Nyxra shrugs off Aisling's praise. "Eh..."
Then she notices Vantine moving to stab one of the sleeping tieflings.
"Vantine?"
Vantine halts her fumbling with the dagger and looks back over her shoulder in the direction of Nyxra.
"What?" Vantibe barks back through gritted teeth.
Her voice is viciously angry.
"How should I be holding this thing?"
"Not at all." Aisling moves over to where Vanitne is. She doesn't grab the other woman's arm, but she does give her a look. "Stabbing people who aren't able to defend themselves is not a road you want to start going donw.." She puts her hand up to her neck, where the woudn is still vivid and fresh. ""If anyone has as a reason to be angry, it's me, I could have been killed. Donm't do this. Not because you'll regret it, but becuase you mgith not."
She gives a shrug. "Doing the right thing isn't fun. Btu it's still the iright thing to do. If you want to tie them and teake them to the dottari, we can do that. But no killing, plaease."
Nyxra looks askance at Aisling as she suggests leaving the tieflings for the dottari. If living in Cheliax for any length of time has taught her, it's this--tieflings in Cheliax are the favoured scapegoats of the ruling government.
"Aisling, no offence intended, but tieflings are the sort of people that the dottari really enjoy abusing. Anything to appear to all the people that they're actually doing something to protect them instead of... well, anything else." The ranger shakes her head.
"I think I have a better idea." She kneels down next to a sleeping tiefling and gently nudges her with her boot. "We need to garner support, wherever we can get it..."
The tiefling woman stirs slightly, her eyes blinking slowly open. When she sees the heroes surrounding her, she looks around desperately for her sword, which has fallen in the snow nearby, but apparently thinks better of going for it, given the relative closeness of no less than three threats. Her eyes narrow, and she glares at the Ravens. "What do you want? I'm not going to betray my sisters."
"Betray them? Hadn't planned on it." Nyxra squats down next to her. "If anything, you all look like people that we can work with."
She snorts. "I doubt it. You, maybe. But them?" She points at the rest of the group. "No. The boss won't accept them." Her lips twist into a bitter sneer. "Besides, you've chosen to ally with them, so she wouldn't accept you, either."
Leaning against the alleyway wall with arms crossed, the Raven scoffs. "I say we take their boots and leave them for the dottari. These parasites have nothing to offer us or Kintargo." He has a soft spot for tieflings, but these thugs prey on the weak and poor just like the cities elite.
The tiefling woman spits at the Raven disdainfully. "Like you'd understand our lives. F!#*ing humans." She looks from one Silver Raven to the next, assessing each. "S!@%, who the Hell are you people anyways?" She clearly doesn't expect an answer.
"You do not know what I understand." The Raven mutters, staring down at one of his gauntleted hands as it slowly closes around nothing. The sound of a tap on glass draws his eyes upwards and he meets the gaze of a stranger in one of the alley windows. "Ladies, we are attracting attention. It may be best to take our leave soon."
"Thats' a good question." Aisling stares at the tiefling woman. "I think the answer is up to you, really. We're the people you jumped out at and tried to murder even though we didnt threaten you. We're the people who could have killed you in your sleep, but didn't. What you need to decide is, are we the people who hand you to the dottari for attempted murder? Or are we going to settle for a lesser charge?"
She shakes her head in disbelief. "And dont, please, talk to me about your loyalty to your "sisters." They cut and run the moment thigns turned bad. You think they care about you at all?"
The woman sneers, but her face is pale. "They care more than enough to avenge me." She manages. "The Red Jills look after their own!" She doesn't sound too certain about that, however, and she looks down after a mere moment. "F~#&. What do you want? We were just looking for an easy mark. How were we to know we'd be attacking a bunch of crazy-ass lunatics?"
Jessibel notices someone peering at the confrontation through a nearby window and seconds the Raven's suggestion that the group move out quickly.
"Let's hand them over to the dottari and be done with it," she comments. "If we just let them go they'll be ambushing and maybe killing someone else the next chance they get."
Nyxra thinks for a moment.
Red Jills... have I heard that name before?
When Vantine looks up at Aisling, the cleric can see her face doesn't look like it normally does, her pale complexion is flush and stormy. But her eyes are the thing that really catches her attention. They are empty and shark-like, predatory.
Vantine stands up reluctantly and moves back from the tiefling. She knows Aisling can stop her if she wants to, and she certainly would want to. Vantine is still furious though. She points at the tiefling.
"These b!+!@es weren't simply preying on anyone. They wanted to lure in and murder someone who came out of kindness."
Still, Vantine does put the dagger away.
