"No, Ives," Teleri says tiredly. "It shows that they operate based on evidence, which we didn't have. And also that they disapprove of harassing prisoners."
She sits down on a bench in the station and makes no move to leave as the officers return the thug's gear and let him go.
The cutpurse retrieves his belongings and walks past Ives and Teleri. As he leaves, he mutters to them under his breath "You're dead."
"We'll see." Teleri responds, just as quietly.
The thug merely smirks as he departs.
Teleri waits a moment before standing. She heads for the door, then pauses and turns back. "Sergeant," she says, "Whether you believe it or not, that man tried to kill us a few days ago. You want evidence? Fine. You could have held him for a few hours and conducted an investigation into our assertions. Instead, you let him go."
"I am gravely disappointed to find the guard so disinterested in the safety of law-abiding citizens. Now that he is loose once again, I think it highly likely that there will be further attempts on our lives. If I die ... if either of us die at the hands of that man and his fellow thugs, I want you to remember that you did nothing to prevent it. So much for your oath to protect and serve. Good day, sir!"
And with that frosty declaration, she sweeps out the door, her face set in cold fury fierce enough to make a passing constable blanche as she passes.
"Sure," Teleri mutters. "Great. Let's go."
Ives leads the way back to the wood finishing factory, striding with confidence. Surely taking matters into his own hands will work far better than their attempt at cooperating with the law.
The cutpurse is tailing you through the crowd, though trying to remain unnoticed behind taller pedestrians. Teleri doesn't seem to notice him.
You arrive in front of the wood finishing operation. There is the employee entrance, the loading dock, and the official entrance. All are within view of the street and don't require passing through dark alleys.
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Ives considers the situation. I could try to lie and go through the front door, but they probably won't believe me. We could try to sneak through the side door there... Or maybe head to the loading dock, where there are crates and things to hide behind. Yes... yes... Just like the forest, going from tree to tree is the way to remain unseen.
"Wait here, Miss Teleri. If I can just get a peek inside, then we will know if the turning calculator machine is here. If it isn't, we can leave right away."
Ives starts to edge closer to the building, trying to remain unseen.
Ives trips over a crate, sending it clattering across the loading dock. A foreman looks at him "Hey! You there! What are you doing? You don't look like an employee. If you have official business, go to the front. If you have a delivery, come 'ere!"
Ives' clattering failure to approach stealthily shakes Teleri out of brooding over her failure at the guard station. She winces slightly, and joins Ives at the door.
Ives knocks but there is no response. It doesn't take him long to notice that, like many businesses, people simply pass in and out of the business entrance at will. Upon entering, Ives and Teleri are greeted by a tired-looking receptionist who recites in a dull monotone "Welcome to Comey Wood Finishing Plant. My name is Aelwyd. How may I help you?"
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"Ummm..hello. I uhh... I was wondering, you see, if myself and my associate here would be able to get a tour of your plant. I have uhhh... knowledge of a good stand of timber and would be interested in ummm... selling it, but I need to make sure your plant is in top form and well run before I can do my business with you."
Aelwyd's eyes widen somewhat when Ives mentions selling a fine stand of timber. "Oh excuse me... You seemed a little too young to be selling timber rights. You are, of course, from a wealthy family?" She looks Ives up and down discretely and shrugs almost imperceptibly. "I can take you to Mr. Hughes. He's one of our purchasing representatives." She leads you down a wood-paneled hall to one of the office doors in the hall with "Hughes" on the door in brass letters. She knocks and is called in. A portly man of about fifty sits behind a desk. Aelwyd explains "This young man would like to sell some of his family's timber." Hughes looks up from his papers and nods, gesturing both of you to sit down while Aelwyd leaves. "Well then, young man. Tell me about this fine timber you propose to sell."
Teleri takes out some writing supplies and looks secretarial.
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"Well, uh... you see, Mr. Sir Hughes, I am Mr. Tunn, from the wealthy Tunn family in Pentrefan. I'm sure you have heard of us."
Ives doesn't wait for an answer, but gets right to his main point...
"We do indeed have many a fine tract of timber, many large tall pines, perfect for cutting, and a fine river to transport it all downstream. But we don't get involved with just any company. My father has instructed me to inspect your operations here and make sure it is all tip-top shape before he comes to sign any business deal."
Teleri takes notes.
Hughes nods and smiles broadly. "Ah yes, yes. I know Pentrefan well. My wife's cousin runs an operation there. But I've never heard of Tunns from Pentrefan. Did you move there recently?" He seems to believe Ives but just wants factual clarification. "Well yes I do suppose we could arrange a tour."
Hughs nods "Ah yes. Of course, of course. Well then, let us begin our tour." He leads you back out into the hallway. "Here are our administrative offices. Our administrative staff works very hard to reduce overhead and manage with a small but efficient team." You notice a locked door marked "Records." You then follow him out into the reception area where Aelwyd sits behind a desk along with several other secretaries, each at her own station. "Our secretarial staff is the finest in Dinas Diwydiant. Their professionalism and accuracy is impeccable." At these words, all of the secretaries sit up, ramrod straight.
He leads you through another door to the loading dock where several wagons bring in unfinished boards. The wagons swarm with workers unloading the boards and carrying them through wide double doors into the sanding operation where dozens of men sand the wood furiously. Woodshavings lie everywhere but teams of women and children sweep them up at frequent intervals. The sanded wood is then placed on elevators counterbalanced by finished wood coming down. The sanded wood is lifted up to the second floor and finished wood comes down to the first floor. Hughes points out various details of the operation, such as the more efficient sanding motion all the workers have been trained to use.
