The young man who had been talking to his female friend passed by the table without stopping to say anything to the group.
While he didn't say anything, he did drop a small piece of paper on the ground next to Broom's seat. Nobody had noticed him holding the paper before it fluttered to the patio floor. He continued on into the tavern, perhaps to order more drinks.
Reine had tensed as the young man walked by, and she flinched slightly at the fluttering paper.
Then she sighed.
"It's certainly a better idea than trying to wander around alone, with no idea of who might be out to get us," she said in response to Desdemona's suggestion, "or who might think we're softer targets alone. Especially since it seems word's out about the Count being gone. If his backing gave us any protection, it's gone now, and if he angered anyone - or if we did on his say-so - we might seem like a good opportunity to settle scores one-by-one."
"I good for heading to the bookshop. Maybe walking through the town will bring back more memories." John says.
To Reine he says "It seems like most of the folks who recognize us are pretty wary of us. I don't think we'll have any troubles unless the entire town turns against us."
As Broom was listening to the group, something suddenly caught her attention from the corner of her eye. She froze just for a moment, a little gasp caught in her throat as the little piece of paper fluttered to the ground. Did that man just litter? How rude!.
With a frown, she glared at the man's back as she reached down and picked up the trash. Her expression turned quizzical as she noticed the writing on the paper was addressed to the doctor who she had just recently learned was her.
"That's odd, it looks like We have secret stuff delivered to Ourselves at a pier somewhere." she looked around a bit to see if she could spot the young man again. "We should go have a look to see what kind of things We might have ordered."
"All very mysterious."
"Do we know which pier? That might be helpful. And maybe we can do the pickup on the way to the book store."
Broom thought for a bit "Well, if We wanted to hide stuff, it would be away from where people usually go, so maybe that old pier that looked like it wasn't being used? Its right near where the bookshop is supposed to be.
Broom finished off the last of her lunch and used a little magic to clean the plates while she waited for everyone else to finish. While she waited she watched the patrons to see if anyone else was going to come over.
"Good thinking Broom." John says.
"I'll be it's Pier 19 ..."he pauses "I don't know how I know the number of the pier ... but I do."
He stands up, leaves a coin on the table, and lifts his shield from where he rested it against the table.
Reine nodded, then stood when John did.
"Only one table that hasn't approached us," she noted, "Do we wanna pay them a visit on the way out?"
"Yes!" Broom said enthusiastically. She was enjoying meeting all these new people. "We mean, so far everyone has been kind of nice. The first group had offered a job and the mysterious second left Us directions to a delivery of some kind. We wonder if We will have to pay for it or if it might already be covered." she pondered. "Maybe they know why that pier isn't used any more?"
As they made their way out of the inn, Broom passed by the workers and introduced herself. "Hello, We are currently called Broom. We are sorry to interrupt your lunch, but We have just arrived in town... sort of... and were wondering if you could tell Us about the abandoned pier. Why doesn't anyone go there?"
John shrugs and waits to see what happens with Broom and the dock workers.
The four dock workers stopped talking as Broom approached them, watching her warily with occasional glances in John's direction. Her question clearly upset them, turning carefully neutral expressions into frowns. One of the men growled "That a joke? You think that's funny?"
He started to push out his chair to stand up but the man on his left grabbed his arm, eyeing John. "Don't be stupid, Zan." The restrainer did stand up, putting his weight on the angry man to keep him from getting up.
The other stevedores shifted their chairs but didn't get up, their faces angry and frustrated as they looked from their friends to Broom to John and back.
John lifts his empty right hand and makes a calming gesture to the angry stevedores.
He tries to remember if he knows why the pier is abandoned.
Broom was taken aback by the sudden hostility "We don't know, think what's funny?" she asked in visible confusion as she took a step away from the table of men. "We're sorry for whatever We said. We'll just go now."
She took another step or two back while keeping the men in view before turning and heading quickly for the door.
More specifically, John remembers fighting a bunch of angry townies on a broken dock and throwing at least one over the side. He doesn't remember whether he killed the three anglers, Gavol, or anyone during this fight but it seems possible given what else he has remembered about his activities in town.
The dock workers didn't follow the group as they left, but it looked like they were having to work to keep Zan from getting up.
John pulls Broom away and joins the others.
"Hmmm...." John says scratching his head.
"I think maybe I threw some people into the lake off that pier at some point."
"That's probably why they're angry."
"I think there's history of people disappearing off the pier."
After he explains that he says:
"Eventually someone here is going to want to cause trouble and start a fight with me or us. I'd appreciate it if we could handle that without hurting anyone too badly."
"Ok." Broom agreed hastily as she made her way out the door. "Lets go see if we can find Lenk at the depository and see if he knows anything about the book shop owner. Then we can have a look at the bookshop and then off to the pier"
Once outside her spirits rose once again as the warm sun and cool breeze washed away the thoughts of the unfortunate encounter.
As the others headed out, Reine stepped up behind the stevedores, clearing her throat.
