|
William groans and gets to his feet.
"Yes, we will accept your surrender. Divest the wounded of their arms and we will assist in saving them."
Grabbing his fallen sword and frowning at his blood soaking the floor, he growls "This would have been easier of you had just answered our door and talked to us."
|
Uther pats William on the shoulder, glad the man is back on his feet, "Hey, we only came to talk anyway." He says to the rat-woman as he walks around to her fallen comrades, "But I'll see that your friends are alright, if you don't mind. You just stay there and chat with my friends, okay?" He then utters a quick prayer for the two archers and sets about removing their weapons.
|
The half-rat looks on warily as Uther approaches the two archers, ready to leap at him if he attempts any hostility on them. But when their wounds stabilises, she lets out an almost inaudible sigh of relief.
She stares at you suspiciously. "You are not here for our goods?"
|
Tellerin looks surprised at the cessation of fighting, muttering "They DID just try to kill you. No one's thinking they might just try again as soon as we turn our backs?"
He heads on over to the half-rat and puts his hands on his hips "Maybe yes, maybe no. Depends if what we're looking for is here or not. Is it?" He lets the ratty fellow mull that over for only a second or two before blindsiding him with "Why are the Vaors after it? Where did that gold come from?"
Tellerin looks upward, trying to put an angry scowl on his face and failing miserably.
|
|
William uses his wand a second time to finish closing his wound before stowing the magical impliment. He pointedly does not sheathe his bloody sword.
Looking at the furry humanoid he adds, "We were simply here to ask about the Vaors family's interest in the key, and perhaps a hint as to how they financed it. Instead of pleasant conversation and courtesy, we recieved harsh blows and some, frankly, suspicious behavior. Perhaps now that we've got the skuffling out of the way, we can converse?"
|
|
The half-rat scoffs at Tellerin, glares at Lumo and barely pays much attention to William. She is deliberating what to reveal and what to keep hidden. Turning to glance at her fallen companions, she takes a deep breath.
"So, you're not with the authorities? And say we keep it that way?" Without waiting for an affirmation, she continues. "We have no interest in the key. I just needed to find some way to ... legitimise some funds that have come our way. So your interest is in the key, is it? And this your way to eliminate the competition?" She starts sniffling in laughter. "I was just going to wait out the auction for my deposit to be returned to me, to not draw attention. But if it means that much to you, I can proceed to withdraw and collect my deposit before it begins. So long as my funds have been ... rerouted and cleaned, I care little for the proceedings."
While turning out the belongings of the three of them to remove their weapons, you also find nothing of note on their persons.
|
|
Though pleased that the half-rat seems willing to be reasonable, Jacinth can't help but raise an eyebrow when she mentions having no interest in the key. "Really? That's a strange little rigmarole to go through if all you care about is the deposit money and not the key itself. But when you say that this money needed to be 'legitimized'...I suppose we should take that to mean that it wasn't obtained under the most legal of means?"
|
|
Lumo finally starts to pay attention to the prisoner more closely. "Those boxes important you? That what you're hiding from the authorities? " He pulls out his Earthbreaker and walks over to the suspicious crates. " Well, we're not the law, so you won't mind if I take a look? " Without waiting for an answer, he begins trying to pry the crates open. Hmmmm... what could it be? Drugs? Stolen artifacts?
|
|
"How we obtained the money shall remain the business between the source and the Vaor family. I do not see how that is of interest to you, since I surmise you are after the artifact, for which I have already insisted it not the interest of me or my family."
That's when Lumo starts freely opening the crates in the warehouse. "No, be careful!" Sure enough, when Lumo opens a few, he finds stashes of miscellaneous household decorative items like vases, statuettes, porcelain teapots, silverware, and what not. Some appear to be junk but others appear valuable, but it is difficult to tell them apart, with them packed haphazardly, cushioned by rough straw. She steps forward, but steps back immediately on seeing all the Pathfinders' weapons trained on her. She continues glaring at him.
|
|
"Hmm... Smuggling is it?" Uther muses as he approaches the crates Lumo just opened, "I'm no expert in this sort of thing, but is this stuff really worth killing over?" He shrugs, "I don't know... I suppose as long as you ain't smuggling people or dangerous drugs in these crates, who am I to stand in your way?" He picks up one of the vases and has a good look inside.
|
|
Lumo looks up from the crates in disappointment. Smuggled pottery? Seriously? I was hoping for something more exciting than that! Just then, he looks at the captive with a rude response and catches her looking at the back room. " Perhaps you have something more interesting back here? "
He heads towards the back room and briefly looks at the door for traps.
After about six seconds if perusal, he opens it and checks out the room.
|
|
A mass of chaos greets Lumo when he opens the door to the back room. It is small room, dominated by a large table. Well, at least he assumes there's a table there. What he actually sees is a massive pile of papers stacked up haphazardly and somewhere below, there must be a table to actually keep them from falling to the floor. The Vaors business must either have an esoteric filing system, an excellent memory of where to look for things, or perhaps they just didn't care too much about paperwork.
