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"Well forgive me for not assuming we should automatically trust Sheriff Named-Myself-Hemlock with the case of the hidden poison dealer..."
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Kaz gives the gna- Nadja - a piercing gaze as if she were one of his specimens prepared for dissection. "You'll be careful?"
Nadja rolls her eyes. "Careful's not my thing. But I'll be smart."
She takes a centering breath and looks around the room. "Speaking of being smart, we should put everything back where we found it. If we don't want to freak Pillbug out while we get more info, unless we're planning on arresting him before he has a chance to find out all his stuff's gone."
She looks over to Zen and Jeni, her earlier panic still fresh but starting to settle. "We do make things better. And it doesn't matter what they think, right? Like, if we make sure Pillbug disappears tonight, no one the wiser, that's still... good. On the whole. Big picture, I mean. At least, until the Midnight Dawn finds another alchemist."
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Zen boggles a bit, ”goes away for good? Do you mean killing him? We have evidence but no proof - he deserves justice.” He adds quietly, ”I’m not going to go murder a guy, Nadja, especially not a citizen of Sandpoint.” He opens his arms somewhat expressively, the mental in his gauntlets groaning ”I’m a guard - not an um… assassin. Is that the word?” He looks at Jeni, then back to Nadja apologetically.
Nadja chews the inside of her cheek. "Pretty sure that's the word. And, I was just saying. It's like you said, we got the evidence, but proving that he's a black market poisoner, drug dealer, and kidnapper is a whole other thing. It'll be a lot of work, and not the fun kind. It would go so much easier if he just..." She trails off, realizing she's not going to win the argument.
"Take the stuff or leave it for later. I'm going to go bathe, then see if Adimar is free."
"The book is evidence. We take it, have Zen give it to the sheriff, then if he does nothing with it, we handle it." killing a man who looks as unlikely to be able to throw a punch back does not sit well with Jeni in the least. It is all over her face when she says 'handle it' so she adds "In some way"
Nadja smirks. "Okay. Find me when it's time to handle it. I say we keep the money and the elixirs amd we turn in the poisons and that purple liquid along with the papers. Bye."
If there's a way to the surface through the smuggler tunnels, Nadja uses that so they don't have to exit through Pillbug's shop. Then she rushes home to peel off her still-damp adventuring clothes and take a quick but refreshing bath. Once clean and dry, she dons her cutest dress and sets out to find Adimar at all his usual haunts, starting with Cracktooth's Tavern.
Nadja knows enough about the smugglers tunnels to locate an exit that doesn’t go through Pillbug’s shop. Later that night, she finds Adimar Scarnetti at Cracktooth’s drinking and cavorting with some of his cronies. When he sees her approaching, though, he smirks and slaps at the sycophants until they scatter.
”Well, hello there,” he says. His nostrils flare as he sniffs at Nadja. ”Mmm, you smell nice. New perfume?”
Nadja slides into the seat next to Adimar. "Thank you. No, but I used some lavender oil in my hair." She runs her fingers through her auburn locks, fluffing her hair playfully though her smile has a dangerous gleam to it. "Had some blood of my enemies that I needed to work out."
She leans her shoulder against his, eyeing the cups and mugs on the table. "What are we drinking? My throat's awfully dry after plunging the depths of the Pit, finding dark holes that were just crying out to be... explored." Nadja meets Adibar's eyes with a sultry gaze.
Jeni looks worriedly after her friend rushing to meet that thug. Then she sighs "So want to hang out" she asks Zen and Kaz "We could... read?"
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Zen frowns at Nadja as she scurries off, catching Jeni's expression. He leans on his big polearm, "sure. Or, you know, play a game - some of the guards have been teaching me how to play cards." He holds up his hand, "no gambling or anything, just for fun."
Adimar gestures to the nearby barmaid. "Two Understudies," he says, ordering the mixture of ale and whiskey for himself and Nadja.
"So, tell me more about these... dark holes of yours," Adimar says, waggling his eyebrows and twitching his nose.
Nadja takes a drink, keeping eye contact over the rim of the mug. "Well, it was a brief excursion this time, but there's nothing wrong with a quickie now and then, right?"
