Ganer couldn't help a slight shudder, he'd always had a certain fear and disdain for the poor. There was of course the fact that Ganer's parents, when they'd tolerated him, had been very rich, wealthy enough to relocate from Vudra to Absalom in the interests of expanding their mercantile interests. Beyond that, his fear of the lower classes didn't take off until after his true nature was known. He'd discovered that the poor didn't tend to have the education required to make their disdain of Ganer known through mere words, and so were forced to express it in other ways. . .
The others would be able to tell that Ganer was uncomfortable, from the fact that he pulled the cloak back up to hide his face, and the fact that he was apparently mumbling a prayer of some sort. When he finished, he looked around and said "Perhaps the man we seek is down one of these alleys?"
"Most likely," Horven replies. "Question is, which one?"
Carmina walks along the streets proudly as she would own them, either oblivious or not caring about the potential dangers lurking around.
"Why don't we just ask someone?"
"!..
Actually, that's not a bad idea." Yamyra acknowledges. Turning & looking for a younger child, she fishes out a few copper pieces & tosses them at the urchin to get their attention.
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After talking with the child Yamyra is quickly directed to the the abode of the Amazing Zograthy, Seer of the Dark, a small, well-patched tent crudely painted with mystical symbols and decorated with chicken bones and other oddments. Within the stuffy, cluttered tent is a table covered in blue velvet stitched with moons, stars, and arcane symbols. A dusty crystal ball and a dog-eared harrow deck sit upon it. Behind this table sits an aged, bald, Varisian man with threadbare purple robes and piercing eyes.
Upon your entrance, he gestures broadly and states in a tremulous voice, “The Amazing Zograthy sees all and knows all. A double fist of silver for a turn of the cards or a vision in the crystal; a treble fist of gold for the secrets of the multiverse.”
Yamyra, leaning toward the others, mutters in Dwarven.
Putting on her best polite, cheery face, Yamyra responds, "And for less...
cosmological,
secrets?"
Ganer sighed, sounding somewhat irritated at what he'd noticed. He kept quiet, however, wondering if the Halfling would prove as socially inept with others as she had with him.
Perception:
Horven merely scratches his chin and observes Yamyra as she talks to Zogarthy. He leans in toward the others.
"I wonder how much pesh would get him to cough up the truth."
Gared face has remained stonily devoid of emotion since they crossed into more run down territory. His eyes were cautious and read the faces of everyone they passed, and the martial artist was never truly unarmed. As the rest of the companions entered the tent, the dwarf kept watch at it's entrance, his ears listening in on their conversation as he did so.
Carmina joins Yamyra in her attempts to persuade Zograthy, and makes sure that the man notices her signet ring as she does so.
"You see, we are looking for someone..."
"I believe it is in your interest to aid us, sir. The one we seek is being chased by others, and I believe you would much rather we find her than they," Ganer emphasized his words in such a way that he sounded as though he were offering to do the man a favor, rather than making a threat.
Diplomacy (Aid Another):
"A showman of your caliber must simply know," Horven adds quickly.
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Zograthy stares at the five of you, hands flexing involutarily for a moment after you finish making your pleas. Finally, he shrugs and finishes, "Very well, you shall have your answers for but three fists of gold coin." Once the money has exchanged hands, he leans back in his chair and looks your group over. "What is it you wish to know?"
Horven is quick to reply to the question. "We are looking for Natalya Vancaskerkin. We had heard she had enlisted your aid. We are aware that there are others looking for her, but it would be best for all involved if we find her first."
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Zograthy leans forward slightly. "Natalya Vancaskerkin? Yes I know of who you speak. I can tell you she hasn’t been heard from among the Sczarni." As the news sinks in Zograthy adds, "Many folk along the waterfront, both here in Beacon’s Point and over in Dockway and Underbridge, have been disappearing of late. Several each week, in fact, with many simply vanishing out of their very beds at night." He shrugs his shoulders, "I suspect Natalya is among those who have disappeared in this manner." He then adds with a note of bitterness, "As long as only poor Varisians and other destitute folk are being targeted, the chances of the city doing anything about the disappearances is nil."
"Do you suppose this is the work of slave traders, Zogarthy?" Horven asks.
"I had not heard the specifics of such rumors, so thank you for clarifying. Seems a little farfetched, I'll agree. Do you know where about the last disappearance took place?" Horven prods slightly.
Sense Motive:
"Thank you for the help, Zograthy," Horven finishes, turning back to the group. "Seems like we have a few places we can check out from here . Any ideas?"
After a moment, a brilliant idea crosses Carmina's mind. Well, not exactly brilliant, but quite close by her standards.
"I got it!" she yells. "We just go to the places where there have been disappearances, dress like destitute Varisians, and wait till they come to abduct us. That way they'll take us right to Natalya!"
Ganer watched the other tiefling for several seconds before he finally spoke, "I suppose we could call that 'plan b'." He turned to Zograthy and added, "Do you have any ideas as to who is behind these disappearances, and why?"
Gared thought over the situation with good Dwarven patience, Listening to his companions and still keeping watch outside the tent.
"But we have no "plan a", so we are doing it anyway!" Carmina says and smiles triumphantly at Ganer. He is wrong if he thinks she will abandon her great plan just because he is bitter he didn't invent it himself.
"Eh?"
At Zogarthy's reminder, Yamyra smirks to herself, digs into her coin-purse & tosses him twenty gold, smiling brightly as she says something.
