Just before leaving Themolin’s desk, Hampton and Zandu notice something very interesting when the accountant lifts a folder off the top of a pile of them. It is an affidavit of sale bearing the name of an Emerald Guardsman named Ellvard. It seems to suggest that Ellvard purchased a painting from a known forger for a nominal amount, and then later sold the painting to Belimarius for a hefty sum.
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Whoa! Watch it there, you almost dropped that! Hampton says, grabbing the top of the pile and helping Themolin steady it. Whew! That was close! Having those documents scattered all about would have been disastrous! Well, good day to you, sir. We shall see you again.
With arrangements made to meet Themolin later, and a potentially useful bit of blackmail material in Hampton’s pilfering hand, the party heads off to the Arcanium to track down Daffrid. Though the school of wizardry looks to have once been a grand centerpiece of the city, it is clearly no longer. Several ruined columns line the front entrance of the white marble building, where vellum banners hide broken stonework. A newly restored statue of Belimarius stands in the courtyard. Beyond these measures, much of the school still lies in disrepair and very few people are in evidence, be they students, staff or the watchful Emerald Guard.
Vacant classrooms cover the first floor of the Arcanium Abjurant. A stone staircase leads to a number of modest academic offices on the second floor, each lined with cramped bookshelves, archaic charts, and chalk-filled slates. In this area, Daffrid Chaverly works in an office overlooking a courtyard. She looks up as the party assembles outside her open door and says, ”Hello, can I help you? You’re not students, are you?”
Daffrid is quick to understand Farzin’s implication, responding, ”Ah, yes, I was wondering when I’d hear from you. I will be glad to get out of here.” She takes a quick look out in the hall, then continues when she sees there’s no one nearby, ”I’m not a professor of magic in any case, but of religion. And my family and I are eager to see something besides this place. As I’m sure you know, everyone in Xin-Edasseril has relived the week leading up to Earthfall over and over for thousands of years, as the world moved on around us. And there’s a new world out there, that my family and I would like to see and explore, where this place is still stuck in time in many ways.”
As she speaks, there is a thunderous noise in the hall, followed by startled shrieking, and two young children, a boy and a girl, come barreling into Daffrid’s office and run to her side, laughing at some impenetrable game they’ve been playing. ”These are my children, Maffree and Taffrit,” she says, laying an affectionate hand on each of them. ”They are the real reason why I wish to leave this place.”
The young boy, Maffree, asks the party eagerly, ”Are you the ones that are going to take us away? Will we swim under the sea where no one can see us? Or will you use magic to turn me invisible?” Taffrit, Maffree’s younger sister, inquires more shyly, ”Really? We might really get to go? Are you really going to take us away from that mean old Prunelord? And why do you have a parrot?”
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"Prunelord!" repeats Filbert, chuckling a bit too loudly at the child's insult. The older man reaches out and, before the young Maffrim can escape, taps him on the head and speaks a magic word! "There," grunts Filbert with a straight face, "You're invisible. But keep yourself quiet, 'cause everyone can still hear you. Got it?"
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Papayo looks down at the children from Farzin’s shoulder and squawks, ”Got a cracker?”
Farzin smiles. ”Such inquisitive children. He is a magpie, not a parrot. So, hide your shiny things, or you may find them missing. And we shall travel in the safest, and unfortunately most boring way possible, so as not to worry your parents.”
Daffrid smiles as the Pathfinders are kind to her children, and chuckles quietly as her son goes silent and holds his hand up before his face as if trying to see through it. ”I understand I’m to pay you first,” the scholar says, opening a drawer in her desk and handing over a small, golden stone and a scroll. ”Just tell me where and when my husband and I should meet you with the children.”
Hampton discovers a scroll tucked into a textbook, which Daffrid explains must have been left by a student long ago, that she allows him to keep.
Daffrid and the children bid the party farewell, saying they’ll wait to hear where and when to meet them. As the Pathfinders make their way downstairs and through the courtyard of the Arcanium, they are startled by a looming, gray figure! Standing twelve feet tall, a stone giant approaches – but its manner is timid, almost afraid, and its stony skin is badly scarred. ”Hello…” it says shyly in a deep, deep voice, raising a massive hand in a nervous greeting, ”I am Seddothrum. I hate it here.” He pauses, almost wincing as if he expects a harsh response, then goes on, ”I know the teacher and her family are leaving, I have heard them speak of it. You must be the ones smuggling them out of the city, as I've never seen you before. Can you take me too? This place is cruel to my kind, and I wish to find another life, like the teacher and her children.”
