Elementary - In Character discussions
Indigo watched Foriso walk out of the church and Imari walk in. He started to pace, his eyes alternating between the church doors and the street beneath his feet. He had no idea what was going on in there, but after everything he had seen and heard already, he knew it couldn’t be good. After what seemed like forever, Imari finally emerged and went to join the others. As the group started up the street, Indigo tugged on Branwyn’s sleeve, making her stop. “Branwyn, where are we going now?”
“Well, I think we’ve done everything we can do for this investigation. The only place left for us to go is back to Professor Watson to report our findings.”
Indigo replied back defiantly, “I don’t want to go. I’m sick of questions and answers and running around to all the same places over and over again. I want to go back to the Inn. But, do you have any coins I can borrow?”
“Coins! What happened to yours? And why the sudden need for money?”
“I spent about half of my pocket change paying to break that bust. And… and there’s a card game in the pub that I want to get in on. I’ll pay you back. You know I will.”
“Oh, Indigo, I’m sorry. I forgot about Sandeford’s many charges. Here, take my gold pieces and half my silver. But I expect to see a tidy return on my investment,” Branwyn smiled and then paused for a moment, noticing the urgency on Indigo’s face. “And you’re just feeling an urge to gamble; there is nothing else wrong?”
“NO! There is nothing wrong. And I don’t understand why nobody believes me.”
“If you say it, I believe you and I am sorry that you are upset. You go win us some money, have a good time and forget all of this. I will see you soon.” With that Branwyn turned away and ran to catch up to the others.
Indigo, meanwhile, turned up a side street and waited a few minutes. Carefully he poked his head around the corner to make sure that none of his friends were in view and he headed back to the church. Holding his copper coins in one hand, he opened the church door with his other and hurried inside. Before Sandeford could say a word, Indigo tossed the coins into the bowl and yelled out, “SANCTUARY!”
“I didn’t! I didn’t say anything to any of them. Not even Branwyn. The others… I don’t know what’s wrong with them, but I didn’t break my promise. So everyone’s safe, right?”
Sandeford looks down on Indigo with a tight smile. The snores of the man on the front bench are the only sound in the church, even the snakes seem to have quieted their movements. Watching Indigo intently as he stands there being brave. A moment passes, then two.
Then a slight exhale of breath.
Sandeford quietly says, "I do believe you Indigo, I knew you were a good man. That is why I could share my secret with you. When you tricked me out of the Pearl of Obscurity I knew you were special. I never knew it was hidden in that bust and I did not know it was even missing. That was a nice bit of deduction to find it here. I will be sure to hunt down whoever had the extremely bad idea to use me as an unwitting pawn broker. Although I would tear your throat out if you ever said so aloud I do have honor and will not break my word to you either. However your friends are another story. They do not seem to listen to you when you say nothing happened or to move onto other matters. Your feathered friend is inquisitive; your backwoods ranger seems to not understand that loyalty goes both ways and that half elven thief must have something to recommend him to you to make up for his abysmal lack of common sense."
“It is as Kristelle says, we are family. As such, we take each other as we are, good and bad. They are protective. Sometimes too protective,” Indigo stopped and thought for a moment. “But you are right. They weren’t listening to me. It was like I didn’t even matter anymore. They were going to do what they wanted to do. So that really wasn’t protecting me at all. They just put me and now all of them in more danger.”
It did not escape Indigo’s notice that although Sandeford barely saw the pearl for a minute as it landed on the floor with the broken pieces of Letizia, that he called it by name and seemed familiar with it. But that would have to wait since there were more important matters Indigo wished to discuss.
“For all their talk, they really don’t know what you are though. If they did, they wouldn’t have acted the way they did. I mean, how could they? But they did think I was afraid of something so that is what is on their minds. Maybe we could tell them something that they would believe. Something that would answer their questions and make them leave you alone. And then this would all be over with. Like we could say you were a really powerful wizard that got kicked out of the mage guild and you aren’t supposed to do magic anymore, but you still do and …. No, that won’t work. If I said that, Branwyn would probably want to train with you. Or you let the snakes attack people who don’t claim sanctuary and you have a pile of dead bodies in the basement,” Indigo shook his head and looked sheepishly at Sandeford. “That probably isn’t a good idea either since we know the City Administrator. I don’t know but there has to be something we can tell them,” he said pleadingly.
Sandeford shakes his head. "Indigo, you have proven that I was right in my moment of weakness to trust you. You know that the best way for me to deal with this is to eliminate the people who could cause me problems and you want to find a way to stop me from hurting your friends." He walks over to the door and is there with the bowl just before it opens up. Two old women come in, "Sanctuary you old bastard" they mutter and drop their coins in the bowl. Indigo slides over to the side as the two women pass. They poke through the veggetables and pick out two handfuls each. One squints at Indigo, then shakes her head and gestures to Sandeford, "How much for this lot?" He grins, "why for you lovely young ladies only a silver piece." She snorts but tosses a handful of coppers over towards Sandeford. The two old women then walk out of the church with the food in their hands.
Sandeford looks back at Indigo, "Where was I? Oh yes, killing your friends." Indigo hangs his head for a moment then stares back up at Sandeford. "You can not hurt my friends, they did nothing wrong." Sandeford looks at Indigo, "I can do quite a bit that you might not like, but I will not hurt your friends if I do not need to. You obviously do want to help them avoid their deserved fate."
