The man grins at Aurelia. "Oh, yeah! Sorry about that! I'm sure Devargo will be happy to see you, too."
The other man raises an eyebrow at the first, but shrugs and steps aside as the first one opens the doors and ushers you inside.
This large room, once a captain’s cabin, has been converted into a throne room of sorts. The walls are thick with spider webs, in which scuttle dozens of spiders, some as large as a fist but most considerably smaller. These spiders seem content to stay in their webs and do not venture into the room itself, which is furnished with two sturdy oaken tables surrounded by chairs. Aft, a wooden stage supports a large leather chair covered with cobwebs and scampering spiders. A narrow door stands to port, hanging ajar and revealing a flight of stairs leading below. An iron birdcage hangs from the ceiling like a chandelier.
This is the throne room of Devargo Barvasi, the self-styled King of Spiders. He is a tall, muscular man with shaggy black hair and a fierce glare. He accents his black leather armor with a steel spidershaped shoulder baldric and a thick chain crisscrossing his chest, linked together in the shape of a spider. His signature weapons—gauntlets fixed with blades over the knuckles—glisten with poison. Now and then, spiders clamber over his skin, but he takes no notice.
Six thugs are seated at the tables, enjoying a sumptuous meal and loud storytelling. The steel birdcage that hangs from the ceiling holds a dejected-looking house drake.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" Devargo says with a sneer. He gestures for you to approach the stage. "You'd better have a good reason for coming here unannounced."
"Gold's a good reason for just about anything, isn't it, Devargo?" Nicoleta says with a smile.
Instead of approaching the stage, the monk slowly sways over to the table where the thugs are sitting. She reaches out and tears off a piece of bread with some kind of cheese in it. "Umm. That's good," she says in surprise after popping it into her mouth.
Looking back at the dark-haired man on the 'throne', she grins again. "What do you know about a man named Darvayne Amprei? We'd be willing to pay heavy coin for juicy bits."
Devargo watches Nicoleta’s antics disdainfully. ”It would need to be a lot of coin. I’m already making quite a fortune blackmailing the good ambassador.” He gestures to the area in front of the stage. ”Come on, then, and convince me why I should give that up!”
"I wouldn't know." Vox replies. "We do very different things with our nights. I do trust her though - as though she was part of me."
---------------------
On the boat Vox skulks by the wall, watching everything that goes on with a sharp eye. The lack of reaction to her presence is somewhere between satisfying and highly offensive but Vox shrugs it off to study the crime lord and his men. A return visit may be required one day...
Nicoleta frowns at the man's insistence on the farce of petitioners to the throne, but decides to let those with a more skilled tongue deal with him.
Aurelia looks to Nicoleta to see if she's insinuating they should be taking off their clothes again. She crosses her arms and starts to pull on her shoulders to lift her shirt up and stops as she catches the dhampir's eye. "What? Now you want me to keep my clothes on?"
The dhampir just puts her face in her hands and mutters something that sounds suspiciously like dingbat.
"Do you know if Devargo is hiring?" she quietly asks the thug who's shoulder she was leaning over to snatch food.
”Yeah! He was in the middle of evaluating us for membership before you interrupted,” the man growls, giving the dhampir a dirty look.
Looking over at Nicoleta and determining this isn't a get undressed moment, she snaps her fingers at the dhampir. "Stop eating that poor man's food and focus, Peaches."
Rolling her eyes at Devargo, she explains herself in a convincing a manner as she can. "Blackmailing the ambassador certainly sounds like a fair bit of coin. He's a worthless sack if you ask me, I'm not interested in saving him from whatever trap you have enthralled him in. In fact, I congratulate you, you couldn't have picked a better mark."
"Let me be up front so we can get out of your way as quickly as possible. All we want is some information and we can be out of your hands. What's easier than earning a few hundred gold for passing along a few tidbits? Besides the coin, working together helps establish a relationship that could potentially mutually benefit us both in the future."
Devargo grins at Aurelia. ”Now, you, I like. You’ve got gumption. Alright, I do indeed have that information you seek. I keep it downstairs in my quarters. These incriminating letters have brought me plenty of income, but I am sure the ambassador will soon find a way to render the letters useless as blackmail material. Thus, I am willing to let the letters go for a mere 1,500 What do you say?”
Nicoleta grabs another piece of the cheese-bread and then walks slowly over to stand behind to Aurelia. She wraps her hands around the woman's waist from behind and pulls her close. Leaning in as if to nuzzle the woman's neck, she whispers, "We don't have that much, Kroft only gave us a thousand. Offer him five hundred."
"How about four hundred and fifty and the rest of this cheese bread for my friend over here?" the mesmerist counters, turning to wink to Nicoleta.
"Don't try to be cute!" Nicoleta hisses into Aurelia's ear. "This guy has zero sense of humor."
