Lady ir'Cassalanter held up a hand to stop Illendur. "Just a moment, my lord." She gestured at Willifort as the beautiful tiefling hustled back to the group with bag in one hand and a small writing desk under his other arm. "We do as much as we can to help the children in the aggregate, but it looks like you're talking to them one on one. Direct monetary assistance is always a help." The noblewoman took the bag from Crowell and handed it to Illendur; it was surprisingly heavy, and when he looked inside he saw the gleam of hundreds of silver sovereigns. "Please give those out to the children, or anyone you think needs it. Everyone can use an extra few coins in their pockets."
Crowell handed her a slip of paper and a quill and then held out the writing desk for Lady ir'Cassalanter to quickly sign her name- the quill appeared to supply its own ink- and then she took off her signet ring and pressed it onto her signature. There was a small flash of green light and the briefest smell of burning paper and a gleaming seal appeared on the paper, a magical sigil proving her identity (or at least the presence of her signet ring). She held it out to Dok. "This is a letter of credit. Any Kundarak branch will honor it, and so will most of the money lenders in the city. Please, use it to buy supplies for your clinic. We've never had the chance before, but my husband and I have always wanted to help your efforts in Dock Ward."
The noble lady smiled at the group. "It's been a pleasure to meet you. I always love to make new friends, especially ones who care about this city's people like you do. Everyone says there are no more heroes, but I always say that if you look for them you can find them." Her smile turned into a grin that lit up the already sunny garden. "Thank you for proving me right."
Ash smiled at the child, relieved that she was doing well and not in any danger. "Your friends will be happy to hear that you're all right! Do you think the Lady would mind if we sent them here?" He didn't really think she would, but it seemed rude to just leave the child at that.
He bent down and winked. "I bet you're the best one with figuring out all the forks and knives!"
Susie laughed. "No, that's Terenzio and Elzerina." She glanced at the noble twins playing with Jixel and the other children then leaned in and whispered conspiratorially. "But they've had them since they were babies so it's kind of cheating."
The little girl grinned and shrugged. "I don't think so, but Jenks always says they can take care of themselves and Nat is really tough, so I don't know if they'd come. I'd bet Lady Ammalia would love to meet Nat, though! She's really smart!"
Getting out of Sea Ward proved much easier than getting in to Sea Ward, but the group could still feel the eyes of private security and Karrnathi troops on them as they wound their way through the opulent manors to the gate south onto the bustling Market.
Winding their way through the loud, chaotic open-air Market, the largest single commercial space in the city, the group realizes it's early afternoon and except for Jixel they haven't eaten since they were released from Aundairan detention at sunrise.
Illendur will pay attention to his stomach, and seek out something in the vein of light street food as they head toward the docks. As they are walking, Well, Dok, Ash, Jixel, so the nice lady gave us a lot of silver for the orphans, how do we want to handle that? Probably shouldn't give it to them all at once, would just make them targets right? Dok, do you want to hang onto it and dispense it to them as you think you should?
Ash had been increasingly impressed with the good the Lady was doing, and when Illendur brought up the cash, he considered it carefully. "I think it'd be best to try to arrange for it to do the most good possible - maybe buy a building for Dok, fix it up so the kids have somewhere to go to get meals."
On that note, his stomach rumbled, and he gave Peekee a guilty glance. "Uh, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm famished. Shall we have a bit of lunch here?"
"If I had a building, it would just fill up with squatters." Dok says.
"My place is on the streets."
Zander had no particularly useful insights to share, but he did have some questions. Lots of questions.
On the way out of Sea Ward, he'd pestered his companions with queries about the buildings, people, and behaviors they'd witnessed. Now that they were discussing what to do with the money, he had more questions.
"Why would people squat in your building, Dok Tarley?" That seemed like the most interesting place to start.
There were any number of smells wafting from every corner of the Market, some more in tune with the group's preferences- grilling meat, fresh bread- and some not- hot peppers from Xen'drik that made the eyes water, what smelled like rotting fish- but eventually the group found a stand with desirable food and enough seats to accommodate them and they were soon sitting with food in their hands and time to reflect.
At last, a decent meal! Jixel had hopped onto her stool excitedly, and scoured whatever street-treats were available, for sustenance that contained a good portion of grain, or cheese, or both! A handful for Peekee too, of course. The chicken seemed a bit nervous about something, looking around the marketing with its head poking out of the top of the ratfolk's backpack. Probably something to do with Ash's hungry eyes?