She pauses briefly to let Adimar's excitement build. "It was still a satisfying adventure, exploring those dark holes. Some of them were a tight squeeze, if you know what I mean. We even found an underground lake. The water looked sooo inviting so I just dove right in for a swim. You won't believe how wet I got," she whispers in his ear.
She studies his face as she leans back, feeling rather flushed herself. "So what about you? Care to tell me of any long and hard adventures you’ve had lately?"
"Okay" Jeni brightens at the prospect of 'not reading'
"Sure, I'll tell you anything you want to hear, darling," Adimar says, reaching out to touch Nadja's leg. "Wanna go somewhere more private? I've got a room at The White Deer where we can be alone..."
Nadja puts her hand on his cheek. "I like you, Adimar. I would love to visit the White Deer. Lead the way." She presses the fullest Understudy into his hand, encouraging him to drink up to make sure he's at least twice as drunk as she is.
In truth, she had worked herself up so she had no qualms about enjoying a bit of passion with the man. Nadja guessed that Jeni and Zen would likely be horrified at her actions, but she assuaged that part of her by telling herself that it was all for a good cause. Satisfy herself, satisfy him, then satisfy their curiosity.
<assuming a fade to black scene>
Satisfaction was... maybe not guaranteed. But it was pleasurable enough and definitely for Adimar. Tracing a random pattern on his chest with her fingernail in the afterglow, Nadja languidly asks, "so about those adventures... Any experiences in the Pit yourself? -- and don't you dare make a euphamism! I mean for real. I'm sure you want to make sure I come back to you, right? You wouldn't want me snatched up -- don't laugh! -- and carried off into some horrible fate. Like, we fought some derro, who are, like, Darkland slavers? I don't even know why they'd be that close to the surface."
At some point during the night, Nadja had connected the ledger describing forlorn elves being disappeared into the Pit with the Derro slavers they'd exterminated. If Adimar was involved through his association with Valdemar, maybe he'd let something slip.
"Gross." Kaz says as Adimar walks off. "I've barely gotten used to the gnat fighting, but were all the puns really necessary?"
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"Nah, I ain't been to the Pit yet," Adimar says, idly stroking Nadja's hair. "But Kaleb wants us to head down there soon, though. He figures there might be some treasures further down we can snag while your group's busy clearing out the upper levels. Maybe we'll see each other there."
"Maybe," Nadja agrees, keeping up the pillow-talk. "Oh, there are some pretty nice ettercaps near the surface. They'll let you pass if you offer them a fresh deer carcass."
She mulls over what she knows of Adimar's group. "Is Arika good with going back to the Pit? Kaleb must be pretty persuasive."
"Well, it definitely ain't her first choice," Adimar says with a snicker. "But she's the only one that's been there before, so it's a bit better than going in blind."
"Yeah," she says, putting a note of worry in her voice and playing the role of the girl worried for her man. "I still think about her story every time we go down there. Hopefully she'll hold it together. Do you trust your group? Will they have your back? Like, how well do you know Kaleb and the others?"
Adimar shrugs. "I don't know them all that well. Kaleb pays us good, so I'm happy to keep working for him. But Chertus is a dingus, and Arika's just been so mopey lately, especially after your friends got to her at dinner the other night. I don't trust them, but I've always got an exit strategy in mind should things go sour."
"Smart. Very smart." And speaking of exit strategies... Nadja turns the conversation to mundane topics for a little while longer before excusing herself from the bed and getting dressed.
She leaves the White Deer, thoroughly exhausted from the events of the day amd eager to sleep in her own bed, but that had to wait. Nadja heads in the direction of the theater, but on her way she sticks her head into Cracktooth's Tavern to see if her friends are still there. If they're not, Nadja returns home to throw on her clandestine cloak, activates the veil of privacy, and slips back out into the streets to discreetly track them down.
She stealthily moves to the streets checking her companions' usual haunts, finally arriving at Sheriff Hemlock's as a last resort if she can't find them elsewhere in town.
