"Yes yes. Ikit sneak sneak. Then BOOM! Or... not? Ikit want to help help... but not talk talk" it apears the bundle was shaking its "head"
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"We should avoid making any BOOM! It tends to make people angry and I'd rather not get chased around by mobs with pitchforks and torches." Zhai's "boom" sounded very much like Ikit's.
Magnimar -
With Watch Officer Kasadei's directions you are able to obtain directions to the warehouse of Fenster the Blight. Underbridge known more commonly as “the Shadow,” is Magnimar’s most dangerous slum. Nestled in the perpetual gloom under the Irespan, this district is a haven for criminals, smugglers, and even a few monstrous predators. No doubt the Pathfinders will need to step lively in this place!
The afternoon grows short as you make your way through Underbridge. The shadows have eyes but have yet to show you their teeth when you arrive at partially collapsed warehouse on the shoreline. This stretch of the shore has a particularly filthy stretch where tidal currents often cause the filth and refuse of the city to collect in stinking clots along the shore.
The entrance to this hovel consists of a pair of skiffs leaning against each other to create a triangular “arch” from which a moldering remnant of a ship’s sail hangs like a curtain. Sitting next to the entrance is an old sea chest with a broken lid. A sign leans against the front of the chest—“LEEV A GIFT AND WATE OUTSID.” A dented tin platter sits on the ground before the sign.
"The creative mishandling of the local language aside, I believe we are supposed to provide a monetary incentive for any further interactions. Should we?", Ran shows another coin produced from the Pouch they received from Sheila earlier, letting it shine in what sunlight remained, ready to flick it into the tin platter.
"While I'm not opposed to that, per se, isn't it generally considered poor taste to give money as a gift?" Granite pauses. "Actually, given the spelling, I doubt Fenster is thinking that hard about what is or is not a 'gift'. Feel free to go ahead."
"Ikit have gift gift!" some form of meat, you think it may be meat. And you are not sure if its cooked or not, comes from the pile of clothing
"Give give!" he shakes it so that they know he plans to put this on the plate
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Ran respectfully stands back, bowing to Ikit, with his hands waving towards the plate.
Personally, he would be highly reluctant to consider anything coming from the pile of clothes as edible...especially meat that he could not remember seeing go in.
But in a community like this, with a name like the man they sought out...it may be just the right way to approach things. After all, they still had money, if that failed-
"Gift gift" comes the squeek from inside the pile and he places the treat on the plate. The way he said it, he sounded very pleased with himself
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Magnimar -
Ikit leaves the "gift" on the plate, perhaps a minute later you can hear Fenster before you can see him, his cough is wet sounding and sounds like it is full of phlegm. He pokes his head outside of the "door" looking about and spotting the gift in the offering chest.
He looks warily at the group and then heads closer to the plate sniffing it, he is a wretched creature perhaps human but as low as humanity can sink more skin and bone than meat. His flesh is clammy and gray in places, one of his eyes is clouded over with a white film, and his clothing is caked with filth. His breathing is raspy and gurgling and smells of bad meat, even from this distance.
He looks at and then sniffs at the contents of the chest.
Its meat from the creatures where he comes from. Its a treat for his group. Not easy to find the critter.
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Magnimar -
He reaches in and pulls the contents taking a bite out of it, seemingly satisfied he turns to the group, "What else ya' gi't? Fenster don't werk fer jus' food alone". He does though, continue to eat the offering.
"Got any 'disappeared' friends? Cause we are tracking down the disappearances. I've got a good smile too." Zhai smiles at him. "Oh, and gold, we got a few gold to rub together, not a lot, but a few."
Granite warily eyes Fenster as he eats the "meat," expecting for the--he hesitated to call it 'food' but it seemed like it might be technically accurate-- consumed item to quickly make it's way back where it had come from. And just in case that chose to turn projectile, he was ready to leap well out of range. When he's eventually convinced that this is an unlikely outcome, he lets the other talk, instead choosing to keep an eye out for unwanted attention.
"Aye, Gold we got. If you even need that. I heared you are renting out your place, so if your landlordship got more exclusive tastes than mundane cash, do tell."
Ran steps back as he bows to him, Coin still in hand, but trying to avoid being downwind from Fenster. After seeing the man eat the...meat(probably) that Ikit had produced from within his robes, Ran considered the very real possibility that this creature was indeed having other needs than cash. Soap would probably be a good start, but he would definitely not suggest that. Possibly Fenster was allergic and sensitive about that.
