Noro glances around to survey the room. noticing the stairs her first thought is to go that direction. stairs go up, the little pricks are upstairs. simple logic.
Noro heads toward the stairs (and presumably the footsteps) her fists ready to meet new faces.
More books...
Pelgrev sounds a little petulant.
Group 1:
Ms. Secretary grudging allows it, but not without muttered comments of "interference" and "meddling". She stands over your shoulder and watchs you write the whole time.
Zayid shares a comradely glance with Pelgrev, but helps look over the records nonetheless. Once Freia is satisfied and the group has left, he breathes a sigh of relief. "To the temple now?" he asks quietly.
"Thank you - thank you ..." Freia repeats the phase a few times as if it were a charm or spell that could appraise the now annoyed gnome. After a few minutes of frantic writing she is finally done and after swiftly applying a thin layer of sand upon the ink she packs up her gear and places the paper inside the bag again.
"I think I got the most of it. If we want to speak to one of the other captains or owners this information should at least be able to give us a place of residence." She nods at Zayids quiet suggestion and carefully, with some new found courage, pats Pelgrev on the back. "Don't worry, hopefully we find some non literary leads soon enough" At least I hope so. Some fresh leads would be godsend!
Group 1:
You make your way back up to the temple. The road is ever widening and shrinking as the haphazard city planning of the Docklands leads you on. Around the same place as the wagon incident (of which there is now no evidence), you walk past a flower shop. An old man in potting soiled clothes grabs your attention and motions you over.
You! Tears! I have something for you!
Huh? Here again? What is it about this area...
Freia looks towards the man, trying to determine his intentions. It felt slightly ... off ... somehow that they once more got dragged into something in the same area, the same day. She glanced at her companions, trying to gauge their reactions before replying to the man, only taking a single step towards him. "Yes?"
Zayid's gaze darts to the man as he studies him and tries to determine the man's attitude toward them. Nodding at Freia's inquiry, he waits for the man to respond.
You have something? What?
Pelgrev heads toward the old man with a slight spring in his step.
Maybe we are earning a little respect!
Group 1
The man does not tell you what he has immidiately and ducks into his store, still beckoning. Come! Come.
Zayid frowns puzzledly at the man. Before following, he asks softly, "Do you work here?"
While Freia couldn't read the man, she did realize that his hands didn't match his profession.
"Something is wrong here. Look at his hands." she quietly whispered to her companions. She swallowed hard before continuing "I ... I heard about similar things when *ehm* I was younger. Creepy people luring people inside their hideouts with empty promises and ..." Her voice trails off and it takes a few moments before she continues. "I found a guy they caught once. What was left of him anyways... Sadistic f%!*s..."
Dammit! You weren't supposed to assume the worst of everyone anymore! He might just be an old nice man wanting to offer us tea or something. Then on the other hand ...
Pelgrev notices his companion's reticence, and slows his pace.
Is something wrong?
Seems like a nice old man.
We go?
Pelgrev heads for the door.
Freia carefully followed Pelgrev. "Yes. We go." Hopefully it's just my imagination acting up. Besides, I got Zayid and Pelgrev with me - what could he do? "Just be on your guard..."
Freia herself had one hand on the handle on her sword, just in case.
Group 2:
The man leads you into his shop which, once you get past the wooden facade store front, is actually a kind of green house. The ceiling is wall-to-wall glass through which the sun gleams, but the walls themselves are too close to the neighboring buildings to be of use as glass, so they are made of brick.
The air is thick with flowery and earthy smells the likes you would never think to find in Dockway, and the dirt under your feet becomes more and more loose as you are lead deep into the garden. Some plants are potted, but most are growing in tilled soil.
The man leads you into a storage room and hurriedly closes the door. In here the smell of... fertilizer... assaults you and the only light comes from a small lantern.
Now we shouldn't be seen or heard. I have information for you.
He is nervous, evidenced by his wringing his suspiciously clean hands in the dark.
Zayid frowns, studying the surroundings suspiciously. "What kind of information?" he asks, his gaze turning to the man's face.
So you did.
Group 2:
There is more thundering down the stairs and three men appear at the ground floor. They hesitate when they see Noro, as if measuring her up.
Meanwhile, the two crossbowmen in the upper floor continue to fire at Korrith
And both miss by a wide margin.
Group 2, batter up!
The dark earthy room did nothing to ease her mind. While she could see perfectly fine in the dark, it was still an ... unsettling atmosphere. Thankfully Zayid did the talking this time, so she could focus on taking in the scene. Information ? I wonder ...
Information about the lady you seek.
He holds out his hand expectantly.
Zayid frowns, but digs a silver piece out of his pocket. "Information first, money after if the information's valuable." he states flatly.
I know that language ... Sighing both from relief and, well, the fact that she soon was to be separated from her hard earned coin she reached for her pouch. But she noticed the glint of silver in Zayids hand and halted herself. If we are lucky he'll take the coin and not the arm ...
Noro looks at the closest one what you lookin at? and she decks him right in the nose.
Round 2: Group 2
Ariana, not wanting to waste any more spells, pulls out her crossbow and fires it into the thug waiting behind the one engaged with Noro.
for damage.
"Damnit!" The wizard scowls as her bolt flies wide. "I need to prepare more scrolls.."
Group 1:
The man eyes the silver and whispers, Smooth. Practiced, that one. I sees the type all the time. Conners and sweet-talkers. She's smooth as bitter, but I caught her taking to a man about pulling the wool over the chap you were talking to earlier. She had no company. Up to no good, that one.
Group 2: Johnny to act.
