"Sure! I'll give all the praise you deserve!" he says with a big smile. "But I hope you have a better plan than just counting on my... influence."
Alvarez, takes a small piece of paper from his pocket and hands them to the three of you.
"Meet me at this address tonight, at midnight. That's where we'll get our passes for the auction and maybe find out where exactly our thief is. Bring your weapons this time. Until then, I suggest you use the day to find a good lawyer and friendly witnesses. And explain your situation to your families and friends... You really don't want people to think you're in trouble with the armada for piracy or something." he adds some emphasis to his last sentence. Then tips his hat, shakes your hands and turns to leave.
"Oh, and try not to be thrown in jail this time... I don't have enough for another bail!" Alvarez jokes before leaving.
Jaazkara, silent throughout the unusual meeting, looks to her companions in askance.
"'Dis...'dis type of t'ing izz...normal in 'dee city? Jaazkara has much to learn..."
She shrugs after speaking and rummages through her pack for her wineskin, taking a deep draught.
"Right." Cyrus nods to Alvarez and turns to his friends.
"We should get an Abadaran priest to represent us. Justice should prevail under his sight. Other than that, we should probably find Ayren and see if he can get ahold of the Wavebraver we took that job from to stand witness."
Jaazkara, silent throughout the unusual meeting, looks to her companions in askance.
"'Dis...'dis type of t'ing izz...normal in 'dee city? Jaazkara has much to learn..."
She shrugs after speaking and rummages through her pack for her wineskin, taking a deep draught.
"Not...really, but we'll be fine. Most folks are good after all."
"One wonders what alternate plane Brother Cyrus hails from that he believes that." Tai muses to himself, quite loudly.
Jaazkara accompanies the others as they look into finding witnesses and representatives for their legal matters, then busies herself wandering the city.
She buys wine to refill her skin and walks the streets filled with a multitude of varied faces. Varied lives. She wonders at what sort of guardian forces it must take to keep a place so massive and populous under anything resembling order.
Again, she listens to the derelict she finds along her way, giving them a few coins for their time and stories.
Tai takes Cyrus' advice and goes to the local temple to Abadar.
Should their priests be unavailable, he seeks out a temple to Asmodeus.
Cyrus goes to the Mad Shark and asks around for Ayren.
Thanks to already having some familiarity with the city, Jaazkara manages to more of the city this time, and with greater insight too. She notices the stark different between the wealthy western districts near the Golden Plaza and the poorest southern districts near the docks.
Still, wherever she roams, one thing is unchanged: Purple Moon decorations cover most of the city's, despite it still being months away.
Another common sight is the unusually high number of ravens in the city. And Jaazkara notices she's isn't the only one who finds their presence unusual. She sees locals pointing and talking about the birds, trying to scare them away or even attempting to capture one.
Once again, Jaazkara hears dozens of different stories from the beggars, but only two are told somewhat consistently:
"Children are being devoured by the yellow-eyed witch! The baker's son was taken!"
"There are vampires in the city! Their spawns move during the night with hunger in their eyes! They attack those who stray away from torches and moon-light.
Tai Lengs takes a moment to remember where he had seen a temple to Abadar... Then he heads straight to the Golden Plaza. There he finds the House of Blue Shell's Supreme Court. The imposing building is surround by two great temples: One devoted to Abadar and one to Iomedae.
Priests of both faiths (and of a few others, most notably Torag and Asmodeus) are plentiful. There's a number of law offices not far from here.
Tai Leng enters the Abadarian temple. He's soon approached by a short middle-aged man with grey hair and bright blue eyes.
"Can I help you, son?"
Brother Cyrus goes to the Mad Shark in no particular hurry. As usual, he's greeted by Marcie at the door... But this time, she asks that he waits for a moment. He does.
After a minute or so, Joel and Marina Ironblood appear. They are accompanied by Brenda and another member of the Red Eagle company.
"Why... Hello, mr.Cyrus." Marina speaks with a friendly tone. "We weren't sure if you'd be back."
