Morricone nods, then turns around. "Maybe, I hope you do not disappoint then!"
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Your trip to the Tooth and Nail proves thankfully uneventful. Once she realizes what you have done Setrona is overjoyed and quickly finds you and the battered armigers a place to stay. Next day you go back to the shrine of Saint Senex where you inform the lictor of your actions. He's obviously pleased:"You saved my men and you did it avoiding more bloodshed. I'm in your debt. As promised, me and those of my armigers who wish to do so will join the Silver Ravens. We will work with you to unseat Barzillai Thurne from his position. Just know I won't be joining you in open fighting unless it's absolutely necessary. The time for hiding is over but I still hope to convince Barzillai I've fled the city, so I don't want to appear in public. Secrecy is more important now than ever, after all. That said you deserve a reward for your good work: here, take this" he says, handing you an exquisitely forged short-sword. This has been in my family for some time now, but I think you'll do itb honor! And... before we go. If nothing else I've had time to think down here. Barzillai's overt actions against the Order of the Torrent apparentlymake little sense, but I believe there's something else at work rather than just the wish of installing loyal lapdogs in power while removing an Order not willing to accept unjust rule. Barzillai was swift and sudden in his decisions and I can't shake the feeling he moved against us because of something he didn't want us to do, or learn. Before he turned on us, we were investigating rumors that Lord-Mayor Bainilus didn’t actually flee the city for Arcadia as the government claims. I believe she’s been imprisoned—or worse—by Barzillai Thrune. It didn’t help that I took offense, quite publicly, at our new lord-mayor’s recruitment of the Order of the Rack as additional guards, of course. The man spins webs like a spider, though I can’t decipher his design yet. Whatever his reason, I’ve come to believe it bodes ill for all of Kintargo. He's hiding something and we need to discover what it is before it's too late".
Oren takes the short sword, tests it’s heft, and swings it around the room. ”It feels like a very nice blade. I generally prefer to use my fists, but a strong backup weapon would not be a bad plan.”
She bids the man farewell, and waits for the group to decide their destination.
Lirotha thanks the Lictor and waves away his praise for now.
"Thank you for any help you and your men can provide, and for the gift. It will be welcomed. However, you also said something about helping us with a new lair possibly? We will soon outgrow our current location if we keep expanding our ranks like this."
"We've made one foray into their ranks... I'm sure they will have learned from that. A second attempt to rescue someone, especially someone as important as the mayor is going to be much harder." notes Valrani.
She too nods her head in thanks for the gift. "Hopefully we won't need it too much."
Talon nods and shakes the lictors hand. "Glad to have you aboard sir!"
"Yeah, we're glad for your friendship and for your men. As Lirotha said, though, we're a bit cramped on space at the moment. You got any ideas where else we can shack up?" Rocco eyes the sword with interest, but leaves it to those with a bit more muscle to use.
Rocco rises early the next morning, despite the overwhelming exhaustion he feels after a night of facing down kytons and rescuing the last people he'd ever thought he'd want to help - Hellknights! After quickly making himself ready and splashing some water on his face, he makes his way out of the Tooth and Nail, has the stablehand help him get the wagon ready, and departs to return the wagon to his father.
There are few enough people to take any notice of the lone halfling directing a mule-drawn cart through the streets, though he would hardly have stood out even if the streets were full. Still, Rocco is thankful for the quiet ride. It gives him time to process what has been happening lately. Of all the distressing things they've experienced, however, he can't help but smile when he thinks about the corrupt dottari captain. Ah, it's good to see some dissension in the ranks. Now that's something worth taking hold of! He chuckles softly to himself, and rides on.
When he finally arrives at the Rose and Thorn, his father is outside waiting at the door. "And what time, d'you call this, boy? Sun's nearly up! I've got groceries to go buy for the inn. How was I s'posed to do that without my cart, eh?"
