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Post by moralhazard on Feb 28, 2019 3:50:05 GMT
Another day, another exhibition!
In a city of Waterdeep’s size, there was at least one exhibition by some artist or artisan somewhere in the city every day. Thea knew, from discussions with Jhalassan, that the guilds coordinated a fair amount. Most held exhibitions once a tenday, with specials held for a new arrival after extensive coordination.
Thea’s own first exhibition had been once such special one; she hadn’t realized, at the time, how lucky she’d been to have a solo exhibition. Not for the first time, Thea was grateful for her membership in the guild, and grateful for the enthusiastic sponsorship she’d been given from her former master, Thaddeus, who still lived back in Urmlaspyr.
Even then, Thea wouldn’t have dared ask for a solo exhibition again. She was thoroughly grateful to be included in the guild’s main exhibition – and even more grateful to have a small side room to herself in the hall’s exhibition area, with a big sign outside indicating that special, magical wonders were to be seen inside.
Thea carefully set up her exhibit, arranged, this time, around two main wonders. Oh, there was plenty of her usual work, wands and orbs and necklaces, staves made of pure clear glass with a space for a gemstone at the top, delicate wine glasses, even two samples of the colorful, cheerful store front signs that Thea had been producing lately.
There was also plenty of Thea’s blown glass work, her true specialty. There was an osprey she’d sculpted delicately from blown glass, emerging with wings spread from the crest of a wave, a half-visible fish clutched in its talons, all the more impressive for its small size. There was a dragon, straight out of a child’s tale, curled around a pile of sparking gold treasure, a little wisp of glass smoke rising from its nostrils. There was a glass tree, colored brown and gray and tan, with plain bare branches stretching up towards the sky, looking as if it would actually shiver in a breeze.
But the centerpiece?
There sat two items, Thea’s two favorite items in the entire exhibition. The first was a storm orb, a small glass ball, perfectly clear and round, with a massive thunderhead cloud twitching and writhing inside it. Every so often, as onlookers shrieked in terror and delight, a little spit of lightning would burst from the cloud to smack harmlessly against the cloud. This wasn’t the first Thea had made, nor even the tenth, but she never tired of them.
Next to it was a glass cylinder, as smooth as the orb, resting on a perfectly flat side against the table. Inside of it swirled a tiny cyclone. The cylinder held what looked like a handful of gold-colored flakes, which were caught up in the cyclone, swirling around inside it to make clear the shape.
There had been a steady stream of visitors in the exhibition all day; Thea had been there for going on three hours, and was starting to get a little tired, toes pinched in her fanciest blue boots, smooth gray tunic just starting to lose the crispness of its ironed creases.
Out of the corner of her eye, Thea could see a gray-robed figure step into the room. Thea could have sworn he’d visited earlier, the curly brown hair on his head looked familiar. Before she could make much of it, though, the customer admiring the storm orb asked another question, drawing her attention back to him and his little daughter.
“It’s harmless,” Thea promised, smiling. She set her own pale blue hand on the orb, flexing her fingers against the surface. “You can’t feel the lightning from the outside, honestly.”
The little girl gasped, eyes wide, staring intently at the orb.
A little flare of lightning burst out, striking between Thea’s fingers, and the little girl squealed aloud in shock and delight, her dad laughing.
“Can… can I…” the girl reached forward, slowly, very slowly.
Thea giggled herself, pulling her hand back, leaving her fingers just behind the orb to prevent any pushing.
The girl shrieked even more loudly, pressing one sticky little hand firmly against the orb. The next bit of lightning struck at the center of her palm. “I didn’t feel it!” The girl exclaimed, looking up at her father then back at the orb. “This is… THE COOLEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN!” Her voice was loud enough to rattle the glass fixtures above, and easily audible in the main hall outside; it was all Thea could do to keep back her laughter.
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Faye
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Aislinn Atwood, 3rd Level Circle of the Land Druid | Merli, 3rd Level Sorcerer
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Post by Faye on Feb 28, 2019 5:22:19 GMT
Having recently found her way to the City of Splendors Merli was more than anxious to get out and about. It was so big, certainly, there was something within these walls that could hold her interest. More aptly there was certainly someone who wouldn't mind employing a small magic lizard, she assumed that's what most referred to her as. After all, the older people in her village tended to do so, though they had a habit of adding some rather unflattering adjectives to it. Though the young kobold rarely ever gave it much thought, instead she focused on smiling, the best she could at least, and making sure people got their orders on time.
Now though her canary yellow eyes swam across the area laid out before her, honestly she wasn't completely certain how she ended up in the exact spot she wanted. Asking for directions proved to be slightly more difficult than anticipated, not so much because of her appearance but the short individual had to make a conscious effort not to be lost underfoot of some, making it slightly difficult to ask for what she needed. So it was she found her way to the main hall of the artisan exhibition currently going on in the city.
