12. Foundry Tavern:

[Taijun]

"I would be glad to help, Kayla....Yes, I am a stranger to these lands."  He takes a seat. "If I may Mr. Veneer? I am on a quest to find my past and if everyone in Numeria is killed or enslaved, that would make my quest much harder. To be more clear, I was orphaned in my youth when my people were destroyed and I am compelled to protect others using my skills. In my travels I have come across these metal men that cause havoc amongst the people.  You could say, these metal men are why I am here now, and I intend to stop them from becoming a threat.  If you think your missing friend and these metal men are somehow connected, then I would be glad to help."

  

[Kaska of Red Talons]

Kaska walks through the door of the Foundry Tavern on her way back from work. She had been up since before sunrise hauling the morning's water and wood for a few of the homes and businesses that didn't want to do it themselves, and had the money to pay someone else for the work. Later in the afternoon she would be going to the warehouses to do whatever odd jobs might be needed.

First though she wanted a little something to eat, and to find out if there was any news about Khonnir Baine. This would be the time of day she would stop by to see him if she were going to. Between the torch dying and Khonnir going missing, she was anxious. No torch meant no work for her uncle, and a missing Baine meant less hope an answer to why it was out would be found.

Kaska takes a seat at the bar and asks for a glass of watered wine, along with some bread and cheese. Have to watch the spending carefully she thinks to herself. She brushes her black hair back behind her ears and looks over at Kayla and Chrome, who are busy talking to a stranger. She will have to say hello once they are done.

"Any news about Khonnir? Is Val around?" she asks the server when she delivers her food and drink.

[Kaska of Red Talons]

While she waits Kaska does her best to listen in on the conversation between Kayla, Chrome, and the stranger. She had heard more than once lately that a Technic League spy was in town, of course and to exactly nobody's surprise. Kaska personally believes the spy, or spies for that matter, are longer-tern residents of Torch. They would be more effective than a newcomer after all. But, one can never be certain.

She likes both Kayla and Chrome well enough. Chrome is good looking, but very seriously focused on his interests and, in Kaska's view, rather fragile. Kayla is more fun to talk to, but shared Chrome's interest in the machine pieces found in the area. They liked the stuff, found it interesting for its own sake. Kaska found that to be a gulf between them and herself. She also learned things about machines from Khonnir, but it was to break them, subvert them, remove them. She kept her opinions to herself and learned as she could alongside Kayla and Chrome, but still....

Perception

[Kayla Striegold]

Kayla looks around the room again and sees another familiar face - Kaska. She waves the woman over, saying as she comes, "Have you seen or heard from Khonnir? I'm worried that he hasn't returned. I think we should gather some others and go looking for him - what if he's stuck in a pit trap, or got locked behind a door? We should do something!"

Now if only they could find some others who would be willing to go exploring...  Thinking for a moment, Kayla's eyes scrunch up, and then go wide as she recalls the bit if information she was looking for. "We have to go to the Copper Coin! I think my friend Weyna is in town now and she usually hangs out there. Then all we need is one or two others and we'll a good enough group to go rescue Khonnir!"

[Chrome Veneer]

Chrome visibly winced at Kayla's declaration of "good enough". In his mind, there was no such thing as good enough going into a situation blind like she was proposing. Then again, there was no way  to get information on the caves and the missing persons other than to collect it themselves so there wasn't much of an alternative. With Kaska added to the mix, he did at least feel a little bit better about the group. To mean no offense to Kayla, as Chrome himself wasn't very hardy, but just her and a stranger left Chrome fearing for the odds. While Kaska's goals in studying technology divulged quite strongly away from Kayla's and even more so from his own, she was woman of stamina. Someone you could count on when things inevitably got dangerous. "All right. It's pointless to try to dissuade you in this situation, and to be honest I'd been wanting to take a crack at investigating the caves myself as well. A rescue mission is a better mission than any. If everyone here is interested, and we could find a few more at the other tavern, our group would look to shape up a little better... than the first few to go missing at least."

