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Eglantine doesn't rush to greet the new woman. On having noted the drab colors of the city, she has done her best to down-play her appearance-- walking through puddles of mud to dull her usually shiny boots, undoing her bun of dark hair to let the rain make it fall it stringy strands around her face, slipping off the brass-rimmed spectacles, and pulling her cloak more tightly over her shiny armor and rapier hilt.
She tries to play it low here, as well, paying for a simple glass of the cheapest wine on offer-- it's going to be vinegary as hell, she knows, but what can one do, these are the joys of Pathfindering in hostile territory-- with as few words as possible and then slinking to a seat out of the way with a gait unlike her usual crisp stride.
From there, Eglantine watches-- not the Chelish woman who is so forthcoming, but the others in the tavern. Specifically, she watches to see if any of them are paying special attention to the exchange unfolding.
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With rain dripping off his scaly skin, Insidion enters the tavern. His flesh writhes unnaturally for a moment, as if something is moving beneath the surface.
He finds a seat, and not caring much to converse with this welcoming woman, looks for their contact.
Brunette with a patch of blonde on the back, was it?
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The woman shakes her head at Oleander's question. "Nah. Their council up there doesn't always pay up. And their problems can actually hurt you. Whereas here" she continues for Takahiro's benefit, seemingly ignoring the bumbling attempts by the other two undercover agents. "Here, well... There's good money to be made, and the prey is ridiculously easy to capture. They might as well wave a red cloth. Alya Renatus; You describe 'em, I'll find 'em. And let me tell you, I've bagged my biggest one yet. This on's gonna make me rich. Enough maybe for a vacation. What do you say Droopy?" she cackles viciously, smacking rather hard one of the seated peasants in the back.
Xichikitte and Insidion, standing shoulder-to-shoulder look about, but despite their best efforts do not see their contact. What they do see is locals who are silently, and fearfully, weathering this woman's company.
While seemingly casual, Alya's eyes do not miss a thing, as Eglantine comes to experience when she lifts her mug in her direction. "C'mon, don't be shy! Join on in! Ah well. Must be my vibrant personality, catches these yokels by surprise. Unless she thinks I'm after her! Halflings these days I tell you, they see one of us and they think we're out to make them slaves or recapture them." she comments, turning back to Takahiro. But while the bounty hunter might have spotted Eglantine, Desna smiled upon the short Pathfinder. For coming from upstairs, barely noticeable, is a sound. The sound of someone shuffling. The sound of a person bound and gagged. Someone with a male voice.
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Noting the bounty hunter’s disinterest in her, Eadie makes a face like she’s just thought, You stuck-up cow!
She casually replaces her great helm and decides to toss her ioun torch into the air after all. “I was getting a headache without it on me noggin’, Skug.”
“Wolfie, NO! Bad boy!”
Eadie takes a sharp tone with the wolf’s mistress. “Oleander, do you want to keep a hold of him? Let’s not have him getting away from you and sniffing out the rooms upstairs like he did at the Bawdy Wench.”
“I wouldn’t want to have to chase after him, like AGAIN!”
Eadie has a careful look around the tap room for anyone carrying a weapon and looks out the window for any Outlanders or local law enforcement.
“I’d like a room.” Eadie tells the barkeep, flashing him a gold piece. “But I wanna have a look at ‘em first. Are any of them already occupied with Ms Renatus’ companions.”
She says loudly. “She couldn’t possibly work alone.”
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Oleander cocks an ear at the woman.
"Did you capture a renown criminal?" She does her best to look impressed.
"Is he famous? I wonder if we have heard of him."
And whether he is our contact.
"We're new in town, are there many criminals around?"
Then turning to Wolfie she adds. "Down boy. Bad wolfie. You'll have to sit outside if you do that again."
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Chagrined at having been spotted, Eglantine comes over and offers a short bow to the loud woman. "A pleasure, I'm certain. What are you drinking? Is there anything decent here? Oleander, if that wolf of yours sheds on me again, I'll give him a piece of joku on tukittu yläkerrassa, ehkä meidän yhteystiedot, minä tarkistaa sitä. So help me Nethys."
After ordering another drink, Eglantine tries to slip away towards the stairs between the forest of knees and belts that is a halfling's usual view-- without the woman's sharp eyes noticing.
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Xichi notices E.G. moving toward the stairs.
I thought the Little Folk were supposed to be inconspicuous. She needs a distraction.
He silently casts a spell , attempting to remain unnoticed doing so.
Well, that could have gone better.
From outside the tavern, the sound of many (about thirty) men are heard running to and fro, with indistinct shouts of alarm and surprise.
The sounds continue as Xichi makes a show of looking surprised to hear it, then pretends to concentrate on his stew as if it were newly spiced and much tastier now.
Go. Go now, while they're distracted!
If anyone actually opens the door to check, the sounds fade quickly away.
