Briggi goes to the bartender and passes him some coins. Ya think you can keep him here a while? Unless we can lure him away with ale, I just can't drag him off.
He turns to Ernhild when they are out of earshot. We can head back to the barracks so I can report this and the captain can decide. manhandling a Seargeant is a bad move for a private.
Narciso looks on as Tisha is apparently consumed in thought... Realizing that the elf woman is distracted from the real world, he collects from the owner of the pawnshop, and then proposes "How about we go get that coffee and see what the others have gotten up to?"
Briggi heads back to the barracks and reports to the captain. I found Saergent Grau. He is drunk off his arse at a tavern and I couldn't get him to come and putting hands on him would be assulting a higher ranked soldier.
What, oh yes!. She turns back to the pawnshop owner.
Thank you, good sir, it was very nice doing business with you. I’ll be sure to give your shop a good word for anyone looking to pawn something.
As they step out into the street Tisha turns in the direction of Zellana’s house. I know there is a shop down here that sells drinks.
Shall we go?
"You mean the well known swordmaster Vencarlo Orisini? I don't know any Sabina. Why though."
The captain scribbles a note, signs it and puts an official seal on it. Then she hands it to Briggi. "Tell private Grau that he got demoted and then you drag his drunk ass here."
The note is the written and signed demotion.
Briggi salutes and leaves with Ernhild. This could get ugly, maybe you could help convince him? Demotion is bad but he did get drunk at a tavern but he can get his rank back.
When they arrive at the tavern, Briggi heads over to Grau's table and places the not in front of Grau. Now Grau, you have gotten yerself in a huge mess, but you can get over this and get your rank back. I'm asken that you walk back with us to the barracks.
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" This could get ugly, maybe you could help convince him? Demotion is bad but he did get drunk at a tavern but he can get his rank back."
"I'd advise against getting back in right away." Cautious as she sounds, Ernhild's frowning. "He will still be demoted tomorrow, and I doubt he'll go back to the barracks before nightfall."
"In the meantime, we can find out what's going on."
Tisha leads Narciso to a shop called "Night Owls" and purchases four clay mugs and gets them filed with coffee. (12cp) Then she hands a cup to Narciso and leads on to Zellana's house.
Seeing it empty she wonders aloud.
Hmmm... They don't seem to be here. I wonder where they went?
As she goes in and looks around.
You know if we cleaned this place up, this could do for quite a nice meeting place. All we would need to do is clean it up a bit.
As she waits for the others to join her she puts the mugs down on the table then goes in search of a broom or dust cloth to see if she can start to clean the place up a bit.
An arched eyebrow and "Cozy domesticity, hey..." is Narciso's comment on the proposal; then he starts to work with his trusty prestidigitation cantrip...
" This could get ugly, maybe you could help convince him? Demotion is bad but he did get drunk at a tavern but he can get his rank back.""I'd advise against getting back in right away." Cautious as she sounds, Ernhild's frowning. "He will still be demoted tomorrow, and I doubt he'll go back to the barracks before nightfall."
"In the meantime, we can find out what's going on."
So maybe get him to sleep it off? That sounds ok. when they talk to Grau, Briggi instead tells Grau to go home and sleep it off, escorting him there if need be.
"Why should I go home. It's much nicer here with the dude over there keeping the ale coming." Grau replies, looking at Briggi as if he had a screw loose.
Ernhild, maybe some help? We can get you ale to drink at home Grau. Much better to drink in a warm bed.
I might just have to thump him with my sap. Briggi thinks.
Briggi tries hefting Grau up off the chair
"Hey, leave me!" Grau protests and even if drunk he still can put up a fight. "Why do you care anyway? It's not your business what I'm doing here."
It's my business if you are getting into more trouble and I don't want to have to haul you to the drunk tank. Go home and sleep it off and maybe with all this crap going around the captain will forget about you.
With two more bottles of beer held in front of his face Grau finally gives in and you manage to lead him home and make sure he gets to bed. Once he is horizontally his fight is against heavy eyelids, and it is a losing battle.
OK Ernhild, let's go find the others and figure out what to do next. Briggi heads back to the fortune teller's house.
Something about getting money for the stuff we got from Lamm. A little extra cash would go nicely after all of the fighten we had to do.
After walking and some more talking Ernhild and Briggi finally arrive at Zellara's home and meet with Tish and Narciso again.
Sure. Of course with things like the coins, I figure they would be good compensation.