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"Bloody hell," Zandu says, clearly nervous around the giant. "Quiet now, and not in the open," the Varisian man looks around for a place where they can talk to a giant unnoticed, and then quickly gives up at that impossibility. "Might be I know a fellow who knows a fellow. Problem for you is that there's a price for that. Coin works, but barter is also fair play. What can you do for him?"
"I am a slave here," Seddothrum replies glumly, "I have nothing. Do you do this only for the money? Would you leave those human children behind if their mother could not pay you?"
After a thoughtful pause, he says, "What do you mean by barter? I have only my strength to offer, and I have no idea if that is of value where you come from."
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"Come on, man. You have got to have something. Get creative! Think about it. Strength is a thing, no doubt. Debts aren't the best forms of currency, but they go somewhere. Information... now, if you have good information, that'll go a long way. See, my friend, he's big on old information, on juicy information. If you can help him with that, I think I can put in a good word for you."
"I wish I knew something that would be of value to you, human," the giant says to Zandu. "As to why you should trust me," Seddothrum continues sadly, "I don't know what to say. You could maybe ask the teacher if she has seen me here before, if that would help. But I can tell you that I hate Belimarius. Her kind have enslaved my people for longer than we can remember, and I would sooner die than spy for her. Do you not see the scars I bear? Because I was judged not eager enough to work?"
For all that he started pretty timid and fearful, he's actually getting pretty worked up at being called a spy for Belimarius. And Rax thinks he means it.
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Filbert lets out a long breath that whistles through the gap in his front teeth. "We're makin' the trip any which way," he says, raising one hand as if weighing his statement on a scale. "Don't see as why he can't come along. What's his name... our err, sponsor doesn't even have to know, now does he?"
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Zandu can be seen wringing his hands before he speaks. "Fine, fine. But this won't be easy, and there's only one route for him. If something happens with that plan, there's no backup option."
He then turns back to the giant. "Our friend of a friend will be running a risk. Anything goes wrong and you're as sunk as a stone in the Eye of Abendago. You got me, Tall One?"
Having gotten a bit excited in making his point, Seddothrum takes a moment to fully understand what has just happened. He blinks once slowly, then again, then says, "Yes, yes, I understand! Oh, thank you, all of you..." His deep voice tapers off, as if he doesn't have the words to express how he's feeling. After a moment, one tear wells up in his eye and glides down his face, moving ever so slowly, as if it's mineral oil rather than water. "Just tell me where and when to meet you, I will be there. I will do all I can to help."
Seddothrum continues to quietly express his thanks as the party takes their leave and heads off to meet Themolin at the warehouse. It turns out to be a well-maintained building, about thirty feet high, surrounded by fairly dilapidated structures, a mix of houses and other buildings. There is no sign of Themolin in the work yard of the warehouse, which has two doors leading off it into the building.
Zandu does not hear anything from inside the warehouse. He does, note, however, that the lock on the door looks a bit more sophisticated than the one at Flitch's apartment.
Zandu defeats the lock. The door opens into a large, dimly lit space, mostly filled with stacked crates and boxes.
Farzin can see through the gloom to the far end of the warehouse, but he doesn't see anything of note, just lots of crates and boxes.
Hampton, Zandu and even Rax manage to move with ghostly silence into the warehouse, but Farzin, focused on limping slightly to accentuate his disguise, accidentally kicks an empty crate quite loudly. Hampton can’t quite see anything past the stacks of boxes in the way, but he hears what sounds like 2 or 3 people moving, and spots a bit of movement – perhaps a person crouching? - on top of some crates.
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Filbert slips in the door and joins his companions, moving in absolute silence. Karsus just avoids kicking the same box that tripped up Farzin, but dodging the nimble box causes him to make a bit of a ruckus. Farzin still doesn’t see anyone as he moves closer.
Stealth
Enemy Perception
Initiative:
Rax and Hampton can make out three figures in the dim light. A man – who looks a good deal like Barralbus from the Ministry of Tithes - crouches low on top of a crate of boxes , while two women in black lurk in the shadows on the floor nearby. From the body language of these people, it seems that at least one of the Pathfinders has been spotted!