Magnimar -
"Dem dizzip'rences wuz me! Yep I knows dem girlzz. I'll dizzapear you two if'n ya donnit part wit' a reward fer my servizes of infermashin", he then breaks out into a series of alarmingly vicious wet coughs. The amount of bile, phlegm, blood? that pours out of him is as worrisome as it is grotesque.
The sounds of clapping comes from his little hide away
"Good good. Yes yes?" ot sounded a bit that he was a bit sad to let the gift go. And wanted to know if it was worth it to give him the snack.
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"Certainly, we wouldn't want to incur your wrath. I am sure that would be our virulent doom. A reward for services seems in order...but your claim of being responsible for the disappearances is fascinating. I do so wish you could explain in greater detail how you disappeared them, and where to. Do tell, please-"
Ran shifts further away from wherever down-wind is, not needing to pretend being afraid of the man, or rather, of whatever diseases this man was carrying within him.
Zhai almost rolls her eyes, almost. She thought better of it and caught herself, but her complete lack of fear of this...man is quite evident. That is not to say she sees lesser people as having their place beneath her notice, as many others do.
Magnimar -
Fenster cackles madly coughing up phlegm sending it flying too close for for comfort to the Pathfinders'.
"Heh, heh. It's not me, it's not me. I wished it wuz me... I seen those rezzsponsible for them disap.. dis.. stealin' peoplez. It wuz the “blue dwarfies” them skulking about the alleys of the waterfront now and gaan.
Now Izz give you infermashin, ya wants more pay!"
Granite half smiles half grimaces as he resists the urge to step further back from Fenster. His skin already itched and begged for a bath just being near the man. " 'Blue dwarfies'? My, that does sound interesting. I'm sure my companions and I could come up with an equitab- err that is to say, an agreeable arrangement in exchange for whatever help you can offer."
True, he could probably have dealt with the man himself. But Ran had the money they had been provided with. And Zhai had seemed rather cagey about overpaying or showing too much of their hand. And his coin purse was probably at the bottom of his pack. And...ah heck, he just didn't want to get that close to the man.
"The dwarfies are feeling depressed? How sad." Zhai smiled with amusement, thinking the moment could use a bit of humor to distract from... stuff.
"My friend here," Zhai gestures at Ran, "likes shiny so we let him carry pay stuff. I'm sure he could part with some." Zhai smiles at Ran.
"But sire, you just claimed to be resposible yourself, and now it's blue dwarfies? Why, it's the first I hear of those. Or are you jesting with us again? Could you show us one of these blue dwarfs? The girls right, I got the shinies, but knowing you are not joking again by seeing one of these dwarfs for myself would make it a lot easier to part with some of them coins."
Ran lets the gold coin he handled previously re-appear in his palm, then throws it towards Fester, trying to gauge his reaction.
Magnimar -
Fenster snatches the gold coin out of the air and bites on it, partial tooth and partial gum. "Solid", he grins. "Five more a'h dese n ye'll kno n wh't Fensters know'n 'bout dem girlz but ah'm 'dem dwarfies an't easy te catch, that'd be more..."
Ran counts out 5 more gold pieces, then lets them drop into the metal bowl, not really wanting to get too close to Fenster, or, gods beware, get into physical contact with him.
"Well, lets hear what you know about them girls. If that impresses us, we can talk about a price for information about the blue dwarfs, so do your best!"
Ran doubted that whatever the guy knew actually was worth THAT amount of money...but going by what they had learned so far, they might be in a hurry if they meant to retrieve Natalya unharmed...and with her memory regarding the artifact intact.
As such, overpaying a bit for potentially useful information seemed a sensible gamble.
Magnimar -
Fester satches the coins out of the bowl and bites each one, the last cracking one of his teeth. "Reel". His tooth starts to bleed but he ignores it and tells you his take all the while blood sand spittle land in front of him and on him.
"I' theree landlord! Dem's be back, they always come back ta' ole' Fenster. Onofewm still roun though, pretty one. Dark hair". He holds out his hands in front of his chest, "Big uns she got! She pay no rent not in my buildin'... a shame".
