On the first floor you find Rexus again. As he sees you dragging the boxes along he leaves the entrance he's guarding alone and comes to see what you brought. Taking a look at it he is really excited. "This must be what my mother wrote about." Looking at the papers he exclaims "That's marvellous. This seems to be some kind of code! It uses Elven, Celestial and Strix. Can we go back to the Longroad Coffeehouse, to take a closer look at those?"
"Of course," Jhen replies trying to wipe the vomit off. He looks pleadingly at Mels as he points at his vomit encrusted body, "Do you think you can use your magic to get rid of this?"
The group leaves the Fair Fortune Livery, that is today neither fair, nor fortune, nor livery, but only a rancid old stable that will collapse sooner or later with the grimples digging through the walls. Saul uses his skills to lock the grate on the first floor, just in case and then you're off to the coffee house.
The coffee house is a nice and warm and cozy place. At least it seems that way to you, compared to the devil infested butchery you come form. Te group gathers around the table at the back again.
Laria prepares a tray with coffee mugs and some of her delicious pastries to cheer the group up. As she serves it at the table, she wrinkles her nose. "Some of you could use a bath. You're lucky the delicious smell of this strong coffee covers most of it." she tells with a smile.
Rexus asks to see what you've found in the basement and where exactly, and looks at everything with wide eyes. He casts a spell to check specifically what it is that you found and his eyes grow even wider. He sorts through the items, appraising every single one of them and tells "That cloak is magical, and this cloak too, and this armor, and these silver ravens are too magical!"
Moving on to the documents he pulls out some of the scrolls. "These seem to be magical writings to be cast by reading." he explains a bit overcomplicated.
But the most he is excited over the hundreds of pages of secret information. Spreading the first few pages on the table he tells "We must find out what this means!"
Salonius nods vigorously eyes shining, "I will prepare detect magic, and read magic, for more specific identification tomorrow and look everything over, but for the moment I'll begin reading! Fhingle can read celestial, I can cover the rest, but obviously it will be swifter if more people can participate? I suppose Peeko could, but, um..."
"Peeko does not want to. Peeko does not want! You have new stupid magic metal birds do it! Stupid silver ravens!"
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"Magic," Jhen says in awe as he stares at the items. "Ain't that something," he to one in particular as he sips his coffee getting lost in its aroma.
Fhingle goes and changes his clothing before sitting down with everyone, coming back out in simple black trousers and a brown shirt.
"Not my best outfit but I guess it will do." Fhingle sits down and looks over the papers in celestial, reading a few before eating and drinking coffee. "So what does all this mean? Why do we need all this?'
Rexus scribbles text in his notebook while checking the words and trying to get meaning into the sentences. "We won't find out, before we crack the code!" he tells.
Jhen continues to think about the the gear they found and where they could sell it. As he sits and sips his coffee a warm smile crosses his face, "I think I know a place that will give a good price on some of this gear we recovered." Over coffee he informs his companions about this shop.
There is indeed a shop where one could sell almost everything, no questions asked. It's a pawn shop in the Devil's Nursery run by a pair of tieflings named Maldrek and Kilarra Hornbutton. At the front they offer loans in exchange for pawn to their kin, to help them out if they fall on hard times. But it is runored that the real business behind that is their trade with goods of questionable provenance. Which matches perfectly with the cliché of all tieflings being criminals.
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Unable to help with cracking the document's code, Saul takes a walk to the pawnbrokers that Jhen knows about. He lays a wide variety of gear and valuables on the table and invites them to take a look... and he looks closely too, so he doesn't get ripped off.
9 gold amulets (already told they were worth 30 gold each = 270 gp)
7 sets of manacles (keeping 2 of these in his inventory)
a pouch of a dozen pearls.
a pair of quartz earrings.
a set of nine silver coat buttons.
Mels nods at Laria's comment about a bath. "That would be wonderful. Do you 'ave a room I could do take one in? If so, 'ot water, lavender-scented soap, and a fuzzy towel." She slips into her usual way of talking to halflings as she talks to Laria.
Laria laughs out loud. After calming down again she adds "Sure, if you give me 3 gold, you'll get that and Fhingle will even scrub your back."
