"Told you, nothing but trouble. The lass has ill intentions on the poor boy. Probably take him for every coin he has and tie him into a marriage. No good can come of a marriage not made by a good arrangement." Sten frowns deeply at the thought, but will follow Vishoon.
The little performer shares what info he knows about the young lady with Vishoon, adding "Definitely want to follow Karl. If the father gets the wrong idea, or perhaps the right one, it might be a really bad night for our heroic friend"
Hmm the dwarf might be right this time... thinks vishoon as he follows karl
Shayless and Karl leave the tavern and start to head through town towards her shop, they have a nice conversation along the way, Shayless seems to be a very boisterous and flirty women, as they walk she tells Karl how grateful she is for his help with her problem..suddenly she stops dead in her tracks and looks around..
"..hold on..and be quiet..Someone is following us..quick come this way.."
...she grabs Karls hand and starts pulling him down alleyways and deserted streets..darting through shadows attempting to lose whoever it is that is following them..
"Did you see which way she dragged him?"
The night air felt especially cool on his skin after he left the warm hall of the Rusty Dragon, the moon weakened the darkness that now had conquered Sandpoint, and the scattered lamps provided refuges of light for anyone still not resting under a roof. The time he spent with Shayless seemed to pass in a blur of honeyed words and flirtatious advances, but her earlier directness did not leave Karl very surprised, he mostly remained neutral and replied with a compliment of his own every now and then, surprise invaded his soul when she asked to be quiet then suddenly dragged him into various alleyways, and shadow inhabited streets that no appeared to be using.
Karl sighed, the girl seemed to have decent survival instincts, he had a few ideas to who could be following them There is Vishoon and the others, the cowards we met today and of course it could be someone who's following her and not me He began considering his options and came to the conclusion that who ever was pursuing them he wouldn't just let himself be lead by an inexperienced local who's probably never been hunted down in her life.
Karl stopped in his tracks, and in one swift movement he knelt down and swooped the girl into his arms and ducked into a nearby alley and entered the embrace of shadows that called it their home.
"In a few moments we'll move again, take the shortest route from here to your father's shop" He said to Shayless, his voice returning to the gruff tone it usually wears. He knew that it could very well be Vishoon following them but he couldn't take that risk, not when she didn't give him a chance to get a look at who she thought was following them, for now it was best to hide and throw off the timing of the people that were chasing them.
They seem to be trying to lose us
Dair looks around, rapier drawn, looking for trouble. "They will not"
Shayless Surprised that the man picked her up,lets out a small squeel..then wraps her arms around his neck and whispers in his ear..
"I like it when a man takes charge!..lets hurry and get back to the shop.."
A subtle sultry and flirtatious tone in her voice left no room for doubt..this women was attracted to Karl..
Words of seduction and flirtation filled his ear as he hid with the girl in the shadow populated alley. It certainly wasn't the first time he utilized a poorly lit alley as a hiding place, but he couldn't remember any time when he tried to remain concealed from others while carrying a young woman in his arms First time for everything Karl poked his head out of the alley's mouth and saw that no one seemed to be around. Karl moved quickly but as quietly as possible, he didn't know if they lost their pursuers, but their little detour into the alley should have at least thrown off their timing. This left Karl feeling secure enough to give thought to his situation, the girl seemed very attracted to him, which isn't something he minded, especially since he has been on the road for so long. This coupled with Shayliss' looks and words caused the ghost of paranoia within him to reduce its wailing to mere murmurs and whispers.
Never hurts to spend sometime with the girl He placed Shayliss on her feet as he looked around once more But business first Echoed his professionalism.
"Which turn do we take from here?" He asked Shayliss, as he began contemplating what to do after finding the clues and information in those books she mentioned; if the bloody four was already on the road, then it would take Karl sometime before he got enough financing to prepare himself for another journey, as he has already spent most of his money before arriving to Sandpoint.
Shayless takes Karl by the hand and leads him through several more alleys and streets, when she is confident that they are no longer being followed she leads him to her shop and takes him inside.
"Wait here" she says to Karl, she then disappears into the living quarters in the back of the store.
She returns a short time later and says to Karl:
"Looks like we have the place all to ourselves,My father doesn't seem to be home..again"..
She moves behind the counter and retrieves several large ledgers and sets them on the counter.
" I believe you wanted to take a look at these?..Knock yourself out, but be quick about it..we still have those rats to deal with after all..Ill be right back.
Shayless then disappears again leaving karl alone in the front of the shop with the books that may hold some precious information for him..
There they were the books that held the only clues he has found since arriving in this town, and they were all his for a few precious minutes, but that would have to be enough. Karl begins cycling through the pages, his grey eyes searching through the names, dates and purchased items; desperately excavating through the written words for the two names that the "bloody four" Alden Frik...Shaw Raald and then there was the name that Vishoon gave him Tevok Karl's hands turned each page, and with each page that held no information he grew even more focused. The next one He told himself as he ignored everything around him but the yellowed pages that lay in front of his scanning eyes.
Vishoon Curses By the Mother, I think we lost them. Spitting on the ground.
He heads back to last place he saw them and see if i can track them
Lets see if we can figure out where they went from here.
This could be their tracks. I think they mat have gone this way.
Then he remembers he is not following these people alone Dairkal ? Right? You seemed to know this woman. Pointing in the direction he thinks are Karls tracks You probably know where they were probably going. Is it roughly in this direction? I think these are Karls prints, anf they seem to be heading this way. Hoping to verify the tracks directions
Karl make a perception Check please
Vishoon you find and are able to follow the tracks
Dairkal Yes you are heading in the right direction.
Karl you can make more checks if you want, or take a 20..
Karl thumbs through page after page of the shops ledger..searching for the names he was looking for..after several agonizing minutes of searching in vain, and almost giving up hope he turned one more page...and there..about 3/4's of the way down the page in hand writing that was unmistakable to him..was the name..the name of the man who had killed his wife..
Vishoon And Dairkal were able to find Karl and Shayless's tracks and were able to form a conclusion based on the direction of the tracks, that the two were more than likely heading towards Shayless's shop. However they seemed to be almost 30 minutes behind the them, by the look of the tracks..A lot could happen in 30 minutes.
Finally... Karl read the name once more and restudied the handwriting to insure that this wasn't a delusion by his burning desire to find and kill this scum So you've went with a new name...Largo Loriff, I wonder if this is truly your name, but that won't matter after I've put you in the ground Closing the ledger, Karl took a deep breath and released a sigh that was part relief and part frustration; the sell-sword was glad to find out that he was on the right path, his travel to Sandpoint wasn't for naught, but was annoyed that he had been so late in arriving here No matter, I'll just have to move out of here after I get enough gold, and figure out which town he'll move to next.. Then it struck him, could the 'bloody four' had killed someone before he departed this small town? Karl had to admit that the possibility was strong, but what wasn't strong was his relationship with the guards.
I'll just have to get someone else to ask them...they seemed to like Dairkal, then again everybody in this town seems to love that halfling, the things he could do with that kind of trust... Sinister thoughts danced inside of the former guard's mind, and he didn't bother to hide the equally wicked grin that appeared on his bearded face. Things were finally looking up for Karl, and he was so preoccupied with his own affairs that he almost forget about the job he'd promised Shayliss to do for her.
Looks like she was telling the truth...and she's easy on the eyes Karl's left hand moved to his chin and began rubbing his light beard, the wicked smile not leaving his lips.
Ah these tracks are the right ones...
Alright then lets follow them, they seem to be getting ahead hopefully they are going to this shop as Vishoon motions for the others to follow him
Sten harrumphs.
nope don't see it either