At Akorian's villa, the doorman tells Marius that the Henderthanes are not at home. (I expect Marius will push a little -- so ) Eventually, "Ahh, Master Marius. Akorian did not have time for a letter before he left, but he did tell me you might be by. If you tell me what you need, I am to try to help you."
"I'm afraid he didn't have time to do that himself, but as I said, He told me to help you. I can give you an appointment tomorrow morning with our mastersmith, Lorzo Fortuni. Your blades will be squeezed into our schedule. Do you know where the shop is?"
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Waifrin ignores the looks from others more out of habit than any other reason. That she was by turns lusted after and resented was merely a fact of life.
At the safe house she introduces Marius as her kinsman to a few of the people there, ensures her friends are doing well and gives them a brief potted history of her exploits on the stage.
She ensures that they do not stay long, informants in the city are a matter of course and it was always best not to give them much to talk about.
...
Zarabeta spends the day wandering from place to place, attempting to strike up conversation about those 'dreadful shadow beasts,' in hopes of determining areas where they seem more or less common (or more or less brazen, in their depredations), so as to mark good locations for the hunting to come later....
To those who would have no reason to know that she isn't a recent arrival, she'll play up the clueless foreigner, and attempt to steer conversations as necessary to the information she seeks, cutting off some idiots tale of having fought one off, or whatever, with fluttering about 'is nowhere safe from these brutes?' to re-direct the conversation into locations that are more or less infested with the creatures.
So that her fragile self can better avoid the monsters, of course. :>
The first is a warehouse on the waterfront, apparently quite infested. The Dottari have cordoned off the block and are putting together a strike team for tomorrow morning.
Second, Avenue Larou. Scene of a number of recent attacks and a shadow beast of extraordinary size.
Third, Quarter Minota, a small enclave of free halflings has been having trouble.
And the sewers and Dospera are reliable places to hunt too.
Waifrin ignores the looks from others more out of habit than any other reason. That she was by turns lusted after and resented was merely a fact of life.
At the safe house she introduces Marius as her kinsman to a few of the people there, ensures her friends are doing well and gives them a brief potted history of her exploits on the stage.
She ensures that they do not stay long, informants in the city are a matter of course and it was always best not to give them much to talk about.
The Teacher receives Marius with inscrutable equanimity.
Andros is at the house too. The boy is quite impressed and interested by Waifrin's adventures on the stage. He latches on to Waifrin and Marius and follows them while occasionally asking questions or making suggestions of treats they might like or places they might want to see, a common tactic for him by which he hopes to gain a job or free meal.
Fiosa goes to discuss the events at the theatre with the rest of the Children of Westcrown.
Areal frowns and scratches his left ear. He pulls Fiosa aside for a quiet word. He's concerned that if the party gets too well known they will become a security risk, but he also recognizes this as a splendid opportunity.
"Are they thinking about how the movement can capitalize on this sudden fame?"
Raven seems content to simply stay at the Children's hideout and allow himself to partake of some wine, letting rest and relaxation replace the play's intense and at times quite deadly excitement. Still, the rogue is uncharacteristically quiet as he spends more than a little time with his gaze and thoughts aimed at the various shadows either within the place or at the outside, almost as if he is trying to look into them in an attempt to find out what they may be hiding in their depths.
Fiosa agrees with Arael's assessment and heads back to rendezvous with Zarzabeta and the rest.
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Zarabeta shares the information she has gathered with Raven and Fiosa, when she returns to their meeting place (keeping an eye out for watching eyes, as she does, wouldn't do to betray the location of their hideout!).
"If we wish to continue hunting the shadowbeasts, I have found several places they are rumored to occupy. The Dottari have cordoned off a warehouse on the waterfront, and are said to be putting together a strike team for tomorrow morning, as the warehouse is said to be quite infested. While it would be terribly tempting to eradicate the beasts in the night, before the Dottari storm the place, leaving behind the message that the Children of Westcrown had already dealt with the threat, while the Dottari stood around fretting, it seems untenable, with the heavy guard presence standing watch in the area."
