Ramona flashes Alina an amused smirk, but otherwise watches on in silence.
Tush just stands at the back looking amused at the whole interaction. "That went well. Next time not so many words and more coin. Maybe I should try and offer her some of my creations on Amed's behalf of course." She cracks a wide grin. Sounds good Swen off to Macridi."
Amed leans down slightly as they walk away. "By your reasoning, Tush, it sounds like more words are less expensive", smiled the magus.
"They do say talk is cheap." She laughs up at Amed.
"I tend to be better at putting th fear o' the gods into people myself." Ramona says with a grin.
You put the fear o' the gods in people too? Aurelain asks with initial skepticism. Well we might make a good team then. Lets see your scary face. he jokes.
The half orc would have tried to assist with all the diplomacy rolls and while good natured and likable enough is not trained in such arts.
After they have gathered what info they could from Alinna and are on their way to the Black Dragon Aurelain comments Digging tools. I guess it would not hurt to bring such things along.
"Well I'll let you do the digging, I'll lack some upper body strength to really be able to handle that and someone has to be ready if we find something alive. But I'm not really looking forward to go down in a dark cool hole in the ground." Nicenzia says as they are on their way out.
"Don't you prefer the dark ZNicenzia? I would think that would be your favorite." Tush asks.
She smiles up a the half-orc. "I've never seen a half-orc your color before. How did that come about Aurelain?"
Its possible I take after my human side. Aurelian conjectures And some say there is dragon blood in my veins. Gold dragon blood perhaps. Who can say? And what of you small one? I would say you are a gnome, but I cannot guess from what stock.
"Of course I'd love to be in a dark place, I was just being sarcastic. There is a certain allure about being in the cold dark." She says correcting her slip of the tongue.
Ramona merely smiles at the exchange, following along as Swen scouts ahead.
"I'm what they call a Dread Gnome. We're supposed to be descended from the darker crueler forms of fey. I think it gives me a better sense of fashion than the other gnomes. Pink hair. Really?" she snorts at the mere thought. "I also have an affinity for poison, and other darker arts. Makes me a barrel of fun at a party."
"Purple hair does suit you", smiled Amed.
"Indeed the darker arts are more fun at a party, but they can leave a pretty big mess afterwards also."
Aurelian looks a little concerned. Poison? That hardly sounds fair.
"Not everybody is focused on brawn. You think just cause you can punch harder that me that getting into a fistfight with you is fair? You ask me, it's pretty dumb." Ramona says in an almost bored drawl. "s'why I prefer to go with a bullet in the head at 20ft. Pretty lil thing like Swen nicks you with a dagger, you wouldn't give it a second thought....'till you started feeling weak, or you heart stopped. We use what we got. Fair's whatever let's you be the one to walk away when the fight's over."
"Now, now, everyone", calmly spoke Amed, trying to play peacemaker, "we all different strengths. It is for this reason we are both member of The Silver Shields and Team Grey."
Its a pretty warm morning, the clatter and creek of a few wagons passing with livestock (goats) in the back in cages rumble by and you can hear the just starting early morning hawking of wares from shop crier's begin to fill the streets. Despite this activity you all hear a rather loud smacking sound and a stifled cry. To your immediate right you can see an elderly man wearing a merchant's livery being drug from the street into an alley by a tall muscular looking fellow.
"Over there. Our contact....looks like he pissed off the wrong person." Ramona mutters as she begins striding purposefully towards the alley, hand resting on her pistol.
Walking to a brisk pace to catch the tall fellow, Amed calls out to the apparent kidnapper, "Pardon us, sir, but I believe you have our next job by the ankle!"
"I didn't expect him to take matters into his own hands so quickly." Nicenzia thinks as she goes over her spells to see if any would help her if this situation spirals out of control.
Once made aware of the situation Aurelian closes the distance between himself and the group's would be contact at an brisk pace.
Tush moves a quickly as possible following the rest of her team. "What a way to start a job."
Entering the Alleyway you all see a young man in his early 20's hitting the older fellow whom was curled up on the ground with a sap harshly growling out at him. "Give me the map old man. Give me the damned map!" The old man tries to curl into a ball further crying out.
"There is no map you fool, Leave me in peace you brute!OW!
The moment you all start to enter the alleyway the young man turns and flees in the opposite direction.
Ramona gives the fleeing thug a cold eyed stare, drawing hae pistol in a single fluid motion and firing, her will seeming to infuse her bullet with added deadly force.
If within 30 feet Nicenzia tries to stop him from running with a spell. "Not so fast, Shadow lock" she says as she finishes Shadow Trap DC15
|
Swen jumps at the unexpected sound of Ramona's gun firing. Now what? she thinks as she turns her head to view the situation. She sees the smoke from the pistol and puts two and two together.