Seeing the two dwarves walk in Tisha brightly says from where she is sweeping.
Good morning you two! I hope you had a good night. There is coffee on the table for you, It should still be hot, but if not I apologize. We didn't know when you would get here.
As she gets a good look at both of them she continues:
Both of you look like you could use a pick me up.
Anyways, I was thinking that if we cleaned this place up a bit it could be a good meeting place while we figure out who's items the Brooch and Dagger are.
Briggi slurps some coffee. Now that the riots have died down, we can focus on the broach and dagger. Get them identified. Hmnm..I dunno, maybe we'll need magic to do it.
I just remember, that brooch belonged to the queen! It was stolen and there is a nice reward for its return.
"I thought we had figured out the brooch was the queen's and you were going to fill out a report? How did that go?"
After asking about what Briggi had done with the brooch, Narciso turns to Ernhild and asks "and how did you do with the ledger?"
Briggi slaps his face. Yea, the brooch is the Queen's. I got sidetracked when I was ordered to go find a fellow patrolman and didn't get it filled. But now that we are together, We can go do it as a group.
Well what do we want to do, research the ledger, the dagger or go to the castle and return the brooch?
It seems like we may have a hard time getting in to see the Queen if we go so soon after the riots I’ve been hearing about. Maybe we wait a bit before we do that one?
Let's focus on the dagger and ledger.
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Ernhild takes a sip of the coffee. It's not quite dark enough for her taste, but it will do. "'M afraid I didn't go anywhere. The temple was closed, and I have no idea where the other clerks live."
Her fingers gently tap the mug, distractedly. "There's something I don't understand. Why would Lamm end up with the Queen's brooch in his possessions? And why did he keep it? He was a drug-dealer, not a blackmailer. Royalty's aiming high, even for him."
Yea, that isn't something that some maid just filches off the nightstand.
"Perhaps we could take the dagger, or better, my sketch of it, to the library at Theumanexus College and see if we can find some information there... I am hesitant to spread around that we have possession of Gaedren's ledgers; perhaps we should keep that to ourselves."
All set here.
"Well then, let's go."
Narciso leads the party off to Theumanexus College (in the East Shore district. The campus is not walled, unlike the Acadamae, and there are 3 halls. Into Toryr Hall they go, where the general library is to be found...
Narciso recognizes one of the librarians: "Ho, Maester Micklebottom, I have a conundrum to delve into. I have come across a strange dagger, shaped more like a key than an actual weapon, with the inscription 'For an inspiration of a father'. I can't remember the details but something like that was mentioned in our studies of Korvasan history..."
Tisha looks around at the library with an approving eye.
Then she quietly says to Narciso
They don’t happen to have a collection of broadsheets or something that tells about recent events in the city do they?
Then after a moments thought she continues:
Just what does it take to be able to do research in here?
Briggi is utterly out of his element has wears a glazed expression.
"The inscription doesn't ring a bell. That's an everyday phrase that hasn't any connection to a historical person or event." Micklebottom replies. "But a dagger shaped like a key reminds me of a series of murders. The called the culprit the keylock murder. He was never caught. He somehow got into the homes of his victims at night and killed them in their sleep with sharpened keys or key shaped daggers and left the tool in the corpse. The victims were mutilated in horrible ways and left for their relatives to find in the morning."
"And besides the victim there was no trace found that someone entered. No window broken, no door unlocked."
"Then one day the murders stopped and the mystery was never resolved."
So nothing was taken?
That seems not to fit most of the crime lords around here.
Was there a pattern to the victims that you remember?
...
Just what does it take to be able to do research in here?
As Mickelbottom lectures, Narciso whispers back "Be a student, or on staff, or get permission from the dean..."
"It ended in the year 4697AR" Mickelbottom remembers. "After seven years of murdering far over a hundred people."
Yikes. Totally random killings in you own home, and the killings just stopped for no reason? That must have been terrifying for the whole city.
Narciso thinks aloud :"Ooof, over a hundred people. So there would have been a mass panic, and people would have been reporting them, not covering them up. Further, the crown would have been collecting the daggers as evidence. So how did that end up there?"
The he returns his focus to the conversation "Perhaps we shouldn't involve you further, Maester, but we could search the stacks for more about these killings? Also, the college library focuses more on arcana, rather than Korvosan history; is there perhaps a better library in town for this research? If so, could you perhaps write us a letter of introduction?"