A Discreet Deal
Thirty Sixth Day of Ikomi-hamba (Ikomi Descendant) 1348 A. L. (After Landfall)
"I was a healer, Sir Knight..." Zaia begins, looking at the man across the table with the wariness that only age and wisdom could bring. "Though I might in this world bring my arts to other ends, with flame and yes with poison also, I do not wish for such weapons to fall into the hands of men who would use them lightly and hard it is for me to contemplate a lighter hand than... that," he waves a helpless hand before him.
"Your thoughts are as mine in this," you assure him. Before you had thought that the last thing you need is more foes just as you were about to start on a long journey and leave few folk to guard the keep, but there are always greater perils, ones that linger, like poison in the wound. To have been known to brew poisons to the highest bidder...
no, both sense and conscience are in accord.
Thus it is with full confidence that you urn to look Sigan Iskhan in the eye and say: "Just as rumors and deeds reveal that my good friend Zaia can brew both potions and poisons, so to do rumors and deeds reveal that the Purple are not merely an overlarge gathering of like-minded business men out to further their profits. That's fine, the world needs all sorts and you'll hear no judgement from us, for rumors and deeds should just have readily revealed that the Fellowship has done much business with the Anwari this past year and they certainly do not have the best of reputations."
"Ah, I see you seek to mix honey in my drink to make it sweeter, but now I wonder is the drink mead or is it bitter mugwort that you seek to hide the taste of?" he replies. His smile does not shift, but the cloak which before had been purple near to blue as the color of twilight setting now shifts to the color of old bruises.
I would rather have no gold and no troubles weighing on the mind, you think but to not say. The words ring sharp as steel on your tongue: "We might do business with the Anwari, we might even come to their aid when it suits our purposes, but we do not join them in their less savory endeavors nor do we go out of our way to empower them to do so. If the Purple would like a similar arrangement, one in which potions of a beneficial nature are exchanged, you will find the Fellowship a willing and worthwhile business partner. If it is poisons you seek, however, you must find them elsewhere."
"Savory..." Sigan clicks his tongue. "An odd way to say it. Tell me, do you drink blood in your land?" He waits just long enough in the startled silence to make it grow uneasy before laughing. "You may call us pirates if it suits you and you may judge us how it suits you, but if you would take my advice... " he looks right into Zaia's eyes, his smile gone as though it had never been. "There are no beneficial potions. There is nothing on this green earth that man cannot turn against man. A draught of healing, yes? What could be more fair? Perhaps there is a time when a man would rather be dead than alive."
It is all you can do not to flinch from the horrid image he had just conjured, but before you reply he straightens, once more of merry mien. "Deal, you shall have your payment delivered at your... fortress, so that our connection is not common knowledge, just as you wish." He turns to Zaia and adds. "Should you decide to change your mind old man, then rest easy that even nightshade can aid an ailing heart."
It takes but a short while more to settle the details of what his masters wish brewed and what they are minded to pay. Then man bows so low as to be almost mocking to Zaia and then to you and Esha in a more ordinary manner, then departs as though the meeting had been in no way remarkable by his measure and perhaps it had not been. You do not know what he might fill his days with and truth be told you do not wish to.
Gained 500 gp (payment for the meeting)
Passive Income gained: Alchemical goods sold to the Purples 1,500 gp/season
"Well, that went as well as could have been hoped," Esha says airily.
"Your pardons, madam, if I do not think that is so," Zaia replies as sharply straightening his robes. "To have such men think I am a stumbling block to their ambitions..."
"Ah, but you are also the source by which those ambitions can be fulfilled," Esha sorceress replies. "If they had thought that you might be more open to brewing poisons but for Roland or Antonio then perhaps they might have conceived to remove them from the board, but as is..." the sorceress shakes her head. "A dangerous thing to make a magician act against the counsel of his own heart, for we are never unarmed if we are to do our work and our weapons are more subtle than bronze or steel."
Perhaps you are mistaken, but you had come to know Esha of late... "Did you say anything...?"
"Say?" she scoffs rising from the table. "Of course not, I do not lightly touch minds with strangers, you never know what you might find... but if one knows the way of it the eyes can speak as easily as the lips or the mind unfettered. While you spoke I let tensed as though to intervene in a disagreement on your side, as though there was disagreement on how to proceed. Our friend of the many colored cloak was already inclined to like you from the conversation over dinner, so of course you
must have been arguing for what he thought was sense." She laughs, a soft and haunting sound. "So you get to keep a friend, see? There might come a time when we need the goodwill of such as him."
How does Roland react to the fact that Esha has made it so that the killer for hire thinks well of him?
[] Thankful, it was useful however underhanded
[] Annoyed, having no wish for such connections as this, she should have asked
[] Write in
What do you do next?
[] Look for hirelings at the market
-[] Write in
[] Return to the keep and select organize the company for its departure
[] Write in
OOC: No Tinker fey this time around, you do not have the time before you leave. 
