Pierce looks up at Illendur, "It is a Dolgaunt. When the forces of Xoriat were unleashed on the ancient hobgoblins of Khorvaire, many were taken and experimented on, these Dolgaunt are one of the results of those experiments. Many of them find themselves in service to Cults of the Dragon Below or the occasional Daelkyr.
They are generally resistant to non-magic weaponry. However, our large friend is so strong that he was able to bypass these protections and slay the creature with one swift strike".
Pierce turns to Durnan, "I assume that you wish to send this thing back to where it came from?"
Shuddering at the description provided by Pierce, Illendur sheaths his swords and nods at Goggh, Nice work then, big guy!
Illendur crosses to Gaebler, Well, better late than never, right? How are you this fine day? the half elf laughs and motions for a server to bring another round of ale to the group.
Durnan shook his head. "Dumping it back down the well will just attract scavengers. I'll get it taken care of." The barman turned back to the bar to put away his greatsword, gesturing for staff to come talk to him.
The staff was quickly getting back to work, helping patrons right fallen tables and chairs and checking on those who were slow to rise. Someone was still cranking the platform up the well, too, and the creaking of a winch overhead could be clearly heard in the relative quiet of the half-empty tavern.
***
At the table, Gaebler shrugged. "Doing well, doing well. Everything's moving slower out there with the heat. I couldn't even get a carriage, do you believe it?" The heavyset, well-dressed man took out a handkerchief to wipe sweat from his forehead. Even in the Yawning Portal's enchanted cool, he was still overheated from being outside.
He looked up at Goggh. "Everyone here?"
Goggh looked at the man with inquisitive eyes, before letting his heavy weight drop against a very sturdy chair.
I believe so. And already seeing more movement than I desired for this meeting. - he said, scratching the hair in his face - I think we can get started.
Ash regarded the monster with revulsion as it was carted away. To think he'd been wasting his efforts on people when such things existed! He had a lot to regret.
He turned a curious gaze on Pierce. "How do you know so much about such a thing? Have you encountered them before?" Ash had certainly never heard of such a thing. Just who was this strange warforged?
He waited for an answer before drifting back towards the table where Goggh and their possible employer were.
Pierce shakes his head at Ash, "I open my mind to the Sovereign and I am filled with Wisdom. Even on subjects heretofore I had no knowledge of".
The Warforged heads back to the table with Ash and takes a seat, this time within line of sight of the well. He does not wish to have such a deadly portal at his back.
"Well, I'll get right to it, then," Gaebler said. "I seem to have misplaced a friend of mine. His name is Floon Blagmaar. He's got more beauty than brains, and I worry he took a bad way home a couple nights ago and was kidnapped-or worse. If you agree to track him down with all due haste, I can offer you ten crowns apiece now, and I can give you each ten times that when you find Floon. Goggh said you all are problem solvers who can take care of yourselves. May I prevail upon you in my hour of need?"
Nodding at the offer Gaebler made, Illendur doesn't respond right away to the price, but will ask the following, Well, it is somewhat outside what I normally do, but I could use a few days off my day job. What else can you tell us about Floon? Where was he, and who does he usually spend time with? Also, what's he look like?
Illendur will wait for others to chime in as well.
Pierce approves of the questions posed thus far by Illendur, with nothing to add, yet anyway, he awaits Gaebler's responses.
Could it be that I will be paid for this and that it may lead to the furthering of my own inquiry? Plus I will have the added aid of these new allies. A predicament I cannot decline, the Warforged thinks to himself.
"And does he prefer men or women?"
"Well, last time I saw Floon was two nights ago. We met at the Skewered Dragon in Dock Ward to drink and play cards." Gaebler went on to describe a well dressed, good looking human man in his early thirties with wavy red-blonde hair.
"He's done some work as an escort in different places, spent some time making money in festhalls." Gaebler nodded at Arma. "He prefers tall blondes, usually elves, but he's willing to go home with whoever catches his fancy. I've seen him charm the pants off a dwarf and go home with a half-orc couple before," the moustachioed man chuckled.
"Floon's a fun sort, but not too smart." Gaebler held up his hands. "Not to speak ill of my friend. He'd tell you the same. He's charming and funny but not too clever. Got lots of friends, all over the city. Spends most of his time drinking and carousing. He gets by on his looks and it's worked out alright for him so far."
