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Fancy steps back away from the man, and he turns his attention away from the odd looking statue for a brief second. This lapse proved costly as the eidolon deftly grabbed the man who wildly swings uselessly with his dagger (with a wickedly curved blade, Fancy notes dispassionately) and pulled him next to it.
"He's lost his marbles..." Horven states. "We have no choice but to subdue him one way or another."
Sighing, Horven attacks with his rapier again.
Attack:; damage: plus sneak attack.
"Don't be too exuberant, I can heal him after he is pacified."
He approached the man, and raised his shield right before he attacked.
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Ganer moves in just before the odorous man is grabbed by Fancy, clocking him a good blow. He offers little resistance as Horven plunges his dagger into the man's side which drives the man to his knees, eyes rolling up in his head. The eidolon shrugs in confusion as the man stops struggling against it.
We might do well to tie him up for now, and then I can heal him so he can answer our questions."Ganer said, watching the stranger in Fancy's arms.
"Sure thing!"
Carmina rummages her backpack for a moment before pulling out a fine silk rope, clearly intended for more refined purposes than restraining smelly madmen. Still, she does not really mind, and soon has completely tied the man up.
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Carmina approaches the unconscious man and wrinkles her nose in disgust. It is clear to her judging by the smell his clothing has not been washed in quite some time. It appears to be rather fine clothing however. He does not stir from the rough treatment.
Gared is still laying on the ground trying to recover from the effects of the spellcasting earlier.
"Odd clothes for a madman. But didn't Zograthy mention that Natalya went mad before her disappearance? Could this fellow have suffered the same fate?" Horven recalls.
"We will be best served by getting our answers from the source." Yamyra answered, nodding at the malodorous assailant.
After he was tied, Ganer held his holy symbol in one hand as he placed the other on the man, healing his wounds even though he'd said nothing. He wasn't sure healing him would wake the man up, he'd never tried it this way, but it couldn't hurt.
After the man came to, Ganer sat back and watched for a moment, letting the others try their hand before he offered his input.
"Fancy, hold him." As the disproportionate outsider does so, folding him down into a seated posture, Yamyra steps forward to stand almost eye to eye with the now captive slaver. "He has dweomered objects, on his person, five of them. Unlikely to be anything genuinely valuable, but I don't like the idea of leaving them there." She steps back to allow Horven or...
Well, given that Gared is still not quite conscious, pretty much Horven...
Yamyra allows Horven room to search the prisoner, maintaining eye contact all the while.
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As Ganer touches the prisoner and allows his healing to flow into him, the captive stirs and opens his eyes. Seeing as how he is not only tied up but completely surrounded, he softly sighs to himself, "Well, looks like that plan didn't work..."
Gared groans and opens his eyes, thankful to be free of the spell effects cast upon him earlier.
"Check the beltpouch."
"Don't worry about the fifth, it was probably a potion, perhaps what allowed him to vanish."
At the recovering prisoner's words, Yamyra retorts, "No, it didn't. Who are you & why were you trying to capture 'Pathfinders'?"
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"well, if you must know, I am Plutivarch, Plutivarch Dremis. I wanted to see if I could capture a group of Pathfinders for my own personal gain. Nothing personal, just business you understand." He glances about him at the ruined tavern. "Yeah, I figured spreading those rumors about the Nidalese slavers would draw some Pathfinders to me."
Horven removes the belt pouch from Plutivarch and discovers 4 potions. In addition he finds a masterwork dagger, 6 darts, 35 gp and an amethyst.
We need to be able to talk to each other without worrying about being overheard...
Fancy, cover his ears. Tightly, but not so tight as to do him harm.
As the outsider does as Yamyra requested, Yamyra moves around to Plutivarch's side, outside his range of vision & a ways farther behind him, motioning to the others to join her. Once they do so, "Well, he speaks true, which we as yet, have no reason to believe, though we also have not much reason to disbelieve, he is neither responsible for the other disappearances, nor for Natalya's..."
"Though I a bit curious as to why he thought scheme would attract ..."
"Anyone have bright ideas?.."
Smacking her own forehead in aggravated recollection, Yamyra exclaims. "Wait! He said his name was ? The Watch wants him! He's been a all-around troublemaker for a while. They have a reward for him & everything!"