She ignores any looks of disapproval while she reports. "So, I found out that Kaleb's the money guy, and the rest are getting paid. Adimar didn't react when I mentioned the derro slavers and wondered why they were so close to the surface. Oh, and they're planning on exploring the lower levels of the Pit soon. Adimar said Kaleb thought there would be some treasures they could find while we're still in the upper levels. Not sure if that means he knows of something he wants to get before we find it, or if it's just, you know, the assumptions that any adventurer would make."
Jeni was leaning over a hand of cards, her brow furrowed. Nearly all the wood chips they were using to represent Bets are not in front of her. Jeni sighs and looks up at her friend, a quirk downward of her lips is all she shows of where she knows she has been "So we might run into them when we are exploring more tomorrow." she nods, not asking if it will be a problem for Nadja if they do run into them since she trusts her friend's loyalty without question. Judgement, well that is in question. Her eyes go back to her hand with now a full frown, and there is a seat at the table with them, open if Nadja wants to join.
Jeni does give a tiny smile when a ball of swirling water appears right next to Nadja "Do you need a quick bath?"
Zen looks at his own hand, but doesn’t tap into any sort of well of deception within his heart, and despite everything has managed to lose almost every hand to the generally guileless Jeni. Her own pile is is substantially larger than his, but he’s happy to be doing something wholesome with someone kind.
When Nadja appears, he moves over silently to give her a chance to sit if she wants to, and listens attentively at her explanation of what Adimar knows and doesn’t know, nodding along.
Jeni does give a tiny smile when a ball of swirling water appears right next to Nadja "Do you need a quick bath?"
"I'll be all right," Nadja smirks at Jeni. "I think we're about done today, right? Rest up, and see the sheriff tomorrow with the evidence? Unless you already saw him while I was, eh, squeezing info out of Adimar?"
Kaz winces again at Nadja's words. "If Sarenrae is indeed merciful that's the last you'll talk about it. To bed then, and thence to Hemlock."
The next morning, you meet with Sheriff Hemlock and present him with the evidence you gathered from Podiker's shop. The Shoanti sheriff scowls. "I always thought that Pillbug was up to no good. This confirms it. Thank you for bringing this to me. I'll round up my deputies right away!"
Indeed, Hemlock and his deputies quickly descend upon The Pillbug's Pantry and arrest Aliver Podiker, taking him into custody. The alchemist curses and protests as he is lead off to the Sandpoint Jail as townsfolk gasp and gawk. The sheriff and Mayor Deverin both see to it that Nisk Tander of Bottled Solutions is put in charge of cataloging the shop’s supplies and setting up the stock to be sold to generate money for the town’s use. The mayor allows you to pick and choose from the supplies as a reward.
More importantly, by disrupting Podiker's operations, you have no doubt prevented one of the dooms Nualia predicted would come to Sandpoint!
Nadja selects four moderate darkvision elixirs and one lesser as her share.
She swishes the contents of one of the bottles as she looks to her companions. "I feel extra prepared now to delve into the darkness. What about you? Back to the Pit? Or, we can bask in the adulation of the town for a little while longer."
Once you are ready, you descend back into the Pit, retracing your steps until you find yourselves in the passage near where you found the Hollow Star. Double doors are set at the end of a side passage here, and they open into a large chamber. Nadja quietly cracks one of the doors open and stealthily peers inside.
Nearly a dozen small bedrolls lie on the floor to the north and south of this chamber. The air here feels cold and weirdly thin, almost as if it were located atop a high mountain, and the mournful sound of wind racing over uneven badlands seems to echo across a vast distance. The ceiling above appears to look out into a star-filled sky, while at the center of the room looms an unsettling “statue” of a roughly spherical mass covered with nodules, lumps, shallow gashes, and other strange imperfections, all painted in an almost hypnotic pattern of twisting strokes of green, brown, yellow, and red paint.
There are currently four deros here, offering prayers and obeisance to the strange statue. They don't notice Nadja watching them.
Nadja draws the gloom blade and makes a brief stabbing motion while looking at her companions with a question in her eyes. Assuming she gets a thumbs up or some other "go ahead" gesture, she sneaks forward to stab the closest dero. Then she rushes back to lead them into her friends' ambush like before.
Jeni nods silently in a Go Ahead Go Ahead, get em and get back motion.
Even despite Nadja's blundering into the room, the deros are caught off-guard! The swashbuckler quickly runs up to stab one, scoring a critical hit, before dashing back to her companions' sides.
