27 – A talk with Irene, and important decisions.
You decide to try your luck with the serious, pretty woman in the corner. You are interested because the merchants told you that she works for Lord Medah. And also, she seem... different from the villagers. You do not know how to put it into words.
You decide to try the direct approach, and simply tell her that you would like to speak to her. Better that than trying to immediately impress her too much. She does not seem the type you can sway easily with words after all.
You get up, walk up to her table and respectfully ask if she could spare you a few minutes, because you would like to ask a few questions. She looks you up and down and then gives you a noncommittal nod. You take the opportunity to sit down and start to talk.After introducing yourself, you tell her that you heard she works for Lord Medah, and that you are considering entering his service yourself. As such, if she could give you some information you would be grateful.
She looks you once again, then she smiles and starts to talk.
"You are not a farmer. Nor a simple villager. No, you speak too well. Very well, my name is Irene. I suppose it was those traveling merchants that told you I work for Lord Medah, right? Well, that is correct, I indeed work for him. Though I have no intention of telling you what work that is. You say that you are considering to work for him, I assume you already have talked to him, or to Jacob?"
You confirm that you talked to them both, and that they told you to take a couple of days to think before deciding. Then, if you are still interested they told you to go and talk to Jacob.
"I see. I assume then that you know how to read, and have some degree of culture too. Else a new person like you would not have been asked to talk directly to Jacob. So, what is it that you wanted to know? I guess I can answer you a bit before retiring for the night."
You ask what she can tell you about the possible tasks you might be asked to do. Also, you ask some information about Lord Medah and Jacob. She considers the questions a bit before answering you.
"Well, you know how to read, and rather well I suppose. The Lord always need people who can do that, for accounting, trade, inventories, communications. You might be asked to travel with some of his retainers who do not know how to read and write. Regarding work, you will likely be considered an apprentice and given small tasks to do at first, since you are young and inexperienced. But if you do your work well, and prove trustworthy, you will go far."
"Regarding Lord Medah, he is a great general and a just man. If you serve him well, he will reward you nicely. And he always has work for competent people. But I will tell you this, he requires... commitment. You need to be professional if you want to work with him.
As for Jacob, he is a great man, and a canny administrator. He's been with Lord Medah for many years, that much I know. He takes care of ALL the day-to-day business of Lord Medah, which trusts him completely. When he talks, just assume Lord Medah is talking as well. He's a nice man, but strict. If there are problems but you have a valid reason, he will understand. If you do not have a good reason, his opinion of you will decline quickly"
You are fascinated by Irene. She speaks calmly, assuredly. She seems focused yet alert. You decide to ask about what the merchants told you, the incident she had with the soldiers.
"Those soldiers, eh. They see a woman and assume she will be interested in keeping them company. Typical, shallow behavior of not very intelligent people. Let's just say I had to demonstrate them that being soldiers does not mean you are strong. I certainly know enough to knock out a few incompetent soldiers."
"At any rate, it's rather late and I'm going to retire for the night. If you are serious about working for Lord Medah, and if you prove yourself, we may end up working together sooner or later. Good luck Kyoss." And with a smile she leaves. What a fascinating woman, different from any other woman you talked to before. Except maybe your mother. You assume Irene knows how to read and write as well, and has a culture. Indeed it was an interesting conversation.
You look around and notice that the young village women are still there. Why not trying to talk to them? You buy a new beer and go to sit at their table, using all your charisma to introduce yourself. After a little while, they start to talk to you a bit. You try your best to make a good impression and to charm them, but you are only somewhat successful . They seem to be a bit guarded and you realize that this village is still rather small and you are an outsider. That and you are also quite young, and not dressed very nicely. And probably lacking in experience too. You still manage to have a couple of hours of fun, laughing, talking and flirting a bit with these young women. You think you learned a bit about how to talk to women and would probably do a better job of it now.
At last they too retire for the night, and you realize that you are incredibly tired. Plus, some soldiers and other patrons are looking at you in a really mean way. You realize that you have been talking to young and/or pretty women for the entire evening, and they probably did not like that one bit. They are clearly jealous.You decide it would be prudent to retire for the night, also considering how tired you are. You pay the owner, go back to the inn and quickly fall asleep.
(You paid 12 coppers between the inn, the food and the drinks at the tavern)
The morning comes and it's finally time to decide what you're going to do.
So what shall you do today? (semi-open choice)
A) Go and talk to Jacob
B) Other. The entire village is open to you.
Also, I feel it's been a while already so I have another important question for you guys.
What short-medium term goals does Kyoss have? I'd like for every one of you to give me 3 short term or at most medium-term goals for Kyoss. They can be anything, from learning skill x, to reaching a place, to earning some money, to anything else really. I ask you because I'd like to have some planning material for the next updates, and so I want to make a list of the most voted goals.
Please avoid long term and/or grand objectives, it's still too early for that. Kyoss does not know the world enough. And he's basically a noob 
