You sneak past the gate and head for the docks, being ready to unravel the mystery of who is behind it.
After few hours you reach the docks, they bustle with activity.
Ilizmagorti’s waterfront is a constantly bustling scene, with dockworkers loading or unloading cargo quickly in hopes of avoiding fines for lingering too long. Merchants and hucksters push their wares, pickpockets look for easy marks, and travelers of all sorts come and go. You think to spot dockmaster from the distance, and he sees a middle-aged human man carrying leather-bound ledger that he keeps in a waterproof case on his hip, and he’s often seen jotting notes in its pages about suspicious activities he observes.
Before setting out, Ann disguises herself as a dockworker before leaving, applying a fake beard, binding her chest, and wiping an appropriate amount of grime on her visible skin. It's a good thing she's built like a solid trunk; her frame can easily pass for that of a man's with little more than a bit of padding around her belly.
She makes sure to keep herself looking busy as the others approach the dockmaster. Once she's got a good idea of where they'll be talking, she works her way over there so she's mostly within earshot.
Ketsu-kiba will hide amid the crowd.
Quickly Ann makes herself to look like a dockworker, she makes few rounds moving in and out of range of dockmaster.
Moonlight hides at the edge of the docks. Ketsu-kiba is bold and she tries to hide between the workers, but she kicks one of the barrels, this shouldn't be heard in docks when there are so many sounds and people. But Torvalds turn towards your way and he brisk walks towards Ketsu
"You, you don't belong here. What is your business here!"
Ketsu feels that all of the sudden there is plenty of space around him, like everyone else have moved to some other place...
Sien will use his armor's invisibility rune to approach the dockmaster.
Before he can get there, he witnesses Ketsu-kiba being made, and he pauses as the crowd clears.
Ketsu-kiba "Alright, alright. My apologies, dock work isn't my thing."
Lowering her voice and leaning in "Look, our lumber shipments have been coming up short and was asked to look into it and I wanted to get a lay of the land before starting a formal inquiry."
Torvalds look at Ketsu who sounds, honest.
The man sizes her up and says "Lumber shipment? What was the origin of the ship?" Torvalds asks and opens his ledger
"I haven't seen you there, and I do have good memory for faces. Who do you work for?"
Sien will let this play out, but he'll Sneak forward to be within range of snatching the ledger.
Stealth (L) +29, Thievery (T) +23
Ann had purposely tried to avoid looking for her teammates. That way she wouldn't be able to inadvertently give away their locations by an unconscious flick of the eye. She doesn't know how close the others are, but she decides to stay close enough to respond if Ketsu-kiba needs it. Angling herself so she can surreptitiously watch out of the corner of her eye, Ann bends over to re-tie her bootlace about 40 or so feet away from the confrontation.
Torvalds speaks for a moment with Ketsu, asking her questions and holding ledger open as he checks some logs. His eyes are scanning the surrounding and you wait for him to close the ledger and put it under his arm so that you can attempt to snatch it.
Ann ties her shoe as she analyze the situation, the old devil seems a bit to self-confident, but she waits for the situation to develop.
Finally he closes the ledger and puts it under his arm and turns to the side ...
Ketsu keeps up the conversation "Come now, I've already said too much."
Ketsu-kiba pauses buying a bit of time and follows up, leaning in closely "Okay... look I can see you run a tight ship and are trying to help so I'll let you in. At least as much as I'm allowed. I'm not supposed to name names, but the older Lumber company that specializes on the Eastern slopes, see there were some hallowed out logs that we think we're being used for smuggling purposes. By the time we noticed, the hallowed out bits were empty. Means we're still out but it's unclear where in the process the drop and the pickup occurred. I'm investigating here, and others are investigating other parts of the process..."
Sien will drop a rock into the water to make a distracting splash, just as Moonlight is about to steal it.
Ketsu spin her tale, and Torvalds close his ledger with loud snap and puts it under his shoulder.
He eyes Ketsu in silence after which he begins a monologue about not being able to help everyone who asks question as he is important dockmaster with impeccable work ethic. A line so rehearsed that Ketsu is sure that he expects to get paid to aid.
Moonlight approaches as Sien is prepared to make a noise ...