A Second Chance at Martyrdom

1 Eleasis

I was once again forced to visit the Shrines of Nature for Ahghairon’s Day, but I survived.

I debated feigning illness, Virla likely would have believed it and let me stay home, I’ve seen Pelsot do it a few times as well. Instead, I saw it as an opportunity. I wanted to try applying some of what Orsik had taught me, figuring out the differences between the druids and priests that were there.

Last time I was sort of panicked over the risk of discovery, but it really did seem like they only were able to notice the effects of my power, rather than determine the source. The last time I was here I had thought they had actually figured out that it was me, but paying more attention on this visit I think they were just paranoid of everyone in the area.

There were still subtle looks at me, but I noticed they were doing the same for a number of others as well. Mostly from what I now knew to be wild-shaped druids. A common spell for their discipline, just turning into squirrels or birds or cats.

The fact that any random animal on the streets could be a trained spellcaster would surely do wonders for my paranoia.

The priesthood didn’t really show nearly as many signs of alertness though. Whether that can be attributed to being the ones mostly handling the public collecting flowers or a general lack of awareness on their part, is difficult to say. At least I don’t think I need to worry about them banging down my door in some sort of police raid in the short term.

24 Eleasis

I finally located a suitable building for purchase. A cheap one-floor plus basement combo over on Nelnuk’s Walk just a bit north of where I live. Originally owned by a recently deceased old man who used it as some candle making workshop, his family intended to sell it off since they had upgraded to other larger workshops in the area.

So this little humble two open room building wasn’t really needed anymore, and the Chandler’s Guild decided to sell it off. I had been watching the neighbourhood for signs of members from the Surveyor’s Guild moving about, as they would typically be called in to look over any properties going up for sale for accurate measurements of floor plans.

I’ve relayed the location to the lizardfolk trading party, who have been making more regular trips into town, about once every two to three days. They assured me they had earlier found their own proxy they would work through. Their kind, while allowed into the city proper, would have had issues actually navigating through the bureaucratic process or hiring local solicitors to help do so for them.

Just another step needing to be taken just to buy a small property.

I miss having Lisa to help manage that sort of thing for me.

28 Eleasis

Well, the lizardfolk’s proxy found a solicitor. That means work can actually begin on the purchase of the property. I’ve been told it will take at least a tenday or two, mostly for the process to simply have all the requisite checking of the property for recordkeeping along.

After that, then there will be the managing of any guilds needing to be hired for renovations on the property, and navigating the various guild laws for interacting with them on a regular basis. For the moment, the intention is simply to be selling to the other guild members rather than a proper public storefront.

In more personal news, Jespa has been spending some time in the library with Orsik and I. She hasn’t exactly been helpful per se, but Orsik tolerates her basically doing her homework and asking me for help on occasion. Seems she’s becoming something of a bookworm.

Pelsot seemed a bit jealous when he found out, but he needs nearly as much as she does with reading some of his words. A burgeoning scholar he is not.

9 Eleint

Of course, there’s an issue with the property! Fucking rotten beams from water damage apparently, the previous owners had neglected maintenance on the damp basement, a detail my cursory look had managed to miss.

My insects don’t have the same tactile feedback as they used to. Not worthless, but the general lack of fine control without significant attention paid to them means it’s easy to miss the little things like that. I hadn’t actually had to do anything like that since my arrival, so finding out like this is both fortunate and unfortunate. At least it wasn’t for something more dangerous or less fixable.

At least I did find that squirrel next in the attic and chased them off. Maybe I’ll try nesting a new hive in the hole they made.

16 Eleint

Well, the property has finally been purchased in full, so that’s maybe a third of the work done. Took forever for all the parties to go back and forth in one giant game of telephone.

First, there was the lizardfolk, who actually had the purse strings for the purchase. I wasn’t actually really involved beyond picking out the building, but they were trying to keep me in the loop whenever I actually checked in with them when I was able to break away from the supervision of others.

Then there was their proxy that they had to hire to handle things for them. Some leatherworker who they would occasionally do business with that specialized in reptilian hides. The areas they hunted in would sometimes have crocodiles or dinosaurs! that they would hunt. The meat they would preserve with salts they bought from the city, but lizardfolk don’t really wear clothes in the same way most humanoids do thanks to their protective scales.

So then the proxy had to go hire out a solicitor, because like hell some leatherworker knew how to navigate the bureaucratic quagmire that was property transfer in the city. They needed records and estimates for all sorts of aspects of the building, to cover for any arguments or issues that could possibly come up in the future.

Then our solicitor was working with whoever was representing the other party, who would then have to relay information to the family and guild they were representing. So it was just one big game of telephone. That was thankfully sort of over.

There were still a half dozen guilds that we still needed to go through for renovations and business negotiations, but that at least could be mostly handled via written instructions rather than in-person meetings.

So much to get done, and so much money to burn.