"I can't thank you enough. Expect to see me again, friend!"
At that, Kurasaviel gathered his belongings. His clothes had dried enough to not be freezing the moment he stepped out, and he bundled up, making his way to the Bone Quarter. It would take some searching, but he was determined to find Ameiko.
Clara blinks several times as she takes everything in. "Oh! Um, hi Matin. I’m Clarabibulus Flingflopsparkfizz. You might’ve heard of my great-great-great-great-grandpapa Umbilicus Flingflopsparkfizz, who first brewed the Ultimate Fizzy Drink and who often adventured side-by-side with Nivi Rhombodazzle before she ascended to godhood?" She smiles hopefully (despite having yet to meet a non-gnome with any idea what she’s talking about).
"And our investigations are going…interestingly? Lessee..." the little gnome scratches her chin, leaving a ochre smudge there from her alchemically stained fingers, and then starts to recount their discoveries at a breathless pace. "The thugs who attacked us work for Asvig, a ‘ring giver’ (whatever that means) who works for the rimerunners (that’s ‘rime’ as in cold, not folks who speak in verse) who’re a powerful mercenary merchant group. Ameiko, your family’s sword was just recently stolen from Fynn, the man you bought it from your family years ago--"she casts a curious glance at their local thief"--and his servant’s dying breath was something like ‘the lion took his due’ which we think means it was Asvig the rimerunner who stole your sword too. Oh, and Asvig’s wife is a witch but her familiar isn’t a red-feathered raven. That’s actually the familiar of…”
Suddenly her breathless pace falls off a cliff. Her jaw drops, and she looks at Matin and then at her sister and companions. "...Fynn says that a raven that matches that description is the familiar of a local sorcerer and mercenary named Goti Runecaster who works for the rimerunners."
Frowning and a bit dazed, she continues, "Oh...and all the registered guides are booked for the season...though there might be some worthy unregistered guides at the Beast’s Pit, a local tavern or something.
"So...interesting?"
Ameiko and company all react with surprise when the connection is made between the men who attacked them, the Rimerunner who ambushed Matin, and the raven that had been spying on them all. Ameiko wiggles her fingers against her chin, thinking. "Hmm."
"Seems like they're all in cahoots, huh?" she says. "And all the guides have been hired. What a completely unrelated set of crazy coincidences keeping us from crossing the Crown of the World..." she muses.
Sandru, who is still on the outside of the wagon, just asks "Why don't we just go steal that sword back from this... Asvig fellow, find an un-sanctioned guide and get out of the city? This place isn't being good to us, and I don't trust the sanctions of authorities who are acting in this way."
Calder nods at Sandru's words. "Clara and I will try the Beasts pit now. When Tallack and Irissa are back we will all go and visit our friend Asvig. At night would be best I think."
"Happy to." Turning to Matin and the other caravan members, she adds, "Do any of you want to come along? I'm not sure I'm the best person to figure out which unsanctioned guide really knows their stuff...nor the best to persuade them to trust us. Convincing humans of anything has always seemed more confusing to me than anything else..."
Before they go, Clara turns to Matin. "Say, while we're heading out, since you know the town...do you know any elvish wizards or alchemists? Ones who might be willing to sell access to copying a spell from their books? There's one I've heard about that I think might be handy to learn..."
"Hey, if you're looking to steal anything than I'm your man. And "unsanctioned" is one of my favorite words, I've got to say," offers Matin. "I don't know any elf wizards off the top of my head, but I'm sure I could find more than a couple if I went looking."
When Clara and Calder mention that they're ready to leave, Ameiko volunteers to go, but both Shalelu and Sandru stop her. "I should go." says Sandru. "Shalelu is more experienced, so if anything happens here, it'll be taken care of. Plus, I know my way around a tavern."
Shalelu objects, shaking her head. "They are the ones headed into danger. I should go, if only to better protect them. I also have a skill-set that they lack - archery and tracking."
Sandru turns to Calder and Clara (and Matin, I suppose, if he wants to chip in). "What do you think?" he says, "Do you need either of our help?"
Calder thinks it over. "Matin and Shalelu." Is his thinking. "Matin for local knowledge. Shalelu because we need someone who can check our guide is what they say they are."
"If we find someone we'll bring them to you for the final say."
Shalelu shrugs. "I'm not so great with people, but I can definitely watch your back and make sure that no guide gets the better of us."
She looks Calder straight on. "They'll die if they do."
