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"It's piecework paid on completion. If they ask us to do something nefarious, all we have to do is not do it... and so far, bounty hunting on deserters doesn't sting my morals. So are you coming or not?"
"I cannot go back to the temple," Ernhild shrugs. "There's nothing else to do. And I find the Queen's keenness to have us join the guard... Intriguing."
"Let's hear Kroft out."
l’m willing to hear the next job.
Plus she owes us money…..
Very well. Briggi heads back with the others.
As it is late at night, or very early in the morning the welcome is curt. Kroft receives you with sleep in the eyes, orders the three prisoners to be put in a cell, hands you the promised reward and sends you off again. "Come later again, around noon. I'll have another job for you."
** spoiler omitted **
This time, when the group visits Kroft in her office, she’s not alone. A handsome man sits in one of the chairs at her desk, and as the group enters, he rises and bows.
"Wonderful, you are here. Let me introduce you to an old friend - Vencarlo Orisini."
"Vencarlo, these are the 'volunteers' I told you about."
"It's a pleasure to meet you."
Tisha wracks her brain to see if this man’s name came up in any of her conversations with Zellara.
Vencarlo Orisini: Owner of the renowned Orisini Academy fighting school, Vencarlo’s outspoken disdain for Korvosa’s government has earned him trouble on several occasions.
Tisha bows back.
Master Orisini, It is a pleasure to meet you as well. I have heard many good things about your Academy.
I am Tisha Nerifaren. I must say I am curious about what we have “volunteered” for.
As she says the last she looks over at Kroft with a bemused look on her face.
Briggi salutes. Pleased ta meet you as well, Master Orisini. We'll we doing some work for you I presume?
Narciso responds politely to the introduction, "Pleased to meet you Master Orisini, I am Narciso.", and then pauses to let Field Marshall Kroft continue her proposal...
"Vencarlo has learned something that could degrade into sanctions, embargoes, or even war against Cheliax if we don’t act now. This problem is a man named Darvayne Gios Amprei, an ambassador from Cheliax whose disdain for Korvosa is well documented, though he’s taken great pleasure in what our city has to offer. Even before this recent unrest, this man was ready to recommend to his government a sanction on trade, or perhaps even an embargo."
"Vencarlo has learned through his own considerable sources that Ambassador Amprei’s actual goals are to undermine Korvosa’s economy to the point where he can buy up large portions of the city from desperate landholders. He plans to establish himself in a position of power here before advising the end of the sanctions with his allies in Cheliax. We can’t let his bias or personal plans hurt Korvosa. Yet neither can we take drastic action—not only would killing him be wrong, but it’d simply martyr him in Cheliax’s eyes."
"Fortunately, the ambassador has his foibles. Again, Vencarlo has learned that Ambassador Amprei has been making fairly regular visits to a place in Old Korvosa called Eel’s End. This den of vice is run by a dangerous man named Devargo Barvasi, better known in Korvosa’s alleys as the King of Spiders. I’d love to put Devargo out of business, but he pays his vice taxes regularly and never causes any problems—in fact, since he keeps his business constrained entirely within the five ships moored at Eel’s End, he’s actually one of the least of my worries."
"Truth be told, I can’t decide whether Devargo is a stirge or a kraken. He seems like a bloodsucking pest most days, but sometimes I fear just how far his tentacles have wormed their way into our great city. In this case though, his insidious web stretching across Korvosa’s underworld might be to our advantage."
"Devargo would never let someone he recognizes as an ally of the Guard into Eel’s End, but your group’s a different case. I’d like you to pay a visit to Eel’s End and secure an audience with Devargo. Find out what he knows about Amprei, get proof of any illicit goings-on the ambassador might be involved with, and bring that proof to me. I can use it to undermine any forthcoming attempts by him to get Cheliax to cut us off."
"Devargo might not be willing to part with his information easily. I’ll supply you with some gold to bribe him, and whatever’s left over you can keep for yourself. Remember: Devargo is dangerous, but so are you—if things get violent, I wouldn’t mourn his passing."
Sounds like he would be heavily guarded. We'd be up past our heads in his thugs. So bribing sounds like the best path.
"So we have a carrot to offer Devargo, a bribe; that's one way to do business. Another way of getting someone to do something is a stick. If the guard tried, you could make life uncomfortable and business difficult for him. Can we make threats involving the guard? Could you give us some token of authority to help convince him to take such threats seriously?"
"I guess he'd laugh you out of his lair - best case. In normal times we might be able to take him down, if he doesn't hear of it before so he can't pull some strings to have us called back. But nowadays, I wouldn't even have enough manpower to send there."
"If you want a stick, carve one of your own."
Is this Devargo, associated with any crimes, even if there is no solid proof of his direct involvement that could be proven in the courts? If so, what kind of crimes?
Dangerous could mean different things if one runs a protection operation, vs trafficking in human flesh or blackmail of those with gambling debts.
Also how severe are we talking with the trade sanctions? Would this be a total embargo of food and iron, or just high value good like arcane supplies from the Hell Sworn land?
"We don't know for sure how much weight his voice has. The issue isn't starving out the city. The issue is that people have financial obligations. And if sanctions ruin your income for a month or two, and you can't pay your installments, then the bank will forclose."
"That happens all the time if you fall on hard times with your business. We just can't have that guy create the hard times and then profit from it by buing everything that gets forclosed. We want Korvisa to stay a free city and not a vasall to Cheliax."
