Book 1, Part 3: Threat of the Red Jills

[ripleycat]

The imp stings and bites at the deadman's hand like a rabid beast. The scrabbling and scratching does no permanent harm to the corpse's leathery frame, but it does loosen his grip just enough to let her flutter free - only to be immediately drenched in Temperence's sticky concoction.  Wings glued together, she plummets out of the air, crash landing on one of the beds with all the grace and cunning of a brick. "Phehhh!  What is this!?"

Vendalfek is close behind Kjersti, one of his favorite perches, and adds triumphant insult to injury by immediately dousing the imp in a torrent of glitterdust, ensuring that, as Maria commanded, she won't be able to vanish again. "At last! Caught!  We caught her!"  Vendalfek crows, doing loop-de-loops of victory above the imp's head, to her intense annoyance. "One of Hell's hunting hounds! Send her back!"

The impression the Ravens get is not of a hunting hound, but a cornered feral cat. The imp snarls and twitches, lashes out with her barbed tail, even hisses at the zombie, before seeming to come back to herself and recognize the situation she's in. Badly outnumbered, with the exits blocked and no way to become invisible while covered in sparkles and sap, the little menace pragmatically decides that negotiation is in fact a fine and reasonable tactic.

Watching her, there's another feeling underneath the feral hostility, one that Star has seen (and felt) before. A sort of overwhelmed, desperate delight. A sensory overload. Like a haggard, starving urchin who's gotten into a candy store and eaten themselves absolutely sick, overwhelmed by the abundance. Too much. Acting out because she doesn't know how to handle this much of what she's been pining for.

As first impressions go, she's certainly not a seductive, corrupting agent of evil, or a strict, imperious agent of order. The little thing seems more like an unwell beggar, muttering and mumbling, arguing, seemingly with herself, even mid-conversation.

Realizing she better start talking before someone decides to get on with the squishing, she shakes her head at the deadman's rough question, the picture of poisoned innocence. "Not me. I'm much too small to carry around such a great heavy hammer. It was the sailor fellow, Morgar. I just suggested it."

"But I won't harm you now, I promise." "An imp's promise! What good is that?" "I can't. Hand on my heart." The tiny devil has a very Kintargan sense of dramatics, pacing about on the bed like she's performing a monologue on the stage. "You have my contract now, after all. I am bound to its holders by oath and iron, as if it were their very blood on the parchment. I can't even leave its presence. Or else I wouldn't be here. It's all written and certified, as fine as any Phistophilus could draw up." A devil's contract? None of you have seen or heard anything of the sort, or heard any of your allies mention any such thing. Diabolism is rife in Cheliax, of course. Agreements and deals with the powers of Hell are so ubiquitous as go unremarked, assumed, especially among the Southern cities and their nobility. Even in Kintargo, "free" imps summoned by the careless and foolish are common pests, like raccoons that can traffic in souls and curses. Though this one seems a bit more than just some apprentice's failure.

"Please, don't kill me?  Don't send me back to Hell." The imp adds hastily. "There's no place in the mortal plane that's worse than any part of Hell."

"I know I may have come on a little strong... But it's been so long. So long. I couldn't help myself! An itch I couldn't scratch for one of your lifetimes! But there's nothing like a good second impression, and you laughed more than you let on. I saw!"

The imp is receptive, even eager, towards Kjersti's demand for an explanation. Nothing if not proud and vain - she is a devil, after all - but also fervently honest, like she'll pop if the words don't come out on their own. "Do you mean my story? I have practiced... I've never told it." "You've told it thousands of times. Nobody's ever listened. Nobody likes you!"

"Do you know how long it's been since I've talked to someone who wasn't... me?  Eighty four years, seven months, two weeks, and three days!  I counted every last one! Trapped in that wretched rotting cellar with nothing but rats and vermin and myself to talk to. You freed me! Even if I'm in a different rotting cellar now. The company is much better."

"A-hem. I am Blosodriette. I know. I don't like it either. It's like a mouthful of marbles. Mortals get to choose their names, if they want." "Lucky."

