"Did he make the drop?" Kasha asks as she sees Friday return.
Friday shakes his head. "There never was a drop. I escorted him back to his house and there wasn't anything there either. He was confused as I was."
With the gang reunited, the doors to the shrine of Shelyn open.
It's quite a spacious place--immaculate marble columns line the sides of an open-air courtyard that's gradually accumulating snow on the floor. A statue of the Eternal Rose stands in the centre, a glaive in one hand and a paintbrush in the other. The paintbrush is raised to the heavens, as if to paint patterns in the skies.
Kneeling before the statue is Uksahkka, her head bowed in prayer. She raises her head as the party arrives. "You came back..."
Her face falls as she looks the party over. Lia averts her eyes, seemingly by reflex. "...where's Ulf?"
"Stone-Eye's funeral ship, is what we were told." Friday calmly responds.
Uksahkka blinks. "Wait, what? What do you mean--funeral ship?"
"Apparently they have a ship here for funerals that they are going to set on fire and Ulf was sent to it. Or something like that."
"He's restrained on the ship, somewhere below decks, but we have time before the ship's launched. We're going to recon the docks it's moored at and get him back, hopefully without anyone realising we were ever on board. Something tells me that trying to get on board a funeral ship is tantamount to grave robbing around here."
Uksahkka nods tentatively. "Okay... now, do you guys have a plan for if the ship is launched while you're on it?"
"Stop them from setting it ablaze at all costs." Kasha replies.
"We're working on that part," Valeria admitted, "the funeral's not til tomorrow evening. That gives us time to scout it out and, hopefully, we'll be in and out before anyone realises we're there."
"Did following the boy help out at all?"
He asked Friday frowning at all of this, he felt like he was missing some vital detail somewhere.
"No."
"Which means either he changed his plans, or knows that we spotted the boy." Kasha says with a frown. "Either way, we should get Lia back to the safety of the inn, and go rescue Ulf."
"Perhaps we should gather the boy and his family too, who knows if they may decide to harm him for failure. For some reason I am beginnning to really mistrust the denizens of this city."
He said sounding... depressed by the thought.
"He had stopped by his house on the way to the pier, I went back there with him to make sure there was no one waiting for him. But it's possible they could go after him at a later point."
"That might also bring more attention to them though." Kasha suggests.
Uksahkka frowns in thought. "How're you going to get on the ship? Because I might have an idea..."
Friday stares at Uksahkka, waiting for her to finish.
"How good are the bunch of you at rowing boats?"
Friday shrugs.
"I'm sure we can figure it out." Kasha replies.
Uksahkka grins. "Well, I hope so..."
"If you try to approach Lord Stone-Eye's funeral ship from the docks, it's likely you'll get spotted and run off before you have a chance to board. Maybe, by approaching it from the waterline and boarding it that way, you can get in, find Ulf, and get out without anyone noticing you were there."
"I've got a couple of canoes that you can use to board the ship."
Friday nods and bows to Uksahkka.
"It cant be that hard to row can it? I supposed this means we should get ourselves ready."
He said his scowl lightening once they had a plan to board the boat at least
"Yes. Let's head back and prepare. We'll probably be best off doing this after sunset." Kasha adds.
Uksahkka and the party part ways to return to the Hunting Serpent Inn.
As they make their way through the Fire Quarter to return to the Ice Quarter, they pass a blind, crippled beggar on the street. The man's white, filthy beard is damp with frost and what smells like booze. He mumbles something as Friday passes by...
"They know who you are and are coming for you."
"We know," Friday responds instinctively as he stops and turns to the begger. Taking into account the man's physical condition he then adds "How did you know it was us passing through just now?"
The beggar pauses, confused by the sound of Friday's voice.
"...you...know? All I know is that I was paid a pair of copper pennies to say that when those who smelled of boiled cabbage walked by."
Friday blinks at the old man.
The beggar, perhaps sensing Friday's confusion, holds up his hand, showing the pennies. They bear images of a crane on one side and stars on the other.
"Damn...I've seen coins like that before. Minkaian."
"And they tagged Friday's cloak without any of us noticing - the cold dampened the smell, we'd probably only notice it if we were either looking for it or were used to living in this sort of weather."
Valeria hesitated before going on. "It's gonna sound stupid, but people that sneaky and carrying Minkaian currency..."
Friday turns to Valeria, waiting for her to finish.
"Do you think it's connected to Ameiko's family?" Kasha asks.
"Why else would they be after us?"
"Or the people that forced her family to flee halfway around the world. But I was thinking more of the agents capable of doing this, the ones that fit the evidence... I feel ridiculous even suggesting it, even considering that real ones probably don't act any different to the spies on our side of the globe."