"He's not the man you think he is," she said, softly, "don't make him hurt you. Don't make us hurt you. That would be... tragic. Believe it or not, you want him to succeed."
She made eye contact with each of the men, holding their gazes for a moment, before nodding and walking away after her companions.
Desdemona had merely regarded those who approached their table, as well as those whose table they had approached, with a cool, distant regard. She drifted after the others as they left.
The entire table of stevedores clammed up when Reine addressed them. Even Zan, as angry as he was, quailed from Reine's intimidating stare. No one dared to follow the group out of the tent as they made their way to the shuttered bookstore.
No one accosted them as they made their way past the Depository or the Fish Market or crossed the bridge, either, though they continued to get the occasional glance or state that indicated someone knew who they were. Soon they were back in front of the Booklayer. Sometime since they had first passed, a wagon had pulled up right in front of the shop and they could see through the windows that there were people inside.
"You guys want to ask some questions?" John asks.
Broom looked at the people packing up the store to see if it was the mercenaries they had met at the Stain or some other people. "Maybe we could pretend we were sent by the Count to check up on things? Reine or Des might be a better choice to talk if that is how we want to approach them."
Reine looked down at Broom and quirked one eyebrow. Prevarication hadn't really been high on the smaller woman's list of preferences up to now.
Still, it wasn't a terrible idea. Reine shrugged, nodded, and squared her shoulders.
"I'll take the lead," she said, "Lady Desdemona can step in if they want to appeal to a higher authority."
Reine then stepped into the door of the shop and looked around.
"So," she said, not terribly loudly, but pitched to project, and her tone was pointedly neutral. "This is the plan, is it?"
Then she waited to see what response was forthcoming.
"Lady" Desdemona drew herself up and held her position, but in such a manner as to seem that it was out of temper kept in check and general noble arrogance rather than pure ignorance of what they might find and a desire to keep her shadow where it was. She glanced at Broom and John, centering herself between them so that the uninitiated might assume they were her minions, or at least that she considered them to be.
When she addressed Reine, her voice was calm and very cool. "Do discover who is responsible, if you would, Reine."
Broom suddenly felt uncomfortable with her own suggestion. After going through all that effort denying that they remembered anything and trying to convince the Agency woman that they were not the same people Count Lowls had in his employment, they were now trying to act like the people they had claimed they were not.
Why would anyone believe that they were different people now if they started acting like they did before the asylum?
The response was... confused. Reine saw a few workmen inside, loading books into crates. They were further back, boxing up books from glass-fronted book cases, presumably more rare or valuable than the books on the open shelves closer to the front of the store. They turned at Reine's voice and looked at each other, not sure what was happening.
One of them, a little older than the others, stretched and rubbed at his back then came forward. "Um, ma'am? I don't know what you mean. We're boxing up these books," he said, obviously. He glanced at Desdemona briefly before locking his eyes back on Reine. "Um. Your Lady. My Lady, sorry."
John keeps an eye out for the guards who tried to recruit him earlier.
As far as John could tell, right now it was just the workers in the store.
"Clearly," Reine said, her voice dry. "Who hired you?"
Broom quickly becomes more interested in watching the men packing away the books into crates. She begins to get a little fidgety as she waits politely for the man to answer Reine's question.
"Lenk hired us, ma'am." The apparent foreman glanced nervously at Des again. "Um, lady. It was Lenk Marris, at the Depository? He said someone bought these books. We're shipping them up to Carrion Hill."
"We will view the books before they are sent," Desdemona declared, sweeping forward past the poor foreman. "You needn't stop your work. You may merely bring them to us before they are loaded." She paused, then half-turned to give him a slight smile. "Your cooperation is much appreciated, good sir. Reine, John, Doctor Broom, let's be about it."
"Oh! Lenk was Papin's friend!" Broom said brightly. She was just about to add more when Desdemona spoke up.
At Des' command Broom turned towards the man and smiled "We can help you pack things up. Where would you like Us to start?" she asked eagerly.
The man in charge clearly didn't know what to do. He moved out of Des's way without even thinking about it and took one look at John and Reine and started bowing. "Um, sure, ok. Your ladyship."
The workmen likewise moved out of Des's way, giving her ample room to look into the boxes and at the open glass-fronted cabinets. She saw titles like Modern Osirionology: An Introduction, On the Origin of Monsters, and Varisian Traveler's Dictionary. One empty cabinet had a box laying in front of it full of holy texts like Abadar's The Order of Numbers, Chaldira Zuzaristan's Right-Side Up, and Nethys's Book of Magic, among others. All of the books in the glass-fronted cabinets and their respective crates looked old and well made, likely worth a fair amount of money.
Past the shelves and cabinets was a set of stairs leading up and a counter with a comfortable chair behind it.