"Merindius Sarini signed a contract, and brought me to the mortal plane, to spy and watch, to torment his enemies. I did as I was ordered. It was good." The imp giggles at the slightly taboo use of 'good'. "But he had lots of enemies, and some of them were very quick. You Silver Ravens got him. Stabbed him in the neck, stole all his documents and his jacket and the gold buckles on his boots, threw his corpse in the river, and ran away."

"They took my contract with them. Didn't realize what it was. I was forced to follow, to stay close by, down into their lair. There are powerful spells woven around it. I can't even touch the contract. The Silver Ravens were my masters now. If they found the contract, and destroyed it, I would be free. I haunted and hunted them, teased them, had great fun. Made terrible messes, whispered terrible things. Everything I could do without breaking the agreement. Perfectly awful. Clearly the work of a terrible little imp." She is so proud of that turn of phrase.

"But your foolish namesakes didn't destroy the contract. They didn't even find it. Sarini's magic was too good." "You should have shown yourself!" "It was war! War with our advocates, with Thrice-Damned Thrune! They would have killed me!" "They thought my terrors were a ghost's doing, a haunting, something they didn't know how to undo. So they just left. Marched out of the safehouse and went somewhere else. And they left the box with my contract in it. Behind." Blosodriette stamps her feet like a tantruming toddler.

"I tried everything. I communed with great powers of Hell. I tried to open a gate. I failed at them all. I could have others move the contract, but nobody knew of the place but the Silver Ravens, and you are here, playing their songs again. They lost. The secret was lost. No mortals came. The wretched fey invaders, the gremlins, would sooner have eaten me than helped me. All there was to do was wait. And wait, and wait and wait and wait. Decades and decades alone in an empty room, do you understand!? Nobody at all!" The little thing is positively frantic now. She rushes up and grasps at Kyla, the closest figure, but not to fight. Just to touch someone. Imps can cry, apparently. If the tears are genuine remains to be decided, but boy are they absolutely pouring down her pointed little face.

"Finally someone came. You came. I could leave, I could follow. I could do things again. I could I could listen to voices and music and stories. I could play jokes and pranks and watch people fall for them. I could play music and have people hear it." Blosodriette is desperate for someone to connect more dots, to show that she's grateful, but she has the social skills of an imp that's been locked in a basement for 80 years. "I don't understand it all. I don't know what this is. Please, let me stay."

OOC

If this is not an immensely elaborate ruse from a horrible little corrupter, there are some very strange things going on here. Religion might shed light, but also Lore, Society, and the magic skills. Anything, really, if you think you can justify it. 😄

 

[Toraka_Stormheart]

Temperance - Character Sheet

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AC: 19 Fort: +6 Ref: +10 Will: +4

HP: 24/24 Rebel Points: 4/3 | Perception: +6

Ammunition: 20/20 (40 Reserve) | Alchemy PreparedAlchemical Cartridges: 20 | ConditionsNone

---

A brow raised, the blonde tiefling listened as Blosodriette spoke her piece, letting her blabber on and seemingly talk to herself all the while. Picking up on a few things, Temperance started to walk forward, rolling one wrist to loosen it up while the other gently but firmly touched at Deadman's arm. "Focus"  Was all she said, glancing between him and their quarry twice before approaching. Getting within a couple feet of the lesser devil, she knelt down onto one knee, her arm resting on the other as she spoke to her.

"You certainly got your jollies. But now it's our turn. We seem to find ourselves in an impasse of sorts. You've caused us trouble, so we desire either your disappearance or your amicability. You say you can't leave and even desire to remain, but promise nothing concrete to ensure said amicability.

"So I suggest locating your contract. Prove your desire to amend. Otherwise we will have little options than the alternative you so desperately wish to avoid"  Standing, she turned, walking and stopping beside Deadman, looking over her shoulder. "Refuse to cooperate, and I can guarantee what time you remain on the Material will be far from comfortable..."

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Edited November 28, 2023 by Toraka_Stormheart (see edit history)

[Mister Doctor]

Dead Guy - Character Sheet

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KAC: 19/18 Fort: +10 Ref: +5 Will: +6
HP: 31/40 THP: 0/6 Hero: 1/3 | Perception: +6

---

"Hhh-hhurrt birdy... hh-huurt Treeeep. B-roke aaarrrrmmm." the corpse rasped. It was currently mollified by Temperance's steadier presence but it was very clear what the corpse considered appropriate treatment for something that had the temerity to even suggest a course of action that had led one of its people getting hurt. As impassive as it was and difficult to interact with, the corpse was rapidly becoming reliant on the living souls that had gathered. It needed them to do the harder thinking for it and would not tolerate them being hurt.