Vantine doesn't participate in conversation with the tiefling, or the others regarding what to do with them. She isn't going to be getting her way, so she doesn't care what lesser actions are decided on. Vantine instead spends the time looming threateningly, her stare silently making it clear to the tiefling that if she could, she would see her dead right then.
Aisling nods, with a slight smile (her sense of humour is at an angle to what msotst people would fidn funny). "Yes. I was there, remember? But killing someone who's helpless or who's surrendered isn't who you want to be." Beaneath the humour, she's a bit concerened by the look she saw on Vantine's face and in her eyes. Who is this woman?
She turns her attention back to the tiefling."You were looking for an easy mark. What you're going to get is a trip to the dottari. I doubt your friends will care about helping you now. Are you going to help yourself here, or not? Give me a reason to report you for theft rather than attempted murder, and it will go a lot better for you. I'm a barrister, and I can get some charges dropped - if you cooperate."
The tiefling woman shrugs slightly. "It's not going to matter. They're going to do the maximum punishment anyways. What do you want?"
Before anyone has a chance to answer, however, the area around them dims abruptly. The woman they've been interrogating hasn't moved, however, and the group is left largely unable to see very well at all.
The woman who was awoken earlier smiles faintly, but doesn't make any attempt to escape.
Vantine catches the other tiefling's movement out of the corner of her eye.
"That one's running! Grab her!"
Vantine hits her with a cantrip to stop her in her tracks. Realizing she might be the only one who can pinpoint her, Vantine prepares to give chase if needed.
The tiefling woman stumbles as Vantine's spell catches her, swaying in the snow. Nevertheless, she has gotten reasonably far... and the others aren't quite as quick off the draw, having been distracted by the darkness.
By the time they're able to move after her, she is almost to the main streets.
Nyxra growls. "Oh, for f&*~'s sake..."
She gets up and moves to grab the fleeing tiefling.
Nyxra rushes after the tiefling woman, but the snow slows her down, and with the tiefling's head start, she cannot reach her to grab her.
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Aisling shares Nyxara's opinion, althoush she would jnever use that languagge. She know that her armour and in this snow she has no chance of cathcing up with the runaway. Instead she grabs both remaining tieflings, pulling them to their feet and holding onto them tightly. "Right, ladies. we are going to find the dottari. You have until we run into them to tell us everything - and I do mean EVERTYING - about your gang. How many there are, where your HQ is, your leader. Everthying. If you lie to me, if you hold back any information, if you refuse to toalk, I will be prosecuting you for attempted murder. If you cooperate, it will be assault and mugging. It's the difference bewteeen some hard labour and a public excution so painful that you will wish I'd let my friend here kil you with her knife."
"Now. Get walking. And start talking."
The (conscious) tiefling woman looks down as they begin trudging through the snow. "I'll tell you what I know. I've never met the boss, but I know she hates you humans more than anything. I don't know how many of us there are - I've met oh..." She thinks for a long moment. "Maybe twenty of us? As for where we're based out of... I've only been there a few times, but it's a church on the eastern side of Temple Hill. Pretty close by, actually. I think it used to be owned by some dead god or another."
The Ravens deliver the Red Jills to the nearest patrol of dottari, who look somewhat bemused at the arrivals. The lieutenant, a woman with craggy features and hard grey eyes turns to Aisling. "I see you have taken custody of these two women. Why don't you explain what happened?" Her voice is silken, but there is a small but sharp note of irritation present as well.
The conscious Jill looks away from the lieutenant, her expression bitter.
Aisling gives the lietenenant a formal greeting and explains the facts, although she plays down the whole "attempted murder" thing. A deal is a deal.
The lieutenant looks at the tieflings with a scowl, before sighing and gesturing for her subordinates to take custody of them. "Fine. I'll see them imprisoned and put to trial when the time comes. Next time, call for the guards rather than fighting yourselves." She looks impatient. "Do you need anything else?"
The Raven lags behind the ladies, staying out of sight of the dottari for some unknown reason...
Vantine thinks there's something a little funny about how the dottari lieutenant reacts to their delivery, and maybe something to how the lieutenant and the tiefling interact. She watches them carefully while Aisling talks.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
After they've left the dottari behind and have some privacy, Vantine opines on their next destination.
"We should continue as we had planned and get a look at the salt works. We're not going to surprise the Red Jills now, and they can't all sit in their lair in a defensive crouch forever. They're not a fortress of soldiers, they're street thieves and they will go back to doing what they do, bringing in money, soon enough if no threat shows itself."
"They can wait. We mustn't act like dogs chasing squirrels. The prisoners should remain our priority."
Nyxra does much the same as Vantine.
Aisling nods. "Yes, let's not get distracted here. Our main focus is on reinforecments - we could use more numbes when we go up against that gang. They aren't going anywhere."
