You guys are a registered adventuring company known as The League of Gentlemen Looking for Things in Holes. You have been together for awhile now, but have only recently bought a small apartment above a local tavern called the Peddler's Pint and set up shop in Finwad's Pit.
All these filthy surfacer's so little time to kill.
Sets his pack and supplies down next to the nearest bed, taking up his staff. Gentleman, I shall be out putting up signs... Let the populace know we are available for hire, aye? He still couldn't believe the little kobold had managed to convince him to join a party including a drow, and thus a party that could probably only be described as, by extension, a merry band of cut-throats. Regardless, if they served his aims, then it didn't matter.
Jamako headtilts curiously at the idea. "Hire? I thought we were here to loot the pit?" He places his very meager belongings at the foot of his own bed. [b]"Which reminds me, we should figure out a way to carry it all back up. I'm no pack-mule." He smirks, puffing a gout of smoke.
People might be interested in having a certain item recovered, finding their dead friends who also wandered into the pit... there many reasons to hire someone to go into a deep dark hole in the ground. We might be able to discuss very generous terms to those effects. Or maybe there are bandits out around the city, or thugs in the streets, and so on and so forth. It's not like all of existence begins and ends with that big hole.
Ok make a K. Local or diplomacy (gather information) check.
"yano, Harland, I was down in the peddler's pint last night with a couple fine ladies [scotty winks] and I overheard this fella that had just come up from the pit. Said he lost his lucky flute running from some rat swarms down some cramped tunnel. I bet ya he'd pay a shiny copper or two for it... Or we could just keep it if it's... Nifty"
Then go find him and negotiate terms. And even if it is "nifty", do you seriously know how to play a flute?
"my vast wealth of knowledge would surprise even the wisest of wizards, Harland. But I'll go see if I can find him... I think his name was Ian Anderson or something..."
You've become somewhat of a regular at Zenner's Herbal emporium, one of the local spell component shop. Rumor is, the town is in short supply of nirn root, a rare herb. Apparently, there used to be a large amount if them by one if the underwater rivers in the pit that has been tapped out. Logic leads you to think there must be another source down there if there was one, and it could fetch a small fortune!
Make sure to include an expense clause in whatever deal you make... If we spend three weeks down there looking for a stick with holes in it, I'm sure as hell not paying to refill my pack with food. As for the Nirnroot, he would keep that too himself... no sense making looking for a bunch of plants a priority when nobody knew if there even were any left in the pit.
Jamako, not as adept at gathering information as the others, spends his evening at the bar downstairs amusing the ladies with his cantrips and his surprising charms.
Drovic sits and watches in horrified fascination as Jamako attracks women twice his side to him before going out to be "Diplomatic" I.e. not breaking the legs of other adventurers who found jobs and have a sudden burst of memory loss.
While Drovik doesn't "coerce" any information from anyone, his technique does attract the attention of a pale and beautiful woman cloaked in deep blue robes.
She asks him:
"you seem quite... Effective. I could use people of your talents. There is a dwarf in town named Gnarled Hammerfist. The bastard owes me a debt: quite a bit of gold. I would like you to gather it for me. He works at the Stone Brewery. I'll give you 15% of the gold for helping me"
I have a job some Dwarf named Gnarled Hammerfist isn't paying his debt we need to "convince" him to pay it back we get 15% of the cut. I think we should get the gold pay the woman and the go to work in the pit, and before you ask I don't want the woman hiring more people after us if we don't pay her.
Drovic uses airquotes when saying convince in order to help Jamako keep up.
A shame when Dwarves start breaking their word... This individual must be scum of the lowest order. I daresay we should show ser Hammerfist the error of his ways.
The kobold narrows his gaze, spouting another gout of smoke from his nostrils. "So long as by showing him the error of his ways you mean setting him on fire, yes." He ponders a moment. "Do we know where to find him?"
Drovic scraches his head
Probably should have asked her to clarify the job oh well.
That information wasn't given I suppose he is hiding its what I would do if I had massive debts. I am sure we can find some information.
The lady mentioned he works at the Stone Brewery. You could most likely find him there, and if not, find someoe who would know where he is.
Ok, we should head to the Stone Brewery for him or at least information on his whereabouts.
"I could use a drink, even a terrestrial one."
Just frowns at Silver. No drinking before a job... last thing we want is for a drunken priest to forget that he needs to keep us alive while our guts are spilling out across the ground.
The kobold sets the ladies aside with a wink and a lewd smack of his tail across at least one of their rumps as he approaches the others with staff in hand. [b]"So then, shall we go find this stuntie? Sooner we're finished for the night the sooner I can go back to enjoying the locals." He grins slyly.
First things first we should pick up a wand of Infernal healing so we can keep going despite how horribly dainty and girlish Jamako is. So that's 150 each pay now or I will just buy a 10 charge for myself and laugh as you bleed to death. Be useful or amusing those are your choices.
Yes, you can find her at her shop not far from the Peddler's Pint. She sells oddities, trinkets, some wonderous items, a few magic items etc. Her name is Winter Bellesarae. She claims the debt is 3000 gold. Also of note, is she is rather... odd. Strange vibes. But most people in this town are kinda like that.
