Mikal Approaches to within 10 feet of the thugs, trying to look as priestly as he can. "Are you responsible for the breakage in that store there. You should not be running away, the shopkeep must be made whole. Let us go back in and straighten all this out." As he speaks to the men, He looks them over for any sign of their intent or to identify who or what they may be affiliated with.
The man speaking to Mikal looks sheepishly at his companions briefly, "Uhm, er no... the would be Mister Jumai's doing. He isn't himself tonight. Well hasn't been the last couple of nights actually."
Jumai is a recognizable name. Mister Jumai sits on the merchant council. Not a powerful merchant, but his wealth and influence have been growing on the council.
Banking on his percieved authority as a priest of Abadar, "Well, I would like you to indulge me in returnng to the shop to talk with Mister Jumai. Maybe we can come to some resolution, and he can explain what is troubling him so. I have found that the church can be helpful in such times of trouble."
Mikal is not so much worried about these men accompanying him, but he wants to give them the chance to work things out with their employer. Whether they come with or not, Mikal will call for his companions to come out and explain to them what appears to be going on, and then will suggest they go to Miste Jumai's shop to talk to him.
Squalling the spell, Aria emerges from the shadows, Skyfire still clings to her shoulder.
"What have you found, Father?" She says in an attempt to sound like an ally of Mikal's priest character. (Bluff/Social)
The man raises an eyebrow towards Mikal, then shakes his head and gestures with his hand, "Lead the way. Mister Jumai may not be happy to see you though."
"My concern is not the emotional state of Mister Jumai. There is something afoot in Coran, robberies and murders, and I have been tasked with getting to the bottom of it, along with my companions." He gestures towards Aria. "Before we go in, is there anything that you can tell me that will help us in our errand."
As he is waiting for a response, he leans in to Aria so the others cannot hear and whispers. "Is there a way you can get a message to everyone to come down to Mister Jumai's shop?"
His vanishing spell had worn off by that point, but instead of returning his disguise, Talathel remained in the shadows. There was no point in straining credibility, and he'd likely be better served as a set of eyes in the shadows while Mikal went with them.
"Hmpf. There was... an incident two nights ago, same night as all the murders. Guess we can count ourselves lucky we weren't targeted for death. But we had some unwanted visitors. Mister Jumai has been walking around like a storm cloud since then."
The man knocks on the door of the shop. "Open up James. Someone from the church wants to talk to Mister Jumai."
Inside can be heard the rattle of keys and a bolt clicking as they are turned in the lock. The door opens a crack and another man dressed like the three outside peers out.
Inside can be seen several shelves filled with glass figurines. Shards of glass from a shattered piece are strewn across the floor near the door.
"One moment."
The door closes again and shortly another voice can be heard, near yelling, "I don't suppose you could just tell them to go away could you? Well send them in then."
The door opens again and James stands to the side allowing Mikal and Aria to enter. An older man, hair thinning and slightly overweight stands in the middle of the shop, his face flushed. He is easily recognizable as Mister Jumai, one of the merchant's on the council.
Inside you are able to get a closer look at the figurines. A red dragon in flight, gold and red highlights embedded into the glass. A warrior dressed in full plate, blade held skyward. Many of the pieces contain semi-precious gemstones for the eyes of the figures. Others have tinting to the glass to create the effects of lighting and shadows in careful detail. A pair of figures in a lewd dance. A little boy sitting beneath a great apple tree. A wizard entertaining a group of small children with floating lights.
Along the back of the eastern wall is a closed door.
Mister Jumai addresses Mikal, "Well, what do the servants of Abadar wish at this time?"
"I think we were just curious about the breaking glass sounds and wanted to ensure that everyone was alright." Aria says, hesitantly as she looks at the 'cleric of Abadar'.
"Yes, that was our reason for noticing your shop. But your associate tells me there was an incident a couple of nights ago, the same night as the murders. We are investigating these events along different lines. Perhaps if you tell us what happened it will help to complete the puzzle and we can return Coran to normal, where an esteemed merchant such as yourself can ply your trade in peace." Mikal gives a look to Aria, and steps forward.
"Mister Jumai, I feel I need to come clean. I am no priest, my friend and I here along with a few other companions are in the employ of the guild. We fix things. I was using this disguise for other purposes, but it came in handy for making your associate here stop in his tracks and it got me in your front door. We are very capable, and might be able to make whatever is troubling you and this city go away. But we need information to put this puzzle together."
Cindy, still not convinced that all these people are legit, decides to land on the roof of an adjacent building and watch. Who broke that glass and why? she asks through the whisper.
