Shathee puzzles for a moment, trying to find out what ending a relationship has to do with their current plight before realizing the same word could be applied to a temporary taking of different paths.
"I agree. Perhaps we should go find them. Can you put up a light so we can all meet again?"
Shathee continues to try to work on picking up the language and engages in small talk with Leylia to the best of his ability. Thankfully, he is far more accustomed to life within a city and can help them to avoid most of the dangerous areas.
After several hours out each group returns, Shathee's first to the prearranged area. When Aurie and Khobin arrive they see the light from a few blocks off as the close the distance. Meeting with one another Shathee and Leylia explain they were unable to find any leads on the Nidalese slavers. Aurie and Khobin however are happy to report their information about Fenster the blight. Then the conversation begins in earnest on whether to track down Fenster or work as a group to rundown any leads on slavers in the area first.
"I think we should go after Fenster together rather than trying to continue seeking the slavers. One good lead followed is better than two leads left out," he says while adjusting the cloth around his head.
I agree Mr. Shathee, let us proceed then. Perhaps I do the talking? Be on the watch of onlookers, our group will be unusual in this area, on account of being mostly well fed and dressed, as such we will attract attention by default. The Bloodrager offers.
Fenster currently resides in a warehouse on the shoreline, in a particularly filthy stretch where tidal currents often cause the filth and refuse of the city to collect in stinking clots along the shore.
You find the warehouse which is partially collapsed — the building has a relatively large open area within, but Fenster seems to keep to one corner. Here, he’s made a sort of crude shelter from rowboats (one or two of which might still be almost seaworthy) and timbers leaning against the warehouse’s frame. The entrance to this hovel consists of a pair of skiffs leaning against each other to create a triangular “arch” from which a moldering remnant of a ship’s sail hangs like a curtain. Sitting next to the entrance is an old sea chest with a broken lid. A sign leans against the front of the chest—“LEEV A GIFT AND WATE OUTSID.” A dented tin platter sits on the ground before the sign.
Leylia takes in the shanty dwelling with disapproving eyes, rolling them in exasperation at the crude sign. "Charming. I've half a mind to rewrite his sign out of pity...shame I don't have a brush and paint."
She takes a breath, exhales sharply as if to steel her resolve, then reaches into her coin purse once again. Don't be miserly, Ley...there's hundreds more coming and real treasure waiting to be found.
Just...use it as a resource. For now.
She flips a gold coin into the tin from a standing height so as to ensure it makes an audible clatter, then steps back from the raggedy rigging. "Can't imagine gold being a poor gift, right?"
"Gift?" Shathee questions after reading over the sign a couple of times. "I can't read much more than that. What are we supposed to do?"
He waits and follows the rest of the groups lead, waiting a bit awkwardly outside the small dwelling.
You see a bloodshot eye peek out from behind the curtain. Then the whole head of a wretched looking fellow comes out followed by an ill used body. He scans the group with his one good eye, the other milky with seemingly a mind of its own as it darts around looking here and there. Then he steps over to the tin plate, looks at it, turns away and walks back inside.
Fenster will take items or cash but typically you are looking for a value of 5gp or greater to get him to answer questions or do something.
Shathee calls out to the weird-looking man, "What do you want? We're here to ask a few questions."
Ah, bribery. Aurie adds 5 more gold coins
Bribes await. She merrily announces.
The wretched man comes back out. You notice this time that his face is rather clammy and the veins in his arms stand out a pale blue on his pale skin. He rasps as breathes. He picks up the gold and tucks it into his breeches, "How can ol' Fenster help ya out?" he says and then goes into a coughing fit that lasts about ten seconds.
Leylia stands well away from the coughing hermit, grimacing at what must be considerable discomfort for him and trying not to imagine what malaise grips him. "Well, aside from not hacking any of that our way...We're trying to find one of the Tower Girls. Natalya Vancaskerkin. Word is she's vanished with something she found. Heard any whisperings on where she might be hiding?"
"Them Tower Girls, they's rentin' the space from me don' cha know." he says gesturing to the warehouse. Then he gives a snaggletoothed grin, hunkers over as if sneaking, with a devious look on his face. A stance quickly ruined when he is wracked by a wet cough after which he spits. As he recovers he says, "As for Natalya," he shakes his head vigorously, "the gift ain't big enough."
And what exactly would you require to rekindle your memory on the fair Mrs. Vancaskerkin Mr. Fenster? After all, could the resolution of her "affair" not benefit you considerably? Particularly if you were the first to know of its resolution?
Aurie asks him, very politely and quite respectfully.
I think he is craving respect as well as money, lets see...
"Ye have a point there." he says and muses, "Somethin' perty but it doesn't have ta be too perty." he smiles again, it kind of looks like he is in pain when he does. "Let people know ole Fenster is big time."
Shathee pulls a short sword out from under his cloak and holds up his free hand to indicate he was not intending anything threatening with it. "This is a thief's blade from Qadira. Would this be pretty enough for the information?"
Shathee is hesitant to part with one of his blades but knows he has a backup and hopes to be able to find another one with his portion of the reward for finding Natalya.