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"My advice? Find the road out of here and take it. Place is only fit for the weak and sadists, with the latter ruling over the former" answers Alya to the Tien before switching to the elven pathfinder. "Sometimes the former tend to get uppity with their plight, and sometimes they make enough of a racket that they get bounties placed. So, dangerous? Not for me. But valuable" she chuckles, and is about to take another sip of her ale when she, again, spots Eglantine. "Hey. Hold up a second. How about we see what's hiding under that hood? Step up here girl."
Meanwhile, Insidion has become convinced that their contact has been captured by this woman as Eadie manages to slip the Innkeeper a gold coin. Looking deathly pale he slips the lone coin towards him.
A single gold coin is a start but not nearly enough. Perhaps forty-nine more might prove enough to convince him to part with a key, but that is all, and the price might rise quickly to an altogether different total if Eadie doesn't hurry, as Xichikitte's somewhat discrete gesturing might have deceived the townfolk at the bar, but Alya is not fooled. "What's going on here? Barkeep, I'd say we have troublemakers... Maybe the Silent Enforcers need to be called in" she comments, her eyes on the halfling and the half-orc, her right hand on her blade.
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Eadie raises her visor, so the barkeep can see her face.
“My good man, you have in your possession all of my notable coin.”
“However …” She places a potion sponge of touch of the sea and a vial of antitoxin on the bar top.
“These items are commonly traded between the types of mercenaries and adventurers who come through your door every day. They are worth over 100gp to such people, though I ask just the price of a room.”
She confides to the man in a low voice “Getting my companions out of the tap room and up to a room may also prevent any … misunderstandings between patrons, which would otherwise lead to your bar being damaged and bring undue attention from the Watch.”
“What do you say?”
Eadie sings out to the others. “It’s been a long day and I’m tired. Please forgive us Ms Renatus, long journeys rarely bring out the best in people I find.”
“Brothers and Sisters, I believe I have secured sleeping quarters for us upstairs if anyone is interested.”
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The barkeep fearfully replies to Eadie "Then I hope those two aren't your companions. I am sorry as he discreetly takes the two items offered while sliding the requested key. Putting on a resolute face, he turns around and, quickly assessing who Alya is having issue with, says to Xichi and Eglantine with a barely suppressed quiver in his voice "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. We don't want any trouble here. This is a respectable establishment."
As he speaks, one of the other patrons slips from his table and hurriedly makes his way out the front door. "Are those two with you people?" asks Alya suspiciously to the rest of the group, her eyes darting from one Pathfinder to the other. "You know what? I think we should all stay frosty in this room." She gets up from the bar and moves to the front of the staircase. "Anyone have a problem with this, I'll owe them a meal. But until the Silent Enforcers have come on over to sort this out, we're all staying down here." As an afterthought, she smirks evilly. "Heck, the way this is going, maybe I'll get my money early."
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I'm sorry if my attempt to use my limited magic skills to season this...I think you call it "stew" but I'm not sure what it is...is threatening to you. If this is how you welcome newcomers then perhaps my self-heating frying pans will find a more welcoming market elsewhere. I trust I will be allowed to finish my ale before I'm run out of town like a common criminal?
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“Screwby! A visit from the Watch on top of everything else I’ve put up with today.”
Eadie points at EG and Xichikitte menacingly. “You and you. Your ears made of cloth? SCRAM!!”
“And I hope I catch up with you on the eastern-most road out of here.” The warrior *growls* rattling the falchion at her hip.
“I’m going up to my room now. Insidion, you’re welcome to join me.”
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"Come, drink with me." says Oleander, who seems to be the only one engaging with the bounty hunter in an agreeable manner.
"If they want to rut upstairs, I'd prefer to have an ale under my belt before they get too loud."
After grabbing an ale she adds "Tell me more about hunting bounties here, I've a bit of skill in tracking men myself. And coin is always helpful to come by."
"Some say it's a man's game, but I say women are plenty tough enough to hold our own."
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Eglantine curses mentally as she's spotted yet again by the bounty hunter's sharp eyes. She backs up slowly, making no sudden movements, but trying to give off the impression she's merely some common slink and not with those of the crew who've addressed the woman directly. So, she tries to flinch at Eadie's shouted bellow to 'scram', and to act like this is a real threat from some armored stranger.
"I'm leavin' I'm leavin'," she mutters, in tones that bother her pride, it's a decade since she spoke in the dockside accent and cant of her childhood, that's something Tharien had demanded she forego for 'proper' diction. There's a little pang in her chest at the memory of his repeated exhortations not to drop her Gs...
"Din't want no trouble or nuffink," she scowls, eyes lowered to the floor and her voice a sullen rasp. She moves for the inn's door, shouldering her cloak up again against the driving rain outside.
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While the bounty hunter doesn't seem to buy into Eglantine's story, she nonetheless does sense that Eadie isn't playacting. That and she doesn't really want to have to deal with three warriors at the same time. She steps aside for Skug, Eadie and Insidion, quickly flicking an eye towards Oleander to answer "If the place is still open, sure I'll drink another with you. If it isn't I saw a place further down. I'm not drinking in the job though."
