Luna reports everything she's found so far, and where she found it.
Psalm taps his chin and begins to step by step go through the things that they have learned. "Well at first we looked for some more academic regarding the Dragon Queen and the heavily redacted history of Aranon Ethalion." He continues spelling out many details. "I would love to talk to an elf who lived through these events because there seems to be a shared desire to erase what happened in detail. Quint I must say learned more than any of us. I am not even sure I follow all the twists and turns he has uncovered." He looks to Quint to hash out all the various nuances of property, sects and how they appear to be in conflict.
"It is a deep hole we're in," Nikeisha agreed. "Mostly from what's been said, we ain't got many friends but there are a lot of people who are probably going to cause us all kinds of grief." She paused, and added, "And some that'll need killing."
He looks to Quint to hash out all the various nuances of property, sects and how they appear to be in conflict.
He looks to Quint to hash out all the various nuances of property, sects and how they appear to be in conflict.
After listening to everyone's detailed explanations of their investigations so far, and their divinely arranged attendance at the attack on the Shepherd's compound, including Jun's incredible ability to leave with some important tools and papers, Akassa looks visibly upset. "Things may be worse than anyone has feared. If these Kraiula worshipers and followers of Aranon's mythical legacy are working against or with each other, all the worse. I don't know the name Zutir, and I'd be afraid to start asking around. Once again, I feel that you are the Republic's best tools. Please, please!" The beautiful young Senator of Midvale pleads with you. "Please find out where this meeting is, and send word to me through Thjorvar as soon as possible. I wish I could give you more manpower to help look for this Zutir and for Mr. Valanthe, but I fear that would just call unnecessary attention to you. As it was before, it is now, entirely up to you. I know I ask much and more of you, but I do not feel it is an understatement to say that the fate of the entire Republic may rest in your capable hands." She pauses then for a moment. Her face screwed up in conflicted thought. Then she leans in close across the tabletop and whispers. "Now I will share with you something that could be good or ill, but regardless is grave news. Because of all that is happening, Elise has been making a quiet push among the Senators she trusts, to invoke emergency powers to herself. Since none of us our sure who among the Senate can be trusted, it is possible her measure will pass, for the good of the Republic. It may be that at this time next week that our Seneschal, Elise Diergarten, will disband the Senate and rule alone, as a temporary Queen. Much do I fear in that regard. I trust Elise, but can a Queen once crowned ever return power to the people? ..."
Strangely, those of you who are students of facial expression and body language know, instantly, Akassa is looking to you for affirmation of the choice she fears to make, but thinks is best for the nation. Truly, the fate of a nation may hang here in the balance, and you, simple folk, have power to sway the balance.
Psalm looks gravely concerned. "I am not from the Republic. I have a distaste for bureaucracies. But such is necessary for large kingdoms. What you are suggesting does indeed sound troubling. I must ask. Forgive my conspiratorial question. Has this Elise benefited from unrest. Our enemies have benefited at every turn from what appears catastrophy. If the answer is yes. This is cause for pause."
Nikeisha frowned. Why was the whispering happening? She leaned forward as well and murmured, [smaller]"I understand the why, but is that even legal? And why not form a...I dunno, a second Senate while the current is being cleared, and replace each replacement as the origional is proved innocent? Seems more like a power grab to me, but I dunno the Seneschal."
Leaning back and speaking in a more conversational tone, Akassa says, "Legal, it is. There is precedent; Seneschal Martyn was voted executive powers and named Chancellor during the d'rak siege of thirty-four. After the crisis was averted, Martyn returned power to the Senate. The problem now is that the Senate might be the problem." Akassa reaches up and pulls playfully at one dark ringlet curl of her lusciously thick raven-black locks as she thinks. Then says, "I trust Elise with my life, and I trust that she has the best for Byrthelm in mind. It may be that she has to order new elections, and that all candidates, incumbent and new are vetted with extreme care. Regardless, if the current Senate is infiltrated by cultists, it may be such an extreme measure is the only recourse." She notices herself playing with her hair and then pushes the curl back behind her hood. "None of that changes your mission for today. Find this Zutir! Find this secret meeting and bring back as much information as you can about the who's and where's. Try and locate Jun; with all that's happening I fear for his safety. Whenever you find anything important, get the information to Thjorvar. He can get it to me in secret, and we can move our pieces from there. Light bless you all. I'll pray you bring me good news by midday." With that, as before, Akassa abruptly stands, and quickly shuffles out the rear door of Thjorvar's kitchens to the alley beyond, and her personal guard, all of whom are once again dressed like rugged adventurers, not Red Guard.
