Sounds fine by me. They diserve no less.
Oink!
"Thank you. I'm sure your generosity will be noted. The Lady will remember this moment. Blessed be you both. The burial will happen tomorrow at sundown, if you would like to come."
After that, Father Jivorus bids them farewell, and gets to work.
Father Jivorus says
"Alright, then we'll send a message to Sandpoint for her family. Do you two have any specific
-------------------------------------------[b]"Ah yes!" Priestess Zimantiu exclaims. "I finished working with Tinkerbell last evening. Just a moment, please."
When the priestess returns, the ioun torch gleams a bright, inextinguishable light. "May it be a light for you in dark places, when all other lights go out."
thank you very much. We'll take good care of each other Wabbit caresses powered up Tinkerbell for a moment before putting her away. Wabbit's had some rough nights in dark places with Tinkerbell his only companion
Andreste nods in approval at the craft involved in fixing up Tinkerbell, allowing Wabbit his moment of reunion in silent contemplation. She smiles to the priestess and follows him out.
An hour or so before sundown, the Cobbled Shield regroups and prepares to play cards. Their travel is unhindered, and soon enough they reach the little island between Keystone and Ordellia. The island itself is filled with industrial buildings, who use the river's current for their wheels. Unlike any other day, the district is rather quiet and uneventful, since everyone has their day off. There's a small area fenced off from the main road, with a sign that says Seven's Sawmill. Standing next to the little gate is a man in his thirties, with short red hair. Wabbit and Janis recognize him as Bill. He smiles genuinely and waves them over. "Hey neighbor, I'm glad you could find the place. Come on in, it's good to see you."
He opens the gate and offers to introduce himself and shake hands with everyone who comes in.
Janis moves up and shakes his hand. Janis is no longer dressed in his usual noble fashions but is now decked in his armor with his weapons and equipment spread across his him. Thank you, it's good to see you too.
Cleo remembers some of Maria's advice in being quiet and hidden. So she has blackened her armor, tightens every buckle and strap to keep from jingling, and is wearing nothing bright and cheerful instead tending toward baggy and dark.
She also Does No Smile or Greet anyone. Basically she does her best to stay in the shadow of the giant-of-a-Furnok. And scowls. Lots of scowls.
Aggah was politely asked to stay at the house. Whether she did or not is completely up to Aggah. A bribe of pickles was offered though.
Andreste is now wearing some very basic clothes. She has taken the time to make minor inkstains on the edges of the sleeves of her blouse, as well as a bit under her fingernails. She has exposed her midriff, where an older tattoo of a harpoon staking an imp shows its faded glory. She has swept her hair into a tight pony tail.
She slouches a bit and speaks softly if spoken to, keeping to short phrases and letting her Old Docks accent come through.
Skrate leaves her when they enter the district, and stays at least three blocks away, sticking to the rooftops and not following directly, jumping to seemingly random rooftops.
She leaves her big weapon behind, only carrying a dagger and her forger's kit. She has stashed away a few necessary spell components in various pockets and in the forger's kit.
Wabbit wears his normal clothes although his Chaldiran Holy symbol has remained tucked away as it has ever since they entered the Silks...Chaldira being a God of Luck and Trickery surely won't mind the subterfuge
This is Janis' world Wabbit is happy to let him take the lead. However there is a nagging sense of danger in this situation that has Wabbit on edge. Friendly card game with thieves yeah right.
Bacon stays at home, sneaking pickles away and enjoying being lord of the house(in his mind). Furnok keeps his chain shirt and cutlass+short sword and looks big and mean.
Bill takes you onto the property, which is a fairly small piece of land with two shacks, a barn, and the mill itself. There's little land between all the buildings, and people have to walk no more than two people aside each other in order to pass through.
The mill is built over the mouth of the Yondabakari River, and is made entirely out of wood. It sits on massive wooden piling driven into the riverbed below. A wooden boardwalk wraps around the northern rim of the building, and a flight of stairs leads down to a door on the east side just above the water level. The four large water wheels can be seen sitting in the water, rolling very gently with the current. Bill takes the group onto the boardwalk, and wraps around to an entrance on the opposite side of the building. Here he pulls a piece of rope handing from the upper floor, but walks inside right away. There are at least 3 stories above the ground floor, not including the wheels which might be described as a basement.
