"At Auntie's. I'm sure her parents are so proud."
"That brings your account down to 200 gp."
|
"Aunties? Interesting. Do you know what she looks like?"
He continues, glancing at the others. "Well, anything else we need to know about? What about Bonnifer Zoot? She have any ties to the warehouse district?"
"And what about Madge? Does she have any relationship with the poet, Jaks Arunai, or does she just write bad poetry herself?"
"Aunties? Interesting. Do you know what she looks like?"
"She's pretty like all the girls at Auntie's, but she has a tattoo of her family crest on her right shoulder."
He continues, glancing at the others. "Well, anything else we need to know about? What about Bonnifer Zoot? She have any ties to the warehouse district?"
"The little alchemist? Really? You’re willing to barter just to ask me about her? You must be new here. Why, that itself is quite interesting. The short answer is no--see what I did there? Bonnifer and her husband Clem used to run the Alchgarden together until Clem died during the Second Ashes, since then she's thrown herself into her work probably to avoid reality... much to the chagrin of a certain gnome wizard I know. Now you're down to 187 gp."
"And what about Madge? Does she have any relationship with the poet, Jaks Arunai, or does she just write bad poetry herself?"
“Madge? She has relationships with everyone, but I’m happy to offer my review free of charge: she serves the best noodles in Pezzack. They’re far better than her poetry, though as you say that’s saying very little.”
"What else?
|
Reggie cringes as another citizen pierces their disguises. In a place where newcomers are not just rare but illegal, they are sticking out like a dwarf at a gnome wedding.
Of course, he was a big part of the last time it happened, so he can cast no stones (well, he can, he's actually very good at it because he's a halfling he just doesn't have the moral high ground to throw the metaphorical ones.)
He knows he's missing something but he can't think what. He strokes his sideburns to help contemplate.
"Do you know, exactly, what happened to Clem?" Bonnifer could be a powerful ally in sparking a rebellion here, if he knew the right leverage to use.
He turns to Boratio while he waits for an answer. He has no idea why Aiden might be looking for someone. Maybe she's his cousin or something.
"Did you see any woman with a family crest tattooed on her right shoulder?" he asks with a sly grin. "Did you even see if any of them have shoulders?"
"Do you know, exactly, what happened to Clem?" Bonnifer could be a powerful ally in sparking a rebellion here, if he knew the right leverage to use.
Cessia shrugs. "Burning logs dropped from the sky by angry strix and alchemy don't mix. They had to rebuild the whole top floor of the tower. You're at 175 gp."
The ship is again busy, and the brightest-lit place in whole city.
"Well, what can we do for you tonight?"
Yes there is. And it looks as though she's coming over to talk to Auntie.
|
|
Despite the inherently festive nature of Auntie's, Reggie looks rather morose as he rides into the bar. He nods to Aiden and toasts him in thanks before taking a gulp of his drink.
He's rarely been in a place that needed to feel the flames of freedom more intensely but he just is not at all sure how to ignite them.
He keeps his eyes and ears open for any opportunity.
He's rarely been in a place that needed to feel the flames of freedom more intensely but he just is not at all sure how to ignite them.
This sums up Boratio's thoughts very well.
"I'm knocking off for the night, Auntie." Says a young woman. She tosses her apron at the halfling bar owner who deftly catches it and tosses up on a hook.
|
|
Aiden quickly moves to intercept the young woman. "Phelerosa? I need to speak to you." He moves her to a quiet area of the bar.
Aiden sits down and motions for Phelerosa to do the same. "Interesting to see you working here. What would your family say?" He smiles. "I represent certain interests that have fallen out of favor in Cheliax. If you're in disagreement with your family, perhaps we can help each other. I have a way out of Pezzak, and I'd like to bring you out too. In return, you share what you know."
Aiden quickly moves to intercept the young woman. "Phelerosa? I need to speak to you." He moves her to a quiet area of the bar.
She has a tiny room she leads him to.
|
|
Aiden smiles. "If you're ready to give up your family ties in Cheliax, then this will be a good break. Divest yourself of all their secrets and ride away free and clear. I can arrange for you to come back to Pezzack afterward if you want to continue living here. The Paracountess just wants to talk. She needs protection from your family, and what you know can help protect her."
