Dianora easily avoids being seen, almost as if she'd used magic to make herself invisible. She occasionally manages to avoid the gaze of her companions just long enough to make them think about worrying before she lets herself be spotted again.
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Kimmich becomes wildly distracted at losing track of Dianora. He spends so much time trying to figure out where she is vanishing to that he forgets to take precautions to hide himself for a moment.
Once Dianora reappears the first time, the orc realizes his own inept efforts and redoubles his attempts to hide even better than Dianora. In his zeal he still forgets to look for the target.
Crystal tries to keep herself out of sight as much as possible, not bothering to wait too much for Kimmich in her strides. And she makes a stern attempt to keep her eyes focused for someone who looks in charge.
Yuki plays the distraction. Being someone seen walking around the docks. Following the old adage of being interesting but not memorable.
And periodically she even remembers to check for a tail. (Other than her own of course which is currently not visible as she is in disguise)
As you unobtrusively lurk around the docks, you spot Dockmaster Torvald Kemp. An average-looking middle-aged human man, Kemp has an unpleasant demeanor (you see several tense exchanges where Kemp scolds importers), but he doesn’t carry any weapons—a bit of an oddity on the isle. Perhaps his fierce reputation is enough protection for most encounters.
As you monitor him, you notice that he’s never seen without a leather-bound ledger that he keeps in a waterproof case on his hip, and he’s often seen jotting notes in its pages.
"He doesn't seem like a very nice person," Dianora observes. "But he definitely likes that ledger." She thinks for a moment. "Perhaps we make a distraction and Crystal steals it? Not that I would normally encourage rampant theft, of course -- thieves have no standards! -- but this seems like a special circumstance."
"I'm not generally a pickpocket, but that's not to say I couldn't pull that sort of lowly work off if that's what we need. I'll see what I can do."
”Damsel in distress or perhaps we start a riot”? Yuki muses. ” we make so there’s a commotion it would be more believable that he gets bumped into I think.”
"Sink a boat? Or maybe set one on fire?" Kimmich suggest helpfully. "Seems like a man who won't blink at anything except a cut pursestring."
”It will need to be something impressive,” Yuki agrees. ”But I don’t know that we have time to ensure we aren’t sinking a boat in service to our Lady. Now, a workers riot, that is something that will be big and showy, and we might get some land based explosions out of it…?” Yuki looks around for some malcontents who could get things started for her…
"Those are good ideas, but ... aren't we trying to sneak in? Doesn't that mean trying not to let everyone know we're here?" Dianora asks. "I think something smaller might be better. Maybe someone falls and hurts themselves? One of us or ... " She gestures to other people on the dock. "One of them."
Yuki’s companions manage to talk her down from creating too big of a scene and after some reflection, agrees that a smaller distraction is probably best.
They set up in an area with vendors and stalls and wait for him to pass through. As her companions get into place, Yuki, ducks out of sight and casts unseen servant from her staff. Maintaining the spell, she directs it to begin causing a ruckus in the dockside market. Throwing things around, bumping into people etc.
To create a distraction:
Critical Aid!
Crystal, in one of her finer merchant guises looks to their mark and rushes to him feigning a panic. "Goodness sir! You must get the attention of an exorcist. If one of these shipments here is haunted now it'll get to everything on board without fail. Just look at the mess its causing!"
She stumbles into him and points wildly at the commotion with one hand and pulls the ledger with her other hand while Yuki's ghost fully grips his gaze and attention.
She stumbles into him, fails to grab the item but then turns around and pulls it from behind his back when he starts to move forward and approach the commotion at the last minute.
With an almost-imperceptible brush, Crystal lifts the book from the dockmaster as Yuki distracts him with the din of falling craftes. "Careful with that stacking," he snarls.
Torvald’s ledger contains names and descriptions of several visitors to the island. Investigating it for a few minutes, you discover that Torvald often reported suspicious activity to two different contacts—one being the city authorities (as expected), and the other being to Sister Maeri, whom you recognize as the Abbess of the local Hospice of Serenity.
Tucked into the back of the ledger is a letter that appears to be written in some sort of cypher. Crystal recognizes some of the characters from Diabolic, but there are strange characters mixed among them as a part of the code.
letter appears to be from Sister Maeri and provides extensive details about you and your appearances. It suggests that Torvald keep an eye out for you, warning him that the fugitives may attempt to enter the city via the sea. The letter concludes, “If you catch them, the new blood mistress will doubtless be pleased and may well grant you an early reprieve from the servitude terms in your contract.”
