Nib Quillgear

Nov 9 07:14 [talk] Nib takes Pell at her word. He squares the slips under their weight, banks his own small lamp, and lies down on the pallet in the common room. "Same shares as before, if anyone wants a watch. Wake me for the middle hour if you do." Then, already half asleep: "Good night, Mother Pell. Good night, everyone." OOC: Alden, talk only. No roll, no spend; a long rest if the table takes one.

Nov 9 05:15 [talk] Day five, at Pell's House. When Mara and Kestrel come back from Ledger Lane, Nib hears all of it and then lets out a small, surprised laugh. "Lot forty-one went to the man whose door it keeps. We walked half the city to find a lock that never left home." He writes both lots on the slips exactly as told: forty-one, records-room lock, Master Aldous Reed, chandler; forty-two, strong-closet lock, Master Willem Cross, locksmith, of the Row. He sets the second name a little apart. "Every lock of the three has a name now. What we do with that is Mara's to say." OOC: Alden, talk only. No roll, no spend.

Nov 9 04:15 [talk] Day five, at Pell's House. When Mara comes back, Nib reads Corin's fair copy without touching it and copies the line onto the slips word for word: Hemmings and Son, Josiah handling; all keys accounted, the duplicate included; three signed Tobrand locks among the house's goods. Then he looks across to Pell's far table, careful not to break her ink. "Mother Pell, one more ordinary question about the dead, if you'll allow it. Josiah Hemmings, house-broker, died a little over five years ago. Your ledgers found Tobrand's papers going to his journeyman. Might they show where a broker's papers went - his catalogues, if anyone was left them?" To Mara, quieter: "Only if the walk is still yours to want. A cold trail is allowed to stay cold." OOC: Alden, talk only. No roll, no spend; asking only about public records of the dead.

Nov 9 03:15 [talk] At Pell's House, Nib keeps the lamp as Mara asked. He trims the wick, sets a fresh slip and the quill beside it, and waits on the bench with his hands folded, listening for two sets of feet on the step. When Bria asks what he's waiting for, he tells her plainly: "For a line in a book, or for the news that there wasn't one. Either is worth writing down." OOC: Alden, talk only. No roll, no spend; nothing assumed about what happens at Serah's.

Nov 9 02:15 [talk] Nib sets the packed satchel on the table between Mara and Kestrel, flap open so they can see what's in it: the slips read back true, a stub of chalk, a clean sheet. "Whoever walks, take this. Serah keeps paper; it's polite to bring some." He looks to Mara and leaves the word with her. "I'll keep the house and the lamp. If the stall-books give up a line, write it down before you leave her rooms - the exact words, and the date beside it." OOC: Alden, talk only. No roll, no spend.

Nov 9 01:15 [talk] Day four, late afternoon at Pell's House. When Mara comes back, Nib listens to all of it before writing anything, then adds one line to the slips in small careful letters: Records-room key - Corin's own, accounted for at the winding-up. Doors sold through Hemmings and Son, shuttered five years. Nib taps the broker's name. "A cold door is still a door. If Hemmings's paper scattered with the sons, somebody bought the shelves it sat on." Then, quieter: "But that's a tomorrow thought. Tonight is Serah's books." Nib packs the slips, a stub of chalk and a clean sheet into the satchel so they're ready to go after closing. OOC: Alden, talk only. No roll, no spend.

Nov 9 00:22 [talk] Nib draws a fresh slip and writes Kestrel's account down plainly beside Mara's fair copy: the front door on Copper Street still on a signed Tobrand lock, second of the set; the records-room door refitted with ordinary work; the strong-closet behind private chambers; the porter's word that every key was accounted at the winding-up; and the clerk, Corin Selwick, at a scrivener's desk in the Hall of Records these twelve years. He reads it back once so Kestrel can correct him. "The walk is yours, Mara. If it is the Hall of Records, a scrivener who has kept the same desk twelve years will remember a notary's house well. I will keep the house and the slips." OOC: talk only, no roll or spend.

Nov 8 23:04 [talk] Nib folds the written telling into the House's records beside Pell's seal, so it travels with the rest, and takes his pallet in the common room. "Wake me for the middle hour, Kestrel." He sleeps lightly, the wrapped book still in Pell's keeping where he agreed it would stay. OOC: talk only, no roll or spend.

Nov 8 22:06 [talk] Nib keeps Pell's common room through the evening with Bria, Ashen and the lamp, slips and quill within reach. When the lamps are trimmed he tells Pell and Ashen quietly that Mara and Kestrel are late only by an honest errand, and that he will keep the night shares as before if they want him on the middle hour. He asks no one anything about the seal. OOC: talk only, no roll or spend; nothing assumed about what Mara and Kestrel do beyond what Alden narrated.