"Qadira? Is that special? What's a thief's blade?" Fenster asks, considering.
Catching on to Shathee's plan, Leylia silently eyes the blade, attempting to estimate its value before opening her mouth to support the gambit.
Is it one of those that make you undetectable by a number of magical means? I heard that the way it works is that you poke something with it, and then any magic attempts to divine your alignment or your location return the alignment or the location of whatever you poked with it, as long as its alive, not yours. Stops working after whatever you poke dies, and does not ping as magical at all, so its hard to know if they are working.
Aurie quickly weaves a tale to boost the pitch, such blades may reasonably exist, and she technically does not know that his blade is just a normal dagger.
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"I come from a land far away, one filled with genie's and elemental creatures galore." He pulls back his scarves and sleeves to reveal blue streaks resembling tattoos on his neck and arms. "I myself am a descendent of air elementals, a Sylph, as we are known."
He bundles back up, covering himself once again. "In a desert land filled with flying carpets and more treasure than a man can dream of, this is the blade of one who slips silently through the night in the shadows of the majestic cities with towers hundreds of meters high. This is the blade, in addition to what has been offered already, that I present in order to find information. For those who know what this blade represents, it inspires both respect and fear."
Fenster's eyes get wide with Aurie's tale but they nearly bug out of his head when Shathee shares his story. "Well now, that be a right perty sword. It'll do." he says and slips it into the sash he is using as a belt.
“Nuthin’ in th’Shadow gits by me good peeper!” he says as he taps the sallow cheek under his non-clouded eye. "I've seen 'er lurkin' about in buildin' not far from here. She ain't hangin' with the Towr Girls no more. It's like she's hidin'. I'll show ya." With that he strides out of the warehouse into the street. Once the group makes it out he points down the street at a roughed up building three blocks away. Like the warehouse it appears to be fire damaged with part of the roof missing. "She's hidin' in there. Got some goons workin' for her too. Time for old Fenster to take a nap." he says after showing her hideout and he wanders back inside.
Leylia holds her breath as Shathee and Aurie sell their scam, exhaling when Fenster finally gives up the intel. Once the blighted man is back inside, she at last smiles. "So, first thing: there is no way we're simply walking in and saying hello. If Natalya's left the front door unlocked and the red carpet rolled out, I'm Asmodeus's first born child."
She starts to walk but then stops to check her pack, frowning. "I should have brought some rope. Father and mother both say you can never have enough rope and I just KNOW we're going to need some sooner or later."
Rope? Got ya covered. And yes, having som rope is always useful. As a reminder, client prefered her alive not ded. Another reason why rope is good.
She stretches as in anticipation.
Shathee, you want to do some recon first, ill be 30 feet behind you, hopefully close enough to help, but not close enough to give you away.
Yes Aurie, keep making reasonable suggestions, so that your group doesnt know you are as green as they are. She thinks.
Shathee nods and moves close towards the row of buildings, attempting to disappear into the shadows as he approaches Natalya's building. He quickly vanishes into the shadows and goes towards the building and looks for sentries and other ways inside.
Shathee approaches the building from the south-west corner and sees no one. He reaches the corner of the building and can move toward a door on the southern wall or move toward the front entrance which has a window he can see from his current position.
Aurie 20/20
Khobin 18/18
Leylia
Shathee
Yahto 20/20
Aurie follows Shathee at a distance, after putting a hood over her too brightly red hair.
Shathee continues moving quietly up to the window and takes a look in to see what he can see.
Shathee sidles up to the window sticking close to the side the of the building and staying low. Good thing he did. As he peers up through the boards over the window he sees another set of eyes staring out. Apparently they did not see him due to the gloom. He determines there are two men, Varisian thugs it looks like, in the room.
The other co-founder of the Magnimar Pathfinder Lodge is Canayven Heidmarch. While his wife has sent a team off to investigate a specific missing person, Canayven needed someone to look into general disappearances. You two were called in and briefed on what little is known. Minister of Security, Johann Faust, has reached out to certain parties and requested they look into a plague of disappearances. Word is getting around that the city government does not care that people are going missing and this could create greater issues down the road. In truth, most who have gone missing turn up as homeless vagrants with no memory of what happened and slowly returning memories of who they even are. Faust reached out to Canayven who has assigned you two.
Your first stop was with the city watch. Going to the barracks, the Arvensor, you met with Officer Kasadei. She explains that they have few leads. There are rumors of Nidalese slavers but the watch has not been able to confirm any of the reports. The most recent abduction seems to be a Varisian gang member, Natalya Vancaskerkin, a member of the Tower Girls gang as reported by Sheila Heidmarch. There have been reports Natalya was spotted in an old boarding house down by the shoreline in Underbridge. However, Officer Kasadei has neither the interest nor the mapower to follow up on such rumors seeing how her teams have been to Underbridge three times this week on rumors of slavers and found bupkis.
This has brought you two down to the shoreline in Underbridge. It would seem Canayven and Sheila's interests are intersecting. You approach the building from the northwest.
map updated; map link at the top of this page
Molasbar looks to the dwarf next to him. "Perhaps we should circle the building before we try to enter? See if there is anything obvious amiss about it?"
