Welcome to Longacre, a town close to the Whisperwood in the middle of Cheliax. Where being good is not considered a virtue and binding contracts and getting the most out of it defines the life of the people. Where law isn't for the better of the public, but for the mighty to keep the others down.
"Hey, Fordaneil, bring me another glass of wine. But this time without watering it down." Moira calls the woman behind the bar. Her current glass she puts in front of Karthus.
The Arch and Lark is a lousy wannabe location, that barely sees customers. As the locals avoid it. That's because Fordaneil Cembers thinks she is something better and she sells no ale. With only two pubs in town it's an achievement to not have a customer base. But obviously the Nobles that come through Longacre now and then seem to be enough to keep the pub and her owner alive.
And being empty more often than not is the reason Moira is here.
"Har Har Har!" Karthus laughs with a deep clangorous voice, as he wishes he could make an angry face. "Even if I could, I wouldn't drink this crap." He shoves the glass away to the middle of the table.
Cembers brings another glass and sets it down on the table. "That's two silver then." she tells and waits for the coins.
Moira sips at the wine. "Better, but not much."
"But the nice ambience and the pleasing manner of the service personnel is worth every copper of it." she adds while passing the two silver.
Cembers snorts at the comment, grabs the coins and moves behind the counter again.
A woman enters the Arch and Lark looking around she comes over to Moira and Karthus. She pulls out a chair. "You're here for the job?"
As Cembers puts the towel down to come over she stops her with a glare and a small gesture of her hand.
"If the job and pay is right, I sure am." Karthus answers with a little excitement.
Cimri sits down. "We will rough someone up for not paying their debts. And we get to keep what we can shake out of them."
"Not very convincing, if they can't pay their debts, they probably have no money." Karthus sounds disappointed, he hoped for better.
"Or they just don't want to. But it really can't be that much, or it wasn't for us to keep. How about you give us some more details?" Moira suggests.
"It's someone who didn't pay their taxes. You can either have your share of what we find or I pay you five gold each and you get nothing else." Cimri offers. "And don't get the wrong idea. The not paid taxes are not yours to have."
"Okay, then let's take everything we find, this household must have something of any worth. Is there anything else we need to know?" Karthus asks.
"We'll meet tonight when the moon rises over the trees. Just outside the Castle Gate." Cimri tells. Then she gets up, checks that the barkeep didn't listen in on their talk and leaves the pub.
"We'll never get rich that way!" Karthus hits the table. After some time he asks:"Is there anything you want to do until tonight?"
Moira grins at Bony's outburst. "Maybe go shopping? I seem to have lost my hairbrush." She empties the glass of wine in one gulp and gets up. "Let's go."
Karthus stands up and leaves the pup with Moira and follows her to the General store. Having entered the shop, he searches through some shelves until he finds hairbrushes and picks one. "Hey, do you like this one?" he shows Moira the Hairbrush. It's brown like all the others but it seems to be the latest.
"Yeah, why not." Moira replies, brushing over the bristles with her hand.
She picks a few more items for daily use and hands it all to the woman behind the counter. "I'll take that. No need to pack it, I'll put it into my backpack." She puts some coins on the counter as told by the shop keep.
"Let's get back to the tavern to get some rest before work." Moira tells and leads the way to the Last Stand Tavern.
The evening comes and the night too and with the moon Moira and Karthus raise from their rest and leave Longacre through the Castle Gate. There Cimri waits already. "It's time you show up. Come along." She leads the group about a mile out of town. There from a hill there is a good view over the countryside.
The town of Longacre sits just outside the fringes of the Whisperwood. A few lights shine in the streets and windows, and the occasional snippet of conversation or laughter issues from open doors, but here on the outskirts of town, the night is quiet and dark. Sparse clouds scud across the sky, momentarily obscuring the dim light from the moon overhead. Across a scrubby field, barely distinguishable under the starry sky, a darkened, fortlike compound hunches in the distance.
Cimri points toward the dim structure. "That’s it—Louslik Tannery. Here’s the job: We break in, sack Ol’ Louslik’s office, take whatever’s shiny, and get out before the sheriff shows up. If we get separated, meet back at the Ash House by dawn." Dull moonlight glints across her dagger as she flicks it in emphasis. "If you get pinched, remember: you’re mute. Keep your mouth shut, and I’ll handle things. I got assurances that we won’t take any blame if things go south. But get chatty and I’ll let you rot." A beat passes and her usual crooked smirk appears. "If you don’t screw things up, we’ll all be drinking on Razelago’s coin come dawn. Let’s do this."
"What's the approach? Kicking in the door? Sneaking in?" Moira asks.
"Kicking in the door sounds good to me, I'm not sneaky." Karthus replies to Moira.
"You first then." Moira tells.
"Then let's find a door to kick." Karthus advances towards the dim building and walks around it, checking every way in and out.
