Falina nodded in agreement with the general sentiment thought she did add in, "I think we should just pay the fine for those we can, the less we have to break out the better." She considered then what to do about Laria and said, "I don't know that it is wise for most of you to go to the guard tower though. I can change my appearance so I can go pay the fine. With any luck I can find out more about the layout as well."
"Be careful. Find out what we can. We do know a lawyer or two if we need to use them. They seemed to be willing to take on one of the noble houses to gain Dom his freedom. They might be willing to go after Thrune just to see how far they can go using the law."
"We might as well get a decent night's rest and come up with a contingency plan tonight then. I'm sure it'll seem less suspicious if you go in the morning." Arani says after considering Falina's plan. "I might follow you at a distance, I'm pretty good at being invisible in a crowd when I need to be."
"I'll disguise myself as well, and follow. Everyone is welcome to stay here at the manor as long as we need to. We have the room." She shows everyone upstairs to separate rooms they can use.
"Thanks Davina." Arani says as she puts down her bow and gear in the room she's shown. "Y'know, it's been pretty non-stop the last couple of days, I haven't even gotten a chance to get to know you all much...which is funny considering I would gladly trust you all with my life at this point." the ranger says wryly.
The fact was that being around the others, being a part of the Silver Ravens definitely made her feel less alone, eliminating those quiet moments when her fight against Thrune felt hopeless. For that, she was spectacularly grateful.
"Thanks for letting us stay here, Davina," Leora says, glad they have some place to stay now that the Nest was discovered.
To Arani, she says "Yeah, welcome to the Silver Ravens! Nothing makes you get to know people better like fighting for your lives against the forces of evil!"
Leora is also glad to rest at Davina's place, after her near-death experience, and all of the stuff the Ravens had been through just in the last day.
"I'm not particularly good at hiding in crowds or disguising myself. I could hang out at another coffee shop, restaurant, or tavern nearby in case you need backup though." Leora tries to remember if there are other places she could hang out unobtrusively near the guard tower, since it is fairly close to Laria's.
"Thank you, Davina," says T'chazzar.
"I'll use some makeup and try not to stand out too much. We do need to figure out where we'll make our new base of operations. Possibly the old monastery now? We can't bring people back to the coffee shop now that it's been compromised."
The old Irori monastery? I doubt anyone would look for us there. We also have that horrible basement in the Livery we could stay in in a real pinch."
"Don't pay any attention to my mother. This is my house. She just lives here. If she asks you are all helping me with research for my next book."
"The monastery sounds reasonable, though there would also be a certain irony to using the spot we just cleared out once the scrivenite has left." Arani comments.
"I'm admittedly a fan of irony."
ERADON MANOR & THE VILLEGRE DISTRICT DOTTARI WATCH STATION (9 Gozran)
A new day (finally) dawns on Thrune-throttled Kintargo. Davina's kin welcome Arani, T'chazzar, and Falina into their extended family while greeting Leora like she's already a favorite daughter. No word had come yet from the folks left behind in Redroof, but that's not too concerning, as they might not yet know what has befallen Laria...and Jessibel and Sabrina are notorious for sleeping in every chance they get.
After preparing some disguises, the group heads out to the watch station, leaving Leora in a small café called Myrna's Place. The watch tower is one of several dottari stations throughout the city. While many are used as barracks, stables, and for storage, all the watch towers have at least a couple of cells to temporarily secure criminals. Each district also has at least one main lock-up, and the one you stand before is Villegre's version of that. A cursory check of the building reveals only one point of egress: a set of double doors that opens up on the city side of the wall. There is a heavy iron portcullis that can be lowered in times of emergency, but none of you has ever actually seen a watch station with the gate lowered.
Proceeding inside, you find the entry chamber to be a small area with a few desks situated throughout. A spiral staircase climbs along one wall to the tower's upper levels. A second descending staircase can be seen on the other side of the room, but this one is blocked by two gates made of iron bars. It's a safe bet this chokepoint leads down to the prisoner cells. Five dottari are in the room currently, but more are likely present elsewhere in the building.
A female dottari in her early 30s looks up from her paperwork as your group enters. She looks way too awake for this hour of the morning. "Can I help you folks with something?" she demands as she eyeballs each of you with plain suspicion.
Falina was unsure how to react at the ready acceptance of Davina's family. The sorceress had always been something of a loner in the past only using those around her to further her ends in destroying Thrune. To be so readily accepted was just strange to her and she didn't understand how to react to it. She kept her silence and observed what was going on while she tried to decide how to act. It was actually a relief for her to go to bed for the night even if said bed was rather empty without her lover in it.
