Shadow over Riddleport

Game Master Joana

Tendal's eyes narrowed at Braddon's confused question.

That had better not be a truth from Braddon. If her coterie was responsible for the tidal waves, death is too good for her. She and her allies would be mass murderers...for coin.

"The fat man, huh? Not surprised. No Zincher though? Or the prostitute queen Shorafa? They both have got to know something, right? On top of that, 'where' is this skymetal? And 'who' are we suppose to be waiting for to get this pay-off?"

"Cleg Zincher and I have a touchy history," Lil reminds them with a tight smile, "and, no, Shorafa's not in on the deal. This is my operation, not hers."

"My contact should be in possession of the skymetal by now. I have only to go get it and convey it to the Gas Forges. I've been waiting for a signal from the ship that will carry the cargo." She flicks a finger at the telescope set up in the bay window.

"And idea when this signal is suppose to be sent? I'm guessing it should be fairly soon, right?"

Braddon lifts his sword again.
"But why steal the hidden necklace and toss Gramma over the cliff? How much is this worth?"

"All the lives lost to the last wave, and any next. That's the cost. So, what's the worth, if not the cost?", Gristav asked flatly, rhetorically.

"And idea when this signal is suppose to be sent? I'm guessing it should be fairly soon, right?"

"Exactly," Lil replies. "The ship could be waiting for me now."

"How much is this worth?"

"That depends on how much skymetal ore my contact has obtained ... and which skymetal it is. Raw adamantine ore, for example, is sold for 100 to 400 gold coins per pound, depending on its quality, but the same ore refined and worked into weapons and armor sells for thousands of gold coins per item. Of course, skymetal is worth so much because of its rarity. If the Gas Forges were to learn that we had a plentiful supply, the price they offer would go down. The trick is to bring it in a little at a time, with no indication that there's more in the offing. You see how a large group of partners would be beneficial. If I, for example, were to keep coming back with more, they would lower the compensation. Of course, I have ways of appearing to be different women ... but a group of us, of different races and genders, we could keep selling small amounts for a long time before they began to suspect we were working together!"

Braddon narrows his eyes.
"Yes, you do have ways to appear as different people."
He pokes Lil roughly with the sword.
"Mahath figured you turned into a Varisi to get into Ananda's place and kill her housekeeper and poison her. You should give back her necklace. Maybe then the General won't kill you."
Braddon scratches something inside his shirt.

Straightening from Bojasc's side he keeps whether the brute is clinging to life a self-held secret for the moment. Lil's words and offer is measured as Phil weighs the options and enemies the crew has garnered against one another. With slow and careful words he begins "So if I have it right you're seeking to trade your life and limb against a half-promise of profit from a secret venture with an uncertain end... and in so doing we'd be forging ourselves in opposition to the Whore-queen, Rat-king and lord of the Arena Pits?" cocking his head to the side and allowing a wry smile to form "I'm still for the guessing that your pitiful skin might be the easier commodity to trade for coin... there's more than a few that would put forward a sum to see you flayed..." allowing his tone to show that he is engaged in a salesman's patter rather than speaking with iron-made thought.

"I am most interested in this pulling of skymetal." Tendal said smoothly, his voice as flat and cold as a sheet of ice on a northern lake.

"Such magic is curious, rare, and precious in its own right...what calls the skymetal down from the sky? An artifact? The necklace?...Are the chunks of skymetal from the blot perhaps?"

If she confirms...I will need to convince the others to find the power source responsible before more die. And she will die here. he thought with finality.

"You're obsessed with the necklace," Lil complains. "Was it really that valuable? It certainly didn't look it. It has nothing to do with the skymetal; I only took it to make it look like the Mescher girl had been robbed."

"I've no idea how she got the skymetal," she tells Tendal. "After all, if she told me how to do it, I wouldn't need her, would it? She's clever enough for that. Some ancient ritual or other she'd researched."

"So if I have it right you're seeking to trade your life and limb against a half-promise of profit from a secret venture with an uncertain end... and in so doing we'd be forging ourselves in opposition to the Whore-queen, Rat-king and lord of the Arena Pits?" cocking his head to the side and allowing a wry smile to form "I'm still for the guessing that your pitiful skin might be the easier commodity to trade for coin... there's more than a few that would put forward a sum to see you flayed..." allowing his tone to show that he is engaged in a salesman's patter rather than speaking with iron-made thought.

"Assuredly," Lil replies. "The problem, of course, is that by accepting that sum from one means earning the enmity of the others, doesn't it? Whose tender mercy do you want to throw yourself on to protect you from your newly-made enemies? There are no sure things in Riddleport, only better bets than others. I'd rather bet on myself than trust in the loyalty of someone else ... wouldn't you?"

