Kalistrine has gone to the bar and purchased two mugs of ale. She sets one down in front of the Varki woman and takes a gulp of the other.
Ahiko nods to Uksahkka and prods her gently with questions. "If we are to help find your mentor, Ulf, we will need some information to go on. Who saw him last and when? What were the circumstances? Is there anyone who might wish him harm? What are his normal 'haunts'? Where does he live? We will need to start somewhere to try to track his whereabouts."
"Ulf is a bit of a tough person to get along with," Uksahkka explains. "He's his own man, and though he's a great guide, the guilds don't like that he won't work for one exclusively. He's burned a lot of bridges here; black-listed, and work is hard to come by."
"Then, last week, we get a job to develop a new route through the Grungir forest for a local chieftain, named Asvig Longthews. The money was too good to turn down, so he went out to see this employer to sort out the details before picking me up to depart... but he never came back."
"I got worried, so a couple days ago I went out to this chieftain's farm to find out what happened. This Asvig told me Ulf never showed up for the job, and then had his men throw me off his land. They weren't gentle about it."
"I came back here, our local spot, to see if Ulf would come back. But now I really believe he's gotten himself into trouble." Finally, Uksahkka takes a long quaff of her ale.
Speaking in a calm and "friendly" manner Morthar's voice would remind many a veteran diabolist of the crooning of a matron devil as she lures a youth into a pact with the Whore Queens...
Well, well this is fortunate... You see my friend Asvig is on the top of Ameiko's list for people who require "removal". So tell me about Asvig's farm, fortifications, defenses, men and anything "unusual". I can assure you that if your comrade can be found he will be if he is still alive that is. However his survival hinges upon your ability to tell us everything that you saw at that farm...
diplomacy (if it can be applied)
Uksahkka looks at Morthar and says, "Sir, I do not take kindly to threats. Do you want me to help you or not, if not then I will continue to drink alone."
"My apologies, good Uksahkka, for the tone of my companion's words. He meant no threat I'm sure... " She gives Morthar a pointed look. "We do apparently need to go to this Asvig's farm and try to determine what happened to Ulf and try to rescue him if he is being held against his will. At least directions to his farm would be welcome information if you can share that much."
She tries to be as diplomatic as possible, though such is not her forte.
I was not threatening you ulfen, I was merely trying to keep you motivated... We would do well to avoid Asvig's farm for the time being, we need more information on it. Walking into the dragon's lair without knowing a thing about it could wind up being are doom. The dead do not go on caravan trips, excepting for the last caravan to the boneyard...
Uksahkka says, "Duly noted Garundian, sure..."
Uksahkka tells Ahiko the directions on how to get to the farm and answers to the best of her ability of what she knows about the defenses but she isn't a soldier and can tell you very little.
"We'll have to play it by ear", Vermundr says.
"Let's go. Kalistrine, you ready to pay these guys back?"
"Thought I'd never get the chance the way everyone talks and talks." she says with a grin before downing her mug of ale.
"Thank you Uksahkka for the location of the farm and more. You are very kind. Please know we will do everything we can to recover your friend and mentor."
Ahiko half-rises from her seat, her own drink barely touched. She turns to her companions and speaks softly to them, so as not to be overheard by others. "Shall we go prepare for our trip to this farm? I, for one, am ready now, but perhaps others need to collect gear or go shopping for new things? Personally, I think we should go to this farm under cover of night, and use the darkness to conceal our approach, scout as needed as we go in."
That may not be required, at the Academae in Korvosa I expanded my already impressive talents to include the use and manipulation of magical items. If your willing to pitch in with some gold I could use a scroll to spy on the farm from a safe distance, in a city of this size finding such a scroll would take awhile but I can manage it.
"What spell is it that you are seeking a scroll of? Perhaps it is one we already have available and hadn't thought to use for this. And just how much gold would be necessary if we do need to purchase it?"
There is one spell that leap to mind, the spell is known as arcane eye which creates an invisible "eye" which can travel exceptionally long distances. It will allow us to view the farm from well outside of longbow range, it is a pretty penny however it would cost 700 gold to get... Although I could bargain it down depending on it's availability. I'll front 200 gp if you all will front the rest.
"I'm willing to put in some money as well towards such a scroll... but there is no need to take such a chance as you indicate to use it. It is a bit above my order of power, but it IS a spell I can learn when I achieve the fourth order myself. It is only a slight chance of failure for me."
Better that I do it, my power is simply more suited for this task... The magic I use is derived from a source of power that has taught me to dominate and control, this will neither be the last nor the first magic that I have forced to do as I bid...
Ahiko laughs, as the fellow obviously doesn't understand how such magics work... just shrugs...
"I'm not opposed to a little magical recon." Kalistrine says. "I'll leave the details to you. Vermundr and I will take care of the mundane aspects of it." she adds with a smirk.
Vermundr laughs and shares a glance with Kalistrine. "You can say that again."
