Two weeks after Sibo hired you, you have doubled your savings to an impressive 27 guilders. Perhaps because you do not have time to spend any money even though you keep reminding yourself to bye new cloth. 27 guilders is enough to pay the yearly license of 10 guilders and still have enough to live and fool around a little, but not enough to continue your studies. At a staggering 100 guilders per year studying is for the rich. It is a true wonder that a former street urchin like your self ever managed to become a newstaff. You figure that you need to be better payed or else you'll only be able to study about half the time and that is provided Sibo needs your skills all the time. So the next day during lunch, you ask him "So Sibo how much do sell the gemstones for anyway? The way I figure it you must make a hefty profit on this deal. You would not even notice if you payed me 2 guilders a day..." Sibo stops eating at a moments notice, sizing you up with his eyes "Are you saying you would abandon ship midway? Where would you go? It is not like the College or the families are hiring newstaffs and Casanova really hates people that do not complete their tasks. Can you protect yourself against that kind of fury? Anyway it is not my business, if you want to quit or get a raise you must talk to Casanova. I, for one, will have no part in it." The rest of the meal is word free. Utter silence. Even when you try to lighten the mood with a joke, Sibo do not laughs but only looks at you, still sizing you up. That afternoon seems long as it is strictly business. At the end of the day, as you are about to leave escorted by herr Südenwald, Sibo lays his hand upon your shoulder and says "Marius, I like you. Don't do anything foolish. Casanova is not a man with whom you discuss wages and if you quit he will likely just have someone pass you up on the streets and give you irrefutable reasons to continue, probably for free." You can see genuine concern in his face and the comment "probably for free" gives you chills as they would any true Marienburger. Nobody does anything for free without serious threats. As you exit the Brush and Gull, Herr Südenwald stops you and says "Two times I have lost a customer in ambushes. And both times while the nuns nurtured me back to health, my patron visited a man called Casanova and payed him for his kindness towards me." Herr Südenwald raises a telling eyebrow. "Apart from those two times, I have never seen Tobias Marquandt pushed around, not even by the gangs or by any of the ten houses." As abruptly as the warning started, it is finished. Herr Südenwald turns toward the exit. As an afterthought, more stating a fact than complaining, he mumbles "The sum was deducted from my pay of course." Slightly disturbed, you hail a boatman and head for the College. It comes as no surprise that he is Tilean, but it takes you a few moments to realise this, because the man is slim and speaks Wastelander well. Feeling curious and safe in the dense evening fog, you ask him about the recent controversy between The Boatman’s guild and the Tileans. It is like opening the flood gates. The man has so much to say on the subject that he stops the boat to give you a really unfiltered opinion about the Guild structure in Marienburg: ”The guilds main function is to monopolize trade. It is unimportant if I do a better, safer and cheaper job. Back home I was a captain on my own ship. My ship was so fast that the pirates had to frame me for smuggling in order to my trade and force me to move up here, but what does it matter: Pirates or guildsmen. It is just a name their actions are the same. May The Virgin Mary have pity on all their dark greedy souls!” He stops to breath and then continuous: ”Did you know that the boatman guild is one of the most powerful guilds in Marienburg. Allied with the stevedores, who load and unload all cargo of the docking ships in Marienburg, the boatman guild controls all transportation of cargo and personal via the waterways in the city. That is a big deal in a city with more waterways than streets!” Once again the flood of word stops to breathe while he shakes his head in a gesture of self-aware importence. A sudden shift in his body language towards the more assertive leads up to the next barrage of words: “Come I will show you Little Tilea. You will see that we are not all fat smelly people that lies steal and cheat for a living. We are a proud people, determined to make our way in Marienburg.” He paddles feverishly as he speak, not noticing your stunned look at the turn of events: “Look here it is all around us, is it not beautiful like a little piece of home”. Looking at Little Tilea as you glide effortless through the many small canals, you see that it has almost doubled in size since you were here last.
Everything is different here. The architecture looks exotic, just like the food smells foreign. People are dressed in strangely designed clothing and everybody is speaking Tilean. Once in a while your boatman shouts questions to people on the streets or in passing boats, always like they are long lost friends. The people all speak wastelander and shout back short phrases about their life in Marienburg. They are all homesick, but working in Marienburg is more profitable and so they stay in Marienburg swearing that once they retire they will return to their beloved homeland. Concerning the boatman guild there is considerable anger about the alleged racism of the guild. “They do not give us a fair chance, so what if the boatman does not speak wastelander as long as he can find where the customer is going.” is a quote that pretty well sums up the shouting. Just as suddenly as Little Tilea appeared out of the fog, just as quickly is it gone. You can see nothing but water on all sides. Likewise the boatman is suddenly silent and takes you to the College. As you disembark, he takes your hand and says “Little Tilea needs all the friends it can get.” Nothing else is spoken, but the look in his eyes as he spoke was dead serious. He gives you a small wave of the hand as he drifts back into the fog.
Back at the College you continue your research into traditional wizard clothing, you find several books in the College library about Protective Circles. In the books there are many anecdotes claiming that a silver circle defends the caster against the Curse and you quickly establish that typically a quick circle of silver dust is spread around the caster, but that permanent high quality silver circles also exist. It requires training to create these circles. Some of these permanent silver circles are woven into cloth like robes or hats. However, it is not enough for you with a protective circle around your head. You need to be fully inside a circle as you use both arms and legs in your spell casting. Therefore you need something like a robe. Furthermore, you find that the craftsmanship of the silver circle is essential to how it reacts to the magic. Circles of inferior quality do not work, while silver from for example coins are temporary and work only once. Only truly pure silver circles are permanent. The cost of these circles increase with the casting cost of the spell. Some of the most expensive permanent circles cost several hundred guilders. Realising you do not have the economic means to afford so expensive utilities, you turn in, dead tired as always and knowing tomorrow once again bring the aching pain of magically induced exhaustion.
Ingen kommentarer:
Send en kommentar