"And how good a bet are you, then? As a handicapper, I'd have to look at the record of your partners, and their ends. The accountant, short of hearing your plan for his rescue, he seems disposed of. Disposable. The thug-", he said, gesturing toward the crumpled Bojasc, "Similar. The gambler, dead at his hand, far as you knew, though that card's been tipped. The dwarf..." Gristav had to stop, and took a slow breath before setting his newly stone-grey eyes back on her. "Though, he wasn't your partner. Just tell us, is there one, any one, who's profited, of their association with you? Has there ever been?"

"Everything she touches crumbles to dust, because she simply attempts to take...not one attempt to build something new." Tendal said quietly.

"Your partner, is she pulling the metal from the ocean? Or is she only able to retrieve it when it lands on the island?" Tendal asked, continuing the hailstorm of questions.

Phillip Hargreaves wrote:

"So if I have it right you're seeking to trade your life and limb against a half-promise of profit from a secret venture with an uncertain end... and in so doing we'd be forging ourselves in opposition to the Whore-queen, Rat-king and lord of the Arena Pits?" cocking his head to the side and allowing a wry smile to form "I'm still for the guessing that your pitiful skin might be the easier commodity to trade for coin... there's more than a few that would put forward a sum to see you flayed..." allowing his tone to show that he is engaged in a salesman's patter rather than speaking with iron-made thought.

"Assuredly," Lil replies. "The problem, of course, is that by accepting that sum from one means earning the enmity of the others, doesn't it? Whose tender mercy do you want to throw yourself on to protect you from your newly-made enemies? There are no sure things in Riddleport, only better bets than others. I'd rather bet on myself than trust in the loyalty of someone else ... wouldn't you?"

Snake glances over at the halfling and can't help but shrug, thinking the tiefling has a point. Hard to argue that.

"And how good a bet are you, then? As a handicapper, I'd have to look at the record of your partners, and their ends. The accountant, short of hearing your plan for his rescue, he seems disposed of. Disposable. The thug-", he said, gesturing toward the crumpled Bojasc, "Similar. The gambler, dead at his hand, far as you knew, though that card's been tipped. The dwarf..." Gristav had to stop, and took a slow breath before setting his newly stone-grey eyes back on her. "Though, he wasn't your partner. Just tell us, is there one, any one, who's profited, of their association with you? Has there ever been?"

Lil rolls her eyes. "Do not forget Volo and his Varisian banditti. They died at your hands, as I recall. As a matter of fact, it would seem that all my colleagues have met their ill ends because of you lot. I believe even poor Oliver was punished because you went whining to Shorafa. Are your murderous interferences my fault?"

"Your partner, is she pulling the metal from the ocean? Or is she only able to retrieve it when it lands on the island?"

"Again," she shrugs, "not my part of the plan. The physical collection of the ore is her responsibility. All I am to do is to retrieve the skymetal from her and sell it to the Gas Forges."

Phil offers Lil but a wry smile, nothing to show of whether he's taken heed of the tiefling's honeyed words. However he thinks, he measures the seeming interest of the others he seeks middle ground "Whither the way I'd venture we need anon to more stable footing..."

Braddon grins.
"Oliver got punished? Great. I hated his guts. You can count us in to help you. What do we do?""
Braddons sheathes his weapons, decisively.

Snake raises an eyebrow at the ranger, finding him a bit curious. Mentally shrugging it off for now, he turns his focus back to Lil. "Okay, I guess we're in then; but we're all equal partners. We're all going to be helping each other with this deal to where we all get our fair share. And just for the record, sweetheart, you'd better not double cross us. Because if you do, odds are high that you'll be sleeping with the fishes. And last I checked, better to be alive with some of the profits than dead with none of them. Just letting you know."

"Bojasc still clings this side of Pharasma's boneyard as well... my votes on keeping him breathing and part of the equation at least until he's had a chance to spend his words."

"Bojasc still clings this side of Pharasma's boneyard as well... my votes on keeping him breathing and part of the equation at least until he's had a chance to spend his words."

Nodding, "Works for me. I'm going to take his weapons from him though. He might not care whether or not he lives or dies once he wakes." Snake then proceeds to remove said weapons.

Once accomplished, "Think I ought to wake him? To see what he's got to say? Not so certain I can but I can give it a shot. Just depends on how badly he's wounded. Or maybe we should just let him sleep it off until he comes to," he suggests, shrugging, as he's not entirely sure on how to proceed.

"Wake him? After what he did to Lil? No way."
Braddon's recently sheathed short sword springs back into his grasp and he turns to Lil.
"What do you say, baby? I can guarantee he'll never bother you again."