"Avenue Larou has been the sight of several recent attacks, supposedly by a shadow beast of extraordinary size."
"In the Minota quarter, a small enclave of free halflings have been having problems, and that would seem a worthy cause."
"Barring those specific locations, the sewers and Dospera seem to be reliable shadow-beast haunts as well."
Fiosa's eyes widen. "Iomedae knows that all of the weak people in Westcrown are worth defending, but I'd really appreciate it if we could help those halflings out. And they'd probably be very sympathetic to the cause."
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When Marius and Waifrin return, Waifrin will listen carefully.
"I agree with Fiosa. We can help the halflings first. If the Dottari have problems with that warehouse, we could offer our services to them," she grins. "That would win us marks with the officials of this city as well as the downtrodden. I don't like them, but their approval can make things a lot easier."
"With regards to the Dottari, Arael suggested that keeping your profile too high with the powers-that-be might work against us, especially in light of your new-found fame as stars of the legitimate theatre," Fiosa adds waggishly.
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"The Minota quarter does seem the best place to start. We can help people, fight shadowbeasts and possibly even recruit some allies to our cause, which will be a nice break from providing aid and comfort to our enemies and killing any potential allies we find." Zarabeta says, with her trademark snark.
"Part of me would love nothing more than to cleanse the warehouse and leave a message for the Dottari that the Children of Westcrown have done their job of keeping the city safe for them, once again, just to rub their noses in it, but it seems a very risky venture, with so many of the authorities surrounding the area." she adds. "Indeed, as a merchant, I am always somewhat suspect of opportunities that appear just when you would most want them, and that demand to be seized immediately, lest they disappear forever. Such purchases always seem to turn out to be less valuable than they appeared when the clock was ticking away..."
"Though the sewers sound oh so very tempting," Raven quips jokingly, "I will have to agree with helping the halflings. Not only do we get rid of some more of those beasts, but we also help some people in the process."
The elf takes a sip of wine before concluding, "Two birds with one stone, I believe the saying goes."
There's a scuttling scratching sound from the roof moving from left to right. Squirrels.
Three heartbeats of silence. Then there's an explosive scramble that moves across the roof from right to left.
Raven nods as he puts the glass of wine down and proceeds to carefully and quietly exit the building. Once outside, he stays close to the wall and scans his surroundings before directing his gaze upwards. In case nothing out of the ordinary catches his eye and noone is watching, the rogue stands ready to climb to the rooftop and take a closer look there.
Fiosa's eyes dart back and forth, trying to figure out where the noise is coming from. "Oh dear...I hope I wasn't followed here."
So, is the whole party off to Minota quarter?
Please pick a name for your choice. I suck at names.
So, you all (if anyone wants to stay behind say so now. It's still early in the afternoon.) tramp to the Minota quarter. Your path takes you through mostly lower middle class neighborhoods. The streets are humming with people striding purposefully about their business, and the sidewalk cafes, especially the ones on a broad boulevard lucky enough to have shade trees, are crowded with more relaxed citizens.
A gang of street urchins picks up your trail and tags along behind you, laughing and talking among themselves. Sometimes you can catch them staring. When you do they avert their gaze.
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Zarabeta digs into her coin purse and finds 10 silver. Uqabi protests most strenuously (silver being his favorite type of coin), but she casts a cantrip and points to the children following them, sending her whispered voice magically so that they can hear her clearly.
"Approach, if you dare."
Any that scatter she ignores with a laugh. Any that approach get a silver coin.
The pack breaks up. Most flee but three of the older ones, a teenage boy and two girls, stay. After looking at each other they step forward. They seem to be looking primarily at Waifrin, Raven and Marius.
"Are you actors?" ... "Did you play 'Larazod' last night?" Awestruck, a little tongue-tied and obviuosly eager for an answer.
Fiosa stands back and smiles indulgently. "Well! I didn't know that I was travelling with genuine celebrities!"