With his agreement made, Chrome began the arduous task of collecting all of his materials. In his furor of displaying his speculations to anyone in the area, and doubly so to Kayla earlier, he'd left pens and loose papers fall where they may. Rolling up the map of Torch, tidying up and neatly packing everything away, the way it had been before he left his home, it was like a trick the way it all fit into his carrying bag. "That is...," He paused; thinking back, Kaska never really actually stated she had an interest in throwing her life into the dangerous area. "Err.... Kaska, sorry, i sort of just assumed you'd be joining us." He knew her interests aligned with Torch as much as any of theirs, but he really didn't mean to put words in others' mouths.

[Kaska of Red Talons]

When Kayla calls over to her Kaska looks in her and her companions direction. With Kayla waving her over, she gets up to join them. But before she can get there Kayla has already propositioned her.

Kaska arches her eyebrows in surprise. While Kayla might be given to making a sudden decision like venturing into sets of caves that have gone unexplored for decades even though they are right in the middle of town, and so certainly for very good reasons, Chrome's enthusiasm for the idea is unexpected. And they seem to be including the stranger as well.

Don't like that so much, I'll have to be sure he stays in front of me. He bears watching closely.

After a couple of seconds Kaska answers "Alright.... Sure, it's important enough." Seeing Chrome hurrying to pack up, she follows with "But I just ordered food and I'm eating before I go anywhere. Also there's going to be a gear check first. There's stuff we'll likely need and we're going to have it on hand if we're doing this."

[Taijun]

Taijun rises from his chair and offers the newcomer a seat.  "I am Taijun." He says with a bow....  "In my travels I've overheard that gremlins are a problem here.  That there may be a nest of them under Black Hill. Is that what you call the metal men here, gremlins?" He asks no one in particular.

[Kaska of Red Talons]

"Kaska" she replies to the stranger. His mention of "gremlins" doesn't really ring any bells. "I have heard that word, "gremlins", but I know of none here."

She eyes the chair the man Taijun has freed up, presumably for her. Kaska gestures toward the bar.

"Keep your chair. My food will be delivered over there."

K Nature

[Kayla Striegold]

Kayla nods as Kaska talks about checking equipment. "Yes, a good explorer always ensures she has the right gear! And a full belly prior to leaving a tavern! I have been so worked up about the events that I forgot to eat today!" She gets the attention of the server and orders a bowl of stew, some bread, and mead to wash it down.

While she waits for her food, she thinks about what gear she has in her room that she would want. Her backpack, and the trail rations she bought for her trips, and that nice silk rope she had. Oh, and the sunrods she 'acquired,' since they were heading into some caves... Kayla always wore her leather armor and carried the shortsword and shortbow. Plus the lockpicks and other tools hidden in her pouch.

[Chrome Veneer]

After getting halfway done packing up, he heard the obvious thing of people with meals that would like to finish them. He briefly felt his stomach and realized he hadn't eaten anything yet today... but still wasn't very hungry. Maybe his mind was on other things. He went back to packing up, finishing up as Kayla began talking about getting food herself, mimicking his own thoughts. As for gear, he really didn't know well himself what types of gear to bring, beyond himself and necessities for living anyway. Who knows how long they'd be down there if they were trapped for some reason, if that were the reason for the previous groups non-return. "I think I'll go check on Serantha if she is at her estate. The town hall otherwise. I really haven't heard from the councilors about this matter yet, and I'm sure they'd sponsor our trip with, if nothing, their blessing of knowledge. Afterwards, I'll meet up with you all at the Copper Coin."

Pausing for a moment as he was thinking of anything else he should add. "Also, one of the more dangerous prepositions I'd heard from the tavern was that the Black Soverign himself was supposedly going to be making an appearance... If that really is the case, this may become far more dangerous to everyone. All the more reason to resolve this as soon as we can. " He didn't really like the technic league because of what they did to stifle the town's growth, but never really had the same inclinations towards outright hatred to them many others did. He definitely had to work around him in his studies, but that was more a nuisance given their hands off approach to the town. If that was to remain the case, anyway... their leader coming here really didn't bode well. He checked the strap on his bag and waited for any other comments to be made before making his way for the door.