Recapping the previous page:

Quote from KinaJardine >>

Duncan is very surprised when Leon manages to hammer the plate flat so quickly, though it's not entirely clear whether he was putting forth his best effort to humour him or keep him from feeling disheartened.
"Well done, boy. Consider me impressed. Keep up that level of effort, and you might just have a future in this." he says, clasping Leon's hand.
"I'll expect to see you here tomorrow morning, sharp. Be ready to sweat, we've already got a big order that we'll need to fill. I'll start you on hearth duty and bellows, but move you up to more important jobs if you show the aptitude for it." he states.

Ranik doesn't need any persuasion, it seems, and he greets Aelar in return before he answers Hyre.
"It's not that the knowledge is secret, lad. If it t'were some grand, closely guarded craft for only the most venerated frost beards, would we be paradin' it 'round in public? It's just difficult. Makin' a labour is an art, a rare skill only a few 'ave mastered. Shore'n, ye could study the texts, learn the spells, but if yer craftin' isn't perfect to the smallest detail, the beastie won't obey. It'll go mad, an' a rampagin' labour is no small matter! 'Sides pure brute force, the only way to stop one is to pull the heart stone, know the kill rune, if the thing even HAS one, or push it far 'nough from the life rail." Ranik says. It seems that the kind of magic used is fairly common knowledge to those in the Order.
"An if'n ye be talkin' about the Skell... what they've crafted is beyond even us. Aye, I've heard the stories. Those iron beasts travel wherever they please, without life rails. It's not that we COULDN'T make such a thing, it's just that the Skell 'ave them in such NUMBERS. Our best could probably make ONE labour capable of movin' on its own in a few years. The Skell have an entire cavalry of them."

 

((I think Lazlo did respond on the previous page))

Kina doesn't really have a leg to stand on as Cameron gives her a knowing look. She returns a shy, possibly... regretful smile while Carmine lavishes attention on Lazlo.
Finally, Carmen nudges his sister.
"Oi, we're not going to eat tonight if we don't get to performing. Mind stepping back there Lazlo and my brother's ex girlfriend? We'll show you how we get our coins, see if you can keep up." Carmen teases.
Kina's tail flags about. She can't retort.
What follows next is a quite the spectacle. The little stage that the three are on is actually the instrument. The three dance and stomp, and every time they land heavily, the board they're on hits a membrane below, so their dancing is percussion, allowing them to perform much higher-energy music than other minstrels. Combined with choreographed clapping and dance moves, they gather a crowd in short order. The sound coming from their stage and their hooves is complimented by the jingling of Carmine's brass bangles as she dances furiously in a kind of hybrid between stomp and Irish line dancing.
Carmine sings old fae chants as they perform, which involve quick hooting melodies that give her a chance to breathe. It's not long before they have the crowd all clapping along and some spectators even begin to pair off and begin dancing in the street to the unique rhythm.

Quote from KinaJardine >>

Ranik looks a little surprised at Aelar.
"Here? No. Ye'd best ask the local smithies for arms. Here in the Hearth, we make arms for the Watch and the Watch alone. No civilian arms, and especially not the church. Our armed faithful don't stay here behind walls, they're out there, providing comfort and aid to the settlements struggling to survive. The Order would never think of takin' profit for arms not used for defense of the people."

 Aelar nods his understanding.  "Thanks for the information, sir.  I will do that.  A friend of mine was heading to one so I'll probably check there tomorrow."

Grimbuld nods.
"Very well. Then I will expect to see you here first thing tomorrow." he says, regarding her for a moment.
"Now, do you have any questions for me, since you answered all of the ones I care about already?" he inquires.

Sister Daar gestures to Aelar.
"Come, this way. I'll introduce you to Brother Geldor. He's the clergy historian, and the most knowledgeable person I know. He can answer your questions, if he doesn't faint when he sees that mark." she says, leading him away from the Hearth courtyard and towards a dome-covered stone building with walls thick enough to resist cannon fire. It seems the dwarves make guarding knowledge a top priority.
Inside the foyer to the massive repository of history, Sister Daar makes a request to see Geldor. At first, she's bluntly rejected, but when Daar makes the argument and mentions Aelar's mark, the mood of the cleric visibly changes. They're made to wait in the foyer while the dwarf hastily retrieves the historian in question.

"Well, it seems like crafting one is truly beyond my capabilities. If you've mentioned the Skell already, however, I admit that they are the reason I'm interested in the Labours. We've had an unpleasant experience with them in the past. You said something about a heart stone, a kill rune? Could you tell me more about that? You've also mentioned the texts and spells, where can I study these?"

