Idrassa nodded. "Alright then. I'm Idrassa Quill, and I'll see you at the Trollskull Tavern tomorrow morning."
She waited for a gesture of dismissal from the Lady, fighting back the urge to simply bolt.
Lady Yalah nodded back. "Thank you for your help. I'll see you in the morning. You should hurry if you want to get out of here before the Aundairians get here." She turned to her and started giving orders- the surviving Tarkanans to be taken downstairs, the corpses cleaned up, and 'somebody tell my husband he can come out', were among the ones the group heard as they prepared to leave.
As the group left the compound, Declan was frowning. After a while, he turned to his friends. "Floxin, the Tarkannan who escaped? He was at the explosion. I would wager gold gafiars that he was the perpetrator. He was injured, so perhaps he didn't appreciate the potency of a fireball spell."
He continued, Clearly the Gralhunds are their target. Whether by direct conflict, or by mercenary, is the question."
"But it was the Graelhunds' nimblewright who assassinated Dalakhar," objected Idrassa. "Maybe both the Tarkanans and the Graelhunds wanted him dead? They may both have their sights on the treasure."
"Hrm," Declan acquiesced after considering Idrassa's words, "This is true. It is a tangled web what has been weaved here. Your posited theory is intriguing. Their conflict may have arose as a side effect of events rather than a direct cause."
Lady Yalah was as good as her word. The next morning before the market had even had time to get crowded, she was there on Trollskull Manor's front porch. Her huge half-orc bodyguard pounded on the door like a Watchman announcing a raid.
Goggh didn't come in until after lunch on Zor , so it was left to the Trollskullers to meet their esteemed guest themselves.
After a moment of pause, the door opened, revealing Declan. He was clad in his usual black leathers, but overtop was a white frilly apron. He didn't seem to be bothered by the incongruity. In his hand was a straw broom.
"Ah, Milday. Please, come in and make yourself at home." He stepped aside to allow the lady and her bodyguard enter.
"My lady," offered Idrassa as the noblewoman came in. She was standing near a table. "Would you care for tal? Or coffee?"
Tweety was curled in the corner. She was not in a threat position, but her head swiveled to track the newcomers as they moved.
"Coffee, please," Lady Yalah said as she came in. "Black." She was dressed all in black, as she had been the night before, though instead of the sheer silky nightgown she was in a skintight black dress that both completely covered her and hugged every curve at the same time. Hrabbaz was in a suit that could have done well on a high level servant, and he reinforced that impression by making his way over to a table and pulling out a chair for his Lady.
She sat down and gestured at the other seats. "Please, sit. I'm sure we're all busy and want to get started." Her tone was frosty- not upset, just distant as one was like to talk to strangers. Hrabbaz made no move to sit, and in fact walked over to the window to give himself a vantage point to look out at the street and keep watch on the room at the same time.
Idrassa wordlessly poured three cups of coffee, already knowing how Declan took his. Then she sat.
"I am sorry for the losses your household suffered," Idrassa began. Then, deciding the woman was not much for small talk, simply continued, "Please, ask your questions."
Declan was curious to see where this conversation went. He slipped behind the bar where Goggh usually was and leaned the broom against the back wall and hung his apron over a nearby hook.
Then he joined Idrassa and Lady Yalah. His sleeves were rolled up like he would just go back to work after this, which was true. He took a sip of the coffee and nodded his approval to Idrassa. He had been a tea man before, but since joining the Trollskull, he found a taste for the moistened bean.
He didn't add anything to Idrassa's opening, allowing Lady Yalah to control the conversation.
Lady Yalah gave Idrassa a small smile at the coffee but let it sit, perhaps to cool for a few minutes. "Let's start with why you were at my house this morning. The truth, please. This will all go faster if we agree to tell each other the truth. If you are reticent to tell me all your secrets, let us say this- you answer one question then I will answer one question. An equal exchange of information."
"If you find that agreeable, please- why were you at Gralhund Villa this morning?"
Idrassa sighed. "Alright," she assented. "We got word the Tarkanans were in the area and went looking for them. We have some connections who are helping us and...some scores to settle there," she said, choosing her words carefully. "We made the two lookouts on the roof across from your estate, and things went from there."
Declan added, "That raises the question... why were the Tarkannans in your house? This raid was quite organized, with external scouts. It was no ordinary robbery."
Yalah nodded at Declan. "No, you are right, they were there for something. With your help, we were able to keep it from them." She looked back at Idrassa. "Tell me, these 'scores to settle', how serious is your dispute with House Tarkanan? They can be dangerous enemies, as you saw last night. Do you want to do them real harm? Can you stand up to them if they turn their eye on you?"
"If they want us badly enough? No," answered Idrassa. "But we dealt them a blow last night. They lose a few more fighters, and they're going to have to husband their resources just to hold their ground against the Draask.
