MEETUP: Bridge Cleaning

Giant spiders claimed the northern river bridge in Alexandria - now dispatched, and their corpses removed, their ichor coats the stones (and, in some cases, is cooked in!) Fazahd Masterbuilder is recruiting a suitably heroic cleaning detail, because of course he is. This meetup is a simple low-octane plot to get people together during the daytime hours.

The scene here is one of absolute carnage. The center section of the Highbridge is coated with green core, scorch marks, and worse - no obvious structural damage, perhaps, but it's a right old mess and it's making the bridge a little hard to get over. Fazahd is here, scrubbing with a small group of what look like the local poor, using long-handled brooms and lots of barrels of water - which appear to be filled by a pump machine drawing water up from the river by large leather hoses. A bit down the bridge, what looks like some kind of bar has been set up, sitting on mechanical spider legs. It is currently closed for business if the steel mesh drawn across the open side of the structure is any indication, but the sign on its roof reads 'PUBLIC RESTAURANT' in Khazdul, Common and other languages.

Un'eth has arrived.

Ranik approaches the bridge on horseback and when he arrives by the mechanical bar, pulls up on the reins. As he dismounts, he asks, "What a mess. What left it?"

"A number of people." Fazahd looks up from his scrubbing, squinting at the man on the horse. "I came toward the end of the engagement, but it appears that a number of spiders were splashed with an improperly disposed of potion of growth. Giant spiders, everywhere." He shakes his head. "It was quite a sight."

Ranik shudders at the thought of so many enlarged spiders, a reaction made all-the-easier by the scene AND SMELL of spider guts all over this place. He takes off his white silk shirt and lays it on the saddle of his horse, and casts a spell.

GAME: Ranik casts Unseen Servant. Caster Level: 4 DC: 16

He then says, "That ought to help out quite a bit." Then he makes to grab a brush and find a section to work on personally.

Fazahd nods, going back to scrubbing himself. "I understand that the spiders were poisonous, too," he says as he scrubs. "Quite unusual, that large a volume. The merchants carrying them, of course, swore that it was nothing to do with them."

GAME: Ranik casts Detect Poison. Caster Level: 4 DC: 15

Ranik looks relieved as his spell reveals no poisonous residue, and says, "Whew." Then sets himself to work, scrubbing away.

Ranik seems to get lost in his own thoughts as he works, but after a while begins humming to himself, one of the popular tunes currently heard around Alexandria.

After a bit of scrubbing, Fazahd stops once again - wiping at his brow, the priest is sweating profusely. "I really should design some kind of mana-powered cooling device," he mutters. "This heat of late, it's ridiculous."

Ranik looks over at Fazahd, and says, "Dude, I know. I'd be only too happy to put a spell on you to relieve the effects of the weather, but it's not one of the ones I prepared last night. I can evoke flame, water, or wind, though if it helps. I tend to prepare spells that let me blast things, in case I get a Guild job." He grins sheepishly.

"D...I see," he says with a shake of his head. "Well, no worries. I'll just set the pump to bring up river water in a spray, soon. When we're done. And of course, there is plenty of water in the restaurant." Fazahd shrugs. "I really should speak to the city government about forming a civil cleaning unit."

Ranik nods, and says, "Oh, they have one, but things sometimes take a while to work through the bureaucracy. Imwould guess that some committee is meeting today to consider how best to deal with this mess, and by tomorrow, they'll awars a contract to some merchant, or task the City Guard with overseeing a prisoner labor detail, or some other response."

"...I've been thinking about it," says Fazahd, gesturing to the people working on the bridge with them; all of them wear shabby clothes, obviously poor. "I think that rather than prison labor, we should employ the people who need to be kept /from/ criminal acts in their desperation, don't you?

Fazahd shakes his head. "I mean...think about the amount of gold someone like you or I would spent on an enchanted sword or hammer. That could outfit and fund a large squad of the formerly indigent for a year."