Professor Poppo in contrast is tinkering in his private lab. The group can tell it is his because of all the interestingly shaped glass beakers on the 18" tall tables and the stuffed crocodile that hangs at about human eye-level hanging from the ceiling.
"Well did you learn any thing about Orandil? Oh!" Poppo grabs up his note pad, "and have any of you experienced any noticeable lack of libido, or unexplained loss of memory?"
He waits with his ink quill expectantly.
|
|
"I learned that Cessia drives a hard bargain and isn't afraid to charge exorbitant prices for simple answers. She also seems to think Orandil, as Jax Telandril, was the one diving into the harbor near the Old Manukirt warehouse. She also confirmed that Orandil, as Jaks Arunai, will be the poet at the warehouse. It seems he's planning something. I think he's been playing the various factions against each other to keep himself safe."
"Seems like everything is pointing to this poetry performance. But didn't his message say something about Whaler's Point?"
"Seems like everything is pointing to this poetry performance. But didn't his message say something about Whaler's Point?"
Phelerosa considers for a moment and then produces a long scroll wrapped around a wooden dowel from a trunk at the foot of her bed.
"Perhaps this could help then. You can make a copy if you like."
Wealday - Noon, Manukirt Trading Co. Warehouse
It is a cheerless gray morning with a sky full of clouds like granite boulders ready to drop on the world below. Still the crowd began showing up to the warehouse hours beforehand. Pezzack a city under siege for five years now is obviously starved for novelty. Auntie, Phelerosa Ciucci, Bonnifer Zoot, Cessia Florianthus, several of her thugs, Dr. Johnathan Leucrotta-Hix, and Lorrin Meese are all in attendance along with hundreds of others. Half the town seems to be here. Speculation about what is about to happen seems to be the major topic of discussion throughout the crowd. Old Madge and Snapjack are making a killing selling their food.
An unassuming man with messy black hair and a bit of a scowl steps out of the warehouse and mounts an elevated stage that seems to have gone up overnight. Someone in the audience calls his name 'Jaks'--or was it 'Jax' or 'Jacks'? The audience quiets and the man begins to speak in a loud clear voice.
"Is this your boat,
or did it become your boat?
That boat is wiped out, or not?
Wouldn’t want to cross the ocean in it.
To see what we’re seeing, this boat,
I don’t know what happened,
but this boat just came here.
And do you know whose boat that is?
They don’t know whose boat that is.
‘Have a good time’ he said to the hurricane victims."
"This hurricane is one of the wettest we have ever seen—from the standpoint of water." recites the man, Jaks, (or was it Jacks?) in a nonsensical sort of free verse.
Once he has the crowd’s attention—signaled by them booing and pelting him with clods of dirt and rotting vegetables purchased from Madge's cart—he raises a white ash rod tipped with an onyx gem.
A single ray of sunlight splits on the gem and spreads a pale prism across the crowd. With a now supernaturally booming voice, Jaks (or is it Jax?) declares, “Today, I shed light upon one of Pezzack’s greatest secrets. Jacks, the man you trust as a member of your very own faction, is the Printsmith! And Jacks has been hiding his identity from you all. All your secrets are laid bare to Pezzack’s greatest journalist, soon for the entire city to see! Panic! Panic and regroup! Pay no attention to outside affairs!”
He gestures emphatically as he speaks, but his gestures do not match his words; instead, as the party looks on they see that the gestures are a series of Pathfinder hand signs! The same secret hand signs that Venture-Captain and Chamberlain of the Grand Lodge, Ambrus Valsin was always going on about how few new Pathfinders took the time to study... ahem.
Follow me into the warehouse. Secret passage to underground, back left corner, behind fish barrels. He continues to sign as he steps off the stage and dashes back into the warehouse. As he runs off, the meaning of the signs becomes more difficult to discern.
The crowd seems dazed for a moment and then almost immediately there is a general uproar.
|
575 watches the performance with with a puzzled expression, unsure if its just his grasp of the language, or that it is really not that entertaining.
Either way, once they realize the gestures are meant for them, he starts moving towards the warehouse.
Our presence is known
We found him or he found us
Either way, follow
Of course, exactly what the man's signals meant, that he was not entirely certain of... but clearly something dangerous ... maybe?
He warned of danger
At least I think that was it
Human hands are weird
He pushes his way through the crowd towards the warehouse doors, hoping to get there before too much chaos breaks loose from whatever Jax(cks)(ks) did with the rod.
