Dain Ironfist approaches the door of the storefront that House Kundarak had secured as a base of operations, his eyes glancing up at the lettering above the door. Apparently it translates to something along the lines of "Here dwell those who champion the causes and freedoms of the Citadel of Radiance". He's not entirely sure yet to take it as ironic or aspirational.

Pushing the door open, Dain pauses and looks around the interior, catching a nod from Milo Slate, his sweeping white mustache bobbing. Milo and Dain make up the remaining contingent of the Kundarak presence here... for now. The Concord Jewel that they arrived on from one of the Lost Civilizations has been glitchy, with some transports sent with supplies for the outpost arriving empty... personnel and supplies just gone. It's been a bit of a black eye for House Kundarak, and while the Jewel has been able to transport the majority of the contingent back to Khorvaire, the two of you stayed on to maintain a presence. Necessity has lead to various ways to make ends meet while cut off (hopefully temporarily) from your backing house.

"Lil Cuz, yer friends stoppin' by? Got some leads on some jobs.", Milo drawls. While technically 'cousin' is an apt term, the two of you have never managed to figure out how far removed or distant. The 'lil' part only applies to age, as Dain is a fair bit more imposing than the more slender elder.

Dain, you know the others should be arriving shortly, you'd mentioned that Milo may have some leads over dinner and drinks last night.

When the others walk in, who/what would an observer see? You'd see Milo, an older dwarf with slightly wavy white hair that falls down past his ears, and a thick, enviable mustache above a stubbled chin. His eyebrows are still dark and bushy on his creased and weathered light brown face. He serves as support staff for your current business operations, his adventuring days being decades behind him. You'd also of course see Dain (who can also describe himself).

How did the five of you end up working together? Were you recruited by Dain or one of the others of his House directly, or were some of you friends or working together already? 

What is one job or occurrence on a job that made you feel closer to the person who posted before you? (Whoever goes first can later respond for whoever goes last. Feel free to spoiler if you wish.)

Liber enters first, being somewhat silent, but no less courteous. looking for the two dwarfs (Dwarves? it got confusing, how some of the texts were written.), he spots them and heads over.

Liber....was grateful for House Kundarak for giving him and his possessions shelter after he had to leave the temple, and sought to repay it however possible. it was a matter of academic honor.

"May Azuth's illumination spark your mind, Milo Slate. What need have you for our band?"

((Yes, Dain and Milo are both dwarves. And for the benefit of others, Liber is a...?))

"I'm always worried it'll hurt, Liber, m'boy! Been shocked enough times to be wary of sparks! Few jobs you might be up for, I'll wait for the others, if you don't mind, so's I don't have to say it five times. Pot's on in the back, if you want to pour me a black one too?", he gestures towards a urn of hot water and some canisters set next to some mugs.

Dain is a stoutly-built dwarf in his prime. He has black hair and a long tidy black beard. He wears scale male armor, with the emblom of his house afixed to the chest. His left arm though seems to be covered by a slightly glowing tattoo, that runs from his shoulder all the way down to cover his left hand. He has a quarterstaff leaning against a wall nearby.

Dain nods to Liber as the other walks in. "Glad you could make it." Dain informs his friend with a smile. "Not sure what the old man has in mind, so we'll see what it is once the gang is all here." He sighs as he moves over to stand with Liber. "I have not quite gotten down that bit you and I were speaking about the other day, in regard to those spells and the use of a spellbook to record the knowledge of them. It goes against how I do magic currently, but I was hoping to speak with you more on it once this business is finished." Dain and Liber had spent some time previously with Liber helping Dain understand the way in wich a wizard does magic, compared to how an artificer does it. Dain is attempting to learn wizardly magic now, and Liber has been helping him out.

(Liber is a blue dragonborn, with white hair and facial features akin to Eastern dragons, on a western form; wears simple wizarding robes)

"Think nothing of it, good Dain; knowledge is a gift to be shared and expanded, not to be hoarded like metals. I will gladly help you after the affairs of today."

With that, he pours Milo a coffee, while making himself an herbal tea with the water and one of the mugs.

Milo nods his thanks and takes a satisfied sip before turning back to the ledgers he's working on.

Mialee is an elf on the short side, wearing leather armor over a cotton tunic. Her hair is short and coiled, and she looks uncomfortable about having brought her shortbow and rapier, but brightens up when she sees Dain, Milo, and Liber.  She hasn't been around all too much lately, as it seems the tinkerer she works under was called back to the house, and she's all too happy to hear about a chance for some honest work.

"Good to see you all! Any news on the situation in Khorvaire, Dain? And what sort of jobs are these? I've not been able to find too much honest work lately myself."

((Occurrence that left Mialee feeling more connected to Dain?))

((Going armed and armored in the Citadel is permitted, but it very clearly paints you as an adventurer.))

Mialee doesn't have many places to store her gear, and thought it would be best to come already prepared for a job.