As it stood Merli had no idea where to start, everywhere she looked something new caught her eye. Instead of checking every individual display she instead simply stood dumbfounded in the middle of the hall. Her head snapped from side to side as she took in the variety of items on display from smallest trinket to the most elaborate pieces, everything just seemed to call out to her and it took every ounce of willpower she had not to charge forth and start shoving everything into a bag to purchase later.
Small hands clutched at a wooden stick, that seemed to have been broken off of a larger piece, with a simple and cloudy quartz strapped the unbroken end with twine in a haphazard fashion. Tightening her grip on the knarled staff she almost always carried with her Merli began her circuit around the exhibition hall. The yellow gaze ever stayed in one place for long as she moved through the small gatherings of people and looked on from afar. It occurred to Merli, perhaps a little too late that she could, in fact, ask if any of these trinkets or items were in fact for sale. Though, the light feeling of the coin pouch tied to her belt gave her the sinking feeling these were a bit outside her price range.
That didn't mean she couldn't window shop though, and she intended to make full use of the opportunity she was presented with. Through her wanderings the white and grey scaled kobold found herself drawn in by the promise of magical items. Admittedly she had only turned in that direction as a voice carried out of the room the sign that proclaimed such facts sat before. Skittering forward she leaned in to see what all the fuss had been about, and amazement greeted her.
Stepping fully into the room the sorceress loosened her grip on the staff in her hands, letting them effectively drop to her side as she stared on with stars in her eyes. There was so much to see just in this one space, and most of it so, so, astonishing. Beside herself with giddy anticipation to explore such an enchanting sight Merli all but sprinted into the room, stopping to look at nearly every item she passed. While gazing at each glass figurine in turn the small kobold found herself drawn to the intricate dragon atop his pile of treasure.
A hand instinctively started to reach out for it, but froze mid-reach. Once again her lack of funds reared its head and she allowed her hand to drop down once again. Even if she was unable to get it, she still found herself happier for having seen it. As she begrudgingly turned from the sculpture she once again heard the squee of the small human girl and approached her to see what all the fuss was about. Though she was slow about it, after all, there were two other's near the small child, a man, and a...blue woman. Normally such an occurrence wouldn't phase her but the woman's unusual color had her wondering why exactly that was. That didn't stop her from drawing closer, though she stopped slightly before the girl her gaze drawn by the cyclone contained within the glass cylinder.
Hands went to clutch the edge of the table as she stood as tall as she could, getting to the very tip of her clawed toes as she stared on utterly transfixed by the golden flecks dancing in the wind. "It's so pretty," The voice that came from her was light and raspy, with an odd drag on the 's', extending it behind what was normal. With her statement made she continued to stare on in utter amazement.
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Post by moralhazard on Feb 28, 2019 5:40:58 GMT
Unfortunately for Thea, the little girl’s dad burst out laughing, and then Thea lost her composure, giggling as well.
“What?” The little girl was bouncing up and down, almost jumping in place. She’d pulled her hand back, at least, so she wasn’t in danger of swatting the orb off the table. “What, daddy? What’s so funny?”
Thea giggled a little more, glancing down at the table – and started in surprise at the sight of a kobold clutching the edge of the table and gazing enthusiastically into the cyclone.
The little girl was, perhaps, six, and still had a solid head of height on the lizard-creature. She turned to look at the kobold, eyes wide, and gasped aloud. “What are you?” She asked, with the bright, cheerful ignorance of a little girl.
“Mei Lin!” Her father swooped in, scooping up the girl and bracing her on his hip. Mei Lin kicked out with one foot, and Thea gripped the table with both hands, letting out a soft whoosh of breath in relief when the little girl didn’t kick anything.
“I’m – er – very sorry,” the father looked down at the kobold, then back up at Thea. “We’ll, er, we’ll be going now. Thank you for showing her the storm orb.”
“Oh – no problem,” Thea smiled, politely.
“But Daddy!” Mei Lin whined, flailing a little more as her father carried her bodily from the room. “What was she?”
Thea let out a last giggle, still amused by the encounter. She turned to the kobold, smiling. Thea knew what kobolds were, and had seen them – in passing, in some of the ports she’d visited and on the trip from Urmlaspyr to Waterdeep – but she didn’t think she’d ever engaged in conversation with one.
“Do you want to come on the table?” Thea offered, cheerfully. “I think it’s heavy enough, and you’ll probably be able to see better.” Thea paused a moment. “I’m Thea, by the way – Althea Baring. This is my exhibit.”
In the excitement, Thea hadn’t noticed the disappearance of the gray-robed figure; if she had, she might have assumed, reasonably, that he’d gone back out the door, although she also hadn't seen him leave.
