Anna's dagger disappears from her hand as if it hadn't been there at all. "Interesting greeting," she says drolly.
She wanders toward one of the empty tables while checking out the joint, keeping an eye out for anyone showing the signs that they know the cant. When one of the staff comes by to pick up their drink order, she passes an extra gold coin as she says, "Evening. I might be interested in trying the local specialties, if you've got anything exclusive to discerning palates. You know, anything that a visitor wouldn't want to miss. I'm not looking for anything sour, mind you. What've you got that's agreeable?"
"I'm interested in meeting the local boss, or someone who sizes up visitors. I'm not looking to cause trouble on someone else's turf, got it? Can you make the arrangements?"
Tolvan laughs with the room, but inwardly is unhappy with the man's greeting and watches things closely.
Sonny listens to Anna speak and then says "I would kill for a good cup of coffee. I'd even settle for tea. If neither is available I'd like a mug of juice or water please."
Danica does not move a muscle when confronted by the large man. Her muscles are relaxed and ready to deflect any oncoming blows. She has trained with the best of monks of the Bright Lady. They were tough. This large man looks encumbered, probably slow like a pregnant yak.
When the large man starts to laugh the inquisitor offers a smile and looks over to Anna and whispers "Awe shucks, no bar fight for us." She walks over to the table and selects a chair that has her back towards the wall. She likes to keep an eye out for anyone who can offer some info.
Danica orders "What is the most delicious tasting meal you have here? Also, a bottle of your finest wine or ale. We have been eating iron rations for days. The taste of the road has left my mouth dry."
She also looks around the establishment, looking for anyone who possibly can offer some intel.
Anna's doesn't any oblivious sign that anyone here is of the trade.
The woman that approach your table for your order looks at Sonny a bit weirdly at his order. "Right... Coffee." At Danica's order, the waitress smiles. "Let's see now, what is the special today." She pulls out a small scrap of paper from a pocket. "Ah yes. Today is Fried Bluegill Fillets. To go with that, I think we have a nice white elven wine. A bit pricey but it really match well with the fish. Shall I bring you two bottles?"
Looking around, Danica notices that the big man that greeted her at the door as walking from table to table. Exchanging words with pretty much everyone. Sometimes he seems to share a joke, other time it looks like he is offering encouragements or advices. If there is someone that know anything about what is going on here, it would be him.
Andjela find it difficult to be inconspicuous, the figure she cuts as well as over-large crossbow and long curved Elven blade.
Please, your recommendation will do nicely. She addresses the waitress, letting the others canvas the room.
Tolvan lets Anna order for him a he watches the room. [b]This is not my element.[/b[ he notes quietly.
Danica nods in agreement. "That sounds wonderful. I'm looking forward to it. Please go ahead with that order."
Danica then leans forward to the waitress and whispers, "Who is the the large fella over there, the one that greeted me when we entered?" She keeps an eye on the large man, wondering if he will come to their table.
She peeks over to where Danica is looking and then back at the monk."Stenen?" She smiles as she continues. "He's the owner. Bought the place a few years back. Really turn the place around. Best boss to work for." She nods at Danica and heads toward the kitchen to place the group's order.
Anna leans back in her seat and orders something from the land, still not ready to be reminded of anything fish-like. "Chicken, please. Or beef. Mutton, if you've got it, or venison. Just... no fish."
Danica leans back while she waits for the orders to return. During that time she will start to use her Detect Evil on folks in the establishment, especially on the big fella, Stenen.
When the waitress comes back Danica thanks her for her attention asks, "By the way, we are new in town and staggered across some issue with murders happening here. Anything we should be aware of in your town? Anyone laws we should be aware of as well? Any sites we should visit?"
Apologies, my companions... they talk, a lot. These two, the other two... not so much.
Apologies for all the questions.
No one detects has evil while Danica survey the room. The waitress bring a nice plate of fish for everyone but Anna, who gets a bowl of beef stew, and two bottles of wine. Her face sadden when Danica asks her questions. "Well, there is the problem of the murders happening. Sad thing. And the guards can't seem to catch who is doing it. The only real thing to worry about is the curfew. As for place to visit, well it depends what you like." She thinks for a moment. "There is Barragaro Road if you like shopping and curious items. That's in the inner city west of the docks. Then there is the Palace of the Voices. That's in the center of the inner city. It is quite expensive to get in, but I heard that it is worth the gold. If you are more into religious things, there is the Dawngrace Memorial. It is a monument to the poor souls that fought to free this city from, well, you know who. It is been maintained by Iomedaeans priests."