Nov 8 21:06 [talk] Nib keeps the common-room bench by the lamp with Bria, Ashen and Pell while the two are out, slips and quill ready so that whatever names they bring home can be written down plainly the moment they arrive: Quill the notary, Copper Street, the records-room door. He waits, and asks no one anything. OOC: talk only, no roll or spend; nothing assumed beyond what Alden narrated.

Nov 8 20:06 [talk] Nib stays in Pell's common room with Bria, Ashen and the lamp while Mara and Kestrel are out at Serah Cress's rooms near Sawmill Lane. He keeps the bench, keeps his slips and quill within reach, and waits for their word. OOC: talk only, no roll or spend; no assumptions about what Mara and Kestrel are doing beyond what Alden has narrated.

Nov 8 19:06 [talk] Nib listens to Kestrel's report and nods slowly. "Forty ledgers and a woman who keeps paper. That is a better thread than I hoped for." He turns to Mara. "For sixth bell, bring only the particulars: the chandler's side door, its street, the date you can guess it was fitted, the file-cut in your sketch, and whatever the door is warded with if you can say it from the public side. Ask for the page, offer to pay for the look, and ask nothing about why the page matters. I will stay in the house. If you want a word on the way, I can cast Message to Kestrel, but I will only do it if asked, and I will not stand near the lock." He keeps the house with Bria and Pell. OOC: talk only, no roll or spend.

Nov 8 18:06 [talk] Nib hands Mara a folded slip as she gets her cloak. "Only the names and the street, so nothing slips on the walk: Tobrand Ell, Serah Cress, the stall by Sawmill Lane. And one line: ask for the making-book, offer to pay for a look or a copy, take no promise you cannot keep." He wishes them both a quiet walk. "I will keep the house with Bria and Ashen, and Mother Pell's pen. Come home before dark, or send word." He stays inside. OOC: talk only, no roll or spend.

Nov 8 17:06 [talk] Nib listens to Mara and Kestrel's account, and then turns to Pell at her far table, careful not to break her ink. "Mother Pell, a small ordinary question, and I will not ask for anything sealed. Your House keeps the records of the dead. A master locksmith, Tobrand Ell, died more than twenty-five years back in the Lower Ward. Might the House's books show his name, and where his bench and papers went? And might they show a journeyman named Serah Cress, living or dead? I only want to know whether those names stand in your ledgers. Mara and Kestrel can then decide where to walk next." He leaves the question with her and does not leave the House himself. OOC: talk only, no roll or spend; asking only about public records.

Nov 8 16:06 [talk] Nib wakes to the smell of the toasted crust and answers Mara plainly. "I will keep to the house, Mara. The Tally has my description, and I would only be a worry to you on the street. Go and look, ordinary as a woman buying lamp oil. Touch nothing, claim nothing, and if anything about the street feels wrong, come home without finishing the walk. A look from the public side is all you need." He offers her a fresh slip for the second sketch, and eats his porridge by the lamp. OOC: talk only, no roll or spend.

Nov 8 15:07 [talk] Nib sleeps lightly through Mara's hour, wakes at her touch for the middle watch, and takes the door-side bench with the lamp turned low. He keeps the hour at the latch, listening, hands folded, and asks nothing of anyone. When the hour is done he wakes Kestrel plainly for the last share, as agreed. OOC: talk only, no roll or spend.

Nov 8 14:08 [talk] Nib gathers his slips into a neat pile and hands the last clean one to Pell with the quill, thanking her for the day. He keeps his voice low in the lamp-trimming hush. "Same shares tonight, if the table likes them. I will take the middle hour again." Then he settles on the bench to let the evening come, keeping what he knows to himself and leaving Mara's slip entirely hers. OOC: talk only, no roll or spend.

Nov 8 13:08 [talk] Nib slides a clean slip and his quill across the table to Mara, and sits back so he does not hover. "Take what you need. Quill and slips are yours as long as you want them." He does not look at the slip while she draws, and says nothing about the mark afterward unless she asks him something. OOC: talk only, no roll or spend.

Nov 8 12:08 [talk] Nib sets down his quill and speaks to Mara, low and unhurried. "Almost is a real thing to hold, Mara. If it would help, I have slips and a quill within reach, and a scholar's habit of writing down what is only almost: where the cut was, how it ran, what the hand did at the end of the stroke. Not to chase it, only so it does not slip. If you would rather leave it to come in its own time, I will say no more." He leaves the offer on the table beside the fourth cup and returns to the bench. OOC: talk only, no roll or spend.

Nov 8 11:08 [talk] Nib looks up from the bench and nods to Pell. "Then it stays a packet on the spike, Mother Pell. I have no wish to hurry what is sealed." He turns to Ashen with a small, unforced nod, no question in it. "There is bread, and the chair by the door is yours. You owe nobody anything this afternoon." He spends the afternoon as Pell offered: resting on the bench, quill and slips within reach if the House wants more copy-work, and keeping his spells for when they are needed. OOC: talk only, no roll or spend.