I'll get the dwarfs drinking tonight, and get into their room to get a copy of their map, give us a better understanding on what we have around this back door.
Geborah has to force herself to focus on her morning divinations. The novelty of casting a new spell has worn off, and the gossip of the town is so repetitive and dreary. But the magic has exposed some of the fortress's vulnerabilities, so she persists.
After renewing the Unknowable Alignment on herself, she consults with Balam. You've been watching comings and goings from the fortress for several days, she communicates silently. By now you must know the servants, and when they travel to and from Balentyne. Tell me of the oldest among them...what route does she take home at night?
The day cleaning the manse goes by easily with something to look forward to. As she dusts and scrubs, Geborah goes over her plans in her mind, trying to imagine in advance how every detail must be handled. This place will be clean indeed. If the reeve is honest, and the captain needs another worker, I'm certain to get in. And it's a small matter to make sure there's an opening at the fortress.
Late in the day, when the workers are soon to return from the fortress, Geborah changes her disguise to that of an anonymous ragamuffin of the village and slips out of the manse. She conceals herself in a hedgerow hundreds of feet from the footpath Balam has told her the oldest servant takes home every night, and pretends to be eating an apple in privacy as she awaits her victim.
When she spies the old servant heading home, she discards her apple and pronounces a curse on the hapless drudge from her hiding spot. The air blackens around her and hell-runes drip from her mouth to the ground as she works the curse, but at this distance her malevolence will likely be unnoticed.
You hear more gossip about how beautiful Kaitlyn Mott is, but you also hear more gossip about the master of the rookery, "Mad Martin is a strange one! He tends the rookery in the Watchtower. They say he never leaves except for necessities. He talks to the birds like people and has named every one!"
Balam responds to Geborah's question, There's an old woman who walks through the south of town to the western side. She's probably your best bet for replacement.
At that moment, Jezabel butts in. I learned something fun. Ye Merrie Men, William Marcus Marlowe's acting troupe, will be coming to Aldencross to perform 'The Fall of Amberlyn'. Furthermore, the Bard of Barrington has secured a one-night exclusive performance within the watchtower. I'm sure that all the soldiers and the captains and everyone will be there to watch. Maybe we can sneak into the watchtower during the show and cause some...mischief?
Jezabel butts in. I learned something fun. Ye Merrie Men, William Marcus Marlowe's acting troupe, will be coming to Aldencross to perform 'The Fall of Amberlyn'. Furthermore, the Bard of Barrington has secured a one-night exclusive performance within the watchtower. I'm sure that all the soldiers and the captains and everyone will be there to watch. Maybe we can sneak into the watchtower during the show and cause some...mischief?
Geborah smiles wickedly. Well snooped. What day, Jezabel?
Though she was an outsider, William Marcus Marlowe was in fact a famous writer, appreciated even on the mainland, and "The Fall of Amberlyn" was one of the Bard's most important works. Now, closing her eyes, just what did the relic hunter remember of her time in university, during the Great Works of Golarian Literature class that she had taken her first year?
Turning her mind to other things, Tatienne frowned. "Is tomorrow the day we need to ride out and kill the Captain?"
Today is Fireday, Neth 24. Tomorrow is market day. The day after that is Sunday, when we'll kill the Captain and his patrol. Wraith, did you purchase that horse-conjuring spell? It's probably the cheapest and least conspicuous way for us to obtain mounts. Geborah's eyes narrow as she thinks through her plans. I actually hope to capture the Captain long enough to get a writing sample from him. That way, Tatienne, you can forge a convincing letter to draw out another target--the Mitran priest.
Wraith upon the morning heads back to the Illuminated Scroll and purchases both the Mount spell, and the materials to make scrolls. He'll make himself look like someone else, if asked he'll say he's an adventurer coming through town.
25gp for Mount Scroll and 300 for scroll crafting, for a total of 325. Hell use 25 from his personal stash for the scroll and the group fund for the scroll mats.
