"Really now? I think it's obvious we should visit his home before we go to the docks."
Mr. Bliversin nods. "Yes. Yes, you strike me as the ones he was waiting for."
"But be warned." His voice drops considerably. "Stay off the main roads. The Emperor's press-gangs would step over their own mothers for a chance to drag you before him in chains--he believes you and yours are responsible for what's left of his old life being torn asunder."
"That isn't surprising. We'll be sure to be careful."
"He wouldn't be wrong," Ortik says, his voice deeper and has a natural growl to it. "We will be careful, but I fear it will take something more forceful to discourage them."
Alright then. Let's go to Vencarlo's home, and then the Docks. I hope we do run into a few of the "Emperor's" men. They all need a good lesson in what's acceptable and what's not in this city.
Nalun is ready to head out to Vencarlo's as soon as anyone else is
Lyla shrugs and starts walking. "Alright, but what could possibly Vencarlo have for us? A bunch of swords?"
"I'm going to guess something better than that. Information is far more useful than steel."
"Let's hope," Lyla replies before going on mumbling "Though I'll definetely be disappointed if we don't find a bunch of swords in a swordmaster's house."
"Almost assuredly something more useful," Ortik muses, as a few pieces of a puzzle begin to click together for him.
Karri stays quiet, hating that she is excited about the impending violence. "We won't remove our enemy standing here."
The party leaves Mr. Bliversin's bakery and sets out into the gloomy streets of Old Korvosa.
The sounds of faint sobbing and whispers can be heard in the alleys and houses as the party continues onward, following side streets and staying out of sight of the main roads. A few patrols of haggard and wild-eyed men pass the party by as they move, but they take no notice of them so far...
Soon enough, they find the once prestigious Orsini Academy... or rather, what's left of it. The building has been reduced to little more than a collection of scorched timbers and scuffed stone. What appears to be the swordmaster's home is a couple of houses down the street from it.
There are no lights on inside the house.
Demitri draws his sword before attempting to open the door.
Nalun follows the Ex-Guardsman's lead, drawing his rapier and thinking I've really gotta name this thing. Dame's Wrath? Nah.
Nalun nods to Demitri and follows him into the home.
Lyla's jaws drop when she sees Orsini Academy burned to the ground. She shakes her head. "Why would anyone do this?" She lags bahind staring at the ruins for a moment, and picks up the pace when she notices the rest o the party moving on.
The halfling girl follows Demitri into Vencarlo's house, walks at Nalun's side. "Now... let's find those swords."
"He was an outspoken critic of the Queen," Ortik says. "I would have been more surprised if it were unmarred." He follows his friends into Vencarlo's home, looking for signs of life anywhere.
The door opens easily.
A well-woven Vudrani throw rug lies on the floor of the home's entryway. A velvet portrait of a pseudodragon flying through Korvosa's skies sits on the eastern wall of the entrance, with two doors to the north and two on the southern wall of the hallway into the home.
The hallway leads into a sitting room, with two slightly overstuffed couches sitting before a cold hearth.
"Seems no one has been here for awhile, least of all Vencarlo," Ortik says, glancing at the hearth.
Further investigation of the sitting room reveals a stairway leading up.
"Not for a good three days atleast."
"Though these faint scratches are fresh. Whoever made them was a professional when it comes to stealth. It's almost invisible." Demitri then moves to open the door directly in front of him.
"Almost," Ortik says, drawing his warhammer. "Though if they were a professional, why leave behind scratches on the walls at all? What were they looking for?"
"Because nobody's perfect. To be fair, very few people would have noticed this. I almost didn't notice it either."
Nalun nods. I didn't see it. And I'M a professional...
Nalun moves behind Demitri, ready to help defend the man if trouble is still inside the Orsini residence.
The door Demitri opens leads into a well-stocked workshop. Dozens of partially repaired daggers and rapiers lie on the workbench immediately before him, but none of them look particularly valuable.
"There's your swords." Demitri says before opening the southern door.
The door opens to reveal a comfortable-looking study. A sturdy leather chair sits before a triangular desk with lots of papers on it, some of them marked with red ink. Two tall cabinets filled with books on philosophy and swordplay stand against the east wall.
"Knew it! Very rarely I find that I'm wrong,", Lyla replies to Demitri, playing along with a wink. She takes a good look at the blades. "Hmm. They look pretty average to me, but if you really think there's something more to it, let's take a good look," she says starting a thorough search of the room.
Without finding anything worth of mention, Lyla leaves the workshop room. "Nothing in here," she announces. Lyla opens the door opposite to Vencarlos' study.
Lyla opens the door to find a freestanding bathtub and chamber pot in the corner.
Lyla makes a grimace. "Ew." Even if there is not much to look at, she still searches the room.
Ortik rifles through the papers on Vencarlo's desk. "Looks like the Academy's been in the red for awhile," he says after studying them. "It all went tits up after Eodred died, much like Korvosa. Students stopped showing for classes, and Vencarlo started taking leaves of absence." Makes sense, Ortik thought, as he checked off another box on a list in his head.
Lyla walks up to the last closed room in the downstairs area and swings the door open. She goes on to investigate the room.
The last door on this floor opens into a pantry. Barrels of water sit in one corner, and boxes containing all manner of food items sit against the southern wall.
Some of the food in one of the boxes is starting to go bad, filling the air with a stomach-turning stench.
Demitri covers his nose at the stench before making his way up the stairs.
Lyla gets back to the corridor pinching her nose. "Nothing in here, either. So far, it looks like my first guess was spot on. Let's go upstairs," she says pointing up and following Demitri to the second floor.
The party starts walking up the stairs, their eyes peeled for trouble...
Lyla stops dead in her tracks and raises her hand into a fist, telling the group to halt. She looks at Demitri, her index finger pressed against her lips asking for silence, and then points to below the stairs.
Demitri is confused at first but takes Lyla's gesture seriously. He carefully moves to investigate.
Lyla also inspects the source of the noise, taking care not to give away her own movements.
Lyla finds herself face-to-face with a very strange sight--a man, dressed entirely in a suit of armour that makes him look like a red-coloured mantis. He bears a pair of red-hilted sabres with incredibly serrated edges.
There's an awkward silence as Lyla, Demitri and the mantis-man stare each other down.
He flourishes his sabres and points one at the halfling, grumbling something indistinct.
The mantis-man abruptly stops flourishing his sabres, and with a speed and grace so swift that if one were to blink they'd miss it, he throws a vial of alchemist's fire at the fireplace!
The vial explodes... and immediately, the area around the fireplace bursts into flames.
Demitri yells to the others still upstairs. "Someone get water and put this place out! It's currently on fire!"
Demitri slashes at the man. "You're not getting away."
The mantis-man hisses in surprise and barely manages to get his sabres up in time to block Demitri's blow.
At Demitir's shout Karri begins summoning something to fight the fires. I can hardly hold onto this thing! she fears the worst as the energy begins to coalesce into the real world, slipping and flowing around her hands as she reaches into her flesh to bring forth the thing.
Nalun tries to get up the stairs to help, but its too crowded.
If Nalun gets a good view of the guy