The group journeys to the Yarpick Roast, a small cafe on the edge of the Foreign Quarter. It's a fairly young establishment headed by a young immigrant from the Bramblewood Forest of Ket. She speaks haltingly, clearly still a bit new to the Common tongue, but introduces herself as Ageelia.
She provides a small bowl of strange plum-sized nuts along with the menus.
"Oooh! Yarpick nuts. I haven't had these since I left Ket."
In Kettish (Kettite? Kettese?): "Thank you, Ageelia."
"Oh!" Ageelia's face lights up, and she responds quickly in the same language. "You're from Ket? It's been so long since I've met someone who understood the language."
"Yeah. Left when I was younger, and moved to Diamond Lake. I wouldn't recommend it. You made a much better choice coming to the Free City. Less dangerous, a lot cleaner. Any particular reason you left?"
Carina was silent for a long time on the way to the Yarpick Roast, stewing over the council's decision.
Hmph. 'Misguided', they say. If they were there when that disaster went down, they'd be changing their tune in a heartbeat.
Suffice to say, Carina doesn't recognize the nuts on offer, but considering Farrukh's happily chowing down on them, she concludes that they're safe to eat and tries a few.
Ageelia looks down. "It's...kind of a long story. The Bramblewood's just not as safe as it used to be, I guess."
She brightens, switching back to the Common tongue. "Sorry, I am a terrible server. Here." She takes the four ratty menus she retrieved and plops them down on the table. "Take ten fi..fimi..." She flushes. "Take one in ten off price."
Farrukh's face darkens.
"I hadn't heard. It's been a long time since I've been home."
Just goes to show you, everybody's got problems. Hope it's not connected to this Age of Worms thing.
He shakes his head and smiles at Ageelia again.
"Well, anyway thank you again. Hope I didn't stir up any bad memories for you."
"Anyhow, I'll have the Spiced Lamb with the vegetables, please."
"I'll have what's he's having," Cuetzpalli says, pointing to Farrukh.
"You'll love it, I think. One of the spicier things on the menu but really tasty."
"My people also eat spicy food. I don't know if it will be the same, but it has been many years since my tongue burned with fire of a proper pepper," Cuetzpalli replies with a grin, he looks excited.
"Well, anyway thank you again. Hope I didn't stir up any bad memories for you."
"Oh, no! It's wonderful to hear the language again, Mister...?"
Shortly after, she returns with the party's dishes.
"Ah, yes, sorry. My name's Farrukh. Farrukh Al'Khatel."
Eben happily leads the party through town to the Foreign Quarter, poiting out sights along the way. Munching on a nut, he orders an eggplant dish of some sort. "This is great, they roast the eggplant slowly, then mash it with spices and peppers. It's served over rice with bread and other bits to dip in it." When the food comes to the table, he occupies himself in enjoying it, accompanied by copious glasses of water.
"You should order some goat milk. Works a bit better than all that water you're downing." Farrukh says in between bites.
Astraden eats several of the nuts, then orders "whatever they're having," indicating Farrukh and Cuetzpalli. "We sometimes had spiced ham . . . this isn't too different, right?"
After a hastily-ordered glass of goat's milk and with tears streaming down her face, the thief-cleric pushes the food away. "Whew, okay, uh, I'm gonna stick with the nuts," she says, pulling the near-empty bowl back over. "So what now? There's still time today to put feelers out for Smenk and Filge. And whoever the snatchers were. Or we could go find Gellner and look into the bee up Etin's bonnet."
Even though it leaves him sweating like a pig, Tanith thoroughly enjoys the well-spiced food.
"This stuff's really good", the big man says between mouthfuls.
"Ah, yes, sorry. My name's Farrukh. Farrukh Al'Khatel."
"Ageelia Enekbewt."
Carina quietly eats the spicy food, making sure to only take small portions to avoid being overwhelmed by the heat.
Part of her wonders if the spice would be as strong if she was still a tiefling...
Astraden watches the group for six hours half a minute, growing unnerved by their silent, meaningful glances. "O-kay, let's try looking for Smenk and Filge. Eben can take Cuetzpalli and me and we'll check in um, the Old City? And the rest of you guys can canvas the River Quarter and the Foreign Quarter. Sound good?"
The cleric flags down Enekbewt. "Um, do you have any fruit or anything? Something portable?" She shells out a couple gold. "And . . . I've barely touched this stuff, so give it to someone who can actually eat it, if you'd be so good."
Tanith nods in understanding even though he knew next to nothing about the River Quarter.
"Come on Red, let's see if we can dig up anything on that bastard Smenk's tracks."
Ageelia smiles. "Uh, yes!" She takes the food back to the kitchen and returns with a small bowl of figs and tangerines. "Here is some fruit. Fi—four silver."
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Carina gets up and walks out, giving the lady a smile and taking Tanith by the hand.
"Time to get to work!"
"Thank you." Astraden drops another gold on the table and scoops up the fruit, bowl and all, before following Carina and Tanith to the door. "We'll see you guys back at the Crooked House sometime tonight. May Olidammara smile on you!"