Korrith- damage is usually rolled with the attack to avoid a massive post count. Needless to say, that hits.
Korrith hears a curse and the rest of the party hears the explosion as the bomb explodes in one of the crossbowmen's faces. The man immidiately disappears behind the wall.
Akadia talk to man? You see where she go?
Pelgrev sounds interested. He glances at his companions to gauge their reactions.
Finally, a break.
He knows? She tried to hide her disbelief by leaning backwards into the dim light, only her eyes reflecting candles were clearly visible. Her disbelief soon turned into shock proper and then worry. If he knows whom we are looking for, no matter his intentions, surely others will. True - we were not careful to hide our trail - but ... so soon ? The fact that they may be chasing a murderer known for horrible mutilation and mass murderer once more made it to the forefront of Freias thoughts. And that this person might soon be aware of that fact. She didn't like that train of thought very much.
But a lead is a lead - even if it is just deception or lies, it would tell us where others doesn't want us to look ... She fixed her eyes on this 'gardener', silently cursing her inexperience in these occasions - she was a horrible judge of character (she usually assumed most people were either trying to deceive her or kill her, probably both, a tactic that served her well earlier in life).
Zayid studies the man, waiting for his answer to Pelgrev's question. Is he even talking about Akadia? Or someone else? Maybe he's just crazy...
Group 1: Back to that office of hers up the street. he answers.
Zayid - He is being honest, as far as you can tell.
Group 2: Johnny to act.
Under Bart tack shop? or other office?
Office? Up the street? She lives here!?
"Who was she talking to?" asks Zayid. I guess we're assuming he's talking about Akadia... no company? What does that mean?
She had an office above Bart's, but when she cleared out suddenly, I did some poking about. Her supposed company never existed. As for the man, no idea. A little taller than her, robed and hooded. They didn't see me. I've been looking for someone to tell ever since.
Group 2, moving on:
Noro's punch lands squarely on the thug's nose. It instantly gushes with blood. He howls in pain and jumps back (5' step). His place is taken by the next man on the stairs, who has just dodged a crossbow bolt, and the third thug descends to take up his left flank. They both attack Noro with abandon.
But they both narrowly miss.
Outside, only one crossbowman appears to shoot at Korrith, but he seems to have taken the Kobold's jibe as a personal challenge. This bolt is much harder to dodge, knicking Korrith on the shoulder .
Round 3
Cursing her ineffectiveness with such a simple weapon, Ariana drops her crossbow and moves closer to the men fighting Noro (5' step behind Noro). She pulls a net from her pack and throws it at the nearest thug.
v Touch AC, target is entangled. (including -4 from being in melee).
"There's more to fighting than winding cranks and swinging blades!"
Ariana flounders with the net and frowns as it doesn't even make it to the thug. "...."
Sho, you feel left out, Here tashte your friendsh Blood
Noro ducks and weaves avoiding the enemies attacks then counters with an uppercut.
That did seem to fit with what they learned about her. Freia sits down on her knees and start rummaging trough her backpack, once more in search for her writing materials. Hopefully the man could provide an adequate description of her atleast. Perhaps I could even ... "Could you describe Akadia and that man ? Omit no detail - no matter how minor. Everything you can remember would be of uttermost help."
She tried to draw a portrait after the man's description but ... it looked more like a donkey or some rare species of monkeys she saw in a holding pen at the harbour once. Dammit! She muttered a soft curse under her breath at her ineptitude at the medium and switched to merely taking notes instead. If anyone asks I'll blame the lighting in here ... Perhaps with a better description of the woman they could atleast start looking. And the man in news to us ...
"Thank you! But there is something more we need to deal with." She retrieves a full gold coin from her pocket and hands it to the man. "If anyone asks you did not tell us anything useful. Say you fleeced us with some false information or something. Tricked the stupid officers of the law. Whatever you do - don't let anyone know anything about this. Akadia is very dangerous - if the word got out you helped us identify her ... I would prefer if we didn't have that on our hands." Hopefully he keep his trap shut atleast for a while.
Zayid raises an eyebrow at Freia's open display of gold, pocketing his own silver with a slight shrug. A whole gold piece? A silver would've been generous for one like him... they don't ever expect more than that. A gold might even put us in jeopardy if he gets the impression that she has more where that one came from. I'm going to have to talk to her later... well, maybe. She's nice enough, but she's still... someone else. I don't know how she'd take it.
He shakes his head a few times just as Freia finishes her final admonitions to the man. With a slight nod, he adds softly, "And don't leave here for a few minutes after we do... we don't want people to connect us."
The small-time shop keeper's eyes grow almost comically large as Freia produces weeks worth of profit. He can barely do more than nod and stammer as he assents to your terms. He bites the coin several times, checking its authenticity.
Freia finishes sanding and quick drying the description and puts it back in the bag before turning to the dumbstruck shopkeeper once more. "Remember. You told us nothing. If you need to spend it now - say you tricked us. Or better yet, save it for a rainy day. Okay ?" She was fairly certain he was on the same page, but ... she could not help but feel responsible if anything happened to him. She had never had a complete stranger come up to her offering aid before. Even if he was only after profit and couldn't care less about her - it still set loose butterflies in her stomach. Not that she minded, no. It felt good.
"Is there anything else we need to ask? If not, let's make our way to the temple - a contract might still be a valuable lead." Especially if the Tears have a diviner ... "Or shall we head directly to the office? There might be a clue or two around there too but ... it might be pretty obvious where we got that idea from then...."
The tanned young man shakes his head. "Not the office now, I think. Maybe the temple is okay."