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She nods her head as she responds, unclear with her following statement. "I cannot be certain, but perhaps the theft had to be connected to the animation of these statues. Igrigi? He’s one of the most competent assistants I’ve ever had. A very smart man— capable, if sometimes a bit opinionated. He recently left Nexus House’s employ to take a higher-paying position within the city bureaucracy somewhere. He did so with my recommendation, frankly; I was glad to see someone with integrity and skill rewarded.” She also notes that while he's likely to welcome Pathfinders for a chat, it might be difficult to get a hold of him.
Fumbus looks a bit uneasy. "If we stay with the books more, will more statues fight us? Last time, Kyra got hurt..."
Ezren shakes his head at the suggestion that they abandon the library for more active investigation out in the city.
"Kyra - any of us - is far more likely to be injured if we go running about the city without a clear idea of what we are doing. This is unlikely to take any of you by surprise, but I vote that we finish the mission we were given, to examine the records stored here at Nexus House. Once we have done all we can here, if we still believe that there are missing volumes that are important to our research, we can follow the whatever investigative trails we uncover."
"Booooo-RING!" Amiri comments as she hears Ezren's suggestion.
"I say we explore the damn city and investigate this Igrigi fellow!"
Valeros agrees with Ezren.
"As unexiting as it sounds, I favour Ezren's suggestion. It is better we dig up all the knowledge related to this case, before moving on" Kyra says, after a small consideration.
Valeros conducts research
Fumbus tags along with the mighty warrior, Valeros, giving both helpful and unhelpful suggestions.
Ezren looks through various books on the nature of things. His expression thoughtful, he flips through the pages with the occasional grunt or murmur, as though suddenly understanding a particularly interesting point. He may or may not be falling asleep while he reads.
"Ahhwwww! You people are the worst. We could get out of this dust filled old library, seeking for adventure and you prefer to stay here instead!"
Despite grumbling loudly Amiri does her best to help...
Kyra sees Ezren dozing off, a book in his hands. She takes the book, thinking no text can be so boring to sleep over it, and is proven wrong.
With no idea what plants would be helpful, Fumbus keeps shouting and pointing to things that Ezren comes across, seemingly randomly.
"Alright, we have some leads - and we should follow them. Does someone care to confront the Quantium byrocrats to find Igrigi? I could ask around about this slime-lover Ohrlavi." Kyra says, once Ezren closes the last book on the table.
"Or any other ideas?"
Amiri decides to attempt her own special brand of "diplomacy" as she starts asking around for Bijan Ohrlavi in the shadiest parts of Quantium...
1d20+11
"Bijan Ohrlavi... what do you know about him? Start talking and I don't break both of your legs!"
[oc]Trying to post again[/ooc]
Valeros clears his throat and speaks.
"Um, what about the four Pathfinders who made this heretofore unknown Pact of the Open Road? Also, what about Gest's maps? I think we need to learn about those things. Also, things we need to find are missing. I feel that Igrigi Lokar is who we need to speak to. That person has some information we may need."
Ezren tries making his way through the Quantium bureaucracy to find Igrigi.
Merisiel talks with a clerk and learns what she can about the local political ladder.
While Ezren is looking up Igrigi, Fumbus goes digging through the trash of various offices, looking for anything with Igrigi's name on it and an idea of where the man's office might be.
Valeros waves to the others and says he's going to go look for information about this Open Road Pact in the bars and taverns of the local red light district.
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Valeros will share what information he received with the others when the group meets back up.
Ezren orders a large steak - "And make it well done. That means brown all the way through, not half raw, do you understand?" - and grouses when the server tells him that the seasonal vegetable dish refers to vegetables in season in Quantium, not what he would expect in Absalom. He cheers up when the server comes back with a fine bottle of Chelish red wine and leans back in his chair, sipping happily.
"Well, Igrigi, you missed quite a bit of excitement! Just two years ago, Absalom was assaulted by an army of supernatural evil creatures - undead, demons, what have you - and of course we leapt to the city's defense, not that individual agents ever received a word of official thanks. Then there was that kerfuffle in the Hao-Jin Tapestry - what kerfuffle? Why, the Tapestry's coming apart at the seams, old man. Of course I mean that literally, wasn't I there myself? And just a few months ago, I was at the front line when the Society took on the Whispering Tyrant's forces, wave after wave of the most horrific creatures ever spit back from the Boneyard, and ..."
Ezren drones on until someone interrupts to ask Igrigi about the bill of sale.
Merisiel nods along with Ezren for a while, before sighing. She orders an expensive glass of wine paired with the best fruit offerings. After a while of the idle chatter, she interrupts Ezren. "Actual Igrigi, we've come on some Society business.. you see, we found a note with your signature attached to a bill of sale. We were digging through the Orrery Archive and found a document missing among several sections of works regarding Nexian ooze-crafting, and the note said that there was a person interested in ooze-related literature. I was curious what you could tell me about them? One Bijan Ohrlavi." Merisiel currently avoids mentioning the Open Road Pact directly for now.