"Interesting," she said openly, but kind of to herself, "how both good and bad was told by the bones... but so far... there has only been good. What better than coin and food, with friends?"
The group had a satisfying lunch, which was good because they then spent the rest of the afternoon on a half-futile search of Dock Ward for their little urchin friends. Starting back at Pressbow Lane where they'd nearly been run down by the trio's purloined cart, the party questioned street vendors and manual laborers, most of whom had no idea which way the children had gone though most of the adults recognized the troublemakers as soon as they got their descriptions. It was by chasing down and bribing another gaggle of half-feral children with the Lady ir'Cassalanter's silver that the group was able to get a lead- "down t'ward South Gate, where they give out food at the end of Tower Trail".
Dutifully following directions, the group made their way to Tower Trail and found that another House of Hope ran a soup kitchen in addition to operating as a school and orphanage. Apparently each of the heads of the individual schools were allowed to run their location as they saw fit and not necessarily in lockstep with the others. There was a crowd of hungry folks waiting their turns in the square at the end of Tower Trail, with Brelish peacekeepers looking on and Silver Flame missionaries down from nearby Southern Ward moving amongst the crowd.
The urchins were nowhere to be found in that crowd, but the team found another clue that led them up to Caravan Court in Southern ward, and then another, and another, and another, until finally they found the three children just as the sun was disappearing from the sky at the mouth of Three Daggers Alley, where rumor said a magical curse would cause three daggers to appear out of thin air to attack anyone who entered. They were, of course, daring each other and some other children to try to run through the infamous location.
After some cajoling, the party was able to convince the children to not attempt the possibly dangerous stunt- at least while the adults were standing right there- and passed along the information, Susie's invitation, and more of Lady ir'Cassalanter's silver. By now it was full dark and the group had spent a long, hot, muggy afternoon marching around the poorest, dirtiest, smelliest parts of the city so getting a mug of something cold to drink sounded pretty good.
The Yawning Portal wasn't far away at this point, either, so they made their way to the place where they had the best chance of catching their prey- Vordik Gaebler. It was early, yet, but for once they were lucky and they spotted the voluble man animatedly telling a story to a pair of stoic dwarves in House Kundarak garb. The dwarves didn't seem to be particularly impressed and were just standing up as the group walked up.
"Thank you, Mr. Gaebler," one of them was saying. "We'll see you on Mol . First thing in the morning." As it was only Zor , this did not sound like the friendliest of goodbyes. The dwarves gave the group a once over as they turned and found the dusty, sweaty group looming behind them. They both nodded politely to the team and made their way out of the bar without looking back.
Gaebler was silent for a few seconds, watching the dwarves leave, before he seemed to realize the group was there for him. His pensive look immediately changed to a pleased one. "Oh, hello, friends! Long time no see! How are you doing?"
Illendur ordered himself a cold ale, and took a seat with Gaebler, We're well, been a long few days, but everything worked out as we would have hoped. All parties are safe and sound, and delivered as promised. Now all that's outstanding is the matter of some payment, he looks to the others to see if they want to interject as he takes a long pull from his drink, savoring the cold and bitter taste of the ale.
"Was your vision impaired by magical means?" Zander asked - completely ignoring or forgetting that this man had never met him, nor had they been introduced. "Or was the impairment a result of damage of some kind? What was the duration of your impairment, and by what means did you secure return of your visual acuity?"
Ash ordered a mug as well, but settled a short distance behind Gaebler. Just in case. You never knew when your pay was about to rabbit.
Jixel decided to hop over next to Illendur, and take a seat too. A small drink, maybe a nicely warmed bread roll or something, she wondered what to order. More importantly, she wondered if payment was going to be made.
"Good evening Mr. Gaebler," she said with an expectant smile.
Gaebler gave Ilendur and Jixel a broad smile, sparing only a brief, confused glance for Zander- a look the warforged had seen from many humanoids, often accompanying a statement indicating a lack of comprehension, though none was forthcoming from this Gaebler- as he drummed his fingers on the tabletop. "Yes! Excellent! I haven't heard from Floon yet but I've been out and about all day." He grinned at the assemblage and leaned in. "But I know I can trust you. Such a capable group! I knew you were the right folks for the task!"
He gestured at the bar and started to stand up, his satchel clutched in his other hand as he made to go put in an order. "This calls for a celebration! Let me go get everyone another round of drinks!"