Morthar shrugs and speaks.If you desire to cast the spell so be it, however we must first find it. Best to start in the Jade Quarter, the folk of the east have a habit of embracing magic and mysticism...
Gather Information on local magic shops in the Jade Quarter
You go back to your room for the night and then the first thing the next day, Morthar starts looking for the scroll in the Jade Quarter, with no luck
DC 20 Perception check.
reveals that an individual has been tailing the party through
town, always staying several buildings or streets behind,
just around the corner.
Ahiko is blissfully unaware of whatever is behind the spoiler...
Vermundr is similarly oblivious.
The following morning, Vermundr will track down Shalelu to see if she wants to tag along. "I might even buy you a drink", the young ulfen adds with a playful smirk.
perception
Morthar grimaces at his inability to find a magic shop in the Jade Quarter... He heads over to bone, if a black market for magic exists in Kalsgard it will be in bone...
gather information (bone) on black market magic
In the Bone Quarter he finds a man who could provide him with said scroll in two weeks time.
Two weeks time for one of the most commonly used spells by wizards in scroll form? Something isn't right.
I believe that you can find said scroll merchant in far faster time frame then you have originally proposed... I can sweeten the deal if you can acquire the scroll in say a three days.
diplomacy
The merchant says brazenly, "Do you have the proper documentation from the king to be using such a degree of magic, if not two weeks is the earliest I can help you."
I am quite certain that you aren't the only man who can get me what I want, it's your loss...
as he turned around and walked off he spoke in a voice that seems to have been wrenched from hell's own heart... Understand something merchant, your unwillingness to sell the scroll does not concern me. However should you attempt to interfere in the affairs of myself, my employer or her employees by reporting "suspicious" activity to either the guard or the underworld you will suffer the lash... As Morthar spoke these words a whip of hellfire appears in his right hand, it disappeared just as quickly as it had arrived...
intimidate to keep the merchant quiet ()
Magically spying on the farm isn't an option, but perhaps finding and interrogating an underling of this Asvig could reveal the information I need... Morthar proceeds back to the Jade Quarter to find his employer.
Decided on confronting Asvig Longthews this evening, you set out with Uksahkka and Shalelu as soon as you collect your gear. She leads you out the southern gate just before they lock them for the night, and along a hardpacked dirt road to the southeast. The fading light of day slowly disappears as you travel, and within an hour it is full dark. Still, Uksahkka continues without torch or lantern, guiding the way expertly under the moonlight alone.
Under the cover of night, you leave behind the clusters of farmhouses close to the city, and into the sparsely populated wooded hills farther out. Time passes interminably before Uksahkka finally signals a stop, pointing to a glow at the top of the next ridge.
"That is Longthews's farmhouse ahead," she explains. "I will wait here inside the treeline until you return. Go with Gozreh's strength, and be careful."
You continue ahead within the night shadows, closing on the farmhouse and its smaller outbuildings. About sixty feet from the house, you come to a ring of short, wooden posts driven into the ground, circling the entire compound. Each of the posts is carved in the stylistic lion image you recognize from the arm-rings. In addition, runes have been carved down the length of each post.
Perception (auditory/olfactory) DC 15:
From the house comes the sounds of boisterous celebration, and you can smell roasting meat on the air.
Knowledge (arcana) DC 18:
The runes on the post are related to conjuration magic.
As the party closes in on the farmhouse, but before reaching the ring of posts, Ahiko casts Mage Armor on herself and puts a warding hex on Kalistrine.
Quietly, she whispers to the others under the cover of distance and the noise generated inside the house, "Sounds like some kind of party inside... I can hear some kind of celebration going on and I smell roasting meats."
"These are conjuration runes on this post... I am guessing there is magical power in them to summon defenders. Give me a moment to confirm the magical power in the runes."
Ahiko casts detect magic and scans the posts to confirm if there is truly magical power bound into the runes.
perception
I hear the partying as well, do not just assume conjured guardians however... Conjuration can be used to manipulate energy as well as summon creatures from the planes.
Ahiko
Vermundr nods in agreement with what the others had said.
"Ahiko, do you think it's a trap?"
"I detect summoning magic in the rune on the post... so my suspicions it seems were well-founded. I'm not sure what might be summoned. I wish I could dispel the rune, but I don't have the ability - but there must be some way to bypass it, or everyone who passed through would cause it to activate. Perhaps there is something in the bracers his followers all wore? Perhaps some kind of counter-rune? But none of them detected as magic, did they, so that is unlikely. I don't know..."
Ahiko shrugs as her softly spoken words trail off...
Kalistrine looks to her belt where she has a couple of the bracers as trophies. "Ahiko, I have these." she says, offering one to her. "Maybe you can figure something out about them?"
Ahiko examines the bracers, checks them again with detect magic... shakes her head slowly. "They weren't mgical before, so I doubt that will have changed...not sure what else might be special about them."