Nethen leans into Vedika, quickly picking up on her charade. As they approach the right room he leans against the wall, feigning intoxication but keeping eyes and ears open as Vedika works on the lock.
"Keep me cov—good," whispers Vedika. She turns slightly to feign demureness while using the opportunity to try her picks in the lock.
"Got it."
It is a plain, clean room. Bed, desk and chest for storage. As he was meant to be leaving this evening his pack is on the bed ready to go.
It's a nice pack, well made of leather with a number of sealed pouches on it. Tow have clips holding them closed. One actually has a small padlock to keep it locked.
What are you doing now?
.
Nethen moves into the room with Vedika, pulling the door closed quietly behind him. "Check his pack while I keep watch," he whispers to Vedika, standing by the door to listen for anyone coming their way.
Eric kept watch on the proceedings with Iorghil, trying to suppress his nerves over Nethen and Vedika currently breaking into the target's room. They hadn't been gone *that* long, he felt, but still...
"Please don't leave, please don't leave," He kept this manthra on repeat, hoping it would somehow help him keeping the target in place.
What are you doing?
Vedika easily opens the small lock on the pouch, extracting a sealed letter with the Leroung crest stamped into the wax.
Locking the pouch she slips out and rejoins Nethen, she locks the door again leaving no signs anyone had been into the room.
She then smirks naughtily and disarranges her clothing and hair, then does the same to Nethen, making it look as if they had snuck off to fool around for a moment or two.
You have the letter and no signs you were detected. What are you doing now?
Vedika gives the pack the once-over to make sure it doesn't have a trap or magical defense on it.
Then she goes at the lock.
With the letter secured Nethen walks back to the others with Vedika, a satisfied grin on his face to complete the image of a man who's just spent a pleasant few minutes with pleasant company.
He sits down next to Eric and Ariadne, well away from Ghil and their target, and mutters "Got it. Let's get out of here."
Shaking her head as if in amusement at the 'lovebirds', Aiadne downs the rest of her second drink. "If you two are done for now, we should get back out there and se if we can make it back before things get too crazy." she says putting some coin down and standing up to lead the way outside.
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When Ghil sees Nethan and Vedika return from the rooms, he goes up to get one last round of drinks. While at the bar, he subtly shifts his appearance to be less attractive: he elongates his nose, adds an unsightly, hairy mole, changes his hair to an uneven and unflattering cut, and generally ruins the impression he'd made at the start.
Returning, he sets the drinks down hard on the table, drunkenly spilling one into the man's lap. "Ooops!" he exclaims, adding in a burp. "We didn't really need these anyway," he hiccups. "Right?
He falls into his own chair with a drunken slump and gives the man a lascivious and unsightly grin, not even offering to help clean up the spilled ale. "Did you want to find someplace quiet?"
It's a shame... Ghil thinks. He wasn't bad-looking, but I don't want him to have a memory of me being in his room when he finds the letter missing....
Ghil allows his head to slip sleepily to the table. "You... cute..." he mutters as he lets his eyes flutter closed.
Shaking his head, amused, Eric approaches the table and swings the arm of Iorghils 'unconscious' and/or highly drunk body over his neck and shoulder, then rises to walk him out. "All right, time to to, casanova. I think you've had enough for the night." He says, as he throws the courier an apologetic look and begins withdrawing.
The walk back to the Overlook is untroubled, the city seems quieter now, though there are still sounds from other areas that indicate the riots are lesser but still going.
The Overlook is still crowded, a few more customers seem to have arrived despite the lateness of the hour. Mortimer Montague is still seated at his table and raises an eyebrow as you return.
How are you doing this?
"Subtle handover, or just straight out and up front?" Ariadne asks her companions as they return to the Overlook.
"I figure we just go and sit with him and hand the thing over. People know who Montague is, I doubt it's unusual for him to receive packages from strangers," Nethen says as the group approaches the Overlook.