Well that's one way to get unwanted attention.
Taking one last look down the street, she enters the alley and joins up with the crew.
Tush moves up to the man on the ground. "Are you alright?" She tries to help him sit up while the others take care of the fleeing man.
Just as you were about to catch up to the man Aurelain the man pratcially stumbled as his shadow somehow kept him from moving, his momentum suddenly stopped the loud report of Ramona's pistol made an almost deafoning amount of noise in the alleyway, and you Aurelain had front row seats to watching the man suddenly have a gaping hole suddenly appear in the middle of the small of his back. He collapsed unmoving.
"Oh dear what was that gods awful noise?"
He began slowly sitting up and dusting himself off.
Amed walks over to the accosted old man and helps shake the dust off his clothes.
"That sir, is just an example of the definitive results you can expect from The Silver Shields."
In a hurried tone, the magus addresses his femme fatales. "I believe you have less than a minute to hide the body before the constabulary arrive. Make it quick, will you?"
Aurelain looks over the shot man and tries to stop the bleeding before dragging him back to the others, but he is not well trained in such skill.. Good shot. he declares. This one is bleeding.
Aurelain at your service. This one was accosting you. Lets hope he learned his lesson.
"Just let him be, he made the bed now he is lying in it. Should have thought to not attack the man." Nicenzia says not showing any care for the man they stopped.
|
|
Swen quickly grabs their contact by the arm and yanks him to his feet.
We haven't the time nor place to hide a body, she addresses the crew, shifting her appearance to match the city guards she observed when arriving into town.
She waves a hand in the direction of the bloody body and a now bloodied Aurelain and tells Amed, Use that fancy trick of yours to clean them up, then shakes their client a little so that she has his attention, You're gonna show us some place nice and quiet, where no ones gonna come looking.
Shrugging, Amed walks over to the corpse and casts prestidigitation upon it, concentrating on cleaning it's clothes of blood, crudely closing bleeding wounds, straightening and cleaning his clothes, and leaving it with a strong garlic smell in hopes of keeping away street dogs and other animals.
Ramona calmly reloads her pistol before holstering it.
Aurelian takes some time to go through the unconscious man's belongings, looking for clues and valuables.
"Are you from the Silver Shields? Oh good. It is my lucky day. Follow me now follow me."
He began getting up slowly and still dusting himself off. On closer inspection you could see his clothes once clearly well tailored and in style, were a little rough edge and out of fashion.
"I am.. Jemar, servant of the merchant lord Aldun Bredingund, Thank you for rescueing me, you are just the uh.. quick thinking heros we need i think."
He began clearly winded and more than a little nervous.
"Please uh.. follow me."
He began ushering you all away from alleyway away from the scene. He slips into the alleyway behind the black dragon inn to the back entrence to a large fenced in mansion at least three stories high. There were several such houses in Macridi like this... all rich merchant homes.
I had planned to speak with you all in the Inn, but that fellow accosted me there, and had mentioned associates, So it may be now under watch. My master and his company are in dire straights, bad business dealings and well... his terrible luck with dice and card has put the family for.... well anyhow. I fool that I am made a promise to his mother on her deathbed that i would look out for him, and make sure he prospered. Since things have taken a south turn I have been trying to find a way to help reverse the fortunes.. and I stumbled on some old letters. It would seem that according to the letters there is a great family "birthright" in the Cairn hills to the south. I am going to give these letters to you and well, would like you to arrive, perhaps sometime after lunch to come knocking. I believe my lord has more knowledge on the supposed treasure, but he can't know That I sent you it would be a terrible blow to his pride. "
He paused conspiritorially.
"There is 25 gold in it now for you all to agree to help me out on this, and I am sure my lord will gladly pay you expidition fees. what say you?" He asked you all behind the grand manor house.
"Jemar, just to be clear you wish us to present these letters as our findings to your Lord Bredingund, in where you hope he will hiring us to find this family treasure and retrieve it", questioned Amed.
"Do you have a cover story on how we found these letters?"
Silently walking over to where Aurelain rolls the dead man, Ramona casually studies the body for any tattoos or markings that might indicate an affiliation or tip them off should they encounter any of his affiliates.
"I wouldn't mind as long as I don't have to do any digging. I been looking forward to see this underground area and reveal what secrets it upholds."
|
|
Swen shoots Nicenzia a quick sideways glance before addressing Jemar,
Yeah, we have reason to believe you've already sent a few men after your treasure. We also have reason to believe these men didn't survive. 25 gold doesn't sound worth putting our lives on the line. I say we should take a cut of whatever treasure we find.
Aurelian prefers a blade to Swen, pommel first and asks That is 25 gold each, correct?