The ranger weighs Pril's definition of "restrictive" against her own, trying to determine how to respond to her points. She wasn't sure what exactly staying in one place meant about saying goodnight and good morning to, why couldn't they do that wherever they went?
Sipping her mug, she decides its best just to simply nod with "Maybe."
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After reading the message, Illyiana frowns. "I do not understand why we would not involve the authorities. There is a reason we have laws and people to enforce them and help people."
Regardless, she is prepared to set out with Pril when she's ready. [b]"Be on your guard, this request makes me nervous."[b/]
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The Cardinal can only be restrained with difficulty from informing the authorities and having the note-sender arrested on the spot! Eventually he is calmed down, but only far enough to say "We will hear what they have to say. Then they will face the appropriate punishment for trespassing and any other crimes committed."
Illyiana gets an approving nod.
”It sounds like trouble is afoot. I shall accompany you, if you will have me,” Nketiah says.
You head into town and make your way to the shop of the local wainwright, Fadelby
Vusker. The interior of the shop is only dimly lit with a few lanterns turned down low.
The doors lead into a workshop large enough to hold multiple wagons at once. A fireplace and a forge stand opposite the machinery, next to a narrow door. Two other doors lead north: one is tucked in an alcove and adorned with a wooden sign reading “Private,” and the other is a slightly ajar double door.
It is from this double door that two men emerge. One wears leather armor and wields a rapier, while the other is dressed in fine clothes and has a mace at his belt. This second man holds his empty hands up and speaks. ”Thank you for accepting my invitation, friends! And yes, your wainwright is fine—if our conversation goes well, he’ll stay fine. I’ve arranged for this meeting to ask you about a former associate and perhaps offer you a job, and I have no reason to see anyone hurt, particularly not the poor exhausted gentleman in the room behind me. So, if you’ve the inclination, I’ve a few questions for you.”
"We'll be happy to listen to your questions and your job offer," Pril says, crossing her arms. "But neither of those require you to hold Mister Vusker as a hostage. So I will ask you nicely to leave him be and we can continue our business discussions."
The man sighs but the opens the doors wider. You can see Fadelby Vusker, bound, gagged, and unconscious next to another man armed with a knife. ”He will not be harmed so long as you cooperate. So, please, do so. Oh, and I have cast zone of truth, so do not try to lie.
“Now then, what has become of Voz Lirayne?”
The man is referring to the bookkeeper and necromancer who was originally searching for Alseta’s Ring.
"First off," Pril says calmly. "I don't lie. Secondly, I plan to cooperate, but my cooperation is being forced. Therefore I would feel no qualms about taking advantage of any hole in any agreement we came to."
She glances over at the wainwright.
"However, if you were to to let Mister Vusker go, then I would be inclined to work in good faith with you. As a show of good faith, Miss Lirayne was brought to the council here to have justice pronounced upon her. I don't actually recall what her final fate was." She glances at her companions, wondering if anyone else remembers.
"So how about as a gesture of your good faith, you let him go?"
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"Miss Piddwiemog speaks for us all." Lucius adds sternly. "I have made a considerable concession coming here to listen you gentlemen at all, which should demonstrate how seriously I am taking the situation - if not you would have found yourselves surrounded and arrested by now. Abadar does not look kindly upon kidnapping and hostage taking, so if you wish for either further information or our consideration of your job offer you will release the young man at once."
The Cardinal speaks sternly and with such authority that it is almost impossible not to do as he requires.
Illyiana wants to help, but she's not really feeling it. She doesn't like this situation and she doesn't like having things negotiated on others terms. She barely manages a "We're honest people and we're here on good faith."
She doesn't add Don't make me shoot you in the face., though she is on the verge of spitting it out.
”Very well. I’ll let the wainwright go, on the provision that you continue to be honest with me.” The man gestures, and his accomplice cuts Vusker’s bonds. The wainwright remains unconscious, but they allow Nketiah to escort him out of the shop.
”Now then, question two. Where are Voz’s notes about Alseta’s Ring?”