"Sounds like we'll be entertained while we're here, as long as we don't get murdered," Anna says with a chipper tone to her voice that's out of place for the subject matter. She rips a chunk of bread and uses it to sop up the stew's juices. "The victims haven't been young single ladies, have they?" she asks innocently.
"From what I heard, there hasn't been any link between the victims. Rich, poor, old, young, man, woman, everyone seems to be a target. That's why the curfew. We stay inside where we are same, and the guards are free to capture anyone that is foolish enough to be outside." She looks around at the main room. "Well, I need to keep working, enjoy your meal." She leaves you to see some of the others patrons.
"I sense no malice in the hearts of the patrons and the owner. These people seem to have a problem here. What you say we find who is in charge and see if we can help? Looks like this is just another stop for us and help out."
Danica continues to complete eating her meal.
Anna raises her eyebrows in mild surprise when Danica says there aren't any evil in these townsfolk. "Huh. And, no one picked up on the codes I dropped. Big old inn, right outside of town and there's no guild members? Honestly, it's like they're determined to lose money."
Leaning in close to his friends Tolvan mentions quietly Unless we are willing to break curfew I am not sure we can get much more information tonight. But I cannot shake that while we look for clues here in this town the way is looking for us. I will sleep in my extra-dimensional rope trick tonight and welcome the rest of you to join me. It is proof to many scrying spells.
Shall we secure a room or two, then?
"Yeah, we'll need to. One at the very least. If we all just disappear up Tolvan's rope, it'll look pretty odd if anyone's keeping track of us."
A mischievous smile touches her face. "Of course, if you want to sneak around the city while it's on curfew, I could be convinced to come with."
"I'm all game for the extra dimensional space to sleep."
Danica continues to stare at the large man called Stenen, keeping track on his movements across the establishment.
Danica continues to eat her food and taking some sips of her elven wine. She then begins to go through all of her alignment detections (good, law, chaos).
Then, Danica looks at Anna and begins to ponder,"Anna, in a city like this, wouldn't certain professions, those not legal in nature, have ways to avoid detection from the guards? Maybe there are some underground tunnels?"
Anna shrugs, still eating her stew. She flags down the server for a red wine to go with the hearty meal, not caring for how the delicate white was overpowered.
When the server steps away again, she keeps her voice down. "Sure. Underground tunnels are good. But there's other ways, you know. Back alleys. Rooftops. Secret rooms, crawl spaces or attics. An old city like this one? I'll bet it's got them all."
She gives Andjela a wink. "Or, you know. So I've heard. I'd never get involved with such disreputable people."
Not you, Dear... I mean how on Heaven's name would you? Andjela smiles demurely.
Would you be able to hide us, Tolvan? If we are discovered out there?
Anna finishes off the last of her stew and sops up the last bits with her bread. "Well, I'm game for a little exploring if you are. But honestly, I don't know if you'll all be able to keep up, or stay quiet enough to not get spotted. Way I see it, maybe we should do our exploring in the daylight, then if we really need to see what's happening at night we can do that once we've got the lay of the land, so to speak."
I agree. The city watch is not our enemy here. I would prefer to keep it that way. If we violate their mandate I am not worried about being captured but even been seen could cause problems. Let's rest tonight and rise early to see what we can find in the city proper.
Anna nods along, agreeing with Tolvan. "All right. I'll see about getting a room for us. And then we can use Tolvan's rope spell thing." Her voice drops to a private level between her and the wizard. "You know your spell's not very private. Maybe you could cast the spell twice? One for them and one for the two of us?"
After the meal, you head over to the counter and ask for a single room. The woman looks at you, her eyes going from one to the other member of your group. "A single room? For all of you?" She turns around grab a key from a box behind the counter. "There you go. Last room on the right on the second floor. Enjoy your stay, whatever you are planning to do up there."
You walk up the stairs and get to your room. The place is nice and clean. One bed in a corner with a desk on the opposite wall. There is also a single chair. One thing that there is not enough of is sleeping space for everyone. Tolvan gets himself ready to cast his spell, and before long you retired into a way more spacious resting place. Eventually, morning comes and you wake up well rested. Heading downstairs, you sit back down at a table and have morning meal. After some preparations from the casters of the group, you are ready to explore the city.
Anna considers what she's heard about Caliphas and keeps an eye out for the kinds of trouble that they may run into within the city as they walk through the streets.
"I definitely want to check out the merchants' quarter," she reminds everyone. "We going there first, or do we want to see Tolvan's contact?"