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Once Yamyra has filled the old Varisian's hand with the additional gold, he quickly adds, "Natalya was, at least until recently, a member of a Sczarni gang known as the Tower Girls, a group of cat burglars. They are themselves searching for Natalya, and word is that when they find her, she’ll be in deep trouble. I don't know exactly what is going on with them but I did hear them say that Natalya went mad before her disappearance."
Ganer couldn't help but sigh. He detested this sort of behavior, the naked profiteering from other's misery, though it seemed as though that was the song being played, and he had no choice but to sing along. He counted out twenty gold from his coinpurse and rattled them in his hand, careful not to reveal the slightest hint of flesh. "Where, if I could ask, might she have disappeared to?" Gaer held his cloak covered arm out, as though offering the money in his hand to Zograthy, though he would not surrender a coin until the question was answered.
Horven walks out of the tent, content with what he learned and eager to make the most of it. He stretches and finds a nearby bench to sit.
Gared moves with Horven protectively as he leaves the tent and steps back into the alley way. The archer addressed the halfling in low dwarvish as they walked. "Так что, похоже, мы гонка на время, еще раз ...
Куда мы пойдем отсюда, мастер Horven?"
Where shall we go from here, Master Horven?"
"Інші все ще думаю, що шоумен знає щось ще. Ми повинні відправитися на набережну ... але це буде схоже на пошук голки в стозі сіна," Horven says with a sigh. "Там було кілька випадків зникнення. Наталя, ймовірно, одним з останніх. Його допомога була трохи неточним."
Horven scratches his nose. "Ми завжди можемо сумніватися в банді вона була, але це було б більше проблем, ніж ми можемо впоратися, я думаю. Доброю новиною є те, що ми, ймовірно, маємо справу не з работорговцями. Погана новина в тому, що це, ймовірно, магічний характер."
"There have been a few disappearances. Natalya is probably one of the latest. His help was a little imprecise."
"We could always question the gang she was in, but that would be more trouble than we could handle, I think. The good news is that we probably aren't dealing with slave traders. The bad news is it's probably magical in nature."
Ganer dropped the coins back into his purse, making a quiet 'tsk' sound as he did so. "Fair enough, I will find out on my own, I suppose."
Ganer followed Horven and Gared outside, and heard the end of their conversation. "It seems that I should take the time to learn to speak dwarven. I would certainly enjoy speaking a language a little less suspect than, say, Infernal."
"I suppose I learned it because I was always taught that a good merchant should be able to communicate with many clients," Horven recalls with a shrug and a smile. "Other than dwarven, I know some elven. And halfling, of course, but I rarely need to speak it."
"I would be happy to teach you my friend." The dwarf smiled and nodded at the tiefling. "For now, I would suggest we move quickly and search around the waterfront. If nothing else, I imagine we'll likely encounter the other who are searching for her, and perhaps will learn more from them." The dwarf is still glancing around, wary of his surroundings.
"Please don't. I don't want to be the only one who doesn't understand what you are speaking." She turns to Ganer. "In fact, I could teach you Abyssal. It sounds a lot cooler than some old boring Dwarven.
Despite these important matters, she manages to spare some attention to Gared's suggestion. "Sounds good... You know, we could just follow the other guys who are searching for Natalaya. And when they find her, we can just grab her and run."
Ganer smiled and nodded, "That is the other one I know. I have known if for some time, in fact I can't recall actually learning it." Feeling a need to move the conversation along, Ganer added, "Any theories as to the cause of these disappearances? It sounds like kidnapping to me. Or possibly settling scores, if these Sczarni are as Yamyra describes."
"Eh, if it was just the Sczarni, these disappearances would have happened long ago. This sounds fairly recent, given the rumor-mongering. I think Natalya stumbled upon something bad and the disappearances tie into it," Horven postulates. "That would be our luck, wouldn't it?"
"Lady Carmina, I would encourage you to reconsider your feelings on the dwarven tongue. It is ancient and rich with history as it's proverbs are filled with wisdom. I would be more than willing to teach you language, and I would be honored if you shared what you know of demon speak, as dark as it's roots may be. For now, we've little time to spare for idle chatter. A life may be on the line." The dwarf stood as he spoke and motioned for them to continue onward to the waterfront.
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After your visit to Zograthy, you all make your way to the waterfront deep in the heart of Beacon's Point. The closer you approach to the docks , you note the crows growing thicker as many of the dockworkers are still plying their trade of loading and unloading cargo from the many docked vessels here. Looking up at the sky, you notice the sun starting its downward trend tot he horizon.
As the assembled companions contemplate the massed 'humanity' before them Yamyra clears her throat. "Actually, given Zogarthy's comments I would have thought another course might have made itself apparent." As the others turn to her, "The Varisian council is of sufficient importance in Magnimar I can guarantee the Watch done nothing, they just haven't made publicly known what progress they made. If we were to make the right inquiries of the correct Watch members, it might move us along a bit better."
"I know this diminishes my standing as a typical halfling of good cheer and compliance, but given the circumstances, I do not think the city watch can or will help us. Even though we know very little, what we do know is enough to put suspicion upon us," Horven says, a little uncomfortable. "I think that the locals may be of more use here and we should go find a tavern. Information is usually plentiful there."
"If the watch is as competent as you say, then they will not need our aid in finding the woman. My concern is for her safety, and the threat to her life doesn't come from the watch as far as I can tell. If we find nothing among the streets by tomorrow, then we should go to the watch. To do otherwise could cost Natalya life or limb, and would be foolish. Do you know of a good tavern or gather spot of Sczarni along the waterfront? The dwarf did not slow his brisk stride as he addressed Anafa.
"Or in fact, do you know any good taverns around here? We could all go for a few mugs of ale after we have found Natalya."