1. Cloakwood

Shar-Teel scowls. "I was running away from my employers. The Iron Throne's bitten off more than it can chew. I don't want any part of it."

She leans casually against a tree. "But if you lot are in need of an extra swordarm, my coin purse is feeling a bit light these days."

Stephan certainly looks ashamed of himself. "Well, I heard some of your friends say it's the symbol of the God of Murder, or something like that. I just thought the spellbook might be worth some money, and nobody else seemed to want it. So I grabbed it on our way out."

He bites his lip. "Well, I guess not just for some money. It was Master Davaeorn's spellbook. I thought maybe I could learn all the stuff he never bothered to teach me..."

Dieter turns his back on Shar-teel, Its purposeful maybe even disrespectful

"We could pay her to get these refugees out " Dieter quietly says looking down at Aiwë

Aiwë bares her teeth. "The refugees she was helping to enslave just yesterday?" She isn't very quiet. "I'm not interested."

Stella frowns, trying to follow Shar-Teel's words, ignoring the harshness from Dieter and Aiwë. She speaks matter-of-factly, though she's not sure how Shar-Teel will take it.

"I may be misunderstanding...but if you were simply running away, you wouldn't have come back. Your sword goes where the money tells you, provided you get to keep your neck in one piece. That's rather sensible," she continues, gesturing with one hand. "And your vote of confidence is appreciated. But that seems awfully risky for us. If you don't want anything to do with the Iron Throne, then you'll want to get far from the Gate, not tag along.'"

Dieter gives a bit of side eye at Aiwë and Stella

Shar-Teel rolls her eyes. "Does it look like I wanted to come back?" She gestures to her black eye and split lip. "I was nearly out of this hells-forsaken wood when I ran into these goons." She spits in Drasus' direction. "They turned me right around to march back to this mine - which I see you've flooded, by the way. Waste of good iron."
Shar-Teel scoffs. "I meant as far as getting out of this forest goes. You've got an awful lot of friends to keep from becoming spider-food - not that any one of them would offer a proper meal." She chuckles. "Plus, the Gate is where the gold is. It's big enough I don't need to tangle with the Iron Throne. Hells, I could just keep my head down till this whole thing blows over."

Stella draws her lips to a line and nods, seeing the logic, finding herself agreeing with it. She looks to the others for their thoughts.

Aiwë clearly does not agree. She opens her mouth to retort sharply, but glances at Koveras, then Stella, and closes it with a click.

"Your call, sister-girl," she murmurs.

"How much are you asking per day?" Stella asks flipping open her ledgers.

Dieter turns back around "we don’t need to pay her anything. If Drasus could find her any spider or wyvern can and will. She needs us to get out of here. I think she needs us more than we need her"

Ida steps closer putting her hand on Stephans "I don't think this book will bring anything but pain and damnation to you and those around you. If you wish to learn more of magic maybe talk to the young lord Aldolous I believe he is also a student of the arcane" She looks up with a small warm smile on her lips "You have a good heart Stephan, if you'd like I can speak with the clergy at the temple and find you a proper teacher if you don't continue your journey with us."

Shar-Teel makes an exaggerated show of puzzling out the math. "Well, a good sword costs about 10 gold pieces, and I have two. As well as the skill and experience to use them well... I'd say that puts us at about 30 gold a day."
She puts the back of her hand to her forehead. "Oh, you caught me. I have an illegitimate son fathered by a corrupt officer among the Flaming Fist. If I don't live to get home, he'll grow up in his father's footsteps..."

She spits. "Money - specifically gold - is everything to me. I don't need some righteous oath as an excuse."
"So the pup's found his bark." She smirks at Dieter. "The only thing I might need you for is a place to sheathe my blades. Or try out a new poison..."

The woman turns back to Stella. "Finished your calculations yet, little miss?"

(Insight: Shar-Teel does like gold. But beneath it all, it seems like her primary philosophy in life is that an overwhelming offense compensates for a poor defense. She has painful secrets, and she doesn't want to share them. Insults are her way of keeping the attention focused where she thinks she can handle it.)

Stella smirks at Shar-Teel's sword math despite herself. She's tempted to make a smart remark and turn the woman's words back on her, but Stella holds back, getting the sense that Shar-Teel wouldn't respond well to insults as easily as she gave them out.

"Twenty five," she replies, making a note, "from my personal funds, she clarifies to the other party members, since none of them seemed too pleased about the arrangement. "Paid when we make it out of the Cloakwood." She hoped it was enough to show she wasn't a pushover, but making it still plenty to let Shar-Teel feel it's worth her while and then some.

"I suppose we do have three former employers here to vouch for her." Aiwë looks between Aldous, Koveras, and Drasus. She leans toward them conspiratorially. "Is she gouging us?"

"25? You're taking the food out of my little son's mouth." Shar-Teel claps her hands. "But! If you can live with that on your conscience, we've got a deal."
Shar-Teel raises an eyebrow. "The young lord and the grouchy merchant can both tell you I did my job well. And Drasus?" She nudges his bound form with her foot, none too gently. "He only wishes he'd paid me. He might not have gotten himself into this mess."

"Wonderful. The road, then?" Aiwë looks to her companions.

Stella gives a slight smile and closes her tome. "Excellent! I'm sure you'll manage to scrape by on five times the average wages of a skilled tradesman. Let's be off."

Stephan can't meet Ida's eyes. "Yeah, you're right." He rubs his hand, and Ida notices that the young man's fingertips are blackened, as if with soot or dirty grease. A side effect of using the tome, perhaps?

Quote:

"If you wish to learn more of magic maybe talk to the young lord Aldolous I believe he is also a student of the arcane"

Stephan grunts at that. "No, thanks. He's a bit weird. And his magic is even weirder".

Quote:

"You have a good heart Stephan, if you'd like I can speak with the clergy at the temple and find you a proper teacher if you don't continue your journey with us."

He returns the smile with a sad one of his own. "That's really kind of you, Ida. I... don't know what I'll do. Maybe I'll have made a decision once we get out of this creepy forest."

Stephan hands the tome over to Ida. "Thank you. I... Um. Just thanks."