Ranik nods. "Oh, no doubt about it."

Fazahd squints at Ranik faintly, stopping in mid-scrub again. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in donating to such a thing if it were to happen? Not much, but even a few hundred gold coins would make the lives of a number of people much better."

Ranik pauses and says, "I don't mind pitching in, certainly, but even for me that's a sum beyond my means. My lord father provided me an education and still houses me, but the family estate will be my brother's. It is, in short, for me to make my own way, and my whole accumulation of personal assets, much of which is forever sunk in my spellbook, probably amounts to no more than that amount."

"Then perhaps we should do more work outside of the city together." Fazahd doesn't look at him while he scrubs, but his air has changed. "Families can be...interesting. I, too, am more of a self-made sort."

Ranik smiles, "Sure thing. I'd like to get out there and earn some more. Lately, I've mostly been getting by on scribal jobs. They're fine, and I like doing the artwork, but every so often, I just feel like letting loose some eldritch power. Quite a rush, you know."

"Oh, quite," says Fazahd. "In fact, if you'd like I could perhaps hire you to scribe some scrolls for me as well - I'll have to translate the mechanics into a proper engineering format, of course, but if it helps you, I'd be pleased. Better than buying it from a merchant who'se better set, wouldn't you say?" He gets back to scrubbing, but he does so easily. No real hurry here. Conversation's better in theheat.

Ranik chuckles. "Sure. I've made scrolls for artifice-types before. It all seems kinda strange to me, but to each their own, I guess." He then starts naming off the spells that his spellbook contains.

"Well, it's interesting," Fazahd says, looking thoughtful as he goes over Ranik's list in his head. "You're familiar with the differences between arcane magic and the Sea of Mana?"

What easier way to cool from the heat of the day and travel south to the city than the mighty Tornmawr? Uneth steps up the abuttment from the banks below, water still shedding from her scales. They hold little water, unlike cloth and fur, but the saturated air leaves nearly everything seeming perpetually damp.

Up on the bridge, of course, Fazahd and Ranik are working at scrubbing the ichor-stained stones with a group of the city's poor.

Ranik wipes the sweat from his forehead and thinks for a moment. He says, "Somewhat, yes. Although, as you may imagine, I have focused much more of my study on arcane magical application than on the sea of mana, but I well realize that without the energy source, no amount of technique would avail." He then looks at Un'eth as she climbs into view.

"Quite. Well, it's all a difference in application. Artifice harnesses the energy much as you might, but instead of the mind providing all the work, we use mechanism and focusing stones and such. The result is a more physically stable, more easily used source of mangical effects, but as machines are far more limited than the imagination, so are the immediate uses of the power." He pauses his scrubbing to peer at the shape who emerges. "Was she there before? Or did she come out of the - ah, no, she came out of the water. They're so graceful, her people. I envy that."

Un'eth looks over the remaining chaotic mess of the bridge and those scrubbing it. Her head tilts. "What happened here? Fiends? An attack? More drunken celebrations?"

Ranik watches the black-scaled newcomer approach as she asks about the cause of the mess. He says, "Master Fazahd here told me that some poisonous spiders had gotten into a bit of old enlargement potion last night and had to be eradicated."

"Quite a lot of poisonous spiders," Fazahd says with a shake of his head. "Were it not for the overpopulation of adventurers here in the city, it could have been very bad for the city."

Ranik cocks his head to the side in thought. "In time, I suppose, but this is a busy thoroughfare in the City, until it gets cleaned up, the bridge isn't fit for its normal traffic. Still, I think we've made a lot of progress. Frankly, putting my sweat and elbow grease into it isn't doing me any harm either. I've already ascertained by magic that the remains no longer bear toxicity. Then once the job's done, I'll go down to the river and wash off. A fitting end to a day of physical exertion in this muggy heat."

And so, new friends were made, the bridge was scrubbed, and the poor were made at least a little less so. In Alexandria, even janitorial duty requires advanced personnel.