Koya smiles but raises a finger. "If you want someone around to make sure nobody's pulling the wool over your eyes... I'm quite good at that. If you want. I'm no adventurer, but I've looked after quite a few children who'd like nothing better than to have me believe that they did not in fact eat the pie slice."
Clara claps her hands together. "Sis! You come!! It's true no one can BS you...plus we haven't had a walk together in ages.
"Shalelu, I don't think we need to worry about protection in broad daylight...though I suppose we should lend Matin a new cloak so any Rimerunners don't recognize him.
"Matin, are there...many others in Kalsgard who have reason to be hunting for you?"
"I don't think so. I mean, I haven't been caught--noticed by anybody for years until Goti managed to track me down, and I'm not sure how he did it in the first place. As long as he doesn't pop up nobody should be after me. Probably."
Cocking her head, she asks, "Were you ever spied on by a red-feathered raven?
"Speaking of which...Goti presumably thinks you're dead, but we certainly don't want to disabuse him of the notion. I think you'll want to keep the hood on Vankor's cloak up whenever we're going about."
Sandru brings Matin a cloak at Clara's request. It's simple and leather on the outside, but wool-lined. It's nice. It has a hood.
Koya stands up from her little chair, ushers everyone out of the fortune-tellers' wagon and closes the door. A couple of minutes later, she emerges. Instead of her long Varisian dress, she wears traveling pants and boots, and a studded coat that goes over a blouse. "Haven't worn this getup in years" she says with a giggle. She hangs a starknife from a ring on her belt. "So, are we ready to go talk to some sketchy, unemployed drunks?"
"I didn't notice any red ravens. But there are plenty of ravens in the city so I might've missed it," says Matin, shrugging his shoulders.
Calder nods respectfully to Koya, and picks up clara again, putting her on his shoulder. He's ready to head out.
Tallak had listened for a time outside the tent. When talk began of perhaps actively moving against Asvig, he stepped away and set to making sure Ursus' armor was properly fitted.
When the group emerges, he notes Koya's presence with a look of concern. "I don't think we should risk Koya's safety," he says flatly, taking some long strides toward the group at the tent.
Koya laughs at Tallak's assertion - "Young man, I don't think that it's entirely up to you." she says, smiling kindly. "Besides, with so many hale and hearty men around, I doubt I'll be in any danger. And I'm much tougher than I look."
She steps down out of her cart and joins Matin, Calder, Tallak, and Clara when they head out to the Beasts' Pit. Koya talks pleasantly with Clara, keeping pace with Calder, while they walk. Her voice is soft, such that their conversation is relatively private, but she doesn't talk about sensitive subjects... she just doesn't like it when strangers are listening to her talking.
After about a ten-minute walk, the group arrives at the Beasts' Pit. The building is a dilapidated wooden affair with a sign out front that depicts a many-toothed circular mouth, and the hand-scribbled words 'The Pit'. The door creaks when it opens, and reveals a darkened and smelly interior. There are eight patrons, and all nurse one or more drinks in some darkened corner or alone at the bar. The bartender is a fat man with a greasy shirt, and he looks up from polishing a very dirty glass mug when the group enters. His mouth moves as he counts the number of people entering his bar, and when he's done he plasters on a smile. "Uhh, newcomers. We don't get a lot o' those 'round here. What can I do for ye?"
Kurasaviel finds that nobody pays him any heed, thought or mind as he walks to the Bone District. Everybody's busy enough going about their own business that they just don't care about what other people are doing. It's not a long walk, though by Sandpoint standards it takes forever to get somewhere in the city. The Bone Quarter is poor, with very poorly-made and squashed-together wooden buildings taking up some of the space, and caravan and tent cities taking up the rest of the space.
You spend about half an hour asking around before somebody points you in the direction of a large park that they're sure they saw a woman that beautiful in.
Walking over to the park, you spot a familiar sight - a few of Sandru Vhiski's caravan wagons, including Koya Mvashti's wagon. The wagons are set in a circle, and Shalelu sits on the roof of one of the caravans. Smoke rises from the middle of the formation, and Shalelu squints at Kurasaviel as he approaches. "You're walking towards us, right?" she shouts.
Kurasaviel grinned widely and waved, taking care to be obvious as he approached.
"Right in one! Although, I have come an awfully long way and it turns out it's colder than Lamashtu's t*@@ out here, so I'd dearly appreciate talking by the fire if that's all right?"
