Dawnilea clenches her fists and then unclenches them, "This isn't some adventure, this is reality. I'm not attacking you. I'd have drawn if I were. But if you get over yourself a mite, you might see how we might equate the source of your rumours to the whispers the Dottari heard."
She shakes her head, "Bardigan's right. Give us a moment with our friends to grieve.... and we'll meet you lot in the taphouse round the way in two hours."
She takes another breath, then adds, "But, to be frank, if you value the name of the one who told you to come here more than what we're actually trying to do here, maybe you don't need to stay for a longer drink."
Laria snaps from her frustration and confusion to speak up, "Okay, everyone just needs to take a breath. Added hostility won't get us anywhere and it seems tempers are high." She looks over at the Fushi sisters attending their fallen member, "We have reason for tensions to be high, but we can't take it out on each other. We need to work to bring the fight to Barzillai Thrune."
She looks to Dawnilea, "What we don't want to do is chase off anyone new and willing to help, as we need it sooner rather than later. We not only lost a member, we're losing ground until we can recover from what happened."
"Bardigan and Dawnilea are right, though, in the fact that we need a little time to cool our heads. So please, give us this moment, and we can discuss particulars a little bit later." She tries to gather the three newcomers together, and give them directions to the taphouse in question, requesting that the three find them a nice quiet table in the back.
Krizta listens to Laria, tells her that she is sorry for all that has happened to her in such a short space of time, and that she still has so much on her shoulders, and goes to the taphouse as requested.
Tasha nods. "I'll see you there.", taking a deep breath. Biting into her glove on the way out, she blankly stares, deep in thought as she thinks about the events in the cafe. Well, what did you think would happen? Go in and say, 'How do you do, fellow secessionists?', she scolds herself, trotting towards the taphouse in a rushed walk. Well, either they kill me for poking my nose too deeply, or I managed to disturb them enough to start them infighting. Thrune's spies, watch your jobs, well-intentioned klutzes are on the prowl.
A few minutes after the trio depart for the taphouse, Bardigan comes back over to the group, raking a dusty hand back through his dark hair. He shakes his head and offers softly, "I don't know what else I can do for them now." Sadness and empathy cloud his face and he sighs. "Shall we go talk to the three who followed us down here now? Are you staying here, Laria? Should we loop Rexus in too?"
Dawnilea nods her head at Bardigan's suggestion, "I think we should bring Rexus in... He may have ideas on how to react to the loss.. and having another ear listen to the newcomers' stories can't hurt. Not saying they aren't here to help, but if I were the Dottari, I'd be looking to plant someone inside. "
The taphouse indicated by Dawnilea goes by the name "The Drunken Mountain". The sign bears the image of a large ogre laying flat on its back, passed out and surrounded by empty ale barrels. A trio of halflings climbs over the body, liberating a bag of gold from its side. It's no surprise that the interior of the place is a raucous dive. At first it seems like an odd choice for a place to talk, but the newcomers realize the benefit when they can barely hear one another over the din, thus making any eavesdropping a hard task to perform without looking obvious.
At about the two hour mark, the other four arrive, accompanied by another not previously met. The man looks truly out of place in the establishment, with his highborn clothing, polished boots, and walking cane not required by any difficulty in walking. He is a handsome man with a small frame.
Rexus explains to Bardigan, Ganner, and Dawnilea that Aula had told him she had something in the works as recruiter, but he didn't get the details. With her and Larenti going off to try and track down some leads they thought they had, Rexus had forgotten about it in dealing with all the old notes he was poring over.
Spying the newcomers in a rear corner of the Drunken Mountain, Bardigan raises a hand to wave and smiles, ushering the group over to the large, oaken table.
He sits down with a grunt but he still wears a flashing smile on his face. "Sorry about that earlier unpleasantness. We found out afterward the Dottari had just finished tossing the place before that wall came down. Can we start over with introductions? I didn't catch your names. I'm Bardigan Cain."
"I'm Ganner Viir." Ganner pipes up, nodding.
Krizta.
Tasha sits down in the crummy taphouse, keeping her pouch to herself. Her eyes dart around the place suspiciously, as she slowly nurses an ale. I'm sure any Asmodean would be utterly in love with this place., she smirks to herself.
The trio arriving jerks her up, as she nods at them. "I'm sorry as well. My foot gets stuck in my mouth sometimes.", she blushes, before extending a hand. "Tasha.", she says, then grimaces. Should we be using real names? Did they use theirs? Am I an idiot?, she thinks, quickly taking another sip to mask her confusion. Oh, well.