"We drank and gambled til late in the night, and I caught a carriage home. That's the last I saw of him. As far as I can tell, it's the last anybody saw of him."
Knowledge Local -
Pierce nods, he has visited this place to gather information though he left with little more than a lingering stench that he needed to clean off of his plating.
"Does he have any enemies that you are aware of?
Where does he normally reside?"
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"Mmm..." Jixel had been mostly quiet during this meeting thus far, and her attention moved between the stranger Gaebler, and the drinking hole's hole for monsters. Yes, it was in the back of her mind that maybe another horror could just come on up, any moment. Did they put a lid on that thing after-hours?
It was quite interesting too, listening to how these potential companions differed in their questioning techniques. Pierce, very direct and formula-driven. Arma was straight into the intra-personal nitty gritty, bless her. Illendur wanted a bit of everything.
Jixel scratched at her black furry chin, and realized that she'd have quite bit to contribute to an investigation such as this. And... the reward was definitely generous too.
Gambling. Theft. Thuggery. Predicting the future. It was like this mission was made for her!
"Mister Gaebler, I have a question too. Did your friend have much in the way of winnings in his pockets, that night?"
"Do you know if he was seeing anyone in particular right now?"
Goggh shakes his head in agreement as his companions ask good questions. The minotaur is in his usual silent way, considering how many party-lovers he had seen disappearing from night to day without anyone giving two thoughts about. Maybe this guy had found himself with someone else's wife or husband? Who knows. Enemies can be made in the split of a second. Regardless, at this point Goggh just waited for the answers.
"Enemies? None that I know of. He loses at cards as much as he wins, so he might have owed some people some money." Gaebler gave a home address for a building in North Ward, at least implying that Floon wasn't destitute.
He smiled broadly at Jixel. "If he left there with a bunch of coins in his pockets, it wasn't from me. But he was still there when I left to go home."
Gaebler shook his head in response to Arma's question. "Nobody serious that I know about. He could've been working, after I left, but sailors who're getting drunk at the Skewered Dragon don't usually have enough money to be able to afford to take someone like Floon home. And at least while I was there, he wasn't making eyes at any one woman in particular."
The client dug into his pockets and pulled out a few small bags, one for each of them, dropping them in a pile in the middle of the table. "It sounds like you're all in, so here's your up front money. Remember, ten times as much once Floon's back."
Picking his share of the pay and placing it into his pouch Illendur stands, Well, no time like the present to go visit whatever seedy bar he was last seen at, right?
Ash merely nodded. The money was too good to pass up, even if he did find it suspicious that Gaebler was willing to part with so much of it for a drinking buddy. There was probably something he wasn't telling them. But hey, money was money, and it was ostensibly honestly earned.
"The Skewered Dragon it is," he answered Illendur.
"Never turn down a chance to drink in a seedy bar. That's how you live real life."
Illendur wanders with the group into the night air, So we'll go ask around at this bar first, and go from there? Maybe check out his place in the morning or even later tonight? Should we just catch a Dray, seems easier to me right now...
The fighter looks for the closest Dray, prepping to hop on with his coppers in hand.
"Must be nice to be made of money." says Arma.
Ash nudged Arma. "Hey, 10 coins rattling around our pockets - that isn't bad." Then he chuckled, though he cast a wistful glance after a passing dray. "But yes, I too have other plans for that money. Looks like some of us are walking."
Shrugging, Illendur relents, Alright then, looks like we're walking! The half-elven warrior begins to wander with the crowd toward the dive bar they are heading to.
Goggh looks as Illendur thinks on catching a dray, but don't say anything; he limits himself to shake his head and start walking. He never found much comfort in the tight carriages (even if certain drays would be quite long vehicles) and felt walking was a better option. Even if he was risking being mugged!
The group walked through the muggy night down Rainrun to Snail Street, and then it was an almost straight walk down the larger thoroughfare to Fillet Lane. Starting out in Castle Ward, there wasn't much traffic on the streets, and heading south meant the lights and noise of Trades Ward were only on their left for a few minutes. A squad of Twelve Shields came out of Shesstra's Street and turned north toward Soothsayer's Way as the group walked south, the well armed combined House unit eyeing Goggh warily as they passed each other but not stopping to give anyone any grief. The Honorable Knight towered over the buildings behind the guards, the tall statue a well known landmark in the city.