Rocco is once again grateful for the low light of the pre-dawn as he rolls his eyes at his father's insistence. The markets wouldn't be open for another half hour at least, and he'd saved the old man the effort of hitching the wagon. Still, he keeps his mouth shut about that, and simply says, "Sorry, Pop. I guess I lost track of time this morning. Didn't want to strain old Gertie here, anyway. I know she's got a load to pull this morning. Oh, and thanks again for letting me borrow her and the wagon for my boss. She says thanks too."
The elder Hardweather simply snorts and eyes his son suspiciously. "Eh, well that's alright. Least you got yourself some work. Mind, you've got work you could be doing here too. Left your younger siblings in a bit of a lurch lately, haven't you? Bah, I know it's no use anyway. I just hope you're making yourself useful. Bringing some honor to the Hardweather name!"
Rocco looks at his father, standing solidly in front of his inn, arms crossed across his chest and legs akimbo, like he's ready to defend it with his life, and he feels a twinge of pride in his old man. "I'm trying, Pop. I really am trying."
Valrani spends a bit of time with the blade. Sitting down she avoids actually touching it, rather watching the play of moonlight along its length. Slowly and quietly she humms and ancient chant, allowing her vision to shift and follow the lines of moonlight, and watch how the blade interacts with them.
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As the lictor sees Oren and Valrani studying the shortsword he chuckles:"No, it's not magical. It's mythral. Light yet resistant. And it works well against devils" Octavio explains before answering Lirotha's question"You are in luck. I happen to know of a place that would be perfect as the Silver Raven's hideout. Yet reclaiming it won't be easy. It's called the Lucky Bones. Yet as you are now reclaiming it would be challenging to say the least. You are good but you should make sure the Silver Ravens are a well oiled machine before attempting something so ambitious"
Next evening you are back to the Tooth and Nail. Octavio rejoins his armigers who seem to have an hard time not to start crying. Setrona is clearly very satisfied by the way you dealt with the situation:"Come on people! This round is on the house! To silver wings and freedom!" she exclaims, and the rest of the pub's patrons cheer with her.
The atmosphere here is pleasant and relaxed, a sharp contrast with most of the rest of Kintargo. It's clear Setrona did a really good job with managing the place. As you sit down enjoying your drinks Insome Filas, the bartender and cook at the Tooth and Nail, approaches smiling in a friendly manner.
"You did well! It'd been ages since Setrona had been this happy and I hear it was because of your efforts. Consider yourselves always welcome at the Tooth and Nail. And in the meanwhile why don't you try some of our games? You could try devilpin or Odds and Evens" Filias says.
house is always the first player on the first round. For all subsequent rounds, the loser of the previous round chooses the next round’s first player. A player who seeks to cheat at odds and evens and succeeds at a DC 20 Sleight of Hand or Profession (gambler) check can adjust the total of his roll; on a success, that player can reroll one of the three dice rolled in that throw, but must accept the new result. The actual result of this Sleight of Hand check sets the Perception DC for others to notice the character cheating.
Lirotha enjoys the festivities, but is not enamored of chance games. She will sit in the back of the inn and practice her Harrowing skills, either on her own or with patrons willing to try it...free of charge this time.
Valrani sits down and soaks up the atmosphere in the inn. For once it is nice just to relax and be in the company of people who don't have the weight of the world, or even just Kintargo on their shoulders.
The games don't really interest her. Devilpin sounds a little too close to reality, and odds and evens seems to have little skill, other than plain cheating.
So she sits and watches the mists rising outside the window. Happy for once to be inside.
Morricone weaves through the crowd smiling here and there and sharing some gossip and more.
Enjoying the freetime he looks around for someone to share the night with him.
Rocco is glad to finally be part of a crowd that knows how to have some fun! He joyfully takes up the offer of Odds and Evens.
"So, Filias, what do you say? Odds? Or Evens?"
Talon just orders a drink and then takes a seat overlooking the place and winds down a little bit, since it has been a stressful couple days.
