|
"And tip your waitstaff!" Dawn claps and drinks more water as the bards get back on stage. "Alright, I kept the seat warm for ya!"
By the time she returns to her friends she sees the Venture-Captains to be blowing off steam. She shrugs and watches them storm off. "What bees got in their bonnets?"
Xiao Jr gives the lowdown, and Dawn lets the wind blow through her hair. "Sounds messy. Who is Dulm in debt with?"
|
Hayden approaches Phlegos Dulm when he get the chance. "Well, sir, that was a fiery confrontation. You know what the rumors are about you, that you're threatening Yuul's contacts. But they're equally saying that Yuul can't protect her own interests." He watches the man's reaction to both the accusation as well as the sign of weakness in Yuul's reputation.
[dice=Sense Motive]1d20+4
Hayden approaches Phlegos Dulm when he get the chance. "Well, sir, that was a fiery confrontation. You know what the rumors are about you, that you're threatening Yuul's contacts. But they're equally saying that Yuul can't protect her own interests." He watches the man's reaction to both the accusation as well as the sign of weakness in Yuul's reputation.
”Shut up, pissant!!” Dulm quickly cuts off Hayden. Taken Back, Hayden quickly catches that Dulm shoots a death glare at the band, who are singing a catchy diddy about a slaver getting his comeuppance. Putting two and two together, Hayden surmises that it is the theme of the music that has put Dulm in a fowl mood.
"Oh yeah! Conversation is nice."
Dawn bounds up to Wulessa Yuul. "Hey. Enjoying the party? Looks good, doesn't it? Betcha can't wait to take over once Roderus goes on a long vacation."
[dice=Diplomacy]1d20+2
[dice=Sense Motive]1d20-1Nothing better than a light hearted ribbing to lighten up the mood.
Yuul leans in a whispers to Dawn ”Working for the old man right?” she holds up a hand before Dawn can respond. ”No, you didn’t blow your cover, I just know him pretty well. I know Roderus trying to figure out which of us, me or Dulm, is the bad egg. Obviously it’s him but he’s real good at slandering me. I assume you’ve heard that he’s in massive debt? And also that he’s buying mercenaries and bribing people not to do business with me? Seems to me a contradiction worth looking into. If someone were to get their hands on his accounting books from his lodge? Might shine light on what’s going on.”
|
|
”Shut up, pissant!!” Dulm quickly cuts off Hayden. Taken Back, Hayden quickly catches that Dulm shoots a death glare at the band, who are singing a catchy diddy about a slaver getting his comeuppance. Putting two and two together, Hayden surmises that it is the theme of the music that has put Dulm in a fowl mood.
Hayden raises his eyebrows. He would expect a VC to be more accustomed to slights, however personal they might be. "Ah sir, perhaps I can ask the band to change their tune? Would that be suitable?"
”Shut up, pissant!!” Dulm quickly cuts off Hayden. Taken Back, Hayden quickly catches that Dulm shoots a death glare at the band, who are singing a catchy diddy about a slaver getting his comeuppance. Putting two and two together, Hayden surmises that it is the theme of the music that has put Dulm in a fowl mood.Hayden raises his eyebrows. He would expect a VC to be more accustomed to slights, however personal they might be. "Ah sir, perhaps I can ask the band to change their tune? Would that be suitable?"
[dice=Diplomacy]1d20+6
Dulm waves you off. It is obvious he doesn't want to talk to you.
“I think it’s time to inform VC Roderus about our findings!“
As you step down, Zig steps up on the series of bar stools you had set up to serve drinks and takes over for you.
"Zig got this. You go talk to Roderus." he adds.
|
|
Dawn nods and nods. "Oh yeah, that would say a lot, huh? Good idea. Glad I thought that up."
Dawn makes it clear that Wulessa Yuul will not be implicated in this plan if it goes poorly. Then she turns away and follows the team to speak to Venture-Captain Roderus.
"Hey Venture-Captain. Wulessa Yuul totally didn't advise me to collect his accounting books from his lodge to prove he's hiring and bribing underneath the table. Also, he's buried in a lot of debt and the debtors are coming after him- he'll use this promotion to save his bacon instead of helping the Society."
Roderus strokes his chin and thinks for a second. Then he speaks quietly to Xiao and Dawn.