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Faye
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Aislinn Atwood, 3rd Level Circle of the Land Druid | Merli, 3rd Level Sorcerer
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Post by Faye on Feb 28, 2019 6:50:00 GMT
Shocked reactions certainly weren't something new to Merli, though she always found them a bit baffling. The further she got from home the more prevalent they seemed to become, and it was a tad confusing to the young kobold. After all, it wasn't as though she'd done anything surprising she typically just stood there. Throughout the years she hadn't been quite introduced to the dislike many people had for her kind, as such she found displays of it mind-boggling. That said over her short time away from home she had certainly learned to let it go, for the most part at least.
So it was when the young girl's question rang in her ears she turned to look at her and opened her mouth to answer but was stopped short as the man, perhaps her father, scooped her up and stared down at her. The short duration that he did so let her note the expression in his eyes, which seemed shocked and perhaps a tad wary. Merli honestly couldn't fathom why, alright, that may not have been entirely true but she liked giving people the benefit of the doubt. With that she watched them leave, a gentle frown pulling at the corners of her mouth...she hoped she hadn't been the one to make them leave in such a rush.
Her thoughts couldn't dwell on that long, as the blue lady's voice graced her ears causing her to quickly turn to look up at her. Merli's instinctual reaction was to refuse, but as the woman continued she found that spark of amazement reignites in her. Leaning forward with childlike exuberance she couldn't help but gush.
"Yours? That means you made all this, yes?" The kobolds voice was filled with unabated awe as she spoke, taking a few small shuffling steps closer as she looked up at the woman called Thea. "Ah," Pausing in her advance she took a small step back and gave a little bow, just like Erwin taught her. "You can call me Merli, it's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am."
With that she straightened, making sure to hold her elaborate wooden stick, as some called it, in front of her in a horizontal line. This caused the end to rest against the admittedly old looking book that dangled at her side. "If it wouldn't be too much of an issue, a better view would be very nice."
This was said with an accompanying nod of her head, after all, she would have to be crazy to turn down the chance to view something so enthralling up close. The enthusiasm she had seemed boundless as it continued to make its presence known, particularly as she eyed the table wondering just how she would get up, automatically assuming she'd need to do it by herself. At home, Erwin had made her a set of small portable stairs she could use to reach the higher shelves when she needed. Merli hadn't realized quite how handy those were until she didn't have them anymore. With that though she came to a rather common conclusion for her.
"It's really high," Which it was, for her at least and when looked at from an aspect of climbing it. Particularly considering the items on top, which most certainly were not something Merli wanted to be responsible for breaking in any way shape or form. As such, she sent a quick look towards Thea. "Mayhap I could get a bit of help?" The kobold questioned, giving the store a once over as she asked. While it took quite a bit to embarrass her being helped onto a table like a small child was certainly up there. At the very least there seemed to be few individuals in the room itself. While it was an instant relief she also felt slightly sad. After all, everything was just so amazing.
When she did manage to get onto the surface of that table she quickly let her eyes settle on the two rather astounding creations. They were magic, so it really wasn't a surprise she found them so mystical. Doing her best to cause as little motion in the table as possible she drew closer to the sphere and rested her hand on it before wondering aloud.
"How does one catch a cloud in glass?" This question stumped her, probably why she said it aloud as she cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. Quite honestly trying to figure out how it could even happen. It would not be incorrect to guess she had very few if any ideas.
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Post by moralhazard on Feb 28, 2019 16:06:04 GMT
Thea straightened up a little at the awe in the kobold’s voice, shoulders unconsciously squaring, chest jutting forward ever so slightly with pride. “Yes, I made the pieces in here.” Almost more as a reflex than anything, Thea ran her gaze over the room, glancing over the wands and baubles before settling, with a rush of pride, on the two magic pieces on the table. She did not notice a faintly odd shadow in one corner of the room, which seemed to be creeping steadily closer to the tables.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Merli.” Thea returned Merli’s little bow with one of her own, smiling politely.
Thea relaxed, just a hair, when Merli accepted her offer. She’d made it almost without thinking – Merli was short, and it must be hard for her to see the pieces on the table, and Thea had genuinely wanted her to be able to admire them more fully. Only a moment later had Thea realized that the question might have been offensive.
She had always heard that kobolds were rude, private creatures, keeping mostly to themselves, and rarely fond of other kobolds, let alone other races. It wasn’t much of a stretch from there to imagine that one might be a prickly, rude creature. But, Thea hadn’t seen anything like that in Merli’s actual behavior; if anything, the kobold seemed remarkably polite, and the wonder in her eyes as she looked around the room definitely warmed Thea to her.
“Oh!” Thea’s cheeks bloomed darker blue at Merli’s request. She hadn’t even thought – Thea was nearly as embarrassed at Merli. “I’m sorry,” Thea said. “Of course.” She paused. “I should make sure to bring some stools for future exhibits,” Thea said, after a moment. “Mei Lin – the little girl who was here before – could also barely see over the table.”
What was the best way to actually help? Thea looked down at the kobold, cheeks flaming a little darker blue. Oh goodness, she couldn’t possibly pick the kobold up, could she? The thought was beyond horrifying. Yes, Thea was pretty sure – physically – she could lift the kobold to the table, but… she honestly didn’t think she had it in her.