"Nnn-brrreak-k-k hh-imp," it stated, but remained controlled for the moment. It was less a statement of immediate intent and more of an expression of what the hulking dead thing wished to do. The corpse was managing a few more abstract thoughts these days and stating something without immediately acting on it was one of them.

Edited November 28, 2023 by Mister Doctor (see edit history)

[ccanary]

Maria Callus

Maria Callus — Human Monk (medic)

Octavian Alchemy

Isabella blinked a few times and shook her head. "Of course we have healing elixirs. But you don't want a healing elixir. You want something considerably more ... potent. That you obviously cannot afford, even if we had o.."

A tiefling woman who bore a distinct family resemblance to Isabella came quickly out of the back of the shop and cut her sister off.

"What... my sister means to say is that we have nothing with that sort of power. You'd be best off at the temple of Asmodeus but even they, there might simply not be a potion with that sort of power in Kintargo at all."

"Eliza! It's obvious she can't afford it, and equally obvious we have no such thing. It'd be worth more than our entire shop! And unless this woman chooses to dress very plainly, and has a pouch full of diamonds she simply wouldn't be able to carry enough silver to pay for such a potion!" Isabella, missing the point, continued to speak in a loud voice, not heeding that Temperance was still in the shop. Eliza, her tiefling sister simply looked put upon, smiled as warmly as she could at her customer and cut her sister off.

"You are welcome to browse. We do have a good stock of standard healing potions at better prices than you will find anywhere else. And perhaps a little discount for ... our shared legacy. It's not easy in Kintargo for us these days. Not that it ever has been."

A tiefling woman who bore a distinct family resemblance to Isabella came quickly out of the back of the shop and cut her sister off.

"What... You will have to excuse my sister, she is very bright but not always the best communicator. I believe what the woman is asking for is this." She held up the Elixir of Life she brought out from the back.

"Expensive but most certainly worth it. And not like what you were thinking of Isabella."

Isabella, missing the point, continued to speak in a loud voice, not heeding that Temperance was still in the shop. "Eliza, don't be ridiculous, she clearly asked for a formula, one to bestow life," she quoted Temperance precisely.

Eliza, her tiefling sister simply looked put upon, smiled as warmly as she could at her customer and cut her sister off.

"And this, as is clearly labelled dear sister, an elixir of life. Mother and I have told you before language is imprecise no matter how much that offends you. Sometimes you have to use common sense." She stepped to Temperance and held out the elixir."

"This one is three gold. If you need something more powerful we can brew it up special order but it'll be much more. Will this do? Or should I get Isabella to work on something more potent? Despite a lack of people skills, she is quite an alchemist."

Imp Finding

Maria was much less eloquent than Temperance on hearing about the sabotage, the earlier incarnation of the Ravens and Morgar's unfortunate mind control. Less eloquent than Temperance, possibly not much better than Dead Man.

"Do imps need to breathe air?" she asked, not really expecting an answer, more a rhetorical question as she looked around the room and grabbed a large sack, dumping the potatoes out.

"No need to get your hands dirty. Put her in here and take her to the river and deal with her like a squirrel or raccoon or any other vermin." She was quite experienced and quite adept at dealing with pests. The fact that this one talked didn't seem to bother her one bit.

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Edited November 30, 2023 by ccanary (see edit history)

[theredshirtwholive]

 Kyla

AC: 19 | Fort: +7 | Ref: +7 | Will: +8
HP: 28/28 | Rebel Points: 3/3 | Perception: +10 | Stealth +7
ConditionsNone

---

Kyla gasped. "What-no! She can't stay here, but we're not drowning her in the river! That'd be cruel."