Brother Ranik rubs his bald head, like he's trying to figure out a way to explain the concepts in simple enough terms.
"It's quite advanced magic, laddie. It takes years and years of study to truly grasp. Are ye lookin' to join the artificer's guild? Quite a lofty aspiration, that. I wouldn't tell ye no, but yer in for a rough road ahead, if'n that's yer goal. In laymen's terms, though, the heartstone is just what ye might think it be, only think of it as both the heart AND brain together. Remove it, an' the labour can't move, but it CAN be restored. Now, a kill rune, that's a fail safe. Every labour we've created is made with a kill rune just in case someone were to tamper with the spells animating it or it somehow otherwise loses control. Show the labour the rune, and the whole spell is undone. It will never move again." Ranik explains.

Kallista thinks for a moment, "Where did you find your hood?"

"I don't suppose I'll be able to find what rune they used... Artificer's guild you say? Do they teach magic? I might be interested. Is there someone I can meet that might teach me?" After a moment, he turns to Barna. "I might not need your help in studying after all, maybe."

Quote from KinaJardine >>

Inside the foyer to the massive repository of history, Sister Daar makes a request to see Geldor. At first, she's bluntly rejected, but when Daar makes the argument and mentions Aelar's mark, the mood of the cleric visibly changes. They're made to wait in the foyer while the dwarf hastily retrieves the historian in question.

 Aelar stands patiently, trying to put the whirlwind events of the past 3 days into some sort of order.  As is becoming ever more instinctive, he begins reaching out to that place inside where Raia resides...and at least one other person.  With a ruthless compassion, he suppresses that urge.  Raia needs to rest and heal.  Taking a deep, calming breath he goes back to sorting through the events and emotions of the past few days, waiting for Brother Geldor.

Although Kina towers over him, Lazlo extends his arm- hoping a little bit of good natured fun would dull the embarassment for the noble Centauress.  "Hey, Lady, shall we 'cut a rug' as the big kids say? The night is too perfect not to dance!"  he says, chuckling good naturedly.  Lazlo's goal is not to detract from the Satyrs performance but to hype up the crowd and encourage more coin to get thrown their way. 

ooc: would this be a Performance check? LOL. I'm hoping Kina decides to dance with me but if not I guess I'll go solo!  If she joins in would we give each other advantage? oof- I'd imagine getting stepped on by a centaur would hurt- but it's worth the gamble!

performance: 18

Grimbuld grunts and shrugs.
"It came from a spiderhawk, where did you think I got it?" he asks. Apparently, that's what passes for a joke, to him.
"It came from a hunt that I shouldn't have attempted. I'm lucky I survived. In fact, this beast is the one who crippled my vision, so I took its eyes." he states. "The first lesson of the wilds... greed is never forgiven. Take more than you need, and the wilds will remember what you owe." he says with grave seriousness.
"Spiderhawks are especially troublesome to new settlers. I was asked to drive off the alpha of a pack. I had not yet tried to subjugate such a large and formidable beast on my own before. I wanted to see if I deserved my title as a master of the wild. My pride nearly cost me my life. Is that the story you were hoping for, girl?"

Ranik shakes his head to Hyre.
"It's not the same rune every time. As I said, it's an art. Each labour is different, just as each labour crafter is different. That has a hidden benefit though. It means that if someone wanted to cripple our infrastructure, they couldn't just locate a single kill rune and wipe out the entire cabal." he states.
"As for learning how to labour craft, ye'd need to attend the college here in Guiston, I would think, and frankly... if yer determined to study it, ye'd be the very first human to learn it. I've not known anyone who's mastered the art in less than ten years." he states. "And.... if ye forgive me, lad, ye don't seem t'be swimming in coin. The college is in the high society quarter."

Barna huffs and turns, folding her arms.
"You might just be stuck with me after all." she mutters.

Brother Geldor makes his appearance after a short wait, the scholarly dwarf comes limping out leaning heavily on an ornately carved cane.
"Let me see this lad..." he says, hurrying as fast as his short legs will allow. He seems to be missing a foot, also.
"Aelar, is it, boy? Forgive me manners but my fellow here tells me that you bear the mark of Baha... oh! Sister Daar. Good afternoon t'ye. Very sorry. If this is genuine, I must see this with me own eyes." he says, hobbling over to Aelar and pulling on the collar of his shirt, just enough to expose the mark.
"Pardon me, lad." he says, and slips on some bifocals to get a clearer look at the mark on his chest. He speaks some words that Aelar doesn't recognize while placing his hand over the mark, but he can feel his heart suddenly beat hard a few times and a strange power surges through him once again that spills out of his mouth in a plume of blue flame. It doesn't hurt him, it doesn't even feel hot to him, but he singes the top cap off of Geldor's head.
"Bless me beard! It's true!" the dwarf says, fixing his glasses after falling on his rear end. Several dwarf clerics come running into the room and stare wide-eyed at Aelar. Sister Daar's locket glows brightly, kicking against her chest.
"Come with me, both of you. No use in explaining this in the sitting room." Geldor says. He picks up his singed hat and gives it to the clerk to dispose of. "Ah, a pity. T'was my favorite."

