Completed A New Dawn Hast Arisen Pt. III

[Naadiya]

A New Dawn Hast Arisen Pt. III 1st of Spring, 522 AV continued from… Nothing happened. Though she wasn’t sure of what she had expected to happen or why she’d expected anything at all, she’d certainly expected something to have happened. Instantly she felt silly for her previous reluctance. Who ever had written this simply did not know how to find the new house, most likely. They might even have tried the Inn and been turned away, she reasoned. Her hands made no move to open the letter but if asked why, Naadiya still had no answer. Her left hand gripped the stained paper but the right one busied itself rearranging the gloves on the display, then doing so again and again for a third time. A now somewhat sweaty palm moistened the envelope with salty stress and Naadiya placed the letter back on the counter and stared at it for another few chimes. It wasn’t that receiving correspondence was such a strange occurrence, only this was the first time that she had received anything since arriving in Syka. She couldn’t think of anyone from her life in Eyktol who actually knew where she was and very much doubted that any of the Svefra who’d brought her to these shores would want to write her any sort of letter. Maybe Artik was trying something new, but it had never seemed his style. The sounds of Dawn working on the loom in the back room was a white noise she couldn’t help but be aware of. Dawn! she thought. Surely the shop owner would be able to shed some light on the letter and its origins. Naadiya grabbed the envelope again and went back to the workroom. Her employer looked to have hardly moved but still she smiled. Naadiya neared her and as she did so, the girl looked at what Dawn had already woven. The fabric was going to be somewhat thick, she could tell. Maybe a curtain… or a tapestry? For a curtain, it would certainly be heavily patterned, if she was judging by the amount of different colored yarns Dawn was using. But picturing more than one such panel in an inside space, Naadiya doubted the fabric was intended as such. “Wow, Dawn, this is really intricate… is this for a customer?” “Not a customer, no, no. Sometimes, inspiration just hits and creativity flows.” …Flows down a river of coffee, Naadiya thought as she wondered what the end result would be and remembering the reason she had come back here to begin with. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Dawn cut her off. “Where is Gracelin? She’s not still shaking is she? Didn’t you find her?” “I— yes, I found her. She is on her way, she just had to make a quick stop before coming in. And I am glad to say, her hands are no longer shaking!” “Praise Kihala,” Dawn replied, taking a chime to pause her weaving and look at Naadiya with a smile that only gave one sleep-deprived twitch, “And you?” Naadiya returned the smile and shook her head. “No shaking.” “No shaking?” Dawn asked, though it seemed both women knew they were not speaking of the jittering Gracelin had been plagued with. “No shaking.” Naadiya confirmed and took a deeply satisfying breath. 538

[Naadiya]

Dawn seemed pleased to hear the good news that both her employees had been cured as she had. She too took a slow breath mimicking Naadiya’s and was turning back to her work when Naadiya got her attention again. “Dawn, did anyone come into the shop while I was out?” “What? No, why?” “It’s just… I found this on the counter and I’m almost positive it hadn’t been there when I left earlier. I’m sure I would have noticed it.” While the envelope was made of no distinct paper or any bright color, it bore Naadiya’s name in an unmistakable scrawl. Even if she’d only seen the name in passing, or through the corner of her eye, she’d likely recognize it as her own name. “I’m almost positive I did not see it.” Naadiya said again, trying to think if there had been any paper rectangle in the recesses of her memory that had been hidden earlier but finding no such memory. It looked like the blonde woman was actually giving it some thought, but her face came up blank in the end as well. “If someone had come in, I did not hear them. But I really don’t think anyone entered the store. Unless they came in when I was out.” Naadiya had specifically left the door to the work room opened just in case there had been customers in need of assistance, but if Dawn had been so deeply focused on the loom, maybe she hadn’t heard anyone. “You were out?” Naadiya asked, sounding noticeably surprised. “Well… Nature called, if you must know, I had a lot of coffee, but I wasn’t gone for very long. I had closed most everything up when I was out… Why do you look anxious? Who’s it from?” Dawn gestured to the letter in Naadiya’s grasp. “I— don’t know.” “Then why are you anxious?” The weaver turned back to her loom and made adjustments for the next part of the pattern. “I’m… not so sure that I am anxious, actually,” Naadiya tried to deflect, but averted her eyes and instead glued them to the unopened envelope. Dawn’s shrug seemed to be saying ‘if you say so’, but no words actually came. “I’m going to wait for Gracelin out front,” Naadiya said softly, her mind still on the letter. “Call if you need anything.” Dawn nodded but did not seem like she was overly concerned with anything other than the tapestry she was working on. She’d gotten no clues from Dawn, but she did now know that the shop owner had actually stepped out. Even if only for a brief time, it might have been just when her letter’s author had come by. And like three ships on the night, the mysterious author had arrived when no one else had been there. …Coincidence? Naadiya never liked the idea of coincidences. Or maybe ‘like’ was not the right word, but ‘distrust’ may have been closer. What are the chances…? Nervous fingers moved to break off the wax seal but stopped when Naadiya heard a sound from outside. 513