"I say we find a place to hold up for the day, no doubt Torvald is going to look for his ledger for a bit once he realizes that it is missing."
She turns to the rest of her group and laughs. "Haha well I must be some kind of prescient. Looks like a message from Sister Maeri describing our appearances and telling him to look out for us. Apparently he's looking to remove some kind of servitude in his contract that he owes by backing the 'new blood mistress'." She makes very over the top air quotes for the last phrase and rolls her eyes.
Kimmich scowls at the writing over Crystal's shoulder, but fails to intimidate it into deciphering itself for him. He takes in Crystal's successful deciphering thoughtfully. "Sounds like the sort of thing we could apply as leverage - lie to him to disrupt her plans, when the time comes. Assign him little missions." Kimmich grins. "Could be fun."
"Oooh blackmail! I do love blackmail. It's such a classic that it never really gets old." Crystal rolls up the letter and pushes into one her glass bottles and corks it to store for later. "I guess we should figure out who Sister Maeri is, and why she's so dead set on support of t his disgusting overthrower."
”Let us find some place to get off of the streets and lay low while we plot our next move.” Yuki tries to remember the name of the inn she would go hang out at as a kit when she wanted to play as an adventurer and was shirking the chores the Blood Mistress had given her. It was quite the dive…
Dianora nods. "I think blackmail is such a dirty word. I mean, why is it black? It would be hard to see the ink on black parchment. I think it should probably be chore mail. Like, here's mail, with a chore for you. If you don't do, we're going to slit your throat. Wouldn't that make a lot more sense?"
Laying low for a short time seems like a good option.
"Maybe we find a berth at the Dandy's Demise -- can one of us pretend to be a retired pirate captain? If not, it's the Manticore for us! Then perhaps we head to the hospice. Sister Maeri seems awfully interested in us, so it only seems right that we pay her a visit..."
Crystal nods. "Yes we'll book a room or two then take a trip to look into Maeri. At the very least we'll need to start learning a bit more about her."
Yuki agrees that while the manticore may be easier we should try to fake being sea captains first
You make your way through the streets without incident to Darcy's Demise.
While the language is salty, the atmosphere is relatively subdued. Old sailors chat over cups of ale, or grog for the more nostalgic.
A few quick words from Yuki are enough to suggest your bona fides as former ship captains, and you're able to secure a room for 4 fellow travelers at a negligible price.
The fittings of the room are decidedly nautical, with begrimed circular windows looking out onto the Dandy, rope-tacked beds, and whale-oil lanterns rather than candles.
No surprise attacks happen while you are sleeping, and you have time to rest and prepare as you wish.
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Dianora waves to the other captains, grinning at her own antics. You have to wave to sailors! She calls over the bartender. "Is there anything on 'sail' today? A galleon of ale, maybe?" she asks with a smile.
In the morning, she complains to her companions. "I hope everyone slept better than I did. I had a lot of bad dreams -- real nightmaritimes."
Yuki covers a laugh with her hand. ”Perhaps the tide will turn in our favor today? Let us observe the hospice for a bit and see her comings and goings. Perhaps someone needs some extra coin and can give us some information?”
"Sister Dianora, be grateful that the blessings of the Mantis are ever strong in you and stay my hand from such an ear shattering statement."
She rolls her eyes and turns to Yuki. "I might propose and addition to your plan. Dianora and I observe for the day and you and Kimmich perhaps find some long term stayers at the hospice to 'interview' for some information about the current internal comings and goings of both the hospice and Maeri herself."
As one would expect in a rough-and-tumble port where violence is a frequent solution, Ilizmagorti has great need for healers and caretakers. The Hospice of Serenity presents services of caregiving and solace, and its members are quickly recognizable by virtue of their white and gold robes.
The Hospice of Serenity is a relatively humble one-story stone building. It has 15-foot-high walls and each corner of the building boasts a 40-foot-tall minaret, while a large copper dome surrounded by several glass skylights adorns the main roof.
Kimmich takes some time to try to hunt down some of the lowest rabble of the city, stalking the sodden alleys and cramped tenement rows until he can isolate and intimidate some low-level street thugs about the state of affairs in the island's underworld.
Dianora follows Kimmich, chatting up the people he beats up in his process. "Maybe you want to go to the Hospice of Serenity? Unless maybe you know some reason you shouldn't?"
