Sion smiles at Barnabus and takes a seat. "You know I can't resist a challenge."
Anton continues to gather information in the marketplace over the next little while before returning to the inn and reporting to the others what he has discovered. "Wizards and priests, it seems, do not get along. And it seems Tacitus, the castle's magister, has a northern artefact in his tower."
Information shared, Anton continues with his seduction of the Dancer, even offering to accompany her performance on his keyboards.
@Anton: The dancing girl's performance had never been a disappointment, but tonight the crowd is stirred up into a frenzy. Ale and wine flow freely, so much so that Bellam gives the girl a sizable bonus for the extra income. Dane's warnings are forgotten in a flood of compliments and admirers. She embraces Anton in joy, attributing his assistance to here success.
@Durova: Durova strikes up a conversation with an elderly half-elven patron of the inn. The old man admitted to knowing little about the castle in its current state. However, he knew its history better than most.
"Did you know Castle Balentyne was first built by an old Barcan King? The first real attempt to keep out the hordes from the north, it was. Oh, and this inn didn't always just provide food, drink and a place to sleep for those troops either. It was also where the soldiers came to meet... ladies of ill repute. Of course, once House Darius took the thrown that ended mighty fast. Stuffy bunch of kill-joys."
He looks at Durova with a conspiratorial grin.
"But not everyone liked the new rules. I heard a rumour that there used to be a secret passage to the basement that allowed a former Lord of the Watchtower to sneak in here and have a good time. Of course, that was decades ago and it's bound to have been filled in by now."
@Sion:
Barnabus gets more ale in front of them.
"Let's get started then..."
"Tonight will be a good night."
"Aye, it'll be a good one all right."
Barnabus laughs as he downs the next few ales.
The dwarf's loud speech slowly dissolves into a slurred mush, although (to his credit as a heavy drinker) he neither passes our nor throws up.
"Ya know what Balentyne needs lad? A good ol' fashioned bugbear attacks. Them human soldiers are too green, and a bit of sword play would do 'em wonders."
He sways slightly as his voice raises.
Dane watches the performance, not bothering to hide his scowl. So, chains and blades it is for you then... Pity, the crying never adds much. Dane begins to applaud at the end, his still present scowl apparent on his face, but lost in the enthralled crowd.
That night, Dane also brings his paperwork problem to Mordesel and Anton's attention, asking if they couldn't arrange a Quartermaster's request for manacles to be arranged by tomorrow night. So that he could present it to Captain Eddarly tomorrow.
"I didn't think I would win so easily. I guess that makes us even. Why doesn't the king take the fight to them? Surely he wishes to rid his lands of them." Sion spends some of the night making friends woth the dwarves, drinking much ale.
After the festivities, when the group meets up, Durova is sure to mention the rumor he heard about a tunnel from this inn into the castle proper, and perhaps a search for secret doors might be called for.
Anton accepts the embrace with a smile. "Nonsense my dear. I knew you had it in you. Now everyone can see the beauty and talent that I witnessed within you the moment I my eyes came upon you. You were my muse," he whispers to her before stepping back, albeit staying close, and allowing the crowd to offer her just accolades, using his own words to promote the dancer and his own performing skills further. "Ahh, her dancing inspired me such that my fingers flew into the paterns of her moves. She made me a better musician."
-----
That evening, after returning from having walked the dancer home Anton listens to Dane's request and shrugs. "It should be feasible to create a request for supplies. Why do you need manacles? Particularly through the quartermaster rather than through a typical merchant? Would it not be better to make you transfer papers for some part-time work to the garrison to give 'Dale' a reason to be inside, perhaps as an observer there to learn defensive techniques, or somesuch, he could take back to his home garrison?"
Mordesel smiles at the mention of a tunnel, I believe we've found one already, Durova, if you remember my discovery last night. He turns to Dane, I'd say it's more than a cellar. I'll scout it out tonight. Sion, could I get that map for this expedition?
Before heading to his room, Mordesel stops to speak with Anton, Would you like to get that requisition order? Or shall I?
He then heads off to his room, and waits till around half past midnight. He sneaks out of his room and begins to make his way to the cellar, watching for any who may be around.
