You come across several merchants who can tell you businesses from your list that are in other districts, but you can't find anyone who knows of one here in Crownsgate. Also.. no one has heard of Gaelmato Enterprises.
You see Anumil looking off toward an area with unmarked (seemingly empty) storefronts with awning and decking.
Anumil wandered casually back to the others.
"Gentlemen; take a look past my right shoulder. Do you see that?
"All those people moving up and down on this thoroughfare, and all avoiding that one block. To the point of crossing into oncoming traffic to not touch it.
"Interesting, don't you think?" He said pleasantly, just passing the time of day.
The mentioned storefronts make a "U" the ends of which abut a warehouse... also unmarked.
"Suspicious to say the least. Shall we go check it out?"
Sunny wanders about the stalls and shops peering into them with unabashed curiosity.
At Anumils' comment her curiosity is peeked and she skips towards the buildings in question.
(^_^)
"Let us send someone ahead stealthy."
Corum gestures, and Sunny turns invisible.
Suny happily skips over to the building.. possibly unaware that she's less than perceptible...
The storefronts are empty.. some empty shelves, and/or tables...
Then you get to the last one before the corner. You see two people at a table near the back of the store.. and someone standing in the back doorway. That person in the doorway is lit from behind by sunlight and green. There must be a courtyard behind the stores... within the "U" of storefronts abutting the warehouse.
Not long after Sunny disappears, one of the local passers-by veers away very nearly right into you .. she seems to instantly snap out of a daze. "Oh glory... apologies my good men.", and moves to move on.
Shuddering a little Sunny proceeds to looks for the clues she and her friends so desperately need.
Sunny edges a little bit... closer...
Anumil tipped his hat politely to the woman.
"Not at all. Good day to you Madame." He replied affably.
He continued to casually look over the area.
"Well, that was odd." Arcthyl says as he watches the woman walk away.
"Sorry.. would love to have you along... but were low on biomass on Feyeater's. Until this whackadoo works out the numbers for direct transfer teleportation, you're both off-duty."
He inches back a bit.. enough for his face to catch some light. His strong dark features and jaw, high cheekbones, are perhaps too extreme to be called handsome... but definitely a striking and memorable intense face.
You see him toss a coin pouch to each of them.
"Enjoy a night on the town on the Gaelmato family's coin. Check in tomorrow." He turns and leaves out the back door into the hidden courtyard. The two at the table remain.. the bottle upon it is still half-full.
You catch yourself breathing a little onto the window, but you don't notice anyone noticing.
Suny gasps aloud in surprise, before turning and quickly scampering back to her friends...
... Once back with Arcthyl and Anumil she bounces up and down excitedly,
"Over there!" She points invisibly, "In'a place over there is peoples whut's talkin' all funny like an' talkin' abut eatin' pixies an' stuffs like whut t'is we's tryin' ta' find!" She tells them urgently and enthusiastically even as she skips about for a few more moments before exclaiming more and scampering off... so her voice fades back towards the buildings,
"There's a feller leavin' by a back way. Am gon'a try an' follow him ta' where t'is he be goin'!"
Two men.. (fairly well-dressed in comparison to most around here) exit a storefront door, cross the street, and head into a tavern - which looks a little on the seedy side.
You peer into the center, and see a 50'x 50' courtyard.
You see the man go around a statue in the courtyard center (a gruesome dark statue of a armored man with one boot on a large spider's body, and in one outstretched hand the upper half of a drider.. torn from its spider lower half), and moves toward the back door of the warehouse directly on the other side.
He pauses for a moment and raises his voice to two guards at a second story balcony with adjacent exterior stairs to the ground.
"Keep your heads while we're away. Don't forget he's insanely clever... not just insane."
The man then enters the back door of the warehouse on the opposite side of the courtyard.
Hoping her friends note the fellows leaving the place to which she pointed to/out Sunny continues to scamper on her way.
Noticing the men crossing the street coming out of the area they were interested, Anumil turned to the rest of his party.
"Should we wait for Sunny, or follow those two interesting fellows?" He asked, keeping his voice low.
You are able to get inside to the interior door... you hear voices within, and can peer through the keyhole.
Plush opulent room wall hangings and art ostentatious stately furniture... a few well-dressed people, and three "butler constructs".
"We cannot delay any longer."
"But.. the "appearance of weakness" with our low number is troubling, Leng may take with force what we'd meant to deal."
"We will manage, Holfstedt. You have the best of the Gaelmato to protect you."
The man and two others adjust dials on the constructs' chests, then lie back on divans while syringes extend from the constructs' forearms.
You recognize one of the two other men as Holfstedt Moranni.
The constructs inject them, and they appear to fall asleep almost immediately... the constructs remain at their sides.
He looked around.
"And where DID she go anyway?"
"C"mon! They went this a'way" Sunny tugs on some one's sleeve.
Sunny leads you through the center shop - unlit and near empty, and to the back door which opens into a courtyard. You feel an unnatural aversion as you enter... something mental willing you away.
In the center is a gruesome dark statue of a armored man with one boot on a large spider's body, and in one outstretched hand the upper half of a drider.. torn from its spider lower half. On the far side is the rear entrance of the warehouse. There is a door directly across from you, and just to the left a flight of stairs leading to a balcony and another door leading into the warehouse.
Arcthyl is shaken...
"SHall we check out upstairs first, or the warehouse?"
Anumil slowed and gritted his teeth. There was something here... some will that opposed his very presence. He struggled to move forward.
"I think we should... check out the balcony door." He gritted out.
Sunny skips into the space again and looks around for the people she saw here last time...
At Arcthyl and Anumil's reply she nods and scampers over to said stairs and begins to pad up towards the second floor. Looking out for things that might inconvenience her friends.
Once Arcthyl and Anumil step into the courtyard, a guard on the balcony ducks into the nearby 2nd floor door. A moment later he and another guard appear "Hold it! Drop your weapons!", and head for the stairs down to the courtyard.
As you move nearer to the dark statue, you somehow sense it is the source of the aversion - a constant "I should not be here... I should not see this.. I should leave and forget this." nagging your thoughts.
Still not being see-able Sunny simply skips up the stairs (Quiet, like) and looks at the pair that have presented themselves.
Even leaning around/past them to try and get a view into the rooms beyond them.
(^_^)
"Hold it! Drop your weapons!"
Squinting a little as he approached the statue, Anumil just shook his head.
"I think not." He said flatly."I am curious about this statue. What is it supposed to be?" He asked, as casually as he could manage.
One guard stops short...
"Darklord Ingenti Gaelmato? He is.. the patriarch."
The other.. "I know you." he levels his curved blade toward Anumil.
"You interfered .. near Volksfelt." He eyes Arcthyl and Corum - both prepared to cast at the first sign of battle... "You were all there... " Remaining at the top of the stair, it comes out more as a call for aid than battle cry.
When the guard outside yells "to arms", the guard here turns towards the door you are peering through.. just now noticing it is open.
"Come, come." Said Anumil, waiving his off hand at the guards.
"I offer the usual terms for your surrender. We have questions.
"Like who this Darklord is in truth. 'Ingenti Gaelmato'? Sounds rather like a nom de guerre to me."
If Suny kicks the door... and it happens to fly into the face of the guy with the x-bow... Is Suny commuting an attack? I'm am kind of guessing so, since it's a 'violent' action... still....
*Nods*
Should such physical contact cause her to become visible?