We should ask around about any new murders. Perhaps there was a killing last night. Tolvan inerjects. As for my contact, we are to meet him meeting at the Haraday Theater on Constance Street. They usually meet on Oathday
Danica rises prior to dawn, a part of her ritual of training and worship, to praise the rising of the sun. We are all children of Sarenrae. The sun is the life-blood of all life, for everything originates from the rays of the Bright Lady. Without the sun then life will cease to exist. This part of the day is when all devotees are humbled by the new day.
Danica heads back to the inn to meet the others. She looks for Stenen and or the serving girl from the previous night.
We should ask around about any new murders. Perhaps there was a killing last night. Tolvan inerjects. As for my contact, we are to meet him meeting at the Haraday Theater on Constance Street. They usually meet on Oathday
So we have a couple of days on our own to investigate and explore the city. We need to choose an Inn inside the walls as part of what we do today.
"Well, how about shopping, then? Lepidstadt didn't have the sort of things I was looking for. Let's see if there's any magical craftspeople who are good enough for our coin, shall we?"
Her voice drops lower. "And maybe we can learn a bit more about these murders?"
Yes, shopping, certainly. But can we gather information about what is going on in the city first?
Anna gives Tolvan a playful nudge. "You gather information where there's people! And they'll be at the market!"
Shopping... it is. Perhaps we won't stand out as much at the market.
"I'm ok with shopping. If it is alright with you guys, we should come back to this inn and speak with Stenen. Something tells me that we can get some intel from him. He seems to know the people and I did not detect anything malicious about him. Would be nice to have a friend in these parts."
Sonny nods and says "Friends are always good to have. We can talk to him and then head out to shop and gather information in town. Whomever is going to do the talking I can give some divine assistance to before they start."
If there were attacks or even murders last night now is the time to investigate. The iron is hot. Perhaps even talk to the local guard.
"The rumor mill should be churning if that's the case," Anna says, considering what sort of buzz would be happening if there had been another murder.
As they walk through town, she keeps her ears open for anything that might indicate that was the case.
Walking out of the inn, you face the street of the city. This place look and feel like any cities. People moving about, carts of produces trying to make it to the market, patrols of city guards keeping an eye one everything. You learn as you walk about, that the only way to get inside the inner city is through the gate of Castle Balatz.
You walk over to it and find a heavy fortification the is quite impressive. There are guards at the gate and they seems to questions everyone that crosses the gate. When you make it to the gate, one of the guard turn to you and looks over all the member of the group. "Please identify yourself and reason of visit to the inner city." He seems to wait for your answer.
"Shopping!" Anna starts with a bright smile. She'd chosen one of her fancy day-dresses for the beginning of their Caliphas visit. She opens a fancy fan and casually starts waving it as she introduces herself to the guards.
"Annabelle Guiseppe. Performer." She extends a hand to the guard. "I'm so excited to be visiting your fine city! These are my attendants and advisors. Solomon from Lepidstadt, Seneka from Ardis, Garret of Ravengro, and Elayna, originally from Lastwall."
Tovan nods. The lady has come into some coin and plans to spend much of it in your fine city. I shall shop some as well as I hear Caliphas is well stocked with things arcane. But I also here there is some trouble on your fine streets. What news of that? he asks.
The guard fills out paper works as Anna gives out the names of the others. "Thank you, make sure you are back inside before the curfew and avoid any dark alley ways." He answer back almost monotonously, like someone that said those comments all too often. He's about to let you go, when he finally register Solomon's question. "Trouble? You could say that, but the guards will restore the peace soon. Last night was quiet, which is both a boon and a problem. The lack of loos of life means that the mesure are working, but it also means no clues. And no divinations was able to help the investigation, which mean that who or what is out there is able to hide from them. It doesn't matter though, in the end, we will bring the culprit to justice."
Danica moves along and she moves close to Tolvan so he can hear her. "Sound like those pesky dimensional creatures we dealt with."
"Obey curfew and stay clear of dark alleys. Check," Anna says with all seriousness. "I feel safer already," she adds when the guard boasts that the culprit will soon be caught.
She turns to her companions. "Shall we be off? We shouldn't waste our daylight, should we?" She looks to the guards for permission to pass through the gate.
With a wave from the guard, you walk into the inner city. This side of the city feel way older then the outer city. The street are narrower and the building show their age. You do have a bit of reprieve when you get to the center of the city, but the streets gets right back to being narrow and twisted right after.
You do make it to the market and it is just impressive. There are shops and stalls all over the place. You smell different food being cooked and see some merchants trying to sell exotic ware from far away. The size of the place and the amount of vendors make it seem as if all the merchants in all the small towns you have visited before decided to come set up shop here. If there is something you can't find here, it is because it doesn't exist.
Now this is a city. Makes me want to hire a guide. Tolvan comments. Can we try to all stay together until we choose an inn?