Jym stands in front of Vark and makes a show of pulling out his fiddle.
"I've named it banjo," he announces calmly. "I like to play it while I talk. It keeps things calm, helps us think."
Jym starts to play a sonorous, monotonous chord over and over.
"All of your crew is dead, Soller Vark. They followed you, and that got them killed. The people who killed your crew did so because of something you did. You lied about Lavinia Vanderboren's fines. You told the harbormaster that she never paid them. And now all of your crew is dead.
"You may be next, if you don't set things right! You need to get the harbormaster to believe that Lady Vanderboren's fines have been paid off. You may have to tell him the truth about where the fine money is to get him to believe you, but that's the only to set things right! We're talking about your life, here!"
"Vark! Get the harbormaster to believe that Lady Vanderboren's fines have been paid off!"
Jym sees right away that there's no need to keep trying -- Vark is totally motionless, his eyes rolled back into his head. He smiles weakly. "I need to remind the Harbormaster that the boat fee is paid," he says, to no one in particular.
Jym motions the others over.
"We should escort him to the harbormaster, so he doesn't get shivved in the back on his way there.
"Are we done here, or did we want to search the ship for Lady Vanderboren?
"No hurry, but it might be lunch time. Or dinner time. Or one of the meal times in between."
Tombrose watches on as Jym does his magic, fascinated by the other halfling's display of prowess.
"I don't think anyone else will be disturbing things here while we give Vark his escort. And once that's done, we should have time to search the ship before reporting back to the lady. Maybe the animals will have calmed down enough by then that Uro can reach out to them properly." he suggests.
Uro nods in agreement to Tombrose. "Yes, let us take Vark to the harbor master while he is still.. agreeable. Then search ship, then, dinner." the orc smiles and pats his growling belly.
There is no issue getting Vark to the harbormaster's office, although a lot of people glare at you when they see he's in your company.
The harbormaster's assistant takes Vark's statement and then asks Vark for the payment. When Vark can't cough up the cash, he assigns him unpaid harbor work in recompense, and offers to issue you a release slip for the Blue Nixie if you're willing to personally vouch for Vark showing up to work; otherwise, the slip will be issued after he works off the debt.
While you're there, the harbormaster himself sticks his head in, sees and recognizes Tombrose, and says, "You crew aboard the Sea Reaper, don't you? Rumor has it the weather has finally broken and the seas should be navigable; she ships out tomorrow dawn with all hands, if you haven't already heard."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The harbormaster's assistant takes Vark's statement and then asks Vark for the payment. When Vark can't cough up the cash, he assigns him unpaid harbor work in recompense, and offers to issue you a release slip for the Blue Nixie if you're willing to personally vouch for Vark showing up to work; otherwise, the slip will be issued after he works off the debt.
"I must protest! Well, when I say 'must', there's nothing actually forcing me to protest, but I feel very strongly obligated to do so!
"Soller Vark was aboard the Blue Nixie as an appointed official of the harbormaster. He accepted Lady Vanderboren's payment while under your office's employ. If the coins never made it to your coffers, the fault does not lie with Lady V nor with us."
Jym not-very-surreptitiously hooks his thumb at Vark and raises his eyebrows.
"If he wasn't your appointed official, then this matter should have been resolved when the good Lady approached you about this situation after she already paid the fine. Burdening us or our employer with the responsibility of press-ganging this man is above and beyond the fine mandated by this situation. I must insist on the ship's release slip immediately!
"Again, when I say 'must' there's nothing actually making me insist. I just really want to."
The assistant harbormaster starts with, "This is a very simple transaction; the harbormaster's office receives payment, and the ship is released. Vark here claims to have received payment, but has not provided it, therefore he must work until the payment has been made up. As soon as the payment is made, the ship is released. Legally, there is no real room for ambiguity here."
Under Jym's continued explanations that "must" actually only constitutes "want to," however, the man's face softens, and he begins dealing with you as a person rather than as a statistic. He continues:
"However, in this case, the ship's owner, Lady Vanderboren, is an esteemed member of the nobility of this city, and Vark owes the harbormaster's office a considerable backlog of labor already, which is what got him into this mess to begin with. Also, this office has no wish to add to Lady Vanderboren's already considerable grief over the loss of her parents. Therefore, upon presentation of some proof that you are indeed acting as her agents -- a signet ring, for example, or other token -- we would feel obliged release the ship to you. Not that we are forced to, as you so properly point out, but that we would very much like to."