Granite blinked. "And...how is this girl related to the blue dwarfs or the disappearances...?" Perhaps it was the man's atrocious butchering of the common tongue, but he couldn't see what the connection was between this new piece of information and what they were looking for. Though he supposed trying to follow up with the probably-Tower-Girl might be a good idea, this information hardly seemed worth the gold they had paid, especially without further explanation.
Gradually it began to dawn on him that Fenster might actually just be pulling their leg for gold. He squinted as he attempted to determine if this was the case. Though it was also quite possible the fellow was mad and at least believed his tales himself.
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"One of them is still around? Where does she pay rent, then, if not at your place? I'd love to see her big ones with my own eyes.", Ran replied...the man seemed simply, and he could do simple.
When it came down to it, it probably was true, too, even if said a lot more plump than he would normally put it.
Not appreciating pretty girls was essentialy the same as not acknowledging the gifts the gods had bestowed upon them. So not to at least take an appreciative glance when the opportunity presented itself was almost sacrilegous. And Ran happily fulfilled his divine duty of looking at pretty girls. The more he saw of them, the closer he felt to the Gods. That surely was a clear sign of their appreciation.
Ikit looked from one to the other. This was far beyond him. He knew tunnels and gun powder. Well. That was his life. Thats what he was raised to do. This talking and qaubling over coun and girls. The surface world was strange indeed.
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Zhai rolled her eyes at the mention of women's chests, the possession of which Zhai considers an advantage only to sluts or manipulating fools that are certainly not godly.
Magnimar -
Fenster scratches his crotch area and considers the questions as they come in, he pauses and sniffs his fingers shrugging, the continues, "Yah sh's nearby somewere, her nam' wer uh wuz. Nat. Nayt, Natla!"
He cocks his head at Granite, "Wot' Tower Gurlz got to do with disapprences? You know you tel me! I telled you plenty!" He growls at the man.
"I...what? We asked you about the disappearances, not about the Tower Girls. What do you know about the disappearances?" More confused than ever, Granite begins to regret even opening his mouth.
Magnimar -
Fenster seems exasperated, "I already sez Blue Dwarfies!
Mebbe you go ask Naytla what she knowz.
You see Tower gurlz you tells 'em I got space fer rent still..."
With that he heads back into "his" building.
Granite throws up his hands in exasperation. Under his breath and hopefully quiet enough not for the strange man to overhear them, he grumbles to the rest of the group. "Let's not talk to crazy people again. We can go check on this Tower Girl and perhaps see if she knows anything? I'm not sure what the best approach for her would be, as I'd imagine she'd be hesitant to talk to outsiders. Any ideas?"
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"Man may have name wrong wrong? Maybe she close close? If not... maybe tower girls are close close? Ikit not sure. But thinks man just dizzy"
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Zhai nods at Ikit's statement, "I agree, lets go talk to her. The two may be related though, so we should be wary just in case they try to dissappear us next."
"Hm. What you say has Merit, Ikit, I was wondering if he mangled the name, too. But I had hoped he would at least give us a direction. "Nearby" could be the whole waterfront, for all his sanity. And we can't very well go shouting her name hoping for an answer."
Taking a look around, at the living standards of the people here, he continues:"We may get her to come to us, though, by putting out word that we are looking for her. If her old landlord knows where she's now, that towergirl, Natalya or not, does not seem to really try to hide - but I'm open to suggestions"
Magnimar -
Fenster pokes his head out once more, "Youze still heer? That away a' tha' ole boardin' houze! Now git!" He points the group towards the end of Underbridge closer to the city proper.
The walk through Underbridge is fraught with leering characters and shadowy figures in its dank, dark alleyways. After asking about you find "the old boarding house" that Fenster mentioned, thogh it costs you a few more coin to find it.
As the afternoon grows short you stand before a building that, like all buildings in this undercity, has seen better days. Its clapboard sides are dark with mildew and marred by scorch marks. In places fire has gutted portions of the roof ’s moss covered tile shingles, but the building appears to be structurally intact, you hope.
The building stands near the stark wall of the Seacleft, and scree from several decades of minor rockfalls has piled up along its southern face. The structure was built over a group of collection pools in the city’s early sewers, and when its interior was gutted, the floors collapsed into the septic system below.
All of the windows are boarded up. The front door appears rather stout considering the condition of the rest of the place leading you to believe that it was recently replaced. The place appears vacant but then every building down here appears vacant!
