"Alright Inspector, what's the real story behind this? At least the parts we know of? It says here that the thief, one Nilesa Hume, was caught in the act of jumping out the window. Unless she was pushed, we can assume that she was heading out. So how come she was able to hand the stolen goods to someone else already if she was still in Embassy premises? What do we know of late Mrs. Hume, or that mysterious Dr. from Malice lands"?
We tracked down the potion of invisibility to a certain alchemist shop. The woman in charge going by the name of Danisca admitted having sold the vial to someone. Before we could go over her records and the bill of sale of this restricted item she Fled. Her guards provided cover and we had to fight off a gnome arcane caster with badgers. Securing the place we managed to find a safe and currently are awaiting that a locksmith be dispatched to open it.
he turns toward jonathan The mayor had agreed to our request and will have everything ready for the trip.
Delft walks over to the chalkboard where there are three large lines coming out of the name Hume on the board, where "Dr. Recklingshausen," with two more lines for Camp and Kindleton, the second line Home with lines leading to Chemical Nevard, Skyseer Nevard and a Question Mark and Gale(Fey Terrorist). The third line "Illegal Magic" followed by Wareye's Apothecary.
He then continues: "Angus has been working primarily on the potions angle where he was bushwhacked last night. The ferrets are at the apothecary and should be able to get us the information connecting the illegal magic with Nilesa and hopefully their supplier. Professor Dufresne and Johnathan have been in contact with the Dr's. character references and later this morning they will be conducting a sting to follow the courier and find the doctor. Savan has set up this evening for your entire group; will be camping on top of Cauldron Hill to help Skyseer Nevard and for us to get in contact with Gale and maybe bring her to justice. By the way, today you may want to check out the new cutter, any questions?"
Delft says, "The two gnomes escaped. Aha, you Hume... well she died two days ago and is probably being cremated within the next day or so. Professor Kindleton did do an autopsy."
He then looks at Falko and says after drawing some serious juice from his chaw and then spitting a bright ting into the spittoon, "Whether Gale is responsible for this SNAFU or not, isn't really that important, she is responsible for numerous deaths of Flinter citizens over the past year or two. So, apprehending her is definitely a good thing."
Trying hard to keep a normal demeanor, and not to show any reaction towards ACI Stover's habbits with tobacco, Porter slowly draws one of his carefilly rolled cigars, and lights it:"Monk's delight, Nicodemusis sin. Have you tried them Inspector? They seem to be quiet a lady's magnet. Especially if the one is having an interesting history behind himself, like you ser."
Inhalling deeply with obvious satisfaction, Porter savors the well known aroma, before letting some smoke out and asking the next question: "So, if I get this right, we believe that Nilesa got the invisibility potion from the woman named Danisca who got away. A human woman I presume, is that right Angus? Next we have a dead thief, Nilesa, and a dead gnome, with whom Falko here might still converse in a way. Is that correct?"
The tall veteran enjoys his cigar while he waits for his colleagues to response before continuing: "So, now we wait for any potential clues from the alchemists's safe, and also we might soon have a lead on this Doctor fella. OK. Plus, on top of this all, there's an...event of a sorts planned for us tonight. Good. Did I miss something?"
Johnathan, a very thin kid of maybe 18, watched the new arrivals, staying very still, perhaps in hopes of not being noticed. His RHC uniform was crisp and neat, yet he had unbuttoned the collar to breathe a little. His mouth moved to say something to Clayborne, but no sound came out. He cleared his throat quietly and looked away, brow furrowed.
"I'm not camping with him," he said quietly to the Tiefling, Cretien.
Delft chuckles a bit and says, "Well, my wife doesn't want me to magnetize any further ladies...."
Delft then moves over to Johnathan and says, "I am a bit surprised. Being able to go skyseeing with the greatest skyseer of the past 100 years is such an honor, why would you not want to go?"
"Looks like my day's all planned out for me. Good. I often find myself indecisive otherwise."
Cretien laughs at the ACI's quip about his wife. He then turns to Johnathan and says quietly "Why not?" before being cut off by the ACI.
Johnathan looks embarrassed to have been heard, staring back in frozen silence a moment before mumbling, "I just don't trust him, his aura is fuzzy. I won't disobey orders, I'll go with."
I wouldn't exactly say camping, we are going to escort and protect the skyseer and then watch over him for the night. he says smiling
Well i am ready anyway.
"The night is a long way from now. We might be doing something valuable by then. Any suggestion for Falko and me, Inspector? Or would you like us to wait the results of the search of that safe, before we decide on our next steps?"
Delft looks and says, "I would suggest the group of you try to see if you can follow the courier to the Dr., after that I suggest meeting me at RHC's pier at about noon time and I will show you one of our two new cutters. By then the ferrets should have reported back."
As planned with Professor Kindleton, you meet her beforehand at 0845 and hang outside the butcher shop where she buys her early morning cold cuts and delivers her message. The area in central district is bustling at this time in the morning and people come and go fairly quickly on the busy morning streets.