He buys a glass of chilled water and one of wine and sends them over to Valrani as she stares out the window. When she looks over across at him, sitting on the other side of the place he raises his glass in cheers with a smile.
Oren takes the time to rest up. She needed to brew more reagents, as usual. She would enjoy observing the others playing when she took short breaks from her task.
Valrani offers Talon a smile from across the room. After a while she gets up and wanders over to his table.
"Nice choice of wine. I wonder how long this will be on the menu before it is all seized by Thrune?"
"Who know's. But almost every tavern has at least one bottle hidden away and ready for those who pay enough." He replies then looks out on the scene.
"Some crew we have here. To be honest I'm almost always surprised we've survived this long doing what we do. How are you finding it all?"
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Meanwhile Setrona starts playing devilpin, challenging the patrons to "dethrone" her. Apparently she's the resident reigning devilpin champion inside the Tooth and Nail...
Smiling easily, Lirotha gestures to the seat across from her.
"Of course my pretty! Please sit. Let me see if I can divine your future!"
Smiling dashingly at Lucalla Morricone bows and replies.
"Oh yes I am. And also quite enchanted. You have a very particular piece of jewelery around your neck to enhance your beauty!"
After Val’s reply, Talon with a grin gulps his drink and holds his glass up and gives little cough as the liquid goes down the wrong pipe and his eyes water a little as he says ”Setrona! ‘Cough’ I would like to give it a try.”
Then he slides off his stool and gives Val a grin and whispers ”Wish me luck.” and walks over to the devil pin board.
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"I told you my name, my charming new friend... what about yours? A girl may like a little mystery, but never too much of it..."
Despite her bravado the attempt is a resounding failure and the common room erupts in laughter. "Shesh! Fools! I'm just giving the new boy a bit of advantage. That's all!"
Smiling broadly, giving her best manner, Lirotha focuses the woman's attention to her cards.
"We will start with a simple three card draw Harrowing..."
She hands the other half-elf her ancient deck of Harrow Cards and indicates for her to shuffle and draw three cards face down in a row in front of her.
Lirotha then reveals each card with agonizing slowness!
- The Bear: A bear in a ruff and a party hat on a unicycle, standing in front of a skull and carrying a metal staff.
- The Rakshasa: An alligator-looking rakshasa in a fine suit, holding a cup of tea.
- The Midwife: A dwarf woman holding a devilish-looking child uspide-down. Behind her, a man seems to be crying.
She then waves her hands over the cards and hisses a bit, then speaks suddenly to the woman, looking her straight in the eyes.
"Aha! I see it clearly!"
She points to the Bear card.
"You will meet a bear of a man, but you will think him a fool."
She then points to the Rakshasa card.
"However, the man will be more than he seems! In fact he will be quite clever!"
Then she points to the final Midwife card.
"In the end he is a sensitive man. Doomed to worry about those he cares about..."
Lirotha finishes her reading with a sly smile...
Morricone smiles and nods.
"My name, well everyone calls me Morri round here. And I would be delighted to hear it from your mouth. For my faux-pas in the arts of courtesy I owe you... a drink. How about a glass of spiced chelish wine?"
Talon smiles and takes a dart which he fumbles and drops to the floor...
...almost pegging it into his foot.
"Oops!" He says coyly with a shrug and awkward smile.
Then picks up the dart, takes aim and...
"Nose." he says and launches the dart across the room.
He turns to Setrona and cocks his head to the side with a raised eyebrow "Beginners luck?"
Rocco looks up at Filias, his hand grasping his chin thoughtfully as he considers how many throws to make. "Let's see, I say we make...5 throws!"
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Meanwhile Valrani and Oren keep to themselves, for once enjoying the peace and quiet.
Lirotha waves away the silver, then purses her lips before responding.
"The Harrow has never lied to me. With that in consideration...Both Fate and the Harrow can be fickle. I could have read the cards wrong, or you may leave town or die suddenly before you meet this man I read about in the cards. The fact that it is POSSIBLE you could find this person someday soon...THAT I sincerely think is very much possible."