"You a pirate, son?" Joel speaks with a harsh voice."If you are, I'll hang you myself!"
"Joel!" Marina fiercely reprimands her husband before turning back to you. "You have to forgive my husband's atitude. But to be fair to him, it isn't completely out of turn. We prefer to not meddle on our clients' personal affairs... But it isn't every day that a Captain of the Armada personally arrests someone right on our doorstep." she takes a quick glance at Joel. "We do not to associate with pirates. So I ask that you enlighten us on the captain's grievances with you." despite her gentle wording, Brother Cyrus gets the feeling Misses Ironblood isn't really asking.
"Ma'am, I apologize for the ruckus. I am no pirate. The Wavebravers are upset because I mentioned to a few people that we did some work for them. How its been twisted into this mess...I'm not sure who can say. I've never committed an evil to my knowledge. THAT I can swear by my name." Cyrus runs a hand through his hair and sighs.
"Is Ayren around by any chance? He knows who our client was the day we arrived in town."
"I need to hire a lawyer. We've acquired some legal trouble."
The Ironblood couple stares at Brother Cyrus for a moment.
"We'll give you a chance, then, boy." says Joel. "But if it turns out you're working with pirates... I'll personally drag your hide into the nearest dungeon cell." the man turns around and leaves. His wife seems to agree with him, although in not quite so passionate a way and follows him into the tavern.
Marci and Brenda look at Brotehr Cyrus with a somewhat confused look on their faces.
"You know..." the red-headed woman says. "If you want to convince others you're a respectable, law-abiding citizen, asking about Ayren was not the best idea."
"Eh... Let him be, Brenda." says her fellow Red Eagle warrior. "Ayren is a dick and a sciolist, but he doesn't cause any real harm."
Brenda rolls her eyes and crosses her arm, but doesn't disagree.
Marci sighs and answers Brother Cyrus' question.
"You and you friends have been good customers, so I'm willing to give you the benefit of doubt. But you should know that being dragged away by an officer of the Armada looks really bad." before you can reply, she continues speaking. "Anyway, if you're looking for Ayren, you're in luck. I'm pretty sure I saw him sleeping in the stables about an hour ago. If you're taking him somewhere, tell him to pay for the hay before leaving."
"That's usually the reason people hire lawyers... Please, accompany me to my office. We can talk more freely there."
The man leads Tai Leng to an empty room inside the Abadarian temple. As he enters, the young monk feels the slight change in air-pressure usually caused by magic. There are at least a few spells enveloping this whole room, and whoever put them there, made a point of making them very easy to notice.
"So... What's this trouble you mentioned?"
"The Wavebravers have apparently chosen to take offense at our (truthfully) telling people we did a job for them once and the favorable response certain people have given us on that mention. We require legal counsel to fight this charge."
"Ah... That was you." the priest-lawyer says with an understanding smile. "I heard about that. We all heard about that. Well... You're in luck. I can help you and your friends with your problem. But you should be prepared... You won't come out unscathed. Nor do you want to. It's best not to have one of the grand families holding a grudge against you. However, with my council and representation, we can turn your sentence into a slap on the wrist and a formal apology. Now, tell me more about your current legal and financial situation in the city..."
Tai gives him a full recounting of events as he remembers and interprets them. While he does not intentionally obfuscate details, his account is well colored by his unique perspective of "crimes" like this, and this is very clear to the lawyer-priest.
"Will do, thank you ladies very much." Cyrus gives a gentlemanly bow and goes briskly to his room to retrieve his adventuring equipment. He delays another short time to give himself a trim and make himself more presentable. Afterwards he goes to the Stable to hunt down Ayren.
the man says with a devilish smile. "We can paint a good picture of your actions without pissing off the Grand Families. Where are you staying? We should talk again. I'll check the details of your trial and come back to you."
He snaps his fingers as if just remembering something important.
"Oh, right! My name is Koffey. Dean Koffey. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Oh, hello friend! Nice to see you here... Would you like some wine?"
