Sound like a good idea
”Agreed. Any surprises in there, Hookshanks? Lamm have traps or the like?”
After Hookshanks confirms a lack of traps, the party searches the fishery. One of the keys opens a locked cabinet in the upper workroom. It holds six small pouches of petty cash, four of which contain 50 cp each, and two of which contain 50 sp each.
Very few of the trinkets or junk on the lower level of the fishery are worth much. Still, seven applications of foul smelling vermin repellent are gathered from one of the tables. In addition, a cabinet contains a valuable darkwood coffer. Latched, but unlocked, the coffer contains twenty doses of shiver that Gaedren hadn't yet sold to addicts.
Finally, the group enters Gaedren's den, a foul-smelling room that seems to be a combination bedroom and study. A wooden bed with a lumpy mattress stands against the east wall, while a round table heaped with dirty plates, bread crusts, stained goblets, fruit rinds, and scuttling cockroaches sits nearby. At the foot of the bed sits a large strongbox; a slightly rusted lock secures it and a moldy ledger with pages rippled from moisture sits atop its lid. A sagging dresser filled with moth-eaten clothes well past their glory days is in one corner. What appears to be a wooden hatbox surrounded by a small cloud of flies sits atop this dresser.
Garran takes the key to the strongbox and, picking up the ledger, opens the lock to the strongbox, saying, "Does anyone want to try figuring this out?" Once he hands it off, he opens the strongbox to see what lies inside.
"Anyone that lives like this deserves to be fed to an alligator," Nicoleta says, disgust clear on her face as she looks over Lamm's living quarters.
She waves off the ledger assuming it'll take someone more studious than herself to be able to glean anything useful out of it. She busies herself picking through the refuse with an eye out for anything else salvageable.
At the hatbox she flicks the lid off with one finger and holds her nose before looking inside.
As they peer inside the squalid room, Danni has a momentary flashback of her childhood (possibly brought on by the familiar smell...ewww) where this would have been considered lavish. Suppressing a shudder, she pronounces a quick spell to open her eyes to magical auras.
She peers down at the ledger while the others ransack the place.
Alistair walks around the room with out any ill effects. The odor does not seem to bother him nor does the condition of the room.
I have slept in better than this...I have also woken up in places worse than this...
He looks over the ledger.
The strongbox contains a number of treasures, each wrapped in dirty cloth and tied with twine: a narrow teak cigar case inlaid with tiny bits of jade, a 2-pound gold ingot bearing the Cheliax coat-of-arms, a miniature gold crown, a fist-sized scrimshaw carving of a kraken with garnets for eyes, a silver ring bearing the inscription "For Emmah—the light in my night", a highly realistic and highly scandalous ivory figurine of two entwined succubi, a masterwork shuriken, an adamantine arrowhead, a masterwork dagger shaped strangely like a key inscribed with "For the inspiration of my father", an abalone shell holy symbol of Shelyn, a glass tube containing a semi-opaque oil labelled with a glinting sword, an obsidian wand, a crystal vial filled with silver-colored liquid, and a bejeweled brooch with a broken clasp.
Even to the untrained eye, the brooch is the most valuable piece in Lamm's collection. Circular and solid gold, it displays a tiny dragon and an imp arranged in a yin-yang pattern. The dragon's eye is an amethyst, and the imp's eye is and emerald.
The ledger appears to be written in a cipher. It will take a few hours and some knowledge of linguistics to know what it contains.
"Oh, f+&+!" Nicoleta gasps as she falls back from the hatbox. She pushes past the others with her hand over her mouth. Reaching the edge of the alligator pit, she falls to her knees looking down at the water.
A moment later, she wretches into the brine.
"What the f+%* is going on?" she asks of no one in particular as she wipes her mouth. "She's dead. Esmeranda's already dead."
Garran doesn't have a clue what any of the stuff is worth, but they should be able to sell it all and split the coin. After that, he suspected they would each go their separate ways. They had been united in their quest for revenge against Lamm, and now that he was dead, they didn't have too much reason to stay together.
