Durah
Charm led our little trio through the streets and back alleys. We weren’t grouped together, the concern of onlookers seeing our open association prohibited it. At the same time, we also couldn’t be seen to be stalking behind her lest people or the guards get suspicious of us.
People were so needlessly complex in Waterdeep that even I struggled to understand them. They brought such mystery any time I had to interact with them beyond simple barter. They wanted goods, we wanted coins. Sometimes it would be the reverse, we wanted goods and they wanted coins.
Still, I trusted Charm, just like the Chief and Shaman Sky did. That was why we were assigned to be her assistants all those moons ago. It was the correct choice, she had been honest and lived up to her promises. That was why we followed after her, to fulfill our side of things. She made few requests beyond what was directly required for the workshop, Charm was clever enough to figure out how to handle most tasks on her own despite her young age for a human.
She would be old for a lizardfolk child though. She’d be at least halfway to adulthood if she were born with scales.
Charm proved helpful though. She provided better winter gear more suited to the climate so close to the sea. The winds brought a chill that seeped into their scales. Lessened now, thanks to the footwear and tail socks she had begun to provide in number to the clan. Durah had been the first to properly receive one, while they had been working out the design and layering of the different fabrics she had woven or purchased.
It kept the snow on the ground from giving his tail cold, and that was enough for the clan to buy them. A good thing, with how he had to escort her to this meeting she had asked for all that time ago. Her plans to become a wizard would be helpful to all of them if she could do it. Different from a shaman, which old Sky could have assisted with. She had mentioned something about weaving being involved, but I didn’t understand it well then, nor had Laraek. We nodded along though as we did our work, it wasn’t distracting and made Charm happy. This was the next step, some complexity in finding a teacher.
This was finding the not teacher, we didn’t have an equivalent in our clan. Something like the chief perhaps, but not in a leadership position. The leader of a hunt was apt perhaps.
Why she didn’t intend to ask this wizard was confusing, but Charm would get permission to join some sort of wizard clan from this meeting if all went well.
If things went especially unwell, that was Durah’s job to handle. If things went even worse than that, then it would be Laraek’s job to report it.
Charm hadn’t expected that to be the case though. She spoke of it with the confidence she did most things. When she had first approached them, when she bargained with the chief, when she discussed things with their contacts.
She led them to their destination, some small business sandwiched between a food seller and some sort of furniture builder. She went in first, then Slaan and I a half minute after.
The entryway was shielded from the cold. Warmed by a fire within most likely. A pleasant change. The room wasn’t large, with coat racks to the side, a place to kick off the snow from your feet, and a desk with an elf stationed there. Elves were difficult to understand, they dealt with few of them. A male or female? Old or young? Dangerous or passive? So many questions and few of them ever truly clear. Not even what their purpose here was, since they weren’t the wizard they were here to meet.
The elf at the desk was greeting them though. They were expected to be here after all. I decided to focus on my charges first, taking their heavy coats and shaking them of the light snow that had fallen before hanging them. I simply followed Charm’s lead, she was the one who wanted things here.
Charm peered over the desk at the elf shuffling a few papers, “Hello, we had an appointment with Seraphina for a consultation? We were told this was the time we were supposed to get here.”
The elf’s expression remained neutral, perhaps bored or annoyed with most of the facial movement being in the eyes. “I’d ask for your names but I did have a special note today to expect lizardfolk to appear. Seems I wasn’t being pranked.”
Charm glanced to her side to look at the two of them, before returning her focus back to the elf, “It does make us a distinctive group, yes. Is Seraphina in though?”
The elf blinked and looked between our group again as if understanding only now came to it. “Ah yes, just a little down the hall to my left, then the first door on your left. Before you go in though, you’ll need to deactivate the security wards with the passphrase. Repeat after me please, ‘steamed clams’.”
Charm’s face screwed up for a moment in response, did the phrase have some meaning beyond food to her? We all repeated it though, Slaan had to attempt it a few times before he got a nod of approval from the elf. Despite his lessons, Charm said he still slurred his words, more than Laraek and I at least. The elf must have thought it important that it be spoken in a specific way to bother us with it, so none of us objected.