"Maybe you should have stretched first." Jeni shouted at her friend as she popped up and sent a torrent of water fists at the enemies. A teasing smile on her lips as she did so.
Kaz rushes forward as Nadja withdraws. "Zen? Your assistance please?" And once they've flanked the deros, they send a crackling bolt of lighting arcing down the line of their drenched foes.
Zen blanks languidly, shrugging with a clank "I'll hit them if they approach us, there isn't much else to do." He pauses, as if remembering something, "other than a magic spell, I guess." He presses one of the glowing runes on his chest and gestures, and his famous blorb of acid is conjured and moves towards the enemies before descending with a plop. He moves himself up to be a recipient of their ire, holding his large fauchard in front of himself and swishing it about.
Two of the deros jerk spasmodically as Kaz blasts them with lightning, then Zenobius splatters them with acid. Jeni's opening blast scores a critical hit to take down the one Nadja had stabbed, then batters the two uninjured ones with a big wave.
The three surviving deros shriek with anger as they cast debilitating spells. Their eyes flash blue as they try to confuse you as well.
A sudden giggle rips through Jeni, startling any around her. Yes, she giggles, rarely, but never in combat. Yes, she smiles, cause fighting monsters is exilerating, but not Giggles.
Hopefully you se4e the difference.
The giggle startles the water bender just enough that the second spell fogs the giggling young woman so she has no idea who is who any more.
Kaz is wholly unprepared for the sudden mental assault and just babbles mutely, convinced he's casting a spell at... someone?
As her vision fades for a moment, Nadja drops the gloom blade and draws her sawtooth sabres, holding them up in a defensive posture.
The champion at the front of the fight shakes off the negative effects but still can’t see easily.
He swings his fauchard at the closest enemies and points at another, inveighing that their evil crimes will be punished.
Kaz's spell falters. In her confusion, Jeni accidentally blasts Zenobius with a burst of water. As Nadja changes weapons, Zenobius slashes one of the deros with his fauchard but misses with his sweeping strike. He afflicts the foe nearest to Nadja, the same one he struck, with a litany of wrath.
That dero casts a spell and reaches out to touch Zenobius, trying to drain his life force. The litany blasts the dero for his impudence.
The other two deros batter Kaz with barrages of force shards.
When her vision clears, Nadja launches into a spinning dance, her blades flashing out at the closest derro.
"My head is killing me!" Kaz groans. They fish out a scroll and patch up most of their wounds, hoping not to be too obvious a target anymore.
Jeni looks on in horror at her attack on Zen "Zen! I'm, oh hells" she sends a barrage of water attacks at the dero trying to push them back, moving up to hack with an series of small blades to hope to take attention away from the others.
Zen shrugs off the worst of the void damage, and keeps attacking the dangerous foes.
Zen keeps up with his attacks, and tries to recover some of the damage he's taken.
Kaz heals himself as Nadja cuts down the closest dero with two slices of her sabres. Zenobius and Jeni team up to take down another foe with their powerful strikes.
Only one dero remains, but he refuses to flee, choosing instead to batter Zenobius with force missiles.
"Just die, monster" Jeni hisses with frustration after it pelts her friend with damaging force. She rushes the horrid thing before it can fire again, kicking and punching with water covered extremities.
"Hey!" Nadja shouts as she closes the distance between her and the last derro. She pirouettes with a flourish, spinning as her sabres slash repeatedly.
Between Jeni's blasts and Nadja's devastating combo attack, the last dero quickly falls!
The deros don't have anything of value on their persons. The strange lumpy rock in the center of the room has an unnerving presence.
Nadja stabs, sending the wicked ass into a clump of pouring blood, which Jeni then kicks as hard as she can, sending the now limp body thudding into the wall.
She still seems Really angry.
After sending a glare around to the other bodies, to make sure none of them were moving, she forces herself to relax and moves over to Zen, who was already working on his wounds "Let me help" she insists, pouring her pure healing waters over his bruising.
She also looks over at the rock, memory also prickling at the back of her mind, but nothing. Instead she looks back and forth between Kaz and Zen "Any idea what that is?"