"Thank you for that," Pril says with a nod. "As far as Voz's notes, we either gave them to the village council or Allandir has them. I honestly don't remember which. If Allandir has them then I have no idea where they are because I don't know where he is. However, if we gave them to the council then I can ask them where they are. Why do you need them?"
”Finish answering my questions first. What do you know about Alseta’s Ring?”
Illyiana defers to Pril on this one, unsure what the hell they are talking about.
Pril remembers asking a similar question of Master Wickt in regards to dragons one time. She also remembers his answer, which infuriated her at the time, but she saw the wisdom of it later.
"I know a number of things about the ring. Perhaps if you were more specific in your question, I could provide you with an answer to your benefit." she responds, fulling expecting anger.
"How do the portals work?" the man asks with irritation.
"Each portal requires a unique and specific key to be brought to within a very close distance for the individual gate to open. I'm not quite sure how long the gate stays open once activated."
The gnome glances at Lucius. "What was it? A couple of minutes or so?"
"Anyway," she continues, looking back at the annoyed man. "Once the gate is activated, you step through and Bam!, you're somewhere else. We've only been through one and it took us to a jungle far to the south."
"Really? Was the jungle the Mwangi Expanse? Do you know the fate of the cultists called the Cinderclaws?"
"Before I answer that question, I get to ask you one," the gnome says with a raised eyebrow. "Are you friends of the Cinderclaws and how do you know of them?"
"Not personally, but the people that I work for has had dealings with them, too," the man says. "My associates are an international group of powerful merchants who know how to take care of their employees. I wonder if you all might we willing to work for them as well?"
"Oh, probably not," Pril answers. "I really like the home we're making here and working for someone else carries all kinds of obligations that I'm not willing to take on."
"As far as the Cinderclaws are concerned; You should tell your associates that they should pick a better class of people to associate with. They were up to some really nasty stuff. We stopped them. The few that are left are probably scattered to the winds."
"I see." The man studies you for a few more moments before nodding. "Well, you've been very forthcoming. I thank you for being cooperative. And since you don't want to work with us, I suppose we'll be on our way. Please wait here while we prepare to leave." He steps backward into the adjoining room while his companion moves to close the doors...
"That went well, don't you think?" Pril asks, turning back to her companions.
No sooner has the door to the other room closed then the powered lathe in this room unwinds violently, hurling blades, gears, and sharp shards of metal around the room! Pril takes a hit.
Before you can react, the lathe flings even more sharpened fragments, leaving bleeding wounds behind!
Pril races forward to attempt to beat the machinery into submission.
"I hate this guy." Illyiana says, a scowl ever-present on her face. "I knew we did this the wrong way." she laments before firing three arrows into the trap.
Illy and Pril attack the malfunctioning lathe, but they are unable to do much damage to it. "Let me try!" Nketiah cries, moving to the lathe. Her arborean arm unravels, and she uses the vines to manipulate the lathe's inner workings. The half-elf is able to release the tension on the device's springs without further unleashing its blades and gears!
Hearing the trap stop, the man you were speaking with opens the door. You can hear the sound of fighting outside as the guards have engaged with his allies. "I can appreciate you double-crossing a double-crosser, but you'll not stand in my way!" He casts a spell, afflicting you all with crushing despair.
Lucius and Nketiah bleed a bit before their wounds clot.
Success: For 1 round, the creature can't use reactions and must attempt another save at the start of its turn; on a failure, it is slowed 1 for that turn as it sobs uncontrollably.
Failure: As success, but the slowed 1 duration is 1 minute.
Critical Failure: As failure, and the creature is automatically slowed 1 for 1 minute.
"'Despair is an emotion that an ordered mind knows nothing of'," Pril quotes as she moves to direct her kicks at the man.
"Your ill intentions will now be accounted for." the ranger says before firing an arrow into his face. She misses with her second shot but lines up a fairly decent third one before firing it at him as well.
Nketiah sobs uncontrollably as the despair overwhelms her. She still has the wherewithal to raise her voice in an oratory performance to inspire courage in the group.