The Ravens set off for the Salt Gate after leaving the Red Jills to the dottari's dubious mercy. It takes them about an hour to get there, even with the mostly cleared streets. On their way, they see a few patrols of arrogant-looking CCG thugs, their armbands proudly displaying their affiliation with the militia. None of them are involved in any sort of aggressive activity, thankfully, but they do stare suspiciously at the party. The grey clouds overhead grow slowly brighter, but the sun does not truly show itself, as the clouds block it entirely from view.
Finally, they arrive at the Sallix Salt Works. A pair of human men stand outside the door, wearing studded leather armor and small metal bludgeons on their hips. Pentagrams formed by weapons are stitched onto their right shoulder-pieces. Each also has a pair of thick gloves and a scarf against the bitter winds. One of them looks suspiciously at the Ravens as they approach, nudging his comrade, who looks up from his huddled posture to stare at the oncoming Ravens as well.
Jessibel spies that the guards have noticed the group's approach. "Work with me!" she whispers to Vantine, pulling her friend with her a bit closer to the two guards.
"Prepare to pay up, sweetie!" she teases. "I don't care how cold it's been or how much snow we got--the harbor won't have frozen over so quickly! It's salt water, for one thing...."
She sashays past the guards, heading toward the docks further west.
I hope the others can take advantage of our little distraction!
Vantine picks up on what Jessibel has in mind and goes with her. She underplays the role compared to Jessi, but then Vantine doesn't have to work very hard. She adds some extra wiggle to her walk, but uses her eyes to do most of her communicating.
As she passes them, she fixes a side eyed gaze on the nearer guard. When his eyes meet hers, Vantine tilts her heard downward ever so slightly in a gesture toward shyness, and adds the hint of a smile to her lips.
The Raven again lags behind the ladies, slipping down one side of the saltworks once Jessibel has drawn the eyes of the two guards at the front door. He removes his masquerade mask and buckler and pulls his grey cloak around himself to hide his armor. Head down and hood up, he shuffles along. This is in intelligence gathering mission, conflict avoidance is the name of the game. If anyone sees him, they might assume he is an intoxicated vagabond that wandered onto the property.
LAcking any ability in steatlh, espxecially in her armour, Aisling takes refuge in audacity. Throwing back her cloak, maknng sure that the guards can see her symbol of Iomedae, she boldly walks up to the two guards. "Good morning. I understnad that your group is an irregular mercenary company, not part of the dottari. As a barrister in good standing with the court," might as well use that status before it gets removed "I am curious about your contractual arrangement with the city of Kintaro. Is your employment with Mayor Thrune directly, or via the council? If you cannot answer, perhaps you can take me to someone who can. As I said, I am a barrister in good standing with the courts, so it would be helpful to all of us if we can clear this up swiftly."
Nyxra takes the same approach Raven does, staying in the shadows and ideally without running into anyone else.
The guards look at one another with absolute bemusement. The two are quite easily distracted, initially by Jessibel and Vantine's demonstration, before turning to Aisling. The taller of the two frowns. "You stay out here. I'll talk to the boss."
He turns and enters into the Saltworks, while the shorter one seems torn between gazing after Vantine and Jessibel and looking at Aisling. Neither of whom are the ones trying to infiltrate the compound more directly.
Beyond the curve of the structure, they glimpse a fence and a small hut, detached from the Saltworks.
Meanwhile, a dwarf in full chainmail with a shield at his side and a mace on his belt exits from the front doors, along with the guard. He cocks an eye up at Aisling. ”So, who are you and why do you want to see my men’s contracts?” His accent is oddly Egorian in origin, though it's hard to tell if it is natively so or if he' s just putting on airs, so to speak.
Once she notices the gate, Vantine nudges Jessi and wordlessly signs toward the gate, and for Jessi to wait where she is.
Vantine whispers a few words, "ohittaa ilman merkkiä, and moves on forward, leaving no trace of her passing in the snow.
She does a close, slow walk-by to get a good look inside through the bars. After waiting for a minute out of sight on the other side, she does the same thing again on her return trip to Jessi.
As she approaches the second, smaller building, she hears the faintest snore - though it must be fairly loud for her to hear it through the walls. Someone is probably asleep in there.
The germ of an idea for how to get into the place is beginning to form in Vantine's mind. She signals for Jessibel to retreat with her.
"Come on let's get out of sight and get everyone on their way back. I might have a plan."
Jessibel nods and accompanies Vantine to a rendezvous with the others.
The Raven approaches the bend, peeking around the corner into what looks like the back yard of the saltworks. It's a snowy enough place, with a small trail of footsteps leading to and fro between the main building and the smaller one. He could probably climb over the fence easily , though that might be a bit noisy .