Watching the butcher shop and it's surroundings, Porter decides that he does not want to hide so early in the morning. Nah, it's too many of us already who should be hidden on the rooftops and in alleyways, one or more of us might just use other means.
"Falko , wanna join me in this?"
Deciding to "hide in the plain sight", he makes sure that he is actually attracting as much attention as possible on himself as he enters the butcher shop and starts chitchatting with whomever is present . After asking for the price of that lamb chop over there, and establishing the freshness of the beef, he recalls: "You know, this reminds me of one morning in the Archipelago. Lieutenant Tyrell was there, and also there was this crazy Korh, and that young guy, which later got killed during the defense of Shale...I always keep forgetting that boy's name. Jonathan or something...anyway, there we were, sitting on the beach with nothing to eat. Those Danoran bastards sank both of our supply ships previous week, and suddenly Tabbbito saw a cow. Man, a cow, on the beach! Just imagine the scene..."
Johnathan wears tattered rags, begging just outside the butcher shop's door, dirt smudged on his face.
"Please, sir. I haven't eaten in weeks."
"Alms for a starving child, ma'am?"
"I was orphaned by the Yerasol wars, spare a coin."
Kindleton walks into the shop with her message and hands it over as she orders her spiced cow's tongue and salami. You notice she pays for double the amount she actually receives, the butcher wraps the meat in two bundles of wax paper, writes on it with a wax pencil and puts it neatly into a brown paper bag.
She then leaves and makes her way to her first lesson at the University.
Being attentive a young boy of about thirteen walks into the shop, about half an hour later "Marv, my uncle's usual, please."
The butcher winks and hands over exactly the same order as what Kindleton ordered, with the envelope she had given the butcher.
The boy smiles and says, "Thank ya, ser!"
He then leaves the shop and moves toward Bosum Strand.
-----
Angus will be hiding close the the back door of the butcher shop
Cretien will be about a block away on his carriage, just sitting in the driver's seat eating some lunch. He isn't looking much in the direction of the butcher's, trusting those closer to the scene to see everything. He just listens for the telltale shouts of combat, and other than that, does not interfere with the scene.
Your are successful in following the boy through the Central District into the Bosum Strand area.
You follow him past hundreds of warehouses which serve Flint’s merchant fleet, and dozens of bars, taverns, gambling houses, and brothels serve its dock workers.
The people on the street include various craftsmen, artists, and money changers owning shops surrounding several
scattered public squares throughout the district.
You are also able to see some evictions as you pass through the district currently clearing out tenants and demolishing buildings
for a freight rail line. The station is already under construction, and
once complete it will speed delivery of raw materials and natural exports.
More importantly, it will let Flint share its industrial bounty with the rest of the nation.
Perception DC 15
The boy leads you then past the invisible border to the Parity Lake region where the crowded, foul-smelling, soot-choked warren, overcrowded
with the children of now second-generation factory workers,
surrounding a pool that every day more resembles sludge than water. Protests against the different factories are easy to discern. The boy walks into the absolute center of the area, which is obvious to Savan.
Then just before you turn onto a new street you hear angry threats,
a man’s grunt of pain, and a woman scream. A hundred feet down the
side road sits a stopped carriage, its driver reeling on the ground from
an apparent blow to the head, its single horse nervous. A woman kneels
over the driver, screaming “Someone stop them!” and pointing down
the street. Two thugs wearing bright red scarves look over their shoulder as they sprint away.
Noticing the boy's deliberate shange of pace, Porter does not react when what seems to be a mugging in progress transpires. "Stay on the boy" - he whispers to Falko nearby, as he focuses all his attention on the courier in order not to loose him. We should not loose the kid - RHC pays us to solve bigger problems, they have common police for this
As you continue to follow the boy, you hear the woman even more exasperated, “They kidnapped my baby! Stop them! Is there anyone out there to stop crime!!!!”
Johnathan pursues as soon as the woman first screams.
If Cretien sees it go down, he will move to assist.
Similar to Falko, Porter looks around trying to appear "out of his league" in regards to the developing situation. Noticing that Jonathan decided to pursue what he considered to be the distraction to their task, the veteran follows suite with Falko, deciding to proceed with their original task - following the boy.
John and Chretien
Porter, Angus and Falko
He then snaps his fingers and twelve men come out from behind you. "Well, my supervisor would like to invite you to a theatrical performance if you don't mind"
Mine, mine - twelve of you guys. Thirteen if we count the bravado in front of us. Quiet a lot for two poor trackers it would seem...now, do I know you Rufus?
Surprise clearly shown on his face, Porter was just about to address the man when Falko overtakes him. Seeing that his young colleague has decided to try and further antagonize the man, Porter joins in with a mischievous grin on his face: "Only a score of you? Just about enough for our sharpshooters stationed around. Your supervisor might be rather disappointed when he hears you failed him."
"Speaking of which - who is your supervisor?"
OK we either just guaranteed that we have a few of our ribs broken, or we pulled the biggest bluff of the day