Fhingle tries on the armor knowing it is much to big for him, "You large people never make anything in my size." Fhingle says smiling
"Sounds reasonable." Meliandri flippantly reaches into her coin purse. There, she finds three coins. And only three coins.
"Um..." A whirlwind of thoughts flies through her head. How do people make money? What happens if I run out? Will I have to go beg my mother for more? Do I really need a bath? After a bit of thought, she comes up with two of the coins. "'Ow about the 'ot water, the towel, and normal soap, and we skip the Fhingle scrub?"
"Deal." Laria replies. Then she turns to Fhingle. "Fhingle, prepare a bath for the lady."
Saul walks to the worst part of town. Hornbutton's Pawn Shop reads the sign over the door. Inside you are greeted with a surprisingly nice room lined with locked cabinets with glass doors. Inside these cabinets are the items people pledged, labelled with a date and a price.
Behind the counter, who has also a glass top, are two tieflings who sort through a box of items who are due within the next week. They both look up at the man entering. As he comes closer and drops all the stuff on the counter, Kilarra starts checking them while Maldrek asks questions. "You are looking for a short, or long term loan?"
While Saul and Maldrek talk, Kilarra makes notes, talking to herself. "Thrune pendant 30gold, manacles 15gold, pearls 100gold, quartz earrings 10gold, silver coat buttons 5gold, that makes..." she counts the items and multiplies it with the values. "That's 1610gold." she tells Maldrek, waiting for the information how big the deduction will be.
Salonius immerses himself in the task of decrypting the papers with single minded enthusiasm, regularly consulting Fhingle for Celestial words. Peeko watches on feathers fluffed attitude prickly, but occasionally offers a correction to his Master's mutterings.
"Those pedants are no problem. With our new major I can sell them the next day. But you understand that I earn money by getting more for the stuff than I give you, right?" Maldrek replies.
Kilarra calculates some more and tells "Same as short time loan. 1449gold."
"Now that looks like we're bean counters. 1450." Maldrek objects "But you see, I have to find someone who actually buys that stuff. I can't take pledged earrings as gift for my wife." he tells.
Well, he is exaggerating the issue of making money with that again.
Jhen watches Saul negotiate the sale of the items and thinks, I know when to keep my mouth shut.
Fhingle's shoulders slump a little as he goes off to run a hot bath. "I give the best back scrubs." Fhingle says as he leaves
"You can always scrub my back, I just am not paying you." Meliandri grins, undoing the straps of her armor as she follows the halfling to the tub.
Once she gets there, she waits until the water's run, then gestures for Fhingle to turn around. She quickly pulls off her vomit-smelling clothes and gets in. "Okay, you can turn back. Maybe you can answer a question for me. 'Ow do people make money?" She shrugs. "I never 'ad to think about money, I just 'ad an open line with my family."
"I work here and trade my work for food and lodging with Laria, before that my master feed and clothed me. I am not really sure. You can always ask the bald guy who always seems upset about something. Of the guy who talks to his bird? The other Human I am not sure of yet." Fhingle cleans Meliandri's back. "Your family paid for everything?'
"Well, yes." Meliandri stretches out in the tub. "I am an Aulamaxa. We 'ave plenty of money to buy whatever we want. Besides, I never used it foolishly." She shifts to get away from the scrubbing for a bit. "Well, too foolishly. Did your master not 'ave money like that?"
Without waiting for a response, she continues on. "I 'ad a 'alfling slave. She was good at being a nursemaid, and a tutor, and things like that."
Maldrek puts out his hand "Deal."
Kilarra stares daggers at him and leaves.
Meanwhile Maldrek tries some smalltalk. "How'd you get that collection. Some inheritage?" After a while that seemed to be awkwardly long Kilara comes back with a pouch full of platinum and puts it in front of Saul.
"I don't know if my old master had money, I was fed and clothed, he had parties but I was mostly used as a vessel for Devils wanting to make deals." Fhingle sits down for a moment getting lost in memories
Mels lets Fhingle subside into quiet, relaxing and enjoying her bath. After a while, she sends him away, dips her clothes in the bathwater, and then prestidigitates them dry, repeating the process until the smell of sick-sweat is gone. Clean, dressed, and feeling much better after being vomited on, she rejoins the rest of the group in the coffeehouse.