Outside in the rain, Eglantine has a good view of the alleys surrounding the inn and the second flor windows giving onto the main street. She ca also see that the patron that slipped out in now talking to a group of eight sullen-faced men and women dressed in rags and broken manacles taking shelter under an awning. One of them does split off and begins running towards an unknown location, but the rest of them just stay put and listen to the man's story. Mute or not, they don't seem to be willing to go out into the rain. Yet.
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A guttural snarl escapes Insidion's draconic lips as he stomps up the stairs.
"You two are ruining my day! Get lost before I decide I'm no longer tired!" he barks at the two Pathfinders as they get up to leave.
Hoping they can make their way past the Silent Enforcers and rejoin them later, he joins Eadie upstairs.
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Once Insidion and Skug are upstairs, Eadie whispers
“Simple Plan:
• Find our contact – who is likely the bounty hunter’s captive
• Verify it’s him
• Acquire the info/cut him loose
• Get the heck out of this inn before the Watch arrives
• If we get separated, rendezvous on the eastern-most road leading out of town, like I told EG and Xichi
• Avoid the Watch at all costs, or this is over before it begins. OK, Skug?
Eadie unlocks her room and checks quickly for an exit out a window.
Quietly, “Skug can you please set up my rope ready to throw out this open window so we can climb down? Then would you mind watching the stairs? But trust the others to slow the bounty hunter down if it comes to that.”
Eadie drives her bed against a wall and *giggles* “Oh cut me again, my Midnight Lord.”
Now whispering: “Now let’s find Gobrier Frosh. Brown hair, with tuft of blond hair on the back. Remember the sign and counter-sign. Quickly now before the Watch arrives.”
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The second floor upon which the three pathfinders arrive has multiple rooms, each of which has a door giving onto the hallway you barely walked down before claiming a room. The muffled cries for help come from a room in front of yours. Should the innkeeper have provided you with a skeleton key for the rooms up here, it should be child's play to enter Frosh's prison unheard.
However you could be pressed for time. As Xichikitte joins up with Eglantine outside, they can both see that the first group of Silent Enforcers has been joined by a second, led by the one that had left. The patron seems to be explaining himself again to the leader of this patrol.
All told, it looks like there are over a dozen Silent Enforcers massed down there.
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“Oh Shelyn would do ANYTHING to save her brother, Zon ... What?? Out here? But someone might ... Oh, you are crazy, Insy ...”
“Let’s try the key first.”
Eadie nods to her companions. “If it doesn’t open, I’ll slide my adamantine blade through the hinges and the three of us can move the door out of the way quietly.”
“With our muscle, that shouldn’t be a problem.”
Eadie whispers through the door. “Mr Frosh? Do you plan on visiting Riddleport?"
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"--well that was rubbish," Eglantine says in crisp tones to the half-orc. "Hopefully those inside are having better luck. Ugh."
Noting the massing enforces outside, she nudges her fellow Pathfinder in the ribs. "This... doesn't look good. Right. Directly combating them would ruin the whole mission! Bloody Nidalese... got any tricks up your sleeve? I'm about to go invisible myself, do you have a method of clearing out too? If necessary I can do the same for you, Xichikitte. But what we really need to do is figure a way to buy time for the folk inside... WITHOUT getting caught ourselves. I can make a grease slick before the door... not much else occurring off the top of my head. If only I'd studied those spells to lock doors and so forth!"
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Xichi whispers back to Eglantine,
Yes, the gods seem to conspire against us, but perhaps the others will see more favor. I do not know "Invisibility". The best I can do is to make us smaller , but I can get us to a second floor window fairly easily.
He subtly points to his newly purchased boots.
Let us get out of view of the Enforcers, shall we?
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"If you can't make yourself unseen, let me help you with that," Eglantine says crisply. She concentrates a moment, then says another word.
"As for the flying, that would helpful, thanks, you can probably carry me fine, I don't weigh much! Let me see what I can do about greasing the ground quickly, then we can go up, eh?"
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"Sounds like she's having at it with the two of them" replies Alya with a expression that seems to be half moue half shudder, before telling the two Pathfinders about how easy it is to catch slaves and agitators, and how the idea of many quick, easy money after her stint among the Westcrown town guard, and how it would have been crazy for her to refuse such an opportunity.
Meanwhile, the key the innkeeper gave Eadie works. Perhaps there still is some decency in this land. The door opens onto a small, one-bed room. On the floor, tightly tied up lies a tall, spindly man, whose disheveled brown hair only barely hides from the front the patch of blond hair he has in the back. Gagged, he tries to repeat himself. "Ywwww. Mwm mwwm mw mwww wmmm mwwm mw wwwm."
Meanwhile outside, the two groups begin to move in concert, slowly marching the erstwhile patron back towards the Inn. Like a cat playing with it's prey, the Enforcers seem to be enjoying the anguish they are inflicting upon this man. At the rate they are going, Takahiro, Xichikitte and Eglantine imagine that they will be here within five minutes.