After a moment, Thea had a much better idea. She carefully knelt down in front of the table, propping one leg up like a stepping stool for Merli, and offered a hand to help the kobold stabilize, if she needed it.
Thea felt an enormous rush of relief once Merli was on the table, and popped back up to her feet, beaming once more. “Oh! Well,” Thea gazed down at the orb, smiling a little. “It’s a storm, but…” Thea wrinkled her nose. “It’s also the memory of a storm, not just the sight of it, but the sound of the thunder and the smell of the rain and the feelings a storm brings up inside you. And when I remember it, it’s… already inside the glass, I suppose.”
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Faye
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Aislinn Atwood, 3rd Level Circle of the Land Druid | Merli, 3rd Level Sorcerer
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Post by Faye on Feb 28, 2019 20:21:24 GMT
"Stools are good," Merli said giving a gentle nod of her reptilian head. The help Thea offered had been most welcome, if embarrassing. Despite all her years, six to be specific, Merli was still not quite enamored with her height. As it seemed to just cause more problems than offer up solutions. So, with little encouragement needed she pulled herself up onto the woman's leg, gladly taking the offered hand for balance before scrambling the last of the way up. Which proved to be quite the test of her athletic abilities but she managed.
Once she reached the top of the miniature mountain, at least to her Merli took her time to examine the two items that resided at the top. With her question about the storm orb posed the kobold listened intently to the answer, giving a nod here and a small noise, akin to a hum, of understanding as it was explained to her. As the information she was given came to an end she turned once again to look at Thea, being careful to keep her tail as stationary as possible in the hopes of not accidentally knocking something over...which had admittedly been a problem for her back home and in certain shops with rather low shelves.
"So, you remember whether and catch it in a cage?" While not the exact science of what it was Thea actually did, and certainly not in the most eloquent words, it was the best way Merli herself could wrap her head around how it was done. "That's," Merli started in her eternally raspy voice. "Amazing!" From there it was simply a flood of questions, the little sorcerer simply couldn't help herself. Magic was an enigma to her, even her own, and learning how others harnessed it and used it was always an exciting occasion.
"Can you only do thunderstorms? What about snow storms, oh, oh, or maybe a rainstorm that might be pretty! Is weather the only thing you can do it with, like, what if you try really hard to remember a goat or something could you put it in glass? Ah, I know! What about a mini dragon, like the one you have all in glass! Could you remember one and have it be kept in a little ball to?" All of this just gushed out of the kobold, and even as she babbled on she felt the heat of embarrassment start to wash over her. After all, she was acting rather childish for her age but she simply couldn't help herself.
"Oh, what about the windy one? Is that the same thing just with wind or is it different?" With this Merli sent a glance over her shoulder to the perfect cylinder that contained the small cyclone and flecks of gold. Having laid her eyes upon the object in question she whipped her head back around to stare at Thea with unabated awe. To her, in this specific moment, Thea was the second most amazing person in the world. After all, who else could simply remember a storm and catch it in glass? No one she knew that was for certain.
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Post by moralhazard on Feb 28, 2019 20:38:12 GMT
“Um – well – ” Thea wrinkled her nose again. “… Pretty much,” she grinned at Merli, giggling at the little kobold’s pronouncement. Thea actually agreed; her storm orbs were her favorite thing she’d ever done with the lightning in her blood.
Thea didn’t know, honestly, whether it was the storm sorcerer that had come to her through the shipwreck, or the combination of that and her air genasi heritage the two that allowed her to make things like the thunderstorm and the cyclone glass. All the same, it was, Thea felt, the best thing she had ever done with her magic. Pushing herself to make her first storm orb, now more than five five years ago, had been one of the hardest things she’d done in her life. The cyclone glass had been easier, actually, although it had still taken many, many attempts to get it right, and, maybe, a little breakthrough in how she approached her own magic.
Thea giggled at the flood of question coming from the kobold, warming cheerfully to the topic. “I’ve never tried to do snow storms or rainstorms! I’m not sure, especially about snow. I think I could do fog, if I wanted to, but I don’t think it would look as…” Thea wrinkled her nose, searching for the right word. “… dramatic.” She giggled again.
“A goat?” Thea began to giggle, imagining a little goat trapped in a glass bauble. “I don’t think so. I wouldn’t even want to try to put a dragon-memory in a glass! The storm takes on a little life of its own, as you remember it, and – it takes a while to settle down. The magic needs just a drop of real storm, too, so – I’d need a drop of real dragon, I guess? I don’t think I could hold a dragon’s magic in my mind, and – even if I did – what if it got out?” Thea’s face was bright though, her mind racing with ideas. “Maybe if I used someone else’s magic…” her eyes widened a little.
“It would be pretty amazing, if it was possible,” Thea admitted, tracing her hand over the storm globe.
