"I admit to total uncertainty on the matter of the book. The others I suspect we understand, but the book still baffles me. Hopefully the wizard will understand more of it than any of us could. Did you check the present price of Julen's necessary recovery?" She's not going to just say that they're purchasing a Raise out loud. An Abadaran bank this may be, but that doesn't mean nobody is listening for who might be worth robbing, and Message is possible to overhear.

"Returning him to perfect health will be over seven thousand pounds. The gold we had appraised last night will cover that, with a decent amount left over. It's closer to five thousand if we don't fix the energy drain."

"Six thousand for only what can be done this week then? As I recall, the enervation must be removed over a prolonged period. Do we wish to venture back out promptly or would you prefer to delay until his complete recovery?" She would prefer to get back out there, of course, but not for any good reason Yanor can see. She'll do what she can to hint in that direction and perhaps it will push him that way.

"Well I would prefer to be back out there as soon as possible... but if Julen wants a break it's probably right to give him one. After that mess."

"A sensible concern. We shall ask tomorrow, then."

The obvious next place for the conversation to go is to discussing the other things inside the ruins, but that's a bad idea in public. Instead she guides him into comparing this bank to the bank in Korvosa, and from there to other places he's been. What cities has he visited? Anywhere outside of the Bank's reach? Sylvan Hideaway must make visiting new places easier, how far has he gone since picking that up?

Yanor has been to loads of places! Cities... uh... Korvosa, Magnimar, Riddleport, and Kaer Maga. The Bank has a presence in all of them except Riddleport. The Kaer Maga location is practically a fortress due to the whole anarchy thing they have going on. Riddleport has a government... with a solid pirate lord majority. It seems Abadar is willing to work with anarchists but not with thieves. He's passed through many more small towns and villages in his wilderness travels. Sylvan hideaway and the raft spell are both great for traveling. He's been all over Varisia, though not much further inland than Kaer Maga. North and east are the lands of orcs and giants.

She will sit and listen to his tales of far-off places. Books on foreign lands are always unreliable, and she never liked learning from them anyway. His recounting of distant societies comes with reactions, expressions, all the little tics and overtones everyone has and nobody ever bothers to write down. She can probe a little deeper, press on what someone was thinking in this story, get his sense of when a habit or courtesy clearly came across wrong. Yanor clearly has at least some grasp of what people don't say. He's much more willing to admit when he came off wrong than any of the travelogues she's seen.

Really understanding the societies he talks about, even just enough to not feel an utter fool in them, would take her weeks. Today she has only a few hours to listen and spin her mental web of facts. Does Tomas arrive before the time of the appointment?

Tomas arrives a few minutes past noon. "Hello! I am still quite tired. Do we have an appointment yet?"

"Yeah. It should be in ten or fifteen minutes."

He can get a Message too!

"Do you know where to best find descriptions of spell variants? Someone in this city must have a better understanding of how my new spells work, and I would like to find them."

"Hmm... an acquaintance of mine has a copy of Izor's Compendium of Arcane Spells. I could introduce you. If you want a person to tell you how your spells work, a wizard with the Stone of the Seers might be willing to inspect them? Or you could buy time with a wizard affiliated with the Bank. Or you could put out an advertisement in the paper. Those would be my recommendations."

And just tell people how her spells work? That's...

Wait. Can she afford that? The bank can provide at least nominal secrecy, and if it won't matter in a month anyway—

"Most likely I'll just buy some time from the bank, but I'll never turn down an introduction to a fellow arcane caster. Your style is unique. Anyone who interests you must be worth their time." Minor complement, playing to his distaste for social graces, all should be good.

He nods. "Thanks."

An attendant walks over to them. "Your appointment is ready. Please follow me."

Yanor and Tomas stand up and follow him deeper into the Bank.

As does she, setting up a Message and a Detect Magic on the way.

The attendant leads them into a well-guarded room with a circular table at its center.

A robed man wearing a headband and a set of glasses turns to greet them. "Hello! I am Abus. I will be appraising your magic items."

Along the Message to Yanor—

"Has the gold already been converted to currency?"

Also, what magic does he have active?

"Yes. They handled it this morning."

Abus's headband, cloak, and ring are magical: moderate transmutation, faint abjuration, and faint conjuration respectively. The man himself is under some sort of spell: faint universal.

That would be a headband of whichever quality, a Cloak of Resistance, and... something on the ring? And a Prestidigitation, probably?

"With which item will you begin?"

"I'm going to begin with the ring, which I have been informed was tentatively identified as a ring of swimming. Such an item is rather wasteful, so it's possible the true nature of the ring is obscured."

"This may have been harvested from a shipwreck, which would slightly justify its existence? A good place to start."

And now she will... watch with her Detect up? Not much else to do.

Abus levitates the ring out of a container and onto the table. He pulls a bottle of wine and a small glass out of a cupboard and pours himself a drink. He takes a feather from his belt pouch and stirs the wine for a few seconds.

Identify. The wine vanishes from the glass.

Material components are so weird. Do wizards really have to do this all the time. There is some appeal to having whatever spells she needs, but... really?