@Sion
Barnabus is surprised himself that he no longer has it in him to drink, (his fellow dwarves blame it on the whiskey he had an hour ago) but in any case dutifully concedes victory to Sion regardless.
"Take the fight to them goblinoids? That's a tall order. The north is a blasted wasteland. Nothin' worth claiming unless you like ice and rocks, by all accounts. It ain't like them beasties are ever organised enough to invade anyway, so why bother? They attack the watchtower, get peppered with arrows, shot by balistas... Oh, and they got heated sand now. Ha! Them goblinoids don't have a chance."
He slurs his speech and is obviously struggling to keep to the conversation.
"Mind you lad, any king who conquered the entire isle would be considered the greatest ruler who ever lived."
Your conversation is interrupted by Captain Eddarly. The handsome officer had left his own table to approach Barnabus.
He glares for a moment at Sion but quickly redirects his attention on the dwarf.
"Barnabus Eisenbauch. I realise this is your free time but the Lord Commander will be enraged if you are unfit for duty tomorrow morning."
"Aye lad, I be fine!"
"I disagree. The hour grows late in any case.
The other dwarves mutter and moan at the hint but reluctantly prepare to leave. Barnabus snarls something in dwarven but stands to depart. He grins at Sion.
"Nicely done lad. Been a pleasure."
He and his dwarves stagger to their rooms. Eddarly orders his own men out a few minutes later, coinciding with Bellam's 'Last Round' call.
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@Anton:
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With night fallen and the inn cleared, Mordesel creeps through the halls. Cautiously, he makes his way to the cellar and locates the door, just as he had done the night previous. There is no sign of Bellam or anyone else.
The door opens easily.
Durova knows he isn't stealthy, so he's more than happy to stay n the room at night.
In response to Anton's questions, Dane replies. "Because Eddarly requested a supply requisition form, and it's far too late to go changing my story now. And do you honestly believe I can just purchase manacles without raising suspicions at the very least? Shall I just kip in to the nearest smith and ask 'hey, do you have anything for taking human captives? Oh no, it's for a rat problem.'" Dane scoffs at the notion. "The military is the only ones who's got honest motives to having them. So that's where I need to get them from. And its for a... personal project."
Dane decides that since no one else seemed to decide to go with Mordesel, that he would instead. Upon reaching the passage, Dane disguises himself as Bellam himself.
Mordesel enters the secret passage alone. It is long and winding, but eventually ends at a dead end. Of course, Mordesel searches for a bit and quickly finds the way to open it.
The door opens to roughly octagonal shaped chamber. Pitch dark, there are sconce holders on the sides of the walls, but no torches are present.
The chamber appears to be some sort of storeroom. It holds a vast stockpile of durable rations, clearly intended as long-term supplies (the food is bland at best, but acceptable if you're not picky). Several thousand days’ worth of iron rations fills this vault alongside barrels of potable water and other durable provisions. Aside from water and food, a crate of wine (labeled in elvish) sits to one side. There is little else of value or interest.
A trapdoor sits in the stone ceiling in the center of the chamber.
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Dane has much better success with the barmaids and strikes up conversations with the girls. Over time they become more open.
Mordesel studies the map, but cannot find an octagonal store room. He turns to Dane, whispering, I can't find this room on the map. He pauses for a moment thinking. Barnabus might not even know about the store room. Just a reminder that this map is not definitive. Mordesel listens at the trap door for a full minute.
Mordesel slowly opens the trap door a small crack and looks around.
Mordesel makes his way out of the trap door and begins to examine the room, comparing it to his map.
Mordesel and Dane strain to hear anything above them but are confident that there are no sounds to hear. The trap door leads up to an almost circular stone chamber, except for the right-angled corner in the north-west.
A single wooden door stands in the western wall and a flight of stone steps starts on the south wall, heading upwards to the next level (in a clockwise pattern, following the wall up).