The walk through the Underbridge was...unpleasant to say the least. Granite's skin crawled the entire time through, as if invisible eyes were watching him. Which they probably were. He resisted the urge to fidget, keeping his hands still in a neutral but wary position, conscious of possible pickpockets.
When they finally reach what appears to be their destination, his nose wrinkles in response to the smell of the nearby sewers. Nevertheless, after quickly informing his companions of what he's doing, he approaches the building and moves to circle the structure once to get a feel for its size and possible other entrances or windows in. Once that's completed, he places one ear to the door to listen for signs of life inside.
Zhai seems mostly relaxed, though she has appearently decided to leave the talking to the locals to her companions more familiar with city life.
As they arrive at the building, Zhai is about to speak when Granite pipes up. As he said basically what she was going to, she shrugs instead and she joins the perimeter check, going the opposite direction, though she is also looking for any good ways up to the additional floors (if any) or roof.
Magnimar -
The house appears to have two entrances. One on the south side of the house and one on the west side of the house. However, the west side of the house is marked by shoddy construction and is clearly either a poor add-on or possibly even a shack.
A window on the west side, two on the north side and one on the eastern side are heavily boarded up (from the inside) and nothing of the inside can be seen as there are no gaps between the wooden planks.
The stench from the inside is as bad as the stench from the outside, the planks do not prevent that. It is clear that the structure overall is unstable as the foundation all around the perimeter is cracked and filthy sewage water serves as a moat warning away any who would not want to ruin a perfectly good pair of boots.
Having finished his preliminary inspection, Granite returns to the rest of the group. "Well, I didn't hear anything from the inside, so we could try prying a board or two loose to get a look." After some brief rummaging, he pulls a crowbar out of his bag. "On the other hand, the place doesn't exactly look structurally sound, so if we're not careful, it could come tumbling down. As such, I tend to lean towards just using the doors. Perhaps starting with the one on the west side as it's probably a shack, so we can get it out of the way. At the very least, we could both check if the doors are trapped and if they're locked."
Waiting outside, getting a good look, and finding that there's no place not offending his sense of smell, Ran comments: "Lovely place, this. Do they pay the rent to the tenants here?"
As Granite finishes his explanation, he nods:"I agree. Plus, prying boards open could be seen as a disagreeable course of action by whoever lives here voluntarily. Judging by the smell, it could be an cruel act to let in the sun and doom the inhabitants to see the place, too. So lets stick to the doors...albeit before we start breaking and entering, may I suggest knocking? If our ward is indeed inside, she may decide to converse with us, rather than assume we have hostile intentions, as I know I would if someone starts picking the lock on my door."
Ikit chimes in very quickly as he rambles off
"nonono.ikitmakeboomboomgoawaybeforeyoutouchtouch.movemove" he was past him in a flash and at the door
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"I agree with Ran, we have no reason to break inside just yet. It would be better if we at least try to make contact respectfully first. Though, a couple of us remaining out of sight as surprise backup would be a good idea."
Magnimar - Underbridge -
As the group approaches the small "shack" leaning against the side of the building,the door to the boarded place opens and a man steps out and shouts at the top of his lungs,
"How can you know if we are wanted or not without knowing who we are or what our reason for coming is? You did not think that through, did you?"
Pausing for a moment, Ran sighs, then proceeds to talk:"We could introduce ourselves, but honestly that seems like a wasted effort. In the interest of keeping things civil, however, could you tell Natalya that her friend Sheila here is worried about her and wants to know she's fine. If she doesn't get to talk with her, she'd probably assume her friend is held here against her will or something. We wouldn't want that, right?", Ran points at Zhai as he talks about 'Sheila', then ends his rhetoric question with a shrug.
Magnimar - Underbridge -
The man glares at Ran, "Natalya said..." Someone inside throws a rock at the brute that threatens the group. It hits him in the head. He turns, "Owww, why'd you..." A muffled voice is heard. "Oh... Oh is that right?"
He turns back to you all and repeats,
Zhai gives Ran a glare at being called Sheila, "Quite frankly, we are being paid quite well to find Natalyia. We need to see her for ourselves, and you know well paid types like us won't simply leave you alone, even if we don't simply break our way in there, we are going to be a bothersome. Might as well deal with us now rather than later."
Magnimar - Underbridge -
"We'll deal wit' ya' a'right!" The man draws a shortsword from a sheathe on his leg that was fairly well hidden and charges!
Ikit
Ran
Zhai
Granite
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