Robwin is bolstered by the kind words of his friends. He nods, and then whispers, “Thank you. Let’s think about the other items then: the Wand, the Amulet, and the Rod. Someone should maybe try and negotiate the coin for one or two of these. Didn't the notice say something like ‘If you find something magical and don’t want it...’? Hmmm... to me that sounds like any one of these items could fulfil the contract...

...but maybe someone else should try... I’m not great with... people... and words... and this kind of thing - as I think we just saw!”. He screws up his face and looks at his shoes.

Then Lia wakes up from her customary place in Robwin's hood, and flutters groggily the short distance to his shoulder and nuzzle's against his face. "You want to rest in your realm for a bit? Ok, go on then my gorgeous girl. It's been a long day", he says with a smile. He makes that little double-click in his cheek again, and Lia disappears.

Vimak says, "The Rod might be useful." He shrugs. "I don't know. It's good for us to be on friendly terms with the mayor, but it is wrong for him to pretend the notice doesn't promise what it does. The Wand is a light show? How might the Amulet be valuable to us? And what else can we do to protect the town?"

Prosper gives an encouraging nod to Robwin, leaning over to whisper quietly: "Look, I'll give it a try, see if I can't persuade the townsmaster to give us the gold for one or two of the things we don't need. If I have to pick just one I say we keep the pole of collapsing. It has some interesting possibilities." 

If the rest of the party agrees, then she approaches the door again and presses a hand to the door, giving a small knock just to signify to the man behind the door that she was still there. "Hello, sir? I'm afraid we can't give you a Hat of Wizardry, but we did pick up a Clockwork Amulet and a Wand of Pyrotechnics,  brand new from Gnomengarde! Would you be interested in any of those by any chance? They're very versatile items with a range of different applications, I'm sure you'll appreciate them."

Persuasion (if applicable): 15

The Town Master lets out a sigh, loud enough to be heard through the door. "So you don't have the Hat of Wizardry? Damn... very well then, I'll take whatever you have for 50 gold. Leave them at the door."

Robwin’s eyebrows raise in delight, and he gives Prosper a nod and a silent double-thumbs-up.

He rummages in his bag for a second, then places the wand and the amulet near the door. “There you go, Townmaster, they’re just outside”.

While he’s at it, he’ll also pass Prosper the rod for safekeeping.

And he makes a mental note, not to wear the hat of wizardry around town too much, if he can help it.

Vimak nods at his colleagues, approving of the way the transaction went. Towards the door, he says, "What news of the dragon? Do you feel the town is safe? Any clue to its locations?"

The door opens ever so slightly as a hand quickly grabs the items and pulls them inside. before anyone even has the chance to react. A few seconds later, 50 more coins slide through under the door, one by one. "A few more quests will be posted up tomorrow, so be sure to check the board again. In terms of the dragon, I don't know anything! I'm leaving it to adventurers like you. If no one deals with it soon, we'll all be plucked off, one by one, eaten alive! And I don't plan on being the first one to go."

Adas heaves a sigh of frustration. From the back he speaks low, "This one is a most perturbing individual. Though we did come later in the day, perhaps it is his rest time. "

“He sure is!” agrees Robwn “And I think you’re right, Adas, about it being time to rest! Let’s head back to the Inn, and sort out our rooms and things”.

”Thank you, Townmaster” he calls out, “We’ll check the board again in the morning”.

Robwin heads back through the town towards the Inn when the group is ready (assuming no one has anything else left to do today in town?). If the Inn door is open, they step inside to see if anyone much is around and if Toblen is still up.

If the bar is still open, Robwin will ask the group, “Anyone fancy anything to eat or drink? Or something to take back to the rooms?”.

And if Toblen is there, he’ll ask, “Toblen, you mentioned you had a bath at the top of the stairs towards the back. That right? A private room I assume? How does one go about drawing the water for a bath, and is it hot? And what do we owe for it’s use? Thank you”.

Assuming everyone is good to head to the inn, you all see that it's fairly active inside. There are a few tables with groups chatting away and eating dinner. Toblen is hard at work behind the bar as a waitress goes around to the different tables taking orders and delivering food.

As Robwin approaches Toblen, he nods, dusting his hands on his apron. "Yep, one person at a time. Or, well, more than one if that's what you want. I can get you some hot water now, if you want to clean up, but it'll take a bit of minute. If you aren't wanting to wait, you can just use the cold water already prepared. It'll be one silver for a bath."

Tahnis nods as he looks at his blood-stained clothes. "I'll wait for a little bit for a hot bath." 

Robwin looks at Tahnis, remembering their fight with the shapeshifter... “How you doing, Tahnis? I hope you’re not in too much pain now...”.

And then to Toblen, “Yes, thanks, Toblen, hot water would be great, I think. No rush though, whenever you can. Just let us know when it’s ready?”. He hands the man a silver for himself and one for Tahnis too. “Anyone else?” He asks. Then Robwin glances around the room and asks Toblen, “Is there a booth free? Or anywhere a little secluded we could sit for a while?”.