Have you any new plans for intelligence gathering, Tatienne? Perhaps a new guise? You might pretend to be one of the Merrie Men's advance agents, here to inspect the staging area, and so see an area of the fortress we haven't accessed yet. Or perhaps you might disguise yourself as Mrs. Mott and arrange an assignation with her lover tonight, so we don't have to wait and guess when we can catch them in the act.
Tatienne spends the day as Kala, preparing to leave. She frequents shops, taverns, and other public places, and generally expresses displeasure that she was unable to obtain an audience or gain entry to Balentyne.
All Tatienne hears as she prepares to depart is some of the same gossip about Father Donnigan, and how some people think he was demoted and exiled to the Watch Wall for some kind of trouble he got into.
Geborah, what are your plans for the day?
'Auntie Geb' returns to the inn Fireday evening concealing a vicious smile. If I'd mastered that spell earlier, I'd've picked off the Stokers one by one and none would be the wiser. But then I'd not be here. Subtle are the plans of Asmodeus.
She asks around to see if any of the off-duty soldiers from Balentyne what day and time Ye Merrie Men will perform at the fortress, since Jezabel could not answer her that.
She also treats herself to a glass of red wine and gossips with the patrons. Their faces and stories are becoming familiar, but she holds out hope of learning a new weakness of the fortress.
When her colleagues arrive, she fills them in on her day and what she has learned. Tatienne, you were relating something about the playwright Marlowe, were you not?
She winks at her familiar lurking at the window, and the magpie wings off into the night. I just sent Golachab to discover if Mrs. Mott is entertaining her lover tonight. Unraveling that thread would be a good night's work. If she is not, perhaps we could sneak into the alchemist's shop and steal his supply of poison, replacing it with flour to avoid immediate discovery.
William Marcus Marlowe, the Bard of Barringtion, is a well-known actor and playwright from the town of Barrington. His acting style is quite loud and Shatnerian in style, and he possesses a boisterous personality. It makes him the perfect distraction.
Ye Merrie Men consists of William Marlowe and twelve actors and stagehands. Controversially, two of the actors are actually women.
The Fall of Amberlyn is roughly 3 hours long, and is a rousing tale of how love and greed brought down a great city state. The plot centers around two young lovers, Brandon and Bronwyn.
Jezabel quirks her eyebrows at Geborah. The play will be performed next Starday, at eight o'clock in the evening.
Geborah, listening to the townsfolk and their gossip, overhears one person say, while glancing at Barnabus, "Those dwarves are a thieving lot! I heard one of them was caught picking a man’s pocket."
After about an hour or so, Geborah, through her empathic link with Golachab, feels a sense of triumph and excitement.
Geborah considers the new rumor spreading through town. Wraith, it seems like your dwarf friends aren't popular around town--the humans are blaming them for thefts. Perhaps there's a way to stoke that resentment and get them to leave or thrown out of town. Perhaps if you break in to the alchemist's disguised as a dwarf, steal some obvious valuables, and leave them among the dwarves' possessions? It might be a good cover for your theft of the poison, particularly if you replace the poison with flour or something so the theft isn't immediately obvious.
Or perhaps in your merchant guise, you could claim they asked you to fence stolen goods? People have noticed you cozying up to them, I'm sure. If your merchant identity then vanished, the dwarves would look very guilty indeed.
Geborah cocks her head and smiles distantly. It seems my magpie has caught a worm. Now to bait the hook!
Moving as quickly as her old woman disguise permits, "Auntie Geb" moves up the road to the fortress gate. Pasting a look of fear and concern on her face, she hurries to the guards on duty and speaks breathlessly to them. "Please, I must speak to Captain Mott! It's...it's his wife..."
If the Captain comes, she speaks to him as privately as he'll allow. "Oh, captain, I was passing by your house, and I heard the most alarming sounds! I fear that dear wife of yours is in danger!" Her face drops, ashamed. "I came to you instead of raising a cry because...no woman wants it to be known that she's been...attacked." She looks up sharply and hisses at him. "Go! Quickly!"