OOC

 

 

[Toraka_Stormheart]

Temperance - Character Sheet

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AC: 19 Fort: +6 Ref: +10 Will: +4

HP: 24/24 Rebel Points: 4/3 | Perception: +6

Ammunition: 20/20 (40 Reserve) | Alchemy PreparedAlchemical Cartridges: 20 | ConditionsNone

---

At Octavian Alchemy

A brow quirked at the tiefling sister that appeared, but at the very least, it seemed this one was more knowledgeable and receptive. Clearing her throat, the well-dressed Temperance straightened her coat about her frame.

"Shalakesh Craash'tet baphares"*Finally, someone with sense (Infernal) She uttered curtly before turning her full attention to the tiefling woman, politely shaking her head.

"Yes, that is what I am after but you misunderstand me. I don't wish to just procure one. I wish to know the method to make one, and I am willing to pay to learn. As well as establish you as my go to supply chain for materials and supplies. Perhaps we have a deal?"

OOC

For transparency, the OOC agreed transaction in this regard is for the formula for a minor Elixir of Life (1 GP), as well as the materials to produce 2 such Elixirs (3 GP)

---

At the Wasps' Nest

A sharp exhale of a snort came out of Temperance's nostrils at Kyla's explanation, crossing her arms as she turned profile to her. "Don't be naive."  She said curtly, fixing her glasses as she let their fiendish captive ponder her situation. "If she finds her contract, she won't need to fear. Simple as that."

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[Fletcher]

Kjersti Volden

AC: 19 | Fort: +8 | Ref: +4 | Will: +7
HP: 24/24 | Focus: 0/1 | Hero: 0/3 | Perception: +5
ConditionsNone

---

Having dodged the worst of the little imp's antics, Kjersti brings up the rear of the group and peers overtop as Blosodriette pleads her case. And it is a strange one. Her arms cross over her chest in a sort of natural closure to any emotional manipulation she is trying to employ, now that she has been caught and called out. The farmgirl didn't know a lot about devils and pacts and all that, but she could speak the language of being mean and then crying when the 'fun' was cancelled.

At least thus far, her companions had stayed their hands and decided to engage rather than just smash her with justified frustration. Though admittedly, hearing Maria offer the more callous option of drowning her in a bag was unexpected. She knew a little about where her caretaker-turned-friend had come from, but perhaps not the extent to this sort of disdain. Her lingering gaze on Maria quietly asks, 'You okay?' Standing near Deadman, she turns to give him a look and says, "Don't worry, big guy. There'll be plenty of devils to smash - and they're the mean kind. You can avenge Treep on them, too." Whether he gets the depth of that concept - delayed gratification for revenging a wrong - is uncertain. But he, too, had shown retraint.

"Sounds like Temperance's got the short of it," Kjersti weighs in with her thoughts. The tiefling's practical demeanor seemed perfectly suited to this negotiation. "Fun's over. Some of us laughed, some of us didn't. Water's done gone under the bridge. Now it's time to put up or shut up." Her arms uncross and she extends her hands, palm up as options. "So which is it gonna be?"

 

[ripleycat]

"No no no no no! Please!" "Told you! You're just vermin to them!" Blosodriette's cringing, terrified reaction to Maria's words helps answer the question of whether or not imps can drown. She backs away in fear, a useless instinct when surrounded by so many vastly larger foes, eyes flickering from face to face, looking for any hint of sympathy.

She clings to Temperance's offer like a liferaft, pointing with a slightly shaky claw towards the storeroom and Rexus's workspace. "My contract? It's in there! It must be. There's a big chest of writings you took from the safehouse. Let me search? Could someone be a... pair of useful hands?" She pleads with puppy-dog eyes and a comically nervous smile, certainly not above outright begging for her life.

"I can sense it, but I can't touch it, as I told you. There's other magic, too. It's disguised as just another letter. A spell. Your eyes float right over it, like a book you're not really paying attention to. I've watched a dozen people assume it was nothing important. There's even a password to reveal its true nature. 'Yolubilis', like the river." "Where they're going to drown you!"

OOC

Blosodriette is describing Secret Page, a rather niche spell that Kyla and Kjersti have seen put to more positive use, disguising subversive or forbidden texts as harmless letters or broadsheets.