"We have her family signet ring, actually!"
Jym starts pawing at Uro's pockets until the orc gets annoyed enough to pull the ring out himself to show the harbormaster's assistant.
The old harbormaster, with a big white mustache like a walrus and a blubbery build to match, sticks his head in and quickly sees what's going on. "Ah, ho, hum! Well, Vark," he says, "Looks like you'll be cleaning out the bilges of the city fleet after all. Hum, hum!"
Hmm, right." Uro tosses the assistant the signet ring.
The assistant dutifully signs over a release slip. The Blue Nixie is now under your control.
"Should we go back and search the ship some more?"
"I think so. We don't want Lady V to show up and find another crab monster roaming her hold."
The other animals have calmed down by the time you get back. In addition to the dead giant bug (DC 15 Survival check to identify), there are a number of small, relatively harmless but exotic creatures -- what looks like a rabbit with a unicorn's horn (now dead thanks to the bug; DC 20 Knowledge: Lore to identify), an armadillo with a garnet embedded in its forehead (DC 15 Lore), a large number of exotic and garishly-plumed birds (DC 10 Survival), a number of different kinds of monkeys (DC 10 Survival).
On the upper decks, the captain's captain, out of which Vark had emerged, contains a bed with an elaborate wooden headboard, a large trunk, and an empty bottle of rum.
Jym opens the trunk in the captain's quarters.
Sadly, it's locked.
Korynne tags along with Lady Vanderboren's temporary hires, keeping quiet after exchanging brief introductions. Her attention is divided between contemplative observation and distractedly thumbing through the pages of a small prayer book.
"Hm? Is that trunk giving you some trouble? Let me take a look, if you don't mind."
Korynne leans down and looks over the trunk for a minute or two, making sure the captain hasn't rigged it against thieves, before drawing a rolled leather mat out of her wide sleeve, unrolling it, and selecting a couple of small lockpicking tools as she gets to work.
You hear sea birds in the background. You smell salt from the ocean and sweat from Vark's habitation of the cabin, and a whiff of rum from the bottle. You see the chest, which appears to be a standard sea chest, sturdily-made and bound in brass. It has a keyhole.
You examine the chest for rigged wires and so on, then move the lockpick to the keyhole, carefully feeling around for trap needles and the like. Not finding any, you proceed to manipulate the tumblers through long practice. After a minute of work, the lock opens.
Korynne cracks a smile at her own handiwork, slipping her tools back into the folds of her clothing. Her left hand unconsciously moves to her holy symbol, the thumb moving over the two-toned mask with smooth, ritualistic consistency. Her right hand hovers over the trunk, closed in a loose fist. "Once for luck," she says, giving them a wink and rapping her knuckles once on the trunk.
The satisfying "thunk" resounding in Korynne's ears like a church bell, she undoes the latch and opens up the chest expectantly. As she does, she idly muses, "Who is the captain of this ship anyway? Have we seen them yet?"
Inside the chest, amidst a bunch of crap that looks to be Vark's, is a silk bag. The bag is drawn shut but appears to be full of something that clinks -- possibly coins, in fact.
Unless Korynne wants to, Jym opens the bag. If it's actually just coins in the bag, Jym closes the bag and tosses it back into the chest, uninterested.
Raising an eyebrow at Jym as he tosses the bag back in the chest, Korynne fishes it out again and peers inside. "What's wrong, all coppers?" she asks, obviously confused.
Your confusion deepens as you realize it's all platinum, rather than copper.
You're guessing about 100 pp -- enough to provide common room and board for a person for over three months.
Raising an eyebrow at Jym as he tosses the bag back in the chest, Korynne fishes it out again and peers inside. "What's wrong, all coppers?" she asks, obviously confused.
"No, it's quite a bit, actually! But we're not here to steal from Lady V. At least, I'm not. I was thinking we'd look the ship over, make sure there's nothing roaming around that's going to attack her whenever she comes aboard, again. Also: to see if there's any evidence that she's trying to screw us over!