Although devoid of life, the chamber clearly sees regular use and the air is still quite warm. A functional forge lies against the eastern wall and a small vent is also in the wall to allow smoke to escape (although its too small to crawl through). Various smithing tools sit on tables as well as half-finished items (arrow heads for example)
Of more interest are the weapon racks. In total there are twenty halberds, longswords, breastplates and heavy steel shields. All bear the marks of the Talirean military (thus making them nearly impossible to sell).
Dane murmurs in reply, "It's not something you'd mark on a map even if you did. But I think you're right." Dane listens while Mordesel listens, though instead, at the door they came from, lest Bellam come in behind them unannounced.
Once Mordesel exits, Dane follows, and shifts his disguise to that of a soldier, though not "Lance Corporal Dale Reeves" just a soldier who's features are as bland and unmemorable as Dane can make them, but he moves with similar caution to Mordesel.
Dane is... less than silent, and is grateful he no longer looks like Bellam. Looking about the room, Dane points at the map. "Here."
Mordesel nods. So that would mean these stairs lead here. His finger comes to rest on the map.
So, we've got our bearing. Where we go next depends on what we wish to discover tonight. It seems that this stairwell is one of only a few ways up and down, so it won't seem too strange if we're seen coming out of this room. But I was simply planning to find out exactly where the passage leads in, then camp on one end to see how often Bellam uses it. Do you have anything you wish to scout out while we're here?
Dane stares at the map contemplatively. Mumbling to himself, Dane asks, "What does this 'F' mean?" Dane looks around the room, trying to find trace of what this "F" is, then he utters an sound of exclamation. "Floor." Looking at the map, Dane nods to himself, and smiles. "These C's and F's on the map, I believe they're hatches. See?" Dane begins, tracing lines across the map. "Floor." He points at the F in room 26. "Ceiling." He points to the C in room 14. Repeating the process, he points again. "Floor" Dane points to the F on the Keep's Roof. "Ceiling." He points down at the C on the fourth floor of the Keep. "We can't be certain if all of these are hidden, or if some of them are actually used by the guards on a regular basis. Whoever built this citadel may well have planned for the castle to be built to secretly move troops about in ways that the enemy couldn't follow. I'd say we investigate some of these hatches and try to discern the truth." Dane walks up to the forge, inspecting it, and holding his hand over it to see if there's any signs that it's been used recently, or if it's been long abandoned. "We should also check the path to the gatehouse from the second level. Looks like it's the way to the gatehouse that can't be closed off, probably our best bet to take that during an attack, assuming there's not too many guards."
Dane paces back towards Mordesel, "First, lets get this hatch closed and make sure we can figure out how to open it from this side. Can't have anyone stumbling upon it and realize there's a breach in their security. I'd say I go in the hatch, close it, and let you try to open it, if you can't figure out how, I'll open it up again after a couple of minutes and we'll just head back. No information we can find is worth anything if we can't get back without breaking down the front door to the inn."
Anton raises an eyebrow at Dane's response. "So we're tasked with taking down the castle, and you wish to use our resources and the contacts you have made amongst the guards for a personal project rather than the advancement of our mission? Interesting. I would have expected having our man amongst the guards would have been more valuable but I'm sure you know more about such military-type things than I. Carry on. Just try to keep it from affecting the outcome of our little task here," he says with a smile and a shrug. "Oh, and by the way," he continues as Dane moves to leave, "you could have told the blacksmith 'I'm a bounty hunter and need manacles for my prisoners,' or any of a score of other acceptable excuses."
"You two be careful in there."
-----------
@Anton:
@Dane:
Dane tests the trapdoor. It opens and closes easily enough, regardless which side it is opened from.
The chamber is clearly an armoury and blacksmith. The forge is still warm, meaning someone has worked it quite recently (probably during the day).
Dane closes the hatch behind them and begins walking down the path back, still in his soldier's disguise since the only one he'd expect to meet here would be Bellam at this point.
Dane and Mordesel, go back through the tunnel and back to the inn. Thankfully, the passage is empty as before and Bellam does not appear.
Tired from the trip, you both get some sleep.
Once awoken in the morning Dane sets to work. Dane only takes enough time over breakfast to chat up one of the barmaids.
Then Dane sets off into town to try and first gather more information.