[Naadiya]

The sudden noise jolted her upright and Naadiya could have laughed at how she’d nearly lost control of her bladder at what ended up being bird calls a little too close to the window. Though the squawk had not interrupted the steady zooming of the loom, when Naadiya looked up, she could see Gracelin heading towards the shop. As usual she seemed to have been averting her gaze from the group near her and looking at the ground as she walked until something made her look up. Knowing her time alone was coming to a close, Naadiya shoved the envelope into her pocket and tried to make her face not show the uncertainty she felt inside. The shy woman had been hoping to not encounter anyone on her way to the shop and much to her distress, some of the new children had shared the Cobbled Pathway with her and their new guardian, as Mistress Hess had tragically taken her own life. Gracelin had been partly lost in her own thoughts and barely paid attention to the group as they walked almost annoyingly on pace with her. But she couldn’t even feel annoyed. Not at that little triviality. They are alive and healthy and safe and why shouldn’t they be happy and loud and childlike? The are children after all! She said nothing, even when one of the kids, while playing, ran right into her side. Did she hold the young girl up and tell her to apologize? No. Did she berate her for not watching where she was going and how dangerous that could be? No. She helped the young girl off the ground from where she’d fallen, patted her on the head and told her to ‘go on with the others’. But there was a moment, just a moment, when the girls eyes met her own and Gracelin almost shuddered. Young as the girl may have been, there was an odd wisdom in her eyes, like she knew more than she let on. The little girl ran off and kept playing whatever game was going on among the children and Gracelin tried to laugh it all off. Occasionally she had moments where paranoia snuck up on her and bit her in the neck. She supposed it came from hiding her identity from as many as possible, and had long ago resigned to the occasional bought of fear or anxiety being triggered. Surely the little girl doesn’t know anything. It was all in my head. She kept walking until she reached the shop where Naadiya looked to be rearranging some gloves on the main counter and waved at the Benshira woman. Is Naadiya looking at me oddly? Staring? Did she see the little girl? Naadiya smiled at Gracelin and the woman smiled back as she entered. “Is everything okay?” Naadiya asked cautiously. “Fine, why?” Gracelin’s reply was curt and already she was finding ways to veering her face away from scrutiny. “Nothing,” Naadiya made her voice light and casual, “you just took longer that I had expected is all, I didn’t want to interrupt her before you got here.” 520

[Naadiya]