"Actually...yes wine sounds pretty good. Ayren, we're in a bit of a mess and I need to know if you can get in touch with our client from helping Lady Elena." Cyrus glances at the half-orc woman and considers asking Ayren if shes a friend but decides to keep it to himself.
"Hmmm..." the half-elf groans while slowly standing up from the pile of hay. "You mean Kodan? He isn't very fond of me, but I could meet him. Why?"
"Pleased to meet you as well Mister Koffey. I'm staying at the Mad Shark Inn. Thank you for your assistance."
"One final question before I leave: what is your fee?"
"Truth be told, we're in a bit of a legal bind and I need proof we were working for the Wavebravers in some way. Can you get in touch with him and make sure he's at our hearing?"
"You see... Technically, we were working for Kodan, not the Wavebravers. He's the care-taker of Lady Elena's pets. I dare say he'll probably side with her in whatever dispute there is, but we can at least count on him to speak the truth... Probably."
"Close enough!" Cyrus leaves and goes to meet up with the others.
Of course it wouldn't be that easy.
After spending the day preparing for the upcoming trial, the time of your meeting with Alvarez approaches. Your group rendezvous one hour before midnight, a couple blocks away from the location specified by the odd man.
This area is the eastern-most side of Blue Shell's docks, where there are relatively few warehouses, shops and taverns. A couple miles away, you can see the Eastern Lighthouse towering over everything around it.
Few people walk the streets, and none of them walks alone or unarmed. Despite this cautious behavior and the full darkness of the night, no one seems worried in the least, and walk as relaxed and confident as they would in a flowery boulevard under bright daylight... You can actually hear joyful singing in the distance.
You casually walk towards the meeting point, completely undisturbed... Tai Leng gets the feeling these people are too relaxed for someone walking in dark, empty streets at night... But in the absence of trouble, you quickly reach your destination. Half an hour before the meeting time, your hear Alvarez' voice.
"Oh... You're early!" he says, startling you all. Somehow, you failed to notice his approach. "That's good! This way we have some extra time. We are going there..." he adds, pointing at a nearby warehouse with no windows, guarded only by a half-asleep man rocking on a wooden chair and a fully asleep dog lying by his feet.
"I hope you remembered to bring your weapons here. Being unarmed would not only be suspicious, but disrespectful too."
Cyrus lightly taps the sword on his back.
"Whats the plan? Ask them nicely to return your belongings and fight if they don't?"
"I hope you remembered to bring your weapons here. Being unarmed would not only be suspicious, but disrespectful too."
"That's unfortunate, given I'm not in the habit of carrying weapons for show."
"Too bad. You're expected to have one. It's like formal wear." Alvarez says while subtly producing a dagger from one of his sleeves and offering its handle to Tai Leng. "Here. Have one of mine. We want to be discreet... At first."
"Anyway... Do not let the the casual-looking entrance trick you. That's the "Silent Rolls" casino. And their security is certainly much more efficient than it appears. I have our invitations for the common area... The problem comes later. We need to get into the VIP area... And I only have one ticket for that, so you will have to sneak in... Or make enough money in the casino to be invited there. That's a whole different (and much more expensive) casino... There we will find a man who's working as a representative of the cad who robbed me. He intends to make a business proposal to the owners of this place... Once he's invited to the manager's room, there's no hope of interfering without provoking the ire of people I'd much, much rather not have as enemies.. So we must either stop him from being invited or relieve him of the stolen item before it happens."
The man produces a scroll from one of his pockets... It's a rather well-drawn picture of a dagger.
"This is the item in question: a curved dagger with a bronze blade and a bone handle... The man carrying it is... Well... It could be anyone, really. My informer tells me he lost his left hand a few years ago, so maybe look for someone with a hook for a hand? He's also supposed to be quite tall, and given how long he's been operating in Blue Shell, he must be at least in his late 30's or early 40's. His oldest known name is Gylles, but even that can be a alias."