Talathel sidles up to a building, keeping watch from across the street, hand on his sword and patiently waiting. He directs his Message spell toward everyone still outside. "How long do you give them before we assume things have gone badly and we kick in the door?"
"That being said," Aria adds, nodding to Mikal. "We mean no harm to you or to yours. I think we all have a vested interested in seeing that the merchants of the guild do well. So you might understand how we might have been alarmed by the sounds of breaking glass." She nods to Mikal as she steps out of the shop for a moment.
Message
"We're alright; you can join us if you wish. We're questioning what's going on to make sure everyone's okay."
At the revelation of who the group represents Jumai looks a little surprised, then squints a bit trying to get a better look.
Jumai gives James a dark look then grunts, "Two nights ago several men and a gnome came into the shop after closing. We only saw the three of them, but there were more outside. Cast some kind of enchantment on James, Doug and Eric here so they couldn't do nothing. Robbed us with us standing right here in the shop."
"One of them men was a real loud mouth, shouting all kinds of things about spilling blood. The other talked real smooth." Jumai shakes his head.
James adds in, "That one that talked all smooth like, he had a limp, foot injury or something of some kind."
Jumai looks a little irritated at being interrupted. "The gnome didn't say or do much."
Sensing that Mister Jumai is not being altogether forthright, Mikal presses him. "You say these men came in after closing, did you not have the door locked as you did just now before we entered? Or did you know these men is some capacity, which might explain them getting in here after hours? You say that they robbed you, robbed you of what? Did they just take coin, or something perhaps of a greater value?" Mikal stops for a second to catch his breath, and to let the weight of the questions sink in. "I do not mean any disrespect, Mister Jumai, but we need to know everything if we are to quickly put an end to all this chaos."
Vados doesn't try to enter the shop, but keeps the door in sight from the alleyway.
Cindy is happy to remain hidden and in disguise as well. She can still communicate via Whisper if needed.
Talathel went inside, releasing the handle of his sword in a show of dplimacy as he opened the door. He realized that his disguise was still present, and only as he in and greeted people did he shed the spell.
"Terribly sorry I was late, I was busy following a rather shady group from the shadows." He smirks widely and nods his head to Mister Jumai. "Would anyone care to bring me up to speed?"
Jumai wipes his hand across his eyes. "Well... if you cannot help me then I don't suppose anyone can." He looks down at his feet. "They threatened to smash up my shop and kill my family if I refused their demands. Two thousand gold per month. They will return next month to collect." He breathes in deeply, a slight tremor to his voice, "What am I supposed to do? James wanted to go to the city guard, but I fear that will just make matters worse."
Who threatened to smash up the shop, you surely would not take the threats of some riff-raff off the street so seriously. If you tell us who did this, we can endevour to make it go away before they return for that first payment. Mikal moves about the shop as he talks, attempting to see if there is any kind of back room and if any one is present but out of sight.
You are right not to go to the guard, this is a task that should be handled in-house. What use is being in the Merchant's Guild, especially being on the council, if we cannot protect our own. Mister Jumai, we are but another tool not unlike the ones you use to make these beautiful sculptures, use us as we are intended.
"I believe he's referring to the men and the gnome, the ones that used the powerful enchantment." Aria says stiffly, surprised that Mikal had forgotten the earlier description.
"Did these people have any unifying features? A symbol, perhaps, or the same color jacket, or an emblem of some type?"
Jumai gives a start, "Oh yes. One moment." He hustles to the east side of the shop where a single door stands ajar and passes into an office in the back.
While he is gone the guards speak up, "The man with the limp had black hair, and was" he looks to the other men, "A few inches shy of 6' in height. He wore a... uh... headband with red gemstones in it. Used a cane to help him walk."
"The gnome, lets see. He had dark brown hair. He also had a headband, bronze with green gemstones in it. Didn't see any weapons on him, but he walked in like he owned the place."
"The last one, the loud mouthed one. Wore a curved blade of some kind on his back. And leather armor. He was a little tower than the other one, blonde hair and blue eyes. Kept shouting about how if Jumai didn't do as he said they'd kill his wife and son."
"When they cast their spell, these three" James gestures to his fellows. "Wouldn't draw their weapons even though it was plain as day trouble was brewing."
One of the others speaks up, "I know it makes no sense now looking back, but whatever they did left a great calm upon me. Like everything was going to turn out all right. I could hear them threatening Mister Jumai, but there was nothing I felt I could do about it."