The street started to angle down past Blackstar Lane- where Goggh and Ilendur both knew there to be a guard post for Brelish peacekeepers- and was quite steep by the time they hit Fish Street. The buildings were packed in tighter here, they were noticeably older and less well maintained, and while the peacekeepers had improved the dangerous atmosphere that used to be the norm, the mood in Dock Ward was just different from Castle Ward or Trades Ward just a few minutes to the north.
The group walked past 2 separate patrols of peacekeepers just in the distance from the Street of Curtains to Presper Street, and found that the entrance to Shrimp Alley had been cordoned off. Lying on the cobblestones on the other side of the cordon were a half-dozen corpses, seemingly the victims of some terrible skirmish. Brelish peacekeepers had three blood-drenched humans disarmed and in manacles sitting on the ground and a pair of City Watchmen were in the midst of questioning witnesses.
Illendur watches the scene as they walk by, unaware of anything other than the bloodshed they witness on their way.
What do those tattoos mean? Its a beholder with a bunch of lines coming off it? All those thugs seem to have them, this another gang-related thing?Illendur will ask whomever is closest so that he's not overheard, while the group continues on their way.
"Ya, tattoos are an easy way to show who is a member of a guild and it's hard to leave a guild when you have a tattoo."
Jixel didn't mind walking at all, there were always new things to see and learn when hopping along on clawed feet. Narrow passages previously unnoticed. Potential places for later investigation and sniffing about. Doing such things at night had some advantages too, given the Ratfolk being largely nocturnal anyway. The risks that came with such travel, was thankfully offset by her companion's numbers, and in Goggh's case, their size too.
"My my..." It was quite a scene they eventually happened upon. Jixel knew a thing or two about thugs, but not so much about the local varieties of such things. She scratched an ear absentmindedly, letting her eyes feast a moment longer.
"Hey, did you see that rat over there? Down that alley! It was as big as a dog, I swear it!" looks in the entirely wrong direction
Perception
Knowledge Local
Pierce whispers, "That's the symbol of House Tarkanan, a criminal organization run by people with aberrant dragonmarks and known to supply assassinations, muscle, and perform rougher sorts of thievery. Perhaps its worth mingling to see what happened here".
Pierce turns to Ash, "Let's avoid that alley than, that's a rat even I do not wish to encounter".
The bodies on the street were covered in blood and further away from the mouth of the alley , but Jixel and Pierce both noticed Daask eye tattoos on a couple of the corpses, along with other bodies bearing the Tarkanan beholder tattoo.
Not ten minutes down the steep, increasingly fishy smelling street, the Skewered Dragon looked like a ruin. Both of its front-facing windows were smashed, and a ship's anchor was lodged in the roof. Through the windows, visible in the steady but non-magical light of lanterns, the investigators could see a group of haggard patrons drinking from huge tankards.
"Well, something happened here. I guess we should go in and use the carriage money to have a drink or two."
Little Jixel let an inhalation deliver a hissing sound, at Pierce's apparent desire to avoid rats. She smiled shortly afterwards though, realizing the irony of the metalman's comment.
"There are rats that do as fur-less folk do, and fur-less folk who act like rats. Don't judge too quick, my friend."
As she followed then, to the almost predictably underwhelming site of the Skewered Dragon, the tattoos got her thinking aloud.
"Daask extorting, Tarkanan murdering, either what we saw is typical of a night out here... or something is simmering."
She wondered what the implications might be, given her own side-projects these days. Thoughts on such things would as Arma suggested however, require a drink.
"The time to sniff around is upon us."
Ohhh boy, here we go...Illendur thinks gazing upon the ruined bar facade.
I suppose we should go in and ask around. Maybe whatever happened here is linked to the disappearance?Illendur asks the others, Also, does one person want to take lead on talking to folks, or should we just all go do our own thing?
Pierce turns to Jixel, "I meant no offense to you friend.
Unnaturally large animals are often more hostile than their normal sized counterparts. In my experience anyway. I have encountered a few dire rats and their consideration of my innards as a meal was something I had to dissuade.
Yes, rivals fighting for something. I'd like to know what as well. Perhaps we can investigate further tomorrow. For now I suppose we should stay on our current task".
The Warforged heads into the Skewered Dragon.
Jixel turned to Pierce and grinned, following it up with a chuckle.
