly approaches the owl with the meat and holds the small plate some mere inches from its body. It could easily lean down and peck at it. She hoped it would recognize the meat as some good food?

Spoiler: ooc

Show

This meat isn't cooked. Shandara cooked a bit for herself to try, but I think she believes that since an owl catches live prey, that it doesn't mind raw meat. In fact, it may actually prefer it.

Who knows? Maybe this owl even managed to catch a snake.

[DeTess]

The owl carefully approaches the offered meat, turning it's head this way and that to observe it. Then its head suddenly darts forward as the owl takes the meat and quickly gobbles it down. Once it has finished the food, there seems to be a small change to the owl's demeanour. It's no longer sitting in the window quite as serenely as when Shandara was playing the flute. It appears more nervous now, keeping a close eye on the Drow. However, the bird is not yet leaving, even though nothing is keeping it there anymore.

[WindStruck]

Now it was apparent that the magic of the flute had worn off.. and yet the owl had not fled. Well that was good, she supposed? Still, it seemed as though it could literally fly off at the drop of a hat.

Shandara was at quite a loss for what to do next. She stood there, trying to be as still as possible. A small and nervous smile rose up at the corners of her lips, though they did not part; her lips were held tightly together.

She supposed if the owl was wary of her presence, then she should not attempt to get closer. She slowly backs away, towards her chair.

[DeTess]

The owl Kept observing Shandara as she slowly backed away, but took no other actions. After a couple minutes had passed though, it turned away and spread its wings, seemingly preparing to leave.

[WindStruck]

Shandara decides to let the owl leave. If she was going to have a trustworthy familiar, she had better let it fly off if it wanted to for now. Anyway, there was still some preparation to do for tonight. When the owl left, she closed the window and the curtains again.

She decided to try to prepare for the competition and rest early. She gathered up her jeweler tools and a few very basic alchemical things: a couple beakers, a flask, and a small burner, but she couldn't really take the whole lab. Then she had bathed and groomed herself, and tried to go into a trance earlier, around just before dawn..

It did not feel very restful, but she was up, had some new spells prepared, and a light meal before heading out to meet Bolten at the square.

[DeTess]

Even though both Shandara and Bolten arrived quite early, the central plaza of the Royal Artificery Society was already a hive of activity. At least two dozen people where crowding around a stall marked with a sign reading 'team sign-ups', while dozens more where busy setting up all kind of equipment. Several food-stalls where being set up, and several dwarves where busy preparing what looked like a row of miniature forges set up along one end of the plaza. A stand for spectators was also being set up at the other end of the plaza

The center of the square was dominated by a massive and clearly illusory black box, the bottom of which had been roped off to prevent entry, with several bored looking guards standing watch to prevent people from getting too close. Spread out across the plaza small groups of people had gathered. Many seemed to be students, but there where also some older artificers, enchanters and alchemists present. Some groups and individuals where holding up crude signs, reading things like 'team alchemist looking for metalworker', 'skilled enchanter looking for group' or 'architect looking for team to manage'.

[WindStruck]

Shandara meets Bolten at the appointed place with plenty of time to spare. She arrives feeling a bit tired, though not too much so, or even irritable yet.

"Hm. Lots of people here. But not many would help.." she says. "What do you think about the alchemist with the sign? Perhaps she would cover our bases. Unless there's something else I missed. A bowyer, a carpenter, a locksmith? There's no telling what we will have to do..."

[Prehysterical]

Contrary to Shandara's weariness, Bolten is enthused about today. Sure, there was always the possibility that the challenge had nothing to do with his skill set... but he just wants to find out what the challenge is at this point. It's like opening a present! Of course, he double and triple-checked to make sure that he didn't have any of his own magical items on his person before heading out this morning. Bolten was so accustomed to their presence that he feels almost naked.

Looking over the people, Bolten replies, "Er, well, we can't account for every possibility, but an alchemist would be pretty handy. It seems like they can always whip up something that's at least mildly useful, even if it's not immediately relevant." The dwarf makes his way over toward the alchemist.

[WindStruck]

Shandara quietly follows behind Bolten, her willowy form trailing him almost like a shadow, peering from underneath her silk cloak, though when she finally gets to the alchemist, it seems she is the first to muster up some words before things become awkward.

"Hello. I am Shandara, enchanter and jeweler. And this is Bolten Cogturner, clockwork engineer and black smith," she says gesturing at the dwarf.

"I, um, suppose you might be a good addition to our team?"

[DeTess]

The alchemist is a human in their early or mid-twenties, with shoulder length brown hair tied back by a red leather strip. They look very androgynous, maybe as a result of having a small amount of elvish blood. "I'm Ash, nice to meet you." They respond. "And yeah, it does sound like you two could use the help of an alchemist. Have you two participated before?"

[WindStruck]

Shandara doesn't say anything at all. She merely shakes her head...

[Prehysterical]

"Nice to meet you as well, Ash," Bolten responds cordially. "And no, we have not. Would you like to join our group? We may be first-timers, but we thought that it might be very useful to have an alchemist on our team."

[DeTess]

"Heh, and here I thought you two where a couple of veterans. Well, I'm always happy to show some new people the ropes." Ash replies.

"Ash, you've only taken part once before yourself." A youngish looking dwarf comments as he passes by, a playful grin on his face.

"That still makes me a veteran, Michael!" Ash accompanies the retort with a rude gesture towards the dwarf, though the smile on their face makes it clear that it's all in good fun.