Friday tilts his head at Valeria, obviously starting to get confused.
Like friday he tilted his head. He had no knowledge of well the minkaian culture.
"Go on."
He added.
"You guys really... am I the only person from Sandpoint, other than Ameiko, to know about freaking ninjas?"
Kasha turns to look at Valeria, also having no idea what she was talking about.
"Yes. What's a ninja?" Friday bluntly asks.
"No, forget it - it was stupid of me to even think that they're a possibility. You want to know the novelist or playwright image of a ninja; ask Ameiko. Because I refuse to believe in supernatural, black-clad killers when the techniques of real-life spies, thieves and assassins would do the job just as well."
"Hell - the more I think about it, any decent pickpocket could've gotten that smell onto Friday's cloak. And I only know of those techniques from some novels. Guy bumps into you in a way that makes you instinctively think 'pickpocket' and all of your attention's on your valuables, you're not paying a lick of attention to what they're doing to your cloak."
Haru nods. "Still, Valeria, you never know... we should get moving again."
Lia whimpers and hides behind Kasha as the party starts moving again.
----------------
At last, without any more interruptions, the party reaches the Hunting Serpent Inn. Some of the caravan members are sitting in the common room, enjoying a quiet drink or two--Ishgha and Sandru in particular seem to have drawn a bit of a crowd around them. From the way the man is gesturing and how bright his eyes are, it looks like things are going smoothly for them.
The sound of samisen music is coming from the Hunting Serpent's stage. Ameiko is sitting on a bar stool and playing a nice-sounding tune to the appreciation of the crowd.
"... so Ninjas are just... supernatural assassins?" Friday says to himself, all that he was able to piece together from the Arcanist's rambling.
"Basically," Xel explained after they'd gotten back to the Serpent, "there's a lot of mystique about them, though. Bit before my time, but Maxim went through a bit of 'ninja obsession' when he was little. Means it doesn't take much to prod Valeria's mind towards them, she's just annoyed at herself for actually thinking that they could be involved."
While the bird had explained things to Friday, Valeria had drifted over to the stage to watch Ameiko perform, once more surprised at how easily she could draw a crowd.
"Why couldn't they be?" Friday asks the Raven.
Squeezing Lia's hand gently to comfort her, Kasha contemplates the tales of dark magic assassins, perhaps paying slightly closer attention to the shadows despite herself.
The positive and lively energy in the Hunting Serpent Inn brings a smile to her face, the familiar sound of Ameiko's music banishing the dark thoughts of the day. "That's my brother Sandru over there." she says to Lia with a smile, pointing over at the crowded table. "He's technically running the caravan. But I'll introduce you to my mother, she's pretty much the one in charge."
Lia sucks in a sharp breath and nods at Kasha. "Yes... please, lead the way."
-----------------
Ameiko's samisen playing doesn't slow down as Valeria approaches the stage. In fact, her face brightens considerably as you come over.
She ends her samisen session with a flourish, to the applause of the men and women gathered around. "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen! I'll be here tomorrow night, as well!"
She hops off the stage and moves over to you. "You look like you've been busy, darling. How's your day gone?"
"It's more that they're far more prevalent in media than any such organisation or whatever they are would actually be," Xel said, "Minkai's not exactly the largest nation in the world, stands to reason that the number of people in it with the skills needed to be a garden-variety spy - let alone something like what the plays portray for ninjas - is a great deal smaller. After that it's just probability. What sounds more likely to be operating here in Kalsgard; people with the knowledge of how to manipulate people's attention in the manner of pickpockets the world over, or semi-mystical spies from a small corner of the world on the other side of the planet from us?"
----------------------
Valeria couldn't help but smile as she saw Ameiko's face brighten. Just knowing that she could have that effect on the Minkaian beauty was a confidence boost she'd never gotten while they'd been in Sandpoint.
"It's been a bit of a mixed bag," she answered, "let's grab a table and I'll fill you in."
She laid out how things had gone down at Longthews' place. She tried to keep her disappointment about Friday killing Longthews' wife to herself, but Ameiko was sure to see it. She wasn't disappointed in Friday; just in the missed opportunity to get more information out of her.
"So we're planning to head out tonight and try to rescue him. From what we've been told, trying to get on-board during the day tomorrow would be impossible. Which is a bit of a shame; was already starting to think of how you and Koya could run a bit of a distraction scam on any guards - have her pose as a doddery old bag who refuses to speak anything but Varisian and have her drop her 'medicinal' berries in front of the guards. You try and get them to help pick it all up and we slip on while they're not looking. But it sounds like trying to slip aboard would take more than distracting a couple of guys at the gangplank."