It was early afternoon in Eagle’s Point and after a hearty lunch at the River Rat and discussions on what to do first, we made our way to see Onlar Samir, the landowner of the place where Selene’s Flurry normally pitched up.
Walking through the city streets on our way Song noticed a man up ahead, moving quite hastily. Caelan recognised him as someone who was drinking in the River Rat earlier and we wondered why he could be following the same route as us in such a hasty manner. Deciding to get ahead of him, Song led the other two on a detour, leaving the hurrying man to get held up in a street market.
Our diversion took us past a large, elaborate building where a man caught our eye – Caelan spotted him first, apparently wearing a ruff of beautiful feathers - though Song realized it wasn’t a ruff but actual neck feathers partially hidden under his cloak. She raised an eye at what could be a potential beast-man or fae and as she watched him he seemed to walk into a building – through a doorway that wasn’t there when we drew level with it. Song stopped to check the wall and explained to Caelan and Olvir what – or what she thought - she’d seen. Olvir, ever enthusiastic, walloped the wall a little but only succeeded in drawing the attention of a man a few doors down who emerged to see what the ruckus was about. Song muttered a hasty excuse and we moved on.
We encountered our hasty friend again as we arrived at the grounds of the Samir estate. On seeing us, he broke into a run to reach the door before we did – which only served as a challenge to Caelan who broke into a run to beat him to it. Olvir decided this must be a race and thundered off as well – both of the men doing better than the stranger. Song followed, at a more sedate pace.
As the door was answered to Caelan’s knock, the running man behind him bellowed out that he must see Onlar urgently, whereupon vigorous debate ensued between he, Olvir and Caelan. Olvir had mostly won when Song arrived and inveigled herself between the men to ask the maid if they could, as Olvir had asked, speak with Onlar. As the maid was departing back into the house to tell her master there were a plethora of people on his doorstep, the running man gave up and stomped off, muttering something that sounded like ‘what will they need to do next’…
Song and Olvir went to talk to the landowner but Caelan slipped out to follow the mysterious man and see what he was up to. He tracked him back to the River Rat where he watched unnoticed as he interrogated the barman, Kimir, about the circus and what we might need. Caelan listened in, picking up what he might be trying to stymie next – food supplies for the yeddim, ticket sales to some of the taverns or deals with local tradesfolk perhaps.
Meanwhile at the Samir estate, Onlar had met us and we talked over plans. It was an amicable & familiar agreement and one we agreed on quickly. The circus would camp on his land and in return we’d give a private performance for him and his guests on the second night of our stay. As we concluded the deal we mentioned the man at the gate and he rolled his eyes – his name was Amos, he told us, a man always out for a fast buck. We found out what we could before bidding Samir Onlar goodbye and leaving to find Caelan.
We met up back by the elaborate building. It bore a crest – different to the other buildings in the area - a ring of feathers enclosing a merchant’s scale, a bird in flight and two elaborate family crests. The Samir crest was one, and the other we suspected belonged to the other senior house in the city. Song asked a passer-by what the building was, to be told it belonged to the Guild.
After trading information, with Caelan confirming what Olvir and Song had been told, we headed off to arrange yeddim supplies. Thankfully, there was no more sign of Amos – whatever he was doing, it wasn’t bothering us.
Yeddim food sorted, it was back to politicking. Eagle’s Point was run by Lord Astor, and he was the other person of note we needed to speak with. We knew he’d be expecting to see the White Clouds and from reputation he was going to expect at least due respect, so we spent a few hours finding ourselves some nicer garb than our regular traveller gear and then an equal amount of time trying to persuade Teela to wear a collar. She was having none of it, and Olvir finally settled for tying a ribbon round her neck for appearances sake, though she could slip it easily if she wanted to. We eventually made it to Lord Astor’s estate before night drew in, a large house in its own square, where we met with a clerk and applied the appropriate flattering attitude to book an appointment to see his Lordship the following afternoon.
That evening we made a start on negotiations to sell tickets. Since we’d already agreed a deal with Kimir we headed to the Golden Flame tavern first, as it had a… less savoury reputation and we also needed to make sure the local thieves weren’t getting ideas about making a fast buck at our expense. We’d got some names from Kimir on the people we might need to make aware of this … Ar’ashi, Aiesha and Balen were three to be aware of.
We found the Golden Flame had expanded since our last visit and was packed, but Olvir managed to shoulder his way to the bar, past a large, beefy guy with ‘thug’ practically tattooed across his forehead. After they’d eyed each other up and Olvir decided he could win, but wasn’t here for a fight, he introduced himself. The big guy was appropriately named ‘Fang’. As they struck up a conversation, Song, having moved in Olvir’s wake to the bar, ordered drinks – and some for Olvir’s new friends, noting as something extra got dropped in Fang’s. These were passed out as Olvir talked to Fang and his friends, deducing that the smaller man with his feet up on a table was the one actually in charge. His name was Balen – well, that was convenient. Olvir explained the circus was coming, and we didn’t want any trouble – and with a negotiated payment, jade changed hands.
Song moved her way to the end of the bar to talk to the bar owner, Raymir. He was a confident man who, when hearing we had circus tickets to sell, reckoned he ought to take a larger percentage than last year and more than the other taverns took – as his was the largest, and he could sell the most. Song felt otherwise, but their negotiations came to naught.
Olvir had been entertaining the crowds with impressive displays of strength, but with no deal on the sales and the general attitude of the crowd we didn’t stick around but moved on to the next tavern, the Golden Auroch where the tavern sign (appropriately) featured a sunrise over a slaughtered Auroch. The tavern owner was quite the reverse of Raymir – and when we raised the subject of tickets, he simply waved acceptance of the usual deal, shouted to the tavern as a whole that circus tickets could be bought at the bar, and went back to serving drinks.
He was a man remarkably strong for his size – he and Olvir passed the same horseshoe back and forth a couple of times bending and unbending it. He certainly didn’t have muscles like Olvir (which perturbed the strongman) and when Olvir asked how he got so freakishly strong he told us it was a talent he’d come into – a skill he’d acquired a little while ago. We stayed for a while – it was a friendly place, before heading on to the final tavern, the Wolf’s Pelt. Thankfully, negotiations there went well too and we headed back to our rooms, a busy day finally over – or so we thought.