Devargo is unamused. "I'll tell you what. I've been a bit bored lately, and if you can put on a good show, I'll lower my price. How about a game of knivesies? One of you against one of these hopeful young lads here."
Knivesies is simple to play. Two contestants stand on top of opposite ends of a long wooden table. Their right hands are bound to their sides with boiled leather straps, belt pouches are fitted to their waists, and a dagger is stuck in the tabletop between them. The game begins after a count of 10, during which time observers can place bets by tossing gold pieces (roll 3d6+20 to determine how many gp land on the table) onto the table and standing at the end of the table where their chosen fighter stands. As the game begins, each contestant rolls an Initiative check.
There are two ways to win knivesies. You can force the other contestant to fall off the table, or you can end the game with more gold than your opponent claimed. Snatching a fistful of 1d10 coins off the table is a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity. Since each opponent has only one free hand, the first round is typically a mad lunge for the dagger, forcing the slower opponent to make grabs for gold. There aren’t any more rules beyond this; most knivesies games devolve into tabletop brawls, with the first person to drop or touch the ground losing.
The game ends once a contestant is unconscious, dead, or knocked off the table; as soon as no coins remain on the table; or as soon as any coin is knocked off the table. When the game ends, an unconscious, dead, or de-tabled contestant is automatically the loser. Otherwise, the winner is determined by which person has the most coins in his pouch. At the end of the game, all money is emptied from the pouches back onto the table. Half the total is paid to the winner, while the remainder is split evenly among all of those who stood at the winner’s end of the table.
Ignoring Nicoleta, Aurelia smirks "We accept." Turning to face Vox, she motions her towards the table. "This sounds like your cup of tea, my friend. Do you mind?"
The dhampir grins at Devargo. "No hard feelings if she kills him, right?"
Without waiting for a reply, Nicoleta moves to stand at Vox's end of the table.
"None whatsoever," Devargo confirms with a malevolent grin. The hopeful thug swallows nervously as he eyes the drow.
Aurelia moves to Vox's end of table as well and says "At least make a show of it before you embarrass him, eh? The performance is half of the fun!"
"Yeah, keep the audience entertained!" Roz says with a pat on Vox's back.
Once the two get up there and the game starts, Aurelia is going to subtly cast a spell as well, only this one is not on their companion. Waiting until the "game" begins, she stares at Vox's opponent and casts Unnatural Lust, designating Nicoleta as the target.
After casting her spell, Aurelia puts her arm out in front of Nicoleta to bar her from advancing directly to the table such that she was stay about ten feet away. "Wait a moment. Do not get closer just yet." she whispers to her.
The dhampir looks a Aurelia suspiciously. "Why? What did you do?" she asks.
She gasps, feigning outrage "What? Why do you assume I've done something?"
She her "outrage" transforms into a wide grin as she looks to the man on the table and whispers "Don't look now, but if I had to wager a guess I'd say that he's undressing you in his mind."
"Ah-Ah! I said don't look, not snap your eyes up to him. Relax yourself, Peaches.
Vox nods and climbs lithely onto the table. Her teeth appear in her face once again and she grins dangerously at the thug.
"Little boys bleed prettily." She says with a wide grin. "You sure you want to play?"
The other thugs cheer as Vox and the volunteer get on the table. Once their hands are tied together, Devargo counts down, ”Three! Two! One! Begin!”
Vox is into the middle of the table and grasping the dagger before the thug has done more than draw breath. Spinning it around in her fingers Vox grins again.
"Give up now little boy. I'll let you keep your ears."
The thug ignores Vox and the coins, staring lustfully at Nicoleta. ”I must have you!” he declares, trying to shove Vox off the table to get to the dhampir.
Vox spins with the shove easily and slashes as she goes.
Since the thugs seems intent on getting past her, Vox simply uses his rush to spin around behind him and scoop a handful of coins from the table.
"What the f++%?!" the dhampir curses as she takes a defensive stance to deal with her admirer. She spares a quick annoyed look at Aurelia before turning back to the thug.
Grimacing in pain, the thug tries to shove Vox again, utterly failing.
Vox slices at the thug again before stepping back once more and sweeping up more coins.
Aurelia shrugs as the dhampir looks at her. "Wha...? Maybe he likes what he sees?"
The third time is not the charm for Vox’s foe,
Vox continues to flit across the table, cutting her opponent and accumulating coins.
Aurelia claps loudly as their own achieves victory "Bravo! Bravo!"
As the thug is stabbed for a third time, he slumps over, blood splattering the table. ”We have a winner,” Devargo declares. After the others untie the unconscious man and Vox, the crime boss looks at the loser disdainfully. ”It seems this guy only thinks with the basest part of his anatomy. I have no use for lechers like him.” He casually drives his spiked gauntlet into the man’s neck, ending his life.