But I think it's my turn for a question now," she continued. "What do you have that they want badly enough to mount that kind of attack? Or, if you don't want to be that specific, what's that fight really about?"
"I have a score to settle with Floxin," Declan admitted. "The rest?" he shrugged, "Depends on if they leave us alone or not."
Zander, who had been standing near one of the doors when the Lady arrived, had, without subtlety or artifice, approached the table as the conversation had begun.
He moved significantly more smoothly than he had when leaving the scene of the battle last night. The fact that he and J'R-V'zz had been working on repairs throughout the night had quite a bit to do with that.
Now, without his battlesuit system engaged, Zander's red-leather coat over golden metal body, was more clearly visible, as were some of the various translucent blue crystals set into that golden skin. The largest and brightest of which was, of course, the palm-sized triangle in the center of his chest.
He did not speak - yet - though both Declan and Idrassa recognized the slight tilt to his head that indicated the Warforged was curious about something.
Lady Yalah shook her head. "I do not think you truly understand. Those were mere thugs." She nodded her head at Declan. "You know Floxin. We had been working with him but it appears he had a prior commitment to the Tarkanans. I suspect he brought troops he knew he could control, or perhaps he was worried about reporting this up the chain of command and losing out on the prize. Everything I have heard about them says they can field much worse than men with swords."
She put out her hand without looking and in a flash Hrabbaz had stepped over, pulled something out of an inner jacket pocket and put it in her upraised palm. Lady Yalah set it on the table. Holding it out over the tabletop, Lady Yalah showed the group a a glossy, greenish-gray stone with 3 recesses in the top of it. "This is an item known as the Stone of Golorr. It is the key to a hidden vault that contains a fortune in stolen gold."
"This is what they were after. My proposal is this: You help me find the lost vault and we share in the recovered riches. It will be dangerous, but your performance last night showed you can weather danger." After a few moments she closed her hand and held the Stone back out to Hrabbaz.
Declan's frown deepened. He held his arms crossed and didn't reach for the stone. Unlike Floxin, he was no thief. Puzzle pieces were starting to click together in his mind.
"What do you know of the explosion the other day?" he asked finally. "A fireball spell, from a necklace, in our back alley here." He chose not to reveal all of their cards at once, but he let his expression reveal he knew more than he was letting on.
Lady Yalah shook her head, frowning. "An accident, or at least unintentional. I had my nimblewright following Floxin. The necklace is mine; I gave it to Aramis for protection but for some reason he decided to try to kill the mercenary. It cannot explain why; I shut it down after I found out what happened."
Idrassa kept her face neutral. "You have resources," she observed. "What is it that you think we can do that you can't?"
Declan nodded. He didn't have any reason to doubt her words. If it was a lie, it was a good one. "If it was the nimblewright on its own, then someone must have tampered with it. Or at least taken control from you. Who has had access to it over the past week or so?"
Idrassa kept her face neutral. "You have resources," she observed. "What is it that you think we can do that you can't?"
"Most importantly, you aren't currently being targeted by the players in this Game. You can move without being watched." Lady Yalah gestured at Hrabbaz, indicating the Stone of Golorr. "The Stone is incomplete in its current state. There are 3 Eyes that need to be inserted into it in order to access the vault. We need to locate them and acquire them- you can do that. Once the Stone is complete we can go to the vault together."
Declan nodded. He didn't have any reason to doubt her words. If it was a lie, it was a good one. "If it was the nimblewright on its own, then someone must have tampered with it. Or at least taken control from you. Who has had access to it over the past week or so?"
Yalah shrugged. "Floxin was in the Villa several times, for extended periods and not watched- we trusted him. It seems unlikely he had Aramis throw a bomb at himself, though." She sighed. "Myself, Hrabbaz, my husband, our children, staff, guards... Aramis was a member of the household and has a mind of his own. He roamed the grounds freely and I sent him on errands frequently; I cannot speak for every person may have had access to him. It could be anyone in the city."
Declan speculated that it would have to be someone with nimblewright knowledge. Not everyone could counter a master's orders. At least, that was his understanding. "Probably an artificer in the city with a bone to pick with your house, and a desire for the stone..." He held up a hand though to sever that line of dialog for now. It could be something to look into.
He looked to Idrassa and Zander, in case they had any queries for the Lady. Her offer of completing the stone did intrigue him; the Trollskull could do with some upgrades.
Lady Yalah nodded, seeming to take the group's comments for assent. "Given their interest, I suspect the Tarkanans have one of the Eyes. From what I have heard about all the violence on the streets, it also seems likely that Daask gang also has one. The news makes the most sense in the context of this Game; they must be fighting over the Eyes."
She frowned. "Floxin had been my conduit into that world. I was getting my information from him. Without him my contacts are ill suited to gathering information about gangs and street ruffians. Hopefully you can figure out how to pursue those leads." Luckily, unbeknownst to Lady Yalah the group had a friendly tabloid publisher who had promised to look into House Tarkanan and get back to them in a couple of days- which would be today or tomorrow, if he was reliable.