At Nicoleta's outburst and reaction, he turns and looks at her in confusion. "What in the Hells are you babbling about?" Walking over to the hatbox, he looks inside.
Danni lowers the ledger, handing it off to Alistair as she sees the treasures come to light. "Wow," she says.
She has no idea what it's worth, but she casts detect magic nonetheless.
At Nicoleta's outburst and reaction, he turns and looks at her in confusion. "What in the Hells are you babbling about?" Walking over to the hatbox, he looks inside.
"That's her head in the box," Nicoleta, says in a raspy voice. "Esmeranda's head. Either that or she's got a twin sister. I don't have a lot of experience with dead bodies ... " She pauses a moment to catch her breath as another heave threatens. "But I'm guessing she's been dead since before she hired us."
The woman seems to have gained a little better control of herself as she rises from the planks, spits into the water, and then returns to the others going through Lamm's prizes.
"So, I'll ask again; Does anyone know what the f**~ is going on?"
Garran looks in the box, and steps back in shock as he sees her head.
What is this? Did some ghost track us down? Maybe Hookshanks will have answers.
"Why don't you see if Hookshanks has an inkling of things?"
As with most negative emotions, for Nicolata, confusion ends in anger and she seems quite happy to have someone to vent it on.
"Alright, you little s&%#," she snaps at the gnome as she picks up the diminutive thug's curved blade from where she threw it into the corner.
"Talk to me about Zellara Esmeranda, the fortune teller."
Alika steps in.
"She's a ghost. She simply took on a form convenient to guide us to avenge her death," says the exorcist. "The details of her death at Lamm's hands are no longer relevant, as her vengeance has been carried out."
"She's a what?" Nicoleta turns to look at the cleric as she clarifies the situation. "But she was ... "
The dusky-skinned woman trails off as she tries to reconcile it all in her head. After a moment, she realizes that she's still waving around the kukri and tosses it back into the corner.
"So that means we're done here then."
Her confusion addressed - at least to a minor extent - the monk's anger vanishes. "So who's up for a drink? I'm buying," she proclaims with a grin.
Danni is quite disturbed by the head in the box. He's obviously keeping trophies, but that's a harsh one, even for him. I hope her spirit can rest now, Danni thinks to herself. I hope they all can. She picks up a few more of the items, wondering who had to die for each of these trophies.
"This brooch looks pretty valuable? This looks heraldic. I wonder if we can find someone to tell us who it belongs to? Maybe their family would be happy to have the item back. Maybe a lot of these families would, if we can find them."
Lamm sure had his fingers into anything and everything.
Alistair skims through the trinkets and other treasures, not really interested in much of it.
When Alika explains what happened to Esmeranda, the young noble simple nods.
Not a good look for her....
So who's up for a drink? I'm buying
Alistair looks away and down at the items they had found.
Normally I would be all over someone else buying drinks but I just do not...enjoy...being around you enough to warrant such an uncomfortable time. Coming from me that is sad really...Let us just split the items here and go about our own business. Danni if you would like some company, I too would like to check in on the children...
"Without knowing the value of the items, I think it best we stick together until we can sell them for coin and split that. We'll skip the drinks, though. I think the first order of business is to bury Esmeranda's head somewhere, to keep her from haunting us." Turning from the hatbox, his face still a little pale, he picked up the darkwood coffer of shiver and walked towards the water, intent on throwing the foul drug in the water. Then, he paused and turned to Nicoleta, saying, "Hookshanks was going to lead you to an addict who might know where your mother is. Do you want to take a dose or two to bribe information out of him before I toss the rest?"
Nicoleta looks at Alistair and her grin widens.
"So, Alistair. You're up for a free drink, right? I should warn you, though, I get frisky with a few belts in me."
She waggles her eyebrows at him and her smile shows her long canines.
After Danni casts detect magic, she sees a fourth aura, radiating moderate divination, from behind Zellara's head. Further investigation reveals a Harrow deck, worn from use and speckled with blood.
Noticing the aura on the cards, Danni also tries to see if she can figure out what kind of magic they possess. Perhaps it has something to do with why we saw her as a physical being?
