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The girls form remains the same.
Ledt looks more closely at the scroll, it appears to be a spell to hold things shut.
She also realises the illusionary spell on the girl is a glamour that will wear off in time - but feeling around you realise it only affects vision and not touch.
It would appear her clothes are somewhat rougher than they appear and her hair shorter. Still female and probably human.
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Yes, you recognise it is an illusion, but not what the real thing below is by sight. That is my reading of the spell.
You know it is not real. Just as discern lie will tell you someone is lying, but not reveal what the truth is.
Ledt can guess by the strength of the aura that the spell probably has not an especially long time to run, maybe ten or twenty minutes, and if you want to wait that long, you will be able to see what she truly looks like.
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Gregor winced at the wound on the girl...if girl she was. He spoke a few words in druidic, and Ironclaw positioned himself by the door to guard it while Gregor looked the girl's wound over. Along with Ledt, he helped stabilize her, then looked to Peter,
"I understand the desire to rush after those that were here, but don't you think we should discover who she was, first? Given the illusion, it's likely she belonged with those that killed Staizkal. She may hold valuable information that would mean we weren't chasing off after a bunch of thugs in the dark, with no clear idea of where we are going. It's true that if we wait for her spell to end, and for her to regain consciousness, we might lose the trail, but Ironclaw's nose if pretty good at snuffing trails out."
"In either case, she should be restrained before we continue."
The druid shrugged. His interests lay more in this woman's condition than chasing thugs, but then they had a job to do.
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"I understand the desire to rush after those that were here, but don't you think we should discover who she was, first? Given the illusion, it's likely she belonged with those that killed Staizkal. She may hold valuable information that would mean we weren't chasing off after a bunch of thugs in the dark, with no clear idea of where we are going. It's true that if we wait for her spell to end, and for her to regain consciousness, we might lose the trail, but Ironclaw's nose if pretty good at snuffing trails out."
"In either case, she should be restrained before we continue."
"We have given a lot of chances for her to surrender, but she did not accept any one and she tried to flee. Anyway, her cronies are somewhere down there and I will find them. Someone come with me?"
Peter says while walk downstairs in the other room.
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The trapdoor leads to a ladder that is 10' up from rocks. Below the light is dim, but it is not dark as such as light filters through from the streets above.
Climbing down Peter finds that some unkind person has greased the rungs and he slips off.
You enter into a gloomy, greenish twilight where scattered beams of light filter down between weathered dock planks, bouncing off seaweed covered stones that jut from the dark harbor waters.
A forest of pylons suspends the docks above where the scurrying feet of merchants, sailors, and longshoremen hammer like a muffled thunderstorm. Between the pylons, you spot small stone bunkers, ruins of older siege forts now crumbling and weathered from centuries of angry waves. A narrow set of docks traverses the rocks, connecting various locations. Eventually, all lead out to the shallow bay at the mouth of the maze. Nearby, you notice a fresh trail of muck-limned, wet footprints.
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Peter twists his ankle a little as he lands
Following the fading footprints through the gloomy underdocks, the team soon comes to a blockhouse with some docks off it. Two official looking men stand nearby a pair of rowboats.
Status,
Peter (3 damage)
Ledt
Theodic
Gregor (2 damage)
-iron claw
Zolaffer
girl
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Getting Ironclaw to go down through the hole proved difficult for Gregor. The bear just would not drop through the hole. Finally, Gregor had to go down first and then call to the little bear several times. Ironclaw tumbled through the hole and landed awkwardly, rolling on the landing and nearly knocking Zolaffer over.
Once he was sure that Ironclaw was okay, Gregor found the footprints and began to follow them, keeping an eye out for any sign that this path was a false trail.
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Zolaffer knows that to pass unrestricted in the underdocks you would need to have a harbourmasters writ. Unless you can prove you are working for the consortium you are not likely to get far.
He also knows there is an official price for bribing guards, set at 100gp.
The guards look legit.
And as you got so high.. he has also heard that some guards have hidden help available to them... though he has no idea what that might mean.
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"Good morning officials. There has been an attack in Lubor Staizkal's shop. The responsibles have gone that way" the halfling indicates the direction of the track "Can you follow them and solve this? Otherwise we can do the job for you if you prefer to stay here. What do you say?"
"Also, we think they may have headed towards a ship called the Hydra's Fant. Do you know where it is docked?"
