Post by dee on Aug 29, 2023 20:12:27 GMT
Hearing on the grapevine that Calla is working on a major project, Digs finds himself in Daring Heights checking some of the more common adventuring haunts. Eventually he finds her coming out of the Academy, a sheaf of papers in her arms: all meticulous notes on the fine and noble art of growing hedge mazes. Often oblivious to her surroundings she all but scatters the work into the street when Digs suddenly appears in her periphery.
Digs jumps and flattens his head down into his haunches in response to Calla jumping, “Oh h-h-hey Calla sorry if I startled you there!”
He attempts a nervous smile, but nothing happens
"Digs! You half scared me to death!" Calla wrangles her papers back into a semblance of order while pushing her glasses back up her nose with a shoulder. She takes a breath, uses a cantrip to knuckle the sudden tension out of her forehead and then turns to look down at her sometime adventuring companion.
"How can I help you?"
Digs snatches a loose page as it floats past him and gives it a quick scan before hopping up to gently place it back in top of the pile “Oh I-I-I’m sorry I just heard you had a thing you were doing with a maze and I thought you might maybe need some help.”
“I’m n-n-not great at the whole adventuring thing. I’m not b-brave like you, but back home we used to do things like this all the time.”
The dark elf's eyes narrow behind her lenses as she thinks back to the spritely Kobold utterly humiliating more than one adversary.
"Sure," her tone is tight. "you know what, let's talk about all of that, but not here. Somewhere... loud".
Her gaze drifts over in the direction of the MacAddams warehouse.
Digs raises a scaled eyebrow and follows her look. “Loud? Err… s-sure.” As Calla leads the way he skitters along beside her.
Not much later and the two are sat in the last, shadowed row of seats as the first bout of the evening's spellduel commences. Calla is silent as the announcer's voice introduces the contestants. It's only with the first crack of thunder and the crowd's echoing cheer that she leans to the side, where Digs sits.
"As it happens," she pauses around a particularly loud shout, "I am in the market for some traps, strictly non-lethal, to keep wayward locals out of parts of my maze, but...", she turns further, her glasses reflecting in the dark, "if we work together, all this false modesty stops. I set my terms up front. I make my promises in the open".
There’s a rollercoaster of emotions on Digs’ face going from excitement at “traps” to a slight disappointment at “non-lethal” to a split second freeze followed by a head cock at “false modesty”.
“Oh umm… s-sure. I wouldn’t want to mess around with a powerful wizard. K-keep it simple right?” He smiles as innocently as he can manage with a row of razor sharp teeth. His eyes dart between Calla’s holy symbol, component pouch, amulet, arcane focus and any other spellcasting items he can see.
Now that her attention is turned on him, all trace of Calla’s trademark obliviousness is gone. No longer relying on reflexive insight, she observes and marks every flicker of Digs' gaze. She returns the favour, studying armour, tools, weapons. Her notes are almost visible in the air: tactical; opportunistic; sharp. They pause as she returns to the kukri on his belt. A weapon she's seen before, but that has new context since meeting its former owner.
Two new words writes themselves above Digs: Delilah; Murder.
"Tell me," her voice is suddenly as cold as the armour she often wears "do you actually have a stutter, or is it just to put others at ease?"
Digs tenses up, flattening his head down once again to look as small as possible, “I-I-I…”
For a brief instant his eyes rest on Calla’s exposed throat.
He shakes his head to purge the thought - his fingers moving away from the hilt of the kukri Delilah gave him.
“No. No, not really.” he says, straightening back up with an attempt at a nonchalant shrug. “Why do you ask?”
"Good. History is littered with powerful wizards who pressed cowering Kobolds into service and I won't be a part of it. If we are to enter into an arrangement it will be as equals. No favours, no debts". Although warded, she still feels a trill of fear as she maintains eye contact but casually tilts her chin upward, exposing her throat further.
Sitting quietly for a while Digs ponders this.
“Yeah that’s… better actually.”
He pretends that this moment is less huge for him than it is, “What do you actually want to do with this maze then?”
Calla nods definitively, and takes a moment to watch the bout unfold beneath her before replying.