But the precise nature of the deck seems to elude her.
Maybe because the conversation turned to the vials of Shiver. With a little involuntary shiver of her own, she remembers how potent the drug is. "The Shiver should be destroyed. All of it. Lie to the junkie if you wish. He'll be better off when that crap is out of his system."
Nicoleta looks at Alistair and her grin widens.
"So, Alistair. You're up for a free drink, right? I should warn you, though, I get frisky with a few belts in me."
She waggles her eyebrows at him and her smile shows her long canines.
Still looking over the items that they had found.
I will pass.she wants something...sorry not from me.
He stands and turns to face Garran. With a look of respect and trust...
There is nothing I want from these...just give my share to the temple of Sarenrae as a donation. Tell them it is in honor of Alicia Wellington.
Now if you will excuse me, I would like to check in on the children. I also need to clean up.
He looks to Danni to see if she is in need of company or if he is on his own.
Alistair looks at everyone as a whole and then down at his clothes...
I would say it was a pleasure but it wasn't. I should just burn these things and be done with them.
He turns to look for the exit.
Lamm is done...Alicia can rest now. I know come morning I will feel this keenly...
"I apologize for concealing my nature from you earlier," Zellara explains. For a moment, it seems as though her voice came from nowhere, but then she manifests in the middle of the party. She appears much the same as before—a handsome, middle-aged Varisian woman— but now her features are slightly translucent and she glows with a soft light. "I was afraid my bring you together was already too strange without me revealing that I have been dead for weeks."
Her Harrow deck, still in Danni's hand, warms a bit. Hookshanks goes pale and shrinks away from the spirit
Garran hunches behind his shield a bit for protection from the ghost, but when she doesn't seem hostile, he cautiously says, "How is it you were able to manifest and gather us like this?"
Zellara smiles softly at Garran's reaction. "Do not fear me, Mr. Fain. I'm not really here." An image of the deck Danni holds appears in the fortune teller's hands. She begins to shuffle the cards.
"That deck has been passed down through my family for generations. When Lamm had me killed, I felt my spirit being torn away, dragged to Pharasma's Boneyard. In my despair and anguish, I reached out to anything that might save me, and... the deck reached back."
"The deck is my home now. At first, I could only see and hear what was happening around me, but after a while I could project an image." She gestures to her body. "The deck can do other things too, I'm sure of it. I'm still learning."
Danni's mouth moves searching for words. All that finally emerges is "Absolutely astounding." She hesitates for a moment, not sure if she should keep holding the cards or hand them over to the spectre.
Alistair draws his weapon half way out before he was able to get a hold on his surprise at the voice. The only thing keep his weapon in check was the fact that the voice sounded familiar. The image that appeared before them was another jolt to his senses.
What the hell is going on....
no...
A slight smile crosses his face as he looks around at the others and then back at the image.
Well played, Lady Zellara...well played. You keyed in on our hatred of Lamm. Knowing full well that we would do everything in our power to remove him from the world of the living. You were able to remove an evil man that preyed on the innocent and...you got revenge for your son. Two birds with one stone as it were.
He chuckles softly.
Well played indeed...now that this business with Lamm is done with, I have some children to check in on. Please excuse me...
Suddenly, Danni is struck by an idea. "Wait a moment. Zellara, can you tell us about any of these items that Lamm had stolen? We'd like to return them, if possible. Is that within your power to discern?"
Zellara shrugs. "I could perform a Harrowing for them, if you want. I do know that Lamm considered the brooch his "get-out-of-jail" card, whatever that means. I only picked up snippets of his conversations while inside the deck."
The fortune-teller gazes down to her slightly transparent body. "I must admit that I expected to be released from this state with Lamm's death."
---
When Alistair leaves the building, most of Lamm's Lambs have scattered into the streets and alleys of Korvosa. A few linger nearby the street, speaking in whispers. They look fearfully towards the man as he approaches.
"Did you kill'm?" one asks, rubbing his dirty nose with an arm smeared with dried fish guts.
Somewhere distant in the city, a bell tolls mournfully and the breeze carries a hint of smoke.
