Akiki tossed her pouch on the table with an audible clink. "Well, she won't be profitting anyway. I couldn't find where she was making the stuff though ... if we want to do that, might take more snooping. The place next door seems ripe for a hidden lab."
Raijinn looks at the others, thinking for a moment. "Is shutting down the shoppe the best course of action?" he asks. "A small dose such as these should cause little harm, and until we have a more useful remedy, this at least should keep the riots at bay. I fear for the city if we take away what seems to be their only salvation."
"Especially if we want to find where the Shiver is coming from. The second they find out that we've shut down the shoppe, they'll change the entire operation so fast that we'll never catch up with them."
"Loaggri's already killed someone," Fredo shakes the case file as a reminder. "She needs to be stopped and exposed. She would need to be stopped and exposed even if there was no Shiver in play. People need to be able to spot and avoid quacks if they're to pull through the plague.
"And I think we should be the ones to do it. Tell Kroft, and the matter will just disappear into the Queen's Physicians' files. It's in their jurisdiction. They've ignored Loaggri so far, and they have no reason to stop." He shoves the file back into his pack and hefts it onto his shoulders. "Besides, my client wants an admission of wrongdoing and I have an obligation to seek it. Especially since Loaggri won't be able to pay damages." He throws Akiki a wink.
"That might be true, but I'd not want the people to throw away their gold just to buy a fragrant watery solution. I could put in a harmless bitter tasting herb into the liniment, making it far from consumable unless you've got a good stomach. It wouldn't ruin the shop, but would take care of the unethical distribution of a fake cure."
"Technically, we don't know for sure if it's fake yet." Emmera shakes her head just after saying so, as if negating the comment. "I don't think Loaggri's anything more than a con woman, but I have to agree with Goffred that letting her be does much more harm than good. The people here are already suffering, taking what little gold they have with false promises of a cure leaves them both sick AND destitute. As much as the physicians might be pawns, I'd rather the sick seek them out than throw away every copper they have after a false hope."
Akiki had no particular opinion about what to do with the woman. She didn't like the idea of people paying the woman to con them - but then, she hardly had a leg to stand on in that area. She'd go with the group on this one.
Their argument about what to do with Vendra, the group departs Burahl's alchemy shop again and travels back to Lavender's.
Perhaps unfortunately, the sun has set already and darkness is settling over the city, so the lines have departed from the front of Lavender's, gone home for the day, and the storefront is dark and closed.
Thaven scratches Whisper's head where the beak meets the feathers and gives her the signal to hold tight until he calls. He looks to his friends and mutters, "She's a scammer. Shall we end her?"
"Hmm.. Have to say my hands are itching a bit for some righteous retribution against one who uses shiver in her draughts, but now the store is apparently closed. Akiki, could you get us into the other building without making too much noise? I'd like to snoop around there as well, now nobody is apparently at the shop."
"Ridiculous." They're dealing with an opportunist, not a career criminal like Lamm or Devargo. A show of confidence, backed up with evidence of her wrongdoing, maybe coupled with a threat of exposure, should be enough to stop what Loaggri is doing. Fredo walks brazenly up to the door and knocks three times. "Vendra? Can we talk?"
The rogue intentions of Burahl and Thaven caught Raijinn by surprise, and a feeling of relief swept through him when Fredo shot them down. Still, it was a dangerous precedent. Raijinn realised how many of those they'd dealt with had been unable to be reasoned with. Still, it was always necessary to try. "That murder solves everything is a belief that both Gaedren and the Queen share. I should hope we aspire to better than that." His voice comes out as being somewhat curt, but his tone changes quickly enough. "If you two want to snoop around, I suspect that Fredo and I won't have issue convincing her that it is over."
"Not murder. Execution."
"I've never said murder, I said retribution. The terms of how we apply such retribution may differ, but she will have to pay for her fraud nevertheless."
Burahl speaks up as he looks up at Fredo and Raijinn.
"I'll accompany Akiki if she wants to snoop around. Her skills and my knowledge would be good enough to determine if there's a lab in the other building."