Lumo does a cursory search through the stacks of papers, but other than random letters, shipping manifests, old newspapers, and what not, nothing catches his eyes particularly.
|
|
The much sharper eyes of Christina, though, pick up important documents almost with supernatural ease. She surfaces a few seemingly casual notes, but on more careful reading, reveals how some of the items in the warehouse were acquired by servants pilfering from their noble employers, or from burglars looking to fence their goods. Looks like William got his evidence.
One particular note, however, catches her eyes, as it is very different from the rest. For one, the script is rather more refined than the messy scribbles that's the hallmark of most of the other documents.
More bizarre is the content of the note.
|
|
Tellerin pulls back when its clear his attempt at interrogation was doing more to help the rat-guy's self esteem than anything else. He follows along with Lumo to the back room and looks through the paperwork stored back there.
"Awfully suspicious, awfully suspicious..." He flips through paper after paper of mundane information. "That story about 'legitimizing funds' seems weird. There should have been an easier way to do it than entering an auction for a giant key."
When Christina uncovers the note, he climbs up onto a table to get a good look at it. "Hmmm." He rubs at his eyebrows as he thinks about what it might mean "It's not the Vaors or Underbridge Exports who are interested in the Key then. Someone gave them a deposit to place on their behalf? And 'sowing the seeds' could mean?" He crosses his arms. "One thing's for sure, that there is an ancient Thassilonian symbol. The Key looks the same way. Not sure why someone would stamp that on their message though..."
|
|
William frowns fiercely at the relevations.
"Stolen goods, money washing, and more sinister sounding plots. No Lumo, I do not believe they are farmers, something worse."
Glaring at the furry woman he asks, "I don't suppose you want to clarify what this note means? It will go much better for you if you come clean."
Looking about the warehouse apparently full of illicit goods.
"I guess we had better call the watch."
|
|
William glowers at the half-rat, and even though she had taken him down with some ease earlier, now that he is back at his full strength, he strikes an intimidating pose.
"Look, a strange woman hired us for the sum of the deposit, all right? All she wanted us to do is walk around the outside of the Abadaran cathedral and scatter some seeds or dust or something. Easy money. Some blessing ritual, my guess. That's all I know!"
Convinced that she is telling the truth in this matter, the Pathfinders proceed to call down the authorities. Other than the mysterious note which the Pathfinders retain, the other documents that Christina dug up were handed over to the watch, providing sufficient evidence to incriminate the wererat Vaor family of their illicit activities. The local watch did not appear particularly enthusiastic in their task, but still hauled the leader and the companions back for questioning. Figuring how slow and inefficient they appear, even if they manage to squirm their way out of trouble, they would likely be retained for days, missing the auction completely.
With the satisfaction of not only completing the assigned mission but also putting down a criminal syndicate, the Pathfinders return to Heidmarch Manor and report their success.
"Well done. You have very effectively taken the Vaor family out of the running of the auction, without implicating the Society in the process." Maxillon looks worryingly at the note and frowns, deep in thought. "This is troubling though. It might not be related to the auction, but with how much we have put into this, we can ill afford to have other interference. I'll refer this to Lady Heidmarch, whom I trust will put her best people to investigate this." Turning back to the Pathfinders, Maxillon reverts to his usual business-like demeanour. "But time is running short, and we need your team for one possible last mission."
"There were two women at the pre-auction who paid their deposit in Minkaian coins which, according to our sources, may have been stolen during a recent caravan raid. If such is the case, the duo no doubt have dubious intentions. The women call themselves the Duchesses and they likely have ties to one of Magnimar’s criminal organizations; I suspect the Rushlight Society. Still, it is their finances and not their intentions that most concern us, for now. Some of our more reliable street contacts informed me that the two women were last seen entering the home of a local merchant named Windun Landers. Perhaps not so coincidentally, Landers has a wrought iron rushlight mounted on his door casing. Head to the man’s residence, and see if you can’t figure out how much money these “Duchesses” have. If all is as I suspect, they don’t have enough to bid competitively. I’m also near certain they’re using stolen funds, so leave whatever gold you find. I don’t want us bidding with illegally gotten coin — that’ll create more problems for us than it will solve. Lastly, whatever you happen to find, do not involve the authorities, at least until the auction is over. I cannot risk the courts subpoenaing your testimony during the auction. What you choose to do after that, well, it is no longer of our concern.”
Maxillon gives you the address of Windun Landers' residence. It is not far, and you arrive shortly. By now, the sun has set and the neighborhood is quiet. The two-story moderately-sized house stands apart from other residences. Light pours out from a room from the west wing on the 2nd floor, but the curtains are drawn tight. The rest of the house is in darkness.
|
|
William sighs inwardly at their last instruction not to contact authorities until after the auction.
