Till follows the others, and begins describing their actions again, keeping his voice low since they're supposed to stay hidden. "The intrepid explorers arrive at the scene after dark. Alas, they find their way barred. What will they do? Is a locked door enough to keep them out, or will they take a chance and try to venture inside?" While Arisha makes a round of the warehouse, Till keeps her guard up, looking for people who might be there to spot them.
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"Ok, we didn't come here just to take a look of what the building looks like...from the outside. Let's get in", says Lord Arthur. The Taldan then watches Arisha searching the warehouse's exterior stealthily, before to his companions. "Don't tell me that we don't have a picklock?" Arthur's tone is clearly scared.
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Aggie stows her robes and gets into her scale mail for the exploration of the warehouse. She clanks as quietly as she can with the group, occasionally shushing her goat.
"What about a climber? There's some windows up there. I can send my goat up to have a look but he has to glow when he flies. Star rules or something."
As the moonlight shines down on the sturdy warehouse, the Pathfinders set to work examining it. Arisha takes a look around it, trying to find any secret entrances. Alas, if there are any, they don’t appear to be on the outside featureless wall. Till keeps an eye out while the others chat quietly and try to figure a way in.
Niome walks around, trying to locate any more magical items nearby. Either there isn’t any magic in the warehouse, or if there is the stone is thick enough to block the Osirian student’s spell. As she returns to her allies, she detects a few auras, but they appear to be just a few items on Sir Edmond. Until she notices that there are more than usual… and that some of them are further away than would be on the actor. There is exactly one more magical presence, somewhere behind a dilapidated wooden stall long since abandoned nearby. Aggie manages to get a glimpse of some movement behind there - a person’s pale hand in the moonlight briefly sticking out from behind the stall before it slips back out of sight.
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"Dammit!"
Arthur still cannot live with the awareness that someone is spying on them, and he has to make a huge effort in order to prevent himself from running at the spy without caring about being spotted, creating confusion or committing a crime. Fortunately, Arthur's will is strong enough at the moment, and he manages to accept the idea that someone else will chase after the spy.
In the meantime, Arthur gives an indecipherable look at the windows, then at Agdamakha. "A climber you say, eh...?" He scratches his chin, deep in his own thoughts. Then, quite abruptly, he claps his hands. "Very well, I will do it. But give me some rope please. A grappling hook would come in handy,
too".
And with that said, Lord Arthur begins his climb. His intention is to reach a window, open it if possible or destroy it if needed (tying up a rope around it and then applying weight, or with some other means), then enter the building and use the rope to allow his companions to follow him on the inside.
Till is mildly annoyed that he didn't spot the person spying on them, but Sir Osmond wouldn't let that get to him. "Starling idea, Sir Ockham. Let's draw a lot of attention here, so the person spying will be too occupied to notice Noam." He sets his back to the wall and offers the Taldan a leg up.
--
Lord Arthur, with Till’s help, manages to climb up to the barred windows of the warehouse. If he secured the grappling hook or tied the rope to one of the bars, he might be able to bend it far enough out of the way for someone small to get through. Repeating the process on a bar next to it would make a space large enough for just about any of the assembled Pathfinders to squeeze through and drop into the warehouse interior.
In the meantime, Noam scurries over to where Niome noticed someone trying to hide. Before Noam can get there to surprise the would-be hider, he scrabbles out from his hiding place and jumps back from the stall. He looks like a young man who’s lived a hard life: his face is ashen, his greasy black hair hanging to his shoulders. He wears studded leather armor, and has obvious weapons: a sword and a number of different daggers displayed and likely hidden on his person.
He looks at Noam and commands, “Stay back! Why the hell are you running like that?” He’s trying to put on a tough act, but he seems quite nervous and confused by the sight of you all, perhaps even scared. He continues to slowly back away, apparently trying to decide if he should cut and run. His hand goes to his sword’s hilt, but he doesn’t draw it.
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The man looks between Noam and Niome, raising a skeptical eyebrow. The hand on his sword relaxes and he primarily looks confused rather than nervous, soothed if perplexed by Niome’s friendliness. “I ain’t watching you,” he counters, glancing at the silhouettes of those climbing the warehouse wall in the moonlight. “Or, at least… I wasn’t trying to. I was here first, and then you all showed up and I figured a bunch of students was trouble. Whether you’re all a bunch of goodie-two-shoes or pranksters, it didn’t look good to me.”
The man is still nervous, but less so. As his eyes dart from the crouched Noam, to Niome, to the others trying to… encourage the iron bars to part, he appears to be thinking hard about something. After a beat, before the Pathfinders can reply to his first statements, he asks, “Hey, you trying to get into the warehouse?” The question is matter of fact, rather than accusatory. “You seem like you’re, ah, having a little trouble. I might be able to help you out with that, you know. A little you-scratch-my-back-I-scratch-yours, huh? What do you say?” the man offers, adding a yellow-toothed smile.