About two minutes after Goffred knocks on her front door, Loaggri opens it, rubbing exhaustion from her eyes, and dressed in what appear to be elephant pajamas. Her look is irate and resentful as her gaze falls upon the six individuals gathered outside her door. Her voice, however, is sweet and accommodating. "Yes, what can I do for you?" she asks, putting her hands together and looking at Goffred, blinking expectantly.
"You can listen." Fredo crosses his arms. "A few days ago you sold a woman named Samantha Griffon a plague tonic that she fed to her son. He died. We can prove that what you've actually been selling is mostly river-water mixed with dream spider venom.
"If I bring a case before the Arbiters, everything will come out. Fraud at least. Wrongful death. The Guard will want to know who you're buying the shiver from, particularly since Devargo Barvasi, the old major dealer, is no longer in business." Fredo taps his arm with his index finger. "You don't want any of that.
"I think you'd much rather sign a contract where in exchange for us not going to the Guard or the Arbiters you give us a list of anyone who sold you shiver, another list of anyone who purchased your liniment, four hundred gold sails to be shared among any buyers who suffered a loss, and a promise to shut down your business for a year and a day."
From his sleeve, Fredo produces a paper with just that language on it, and unrolls it for Vendra to read. "Deal?"
Vendra's eyes grow steadily wider at each of Goffred's words, and her hand is unsteady when she reaches out to take the contract that he provides for her. "I..." he stutters, while she reads. Her brows furrow as her eyes travel down the parchment, and they flicker up to look at the party every few words.
"I...have a few questions. One, what if I'm not buying shiver from anybody? Two, what is the punishment for not living up to my end of the bargain? And three, how am I going to eat during the next year?"
"In order..." Fredo takes a moment to ponder. "If you're not getting shiver from someone," he stops specifying purchase in case Vendra's been stealing, "then you'd have to be milking the spiders yourself. In which case we'd have to insist on destroying them.
"Obviously if you were to breach our agreement then we'd be free from our obligations too. That'd mean a visit from the Guard at least.
"As for how you'll live without a business," Fredo snorts "you'll be no different from the vast number of people who have to work for a wage. It's really not our responsibility to find you a job...unless you want to work for one of us."
One of her eyebrows unfurrows itself and raises, while her arms fold together. "And in exchange for all of this, I get to keep my reputation, I get to keep my business, I get to keep my life... I lose all of my money, but you say you're offering employment?"
"Seems an awfully good deal for me...you wouldn't happen to have a pen, would you? Or some details on the type of employment you offer?"
Akiki just skulked in the background, fingering the edge of her knife. She frowned a bit, but didn't interfere.
"On that score I can only speak for myself." Fredo produces a pen and a vial of ink, and hands them to Vendra. "While I've never looked for one, I suppose I could use a scrivener." Cat looks up at Fredo, and he can feel her skepticism. He understands her reluctance, but Verik and Jim haven't betrayed him despite his ruining their plans. Just to be safe, though, he adds "Feel free to look elsewhere if that doesn't suit you. To be honest, I don't like the idea of becoming an employer."
Emmera stays in the background as well. She's glad that Goffred has kept a cool head despite the implications of what Vendra has been doing, but can't help but feel that he might be letting her off a bit too easily. That said, compared with what some of the others were mentioning earlier - Thaven in particular - she wasn't going to complain. That said, she had no way to give Vendra employment regardless, so better to stay back for now... though having Vendra working to help those she conned rung of some sort of righteous retribution, Emmera had to admit.
Thaven scowls. This business of making deals with criminals feels wrong to him. If you commit the crime, you must accept the punishment. And as her actions lead to the death of a citizen, she should be put to death as well. He eyes Fredo cautiously. Something might need to be done about this sort of thing, before it got too entrenched.
"A scrivener." Vendra scoffs, waving a hand. "I think I'll pass. You've got me in a bind though, so..." she takes the pen proffered by goffred, dips it in the ink, and quickly signs the contract. "...I guess I probably have to do this. Come in, I guess - you said you wanted to see my lab, yeah?"