"Don't listen to him, he's just jealous he got roped into assisting with the set up and can't participate this year." Ash turns back to Bolten and Shandara. "Anyway, enchanter, black smith and alchemist covers most approaches I think. Unless they want us to make a boat or something, then we'd need someone that knows wood."

[WindStruck]

"I suppose you're a veteran in comparison to us," Shandara offers as compromise.

To Ash's last comment, she adds, "Right. I supposed a carpenter of some sort would be good. Someone very familiar with wood. Then I think that may have all the bases covered. Liquids, extracts, and chemicals. Stone, metals... and wood?"

She shrugs. Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to keep recruiting, though? The thought of getting yet another person was making her feel a bit shy.

[Prehysterical]

Considering that all of the people setting up the anvils are dwarves, Bolten begins to wonder if he dodged an arrow...

Something about Shandara's suggestion seems vaguely elemental, but Bolten banishes the niggling feeling. "Aye, I feel like one more person would be the perfect size for the group. Any more cooks and it might spoil the soup, as they say." He looks around, perhaps looking for someone riding on a donkey for some odd reason...

[DeTess]

"Hmmm, wood, wood..." Ash has a pensive look on her face. "I don't really know any one that knows much about wood. Oh, there's my friend Beauregard of course, if he's even around. He's an alchemist, but he sometimes makes bows for fun, which is woodwork, I guess?" She shrugs. "Otherwise I suppose we could go take a look around to see if we can find a woodworker."

It was slowly getting busier, and quite a few of the signs that had been up before had gone down now, though others had sprung up in their place. There wasn't much that clearly pointed to a woodworker though. The architect's signs was still up, and they would probably know a thing about wood, and there was also a sign some distance away held by a burly human advertising their expertise as a shipwright. Apart from that most people still looking to form a team seemed to be alchemists, enchanters and various metalworkers.

[WindStruck]

Shandara points out, "Well, Ash, you may or may not have been joking when you mentioned building a boat.. and that man should be able to do it. I say, we see if we get along with him, and then that's the team."

She also shoots Bolten a glance, just to make sure he's on board with the idea.

(Heh, on board. )

[Prehysterical]

Bolten readily nods his head as Shandara's questioning look. "Seems like a sensible idea." Hopefully, it would make the contest smooth sailing and keep their chances afloat.

[DeTess]

The shipwright appeared to be in his early thirties. He had a brown bushy beard and broad shoulders an heavily muscled arms and callused hands, showing that he was used to heavy manual work. He had a tattoo on his upper left arm, two bands encircling his biceps with three anchors set between the lines. He raises an eyebrow by way of greeting as Bolten, Shandara and Ash approach him, but remains silent.

[WindStruck]

Shandara looks at the burly man curiously, though she supposed if he was not going to be the first to speak, they would have to be.

"Uh, greetings. Your sign is for the competition about to take place, yes?" It would be kind of weird if the man was merely looking for work as a shipwright and just happened to be standing here with a sign.

"We believe your expertise would be very helpful - and make this team well-rounded." She left out the fact that the man also had significant muscle, which could definitely come in handy, too.

She continued peering at the man, definitely expecting some kind of response now.

[DeTess]

The shipwright takes another moment to look over the three contestants before introducing himself. "I am Ulrik. I know woodwork and construction like the back of my hand, and dabble in metalwork as well, though I expect you guessed as much. What skills do the three of you bring to the table?"

[WindStruck]

The drow nods. "My name is Shandara. I am a jeweler, I specialize in enchantment, and I have also dabbled in alchemy and brewery," she says.

[Prehysterical]

Bolten gives a respectful bow of greeting. "Bolten Cogturner, clockmaker and blacksmith, at your service... With three ships to your name, sir, I have to imagine that your woodwork is immaculate."

[DeTess]

"And I am of course Ash Heathfield, alchemist extraordinaire and veteran of this competition." Ash introduces themselves with a flamboyant bow.

"Hmmm, I've heard of you, Bolten." Ulrik addresses the dwarf. "You're supposed to be a bit of a wizard where clockwork is concerned. And you, elf..." He turns to Shandara. "I think I heard some people from the Escribano workshop drop your name. Yes, this will do."

Ash seems to deflate a bit when it becomes clear Ulrik doesn't know them, but they quickly recover. "Well then, all we need is a team name, and we can get signed up."

[WindStruck]

Shandara looks disproportionately worried over something as superficial as a team name. Bringing a hand - or perhaps more like a fist - up to her face, she says, "Oh, a team name. I.. I.. hadn't considered that at all..."

She looks between the other three pensively, though no idea pops up in her mind immediately. Of course, being herself, she felt she needed more information. "What conventions do they typically follow here?"

[Prehysterical]

"Quite literally," Bolten agrees with a laugh.

The dark elf was in good company. It never occurred to Bolten that their team would need a name. What would suit best? "Masters of the Elements"? Well, who was which element? Earth could be either Bolten or Shandara. "The Fantastical Four"? No, too silly. "The Fearsome Foursome"? Oh dear... "New Kids on the Block"? Too self-deprecating.

"Well, er, what about something like... Team Tinkerer? Team Sprocket? Oh, how about Team 'In the Rough'?"

[DeTess]

"I'm pretty certain there'll already be a team tinkerer." Ash mused. "I like team Sprocket though, has a nice ring to it. There aren't any real conventions to naming your team though. Some teams might name themselves after the organization they're all from or similar, but that's not the case here, or after locations or other things they all have in common. Oh, and names that are too grandiose are frowned upon, and tends to attract sabotage. Like, if someone decides to name themselves 'team unbeatable' or 'the best team' everyone else sees it as a challenge to prove them wrong, you know?"