Ash got up and stepped in with him, ostensibly to help with the drinks, but actually to nab him in case of rabbiting. Just in case. "Drinks sound great after all the walking we've done today. I'll help."
Seeing Ash follow the man, Illendur politely stands up to show respect (and to be on his feet already), Thank you, Some drinks sound great. Illendur pauses at his chair, and doesn't follow Gaebler, knowing Ash can more than handle it.
Gaebler gave Ash a wide grin that was quickly becoming familiar to the group. "Right! Good idea!" He slung his satchel over his shoulder and weaved through the crowd with the grace of a long-time expert bar patron and, perhaps to Ash's surprise, actually ordered a round of ale for the entire group. He opened his mouth to say something else but wilted under Durnan's mild gaze and fished a few coins out of his pocket, which the bartender swept up with alacrity.
Soon enough Ash and Gaebler were back at the table with drinks for all. "Excellent work! I knew you were the right people for this job the moment I laid eyes on you. Strong, trustworthy, capable- you're exactly what I needed to get this done. You've done me and the city a great service. Great service, indeed." He raised his mug to his lips and drank off half his ale in a single gulp.
"With work like that, I'm sure you'll have people clamoring for your services in no time! I'll get the word out and let all the right people know that if you need help, this is the group to find. It's a miracle I found anyone as capable and, uh, generous as you."
"You know, now that you mention it," not that anyone had mentioned anything, "I could probably introduce you to a few people and get you even more work, now that I've vetted you and can personally vouch for your skills. My name carries some weight in the right ears, you know." It seemed like he was ready to carry on like this for a few minutes, at least, unless someone stopped him.
"Have you measured this weight? And how is it that adding weight to the ears of others is considered a boon for the obtaining of work for others? Do humanoids place value on weighted ears?"
Zander's interjection brought Gaebler stumbling to a halt. "My... what? No, I mean people listen to what I..." He looked around at Illendur, Ash, and the other non-warforged in the group. "Is he serious?"
"My apologies for the oversight," Zander said. Then he gave a small half-bow. "I am Zander."
Zander's head cocked slightly to one side - the position that the others in the group had come to recognize as his "about to start asking potentially awkward questions" pose.
"Is the weight that your name carries in others' ears at all related to your apparent hesitance to provide the remuneration that my companions were expecting would be forthcoming upon locating and conversing with you?"
"No! No no nononono! Of course not!" Gaebler waved his arms in an almost comical negation. "Vordik Gaebler is a man of his word!" He frowned and drummed his fingers on the table. "I'm just... a bit short of coin at the moment. A temporary unexpected shortfall." He glanced briefly at the door, in the direction the Kundarak dwarves had left a few minutes earlier.
Suddenly his expression brightened and he pulled his satchel onto his lap and started rummaging through it, prattling on as he looked for something. "But! Yes, this is so much better! Worth ten times what I promised you, easily! More, with a little work! Where is it... Just one second. I said, what, five hundred crowns? This is worth five thousand, and oh, the opportunities! I envy you, my friends! So many possibilities! Host blast it, why can you never find anything when you need it... Ah ha!" Gaebler pulled out a rolled up scroll tied shut with a silk ribbon and formerly sealed with a now-broken official city wax seal and presented it to the group with a flourish.
"Real estate, my friends! I only recently acquired it myself, to do some research for my next book. But you've done me and my friends such a great service that I'm willing to part with it as a reward for work so well done. Valued far above the paltry sum I owe you."
Ash sighed, putting a "companionable" arm around Gaebler's shoulders. "Let's hear him out. Vordik, let's see what's on that document. We may accept it as partial payment, on account of how friendly we are." He glanced at Illendur and Jixel. He still wasn't entirely sure about Whurzander and Dok, though they seemed solid. He just preferred to keep what shifting sands he could solid beneath his feet, with as much certainty as possible.
"Illendur, you have experience with real estate, don't you?" he hazarded a guess. "Why don't you lay an eye on that document, see what it might be worth."
He smiled toothily at Gaebler. "Of course, we'll need to see the actual place before we accept anything. Cash in the hand is worth more than real estate in the bush, my friend. It divvies up more easily, too."
Illendur sits down next to Gaebler opposite Ash, and adjusts his armored frame to press into the man's side, Zander, Dok, Jixel, why don't we all have a seat and enjoy the nice man's ale he bought us.
