by Vairial Blackhand on June 2nd, 2015, 8:39 pm
Vairial had been frequenting these markets more and more as of late. His coin had begun to run a little low for his liking and the only skill he was at least competent in was hypnotism. He had been working his little trade from the beginning among various merchants, but it was slow going. He had to be very subtle with his advances, only resorting to mostly unnoticed and small bits of mental conditioning. A lot of the work was observation however with the occasional use of djed to manipulate the situation. He seeked to build up trust with some of the merchants, or perhaps make them take a liking to him in hopes of receiving a discount, or maybe until they let their guard down. If he had been a thief by trade he could have already been lifting masses of product from under their noses already. That was a sure fire way to get caught stealing for the Symenestra however, what with all the eyes that already seemed to glue themselves to his pale-skinned, red-eyed form.
The first day he had already wrote off any of the merchants who had some strong pre-dispositions of his race already, those were more work then it was worth. There were many merchants such as this. Now, he glided along in the crowded market, making his way through crowds where he had to. He was heading to the merchant he had made the most progress with, a man he would most often find drunk, or on the way to being drunk. It was for this reason he had been easy to manipulate in the first place. As he approached however, there was a different individual there, a man in armor, clearly a bodyguard. The Symenestra did not acknowledge the man yet, a plan formulating in his mind as he walked past to where the merchant sat with his wares.
The man's eyes already seemed to light up when he spotted Vairial, and he offered him a seat behind the stand, "Kazel! Come, sh't, I would'n want me best customer to be lef' standin in the sun." Vairial thanked him graciously, rounding around to sit in the shade behind the stand, placing himself next to the drunken man. The man disgusted Vairial and he would kill him immediately, even if he had nothing to gain from it. He would lose a lot if he did however, especially in such a public place. "How have you been? Business been good I am guessing? You seem to have hired a body guard." He worked his magic even now while he conversed with the man, using words and expressions to channel it. The two conversed for a bit, quiet enough that the bodyguard could not hear however, except for the occasional loud outburst of the drunken merchant. They would have to pause a few times as customers sauntered up. It seemed they spoke of mostly menial things, such as the weather, business, and the merchant's family. These things were of course terribly boring to Vairial but they were steps he had to take to enact his plan.
Vairial began speaking in a hushed voice now. "You know, from what you've told me you are not paying this bodyguard very much, are you sure you trust him?" He began sowing in some seeds of doubt about the bodyguard now. Vairial figured if he could convince the merchant the guard was untrustworthy he would grow to trust him more. He only needed something to seal the deal, perhaps he could frame the guard in some way...