Watching the Seneator scuttle off, Nikeisha shook her head. She kinda wondered if it was possible the Senator was using them for something. Other than the obvious 'locate her enemies' thing. But that was probably just being paranoid.
...probably...
"OK, I guess that means we have two jobs. Find Jun and find Zutir. Who wants to do which?"
"Finding Zutir would my guess reveal information about Jun."
"Well we know that there seems to be large half-elf element to all this. Whether they are half-elf or half-drow may be something of interest. Avariel the smith who owned the weapons shop. She had interesting features, red eyes." He shrugs.
"Jun suggested passwords or phrases. I suggest, 'There is a bustle in the hedgerow.' To be answered by, 'Its just a spring clean for the May Queen'." He looks at them, "It's a gnome nursery rhyme. Obscure enough."
Psalm looks at the amulet. "Well we might get another call on the sending stone. . . . I mean we have the amulet. Not to mention whoever is supposed to get the message didn't. They might not make the meeting."
Hack takes the next morning to visit his employer, asking around with the other mercs and in the fighting pits, if anyone has heard of this Zutir, for whom the group searches.
When Hack brings up the name Zutir, one of the pit-fighters he beat seven ways from Amren's Day in one of their recent matches says, "Zutir? Ain't that th'half-orc minstrel over at the Floating Kraken? Brings in quite th'crowd over the weekends, from'at I hear. Frequently magics up 'is songs 'ith illusions. One o' m'buddies said it's like watching the story take place while he's singin' 'bout it. 'at you want 'im for? You throwin' a party Hack? I didn' get no invite?!" The thug says with mocking shock.
Ha! No party you're missin'. That's fer sure. A friend of mine was lookin' fer him. Thanks!
Hack returns to the inn after his discovery and waits for the arrival of his friends in turn to convey the alleged location of Zutir, the half-orc at the Floating Kraken on the weekends.
Luna goes throughout the city talking to all the people that she trusts, asking them if they know a man named Zutir, and if they do know the name, what do they know about him.
Nikeisha went forth and hit the usual rumour mongers to see what she could find out about Zutir. She was careful to avoid asking anyone she liked this time, however. She wasn't willing to loose another friend to this, not yet. Not until she saw it was worth a risk.
Quint is torn between the need for secrecy (especially after discovering that the Shepherds were somehow wrapped up with the Ethalionites) and the urgency of finding Zutir. In the end, he only asks a few of his most trusted and discreet contacts before following up with his companions to compare notes.
Rydwyrna -- Vikaday, Brunhild 3, 146 R.R. -- Midday
Luna's trusted contacts have never even heard the name Zutir.
Nikeisha's have most definitely heard of him, and what they've heard isn't good. He's got a reputation as a bit of a con artist, bilking rich marks out of their coin by various grifts and swindles. Apparently Zutir has a reputable reputation with high society as a charismatic entertainer, but those on the street know he's nothing more than a two-bit charlatan bilking people out of their coin through shenanigans.
Quint's select few contacts that he trusts know that Zutir is a regular weekend entertainer at The Floating Kraken, and also that he preys on high society at times. Beyond that, they don't know much. Which is interesting, but not as interesting as when Quint caught a glimpse of Azuri dressed like a proper lady and walking arm in arm with some pompous nobleman's son. She was even carrying a parasol umbrella over her arm. No doubt she's playing the sucker for some of his family's riches.
We should visit tty he Floating Kraken as soon as possible, no?
"Yes that is definitely the way to go Hack. We need to figure out if we can get the location of the meeting from Zutir. He might not know of the meeting. Whoever was intended to receive the sending stone message might be his contact but we need to figure out if Zutir can get us the information."
"He's a consumate liar, so getting the truth out of him is gonna be a pain in the bum," Nikeisha pointed out.
"We can hope he knows and follow. Though that has an obvious flaw. He might be waiting for contact before going to the meet."
Well, don't forget, I can always beat it out of 'im, if your fancy words do not work.
I could use a disguise, except I don't know who I'm supposed to be...
Psalm thinks a long moment. "Maybe we should use what we know against them. They have considered you as an asset Quint and have taken notes of your skills. Let's play to what they know. A gnome good at infiltration got wind of things going down and wants a seat at the table. Meet him, show him the goods; the amulet and the stone. Pitch it like a job interview. The sending stone and the non-detect amulet prove you have the skills to be of service and you figure there is the opportunity for advancement. If it works you go to the meeting and we follow. If he spooks we spring on him and Hack gets to beat it out of him." He sighs, "He plays at the Kracken, we can make our ways there separate and be ready for the meet. If it goes well we can follow you, if not we take him down and learn what we need."