"One more thing... Magic isn't forbidden, (in fact, most patrons are sure to be using defensive charms and illusory disguises), but divination and luck-altering spells are a sure way to attract the attention of the guards. If they as much as suspect you're using magic to cheat or to pry at one of the patrons' privacy, you are in for a lot of trouble... So... Uh... If you have tricks like that, try to only use them as your absolute last resort."
"So..." says Alvarez with a smile on his face. "Are you ready to go in?"
"Sounds good."
Tai shrugs and buckles the dagger on.
"Yes, let's go."
You follow Alvarez into the warehouse... He walks nonchalantly past the guard, who just raises his head enough to glance at you, then goes back to rest... The dog by his feet raises his snout a couple inches and sniffs twice as you approach, then goes back to sleep.
As soon as you cross the entrance, the world changes into something completely different! No longer it is the mostly empty warehouse you saw from outside. You now find yourselves in a luxurious casino, with a red fancy red carpet covering the floor, expensive-looking paintings on the walls and marble statues all around, taking whatever space isn't occupied by the walking lanes, bar or the game tables.
Everyone around you is wearing either armor, robes or formal dress. Many of them have masks as well. Literally every single one of them has at least one visible weapon on their persons, from simple daggers to massive two-handed axes.
As soon as you enter, each of you is given a semi-rigid blank paper sheet made to look like an oversized joker card.
"Don't lose those!" Alvarez says. "Or they'll charge you quite the sum! I speak out of experience!"
Many different types of game are taking place concurrently. Black Jack, Poker, Craps and Roulette seem particularly popular. With as many exotically dressed players and staff-members, it's difficult to find anything out of place, but some sights attract your attention more than others...
- An actual troll is playing black jack on a table a few yards away from you. He's constantly grinning and seems to be not only enjoying the game, but also winning it!
- A roulette table is almost entirely surrounded by people with full falconer's getup. Including living falcons on their shoulders. The birds are oddly calm and completely undisturbed by the bright and loud surroundings.
- A poker game involving a Halfling couple, an elf in formal dress and a bald human with a long white beard is so intense, it formed a whole crowed around it. The players are almost completely evenly matched. Some of the observers are actually betting on who will win the game.
- A tengu and a woman in formal tian dress are playing a game Tai Leng recognizes as Pai Gow.
- Burly half-orcs patrol the corridors. They all wear eyeglasses whose lens shed a faint blue glow. Despite their size, they navigate the crowd without bumping on even a single shoulder.
- A few women in sensual clothes strut the corridors offering drinks to the patrons. When someone accepts, they write something down on the patron's fake joker card and give it back to them.
"Now... Let's find our man... Discretely."
Tai nods and begins walking around the room, casually looking for the man. He makes a slight detour to the sensually dressed booze-carrier and propositions her for a drink as well.
Brother Cyrus moves over to the poker game and places a small bet on the bald human.
"Five gold on the bearded man. We humans made it to where we are today from our grit and cunning."
Jaazkara walks about the casino, utterly bemused and a bit overwhelmed. Had it not been for her recent exploring of the city, she'd have been panicked immediately.
Instead, she calmly goes from game to game, scanning the crowd for a man close to Alvarez's description while taking in the sight of the place.
The waitress thanks you but politely refuses your offer with the grace and charm of a professional who has heard it before more than a few times.
Tai Leng doesn't see anyone acting particularly suspiciously (at least not any more suspicious than the crowd of people playing on a fancy underground casino). He does notice two corridors guarded by standing half-orcs that are noticeably burlier and better armed than the ones patrolling the halls. One of the corridors has several doors along its sides, while the other has a single double door at its very end.
"Minimum bet is 10 galleons, kid." says a white-bearded dwarf. Next to you. "Your kind has no patience... No offense." he says calmly. "And "pointy" over there-" he points at the elf with chin. "is too cautious. My bet is on the halflings. The boy, to be more specific. The girl is too audacious for her own good.".
"Bah!" grunts a human man next to the dwarf. "You know nothing, Bor! I hate to admit it, but the elf got it. I bet's he's been doing this for 300 years or something."