On the ground floor, the entirety of the room consists of a loading area. An opening in the ceiling into the floor above is filled with a tangle of ropes and slings for lowering timber. Nearby, stairs ascend to the next floor. Two sturdy wagons sit to the south, next to a bank of machinery accessed by four low doors. A small portion of the room has been blocked off with a wooden wall. Bits of hay are strewn about from the end of the wall.
"This is the place. We're playing upstairs. Everyone's been waiting."
On the first floor, this large storeroom is filled with stacks of timber, firewood, and other finished lumber products waiting for shipment. A network of pulleys on tracks covers the ceiling, ropes dangling her and there to aid in the shifting of inventory as needed. Machinery rests along the south wall, while nearby two chutes fitted with winches allow lumber to be hauled up from the holding pools below. Currently, they are covered with wooden lids. Four opening in the ceiling lead to the upper floor; chutes extend through each of these from the log splitters in the room above.
A decent sized table sits in the middle of this room with ropes overhead. Two people already sit at the table, a Chelish man with beautiful long dark hair, and a female gnome with more colours in her hair than a rainbow. Both of them are wearing leather armour, and have a short sword (the Gnome's being even shorter) at their hips. Behind them, sitting on one of the wooden stacks is a homeless-looking man. He wears little more than rags and a linen cap, but is holding a nice walking stick. He seems fairly old, considering the lines on his face, and the grey stubble he's growing. Two more men stand around the corner, playing darts. One is a young man of obvious half-elf decent, who has a bit of a dopey face. The other is a human man, who looks on the older side with his long white hair. The dopey half-elf is wearing leather armour and no weapon, while the older man has studded leather and a hand crossbow.
Bill walks over to the man with long hair and claps him on the shoulder. "This here is my little brother Numbers. The one on the stack is brother Soot, and the two over there are Darts and Crossbow."
The Gnome pipes up "Hiya. I'm Duckling."
Bill nods with a little embarrassment. "Yes, our little... brother Duckling. Come have a seat. We've got ale." He says as he starts rummaging through a create for mugs.
Cleo stays quiet since she was told to, instead tries to look and listen to everything she can. Especially to the intentions of those around her.
Janis smiles. Nice to meet you all. Colloquially I'm known as the gentleman and these are my friends. The big guy there has a good strong back, The shrimp's my new new project, This here lady does all our paperwork, and the shrimp's male half works upstairs. Janis sits down at the table and pulls out a pack of cards. So, what's your game gentelmen?
Bill finds some mugs and puts them on the table. "Good to meet you all. I think we can get along well, assuming you're up for the task."
A dart thunks into the dartboard on the other side of the room.
He starts pouring ale out of a barrel, and passes out drinks for everyone.
"We're considering taking a mission that requires a kill and a kidnapping at the same time. Both members are of high aristocracy. We want you to take care of the kidnapping part. Think you can handle that?"
Cleo spots the following items on each 'assassin'
Bill:
- No armour or obvious weapons
- A hidden, small weapon
Numbers:
- Regular leather armour
- A regular shortsword
- A hidden, small weapon
- A pouch that rattles when he shifts. Sounds like pebbles, dice, or marbles in hard leather
- A simple cloak
Duckling:
- The same as Numbers, just sized for a Gnome
- Instead of a pouch, she has the deck of cards
Darts:
- Regular leather armour
- A set of finely made darts
Crossbow:
- A finely made hand crossbow
- A finely made war razor
- A set of finely made studded leather armour
- A simple cloak
- A set of special bolts stitched into his clothing. They're probably magical.
Soot:
- Tattered old clothes
- Very nice walking stick
Motives:
Bill: Untrustworthy, slimy
Numbers: Nervous
Duckling: Curious, excitable
Darts: Dead inside, heavily depressed
Crossbow: Sizing up the party, focusing on Janis and Furnok
Soot: Overwhelmingly creepy, very untrustworthy, under enchantment
Andreste feels a strange headache that comes suddenly. Realizing that it's some sort of divination magic, she easily banishes it with her force of will.
Janis puts the cards away. Straight to business then. Who, where and what's our time frame to get it done?