The foreman turned to nod at Broom when she asked her question. "Um, well, we were told to box up all the books in the glass-front cabinets and then as much of the rest of the stock as we could pack in the wagon." Closer to the front of the store, Broom saw on the open-front bookshelves less serious works (and lower quality printing) like Galdyce's Guest: Feast of the Nosferatu and The Winds of Treason by Ailson Kindler, Merciless: Abendego, Belkzen, Varisia, and Other Hells by Darvayne Gios Amprei, Journeys on a Floating Disk by Dyso Vadrasethi, Wanderlust: True Stories for Brave Lads and Lasses by Bran Stalwartand, and The Handbook of Lurid Halfling Tales.
There was also a bookshelf full of chapbooks called Pathfinder Chronicles. These were the least valuable and most mass-produced looking books Broom could see, and there were multiple copies of each of the many volumes. The well organized Broom could intuit the store's layout quite easily- the most valuable books were kept near the back, where the proprietor could keep an eye on them, and the more popular and less valuable works were up near the front.
Reine gave the workmen a nod, and then moved over to the counter, out of the way. She placed herself in front of the tapestry behind the counter, where she could see everyone, but not hamper the work. At least, other than glaring at anyone who came too close to her.
She caught Desdemona's eye, tilted her head towards the tapestry, and then shook her head.
John will walk behind the counter and sit in the comfortable chair.
He doesn't let on that he has noticed anything.
Despite maneuvering gracefully about as though in a dance as she surveyed the books - though in reality, she was just avoiding having her shadow cross anyone else's - Des caught Reine's glance, and a moment's look showed her the meaning of Reine's nod.
Floating over to Reine, her eyes were serious despite the smile that settled on her lips. "Happy chatter," she suggested quietly, then laughed as though having made a joke. This clandestine business was coming to her with shocking naturalness.
"Let us see if we can get Broom and John to check upstairs in a few minutes. Unless you feel comfortable holding the fort?" she murmured, brows raised in interest.
Reine gave Des a startled look. "Happy chatter?" Reine wasn't sure she knew how to do that, but she did her best to laugh when Des did.
"No one is going to come any closer to me than they have to," her words were soft, and there was a slight touch of bitterness in her tone, but after all, it wasn't as if she'd been going out of her way to make friends here. "I don't know if we can stay here all day, but..." she shrugged. "As long as I'm here, I doubt the workers will come behind the counter."
Broom interpreted the foreman's instructions as an invitation to help. "Oh! Our name is Broom." she said, remembering to introduce herself to the man. then, with a few strange words and a couple of arcane gestures she summoned her unseen assistant and happily threw herself into the task.
Books began to float through the air at her command as she had her helper begin stacking the books next to crates while she went through them and made sure that they were packed in the proper order
As she sorted, dusted and meticulously packed the books as instructed she recalled her memories of sorting and cataloguing books in an impossibly vast library in a far away place. But no, that wasn't right, was it? After all, she had five fingers unlike what she recalled in the memories. Regardless, even if they weren't exactly her memories at least she could use the skills she recalled from them.
She appreciated the organization of the original owner. It was nice to see that the store had a nicely defined order to it and she wanted to make sure that order was preserved as much as possible while packing the crates.
While she worked, she mentioned the titles and authors of any of the books that looked particularly interesting, in case someone else might recognize a title or see some particular value in maybe taking a closer look at one of the works.
She continued to help gather up the store's contents, giving the occasional helpful suggestion for the best way to pack the crates every now and then to the other workers, for as long as her companions were willing to indulge her.
John puts his feet up and watches Broom's antics.
Des nodded to Reine. "All right. John seems comfortable, and Broom is busy, so I'll check upstairs."
She patted Broom's shoulder in encouragement as she headed for the stairs. Once she had reached the next floor, she looked about curiously.
Broom gave John a disapproving look as he put his dirty boots on the desk.
As Broom looked through the books, she saw that the previous owner had an eclectic collection. The shop had everything from holy books to pulpy adventure. Her memories told her, though, that the lack of focus meant the owner probably had a wide net of contacts, as she saw books she recognized as being from Absalom, Cheliax, Taldor, even some from as far away as Kelesh and Goka. It was an impressive collection that had probably taken years to accumulate- a sad thing to see being sold off in a lot like this.
Des nodded to Reine. "All right. John seems comfortable, and Broom is busy, so I'll check upstairs."
She patted Broom's shoulder in encouragement as she headed for the stairs. Once she had reached the next floor, she looked about curiously.
The workmen made no attempt to stop or impede Lady Desdemona as she made her way up the stairs. Stepping through an unlocked half-gate at the top of the stairs, Des found herself in a comfortable living area, with comfortable furniture and more open faced bookshelves with what appeared to be personal reading material near the front of the building, along with a kitchen and dining room near the back of the building, overlooking the garden.
Des saw a second set of stairs up to another floor above the set she had walked up, though these doors were blocked at the bottom with a door.
Probably locked, Desdemona assumed. Still, she went over to try the handle.
Desdemona found that the door was, indeed, locked. The door had a bit of a gap between the bottom and the floor, though.