Nethen walks across the room and sits down at Montague's table. "Got it," he says quietly.
Ariadne moves to stand behind Nethen as he takes a seat, remaining standing, and looking around to meet the eyes of any who seem to be paying more attention to Montague's table than normal.
Meanwhile, Eric just takes a nearby seat to casually observe the interior of the inn. Nethen and Ariadne were already talking to Montague, and it'd only be more unusual for even more people to sit at his table. Plus, they'd honored their agreement perfectly - with a known and apparently respected information broker. He didn't foresee any troubles.
Montague raises an impressed eyebrow at the news. "Quick and quiet. Impressive."
He looks pleased when discretely handed the sealed letter. Checking the Leroung seal closely and nodding as it passes his tests. "This will do very nicely!" He smiles, slipping the letter into his inner jacket pocket without opening it here.
"As I told you the 'Pet-maker' stays very quiet. Both for his own health and for his clients reputations. However his trade requires constant refreshing of 'stock'.' An expression of disgust can be seen for a moment on his calm face.
"As such he requires people out looking for new children. One such person is less discrete than he should be and has been known to favor the Sticky mermaid in the Old docks. His name is Sam Drakson. A thin man who dresses trying to ape the nobility. Poorly at that. He does have a crew of thugs working for him though. The numbers change often so keep your eyes out."
What now? You might want to find a place to rest up now. You've had a long day and it is getting close to midnight.
"I'm not going to say it was pleasant doing business with you," Nethen says, his disgust at the subject matter clear from his face, "but it was good for both of us I think, and I'm sure we could do more business in the future." He stands from the table, nods respectfully at Montague, and heads towards Eric and the others.
"Time for some kip I think," he suggests.
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Vedika bites her lip for a moment, then nods her head.
"Every hour sleeping is an hour that my sister could be taken away... but we won't win any confrontations if we're all drag-assing around from lack of sleep."
"Let's get out of here, though. Don't wanna be around when the mark discovers what's gone missing."
Eric adjusts his Shoanti garbments as he rises from his seat. "Perhaps we should see if we can rent rooms here somewhere? We're in The Heights. While it's a prime target for looters, it's also as protected against the riots as anywhere in the city will be. Plus, they haven't made it here yet, it seems. And even if we had other options, we'd have to move back through the problems areas to reach them first."
He looks to the others wgen Vedika brings up the risk of the target coming looking for them, though that was a different inn. "I suppose it's possible he'd search for us, if he was convinced we were involved. Is that worth the risk of going back out there and getting into more fights like we did earlier?"
There are three places you can get a room and bed for the night in the heights. Ranging from the cheapest - The Frisky unicorn. To the Upslope house and the most expensive being Tenna's.
What now?
"We can't help her if we make mistakes while we're tired," Nethen responds, sympathetic to Vedika's plight but aware of what can go wrong when people go into dangerous situations without being properly prepared.
"I agree, we don't want to be here. The city is probably in a state where we could get to somewhere else we could stay but is probably too hairy for a lone guy to go looking around for some people he might vaguely remember," he opines. "Let's go and see if they've got space for us at the Frisky Unicorn," he suggests, looking around at the others.
"Sure, that'll work. I agree that we need sleep before we continue chasing leads down."
Just before hitting the street, Ghil makes a final adjustment to his appearance, choosing a completely different face in case his 'suitor' is wandering the streets looking for a thief.
"That makes sense. I know that it feels like letting time slip by, but we really do want to be at our best to face these bastards and get your sister back." Ariadne says comfortingly.
As Nethen suggests a place to stey for the night, she nods, heading back out into the streets with the others, keeping an eye out for any signs of trouble, despite her tiredness.
It had been one hell of a day.
H3. The Frisky Unicorn: The least expensive (but far from cheap) of Citadel Crest’s bed and breakfasts, the Frisky Unicorn is larger than Tenna’s but smaller than Upslope House. The Frisky Unicorn provides little more than a posh room and three meals, and can house up to 13 people in its five rooms.
