The man I was pretty sure was Gallus was the first to recover as he burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha!" his voice was loud and filled with amusement.
"Why are you laughing?" Vex asked confused.
"It's funny. Most people tip toe around us in caution or fear and yet a child is bold enough to tell us to our face he plans to extort us. The irony is hard not to find amusing." the man said while still smiling.
"It is rather ironic." the Dunmer woman said with a small smirk of her own.
The man focused on me again "Alright lad lets hear it. How are you going to exploit us?" he asked curiously.
"I learned healing recently as you no doubt know. I'm offering your people that service, no questions asked for a generous fee." I said confidently.
The mans eyes narrowed at that "Oh and why wouldn't we just go to a more experienced healer?" he asked testingly.
"Because they ask questions, things your people can't answer unless they want to end up in irons. Sure you could go through the trouble of disguising yourselves and then seeking out a healer but when you are bleeding to death I doubt you'll have the option. I'm offering healing without that extra need, quick and discreet. Payment only after the healing of course since I doubt any of you are foolish enough to snub the person keeping you alive." I said confidently.
"Good strong argument but what makes you think we don't already have healers of our own?" the man asked with a glint of interest in his eyes.
"The sneaky burials you lot do in the graveyard." I said calmly.
That raised eyebrows "Seems we've been underestimating how much you've been watching us." the man said slightly surprised by my answer but easily accepting it.
"So?" I pressed.
"You'll need to be tested first. A trial run as it were to make sure you won't kill us through bad medicine." He said seriously.
"Easy enough, how about that girl over there?" I asked pointing at the Bosmer that was wincing every time she put weight on her left leg.
She was a small thin bodied elf with tan skin and brown hair braided behind her head practicing archery. She was doing alright at trying to power through the pain but with my speech craft being what it was I could easily pick out the deception. -
The man looked surprised but spoke up "Auri!" he called and the elf stopped what she was doing and looked over.
The man waved his hand to beckon her over and while confused she obeyed. As she walked it became quite obvious she was trying very hard not to show that she was injured but the faint tells were there. A slight delay every step with her left leg, a constant tiny straining of her mouths edges and the tightening of her eyes with each step.-
"Guildmaster." she said respectfully when she arrived confirming my guess at the mans identity.
"You injured yourself recently haven't you?" Gallus more stated than asked.
"How did you know?" she asked with a surprised look.
"Until now I didn't. I'm too busy running the guild to pay such close attention to everyone here but he pointed it out." Gallus explained as he gestured to me.
She looked even more surprised at that and looked at me "And how did you know?" she asked confused.
"You along with three others have tells of someone in pain but hiding it. I noticed when I was walking in." I said calmly.
"He was scoping us out the entire time." the Dunmer woman muttered with an impressed look.
"Rather paranoid aren't you lad?" Gallus said teasingly.
I shook my head "Was covering my back. Had to try and estimate my chances of fighting my way out if I had to." I said honestly.
"And?" he asked intrigued.
"Not great. I'd probably kill about fifteen of you before I'd run out of magicka and injure another ten or so." I said honestly.
Vex scoffed "Please, don't boast empty threats like that." she said.
I looked her in the eyes "What if I pulled down the ceiling?" I asked calmly.
Everyone collectively looked up and paled as they realized I wasn't bluffing. If I exhausted all my magicka I could cave in this whole area taking a lot of them with me.
"I think i'm going to have someone see about reinforcing that now." Gallus said as he regained his composure.
"Now then on to business." I said unbothered as I held out my hand to Auri's left leg and channeled [Lay on hands]. "You took an arrow to the back of your calf and pulled it out, foolish. It's infected now and you be losing that leg below the knee in about two days from the progression of it." I diagnosed without trouble.
She paled "I didn't think it was that bad. Can it be saved?" she asked desperately.
I nodded "I can fix it but it's going to hurt a lot. You'll also be bedridden for a few days." I said honestly.
"What's this going to cost?" Gallus asked seriously.
"A hundred gold plus the iron dagger I need to cut out the dead flesh." I said with a shrug.
"That's cheaper then expected." he said surprised.
"If I didn't need the dagger it would be more expensive. Dagger needs to be as thin at the point as possible and sharp enough to shave hair." I said frankly.
"I'll cover it. Karliah, get that dagger." Gallus said and the dunmer woman nodded before moving to do as ordered.
"What about me?" Auri asked nervously.
"You need to find a solid wooden stick, a rag, a few bottles of the strongest alcohol you can and enough people to hold you down. This will hurt a lot and you will thrash about unless held in place." I said seriously.
She nodded with a shudder and rushed off to get what I said. Once everything was gotten I had her down all the alcohol before the helpers held her down as I cut the back of her left pants leg open. The rag was wrapped around the stick and placed between her teeth. I ran the blade I was given through a summoned flame and then once it cooled began to cut out the dark green putrid flesh at the edges of the wound. Like I said she screamed and thrashed but the helpers were strong enough to keep her still.-
Once the bad bits were gone I used [Lay on hands] to begin mending the wound from the muscles to the skin until it looked like she never was injured to begin with if you ignored the scar. After she tested her leg and found it good as new Gallus looked at me and held out a bag of coin.
"I think we have a deal." he said seriously.