We moved further into the building, standing before what appeared to be a simple if sturdy dark wooden door. We each recited ‘steamed clams’ one after the other. We waited in silence, expecting some sort of sound or reaction. Slaan, curious child that he was, decided to simply open the door instead of waiting.
I froze for a second as he reached for the door, too slow to stop him. The door eased inwards without a sound. The lack of explosions or other effects at least confirmed that we spoke the phrase properly enough.
We stepped into the meeting room with Charm following close behind Slaan, while I took up the rear. The room was large, a table dominated the middle of it, large enough for at least a dozen lizardfolk. There was a large fireplace set into the wall with a large fire blazing inside, heating up the room and likely much of the building. The walls were covered in hung pelts and taxidermied heads of various creatures. Dire wolves, a Giant snake, and a number of creatures I could not easily recognize. Was the wizard a hunter?
Speaking of, the wizard seemed to be patiently waiting for them, sitting on the opposite side of the large table from them. A small thing, a half-elf or a thin human woman perhaps. Long black hair, similar to Charm, with a brown and green shirt. Unassuming in stature, but even without the wide-brimmed hat and shiny staff he doubted she wasn’t dangerous.
“Ah good, you’re here. It appears that your contact was being honest about it being Lizardfolk requesting a meeting. Please, take a seat.” The wizard stated.
Interestingly, the wizard had at least prepared for them even if she was doubtful of who they were. Beside a cushioned couch there were a handful of padded stools, likely kept on hand for customers with tails like them. They were a bit tall for Slaan, requiring the child to scramble up onto it before properly sitting. I just pulled one over to sit in, while Tayvra picked the couch.
The wizard clapped her hands once we were seated, “Wonderful, I realize you likely know who I am, but I find it best to start first meetings like this with proper introductions. I am Seraphina Cross, expert wizard specializing in all things spiritual and necromantic. I mostly do custom-ordered magical items, from staves to wands to scrolls. Now then, what about you three?”
There was a moment of silence in the room, Seraphina was glancing between the three of us, mostly at Charm though. Seraphina’s mouth curled into a bit of a grin, prompting Charm to finally introduce us, “My name is Tayvra Truboru, the larger lizardfolk is Durah, and the smaller one is Slaan.”
Charm didn’t have a lot else to say, Seraphina seemed to have expected a bit more than that. She waited expectantly before responding, “I was wondering about that, yes. I was expecting you obviously, but the second child threw me for a loop. Are you intending to ask me to sponsor the both of you?”
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I interjected before Charm could respond, “No, Slaan is here for different learning. He is still learning the complexities of your common language, so I decided to bring him along to witness our negotiations. It should be a good experience for him, I ask that you not mind if I need to explain some words’ translations to him.”
She nodded along with the explanation, seemingly understanding, “Ah I see, that isn’t anything really objectionable so go ahead. In that case then,” She paused for a moment, once again looking Tayvra appraisingly, “if you want me to sponsor your application, then I’ll need to test you. Nothing dramatic, the actual expectations aren’t that high for entry-level students like you’d be.”
“I expected that,” Charm responded, “I hope it’s nothing like me actually casting a spell or something. I was hoping to actually learn that from the Order.”
“Oh no, that would simply be silly,” Seraphina waved her off, “Though it can’t be too easy either, something that would actually require some previous studying on at least surface-level topics. Let's see, say I were to cast a spell that had Durah here running out of the room, what spell school would it be?”
I didn’t like that line of questioning. It sounded too close to a threat despite the way she explained her intent. Charm responded first though, “I assume that it is the actual effect of the spell, rather than it simply being impressive and intimidating?”
Seraphina giggled at that response, not what was meant for the answer? “Ah yes, to be clear it would be a spell who’s effects you don’t see that simply had walking out on his own.”