The woman at the desk of the Unicorn looks at you dubiously. She does admit they still have two rooms available. The cost of a room is 16gp. That does include a hot bath and meals though.
What are you doing?
"Well, at lest the prices are suitably outrageous for The Heights..." Eric mutters. "I don't think I can even pay for that unless you'd give me a share of the loot from when we fought those bandits earlier."
"Well, at lest the prices are suitably outrageous for The Heights..." Eric mutters. "I don't think I can even pay for that unless you'd give me a share of the loot from when we fought those bandits earlier."
"It's expensive, but worth it, to be safe from the chaos out there for a night. The hot bath doesn't hurt either." Rhiannon says looking at the others.
"16?!" Nethen blurts, incredulous at the price. "The food had better be good, and the bath had better be hot," he mutters, forking over the cash for two rooms.
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"I mean, we ought to be comfortable, right?" Ghil comments, enthusiastically. "But I'll get one of the rooms!" Ghil pulls out 2 gold pieces for payment.
"You know, we're far from the City at the Center of the World, but do you offer a discount for members of the Absalom Adventurer's Association? They claim the membership is accepted all across Golarion!"
Vedika just sighs.
"Only two rooms left, so how are we bunking?"
"I suppose boys/girls...unless someone particularly wants different." Ariadne says with a shrug.
The rooms are comfortable, if overdoing the gilt and velvet look. The baths are hot and come with scented soaps.
Breakfast is your choice of bacon, eggs, mushrooms, black pudding, toast, sausage etc. They believe in a solid start to the day it seems.
There is a sullen air to the city this morning, the riots are quiet for the moment, smoke hangs over the city where fires are still smoldering.
The Sticky Mermaid in the Old docks is your target. Heading there now or waiting until evening when it gets busy?
Eric is fine with the girl - guy split, as he'd expected such. Truth be told, Vedika was very good looking but somewhat... severe? And her mind was constantly on her sister, which he supposed was fair. And Ariadne was perhaps even more severe and scarred to boot. There just didn't seem to be much ground for casual fooling around, at present at least.
At breakfast, he tries to let none of his, or actually Nethen's, money go to waste and decides to eat for lunch in advance, covertly sneaking some bread to Sobaloo while he was at it. Sure, that would be very bad for him if he were to get stabbed this morning, which was likely, but he'd be able to heal himself before too much of the intestinal content spilled out into the abdomen - or such was the plan.
"I'd say we go to the docks right away. I'd really not want any little girl in the hands of these a&@&!$~s any longer than necessary, and whoever was up rioting yesterday is probably asleep, wasted, or dead now. Best to make use of the relative safety until the troublemakers recover," He reasons, as the party looks down on the rest of the city from an overlook and plans their next move.
"You make a good point, Eric. We may be able to turn the unrest--or the lingering effects of it--to our advantage. If nothing, we should try to get a read on the city here now anyway. Lot's changed since yesterday afternoon; it'd be good to know what the lay of the land is now.... who's in power, what that means...."
"I'd think it's better to get there before business picks up. Especially if we think we might wind up stabbing someone. Best case we can get in and out like the wind. Worst we wind up having to make sure that a certain pedo is a victim of the chaos of the riots. Either way it's easier if there aren't as many people there."
"I like the way you think," Eric says, grinning at Vedika. "I think we're all in agreement, though: we go to the docks right now. Afterwards we can go about gauging the state of the city. With some bad luck, this guy decides things have become too hot to handle, and he'd try to flee with his victims. Or worse. We can't have that, so let's go."
Unless stopped, he'd begin making the way to the Old Docks. "How do we go about capturing Sam Drakson, though? Sounds like he has quite a few men. So we try to trick or charm him into a moment of weakness, or do we just attack the moment we lay eyes on him?" he asks on the way.
I agree that going sooner is better. The fewer people around, the less chance of people getting in our way it helping him to eacape." Ariadne agrees.
