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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 1095085" data-attributes="member: 5808">Part the Very Twenty-FirstIn which: someone wears a really, really ugly hat.(as recorded by Fajitas)    After they drop Henrik off at the Temple to be cared for, Essela leads them to the Lowess estate.  Their quarry here is named Dennis, a petty thug from Dar Pykos, sold for 100 gold as a household slave.  A quick glance at the Lowess estate tells the party that it contains lots and lots of household slaves.  The estate is huge.  From the street, it is impossible to even see the house, which is hidden behind the immaculately trimmed hedge and the large, ornate entrance, built on marble foundations with a gate that actually appears to be made of solid gold.    “Ya wouldn’t think a gold gate could keep people out,” Thatch observes.    “Sure it would!” Hue points out.  “Why break into the house when you can just steal the gate?”  The Ferret nods, as if approving of this plan.    “The Lowess family is one of the oldest and richest in Dar Aego,” Essela says.  “They’ve got more money than they know what to do with, so they just like to make sure it gets seen.”    “How did they amass such fortunes?” asks Anvil.    “No idea,” Essela responds.  “The current generation didn’t earn it, that’s for sure.  The present head of the family, Tern, makes the rest of the idle rich look positively industrious.”    The household guards question them at the gate, but Anvil’s implacable Justicar manner wins them admission.  They proceed down a road through the estate.  The grounds are full of greenery: flower gardens, topiary, exotic trees.  The plants are tended by a bevy of slaves, who trim, water, and weed.  The garden is unquestionably beautiful, but Reyu finds the precise cultivation disturbing.  Even the plants here are enslaved, she thinks.    The house itself is one of the most opulent and least tasteful they have yet seen in Dar Aego.  The front of the building is an open porch, with two long, curved staircases leading up into the house. The floor is tiled in alternating gold and marble.  Tall pillars are placed nearly every five feet, creating the effect of a forest of cold, white oaks.     A servant is sent to fetch the master, but returns with a minor functionary.  “You may explain the situation to me, and I will convey it,” the functionary explains.  So Anvil patiently tells him the story.  “Wait here,” the functionary says, and runs off.  A short time later, he reappears with another functionary.  If their respective outfits are anything to judge by, the new one is slightly higher up in the pecking order than the previous one.  He requests that Anvil explain the situation to him, which he does, though a tad less patiently.  The new functionary asks the party to wait, and disappears as well.  He returns with yet a third, whose robes are nicer still.  Anvil tells the story again, working hard not to clench his teeth as he does.  The third functionary also asks them to wait, and vanishes.    “Someone else will have to speak to the next one,” Anvil says, a vein throbbing in his forehead.      “Why?” Reyu asks.    “I am likely to smite him.”    Finally, a ringing voice calls down from the top of one of the staircases.  “Ahhh, welcome visitors.  I understand we have business to discuss?”    The party turns to look.  Descending towards them is a man in voluminous red robes that look like they must weigh a hundred pounds.  They are studded with gold and jewels; the fabric is visibly stretched by their weight.  A wide smile is plastered across his face, which is heavily overdone with make-up.  His gait is strained and rigid, probably on account of the enormous hat on his head.  It is nearly two feet tall, and shaped like a “T”.  Bangles, bells, and baubles hang off either side of it, jingling and jangling as he walks.    “Wow!” Hue says.  “These guys dress great!”    Three new functionaries walk in a line behind this man.  The highest-ranking one, who wears a chamberlain’s medallion, is the closest.  The lowest ranking one is farthest away.        The men reach the bottom of the staircase.  The over-dressed one speaks again.  His smile is slightly unnerving.  “I am Tern Lowess, master of the house,” he says, clearly holding his hand out for the party to kiss.  They look at each other.  No one really seems to want to do it.  Finally Hue runs forward, grabs the hand, and shakes it.    Surprise registers on Tern’s face, though his smile never wavers.  His eyes strain downward to look at Hue, who comes up to about his waist, but as he doesn’t seems to be able to bend his neck while wearing his hat, it is hard for him to get a good look.  Instead he laughs.  He tries to sound good-natured, but comes off sounding nervous.    “Now then,” Tern says, “I understand you were interested in some sort of business transaction?  Please, tell me the details.”    The vein on Anvil’s head starts throbbing again, so Reyu steps forward.  “We are here to… purchase a slave from you.  He was… wrongfully sentenced to slavery in Dar Pykos, and we have come to buy his freedom.”    Tern blinks a few times, still smiling.  He steps backward, half-turning his head to the functionary immediately behind him while still trying to face the party.  He whispers something to the functionary.  That functionary whispers to the one behind him, who whispers to the one at the end of the line.  He, in response, whispers back to the one in front of him, who whispers back to the one in front of him, who whispers back to Tern.  Tern waits for the whispered response, the smile never leaving his face.    The functionary finishes whispering. “I am shocked, quite shocked to hear of this,” Tern says immediately.  “I assure you I had no idea whatsoever, and would never have purchased this slave if I had.”    The party stares at Tern and his functionaries for longer than is perhaps polite.  Finally, Reyu says “We did not believe you knew anything about this, and we are all… shocked… to hear of it.  We are simply here to buy back the slave from you.”    Tern whispers to his functionary again, smile in place as always.  The whisper passes down the line to the end, and is then transmitted back to the front. “Very well,” Tern says.  “And which slave might this be?”    “His name is Dennis,” Reyu says.  “We do not know his surname.”    Again, Tern whispers.  The party follows the message as it cascades down and back.  “Ah, yes.  Dennis.  Of course,” Tern finally says.  “Dennis works in my gardens.  He is an excellent worker.”    “We were told that he was purchased for 100 gold.  We are prepared to offer that price for him,” Reyu says.    Tern again whispers behind him.  The whisper travels towards the back, but it stops briefly between the second and third functionaries.  They whisper hastily to each other for a moment, before the second passes a whisper up to the first, who transmits it to Tern.  “I am afraid I cannot accept that sum,” Tern says.  “I would part with him for 500 gold.”</blockquote>

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