 

[Mister Doctor]

Dead Guy - Character Sheet

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KAC: 19/18 Fort: +10 Ref: +5 Will: +6
HP: 31/40 THP: 0/6 Hero: 1/3 | Perception: +6

---

The corpse glared at the imp for a moment longer, opening its jaws wide and then snapping them closed with an audible clack of his teeth. It would be very, very easy for the dead thing to bite the little imp clean in half if it so decided. Her head and torso looked to be about a mouthful.

The message was painfully clear. It was going to take far more than just words for the dead thing to change the imp's designation from 'enemy' to 'friend'. Even so, it plodded towards Rexus's workspace where it paused, thoughts moving a bit slowly.

"Hrrnm-forgot...deeessk," it grumbled to itself. With, perhaps, a bit less care than Rexus might have appreciated for his writing implements, the corpse took one of his quills and dipped it in an ink pot with something less than gentleness. Laboriously, it scrawled 'REKSUS DESK' on its forearm where the skin was mostly intact, an effort that clearly took a fair bit of its limited brainpower to complete. With the reminder to go bring back the old heirloom ironwood desk from Rexus's family home finished, the corpse began to methodically pull out one document at a time for examination by the others. If there was one thing the unnaturally animated thing was good at, it was being methodical. It even made a point to keep a finger where it had found the document it was currently holding so its less than reliable brain would not forget.

[Toraka_Stormheart]

Temperance - Character Sheet

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AC: 19 Fort: +6 Ref: +10 Will: +4

HP: 24/24 Rebel Points: 4/3 | Perception: +6

Ammunition: 20/20 (40 Reserve) | Alchemy PreparedAlchemical Cartridges: 20 | ConditionsNone

---

At the Wasps' Nest

Taking a slow breath, Temperance mulled over the realizations, her mood still soured from the idea of busywork as described. But, contract in hand would be the simplest solution to a path forward for this little...and emphasis on little...dilemma. Stepping forward, the tiefling went to join Deadman in the search.

As she did so, she would stop next to Maria. A brow quirked as she looked up at the woman, looking her up and down, choosing to speak quietly in her proximity. "This isn't the first time you've shown disdain for fiends. Or fiend adjacent."  Not waiting for a response, the blonde simply got to work, in the interest of ending the affair expediently.

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[ccanary]

Maria Callus

Maria Callus — Human Monk (medic)

Octavian Alchemy

Isabella smiled at Temperance and replied, her own Infernal carrying a much thicker Chelaxian accent "Don't blame me for you not being clear," she rolled her eyes and disappeared into the back.

Eliza, her tiefling sister simply shaking her head as she watched her go.

"I apologize for my sister. She's... well we don't have enough time to go into all the things she is. She is not good with people. Any people. Don't take it personally. And yes, we can certainly help you with the formula, and ingredients. It should be no challenge at all for one with a basic training in alchemy to learn. I can teach you, certainly."

Imp Finding

Maria shook her head at Temperance, a slow 'no'.

"Not fiends. But now isn't the time to discuss it. We can talk over coffee later, of you wish." she replied, not taking her eye off of the imp, wondering what the Dead man and Rexus would find.

 

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[ripleycat]

"When there's some way to avoid violence and still reach a positive outcome, we must try our utmost!" Rexus is not thrilled with the presence of the imp, but even less so with the threats of squishing and drowning. "I will not have her life in our hands and pick death when there are other choices." He sighs. "Half our neighbors used these creatures as spies. One crawled right out of our chimney when I was a child. Vanished, of course, before I could get any of the servants or my parents to see it. I didn't sleep for a week." Blosodriette cackles on behalf of the fiends of the past.

Rexus leads the mismatched procession to his desk, watching, very discomfited, as the zombie scrawls a reminder on his own skin. "Y-you may keep the quill."

"The cache from the Silver Ravens is here." He opens the metal chest, sets it on the desk, and lets the deadman get on with his methodical sorting. "Most of these are notes from the same author. I haven't seen anything like a contract, but if what you're saying is true, I wouldn't have, would I? My eyes would slide like over it like it were a common letter or bill. I know the spell she speaks of. Let's try this... 'Yolubilis'?"

