You see no reaction on the other side.
"I would very much like to help you but please understand that I personally cannot be of any further assistance with respect to a meeting with Mr. Tsomo." he says and rolls his eyes.
"Mr. Tsomo is rarely here but if you give me your availability in the next week I will definitely check with him and send you a potential date to your accommodation." he says a little apologetically.
Razethka the Scarred
Frustrated at not having found Tsomo Qorra, the party sets off to speak with Razethka the Scarred, the brine dragon.
Travel through the city is much like any other metropolitan traffic, with only the vista of endless sea outside the air bubble to remind you that you are indeed on the Plane of Water. All manner of water-dwelling races are among the crowds, along with scattered representatives of the material plane.
* * *
Arriving at her home, the Pathfinders are made to wait in an atrium for a few minutes, that then drags on into a quarter hour and finally after half an hour of waiting, they are escorted into an audience chamber for the meeting.
The room is filled with a massive marble pool surrounded by stained glass windows that shed dazzling green light throughout the water.
Now that they have finally been allowed inside, a sizable brine dragon greets them. She lives up to her name, as her body sports many scars, which are in turn covered with patches of brilliant sea anemones.
”I am so sorry to have kept you waiting,” she says.
In a surprisingly gracious tone, ”it is so important that one receive visitors in suitable fashion, and such things can take time.”
Her eyes widen when she sees you!
"Ah, Pathfinders! Please do enter, I have expected a delegation soon after our last adventure."
All across her scales are brilliant sea anemones that do not quite hide the scar tissue marring her form.
"Allow me to make you a most attractive offer; should you wish to set out another expedition to the Lambent Bloom, I will fund it fully from my own resources."
"Satisfaction." The word comes out in a slight growl. "I take the previous expeditions failure quite personally. The resources lost can be replaced, but the knowledge that my name is associated with such a catastrophe is a much larger hurdle to clear. A successful venture back will wash much of that stain out."
She thinks for a moment.
"My interests aligned with your ally Zahra's, to locate the shell of Riam. The prestige of revealing that archeological site would have been well worth the expense of the caravan."
A single claw trails the edge of the pool thoughtfully. "I did not see a need to personally partake in the expedition. Perhaps that was a mistake. While I do not have firsthand knowledge of the disaster, I will answer whatever other questions you have of it as best I can. Do not hesitate to bring any suspicions you have to my attention."
She is hiding something, or rather, not saying something that she knows.
"I swear to deal honestly with you and to speak the truth to the best of my knowledge."
”I have funded several expeditions in the plane of water and therefore it would be too tedious to tell you about all of them! And with respect to the gear that high have provided, I can tell you that I funded the project but that I was not personally responsible for putting together all the equipment!“ he says a little agitated.
He looks at you intently.
"I have confidence in the members of the caravan, else I would not have attached my name so prominently. I would suspect outside aggression first. The Lambent Bloom hosts several tribes of sahuagin that might have defended their territory!“
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"Can you tell us anything about the Sahaugin? I understand that they are long-time allies of Kelizandri. Hmm, didn't the brine dragons ally with him as well, against Lysianassa and her servants?" Seth hopes that the mention of Kelizandri's name will cause the dragon to reveal something. Privately he wonders if the dragon has its own designs for the shell of Riam.
Razethka looks at Seth with some disappointment.
The thick, powerful tail breaks the water, waving and quirking as Razethka considers the party.
"I thought that the Pathfinder Society employs knowledgeable agents in these matters. But that does not seem to be the case if you know nothing of Sahaugin. This is not a commendable choice." Without a splash, the tail slides back into the pool.
"I would not expect the Sahaugins to be able to command the whale sharks without some enchantment, but I cannot discount the possibility."
Were you close to the preparations. Did you see Honoke and Tsomo interact? Would you characterize them as cooperative? Umberto prods.
"I really do not interact much with Honoke or Tsomo but of course I know much about their operations. But to be honest I would concentrate on the sahuagin tribes. I cannot say for certain who else would benefit from the expeditions failure."