Actually, she happens to have a wand of infernal healing for sale for 750 gold.
Harland would leave his share of the money behind, so that Drovic could buy them the wand he wants so dearly. Otherwise, whether they follow him or not, he would head down to the Stone Brewery, preferably with at least Jamako and Silver in tow.
Jamako does indeed join the wizard enroute to the Stone Brewery, evidently pondering this 'infernal healing' malarky.
Drovic heads to Bob's iscou t supplies to get a wand of Infernal Healing and talk to the man about his engraved Garrote order. Smiling at the man behind the counter Drovic says
Did my special order come in.
"Drovic... I am touched! Hehe, I've always wanted one of these... Perfect for silent assasination hehe! Shall we test them out on ol' Hammerfist?"
Scotty stares at the wall where he swore Drovik was standing. Hmm... Maybe he shouldn't have drank so much rum with doc silver when Harland wasn't looking...
Thank you, here is your payment.
Drovic heads back to he others.
The shop keeper accepts Droviks gold silently, with a slight look of fear in his eye. Doubtful he had ever had such a... Unique order before.
Choke: You cut off your target’s air supply so he has to hold his breath (see Suffocation, and the Swim skill for additional information). Any round you do not maintain the choke, your opponent can take a breath and restart when he has to begin making Constitution checks. from the d20pfs site.
The Stone Brewery is on the other side of town, about a 45 minute walk.
Scotty go case the place while we watch the front door.
Since Scotty seemed unwilling to check the place out, Harland would grunt, then walk in the front door, staff clacking against the ground next to him.
Scotty drops down from the roof with a quizzical look upon his face at Harland's grumpiness.
"well boys, I was way ahead of ya it seems. The place looks peaceful if nothing else. Maybe a bit cluttered. A dwarf matching our description along with two other dwarves and one human are inside, seemingly busy minding their stills and barrels. Besides the front door, there is a latge back gate for shipping and recieving. also, some large window vents up in the roof. I seriously doubt they would see us coming hehe... And by the gods is thy place stock full of ale!"
By now, if they had known Harland for at least a week, they would know that his basic state of being was "Grumpy". He would start at Scotty's sudden appearance, scowling at the rogue. If we didn't need Ser Hammerfist alive, I would say block off all exits then burn the place to the ground. Hopefully, it can still come to that. Filthy oathbreaker deserves the most painful, lonely death we can concoct. Did you happen to notice whether they had weapons close by?
"Aye, sure 'nuff, Hammerfist had a mighty warhammer across his back. The others... I am not sure, but seeing as they work in a town like this... I'd bet they are armed. I suppose there is the chance the dirty dwarf will come willingly... but where's the fun in that, eh? Hehe, I say we at least cut on him a bit... just for fun."
Don't be crude, at least pretend you care about leaving too much evidence. That way, if it ever starts too matter, you'll have a great deal of practice. If he doesn't tell us where too get the money, we'll water board him with his own ale. Scowls at the still. Assuming they are more dangerous than common thugs, we should go at this tactically. Shall we wait until nightfall, for when they go home, or rush in and get as many as we can right now? If right now, I can try to put anywhere between one or all of them asleep. If later, we should strategize more carefully.
"Bah! Looks like the fun police are here! Nothing wrong with a little knife work... but you are right of course, Harland, we should do this professionally. I doubt our "employer" cares about these other workers, just Hammerfist and his gold. I think we could take them on, but we could always play it safe and follow the bastard home. Drovik, did she mention if she needs this dwarf alive..."
Less that she needs him alive and more that we need him alive... until we know where the money is. Once we have it, who cares? Just shrugs.
It is late afternoon and if you choose to wait, it would most likely only be a few hours wait until they are done working and head home. This is a fairly uninhabited part of town, mostly warehouses, and not many people are walking about. Getting inside unnoticed would probably be an easy task. Scotty notes that from the windows up on the roof, there definitely appeared to be what looked like an office, along with the main room containing the stills, casks, and barrels, and a couple other rooms that appeared to be closets or storage.
Jamako's eyes seem to light up at Harlands mention of burning the place to the ground, the kobold grinning slyly and toying with a candle-sized flame meaningfully. "I think I could arrange that.. but waiting til later is definitely the better choice. The fewer dwarves we burn to the ground the fewer grudges we have to worry about."[b] He ponders meaningfully. [b]"Perhaps an ambush? We can frighten the stunty into cooperating easily enough."
We wait for him to leave then.
Drovic sits back against a wall and closes his eyes.
Ah much better tell me when the dwarf gets out.
After a few hours, the sun sets. Soon after, one by one, the workers begin to leave. Hammerfist the the last one out, locking the doors behind him. He then slouches off down an alley towards one of the cities poorer residential districts.
If you didn't know better, you would say this dwarf swaggers about as if he is drunk
Clearly, he enjoys imbibing from his stock. If we follow him too his home, we might find an ideal location for "interrogation." Unless, of course, he's just going to go for more drink. Sets off after the dwarf, keeping about fifty feet behind, staff clacking lightly on the ground next to him.