The house drake in the birdcage whimpers and averts its eyes.
Devargo gestures, and one of the other thugs dutifully cleans off the weapon with a rag. ”Nice fighting skills, dark elf. I will give you the letters for 1,000 gold.”
Nicoleta gives Aurelia a shove with her shoulder. "Brava!" she says, correcting her.
She keeps the disgust off her face when he dispatches the loser. Not wanting to be here a moment longer, Nicoleta tosses the bag of gold at the brutal man. "Then we'll take them and be on our way," she says with a smile.
The mesmerist needs to turn away when the man is brutally murdered in front of her, trying to keep her composure. When the monk shoves her shoulder, she almost loses her balance and topples to the floor. She stumbles a few steps before regaining her footing and stomping back to shove her, but, its like trying to push a wall. She scoffs and says "That's what I said!"
"No, you didn't. I'll explain the difference later," Nicoleta says without taking her eyes off Devargo.
Vox casually pockets the gold she's collected but doesn't put away the knife. When Devargo kills her opponent the drow starts to hum quietly but doesnt say anything else as she hops down and stands pointedly in front of the crime Lord.
Devargo claps his hands in delight. "Thank you for your generosity. Boys! Keep an eye on them." Four of his enforcers watch you as the crime boss heads below decks. He returns a few minutes later with a pair of letters clutched in his hands.
"Ambassador Amprei was having with the wife of an important noble back in Cheliax. Apparently, the ambassador and this woman have been corresponding since Amprei was first stationed here in Korvosa. When I heard these rumors, I paid the man a visit. I tried to be his friend at first, giving him a gift of several vials of shiver and proposing open a line of trade with Cheliax. The ambassador refused and had me escorted from his home, but nobt before I pickpocketed the man’s house key. I returned later that night to return the key and steal several of the ambassador’s letters to his paramour. I've been selling the letters back to the ambassador at the rate of one every few weeks, taking great delight in the man’s discomfort whenever he visits Eel’s End to purchase one of them. The fact that the ambassador hasn’t gone to the Korvosan Guard and is attempting to keep his reacquisition of the stolen letters as quiet as possible says plenty about how dangerous the contents would be to his career."
Devargo hands the two letters to Vox. "Here you are. Pleasure doing business with you! Now, if you'd kindly show yourselves out..."
Vox takes the letters and walks out, richer with information, several gold coins and a potential new song to end...
"Have a good afternoon, Gentlemen," Nicoleta says with a smile as she leads Aurelia out by the arm. "Although, I guess I shouldn't say that. If current trends continue, probably only one of you will have a good afternoon. The rest, well, enjoy your career as fishfood. Ta!"
She then makes a hasty exit.
"Hey, Vox," the dhampir says once the group has left the piers behind them entirely. "If you're planning on making another visit to that a&%&+#$, let me know, ok? I'd like to join you. That man's a monster that needs to spend the rest of his time floating."
Aurelia holds up a hand "Wait, hold on. The Field Marshall said she didn't want the ambassador to die, so we need to be careful there."
"I don't think Devargo's going to harm the ambassador, especially now that he doesn't have anything to blackmail him with. That'll be Cressida's job now," Roz says with a grin. "But yeah, if you girls want to come back and give that bastard what's coming to him, I won't protest."
"I wasn't talking about the ambassador. I was talking about that dickwad back there," Nicoleta says, pointing back towards Eel's End.
"Oh." she says, clearly having been confused.
Shrugging she adds "I'm okay with that. When he killed that man for losing, it made me want to throw up. He didn't deserve to die for that."
"Well, let's get these letters back to Craft before something else comes up."
When you return to Citadel Volshyenek and hand over the scandalous letters to Field Marshal Cressida Kroft, she blushes as she reads them and quickly passes them to a clerk for safekeeping. "Thank you. These should work perfectly should the need for some leverage against the ambassador ever come up." She rewards you with a further 500 gp stipend for your efforts.
"I don't have anything else for you right now. I'll call upon you when something comes up."
"He won't sing his song much longer." Vox promises with a grin, flipping the dagger she claimed from the game over and over in her hand.
Once they have reported in to Kroft and someone mentions shopping Vox produces a bag from somewhere. "Went to that butchers where you found the bounty." She says with elaborate issuance. "Found some stuff. We can sell it off if you like."
As the girls are trundling through the streets, a small party of elves become visible in the crowd. Dressed in dark cloaks and carrying well worn weapons they move with purpose and an alien grace.
"S@+#!" Vox hisses from the depths of her hood. "Come on. Calm. You can do this." Her hood is covering most of her face which makes the exact change hard to pinpoint, but her posture changes, shrinking a little and subtle changes to her body, along with tendrils of red hair escaping the hood show that something has happened.