"Sounds like a good plan. Shame we can't use magic to make him speak true - fists only get what you want to hear, and I wish we had a better fallback plan." Nikeisha knew that beating the man would as likely result in fibs as honest fact, but you worked with what you had. "He fancies himself a bit posh, from what I gather, and it's mostly the nobles that take him serious. Speaks of pride."
Very good, I will head there and find a spot at the bar and keep my eyes peeled. Good luck Quint, and see ya all soon.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Psalm thinks a long moment. "Maybe we should use what we know against them. They have considered you as an asset Quint and have taken notes of your skills. Let's play to what they know. A gnome good at infiltration got wind of things going down and wants a seat at the table. Meet him, show him the goods; the amulet and the stone. Pitch it like a job interview. The sending stone and the non-detect amulet prove you have the skills to be of service and you figure there is the opportunity for advancement. If it works you go to the meeting and we follow. If he spooks we spring on him and Hack gets to beat it out of him." He sighs, "He plays at the Kracken, we can make our ways there separate and be ready for the meet. If it goes well we can follow you, if not we take him down and learn what we need."
"The rest of us will follow soon Hack." He pauses a moment. "If things go to crap. Plans likely do. If the authorities become involved we can hope Zurtir has something incriminating on him. If not we simply come clean with what's going on that we are agents of the Senate and are following leads and have them reach out to the Senator."
"Don't suppose we have another choice if the guard gets us, do we?" Nikeisha asked. "Pretty sure that'll be the end of this whole thing for us if we do. No chance this cult doesn't have ears in the Guard. Or cults. Or whatevers."
"Don't suppose we have another choice if the guard gets us, do we?" Nikeisha asked. "Pretty sure that'll be the end of this whole thing for us if we do. No chance this cult doesn't have ears in the Guard. Or cults. Or whatevers."
"Perhaps. The other option is to flee. But we risk hurting good men and women if we have to fight the guard. We can leave word with our contact for the Senator to keep an ear out for us or scuffles that might be near the Kracken as we may have stepped in it following her leads." He grows serious. [b]"
"Sounds like the best option we have currently. If things go badly, try not to do any actual harm to the guards. Those who can may need to use a sleeping spell if we have that ability? I can certainly try to knock them out with certain fighting techniques I know, but that would be one at a time, and DEFINITELY NOT the best option, but still better than causing actual harm. Or it may be best to just surrender without a fight, and hope our connection to the Senator can get us out of trouble before any of the cultists try to finish us off in a prison cell."
"Well, I can put a handful to sleep. In theory. But yeah. Best we not get caught by the Guard at all."
Why would we get caught? We just want information, and Quint wants to join 'em. I don't plan on beating it out of him in front of the whole tavern, if we fail.
Why would we get caught? We just want information, and Quint wants to join 'em. I don't plan on beating it out of him in front of the whole tavern if we fail.
"Right. Plans don't always go according to plan. Just looking at the worst case scenario."
Aye, understood. I will see ya there.
Hack stands and heads out to the Floaring Kraken to grab a good vantage point to watch the interraction between Zutir and his companions.
Nikeisha headed to the Floating Kraken, joining the patrons and generally merging into the background as best she could.
Quint isn't excited about putting his face out there alone, but he has to agree that this is the best plan they have. He agrees, attempting to hide his reluctance.
While he's fairly convincing, he figures he'll have to do better to con Zutir.
---
When Quint arrives back at the Floating Kraken, he takes a seat at the bar where he has a good view. He orders a double of clear liquor, then discreetly dumps the contents, replacing it with water from his waterskin.
Quint observes the room, nursing his drink. He watches for anyone in the crowd acting suspiciously or carrying an amulet like his own, as well as anyone else who appears to be watching for the same. The owl perches on a rooftop outside looking for similar signs in the streets and surrounding buildings.
Once he's identified Zutir, Quint waits for someone else to approach him, thus indicating that the appropriate hour is at hand. When he's ready, he waits for an opening, then finishes his drink and walks up confidently, but not drawing more attention than necessary. If Zutir is playing tonight, Quint will drop him a small coin as cover for the approach. On the way over, he slips open a button from his shirt so that the amulet will show when he bends to drop the coin, then slip invisibly back under his collar when he stands. The stone is clutched in his other hand, its edge just peeking out, but the number hidden, so as not to reveal which stone he possesses.
He plays it as if he's been invited at first, figuring that if Zutir doesn't buy it, he can fall back to Psalm's "I want a seat at the table, and I've proven my value by getting this far" plan. He hopes that if it comes to that, the attempted deception will at least make that story more convincing.