Prosper waves a cheerful goodbye, at the door, but oh well. She'll gladly take the wand and stow it inside a pocket after testing it out a couple of times (being very careful about not pointing it at someone's face, of course) as they travel back to the tavern. "Nothing in town that I want to buy." She confirms, then shrugs. "Nothing I can afford, at least. Take that shower, Tahnis. No offense, but you look like you've seen significantly better days. I'm used to taking cold baths." She adds with a grin. "Not exactly thrilled about it, but I want everybody to rest, and soon, so it'll do. If there's nothing else, we should all get to bed soon. It's been a long day, after all." 

Robwin nods at Prosper, and then thinks... “Hold on!”. He runs past, and upstairs with out any explanation...

He checks the bath room. It looks ok, but he spends a few seconds using prestidigitation to clean the bath and even the water, and then uses three whole uses of the same spell to warm the water as much as he can....

As he comes back down he cuts an 8th off of his soap and hands it to Prosper. “Sorry, it’s tiny... but we can get more in the morning. And I warmed the water a bit”. He wiggles his fingers to mime doing a spell, as if to explain. Then he goes and sits with the others, where he cuts his remaining soap into a further seven pieces and hands them out triumphantly to the rest of the group.

"Thank you for the soap," Vimak says. "It's the gift I'm given most often. Every year, on my birthing day, my old mother would give a piece of soap. Some years I'd hardly used the one from the year before, but still she'd give me another." He stares at the soap for a long moment. Then Vimak takes out a piece of silver and hands it to Toblen. "At some point tonight," he says. "I can go last, in fact." 

After his bath, Vimak will find an empty few yards of floor in the group's room and sleep. 

After his bath, Tahnis too will go and get some sleep. 

As the group gradually migrates upstairs, Robwin will join them, basing himself in one or other of the rooms (he's not too bothered which, although he's keen that Ulla and the Gnomes are comfortable). He has a few quiet tasks to complete before taking a bath and turning in properly, so in fact he may end up being the last to take a bath...

(OOC: what follows is Robwin's 'wizardly' nightly activities, before he sleeps. Feel free to read for flavour and a little bit of character background, etc. But a warning: it's a long post (sorry I won't do many of these I promise) all just flavour, feel free not to read)  ;-)  But they broadly equate to him attuning to the hat...

Robwin finishes his meditations and practice, and his bath, then returns to the room and falls soundly asleep on his bedroll on the floor.

The group eventually settles down with some food, on the house from Toblen as a way of thanking you all for your work. After dinner, you take your baths and go back to your rooms for a good night's rest after a long, hard day. The gnomes all huddle together on one bed, amazed at its size. The night goes by and the morning comes with no issue. It's around 9am when you all awaken and gather on the lower floor of the inn. What would you all like to do?

(Congratulations, guys. With this long rest, you all level up.)

Prosper shrugs a little at the display of magic and tentatively dips a finger into (what I'm assuming to be) lukewarm water, grins, and gives a thumbs up to Robwin. "Certainly better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick. Thanks, Robwin." After her bath, she retires to the group's rooms (like above, doesn't really matter which one), claims a corner of the room, and tries to get, you know, the requisite 4 hours of trancing in. She wakes up at the time she usually does, at just before sunrise, so probably a little earlier than most of the party. She (quietly) makes her way out of the room, keeping her footsteps light so as to not wake up any of the others. If the kitchen's open, she'll try to beg a quick meal from the cooks, before leaving the tavern and scaling the building to watch the sunrise from the roof.

When she hears the tavern begin to wake around her, she'll make her way down to ground level again, cheerily greeting her party members good morning as they descend the stairs. She's certainly not going to say no to a second breakfast if there is one. If they wait around for any length of time at the tavern, she'll propose a game of cards, playing for gold, of course, but once everyone is ready to leave, she'll lead the way back to the noticeboard. "Seems like a pretty reliable way of earning money around here, no? Just as well. I love exploring new places and all, but I'd hate to sit and twiddle my thumbs all day."

Robwin wakes and dresses for the day, happy to forgo most of his heavy travelling gear in favour of his lighter wizard's robes. He wears them in the style of an apprentice: no loose sleeves, everything short, everything tied back. Much safer if a spell goes awry!

His apprentice robes only come down to mid thigh, and he binds the loose sleeves, and his trouser-cuffs, with cloth wrappings all the way back up to his elbows and knees, keeping everything neat and out of the way. All of his clothes are the muted grey-white cloth of an apprentice, aside from the short robe itself, which is a rich and vibrant orange with white trimmings. It marks him out as a student of Abjuration from his school in Neverwinter.

At the same time, he pulls his long hair in to a harsh, tight, dutch-braid, starting at one temple and sweeping over his ear, and round the back of his head, letting the end of the plait hang forward over his left shoulder (away from his main casting hand). In contrast to his 'school clothes', he also pulls on his long, tough, travelling boots and his sturdy travelling belt. Then he slips Ulla's wand up inside the cloth wrappings of his left forearm, hidden, but ready to draw at a moment's notice. And he keeps Pog's wand buried inside his robes and tucked into his waistband (as a back up).

He looks quite different today - altogether neater and smarter - ready for action. He descends the stairs to sit with his friends and get some breakfast. He leaves the hat (and the rest of his stuff) in his pack, on his bedroll, in their room, for now.