Naadiya worked the expression on her face to look as thought she did not care much for the topic and cocked her head towards the backroom to indicate she was referring of Dawn. “Oh”, Gracelin sounded appeased, “I just braided my hair before I left. I’m finding any excuse to use my fingers that I possible can, except actually working.” Nodding with a smile when Gracelin showed her the braid, Naadiya agreed quietly understanding better than she would have liked and they started walking to the backroom. Her own entry into the shop may not have gone noticed by Dawn, but Gracelin’s definitely had been. Whether it had been a heavier step on the floorboards or the sound of her voice, Naadiya wasn’t sure but something about Gracelin had pulled Dawn partially out of her coffee fueled haze. “Gracelin! Gracelin! Isn’t it wonderful!” The blonde woman flew in through the door frame with a smile that might have just showed every single tooth in her mouth and both arms outstretch for a hug. She wrapped them around the barely willing victim and squeezed before dropped her hands to grab Gracelin’s and pull them up for inspection. “Your hands! You’re not shaking! Isn’t it wonderful! And Naadiya is a woman again!” I never stopped being a woman! I was just sometimes also a man….! Naadiya could not accurately explain to her own satisfaction so she did not even try to breach the subject with Dawn. Still in the blonde’s grasp, Gracelin fixed the woman with a look and a forced a smile and endured the noxious cloud of coffee-breath she stood right in the center of, hoping that her eyes would not water. “No, I’m not shaking… but you are. Have you consumed anything today other than coffee?” “Oh damn…. I knew I had forgotten something” Naadiya said under her breath, “I meant to grab something for her while out looking for you…. Dawn do you want some algae?” The woman did not seem to have even heard the question as she walked her fingers over a stack of folded pant on the table. “Has Tony seen her?” Gracelin asked. “I don’t know, I haven’t seen him today… If I had to guess I would say he’s at the isuas groves, assuming that like us he has also been cleared of his curse.” “Dawn,” Graceline said in a leveled tone. Getting the woman to focus on something other than the potentially skipped stitch on a pant pocket was harder than expected and Gracelin only succeeded the second time. “What did you want to say to me and Naadiya together?” “Yes, I needed to tell you two. I want to make sure that we are all on the same page as a team and that everyone knows what is going on in the shop on this season. It’s important for me to know that you know all that there is to know, you know? So I wanted to make for certain that both of you were going to be on the same page. Because sometimes I assume you are and then turns out you weren’t even on the same story, you were reading a whole other book all together and then you don’t…” 542

[Naadiya]

Naadiya momentarily tuned out the sound of the word-vomit to throw a masked glance in the direction of the counter and make sure there was no obvious trace of her nosy antics. If the blonde woman did not show clear signs of sleep deprivation, Naadiya would have almost suspected that her earlier reading had been noticed after all, with all the references to pages and books. But Dawn’s speech was nearly touching slurring-territory and the left eyelid drooped slightly in clear disagreement with the right one that only twitched while remaining wide open. One could almost be excused for thinking she’d been adding something a little harder to her coffee but Naadiya could smell no alcohol on the woman or in the cups, and she had checked. Dawn was still going on and on while saying nothing and Gracelin showed no signs of stopped her so Naadiya neared the blonde and touched her forearm while meeting her gaze. “Dawn, what exactly did you want to say to us?” She said, trying to keep patience in her voice. “Yes,” Dawn nodded, “Yes. No red. No solid reds, no red gradients, no red dip-dyes, no red polka dots or stripes or anything. No more red. Not scarlet. No Burgundy. No Carmine. No more reds. We don’t need it. There are so many other colors, we don’t need it. I mean really, green, blue, yellow, purple, so many more. We don’t need red. No more red.” Immediately Naadiya thought of her ruby-hued yarns she had already set aside for the floral prints she wanted to try. Whatever she did with those, she would be unable to sell them to Dawn. Naadiya wondered if Dawn would be more or less likely to notice that despite not producing any red clothing, she would still be selling red yarn. And if Tony was given the same directive, eventually the supplies of red would disappear with none being newly dyed. Odd as the request had been, it would also be fairly easy to adhere to. She wasn’t sure if Dawn would stick to this directive or even remember it once she’d had a full meal and a full night’s rest, but already she was planning on buying the red yarns to use in the products she would sell at the Outpost and happily kill two birds with one stone. “No red?” Gracelin asked, understandably unsure and the sentiment clear in her voice. Naadiya wanted to ask why, but something kept her from doing so. “No red!” Dawn sounded confident, but not ready to have a discussion nor wanting to. “No red.” Naadiya and Gracelin said, almost in unison, while nodding to damped the tension. “I’m starving. Do you girls want something to eat? I could eat a whole pig. What time is?” After several servings of pork and more bread than Naadiya thought would have fit in Dawn’s whole body, the woman was near snoring at the bar table. Stu even had sent someone to get Tony to help carry her back home. So happy with her curse being cured and a newly found vigor, Dawn had downed a few flagons of rum as well and after that it was sleepy-time for the blonde lady. A wide-eyed Naadiya left the bar walking side by side with an even wider-eyed Gracelin, neither having had expected the turn of events when coming in to hear what Dawn had to say and neither sure of what to say themselves. So in silence they walked and parted ways with a wordless wave, uncertain of what they would encounter when returning to the clothing shop the next day. 613

[Gossamer]

Issues cleared. Graders, feel free to grade.

