The shopkeeper politely listens and offers her departing companion a seated bow.NeonAvenger wrote:"No, no, fair enough".
Flips through the pages in her book muttering to herself, then sighs.
"Hmm... without the coin the blade would have brought in I lack the resources. Sorry to have wasted your time" she replaces the book in her pack "If I have a windfall I'll be back, but for the moment I'll have to pass".
"Oh well, you have fun now".
She clambers to her feet and walks to the hole in the wall she entered. After peering into the darkness a moment she mutters a few arcane phrases and vanishes from sight.
A while later the cloaked woman recounts the conversation as she looks around her now empty gallery. "Waste of time...?" She asks herself aloud. As she picks up her quill once more to continue writing, "I have so much to waste though."
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The woman considers his offer for several moments. "I can't make use of the items, unfortunately. Strange that you would offer a service though." She looks over the small man appraisingly.nightingale wrote:The gnome looks surprised to hear that the lady already has a similar cloak.
"You seem to have everything, perhaps I can offer something else besides items. A service perhaps?"
The monk pulls out more items for her to inspect, speaking as he does so.
"The sword matches the fiend better than it matches my skill, a silver kama could work too, but I don't have one."
He pulls a dagger from his belt for her to see. On closer inspection one can see it is non-magical silver.
"This dagger is all I have of silver and it has killed many fiends."
He offers some small items for inspection. ((PM Sent))
"I'm low on coin, but I can offer some liquid items that can be sold for a decent sum."
"It's been ages since one such as yourself has offered to assist me. I wonder if it's innate or just a coincidence. Surely no one guides that fate other than yourself. I see no chains, afterall." As she continues she gets quieter, as though speaking to herself aloud.
Eventually the shopkeeper shakes her head to dismiss the thoughts. "I'll have to decline that as well, however." She flips paged of her tome idly. "If silver blades come offered to me, I can try to complete a trade for them. In such an event, is there somewhere I can send word to you?"
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The shopkeeper tilts her head speculatively. "So is the search one for a blade in service of the gods or for that adorned with noble deeds?" Spoken as though to herself.kleomenes wrote:The masked figure regards the cloaked woman as she relates the nature of the blade she seeks. He seems to ponder, although a short chuckle emanates from him when he hears the annoyed tone.
"One might think of such a blade in two ways. One might think of a sword blessed by the gods, and cutting with holy might; such a blade is a relic, and is unlikely to be found by mere trade. Nor, truly, should it be." Ameris says this last pointedly.
He continues, his tone clearly curious as to what the masked woman might respond to the coming words. "There is another way to consider the nature of the blade you seek, and that is a blade once wielded by a paladin, one that has accumulated deeds of righteousness in such hands. Blessed not by the gods, but by service with and to a paladin. Its holiness only in the tales attached to it, holy tales of holy deeds."
He nods. "I do know of such a blade. It was forged as a gift, from a paladin of justice and light to a priest who had lost everything: his dearest comrade, his hope, his sense of purpose, and even the holy sword he had been entrusted with. The blade's first act was to remind him to Endure. When the priest found that sword he had once held in trust, but had lost, the gift he had received as passed on. It went to yet another paladin, a humble one whose service was quiet, who in peace wielded a mop and fought wars of cleanliness."
He begins to tell the tale. There is a trace of fervour in his tone, his eyes bright. "That paladin wielded it in service to the Broken God in many duties, and it was her weapon in war against the very forces of loss, death, bitterness, disease and decay themselves; a war for life, against death. She fought the rotten, risen dead in the woods to the east of here where you and I once hid the shadow burden you carried. She fought in the mountains north of here against boneless legions. She trained a disparate hopeful band to fight alongside her, and look to her command. She fought against destruction itself before the gates of Candlekeep. She fought on the very walls of Baldur's Gate itself against a putrid sea of vileness, and held against impossible odds. She was Unyielding. She gave nearly everything to keep the people of that city safe, and as many of those under her command as she could. All with this blade in her hand. It freed many souls from the chains of undeath, in her hand."
There is a smile in his eyes, some pride perhaps. "After war was done, she returned to more humble duties. But she was rewarded for her actions as saviour, and a powerful weapon was bequeathed to her by the Dukes of the city she defended. And so the gift she had taken from the priest, she returned, for she was a woman sworn away from possessions beyond necessity."
He pauses, then nods. "If you seek a blade that has such a history of holiness, then yes, I can help you."
"Can't say which suits me better." She looks to her guest with a familiar irritatedness he would probably recognize. "People are fickle and boorish. My aims might not suit that blade and I'll not deceive you anything of the notion."
She taps a finger against the long cloaked bit covering her legs. "I am intrigued though. A once-cherished sword of mine for one of yours. That would mean I'd owe you again..." She looks over him to her collection of goods wondering if anything would be suitable.