07.12a: Renaissance Reconnaissance

[Spellbinder]

"That could be a valid argument...if you controlled everything in 'your' territory. Unfortunately you don't. You bully people and take from them, but what do you give back? Let me guess, you'd say 'protection'. You don't even do that well. Just yesterday I had to stop a rival gang in your territory. Looks like that's pretty much a daily occurrence. That shows that your rivals see that you can't protect 'your' people so they come and take what they can whenever they want. From what I've seen, you keep most of your forces back to protect you. You don't protect these people, you use them to protect yourself."

"What else do you control? Commerce? Looks to me like the people do that themselves. Public works? Water supply, sanitation, roads, that sort of thing? Seems like other people do that for you...if it gets done at all. As far as I can tell I did more in one afternoon than you've done on that score. Job creation? Other than 'thug' and 'thief' what jobs have you created? We can't even count 'tax collector' because the thugs and thieves do double duty on that."

"Chance? Father Lane? Care to add anything else to the list, or have I made my point?"

[Joshua]

Koschei winces at the counterargument. Not that he's wrong and you're right, but more... as they say... his guards are incompetent. He will concede on that point... grumbling under his breath*. He will add, "You do seem to have great power. Such sorcery is beyond my meager troupe. Perhaps we can work together**."

Lane will nod. "I do appreciate the vision. I'm sure Amber will thank you as well as Rebma. Even a stopgap measure is something. Perhaps we could start planning its replacement."
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*: Somewhere between 'You have a valid point, but it's my guard's fault.' and 'I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling mages.'
**: He is clearly avoiding saying 'work for you' in front of his men, but he does seem to be accepting defeat.

[Spellbinder]

"Well Father, as I recall Rasanam and...ummm....Nemo were already starting to plan that. I was just buying them time. Designing and installing a sewer system is no small project. As I recall a few of the others had thoughts on the subject as well. I'll let them know that you're interested." Spellbinder grimaces. "In fact I think I'm expected at Tir-Na Ng'oth this evening." He looks at the sun. "In fact I'm going to need to head back to clean up before much longer."

"Koschei, I know we can't change things overnight. I should probably consult with the powers that be before we go too far here. For now can we at least stop dismembering people? I'd rather see criminals put to work on some form of community service, but we'd need to find projects and ways to pay for them. Something to start thinking about at least. I'm open to other suggestions."

[Joshua]

Koschei will simply nod at the request. "You won't like my countermeasure, but it will segue into your idea and will stop the dismemberments. I assume you are paying for Chance's debt*?"

Risk will let out a short hiss at that, but won't advance.

Lane will watch with interest at your response**.
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*: It should be clear he considers what you have done payment enough. This would be instead of him owing you some other kind of favor.
**: Unfortunately, your response here is as much a test as anything else. Lane clearly believes only in helping others out of the good of the all. Not sure how that fits in here.

[Spellbinder]

"Taking care of his debt had been part of my deal with him. We just never talked about how big that debt was. I'm tapped out on cash at the moment, but I think taking out the trash yesterday should count for something. All of this," he gestures towards the ditches, "was for the city and Rebma, so not fair to bill you for that. Does that leave us close enough to even, or do we need to dicker a bit more?"

[Joshua]

Koschei will give a hand-wave. "No, my time is worth more than that argument."

Lane nods. he's been examining most of the ditch and drainage system. "It's a good effort, and one of the best stopgap measures I could imagine. And very quickly constructed. I would be interested in seeing the long term solution and how the transition will go."

[Spellbinder]

"Yeah. 'Quick and dirty' pretty much sums it up. The spells are going to require tweaking from time to time. I hope I judged well on the volumes involved. Honestly, that's mostly eyeballed. Honestly, the concept is elegant enough but the execution is a bit rough around the edges. Still pretty good considering I just started thinking it through 24 hours ago. And now we have time to adjust at leisure. You know, it's even a new source of drinkable water for the city, but I doubt people will see it that way."

"So, I really should start making my way back. Can I expect to see either of you tonight? Uh, assuming that I got that right and I'm actually invited. I still might find myself turned away at the door."

[Joshua]

Lane will nod. "As a representative of the church, I was planning on attending." Unless you were planning on escorting him there, he will head back to the church to prepare for it.

Koschei will shake his head. "You are the closest to that group I have come." With that, he will head back to his quarter.

[Spellbinder]

"Very well then, I will speak to you both later."

With that Spellbinder will return to the Castle, presumably with Chance and Risk in tow. "I assume you two want to tag along tonight? No telling when you'll get another chance to visit a disappearing floating castle."

[Joshua]

They will both readily agree.