280/Cast in Metal, Buid in Stone

Function: CargoSQLQuery::run
Query: SELECT `cargo\_\_Characters`.`\_pageID` AS `cargo\_backlink\_page\_id\_Characters`,`\_pageName` AS `\_pageName` FROM `cargo\_\_Characters` WHERE ID=x ORDER BY `cargo\_\_Characters`.`\_pageID`,`\_pageName` LIMIT 100

**Anilaia (17) has posed:**
The ovens of Leon's Atelier seem to have been steaming for the last weeks continiously, the crane going up and down to the harbor on an almost regular base, bringing wood, lead, zinc and copper up in large quantities and then descending with crates full of lead ammunition for slings and harpoons with brass heads and wooden shafts. As if all of the workshop was dedicated to making ammunition to stockpile in the harbor's armories, the stench of hot metal hung around the dead end that lead to the shop, and even at nighttimes, the red glow was seen to come from the manufacture.

**Lanky Linx (34) has posed:**
So... many... steps. Leon's Atelier, as it was called, was in a peculiar location in the statues of Palanquin and it required a lot of walking. Linx finally made it to the door and thinks of Doom and Amethyst's wings and how they would have helped. "Oh well," he moans. He knocks on the door briskly.

**Anilaia (17) has posed:**
As Lanky knocks against the door, he easily notices that the door is actually open, and opening it will have him face a wall of heat rolling over him, which is even hotter as when he had passed the wide open windows. Inside he can spot maybe three or four people well wrapped up in linnen covers to stand the heat, all of them looking quite similar but for their size and the color of the covers. Two walk in circles, turning a large wheel which in turn operates a set of gears that in the end operate a clever air supply fan, pulling in air from a pipe running under the floor of the workshop. Another guy seems to run between the pile of coal and wood and the furnance, keeping it well stocked, while the last person is the less dirtiest, most likely the owner of the shop, preparing the molds on a cart that is pretty low on the floor.

**Lanky Linx (34) has posed:**
Stopping for a moment in the door to adjust to the heat he looks over everyone and finds the one he thinks he wants. He has already started sweating which has matted his lovely golden locks to his face by the time he get to who he thinks is Anilaia. He keeps his red cape close to him, not wanting it to wander off into a fire. "Are you Anilaia? Anilaia the architect?" he questions over the roar of the contraptions and fire. He is hoping the least dirty of all would be the owner.

**Anilaia (17) has posed:**
The Figure clad in linnen 'rags' turns the head as the man speaks up, pointing to an other area of the workshop, where curtains seek to protect the shelves full of books from the cooking heat, and where a door leads to a less desertlike area. "wait over there a moment." The woman yells almost to oversound the crackling of the oven and the creaking of the gears. She does push the clay molds on the cart closer to the oven, makng gestures to her helpers to cut the work. They quickly retreat outside, grabbing watterskins to cool their throats and dampen the protective covers as their boss checks the contents of the oven. Adding some white powders, she steps to the side of the machine, rotating a large wheel to turn the crucible and a golden glowing liquid starts to pour from it. The heat even seems to become more pressing, despte the oven not gaining more fuel to feed. Roaring like an angry dragon and casting an almost magical light over the workshop, the brass runs into the inlets of the molds, which hiss as it heats the air in them and forces it out of the smaller exit holes. Two minutes the marriage of metal and fire takes, then the cast is done and the mistress turns to move to her guest. "The last cast for the day..."

**Lanky Linx (34) has posed:**
Moving to where the woman instructed Linx stepped inside, relieved from the waves of heat. He finds somewhere to sit, a chair, the floor, and catch his breath. Linx is happy that some one wants to do this type of work. It's not for him though. He waits for the woman to join him.

**Anilaia (17) has posed:**
As the heat in the workshop did not seem to leave with the end of the cast, and the oven still hot, Anilaia made sure to move as close to the door in the wall, opening it to gain a slcht cool breeze. "What can I do for you? The Armories of the city do have quite some demand with the pirates in the last times, so I am quite busy with doing those casts, but this was the last cast for the week."

**Lanky Linx (34) has posed:**
'Such a nice voice,' Linx thinks to himself. 'I wonder what she looks like.' Coming back to the issue at hand, Linx pulls out three tubes and opens them. "I have these buildings I would like you to look over. I am part of the Bureau and would like a second opinion on their design, and security." Linx shows the official symbol of the Bureau that his position provides him to show his legitimacy. "Do you have the time?"

**Anilaia (17) has posed:**
"Just a second opinion? Who made the plans originally?" the veiled mistress of the workshop said, looking at the seal through the guaze. It is hard to read the face of someone srouded up like that, but it seems she is at least willing to hear out the matter and considder it. "Besides the plans of the building the place of the bulding is to be planned well. Streets... future buildings... All has to be taken into account."

**Lanky Linx (34) has posed:**
"The two here are long standing structures. One in the nice part of town, the other in a more prestigious location. The third," Linx points to the stack of papers, "is in Ysyr. That is under construction though I do not know who designed it." After providing the information he steps back to stay out of her way.

**Anilaia (17) has posed:**
"So it is a renovation in those cases." Taking the plans and opening them, she pins them to a desk, then moving to one of the shelves. Without pulling the heavy curtains away more than needed, she pulls out a different scroll, the main city map of Palanquin in all its details. Rolling it out next to the other plans, she nods, pointing to two buildings. "Those are your buildings, the gargoyle here and the arch there are unique. Both the buildings in the upper Palanquin. This one here," she says as she points to the plans of it. "This one I know quite well. It has a good accustics n the lower hall, but the light is not as beautyful because of the buildign opposite of it - it blocks the light. What you want to change to them?"

