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Vladka Kostel, of Ledov’s Chirurgery Merchants, remembers the buyer of the tools as wearing an unusual high hat and green-tinted reading glasses.
The Auction Master, Ollo Klud, is a stuffy, pretentious man with a bald head and tufts of hair above his ears. He peers at you scrupulously before asking, "Yes? May I help you?"
"Good morrow, Mr. Klud," Lorant says. "I am Squire Lorant Endronil of the Knights of Golarion."
He introduces the others.
"We're making inquiries after a previous customer of yours."
Indeed... and it is of an important, dare I say medical and legal nature.
Thanking the man cordially and bustles to their next destination.
"So an auction, for surgical tools, to then turn around and sell at their own shop?" Lorant asks Mathus after they leave. "That all seems needlessly complicated. I'd have expected the owner just commissioned them directly from the artisan."
I just use the tools of the trade, I don't make the rules... besides the auctioneers more deal in the 'secondary owner' market. Surgeons WANT to pretend they are successful enough to commission their own tools... without always being successful enough to pay the associated price.
Besides, he said with a sniff, While I appreciate fine workmanship I will use any decent set of forceps, scalpel or retractor available. *I* certainly don't rely on gimmicks for successful outcomes.
"Yeah well, you hang around with us so your judgement is obviously suspect." Judah snarked.
"And it's got to be handy if you want to cover the tracks of ownership..." Lorant muses.
"Yeah well, you hang around with us so your judgement is obviously suspect." Judah snarked.
Not at all my friend. You are quite the character and an education in your own right, he says with a faint smile.
"And it's got to be handy if you want to cover the tracks of ownership..." Lorant muses.
There is that... though I haven't dabbled in that side of the trade.
Judah looked around fighting down all the worst case scenarios that flooded his mind when he saw the shop full of grotesqueries. This definitely seemed like the kind of place where someone who makes masks out of other people's faces would work.
Like the last place, he stayed near the doorway and let the others do the talking.
Hey, can you watch the rear entrance, like at the other place? he thought.
Ī̵͕̳̳̯̠͔̜͆̎̓͛͒̾͆͗͐̃͘͝ ̴̢̧̘͎͎͇̣͓͉̬̆͂͠͝͝c̷̨̹̯̣̬͍̜̩̈̓͊͜ͅà̶̲n̴̨̰̹̟̠̼̥̜̤͙̻̺̪̊̓͑̄̽̏͌͆̚ the thing's cacophonous whisper slithered through his mind.
After a moment Judah realized the thing was just answering his question, and not actually doing what Judah said. He sighed.
Do it.
I am Doktor Kohlhiem. A pleasure sir. We have an issue of a medical and legal nature regarding these tools... which unless we have been misinformed you crafted, he says laying them out. Excellent workmanship by the way.
By whom were these commissioned by and how long ago?
And to who were they on sold to, he said.
We intend to keep digging... and have quite a few reasons to be persistent, he says. Come now... let us make this plain.
Perhaps I could buy some additional tools to expand my surgical kit that would match this set while you think about it and see if your memory throws something into a clearer recollection?
Lorant's brow furrows.
"Don't remember? Or don't WANT to remember until you get something from us?"
Now now friend, let us not be hasty to jump to conclusions in a room with so many breakable things... delicate tools, glass shelving... faces, that sort of thing. I'm sure as he's wrapping my new purchases his memory will become VERY clear, he says blandly.
Aid Another...
"We won't tell him. You have an address?"
How much for the surgical equipment then my friend?
Lorant raises an eyebrow, surprised Mathus was still going to buy something now that they had what they needed.
How about 20 gold? Seems appropriate given you won't be telling ANYONE about us then, right? Besides we may well be returning.
He passes over one platinum coin... and balances the other meaningfully.
Excellent... where is Vorkstag and Grine’s Chymic Works?
Lorant watches and waits for Radniche's reply, looking not unlike a raven staring down from a roof.
We best hustle to to the court room! Let's make haste.
Judah felt like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. He kept expecting something ad to happen, but so far they hadn't had many problems in their investigations since coming back from the swamps.
He fell in line behind the others as they headed to the courthouse, refusing to believe their luck had actually changed.
Lorant's brow remains furrowed as they depart and begin making their way to the courthouse. He hoped they had enough to introduce reasonable doubt to the accusations levelled before the Beast. But then this was Ustalav, a land ruled by fear, and people who were afraid often made poor decisions.