He then leads you up a staircase to the second floor where you see women and children brushing on a linseed oil finish while a small team of men load and unload boards from the elevator. Hughes beams at you "So you see! This is a fine operation altogether."
Teleri passes a note to Ives. It reads: What's on the third floor?
Hughes eyes Ives oddly but, not knowing why he would attempt something untoward, nods graciously. "Of course, of course. Let us return downstairs where I will get you some water."
Teleri hesitates for a moment, then follows Ives and Mr. Hughes back.
Hughes heads back to his office with the two of you. There he offers Ives a glass of water with a bemused expression. "Well, have I garnered your interest in doing business with our company?"
Hughes smiles and states "Storage. Is there any other way I may be of service? I eagerly await your father's visit to our company."
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Blast!
"Ummm.. err... well thank you for your time, Mr. Hughes. You can expect my father to request a visit within the month!"
Ives and Teleri head out.
"We aren't getting anywhere, Miss Teleri. You had a chance there. You should have used it! I know you like to do things properly, but I don't think we can! No one is telling us anything!"
"I saw what you set up," Teleri acknowledges, "You did well in there. And yes, I could have slipped away to go investigate. But I didn't want to risk it. We saw that thug come out of there -- what if I ran into the others? I'd have been dead in short order. Besides, Mr. Hughes would surely have noticed my absence very quickly, and then you'd have had to answer some sticky questions, even if I wasn't busy getting stabbed upstairs."
She sighs. "But you're right -- we're getting nowhere."
"In fact, I think we've made things worse. That thug knows we caught him near here. And on the way out of the station he threatened to kill me. Again. They might even be bold enough to attack us at Mr. Owens' house. We'll need to warn him and the others." An expression of reluctance shadows her face as she speaks.
"As for what to do now -- we could sneak in after dark and investigate? Although I'll warn you, I've never broken into any place before, so I'm probably terrible at it. Or we could make friends with that woman Aelwyd and see if she'll tell us what on earth is going on. I mean, I knew it would be hard to find this man with such a vague description, but I wasn't anticipating assassins lurking in every corner!"
Ives and Teleri begin walking back to the Owens home, being sure to stick to well-traveled main streets. But after walking twenty minutes, they see figures pouring from a nearby alley. It's the assassins again, coming back to finish the job in broad daylight! The commoners on the street reel in shock! But Ives and Teleri are ready for trouble and leap into action.
"Get clear!" Teleri tells the civilians. "They're after us, not you. I just wish I knew why."
Turning back to Ives, Teleri says "You know, I had an odd dream the other night."
He shoots her a glance. "You want to talk about your dreams?? Now?"
"I dreamed I could solve this kind of problem by throwing money at it. So I think that's what I'm going to do."
Reaching into her belt pouch she pulls out three gold coins. They glitter on her palm as she passes her hand over them; and then the start buzzing with power, tinkling and clattering against one another.
The leader, whom you recognize before, calls out "Swarm them! Surround them!" A new half-orc thug steps up to Ives to attack him while the cutpurses swarm around them, leaving opportunities for Ives to strike with his claws!
He lands solid blows on the three of the cutpurses!
But they all keep moving. One of them manages to get in a strike at Teleri with his shortsword, landing a nasty blow on her side (crit for 10) while the half-orc swings his club at Ives very well but Ives manages to dodge the blow. The leader begins casting a spell that will take a little time to complete. The passersby call out in alarm "Murder! Murder! Help!!" and start running away. Surely the watch will be here soon.
Teleri grits her teeth. "I really hate being stabbed," she mutters. She shifts away from the line of three thugs and attempts, carefully, to put them to sleep.
The thugs all resist with serendipitous luck but their wills are not all that strong and two fall asleep.
Ives' claws bite into the half-orc! The bard finishes casting a nasty spell on Ives!
The half-orc misses Ives wildly while the cutpurse has the same luck with Teleri. One of the rogues lands a nasty cut on Ives (5 damage). But the spellcaster badly misjudges how to use a sleep spell! One of the cutpurses and the half-orc fall asleep while the spell doesn't have enough remaining power to affect Ives! The civilians shout and run out of the way!
Teleri smiles sweetly at the lady who just put two of her own minions to sleep. "Oh, Madam," Teleri purrs, "I think perhaps you've misunderstood how that spell works. Here, let me show you how it's done."
The bard looks at Teleri in confusion. "Wait how are you casting it so f..." then she hits the ground, unconscious."[/b] Ives tears the half-orc up quite hard, leaving him dead on the ground. Seeing the tables turn, the remaining conscious assassin begins fleeing east, but that is the direction the watch is coming from! Two watchmen quickly grab the fellows arms and a third, apparently a captain, comes striding up to you. "Now what's all this? Nobody go anywhere! I need witnesses!"
"Officer -- ah, ouch! -- these thugs just tried to murder me and my friend. In broad daylight here in the street, in front of everyone!" Teleri reports. "That one stabbed me." She points at one thug, lying peacefully asleep next to a blood-stained dagger. She presses a hand to her side, where a dark bloodstain continues spreading down her dress.
"We fought back. I ... " she flushes, clearly embarrassed. "I used magic to put several of these to sleep. They'll be waking up any minute -- I recommend securing them while they're asleep, otherwise they'll probably try to run."
The captain looks somewhat taken aback at Ives' aggressive speech but orders his men to bind the thugs, except the half-orc, who is thoroughly dead. They then begin rounding up witnesses as several more watchmen arrive. He turns to you two "What happened? Why do you think these men tried to attack you?"