Post
by waysoftheearth » Mon Aug 02, 2010 11:52 am
waysoftheearth wrote:
Gustave & Caine; Brigitta's Lavaliere
"As Sir is clearly such a handsome and generous gentlemen," squeaks Brigitta, removing her thick rimmed glasses so that she might better gaze upon Gustave's dashing figure, "I'm sure there would be no harm in my appraising your dumb client's ailing mother's noteworthy sparkles." she gives Gustave the brief smile of a co-conspirator as she stands (attaining little more than four feet in willowy height) and presents a purple velvet tray on her workbench which is dazzlingly lit by mirrored lights.
"Shall we?" she inquires, batting her voluptuously dark eye lashes for Gustave. Caine clenches his teeth harder to stop himself from spoiling his fellow's cover story.
The gems and other oddities are laid out upon Brigitta's tray, glinting and sparkling anew under that bright light and the diminutive jeweller is soon about her trade divining the quality of each object with an expert eye. She is apparently eager to make something of an impression upon Gustave with her craftsmanship and knowledge.
"These are pretty to look upon, but are poorly cut and have many small imperfections," she says as she efficiently examines the assortment of 14 thumbnail sized stones -- mostly shades of green, aqua, and marine. "Perhaps a few of them could be cut down for rings or broaches, but a market price for these as they are is around 20 silver shillings a piece. A little more for some, and less for others."
She looks up from her small, inverted periscope and says to Gustave, "If it were me buying these from you, I would pay... perhaps... 35 gold crowns for the lot."
"But this one," she pipes, examining the Crimson Eye Stone intently under her microscope, "This one is the pick of them," she breathes. She turns the hot red stone over beneath the scouring light so that every facet dazzles. "My guess is this stone would fetch 150 silver shillings or more from someone who wanted it. I could pay you 125 right now."
She reluctantly drags her eyes away from the stone and moves on to the other items.
"I can hardly see these on your client's mother's hand," she remarks, tossing aside the crude brass ring and the copper ring set with a dark stone after a cursory examination, "They are far too big and crude for a Lady, and are worth no more than 2 and 10 silver coins besides!"
"But these here are interesting," she says more slowly as she examines the damaged argent choker and the guilded letter opener. "'Tis a pity the choker is damaged, for it would otherwise be a fine and valuable piece. At it is, you may fetch 17 gold crowns or so. If it were fully remade, I could sell such a piece for nearer 50 crowns. And the letter opener is nice, but will be nicer still once cleaned up -- there must be decades of dust on this -- but I still value it at 7 crowns, perhaps 9 when cleaned up."
Finally, she examines the white gold ring for a good long while. "Now this is most peculiar," she says after an inordinately long examination for an article apparently so plain. "I cannot say with certainty exactly what this metal is," she admits, "But the craftsmanship is of the highest quality. I judge it worth... 100 silver shillings, and would pay as much for it right away."
Gustave thanks Brigitte profusely and elegantly for her time. Both he and Caine are feeling very wealthy indeed...
[f=32]
Golgildir the Elf Medium (MV 12", AC 9, HD 1, hp 1/1, AL N) great cloak,
lantern; spells: color spray; scrolls: sleep, sleep, charm person
Hirelings: Georges;
torch[/f]