”I see something we ‘ad was worth a bit. What about the cloaks and armor? ‘Ave you discovered what they do, S?” Meliandri reaches into her coin purse and feels her single coin, eying the stacks of coins hungrily.
"It will need to wait for tomorrow, I need to prepare Detect and Read Magic. But then I should be able to get everything with little difficulty - if I cannot we have really uncovered a treasure. If someone else with Detect Magic could assist I would have a greater surety." Salonius replies, glancing up briefly from the Silver Raven papers.
Together with Rexus you makesome progress, but you only manage to translate about a page with your combined effort. It will take weeks to translate the whole pile of papers. And as of now you can't even tell if it will be worth the hassle. But Rexus is dead set on working through all of it.
"Then what are we going to do about our wealth tonight?" Meliandri looks pointedly at the stacks again. "Unless the 'alfling who runs this shop is willing to let us use 'er safe, we cannot store it anywhere." She waves Laria over. "Do you 'ave a place we can put things that will be safe? We will need to be able to store our prizes until tomorrow."
"Mmmmm, then for the moment I shall leave things to you friend Rexus, please seek me out if you need any specific assistance. For the moment I intend to take this coin Saul has so ably acquired and see if I can turn it into something more useful for our endeavours... I can either take the magic items, or someone else can hold on to them and I will identify them once we meet up. If there is nothing else for the moment I will head back to the Academy?"
Pocketing his share of the coin Salonius heads back to the Alabaster Academy and seeks out the Artificer's Department.
"Excuse me Professor? I am hoping you might be able to direct me to someone who has, or can make, Sleeves of Many Garments? Or if you had any recommendations for shops that sell minor magical items? I confess I have come into a little coin and I would rather have something practical than a heavy purse!"
"I can stow away these goods in my room for you." Rexus suggests.
"That would be best." Laria comments. "This is a coffee house. You know where the temple of Abadar is if you need to deposit your wealth."
"You need a tailor?" The man asks. "Ah, magical sleeves. Let me think... Maybe Kelimber’s Dry Goods and Supplies in the red roof district? Or Crissali’s Fine Tomes in Old Kintargo?" the professor answers, but it is clear that he was not prepared to answer that question.
"My thanks Professor, I did not have a clue where to begin looking, I appreciate your suggestions," Salonius says smiling and inclining his head deferentially.
Finding the name "Fine Tomes" irresistible he decides to head there first, stopping by the Coffee Shop first on the off chance that any of his new companions remain and wish to accompany him.
Then he heads to Crissalis Fine Tombs intending to have a quick browse and then address the proprietor.
"That is a good point. Maybe I will take my gold there." Meliandri turns to Jhens, Saul, Fhingle, and Rexus. "In the meantime, we need to think about 'ow we are going to carry out rebellion. The first thing is that it is not fair to the Long Roads Coffee'ouse for us to plan 'ere in the open."
Taking a deep breath, Meliandri continues. "Maybe we should go back to the livery and clean out the grimples. That would give us a place to 'ide and plan our moves in secret...though...grimples are gross." It's clear Mels isn't thrilled about the idea.
"Those Grimples didn't like us but the basement seemed to be a good place to hide. I don't want to cause Laria issues with her business." Fhingle says while wondering why everyone is not just taking whatever it is they want and being done with it. "Can I ask a question?" Fhingle waits almost nervously for a response.
"Why are you all being nice to each other and sharing? Don't you bigger folk just take want you need and if you cannot you kill those in your way?'
Jhen has never had so much coin at one time and silently considers what to do with it. The Temple of Abdar will likely be standing long after Thrune and his cronies are gone, he concludes and decides he will keep his coin with them.
Laria comes to your table. "You're right. Keep your voice down and don't trumpet your rebellion plans out in the open." she scolds Meliandri.
"But if you want to clean out something to earn a secret hiding place - I have a problem in my basement."
Meliandri quickly slides her portion of the coins into her coin purse. She pauses a bit, clearly at a loss for how to answer Fhingle’s question. ”Um...Well, we ‘ave...that is…” Her brow furls a bit as she thinks, flustered, only to be saved by Laria.
”In your basement? What is in your basement?”
Salonius pops his head in and raises his brows in surprise at seeing the group still in situe, "I was just going to investigate a magic item shop one of my Professors recommended, does anyone wish to join me?"