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As the others enter the nearly empty vault Ayla--already in the room--holds out her hands and exclaims, "I swear it wasn't me!"
Then she rejoins the other and examines the tapestry.
"Yeah, what a curious bit of valuable, very heavy and cumbersome treasure--I mean--what fine and odd craftsmanship. Missing lanterns and what not. Very mysterious. So did you fix Skelg?"
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"He left the ship with Haldyr’s wife, an Irrisen woman named Natalya who had been set adrift on the ship to die alongside her husband, as is the Ulfen custom."
"Now that's cold," Ayla quips, then she laughs at her own joke for a solid half minute.
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"So about this magical, easily transportable and potentially extremely valuable lantern... Where might I find it?" Ayla asks with a wide smile.
"Bengeirr, hey? Well, I say we pay this guy a visit!"
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Barbo goes and examines the painting after Egg points out the missing Lantern. "Cursed items. Everybody knows you don't miss with a funeral." He begins to pace as he thinks. "It seems like we may need to return these items to the ship to lift the curse. The first step to that would be finding this Bengeirr."
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Well, first of all, I knew there was something fishy. Secondly sir, given the situation you are in, you might consider taking out an insurance policy from Mutual of Abadar to protect your belongings in case there ever comes a day you run out of favors to cash in with out bear of a Venture-Captain. The rates are reasonable and peace of mind is measurable.
He stuffs a pamphlet into Tyro's hand before getting down to business. Anywho, this is a pretty wild job. Did you have any idea the lantern was such an artifact? What a fascinating provenance, I will have such fun writing it up later for the archives. And whatever became of this Haldyr's wife? Did she wed Skelg. Is there a Mrs. The Ripper?
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"Indeed, let's find Bengeirr. I doubt he will be happy to see us though... Let's drag those guards into one of the rooms downstairs and see what they have to say." She moves to head downstairs. "When this is all over, we can turn them all into the City Guard too." Thank the Dawnflower we were able to prevent their deaths.
[dice=Knowledge(Local)]1d20+9
You retrieve the defeated Ulfens and revive them, but they are tight-lipped, despite having been bested in combat.
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"Hey you!" Ayla exclaims, jabbing a finger at one of the guards. "Tell me where your boss is so I can rob him! Alternatively, tell me where your boss is so he can kick my scrawny little butt!"
Suddenly she looks shocked. "Unless of course you're admitting that I could kick HIS ugly butt! Is that it? Is he a sissy coward who's gonna get butt-kicked by a little gnomish girl!? Huh?"
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The Dwarven salesman pulls out his masterwork visual aids and begins to put together a slide show style presentation on why they should speak with us.
See here in slide one, this is the list of possible crimes you could be punished for for your actions just now. Pay particular note to the suggested sentence for conspiracy to commit murder. Thats a long time for a human.
He flips to a blank page and draws a picture of a lantern
Help us retrieve the magic lantern anf we can see to it that the sentence you serve is a lighter one. Perhaps just breaking and entering. We need it to help our friend. If he actually dies, why that would be met with a most harsh penalty.
The Dwarf flips another page and draws a hangmans stage and noose Thats a crime that gets you a most shameful execution by the state and not a glorious death in battle. You don't want that right? Just tell us where your boss absconded to with the goods so we can save his life and yoi get to live to die in battle some other day. Any questions or concerns? Perhaps you can just spill?
The men seem singularly unimpressed by Ayla's interrogation technique, even with Barbo's aid and Geico's presentation.
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This is going nowhere... Lilianna's hand shimmers with a divine radiance that she lets wash over herself before speaking. "Let's make a deal. You have committed crimes against a citizen of this town and Pharasma is likely to judge your soul unworthy of Heavan, Nirvana, or Elysium. Furthermore, you will sit in a prison cell until you die dishonorably. I offer you the chance to walk away from this and the opportunity to redeem yourself by living a better life. Tell us where this Bengeirr is, and when we have conducted our business, you get to walk away. What do you say?"
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Lilianna's questioning is slightly more helpful. One of the guards looks worried for a moment before blurting out, "Don't let me die like a dog! Bengeirr is renting a warhouse on the west docks from a man named Tullo Baltias. It's across from the Rosy Fingers Tavern."
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"Yeah, I'm done with these fools!" Ayla exclaims, putting her menacing charcoal stick away safely in her backpack.
"To the mysterious warehouse!" she cries, scampering out of the manor and to the front gate. Once there she waits for the others.
When they leave for the warehouse, Ayla lets Barbo lead the way. She chats with him about his youthful misadventures, and Ayla's own current misadventures.