“The wind is… pretty similar,” Thea nodded. “I have to really focus on the feeling of wind, the way it feels and looks and moves. It helps if I can remember a really specific wind, but that’s a bit harder to do than with a storm. It doesn’t have to be a memory of a real cyclone, though – any wind will circle like that in the riht environment, with a little coaxing.” Thea paused. “… the gold flakes are just coloring. I made a one without them, and – well – I liked it, but I like wind,” Thea grinned a little, sheepishly. “I think the color flakes make it easier to track the cyclone.”
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Faye
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Aislinn Atwood, 3rd Level Circle of the Land Druid | Merli, 3rd Level Sorcerer
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Post by Faye on Feb 28, 2019 21:57:09 GMT
The amazement Merli felt didn't dwindle in the slightest as Thea put her thoughts into a more correct perspective. To the kobold, this was still an immensely impressive feat and elicited many head nods from her in the process.
"Yes a goat, if you could do that maybe you could make an entire farm," Merli suggested though those hopes were quite quickly dashed as the restrictions on what could and could not be turned it to magical art came to light. The fact Merli would be unable to one day purchase a real miniature goat in a glass sphere hit her hard. It would have been so cute, though at further explanation from Thea Merli gave a small 'oh' of understanding.
"That would be bad...but it would still be a tiny dragon. How much harm could it really do?" Even as she said it the mental image of a dragon no bigger than the palm of humans hand wreaking untold havoc on an unsuspecting city flashed through her thoughts. "I suppose a lot, it'd be hard to see," Merli added after only a few seconds of contemplation. At the mention of another's magic, her mind zipped back to Erwin, if he was here perhaps he'd be able to help her.
"Have you ever tried using someone else's memories, well magic?" She cast a glance towards Thea as she posed this question, almost reflexively looking up, even though she didn't need to considering her current height with the tables help.
"Wind is pretty, I like it to," Merli hummed as she continued to listen to Thea, who the kobold was admittedly still puzzling as to why she was blue...perhaps she was simply incredibly sad but that didn't seem right considering her demeanor. While she would have liked to ask about it, the kobold had earned in recent months that asking such things were occasionally frowned upon. So it was she kept this singular question locked away despite the stream of them that seemed to continuously be pouring forth from her. "Gold does make it easier to keep track of and adds a bit of enchantment to it."
While she spoke Merli turned back to face the two enthralling items on the table letting her eyes glace across the cyclone before moving back to the storm orb. The lightning still cracked within, quite easily keeping her attention. The kobold watched in utter transfixion as the storm continued to rage on in the sphere of glass, she wondered why she called it a cloud at first. Though that was thrust out of her head as she realized once again she was in fact in a shop, or at least something similar.
"How much do such items generally sell for?" Merli questioned using a had to gesture towards the storm orb and the contained cyclone. While she was certain it would be outside of her current budget she did want to make a note as to how much she'd need to save to get one. Perhaps not one of the two in front of her, but one of the impressive figurines that were scattered around the room.
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Post by moralhazard on Feb 28, 2019 23:24:29 GMT
“I wouldn’t want it loose in my workshop!” Thea agreed, also picturing a miniature dragon darting about, setting things on fire, evading capture and generally causing havoc. She had no idea if such a thing were even remotely possible, and, at least at the moment, Thea rather fervently didn’t want to find out. She would stick to storms, Thea decided. Storms and wind. Nice and safe. Well, for her at least.
Thea shook her head. “No, I haven’t ever tried it. It would be amazing, wouldn’t it?” Thea sighed, happily, imagining the possibilities. “But… I don’t even know how such a thing could work, I… the crafting process is so tied to the magic,” Thea bit her lower lip, wriggling it in her teeth. It was a habit she hated and worked hard to break, but one that she inevitably fell back into when thinking deeply, such as about glass, magic, and particularly their combination.
“I don’t know.” Thea sighed, looking at Merli. “Honestly, I wouldn’t even know how to start experimenting. I’m really not… not much of an expert when it comes to magic. I’m much better with glass,” she smiled, looking over the room again.
“The storm orbs can sell for – ” Thea wrinkled her nose. There had been some variation; she was pretty sure she’d more or less reached saturation in Urmlaspyr, maybe in Sembia; there were only so many people in a city who would want to buy a piece of magical art (as Thea usually called them). “Maybe 300 gold pieces? For the cyclone glass…” Thea grinned, widely. “This is the first one I’ve ever exhibited! So I don’t know. The other glass pieces are cheaper – the wands wouldn’t usually sell for more than maybe ten gold pieces, maybe twelve. Things like the glasses would be even less, although people usually buy more than one of those at once.”
Thea paused. “I also make some beaded jewelry,” she turned to the table on the left, which had a display of earrings, necklaces and bracelets made from glass beads artfully arranged in a basket. The beads varied in shape between the pieces, some round, some oval, and a few with little twists in the middle. None were clear; they were colored in a variety of ways, some all through and some with patterned designs on top of a deeper color. Given Merli’s size, a bracelet could likely serve as a necklace; some of them were big enough. “For the bracelets, I've sold them before at just a few silver pieces.”