“Mind control is typically considered enchantment isn’t it?” Charm answered, though at Seraphina nodding she continued, “Though the way you said that, ‘whose effects you don’t see’ could mean something only he sees, which could be illusion as well.” Charm seemed satisfied for a moment with that, but she seemed to focus on something before being inspired with a new idea, “Of course, you said you were something of a necromancer. Technically that also has some options for the scenario doesn’t it?”
It was that last part that seemed to impress Seraphina, so much so she gave a slow clap, “Very good, the first two were the expected answer, but recalling necromancy was truly inspiring. My second question then, is what school would you consider healing spells to fall under?”
Charm seemed slightly stumped by the question. I hardly knew the answers to such questions. Healing magic was healing, wasn’t it? What was so important about these ‘schools’, if the spells that fell under them seemed so varied? Would Shaman Sky even know these things, or was it just something wizards specifically bothered with? Charm’s knowledge of these distinctions seemed important though to Seraphina. Something beyond reading the surfaces of spells, how does one see through them?
Seraphina was happy to wait though for an answer. Charm sat there for at least a minute pondering the answer, “That’s a bit of a trick question isn’t it? Nearly every school has something of the sort, other than divination and illusion.”
Seraphina took a sharp inhale, then started clapping again, “Very good Tayvra. I dare say that such a question would have been difficult even for many trained wizards. Especially seeing as how very few spells we are likely to cast would have such an effect. I assume you’re already quite capable of reading and writing?” Tayvra nodded, so Seraphina continued, “In that case then, I’m willing to believe you know more than enough to fulfill the requirements of the course. Anything you don’t know is what you’re there to learn anyway right?”
Tayvra snorted lightly, before having a matching grin to Seraphina, “That’s the idea. If you’re willing to sponsor my enrollment, I actually had something related to ask of you, as an extension of this.”
Seraphina quirked an eyebrow in response, intrigued, “You want more than a sponsorship then? Make your offer.”
“I need you to help pay for the lessons,” Charm started, “my parents don’t actually know about my work with Durah and clan Persvek Casein. I’d like to keep it that way as much as I can. I love them, but I doubt that they would be very understanding.”
Seraphina started fidgeting with her hands, tapping her fingers along the table, “I see, I’m having trouble understanding where I come in from that though. Why can’t you pay for it, I assume you have the money.”
“We want you to help pay it as an explanation to my family about where the money came from. It wouldn’t actually be coming out of your pocket, we just want you to take the money and make the final payment to the order. It makes you look good sponsoring me both in recommendation as well as funding, and it helps keep my family from misunderstanding my relationship with my employers.”
“We are prepared to pay you a portion of it as well for your troubles,” I cut in. Charm had discussed this part with me, I was to seem her employer with the actual money to offer. We didn’t want to risk people thinking she was actually in charge of our operation in the city. Better for others to think of her simply as some hired help. “Ten percent of whatever money we pass through you to pay for Tayvra’s education and related supplies, as well as you coming up with a decent story to sell the situation.”
Seraphina closed her eyes to ponder things while we waited. Charm keeping still, Slaan kicking his feet against the legs of his stool. He had been well-behaved so far at least, and hadn’t had so much trouble following along with the negotiation side that he needed to ask for help. He knew better than to ask me for translations of the magical questions.
“I think it’s better to just come clean, and tell your parents about this now so they don’t discover it on their own. I’m not one to turn down such easy money, but I have two conditions.” Seraphina raised her hand, with one finger raised. “I want twenty percent.”
I glanced a moment down at Charm, she gave no sign she objected to it. I wasn’t inclined to barter over it, seeing as it was from her share of our proceeds that the funding would be coming from. “That’s acceptable, what is your second condition?”
Seraphina raised her second finger, “Good good, the second thing I want is to work with you.”
She was staring at me when she said it, but I let Charm be the one to respond. “I’m sorry, you want to work with us?”
“Well, with clan Persvek Casein generally anyway.” Seraphina stood up, and gestured around the room with her hands, “Do you know what I spend most of my money on for my work Tayvra?”