**Lanky Linx (34) has posed:**
"It's not what I want changed. It their security." Linx points to the two locations in Palanquin. "These are long standing buildings. What are their flaws? How does one enter them when uninvited? I need to know to patch them up." His hand shifts to the building for Ysyr. "And this one, same thing." Linx is a bit concerned, this woman knows her stuff and may realize what one of the building is. He looks her in the eyes trying to read anything he can.

**Anilaia (17) has posed:**
Carefully studying the plans, the little you can sea from the still veiled architect seems to hint that she actually considers the questions. "Well, I am not a thief and I wouldn't like any to come ot my house, but I would strongly suggest to exchange the front portus of this house, not only to put in a door that can carry a bar to block it in the back, but also to replace the windows here. That should bring more light and security. On the other hand... wait, that is the guild building. Are you sure you did not get the wrong plans? You see, this gargoyle here is shared between two buildings, and while I thought you have the left one's plans, this is the guild's right side, as you can see from the doors here. I can't tell what the guild did change to the house internally, but I know that they had quite some work done by their own workforce."

**Lanky Linx (34) has posed:**
'Damn, she noticed,' Linx thinks. Once again he reaches into a pocket and pulls out another seal, this time for the Guild. "You are better than what I had been told. Identifying a building from plans alone." Leaving the seal on the table for her inspection he sits back down. "Their own work is what I am concerned about. I hear some of the people that worked on it were not of the guild and may be planning a raid."

**Anilaia (17) has posed:**
Raising an eyebrow under the protective veil, she once again looks at the plans. "Well... I can't tell what was done on the inside, as this is... well only the facade and the original layout. But stucturally, the building has a few weak points. You see, it does share a wall, which is why it shares the gargoyle here too. Removing this wall entirely would make the whole house collapse. Also, the slight slope of the street does at times have water gather against this wall, which has to be properly sealed with tar to prevent the stones from starting to degrade, which again could collapse the building. On your new plans... Give me a second..." she said, skimming over them. "You should change some of the design here. If this is the vault as I presume from the plans, you should add reinforcement iron bars against the inner and outer wall of it, preventing anyone who tries to break the wall from entry and do the same for the floor and ceiling. Like a cage walled in and surrounded by a cage. That should prevent everyone from using any other method to gain access but through the door." Once again, she pointed to the maps of the city "Well, this area I don't plan on renovating, but if your project to search for fails in the plans shows some effects, you might in turn help out a project of mine that might be profitable on your own end. I do have designed a housing unit which I would like to repeatedly build on the southern island to fight the slums and make them more sanitary, but such a large project does need backing. I have funded the first house all myself, but with both the Guild and Bureau, you might get them interested in building the houses and rent them out."

**Lanky Linx (34) has posed:**
Linx considers the new proposition posed to him. While the Guild might be on board for the profits, the Bureau is a bit more concerned with raising the well being of individuals in the area. "Since you have the plans all drawn up, what were your cost projections? You do propose an interesting proposition and one of the two might bite." Linx thinks its admirable that this woman is trying to better the least of them.

**Anilaia (17) has posed:**
"Well, that depends on some factors. If the bricks are bought overseas or if you open a new brick kilin. In the later case much of the costs can be reduced and ther emight even be more cost reduction for a cut on the earlier or later profits, if the workers on the construction are payed with free rent in some months or if they can pay for the living space partly with their work for reduced pay. I had payed.. let me calculate that real quick." A moment the woman seems to spin numbers in her head, something in the area of a dirham of silver and that includes the ornate decoration and the topping out feast. On the other hand, the two upper stories did cost me an extra 200 dinars for elaborate decoration and special materials and quite another time this for the setup of the rooftop garden. So, all in all, half a talent of silver, including the quite elaborate penthouse on the upper two floors, which I still may receive a full talent worth of services for from a certain nobleman."

**Lanky Linx (34) has posed:**
Marking the information down, Linx will bring this up with Alphonse. He might be willing to invest in this as well. He also notes the deficiencies in the buildings that the woman has brought up. "Excellent. I will bring these ideas up to potential investors." He opens his arms across the table. "Do I need to keep the drawing out anymore or can I roll them up?"

**Anilaia (17) has posed:**
Anilaia nods some. "The more investors we find, the more it could reduce the costs by just opening up brickmakers. I calculated that with enough supply of bricks, in a year or two the whole slms around the southern harbour could be renovated, but the bottleneck is the bricks. Also, what can be saved from the pure bricks by going into manufacturing them here or owning a manufacture abroad should be best invested in the roads and water system, which would greatly increase the health beyond the new housings and thus could benefit the commerce - a healthy city works harder and the people are less prone to become criminal scum."

**Lanky Linx (34) has posed:**
Linx lets a little chuckle from her comment on scum. "Alphonse thinks along the same lines. I will bring this up to him and get a meeting set up." Linx starts collecting the documents that were put on the table and putting them back in the tubes. "With the amount of time you have spent on the planning of this, it should be an easy sell. It looks like you will have most of the questions answered."

**Anilaia (17) has posed:**
"I have the plans here, if you want to take looks upon them, but if you have more questions feel free to come again and ask. For now, fare well though, as I have ammunition to get out of the mold." Saying so, she turns to the move to the mold she had casted when he came in.