Zareth sips his drink, absentmindedly floating his orb next to him. "Good to see Sir Waldo is so courteous to his guests. Truly a fine example of nobility."
"I don't think that's it, Z." Andrus says with a frown. "Something's happened. Waldo would have been prepared for this eventuality. Just keep your eyes open, and be nice for a change." Andrus gives him a wry look with that one. He gets up and moves around the room. He is clearly agitated.
"So we keep our eyes open for things like poisoned tea? Maybe a prolonged wait to summon the guard?"
It may seem longer, but a bare 20 minutes after you enter the house, Sir Waldo bustles in, full of apologies. A chubby, jovial man, he exhudes bonhomie.
"So sorry. Wasn't expecting visitors. Lord Padraig, so good to meet you. How can I help?"
"I'm looking for Lukas."
Sir Waldo's face falls.
"I was afraid you'd say that. He isn't here."
Padraig looks grim. "And why might that be?"
Sir Waldo looks panicky. "He's a young boy and you know what young boys are. Impulsive. They get bored so easily. He's made some - well, rather undesirable friends."
Padraig turns to his allies. "You know, I really think this is your territory, if you'd care to ask some questions."
Perception 19 and above:
The room you're sitting in is opulent, but a reasonably close inspection suggests that there used to be more objects here. Faint marks on the walls hint at pictures removed. Circles on the furnishings point to decorative items that are no longer in place.
"What types of undesirable friends? Pulling any type of real mischief or normal for young boys?"
Waldo looks supremely uncomfortable.
"This doesn't reflect well on my guardianship, I suppose. He's joined a gang. He does come back from time to time, but where he goes otherwise is a mystery. I haven't really known what to do. If I turn him away when he does come back here, I'll lose all contact with him."
"O.K." Andrus says with some finality. "Then tell us everything you know about this gang of his. Their name, where they hang out, who's the leader, everything. Then I want you to write up a letter of authorization to Lord Padraig. You will surrender all rights to Lukas's guardianship and release him into his birth father's custody. That way, no one can accuse us of kidnapping, if it comes to that." Andrus looks at Padraig and nods. "Everything else is just noise, designed to confuse us. Focus on the goal. We are looking for Lukas and to make sure he is safe. Being in a gang is decidely not safe."
Waldo boggles slightly at the forceful cleric, while Padraig seems quite content with the way things are going.
"But ... I don't know! I mean, I don't know all the things you want to know. Lukas is very clever, very good at covering his tracks. He simply came home one day and said he'd made new friends and he wouldn't be home so much. What was I supposed to do?"
"Several things, I daresay," says Lord Padraig a little grimly. "He's twelve and you're a grown man and in a position of authority, but we'll let that pass. I think Andrus is right. It's time to bring your guardianship to an end."
Waldo bristles slightly.
"You have no idea how difficult it's been. Agera spoiled him, you know. Told him he was special, egged him on."
Muttering, he goes to a desk and pulls out a piece of paper. "Would you like to draft the letter or will you trust me to do it?"
"Go ahead and write the letter we don't have any reason not to trust you, ."
"Can we look around his room for clues as to where he went?"
"Yes - of course - absolutely."
Waldo sounds increasingly distraught, but shows you to Lukas's room.
Start looking around the room paying partitular attention for loose floor boards, hollows in the wainscotting any place a kid would use to hide stuff he dosn't want parents to find.
perception =
theivery (just in case) =
Kel's sure instincts (and his own experience, no doubt) lead him unerringly to a carefully disguised bedpost. Unscrewing the decorative moulding, he finds a hollowed out space, and inside that, a diary.
"Let us see that, Kel. I would like to see what a 12 yr old feels a need to write." Andrus says as he holds out his hand. He is afraid of hearing the journal through Kel's "unique" filter.
Although written in code, the diary is decipherable to some of the party at least.
Dating back about four years, Lukas is open enough about Sir Waldo. There are some interesting recent entries in the last few months.
"The Old Man is gambling again. He'll lose of course and sell more things to pay for it and hope to win again. Never going to happen, Old Man, not the way you play. I have to love that he uses his own failure to try and prise more money out of my mother. She's not fooled."
"Mother came today. We made plans for when she comes back and I'll live with her properly again."
"Letting my hair grow to cover the horn nubs. Stupid-ass guardian wants it cut short. Not going to happen."
"Out and about at last. Telling the Old Man tomorrow to keep my room and don't expect to see me. Hitting the streets with the boys and girls. Good times."
"He says he hasn't heard from mother. Don't believe him. He just wants to keep me away from her. I'll find her. Maybe go to her house. She said not to, but if she's there she'll forgive me and if she's not she'll never know."