"Unless one of you has a better idea, I say we hand him over to them & call it good for the night."
"There is more to this than he has let on, even if it is only his mad delusions. I would hear an explanation before we simply hand him over to the guard." Ganer approached the man and pulled the pouch from his belt. Assuming all went well, he looked through it's contents, and showed anything interesting to the others.
Ganer approached the man and pulled the pouch from his belt. Assuming all went well, he looked through it's contents, and showed anything interesting to the others.
Horven removes the belt pouch from Plutivarch and discovers 4 potions. In addition he finds a masterwork dagger, 6 darts, 35 gp and an amethyst.
The man had told them what he had been up to, but a little detail still bugged Carmina. She motions Fancy to let the man hear for a moment and asks:
"Uh, how exactly you were going to profit from a group of pathfinders? Couldn't you just have kept kidnapping beggars or something like that?"
Horven secures the pouch to his belt, puts a hand on Carmina's shoulder as if to say "allow me" and puts his rapier to Dremis' throat. "We would like some answers and quickly...I would hate for my hand to slip. Either way, you'll go to the Watch, but it's your choice if you're still breathing by the time we get there."
Intimidate:
"What would you need Pathfinders for? And would you happen to know a Natalya Vancaskerkin?"
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Plutivarch pales as he feels the steel pressing against his skin. "Uhhh....hey I was just hoping to impress the Consortium by capturing a batch of Pathfinder recruits for ransom! You guys were too tough for that plan to work!" Beads of sweat break out on his brow as he stares at the blade. "As for this...Natalya, I have never heard of her before! If she disappeared, why don't you go talk to the city watch? They’re the ones who are supposed to be watching over the city, after all -— shouldn't they know why citizens have been disappearing? They probably know what happened to her!"
"This guy is useless," Horven says, regretfully. "Yammy...I mean, Yamyra...sorry. Um...could Fancy carry him to the Watch? If we're all set, then we should get out of here."
Fancy responds to Horven's query as she lifts Plutivarch to her shoulder.
Horven stows his weapon and nods.
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With Plutivarch in tow, the six of you make your way through the dark streets of Magnimar to to the Arvensoar, the Watch’s barracks and fortress..The Arvensoar looms in the southern part of the city,high above the districts of Lowcleft and Naos. The tower itself is about 400 feet tall, with the lower portion built into the side of the Seacleft that splits the city in half.
Gaining entrance into the fortress proves surprisingly easy, considering you have a prisoner in tow with you. After explaining the situation to the officer in charge, he forwards your case to the head watch officer, a Varisian woman named Kasadei. She strikes you as being harried and overworked but you can tell she honestly cares about her work.
After handing over your 100 gp bounty for bringing in Plutivarch, she gives all of you a tired smile. "I do want to thank you for helping us with this matter. Plutivarch has been a constant, if minor thorn in our side and I do personally appreciate this gesture." She looks all of you over and continues, "It looks like you have some further questions for me. Well, I do certainly owe you some time to answer them. Go ahead and ask me your questions and I will do my best to answer them."
Carmina is a little surprised to see a Varisian as the head of the watch. She had thought that they were mostly found on the other side of the bars... But in the end, she had seen The Amazing Halungamon, the half-orc -sized gnome in a group of travelling entertainers.
Guess you should not judge a book by the cover.
After clearing her mind from prejudices, she clears her throat and says: "Well... We are looking for a certain person, you see, she has been missing for some time and people are starting to get worried... So, uh, have you picked up anyone who looks like..." Carmina then proceeds to describe the general appearance of Natalya to Kasadei.
Horven decides to stay quiet for the time being, clearly uncomfortable in the presence of Kasadei.
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Kasadei nods in reply to the young tiefling girl's description of their quarry, ignoring Horven completely. She sits back in her chair and thinks for a moment before responding, "Natalya Vancaskerkin...Yes she is known to the city watch—she’s a petty burglar known to run with the Tower Girls. You say she has disappeared as well? That is news to us here; I can say she hasn’t been picked up by any patrols, in any event. I am not surprised that Natalya’s disappearance hasn’t been reported. As you well know, the Sczarni tend to try to solve their own problems. If anyone knows more, it’s probably the Tower Girls."
Yamyra steps in before Carmina can reply. "Do you happen to know the Tower Girls are likely to be found?"