"As for Devargo, his enterprise is officially in gambling, drugs and fornication. Inofficially he also gathers information and earns additional money by blackmailing and such. And if you mangage to anger him on his turf, he'll probably feed you to the fish."
"But besides not letting us onto his ships, he is really nice to us. He pays his vice taxes and doesn't let fugitives hide on his ships."
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Ernhild nods along, preoccupied. Once in a while, in the temple, you heard of men like Devargo or Amprei - smart enough to toe the line without actually breaking the rules, and even, in the worst scenarios, taking advantage of the law to boost their own illicit businesses.
They were not to be taken lightly. "What if Devargo turns out to be a kraken? What are we supposed to do with him then?"
I think the ask is just to get the information, anything we do with Devargo beyond that is us freelancing.
Is that correct?
"I couldn't have said it better." Kroft takes a heavy coin pouch out of her coat pocket and hands it to Tisha. "That is the bribe money - 100 platinum. Like I said, what you don't need of that to complete the mission is yours to keep."
"I assume you know where Eels end is?"
"I can go a little way with you. I'm on my way to my academy in Old Korvosa and that's the same direction." Vencarlo offers with a charming smile.
A little company on our way there would be much appreciated.
Why don’t you give us directions just in case, as I have never been there.
Oh and one last question for me. You know this Devargo better then we do. Have you heard of any types of things that tends to attract his attention to the people that visit his establishment? Is he pretty hands on running the place or does he let his people handle most of the day to day operations?
Maybe any particular things he has s liking for. So we could bring him his favorite booze for example.
"He is easily bored and can be impressed with something novel to entertain him."
"And yes, he is a hands on guy. His operation isn't that big and he oversees it himself."
Hmm..Well I guess we might have to play it by ear then. I'm all set.
"No you're not. You remember, no association with the Guard?" Kroft reminds Briggi. "You have Guard written all over you."
Briggi makes sure to change his clothes and stows his badge
Novelty hmmm….
We may need to think about this. Exotic food, drinks, shows and creatures can all be novel. We don’t have any of that but maybe we can do a performance. Can any of you act or sing? I can dance and tumble but that alone isn’t novel…. Unless….
Any of you feel like dressing Brigi up as a clown guardsman, and the rest of us a comedy Troup?
If we are good enough that might be novel, and get us an audience. Plus it explains why the two stone-feet there always act like guards.
Briggi gets all red in the face and mutters something about 'grudging'.
Do you have a better way to attract Devargo’s attention?
We could win a bunch of money gambling. I assume that would attract his attention.
Novelty hmmm….
We may need to think about this. Exotic food, drinks, shows and creatures can all be novel. We don’t have any of that but maybe we can do a performance. Can any of you act or sing? I can dance and tumble but that alone isn’t novel…. Unless….
Any of you feel like dressing Brigi up as a clown guardsman, and the rest of us a comedy Troup?
If we are good enough that might be novel, and get us an audience. Plus it explains why the two stone-feet there always act like guards.
"I could maybe do something about a show I guess, show off an illusion... but what do the rest of you do?"
Do you have a better way to attract Devargo’s attention?
We could win a bunch of money gambling. I assume that would attract his attention.
"If you get caught cheating, his attention might include having you thrown in the bay with lead weights chained to your ankles..."
I could be the thug who smacks people away from the group.
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"I could kick them very hard where the sun doesn't shine. Or read out their rights to them," Ernhild says dryly.
"I'll have to see if I have any spells that could be of help. I've heard of one that could get them drunk."
If we are going for illusions, why take cheap ones?
Let's not go over board with things. We're thinken to hard about getting in.
Now is as good a time as any.
Tisha looks at Kroft:
Is there a time frame on how soon you need this information?
If we take we a few days to get this to you, is that a problem?
"I don't need it today, but don't put it on the shelf."
I can wait for others to prepare.
Vencarlo takes you along to old Korvosa and the piers.
A sprawl of light and sound marks the first pier of Old Korvosa. Glowing lanterns in the shape of dream spiders and coiled eels hang from pilings or lampposts, flickering through all hours of the night. During the day, Eel’s End is quieter, yet the place never truly sleeps, catering to the vices and base needs of Old Korvosa at all hours.
"It was a pleasure to meet you. I hope we'll meet again soon?"
Certainly. Briggi is decked out as a thuggish figure who smacks people who gets too close.
I too hope we meet again and get a chance to talk sometime soon.
But for now I guess we have a den of vice to explore.
Thank you for showing us the way.
She turns to look at Eels end.
Should we scout the place out then plan and prep spells and return tomorrrow?.
Sure
...
She turns to look at Eels end.
Should we scout the place out then plan and prep spells and return tomorrrow?.
"What are you planning? I would hesitate to give Devargo the opportunity to see us associated as a group. You could perhaps disguise yourself again - as a gambler say - and case the joint."
Then Narciso turns to Ernhild "Field Marshall Kroft suggested if we need a stick, we should 'carve our own'... How much access does the Temple of Abadar have with the city tax offices? A bluff suggesting that the city might audit sin taxes paid for Eel's End, would probably be a decent stick. Especially if we could convey the suggestion such an audit would be hostile, or that it might be justifiable. A familiarity with the history of his tax payments would lend a lot of verisimilitude to such a bluff..."
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Ernhild considers it. "That could actually work. Provided I have access to the temple's resources."
"What are you planning? I would hesitate to give Devargo the opportunity to see us associated as a group. You could perhaps disguise yourself again - as a gambler say - and case the joint."
"It all depends. Do you want to scout the outside of the place, or the inside as well?"