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Faye
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Aislinn Atwood, 3rd Level Circle of the Land Druid | Merli, 3rd Level Sorcerer
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Post by Faye on Mar 1, 2019 17:12:00 GMT
The kobold listened intently her interest having been piqued and kept quite easily by this line of discussion. Anything involving magic always filled her with a sense of wonder and bewilderment. Merli knew about it herself yes, but only in what she had been taught and what she'd learned herself through trial and error. Typically more error. But that had never stopped her, and quite honestly it was doubtful it ever would. Merli simply found magic too much fun to give up on even if she failed miserably, because even in that instance at least she had learned what not to do.
"Well," Merli started at the mention of Thea not being all that great with magic, though even Merli herself had to admit the woman did have a way with glass and nodded at that. "My teacher always told me the best way to learn is to do. Even if you fail you'll learn something new in the process," Truly it was a word for word quote, one she'd heard countless times in her short life and perhaps applied a bit too liberally in most situations throughout her life. With that said she plopped herself down as lightly as she could on the table before sliding off, all while Thea explained her pricings and mentioned a few other things she sold.
Admittedly the prices brought Merli up short as her feet connected with the floor and she did her best to keep her balance. She gave a nod of her head at the statement from Thea while scuttling over to stand near the table with the basket of beads. Once again she couldn't quite see it but from everything else she'd seen today she was more than willing to assume they were stunning. It also didn't hurt that they also happened to be quite a bit more in her price range, admittedly still not for today but something she could get sooner rather than later which was a happy bit of realization for the kobold.
"Sadly that's a bit out of my price range at the moment," She stated with a slightly disappointed shake of her head before glancing upwards towards Thea. Which exposed the smile, or the closest thing to one she could make that was on her face. "But, when I get some to spend you'll be the first stop," Her tone was honest and excited as she said it, somehow already looking forward to being able to purchase something so pretty for herself. Though she'd certainly have to figure out a way to actually make coin first...perhaps people would be willing to pay for odd jobs they needed done. Those thoughts were stopped rather quickly as Merli realized she had no idea where Thea's shop was and assumed this wasn't it, admittedly that could have been an incorrect belief but she felt it'd be better to ask.
"Ah, but where can I find your shop?" The kobold cocked her head to the side as she asked this, hoping that this wasn't it or the question itself wasn't an utterly absurd one. After all, Merli was still getting used to the big city and what kind of etiquette that entailed.
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Post by moralhazard on Mar 1, 2019 17:40:21 GMT
Thea smiled at the kobold, looking down at the table and running her fingers over it. “That’s good advice,” Thea admitted, cheerfully. “Maybe I will try it.”
Citrine would be the right person to try with, Thea thought. Citrine, who oozed magic from her every pore, who used magic as effortlessly as breathing. Not only that, but fire and air paired together well; it wasn’t as though Citrine used something like earth, which would be much harder for Thea to incorporate, magically speaking.
A magic flame in an orb? Thea could imagine it – particularly one of Citrine’s phoenix flames, if the sorcerer would be open to something like that. She couldn’t imagine how it would work, though. She didn’t exactly cast a spell when making an orb; she thought if Citrine cast a firebolt at the inside of a glass orb, it would probably just melt, maybe shatter. Could she figure out how to describe the process of easing the magic into the glass? Would it even make sense, to a non-crafter? Or would she need Citrine to help breathe life into the glass? That wouldn’t be so difficult. Or perhaps it would; Thea could think of a dozen apprentices she’d seen struggling to do so much as blow a bauble.
“Here,” Merli hopped off the table, and Thea reached for the basket with the jewelry, setting it on the floor for her to look through.
Thea smiled back at the kobold, cheerful. “I look forward to it!” She promised. “Thond Glass and Glazing Shop, on Sleeper’s Walk in the Trades Ward, is the best place to find me. Ask in the shop – most of the time I’m in the workshop back behind it, and if I’m not around, someone will know where to find me. You can always leave a message for me here at the guild as well, they’ll get it to me.”
Thea turned back to the rest of the exhibit, a half-formed thought about the orb and the kobold’s apparent knowledge of magic – and watched in horror as, right before her eyes, the cyclone cylinder seemed to vanish into nothing. Thea half-shrieked, eyes darting from side to side – nothing, just the faint sound of a scuff of boots against the floor.
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Faye
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Aislinn Atwood, 3rd Level Circle of the Land Druid | Merli, 3rd Level Sorcerer
Posts: 68
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Post by Faye on Mar 2, 2019 17:27:29 GMT
Merli nodded, happy to have the name of a shop and a general idea of where she could find Thea after this rather interesting day. Well, it was interesting on her end. After all, it wasn't every single day she got to meet new people who didn't give her a sideways glance, and on top of that, the kobold had managed to meet someone who could use magic and in such in an intriguing way. That said she did start to silently speak the name to herself, let alone the street name. If there was one thing Merli wasn't quite confident about it would be her memory. Throughout her childhood, it had been a point of contention for her and those who knew her more than in passing.
