She pauses at Pakaks words "I meant the dragonkin, though we were assigned this task by Master Arnolt Leroung." she covers her mouth waives her hand at an unintended slip of the tongue.
She follows up "If we can accomplish this task without sticking our noses where they don't belong and not trespass further into his own private business, I'd prefer that, as last I checked none of us are Korvosan customs agents. However, if we are to delve further I'd prefer we have some prior indication of what may be down there, lest it hold unknown dangers and our ignorance work towards our disadvantage."
The pseudodragon makes a strange sound, maybe a coughing, and it says to Silyph, "Video non nobilis dracones hic. Parum nobis video patruelibus volutpat. Hoc illuminabit te amem."
The pseudodragon accepts your introductions, telling you its name is Livianus. It remains evasive about telling you why the clutch has taken the warehouse as their own, instead insisting you examine the crate and trapdoor.
Pakak is first to examine the crate, with Vasile and Eudomia close by. Inside there are several layers of linens, though hidden below them you can see some kind of plant.
You discover bulbous cacti, of a size and shape which could only be pesh. The fact that they're dried and prepared lends itself to the theory.
Regarding the trapdoor, the pseudodragon tells you, "Tibi periculum nullum esse ibi ubi erat periculum nobis, sed iam agitur."
The pseudodragon stands by patiently, waiting for you to go down the ladder.
After examining the crate, Cezar speaks nervously and stammeringly Th-that's not something we need to be messing with, just leave it there, let's do our job and leave, can we please not open anymore crates?
He retreats to behind his sister, chewing at his lip and whispering to her in Celestial. Drugs, V, they have drugs. I don't want to be here anymore.
Silyph joins in Livianus's laughter. She quips back in Draconic.....
"....Cousin or distant relative, you are kin to dragon and thus share the bloodline of Apsu or Tiamat, however far removed. To that your grace in holding words and peace rather than violence speaks volumes towards your nobility."
Silyph turns towards her comrades "Does anyone have a means to detect magic auras? I find it foolish for one to keep such a hidden cache without any magical wardings or alarms. If we are to snoop we should do it right."
He glances at the Pesh with a sneer. "I think it's Pesh... a nasty drug, makes you crazy and mean." He's been on the streets and seen those who've grown reliant on such things. Then Pakak looks at the pseudo dragon,
Vasile listens interestedly to the conversation going on, wondering how indeed it was dangerous.
The pseudodragon replies, "Non periculum nobis minatur populo. Sed cor non fuit. Altius."
The pseudodragon's gaze goes to the trapdoor, and by now it's obvious that something that bothers them a great deal must be down there.
After checking out the office Hathin moves to join the others. The discussions ongoing in many languages are confusing and Hathin has difficulty following events. The club in his hand is still gripped tightly as he doesn't trust these creatures with which he cannot communicate.
Vasile sends her dancing lights down the trapdoor, illuminating the room beneath.
Pakak considers the advice the elf gave, the nervousness of Cezar, and realizes he doesn't even know this creature.
All that into account, he decides to do this anyway, "I'm going down."
and down the trapdoor he goes as the Psuedodragons direct.
Once down half way, he looks around, "Send lights down here if you guys want, I shouldn't really need it though. Orcish sight, ya know."
Mael and Eudomia are oblivious to the speech, as they don't speak Draconic (or Celestial), though Mael offers to be the first down the trapdoor when the party readies to descend.
After Pakak leads the way down, Vasile will follow.
Silyph looks intrigued at Pakaks remark. "Crazy.....and...mean? ....interesting. Is it illegal? At best our patron of this job is dodging taxes and customs at worst he's dealing in an illicit substance. I'm still curious as to what business this is to the dragonkin." she turns to the others in the group noting Eudomia, Hathin, & Maels silence. Before Pakak delves further she tries to stop him with a quick hand upon his shoulder. "Anybody mind divining for magical auras, I didn't prepare the such magics this morning. If we are to delve further I fear setting off a silent alarm ward tipping off our employer to our snooping. If house Lerouge goons come calling I'd hate to be trapped in a pit or caught by surprise."
At the base of the 20-foot ladder, you come into a hallway, with the floors, ceiling, and walls made of dirt. It is about 3 feet wide, and goes about 15 feet, ending in a sealed wooden door. As the others descend, the space gets claustrophobic, with all of you in such cramped quarters.
"I feel like a damned dwarf down here," Pakak notes as the cramped condition as he moves to the door, he answers Silyph, "I think we need to come down here to find out. Let's see what's behind door #1. For those of you who don't speak Draconic, we've found drugs. The drugs are pesh. Pesh is bad, but I'm not sure on the legalities. The pseudodragons say we're not like the other 'devil callers'... and suggest we need to find out what's down here."
