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.
Aisling doesn't blink as the dwarft confronts her. All she needs to do is delay things so that the rest of the group can do their stuff, and part of her skill in laweyering is just using up time. "Well, inasmuchas your contract is with the Mayor rather than the council, it dowes throw into question your authorities insofar as punition and guardianship are concenred. For example, are you juriditionally empowered, authoritarially, to carry out the duties normally assigned to the city's dottari? Tehehre is always the question of usupration, is there not? To say nothing of the converstion of chattel."
She carries on talking for several minutes in this vein, without seeming to pause for breath.
The dwarf frowns. "If you're here for the prisoners, I'm afraid I can't help you - they're here by the orders of the duxotas himself."
He's exaggerating - while he probably is holding the prisoners on the orders of someone within the dottari or Barzillai's new administration, the duxotas almost certainly doesn't have anything to do with it - at least not as directly as he's claiming.
The dwarf strokes his beard. "But this thing about the council... Well, I suppose I can show you the relevant contracts. Wait here." He turns back and enters the building once more.
Vantine circles back around with Jessibel to to place where the group originally split up and waits for the others to get back.
"Wow! Things got a lot more intriguey once we split off from the party!" Jessibel gushes excitedly to Vantine.
The excitement has Vantine's blood is up too. She muffles a laugh at Jessibel's comment so it doesn't carry.
"I have an idea for getting in. I'll need your help, and you'll have to get into Three Legged Goblin mindset for it." She adds the last part as a warning.
"The fence at the back shouldn't be hard to climb. All we need to for something to keep the guards posted at the front door distracted while it's done. You and I will handle the distraction at the front. Everyone else will go in over the fence at the back."
"That's as far as I've gotten so far, but the rest will be good as well."
Jessibel is delighted...at first. Then her lips quirk into a frown. "The Three-Legged Devil doesn't have three feet of snow inside its common room! You people will have to go fast!"
Other than the snow/cold factors, it seems like she's game for whatever the plan might entail.
Aisling spots the dwarf's omission but decides not to challenge it for now, she's bought some time by persuading him to get the contracts and she doesn't want to push things. She waits for him to retern, as well for the others to get back from their scouting.
What's taking them so long? I hope they aren't doing something foolish or reckless. I can't spin this conversation out forever.
The dwarf returns to Aisling after a few moments, a sheaf of papers in one hand. "Here. Look quickly, though. I don't have all day to fritter away out here in the cold."
Looking over the documents reveals that the dwarf's name is Kossrani, leader of the Five Weapons mercenary band. They are approved by the office of the Lord-Mayor, as well as by that of the duxotas.
Aisling takes as long as she reasonably can in reviewing the documents, before giveing the dwarf a smile. "Thank you. That all seems to be in order. Good day."
Realising tht she is now out of options, she moves away, making as much noise as she can to cover the sound of what the others are doing - and to let them know that the distraction she was providing is over.
Kossrani grumbles before snatching his documents and returning inside.
The Silver Ravens regroup in an alleyway along the wall between the harbor and the rest of Argo Isle to confer with one another about their discoveries and plans.
Once they have rejoined each other out of sight of the saltworks, the Raven describes what he and Nyxra had found. "There is an easily scaled fence between the main building and some kind of outbuilding. There were people sleeping in the outbuilding as well as the back room of the saltworks. Probably the night shift. As for numbers, we were not able to find anything meaningful out. At least two more guards."
"There''s nine of them." Asiling tries not to look too smug, but probably fails. "I read their contracts, and there's nine of them overseeing the place. The leader is a dwarf named Kossrani, if that means anything to anyone? And the group si called the Five Weapons."
Jessibel has a brief giggle fit when Aisling says she got the number of guards present by reading their contracts. "That's one way to do it!" she quips.
In any event, the bard points out that the numbers game doesn't favor the Silver Ravens in this case. "Even if only half are on duty at any one time, it's still rather dicey. We ought to sneak some weapons in for the Rose Ladies to use, if they're able."
Nyxra ponders the name Kossrani...
Alas, none of the Ravens recall having heard of Kossrani or his band of mercenaries - perhaps they've come from Egorian or other parts of Cheliax to earn money for a bad cause.
The Raven raises his browns, impressed with the Iomedian's persuasive abilities. "With any luck the majority of the mercenaries will be asleep or off base for the night. I might be able to jam the lock on the outbuilding if it indeed has a lock. That should help our numbers, but I am hoping to avoid fighting at all. In and out. Nice and quiet."
"Shall we go back and get out of the cold? I think we know enough to put together a solid plan for this if we think it through well."