“Well you said you were a necromancer, so I assume bones and corpses?”
“That’s generally correct, but there’s some nuance to that of course.” She drew a length of bone from her sleeve, placed it on the table, and slid it across to us. “What do you think that is?”
The three of us peered at it, two-thirds a foot in length, gently curving. There was a wrapped grip for it made of a dark leather, carving along the length of it and with various shining metallic filigree. I decided to take a guess at it, “A wand made of bone right? I’m guessing this was from something quite large originally.”
“That’s quite correct. Sure, an arcanist can settle for various types of wood or metal, but I’ve found that the best quality for conducting magic tends to be more organic materials. Properly attuned materials enhance the end product. Leather, bone, blood, all that and more are key components to the crafting of quality magical goods.” Seraphina took her wand back once she was done with her explanation, likely because Slaan had started reaching for it.
I think I understood what she was asking for, “That’s where we would come in then. You want to hire us to hunt creatures for these materials to sell to you?”
“That’s close to the idea anyway. It doesn’t have to specifically be you going out so proactively to hunt things in particular, at least most of the time.” She elaborated, “But I imagine there are dangerous creatures you occasionally have to hunt down to protect your territory, ones that are hardly worth eating. I’d have to get you a list of what I’d be interested in, but I’ll buy anything you kill incidentally, for enough money you can easily buy more food than you would have gotten from just eating them.”
“Why do you want us as suppliers rather than what you have in the city?” That was the catch, wasn’t it? Merchants in the city would accept our goods when we came to sell them, and there were ones we sold to regularly. They very rarely asked for such things proactively though, likely they simply wanted to minimize interaction with us out of suspicion.
“You’re less likely to charge me as much. Stuff like that tends to be either specialty order, or there’s bidding wars between me and my fellow enchanters. Simply buying the random extras from you is cheaper than hiring adventurers, and less competitive than my fellows. I’d still give you a good price for them of course, and it helps build a mutual relationship in case you want to commission something from me in exchange.”
A greater relationship than what we came here for, but one of benefit to everyone. Charm got her sponsorship, and the clan was more secure from the city trying to push them out. It was hard to argue, so he stood up and offered his hand. “That seems acceptable. We’d need to barter each deal individually of course, but we do have some magic available to preserve such things while we do so.”
“Oh good, you have a cleric on hand.” Seraphina shook my hand, then bent down to offer the same to Charm and Slaan, “You’ll need to give me some time to come up with a story to tell your parents, what sort of timeline did you have in mind for this?”
Charm was shaking her hand now, “I don’t actually turn eight until Alturiak, we can do it a bit after that.”
Seraphina finished by shaking Slaan’s hand, he didn’t entirely understand the gesture and shook both her hands instead, “That’s fine then, the next semester for that isn’t supposed to start until the sixth of Ches. I’ll contact one of you for our next meeting near then for us to actually set things up properly.”
Our business concluded, with a new ally found, Charm led us out the door.
That's the third interlude done, sort of fourth if you consider that one of the interlude chapters had two different POVs. This one was kind of an interesting challenge, since lizardfolk have lizardbrains so their language is supposed to be different, hence a few of the weird word choices in the chapter. I think my betas caught all the unintended ones though.
It made for an interesting challenge, I know this scene was sort of mentioned last chapter, but I felt it deserved it's own spotlight as well. Seraphina will be a reoccuring character after all, and it gave a good way to write about what the lizardfolk think about Tayvra and the world. Next chapter will be about Taylor finally starting attendance to learn wizard spells.
Also, since I assume everyone is curious or confused about the whole "Charm" thing, lizardfolk use descriptors as names, since random names sort of don't make sense to them. Taylor's is Charm, so named because after that first meeting the shaman mistakenly recognized her bug control to be charming magic. She doesn't actually know that though, since the lizardfolk in the city refer to her by Tayvra when talking to her in common. Her draconic is sort of limited in some ways, she just assumes the word is some translation of her name or something.