Goss

Mod Intervetion :

Although the contents of this thread have been redacted by the PC to prevent the PC from being thrown out of Syka and her loan canceled, I'm leaving this here to remind myself of the events of this thread in case future issues arise since it seems the PC is still planning on screwing over her employer. At least, this time when she does it, hopefully she will have a long intensive bunch of threads to prove she did it... and moderator assistance in terms of rolls in chat etc to avoid another situation like this.

Reminder: Every thread in this series had an intervention on it for one reason or another... most similar situations to this intervention. Godmodding and Metagaming isn't tolerated on Mizahar.

Moderator Intervention

The Issue(s):


I appreciate a good character scheme as much as the next Mod. Conflict drives the plot and keeps things interesting. If everything was perfect, it would be a boring world and why would we have any fun as PCs or Storytellers? However, that being said, this whole thread series crosses the line cumulated in this thread in particular. This falls under the Metagaming scenario which is strictly forbidden on Miz.

What is Metagaming? Metagaming is a term used in role-playing games, which describes a player's use of real-life knowledge (in skills, schemes, how things work, etc) to determine their character's actions when said character has no relevant knowledge or awareness under the circumstances. You are so entirely out of line in this thread, I can’t even do anything but shake my head.

Let’s start with your scheming against the Swiftwaters. Your PC has a Planning of 2, Logic of 7, Stealth of 5, Subterfuge of 4. She has a ZERO in Business, a ZERO in Mathematics/Accounting… and the one thing she has going for her is an Observation of 50. That being said… let's go through your thread… point by point.

Her contacts in the Outpost had proved enough of a demand that she could hardly keep up with it.

So much cheaper than the worm and spider silks the same traders would offer, the isuas was also incredibly good with wicking. This ability to shed water proved to be as effective for the salty sweat of the desert as the rain and surf of Syka and soon, Naadiya could not make a trip through the Outpost without one of the Eyktolian merchants trying to get a quick word with her.

What contacts? She has none. She has one unfinished thread in The Outpost, and that does not give you a network of contacts that demand your products. You state you can’t make a trip through the outpost without Eyktolian Merchants trying to talk to you. What? This falls under Godmodding. You have absolutely no thread work or business to back this up. It’s almost insulting to the Swiftwaters that you would say this when they have the corner on the market for Isuas Cloth since Tony is the only one that grows it anywhere.

Naadiya had kept her dealings in the Outpost entirely tight-lipped, never once mentioning them to Dawn. Through the spring, the task had been on the easier side. Her boss was spending most of her time in the front of the store or out and about, away from the inevitable floating fibers that swam in the air when yarn was handled rapidly and fabric was shaken out. At the time, there was somewhat of a surplus of the raw material, with all the usual weavers somehow prevented from touching it or handling it with enough stability.

Again… no thread work whatsoever. You can manipulate an NPC and rp them… but you can’t make big decisions like this as to an NPCs general habits without checking with a mod. Who said there was a surplus?

This had created an opportunity that Naadiya had been quick to notice. No one was checking on the isuas yarn supplies. Without ever stealing, something Naadiya frowned up, having grown from the merchant caste, she had quietly and incrementally increased how much she could buy from Dawn, often distracting the woman with talk of when they would be getting their next shipment of cotton, one of the few textiles that had remained safe for the Swiftwaters during that troubled and cursed time.

No threadwork. This didn’t happen. And you did not approach me to see if you can do rolls or had permission to pull this off. You also don’t have the skill for it.

When it came time to sell back the finished fabric, Dawn had never really noticed that the amount of woven fabric did not reach the amount of yarn Naadiya had bought. The one time Tony made an off-hand comment about it, Naadiya had said she’d also been weaving things for her new home in her spare time. It wasn’t a lie, she had been weaving. Mosquito netting, carpets, pillow cases, and anything else she could think of that she might need and would rather not spend much money on. But a couple of carpets, some curtains, and pillows were not the cause for the rapidly diminishing yarns.