She opens the door wider and starts stepping up the stairs, saying "Close the door behind you," as she walks up into her apartment. She goes through the main room and into what appears to be a closet, making sure that the party is following behind her, and then reaches up and nicks a little latch at the top corner of one of the walls, sliding the wall aside and revealing a tightly winding downward staircase that leads into the boarded-up next-door apartment. The main room in this apartment is filled with complex alchemical apparatuses consisting of large jugs, tubes, and little drip funnels. "For perfume, originally." she explains, before she brings whomever is interested over into a small side-room containing a dozen cages sized for rats, each containing a dream spider.
"Destroy away," she sighs.
Akiki kicked a wall and muttered a couple curses in Elven, annoyed she hadn't found the place the first time she was in here.
Then she just skulked behind Fredo, glaring at Vendra grouchily.
Thaven sniffs, seeing the whole setup. "You know alchemy? Maybe we put her to work making some sort of anti-plague or some such."
Emmera nods as Thaven speaks, "If anyone knew how to make a purely alchemical cure, I don't think we'd be having near this much of a problem. Even if those who knew were not inclined to goodwil, a true cure would fetch a high price for sure. But even simple salves and poultices would be greatly appreciated by those trying to treat the symptoms. I much doubt you'd have difficulty finding someone who would have need of those skills, Vendra."
She looks at the spiders for a moment. "I take it these spiders are needed for the creation of Shiver?" "I imagine they're valuable in some sense, but if it's only because of the drug..." she looks over at Goffred and Burahl, figuring they would be the most likely to know.
"The drug is made from their venom," explains Fredo. He pulls out the crystal wand he'd taken from Lamm, thinking it fitting, if not particularly efficient. "I know of no other use for them."
"Neither do I," explains Vendra, "Unless you mean literally poisoning someone. Then it's great." she tries to crack a smile.
"Now, if you're offering pay for making herbal remedies, or helping with a cure, I'd gladly hop on that bandwagon, assuming the pay is enough. Either that, or if you can direct me to a better employer."
"Just like any venom or toxin, the cure of the effects lies in the venom itself. The substance of the spiders that is used in Shiver can also be used to help someone get clean of it. I've had some success with that, depending on how willing the patient is of course."
Burahl speaks up as the discussion about dreamspiders and Shiver goes on.
As the talk of changes to a new employer for Vendra, Burahl twitches with his nose and seems ill at ease as he glances at Fredo.
No you don't. You're not gonna ask me to get her a job, I like my quiet little shop.
"To be frank, I wouldn't refer you to a group working on an alchemical cure even if I knew of one." One flash from Fredo's wand is enough to cause a dream spider to crumple and die, but since there are eleven more, it's guaranteed to be a slow process. "But that gives me an idea: the Queen's Physicians. I don't think they're working on a cure any more than you were, Vendra. But they're terribly secretive. I'd pay anyone who could tell me what they were actually doing a substantial sum."
"Oh?" Vendra's eyebrows shoot up miles. "Tell me...what's a substantial sum to you? Because selling things is my profession much more than brewing perfume, and I can sell myself to these Queen's Physicians if there's enough in it for me."
"Assuming this is a one-time arrangement," another two flashes, another dead spider, "then fifty sails at the receipt of the information, plus as much as fifty more depending on what I think of it."
"A hundred sails for what could be termed spy work?" Vendra scoffs, throwing her shoulders back and smiling scornfully. "Am I really so cheap to you? No, I was thinking more like five hundred. With bonuses."
"Of course you are. You're a fraud and a murderess, and the kindness you asked me for is one you scarcely deserve. There is no way you're recouping your losses on this deal." Fredo waves his hand at the decidedly middle-class establishment. "You're lucky I offered enough to live and pay tax on this place on for a year in the first place."
Akiki lurked over Fredo's shoulder, elf-almond eyes narrowed at Vendra. A little smirk curled at the corner of her mouth, "For a lady without savings, I'd say its more than generous."
Emmera raises a non-existent eyebrow at Akiki's comment, but also nods. "Part of the agreement was repayment for the damages you may have caused. Four hundred sails, I believe the amount was?" She glances over towards Goffred for confirmation.