"Which will only make him more likely to underestimate his opponents! This is a game of ambition and intimidation! Humans are made of that!" exclaims a woman beside the man.
"Nonsense!" adds a male halfling. "Trickery and quick-thinking are the domain of halflings! And we all know women are the best at these sorts of mind games!"
The discussion goes on and on for a while... A few remarks sound somewhat like stereotypes and generalizations, but no one seems to care or even notice.
Jaazkara finds many male mammals around. But none of them seem to be missing a hand. And if the man you're looking for is disguised (and he almost certainly is), he could be any of them...
However, Jaazkara can't help but take notice of two corridors in particular, both guarded by standing half-orcs that are noticeably burlier and better armed than the ones patrolling the halls. One of the corridors has several doors along its sides, while the other has a single double door at its very end.
"1x sparkling wine (glass)"
Cyrus grins back at the remark. "10 galleons it is then!"
"Are these new players or regulars? I hope I didn't throw my money away, though I do enjoy betting on underdogs." Cyrus attempts to strike up conversation within the onlookers.
- The troll wins another game. His laughter is more akin to a roar. He drops all of his new chips on a smelly leathery bag by his feet and rests his right foot on top of it. He then dares more people to face him. A few bystanders consider the proposition, but seem more excited about the opportunity of beating the troll than about the prospect of profit.
- Two of the falconers seem to be doing rather well in their game. A third one laughs at his own bad luck, but doesn't stop betting. He seems to be enjoying the ambient and company more than the game itself. Another one seems bored, far more interested in booze than gambling. Finally, the fifth falconer stands up, pets his falcon, adjusts his heavy cloak and leather glove and decides to take a stroll around the casino.
- The female halfling gains a noticeable lead on the game, but is closely followed by the human player. The elf and the male halfling aren't far behind him, but do lose the advantage in chips.
- The tengu is visibly surprised by the woman's skills. He speaks to her in tien. She replies in the same language with a coy smile on her face. They both laugh and keep playing
"You never will." replies the woman. Both of them laugh.
- The orcs continue their patrol, occasionally stopping to check the gaming tables. One of them seems to recognize a human friend in the crowd and greets him. They exchange a couple words in orcish language and a firm handshake, then go on their separate ways. The orc back to his patrol, and the human to disappear somewhere in the crowds.
- The waitresses continue to strut elegantly and offer drinks to the patrons. On occasion, one of them will leave the room through a door in an empty corridor, only to be almost immediately replaced by a different girl.
- A bald man of average height with a thick brown mustache enters the room. He immediately attracts the attention of nearby guards, who decide to have a quick word with him. Despite the grim look on their faces, the man doesn't seem at all disturbed, and answers them with politeness and brevity. He then approaches the gaming area without taking a single step, and instead hovering a few inches over the ground. He's continuously followed by a tiny, winged mechanical orb with two tiny mechanical arms and one big mechanical eyeball.
After downing his champagne sparkling wine, Tai leng heads toward one of the more guarded doors.
"Who is allowed back there?' he asks one of the half-orcs.
"That's exclusive for fat cats, pal. Invitation only. Move on." the half-orc bouncer replies without paying much attention to Tai Leng.
[b}"And where can I get an invitation?"[/b]
"There is no ticket booth anywhere. If you want to get invited you just have to be rich or influential. Preferably both. Wasting piles of gold in the casino like it's nothing also seems to work."
"Thank you. You have been very helpful." Tai says, and bows deeply.
He then goes to the nearest game table.
"I wish to join your game. I have no idea how to play, but the goal is apparently to lose money in any case. This should not be a problem." he informs the table.
"Well... You're in luck, stranger." a nearby man says pointing at the numbers on the table. "Just pick a number. Your chances of getting what you want are 37 to 1!"
People around laugh as the dealer readies to spin an small wooden wheel with black and red numbered squares (and a green one) carved on it.
"I've always been fond of the number 14." Tai states.