Warren looks at Tolbert when he suggests posing as a buyer, "The only problem with that, that I see, is that they know what we look like, so if one of us goes asking for the item, I think there's bound to be trouble. Now if you could make yourself look like, say an elf, that might work better. Of course they might be looking for magical usage as well, hard to say."
"A good point. But I'm not sure we can spare the time for me to scribe and prepare a disguise spell. Perhaps we can obtain some mundane means of disguise to obscure my features."
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"Are you willing to shave off your beard? Perhaps we could color your hair too."
"I... I... uh..."
Garnult guffaws in laughter I'll git my shears!
I ain't donnin no namby pamby disguise! Meh foes can see me comin, won't help em much! Garnult protests, when someone suggests dyeing his beard.
"I think Garnult and I should enter together undisguised. Cassidy and Tolbert can enter together disguised at least an hour before us. We'll separate before we get to town so we're not seen together. What do you guys think?'
Tolbert Disguise: 24
Cassidy Disguise: 20
Garnult goes into town with Warren and they go to an inn to wait for the others.
I'll assist.
Warren goes with Garnult though he seems to be paying attention to the skies. He's looking for pigeons heading to one particular area.
After a few hours of asking around from shop to shop, you eventually find yourselves in a surprisingly high-class shop. You speak briefly with a well-dressed gnome doorman and get the impression that this establishment deals in custom orders and rare specimens. You manage to convey that you're looking for "the good stuff", and the gnome grins.
"You know," he says, "As it happens, we have very recently acquired something that sounds like exactly what you're looking for. Our people haven't finished fully appraising it yet, but it should be ready by morning. What we know so far is that it's a rare and mysterious stone with very powerful necromantic properties. Why don't you tell me where you're staying, and I'll have a salesman bring it by at about 10am tomorrow to negotiate a price."
Warren and Garnult wait for a few hours before Cassidy and Tolbert eventually show up at the inn that the four of you totally agreed on ahead of time. The "buyers" inform the other two that someone will be showing up in the mid-morning with the necro-rock in order to haggle a price.
At precisely 10 o'clock, a knock is heard from the door. Opening it, you see a thin, older halfling man in a fine suit with a business-like leather case in one hand.
"Hello there," he says, pulling a small lead box from the leather case and setting it on the table. "I've brought the article. You're welcome to ask me any questions or to examine it yourself. Once you're satisfied, my manager's suggested price is two thousand gold pieces."
The man smiles warmly, awaiting your reply.
"I'm guessing it will be just Tolbert and I talking to the buyer when he comes, but you two should probably stay close just in case something fishy happens. But what's Tolbert's and my objective? Do we want to try and purchase the good? Just verify that it's the correct item?"
"It'd be nice to find out if the vendor is legitimate or part of the thieves guild. Tolbert, do you have any way to make him think you're his friend? Then maybe you could get more information out of him. Or maybe listen to his thoughts too."
"I don't think we can afford to purchase it. At the very least, we need to remove it from the wrong hands somehow. Then, revenge for that bandit attack.
"Let's work with the seller until we can find the stone, then smash-and-grab."
Garnult nods approvingly at the smash part.
"I would prefer purchasing it versus stealing it. How much money would we have if we pooled our resources? I have 654 gold on me."
"I do agree about finding out if this seller is connected to the thieves guild or not. He could be an independent party the thieves guild sold the stone to."
Tolbert sighs dejectedly. "I have almost 1300 gold pieces. Perhaps we could afford to pool our money together and buy it. But we'd take it back once we follow this seller to the thieves' guild hide-out, right?"
"I do think we should try to buy the artifact. Warren and Garnult, are you guys willing to go in on purchasing the artifact?"
*grumblegrumble*yes*grumblegrumble*
Garnult gives Cassify a flat stare... I liked it better when we was gonna smash stuff.
Garnult is ready to smas encounter the seller.
At precisely 10 o'clock, a knock is heard from the door. Opening it, you see a thin, older halfling man in a fine suit with a business-like leather case in one hand.
"Hello there," he says, pulling a small lead box from the leather case and setting it on the table. "I've brought the article. You're welcome to ask me any questions or to examine it yourself. Once you're satisfied, my manager's suggested price is two thousand gold pieces."
The man smiles warmly, awaiting your reply.
"May we look inside the box at the article?"
Cassidy wants to look at the article, examining how closely it resembles the rock from Woodhaven.
After examining it Cassidy will ask "How did your manager come across such a unique article? Do you know where it's from or anything about it's history?"
"I think the most important question is: 'What does it do?' Is it safe?"
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Cassidy opens the box, revealing a rough, dark stone with no remarkable features, about the size of two fists put together. It very much resembles the one that you saw in Woodhaven.
Turning first to Tolbert, the well-dressed halfling smooths his white hair, smiles, and answers, "Well, I don't recommend touching it with bare skin, and it should probably stay in the lead box—which I'll throw in for free, of course—when transporting it. As for specifically what it does, all we know is that its aura is one of powerful necromancy. As you can see, it has no distinguishing marks of any kind that could suggest a primary method of use. Our assessors didn't recognize it as any known type of magic item, either. As a result, its true purpose is a mystery; we don't even know whether it's manmade or not. However, I'm sure that some enterprising individuals such as yourselves could contrive one or more uses through trial and error. Alternatively, it makes a truly rare and special collector's item. I've personally only ever seen one other such item, so it's nearly unique."
Turning now to Cassidy, the salesman pauses pensively, then says, "As for where it came from, I believe my manager said something about it being shipped here from... was it Woodhaven? My guess is a private collector or something. On the other hand, the other item like it that I've seen actually fell from the sky and crashed right into Zunberg—some young couple's window got smashed, but fortunately they were both talented spellcasters and were able to recognize its power, so they made a good deal of money selling it to us. I hear they're planning to start their own business or some such thing. Lovely couple; I wish them the best," the halfling says, smiling.
"By all means," he adds as you look over the rock, "Feel free to cast any divinations you'd like. We always like our sales to be fully-informed and satisfactory." Another big salesman-style smile.
"You say there's another? I might be interested in a matched pair. Is there any way I can speak with your employers about the second one?"
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The aged halfling smiles, but shakes his head. "I'm sorry," he says, "But it's already been sold. There was a young man who was travelling through town when it hit, and his eyes lit up when he heard it was a powerful necromantic object. Bought it straight away."