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The two men look at you, unimpressed.
"If we did know, and we're not saying we don't you understand, we'd be telling you from the comfort of the lockup, assuming you don't have the pass to be down here." says the front man.
The one behind adds "Although I do have a mighty thirst. Telling where the Hyda is would make it worse. If I were quenching that, well, I wouldn't be in any position to lock up anyone, now would I?"
The first turns to his fellow guard nodding his head at his mates wisdom.
"You speak truly, but these poor folk won't have the coin for that, and I'll not risk my neck at the hands of an enforcer for breaking rules for less than... 200 gold."
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"Gah! Gregor winced as a glop of mud splashed up and into his eye. " Watch where you're slinging that mud. Some of us aren't tall enough to get out of the way." He contined to rub at his eye as he walked, nearly running into Zolaffer as everyone halted before the guardsmen, or whatever they were.
"Look, you had to have seen them come by, not more than a few minutes ago. They done foul murder, and we can't just be letting them get away with it. Not with Staizkal's daughter weeping over her father's dead body."
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"You speak truly, but these poor folk won't have the coin for that, and I'll not risk my neck at the hands of an enforcer for breaking rules for less than... 200 gold."
Peter comes close to those men and still have his bloody greatsword in hands.
"Hi, boys. I think it is not necessary. Tell me, can we have some discount in this value?", he says while clean the girl's blood on his greatsword.
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The two guards don't look at all worried by Peter.
The back guard does poke the front one in the back though and gives him a hard look.
"Okay, 100 gold and we'll go have a drink. We'll even tell you where the Fang is anchored, as I'm guessing you are wanting to follow that last lot. Better return the row boat in good condition though."
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The two look at each other and briefly consult.
"Nope, 100 gold is the price, and it's not worth being keel hauled to try and go lower. We don't know anything about Lubor being dead, you could be making that up. Or equially if he is dead, you could have done it."
Two two look a little concerned at that thought and begin to finger their weapons.
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"So you are just going to let those escape? I did not know the guard of the docks are that coward. But ok, perhaps you will prefer us to go to the enforcer and tell him you are accepting bribes..."
Ledt draws a bag with some coins and shows them "Or we can pay 25 gold pieces, the money we have here around and finish the job ourselves..."
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"I don't think you understand.." says the first guard.
"That is the offical rate. We aren't allowed to accept a lower bribe. "
The second one chimes in.
"It's like Economics. By setting the price high, the Enforcers ensure that most folk can't actually bribe us. But because its not like illegal or anything, it means that the option is open. Now taking a bribe that is too low. Thats a real no-no. Keel Hauling is if you are lucky."
The first one takes over.
"Fire ants and honey on his family treasure. That's what they did to Paul. He took a long time to go, and I was one of the ones they made watch."
He shakes his head. The second ones eyes light up at the money. "25gold each would be okay though. I think we could see these good folk as one group and not charge each of them, don't you?"
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Gregor looked at the others, mentally counting his funds. He had enough, sure, but was this the best thing to use it on? He looked to Peter to see what the human would do.
Ironcla sensed the mood around him and growled softly. Gregor held a hand out to the little bear and silenced him, but he knew that if things didn't calm down, the bear was going to cause problems.
"I do not wish to fight the legitimate guards of the city, no matter my personal feelings on how they deal with smugglers and thieves. I have 25 gold pieces to spare."
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Ledt hair sparkles with electricity as he makes the gesture to forgo the 25 gold pieces bag into the guard, but he let's the thing to drop when they are going to take it "Oh, sorry, my mistake"
That is a gesture of discomfort telling you, if you want to give them a lesson, I am with you.
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"So you say"
Says the first guard.
"But letting you take a rowboat that didn't belong to you would be letting you commit another crime - that we know about. And that wouldn't be right either. I'm starting to think the price might be going up. Or you might be making a trip to the harbour master to discuss right and wrong. That would work for me too if you are so keen on me doing me job right."
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"You are the most annoying thing ever. We are just trying to solve this crime and recover relevant valuables and you are going against us instead of helping" Ledt points to the harbormaster's place "We have no time for a pass, that people are already fleeing, if we lose them now we lose them for all stupid!"
The halfling screams while his hair gets into a crazy sparkling of mini blue rays. He suddenly says a few words and a fan of bolts appears in his hands engulfing all the guards.