Thanks to Rexus and Temperance's presence, Blosodriette doesn't have to go through every single page one by one, but it's still a laborious and tedious process to sort through and pick out the documents that might not belong. Eventually, the dead man presents a long, slightly tattered piece of parchment, folded up like it might have been in a pocket. "That's it! Tha- Aaaahhhahgh!" A ribbon dangling from a wax seal at the bottom brushes the imp's tail, and she yelps like a dying cat, a smoking black mark left on her flesh as she scrabbles away, sheltering in one of the desk cubbies and obviously feeling very sorry for herself. "Nnn... It hurts... There. It's all written out, see? I am at your service. Loyal and harmless. Useful, yes? Forever, if it comes to that. You wouldn't be the first to ask for immortality."

Whosoever holds this contract of perpetual indenture... Those who can read Infernal find the tiny, precise script of the devilish contract to be line after line of the most impenetrable legalese they've ever encountered. What, exactly, strings come tied to Blosodriette and her masters aren't at all clear at a glance. Next to the seal is a scrawled rust-red signature - Merindius Sarini quite literally signed in blood, but the phrasing is.

"No need for murder. I could stay? I could rest? It's been very tiring keeping out of sight."

"When you settle your pest control, there's a l'il messenger getting warmed up upstairs. Says he's from the Cloven Hoof. Thinkin' it's pest control of another kind. We might be able to make something of it, though." Laria gives the imp an unkind but grudging look. "I've worked with worse. Someone claimin' she wants to do better ought to get the chance to prove it. If they hang you out to dry, just return the favor."

OOC

Infernal contracts are dense and deceptive enough that getting information out of one requires a skill roll, using Decipher Writing (Occultism, Society). Anyone who has Legal Lore or a similar skill can attempt to tackle it head-on (It's a secret check, but Legal Lore's DC is markedly easier than using Decipher Writing).

 

[Mister Doctor]

Dead Guy - Character Sheet

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KAC: 19/18 Fort: +10 Ref: +5 Will: +6
HP: 31/40 THP: 0/6 Hero: 1/3 | Perception: +6

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Considering the contract in its hand for a long moment, the corpse seemed to come to a decision. Passing the contract to Temperance, who had been one of the more even-handed with the fate of the imp, the corpse turned its attention to the cubby that Blosodriette was sheltering in. Reaching a hand in, it flicked her in the arm hard.

Lowering its face to the mouth of the cubby so that its grim and ruined visage became all she could see out of the opening ."Errh-Treep hurt again...Ghhh-I bite," it warned, then it turned and plodded out of the room to see about the matter Laria had brought to them. Letting it deal with the messenger alone was likely not the best course of action.

"Nrrr-Pastries?" It asked as it passed Laria.

[ccanary]

Maria Callus

Maria Callus — Human Monk (medic)

Imp Finding

Maria was quite certain that this was a very very bad idea.

"I have no head for contracts. But enough to know there are always loopholes, always. Ways she can hurt us. I say dispose of her before she can hurt us further. Rexus obviously feels otherwise and I can respect that. Despite the communication barrier, I feel the Dead man sides with me. what about the rest of you? Bind her? Or send her back where she came from?" Technically she was already bound, she supposed. But that nuance didn't really seem to matter.

 

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[Toraka_Stormheart]

Temperance - Character Sheet

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AC: 19 Fort: +6 Ref: +10 Will: +4

HP: 24/24 Rebel Points: 4/3 | Perception: +6

Ammunition: 20/20 (40 Reserve) | Alchemy PreparedAlchemical Cartridges: 20 | ConditionsNone

---

At Octavian Alchemy

"Evidently lacking in discretion too. Very well. I know the basic concepts to hopefully it won't be too difficult to grasp. I appreciate it."

Pulling out a notebook and pen, Temperance listens intently as she learns the formula for Elixir of Life. That and some raw materials in tow, the tiefling leaves the quirky Alchemist's shop, blending into the crowd as she made her way onward.

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At the Wasps' Nest

Taking the contract in hand, Temperance pursed her lips slightly, looking over the now-revealed document. Sighing, she adjusted her glasses, glancing towards Kjersti and gesturing upstairs.

"This will take some time. Find me if you need of something"  Papers in tow, the blonde excused herself, taking the time to pour over the mentally taxing text.

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