Sebastian raises his glass to those present and takes a small, more measured sip. With a smile, "Not exactly the best use of my thesis, but I have learned not to pass up an opportunity."
i shall accept your proposal as well. i wish not to return to prostitution.
"You can stay here, and take your meals here. Your salary will be ten gold pieces, and a cut of the Goblin's weekly profits."
"A fair and welcome trade, and in short order I would have you give me directions to a friendly building supplier, oh and theres a couple of urchins I said I would find a meal for, perhaps I can broker a deal for the left overs of the galley each evening?...oh and maybe the name of that raven haired succubus...for gentelmanly reasons, of course..."
will you be capable of guaranteeing that i never have to satiate the 'carnal urges' of a desperate sailor again?
Kira pauses for a few seconds and continues
i wish to be capable of motivating myself to taste a good stew again. but the sight of a carrot brings back traumatic memories from my former home of Ustalav. the sight of a carrot also brings back unsettling memories of my recent life here in riddleport.
looking towards Winter, she says, maybe those urchins could use a few extra carrots in thier leftover stew. we could set it up, to where i could avoid the carrots and the urchins could have some extra leftovers. the urchins get slightly fuller bellies, i get a potential chance to worry less about undesirable past experiences and a chance at motivating myself to eat a good beef stew again.. it's a win/win situation.
will you be capable of guaranteeing that i never have to satiate the 'carnal urges' of a desperate sailor again?
"How can he guarantee something that you yourself are the main contributor to? That choice lies entirely with you... you never had to do it, you chose it. Make your first step along your new road be the one of taking responsibility for your lifes choices."
Saul assures Winter that he has a builder. "Who do you think did all of this work?"
Looking out at the gambling floor, seeing most of the crowd dispersed, Sauul continues. "Perhaps a tour is in order," and leads the party back down to the main floor.
He shows you the money counting room, then the vault. There are a few locked chests against the walls here. Taking you to the kitchen, he introduces you all to Mara, the head cook. He gives Winter a nudge with his elbow, as she is still wearing her succubus outfit.
Ending the tour with their private quarters, he tells the party to meet on the main floor in the morning, and leaves you to your own devices.
"The gutters aren't much picnic to sleep in, no matter the weather. This place is decidedly snazzier than most of the places I've slept. Kaylen, for those of you I haven't met. Anybody else think we should take a look at the prisoners and see what we can learn from them and their gear?"
"I have attended a university lecture on magistrate questioning techniques, and the methods that statistically received the highest percentage of information was torture..but the reliability of that information...if not freely given can be debated...no, not torture then.." Sebastian pauses to look at some of the blank stares."Was I rambling again? Sorry...Perhaps..then, a two-team approach of intimidation and kindness, to shake them" a quick glance at Kaylen and her chain and then Winter's impressive size ".. and them comfort them, saving them from harm if information is provided." A second set of nods to Sable and Sweeney.
"Well I suppose it is prudent to question them in case they have further confederates poised to do harm. Although I must be honest with them, I intend to hand them to the authorities at the end, so will not offer them false promise"
"Ah, the old good guard, bad guard routine. I'm willing to play nice if that's what it takes."
"I suppose playing mean would fit what they saw me do on the floor. I'm in," Kaylen says with a smile and a hand on one of the weights at her hip.
Downstairs, you find the guards clearing out the last remaining straglers from the tournament.
They lead you to the lavatories where the girl is tied to a pole. The two remaining thieves had gained consciousness, and slipped out through a back door.
The girl sits there, staring at the wall, a long tendril of drool hanging from her lower lip. Her lip has been split open. The guard shrugs, "She tried getting away," and leaves the party with her.
Kaylen walks into the lavatory and stands in front of the girl, considering her. Then, pulling on a glove, she'll very deliberately slap the girl upside the face to get her attention. "So. Are you ready to tell us why you and your bunch tried to rob this place?"
Thuvalia's only response to the slap is a tear spilling down her cheek. She tries to speak, but her voice comes out as a croak.
Her legs twitching, she looks around and sees Kaylen. Struggling against the ropes, she manages to loosen the binds around her hands enough to get one of her hands free.
Brow furrowed, she croaks out another unintelligable response, reaching for a nearby dagger. (Part of the thieve's equipment).
The dagger clatters across the floor as Sable kicks it away. The girl struggles for a few moments, then starts to cough, her lips stained in fresh blood, the front of her shirt covered in mucus and blood.
Sable listens to the girl's chest, and hears ragged breathing, like her lungs are full of liquid. There is little he can do to help other than keep a rag on her lips to staunch the fresh bloodflow that comes with each cough.
Winter moves forward to examine her condition too, and with a brief utterance to Erastil he lays his palm against her and channels His will.
