Random 51

"Yes. I wouldn't be surprised if... oh, he does have visitors sometimes. It's those same visitors who usually say he's invented something and not told anyone," Montmore chuckled. "Doesn't think beyond himself very much, that man."

Sylvie took a sip of her drink while trying to come up with something else to ask. She could not think about anything regarding Langoll, but was worried that if she stopped asking, Montmore might start. Going back a bit she found something that might be a distraction.

"I do wonder how you build amodel of something when you don't know how it works already."

Elsewhere, a very crucial question was asked.

"Are you a fairy?" asked a tiny red-headed boy, maybe aged five, blue eyes full of wonder and amazement at this grey-clad person sitting at a table.

Though he hadn't been expecting this, said grey-clad and grey-haired person directed his look to the boy with most definitely amused green eyes. The question appeared to have tickled him, and so he smiled toothily. "Something like that, boy."

The boy's next question was: "Are you the kind that gives copper for teeth?"

Kai shifted a little, chuckling. "Why, no. But I think I see..." he leaned a bit closer, as if examining something.

"Ye-es? What is it?"

"Here, this from your ear," Kai said, repeating a trick he hadn't used for so many years. He pulled a copper coin out of seemingly nowhere.

The audience giggled. "I know this trick!"

The conjuror grinned. "Oh, you're a smart one. I taught that to my daughter, too. Anyway, pleased to meet you, but I've got business to take care of. Don't you?"

"Uhm, maybe. I'll go! Bye bye, Mister Fairy!"

"Bye, boy." He idly wondered if he should have pointed out there were many different ways to understand the word fairy. In any case, he began to decimate his third stiff drink and wondered if there wasn't something odd about the way the man opposite to him in another table was looking at him.

It may have been not that important; a young man entering the tavern drew his eyes to the door for a moment, after which he seemed to concentrate his attention on his drink.

The (unsurprisingly, dripping) newcomer scanned the present guests and, not finding the one he was looking for, approached the landlady.

While he reached into an inside pocket, he said so quietly he was certain no-one else could understand it, "Hello. Would you please take a message from Langoll? I believe..." He trailed off as she shook her head.

She answered, "He won't get it; someone found him face-down in a puddle this morning. Sorry." She kept her voice down, too, figuring stories like that might upset the few customers that were left.

The messenger was dumbstruck for a few moments, then asked, "Are you sure?"

As landlady nodded solemnly, he stuttered some thanks and good-byes, and turned to leave.

At that point, Sebastian was already headed for the door, quietly pretending that he was just a chap who had concluded his business in the Grapes.

That he bumped into the man just outside the door wasn't at all an accident; he apologised politely, of course, and then they went their separate ways.

Sebastian-Kai was richer one letter, and it was with his ill-gotten gains that he returned to the shrine, where he opted to sneakily check through the window if the guest had already left.

He wandered in once he was sure of that, still ruminating on what he had heard.

Sylvie looked up. She had just started stacking plates to remove them from the table, not very enthusiastically, considering Auker's state of, well, inebribiation.

"Hello. How did it go?"

"I learned a few things," Sebastian said cautiously as he removed his outdoors apparel and hung them to dry. The letter he had stolen off the messenger he placed on the table, immediately moving to help Sylvie with the plates. He looked far too thoughtful, and finally decided it was no good avoiding the subject. "The bad news first. Langoll was found dead this morning. I didn't find out where or how he died."

Needing a bit to digest that, Sylvie froze, and stared at him. Finally she sighed, somewhat exasperatedly, and said, "I guess the description we got won't do much good, then," taking up work again.

A nod. "I guess so," Sebastian said a little tiredly and calmly, thinking about poor Kirrya for a moment. That alarmed him a little. "I did... I stole the letter off a messenger who was looking to deliver it to Langoll. I haven't opened it yet for obvious reasons," the half-elf said while putting the utensils to soak.

A long moment later, Sylvie said, "What reasons? I have no experience with stealing letters..." apart from that, her mind wasn't working properly just at the moment.

Meanwhile, Ayu-Asra woke up from his nap. After stretching, he flew onto the table, picking at some leftovers in the vegetable bowl.

"It rains," he smiled, glancing at Ayu-Asra disinterestedly. "I didn't want the ink to get wet. If it is written in ink."

He was just about to ask where Auker was when there were noises from elsewhere in the shrine. Instead, he looked at Sylvie and knitted his brows together. "You seem exhausted."

"Not much. Just a bit stunned by the news."

"So was I. Now I'm worried," the half-elf replied. He added: "More worried."

"Mhm. If he has to keep up the spell, that would solve the problem, but if he's needed to end it..." She shook her head and jumped closer to the present. "Want one more thing to worry about, in case we do find that device?"

"I would much rather have all the cards on the table," Sebastian said, forcing a smile as close to genuine as he could. He'd been this low before and sprung up, by the gods! They -- yes, they, not him alone -- were just going to have to take care of this.

"Among Langoll's areas of expertise a- were artifacts, observation techniques and alarm spells," she told him with entirely unsuitable cheer.

He stared at Sylvie for a moment and, in spite of himself, chuckled at that cheer. "All right. This day was revealing after all," he said, leaning against the wall and covering his eyes, a smile still on his face.

More neutrally she continued, "Otherwise I didn't find out much about him. Montmore said he was a loner, so it wasn't unusual if no-one knew what he was working on. And he speculated that Langoll might have visited Brannig, if anyone here, because they share an interest in artifacts." This was getting more and more complicated.

"That makes sense. Get the other... hm, expert out of town while one works his magic... no pun intended," Sebastian responded, nodding as he pieced things together a little. It was at that time that he decided it was probably best to save the letter from the dragon.

So far it had only been sniffed, but that might have changed quickly otherwise.

Sylvie added, "Except if they have been working together. I have trouble imagining someone doing this to their hometown, though, but, well..." She trailed off with a shrug.