Pagrip sighs and mutters under his breath, "I seem to recall saying something about discrete."
"Trinia? Good kid, who's asking?" is the suspicious reply.
"Bank of Abadar." Esme shows her holy symbol "We have heard she is in some trouble and wish to offer her protection. Do you know where we can find her?"
"Well your protection don't mean nothing if she aint here." His voice is a bit hoarse, but he manages to raise it some more, "Margarat?! Where'd blondie go?!"
Somewhere from behind him a woman's voice hollers back, "Who?! Trinia? She at the market?"
The man rolls his eyes, "No! Not the damned market!" He pays attention to Esmerelda, and then Pagrip and Ten. Then back at Esmerelda. "Your flunkies look like protection, alright."
"Which market would that be, sir? And I assure you we are very good protection."
"I said not the damned market, the old hag - " he thumbs over his shoulder, "she's not quite there half the time." He adds, "Trinia probably left the city by now; if she has any sense."
Despite being a bit captivated by the exchange between Esmerelda and the old man, there's a sudden new bit of interest: what looks and sounds like an angry mob is making the bend at the street. They may very well be heading this way.
"Let him know that 'good kid' of his is about to need the protection we're offering -- if he'll tell it where to find her," Caulder calls into the interior of the tenement building. "Hells, he's probably going to need it, too. Looks like the Sabor skirt's address just leaked to the street. Where are the damned Hellknights?" he wonders to himself, squinting at the approaching mob.
"Listen, good sir. That mob is looking for her and they don't care who they hurt to get her. If you have any idea where we can find her, now would be a good time to tell us before they get here."
Pagrip moves between the man and Esmerelda. He says to the man, "My friend here may be a bit blunt, but she's telling you the truth. There are a whole bunch of people coming who want to string Miss Trinia up. They'll probably kill her in their zealousness before any authorities can even get close enough to intervene. But we can get her to safety before that mob can reach her. And trust me, that mob will reach her eventually, and they may just string you up on their way to her. If you can tell us where to find her, I give you my word we'll do everything in our power to protect her from that mob. Not to mention, we'll be rather grateful."
He pulls out a gold coin.
The man looks a bit flustered, as the sound of an approaching mob is getting quite audible. "Gods know, there's nothing more we can do for her. You there - " he shouts unnecessarily loud to Caulder, " - you buy them time. You three here, Trinia's still in her apartment, last I heard at least, 3rd floor last door on the right. May Sheylin watch over her." With a sigh of exasperation he turns back to his room.
Caulder sets his face grimly, rolls his shoulders to limber up, and shifts his stance to more fully fill the doorway as the mob approaches.
"Well done Pagrip. Maybe you should do the talking from now on? I scare people for some reason."
"Caulder, can you handle the mob with Reginald?"
"Third floor, last door on the right? Got it" Ten repeated before heading towards the stairs. "Caulder", he called out to the cleric, "Good luck. Reginald will keep you safe."
Esme follows Ten up the stairs.
"Just yell if you need help, Caulder."
"Thank you, good sir," Pagrip says as the man turns away. "You may have helped save a life today. He hurries up the stairs with the others.
The building is old and nowhere is it more obvious than on the stairs. Their partially broken, and on the last flight up to the third floor the stone stairs are replaced with wooden ones.
It is blessedly simple to follow the old man's instructions - and the trio finds themselves in front of a closed wooden door.
At a loose count, Caulder estimates some 60 or more people that make up the mob. The crowd is relatively tightly packed, chanting and baying for blood. They don't appear to be making any effort to assemble before Caulder - opting instead to attempt to absorb him into their mass.
At the size of the mob, he thinks it likely that a couple of smaller mobs joined up. Given the distribution of people that appear to be fronters, gaters and moths, it is all the more likely that.
Pagrip smirks, and mutters, "Let's hope not," and continues up the stairs.
Once upstairs by the door, he knocks lightly. "Miss Trinia," he says. "Please don't be alarmed. It may be difficult to believe right now, but we're friends here to help you. There are some rather unpleasant people on their way, and we'd like to make sure they don't harm you."
They don't appear to be making any effort to assemble before Caulder - opting instead to attempt to absorb him into their mass.
"Not interested in Shelyn or mercy," he growls under his breath. "Damned hippies. " he shouts to the crowd as they approach. "[bigger]This is an unlawful assembly you're participating in, as I'm sure the Hellknights have informed you. The rightful authorities of Korvosa have the situation in hand; no vigilanteism is called for. Go back to your homes and businesses, or I will be forced to take action in the name of the Bank and the City!" He brandishes his morningstar at the ready menacingly.
The mob forms a half circle around the door, watching Caulder a bit warily. A voice from inside the crowd shouts, "The b~&@$ who killed the king is in there! We need to get her!" There's cries of consent, pitchforks, torches and sundry are waved about. The mob is looking like they may turn this violent.
"Pagrip, we don't have time for this. The mob is almost here. We have to get her to safety."
"Miss Trinia, Bank of Abadar! We are here to keep you safe." Esme says as she tries to open the door.