In fact, when it came to matters of memory Merli had forgotten the specific reason she had come to the exhibition in the first place. While admiring all the wonderful items scattered about the guild hall had certainly been fun, and was still proving to be so as Merli gingerly pawed through the basket of glass bracelets none of this coincided with the reason she had decided to come here in the first place. That reason being to see if she could find some form of work, admittedly this probably wasn't the best place to search for it but her options had been running out.
Though this was far from her mind as her eyes eagerly took in each priceless bit of jewelry that her small hands picked up to look at before gently placing it back in the basket. While she had been looking through the variety of different styles that inhabited the basket Merli did her best to be excessively gentle with each piece. Hoping to Mystra she wouldn't accidentally break something. That hope was almost shattered into a million tiny pieces, along with the bracelet the kobold had been holding, as Thea's shriek made her jump in shock. Hurridly she put the item back, still managing to be careful about it before sending a glance up towards Thea, taking a few steps back in the process.
"What's wrong?" Merli questioned sending a glance around the room in an attempt to spot what could have caused such a reaction in the seemingly calm and collected woman. From her perspective there was nothing, no one came into her sight and there didn't seem to be something that could elicit such a sound from anyone. Though perhaps it was different in the big city, and she had heard one regular have a similar reaction to a spider once but that was neither here or there. The shuffle of boot-clad feet reached her ears managing to draw her attention to nothing but open air, or she thought.
Curiosity piqued Merli shuffled forward walking directly under that table that contained the storm orb and to her knowledge the cyclone cylinder. "Is someone else here?" The kobold wondered a loud genuinely confused at hearing such a thing when she knew it wasn't her, and Thea herself hadn't moved at least to the small sorcerer's knowledge. While she wondered this she poked her head out from under the table and continued to look around feeing more and more confused by the second.
While her nerves were most certainly on edge Merli was determined to fix whatever had caused Thea so much distress, while they didn't know each other very well Merli wasn't about to stand around and do nothing. Although, while she was loathe to admit it, Merli certainly wasn't opposed to running if that proved a better option. Of course it would be to get help, but still.
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Post by moralhazard on Mar 2, 2019 18:01:25 GMT
“It – it just – vanished!” Thea’s voice rose, faintly on the edge of panic. “The cyclone glass, I – as I watched, it was like it disappeared.” Thea was shaking a little. Certainly she had been stolen from before; there had been another attempted theft, here in Waterdeep, on her very first exhibition, although that one had been slightly more amateur. In Urmlaspyr, the workshop where she worked had been broken into more than once; in retrospect, Thea didn't like to think on that too closely, especially when she thought about what had been taken once or twice, and the fact that - well - not many could have known what would be there.
And, of course, she'd been nearly robbed by two very threatening men in the Docks Ward and rescued only at the last moment by a very strange northern barbarian wielding a fish. She'd been pick-pocketed many times, in Urmlaspyr - although, now that Thea thought of it, with a twist of unease, very rarely once she and Dom had been open about their relationship - and on the three months journey from Urmlaspyr to Waterdeep. She had lost materials, even completed pieces.
But the cyclone glass! It was the first of its kind, the first Thea had ever successfully made. No, it hadn't been as hard as her storm orb, but it had still been hard, incredibly hard; she had worked on the process for weeks. It didn't matter that now it would be easier to make a second one, even without the first; it had represented a huge achievement for her, and Thea was deeply and painfully horrified at the thought of it having been stolen.
Merli’s height gave her something of an advantage; the kobold could easily tell that she herself hadn’t moved, and Thea was wearing soft, light slippers, the soft that wouldn’t make any sound against the floor; that meant it was easy enough to guess that the scuffle of boots was someone else. The kobold disappeared under the table, calling out to ask who else was there. Thea stood, utterly still and still largely panicking. Was it possible that the cyclone glass was still in the room? Thea had thought that it had been somehow teleported outside of the shop, but... was it possible, instead, that there was someone invisible inside the room with them? Was it even possible to teleport something out of a guild hall? Thea didn't have a good sense of what protections were in place. Maybe, just maybe - the cyclone glass was still there. Merli’s call gave Thea an idea. The genasi took a slow, deep breath, calming and centering herself, and pushed the fear out into a little burst of silvery wind, no more than perhaps a foot wide. The winds swirled about themselves, visibly hovering in the air beside her head, whisking back and forth. Thea exhaled, and the wind rushed forward, dancing back and forth across the room. Silent, silent, silent – and then, just close to Merli, the wind seemed to smack against something, and what looked like an empty patch of air let out a soft, quiet “Oof!”