"Between the two of us," there's a roar of flame as she continues. "It's a temple of sorts. My patron's purview includes both mazes and hidden treasure". Calla makes a wry smile as the crowd yells again.
"As far as the townsfolk of New Hillborrow are concerned, it's a pleasant diversion, good for festivals and balls and marking harvest. When the maze is closed for that business I'll often need to keep out curious children, troublesome teens. Dogs large and small".
"If you can secure it appropriately, my metalworking and arcane services are at your disposal".
“Huh. So the maze isn’t about luring people into traps, you just don’t want people going in it some times?” He looks puzzled by this concept, but accepts it.
“So… you want non-lethal. That’s a broad thing. Do we have a 1-10 on like… maiming?”
"Well," it's Calla's turn to ponder a question as the first combat ends, "I can imagine that we might want to occasionally run an event for adventurers, something more challenging. Say a 6 or 7 for that. Most of the time, though..." her mouth flattens into a line. "If a mother comes to me and asks why her darling child is crying and bloody I need to be able to point at the warning signs and have her agree that it's their own stupid fault".
Calla’s mouth twitches to one side, “So a 3?".
“That’s… doable.” Digs says, mulling over what a ‘3’ on the maiming scale would look like. “Are you thinking guard creatures? I haven’t seen any dire weasels in Kantas yet, but I guess I could find you some. Or something else that’s similar.”
“I can’t get the Gargoyles to stay yet, so yes? Nothing that interferes with the maze itself though”.
“Mimics probably go beyond a ‘3’ on halfling children right?”
“Sadly. I’d love to study one”.
“I guess I’ll come up with some ideas then.” Digs is already scratching drawings into the wood of the table in front iof him with his claws.
“If I need some custom metalwork you can handle that right?”
“Absolutely”. Calla smiles broadly. “You can come find me anytime for that, sketches made, whatever”.
She stands up, “It’s been a pleasure to finally meet you. Enjoy the rest of the fights, you’ve got ten weeks, give or take”.
“Finally meet… huh I guess so.” Digs looks up from his scratches. “So yeah, the ‘between the two of us’ thing. That goes both ways right?”
"It does".
“Good, that makes things way easier. I’ll see you around then.” He smiles brightly.
Calla nods again, turns on her heel, and leaves the warehouse. When she's outside she pauses, idly rubs at her throat, then strides back towards the Academy
Digs jumps and flattens his head down into his haunches in response to Calla jumping, “Oh h-h-hey Calla sorry if I startled you there!”
He attempts a nervous smile, but nothing happens
"Digs! You half scared me to death!" Calla wrangles her papers back into a semblance of order while pushing her glasses back up her nose with a shoulder. She takes a breath, uses a cantrip to knuckle the sudden tension out of her forehead and then turns to look down at her sometime adventuring companion.
"How can I help you?"
Digs snatches a loose page as it floats past him and gives it a quick scan before hopping up to gently place it back in top of the pile “Oh I-I-I’m sorry I just heard you had a thing you were doing with a maze and I thought you might maybe need some help.”
“I’m n-n-not great at the whole adventuring thing. I’m not b-brave like you, but back home we used to do things like this all the time.”
The dark elf's eyes narrow behind her lenses as she thinks back to the spritely Kobold utterly humiliating more than one adversary.
"Sure," her tone is tight. "you know what, let's talk about all of that, but not here. Somewhere... loud".
Her gaze drifts over in the direction of the MacAddams warehouse.
Digs raises a scaled eyebrow and follows her look. “Loud? Err… s-sure.” As Calla leads the way he skitters along beside her.
Not much later and the two are sat in the last, shadowed row of seats as the first bout of the evening's spellduel commences. Calla is silent as the announcer's voice introduces the contestants. It's only with the first crack of thunder and the crowd's echoing cheer that she leans to the side, where Digs sits.
"As it happens," she pauses around a particularly loud shout, "I am in the market for some traps, strictly non-lethal, to keep wayward locals out of parts of my maze, but...", she turns further, her glasses reflecting in the dark, "if we work together, all this false modesty stops. I set my terms up front. I make my promises in the open".
There’s a rollercoaster of emotions on Digs’ face going from excitement at “traps” to a slight disappointment at “non-lethal” to a split second freeze followed by a head cock at “false modesty”.
