Thusiax barely holds his composure at Michael's rant. You lying piece of dirt. That's not how this is going to go for you and your blood traitor lover. He eyes Clive, waiting for the Bound's reaction to this litany of threats, insults, and demands.
As Thusiax removes Druscilla from his back, Clive calmly and quietly removes the knife, then studies it for a moment before pocketing it. Turning to Michael, Clive will say "I am impressed you were able to stay as calm as you did with a knife to your eye. Not may people do."
Clive thinks for a moment, then says "I have no problem pointing our employers at the Rot, but I would like to know why you want them removed from their position first." Clive then looks up impassively at the man, as if to say I was never in any real danger.
Dark Farmers in general pose a risk to the hydroponic farms. The Rot in particular is full of violent miscreants who’d rather let Derilictus die of scurvy as long as they got to keep selling mushrooms. To be honest, I originally pegged them for LaRoche’s murder. They’re bad news and breaking their power structure benefits us both. You can’t smuggle fresh produce to the underspire without clearing them out.
"I think we've heard enough," Thusiax says to Clive. "Shall we?" His eyes glitter brightly as they meet Michael's for the last time, then he turns to leave.
"Okay, we'll go and have a talk with The Rot's leadership, and see if they are as calm with a knife to their eye as you are."
Clive then leaves as well.
You leave the apartment. What’s your next move? Make contact with your handler? Try to find Jono? Burn the apartment building to the ground?
As the walk down the street, Thusiax mutters to Clive, "We should inform Keira of what we've learnt."
Are you sending a note through a dead drop or are you calling a meeting?
Thusiax drafts the update for Keira and heads to the dead drop .
M is still in place. L has been eliminated by M's lover, his secretary and a drow, who feared for M if he was involved. To protect her, M tried to intimidate us into telling you that L was killed by the Rot, a group of darkfarmers. He also insists that the Rot are hampering his efforts to deliver, and that we need to take care of them, which may well be true - will verify and act unless directed otherwise.
Advise that while M may be necessary, he is not to be trusted, nor is his lover, who has killed one of us, and appears highly irrational and ruled by fear. Preparing to deal with the Rot now.
K/C
Clive will comment when the note is read to him "you should probably add that she's a backstabber."
Just in your cursory time in the Garden District, you've heard of The Rot. They're a collective farmers in the Hanging Gardens, a place where donated corpses are hung to act as feeding ground for the mushrooms grown in the dark.
Dark Famers, like The Rot, pride themselves on their role in feeding Spire, especially the Drow who live Downspire. They feel threatened by hydroponic farms, in part because it increases access to fresh fruit and vegetables for the mid and upspire (it's still not cheap enough for downspire to afford) and it undercuts their prices on lowspire foods like mushrooms. If hydroponic farming takes off, it could spell the end for the Dark Famers.
While many Dark Famers are sympathetic to The Ministry and there is no love lost for the Aelfir, the Dark Farmers have little to offer The Ministry or their cause and are thus left alone. In addition to hydroponic farms, The Rot is in tight (but generally friendly) with another Dark Farmer collective called Bella Noche.
Since you fully disclosed the situation to Kiera there's no need to actually frame them for a murder (the Aelfir certainly would not disrupt their operations for murdering a Drow for any reason). Still, unless you want to start over by building a new contact to smuggle fruit from a new hydroponic farm, you'll have to dispose of Jono.
Jono you know by reputation, though you've never met him. He was born into Dark Farming and has never even seen the sun. His time in the dark of the hanging gardens has rendered him sensitive to even the mage lights strung along the public areas of the garden district so he rarely leaves his home tucked in the back of The Rot's torch lit garden plot. It is said that he can "see" by echolocation and often farms without any light at all. Five other farmers work for Jono: Dipatar, Dandath, Nalgos and Tebthym. Jono never leaves his farm, but the other five end almost shift at The Rest.
After leaving the dead drop, Clive says "Give me a few hours. I have something I want to take care of. I will meet you back in my base."
Leaving his teammate, Clive makes his way back to the Gardens, this time to the farms controlled by the Rot. He uses a piece of parchment and charcoal to make a map and notes about the guard patrols.
After several hours making notes, Clive carefully rolls up his parchments and stows them away before returning to his lair to explain the area to Thusiax.
Back in the base, Clive uses a table and presents both his map and what appears to be a list of symbols with a set of hash marks next to each symbol.
Phenomenal! You have a comprehensive map of the Rot’s compound, about three acres of cramped caves filled with hanging bodies. Jono’s cabin is tucked in the back, away from the bodies. It’s a bit too dark to see back there without a light source.
The Rot doesn’t exactly have guards, but the five farmers take turns going on watch. None of them are particularly competent sentries.
Free again from Thusiax's mask, Karkoush is reclining in Clive's lair when he returns. As Clive relates the details of the compound he nods in satisfaction. "Excellent. Looks like all you had to do was get rid of your bumbling sidekick. So, given all of this, how should we proceed? The area looks easy enough to penetrate. I'd rather not murder drow if we can help it, especially as it benefits our contemptuous asset's business most of all. But this Jono doesn't sound like the kind of man to walk away from a lifetime of dark farming. We may not have a choice." Karkoush ponders over the map for a bit, then points to the symbols. "What do these refer to?"
"I was counting the number of guards, or people who act as guards, and noting the number of times they patrolled during my time watching them."