Hathin remains at the top of the ladder for now, nervously looking around at the pseudodragons.
Sorry for the overt caution, House Leroung is made up primarily of spellcasters and they traffic heavily in magic items from a cannon perspective. Alarm being a level 1 spell it's well within budget for a wand, a stone of Alarm, or Alarm+Permanancy. It's cheap effective and can be silent tip off given a very delicate possibly profitable smuggling operation.
Would anybody be against putting an auto-pilot on detect magic for doors or entrances? Unless that level of caution would be wildly OOC or nobody NPCs included has prepared Detect Magic?
Silyph seems at ease and comfortable with her new cramped quarters. She takes note of the strange spiced Cacti.
She pockets a small amount of the Cacti that won't be missed.
To her companions "I don't mind the stiff quarters, I'd advise caution House Leroung is noted for it's magics....among other things"
She mentions to Pakak, "I believe they where refering to the practice of binding imps as familiars. It's a common practice for spell casters, however due to their long lifespans the tiny fiends will often outlive their masters and become stranded on the material plane....from what I recall of Psuedodragon's they're not too fond of them."
"Could be. But I get the feeling their disdain goes beyond that." He goes ahead and opens the door at the end of the hallway
Eudomia stays at the top, admitting to being a claustrophobe, leaving Mael, Pakak, Silyph, Cezar, and Vasile to do the exploring themselves.
Beyond the door is a sandy pit, a rough circle about 20' wide, with a crude wooden fence marking another circle inside approximately 15' wide. Though you are no experts (as far as I know), this looks to be an animal fighting pit. There aren't any other exits, though you do see some bones and other things scattered inside the pit.
Silyph will follow down wherever the group goes sticking in the rear. She mentions quietly to Cezar, "Diplomacy huh? We're knee deep in a possibly illegal substances in a narrow corridor somewhere we're not supposed to be with danger lurking around every corner....a staple of every diplomatic endeavor is it not?." she gives him a funny smile.
After being torn from the safety of behind-vasile, Cezar wanders around this upper level of the warehouse, looking up at the rafters to try to spot the Pseudodragons.
Regarding the Pseudodragon's hatred of the imps:
The Imps that fly around the city, they fight these beautiful creatures. I'm not exactly sure why, but it's not something to get in the middle of
In reaction to Silyph's comment:
With an oddly serious face, I don't plan on getting knee deep in Pesh and drug trafficking
If he notices Silyph taking some of the Pesh, Cezar frowns in disappointment and walks away.
"Anyone got any rope?" He eyes the pit
Silyph looks puzzled by the fighting pit, she'll wander the room checking for secret doors or hidden passageways.
She replies to Pakak, "Nope, I'll check for any secret passageways or hidden rooms. There was already one to get down here perhaps there could be more...." as she works her way around the room briefly whispering into her sleeve as her little birdie flies around pecking at walls here and there.
Pakak goes into the pit, and starts to look for clues among the bones and sand.
Vasile keeps outside the pit, although she looks around.
Atop the stairs Hathin eyes the psuedo dragons warily before glancing around to see if anything else catches his eye...
Perception:
Pakak finds the remains of a few dogs, some chickens, and even a few large spiders. A while later, Silyph finds the half-buried skeleton of a small pseudodragon, and Vasile finds a newer body, the small pseudodragon's wings bound to its body and its flesh rotting. You find nothing else besides. Silyph's bird doesn't find any secret doors.
Hathin, you find nothing else interesting without going through new crates.
Cezar tries to catch the attention of one of the pseudodragons, calling out in their language.
Silyph examines the evidence before her little birdie returns cowering and hiding in the sleeve of her robe, "Well then I suppose we know why the dragonkin are keen to keep this warehouse closed down. I don't know why they simply couldn't inform us of the transgression against them instead of imploring us to wallow in the dirt ourselves. The question is then posed, what do we intend to do?" she glances around avoiding gazing too long at the bodies of the dead creatures awaiting to hear her comrades answers and gauging their reaction.
The pseudodragons watch Cezar carefully, though none give him a response.
"They seem kind of cryptic, yeah... What did you find?"
Silyph glances over at Pakak, "A half buried skeleton of a dragonkin, looks like it has been here a while. It's rather small, likely not an adult. There don't seem to be any further hidden passageways down here, either. What about you 3?"
Silyph sighs as if annoyed "So given this little revelation the question lingers, what are we to do?"
Hathin does not move to uncover any further crates, merely waiting atop the ladder with club at the ready.