((Thea casts mage hand; hers is flavored to look like little silvery winds))
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Faye
Approved
Aislinn Atwood, 3rd Level Circle of the Land Druid | Merli, 3rd Level Sorcerer
Posts: 68
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Post by Faye on Mar 2, 2019 22:01:26 GMT
This entire situation was quite upsetting after all Merli had been having a good time until the entirety of this situation decided to occur. Hearing that something had up and disappeared left Merli baffled but she wasn't one to question, after all, it wasn't the first time she had to deal with potential thieves. It came with the territory of running a business, no matter what that business happened to be. True, no business that had to deal with attempted theft had ever been hers but she'd learned to handle them in her own way in the past two years.
Why did Merli quickly thing thief? Because, Thea had stated her piece of art was there, and then wasn't. What else could explain that? That said in the kobold's experience it did tend to be much easier to diagnose the problem, thieves typically stood out. Either by grabbing and running, or attempting to intimidate you into giving up what you had. So, not seeing the assumed thief was certainly a bit of a predicament and left Merli feeling utterly confused by the entire situation. While her mind reeled trying to identify a solution or any reason the thief wouldn't be visible, magic hadn't even crossed into her thoughts yet, she was distracted by a seemingly sourceless 'oof', which caused her eyes to snap and narrow in that direction.
At first, she wondered what could have caused it but the sight of a silvery wind gave her a general idea. It was her best guess that this was produced by Thea, after all, she had claimed she was able to do magic of some sort perhaps this was it? Little time was spent dwelling on this as Merli did her best to think of a way she could help, unfortunately, she still couldn't quite see the thief, which limited her options but she was a creative little thing or she liked to think she was at least. To most others, that assumption was up for debate.
Not moving from her spot Merli quickly tried to think of a plan she could enact that would allow her to hit something she couldn't see, or at least impede their movement in some way. Then it struck her like a ton of bricks, ice. While she'd never attempted what she was about to before the words of her late master sprung to mind. "If you don't try you fail anyway." With that thought, she gave her head a nod raised a small clawed hand and tapped into that chilling source of power that existed inside of her.
"Sorry," Merli stated as her plan could potentially cause some residual damage but she was coming up empty on other choices. Her body went numb as a chill swept through her, eyes narrowing she brought one arm close to her chest while the other continued to firmly grasp at the staff in her hand, the small crystal tied to it glowing with a pale blue light. In her free hand, a small chunk of ice started to form starting as nothing more than a flake of frost before growing to be just a bit larger than Merli's palm. Closing her hand around it she drew her arm back before flinging it forward and letting go of the small hunk of pale blue ice, the glow in her staff dimming down to nothing as she did so.
The piece of ice flipped through the open air and came to a clattering halt below the wind produced by Thea, it remained for all of a second before bursting into a shower of glinting ice shards with a bang. It was her hope that perhaps even a few of these would strike the thief, perhaps to give them something to look for, or really just slow them down. It was also her hope that it didn't hurt whoever it was too much. After all, she already felt terribly guilty about any damaged she had caused in Thea's exhibition room. Thankfully her attack was very much centered on the ground so Merli was hopeful nothing of great value would be damaged.
(In an attempt to startle the thief, or something similar, Merli casts ice knife supposedly in front of him. Supposedly because as has been stated, she can't actually see him. Thus leaving Merli with 1/2 spell slots.)
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Post by moralhazard on Mar 2, 2019 22:50:35 GMT
There was someone in the room. Thea’s eyes had widened at the sound expelled into the air, and she shifted towards that patch of the room, eyes darting back and forth, trying hard to figure out anything more about where the person could be. There was no sound, so as far as Thea could tell they hadn’t moved – unless they could teleport? If they were invisible, there was a decent chance they could teleport around the room, but Thea was really, really hoping they wouldn’t. There was another yelp, and a sudden flicker of something – maybe a pant leg? – just off the ground when the ice hit. The knife exploded, cold blanketing a little square of the room. One of the table legs wobbled, wobbled – and then thankfully held; if it had collapsed, the whole center exhibit might well have gone down with it. But – Thea could see him. Her. Whoever the thief was. Thea took a deep breath, hair flaring around her head in a wild, windy halo. She stepped sideways, so that there were no tables, nothing but empty space, between her and the hooded figure. Thea focused her energy on the pant leg – and reached. A lash of lightning leapt from Thea, darting out through the air to strike the mysterious figure – and yanked the figure straight across the ground, all the way to Thea, as well as shocking him – there was another shriek of pain. Thea groped at the air; her hands stopped at something, and she yanked, pulling at what felt like a cloak. The cloak fell away, revealing what looked like a teenage boy, singed hair sizzling slightly from the lightning, with Thea's cyclone glass clutched tightly in his hands, eyes wide and terrified.
((Thea casts lightning lure on the now-slightly-visible figure, pulling him to her, and yanks off the cloak to reveal him))
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