Fumbus looks at the menu and his stomach growls loudly. "Ohhh....I have one of these. And dis chicken. Lamb pie. Oh, cheese! And stew. And more chicken. And pie! I like pie!" The goblin tries to order multiple meals before the staff stops him. Still, they bring several pastries, a whole roasted chicken, roasted potatoes, and two pies for dessert. The little terror starts devouring food left and right.
As he's stuffing his mouth, he manages to add to the story. "You sell books to people? Why they...oh, this good...want weird oozes?"
"What? Oh, um, yes, of course. Merisiel and Fumbus are quite right, my good man. We're here on important business. Found this odd note in your hand, you see, and we'd like you to tell us what you know about this chap Bijan Ohrlavi, and why he wanted this particular volume. And why, er, well, why you sold it to him."
Ezren repeats most of the questions already asked by his companions before asking one of his own.
"And what did you mean here, that his money was 'slimy'? Do you mean he paid you with coins covered in actual ooze?"
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Igrigi concentrates and listens intently to the pathfinders adventures and definitely shows interest in the endeavours. Igrigi remembers Bijan Ohrlavi, and recalls that the alchemist had a twin sister named Zaynap . Igrigi found Bijan to be suspicious and near-obssessive interest in works on ooze-crafting mildly off-putting. "He had a really distasteful character, and was obsessed with oozes for reasons I do not comprehend. And yes! His coins were literally slimy. He had enough cash to afford a single folio regarding oozes, so naturally I sold it to him as we did not have any need for it and needed the funds to maintain the Nexus House. Why do you ask about Bijan? Has something come up? "
"Well, I'm thinking that maybe Bijan came up with the money to buy more works. Something we were looking for should have been filed amongst some ooze-related work. Do you know where we can find him to see if he was sold this document by mistake?"
Amiri looks at Valeros:"So? Any ideas on what we should do now? Find a decent tavern and start drinking, perhaps?"
"You only give him one? Lots of books on oozes were gone!"
Valeros waves Amiri into one of the bars for a drink. After their drinks arrive, he speaks.
"We need to find these Ohrlavis siblings. They have been trying to sell some Pathfinder Society works on the Open Road Pact. Also, they seem to be alchemists. Weren't some of the things back in the library about alchemist stuff? It's never been my interest, but I try to keep my ears open about the oddball stuff. You never know when you'll run into some crazy stuff out there."
He downs his mug of ale and waves his hand.
"I have a feeling we need to find the others and figure out our next move. That or ask about these Ohrlavis a bit in the area. Actually, now that I think about it, let's ask about these Ohrlavis first, and then go find the others. I want some definitive answers first. This Pact thing is really interesting. It's never been mentioned in the history of the Pathfinder Society. Imagine if we were the first ones to discover this pact of the Society's founders. We might even get our own Pathfinder Chronicle!"
He stands up and waits for Amiri to do the same before heading for the door.
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During the conversation with Igrigi over food...
"Hmm.. That is curious, though I wouldn't put it past the twins to resort to theft. They are a slimy bunch. I do know that they are residing in an apothecary called the wishful cures, although curiously enough, I was just looking over some town plans today and the place has been abandoned for sometime by the original owner, and there seems to be possible link to the sewers with from the building"
"That's all well and good but..." Amiri answers while using her arm to clean her mouth from the foam that deposited there as she gulped down her ale "...how do you suggest we find these twins of yours? I can break bones really good but I'm not exactly a people's person..."
Valeros wanders about asking likely suspects if they have any information about the Ohrlavis. He uses his Diplomacy skill at first, but switches to Intimidation if he doesn't find much useful information.
"Allow me..." Amiri says as Valeros finds someone who knows about Ohrlavis:"Listen well now. You have got 2 options. The first one is you tell us what we want to know about this Ohrlavis fellow and I don't break your legs. The second one is you refuse to tell us what we want to know and I break both of your legs and possibly an arm and then you talk. It's wholly up to you. I've no personal preference, you decide"
"Much obliged, my good man. Now, if there is any possibility that this trail we're following will lead us down to the sewers below your fine city..."
Ezren wiggles his fingers and barks a few words that hum with arcane power, and the wine bottle floats over to the wizard from across the table. He quickly grabs it out of the air and pours the remainder of the Chelish red into his glass. Holding up his glass, he continues, "... I will require fortification. Here is to the glamorous career of a Pathfinder!"
Ezren will gulp down the rest of his wine once Merisiel and Fumbus are ready to head out.