Matin grins as they enter the bar--this was exactly the sort of place he knew his way around. He wasn't sure if they'd be able to find a guide here--this seemed like more of a pickpockets and moonshine sort of place, but it was worth a shot regardless. Taking a stride forward, he steps towards the bartender--keeping his hood up, of course, since he didn't know if the Rimerunners would have eyes here--at least he had a contingent of people with him if they did--and it wasn't too far of a sprint to the exit.
"A drink," says Matin, still smiling as he approaches the man. "Whatever you have that won't kill me. At least, won't kill me immediately. My burly friends will take something light.The gnome probably has her own drink."
"Thanks," says Matin after he is served; he does his best to down whatever it is regardless of the quality of the drink. When he finishes, he turns again to the bartender, smiling his most charming half smile, before speaking again. "You wouldn't happen to know if any of your patrons were a guide or a hunter or anything wilderness-y like that, would you? I mostly stick to the city myself but they look like one of them might be the type."
Tallak makes his way along behind the others once Ursus is settled outside. When asked for what he would like, he simply says, "Mead," as he looks over the bar and it's patrons, trying to get a feel for the mood of the room and how they feel about the group's presence.
__________
Shalelu waves Kurasaviel closer, towards the center of the caravan. A half-dozen people sit there. A middle-aged halfling man stirs stew inside of a pot on top of the fire, while three young Varisian men - one in his thirties and two in their twenties - sit alongside a half-orc teenage girl and a Shoanti man in his forties. All of them have little wooden bowls and spoons, and are scarfing down the soup.
The Varisian man in his thirties is recognizable as Sandru Vhiski, and he looks up with soup dribbling down into his goatee as Kurasaviel enters. "Uh." he says, "Kurasaviel?"
The bartender looks at Matin with eyes that say 'are you serious...' before pulling out a cup, picking a tap at random, and filling it with ale. He brings Tallak a dirty bottle filled with golden mead and a cup. The bartender squints at Matin when he asks his question. "A guide...?"
"Yeah, a couple of 'em frequent my bar. Ulf and Ukshakka, I think're their names. Good couple of people." He points to a booth in the corner, in which sits a young woman. A quarterstaff is laid across the table, along with a half-dozen empty cups. The woman has another cup in her hand, but her head is on the table. She's sleeping. "I think that's Ukshakka over there." says the bartender.
Kurasaviel couldn't surpress a grin. Sandru was clearly more than surprised, but Kurasaviel had always looked up to Sandru. He didn't know exactly what had happened when they were adventurers together, but Kurasaviel suspected that the older man had looked after Ameiko more than once, and for that, he had won Kurasaviel's undying friendship.
"Your eyes do not deceive, nor am I an illusionist or enchanter befuddling your senses! The one and only Kurasaviel is here, at your service, good sir!"
At this point, Kurasaviel gave a small but extravagant flourishing bow. Normally he would have expected at least a chuckle from Sandru, but the man was silent, instead fixing him with a questioning gaze.
"Don't worry. Sandpoint's fine! Unless another band of giants attacked the town in the last twenty four hours...which seems unlikely, but with that town who knows? You've got soup in your beard, by the way. Listen...I just couldn't sit on the sidelines. I just felt like she...like you all could use my skills. So I made my way out here. If Clara's around, I have a new fizzy drink for her to try, by the way. How's the journey been so far?"
Sandru stands up to clasp Kurasaviel's arm in greeting, a smile on his face. "Eglin!" he calls. "Get this man something to warm his belly!" The little halfling grabs another bowl, another wooden spoon and spoons a bowl of food for Kurasaviel. He runs up to Kurasaviel, spilling a bit of soup into the snow. "Mostly broth, but Shalelu brought us some venison, and we still have carrots from Roderic's Cove!" he squeaks, handing it over to Kurasaviel.
"So, you came to join our journey," laughs Sandru. "Even though Shalelu told you to stay home. Honestly, I would have lost some respect for you if you had. I'm happy to see you." He walks over to one of the wagons, knocking on the side of it. "Ameiko? Still napping? We have a friend here to see you." There isn't any response, so Sandru knocks again. "...Ameiko?"
Calder will get a mead as well, then move over to Ukshakka's table. If she doesn't wake when he is walking over to her he will wake her as politely as possible.
The young woman groans as Calder wakes her up, vocalizing, "Guhhhhrg." She blinks slowly a couple of times, and then realizes that a strange man is touching her. She lunges for her quarterstaff, knocking over her half-full cup of disgusting-smelling booze and several of the empty cups as well, pushing Calder aggressively away.