Till, still wearing his student robes, is absolutely up for the task of aiding Lord Ockham. "Very well, let's show the rest what a great team the both of us make, if we set our minds to it." He picks up the rope behind Arthur and starts pulling as well. He grins as he's working, realizing that he's stronger than the Taldan but trying to make it seem like he's only helping. "This really would be the proper timing for a heavy-ho interlude song, but I suppose we'll have to leave that, since we're trying to be stealthy."
The mysterious man looks to each Pathfinder in turn - he seems a little confused when his eyes drift over where Arisha should be, but he doesn’t seem too bothered by it. There are clearly more important things to pay attention to. He swallows a bit nervously but keeps up his smile as he answers Noam, “Oh, no, it’s not about what you can do for me. It’s what I can do for you. If you want to get in that warehouse, well, it seems like you’ve come to a clever (if brute strength) solution. That’s all well and good, but if you want a more… subtle solution, then I recommend you simply go through the front door.” His smile widens as he pulls a couple of lockpicking tools out of his pocket and flashes them proudly in the moonlight. “For the right price, I could get us all in there. You pay me a fee up front - say, pound o’ goods? - and I also get an equal cut of whatever is in there. Sound like a deal?” he asks, eyeing the Pathfinders expectantly for an answer.
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Niome gives an encouraging nod to the others about the man's intentions. We have... other intentions in there, and things missing tonight might confuse things. she'll glance up at the window being pulled apart realizing it would confuse things as well. You can treat the break in as scouting for later though.
Till slowly lets go of the rope. "I believe we should let them win this argument, good Sir," he remarks, trying to be smooth about it. "I suppose, if we keep a good watch of that shady character, we can negate anything unjust he might think of. And it will allow us to see what the warehouse is like without leaving a trail."
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"Very well. I will act as a proper gentleman and have you ladies have the last word about it. But know that all of this is going to weigh on your conscience, not mine. I consider myself innocent". With that said, Lord Arthur loosens his grip on the rope and tries to get if off the bars. He then turns to the burglar. "Do what you must" he confirms with a nod. "But no thievery inside, otherwise I'm going to suddenly lose all of my unusual compliance, got it?"
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The man’s yellow smile broadens at Noam’s offer. “Listen, listen,” he says in a harsh whisper, trying to soothe the Pathfinders’ discussion in case it attracts wandering ears. “No need for trouble! I see we’ve got a bit of a disagreement here, but you all want a subtle approach if possible, right?” he asks, picking up on Arisha’s comment. He blinks a little and looks over the group again, unsure where the voice came from. He shakes off the strangeness, though, and continues.
He smirks at Till. “Yes, I’m quite the shady character, aren’t I?” he mocks, looking at the rope tied to the window bar. “Your friend’s offer is amenable to me. Two pounds and my services are yours. You slip in, I slip away, we all get what we want!” He turns his grin to Noam. “You’re a shrewd business person, ain’t you? It’s a real pleasure to work with someone with a head on his shoulders.”
***
Once inside, the Pathfinders can explore the warehouse unimpeded. There are numerous crates stacked up with various merchant company logos, and as it appeared from the outside it’s far too large for a poetry reading to take up the whole space. In preparation for the event, one wall is lined with stacked up canvas chairs, and a space is cleared near the front with a nearby stack of wooden pallets that presumably will be used to create a makeshift stage. Toward the back of the warehouse, the place is labyrinthine in places, with crates stacked in disorganized towers that form maze-like twisting spaces between them.
***
The man follows in afterward, running his tongue over his teeth in anticipation. He runs a dirty-fingernailed hand over a couple of the crates, glancing over toward Lord Arthur, just waiting for his vigilance to slip.
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Arisha explores the warehouse, keeping the larcenous helper's mind clouded, although she occasionally fades into partial view for a few seconds before disappearing again whenever she leaves his line of sight and returns during the search.
"I don't see anything special about this warehouse," she comments to the others, "At least nothing to give our friend an edge in escaping."
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Niome is quite happy with the outcome and offers to pay half the amount, Noam's carrying it for her anyway. Inside the place she'll look around with the others, casting her detection of magic about as she goes.
This place may take a while to search through... even if we knew what we were searching for.
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As the payment is sorted out, Aggie clanks her way into the warehouse. As she steps in, she waves her hand a little, and her strange star-goat begins glowing like a candle, and levitating slightly above the ground. She directs her goat around the room to illuminate the interior before she lets out an 'aha'!
"There's a trapdoor over here. Doesn't look locked or rigged or anything!"
Till is happy to see Lord Arthur taking the brunt of the blame for their actions, and stays in the background. He follows the other inside and makes some attempt to search for anything interesting. The affair just seems like an abandoned warehouse to him, and he finds himself very softly humming a heavy-ho song while he makes his round of the warehouse. Aggie's discovery pulls him out of it. "Very nice. Well done, Aggie. Guided by the stars, were you?" he quips with a wink to her levitating goat.
With Agdamakha’s discovery of the hidden trap door, it is now clear how Olandril plans to escape into the Guts, per his plan coded in Madge’s “poetry.” Presumably this entrance somehow leads out to Whaler’s Point.
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