"If I knew which passages he was using we could just meet him there but alas I do not! Don't you Passfinders use hand signals all the time, isn't that part of your training? I'm sure he'll find some way to signal you...."
---
You wait around for another day and a half or so until the planned speech, which is to take place in front of the Manukirt Trading Co. Warehouse.
Olandil shows up in front of the warehouse on time as Jaks Arunai and begins reading poetry so incomprehensible that it is basically gibberish; the same sort of gibberish that Madge wrote on her note. Now with the crowd's attention-although they are booing and pelting him with clods of dirt and rotting vegetables-he raises a white ash rod tipped with an onyx gem.
The sunlight splits on the gem and spreads a pale prism across the crowd. With a supernaturally booming voice, Olandil declares, [b]"Today, I shed light upon one of Pezzack's greatest secrets. Jacks, the man you trust as a member of your very own faction, is the Printsmith! And Jacks has been hiding his identity from you all. All your secrets are laid bare to Pezzack's greatest journalist, soon for the entire city to see! Panic! Panic and regroup! Pay no attention to outside affairs!"[b/]
He gestures emphatically as he speaks, but his gestures do not match his words; instead, they are a series of Pathfinder hand signs. Follow me into the warehouse. Secret passage to underground, back left corner, behind fish barrels. He continues to sign as he steps off the stage, but the meaning of the signs becomes more difficult to discern.
The dots are easy to connect in the crowd's collective mind, and years of wearying rebellion have primed most to accept the idea. Because "Jacks", "Jax", and "Jaks" all sound the same, members of each of the factions believe that the Printsmith, Pezzack's notorious and heretofore unidentified publisher of seditious works, is one of their own. This causes uncontrolled havoc in the crowds, certain to keep them busy while you slip away through the warehouse and-hopefully-out of the city.
Along the way Quint, Senjin, and Inira are able to put their heads together to realize that Olandil was signalling warnings about the warehouse and the way ahead:
First, he made some signals indicating that there is a pit trap to watch out for. Second, he signaled its exact location at the intersection before a doorway. Finally, he also signaled the location of a cave scorpion and giant crab so that you might avoid them.
From Olandil's directions you easily slip into the warehouse and find the tunnels he alluded to. The dank tunnels reek of musty seawater that oozes from the stone ceiling and leaves the walls coated with a wet sheen. A few fresh torches suggest the derelict tunnel is still in use.
When you catch up to Olandil, he demands, "Alright, you've either been following me or you understood my signals. Identify yourselves."
Great, let's get going. Do you think that any of your enemies will be tracking us?
"I should hope not."
Olandil frowns a bit as he looks you over. "The Society abandoned me for 5 years, and they send you? Great, now I have to worry about baby-sitting rookies and get us all out of this hellhole alive."
"Come on, we've got a ways to go through the Guts."
As he starts walking, he explains, "The Loyalists learned my true identity weeks ago and have been blackmailing me into undermining and spying on their rivals. I had to burn my false identities and wanted to sow as much confusion as possible, hence the speech you heard. Hopefully once everything calms down and they start connecting all my identities, all the factions will realize that any information I told them might be compromised."
"How Loyalists find you out? Someone betray you, maybe?"
Olandil shakes his head. "No one knew, so there was no one who could have betrayed me. Someone clever found out though."
Olandil is about to say more but cuts himself short as he turns a corner. A gang of lightly armed thugs wait at the top of the ladder leading out of the Guts. Past the rocky outcropping where the grate opens to the salty air, a small fleet of sailing boats flying the Chelish flag swarms the coast all the way to the harbor's entrance, the Pinch.
"You're too late, Pathfinders," their leader shouts. "The Navy's just sneaked its picket boats in under the Shorewall cannons and halted fishing. your escape's cut off! Just give up and we'll send you our nicest one-way ship out of town."
"Loyalists," Olandil sighs under his breath.
C'mon guys, it's not worth the money... let's all leave with no blood shed...
"Interesting that you bring up money," the leader calls down to you. "Because our time is valuable and right now all you are doing is wasting it. We should have killed you as soon as you climbed out of there."
|
With a low growl in his throat, Torash ups the emotional ante.
Now, let's take a look at this... On your side 3 small town guys trying to act tough. On our side 7 bad-to-the-bones warriors. I grew up on the meanest streets of Absalom, and i'm the least of your worries! Turn around walk away, live another day. It's. That. Simple.
The Loyalist leader's face goes blank and his eyebrows rise as his eyes widen. He pauses for a minute before slowly nodding. "Perhaps you just pay us for our time then and we'll pretend we never saw you. Fifty gold ought to do it, right boys?" The others nod at this as well.
The man looks down at the gold and then says, "Aye, that'll do." He hurriedly scoops up the gold and takes leave."[/b]
Olandil lets out a sigh as the Loyalists take leave. Looking out on the Chelish pinnaces surrounding the harbor and Chelish marines swarming Whaler's Point, Olandil knows that his plan to leave aboard a whaler has been foiled. "I've got one last plan though. Let's get back to the Academy. I'm pretty sure Poppo's got a trick up his sleeve; a whale carcass. I've had suspicions that he meant to animate it and use it to escape and now it's time to see if my guess is right."
