Ethan looks up form his rummaging and looks over at Yeemik,

"Hhmm? Oh, no thank you. Fixing the castle would be fun, but I would rather stay with my friends."

Ethan turns back to his rummaging.

"Ok, ok, you can all stay for a few weeks while you fix the castle... just gotta deal with The Spider if he comes back."

Ethan lets out a cry,

"Ha! Found one!"

Ethan holds up a very nice little ruby,

"This will be perfect!"

Ethan continues to rummage and then stands up satisfied.

"I found both items I was looking for."

Ethan holds a nice specimen of a pearl in one hand and the ruby in the other.

"These should allow me to make a couple of things I have planned."

Ethan puts both items into his gauntlet for later use.

Quote from BaconExpert982 >>

Elra looks confused. "Why'd you have him do that?"

 "Part of the deal. He checks me every morning to see if I'm slipping into the darkness."

Quote from Hexblade37 >>

"Ok, ok, you can all stay for a few weeks while you fix the castle... just gotta deal with The Spider if he comes back."

 "Unfortunately, we have other obligations."

"Slipping into the darkness? You're not a bad person," Elra laughs a little, "why would you need to check?"

(I was worried I was too much of a Debbie downer there and stalled the campaign RP XD :3 )

Fae's head would instinctively lean into the comfort of Zeke's touch as he passes and a hint of a smile would touch the corner of her lips. She was not at all surprised that Ethan would not pick up on her emotions beyond the words she spoke to him, it was part of who he was. What did surprise her a little was that he didn't fish for details as to what she was doing when it occurred. Perhaps that was evidence enough that deep down, the artificer sensed more than he knew. Fae couldn't help but give Elra a warm comforting smile when she'd comment as well, her sweet sentiment made her heart feel lighter. We've all faced hardships in our past, it's how we grow from it that matters... She'd think to herself while looking at each of them.

Watching Ethan rummage through the pile and pull out a pearl, her eyes will go wide. "Oh!" She'd tiptoe over to look over the artificer's shoulder, "You wouldn't happen to have noticed another pearl in there, would you?" She'd nibble her lip, thinking about the new spell she copied last night.

At Arvel's casual mention of 'slipping into the darkness' her eyes would snap up to listen for his response to Elra. Which 'darkness'...

Ethan considers Fae's question,

"I'm not sure, I think there may have been."

Ethan dives back into the chest, rummaging around again to try and find another pearl for Fae.

Ethan only takes a moment to find the area he thought he may have seen another pearl.

With just a few more seconds of searching Ethan holds up another pearl.

"There you go."

Ethan stands back up and hands the pearl to Fae.

Quote from BaconExpert982 >>

"Slipping into the darkness? You're not a bad person," Elra laughs a little, "why would you need to check?"

 "I just helped us run through the entire contents of this keep purely through the skills She granted me. Imagine what I could do with such power if I were less...scrupulous?

That's why."

Ethan hasn't kept up with Arvel's explanations about his and Krikket's actions.

"Scrupulous? That a strange sounding word. Scrupulous, scru-pul-ous."

"What does it mean?"

"Diligent, thorough, and extremely attentive to details. Especially in an ethical sense."

Looking around at the shock of his companions.

"The orphanage had only two books in its library. The one I read was a dictionary."

"Ha, well most of the gnome professors at the university were definitely half scrupulous then."

"They were always drumming it into us to be diligent and attentive to details, but the ethical part was often left out."

"Some of the professors said that ethics were a hindrance to their work, but I think they just didn't want to have to be nice to others."

Ethan turns to Zeke,

"Hey Zeke could you help me collect some wood from dinning hall?"

Ethan walks to the door, intending to go collect materials to build something to make carrying the brazier easier.

Zeke nods his head and starts to follow Ethan into the dining room.  As he passes Arvel, the hulking tielfing pauses for the briefest of moments and casts his voice low so that only the charlatan can hear 'I will stand with you against the darkness my friend, you do not have to fave that temptation alone'.

Striding into the dining room, he makes quick work of the rubble pile, sorting the wood into piles based on rough size and suitability as building material.  He can't imagine what use the Artificer has for this pile of refuse, but given the miracles, he's seen Ethan work, he's more than happy to lend his brute strength to help in some small way. 

"Oh the temple I lived in had lots of books! The House of Knowledge has even more!" Elra says, "they're mostly history books though. Denier's temples had all the story books, but there was never a temple dedicated to Denier where I lived so I read a lot of history books and books related to the various monsters of the land. And lots of scrolls that I was probably supposed to be transcribing... actually I was defiantly supposed to be transcribing them... did I ever finish them? Anyways, I never read the dictionary... I'm guessing the other one was a book about the teachings of Tyr?"

Quote from TheCubester >>

 

"The orphanage had only two books in its library. The one I read was a dictionary."

 I love this because it had occurred to me that Arvel's 'average' Intellect of 10 gets him pretty far.  Don't get me wrong, I'd never want to diminish role play by saying "your character isn't smart enough to do or say that", that's silly, of course.  I just love the justification here.  That and I believe you said a while back that half of the time he's just making it up, assuming his audience won't know enough to call him on it, which is also a great and amusing justification! :)

Ethan begins sorting through the wood Zeke extracts from the rubble, estimating suitability for purpose.

Once selected Ethan and Zeke carry the chosen pieces back to the throne room, and Ethan starts to rig up a simple structure that would allow 2 or more people to carry the brazier on their shoulders.

Fae's eyes would beam when Ethan would find and present her with a pearl. "Oh, perfect!" She'd smile, taking the pearl and tucking it safely onto her person.

Fae caught herself staring, watching the boys work while she listened to Arvel and Elra's conversation. Snapping herself out of it and desiring to be helpful, she will excuse herself from the others. "While you prepare the brazier, I'll bring Edgar outside to complete a preliminary perimeter check and scout." She'd make her way outside to take a large breath of fresh air. After a moment of scanning the horizon, Fae will reach out to send Edgar to the skies.

Quote from BaconExpert982 >>

"... I'm guessing the other one was a book about the teachings of Tyr?"

 "Nope. It was 'The Joy of Orcish Cooking'. No kid there was ever brave enough to even crack the cover."

"I mean... learning about different cultures is important."