Illendur pores over the papers and examines it for whatever it contains, Now, property is all well and good, but we have had expenses, and likely would have expenses with this property, so you see, we're in a bit of a pickle aren't you? looking out the side of his eye at the poor man sandwiched between himself and the shifter.
Gaebler sputters while Illendur looks over what appears to be a perfectly legal and legitimate deed. "PARTIAL payment?" He attempted to pull away but quailed under Ash's toothy grin. "My friend, that property is worth at least five thousand gold. I bought it at auction just last week! And if you were to do more than just liquidate it- some desperate soul there was practically begging to take it off my hands to do just this and turn it into a tavern and inn- you could easily make that much A MONTH! Be reasonable. Throneport real estate is never the worse option."
Oh, I don't doubt that, and North Ward is very nice, but does the property have damage? Do we need to evict some evil spirit taken up residence in the basement? Does it have a noteworthy past reminiscent of a trashy street pulp? All these questions need answering before we'd be keen to take on an investment opportunity of such magnitude in Trollskull Alley. the half-elf grins at the man, wanting him to sweat some.
"Evil spirits! Don't be absurd! Why would I have bought a place full of evil spirits???" Gaebler shook his head, frowning. "As for damage, well, it's been abandoned so I'd wager there is some. But any amount of damage is still going to make this place exponentially more valuable than the 500 gold I promised you!"
"Maybe Jixel could install a chicken coop in da basement."
"If it's a complete wreck, I don't know, Vordik... we aren't a construction crew," Ash helped to draw out the suspense.
Then he smiled. "Maybe you can go with us to check it out. Show us around."
[ooc]Also, the only Knowledge Zander has is Engineering[/oo]
"It seems as though you are suggesting," Zander said thoughtfully, "that the owner of the deed could put the property up for sale at an auction and that there is at least one personage known who would be interested in purchasing the property for a sum substantially more than five hundred gold coins. It then might be better for your negotiations if you were to either provide the name of that personage, or go and make the arrangements with that personage yourself, sell the property, and bring back the funds. You could then pay the five hundred coins you promised, and keep the remainder - thus minimizing your loss and requiring less investment of time and effort from all involved. Would that not be the case?"
Gaebler frowned and shook his head at Zander. "I didn't like the look of him. Frown, I think his name was? Big guy, came off... well, I'd much rather give you, my friends, the place than sell it to him."
He shrugged at Ash. "If you want. We'll need to get a notary to recognize the transfer anyway. I could probably get one to meet us there in the morning." The storyteller grinned. "It's a nice place! Four stories, some old manor house. You'll love it! Come on, let's have a toast and celebrate your new property!"
A big house? Jixel had been sat kind of gob-smacked, choosing to listen to the negotiations in progress and occasionally look to Illendur, as though to glean an assessment of all this through his expression.
The little ratfolk had never lived anywhere that was worth so much, nor as large, according to the images of a grand old mansion that popped into her head.
"A big nest..." she muttered, "means big work."
Yes, Jixel had her doubts, but then Dock said something that brought a smile to her little pink mouth.
"Oh! It is like a farm? Making chickens? That's interesting. And upstairs, Dok's refuge for poor children!"
The whole concept wasn't starting to sound too bad, well, except for the jest about evil spirits...
Illendur raises an eyebrow at Gaebler's overtly worrying response to his litany of problems which could loom in the place, Very well, why don't we go see the notary nowish, rather than wait for morning. I'd like to get in there first thing and look around, better than later in the day in case we have to evict any unwanted tenants. Looking around the group, Why don't we attend to this with Gaebler, and then find Master Davil and see what he wanted us for?
Gaebler gave Illendur an incredulous look. "You think a notary is going to be happy when we show up to her house in the middle of the night? If you want to go on to the place to check it out now, sure, but who's going to notarize a document for you in the middle of the night?"
Of course I do, just have to head over to the trades ward, let's get this signed and sealed. That would mean we're squared away and don't have any lingering debts between friends, am I right? Illendur smiles, and stands up extending his hand for Gaebler to join him, Well, shall we? Perhaps pay for a coach at this hour, why don't you Gaebler, we all want to be secure, no?
"Let a man have a drink after a hard day's work, why don't you," Gaebler muttered, but he nodded at Illendur and said more loudly "Of course, my lord. Let's be off." The writer stood and slung his bag over his shoulder.