"Of course, friend! None offenses taken. I agrees! Let us see if they do in fact, serve Dragon-meat on skewers here. In past experience, most folks aint interested in speaking to us small Ratfolk. A metalman though..."
She opened the top of her backpack and reached in to touch something... something that made a light clucking sound. Then, with that same hand, Jixel reached for Pierce's forearm with a pointed finger, touching it lightly.
"Peekee helps, as Pierce does seekie..."
Suddenly concerned that he'd called out a ratfolk instead of a huge rat entering the sewers, Ash decided he'd shut up and let others do the talking.
Then he immediately broke that resolution by answering Illendur. "Going in like a gang might just make them clam up. I'd say we should try our luck individually or just two by two, then signal if we need help 'convincing' anyone who takes the bait."
He waited a minute after Jixel and Pierce had entered to sidle in himself, looking around for a likely target.
Goggh kept his usual silence - he was mostly interested in the bodies than in the conversation, even if he kept tabs on what was being said. As the others entered the place, he shrugged and - after a brief time - joined them inside.
Illendur wanders into the dilapidated tavern space, seeking out an ale and beginning to ask around about the disappearance and what happened there. Evening, say, what's with the windows? And is the anchor always on the roof like that? Say I'm looking for a friend of mine, name's Floon, was supposed to meet him, but I don't see him anywhere!?!
Keeping an eye on his companions, he tries to steer clear of them to let them work the room as well...
Arma nods at Ash's suggestion and waits a while, then strolls in like she owns the place and finds the prettiest or strongest-looking female in the room and goes to start flirting.
Pierce and Jixel preceded the rest of the group into the dilapidated bar. To be honest, it didn't look like the kind of place a man with thousands of galifars to drop would spend their time. If these men weren't the roughest, toughest longshoremen and dock workers in Dock Ward, they could probably come close.
The warforged and ratfolk got hard stares as they entered, but nobody seemed ready to stand up and toss them out just yet.
He waited a minute after Jixel and Pierce had entered to sidle in himself, looking around for a likely target.
Ash waited for the patrons' attention to move away from the door as eyes followed Pierce and Jixel to the bar. The shifter drew eyes as well- he was a stranger, after all- but there were a few other shifters in the place and he didn't dress so well as to be completely out of place.
There were some men sitting alone at the bar, and there was always the bartender himself, but as Pierce and Jixel were already approaching the back of the tavern that might not be the best place to be right now.
His eyes were sharp enough to notice that several tables had card games going, and some men in a corner seemed to be shooting dice on the floor. Maybe that was a way in?
Illendur wanders into the dilapidated tavern space, seeking out an ale and beginning to ask around about the disappearance and what happened there. Evening, say, what's with the windows? And is the anchor always on the roof like that? Say I'm looking for a friend of mine, name's Floon, was supposed to meet him, but I don't see him anywhere!?!
Keeping an eye on his companions, he tries to steer clear of them to let them work the room as well...
Ilendur, well acquainted with entering bars he'd never been to before, was quickly able to acquire a drink from a server- a hairy man in leather breeches and no shirt- and sidle his way into conversation at a nearby table.
"Don't know no Floon," the man said. He was a rough looking sort, with a scruff of hair on his face that was more from inattention than from cultivating a beard. He had broad shoulders and callused hands and wore simple, cheaply made clothes. This was a man who worked for a living and lived a rough life.
He gave Ilendur the once over and nodded his head at Ilendur's drink. "Why don't you tell me about your friend and I'll get you another drink once that one's empty?"
Arma nods at Ash's suggestion and waits a while, then strolls in like she owns the place and finds the prettiest or strongest-looking female in the room and goes to start flirting.
Arma, specifically looking for women to charm, was the first to notice the lack thereof. The tavern was full of rough looking men, from the bartender to the servers to the patrons. Not a single woman, as far as she could tell. A few of the men gave her a second glance as she slipped in the door, but she was pretty sure it was because she stood out, not because they were going to hit on her.
Goggh kept his usual silence - he was mostly interested in the bodies than in the conversation, even if he kept tabs on what was being said. As the others entered the place, he shrugged and - after a brief time - joined them inside.
Where Pierce and Jixel had drawn hard stares but no challenges, Goggh threw a blanket over the entire place. The vast majority of the men in the bar were human, with a smattering of other humanoids in the place. The enormous minotaur stood out even more than the warforged. The tables by the door fell silent as people stopped talking to see what the minotaur stranger was going to do.