She shudders. "If you must question him, I don't want to be here when he's awake. Can't you take him in one of the other rooms? Or I could go," she suggests.

Snake turns his attention toward the tiefling, giving her a look that says nothing. "Are you always this funny?" he asks rhetorically. Moving on from her not-so-comedic suggestion, "We need to move; and when I say WE I mean ALL of us. I'm tired of sitting around here talking. Time to go and find out if this 'metal' has arrived. We're definitely not going to know if this ship of yours has arrived standing around here. We'll just let the big fella sleep if off." He then pauses a moment and looks to Phillip. "Unless you got questions you want to ask him, Raccoon. If you do, I can mend some of those wounds he earned and see if it's enough to bring him around. Your call."

He then turns to the others. "And if you all don't feel safe, then, tie him up. Me personally? He no longer concerns me. I've got all his weapons and there are five of us. I'm guessing he's not that stupid to take us all on with just his fists. No way he makes it alive this long being that stupid. But if he his then he'll be dead before he even realizes it; especially considering there's no way that I can heal all his wounds. Because even if I am able to bring him back to consciousness, he'll be in no shape to fight anyone."

With a nonplussed wave of the hand to Serpe, Phillip adds "I've no need to spend words with him now, and I'd think seeing him bladeless and bound should be enough... or we could take a couple of fingers if we're really concerned." before adding to Lil "If you've still the hope of life and profit moving forwards... we needs be told of what to look for by way of signal now."

Snake nods to the halfling before turning his attention back to Lil and awaiting her response.

"If you've still the hope of life and profit moving forwards... we needs be told of what to look for by way of signal now."

"A flag from my ship," she nods again at the telescope set up in the window. "A white flag with a blue border means they are ready to sail."

Braddon makes his way to the telescope and peers through.
"Wow. This thing is neat. You can see the whole harbour. Which is our ship? A white sail on a blue sea? That's a lot of ships."

In actuality, there is no view of the harbor from the windows; rather, they provide an expansive outlook on the Varisian Gulf southwest of the harbor. Saul had said that Chatham had built them to know when his ships were approaching the Cyphergate before they were visible from the harbor.

(It occurs to everyone but Braddon that this would be an excellent set-up for Chatham to arrange secretly to offload any cargo he didn't want to pay duty on before it could be inspected by the harbormaster, similarly to the smugglers who sneak good and passengers in and out via the tunnels in the Boneyard.)

Braddon steps back.
"Wanna look? There's lot's of blue and white. Sea?"

Snake just stares at the ranger - as if he's and idiot - for what feels like an eternity before simply saying, "Sure." He then moves to the telescope and takes a look. Seeing nothing of interest he steps back out. "Boring. You know, this would be an excellent set-up for Chatham to arrange secretly to offload any cargo he didn't want to pay duty on before it could be inspected by the harbormaster." He then looks to Braddon specifically, "Just in case anyone didn't realize that."

He then cuts his attention to Lil. "I didn't really notice any flags, so, why don't you take a look and tell us if your ship is ready to sail."

Lil flickers a look at Gristav and Tendal to see if they're going to object to her movement. Assuming they don't, she steps to the telescope and scans the sea. "No, I don't see it yet. But I should probably collect my things from the bedroom so I'm ready to go when it arrives. If I may?"

Looking at her through narrowed eyes, "Sure. But I'm going with you." He then awaits for her to move before following behind.

As soon as Lil moved beyond earshot, Tendal turned to the others with a grimace.

"I will be blunt. Trusting that she will not stab us in the back the moment that she has the opportunity is beyond foolish. Convincing ourselves that we will see her duplicity in time to intervene is doubly so. This will end poorly, and that is all I will say about this matter, for the moment."

Tendal turned away with finality, and began looking around the room for anything of interest.

I could use a glass of wine...

booze and treasure? Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

"No, I don't see it yet. But I should probably collect my things from the bedroom so I'm ready to go when it arrives. If I may?"

"Ooh, the bedroom," Braddon nods in understanding.

Snake stops and raises an eyebrow at the ranger while staring him dead in the eye. "You mean more like fifteen seconds, don't you, bub?" he strikes back, his stone-like visage not even close to cracking.

"Braddon, you're not in your right mind. She's got a spell on you. We are no safer with you in charge of her than if Bojasc had the job. You're no less her creature, her slave. I would end her for your freedom, but it seems some thin majority unweights her crimes and the risk of her, and your freedom, to less than her promises. And yet, I, somehow, am our fool."

Gristav waves his unstaffed hand in the direction of Lil's motion, and joins Snake as wary escort.