If Wabbit can use his evil-dar surreptitiously he will do so. Although the results are a foregone conclusion
1. Wabbit targets someone with Detect Evil, while rolling a Bluff check
2. Target and surrounding people make Sense Motive checks to notice
If they fail, they're none the wiser
If they succeed, they know Wabbit is staring very intently at someone, and also trying to be more inconspicuous about it
3. Those who succeed make Spellcraft checks at DC16
If they fail, they just know you're acting odd (it might be fair to say that if they fail by less than 5, they know you're casting a spell-like ability, they just don't know what)
If they succeed, they know you're using a Detect Evil spell-like ability, which they could pretty easily infer to you being a paladin
After that, they react with that information in whatever way suits their character.
Each time you choose a new person, they'd be able to make a new Sense Motive check. They wouldn't be able to make a new Spellcraft check if they already failed before.
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Wabbit doesn't risk needlessly using his evil-dar... They want to kidnap and murder don't need evil-dar in this situation
Furnok grunts and nods. Just do the pointing and I take care of any trouble.
"The Lord-Mayor, the Osprey Club, and one week." Bill replies with absolutely no expression upon his face. "We got the plans all figured out, we just need a competent team to do the kidnapping part."
Andreste looks to Janis, making it obvious that she expects him to be the one answering for the group. Meanwhile, she recalls what she knows about the Lord Mayor and the Osprey Club.
Local
Nobility
Uhhh...the Lord-Mayor? That's kind of like the KING of the city isn't it? Isn't that an impossible target? Wabbit says dubiously
Andreste knows of Lord-Mayor Haldmeer Grobaras, one of the most self-involved, greediest, most worthless rulers in all of Avistan, and that's a high bar to compete with. He's been Lord-Mayor for 15 years now, and has grown so fat that he can barely walk. He named his 'pet' 14ft tall ape his heir, has an iron golem butler, and dedicates 2 floors of his mansion to the kitchens. He's guarded by a small team of special mercenaries at all times, followed shortly thereafter by the Honour Guard.
The Osprey Club is a resort of sorts, specifically designed for the wealthiest of aristocrats. Only those who pay the membership of 10000gp a month are allowed in. There are many rumours surrounding the resort, including that it's run by a harem of succubi, is used as a place for unknowable horrors to dominate the elite and bend them to their unfathomable whims, or even is home to an ancient dragon. All attempts to divine inside it, or gleam a hint at its purpose, have utterly failed.
That's a tough nut to crack. I'm pretty sure I can get us in to the club though. What's your plan?
"Nearly impossible." Replies Bill. "We believe that their guard will be down while inside the Osprey club. But first, I want to ask: What kind of price are you asking for? Cold gold, political favours, magical items, a trade of services? What's your motivation in this line of work?"
Andreste lets out a low whistle. "Must be why yas looked up the Gentleman here inna first place. Access, good crew. I'm pretty sure I can scribe any invites boss, but maybe" she looks at Bill's brother and then diverts her eyes "Numbers already got it covered, since they says they got the plan an points in place. I'll let the boss answer on what he's after."
Fun. I find it enjoyable to do the impossible. However, the rest of my team has some problems that political clout could solve, but if you don't mind me asking, where are you getting it from, do you have a backer?
"Indeed. We have contacts throughout both high and low society. Some are avid supporters, others have decided eventually to comply."
For the first time, the old homeless-looking man speaks up. Though one might expect his voice to sound harsh, it's actually smooth as silk. "Little lady, yes the Halfling lass, what're you in it for?"
Cleo's eyes widen at being addressed, breaking her attempts to scowl constantly (which isn't too hard since these people are planning what they are). "I..." she started trying to think of something like killing for kicks, cartloads of money, or...
Instead, she sticks to the truth.
Looking up to the Gentleman she just says "He told me not to talk, so leave me alone."
Janis suddenly slaps her across the face. Stupid girl. Apologize for your rudeness. Janis turns to him. My apologies. My protege comes from a rather rough background and doesn't know how to show proper respect yet as you can see, hence why I told her to keep her mouth shut.
Soot bursts into laughter, and several of the other assassins laugh nervously as well. He stands up and walks over to the table, where Bill quickly steps aside.
"I think I misjudged you and your team, Mr. Scarnetti. Fear not, your secret's safe with us."
"The plan is that we're going to provide your team with a means of entering the osprey club without triggering its alarm system. It will be a magical disguise of sorts. Your job will include getting our assassins into the complex. We don't really care if this is done subtly or not, as long as our target has no time to react. We recommend tampering with the magical barriers or dispelling them completely, but a large hole in the ceiling will work as well. Once that happens, we will kill or keep the guards busy while you abduct the fat mayor. Bring him to this mill underwater, and you're done. 50,000gp or its equivalent for a job well done."