Pierce moves about slowly not looking at anything, just listening to conversations as he moved past, as if he were here to observe strange human customs and not interact. He found that allowing others to speak he could pick out a snippet of conversation to step into instead of targeted questioning which seemed to come off as suspicious from his race.
Listen - Perception
Arma moves to the bar, orders a beer, then asks "What happened to your wall?."
Ilendur, well acquainted with entering bars he'd never been to before, was quickly able to acquire a drink from a server- a hairy man in leather breeches and no shirt- and sidle his way into conversation at a nearby table.
"Don't know no Floon," the man said. He was a rough looking sort, with a scruff of hair on his face that was more from inattention than from cultivating a beard. He had broad shoulders and callused hands and wore simple, cheaply made clothes. This was a man who worked for a living and lived a rough life.
He gave Ilendur the once over and nodded his head at Ilendur's drink. "Why don't you tell me about your friend and I'll get you another drink once that one's empty?
Illendur assents to the request, leaning into the table, He's always a well-dressed lad, human, definitely. Reddish hair. Ladies say he's a charmer. He told me he was coming down here a couple nights ago, and we were supposed to meet up again tonight. Sound familiar? Illendur closes with a question to the rough looking sailors.
Pierce moves about slowly not looking at anything, just listening to conversations as he moved past, as if he were here to observe strange human customs and not interact. He found that allowing others to speak he could pick out a snippet of conversation to step into instead of targeted questioning which seemed to come off as suspicious from his race.
Pierce didn't hear anyone talking about Daask or House Tarkanan specifically, though he did hear a couple of people talking about how things were getting rougher on the streets recently. They seemed to think it was related to the unaccustomed heat.
No one was talking about missing people or anyone named Floon.
Arma moves to the bar, orders a beer, then asks "What happened to your wall?."
The bartender quirked a curious eyebrow at Arma as he delivered her beer. "Fight got out of hand last night." He snorted. "Two different guilds gotta come out- you got your carpenters guild and the glassmakers and glaziers' guild. Can't do nothing fast around here."
He paused for a moment before leaning against the bar to ask a question. "You in the wrong bar, maybe?"
Illendur assents to the request, leaning into the table, He's always a well-dressed lad, human, definitely. Reddish hair. Ladies say he's a charmer. He told me he was coming down here a couple nights ago, and we were supposed to meet up again tonight. Sound familiar? Illendur closes with a question to the rough looking sailors.
The man laughed. "The ladies do? You might be in the wrong place, then." He leaned back, looking amused, and took a long drink. "But there were a couple of dandy types in here the other night. Your friend friends with Vordik? He was in here with a stranger a couple nights ago."
Laughing in response to the man, Ah, yes, Vordik! That's how I know Floon. Floon's not one to discriminate against a pretty face either way; ya know. Realizing he inadvertently may have stepped in it, Illendur continues.
You seen that dandy who was here with Vordik? They leave together, or he'd find someone else to bring him safely home?
Ash walked up to join those watching the dice game, resigning himself to losing some of that shiny new coin. Though his eyes were on the dice, he kept an ear out for mention of Floon, or anyone missing... but no one seemed to be bringing it up.
"Got a spot for another?" he asked, hoping they'd be more talkative once he was in the game.
When Goggh came in, he muttered, "First the wall, now this? How rough is this place?"
Arma smiles slyly and says "Not that I know of." as she slides her payment across the bar and then sips on her beer.
"But, maybe you can help me." She palms and quietly places a pair of gold pieces on the counter, pinned between her pointer and middle fingers. "Someone paid me to find their friend and I was pointed in this direction. Here's what he looks like:" she then proceeds to offer the description she was given. then slides the two coins over and lowers her voice to a whisper as she leans forward and says [smaller]"I'm not looking to hurt him or anything like that, but his 'friend' is worried about him, since he hasn't seen him in several days."
It sounded like the others were getting looser lips and a bit more information than the Ratfolk woman and Pierce. That didn't matter though, it was one of the benefits of being a strange and diverse team, Jixel thought. Lots of different angles.
Eventually she shrugged, looked to Pierce with a smile, and then let her skinny rodent-style legs hop her over to the bar, somewhere within earshot of Arma. Even if she couldn't get any handy intel, there might at least be a cool drink at the end of it.