It is true and prudent, yet taken with the rest of our benefactor's moral ambiguity does make her request seem nefarious. What does she know that she is not telling?
As the group approaches the manor, William informs his companions; "When I saw these two at the gala I noticed a faint evil aura, I know not what we will encounter here but be on guard and keep blades ready."
Reaching the manor, he continues "Do we send Christina to scout or..." chuffing Lumo on the armored shoulder, "The direct approach has been working today, maybe you and I just go knock, eh?"
|
|
Nigel smiles at William after the debriefing and being informed that they are evil, Well looks like another one that we are doing the right thing William.
Nigel looks at Christina who slinks a bit, knowing she is going to be asked to do something she doesn't want to. I think she should be able to make a loop around the house, peeking in each room. She can see in the dark so we can try to find out if there are any other people in the home besides the people in the west room. Looking in the west room would be a bit of risk but we can try it.
|
|
Tellerin has his arms crossed and doesn't look satisfied as the group is debriefed and re-briefed. "The most interesting story here is definitely that note! I hope it's not going to one of the other Pathfinder teams for them to sort out. I would hate to miss a dramatic unmasking of some wicked enthusiast of ancient Thassilon."
"But I guess we have more competitors to sabotage..." He sighs "At least these ones are some kind of evil, minor as it'll probably be."
-----------
Once at the manor, Tellerin takes a brief look around while Christina scouts. "So are the Duchesses here to gather more gold from their associate? Or something else? Its really tough to decide how to do this with how little we know." Suddenly his eyes widen with realization "Do you think they keep their second floor windows braced shut? Because I have a spell that could open the window if they aren't! Maybe Christina could hear what they're chatting about inside! With the curtain drawn they won't even notice it's ajar."
Tellerin sneaks over to the side of the house and casts Open on the window above with a swish of his fingers and a single syllable. He tries to open the window just an inch.
|
|
As the group approaches the house, Lumo smiles at William. "You know me, subtle as a ram. " He chuckles a little. " Hehe, or a rhino. Ya know, we should be grateful for the good morals of this mission. " He looks at the party with a half smile. " I mean, after we trespass and break into this random citizen's house looking for two mildly unsavory women's gold stash, we don't have to take it! " He laughs again, forgetting about stealth for the moment. "This mission is practically heavenly, right William? "
|
|
Christina slithers up to the second floor, continuing to do a slow circuit around the building. All the windows are closed to stave off the night chill, and their curtains drawn. She only hears silence through all the windows, except the southeastern one. She spends a bit longer hanging just below one of the windows. She hears faint sounds of movement, occasional footsteps, scrapping of chair legs across the floor, a soft cough. Eventually, she becomes convinced that there is only one person in the house as far as she can tell. And a male at that.
Tellerin creeps over to one side and with a flourish, opens an upstairs window just a crack. Sure enough, they are closed but not locked.
Meanwhile, all the Pathfinders look on, discussing among themselves ...
|
|
While he waits for Christina to report back with her findings, Uther heads over to the door and pokes at the wrought iron rushlight, "I've never heard of Rushlight Society, but if they're a criminal organisation, why advertise their membership?" He shrugs, "I don't think I'll ever understand city-folk..."
|
|
"Who's there?" a voice calls out from the room. Christina hears the sound of a chair being pushed back, and footsteps heading towards the window. Christina quickly slithers along the walls away from the window in the darkness. She hears the voice mutters, "Huh, I could have sworn I had closed this."
The curtains are swept apart, and the window pushed open. A middle-aged man with droopy jowls pokes his head out of the window and sees the group of Pathfinders, except for Christina and Tellerin who have scrambled to the other side of the house. He glances at the nagaji squatting among the bushes, then pointedly ignores Lumo, dismissing the strange behaviour as the custom of a strange species.
Instead, he turns his attention to the rest of the Pathfinders, and asks, somewhat warily but without hostility, "Yes, can I help you?"
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Ah...yes, good evening," Jacinth calls out. "Apologies for our rather...unorthodox and unannounced arrival, but we wished to discuss some business with you concerning some...mutual acquaintances of ours," she proceeds, nodding her head towards the wrought iron rushlight. "Nothing terrible and it should only take a short bit of your time and then we will be on our way and out of your hair," the elven woman smiles.
|
|
"I see. Strange time of the day, but give me a moment." The seems somewhat charmed by Jacinth's demeanour, and smiles back in return. He steps back and shuts the window. Christina can hear him walking out of the room.
A few moments later, the front door opens, and a rather obese man stands frame by the door looking down the stairs at you. "Good evening, I'm Windun Landers. Pray, what business you have of me this evening?"