"We can try the trick/charm approach again but eventually it won't work, so we'd better be ready to hit hard and decisively what that happens."
"Last night was just what I can do with my face, haha." Ghil points out. "I can boost that with magic this time. The outcome is decidedly more important today!"
You are travelling north and east from the Heights to the Old docks. The city is quiet. The initial civil unrest and outbreaks of riots were
quelled quickly, thanks to swift action by the Korvosan Guard, the Sable Company, and the Hellknights.
People are wary and gather in small groups, talking in whispers and looking suspiciously at any strangers who get too close.
The Korvosan guard is patrolling the streets in squads, glaring at anyone who looks like they are thinking of making trouble, or who look foreign, or Shoanti. Or even those who look at them funny.
You do overhear rumors being whispered though.
The King died from a disease that looked like leprosy, but Cure disease didn't stop it? The Queen has had him interred below Castle Korvosa already to stop whatever it was from spreading.
The Korvosan guard are looking for a group of Adventurers that returned something valuable that had been stolen from the Queen. It seems she really wants to talk to them!
What are you doing as you travel?
Not the most perceptive of people when it comes to nuance and detail, Ariadne is distracted by constantly looking for signs of danger or impending attack.
A surprisingly comfortable night precedes the best breakfast Nethen has had in a long time and he steps out in the city feeling reasonable satisfied given recent events.
"It's eerily quiet," Nethen says as they make their way towards the docks. "Things might have settled down now, but who knows how long for?"
"I heard those guards that just passed us muttering about the king having died of a disease that magic couldn't cure. That seems unlikely, for a king's people to not be able to cure something?"
"Seems suspicious, aye. I'm not *that* good of a healer yet, but I'm quite sure that a simple disease could be magically treated as often as needed, so long as the supply of casters lasted. And a king should be able to hire as many as he needs. Not sure what it means, though. It sounds like a cover up, but of what? If the magic works normally but the king didn't heal, then there was either no disease or what looked like a disease was not what it seemed... something staged, then, perhaps?" he speculates, looking around to make sure there were no guards nearby.
The apprentice shaman ponders the implications as his half-elven ears pick up more rumors. "Some people in the alley we just passed were speaking of how the guards are looking for group of adventurers 'that returned some valuable stolen property to her', and that she wants to speak to them," he repeats, then laughs. "Hah, yeah, right. The nerve to think those people would be stupid enough to willingly turn themselves in to be hanged... probably a good idea not to face her even if they just happened upon it. Everyone'd think they were the thieves, and the queen's probably just looking for a scapegoat. Damn nobles." He spits to the side. "If I were them I'd settle my business here and get out of town as fast as the dawn wind rushes the bay."
He continues on his way, the end of his branched spear tapping the pavement of roads that were suspiciously red in some spots, blissfully unaware that he was in the exact presence of these supposed thieves.
After all, no one had told him about Queen Iliosa's piece of jewelry that the group had found at Gaedren's place earlier...
Ariadne's eyes widen as Eric relates what her heard, sharing a look with the others who'd been there when they turned in the Queen's bracelet.
"That...could either be a problem, or a big help." she says quietly. "It's part of the case we made against that rotten old bastard. The Queen's bracelet was among his stolen belongings....so...we're the "Adventurers" they're talking about."
"Ohhhhhhhhh... that's not good. I don't think that's good at all!" He stops in the middle of the street, making the others stop with him. "We need to figure out what we want to do about this now. I was worried just that we look like adventurers, so anybody might try to turn us in, but now we know we really are the adventurers they're looking for! What do we want to do about this?"
He looks at Vedika, and then the others. "Honestly, if we didn't have deeply personal reasons to stay, I'd be on my way to the city gates right now! That's a political mess that I don't want any part of!"
"Then let's deal with this Pet-Maker and then go to ground," says Vedika. "The sooner we're done, the sooner we can figure out a move that takes us out of harm's way."