At first, Dane just looks for general information, then he begins asking a specific question: Where does Captain Mott live?
The dwarves are on the way out when you head downstairs for your morning meal. Bellam seems to be in a somewhat gruff mood as he brings you all some bread, cheese and sliced ham, but remains silent.
Dane spends several hours in the town trying to find his answers, but those he questions seem to have no idea (although some have heard that Captain Mott has a house somewhere in town).
The entire fruitless task takes 5 hours, but at least he's made some progress with the above-average barmaids.
Anton struggles to uncover more information about the castle. Few people know a great deal but the bard is uncovering various tales.
An inn patron having an early lunch talks to Anton.
"The castle? I don't know much about it, except there's a hundred of Talingarde's finest soldiers guarding it. I've heard that mage is strange, but he's nothing compared to Mad Martin. He tends the rookery in the Watchtower, you know, sending messages and such. They say he never leaves except for necessities. He talks to the birds like people and has named every one!"
Durova follows the others, looking for any new rumors he might uncover. He looks around the market, if there is one to see if anything interesting is being discussed by the merchants.
Durova overhears some conversation but few of any interest. Of particular note is that between two merchants.
"Did you hear about prisoners escaping from Branderscar?"
"No, I didn't. Mean bunch?"
"The worst! I don't think they ever caught either. They must be getting some outside help if they've been on the run all this time."
"Ha! Someone help a bunch of criminals? You worry too much friend. More likely they're cowering in some cave in the mountains. If they haven't starved to death first."
An interesting conversation but not relevant to your current situation.
Dane keeps his initial focus, and presses on through the day trying the direct route, asking people if he can get specific directions to Captain Mott's house. He maintains his disguise as Dale Reeves for this outing.
With or without the information, Dane breaks for lunch, and makes time to talk to the other barmaid.
Then realizing the inn has been the best font of information in the city so far, Dane decides to ask around about Captain Eddarly. Given the coming ruse, Dane specifically asks questions about his history, lacing in the most important question: Has Eddarly ever served on the western border?
Disappointed, Dane returns to the inn. the inn is fairly quiet, giving him time to converse with the barmaid. She knows little about Eddarly.
"That Captain Zack Eddarly is considered quite a handsome one. Such a gallant! And still unmarried at his age. He’ll make some lady of proper breeding quite a catch."
She says slightly dreamily. She knows nothing of his career or previous.
Dane spends a few more hours trying to uncover information about Eddarly. Little comes out of it. Apparently, he served in the capital before his posting here and is from a wealthy family. He's never been on the western front (to anyone's knowledge) and although a skilled swordsman he has little experience in warfare. Uninteresting.
It is now early afternoon when a boy rushes into the inn, concern on his face. He and Bellam converse quietly, ensuring they are not overheard. Bellam gives the lad a coin and the boy leaves. Now worried about something, Bellam calls Mordesel over to the counter.
"I don't know what's going on but I just heard word that Captain Eddarly, half a dozen of his soldiers and Father Donnagin are on their way. The Mitran priest rarely comes to Aldencross unless he's suspicious about something or there's some kind of crime to uncover. I don't know what kind of thing your friend got going with Eddarly but it better be good and honest or Father Donnagin will get it out of him, mark my words."
He grits his teeth.
"Does your friend know about the..."
He indicates the cellar and (by extension) the secret tunnel.
"I want nothing to do with this, but the last thing I need is for them to clamp him in irons and then spill the beans about my..."
"So, you need to tell him what's happening. Ask him if he's going to run or face what's coming."
Sion doesn't do much on day 3. Walking around town visiting a few of the local shops and talking to the people.
Sion spends several hours chatting to various shopkeepers. Mundane concerns (weather, supplies, worries about the bugbears, etc) are the usual topic.
During his discussions, Sion hears a group of horses approach down the road. Seven riders, all wearing the tabards and colours of Balentyne, trot down the street. They looks somewhat weary from traveling. They do not pause and continue on their way to Castle Balentyne.
Curious of this development, Sion strikes up a conversation with a nearby stall operator.