Aiden takes the scroll and holds it out for the Candledark spirit to take. "Thank you, Phelerosa. This will help protect her. If you'll allow, I'll get this back to you later."
If Candledark doesn't take it, he looks around awkwardly and put the scroll away. "I swear I thought he was here."
Candledark disappears for several hours with several of Aiden's spoons which he trades for parchment, quills and ink up at the Inkwell. The Inkwell is busy with a line out the door--book signing or something. Eventually he returns to Auntie's harbor-locked ship after dark and finds an even darker corner to haunt and does so for several hours. Aiden's spoon supply lessens by 15 gp .
When he's done he's gone through a candle or two and most of the night, and has a dozen or so marked up pieces of parchment to show for it. He himself is gone again, leaving the papers scattered over the table to dry by the light of a single dribbly candle. The result seems to be a workable copy of the contract even if the handwriting isn't as nice. Now Aiden just has to put the loose, unnumbered pages into the right order.
|
|
Aquavius tries to make sense of the man's poem.
"Freestyle. Man, no one is going to get that 'cept me." She watches the rotten tomatoes tossed his way. "Yuuuuup."
Then the man starts gesturing about the open road. Declaring Pathfinder infiltration. "Time to move, fellas. We got a warehouse to find. Dangerous, naturally."
|
|
"Isn't this the warehouse?" Reggie asks, quietly, frowning as it seems obvious that he's missing some of the message.
It doesn't seem like a good idea to follow him onto the stage and inside, since that might just embolden the crowd to follow, so he ride around the building to seek out another open entrance.
|
|
Once at the warehouse, Candledark spots Madge's cart and decides now is the right time for some oodly-doodly noodlies .
Boratio takes one last swig of beer and follows Aiden. "This gathering left a lot to be desired anyways..."
|
|
As Candledark enjoys his oodlie-doodlies(TM) (somehow without removing his mask, which is just...weird), he looks about at the assembled 'tizzy' - he may be shorter than most of them, but that's never, ever stopped him from feeling like he's above them all. Judge them by his size, do they...?
Unable to read the crowd at a glance, he starts actually trying....
The party takes the long ladder down like seasoned U-boat sailors. They quickly find themselves in familiar territory. They are in a disused section of the Guts! The dank tunnels reek of musty seawater that oozes from the stone ceiling and leaves the walls coated with a wet sheen. A few fresh torches suggest the derelict tunnel is still in use. To the left is a stone stairwell leading up about 10 feet from the floor you are on. To the right are more branching tunnels, and a wall set with a relief sculpture of an enormous green devil's head, its mouth agape.
There is no sign of Jaks, nor Jacks, nor even Jax, but the echo of hurrying footsteps can be heard hustling off into the distance, and growing ever fainter.
The crowd scatters as nearly everyone looks concerned about what the revelation that Jaks (Or was it Jacks? Or maybe Jax?) was secretly spying on them all along and now under his guise as the notorious Printsmith might reveal their secrets to the world!
“Noodles! Madge got yer doodly oodly noodles! Get these crabby shrimpy noodlies in a bowl! In a cup! In yer hands! I don’t care where! Buy my dang noodles! Save Pezzack! The end is near! The end is near! Save your noodles! The devil hates my noodles! Abrogail hates my noodles! Madge’s noodles! HAHAHAHA!”
While Old Madge cackles madly, her goblin assistant, Snapjack, pelts the crowd with rotten fish heads he's been carrying around all morning in a big sack.
Boratio draws his whip and his rapier and looks behind the fish barrels.
Boratio draws his whip and his rapier and looks behind the fish barrels.
Aiden finds a faint trail on the dirty stone. The footsteps run off to the edge of hearing.
The party rounds a corner, and then another and another, and then some in the group realize that they are follow the path that Jaks had detailed with his Pathfinder hand signs.
They round another corner and run into a horrible pale leach thing that's about a yard long! It opens a mouth full of nail-like teeth and rasps as 575 rounds the corner and coils itself up and springs for his face!
575 reacts on instinct putting his arms up. The thing bites into his forearm, but can't find purchase there and falls back to the flagstones with a sickening slapping noise. It sucks in the blood and flesh that it managed to take from 575's arm and then coils up for another go.
Round 1! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ 575 -8 hp
__ Fishblower
__ Aquavius
__ Aiden
__ the Worm