When the morning arrived and they made their preparations Falina shifted into yet a different form. This one was different still than those she'd used before so there was little risk in someone knowing it was her. When they arrived at the guard tower she stepped forward and spoke to the secretary and said, "I heard that you recently arrested several employees from a coffee shop, ones with an illicit statue underneath it." She smiled wickedly and said, "I would like to buy them."
Davina makes sure everyone gets their breakfast, and opens up her Uncle Elden's Stage Makeup. "Feel free to use it. He's a Theater Professor, and likes to act in the annual productions." She does her usual young blond student disguise.
She stiffens slightly as Falina offers to purchase the "prisoners", and waits to see what happens. She gives Arani a quick glance glad that Leora was left in the cafe.
Taking full advantage of the proffesional stage makeup, Arani does a masterful job of changing her appearance, lightening her complexion, donning a honey blonde wig and changing the gait of her walk along with her body language.
Arani shares a look with Davina, concerned as well. Offering to bail them out was one thing, buying them...not that she'd put it past the current laws of the city.
THE VILLEGRE DISTRICT DOTTARI WATCH STATION (9 Gozran)
"I'm sorry, but they've already been purchased," the female dottari announces. "Wait--are you here at the behest of Countess Urora?"
Countess Urora is the matriarch of the Kintargo branch of the Sarini family. Her husband is Victorio, a cruel man, and she has three children, of whom Sabrina is the youngest. The family supports House Thrune, both the Queen and new Lord-Mayor.
Rumor has it that Countess Urora's sanity may be slipping. Also, her other children are Devlin (a summoner, the eldest and likely heir) and Erinya, a magic-user of some sort who runs a theater of the real (the Crimson Veil) at the bottom of Temple Hill.
Falina's face showed a bit of aggravation as she said, "You mean they already remitted payment for them?" She rolled her eyes as she said, "Typical....I knew I should have been wary of the messenger, he's had it out for me ever since I refused his advances." Falina leaned forward and gave the woman a confidential look as she said, "Between you and me he is more than a little lacking and very full of his imagined prowess."
Falina gave a long suffering sigh and said, "You are correct of course, we came on Countess Urora's behalf to purchase them, or I guess now retrieve them for her." Seeming thoughtful Falina said, "You know, I could turn this to my advantage. Now that I know what has happened I can make that little prick suffer for his attempt to shame me before the Countess."
Falina's gaze became devious as she said took the pouch of coins out and began to shake out a portion of them which she then slid across to the woman behind the desk. "Here, as thanks for giving me a chance to bring that fool down. I'll bring the pouch back to the Countess and let her know it was only half full when we arrived and that her foresight in sending payment ahead was wise. I'll place the blame full on that prick of a steward."
Arani flashes Davina another glance as the Countess is mentioned, and opportunity to twist things into confusion but also a far greater danger. It would be interesting to see this unfolds.
THE VILLEGRE DISTRICT DOTTARI WATCH STATION (9 Gozran)
"Uh, no--we haven't received payment yet: Just got word that the Countess wanted to buy the staff intact. She must be planning on buying and re-opening the place or maybe moving it to a new location."
"So...are you here to make the payment and pick up the little slips ? I should have the voucher here somewhere...Ah yes! 500 gold sails due: Buy 5 slips and the 6th is free, apparently!"
The woman slides the receipt across the tabletop and asks Falina to sign it while she awaits the payment.
Davina sighs, "That's Miss Sabrina's household. They always get to the good slips first." Davina takes a step back as if she were in line to purchase a slave or two.
As the request for payment comes, Arani turns, signaling the disguised T'chazzar to approach with the required payment while Falina signs the required documents.
T'chazzar advances with head bowed, looking for all the world like a simple house functionary (albeit an elvish one). He retrieves several pouches, each holding a hundred gold pieces, and wordlessly places them on the counter of the watch station, then bows his head and silently steps back.
THE VILLEGRE DISTRICT DOTTARI WATCH STATION (9 Gozran)
The transaction goes down without a hitch. If any of Laria's staff recognize their saviors, they're wise enough to hide their reactions. The six halflings are brought up from the holding area in a chain gang, their wrists in manacles connected to the lead length of chain. The dottari presents Falina with a key she says will open all the manacles.