"Well, not... not literally. Odd how that phrase came about. I mean, why 'over'? Does 'under' really carry the wrong connotation for the expression?
"Ha! I have a funny story about that! I have a cousin who lives kind of over in the Azure District. She worked for this family who's middle son had a thing for feet! And boy, did she have some FEET!"
Jym continues his not-fit-for-print tale as the trio finishes up their search of the ship.
"This stuff looks to be Vark's. If it belonged to him, I'd say it is ours now. We should ask the lady to be sure though."
"Well, I think we should take the money anyway. Could be that fee that Vark 'didn't' receive," Korynne suggests with air quotes. "Besides, might be a reward involved. Our tall green friend's got the right of it, I think!" she commends, with a warm smile at Uro.
Listening with a mix of horror and interest to Jym's tale, Korynne replies, "Have you heard the one about the Chelish aristocrats who audition for a show? It seems like the sort of thing you might be interested in. I read a version of it in the, well, more adult section of our library. I wasn't even aware we had such a thing until I found it behind a false bookcase. Nobles are strange creatures, don't you think?" she asks, idly following Jym as he searches the ship. "Is there anything in particular you're looking for? What exactly were you hired to do aboard this ship anyway?"
You've pretty much examined what there is to see, at this point.
The corpses on the deck are starting to stink, and the reek of blood and dander in the hold is choking.
"She just needs this, I think" Uro holds up the blue signet ring that he found on Vark. "It unlocks some vault under her families castle."
Uro turns to leave. "Anyway, lets leave this place and give her her property back."
As Jym and Korynne follow Uro off the ship and back towards the Noble District, Jym answers Korynne's question.
"No, he's right, the ring was all we needed, and all Uro or myself were hired to find, as far as I know.
"However, I've had bad experiences with a noble, so I quite reasonably distrust all nobles. Lady V seems nice, though!"
"Sounds good to me. I hope 'Lady V' doesn't mind my tagging along with you. I would hate to intrude--well, at least not without a good reason to," Korynne muses.
"She hired three of us, and three of us completed the job and are collecting payment. I don't see the issue!"
Lady Vanderboren dismisses a bunch of people as soon as you arrive, and makes sure you're served wine again -- and a plate of seed cakes on the side.
She looks at you with some confusion. "Thank you for returning so quickly, Jym. And master Uro as well. But what happened? And who is this woman, and where is Sir Tombrose?"
There's no feigning the concern in her face; it doesn't take a Sense Motive check to realize she's afraid that Tombrose was killed. You suspect she thinks that Korynne is maybe there to press charges or something.
"Tombrose was cursed!" Jym says around a mouthful of seed cake. "And now she's cured!" He indicates Korynne.
"Anyway, we took care of the mess with the Blue Nixie."
Her forehead wrinkles. "You mean, you figured out a path forward for getting it out of hock? Please tell me what needs to be done -- short of paying the fee again, of course."
Jym looks at Uro.
Korynne dabs the wine from her mouth with a napkin before standing up and bowing toward Lady V, imitating a form from an etiquette manual.
"I understand that I was not expected--apologies, Lady Vanderboren. My name is Korynne, and I am the librarian at Master Daventry's estate. Jym consulted me about some matters of maritime law, and suspecting some interesting business I followed along. Sailors can quite the brutes, as you may know, and I thought I might be able to help.
"I am...not sure where Tombrose is. Or who that is. Is he that other halfling fellow? I know that I healed him, but he must have slipped away somewhere..." Korynne muses, leaning uncouthly against her chair and reaching for the wine. "In any case, Jym and Uro got your ship back--I believe Uro has the writ? By the way, did Vark's fee fall somewhere around the amount of one hundred platinum?"
Uro shrugs casually. "Vark wasn't so tough once his cronies went overboard." The orc produces the signet ring in an outstretched hand. "He had this on him. The ship is yours as well. Jym settled things up with the harbor master. Vark is now responsible for your fees."
Lady Vanderboren smiles warmly and rises in turn. "Korynne, welcome to the estate. Please do give my regards to Master Daventy, and beg him to forgive me for taking up to much of your time."