(Also count that as a success towards your charisma, too. :3)
Kina continues blushing but looks over at Cameron who gives a cheeky wink and a smile. She looks down at Lazlo and smiles.
"Why not..." she says, and accepts his offer, doing her best to keep up with the dance. Lazlo is actually able to match the tempo of the music with his hooves, so he becomes part of the performance. Kina follows as best she can, the audience giving her a wide birth as a dancing horse is surely a recipe for disaster, but she's more nimble than she looks. After gathering quite the crowd, the sound of the music changes, and suddenly Carmine appears atop Kina's back.
"Mind if I cut in?" she grins, and jumps over Kina's head, through her arms, and lands practically nose to nose with Lazlo. Kina backs up, laughing and catching her breath as Carmine dances him over to the stage with her. Since he was able to match their tempo before, she just dances there on the platform with him, holding him close.
There's not much room for the two of them, so to fit in the space, they practically have to dance hip to hip and match their movements to avoid tripping over each other's hooves, but Lazlo keeps up, even as the song seems to hit a climax and the song reaches its end with a big jump and a flourish from Carmine's brothers, while Carmine herself jumps into Lazlo's arms and spins herself around, using him like a stage prop to lean back with her legs wrapped around his waist, arms stretched out to the audience. It's easy to see why their act wouldn't go over well in a saloon, given how much they've riled up the locals who cheer heartily.
In all, the performers make about 23 SP in tips for their performance, thanks to Lazlo's participation as a hype man.

Leon smiles, massaging his sore arms after hammering the sheet of metal. He shakes Duncan's hand and replies, "Thank you for having faith in me, sir. I'll be here tomorrow, and I'll work my arse off if I need to." 

He exits the blacksmith's, whistling a tune to himself as he rejoins the rest of his party. While Duncan didn't say it outright, he was sure he just secured a position as a blacksmith's apprentice. Things were beginning to look up.

Kallista listens to the story, and when he's done she thinks about it a bit. "It wasn't what I was expecting," she admits, "but... it sounds like a lesson that I'll have to learn one day too."

(You can now react to the scene with Lazlo, Leon :3)

As Lazlo gets grabbed up by Carmine to dance, Kina is still in the mood to celebrate, so she takes Leon's hand and joins in again, spinning him round with her.
"If you're going to be a fine swordsman, you're going to need to be light on your feet!" she winks at him playfully. "Don't worry, I won't make you catch me."
Again, for someone Kina's size, she's surprisingly coordinated and agile, and dancing seems to come more naturally to her than one might think. She deftly avoids stepping on Leon's feet despite how close she is to him.

Grimbuld folds his arms.
"Only if you allow yourself to fall into the trap of pride, which, given how timidly you speak, is not going to be an issue for you. In your case, your lack of pride is what will get you into trouble. The secret to dealing with many animals is to not deal with them at all. Being perceived as powerful is even more important than actually being powerful, unless you want to try and befriend the beasts."

Kallista's eyes widen, "You can do that? I mean... that's a stupid question, but that's something people can learn to do?"

Aelar begins to feel both a little nervous and a little annoyed.  Nervous because whatever happened to him, whatever this mark signified seemed to be very significant indeed.  If this Brother and even Raia were so affected by it, it must be something...rare and awesome.  Annoyed because there were so many delays to getting any questions answered at all.  Why were they being so secretive?  Were they just putting him on?  Could he trust himself to go alone with these people?

Insight on Brother Geldor 14

However, he did his best to control both emotions, though truthfully he wouldn't have minded if they noticed his annoyance...well, maybe only a little.  

"Sure...let's go somewhere more conducive to this situation."  His mother would have been proud of that response he thought with a little sadness.

"Well, thank you for the information, it was much appreciated." he then turns to Barna with a small shrug. "I guess I am. Actually, maybe we can go now? I should have enough time to get started, see what books you managed to gather, at the very least. Unless you still have something to do here, of course."

Leon feels a little nervous given the audience, but he gracefully accepts Kina's hand and begins dancing. His troubles melt away as he steps to the music and the beat. 

Performance: 21