Lil gives Braddon an apologetic shrug and walks toward the hallway the party came in by. She stops at the first door on the right. "This is the bedroom," she announces. "Shall you open the door, or shall I? That is, are you more afraid there's a trap on the door or an ambush inside the room?"

Braddon jumps forward and leans past Lil, gallantly opening the door for her.
"Look, don't mind them. They're smart and all, but sometimes all they do is talk about how something can go wrong instead of just doing it."
He ushers Lil through the door and follows her.
"Now me, I'm a man of action."
Braddon slams the door behind him, before the others can enter.

"Perhaps I should see if I can supress the spell on Braddon again...and we could remove him from Lil's presence?" Tendal suggested, pausing in his inspection (rummaging) of a small cabinet near the seating area after watching the ranger simpering all over Lil.

A pleased sound issues from the mage, and he stands up with a decanter and a filthy glass.

"facere effectum." he intoned, and then filled the now spotless crystal with wine, before swirling and tasting the wine.

"Passable..." he muttered, then set the glass down and pulled out two scrolls, which he set before himself. Seeing Gristav and Snake on the wrong side of the door he frowns. "I was about to offer one of you a glass, but now I think that we have a rather serious problem if someone isn't in there with Lil and Braddon."

Tendal intends to read the scrolls one after another to try and give Braddon an opportunity to break free of the spell, now that it is abundantly clear that the charm effect is not erased by the protection spell.

Tendal tucked one scroll under his arm and kept the other out, ready to be read as he abandoned the decanter and moved towards the bedroom door, ready for the opportunity to use the scroll.

"He'll be fine. No need to worry about 'Pretty boy' in there. He can take care of himself. Whether he's under her spell or not, he'll manage." He then moves to the nearest bench and sits down before saying, "Or not," and shrugging.

Lynley Chatham's sitting room is handsomely appointed if a little the worse for wear due to the melee that just took place within it. Now that the group has a chance to pay attention to their surroundings, they can see that the room to the west up the stairs is a dining room with a long table and chairs; a door is set in the northern wall.

Bojasc's inert form on the carpet yields a masterwork battleaxe and a masterwork handaxe that fell where he dropped them. His chain shirt boasts a magic aura, and there is a stoppered vial in his pocket as well as a purse bulging with coin.

The wand Lil surrendered is still sitting on the sofa where she left it.

Snake looks over and notices the wand. Staring at it a moment, he eventually moves over and retrieves it. "Might be useful," he comments, storing it away currently. He then moves over to the sleeping Bojasc. Kneeling down, he examines the objects on the big guy and finds his armor giving off an interesting aura. "One of you help me get this armor off. I'm thinking 'Pretty boy' might could use this as much as he gets the crap beat out of him." Regardless of whether anyone aids him or not, he'll take the bag of coin and the vial first and store it away, and then get to work pulling his armor off.

Once that's done, he sets the armor off to the side. He next attempts to determine what type of qualities the armor and the vial - if any - they may possess.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14 armor
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30 vial

He then pulls out the bag of coins. "Looks like we came into some coin, bubs. Imagine that," he deadpans as he proceeds to count it.

As soon as he finishes with that, he pulls the wand back out. "One of you bubs want this thing?" he offers Gristav and/or Tendal. "Personally? Not interested. But I'll keep it if either of you don't want it. I'm not giving it back to her."

"Want is too strong a word. But I'll take it in hand. Its powers are not beyond me, even if my studies aren't as broad as Kendal's.
Meanwhile, its use is not facile, so less of a risk to the rest of you, in my hands."

Gristav helps with the overall looting of Bojasc's form. Reflecting perhaps on the brute's mindfulness even in the best of moments, even unbent by Lil's magics, he dryly observes, "And now our Braddon is next in line to fall, like this, for her. And we appear to be accepting, of that."

"I'd be willing to bet its powers aren't beyond the Suit's either. That kind of magic seems to fit him too. But, I don't really care."

"And as far as the 'Pretty boy' goes, he won't fall for her. At least not for long. He just doesn't have it in him. I'm not concerned about that one."

Just before the tall man releases the wand to Gristav, "Hold a moment, bub," his eyes begin to glow and he studies the wand. As soon as the glow fades, he then releases the wand to the magus.

Moving back to the armor, Snake decides to actually take the time to look it over thoroughly, wondering if patience will actually pay off for him in this instance.

"Interesting. The wand shoots off those missiles that never miss. And that armor will definitely do lover boy some good. Definitely more stout than what he's wearing I can guarantee you that."

Wand of magic missiles and +1 chain shirt.

Braddon makes his way out of the room and heads next door.
"Lil says this was Bojasc's room. I'll bet there's some goodies in here. I told you she was alright."
Braddon turns the handle and heads inside.