Nicoleta's interest in the ghostly fortune-teller wanes and she steps outside the warehouse. She notices Alistair talking to one of the urchins. She wanders over as her nose is tickled by the distant smoke. She waits until his conversation is finished, before initiating a conversation of her own.
"Not interested in having a drink with me, eh? I guess you probably don't like me too much." she shrugs, not meeting the man's gaze.
"That's ok. Can't say as much that I like me too much either." Gone is her bravado from before. She takes a deep breath. "Thanks for helping, though. With Lamm, I mean."
Alika moves to huddle up the lambs and kneels down with them.
"He's gone," she says. "Now our next move is to try to find you a decent place to stay! We'll get you a little food and see about finding you some new friends."
Rising, she says, "We're going to see the temple of Sarenrae. It's all right, you don't have to stay if you don't want to. You get to make some choices. But the priests and I will make sure you all get a good meal and we will see where the next day takes us."
She waves to Alistair and calls out, "I'm taking these Lambs to the temple, and I'll make arrangements there. Let's meet up later and discuss this as a team - maybe you can all come by the temple, or we can meet somewhere for a meal."
"Hmm, if this brooch is so special, it might well be worth a harrowing. Or if you could point me to somehow who might be able to identify it, that might work as well." She sounds a bit nervous as she continues. "I'm, uh, sorry... that you weren't set free. Do you want to continue like this? Should we be looking for a way to free you?"
Now that he knew the spirit wouldn't attack him, Garran relaxed his defensive posture. He stowed his shield and sheathed his sword before dumping all of the shiver into the ocean, gathering up most of the valuables, and giving Hookshanks a shove. "Come on, now. Let's get you outside, and see if Nicoleta wants you to take her to the junkie who can give her answers."
Escorting Hookshanks outside, he, says, "Nicoleta, do you want this filth to show you to the junkie who might know where your mother is, or should we run him out of town?"
Nicoleta eyes the gnome as Garran strong-arms him outside.
"Do you know where Odill hangs out?" she asks. "Think carefully, it could matter to your future."
Alistair sniffs the air as he talks to the children.
The old man is dead and his evil is at an end. If you wish...
He stops and listens as he hears the bells tolling in the distance.
He turns to Nicoleta as she plays the boo-hoo me card yet again but this time from a different angle.
No I do not like you much at all. You are who you are and I am who I am. Getting a drink will change nothing except to create an awkward and a very long, quiet evening. You do not like yourself is problem of your own mak...ing...
He turns his head into the air and sniffs again...then he closes his eyes trying hard to listen to something far off.
As Alika is talking he keeps his eyes closed for a moment longer and then opens them up with an intense sense of purpose.
We all need to get these kids to safety right away. Something is very wrong here. Those bells do not toll at this time of the night nor do they ring in that way. The smoke that is in the air is no ordinary fire from some tavern or home. It does not make sense and I fear that something horrible has happened. We need to move fast. Alika could you get us to the temple...fastest route as you can.
He turns in a circle trying to catch a glimpse of light from a fire and also trying to pinpoint the tolling bells.
He turns to Nicoleta as she plays the boo-hoo me card yet again but this time from a different angle.
No I do not like you much at all. You are who you are and I am who I am. Getting a drink will change nothing except to create an awkward and a very long, quiet evening. You do not like yourself is problem of your own mak...ing...
"Yeah, you're right. I'm angry, self-pitying, and self-destructive. What's not to love - we'd make a great pair. But I guess you're not into toxic relationships like that."
She grins at him, her cupid-bow perfect lips pulling back from her longer-then-normal canines.
Garran sniffs the air as well, catching the hint of smoke and the bells of alarm. "Alistair is right about one thing. We need to get off the streets, quickly. The temple of Sarenrae is as good a place as any. We'll deal with whether or not to get a drink later. Move!"
"I think I will stay like this for a time, [b]"The reading I performed earlier today gave me some pause. I think more trouble is on the horizon and I would help you, as you have helped me." She gives her rotting head a sorrowful look.