You could certainly introduce toxic spores to their farm, though a lot of innocent drow would get sick. There are some spores that choke out edible mushrooms, ruining their crop. His employees might have some dirt on him, or might be able to be riled up to replace him. Michael doesn’t need the Rot destroyed. He just needs Jono gone.
Of course, destroying The Rot would also satisfy that.
"If you have an idea for how to deal with Jono without his death, let me know and we can discuss it."
"I'll admit, I don't like the idea of killing drow, particularly on the say-so of a human like Michael. I think we should go through the employees, see if we can find any skeletons in Jono's closet."
Karkoush pauses, reflecting for a moment. "However, my way hasn't been working so well lately. If you feel strongly that killing Jono is thr best way, we'll go with that."
"It's certainly the easiest way, but I've come to respect your opinion that it's not necessarily the best way. If you want to take some time to talk to his employees, go ahead and do so. The option to remove him from the board will remain on the table."
"Also, if you can find out anything about Michael from his employees that we can use, that would be good too. I have an idea for how to deal with him, but we need more information first."
Karkoush nods. "Okay. I'll see if I can turn up any dirt or opportunities, and we'll take it from there."
You don your Thusiax disguise and travel upspire to Cornell's manor. What is his home like? What about the "downstairs" where the servants live and work? You mentioned that Gere-Nevin is Cornell's manservant. Is he the Butler (in charge of the household staff) or a valet (attends Cornell's personal needs). Where does Gere-Nevin spend his time when he's not attending to Cornell or to the home?
You travel downspire to Grist, a wretched slum even by Derelictus' standards. It's been some time since you were last down here and you notice that the area seems underpopulated. In the center of town are five short pillars, splattered dark red stains. Jasper spends his time doing odd jobs for the marginally better-off in Grist in exchange for meager scraps of food, but he spends his evenings squatting in an abandoned loft behind The Cap & The Gill (the seediest, most disgusting pub in all of Spire.) He doesn't have heat and lights his apartment with raw lumps of Spireblack, but his door is solid metal and has three locks. When you knock, he slides back the cover on the peephole, makes you turn a full circle and then lets you in.
He looks thinner than usual, his teeth loose in his mouth. He might be using again. Clive...Clive...always a pleasure. What brings you to Grist?
Lord Cornell's manor is a paradox of light and dark. There are four buildings (one main building, a small barracks/armshouse, a personal warehouse, and a stable/carriage house), and they are constructed of black stone, polished to a mirror-like finish, with white highlights (window frames, eaves, etc.). The place is beautiful, but cold. Petrified trees and magically frozen flowering plants complete the eerie atmosphere. The interior of the main building are sparsely adorned with the finest examples of textile art, of which Lord Cornell has much more tucked away in his warehouse.
The servants' quarters are all below ground level, and are serviceable and well-constructed, but far from attractive. Gere-Nevin is Lord Cornell's butler, and controls the day-to-day running of the estate, although he is often overturned by Abraxin Songs-of-Pain, the aelfir leader of Lord Cornell's security detail.
Gere-Nevin lives on-site, and so spends nearly all of his waking hours working. He is demanding and somewhat cruel to his staff, although he sees this as a necessary evil, a kindness even, as Lord Cornell, though usually distant and disinterested in the staff (and drow in general), can be ruthless with his underlings, and his punishments are always as harsh as possible. Gere-Nevin himself has a long scar across his face, a gift from Lord Cornell for an old failure. His servant's mask replicates the scar, to remind everyone that it is there.
Gere-Nevin looks up as you enter his cramped office in the tunnels below Midnight Manor. Ah, Thusiax, come in, come in.
Thusiax takes a seat opposite Gere-Nevin with a small sigh, as if in appreciation to be sitting down after a long time of being on the go. "How are you sir? I've been busy the past few days, apologies for not checking in more often."
He gives a little shrug. It is what it is. You help keep things running here, same as me. I suspect this isn't a social call. How can I assist our lord's endeavors?
Thusiax gives a slight nod, his head tilted a little in wry amusement. "You know me too well, sir." He leans forward, steepling his fingers in front of his mask. "I've come across some information that may impact us. I'm not sure at this stage, but what I've learnt is enough to worry me. However, I need more to go on, and I've reached something of an impasse. I'm wondering, do you have any connections that may be knowledgeable about darkfarmers, or that have any influence in that realm?"
Darkfarmers, you say? That's...a bit outside of your normal purview, Thusiax. Why do you want to know?
"Well, it's somewhat complicated, but... Essentially, I have reason to believe that a group of darkfarmers, aptly named "The Rot", are attempting to create a league of drow farmers, traders, manufacturers, and businessmen. A sort of cross-industry bloc, highly illegal, working covertly to force better terms with aelfir merchants such as our lord, or even attempt to gain parity with such. I'm not sure as yet how far this has developed, but if our raw materials producers, who are largely drow, get on board with this, Lord Cornell's business may take a serious hit, or at least face complications that we've never had to deal with in the past."
Thusiax leans back. "But as you noted, I've never had much to do with darkfarmers. Have never needed to before. But surely, with your Spire-wide network of friends and allies, you may be able to point me in the right direction. While I'm anxious to let Lord Cornell know of this potential threat, I don't want to waste his precious time if it amounts to nothing."