Rheagar nods in agreement, resting his left hand on the sword hilt to stabilize it on his belt. That sounds good to me Molasbar, what do you think of the idea of Nidalese slavers being responsible? I don't buy it as the missing eventually turn up with no memory, what if it were some kind of creature that feeds off memory? Could that be something? It definitely wasn't covered in my religious instruction if it was. What do you think, circle to the left?
Shathee slowly ducks back down behind the wall and waves his hand low to get Aurie's attention. He points at his eyes, then holds up 2 fingers and points towards the window.
With the thought of drawing out one of the men, he crouches low using his hands on the dirty ground to help hold himself upright as he quickly makes his way past the door nearest to him.
As he passes the door, he gives it two quick rasps with his knuckles before trailing under the next window and cutting around the corner of the building.
Leylia keeps up with Aurie but stays out of her way, making a mental note to herself to search for spells of stealth and subterfuge.
There is a brief pause after Shathee knocks on the door before two armed men (short sword, leather studded) step outside. ”Who’s there?” one calls out to the open air. Molasbar and Rheagar hear this challenge but see no one confronting them directly.
Rheagar stops in his tracks, scanning around. Did you hear that Molasbar? Something's going on, we should get closer and see what's going on there. barring anything stopping him, he continues his loop.
Moving with predatorial grace, Aurie swiftly strides towards the back of one brigand, putting her blade at his throat
Do not move, and you will live, unharmed and with your possessions. You arent paid well enough to fight us on any account.
She speaks in a fairly friendly manner for someone putting a blade at someone elses throat.
Shathee steps out quietly with his Qadiran blade and dagger drawn and nods to Aurie before adding with a thick accent, "I would prefer not to have to re-sharpen my blade later tonight. We would prefer to just talk with Natalya," his eyes drop to their weapons, "but it would be interesting to see how well your blade holds up to mine."
"It may be an opportunity for us to see who is here without tipping our hand." Molasbar stays with Rheagar as he continues the loop.
"Come on, friend. We could use an extra set of eyes." He looses the flap of his pouch, letting the tiny bird inside out. Wisp flies up to the elf's shoulder and joins them in going toward the voice.
The man threatened by Aurie stiffens. "You're dern right we ain't paid well enough." the man says. The other initially looks at Aurie and his friend, then turns to look at Shathee when he speaks. "A couple of sneaky devils aren't ya. Natalya's here but she's as likely to kill you as talk to ya. I'd save your breath and clear out." the man says.
With the situation looking defused for the moment, Leylia catches up with the team. "Speaking of Natalya," she chimes in, "Tell us more. Why is she here? What has she found that's got her so...out of character?"
"She's got a desire to run the tower girls." says one of the thugs. "Not sure why she chose this spot. Hard to get in at her I guess, most of floor is rotten or missing."
Given your rather male contenance, It would appear the other girls didnt fancy a leadership change? Wise of them. And even wiser of you of course to never have been here in the first place, never have seen us and never knew anything about his whole affair.
She gives an Angelic smile.
Good evening then Sirs
She gracefully waves at them to leave.
The two roll with the proffered exit strategy. One looks around uncertainly for just a moment before hurrying off. The more talkative of the two steps away from his would have been attack, turns so he can see Aurie and nods his head, "Miss" then he to walks away. With tensions broken you now acknowledge what your nose has been telling you, it stinks around here. Smells like sewage.
On the other side of the building Molasbar and Rheagar hustle along a dwarf's pace. Now closer to the building they too notice the nasty smell coming from the building. As Rheagar hustles up to the south-west corner of the building he spots a pair of women. It takes him just a moment to recognize them as a pair of Pathfinders.
Aurie, Leylia and Shathee hear armored feet come hustling up to the south west corner of the building. Shathee is ill placed to get a good view but Aurie and Leylia see an armored dwarf hustle up to the corner. He looks familiar and then it dawns on them why.
Each of you has been in Magnimar at least two months perhaps more. Training with your venture Captain has also included attending a monthly social. The socials are typically a very relaxed affair with people coming and going as they please, no dress code, with lots of food and drink. A lot of the more experienced Pathfinders go to these sparingly but many a venture captain brings their charges to meet others who one day may aid them in a quest. To this end, you find you have met each other, if just in passing at these socials.
Rheagar stops a brief moment, then raises his hand in a wave before hurrying over to the others. Chasing the sewer entry, or looking for a certain mutually interesting woman? Evening all. he greets the other Pathfinders. What's the lay of the land here?
"This is intriguing. Two separate assignments potentially following the same trail? I would speculate that the importance of what we are doing is much more impactful that we originally thought."
Leylia smiles. It seems our mutual benefactor REALLY wants Natalya found." She gestures to the interior of the building. "I hope you brought rope too because I don't fancy falling into anything that smells THAT bad."
Some rope for prisoner handling, some rope for pit trap avoidance, I do have one coil. The Bloodrager offers.