"I will return to the deck now. If you have need of me, only ask and I will appear. Just please, do not sell me."
The image of the Varisian woman smiles and then fades away and the Harrow deck immediately begins to cool in Danni's hand.
Hookshanks nods vigorously. "Oh, I do, I do. He's staying in Eel's End, right now. One of the King of Spider's most reliable customers. I could take you right to him, and the thing is, you'll need me to, on account of Eel's End being invite only."
Barvasi was a longtime rival of the late Gaedren Lamm, and earned the name King of Spiders for his strange affinity with the arachnids.
Alika leads the impromptu group south along Dock Street, one of Korvosa's main roads running straight through the heart of Midland. The closer to the center of the city, the stronger the smell of smoke becomes and the louder the tolling. A new sound joins the commotion now: distant angry shouting, chanting.
Stevedores lining the docks mutter in disbelief as the telltale flickering of fire lights the night sky coming from the direction of Castle Korvosa, the imposing fortress built atop a Thassilonian pyramid.
One of the Lamb's cries out in alarm, pointing to the sky. A wing of hippogriff-mounted cavalry soar above, angling towards the fires at breakneck speed. One of the beast falters and nosedives into the Jeggare river, causing cries of alarm from those around the party. The rider, a man dressed in dark leather armor, breaks above the surface of the water, but struggles to swim towards the shore, favoring only one of his arms.
Worse still, the mottled fin of a shark, likely one of the breeds common to the waters of southern Varisia, makes its way towards the flailing soldier.
Nicoleta turns a disgusted gaze on Hookshanks. "Invite only, eh?" She moves close to the gnome and grabs him by the hair on the back of his head. "So if I flattened you and stuffed you in a fancy envelope, I could use you to get in?"
She lets go of the greasy hair and laughs. "I guess that means I have to keep you around."
The dusky-skinned woman looks out towards the water, seeing the rider flailing away as his doom approaches.
She curses under her breath, feeling torn on how to respond. Part of her wants to just keep walking - The man's a soldier; this is what he signed up for. The other ...
"This is f#%#ed up in so many ways," she says as she breaks out in a jog towards the edge of the river. She takes a breath before slipping off her sandals and plunging into the dirty, cold water.
"Hangs out at Barvasi's place, eh? Well, long as we don't cause Barvasi trouble, we should be able to find Odill. We'll have to go out to Old Korvosa, though. Eel's End is on the eastern edge of Endrin's Isle. It's a pier with 5 permanently anchored ships. Barvasi was one of Lamm's biggest rivals - drugs, gambling, prostitution, he's got it all."
Giving Hookshanks a mirthless smile, Garran says, "We'll keep you alive, but don't be so sure you're the only one who could get us into it. I might be able to drop a name that does the job."
=================================================================
Garran instinctively ducked as the hippogriffs flew overhead and one crashed into the water. Seeing the shark and Nicoleta's decision to jump into the water and rescue him, Garran sighs and pulls out his longbow, taking aim and loosing an arrow at the shark.
"Ya know, we didn't have to save him."
"Gods! What's happening?!" Danni shouts as the hippogriff falls. Her hawk appears on her shoulder as though it had been there all along. "Kirk, see what you can see," she says giving him a nudge and pointing to the sky. Her instinct is to run over to the dock edge to help pull the monk and the soldier out of the river, but when she sees Garran release Hookshanks for his bow, she stays to make sure he doesn't escape. "Don't even think about it," she growls at him.
Hookshanks holds up his hands towards Danni, as if to say, I'm not going anywhere.
Despite not being an excellent swimmer, Nicoletta makes excellent headway through the dark river water.
Garran's arrow sails through the air and just over the shark.
Alistair looks on as he watches the events unfold around him.
This is her way of getting out of buying you guys drinks.
Alistair moves to the waters edge and starts to splash around. Trying his best to get the attention of the shark while staying close to shore where it can not get to him.
Alika keeps an eye on the children. "Stay close to me and don't go in the water!" she exhorts them. She hustles the children along with her as she moves next to Garren to give his next arrow guidance.