Rocco's eyes dart across the dice as he does some quick mental math. 'Damn! I think that makes the total Even! I better see if I can do something about that...'
Rocco feigns a cough and lunges over the table in a sloppy attempt to knock the dice over in his favor, but it's obvious what he's trying to do. "Heheh! Sorry, Filias! Guess I was a little to eager for a win. Wanna play again?"
With the games going on, Valrani returns to quiet contemplation of the miracle of water. Rain dripping from the roof, mist rising from the river. All aspects of the miracle that grants and sustains all life.
She grins quietly to herself, sipping her ale, which too, is mostly water.
Morricone smiles at Luculla. "Well I work at the theater. I have played them all. The six-folded trial of Lazaroth. The rise and fall of House Canticle. A Midsummernights Nightmare."
Morricone beams her a smile"Hmm, blackberry tarts. That sounds delicious. What do you think, can we sneak over and indulge for a moment?"
Talon shrugs. "Maybe Nivi Rhombodazzle is looking down on me tonight..."
And as Talon throws he shouts "Horns!"
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"It's not over yet!" she exclaims as her dart hits the face on the nose fair and square. In the end Setrona does manage to recover some points but not enough to beat Talon. Who wins the money and more importantly the title of devilpin reigning champion at the Tooth and Nail!
The evening ends with everyone having a grand time and forgetting their worries for a while. You spend the rest of the night in the tavern's upstairs rooms and in the moring return to the wasp's nest, once again ready to run the organization you are building to free kintargo from tyranny!
Content to sit by herself and watch the rain, the lawyer looks outside wistfully. If only the rain would wash away Thrune and his lackeys.
Unfortunately it is not to be. Sooner or later there would be more blood spilled. And while she was big and strong, she'd lost more than her share of blood recently. Perhaps that as much as anything else was putting Valrani into a pensive mood.
Valrani gazes at the clouds, thinking about what might be.
Rocco wanders around town one lazy afternoon, blending into the crowds and listening for news...
Oren was relaxed, having gotten to take it easy for a bit.
Random roll
The Hound of Kintargo interrogates some of the scum of the city to get information.
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Morricone listens intently to the story and gives his comfort to the old man.
"Some children are missing. We should investigate!"
The Hound leaves the dottari guard with some of his teeth before disappearing into the alleys of Kintargo. One night he appears in the headquarters of the Silver ravens and after some pleasantries he reveals his news.
"A couple nights ago I got some new information from some... cooperative Dottari guards. Someone or.. something is copying Professor Mangvhune's method of murder, and another body was found near the South Wall of Old Kintargo. I want to go and investigate, but feel I may need some backup."
He taks a few steps and turns around to look back at the gatheres ravens. "Professor Mangvhune was an efficient killer, and I'd prefer to not treat whoever this is with kid gloves." he says grimly.
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“Thrune’s been using the Holding House as temporary jail, but there was more to it than that. I hear they had some sort of fiend in there too, something that’s been working to extract intelligence and more from the prisoners! No more though! A couple of days ago someone infiltrated the Holding House masquerading as Thrune's goons, rescued some prisoners and killed the fiend! I have from a reliable source our "beloved despot" didn't take the news all that well...”
"I heard tell of a blue dragon circling the Cathedral of Asmodeus. Seems unlikely, surely dragons are too self absorbed to align themselves with a devil. Then again, rumour has it the mother of all dragons lives in the Pits of Hell. Who is Rizovair? A dragon?"
She listens as the others tell of what they have heard. "Missing children, that is something we can help with, and make a useful difference."
Oren’s customers also told her of the missing children. She votes to follow up on that particular lead.
During her down time, Lirotha will do in-depth research on the 'outsider' woman they met and killed in the Holding House. With her mention of 'coming back' after the Ravens haunts her and she wants to be prepared, if at all possible in case that actually happens!