Now that her face is up off of the table, you can see that she's a Varki woman, probably about fifteen years old. Her hair is thick and black, and messy due to sitting in a puddle of booze for gods-know-how long. She wears a savage snarl on her mouth, and she hisses, "What are you doing? Who are you?"
"Calder Brandson." Calder introduces himself. "I'm with the Sandru caravan. We're looking for guides to lead us over the crown."
The girl scrunches up her face. "Guides?"
"You'd be wanting my brother Ulf, but... I'm not sure where he is. He went on a job and never came back." Her forehead goes back to the table, muffling her voice. "He's the best guide around, and doesn't get a lot of work, so... he went with a sketchy employer even though I asked him not to. Haven't seen him in two days."
"Oh dear!" Clara pipes up. "Um very sorry to hear about your brother. What can you tell us about this sketchy employer? Did they plan to leave town by now? What made them seem sketchy?"
Then turning to her sister, she whispers, "Whaddaya say? She sound legit?"
Thanking the bartender, Matin walks over to the others, taking a seat next to Ukshakka before joining the conversation
"We'd be happy to help look for your brother," adds Matin. "Just point us in the right direction. How sketchy are we talking about, exactly? Sketchy as in you didn't trust them, or sketchy as in a back alley summoning demons sketchy?"
Koya walks up behind Clara, standing over and behind her and scrutinizes the young Ukshakka. "She seems sincere to me, little one." she says.
Meanwhile, Ukshakka pulls her head up from the table to regard Matin, who sat down next to her. She brushes a few of the mugs aside to allow some room for him to put his arms and to clear a space between them, and she puts her quarterstaff down in a corner of the booth. "He went to work for a man called Asvig Longthews." she says. "I told him not to go - we usually don't work for people with bad reputations... and they usually won't have us anyway because of our reputation, but Ulf still manages to get work often enough. He's the best guide, and the only non-affiliated one who can cross the Crown of the World."
"Anyway... I asked him not to go to this Asvig's farm, because I'd heard bad things about him. And now Ulf hasn't come back!"
"Well, as it happens we have a bone or two to pick with Asvig ourselves." Calder tells Ukshakka. "In fact we're planning on heading out to his farm to ask him a few pointed questions. So anything you can tell us about Asvig and his farm would be good. If we're fast enough me may even be in time to help your friend."
Ukshakka sighs. "I don't know that much about him. I know where he lives, I know that he's not a very good guy, and I know that he's sorta wealthy. We've been hungry lately, and..." she looks up at Calder when he mentions "maybe being in time", and her eyes start to well up with tears. "Do you think he's dead? I don't know what I'd do if he died..." She looks back up. "I went out to the farm to try and find Ulf yesterday, and he was having a party. A couple of his goons laughed at me, told me that Ulf was 'going with Snorri' and they beat me up."
"I don't know lass." Calder responds with his usual tactfulness. "But he would have been taken for his skills as a guide, so chances are he's still alive. You tell us how to get there and we'll do our best to get him out in one piece."
She nods. "Anything to save Ulf."
Koya walks up to the young girl and puts a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, young one. We'll return your brother."
Calder suggests we head back to the caravan and discuss things where people can't listen in on us, and get Ukshakka in a better state than she is now.
Koya shrugs. "Do you think we need anybody else from the caravan, or that anyone would disagree with what you want to do?" she asks.
Kurasaviel checks out the wagon that Ameiko is supposed to be in and finds it empty. There's no signs of any struggle or anything, though, and there's a little note on one of the seats, weighed down with a stone. It reads, 'Sorry, but you guys won't let me have any fun! I've gone to see this Asvig fellow and see what the hype is all about! Chase me if you can, or leave it to me if you're cowards!'
Tallak grinds his teeth as it becomes clear Asvig again proves to be the barrier that has presented itself. "I grow tired of hiding from Asvig, like some whelp cowed by the Alpha of the pack. It is time we deal with him, directly."
"Guess you are going to have to face him sooner or later. And it's looking a lot like sooner," says Matin with a shrug of his shoulders. "But I don't really know what we're up against. Goti could be there, and who knows who else. Going poking around places you don't know a lot about isn't usually a good idea, in my experience--you wake up with people trying to stab you if you do that too much."
Kurasaviel grimaced a bit, then glanced over at Sandru.