A log palisade surrounds the tannery. In places, gaps between the gray, dry-rotted trunks are wide enough to pass a hand through. To the west, a muddy trail slips beneath a plank gate similar to a barn door. These barriers do absolutely nothing to block the heavy stench of chemicals and dung drifting from within.
Cart furrows and disturbing stains mar the muddy yard behind the palisade. Around the perimeter, murky water pools in rows of sunken tubs. Unspeakable muck encrusts each vat and half-submerged skins float within. From these scabby concoctions drifts a sinus-assaulting reek—a dizzying miasma of rotten eggs, lime, and far worse.
Two buildings are visible. One with a light in the windows, the other one dark.
"This yard looks disgusting. Anyways, it might be easier to climb the palisades and open the gate from the inside" Karthus says and starts climbing.
After he climbed the gate, he looks around, checking if anyone has seen him.
The gate that opens into the tannery’s work yard features a simple mechanism, designed to swing open to admit delivery carts. Constructed for
convenience, not defense, a lock can be bypassed to open the gate with the pull of a lever, which is pretty clear when standing inside. It won’t necessarily be quiet, though.
In front of the door to the lighted building lies a large dog. The dog gets up and walks in Bony's direction.
"There is a dog coming. Found a way to open the door already?" Moira asks.
Dragging a long haft behind her, a young girl skips as she follows you. A long, dark crimson scarf flowing behind her. The scarf in a much better condition than most of the other clothes she is wearing.
She stops a short distance behind you and sits atop a tree stump, watching you, her legs tucked under her chin. The long haft held between her legs and chest.
"I do, but everyone will hear it! Get ready for the dog and whatever will come." Karthus warns and throws the lever to open the door.
The door opens with a loud creaking noise. The dog charges in and Jumps at Bony. But to no effect.
Karthus laughs. "Oh, poor dog can't get his bones." He then attacks the dog.
The dog drops to the ground with two deep gaping wounds.
"That was short work. Poor dog." Moira comments as she walks past. In one hand she holds her mace, in the other the black and white mask, the holy symbol of Nethys.
Inside the building another dog starts to bark. And the door is opened by a man. As he sees what bony has done to the dog he disappears into the house again.
"Let's get this man before he somehow gets out." Karthus commands and walks straight to the buildings door and opens it. With violence after he realizes the door is locked.
The door splinters at the violent try to enter from bony. Stepping inside he faces a small dog and the owner of the Tannery, Jabral Louslik. Armed with a crossbow.
But the bolt gets caught between the cloak and the bones of Karthus without effect.
Moira stabilizes the dog and follows to the house. Walking inside, she holds up her holy symbol and channels negative energy. "Maybe you want to step down and give us what we want, before you end like your dog." she offers Louslik.
The dog whinces as the energy flows through it and it tries ineffectively to bite. Louslik weathers most of it and busies himself reloading his crossbow.
Karthus walks to Jabral Louslik as he seems not to surrender and attacks him.
Louslik panics as he sees the skeleton up close under the cloak. He grabs a chair and beats at Bony.
As it works better than using her mace Moira channels again.
The dog drops to the ground.
And this time also Louslik is hit hard by the dark wave.
Karthus would kill Louslik, but it isn't his job so he just claws him one more time to make him unconscious.
Moira stabilizes the dog and Louslik. "That was quick."
"What exactly are we searching for?" she inquires looking around the room.
Louslik has a potion of cure light wounds, the mwk heavy crossbow with 9 bolts, and two keys on him. One of it matches the lockbox hidden under the desk. The contents are divided into numerous small leather purses (each branded prominently with the initials "L. T."), containing silver pieces in 10, 20, and 50 sp increments. The funds are worth a total of 1500gp. The box weighs 20 pounds, but can easily be transported.
Clarice stands small, just inside the doorway, "I'm sorry you didn't get to join in daddy. I'll be faster next time! I promise!" she pleads apologetically with what is now visible as a large scythe with a black haft and pitch black blade.
After a moment she looks up from the scythe blade behind her on the floor and says to the two in the room, "You two seem fun, and daddy says you are good at this. Daddy says I should ask if I can help?"
"Who's your daddy?" Moira asks the obvious question.
"This is daddy." Clarice says, tilting the haft of her scythe slightly, light catching momentarily on the blade.
Moira looks at Bony "What the..." pondering if that tiefling is dangerously crazy, or just annoyingly crazy.
Clarice cocks her head slightly, as a child who is confused or interested in something would, the action is not quite natural though. Her smile also seems slightly off but you are not completely sure why.
You also notice a barbed tail flick out from the trail of the scarf for a moment before disappearing again.
"Well, if you want to help us, fine. But if you want my gold for this quest we're in, you're not welcome!" Karthus replies to Clarice and takes the box with the silver in it and asks the shady woman: "How many taxes does he owe?"