Orsin moves into the holding cell with Andrea and waits for Shinon to close the door behind them.
Once the door is closed, Orsin pulls up an available chair and sits at eye level with captive. He sighs and clears his throat.
"Look, we're going to do this without names and I don't expect that you'll want to cooperate with us right away, but I assure that if you do, we can make it very worth your while. And really, I want all of us, especially you, to come out of this a little richer."
Orsin tosses a pouch of 50 gold coins onto the floor between them, which lands with an audible jingle.
"Are you willing to negotiate?"
The man looks at the pouch and then back up to you, he is sitting on the floor. He looks uninterested, then states in a crisp voice, "You must a new toady so I will speak...r.e.a.l...s.l.o.w.l.y ... f.o.r...y.o.u." a wise arse look on his face. "I'm...being...held...without...cause. I...come...from...a ...wealthy...noble...family." He glances at the small bag of coin and laughs.
Andrea casts Guidance on Orsin and wil also aid another
Andrea looks at the captive. I personally don't care if you run around in the sewers doing whatever you do. Smuggling, stealing, whatever. I am more than willing to let you go back down there with the giant maggots, but what we want to know is if your gang has someone we are looking for. If you do, we want them back so people we know are happy and give us money. So, what would it take to find out what we want to know and perhaps do an exchange?
Orsin whips his head back towards Andrea shooting a glare that all too clearly reads: "Why didn't you tell me this?!". Turning back to the prisoner he says, "Well, you should take it as I sign of goodwill that I'd be willing to part with so much of my money. And you're right, I am new and truthfully, I don't know much about this whole situation and I'm just trying to get it all sorted as quickly as possible. Please, tell me what happened." Orsin leans back, sitting with his hands in his lap, his body language open, forgiving, and receptive.
Shinon facepalms. "Fantastic, offer the spoiled little rich kid a bribe. What's next, gonna offer salvation to a cleric?" Shaking his head, Shinon glances at Andrea. "Your little protege here has five minutes to play nice. After that, our two muscular friends and I are gonna take turns sharpening our swords on this loser's stomach. See if that loosens his lips a little."
"Please, we're trying to be as civil as possible with you because you deserve to be treated with civility. Is there anything you can tell us about our missing person?"
"What I want is to be turned over to the dottari, if you believe I've committed a crime. Let justice prevail. No vigilante justice is necessary."
Orsin sighs heavily before humming The Ballad of Two Old Friends and making the somatic components behind his back.
What we want is to know if your friends have If you don't, fine. We will drop you off unharmed somewhere else. If you do, all we want is him back and perhaps have a sit-down with your boss about just what the price is for an exchange.
His prevously hostile attitude becomes a little less harsh. Then he looks over at Shinon, "Get the whoreson's whelp out of here." He looks at Orsin and calmly states, "I'm pretty sure my family has offered a bounty on most of heads already, let me go and I won't have them carry it out."
He has a long pause, "Have you ever known a Salikotal fail when properly contracted?" His voice steady.
He starts to nod slightly to the humming.
EDIT: He gets a +5 on his save per the spell, so it has no effect on him.
Although he does nod to the music a bit.
"No," Orsin says, "I can't say I have, but I'm curious what a devil has to do with the matter. Do you mean to say that we've been marked?"
"And perhaps you could also tell us if you know anything about...oh, what was his name again Andrea?"
Andrea nods to Shinon. Please head out, we all need to cool down.
He replies to Orsin's question, "It's simple...as your cohorts in crime have undoubtedly advised you...I'm of the Cemaine family; yes, that's right THAT Cemaine family. I'm sure word has gotten back to my father. I may be a bastard but I am his blood. Bad business to have a noble disappear. That is the minimum of devil that will carry out your death sentence." He shrugs.
Shinon laughs as he wipes the spit out of his eye. "He's all yours," he walks to the door, opens it, and turns and gives Andrea a serious look. "Five minutes," he repeats, before closing the door and walking into the hall.
Jospuph Grulios Andrea says after searching her memory.
"What do you want to know about Jospuph? Rumor is he is missing, am I to follow suit? Is that your talent your motive snatching and killing nobles to cause fear in the city." He nods to the door, "That half-elf bastard has anger issues despises those with extra coinage. Sort of makes sense now, who do you work for?"
What we want to know if if the Red Knives kidnapped him. We are looking for him so he can be returned to his family. We don't want to cause fear in this city but to make his kin happy that a family member is back, or at least begin to mourn if he is dead. If the Red Knives are not involved in the kidnapping we want to know just who is, perhaps your gang would know more about where to look.
As for who we work for, as terribly dramatic as it sounds, we work for the people of the city. We want to try to make sure that people don't fear getting ripped apart by shadow beasts, or have their family members torn apart and dumped in the sewers. I'm sure even your crew has to run like hell whenever one of those monsters shows up in the sewers.
He is telling the truth that Josuph is missing.
Realizing that he should perhaps be a bit more direct, Orsin asks, "Please, friend to friend, tell us: Do the Red Knives have Josuph?"
He is still unfriendly towards you.
He does answer the question, "No."
Well at least we can end this finally, and without any more spit in the eyes. Unless Orsin has more questions, I am sure we can get you out of here within the hour.
He looks sceptically at the female. I'll believe that when I'm walking on my own.
"I'm still not sure if we can trust him," Orsin whispers to Andrea. "We can attempt further enchantments if you think it's warranted. Or we could try more...severe methods."
Orsin, he seems to be truthful to you. He looks you in the face with his answer, no unusual ticks or blinks. A straight forward answer.
No. Such methods did not work and in fact embarassed us
Andrea moves around the back of the man and speaks in Infernal Harsh methods are unreliable because even if they break they will say anything to stop the pain. Andrea casts Charm person on him when out of his sight and is still speaking Infermal[ We tried being reasonable too late.