Razethka thinks for a moment.
”Well, I was looking into this matter myself to find out if there could have been a signal – s signal we would not have heard here in Vialesk. You must know that the city uses the sonaphor — a series of large, horn-shaped listening devices that are used to hear sounds for miles around, as sound is instrumental to long-distance communication underwater. But Vialesk’s sonaphor has been constantly clogged with seaweed for the past month. Do you need anything else?” the dragon asks.
Leaving the dragon behind, the party moves back into the crush of the city. Wagons full of wares and pushy sales pitches make for slow going.
Yuka's workshop is a single story squat building on one of the merchant district canals. A solid stone wall blocks the alleys to either side, separating the storefront from the waterway on the backside. Walking into the shop reveals a single spacious room with worktables along the walls.
A pile of mechanical parts is spread across one section of the floor while the centerpiece of the room is a bullet-shaped boat of metal with glass windows on the rounded front.
Metal tracks lead from the construction to open bay doors looking out on the canal beyond. More of the vehicles float by moors to either side of the doors.
"Yes, hello, how are you?" A dark-skinned man greets you, turning and raising thick goggles from his handsome face.
Dressed in an eelskin jacket, he removes heavy gloves as he walks over and offers his hand.
"Welcome to my workshop, how might I serve you today?"
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Seth is awe-struck by the watercraft. The design is simply ingenious. "Yessss, yesss," he says, partly distracted by the shop and all of its mechanical wonders. "We mean no disrespect, but we have been employed to make sure any further expeditionsss do not come to such an end as the previousss one."
"And, on a personal note, let me commend you on your craftsmanship. Thisss vehicle isss astonishing."
”It is a fine day, my friend, a fine day indeed,” Yuka replies.
"You mean what did I hear on the expedition?" Yuka asks, chuckling to himself, "I was there, but I didn't hear anything. I was taking a nap in a submersible when the algae bloom hit, didn't see or hear a thing."
”Are you interested in submersibles? I’ve got some fine machines, please, come take a look.”
Laying a hand on the side of one machine, stroking it along one of the steering fins, he says, ”I’ve got some nice ones available to rent, if you have the need. I could let you rent one for 50 gold.”
Moving to another machine, he continues, "Who sent you to me? It's nice to hear that you are looking into the desaster ... after what happened on the expedition ... tragic!"
You can tell that all the submersibles here are indeed in good working order and there is nothing suspicious about them.
Yuka goes and grabs his ledger to check something. He flips through with a frown, "I am also checking now what I brought to the expidtion. Nothing much, it was just the subs."
The ledger has something written over and over again. It's sloppy, and not in the clean handwriting of the rest of the book. If you catch this, you can try diplomacy to have Yuka show you the ledger properly.
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Seth is, indeed, fascinated by the subs, though the working knowledge of them is a bit beyond him.
"We were sent by Zahra. Yes, I'm sure, being an engineer, you're familiar with learning from mistakes, making adjustments to prevent future failures."
He hesitates a moment looking at Yuka's ledger. "Yuka, I think you may have the wrong page there. That looks more like someone's scribbles than a engineer's ledger. I'm sure your records are impeccable."
Yuka looks puzzled, but not alarmed. He sheepishly hands over the ledger,
"Not sure what you're looking at."
Seth looks at the ledger and it looks like Yuka's been importing a huge amount of alchemical goods for an unknown buyer. The sloppy writing looks simply hasty.
Yuka was selling ironflame.
"Ehhhh .. ehhh ... " are the only things he says and you see that he is a little insecure.
"Don't know much about alchemy...strange science...not natural..."
[dice=craft alchemy]1d20+
"I mean take this iron flame for instance. Strange stuff. Only volcanoes should burn under water, though i suppose a bit of alchemist fire saved me more than once or twice."
Dooain knows that Ironflame is a compound that burns VERY hot, and VERY fast, and can do so underwater. In the quantities here, it'd be a massive explosion....