Move 199:  At Tauster's

Tauster's House --Evening, 12 Eleint 1374 DR

With the things that needed to be carried distributed among the five of them as they best saw fit, the group left the Hound and Tails and trudged to Tauster's. The walk to the wizard's home on the far side of the village was
not pleasant. The rain was not falling as hard as it had been when Daelen and Aloysius went earlier, but it was still enough to get everyone wet.  The dirt paths between the buildings in the village and the common area itself
had turned into a thick muddy soup that was becoming difficult to walk through.

Tauster's door was answered by a demure looking blonde. Her appearance was altered enough from the days she worked at the Hound and Tails that it took a moment to recognize her as Anth. The tight, revealing clothing that
Weismar's barmaids preferred had been replaced by a loose fitting shift dress with a hem that fell around mid-calf. Her hair had been tied back into a severe bun, and she avoided meeting anyone's eyes. She dutifully fetched a
mop and began cleaning up the mess that was made when the group came in.

Blacky looked like he was about to say something to Anth, but seeing her reaction to the group, though better of it and went to see Tauster.

Tauster was sitting in the main room of the house. He looked up from the book he was thumbing through as the wet group entered. He nodded a greeting at them and briefly inquired after Azrun's well-being before addressing the matter at hand, "Have you decided what you need me to do for you?"

"Aye," replied Aloysius.  "Each of these chests be locked and warded.  They have mechanical traps on them as well.  We need you to remove the wards and open them for us."

With a nod towards Blacky, he continued, "Of coin, we have little, but we have a fair amount of jewelry we believe to have value.  We also suspect that the chests contain money as well.  We knew not if you would accept jewelry as payment.  Once we know what is inside the chests, we'll have a better idea as to whether we can afford to have you identify any of the items we discussed.  So, for now, we just need to chests opened."

He glanced at the others to see if he had left anything out.

Tauster raised an eyebrow at Aloysius, "I was not aware that you need the chests opened as well. I thought you only wanted the wards removed. I do not really have a spell for removing traps, although I can open the locks for
you. Whether that will bypass the traps, I cannot say. It will depend on their nature. One spell will be sufficient to open all three chests. I can attempt to remove the wards and open the three chests for 1000 gold or something worth that, I suppose," he said with a slight frown. "I would like to see this jewelry that you want to pay me with first. I will need to be sure that I will be able to sell it again or it will be useless to me."

Blacky pulled out the pouch with the party treasure in it and emptied it onto a suitable surface. He pulled a gold ring with a sapphire stone from the items and handed it to Tauster. "The appraiser in our group said this is worth about 1200 gold.  Will that suffice?" Blacky asked

Azrun smiled when Tauster asked how he was, "I am doing fine, sir. Thank you for asking. I see you are doing well also. Your teaching has helped us as group, greatly. I thank you again, for you assistance. Hopefully, I'll get to see young Lord Palfray again to thank him as well." He smiled and glanced around the room.
"Aloysius has already asked me about that," Tauster replied, handing Azrun the book he had been looking through. "That is Onue the Gray's treatise on the flora and fauna of the underdark. It is the only thing that I have of that nature. I am unsure how complete or how helpful it will be. Both of you are welcome to read it, although I would prefer that you do it here rather than take it out in the rain."

When he noticed Tauster's book, Azrun seemed to have an idea hit upon him, "Sir, would it be possible to browse your library this evening. I have some coins I could use to pay you perhaps a rent fee, if you like. I'd like to see what I can find that might help us when we make this trip to the Underdark. I really have no idea of what to expect. If you think this not appropiate, I understand. It is your private library afterall."

Tauster looked the ring over and nodded, "Very well." He examined the chests without touching them for a couple of minutes, "If one of you would be so kind as to move these to my study, I can cast some of the spells now. I can only attempt to remove the wards from two of the chests tonight. I will remove the ones from the two that are locked so that I can cast that spell for you this evening as well, unless there are any objections?"

Once the group adjourned to Tauster's study, apparently a more suitable room for casting spells in his opinion, the old mage said some arcane words and made a few gestures over the chests. He paused and cast another spell, looking at the chests critically before announcing, "The wards appear to be gone. You may want to stand to the side in case anything happens with these traps you mentioned."  He moved behind his writing desk before casting his final spell which opened the locks on the two chests. "That is done then," he said. "Is there anything else you need tonight?"

About the time Tauster finished with the chests, Anth knocked on the door of the study and stuck her head in, "I'm done wit' the kitchen and the floors. If ya don't need me fer anythin' else 'til later, I'm goin' ta my room. I need ta get ta my lessons fer tonight."

Tauster smiled at the young woman kindly and nodded, "Go ahead, child. There's nothing more to be done that won't wait until the morning."

Aloysius had watched quietly as Tauster had dealt with the chests. "Thy skills art most impressive, Mage Tauster," he said when the old wizard had finished.  "Afore, I spoke with about possibly acquiring some spells. I shall need to see what these chests contain afore I can determine if I have resources enow for such an expenditure."

Aloysius looked over at the others. "The traps remain still on the chests from the mines. So perhaps we should wait a bit afore opening them. Howe'er, I am most curious as to what the other chest contains."

With that, the young mage unsheathed a dagger and tried to open the orc chest by sliding the blade into the crack between the lid and the chest proper.

"Umm, Aloysius. I thought he remaved the wards from the chests that were not
in the orc chamber." Blacky said to Aloysius and looked at Tauster before
touching anything.

Blacky went over to Tauster after Anth had left and asked in a low voice "May I speak with you privately?"

Before anyone could stop him, Aloysius pried open the still-warded chest obtained from the orc caverns. A small burst of magical flame shot out from the chest, leaving the wizard badly charred. Luckily, he was still wet enough from the rain that his new farmer's clothes did not go up, making things worse, and nothing else in the room caught on fire. The chest itself was destroyed, leaving its contents, a lot of coins and four vials, on the floor. The seals of three of the vials were destroyed by the fire and their contents evaporated. The last one remained intact.

Tauster looked at Aloysius rather blankly. "It looks like I won't need to cast that other spell," he said flatly with a shake of his head. He nodded at Blacky when he asked to speak to him privately and led him out into the hall.

It was difficult to tell whether the rosy hue of Aloysius's face was from the flames or from his own humiliation. He picked himself up off the floor, muttering curses under his breath. Holding the remains of his straw hat in one hand, he stomped past Blacky and Tauster on his way out the front door.

"You better go after him in case he's hurt worse than he looks." Daelen advised Arachne as he scattered the pile of coins a bit with his foot so they would cool faster.

"May be for the best," he mentioned to Azrun with a sigh as he picked up one of the now empty vials with the edge of his wet cloak, "For all we know, this stuff could be zombie juice of something..." Holding it up to his nose, the blond warrior sniffed cautiously at the opening.

"You want to count those while you're at it." Blacky said on his way out to talk with Tauster

"Renn said that the bigger chest had traps on it," Arachne spoke up, pointing at the larger of the two chests that had been in the keep long ago and in the mine more recently.  "The smaller one," she added, "he said was trap free."

"You could try the other one," Arachne said.  "I _think_ it was smaller." She hurried after Aloysius.

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