"I will give you an opportunity to change their minds." He grins, "quite literally."
Indigo shifts his feet a bit, "What do you mean change them?"
"I propose a simple spell. You can tell them it is a ceremony or what ever you wish. You will of course pay for it but I will provide all the necessities." Sandeford paces around the church, "You will have your friends attend services at a nearby church. I will have the Priest there cast a spell on them. Modify Memory will be able to extract the events of today out of their minds. They will remember finding the bust here, and that you broke it and retrieved the pearl. Other than that they will not remember anything about me or this church."
Indigo looks up hopefully, "That sounds too good to be true."
Sandeford chuckles, "Oh no it works quite well and I have used it before for good effect. It is a bit costly, you will have to provide 400 gp per person in your group for me to secure the Priest to cast it."
Sandeford walks to the front of the church, looking back at Indigo, "So what do you think of my solution?"
“How am I supposed to get that much gold? Even if I said I wanted training, I couldn’t get even close to that much. And why would we need it for everybody? Scarlet, Miranda and Branwyn weren’t any part of accusing you. But even if it was only for the other three, there’s no way,” shaking his head, “there’s just no way I could get the money. Can’t we just tell them something to make them go away?”
Sandeford laughs for a moment. "Indigo my good man you are rich and I know it. The Pearl of Obscurity will bring you at least 10,000 GP on the black market and if you are able to find that sort of treasure you must have other prizes hidden away."
He looks at Indigo with a straight face. "You know your friends better than I do. Do you really think that giving them some excuse of a story will keep them from attempting to unearth my secret?"
“Rich? I’m not rich. Any treasure that we find or receive is shared between us. Anything I took would be noticed. And the Pearl has to be turned over to that Administrator Watson. That’s not ours. And how do you know about that Pearl anyway if you didn’t know it was in the bust? Do you know who it belongs to?”
"Indigo my good man I did mention that I have connections with the Council of Churches? I can tell you that the little gem you found tends to bounce around a bit in shadier circles. The Pearl of Obscurity prevents anyone from doing any sort of Divination magic on the person who carries it. Which of course the Council does not like. It is a nice tool for a burglar to have on hand... " and Sandeford trails off.
Indigo took in what he just heard and knew it was something very important but he could not quite put the pieces together. He wished he was smarter and decided he needed to tell the others about it. They would know what to make of it all.
Sandeford looks at Indigo quietly for a moment.
"How do you do that Indigo? You just got a good bit of hard won knowledge out of me in the middle of negotiating for your friend's lives. What it is about you that people trust? Maybe I should have been born a halfling? Or do you have your own secret magic item that lures people into spilling their information to you?"
Indigo’s face got a little red and he scratched his head. “I don’t have any magic items and I have no idea why people tell me things. Maybe it is because I am a Halfling. People do not think it is the same as telling a man. Despite my years and face, you would be surprised how many treat me as a child. You saw how Imari dragged me out of here earlier. If it was anyone else, I would have slashed them to pieces with my sword. But most don’t know how to deal with people different from themselves and so I try to be patient. Otherwise I would get into many fights. I really don’t know,” he said shrugging. “I ask and most of the time people answer. There is much I do not know. So I must ask if I want to learn.”
He looked around the room wishing there was a window in this church so he could see how much time had passed. He racked his brain trying to think of how he could get the money for the spells so everyone could be safe, but not get into more trouble himself for stealing the group’s treasures.
Turning back to Sandeford he asked, “We could play for it. You said you liked cards. Or if you don’t like that idea, there must be something you want besides money. We’re going to be in town for at least another seven weeks while the others get trained. I could … I could work for you to pay it off.”
"That is an interesting idea. There are a couple of things that are a bit harder for me to do, having to wait for the right conditions and all."
Looks kindly at Indigo. "Tell you what, you get your friends into the Church of Inspiration tonight and what ever costs you can't pay for we can work out in trade for you doing an errand or three for me."
And for the first time that day, Indigo’s face lit up and a bright smile spread across his face. “Really? You would do that? Thank you! And I’ll do whatever errands you need. I’ll come every day if you want me to. You can count on me and I’ll make sure that everyone comes tonight. Oh! I better get back to the Inn and make the arrangements.”
Indigo leapt towards the door, but when his hand got to the handle, he stopped. Turning slowly he faced Sandeford again. “Why are you doing this for me? I mean, if you’re a vampire and all, you are this evil creature that doesn’t care about anything. Vampires covered Drillian in all that mist. There are paladins running around who have dedicated their entire lives to killing people like you because vampires are bad. How come you don’t live with all the other vampires? And how can you be so nice and at the same time be a monst…. a vampire?”
Sandeford smiled, "It is part of how I cho... " stops and wags a finger at Indigo, "you almost had me again! Get out of here and back to your friends before I pour out all of my secrets." jiggles the offering bowl, "besides your time is almost up. I will see you at the Church tonight when the watch give the third all clear. " {9 pm}
He watches as Indigo closes the door to the church and shakes his head with a rueful grin.
Very good back and forth, now if others want to join in we can add those voices too.