“Oh umm… s-sure. I wouldn’t want to mess around with a powerful wizard. K-keep it simple right?” He smiles as innocently as he can manage with a row of razor sharp teeth. His eyes dart between Calla’s holy symbol, component pouch, amulet, arcane focus and any other spellcasting items he can see.
Now that her attention is turned on him, all trace of Calla’s trademark obliviousness is gone. No longer relying on reflexive insight, she observes and marks every flicker of Digs' gaze. She returns the favour, studying armour, tools, weapons. Her notes are almost visible in the air: tactical; opportunistic; sharp. They pause as she returns to the kukri on his belt. A weapon she's seen before, but that has new context since meeting its former owner.
Two new words writes themselves above Digs: Delilah; Murder.
"Tell me," her voice is suddenly as cold as the armour she often wears "do you actually have a stutter, or is it just to put others at ease?"
Digs tenses up, flattening his head down once again to look as small as possible, “I-I-I…”
For a brief instant his eyes rest on Calla’s exposed throat.
He shakes his head to purge the thought - his fingers moving away from the hilt of the kukri Delilah gave him.
“No. No, not really.” he says, straightening back up with an attempt at a nonchalant shrug. “Why do you ask?”
"Good. History is littered with powerful wizards who pressed cowering Kobolds into service and I won't be a part of it. If we are to enter into an arrangement it will be as equals. No favours, no debts". Although warded, she still feels a trill of fear as she maintains eye contact but casually tilts her chin upward, exposing her throat further.
Sitting quietly for a while Digs ponders this.
“Yeah that’s… better actually.”
He pretends that this moment is less huge for him than it is, “What do you actually want to do with this maze then?”
Calla nods definitively, and takes a moment to watch the bout unfold beneath her before replying.
"Between the two of us," there's a roar of flame as she continues. "It's a temple of sorts. My patron's purview includes both mazes and hidden treasure". Calla makes a wry smile as the crowd yells again.
"As far as the townsfolk of New Hillborrow are concerned, it's a pleasant diversion, good for festivals and balls and marking harvest. When the maze is closed for that business I'll often need to keep out curious children, troublesome teens. Dogs large and small".
"If you can secure it appropriately, my metalworking and arcane services are at your disposal".
“Huh. So the maze isn’t about luring people into traps, you just don’t want people going in it some times?” He looks puzzled by this concept, but accepts it.
“So… you want non-lethal. That’s a broad thing. Do we have a 1-10 on like… maiming?”
"Well," it's Calla's turn to ponder a question as the first combat ends, "I can imagine that we might want to occasionally run an event for adventurers, something more challenging. Say a 6 or 7 for that. Most of the time, though..." her mouth flattens into a line. "If a mother comes to me and asks why her darling child is crying and bloody I need to be able to point at the warning signs and have her agree that it's their own stupid fault".
Calla’s mouth twitches to one side, “So a 3?".
“That’s… doable.” Digs says, mulling over what a ‘3’ on the maiming scale would look like. “Are you thinking guard creatures? I haven’t seen any dire weasels in Kantas yet, but I guess I could find you some. Or something else that’s similar.”
“I can’t get the Gargoyles to stay yet, so yes? Nothing that interferes with the maze itself though”.
“Mimics probably go beyond a ‘3’ on halfling children right?”
“Sadly. I’d love to study one”.
“I guess I’ll come up with some ideas then.” Digs is already scratching drawings into the wood of the table in front iof him with his claws.
“If I need some custom metalwork you can handle that right?”
“Absolutely”. Calla smiles broadly. “You can come find me anytime for that, sketches made, whatever”.
She stands up, “It’s been a pleasure to finally meet you. Enjoy the rest of the fights, you’ve got ten weeks, give or take”.
“Finally meet… huh I guess so.” Digs looks up from his scratches. “So yeah, the ‘between the two of us’ thing. That goes both ways right?”
"It does".
“Good, that makes things way easier. I’ll see you around then.” He smiles brightly.
Calla nods again, turns on her heel, and leaves the warehouse. When she's outside she pauses, idly rubs at her throat, then strides back towards the Academy