Luna also goes to the Floating Kraken and takes a seat at a table preferably with a view to the stage and as many and all doors / exits that she can see. She keeps her eyes and ears open for anything that seems 'out-of-place' - whatever that may happen to be.
Psalm heads to the Kraken and finds a place where he can keep an eye on things and does his best to fit in and not look out of place.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
--Rydwyrna, The Floating Kraken, Late Evening, Vikaday, Brunhild 2, 146 R.R.--
The Kraken has never been a place that caters to high end clientele. Usually full of sailors, fishermen and dockworkers, it's no stranger to a seat clearing brawl. Yet, tonight, on a Vikaday no less, there are a number of well dressed, well protected, well armed members of the gentry about. Perhaps Zutir's reputation has brought The Floating Kraken some favor and better clientele? And he is worth the reputation. Zutir's half-orc heritage is impossible to hide, his lower tusks sit astride his bulbous, light-grey skinned nose when he fully closes his mouth, and his hands and arms are covered in coarse black hair. Yet, for all that, the man plays a lute with the delicacy and finesse of a servant to the Elves' queen. His melodies are enchanting, and when he embellishes his songs with colorful illusions that dance about the common room as he plays, few people are not entirely mesmerized. Food and drink of an above average cost and quality are spread about, and coin flows freely. For whatever else he might be Zutir is, in fact, a wonderful minstrel, a bard of high marks.
Thus it is when Quint, screwing up his bravery, due in much part to knowing that his capable friends are about him, hidden among the crowd, walks up and does his own subtle dance, flashing the necklace, and the rim of the sending stone he knows he's talking to a man with wits and skill.
When Zutir's hazel eyes catch the flash of the magical amulet, they pop open like saucers below a teacup. "That's a dangerous bit of hardware to be flashing about, even so subtly as ye have." The man with D'rak ancestors smiles, baring pearly white teeth to match his tusks. "I can hardly think Brommwyn gave you that without a fight, which means you're a small man of large means, no doubt. Looking for a share of the pie that's being baked, are ye? I can point ye in the right direction laddy, but are you ready for the den of vipers beyond the threshold?" Leave it to a lyricist to wax poetic in casual conversation...
Well, at least he was good at his act, Nikeisha had to admit. That didn't mean he wasn't a conartist - only that he didn't have to do it make a decent living. Which meant he was greedy. Well, that was the impression she'd gotten before, but while her admiration for his skills had gone up her expectation of him as a human had gone down.
She scanned the room again, looking for any plants or guards of his paying attention to the meeting. She bet he'd have a couple of men in the audience to drum them up and help him out if something went wrong.
Quint looks at the demi-d'rak with ain air of confidence, never looking over his shoulder, as he commits the name "Brommwyn" to memory. He blocks out what's going on around him, instead focusing entirely on Zutir and his reactions. If the man has a confidant in the crowd behind Quint, or if anyone approaches close enough to overhear, he'll see it first in the bard's own eyes.
Quint straightens his back casually, looking to all the world like the bougie son of some wealthy merchant sharing an idle word with with a favored entertainer over a few of his father's coins. His softly-spoken words, kept too low to carry further than the ashen-faced trouper's ears in the crowded room, tell a different story. Would I have made it this far if I couldn't handle myself?
Of course, Quint knows that his allies are all watching, hopefully not so pointedly as to make themselves conspicuous. There is also another pair of eyes, of which Quint is still unaware, watching intently from a perch along the street outside. These are predator's eyes, honed by the millenia for the purpose of spotting diminutive prey by night before descending upon them, bringing death at the tips of beak and talon.
Zutir laughs, heartily, a loud guffaw, so loud, in fact, that half the common room looks over to see what could have made the lusty half-d'rak minstrel laugh so loudly. "Bwa ha ha!" His laugh dwindles. Then he leans down with his tusked mouth ever so close to Quint's. "Playing with yourself won't help you in that room full of snake charmers." Clearly the tusked singer has no trouble mixing metaphors, even metaphors that, on the surface, seem to contradict each other. "You're welcome to it, for no other reason than I'd love to see what they spit out after they've finished with you. Up the stairs, end of the left hallway on the right. Knock twice. When the lad asks, 'Which sea brought you to us?' You answer: 'C sharp.'" A funny turn of phrase, no doubt thought up by the pithy poet himself.
Hack stands and begins to move towards the base of the stairs with ale in hand as he looks around the room.
Well, c'mon Quint, upstairs already.