Falina ignored T'chazzar and his actions like he was a being not much higher in regards than the halflings. "There is the payment for the merchandise." Falina took the slip of paper and signed it Xarinda.
Once the "slaves" were led out Falina took the lead chain and said, "I will let my lady know the efficiency and good service you have given to her." She accepted the key and looked at the "slave" and said commandingly, "Come along Slips, you're fate for crossing the might of House Thrune awaits you."
Davina sighs as if she's lost out on the purchase and leaves heading in the opposite direction. She's hoping to catch up with Falina and the other's on the opposite block.
Giving T'chazzar a subtle signal to follow, Arani falls in behind Falina with the air of a favored aide.
THE STREETS OF VILLEGRE DISTRICT (9 Gozran)
Outside the dottari watchtower, your group finds itself back in public with a chain gang of 6 halfling slaves in tow. While you haven't drawn any undue scrutiny yet, your group is somewhat noteworthy: a line of chained halfling slaves isn't a common sight on Kintargo's streets and the sheer size of your group (and the chain linking the halflings) makes you noticeable just by the fact that other folks in the street have to adjust course at times to move around you all.
"Take them into an alley. We need to get the chains off them and disappear into the streets. Maybe hit the sewers for a few blocks."
"I'll swing by and pick up Leora on the way."
T'chazzar wordlessly follows the chain gang and when Davina gives the word he unshackles the halflings.
"We better move fast, this is gonna get chaotic."
Arani keeps a lookout a they remove the shackles and perpare to move.
THE STREETS OF VILLEGRE DISTRICT (9 Gozran)
Despite T'chazzar's misgivings, you have no problem slipping into an alley and unshackling the halflings. Davina and Leora rejoin the party a few minutes later.
"Into the sewers, and let's get to the Livery Stable. We can figure it out from there." Davina suggests.
"Okay, I'll take the lead down there." Arani says as they head below.
Once below, she readies her bow, eyes sharp for any sign of danger.
Leora sips some coffee in the cafe while her friends bail out the halflings. She's not happy to be sitting around doing nothing while they could be caught and have who-knows-what happen to them. But she's relieved when Davina comes by to get her, and they rejoin the shackled "slaves."
Leora struggles not to show her fury at the chained up halflings, reminding herself that they're still undercover.
When Davina returns with Leora, Arani can clearly see the vaguely restrained anger on Leora's face, an emotion that she herself felt rather intensely at the forced slavery, but had a lot more experience keeping in check. "Just remember to breathe Leora, I hate this too, we all do. One of these days we'll rid this city of $#!+ like this."
As she begins to lead the way through the sewers, the ranger comes to a halt, turning to Davina. "Is there anywhere else we can take them? There's no possible way to make it to Fair Fortune Livery from here without coming above ground...and crossing the river for that matter. That and it's pactically on the other end of the city."
SEWERS OF VILLEGRE (9 Gozran)
The sewers of mainland Kintargo are more traditional in nature, meaning that they weren't once those districts' street levels. Aside from a few rats and slightly oversized scuttling vermin like roaches and centipedes, the tunnels are quiet if a bit smelly.
The only places you can think of that would make for a decent a short-term solution to hiding the newly-freed halflings are the many abandoned buildings in Villegre in the neighborhood of Alabaster Academy. The school had a much larger student body in the past before one of its professors (Mangvhune) was revealed to be the infamous Temple Hill Slasher. As a result, several small dormitories near the academy have been abandoned and are mostly vacant, except for rats, vermin, and the occasional vagrant squatter.
You have the beginnings of a potential plan to get the halflings out of Kintargo. You recall Jessibel once mentioning that her grandmother's official holding is a sleepy fishing village called Cypress Point, located on the coast further to the north. If you could get the halflings there, it'd be possible to hire a vessel to carry the small folk out of the country. The security there would be a hell of a lot more lax than it currently is on the Kintargo docks, at the very least.
"We could maybe head for the Alabaster Academy neighborhood." Arani says after a bit of thought. "It used to have a much larger student body before the Temple Hill Slasher turned out to be one of their professors, which definitely affected enrollment. Since then several small dormitories near the academy have been abandoned and are mostly vacant.....except for rats or the random squatter."
"Let's to there. I remember a settlement that Jess mentioned. We might be able to slip them out that way and avoid the more heavily patrolled docks. The village was called Cypress Point."
"We can make our way there after hiding in the dormitories for a while.