"She will need a physician, and soon, or we will need a medium and a seance to get information out of her"
A soft light surrounds the girl, and her cough starts to ease. She smilles up at Winter--her lips and teeth smeared with blood.
Kira will likely be within the interrogation area to assist with maintaining the sterilization of all people and objects within the enviroment through predestigiation spells. the tools, the interrogaters, any worn clothing, the rags, the 'furniture', the walls, and the 'interrogatee'. the whole enviroment will be kept clean over time as to prevent the possible transfer of diseases. to those who speak elven, various nursery rhymes could be heard.
Sebastian kneels beside her with a wet rag. He dabs at the blood on her face. "There you go. Much better. We can get you cleaned up in no time. Are you thirsty, I am sure we can get you some water...or stronger if you would like....just tell them what they need to know and we can get you out of this lavatory...someplace safe and warm and get these wounds taken care of."
He give the girl a warm smile, but it is him remembering that the lecture had a practicum that now has come in handy, very nicely indeed.
Kaylen gives a disgusted snort at the proceedings, and at her companions' coddling of the prisoner. "Why waste your magics and time on her? Prisoners aren't supposed to be comfortable. Give me five minutes alone with her; she'll sing. It won't be near as bad as what the Overlord's men would do to her."
Kaylen will pick up the dagger the woman was trying to get to and start examining it, making a show of testing its sharpness and skillfully tossing it from one hand to the other.
The girl is starts to quiver in Kaylen's presence. She does her best to hide behind Winter, but can't get far due to the bindings.
"Why waste your magics and time on her? Prisoners aren't supposed to be comfortable. Give me five minutes alone with her; she'll sing. It won't be near as bad as what the Overlord's men would do to her."
"I look not to her comfort, but to her survival. She wont answer much at all as a corpse. I agree with you that she held the right to a comfortable and peacefull existence as forfeit once she took to robbery under arms, however the true authorities are the overlords men, and it is their job to deal with her from here. That being said, it would behoove her to have us hand her over as a remorseful wretch who we portray as being an unfortunate sould driven to making a poor decision, than us handing her over as a hardened obstinate criminal maintaining a wall of silence."
In hushed tones to the prisoner...
"Listen lass, what the warrior says is true, you are entering a world of darkness. Unless you offer me something I will have no moral high ground upon which to stand as your bulwark against their grosser indulgences and cruelties, so please, I offer you just one candle in the dark - tell me what we need to know so I may rally some leniency, or stay silent and have me shut out of the process of Justice"
The girl looks at Winter while finding her voice. Barely above a whisper, "A man with a cloak and deep hood had hired us last month. We had met at the wharves while relieving a merchant ship of it's supplies. After taking the chest, we were going to head back to the wharves to meet him, and collect our fee."
"You will tell us the name of the ship, and the place of the rendezvous. I will do what I can for you to ensure fair treatment and justice"
Winter looks to the assembled group,
"She is doing her part in cooperating, I would ask that you be honourable and not inflict needless deprivation and hardship"
"Well, we have here a young lady and a passable group of thugs. We can drag a facsimile of the chest to the wharf, or a clanking bag of copper."
"It would seem time is of the essence. If that is what we would like to do, we should leave soon. If you would like to follow close behind, I can scout ahead in the shadows and get a better feel for what we're walking into."
The girl claws at Winter, her jagged fingernails scratching at his bare skin. It soon becomes clear that she is trying to drag his head down to her.
She stretches her neck out, and whisper in his ear.
The girl slumps back against the wall, tears welling in her eyes as she implores Winter.
Winter once again sighs a long heavy sigh as if he is Atlas carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, he bears his mouth in a flat line as though measuring weighty decisions.
He looks to Saul...
"Sir, the remorseful wretch has sought surrender and clemency against harsh retribution, and has given us information taht may reveal the identity of the real ringleader who procured their services to have you robbed. I will go with my new comrades to track down the true culprit, but..." Winter looks him fully in the eye with a measured expression "I ask that this lady remain unharmed and safe until my return so taht we may make fair decisions regarding her fate when the full story is known. One should not seek to harshly punish the acorn when it was the oak that dropped it on our heads"
"Have I your word?"
Assuming he gets agreement...
To the prisoner,
"Lady, I have done what I can to ensure you are treated fairly and with dignity, please let what you have told me be true, so that I may continue to ensure this is so"
To the party,
"I know you seek hard retribution, and I understand your yearning, but on the scales their attempt was futile and pointless, badly organised and ineffective - we are the ones who have drawn much blood already, and on balance we have exacted a toll well in our favour against the insult we bore. let us be satiated in that, and turn our eyes to the ringleader who planted the seeds of these dark deeds - to The Cloud at the Wharves we must go"
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"The first thing that one learns when flying with carrion birds... is that they are always eager for more. Perhaps I have spent too many a season among my feathered friends, but I have acquired a certain penchant for shiny baubles and if I can pluck a few from this grackle grown fat feeding off the sparrows' seeds, then more's the better," Sable looks down to his sickle and smiles, "Let us set a meal for the gulls upon The Cloud and set this sparrow on her right flight. We may have been justified, but it was by our hands that her dove lay slain. I am with Winter, let us go shake the oak and see what takes wing."