Once the other group has left, she beckons Eben and Cuetzpalli downhill towards the Thieves' Quarter. "I think our best bet is maybe some flyers, written like 'If you seen this man, come talk to us,' and we draw Smenk on underneath that. We draw 'em all up and stick 'em all over the Old City, and people who've seen him will just come and tell us, with no effort. Are either of you good with a pen?" she asks.
Tanith gladly helps out with the canvasing.
"Like the place where you put pigs? I've wrestled hogs a couple times...but I've never done any pen repair or anything."
Eben nods, sopping up the last of some red sauce on his plate with a piece of flatbread. "Agreed, I think that tracking down that fat bugger and his pet necromancer is definitely the top priority we should focus on now that all that lizardfolk business is out of the way!" He swigs down the last of his mug of goat's milk (having taken Farrukh's suggestion to heart) and grins, a creamy milk mustache visible above his lips for a few moments before his tongue washes it away. "Let's face it, smashing his fat face in will never get old, and really, we just didn't do enough of it back home." He puts a few gold down on the table, including a generous tip and heads outside with the others.
"Yeah, we can do that... but leaving flyers around might tip off the guys what we're looking for. Maybe just make one as a visual aid and then I know some people around Old Town we can show it to." Eben reaches into his pack and rips a page out of the (mostly unwritten in) journal he carries, and retrieves a vial of ink and a pen as well. "I'm crap at drawing, though. If neither of you ar art-inclined, maybe we can let some magic do the job..." He takes a drop of ink on his finger and waggles it above the empty page while chanting.
"I can take a crack at it."
"Well, it' not the WORST drawing I've ever seen."
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"No, his neck is longer..." Eben points out, peeking over Farrukh's shoulder.
"Oh, wait, was that neck? Or just another one of his chins?"
"Oh, hey Farrukh. I guess we could use the muscle. And the drawing skills," she says, looking at the paper with widening eyes. "I never knew you could draw!"
[dice=Diplomacy]1d20+18
[dice=Hours Spent]1d4
Carina gets up and walks out, giving the lady a smile and taking Tanith by the hand.
"Time to get to work!"
[dice=Diplomacy (Gather Information)]1d20+12
[dice=Time Taken (Hours; If Needed)]1d4
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Astraden, Farrukh, Eben and Cuetzpalli find the so-called "Thieves' Quarter" remarkably friendly, a fact that isn't too surprising to Eben. Though crime and misery do seem common here, there's a curious air of camaraderie, as though the idea of "honor among thieves" has caught on here in a big way. Astraden finds herself treated particularly warmly by those the group questions—perhaps for the symbol of Olidammara she wears, a common sight in the Old City.
Although several pedestrians do compliment the sketch on its realism and use of negative space, nobody has seen the man depicted on it. One man in the Slum Quarter says he has and leads Eben on for a bit, but it turns out he's just making a remark about his drinking buddy's wife.
As the four adventurers extract themselves from the ensuing barfight, though, they run into an old woman who does recognize Filge's description. "Oh, aye! Me boys and me was pannin' in the Millstream—never know what y'can finds dropped in there—an' we sees an ugly, weaselly sort've man passing by. Was accompanied by three cloaked men, 'e was. Though none as fat as that 'un." She gestures to the drawing.
Contrary to its innocent-sounding name, Carina and Tanith find the River Quarter to be a riotous district quite reminiscent of Diamond Lake—just with more adventurers. Tanith is big and imposing enough that nobody seems terribly keen on giving him trouble, though, and Carina has a way of making unlikely friends.
A trio of identical men in colorful clothes—obviously triplets—quickly intercept the pair. Finishing each other's sentences, they explain that they have seen a man matching Filge's description headed northwest through the River Quarter. Moreover, they claim to know where Filge lives, and offer to show the way for fifteen gold.
Tanith produces the coin but gives them a stern look beforehand.
”What do you think Red?”
"'Mill Stream,' huh? Can you give us directions?" Astraden fishes a gold piece out of her purse.
The old woman grins, olive eyes gleaming as she snatches the gold coin. "For an orb, I can do a sight better than that, girl."
Leaning heavily upon her gnarled cane, she makes her way rapidly through the Slum's Quarter. As she goes, the group notices they are being followed: Numerous pairs of bright eyes—cat eyes, of the same hue as the woman's—trail after them, watching their every move. The woman either isn't troubled by the pack of felines or doesn't notice them.
They come to the Millstream, a fast-flowing river about thirty feet across. It's surprisingly clean, considering it flows through most of the filthiest parts of the city.
"Oh, hey Farrukh. I guess we could use the muscle. And the drawing skills," she says, looking at the paper with widening eyes. "I never knew you could draw!"
Farrukh looks just as surprised.
"Ummm...neither did I."
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Once out of earshot, Farrukh turns to the rest of the group.
"Anybody else think something was odd about that woman?"
"And which direction did he go in?" Astraden smiles at the cats. "Are those your 'boys?'"
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"Nah, she seemed nice. What's odd is those three cloaked men. I wouldn't be surprised if they had no flesh under the hood."