Bardigan nods to each of the newcomers in turn, smiling warmly. "Well, if you came looking for the ravens, you found them. So you're already ahead of the dottari in that respect." He chuckles with a shake of his head. "A friend of ours vouches for you three being in the shop when all that unfortunateness happened, but my aunt was there through all of it too. Maybe you noticed her, a tiefling lady sticking to the periphery, or maybe you didn't. Regardless, she noticed you and spoke well of how you handled yourselves while Barzillai's thugs went about their uncouth labor of harassing Laria and her employees." He turns to Krizta at this and nods, "Trying to use magic to distract them without them noticing? That was clever."
Thank you, though not all that clever if someone noticed.
Dawnilea shakes her head ruefully at Bardigan's comments, Aye, ahead by at least an hour or so.... She shakes herself, then says, "I am sorry if I was short with you... we thought we were better at keeping secrets than we really are, I suppose -- at least, enough so that I'd need to go on a killing spree to silence all the tongues that could be wagging."
She scrunches her face in distaste at that thought, then shrugs, "But they didn't... and taking risks - smart ones - will probably be the only way we might win at this.
She nods, then blinks as she realizes she's missed something, adding quickly, "And I'm Dawnilea."
"Pleasure. Though, if everyone capable of outsmarting the Dottari joined up, Thrune would be out by tomorrow.", replies Tasha, devilish grin on her lips, as she chuckles at Bardigan.
The casual mention of killing sprees from the much taller woman furrows her brow, then she sighs, staring at her pint. "I suppose it's inevitable at some point, though.", she adds. "The... killings, I mean. I mean... I'd want to get the people to throw away Thrune on their own accord peacefully, but I realise that's about as likely as Sarenrae showing up in the opera and defenestrating him herself.", she giggles at the sight of a winged goddess unceremoniously throwing Lord Thrune from the balcony, his robes fluttering in the wind.
Zoltan, likewise, introduces himself.
Laria shares her name, and offers that she has until recently been an active participant in the Bellflower Network. Rexus, for his part, also includes his background of the fact that his mother was a member of the Sacred Order of Archivists until she died in their family home as it was burned to the ground on the Night of Ashes.
Once introductions have been offered, Laria doesn't wait long to delve into the business at hand. The scene of the Drunken Mountain offering ample cover to their discussion, as many of you need to lean in close to hear her over the noise of the place. "With the Fushi Sisters out of commission, and both Larenti and Aula off chasing their own leads, we are hurting. The coffers are emptying faster than I'd like to see, which is how we work to garner support of the locals, and we now have no teams to work the streets."
She looks thoughtful for a minute and offers, "I have a couple leads that could offer a little help, but nothing solid. There is a group of mercenaries, led by a man I have worked with before who would make a valuable addition to the Ravens. Word has it that Forvian Crowe and his boys have been picked up recently, and are held prisoner at the Sallix Salt Works down on the harbor of Old Kintargo. The men running the place are contracted mercenaries, and not members of the Church of Asmodeus or government officials, so it won't look like an act of rebellion."
She seems skeptical about the next bit of information, but decides to impart it anyways, "There has been some talk about murders down in the Devil's Nursery. If we can figure out what's happening, and put a stop to it, we just might drum up some support for our cause. Gods know the tiefling population down there has no love for the government, and anybody working toward their ends will only work to add to our being a force willing to fight for the people. Even if those people are the tiefling rabble that the government disregards as less than second-class citizens."
Krizta smiles at the mention of two leads on things that would actually impact the community and accomplish something. This was exactly the reason that she was here... to make a real difference instead of just watching things go to hell all around her and not being able to help.
She says I'm in for either one, or both if we can pull it off.
Tasha perks up as Laria introduces herself as an ex-Bellflower, but keeps her silence. Continuing to lift her mug, she looks around. "Uh. I'm not the expert in that field, to be fair - but do yo... we have the funds for a mercenary company? I've got some things stashed away, but I don't think I can afford a mercenary for long. Even if we manage to snag a 'I rescued you' discount.", she reasons. "And, to be fair, if we can do something about murders, that's what I'd go for." She raises her hands.
"And I think I can spin 'stopped a murderer' a lot better than I can spin 'rescued a mercenary'. But... numbers matter." She sighs. "I'm overthinking this, and it's not my decision anyway." Turning to Bardigan and Dawnilea, she smiles. "Whatever you say."