Tell us more about these magical disguises. If possible I'd prefer to get a lay of the land before the job.
Cleo didn't want to be here in the first place. She doesn't like lying, doesn't like pretending to be a killer and a thief, doesn't like BEING SLAPPED... and doesn't like their new ??? whatever he is.
She closes her eyes to the anger, forcing her mind to find a center, to remember why they are here. At least why she is here.
To save people's lives.
So she doesn't bite his hand, punch his privates with a wooden spiked fist or even anything other than a glare. But she is unlikely to forgive anytime soon.
"Have you ever heard of face skinnings? To take someone's face and wear it as your own? Gruesome work, not something you would come across everyday. It was learnt from the aboleths of a bygone age. The advantage of wearing the face of another with their magical technique, is that you appear - by all magical means short of a divine miracle or wish - to be that individual. For example, if the individual was a powerful priest, the person wearing his face would radiate the very same aura."
Andreste quirked an eyebrow. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end, and she squelched a desire to tear into these awful people. A few blocks away, a squirrel sent an inquisitive mental pulse forward, and Andreste forced herself to calm.
"Don't happen to heard of that, sounds like somethin from a corner dreadful. You folk lookin ta shock us, or is this related to tha plan? Got some skins we need ta wear?"
"We'll have some skins for you to wear by week's end. I wanted to meet you all first before I collected them."
Andreste would have heard of a similar item, though much less powerful, called a Skinsaw Mask.
Furnok makes a crude guffaw as Cleo gets smacked. Dam, that near lifted her off her feet. Inside he was seething though. Uh oh. They gunna skin people
I see. Then we'll reconvene later. One of us will be at the brothel where we first met, contact us there once you've acquired them. Janis get's up. We should go now that business has been done. I need to continue my protege's lessons.
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"Very well. Feel free to drop by here during working hours if you have any further inquiries. Goodnight."
Utter silence claws at the neck like a rough noose when the Cobbled Shield exit the mill and return to the main street. Few people walk within eyesight in this mainly deserted district. As the sun is nearly ready to set, soon the brothels and drug dens will open for all those who swore chastity just earlier this morning.
"Are any of them following us?" Cleo whispers, and also adds "Someone tried divination magic on me in there. Not sure which one, maybe the old homeless man, he was under an enchantment." she continues, clearly angry making her talk faster. "And we are just collecting ourselves before we break back in there and take them down, unless someone has a better plan. Because we are NOT waiting until the find someone to collect to skin for our disguises." she is keeping her head down and whispering to keep up appearances.
She'll wait until those with better eyes and ears to answer her first question.
Yea, that is a deed too far. Furnok mutters.
I think now would be a good time to update Saila and see what she has to say about this. It would be nice if they just sent in a regiment of the guard and arrested the lot of them. Duckling....Seriously what kind of ridiculous name is that?
Wabbit feels dirty about the whole thing...pretending to be a kidnap gang, just being in the same room with those people made his skin crawl...that and worrying that this is all some elaborate set-up
Seriously, how do we know they didn't cast an alignment detection spell and recognize that I revere Chaldira and Cleo's an Erastilite? That would be the first thing I'd do if I was a murderous gang looking to bring in outside help. Also, who's to say they aren't with the ones with that cast the creepy magic invisible eye above Brelin's head. I don't know...but this is all weird and fishy
Agreed, but we can't trust the whole guard. If they have political clout, that might be included in the guards. I trust saila, she's low level, but her bosses are suspect. Janis whispers to the group. Sorry for the slap, but I had to cover your tracks.
"They are undoubtably watching us." Andreste keeps the conversation at whisper level. "They might as well asked us to directly confess our sins. Given their use of advanced shapeshifting methods, I don't think we should separate from this point forward."
Agreed. Janis keeps walking. We should sleep in shifts, two guards awake at all time so they can't replace one while the rest of us our sleeping, then we see Saila in the morning.
The Cobbled Shield start walking back to the Kaijitsu manor. Everything now looks suspicious. From the curious gazes of lusty courtesans, to the glares of cloaked men and women. The party glance over their shoulders from time to time, but either no one is following them, or they're really skilled at it.