"Exactly." Fredo had chosen the sum because it wiped out Vendra's savings. Of course, Akiki had already taken it, but the idea was not to let Vendra know that. Leaving her unable to pay her promised sum offered another opportunity to appear magnanimous - or, depending on their needs and Vendra's conduct an opportunity to double the funds at their disposal. Cat stretches and yawns contentedly at the thought. "And a net profit of a hundred sails or more is simply unacceptable."
Vendra sighs, her shoulders slumping at last at Goffred's assertion of her wrongdoing. "Fine, fine. A hundred sails it is, if I go down to the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden and volunteer for long enough to find out what they're up to. Yeah?"
"Yeah." Thankfully, the rest of the spider-killing is done in silence, though Fredo can feel Thaven's eyes drilling into the back of his head. It's bound to be a long night.
Burahl frowns and shifts his whiskers when the group leaves or at least isn't within earshot of Vendra. "So, now that this problem is settled, shall we continue on with our investigation to which we're assigned to? I'm wondering what can be found in that ship myself."
"Perhaps Vendra can make us some Water breathing potions as I myself don't have that skill yet."
Akiki smiled, "Or a place I can pick some up?"
Unfortunately, as she informs you, Vendra lacks the magical expertise to create waterbreathing potions for them, but fortunately they have a meeting with Eries that night to negotiate the possible purchase of a few potions.
The sun has fallen past the horizon, marking nighttime, by the time they leave Vendra's flat the second time and make their way to the docks of the harbor to meet up with Eries, who is in her old human form when they arrive. She has a small flask box with a half-dozen flasks of water-breathing potion on the inside. "Had my sons nip these from a local alchemist for you," she says with a smile, "How many are you wanting?"
"That depends," says Fredo. "Based on where the ship sank, how long do you think it'll take for us to get there, check it out, and resurface?"
"Well," she responds, her voice cracking. "The Harbor is not very deep, and the ship was as big as you would expect from a galley. And there are six of you. If you swim fast to the bottom and back, it shouldn't take more than an hour, I think."
"By the way." she continues, pulling out a small pouch filled with little spongy circles, "I have potion sponges if you need to take the potions underwater instead."
"An hour round trip, less if we sail out to the middle of the channel first..." Fredo muses. He turns to Emmera, who knows the spell. "I can enchant the six of us for an hour and forty minutes with a single casting. Do you think that's too close a shave? It'll last longer if even one person relies on a potion instead."
"Well if Eries's expectations are correct we have enough time to explore the entirety of the ship, barring any problems we encounter of course."
"Though if no one else voluneers, I'll take a potion instead. Though you should share your spellbook with me again after this Fredo, I haven't mastered the art of making water breathing potions yet."
"If we wait for the morrow, I should be able to bless us with a similar effect. That should give us more than enough time, without needing any potions." Emmera frowns behind her wrappings as she looks over at Eris, "I do hope you were planning on returning those we didn't purchase, and the money for those we did. I know your kind has it harsh, but perpetuating the stereotypes doesn't help anyone in the long run."
Raijinn cracks a smile at Burahl. "We've hit difficulties every step of the way, why would now be different? Perhaps we should not all go in together, though. It may be dangerous. And I... must confess that my powers are still too new for me to know precisely how they'll function underwater."
"Besides," he adds, "If the source of the plague is there, it may be better not to expose all of us to it. What do you think?" He finishes, casting an eye towards Fredo.
"I learned it from Vreeg's actually," says Fredo, frowning at Emmera's patronizing. Akiki had stolen from Vendra to help the party. How was this worse? "You'll probably learn more from it than from re-examining mine. But yes, absolutely, whenever you want.
"As for who should go, and when..." Fredo looks from Emmera to Rajinn, "We should delay no longer, and we might all be needed, impaired or no. Not that I think your worries are at all grounded, Raijinn." He smiles confidently. "Burahl can take a potion tonight, and if we don't manage a full investigation in two hours, we can go back tomorrow better prepared." Fredo gives Eiress her 375 sails.
"Take us as far as you can."