The Trollskullers also knew about the teleportation circle under Yellowspire, which was probably part of a network of such circles throughout the city. Few people did; the Watch had kept that information out of the news when the deaths were reported as part of the open war between Daask and House Tarkanan.
Once Declan had given Zander implied permission to ask his own questions, and then it seemed Lady Yalah was done with - or at least had paused sufficiently in - her speaking, Zander asked his question.
Idrassa and Declan were relatively new to the companionship of the Trollskullers, but it didn't take much exposure to Zander to quickly become familiar with his nigh-endlessly questioning nature. They'd heard Zander ask questions before.
But they had never heard this.
Somehow, in his voice, or his posture, or maybe the nearly undetectable variation in the usual angle of his head when he asked questions, Idrassa and Declan could sense something in Zander they hadn't before.
To most of the world, Warforged didn't seem to express much emotion. Many believed Warforged couldn't feel emotion. They were "only machines," after all. "Machines" built for war, and killing.
And it was true that, for people used to reading emotion in another person's facial expressions and body language, there wasn't much to read in the Warforgeds' fixed features and stiff, constructed bodies.
So it was likely Lady Yalah saw none of what Idrassa and Declan saw. And the two Trollskullers could be forgiven for second-guessing themselves about it. For believing that they perhaps imagined something that wasn't there.
But in Zander's words, they caught a mingling of two discrete emotions.
Longing, and hope.
"Your clockwork birds," Zander asked, "how do they fly?"
Yalah frowned at the nonsequitir. "My... what? I don't have any clockwork birds."
Idrassa hesitated. The warforged had always seemed erratic, but his constant vigil in the tower had not gone unnoticed by the human woman. The construct was clearly fascinated with all things related to flight. And the implications of his observation were very important indeed.
"Zander," she asked carefully. "Have you seen clockwork birds flying to the estate?"
"At least one," Zander confirmed, "flying on an East-West path, with one endpoint being the villa." He went on to describe the bird as best he could, and what little he had inferred from his observations of the bird's pattern of travel.
Idrassa nodded her thanks to the warforged, and then returned her attention to Lady Yalah. "It sounds like you have a problem," she observed carefully. "We can inform you the next time Zander sees a construct enter the compound, if you like.
"As to the rest," she added. "I think we need to discuss matters among ourselves before committing. But your proposal is intriguing," Idrassa concluded.
Lady Yalah frowned and looked up at Hrabba's impassive face. The half-orc grunted and gave her a small nod. She turned back to Idrassa. "It will be dealt with."
She stood and nodded to the group. "I hope to hear from you soon." Lady Gralhund paused for a moment to see if there was anything else and once it became clear there was not, gathered up her bodyguard and left.
Idrassa waited until Lady Gralhund and her guard were gone. A part of her wanted to go up to her room, throw her few belongings into her bag, and hop the next boat out of town. And she did not trust the Lady's description of events in the marketplace that managed to place blame for the tragedy elsewhere.
But the amount of money on the table was staggering. It was the first time since arriving in Throneport that she had perceived even the faintest chance of regaining her old lifestyle of wealth and privilege. A restless part of her stirred.
"I think...this is worth pursuing," she said, breaking the silence that had descended since their visitors' departure. "We can't fully trust the Gralhunds. But we may not need to to exploit the opportunity."
Zander turned to look at Idrassa. There was a lingering feeling that Zander had not gotten his question properly answered, but he didn't dwell on it.
"Please elaorate," he said to Idrassa. "I am not certain that I fully understand the 'opportunity,' you speak of, only that there are clearly portions of the conversation that occurred that were non-verbal, and as you know, I am not skilled at interpreting such forms of communication."
Which wasn't entirely true, as Zander had a non-verbal form of communication he regularly used with the Trollskullers in tactical situations, but that wasn't what he was talking about, and everyone knew it.
Zander didn't always get the large portion of humanoid conversation that wasn't contained directly in the words spoken when people talked.
"Um, alright," offered Idrassa uncomfortably. She had not intended to leave Zander out of the rest of the conversation. "The clockwork birds were being used to deliver messages to and from the estate without Lady Gralhund's knowledge. They were the tools of some kind of spy. That's what she needs to deal with."
Idrassa shifted. "As for the 'opportunity,' that's a share of the treasure in the vault. The half a million Gallifars Renaer's father stole, if our information is to be believed." Idrassa half-smiled. "She said she would 'Go to the vault with us,'" the young woman added. "But didn't give us a number for our cut. It doesn't matter - we can negotiate for an insane amount of money if we can get even one of these eyes. Enough to make us rich, not enough to make it worth her time to try to kill us and find the Eye."
Zander seemed to take this in for a few moments, before he nodded.
"Very well," he said, "perhaps this 'enough to make us rich, not enough to make it worth her time to kill us' money will also help me to discover how to fly."