faderift | [CLOSED] throwin' shade

WHO: Sawbones, Tony, Silver, Wysteria
WHAT: Building a better pair of sunglasses.
WHEN: Now-ish
WHERE: Various
NOTES: OOC INFO. Log text is flavor, feel free to make your own starters etc.

I. IN A CAVE
Getting to the workshop of renown (and evidently rather eccentric) alchemist Anagnos on the fringe of occupied Orlais? Surprisingly easy, actually. All things considered - specifically the threat of roving Tevinter scouting parties and the drudgery involved with camping in ditches on nights when no convenient roadside inns make themselves known -, it nearly lives up to Wysteria's insistence that it would be no more than "A quick little jaunt. Think nothing of it."

They are a day out on their return journey, having dealt in one way or another with the blustering alchemical savant, when their luck begins to change. First, a wheel on the wagon develops a worrying crack in it which must be repaired before the pot-holed road in the shadow of the Imperial Highway can shatter it. Second, the mule pulling the cart develops a stone bruise that slows their progress terribly until they reach a village where they trade the poor fellow for a bright eyed, sure footed, and exceptionally ornery donkey.

And then there is the weather. What has heretofore been a brisk, damp winter turns suddenly stormy and blustering once they and their carefully packed materials are on the road again. Perhaps this is the offing of so many of those freak winter storms which have plagued Orlais since the battle as Ghislain, or perhaps it is simply nature contriving with their bad luck. Either way, the party soon finds themselves in the middle of a snowstorm which looks to be getting worse instead of better. Luckily, beating slightly off the path in search of shelter will net in the discovery of a small cave just big enough to squeeze in four people and a donkey with a penchant for biting fingers.

II. WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS
[insert protracted crafting montage in the Gallows workshops here]

III. PATENT PENDING
The country estate of Allesandro Fontana Montalti Offredo Barraz is, in a word, sweeping. In winter, the third son of the aforementioned prominent Antivan merchant family, has retired with his staff, his lovely wife and his charming mistress, his three closest friends and their respective hanger-ons, and a herd of illegitimate children to marginally balmier climes on the norther Antivan coastline.

Riftwatch might be here in part to convince Allesandro that sunglasses are cool, but the real business is with his wife and mistress. The two women, Gianna and Vinetzia, may be as different in looks as the night is from the day but they are of very similar minds when it comes to matters of managing Barraz's investments. Allesandro might be an easy sell (and an enthusiastic host, putting on a series of fine dinners and using the visit as an excuse for a casual boar hunt), but Gianna and Vinetzia will exploit any opportunity to grill members of Riftwatch's delegation on logistics and specifics. Better to either be exceptionally prepared, or go to elaborate ends to avoid being trapped by one or both of them.