"You lot are too soft on this filth. None of you would make it in the Guard with this attitude." With that, Kaylen would toss the dagger to Winter and stalk out of the room.
After the others also leave the lavatory, Kaylen will make a suggestion about how to proceed with the ambush. "Why don't we simply take the chest? If we want to deceive the recipient, we can fill it with chips from this tournament. Then, if this hooded man does take it and get away with it, he can only come back here or settle for having nothing of value."
To Kaylen, in common: "Finally someone who's starting to make sense. I was beginning to wonder if we were going to do something or sit around here with our brassieres in a bundle. Your idea is the best I've heard so far. I'm sure Saul would appreciate us saving time and money on his behalf, and if we manage to bring back information or even a captive then all the better, eh?"
"Fill it with rocks, fill it with anything heavy... if they manage to best our efforts, or it falls into their hands, they will be forced to negotiate such an unwieldy and heavy object which shall slow them down should their wisdom fail"
Sebastian scratches at the faintest of stubble on his chin, "Just running the numbers through my mind....Does anyone else find it odd that these petty thieves are to be paid for stealing a trunk filled with gold coins? Why not keep the gold? Or are they being paid more than they are stealing? This mysterious benefactor must be paying more than the going rate? Why?"
"I calculate someone has a grudge against our new employer. Wanted to ruin the tourney, I'd wager. Saul may be very appreciative indeed if we get a chance to ask this larcenous conspirator some questions."
When the discussion circles around the chest, "Might be a bit suspicious lugging the chest, but it will clearly identify ourselves, so that is a plus. And if my ruminations are correct, he is not even interested in the contents, merely that the event has been disrupted. So filling it with rocks and coppers may appropriated simulate the heft and acoustics of a gold filled chest."
"It was supposed to be all small...so you could fit it in a sack. We had a scroll to help us," Thuvalia chimes in.
"Well, we can save the scroll..will have to look for that in the equipment pile....and just take a box in a sack, easy enough. Perhaps borrow some clothes...especially that robed fellow, that should be you or me Sable and maybe..." His hand reaches out to touch Thuvalia's eye-patch, his fingers dance in hesitation and he backs his hand away. "We can throw an eyepatch on the kid. Grab up their equipment and set out to meet our destiny...or this guy... its probably not that dramatic." His spirits definitely rising in anticipation. Doing something proactive for once in this town.
He will set out to find the equipment pile the guards should have made of the thieves' equipment.
"Lets just bear in mind that they may have confederates that have already tipped off that the deal dealt a very poor harvest, and expect an ambush when we arrive..."
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"As fast as we may fly, rumors will always fly faster. The sooner we can depart the better, whether it be to dupe some unsuspecting turkeys or sink our talons into the expectant falcons. Either way I see ruffled feathers and good trouble ahead. We'll return with our breasts swollen with victory, or at the very least new scars to impress mates with."
Considering the pile of gear remaining of the would-be thieves, Kaylen offers, "I agree. Let's get going, and let's do it quick. We can figure out all of what we've got here when we get back. You wanna play Miss One-Eye, Elf-kid, or should I?"
After a few minutes of going through the loot, you find a scroll of shrink object. Loading the chest with some rocks, cheap silverware, and a copper ring, the party is trying to sort through the scroll's incantation, when a dwarf walks over to the group.
"Ai! I be Larur, 'though most calls me Feldin," he smiles at the closest girl, his mouth nearly hidden by his beard. "Saul says you lot helped out with the thievery. A damn shame I weren't here. I'd a taught you young'uns a thing or two. Though sounds like you did all right."
The dwarf takes a pipe out while chatting, lights it up, and between puffs, asks what the party is doing with the chest.
Listening to the plan, Feldin nods at the appropriate moments. "If I were a few years younger, I'd come along and help out." Turning to watch a couple of gamblers trying for one more game, he walks off, "but someone's gotta keep the place runnin'." He stops, chuckling to himself. "Or closed..." He walks off and escorts the two men out the front door, and bolts it in place.
Sebastian mutters, "Ostendo mihi vestri occultus vox, and he is able to pull the scroll and any other magic items out of the pile.
Unrolling the scroll and any others in the stash, "Patefacio vestri specialis unto mihi" Looking to the others, yeah, this will shrink the chest or any other suitable object. It's a wizard's tool though...I could maybe get it to work, not my field but I dabbled enough."
Saul will let you guys take as little or as much as you want.