The enemy dodges Lucius's searing light, but Nketiah's spell gives Pril the edge to land a single blow. When she misses with her second attack, though, the man takes the opportunity to feint, leaving her off-balance. Illyiana lands a critical hit and follows up with another shot as well.
The man uses the advantage to swing his mace into Pril's shins, then follows up with a back-hand blow to her chest. He then murmurs a quick spell, raising a shield of force in front of him.
"Pril! Take him out!" Illyiana says unnecessarily as she continues to draw and fire arrow after arrow. Her first two shots are expertly placed, flying straight toward their mark.
"That's the plan," Pril mutters between gritted teeth.
Lucius's ray strikes the man, enfeebling him. He feints against Pril as she misses him again, but Illyiana lands two good hits. He pops his shield to absorb one of the arrows. Despite his weakened state, he manages to bash Pril twice more with his mace!
Illyiana fires off two more solid shots, hoping one of them does the trick to put him down.
"Wow, You're quick," the gnome observes as she analyzes his style a little more to identify her mistakes. Unfortunately, it's no help as she fails to find her target again and again.
The man still manages to parry and dodge Pril's blows, but this time she avoids falling for his distracting tactics. Illyiana shoots him twice more, and it's clear his health is starting to flag. With the guards surrounding the building, though, there's nowhere for him to run. He swings his mace around desperately, hitting only air as Pril ducks and weaves around him.
"You're going to be captured one way or another," Pril says with a grin that ignores the pain she feels. "Better to give in without contusions and bruises."
"Just give up!" she shouts between her torrent of arrows. "Before one of these puts your eye out."
The man dodges Illy's arrows and parries almost all of Pril's strikes, but her last blow catches him in the kneecap, popping the joint out of place. He groans and sags to his knees, dropping his weapon. "Very well. I surrender!" he grumbles.
The guards soon come inside with the rest of his accomplices, beaten and in chains.
"You know? If you had done that minutes ago," she says, resting her hands on her knees and catching her breath. "You would have saved us all a lot of trouble and pain."
She straightens up and then stretches her arms over her head.
"So who are these people you work for?"
Illyiana keeps an arrow trained on the man while he speaks to Pril. Having been deceived once already, she does not intend to be fooled twice.
"I'll answer your questions, so long as you promise to spare my life," the man says. Assuming you agree, he cotninues. "The organization I work for is called the Scarlet Triad. It is a mercantile consortium based in Katapesh. I have come on a personal mission from one of the group’s leaders, a fierce gnoll named Laslunn. Laslunn is interested in learning more about Alseta’s Ring and has recently set up extensive operations in the nation of Ravounel, but I don't have very much specific information about that. I was supposed to meet Laslunn at a shipping company called Sunset Imports in Kintargo once I returned."
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The Cardinal listens carefully and shakes his head in disapproval. "Hiding crime behind a facade of legitimate business. The Master of the First Vault disapproves of such things. I will write to Lord Mayor Jhaltero at once."
When the interrogation is over he hands over the four men to the constables and recommends that they be searched thoroughly before being imprisoned.
"We must investigate this Scarlet Triad." He says once the prisoners are removed. "If they are interested in the Ring then it behooves us to investigate, if only to set up suitable defenses."
"They're probably not going to be very happy that they don't get their agents back," Pril says with a nod. "That means that they'll probably send more."
Nketiah speaks up. "I have been studying what I can about the gates of Alseta's Ring. I believe the next gate you have a key for--Dreamgate--may lead to the region now known as Ravounel, perhaps close to the city of Kintargo. Maybe we should not wait here for the Scarlet Triad to send more agents but instead take the fight to them."
Illyiana keeps her arrow trained on the man "You will not die here today, but you are going to the authorities."
Looking out of the corner of her eye at Nketiah, she responds "Let's take this scum to get locked up and then we'll get out of there. Will you be coming with us?"
Nketiah nods. "I believe I will. My father and Akosa can handle our interests here. I am excited to see more of the world!"