Jumai returns a moment later holding something in his hand. He holds up a black feather. "They placed this on the counter as they left. I don't know why."
Mikal examines the feather this is obviously the token of some faction. Aria, can you detect if their are any magics at work on it? Turning to Mister Jumai, he asks,would you permit us to take the feather, to show to some of our contacts, they may help shed some light on who did this.
He then asks James, Thank you for the descriptions, I am sure it will help us find these men. I can't imagine there are a lot of gnomes wearing emerald and bronze headbands running around Coran.
To Mister Jumai, Rest assured, we will look into this, we will send word once we have something to report. In the interim, I suggest you keep a guard here at all times, and you should consider investing in some protection from enchantments and charms. You will here from us soon.
After all the questions are answered, Mikal will leave the shop and rejoin his friends to report what they have found.
He follows Mikal out of the shop, his mind already started to run, piecing together everything he can about the details provided and trying to gain some insight.
Once Mikal, Talathel and Aria leave the shop, Garion will join them in the street and get caught up on what occurred inside. Examining the feather, he shakes his head. "I've not heard of such a token before," he says. [b]"May I?", he asks, grasping his holy symbol and casting Detect Magic on the feather.
"Please. I do not have the proper rites prepared, so your arcane sight will be better than mine."
Jumai looks relieved, having let out some of his pent up fear and frustration he has been feeling over the past couple of days, "Well I truly hope you can track down these cutthroats. No telling who else they will try and blackmail."
The feather does not show any magical auras, just a common raven feather.
Once the group has gathered, and out initial examinations of the feather are done, Mikal suggests, We should look into this other matter that the guild has tasked us with, all these things may end up being related, and the more information we have the better we will be able to puzzle it out.
"I would suggest we split up, we will be able to cover more ground that way. We should be able to keep in touch magically and let each group know what the other finds," suggests Garion.
Vados nods to Garion.
"A sound plan. The guild asked that we investigate the robbed bakery and the fruit shop of Lady Yisa's that was attacked. Three of us to each location, perhaps? I would head to the Lady's shop if others wished to join me."
Further east down the merchant's road is Lady Yisa's fruit shop. It is a large single story building on the north side of the road. The doors and windows are closed and no light shines within.
"It would not be in our best interest to split up by night, but very well. We should try to at least cover our bases with each group; one to do the talking, one to do the hitting, one to do the casting."
Aria nods in agreement. "Very well."
I will head for the bakery, let us plan on meeting back up in an hours time. Mikal will head for the bakery mentioned in the guilds missive.
Garion will go with Vados.
Aria, Talathel, and Mikal continue down the street further to the east to find the bakery. The streets are now empty, the the sounds of life can be heard from other parts of the city.
Like the other shops along the street the bakery is quiet and dark. One window on the west side has a fist sized hole in it. A sheet of wood is nailed in place on the inside to cover the window.
Vados, Cindy Lu, and Garion take a quick look around the fruit shop. The store is showing a bit of age, and some of the wood has warped, with a few boards sticking out slightly, having pulled away from their nails.
Mikal takes his mace and tries to dislodge the board without doing further damage to the window. Once the board is loose, he reaches in and opens the window so he can climb in. Once inside the shop, he searches thoroughly for anything that might be unusual.
Talathel takes note of the hand print, examining it for size and anything notable about it that would narrow down the race of its maker. He'll call it to Mikal's attention once they're finished inside of the store, and follows the ranger inside.
Aria watches the others, but also looks around to make sure no one is watching them. Skyfire clings to her shoulder.
Vados, Cindy Lu, and Garion take a quick look around the fruit shop. The store is showing a bit of age, and some of the wood has warped, with a few boards sticking out slightly, having pulled away from their nails.Spoiler:On the north side you spot a piece of cloth hooked on one of the old boards.
Garion plucks the cloth from the nail and examines it closely.
If the Detect Magic is not still active, he'll cast it again.
What have you found there? Cindy asks as the cleric examines the cloth. She also casts Detect Magic and begins to look around.
The cloth does not radiate any aura's of magic. The fabric is worn and frayed, a simple tan in color and covered with grime and dirt. A piece of cloth torn from a poor commoner or beggar's garb.
Mikal tries to push and remove the board from the window. It is nailed in tightly though and would require breaking more of the window out to get sufficient leverage and force to gain entry.
Mikal takes a moment to examine the smeared hand print. It was plainly made by a humanoid. Perhaps a teenager or small adult.
Talathel draws the crowbar from his Bag of Holding. "Perhaps this will allow you to remove the board, or at least break away enough window to."