Solo The Next Chapter

[Shane Wallsly]

Timestamp: 1st of Spring, 514 AV

He’d done it. He’d quit his job. His one and only job over a more or less minor complaint. That job had been like a second home to him. Avira had been like a relative. Avira had brought this down on him. Taunted and teased and used him for the last time. Shane had talent of his own. He could strike it rich without the old geezer. He wasn’t going to be anyone’s servant anymore.

But how was he to do that? Get a job where he’d be an equal with his employer? That sounded more or less impossible. In fact the only option he could see was to take some sort of apprenticeship; learn a trade under another until he was eventually good enough to be called equal. What would he learn? Who’d be willing to take anyone as clumsy and weak as he? His only talent were his magical ones and there wasn’t really any magic places around looking for apprentices.

It left only one real option to him. He had to start his own business. Some sort of Aura shop where he could use his one, legal gift to good use. If he were good enough at it maybe he’d even manage to attain some amount of wealth. However, how could he even start up a business? The price for a store never mind any other odds and ends was bound to be large.

The thought was worth exploring however, so he stood himself up off his bed and fetched Norman. “C’mon boy, we’re off to the Bazaar.”

Credit to Skerry

[Shane Wallsly]

A few bells later Shane returned to his little home a bundle of scrolls and ink under his arms. Norman padded into the room tongue lolling out and went straight to the corner by the fire to lie down.

“Long day, aay Norman?” Shane chuckled. For a dog Norman sure could be lazy. He lay the first scroll out in front of him. He dipped his quill in the ink incredibly cautious this was only the second time he had ever written.

He wrote across the scroll in big capitals “SAVINGS” and then he wrote, in a similar script, how much money he counted in his current savings. He moved down a ‘line’ and wrote in similar largeness and thickness “COSTS”

He sat back. Okay, what sort of costs would there be in a business. He didn’t really need to employ anyone. A guard would be good though but with all the Knights about theft and assault weren’t really that rampant. Maybe a clerk? He was only one guy and he wasn’t in very high demand. Surely he could arrange everything for himself. What did that leave? Well he needed premises. He needed to work out what he was going to do for folk as well…

Credit to Skerry

[Shane Wallsly]

He took the other scroll and laid it out flat on the table in front of him. Smudging the word Costs from the previous scroll onto the back of it. Shane growled and shook his fist but wasn’t totally bothered. He was more interested in how he was going to service the public. What did people want from him?

It occurred to him then that Avira must have known. The old coot didn’t do anything by accident and on his last day he had said he had picked exercises that were money makers. So what were they? First, he had sensed how Avira was feeling. Secondly, he had identified magical items. Lastly, he’d detected whether Avira was lying or not. So there they were the three things his powers could supposedly monetise from. How could he put that into practice though?

He tried to think back to Avira’s rules of sales. He hadn’t quite absorbed these as much as he could. The first one had been about knowing the product. He guessed Auristics was the product and he knew what he could do with it so… Check? The second rule had been… Know the customer and the last one had been lie your ass off. These rules weren’t going to help him come up with a product. That’s when Something sparked in Shane’s head. Know the customer… He did know the customers – better than they knew themselves. He could read their auras and tell them what he saw. People were bound to love that.

He dipped his quill in the ink again and scrawled “AURA READINGS”

Was one service enough? What else could he do with calling out lies and knowing if an item was magic or not. Tyhen again he remembered the story Avira had told him on his very first day about a cursed item that had turned his last clerk’s fingers into thumbs. Shane doubted that had really happened but it occurred to him that cursed items were out there and people would pay for Shane to check their items to make sure they weren’t.

He dipped his quill in the ink again and scratched unto the paper “Magic Item Detection” This was starting to look pretty good. Pretty, darn good…

The last thing was lie detection. There were loads of things he could do with this but most of them seemed pretty dangerous to Shane. The safest thing he could think of was if he mediated disputes between merchants. After all he’d be able to tell if one of them was conning the other… Probably and merchants would pay though the nose for that kind of thing… Probably…

He scratched the paper by accident having forgotten to dip the quill in ink. He sighed and dipped it into the ink well before writing in “Meeting Mediation”

He surveyed his three services and he said “Yeah, that’ll do.”

Credit to Skerry

[Shane Wallsly]

So he was back to the first scroll again that said:
“SAVINGS 318 GM
OORT GM”

The word “COST” had been pretty badly smudged. So what would be Shane’s cost? He’d already decided no employees so what else did he need? He needed a premises. What sort of premises? An office most likely. Something a bit more elaborate than the simplest of offices. His customers would want to think he was a quality Aurist after all and a mangy old, used Office would hinder that sort of thinking. He needed a nice, big Office (probably still used just so that it was easier to afford)… He wondered how much that would cost. It had to be way more money than what he had on him at present. All he had was last season’s wages and a paltry amount of savings.