"Well, I'd hoped to ease her into this little revelation...but I guess I'll settle for the grand reveal. Fancy a trip to see this Asvig? Also, fancy explaining who he is and why he needs a visitation while we're on the way? It would be good to know if we're expected to talk to him or stab him in the face."
Ukshakka agrees to follow the party back to their caravan, though getting her onto her feet and out the door is kind of difficult. She staggers and leans on Matin, who she insists support her on the way back to the caravan. She's not heavy, and she has a staff to support her other end... it becomes especially clear that she's very young now that you can see her stand - she's not even fully-grown yet.
The walk back to the caravan is also uneventful, but when everyone arrives, they find another new arrival - a young half-elven man with a very long curved sword laid across his back stands and talks with Sandru while all of the rest of the caravan's members sit around a fire, eating soup that Eglin made. Clara and Koya recognize him as Kurasaviel, and Koya smiles and walks ahead of the group to embrace the young man in a motherly hug. "What a pleasure to see you, mischievous little rule-breaker!" she says.
Kurasaviel grinned like an idiot, relishing the warm welcome from Sandru and Koya. He returned the hug, then spoke.
"Hey, now, I'm here to keep the mischief to a minimum! 8 simply could t bare with thinking of all the trouble you'd be getting to without me."
Kurasaviel nodded at the group then addressed Clara.
"Now clearly I'm not such a savage as to come all this way without a gift for my favorite gnome! I created a new cocktail! Not my best, but far from my worst...maybe a little inspiration in your quest!"
Kurasaviel retrieved the flask that held the beverage he'd concocted, and handed it to Clara.
"Let me know what you think...while you're at it maybe some introductions to these fine folks would be in order?"
Ukshakka takes a half-step behind Matin, gripping her quarterstaff. "Name's Ukshakka." she says. You can see her knuckles are blistered and her flushed face is bruised. "M' a guide."
"Greetings! I'm called Kurasaviel. Good with a sword, hard to find unless I let you, and deft with the lock picks. Oh, and I make a mean drink, too...just ask Clara!"
Clarabibulus' eyes go wide when she sees Kurasaviel--and when he hands her the drink she grins a grin that barely fits on her face. She exclaims "KURIE!!" and eagerly accepts the offered flask.
It's already uncorked and about to touch her lips when he says,
"Let me know what you think...while you're at it maybe some introductions to these fine folks would be in order?"
With a bit of restraint, she holds the drink back. "Oh! Um, sure. This here is Tallak, he's a big hairy northern human shaman. His son had fallen in with Asvig's men who attacked us--oh you don't know about Asvig, he's some obnoxious guy called a ring-giver only he should really be called a pain-in-the-rear-giver because that's all he's given us, or for that matter given to Uk-shakka-lakka-lakka--"the breathless gnome nods to the young Ulfen girl without pausing"--and her brother Ulf, who Asvig seems to have absconded with. Anyway Tallak has this totally adorable teen bear that follows him everywhere, and her name is Ursus. She was a bit scary at first, what with being a bear and all, but really she's a sweetheart. She a she right? Or is she a he? Anyway this guy Ukshakka is leaning on is Matin. He got in trouble with Asvig for taking something that didn't belong to him. He got pummeled and left for dead by the half-troll sorcerer whose red-feathered raven keeps spying on us, and we offered to help him escape town alive. (Help Matin escape alive, not the pugilistic sorcerer.) Only alive might be complicated a little bit because before we leave town we need to head back to Asvig's place and steal back Ameiko's sword which Asvig's thugs totally stole from a nice old human named Flynn. Anyway, you've met Calder and Irissa and Rae and Kikiri so I guess you're good now, right?"
Finally pausing to breathe, she glances around and says, "Did I miss anything?"
And with that she lifts the new fizzy cocktail to her lips and takes a sip.
As Clara spoke and her voice fell into an all too familiar cadence, Kurasaviel closed his eyes and his lips moved silently, mentally creating notes and keeping pace with Clara's rapid speech.
"Uh...well I think I've at least got the broad strokes! For those of you who don't know me, I'm an old friend from Sandpoint with several skills you might find useful. It's also going to be better to go pay this Asvig a visit sooner rather than later...seeing as how it looks like Ameiko decided to visit the guy herself."
Kurasaviel explained the note he and Sandru had found in the wagon.
"Normally I'd take my time and share a drink with you but I'll be damned if I let Ameiko face a guy like that alone. Shall we?"