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"Thank you for taking the first step towards redemption. As promised, when we have concluded our business, you shall be free to follow the path you choose. Should you wish to take more steps into the sun's embrace, Sarenrae is always willing to be your guide." Lilianna leaves a wooden holy symbol of Sarenrae in the laps of each prisoner before heading off after the group. I only needed a minute longer! These agents don't waste a second.
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The warehouse across from The Rosy Fingers Tavern is built right on the docks, part of it extending over the water. The building is thirty feet tall with no visible windows. On the landward side is a pair of large cargo doors with a smaller door built into the right one. Piers run along either side of the building and on the seaward side is a massive set of doors able to accommodate a small ship. Windows are covered with an oiled paper, blocking any view inside.
The street is busy, with several taverns among the warehouses. Most of the warehouses have sentries in front of them, and the ships at the docks are similarly guarded. A single Ulfen warrior with an axe resting in his lap sits on a small pile of crates across from the warehouse you are seeking, obviously keeping watch on the main door.
As you nonchalantly walk past, sizing up the warehouse, neither Egg nor Barbo sees any convenient way in other than the front door.
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Ayla scampers over to the guard. She's taunts him, ready to scamper away at any moment into the back alley.
"Hello there, Begeirrs nameless henchman!" she says with a smile and a wave. "I'm Ayla! You should probably remember that, since I kicked your friends butts and all! You, know. The pair outside Skelg the Rippers Place?" she smiles widely, describing them if necessary until he believes her.
"Yeah, that's them. Well when I was drawing pictures on their faces and torturing them and stuff, they told me ALL about you. They said you were ugly, and a coward, and that they were pretty sure you liked to retire with old Bengeirr at night, if you know what I mean... They said that when I came to fight you, you'd run off like a crying child!"
"Flytt eller kom hit hvor jeg kan klippe hodet ditt!"
The Ulfen guard scowls at Ayla, but doesn't seem to be the sort to be easily taunted away from his job.
The random person Barbo talks to just shrugs and says, "It's a warehouse, what do you expect?"
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Ayla bends over and waggles her butt at the guard.
Since he's not showing signs of moving, Ayla laughs. "Well, I guess I'll just smash my way in, then. How thick are the walls? Think they'll outlast a sledgehammer? What about a fireball?Oh! I've got plenty of acid. I could melt my way in!
Ayla wanders over to the side of the building, far enough away that he'd have to leave his post to stop her, but close enough that he can see her. Then she waves goodbye and ducks out of sight.
If he doesn't follow, Ayla bangs on the from wall of the warehouse once, then twice, and then quietly casts a spell. Suddenly it sounds as if Ayla's smashed through the wall completely!
Then she laughs loudly and madly. "Well, hello!" she calls out loudly.
She winks at any passersby as if this is just a silly gnomish prank.
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Who are these people? We need to get in, but we don't need to resort to violence as our first method. Lilianna eyes up the sentry as he interacts with Ayla.
"How about we try talking first? If this doesn't work, lets find a tavern to plan in," she says as she walks towards the sentry, her hand glowing briefly again.
"Hello there, we are here to speak with Mr. Bengeirr. May we come in?" Lilianna asks, as friendly as she can.
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By the Whisper! It's like they both have a death wish. To the rest of the team, "How about when the ladies return, we head into the bar. It's the only place to eat nearby, so it's more than likely that's where all the guards eat, maybe even Bengeirr himself. There may be more information to be had."
As Ayla rounds the corner, the guard walks over to see what she is doing, but never gets out of sight of the door he is guarding.
"Gnome! You leave now or I call guard! This is private warehouse!"
He returns to his post, only to find Lilliana there. To her inquiry he responds simply, "No visitors."
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You gather in the Rosy Fingers to discuss your next move.
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Geico shakes his head No thats not going to work - we would still be shooting a man in broad daylight and the authorities would still get called. My thought is this - we watch him and when they go to do a shift change we hurry over there and blow past them to inside the warehouse where we have more privacy.
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"Bad plan Egg. A very bad and terrible plan. We have no actual evidence these people did anything wrong. Even the one that spoke to us can claim we forced him to talk because we threatened him after we attacked them unprovoked. I agree that time is of the essence here, but IGeico is correct, killing every one we suspect is involved would not be in our long term best interest." He weighs their options. "If the shift change doesn't work, maybe after the sun sets and the foot traffic settles down we can look to find some non-lethal solution to get the guard out of the way. I am open to other ideas."
Krennel grabs a round of drinks for the table, including some tea for Egg.