Andrea comes back into view and speaks in common. Unfortunatly I was indisposed earlier and so was not able to cut this drama short. Although we would not be able to see just how expert an aim this one is with his spittle.
If Andrea senses the magic is ineffetive she shrugs. I believe we have learned all we can. In my opinion we should just puit a bag over his head and drop him off somewhere in town.
If Andrea senses the magic is effective. But I think we might still come to an agreement perhaps?
Orsin releases another sigh. What have you gotten yourself into Orsin? This is much harder than I thought it would be... "Andrea, what do you think? Is he telling the truth?"
Andrea you sense you magic has not effective.
What agreement?
Andrea winces behind her mask. As you have said, we let you safely go and you will call off the bounty. I'm sure that bruising the ego of our comrade out there is satisfaction enough?
Orsin leans in to whisper to Andrea, "Keep his mind on the Red Knives, I've decided to use the thoughtsight scroll."
With that he uses read magic to decipher the scroll of detect thoughts and makes a caster level check to activate it:
He receives a Will save DC 13 to negate the surface listening in three rounds.
"If I tell my family to call off the bounty you let me go? It's that simple? I can do that, if you don't harm me anymore than what has been done to me already."
Yes, that simple. This entire thing has been a debacle every which way, and what of the Red Knives? No tit-for tat as long as we stay out of their way?
RD1- He has surface thoughts.
Rd 3. Maybe she is being straight, not like that bastard.
I could tell my dad to call off the hunt. He's going to be so pissed at me for this. Frick, I need a vacation.
By round three with Andrea outside Orsin asks again, "Where is Josuph?"
I don't know, you tell me. Your group is the only one I know that snatched a noble.
Why is he asking his again. That worthless family should all rot in Erebus's cells.
Damn there are so many friggin bandit bands working this city.
Orsin nods thoughtfully. "Thank you for your time and cooperation, Master Cemaine. I apologize for being so persistent, but as the lady said before, we're only trying to do what's best. We'll see to the arrangements for your release immediately."
Orsin steps out to join the others and closes the door behind him. "He doesn't know where Josuph is, the spell confirmed it. I'm sorry this was a dead end."
Wonder if the House of Thrune is behind it...hmm...need to check that out. What about Ecarrdian?
Andrea nods to Orsin and heads out the door.
Looking at the others, she sighs. Curse my booze ridden mind. The Red Knives do not have Jospuph and if we don't let him go we have the potential for some devil called a Salikotal after our heads. Andrea looks over to John to see if he is aware of what kind of beast it is.
Let us just throw a bag over his head and drop him off at some secluded location after putting him in the wagon. We should concentrate on other things, such as the Bastards perhaps. Andrea sounds very embarassed behind her mask.
"Wait," says Orsin, cutting off the last sound from Andrea's lips, turning his ear back towards the cell to catch the stray thought from beyond the door.
"Who or what is 'Ecarrdian'?" he asks the others.
Shinon grins. "I'd say 'As you wish, my Lady', but that particular phrase holds special meaning to another woman now. So instead I'll just say 'Now you're speaking my language, Andrea!' Incidentally, you know what we would call this guy in Elven?" Shinon lets out a few choice words in Elven, for which he is grateful Arael is not present to hear, before strolling into the room and waving at the Cemaine kid.
"Sup. I've been told that we're ready to move you now. That's my department. Now then, before I uncuff you..." Shinon takes some cloth from his backpack and ties it around the noble's face, then lays him on his stomach and puts one foot on his back, resting his full weight on the noble as he undoes the cuffs, then immediately binds the boy's hands with some rope. "Let's go for a walk, dog," Shinon says, yanking the rope so that the noble is forced to his feet.
Shinon will lead the noble out of the temple and then sneak down the street, taking as many alleyways as possible in order to avoid being seen. Once he gets to the Market District, he'll untie the man and remove his blindfold. "And just like that, you're free to go! See you never!" Shinon waves and rushes off in the opposite direction of the temple.
Once Shinon has gone a good 500 feet without being followed, he'll double back and head back to the temple to report.
Andrea facepalms. I think I need a drink. Please don't let our souls get eaten, please don't let our souls get eaten.
Andrea hunts around for some ale. I think I will indulge in somce scroll crafting. If we ever confront the Shadow Beasts we will need some miracles to help us and I learned a few that can help.
But before that, I am sure Areal has things to talk about regarding the Bastards I believe? Just what makes them a target for us?
There is plenty to drink in the Temple. The others wait for Andrea and Orsin to brief them. As Shinon goes and binds the prisoner wrapping his head in cloth.
As Orsin has said, The Red Knives do not have Jospuph and our guest has only heard that he is missing. In fact he believe we are the ones snatching nobles since we kept him prisoner here. Andrea yanks her mask off and swigs some ale. Fiosa is going to be so dissapointed with me.
Andrea pauses as Orsin asks his question. Unfortunatly she is still very ignorant of the nobles of the city.
On the way out Duncan grabs at the bound noble.
Tell your boss we be after the Bastards of Erebus. If they be rivals, then maybe we got business. Let im think on it.
When Shinon is gone Arael comments, He did get two good long looks at Shinon." A concerned look on his face, "At least he didn't get a second look at you Andrea, Duncan, John. Perhaps his memory will fade from you three."
He is troubled by Andrea's comment about snatching nobles.
Andrea has a slight smile. Well Duncan and John always go around in their helmets so they should be safe.
Andrea looks down at her cup and her hands tramble a bit as they try reaching for the ale again. Andrea curls her fingers around each other. I..still have a lot of problems.