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Kasedai responds readily to the halflings question. "That could be a problem. As far as I knows, the Tower Girls have recently changed their headquarters. No informants have yet been able to update us as to their new headquarters, but I do know that a few months back, the Tower Girls had a falling out with another Sczarni gang, the Wreckwash Blades. For several weeks after that, rumor was that the Tower Girls were slumming it in an abandoned warehouse in Underbridge that they shared with a disreputable local by the name of Fenster the Blight. He may know where the Tower Girls (or perhaps even Natalya) are located now."
"Fenster the Blight, you say? What a charming name..." Yamyra looks askance at her companions as if to say 'anybody else have any ideas'?
"He isn't a leper or something is he?"
Ganer nodded imperceptably under the hood. "Thank you for the information," He said. The wheels were clearly turning in his head. He had already begun working out a plan whereby he would meet this Fenster the Blight. He would appear as he was, possibly passing himself off with some equally pretentious name, such as D'zargo the Mad, claiming to be a supplier of some form of vice for the Tower Girls, looking to get his payment. He kept this plan to himself for the moment, however.
Carmina lets out a heavy sigh.
"Well, I guess we will have to go check out that place, then. I just wish we would have some real clues for once, not just rumors.
Shaking her head slightly at Carmina's, probably, unintentional slight, Yamyra nods to the door so the others can see. "Thank you, Captain? Kasadei. We are simply glad to have been of some help." She then heads out the door, Fancy following.
Gared kept quiet after his companions roused him and his vision came back after what felt like an hour. To Ganer and Horven, it is clear that the dwarf was shaken by how easily he was caught by surprise and defeated. He moves along silently at the end of the group, keeping watch and wearing a pensive expression.
Horven shrugs as the group leaves. He is clearly relieved to be away from the watch's fortress.
"Another wonderful meeting, eh? So do we go now or get some sleep?" Horven says, stifling another yawn.
""
"Nothing we can tell her will be worth rousing the 'Venture Captain' right now & we are all getting a bit stretched.." Yamyra replies forcefully.
Horven laughs at Yamyra's strong declaration. "Well said."
Horven decides to stay up for a while in his room. He lights a lantern sitting on the nearby nightstand and pulls a small log from a pile of wood in the corner. Whistling softly to himself, he begins to work on a statue of the adventuring group.
Craft (Woodworking):
With a brief 'good-night' hug, Yamyra sends Fancy back from whence she comes, then settles herself at her writing desk in an attempt to collect her thoughts of the preceding day. After several increasingly disjointed efforts, Yamyra concludes she will achieve nothing better than her initial opening & calls it for the night.
Staying in character to the end, Ganer returns to his room and offers his prayers to Irori, presumably to regain his spells. In truth, he was asking for guidence, wondering if he truly should question the Sczarni. With that, he retreats into bed, one of the few times when he is out of the heavy cloak.
Deciding to not to go to sleep just yet, Carmina barges into Yamyra's room while she's writing her journal and starts talking about whatever comes to her mind until something indicates to her that the halfling might be at the moment more interested in sleeping than chatting with her.
While on the course to her room, she is however sidetracked by the facinating odours coming from the pantry. Stepping into it, she notices the source of the pleasant smell: Spicy sausages from Macini! However, these meaty treats are located at the top of the self, out of her reach.
Too lazy to get a stool, she intends to use a simple cantrip to levitate the sausages to her, but having not casted a single spell in the whole day, accidentally let's out a little bit more arcane energy than required...
"Come hither, my dear sausages!"
...If it weren't for the fact that "sausage" in Abyssal is also the general catch-all term for equines. In a moment, the pale figure of a small horse-like creature appears at the top of the shelves, its weight bringing half of the shelves down and crushing or knocking prone all kinds of foodstuffs and utensiles.
The fiendish animal looks at Carmina with a more than puzzled expression, and she looks back at it equally puzzled but soon darts towards her room.
Perception:
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All of you wake up somewhat late in the morning due to your late night last night (and other extracurricular activities). After bathing and dressing, the five of you meet in the dining room and are able to persuade the servants to prepare a late breakfast for you guys, despite some grumblng about someone who raided the pantry in the wee hours earlier. While no one has been openly accused of this act, the sidelong looks Carmina received from those same servants made it clear as to who the culprit was.