"We should ask Waldo about Agera's former house." Andrus says after reading the journal entries aloud to everybody. "Lukas may have gone to search for her. We'll check that out, then find this Knifeman and see why he's out for Lord Padraig's skin."
"We might want to check out Waldo's gambling 'buddies' as well."
"Well, can't blame him for running off. Shouldn't be that hard to find him, at least."
"We might want to check out Waldo's gambling 'buddies' as well."
"Kel, perhaps it would be more tactful to talk about that when Waldo isn't right there."
Waldo has turned red and is making curious gobbling noises as more is revealed than he'd really like.
Sir Padraig takes pity on him.
"This is a bit of a shock, I'm sure. Come with me and have a glass of brandy. I'm sure you'll be able to answer any questions these good people have in a moment or two."
Tactfully, he guides the spluttering noble back downstairs.
"Oooo...right, sorry about that."
Andrus smiles brightly at Lord Padraig's tactful diplomacy. He points in Padraig's direction after he and Waldo leave and says quietly to Kel, "THAT'S why he is lord of Winterhaven and you are the town's troublemaker." Then he gets serious. "The river branches here, folks, and none of the options are guarantied. We search for the boy, first by Agera's old house and then whereever this gang of his haunts OR find out who's after Padraig by finding the Knifeman and shaking that tree to see what falls out of it OR following the money to see who Waldo owes money to and see if they are connected to this. The last option is weakest to my mind, but I am wise enough to know that I don't know everything. What do you think? Which path should we take?"
"Agera's old house is closest and we know where it is unlike the other two options."
"Agera's old house is closest and we know where it is unlike the other two options."
"Kel's right, as painful as that is to say. Investigate where he's most likely to go first."
Long silent, Kith nods her agreement.
Lord Padraig greets you downstairs.
"I'll stay here with Sir Waldo, I do believe. Someone should keep an eye on him. Unless you feel I can be more useful elsewhere?"
Agera's villa is charming, set in an attractive formal garden and has clearly been lavishly appointed with a certain idiosyncratic taste. Agera seems not to have suffered any lack of confidence or self-belief. Multiple statues of her in various poses dot the grounds. Set in the centre stands a low building of startling beauty. From Lukas's diary, you can guess that this would have been her workshop - the place where she spent most of her time.
"Just be careful, m'lord. I don't want to have to find you after we find your son." Andrus says before they leave.
perception =
Kel's quick ears pick up the sound of bickering coming from the room on the left.
"Someone arguing in there. Everyone stay here and I'll sneak up and find out what it's about."
Stealth =
Edging to the corner of the house, Kel peers cautiously through the window. As he does so he sees two figures wearing serviceable dark clothes. The nearest, a thin man fiddling idly with a paper knife, lounges in a chair while his female companion flicks irritably through piles of paper, books and other documents.
"Damn the woman. Couldn't she even learn to file?"
As she speaks, the man raises a cautionary finger.
"Discretion, Hortense. And silence."
Is the window open?
I will sneak back to the gang and fill them in.
Sneak =
"There's theives in the house ransaking Agera's study. I saw two and I think they heard me."
"There's theives in the house ransacking Agera's study. I saw two and I think they heard me."
"Do you suppose they'd attack if Agera's brother walked in and asked for a cut of the profits in exchange for not calling the guards? I like to think that I'm a good enough actor to play the part."
"Go for it. I'll play bodyguard."
*puts on a mean look.*
"Tenja, Kith, and I will stay here. Give a holler if you get in trouble." Andrus says quietly.
Zareth and Kel bust in the front door and bluff like crazy.
Athlectics =
Ok no busting in, how about pick the lock and bluff like crazy
theivery =
Kel sneaks up to the door and deftly unlocks it for Zareth. As he does so, he contorts his face into what he hopes is an intimidating expression.
Tenja also twists his pleasant features into an approximation of toughness.
His guards ready, Zareth pushes open the door and quietly steps inside. "Agera, dear, are you home? It's me, your brother." He waits for a moment, listening to the silence before turning to his companions with a rakish grin. "I guess she won't mind if we rob her blind while she's out, hmm?"
Strolling through the door, Zareth, Kel and Tenja are confronted by an ostentatious fountain set in a pillared hall with doors in each wall.
Emerging from the right hand one, is another black clad figure who regards them with frank curiosity, his hands resting lightly on a rapier and a dagger.
"This is surprise - I didn't expect to see you here. Or anyone. Agera's brother, eh?"
"This is surprise - I didn't expect to see you here. Or anyone. Agera's brother, eh?"
"You're as surprised as I am. I just came to get was rightfully mine, I wasn't expecting competition." Zareth runs his hand along the marble fountain. "Of course, I doubt our motives are so dissimilar. Let's make a deal. We split the profits, we all walk out of here with what we want and no one has to hide any corpses."