"While I am lothe to send pathfinders against pathfinders, this bears investigating. If Dulm is indeed in debt deep enough that there is talks of execution, why not simply come to us and ask for a loan? He knows I'd help him. No, there is more to it than that. I'm afraid that yes, you'll have to visit his Apothecary and see if you can't find his accounting books. Don't worry, most people are already here, so there's no more need of a stablehand, kitchen is closing in ten minutes so we don't need any more waiters, and it looks like Zig has the bar covered, I think we can spare you for an hour or so."
Finding Dulm's Apothicary/lodge is fairly easy and it's only a ten minute walk from the Inn.
The main storefront of the Kotargo Lodge contains shelves stuffed with potions, unguents, and bottles of various questionable substances.
Behind the front desk is a female goblin looks up. She speaks softly.
"Can I help you?"
|
Goblin?!? Relatives?!? he thinks.
”Ahh, hey, nice meeting you lady!“ Xiao junior says to the goblin.
”Listen, we’re coming from the farewell party of VC Roderus where there was another Goblin Zig. Surely your relative, right?! You all working for the Society?! So yeah we were at the party. Ehh, and then we were tasked to look for something for Dulm. Always these tasks!! We’ll go inside to get it and we’ll be out soon!“ Xiao junior says.
The female goblin gives Xaio a little sideeye. "That's a bit racist isn't it? I don't assume that all Halflings are related. As a matter of fact we aren't related by blood, though we both have been adopted into the same clan."
She closes her book. "How is Zig doing? We were a bit worried from him, this party is his first official paying job you know. And what exactly are you looking for back there?"
The female goblin gives Xiao a little sideye, then says "Glad to hear Zig is doing well . . . Wait here." She disappears into the back room for a minute and comes back with a ledger.
"The boss's numbers haven't been adding up recently, and I've been around the block enough to know that when things go wrong, people blame the Goblin, even if my bookeeping is impeccable. I'd rather be on the side of the law than the side of the people who'll take me down with them. You make sure to tell the constabulary that I co-operated."
She hands you what looks like a copy of Dulm's Accounting book.
While a full investigation would require hunting down the businesses and individuals Phlegos Dulm has been making payments to, the books do reveal that Phlegos is heavily in debt but has nevertheless continued making very large payments. These payments appear to be bribes or other forms of under-the-table transactions.
You realize why Dulm is so deeply in debt. It appears several months back he sunk most of his cash into buying a huge sum of slaves and planned to sell them in Absolom for a high price and a huge payday. However, when the bottom dropped out of the slave market in Absolom (when all of the slaves were freed in return for fighting for Absolom) Dolm was left with little money, a bunch of slaves, and no where to sell them. He has since been selling off his slaves at ever greater and greater losses in order to bribe individuals instead of covering his losses.
|
|
Hayden nods and smiles at the goblin. "Of course, we will. Thank you for helping us with this." He hands the thick ledger to Angela knowing that her expert eyes will be of better use than his own. "Would you like us to pass any word to Zig? He is very helpful and clever. All the staff enjoy having him around."
|
Golthwur gleans a glance at the accounting book.
"On first blush, it would appear that Phlegos is heavily in debt but has nevertheless continued making very large payments. These payments appear to be bribes or other forms of under-the-table transactions," notes the wizard. "Mayhap, the mundane man has some means of magical money making?"
|
|
Angela gladly steps back and watches the proper pathfinders do their business, very glad that she's not going to have to play an openly active roll.
She gives the new goblin behind the counter a curious look, but bows at her in thanks as she proves to be a kind and helpful woman after her own heart. The halfling then picks up the accounting books and takes a quick glance through them herself.
She thumbs through the pages and pauses for a moment. "There's a page missing here, someone removed it fairly cleanly, but the binding is incorrect." She pulls out a piece of paper and a charcoal and takes a quick rubbing of the next page getting two different sets of records, but by comparing the existing pages to the missing one she quickly finds what was on that page. "Oh, that is not good. Sir Heydan was completely correct about that theory of slaves being a sore point. It seems our dear Dulm sunk most of his capital into slaves to sell on the Absalom slave market before, well, slavery was abolished there. It seems he's been selling them at more and more of a loss since then."
The halfling glances up at the female goblin. "Thank-you for the assistance, we will definitely make sure that any authorities involved in this know you were not a willing participant to his debts and co-operative as well. We never did get your name. I am Angela Isafira, secretary at the Grand Lodge in Absalom." She digs out a card and hands it to the other woman. "If you want, I we could always use another person with a head for numbers... If not, we will definitely recommend you to the next head venture-captain here in Katapesh."