Yuki finds a place such as a cafe where she can sit and while away the hours and observe the hospice. She is on the lookout for visitors who aren’t what they seem (ie couriers or spies) and for the sister herself to see if she has a pattern that can be exploited.
Crystal fails to find and easy and well hidden away spot to plant herself but her natural stealthy inclinations do keep her on the move at least helping her see more of the area as she keeps trying to find a good spot.
There is little unusual activity at the Hospice early in the day, though just after noon, Yuki and Crystal notice an unusual outflux of people from the building. They leave in pairs and trios, attempting to avoid notice, but their surreptitious movements quickly attract Yuki and Crystal's attention.
It's also impossible to hide the fact that many of the people leaving the hospice are ill or injured in some way. Some are even being carried out on stretchers.
Kimmich provides some low-level beatings of street-level criminals; they don't have much information, but say that those "in the know" avoid the Hospice. People have been known to disappear from the hospice with no explanation. Those who ask too many questions about the services provided have also vanished.
"What a mess of a place. At least when we trick people they come out of it dead. Not even more poor than before and also more injured or ill than they went in there to begin with. We certainly can't let someone with that kind of lack of appreciation of the proper transactions of violence have an influence over the core of the Red Mantis politics." Crystal thinks for a long slow moment, simmering in her newly found distaste of the hospice.
"Who in the world is this saint that Maeri supposedly serves. It has me stewing with grusome curiosity."
Dianora shrugs. "I love a good stew. Venison or fish or, well, really any stew. As long as it doesn't burn. Which we definitely don't want to happen to you. So let's see what we can cook up. Maybe we follow one of these groups and see where they're going and what they're doing? And if that doesn't work, we ask them Kimmich-style?"
"Ask them silently so they never hear you coming? I'll admit, I don't get a lot of answers that way," the orc says with a hint of dry sauciness. "Sick, injured, and dying, coming for help... The ear of a new blood mistress... Wonder how it all ties together."
”Definitely something fishy going on around here, something not even a good stew could cook the funk out of it. Hopefully one of these people we are trailing cares more about “being helpful” than keeping secrets.”
You follow a trio leaving the Abby. Two of them are robed in the uniform of the hospice, and the other limps along between them, forcing them to a pace that is easy to follow.
They enter a simple dwelling. Through the window, you can see the clergy getting the patient settled into what appears to be the lone bed in the small home.
The two robed figures stand by the window, grumbling quietly about how their day has been disrupted.
Sister Dianora sits and watches, curious what will happen.
As you watch, the acolytes get their patient settled and prepare a light meal. One settles on a chair next to the bed and reads a book, while the other leaves the house with a basket on his arm.
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Dianora looks at the other three and then gestures with her head after the one leaving.
Crystal nods, and waves Kimmich over with her as they turn and take off after the exiting acolyte newly on the hunt for information from their new target.
Yuki whispers to Dianora, ”While they go an follow him let’s see if we can sniff out any more information here. I can’t help with listening, but perhaps an eye will be enough.”
Yuki sneaks the eye under the door…
If needed I can as a 1 action create a diversion to assist my stealth roll.
With a nod to Dianora and Yuki, Kimmich slips in behind Crystal and begins to track the other acolyte, working doubly hard to keep each of them from being too noticable.
Dianora nods and keeps a watch out for anyone else approaching or spying on the assassins' espionage.
Kimmich and Crystal slip into the crowd, working hard to be unobtrusive. The mark is easy to follow; either she doesn't expect surviellance or she is an especially canny operative to successfully feign casualness. She proceeds into the market and haggles with several stallkeepers picking up what Crystal recognizes as the makings of a fairly complete healer's kit. You observe her closely enough to overhear her complaints about having to buy these items for herself.
Inside the house, the eye observes the acolyte watching her charge carefully. She lays a damp cloth on the patient's forehead and checks his temperature, evidently concerned that he is running a fever.
Yuki does spot something of interest on the small bookshelf of the home: A slender tome bound in red leather and embossed in gold with the title Sisters in Serenity.
"They don't seem particularly effective. Magic is a much, much better way to break a fever. Or a good blow to the head, but that tends to be much messier," Dianora whispers. "But why take care of him here instead of in the hospice? This is very strange. I think we should go in and ask."
”I guess we could go in and offer your services, and while you have them distracted I could nab the book? We’d want to use the scarves to look like someone else’s probably.” Yuki whispers back.