"Let's go see if we can find a cab."
Zander just nodded and followed along. This promised to be interesting, if nothing else.
"Maybe we can avoid being arrested on this cab ride."
Ash followed along amiably, coincidentally behind Gaebler, whom he'd decided he couldn't trust as far as he could throw him.
Late at night as it was, Castle Ward was full of bars and inns catering to those still out and about so it didn't take long to find a hire cab. Without daytime traffic clogging up the thoroughfares it didn't take long to get from the quiet official business ward to raucous Trades Ward. You could tell you'd made the transition across the High Road even with your eyes closed- subtle wards kept most of the mercantile noise on the east side of the Road and exploded into a cacophony as soon as you passed through them.
Those who weren't used to it were often disoriented by the riot of attention grabbing bells and whistles, snippets of jingles, magically animated images of hawkers urging passers-by into stores, physical salesfolk inticing potential shoppers, and a hundred other sudden noises. Along with that were the lights, like a whirlwind of fey had whipped through the streets and cast clashing colors of signage and writhing mascots and dancing figures wearing the latest fashions on every possible surface.
Trades Ward wasn't just disorientingly LOUD and distractingly bright, it was also much, much taller than the rest of the city. The Houses had quickly realized that while they were constrained to the horizontal limits of Trades Ward, the Treaty of Thronehold placed none on the vertical. While most businesses couldn't match the cloud-shrouded peak of House Lyrandar's Cloudspire, every House was in a competition to make the second-tallest, grandest, most beautiful headquarters in Throneport, and every smaller business did their best to try to keep up.
Where Sea Ward was marked by grand, palatial manors and Castle Ward by massive monuments and enduring structures, Trades Ward as a whole was like a grove of cypress trees surrounded by a low garden. In most parts of Trades Ward you could barely see a strip of sky from the street through the towering buildings. For those who knew it, Trades Ward was very reminiscent of Sharn.
Trades Ward never slept, and no matter the time of day or night, House Phiarlan's ICA building, called the House of Song by some, always had actors, musicians, writers, playwrights, agents, managers, and going in and out of the building's many entrances and exits.
Illendur directed them to a members-only entrance where a pair of Phiarlan-liveried guards tried to wave them off before realizing who was in the cab.
Dok stops to scrape the mud off his boots before he goes into the nice building, leaving a streak on the cobblestones.
He shrugs at Illendur "Sorry my man, jus' tryin' not to track da dirt inna ya nice house."
Ash had been in the city a while, but the fancier wards never failed to impress him - and somehow, the anonymity of the bustle and crowds was soothing, if not precisely safe. He didn't rubberneck, but let the neon illusions flow over him like a blanket. He was just glad they were in a cab, so he didn't have to keep one hand on his moneypouch.
More than that, he kept an eye on Gaebler. This was the sort of place a shifty fellow might disappear in a sudden lunge out of the cab. Ash knew something about that, after all.
He followed Illendur silently, hair in his face to obscure his heavy shifter features. It was best not to provoke the guards into thinking he was looking for trouble by being shifted, which he only appeared to be. He frowned to himself, an unconscious snarl tugging at his muzzle briefly. This is who I am now.
Fortunately, he managed to wipe the expression off before the guards hailed Illendur again.
Illendur's false confidence grows as they enter the compound, the halls of the ICA spread out around him. He greeted those he saw as he walk toward the night clerk's office, both commoner and noble alike in dignity. Illendur realized he was taking a risk, traipsing through with such an interesting assortment of characters behind him, but it wasn't the strangest thing he's witnessed in these halls by a long way. Just follow my lead all, we'll be out in a very few minutes. Connaillis is the night clerk, and she'll take care of getting this notarized and all official so we're all squared away with Gaebler.
Entering the Night Clerk's office Illendur produced the documentation and presented it to a sour-looking elven woman sitting behind the desk. Evening Connaillis, My companions and I have come into some property, and would like the transfer notarized to settle debts with this good gentle, he says, indicating Gaebler, I am sorry to drop in so late with this sort of thing, but we all wanted it squared before the dawn breaks. with a pointed look at Gaebler he concludes.
Producing a small pen, he indicates for all parties to sign the document, making the transfer all official, and so Gaebler can't renege on his part of the deal.
If anyone expects Dok to sign something, he just blots some ink on his thumb and leaves a thumbprint on the document.