Hanging back enough to be in the shadows behind him, Lyr'aan follows, keeping track of the time it takes and trying to reason where they were within the town.
You carefully follow the innkeeper through the darkness, staying away from the light of his torch. The secret tunnel leads outside of town in the direction of Watchtower Balentyne. At the other end, you find a stone vault filled with thousands of nonperishable rations - enough to feed an entire garrison for an extended siege. The innkeeper ignores them, however, and heads directly to a dozen bottles of fine elven wine tucked away in a corner. Looking around one more time, he picks them up and, pockets and arms completely full, begins to shuffle back to his inn.
Turning around, Lyr'aan swiftly heads back down the tunnels to the inn, and back to her room as stealthily as possible once in the inn.
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The rest of the night passes uneventfully. You awaken rested.
Relating her findings to Shameen, Lyr'aan goes through her daily preparations deciding on what course of action to take to better gather information, devoting most of the day to gathering rumors, chatting up tavern patrons and getting an idea for the goings on in the area.
At dawn's first light, the dwarves tromp out of their rooms, eat breakfast, and then silently trudge outside and head toward the Watchtower.
As you chat with people and explore the town, you learn a few things. Ye Merrie Men are coming to town soon! This troupe of actors has been hired by Balentyne's chaplain for a special performance in two weeks time. The lead actor, William Marcus Marlow, is famed for his good looks and beautiful voice.
In other news, it seems Balentyne's magister is working on a secret project in his tower. Apparently he recovered something unnatural from the north.
Taking in the information, Lyr'aan makes plans to observe and possibly interact with the dwarves when they return from their work in the evening, possibly playing a few games and ingratiating herself with them if they seem open to it.
In the evening, approximately the same time as yesterday, the dwarves troop back into the Lord's Dalliance and begin eating, drinking, and playing some sort of complicated dice game.
Lyr'aan fists spends the evening at a table close enough to watch their game, trying to pick up the finer points of it and the attitudes of the dwarven company, to determine the best means of ingratiating herself with them.
Dwarves are relatively uncommon in Talingarde, so you don't have much experience interacting with them. This group communicates entirely in Dwarven unless they need to speak with a barmaid. The game they're playing is rather complicated. It involves various types of dice and a fair bit of math. While you're unable to determine specific rules, you do figure out it's an "one vs all" resource-management game.
Abandoning the idea of joining in, she instead keeps an eye on the group as they play seeing if any leave the group at any point or if they all remain as a group until they retire for the night.
As they did the previous night, the group of dwarves eats, drinks, and plays cards until closing time before tromping upstairs to their rooms for the night. They're definitely creatures of habit.
Secure in their habits, Lyr'aan turns in for the night, checking in with Shameen to see if she managed to learn anything of use, and laying out her plans for the following day, to break into the dwarves' rooms while they are gone, looking for any maps or plans that give more insight to the layout of where they might be working.
Sameen has learned a few things of potential value:
- Every day, a dozen servants head to the Watchtower to work the kitchens, clean the fortress, and perform other essential but menial work. The specific individuals change frequently, and there don't seem to be any 'regulars.'
- Balentyne houses one hundred soldiers, overseen by four guard captains: Eddarly, Mott, Varning, and Barhold. The fortress also houses a magister, several priests (led by Father Donnagin), and 'Mad Martin' the rookery tender. The master of Balentyne is Lord Thomas Havelyn, a shining paragon of virtue and honor.
- Captain Varning and his six rangers regularly leave to scout the coast and maintain law and order along the king's roads. They're typically gone for several days.
"Keep an eye out and see if you can figure out the frequency of Varning's patrols, and how long they're usually gone. The timing might be helpful when the attack comes." Lyr'aan tells her companion. "And see if you can find out how it's decided which servants get picked for fortress duty."
She awakens early, waiting for the time when the dwarves head out for the day.
Sameen nods in assent. In the morning, the dwarves head downstairs at the usual time for breakfast before heading to Balentyne.
Waiting for an opportunity where there are a miniman number of people navigating the hallways, Lyr'aan makes her way to the dwarves' room on the third floor, skillfully working to pick the lock and slip inside.
You carefully pick the lock and slip into their room. After a brief search, you discover something extremely useful: a complete blueprint of the Watchtower Balentyne.
Smiling to herself at her findings, and careful not to disturb anything in an obvious manner, Lyr'aan scans the room with her vision enhanced to perceive magic, before leaving the room, locking it back as she does.
Taking the time to create a detailed copy of the map, Lyr'aan takes her leave, making sure to leave everything as she found it.
With the rest of the day to herself, Lyr'aan spends time roaming around in her disguised appearance, looking to find out how the cleaning and kitchen staff for the fortress are chosen daily.
You learn that 'Mama Giuseppe' is unofficially in charge of the selection. While she isn't an official member of the staff, she's beloved by the soldiers and has more access than most of the citizens. Once a week, she makes enough beef stew to feed the entire garrison. Anyone who volunteers to help with this task is given preferential treatment when the cleaning/kitchen servants are chosen each day.
Lyr'aan spends the next couple of days learning when 'Mama Giuseppe' usually prepares the stew, and socializing in the guise of an average scullery servant, to work her way toward volunteering to help with the stew.