Not surprisingly, the door is locked. No sound is apparent from the inside. The door itself doesn't appear particularly sturdy, the lock itself appears quite mundane too.
The mob is almost starting to become a mere crowd, when a rock suddenly clanks against Caulder's armor. It doesn't hurt, but almost instantly the mob's aggression returns.
Caulder catches a glimpse of the rock thrower - and recognizes him as Jimm Kerinsman, a none-notable member of society who's known offenses have been limited to loitering. Caulder has had passing acquaintance with him during his patrols.
"Esmerelda, unless you can think of some law that forbids us from breaking through this door, under these circumstances, you'd better let us know now," Ten said as knelt down to examine the lock. "Pagrip, I think we can easily beat this lock... I think if I place an explosive right there..."
"Explosive?" Pagrip says. "Let's not destroy physical property if we can avoid it. That would just annoy Caulder and Esmerelda." He pulls out his tools and sets to work. "Hmmm... This might be a bit more difficult than I thought."
Caulder scowls down at the spot on his breastplate where the rock clinked off. ""
Pagrip's apprehension is well-founded, but as he's so close to getting the door open - but just not quite... most of the tumblers were out of the way, just a final hurdle... Then suddenly that hurdle disintegrated in a tiny, controlled detonation as Ten pushes a small explosive charge passed the latch. With a grimace, and quite hurriedly, Pagrip retrieves his tools from the key hole.
At least the door now stands ever so slightly ajar. Wisps of smoke smolder out of the key hole.
Pagrip pushes the door open slowly and peers inside. If he sees anyone, he'll reintroduce himself and try to keep the situation calm (and also apologize for the damage to the door). If he doesn't see anyone, he'll enter cautiously and look around.
There's something menacing in the air, and for a moment even the mob realizes it isn't them. A considerable portion of them take an instinctive step back - but from somewhere in the crowd a voice incites: "He's protecting the murderer! He cannot be acting by law!"
It's been nagging on the back of Caulder's mind a while now: someone, or maybe a group, actively led the mob here and is inciting them.
Pagrip sees the living room cum atelier cum bedroom of Trinia before him - its a predictable mess with a large range of art pieces in various states of completion littered about.
He does spy a person cowering under blankets trying to remain hidden, and also a suspicious shadow outside the window.
"Looks like we're just in time," Pagrip whispers to Ten and Esmerelda. "I think someone's trying to break in through the window. That's probably Trinia in the bed. One of you help her." He creeps towards the window.
Upon getting close to the window, he casts ghost sound to create the sound of someone of roughly Caulder's bulk and voice coming from the other side of the shadow's source, whilst also trying to catch a glimpse of whoever's there.
Caulder growls and almost takes a step forward before remembering his role is to block the door. "Who dares to accuse me of blasphemy against Abadar? If you have a complaint against me, take it to the Bank. I'll gladly face an inquisition. I have nothing to hide; everything I've done has been at the behest of the rightful authorities."
There's a startled yelp and Caulder can make out an attractive, short-haired blonde dropping an empty potion and then is off in a hurry. The window does indeed lead onto the Shingles.
Here's a surprisingly accurate picture of what is going on now
The mob murmurs ascent, and some have started to slink away unnoticed. Then more begin to pull away. Eventually Caulder finds himself alone.
A small group seems to not pull back in the same way as the rest. Maybe 3 individuals. He can see them make a quick dash around the corner; perhaps some mischief, or perhaps looking for an alternate entry.
"Pagrip! After that person! Ten help him."
Esme walks over to the bed and throws the blankets aside.
"Don't worry. Are you Trinia? We're not trying to hurt you. We are trying to help you."
Pagrip climbs out the window and follows the fleeing individual.
As Esmerelda throws off the blanket she sees a girl that accurate fits the description of Trinia, cowering and looking up frightfully at the paladin. Her eyes are teary and a little translucent, like the rest of her, as if she is an illusion.
Caulder nods in satisfaction and continues to stand guard at the doorway.
"There, there, dear. No need to worry. We'll have you in a safe place before you know it. You are looking a little ghostly though."
Esme reaches down to comfort the girl.
The girl doesn't react to Esmerelda's touch - in fact the paladin's hand goes right through the girl. The illusion begins to fade entirely leaving only a slight after image.
Ten runs towards the window, past Esmerelda and the girl.
"You! Stop!" he yells, while climbing through the window after Pagrip.
"Ah." Esme says as the girl disappears. "I should have known this one was fake. After the real one then." Esme takes a look out of the window to see which direction everyone is running.
The blonde girl has quite a head start on the three heroes that now emerge from the window. The Shingles before them is like a dizzying roof-top maze. They give chase!
Trinia rushes along in her headlong flight, and uses her momentum to scramble up a steeply inclined roof. Some loose tiles give way underneath her feet and slither down the slope - but she's undeterred. At the top she takes a moment's breather to take stock of her pursuers.
Caulder can suddenly hear an uproar towards the north side. He's not quite sure what is going on - but the noise begins to spread like a wildfire.
Ten eyes the rickety rooftop nervously. "Note to self: prioritise research project number 597. Right, let's take this slow and steady.