"Those fellows? That's Captain Varning and his rangers. They're back from their patrol. They've been gone five days out in the wilderness but if you ask me, these patrols are a waste of time. They’re just an excuse for Varning to get out of the tower and gallivant around the country side instead of doing his fair share of guard duty. Probably came back to Balentyne to rest up and watch that Merrie Men performance. Lucky layabout... Oh err, just between you and me of course."
Mordesel spends his third day attempting to seek more information from the patrons at the inn.
Mordesel talks to patrons of the inn. The conversation turns to Lord Commander of Castle Balentyne.
"Lord Havelyn is a good soul but so grim and gloomy. For so great a lord to be unhappy, he must be guilty about something!"
Anton continues with what is almost a routine. Talking to patrons of the inn as well as the merchants and clients in the market, in order to gather what information he can about the area, the castle, and the leadership. This is interspersed with regular meetings with Yalana (e.g. breakfast & lunch dates) and the evening dinner and performance with her, advising her of the subtle ways to improve her craft.
It is currently 2pm. There are 6 civilian patrons in the inn and 2 off-duty soldiers (see below), in addition to Yalana (the dancing girl), one barmaid and Bellum the innkeeper.
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@Anton:
From your investigations, you determine a few minor tidbits of information.
The dwarves are generally mistrusted by the human soldiery in Balentyne. True, they are respected for their hardiness and workmanship, but there is a prejudice against them:
"Those dwarves are a thieving lot! I heard a rumour that one of them was caught picking a man’s pocket."
You also overhear a conversation between the two off-duty soldiers briefly before they departed the inn.
"I can't wait for dinner tomorrow. Finally, some edible food."
"I've heard that Mama Guisseppe’s beef stew is good. Is it true she goes up to the Watchtower to cook a batch every Thursday?"
"You bet, every week. She's a nice old lady. It's become a tradition."
"Guess we better get back to the barracks then."
The other man shrugs.
"Yeah, I'm done drinking anyway. So why not."
The two of them depart.
You realise that tomorrow is Thursday.
Should it matter, Yalana is currently infatuated with you.
--------------------------------------------
Four guards, led by Captain Eddarly enter the inn. Next to the captain stands a portly man wearing priestly attire. One of guards is holding a small chest.
After a short silence, Captain Eddarly spots Dane and gives him a nod. The barmaid scurries away from Dane's table. Both the portly man and Eddarly take a seat at Dane's table. The four guards remain standing.
"Corporal Dale isn't it? You'll be happy to know that we have your requested supplies."
The soldier holding the chest approaches and opens the box. Inside are half a dozen steel manacles. After opening it for a moment, he closes it again after a nod from the Captain.
"Allow me to introduce to you Father Donnigan of the Mitran church. He is here to finalise the arrangement and to ensure the paperwork is correct. A minor formality."
The portly man simply smiles and bows his head politely.
"So, I trust you have the requisition orders now?"
Dane smiles despite his misgivings, "Ah yes, ah here it is." Dane fumbles about in his pockets for a moment before producing the document. Having purposefully crumpled the document a bit to give false signs of travel and hopefully make any mistakes in the forgery a bit harder to detect, Dane hands the paper over. "Somehow the thing managed to find its way to the very bottom of my pack, wouldn't you know it." Dane looks at this Father Donnigan as he hands over the paper, looking for any signs of weaponry, spells, potions, anything that would indicate that this priest is expecting more trouble than an errand to an inn.
Captain Eddarly looks over the paperwork with a sly smile.
"Interesting..."
He shows the priest the requisition order. Father Donnagin doesn't even glance at it.
Captain Eddarly continues.
"Before I hand over the manacles I just need to check a few details first. Formalities of course."
He smiles.
"Tell me, Corporal Reeves, were you actually stationed at Fort Nymella?"
Dane, quickly comes up with the closest thing to a lie that he can. "I was there, yessir."
"Hmm, perhaps. Then why did the raven we sent to Farhold two days ago report back that they've never even heard of a lance-corporal Dale Reeves in that area? And I am especially interested about your story regarding Sir Balin..."
Dane prepares for combat...