---
“Sail the whale, now!” Olandil pleads. Poppo paces around the Academy basement, his only response a faint, anxious humming. “I know you don’t want to stay here. You’ve been working on that thing forever. Let’s get in it and get out of here!”
“No!” Poppo marches up to Olandil. “I’ve been researching for months, but I need time to actually perform the last stages of the ritual properly. If I try to rush it, the whale might collapse, or explode, or sprout feathers, or any number of things that would normally be fascinating but aren’t going to get us out of here. At least not in one piece. And I like being in one piece! Don’t you? You’re just going to have to wait a while. And then we’re all going to need to pray to Gozreh and Nethys that it works.”
Poppo’s voice drifts off, his bright eyes losing focus for a moment, before he clears his throat and announces with renewed optimism, “What I’m saying is, my ritual is a work of art. Just give me a little time, and I’ll have our flawless escape plan ready.”
Olandil says, “There’s no need to worry. Poppo is one of the most skilled wizards in the Academy. He’s just a bit prone to nerves when he’s put on the spot.”
Poppo interjects, “Hey! I’m right here! And like I said, flawless escape plan.”
Olandil continues, “There is one more factor we still need to take into account. The Loyalists we met at the docks are going to be watching the harbor like hawks. We’ll need to create a diversion, and for that, we’ll need allies. Go to one of the factions. See if you can cut a deal for them to help our escape. A distraction maybe. If I know Pezzack, all of the factions are on guard after my announcement, with spies all over the town, so I doubt that you’ll get a chance to speak with a second faction. I would come with you, but honestly, someone needs to protect the professor, and I don’t trust any of your abilities as much as I trust my own.”
Poppo says, “One word of warning! Once you leave here, the Passfinders are going to be blamed for everything, right?”
Olandil shrugs, “Your point is? I don’t care if the Loyalists tell all of Cheliax the Pathfinder Society caused everything that has ever gone wrong in this town. Once we’re out of here, I want nothing further to do with the Society, and if you all have a lick of sense, you’ll make this your last mission too. The Society doesn’t care about its agents. Why do you think they sent such an amateur team for my rescue?”
Poppo replies “Hey! They’re right here! The most-definitely-not-perfunctory Passfinders! At any rate, if you want to counter the Loyalist’s lies, one of the factions might be able to help you there too.”
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ok, so there's 3 other factions: the money, the idealists and the revolutionaries. Which one do we want to play with? I'm guessing the idealists might be our best bet...
Away for olandi. I know I'm new to this, but I'm not sure laying the blame with the society is part of the plan, what do the rest of you think? Any way around that?
"What factions? Senjin am not from here. Does a faction hate Loyalists...Senjin want to join them, if do."
Poppo excitedly explains, "There are four leading factions vying for influence here in Pezzack: Docktown, Galtans, Loyalists, and White Thistles."
"The Docktown faction represents the stranded merchants in Fat Harbor. The tiefling “mayor” Bruck wants economic dominance over Pezzack—a greedy oligarchy made easier by the town’s well-honed smugglers and perpetual unrest."
"The Galtans are of course violent revolutionaries fronted by the grey gardener Habar Curl, Pezzack’s pack of Galtan rebels want the town’s freedom to spring from the blood of dead Loyalists—and anyone who might be aligned with them."
"The Loyalists are Pezzacki still loyal to the Chelish crown who believe there can be no peace until rulership of the city is returned to its diabolical masters."
"And the White Thistles are the idealists led by Amalia Wraxton who want a unified, free Pezzack and hope to win over the other factions’ hearts and minds through verse and acts of derring-do."
"Now!" Poppo exclaims, "you folks work on your own part of the plan and I'll work on mine! I've got a whale carcass to animate and the ritual I've devised is a work of art! It will take some time and a bit more planning. Shoo! Get going!"
Olandil suggests you head back to Inkwell to speak with Lorrin Meese and propose your solution to him.
Lorrin expresses shock about the newly revealed identity of the Printsmith. When you ask for assistance in helping "Jacks" escape, Lorrin warns you that gathering many members of the faction on short notice would be difficult, and that some members of the faction might not trust you. After all, you might be Loyalist spies for all they know.
Lorrin therefore proposes a deal: if you clear the strix out of the abandoned tower on behalf of the White Thistles, you will earn their trust and assistance. He assures you that the Society would be vindicated against the Loyalist propaganda if you help them in this. "Might I also suggest-" he adds with some hesitation, "-that you use this opportunity to discredit the foul Loyalists. If you plant this at the tower, perhaps it will turn more citizens against their cause." He gives you a repurposed document from a Chelish naval officer praising the strix for their assistance in razing the city during the Second Ashes and promises ongoing support to the strix.
Most of the walls and floors of the tower have collapsed. Only fragmented pieces of the stone exterior walls remain standing. A large pile of burnt wooden planks and the shattered remnants of furniture lies several hundred feet to the west of the ruin. Near the center of the ruin, a pile of bones rests in a 15-foot-deep open grave.
Two strix stand guard in the ruined tower atop the crumbling walls, waiting for anyone who might wander past. As you come through the tower, one of the shakes out a net as the other tests his longbow.
The first strix reacts quickly and fires his bow at Joesef.
The other flies across the open area to perch atop the wall nearest you, its tangle of ropes in hand.