Hired help

[Abra]

19 Vhalar, 719


Abra stood in front of the bathroom mirror of his inn room and looked at his reflection. His head was aching and his vision was blurry. Ever since he overstepped earlier this season he had been having trouble with his vision and the effects hadn’t worn off yet. If he had to guess, the effects hadn’t gotten any better in the slightest which was surprising. He was accustomed to any overstepping side effects to fade within breaks if not a couple trials. He feared the worst… he feared that his eyes had been mutated in some way and now he needed spectacles to see properly.

The inn room filled with sounds of cursing while Abra got dressed and didn’t stop when he walked the streets. “You there,” he said to a patrolman, “where can I receive medical attention?”

“Just down the street if it’s nothing significant. You don’t look injured, what’s your worry?” The guard looked concerned based on how foul Abra’s expression was.

“My eyes are killing me, I think I need specs.” Abra motioned towards his eyes and focused on the slight blur around the outline of the patrolman.

“Well if it’s eye care you need, the building right over there has someone who can help you. Careful crossing the street now.” The guard waved Abra off.

Abra met with an eye specialist and took the eye exam. The specialist had him try on a variety of glasses but none improved his vision at all. The frustration between them both led to a heated exchange where Abra was accused of wasting the man’s time. Abra stormed out unsatisfied with his vision still being as poor as when he went in. He was coming to terms with the effects of overstepping and knew that it could only go away with time.

With this disappointing news affecting him there was always the chance that it would sour the rest of his day. He couldn’t let it get to him though. He had actual work to do in Viden and money was on the line. He had made a business contact the other trial and he thought it was part of his duty as a Sombran to help set the business up. He needed to do something to make up for the failure with the glass statue. He navigated the busy streets of Viden’s winter streets and found the little place where they were supposed to meet.

“So this is what you’ve got,” Abra said while walking into a mostly empty store. It looked like his business partner was selling processed leathers by the looks of the wares. There wasn’t much here though.

“It’s not much yet. It’s hard to get enough stock to have a variety to sell. If you only have a few items left people think something’s wrong with them and I don’t sell very much at all. I was hoping for some extra money to get some help with labor and inventory.” The store owner, aptly named Tanner was busy working his craft on a piece of animal hide. He had a special kind of twist on the skill which made his product attractive. People that worked with furs and leathers were particularly valuable in Viden so if you could break into the market, you could make some serious money. These things were becoming apparent to Abra.

“Well, I can certainly provide you with some start up cash,” Abra said while taking a look at the artistic qualities of the processed leathers, “it won’t be free but I find that a loan is harder to obtain if you don’t have much reputation. I give small loans, you see, to businesses and people going through emergencies. For you, I would be willing to offer an interest free loan, so long as you can prove to me that you can make enough money to pay me back. Tell me, would the coins you tried to swipe from me be enough to get what you need?” Abra was running the math in his head and trying to make things work out.

“I’ll put it this way. If I had that money I could hire the help to do the more standard work and I could focus on what makes the real money. I tried to get a loan but it’s like the other businesses are in on it with the bank. They don’t want to rock the boat so it’s hard for people like me to get a foot in the door, you understand right? So the only way to have a chance is to have a lot of money which I don’t have.” He stopped working and wiped sweat from his forehead. He looked at Abra with hopelessness that he had seen many times in other businessmen.

“Well once you get going, I’m sure you’ll find investors that won’t care if you can’t get a bank loan. Tell you what, write down your prices and go get what you need with this cash. I’ll drum up some interest in the business.” He tossed the investment money over to Tanner and walked out the door. He had a way with people that Tanner didn’t know about. A bit of Empathy and he was sure to drum up some new visitors.

The early afternoon came and Tanner had already blown through the small sum that Abra had loaned out to him. He had a young assistant now to handle simple tasks and an order to bring in some more tools. Abra was standing outside and advertising the shop. “Beautiful leathers, hides, furs, you name it! Just take a look inside?” He said the same scripted line over and over while making connections with people that passed by. Those who gave him a glance were under his spell and he could do his best to put some intrigue in their tangles and embroider the shop into the source of the emotion.

He had long since proven his proficiency with putting suggestions behind emotions to give a little control over their choices and actions. The trouble came with trying to manage multiple tangles at once. He had only ever manipulated two tangles at once and that had been quite a feat. Now he not only had to grab onto multiple tangles, but work different strategies for each one. He had to maintain ether flow too because if he let go then the spell would be done and they would reconsider going into the shop.

He used this a method of pushing his boundaries from two tangles to three. The hardest thing wasn’t telling his spark to do the work, surprisingly. The most difficult of all the steps involved was mentally processing all the emotions he was touching with his magic. It more than doubled his normal ether cost for what he was doing. His efforts wouldn’t be for nothing though. People actually did start going into the shop out of manufactured curiosity and looking around. Once they got inside, Abra released his hold over them and latched onto other people.

“Looks like business is good today, there must be some truly wonderful leathers in there. Take a look!” he suggested to people that passed by. The store was filling up with people that hadn’t even been touched by the magic. “If only I could do this on my own business,” Abra thought with a hint of jealousy. He would be rich if there weren’t penalties for manipulating people in Melrath.

Abra took a short break but was quickly back at it. He was manipulating not three, but four tangles at a time. He worked out a system where he could quickly switch his focus between the tangles instead of trying to focus on them all at the same time. So long as he provided the ether the connection couldn’t be broken and he wouldn’t have to worry about re-establishing the connections. It was mentally tiring no matter how much he tried to deny it and although he wanted to push it to five connections at a time, he really couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“Abra get in here, you’re quite the advertiser,” said Tanner when he popped outside for a second. They went inside and Abra saw just how packed the place was. People lined the walls, looking at Tanner’s intricate designs. There was another line to make purchases that took up most of the assistant’s time. It was incredible how successful this place had become in just a day of cheating with magic.

“I already made back the loan money,” Tanner said and pushed a sack of coins into Abra’s hand, “I don’t know how you did it, but thanks! I put in a little extra for all the help you've given me. Praise Chamadarst!”

Abra smiled wearily and said, “it’s almost as if it was magic.” He winked then said, “I’ll check back up on you next season. I’m sure you’ll have new things to worry about then.”

“You’re a mage?” Tanner whispered in surprise. He pulled Abra to the side and gave him a worried look, “what if you get caught?”

“That’s precisely why I’m going to leave now,” Abra replied, “I’m not from around here. So long as I leave before people get suspicious, nobody should be any the wiser.” Abra smiled and hurried off to the bathroom where he cut into the untold to escape into emea, not to be seen in Viden again for the time being.

[Pig Boy]

Abra

Points

10/10 Points for empathy

Knowledge

Meditation: Don’t let frustration get to you
Meditation: Multitasking multiple tangles
Empathy: Feeling multiple tangles
Empathy: Subtle works better than force
Business Management: If you only have a few items left people think something’s wrong with them.
Business Management: Get investors if you can’t come up with the cash yourself

Loot/losses

-

Wealth

-

Renown

5

Comments: Abra better be careful, slinging magic around under the nose of the FRA. They''re bound to take notice of a rogue mage manipulating the populace. And I'm sure they'd be more than happy to take a look at his eyes for him. I hear they're well stocked and equipped with state of the art medical equipment.

Anyway, it was a good thread, where Abra had some fun developing his abilities while helping out a poor tanner.