Dawnilea says, "I'm thinking that winning their freedom would probably be worth a discount on their rates -- and I'm rather in the mood to be bloodying the Dottari's noses."
She sighs, "But stopping a murderer is well worth doing. I think that the elf... Krizta, right? .. has the right of it. They're both good goals -- so the question, to me, isn't which are we doing, but which do we do first?"
Laria looks expectantly at those that haven't yet spoken up, "So far we have three votes for 'yes, let's do those', but nothing quite for which one needs doing first."
"I think stopping a murderer is probably the priority, unless this mercenary is due to be executed. I dislike leaving good people in captivity, but a murderer in this city needs to be stopped." Ganner adds.
Agreed.
Bardigan listens intently to each person's perspective. He smiles brightly as the majority lean toward stopping further murders and nods in enthusiastic agreement. "Absolutely. If there's a murder spree, that's what we need to be in the middle of, regardless of whether it raises support for our cause or not."
He then pauses, taking a steadying breath and quick drink from his mug. When he sets the mug back down on the table, he adds with earnestness, "I can't tell you three how good it is to have other like-minded people join us in this. It's good to have you with us."
Dawnilea lowers her tankard, a skeptical look on her face, "At the same time, we know where the mercs are. Might be a night's work, whereas the murderer...." She shrugs, then says, "Maybe we spend a day digging in to each, and then go with the one we have the best information on?"
"That sounds reasonable, Dawnilea." Ganner smiles. "Shall we start right away?"
Bardigan takes a breath, ready to argue against anything other than going full force after a murderer, but he exhales with a shake of his head as he catches himself in his idealism. "That's a wise suggestion, Dawnilea. More information then." He leans back, stretching. "It's awfully late though, Ganner, and I'm still sore from everything that happened, both from that botched ambush and from that disaster that took Maggie from us. I'd rather strike out first thing in the morning, wouldn't you? I'll volunteer to take a stroll down the Nursery tomorrow and ask around if anyone would care to join me. A few others could visit the harbor and do the same, then meet back at the Nest tomorrow night to pick our course."
Krizta responds to Bardigan:
I'd be happy to come to the Nursery with you, if you like.
Laria nods as the plans begin to unfold, "So, we start with reconnaissance of both options, find out which will need a more immediate attention. Looks like Bardigan, Krizta and Zoltan will check up on the Devils' Nursery. So, Does that mean that Ganner and Dawnilea will take Tasha with them to the Salt Works?" She looks to the other three, pretty much just assuming it will be the case.
"So, get a good night's rest and start first thing in the morning."
The investigations by both groups don't start until after they all cross Bleakbridge, over the Yolubilis River, onto Argo Isle. Everybody is forced to pay the three copper toll, that has become quite the nuisance, as introduced with Lord-Mayor Thrune's arrival.
Once across, the main road splits, with Bardigan and his group heading south toward the region of Redroof, while Dawnilea and the others go West toward Old Kintargo.
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Most of Redroof’s homes and small shops are built from brick and tile made from river-dredged red clay, rather than Kintargo’s iconic white limestone, giving the neighborhood a distinctive look compared to the rest of the urban sprawl to the north and west. Redroof’s brick buildings fare worse than limestone in the cold winters and hot summers, but are significantly more affordable for Kintargo’s middle and lower classes.
Redroof is where you found the Fair Fortune Livery of your early adventures, and is not far from your destination of the Devil's Nursery. The slums of the Devil’s Nursery earned their nickname from the large number of tiefling immigrants who have joined Kintargo’s ranks over the past 60 years. Crowded into leaning tenements and shanties along Redroof’s southern wall, few non-tieflings travel into these slums, and rumors now claim that diabolists, erinyes, and imps rule the filthy streets. You are met now and again with the odd stare of suspicion by the tiefling locals.
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Old Kintargo is, as its name implies, the oldest part of the city, and the neighborhood remains today as a chaotic mix of fisheries, industrial strongholds, neighborhoods, and warehouses, many of which have been buried and rebuilt numerous times. Living conditions range from squalid to fortified, and often ownership claims for buildings are sketchy at best, giving most of Old Kintargo an informal policy of land belonging to whoever makes use of it.