"Well, if they're forcing pseudodragons to fight like it looks, then that's a good reason for the pseudos to be mad. I'm just not sure where the law stands on their side. I get the feeling we're missing something, or maybe it's just me." He grumbles
Silyph pauses and spends a minute or two thinking it over, "You all may know more about the laws of this land far better than I, however we're still not certain who's doing this is...." taking a moment to collect her thoughts, "It seems extraordinary stupid of our client to hire us to 'find out what they want' if he knew of the matter. He could have simply hired us with direct orders to dispatch the dragonkin otherwise, or paid for more competent mercenaries who wouldn't ask questions if it was known the warehouse also harbored at the very least a smuggling cache....this reeks of subordinates trying to make extra coin at the risk of their own masters neck."
After a little sizable time to let that linger in the air and her mulling over her thoughts Silyph will pipe up with a pleased grin, "Lucky for us there was one of his subordinates outside who let us in, yes? Perhaps we can...extract... needed answer from him and shed light on our ignorance?"
"Maybe the client figured we could be bought off for cheap, but yeah, he could be clueless. I think we should talk to the pseudos again see if we can get them to talk a little straighter before we lean on some poor pissant who might be innocent as well." Pakak considers, then calls up, "You folks up there find anything else? Maybe check another crate? We got some sort of fighting ring down here, looks like the dragonkin might have been forced into it."
I'm not too sure about this "extracting" you're talking about. It sounds mean, and likely hurtful, by the way you're saying it.
Those who are up above now, you see the lead pseudodragon give a solemn nod when Pakak shouts up. He waits for the rest to gather up top again before talking about it.
A horrid look washes over Cezar's face when he hears Pakak shout about the ring, and he whispers quietly How could they?
He turns up to the pseudodragons Why would anyone do something like that to you?
When the rest of the group comes back up, Cezar listens attentively, his face stern and a fist clenched at his side. (The other holding Reem, of course.)
Hathin hears that the pseudodragons seem to be being forced to fight and wonders Why do they not go... what is held over them for them to stay? but waits for the pseudodragon to offer his words first.
Once everyone is back, the pseudodragon explains itself, with one of you translating for those who do not speak Draconic. "It started perhaps ten suns ago. This place was a roost for a youngling named Junia, who had a clutch of children up there. They were nearly old enough to fly, but not quite. The men down here heard them one day, and climbed up. In their cruelty, they took her babies away, and beat her to death with their clubs when she tried to stop them. When we noticed she had stopped hunting, and was nowhere to be found, we thought to check on her roost."
"We found it empty, so a few of us stayed here to see what we might. We found them going into the hidden door, and found the bodies of Junia's children there. They fought them against monsters, binding their wings so they could not fly away. That is why the rest of us came. We would have killed them if we could, but we could not, so we drove them out. We saved one of Junia's children... only one." The pseudodragon gives a mournful wail, which is joined by the others in the rafters. They all wail for about a minute, high pitched and sorrowful sounds, and after that it dies down.
After he finishes relaying the pseudodragon's words to the group, Cezar turns to face Livianus.
Vasile, it's a rare sight for you to hear your brother so worked up over...well, anything.
When he climbs back, Pakak listens and his scowl deepens as more is mentioned of the young ones, "I'm siding with the pseudoes here. Problem is, we don't know WHICH workers were doing this. Let alone if the owner." He speaks in Draconic
Silyph looks surprised by Vasile, "Oh I do mean it with an absence of malice, and I only intend to be mean and hurtful if it becomes necessary or expedient to our cause. In that we extract needed information by the easiest means possible, if that involves kind words or playing a little rough then so it shall. Both are sufficient tolls to clear us of our ignorance." she adds "I only intend to do what the simplest of what is required for a resolve"
Upon Pakak's addition "True, perhaps upon our return the dragonkin will be more forthcoming than sorrowful stares and less obtuse. The receiving office might hold more clues to who directly oversees operations at this warehouse as well and might not be difficult to sort out now that we know what we're seeking."
Silyph will confirm with the others what they've discovered and express the same similar concerns and thoughts over the matter as she did while investigating the hidden cache. She'll wait for input from the others and further light to be shed on the matter if the Pseudodragons elaborate.
Silyph nods at Pakaks questioning in Draconic in agreement she adds in common "Their plight is unfortunate, however I'd prefer a course of action in which we still get paid regardless of outcome. That doesn't preclude me helping these dragonkin, though. I'm on the side of making money for tuition to further my studies."
Livianus barks up to the rafters, asking one named Ilaria to come down. A pseudodragon the color of a sapphire descends, landing on the box next to Livianus. He asks her the questions Pakak asked him, and she responds, "I have seen a man come and go from that office; a man who commanded the others. For the sun that I stayed here to watch them, he stayed around but little, and I do not believe he went below. He was balding, with a beard of crimson and much gold on his ears. He was round as well, and favored one leg as he walked. This is all I know of him."