VILLEGRE SEWERS & ABANDONED DORMITORY
The group passes through the sewers without incident, popping back up to street level a block southwest of Alabaster Academy. With a little bit of scouting, you find a run-down two-story building. Its doors and windows are boarded shut, but the timbers have rotted away on one ground-floor window, allowing access when pried fully away.
The building's interior is dusty but mostly clean. There's no sign that anything other than mice and rats has been inside for a very long time.
Davina recalls another detail that might be useful for shipping the freed halflings north to Cypress Point, which is located about 40 miles northeast of Kintargo: a shipment of salted fish arrives from the port once a week to make deliveries before returning to the quiet fishing village.
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It was a relief when they made it out of the sewers and to relative safety in the abandoned building. When they were safely inside and their entrance concealed Falina found some privacy and shifted back to herself. When she returned to the group she stretched and some of her joints popped, as she looked around the place.
Noticing how filthy the place was Falina cast a spell and a tiny whirlwind started to spin around the room. It gathered the dust and debris and took it to one of the other rooms and dropped it out of the way where it wouldn't bother them. "There, that's better."
KINTARGO (Moonday, 12 Gozran)
Over the past few days, the scattered Silver Ravens have made strides at setting up various safehouses throughout the city: some folks have stayed at Eradon Manor, others at the Silver Stein Inn, still more at the abandoned dormitory where the halfling staff from the Long Roads Coffeehouse are hiding out, and several team members and supporters are busily cleaning out the lower level of the Fair Fortune Livery to make it inhabitable.
Now, the Silver Ravens and a few trusted lieutenants (Rexus, Forvian Crowe, Turl the dwarf, and Kiri and the Fushi Sisters) are gathered at Eradon Manor for a meeting regarding the potential rescue of Laria Longroads and the future of the rebellion going forward. Rexus is deeply depressed at the irrefutable proof that his parents are indeed dead, though he nonetheless expresses thanks for the picture and soul tomes recovered in the secret hideout of the Sacred Order of Archivists inside and beneath Hocum's Fantasmagorium.
Kiri starts off the proceedings by presenting for exhibit a flyer detailing Lord-Mayor Barzillai Thrune's latest proclamation (#9, for those of you keeping score at home). It reads:
BY ORDER OF LORD-MAYOR BARZILLAI THRUNE, THE CONGRESS OF HELLKNIGHTS KNOWN AS THE ORDER OF THE TORRENT IS FROM THIS DAY FORWARD STRIPPED OF ITS CHARTER! ALL OF ITS HOLDINGS AND POSSESSIONS ARE CONFISCATED, ITS PRIVILEGES AND ENTITLEMENTS REVOKED, AND ITS MEMBERS DECLARED OUTLAWS!
STEADFAST CITIZENS ARE COMMANDED TO TURN OVER THOSE MEMBERS WHO HAVE SLIPPED THE NET OF JUSTICE!
Forvian puts forth some tentative plans regarding the (hopeful) rescue of Laria, while Kiri reports that the Sarini family has put in an offer to buy the coffeehouse, further indicating some connection between Saul Porter, the imp Blosodriette, and that nefarious noble house.
Rexus makes a brief but disturbing report about something he discovered while perusing the soul tome of his departed mother: The Sacred Order of Archivists stored a copy of the devil-related chapters of the Book of the Damned in their hideout for years. The only person who ever read from these pages was a kindly traveling scholar who called himself Trailblazer Huni, who perused the tome a couple years back before vanishing from the city.
Jessibel arrives to the meeting fashionably late, but with good cause: she's had preliminary vague talks with her grandmother and believes the rescued halflings might be smuggled out of the city when the fish sellers from her family's holding at Cypress Point make their next delivery to the city. The young noblewoman admits she'd rather stay in the city and scheme and hobnob with the Ravens and her friends at the Opera House Society but is willing to take one for the team and accompany the fish wagons (and halflings) north to ensure their safe arrival and subsequent departure from there on a ship.
The girl also claims that she has a friend--a trainer, in fact--who'd like a meeting with the Silver Ravens: Setrona Sabinus, the outspoken owner of a small tavern in Old Kintargo called the Tooth and Nail. (Leora would remember the woman and tavern from the double-date she and Jessi had with the Vashnarstill twins earlier.)
"So the Order of the Torrent has crossed him enough to get sold out. Might be worth it to keep an eye out for possible recruitment of their former ranks, looking to escape Thrune's witchhunt." Arani says as she takes a sip of tea, leaning back in her seat.