The Sallix Salt Works is at the far western end of the city, in the Old Harbor district. Kintargo’s original docks remain in use even today, launching local fishing fleets and landing barges from upriver. While nowhere near as busy, prosperous, or wealthy as the docks in the Yolubilis Harbor district, or even in Jarvis End’s foreign quarter, these piers see the arrival of most of the city’s food, raw materials, and salt. The harbor is alive with the sounds of work.
Bardigan offers softly to the pair with him, "These folk look at us the same way most other folk look at my aunt. Should've asked her to come along." He nods to the livery in passing and chuckles. "That's where all this started for us, but I wouldn't recommend anyone go there. That was a dreadful mess and Larenti really doesn't like dogs." He grins at his own joke, a little saddened by his friend's absence.
=== Redroof ===
Krizta asks Bardigan How do people look at your aunt?
"She's a tiefling, so they look at her like she's out of place all the time, or they regard her with thinly veiled suspicion. Sometimes not so thinly veiled." He shrugs, shaking his head in bafflement. "Never made sense to me. Not with her, at least."
Ganner watches the movement around the saltworks, keeping an eye out for anyone paying them undue attentions or anything that looks suspicious or out of the pale.
Oh, sure. Like people look at elves sometimes, or government employees.
She smiles.
I think we just do that with anyone we can't immediately relate to. Classify them as "other" and suspect them of having poor motivations, as they must because they are not us, right?
Hopefully we learn better the more we learn about each other.
Bardigan smiles, glad for Krizta's viewpoint. "We can wax philosophic about all that later though. Let's ask around and see if we can learn anything about this supposed killing spree."
Dawnilea takes up a position with easy sight of Ganner and tries to look around herself, Let's see if we can get a solid count of guards and entryways... I'd rather get as much free information as we can before trying to spread coin around... still, might be able to follow some of this lot to a drinking hole where some ale would loosen their tongues...
Krizta joins her group in gathering information.
Tasha looks around the docks, the smell of sea salt, fish and... sailors. Looking at the others trying to get a read on the situation, she stares into the distance and the saltworks, before realising she doesn't know what she's looking for in a crowd. "I know a couple of shady places in the docks, myself.", she says, pulling out a heavy annotated and worn book from her back, the paper shredded and yellowed.
After flipping through the pages for a minute, she nods at the others. "Ah. That's still open, it seems.", she comments. "If we want to ask one of the mercenaries directly, I think I know where we need to go. Bring a well trained liver.", she smirks, pointing in a direction. And I hope they're a lot better than me in loosening unwilling tongues.
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Despite the general reluctance of the tiefling community to speak or interact with anyone outside their community, the three of you manage to get a fairly thorough report of the murders. It's tough to tell whether they have been more prolific than expected, or if the tales vary just due to word of mouth. From what you've gathered, there have been twelve murders so far at differing locations throughout Devil's Nursery. Zoltan, despite his clouded eyesight, has impeccable hearing, and picks up a distinct sound.
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The Sallix Salt Works isn't hard to find considering that the gathering, drying, packaging, and resale of Kintargan salt is a thriving business, with Sallix Salt Works being the largest and oldest such business in town. Despite this, it isn't much more than a squat rectangular structure built around a low stone dome. The front of the building is dominated by a set of double doors, and around back there is a small outbuilding connected to the whole by a covered patio. Two doors face each other from the outbuilding to the main structure. It doesn't look like there are guards posted at any of the doors, but there is movement and activity about the building enough to know there are people within.
Krizta sees Zoltan's signal and keeps walking past him.
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Zoltan uses his natural ability to go unnoticed by bigs to slip quickly and silently into a side street. Only by the fact that he's traveling with them do the other two even notice that he wasn't continuing on. Not long after he hides, a young tiefling woman slips into the very same alley, completely missing that the halfling stands right behind her on the back wall of the alley. She takes cover to watch Bardigan and Krizta as they continue to ask the locals about the murders.
Ganner keeps an eye on who comes and goes. Do they wear any sort of uniform or clothing that identifies them as belong there?
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Ganner doesn't see anything that looks like an official uniform, or even any real uniformity, but it is a fairly small location. It may not be necessary just by them knowing each of the others working there.
Dawnilea watches carefully for a while, then heads over to Ganner and asks, "Do we know if the salters normally work nights? I don't know if it's a cover or not, but I don't think we'd want to face workers as well as guards, if we don't need to."
She says, "I'm thinking we might want to follow some workers as they change shifts and see if some ale or spirits can't convince them to complain about work."