Dain and Mialee struck up a friendship when he found her a job at Kundarak under their artificers/tinkerers. Ever since, they try to meet up and discuss interesting ideas for contraptions, their respective civilizations, and whatever the news is in the citadel. 

Tandor walks in, his chain mail rattling and a sack of what is probably food and spices, if past occurrences are any guide, at his hip.  The traditional white of his station and order, visible under his armor, clean, but worn.  His light brown skin has not darkened appreciably from the light of the jewel, but neither has it lightened. His black hair is, of course, unchanged. His tall, lanky form moves with an always surprising grace but his ready smile at the sight of his companions is a common sight.

"Howdy, friends," he says, his common touched with the accent of his native San Citlan.  "Milo," and he nods at the older dwarf, "sent me a message saying he's a job or three we might be wanting to do.  I'm guessing he's not told you all anything yet."  As he moves to the kitchen to cook some tasty meal from home as always, he looks at Mialee. "How's the leg, Mialee? Still no limp?"

This had become something of a running joke between the two. It had been more than six months since she'd hobbled her way into the clinic where Tandor spent much of his time. She'd never said how she came by the injury and he hadn't asked but he'd like her manner immediately and when she'd invited him to meet Dain and Milo, he'd been only to happy to go. And he'd never regretted it.

Liber sipped his tea, nodded at Mialee, and began reviewing his spellbook for any oddities.

His interaction with Mialee started with the Arcana Feralis, and ended with both running from a burning building.

simply put, she had grabbed the book and tossed it to someone; they opened it, and perished in the Fireball on themselves. the book was fine, but Liber had to grab it and run.

only later did he find out that Mialee worked for the same house that he did, but the coworker with her was.....ambitious.

Milo looks around at the gathered group.

"Alston in the middle of a project again? Ah well, you can catch him up."

"Anyway, here's the jobs I've caught wind of. Giant coyote pack causing trouble down in Godsbreath... nasty buggers."

"One Don Edelmiro is looking to hire protection, not sure on his time table or pay, might be a 'discuss and strike a deal' type job. Thinks his living descendants are trying to muscle him out."

((Tandor, you can give me a History check.))

"And I've got two in the Dyn Singh Night Market. One is a transport and exchange job, take a package down, meet up with a contact, give the package, bring what they give you back to the Citadel. The other is kind of a hush-hush thing, but the Merchant Collective there is looking to hire some non-locals to do a job. Got the sense it might be a sting operation they need some fresh faces for."

Milo turns and scrawls summaries of the jobs out on a chalkboard on a side wall.

• Giant coyote bounty - 5 gold per bounty, 25 gold for the alpha - Godsbreath
• Protection for Don Edelmiro - ? gold, ? days/weeks - San Citlan
• Package exchange - 10 gold - Siabsungkoh
• Merchant Collective job - ? gold - Siabsungkoh

 "I know it's only courier pay for the package job, but it's for the Speaker for Yongjing, so...", Milo shrugs. 

Tandor History: 23

You don't recognize the specific name, but you knew it was in your homeland from the 'Don' honorific. From what Milo said about living descendants, you'd surmise that the prospective client is one of the olvidados.

"Don Edelmiro is probably an olvidados, a kinda undead with brains. Usually, they're skeletons or spirits and, aside from being dead, are the same person they were. Like, they think the same way, have the same memories, that sort of thing. No memory of the afterlife, though," Tandor says. "I haven't heard of this one, but it sounds like he might be a criminal, or maybe involved in business. San Citlán, it's a city of the haves and have nots, so we got bandits and criminals." He pauses here, then says with a reluctant sadness, "Corruption too. I'm gonna abstain on that one, but for the others, the idea of getting some giant coyotes sounds interesting."

"I agree with Tandor; coyotes shouldn't be too much of a challenge with our capable bunch. And those are good bounties. Milo, how many coyotes are reported? Do you know much more about that one?"

She winks at Tandor.

"My legs are awfully good at running away from things, when they've been properly fixed up."

"Coyotes might not be a trouble, but keep in mind these are GIANT coyotes. From what I understand, they're about the size of a horse...", Milo interjects. "Numbers varied from a half dozen to almost two dozen, but you know how folks like to exaggerate. Apparently the leader of the pack is a wily one, bit bigger, scarred, with reddish fur."

Dain frowns as he listens to the jobs. "I don't mind a bit of hunting, but seems we could take care of two of these items with one hammer." He looks to the elder dwarf. "If two of those are in the same area of the market, then why not just deliver that package and check out this other task the market-folks has in mind while we are there?" He glances back to the others. "Market seems a bit easier than going off on a hunt for dangerous beasts..." He offers with a shrug.

"The market seems to be the best area of operation. we do a transportation work, then we speak to the Collective as to the unknown assignment. my vote is for the market."

Liber states this with a tranquil tone, while also notarizing to himself to check for magical artifacts and manuscripts.

"I've nothing against the market either, I suppose. Maybe we'd best wait for Alston to pitch in their thoughts? But I admit I do like the idea of doing two jobs at the same time."