Aisling smiles back at Jessi. "This is Cheliax. Anything you want to know is probably writtten down somewhere."
"I'm not sure they'll be asleep at night. If they're sleeping now, that suggests they'll be awake later, I think. But I agree that if we take soem extra weapons in and free the priosoners, they might fight for us which would even the numbers. It's a good thing we have the extra weapons we took from the thieves earler. We cna put them to a better use."
"Hopefully it is only the night shift that is sleeping now. We could hang out here for a few hours. See if we can get a count on the guards on duty now, maybe see if they have a patrol rotation."
"That would make the most sense, expecting a day and a night shift with half the total number on duty for each. They wouldn't leave prisoners unguarded. I think it's unlikely we'd be unlucky enough to accidentally catch them in a rotation, and we certainly wouldn't want to plan to do it."
"We can go back to my flat to come up with a plan. Besides, I would still like to check that alley to see about that scream."
"Sounds like a plan!" Jessibel gushes, her cheeks rosy from the chill in the air. "Check out the scream--and Narcelia--then come back here and see if the same two guys are on guard duty."
The Silver Ravens adjourn to Vantine’s flat, though they stop outside and nearby, where the witch indicates that Narcelia said that the cry had come from. As earlier, the snow is greatly disturbed - it’s difficult to tell what happened based purely on the churned snow, but something certainly did.
Anything more than a cursory glance tells the group that there was one person traveling from the far end of the alley towards the closer end, when something happened - they were blocked by someone (or a group of someones), and then there was likely a struggle.
No one seems overly interested in the group peering into the alley, but they do catch a few odd glances - nothing serious, just mild curiosity.
Vantine proves to be weirdly capable is a tracker, reading much from the snowing marks.
"Hm, it looks like probably four people in all, one person set upon by three others... Plenty of boots all around... No blood, even though all indications are it wasn't a peaceful interaction. Maybe they had saps? But did the victim wander off afterward, or were they kidnapped? And maybe one had a tail?"
Vantine tries to work out whether the victim or one of the attackers had a tail, or maybe an animal with them.
"Sounds like the Red Jills may have struck again," Jessibel opines. "Best to tell Narcelia to remain inside for now; we can bring her food and other supplies."
"They seem to be growing more bold despite the increased presence of 'law enforcement.' A probable kidnapping and an attempted murder within a couple of days of each other. Dealing with the Red Jills could be a priority for us; make the streets safer for everyone and the reduction in crime will draw less attention from the dottari."
Vantine smiles crookedly, at the grimness of the humor.
"It seems fighting the occupation is mostly about cleaning out alleys and cellars."
The Raven, leaning against the alleyway wall with arms crossed, looks up to the cloudy winter sky and sighs. "We have to start somewhere. Going after Thrune and the dottari now, while we are still so weak, would tip our hand far too early. Hells, even if we were to assassinate Thrune today, nothing would change. Another despot would take his place. We need to turn the whole city against the devil-worshipers."
"I agree with the Raven--the Red Jills must be dealt with in short order, especially if we're going to keep a presence in these districts of the city," Jessibel states. "As for the salt works mission, though...it's hard to make any plans without knowing where the prisoners are being held and what condition they're in. If they're shackled, that limits our escape capabilities."
A brief breeze kicks up snow in the Ravens' faces, pulling the heat from their bodies.
"I can handle locks and shackles." The Raven says, tipping his head towards Jessibel. "As for internal layout and prisoner condition... maybe we can get some VIPs in for a tour before our daring rescue?"
"We should be off, people are starting to stare. Not sure Vantine's house is the best place to discuss our next move with our psychic waif being unveted and all."
"We can use my apartment," Jessibel offers. "It's probably good for everyone to know where it is in case we ever need a safe house in this part of the city...like maybe tonight."
To the Raven, Jessi adds, "I was thinking something similar. My red-and-black armor isn't too dissimilar to what the Chelish Citizens Goons wear. Maybe if I presented false orders to interrogate one of the prisoners, we could get the front door opened for us."
"Alright let's go there then instead of standing here. I'll still need to check in on her though. It's time to ask some questions and see if she's remembered anything more by now."
"I will wait out here while you check on your guest, if it is all the same. Last time we spoke she threw utensils at me."
Since it seems like the expectation is she will be taking to her... ward perhaps? first, Vantine takes a couple of steps in the direction of the building's door, leaving the alley.
"Could you find a more discrete place to wait then? Aisling, would you mind coming with me? I'd like to have someone else there as well, so there's a second opinion about what we hear."
Aisling nods in agreement. "We have to start somewhere, and I think we need to move befroe we attract attention." She gives Vanitine a smile. "I'm very happy to go with you."