At least his conservative lifestyle allowed him that much. Shane was silently thankful that he had never overextended his reach. In fact as Shane sat in his little slice of Syliras he took a moment to be thankful. He was not thankful to the Gods; the silent overseers that brought pain and misery unto mortals and then expected them to help them. He was thankful to the book and to himself. He didn't often think about the book these days having been ultimately focussed on work and taking care of Norman but it was a part of him. An underlying system of rules that he sometimes followed loosely but followed all the same.

“Rule number three,” he whispered to himself as if in prayer “Do not forget the Earth on which we once stood. No matter how high we fly, we must never forget the earth below for it will never forget us. No matter how successful our mission is it will never be completed and we must remember this so as to not let down our guard.”

He still felt like a begger despite the fact he could eat every Knight and buy things frivolously. He could feel it and he could remember it with exquisite detail. Being a working man. Having an income. These things had defined him but he had never forgotten. He hadn't forgotten once where he started. He was nothing and a paltry amount of cash never changed that...

Credit to Skerry

[Shane Wallsly]

Shane was tired and the fireplace burned low. He considered bringing it back up to full roar again but it was truelly time for bed. Shane stripped off his clothing and tucked himself into bed.

He took a deep sigh and closed his eys ready for the embrace of sleep... … … … Shane turned on to his side... … … … Shane turned on his other side... … … … Shane was even more awake than he had been before he went to bed.

Shane opened his eyes and stared at the dimly lit ceilling. How was he to sleep? Meditation? Late night walk? There was another option. Something he hadn't done in a few months. Hypnotism. He'd wanted to use it to train Norman but he was already such an obedient dog.

He had been wanting to try something recently. Every time he used Hypnotism he'd more or less had eye contact with his victim but he wanted to test simply what vocal suggestion and emotional responses could do. The first night with Norman he'd basically done something similar except that Norman had been right next to him at the time. Now he was going to try it from across the 20x20 room.

“Norman?” He asked the ceilling. He wanted to do the entire thing without looking at the dog. He took a deep breath and felt the power within. He let it flow outward into his sphere of charisma which, in turn, flowed outward. In time the entire room wascovered in his presence. “Norman, come here.” His voice was laced with hypnotic suggestion. He took his hand out of the covers and stretched it over the side of the bed flling about for any dog like shape. No dice. Norman must have been reluctant. He was probably tired.

“Come on, boy. Come on. It's safer over here; warmer. It's soo much better to be near the people who love you and I love you, Normie.” Shane was perhaps laying it on a bit thick especially as he could never know how much Norman actually understood of his suggestion if at all. He had once theorised that since Hypnotic suggestion worked mostly on a sublimenal level that perhaps the meaning, the hypnotic part of it, penetrated any being who could understand the basic meanings of what you were suggesting. Norman surely understood the ideas of warmth and safety but was he just kidding himself with the love thing? He didn't really know that much about dogs in general. He'd maybe read a book about it or something at a later date...

Credit to Skerry

[Shane Wallsly]

Shane suddenly felt a wet nose on his hand. “Ah, there you are, Norman. Good boy. When I say come you come. Good boy.” Shane didn't really care how effective explaining why Norman was a good boy would really be but if it were even slightly effective than he'd be glad he done it. However he did offer Norman a baser reward in the form of an emotional response. He elecited a sort of serene calmness. He sort of hoped Norman would end up thinking that safety and calm were what would follow if he pleased his Master.

He petted Norman's silky hair with a smile. The dog took almost a daily bath at the Docks so he was never mangy. In fact the dog's hair kept relatively silky soft with very little maintenance at all. Norman himself wasn't the most needy dog either. He was, in a word, perfect and, in a couple of words, the ultimate dog for a beginner.

“Sit.” Her told the dog normally. He felt no motion. “Sit.” He said sterner. “Be seated” This time he suggested it hypnotically as well as eliciting a tired feeling within the dog. A sort of stiffness that would make him want to sit down. The dog shifted downward and out of reach. For a moment Shane was confused but then he realised he'd overdone the emotional response a bit and the dog was lying rather than sitting.

“Ah, Normia... Guess that was my fault, aay?” Shane yawned. His brief foray into hypnotism had ade him quite sleepy. He withdrew his influence and closed his eyes once again. “We'll go look for premises tomorrow, Normie.” This time he drifted off to sleep quickly and peacefully...

Credit to Skerry

[Nightmare]

Shane Wallsly :

Skills	Amount
Planning	+4
Organization	+3
Mathematics	+2
Writing	+2
Hypnotism	+2

Lore

Planning: Business costs

Planning: Advantages and disadvantages to having employees

Planning: Services to sell

Planning: Business structural needs

Hypnotism: Using vocal suggestions alone

Hypnotism: Over emphasising a suggestion with interesting effects

Additional Comments: I am sure you are already aware of this, but let me give you a reminder: Aurists can't explicitly tell if someone is lying; What can be determined - with sufficient skill - is the confidence of the lyer. An aurist might notice sweating, raised temperature, all the symptoms of physical nervousness as well as the confidence level. Really, the key thing would be how good at lying the other person is and how much they've practiced it. *Thanks Alses So, just keep this in mind when you get this business up and running.

Please PM me if you have any questions or concerns.

Credit Lenz