This is just a facepalm… the whole thing. No threadwork. No skill. No rolls. All made up BS without work or background.

If any of it had come to light, Naadiya would have drawn attention to the fact that she had never stolen from the couple…. despite technically, if indirectly, cutting into their profits. She would mention how if she had not bought the raw material when she had, in all likelihood it would have only been stockpiled, with no one able to work it into a sellable textile or garment. And how could Dawn hold any resentment towards her when the girl had also been helping her around the shop with duties that normally were not under her purview. But nothing had been unveiled yet, and Naadiya was content to let things stay that way.

Obviously, your idea of stealing and my idea of stealing is vastly different because this is a huge BS in my book.

However, as soon as her eyes had found the ledger, curiosity took over. Slender, manicured fingers wrapped around the book like a spider with its prey, and slowly Naadiya pulled it closer, never forgetting to keep paying careful attention to the sound of the loom coming from the back room and making sure it did not pause.

So Dawn is just leaving her books laying around for you to go through? Frankly, you don’t have the lore or skill to even understand what you are reading at this point looking at your character sheet.

Speedy eyes scanned notes of sales, profits, and expenses. There was even a page for keeping track of what the Swiftwaters paid their workers, both in the store and the plantation. Most of the numbers looked quite normal, with nothing standing out. It would seem the Swiftwaters kept the business dealings spotless as far as her eyes could see. The fact did not really surprise Naadiya, Dawn sometimes came across as the type of person who would even pride herself in just how clean all her dealings were. To not do so, might imply her success had not been a direct reaction to her own talents and business acumen.

Wow! How convenient for you! Dawn sure is making it easy on you, isn’t she? Must be a horribly stupid idiot. A whole business plan with payroll all for the stealing was left in plain sight. This is Metagaming and Godmodding all at the same time. That takes talent.

Passed a couple more pages, Naadiya found herself looking at list of clientele.

It gets even better! You have her entire client list now! WOW. How lucky for you!

Relaxing, Naadiya went back to the customer orders and looked at the next page. Each order had an impressive bill that seemed to have always been paid ahead of time if the notes were to be believed, and she saw no reason not to believe them.

Wow, Christmas just became your Birthday and Halloween and all the fun gift-giving holidays at once. Because Dawn is SO SLOPPY she keeps clientele lists, payroll, her business plan, all of it in one little ledger just for you to thumb through… that’s FANTASTIC. What wonderful luck.

Then, you went on to slander the NPCs personality, appearance, weight, and her breath, and portrayed her as crazy when she is a level-headed calm businesswoman who was wildly successful in Riverfall and equally as successful in Syka. I mean the woman has it all… she’s got the corner on the market of the fabric that everyone absolutely wants.

And frankly? Her skills (Skills: Seamstressing 91, Weaving 76, Dying 65, Fashion Design 55, Crochet 61, Embroidery 45, Drawing 55, Cooking 35, Wilderness Survival 15, Singing 52) blow yours out of the water so she wouldn’t be so stupid as to not miss the overage of the yarn that she has to craft. Nor would she leave her books out where you could find them – a one-stop snoop shop btw – without really extenuating circumstances and you making some rather hefty success rolls in chat because you have almost nothing in the skills you need to be a spy of the caliber you are portraying.

This action will land you fired due to the nature of this whole thread. And when the Founders find out what happened, they will uninvite you from Syka and confiscate your home for resale. You’d probably get your own investment of coin back, but then again maybe not. I’d make you roll for it. Regardless you’d be shipped out of town. But frankly, this whole thread shouldn’t stand as it is. And I can’t believe someone would behave ic like this to someone who’s done nothing but accommodate them in their work. Frankly your pc isn’t that skilled so she actually gives Dawn competition so firing you won’t matter. I’m not trying to be mean… but damn this whole thread was a bit much. A whole lot of Godmodding and Metagaming which again isn’t allowed.

Goss

PM me when you have the above issues corrected and this intervention will be removed.