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You head to the courthouse with all possible haste to present what you have learned thus far. On arrival, you find that a huge crowd has gathered about the Punishing Man and a carnival-like atmosphere dominates the proceedings. Barrister Kaple meets with you outside the courtroom and listens as you explain what you have learned. "This is good, but we'll need more to prove his innocence. You have three hours until the trial is due to begin. I don't suggest going to Hergstag or Sanctuary right now, but you might be able to learn something at Vorkstag and Grine's. Just be sure to return in time to testify."
"Right. Let's make this quick," Lorant says, leading the way to the address they've recieved.
How do you want to play this? Pretend to need bulk chemicals for a dodgy experiment, play at second hand corpse acquisition or kick in the door? I'm not much shake at deception I am afraid...
"It's possible this is all a red herring, or a dead end. Let's talk worst case scenarios though."
"Vorkstag and Grine might be grave robbing mass murderers who wear other people's faces. Showing up and poking around about those tools would tip our hand real fast. We've already been too loud hunting down their trail. It wouldn't surprise me if they already know they've been made, and are just waiting for someone to show up asking the wrong questions."
"Do we have enough evidence to bust in on them without ending up on trial ourselves? Do we have any actual authority from the courts here?"
The physician winces. Given our patron and friend of professor Lorrimor wanted our help to be in secret, I doubt it. Let's ask Lawyer Gustav and see what he says though...
Cassiel silently follows the group around, looking more and more like a squire in so far over his head he's in danger of drowning than a proper paladin.
"We have skills that should enable us to do that," Lorant comments, giving Judah a "you know what to do" sort of look.
"Alright..." Judah said hesitantly and led the others outside to their horses.
As soon as they were out of earshot of the lawyer, Judah's whole demeanor changed. "If we're doing this, we need to do it right. There's no margin for error in daylight B&E. So let's go over the rules."
"First, containment is everything. We need to make sure that nothing can be traced back to us. We hide our faces. We don't use our real names. We wear clothes we don't normally wear, and destroy them afterward."
"Best case scenario, we find a nest full of intelligent, well connected monsters. Even if we take them down, the people they work with are going to want answers. If we leave any trace, we're going to end up hunted."
"Worst case scenario, this place turns out to be a normal business, and the law gets involved. There's no monster anywhere as scary as a constabulary or merchant's guild that can hire Pathfinders to track your ass down."
"If that turns out Volkstagg and Grine are normal people, we need to be able to cut and run without leaving a trail. So, we also can't use our own horses. We'll each hire a different rickshaw to get us somewhere nearby, like a tavern, and walk the rest of the way. If we have to cut and run, we all go different directions and meet up here later. Going there, and coming back, we don't know each other."
He turned straight to Cas. "We're going to be be breaking into a business in broad daylight, and might end up accosting innocent people in order to find out what we need to know. You going to be ok with that?"
"...uh..."
Cassiel looks decidedly more uncomfortable than before. "...so long as we only use as much force as necessary."
This goes against Lady Iomedae's code... but considering the alternative is letting a possible miscarriage of justice be carried out, it has to be done.
I say, this is all rather exciting. I want to be called "Mister Black"... I definitely don't want to be called "Mister Brown"... so let's go buy some crappy clothes then.
"Fine. Dibs on Mr. Pink."
Lorant nods at Judah's concise breakdown of the plan.
"You're a professional, Judah," he comments. "Yellow for me...it's close to the exact opposite of what I'd wear."
"I'll be Grey. We have three hours. That gives us one to get there, one for the job, and one to get back. Should be plenty of time."
"Wear two layers. Make sure the top one doesn't look like your usual stuff. If you need to do a quick change, just peel the outer layer off in the nearest alley, go out the other end, and start handing clothes to beggars and urchins."
"A scarf and cap will do for a mask if you don't have a bandanna or another shirt you can tear up. Oh, and wrap up your weapons. Fancy decorations and heraldry might as well be a nametag."
"I'm already dressed, so I'll head there now to do some scouting. I'll meet you all there in an hour. When you get there, just behave normally. Window shop on the opposite side of the street. I'll collect you and get you to our staging area once I figure out where it's going to be."
Judah walked away and reversed his cloak, turning his usual faded brown to a charcoal grey.