"Name's Lobda" she says, giving the party the sideeye, as if she is trying to figure out if you are lying to her or not. "Not so often that I encounter you longshanks-uh, non-Goblins that are willing to give us a fair shake. Most view us as a nucence at best and a scapegoat at worst. If you ever find yourself among the Moneymaker clan, tell them Lobda sent you."
|
|
Angela gives a shrug over Sothkoro's question. "I've heard that Geb requires people selling to them to have an undead representative to handle deals in the seller's stead. It seems to take a lot of start up cash and the dealer can take a percentage of the sales as well so it's not good if you've used most of your money already... As for Cheliax, the notes seem to point to these slaves being... uh, bigger than they generally pay premium for."
|
|
"Thanks Lobda! I'm Dawn." She reaches to shake the goblin's hand. "You're really helpful. I'll never forget your help. If you ever want to hangout in my Commune, just tell them I recommended you."
She turns to her friends. "Another reason why you shouldn't deal with slavery. Besides abolishing it." She looks toXiao Jr. "I think we're done here."
|
|
"If we have evidence Dulm is dealing in slaves, then that ought to be enough for the Venture-Captain to at least block him from taking his place. More likely we can have him arrested." Hayden looks grim. "If he knows what's good for him, he'll come peacefully, but I have my doubts he'll think that. Still, we need to show this to Roderus."
|
|
"So are the evils arising from slavery," mutters Golthwur, only half listening to the conversation before him. "When will mundanes learn that true mastery comes through magic--generally necromancy, a true form of inexpensive labor and one that doesn't threaten a mass uprising? Not too often, anyway."
|
|
"So are the evils arising from slavery," mutters Golthwur, only half listening to the conversation before him. "When will mundanes learn that true mastery comes through magic--generally necromancy, a true form of inexpensive labor and one that doesn't threaten a mass uprising? Not too often, anyway."
Angela gives Gotlhwur an incredulous look, "You mean the form of mastery frowned upon by not just good dieties, but also the deity that all others might consider the most neutral in all other cases, Phrasma? Yes, let's piss off the goddess who will be judging our souls."
She gives Lobda a smile, and one last attempt at recruitment, "Seriously, we would love to have you at the Grand Lodge if you ever want to work in Absalom. But even if you don't might I recommend going and making a nice, rock solid alibi? Hate to have Durgos turn on you."
The halfling then turns back to the group and points for the door. "Right we have the evidence, let's get back to that party!"
|
|
Angela gives Gotlhwur an incredulous look, "You mean the form of mastery frowned upon by not just good dieties, but also the deity that all others might consider the most neutral in all other cases, Phrasma? Yes, let's piss off the goddess who will be judging our souls."
"Such fear of 'pissing off' need be held only by those who have plans to die!" Golthwur retorts. "As for myself, I am Golthwur Strath--" the wizard seems to have been prepared to follow his name with his usual series of self-aggrandizing titles and declarations. Instead, however, he merely places his hand upon his back in a slow, measured manner, as if trying not to react to a sudden crick or back pain.
For the next several minutes, the elderly wizard remains unusually quiet.
As the group returns to the Inn, they realize that there is no music playing and the Inn is strangely quiet.
Rushing in you find everyone is crowded around the makeshift stage where the three bards lay.
Roderus speaks up, evidently not recognizing your entrance. ”Sediroku, thank your friend for the lesser restoration spell.” he says as the half-elf’s hair seems to recede into her head and her eyes shrink. “And Teric, the cure light wounds you cast seems to have saved him.” the oily-bearded man smiles rather smugly. ”Cirri, I shall see to it that you are compensated for using the scroll of delay poison. I have a runner getting a scroll of lesser restoration for the third bard, if one of you could use it on her before the delay poison spell wears off. . .” the half-elven woman raises her hand.
”We can do it” she replies.
Then, the bald elf picks up a nearby wine glass that the band must have been drinking from and sniffs it, recoiling instantly. ”Oh my. That is quite toxic. Bloodleaf residue, has to be. Recognize it from my time in the temple.”