As Uro holds out the ring, she stops suddenly and stares. Disbelieving, she accept it from Uro and whispers, "This is it. My father's ring."
After a moment she looks up. "Yes, the fee was exactly 1,000 gold, which at the current Sasserine exchange is 100 platinum, which is how I paid. But what do you mean that Vark is now responsible for it?"
"You paid the fee to Vark, who was acting representative of the harbormaster. Vark confirmed this to the harbormaster's office, who acknowledged your financial responsibility to them was resolved.
"These seed cakes are delicious! Are these popply seeds?"
Jym narrows his gaze and glares at the cake while mumbling something about "opium". After a second his face relaxes, he shrugs, and he takes another bite.
"Sinterfield seeds. Similar to poppy seeds, but sinterfields grow in wetter climates." Hearing your muttered comment, she adds, "Have no fear -- I have no interest in drugging halflings for nefarious purposes" her voice drops to a mutter as she adds, "especially not male ones."
Clearing her throat, she adds, "What I am interested in is a competent agent, though, which you seem to most certainly be. Indeed, I do have a more aboveboard proposition for you: if you're interested, I can offer you 100 gp a month to continue to act as my agent and professional troubleshooter. Uro, if you're interested, another 100 gp a month to you as a bodyguard. If you think you'll need more help for more actions of this sort, I think I can scrape together enough for two additional persons at the same rate."
"Okay, sure! There's no need to tell Felton Lidu that I'm changing employers. I'm sure he'll figure it out. He's smart!"
Uro thinks about all of the nice collapsible cages and fancy traps that he can buy with 100gp a month and smiles a wide toothy grin. "Yes, I think that could work! What about you Korynne?"
Seeing that Korynne is lost in thought, Lady Vanderboren adds, "There is a small snag, though. I need to get into the family vault in order to get the funds to pay you -- first the funeral for my parents, then the fee to the harbormaster wiped out all my cash. Every noble family in Sasserine has a vault under Castle Teraknian. I've never been to ours -- but judging from comments my father used to make, some families lavish a lot of effort on theirs, with traps, construct guardians, and so on. In any event, my identity plus the ring you recovered is enough to gain access, so I'd like to go there now and see how much money, if any, that the family has left -- I'd like you and Uro to come, Jym, to act as advisors -- and possibly Korynne as well, if she is able. We can take the ferry to Castle Terakian tomorrow morning?"
"Apologies, Lady Vanderboren, I was simply trying to account for my schedule. I will certainly speak to Master Daventry about acting as your agent as well," Korynne says, coming out of her availability calculations, plus calculations of the gold that the good Lady V was offering.
"And actually, since Vark is now responsible for your harbor fee, we've managed to...refund your coin." Korynne pulls the weighty coin purse out of one of her voluminous sleeves, walks over, and places it daintily on the dining table next to Lady Vanderboren. Returning to her seat, the librarian refills her wine glass nearly to the brim and takes a long sip. "Tomorrow morning at the ferry sounds very doable. I'll inform Master Daventry as soon as possible. Do you happen to know if your family vault is as trap-laden as others?"
She stares in awe at the signet ring and the bag of coins. "I... I'll need to get on board the Nixie tonight, of course, and see what kind of shape it's in -- and thank the harbormaster personally. What you've done is truly impressive."
Reaching into the bag, she counts out 30 pp, and carefully places a stack of 10 each in front of Jym, Uro, and Korynne. "Consider this a signing bonus." She counts out another 30 and distributes it similarly. "And here is your first month's pay, in advance."
Looking deeply into Korynne's eyes, she smiles and says, "About the vault, I assume there are traps. I have no idea what they are, so we'll have to play it by ear. I'm hoping my parents left something aboard the Nixie that will provide some clues. If not... well, you three seem very resourceful."
"By the way," she adds, "What condition is the ship in -- can I just walk aboard?" Ruefully, you remember that the deck is strewn with blood, limbs, and rotting corpses, and that the hold is choked with the stench of feathers and panicked animals. It will be strange indeed if the City Watch hasn't cordoned it off against anyone boarding, while they investigate.