The old man that was previously in an arguement with the man with greasy hair furrows his brow. ”Bloodleaf, you sure? That is usually a contact poison. Highly acidic and it messes with the gut, but it is usually rendered inert by saliva. You’d have to be a pretty good poisoner or a phenomenal apothecary to mix it up to be an ingestable poison.”
|
|
Hayden steps forward, alarmed at what he is hearing. "Is someone hurt? What's happened?"
He moves towards the crowd before stopping suddenly, seeing Teric. He takes a deep breath before giving a small bow of his head. "Trade Prince, an honor to see you again." He looks to Venture-Captain Roderus. "Sir, what happened? I can help if there are wounded."
|
|
"Why would you ask the dead the help? They're a bit too buried to help above ground." Dawn's mind tries to process Golthwur's logic before grinding to a halt.
"Wait, where's the music..." Dawn moves to more interesting issues. "Poison? Who would poison the performers?"
"Uh, Venture Captain, will they be alright? We found some interesting information. That might help here..."
Teric does a slight bow back. ”Oh, yes,er, Heyden was it? No no, as you can see they are stable. I-come to think of it, I may be able to get my hands on some Padzahir. Should aid the recovery process. If you’ll excuse me.”
With that Roderus sees you and gathers you together off to the side of the inn. ”As you may have surmised the three bards have been poisoned. It was touch and go, but it looks like they are currently stable.”. With that a runner comes in and the venture-Captain directs her to the half-elf, who takes a scroll from the runner and begins casting from it.
”Ah, good, that should be enough to stabilize the third bard.” he breaths a sigh of relief.
|
|
"Good to hear they will recover. I guess Phlegos Dulm really didn't like them, huh? Maybe he should stop selling slaves." She points to Dulm's book, which she assumes a big time reader like Angela would read.
"Dulm is buried in a lot of debt. He's selling his slaves for cheap. But he's not paying off his debtors. He must be in so much slop he's- do you think he's trying to escape? Poisoning the bards would be an easy way to get everyone off his back."
"Yes, yes, that makes sense. I'll look over all your evidence in a second. Just let me take care of this," Roderus says as he moves back over behind the bar. He pays the runner and starts searching through the desk for pen and paper.
Then, the other security guard, Vinius Borr shouts. "Poisoned eh? Bet ten told have been that damn Goblin. Never should have hired that filth."
There is a chorus of mild agreement that comes from some of the other Pathfinders Zig immediately tries to protest his innocence but is shouted down by the crowd.
Luckily Roderus is able to shout everyone down.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" We'll figure out who soon enough, until then we aren't accusing anyone!" This does cause the crowd to quiet down a bit, though you still hear under your breath several people saying things like 'it's the goblin, had to have been.'
|
|
Xiao is clearly concerned.
He immediately goes to the bard siblings and tries to find out if he can do anything to assist! After the more senior Pathfinders find out that it was really poison that made the boards so sick he scratches his head!
He walks back to the team.
“I do not want to accuse anyone but at the same time I also find it very strange that a venture captain who is renowned to work with potions and other alchemical substances would risk exposing himself by poisoning someone at a party where he was seen himself! Is it possible that somebody is trying to frame Dulm? And of course it is quite unfortunate that our little goblin friend here is accused but do we really have evidence that it was not him?“
Xiao is clearly concerned.
He immediately goes to the bard siblings and tries to find out if he can do anything to assist! After the more senior Pathfinders find out that it was really poison that made the boards so sick he scratches his head!
He walks back to the team.
“I do not want to accuse anyone but at the same time I also find it very strange that a venture captain who is renowned to work with potions and other alchemical substances would risk exposing himself by poisoning someone at a party where he was seen himself! Is it possible that somebody is trying to frame Dulm? And of course it is quite unfortunate that our little goblin friend here is accused but do we really have evidence that it was not him?“
[Dice= sense motive to get a feeling about the people still present, anybody trying to hide something? ]
You notice that Vinius Borr skipped out as soon as she made the accusation that Zig poisoned the trio, and that Dulm isn't at the party anymore. Most of the other guests seem genuinely convinced that Zig poisoned the bards.
|
|
"Besides, why would Zig poison anyone here? He's got a good thing going here. But it's possible he does know something. He tends to find his way around a lot. Let's see if we can go speak to him."
Hayden goes to speak to Roderus. "Sir, may we speak to Zig? I seriously doubt he has anything to do with this, but that doesn't mean he might not have some information. I also want to check that he's ok. Where is he?"