Bridgette then adds "Seems someone is on the same ledger as me at the moment.
But we should also help the little ones left here and get them to some place better. I recall there are a few orphanages in the city.
Might be good to check them out some before handing the little ones over to the orphanage we pick."
Thoric’s eyes light up at Bridgette’s words; “Yes! He has been able to escape justice far too long. Too many lives ruined and even though he is dead, those who have accepted bribes to keep it quiet need to face judgement too.”
Thoric looks over the shoulders, under the shoulders… of those who are looking at the records. Specifically looking for any nobility that might have gotten rich off of keeping quiet.
[dice=K-Nobility]1d20+4
Thoric, you do recognize five names. Sir Thrumbol, Esquire (a dwarf); Lady Davina Oplin (a human), Lady Jubilina Herzog (a human), Sir Elendil (an elf), and finally Sir Ulphin, Esquire (a halfing).
There is the harrow deck you should have picked up. Other than that, there is nothing else here. Unless you want to rastle with a shark.
Daranil speaks in a somewhat mocking tone. "It would be better, I suppose, to use some of that money towards the poor unfortunate souls that have been so unfairly robbed of Lamm's tender affections."
The elf ponders their situation for a moment. "Do you think they know any other self-important manipulative scum? If we were to provide them a place to stay and a meal, perhaps they would be willing to tip us off."
Bridgette answers Daranil's question "Most of the children likely, don't, though Lamm likely has a few that do special runs they might know a face, but not a real name."
Azig picks up the deck of cards again, wiping the blood off as well as he can and looking at the pictures on them. "I don't know how these things work, but I hope we can clean this one up...."
"I think we should take the gems to a professional. They look pretty valuable, but I'm not a jeweler."
Azig picks up the deck of cards again, wiping the blood off as well as he can and looking at the pictures on them. "I don't know how these things work, but I hope we can clean this one up...."
"I think we should take the gems to a professional. They look pretty valuable, but I'm not a jeweler."
Suddenly, the ghost of the fortune teller that started you on this quest appears to you.
"Thanks for retrieving my Harrow deck," she says. "And thank you for killing Gaedrin Lamm. Now I can rest."
Bridgette sees the ghost of some someone she doesn't know and is going wide-eyed in surprise for a moment before she calmly asks.
"Am I hallucinating, or is that a ghost in front of me?"
Azig is startled by the ghost. Oddly not frightened. "Yes. This Harrow deck is hers. We went to her home."
He addresses the ghost directly. "I'm sorry there wasn't a better outcome from this. But hopefully you can rest in peace with this monster dead. What should we do with your deck? And your home?"
Daranil inclines his head towards the ghost. "Then I hope your final show was one to remember. It was dedicated to you, after all. Are there any... final requests, before you go? I'm certain we can perform a tasteful encore."
"I'll still be needed until my reincarnation," she says. "As for my house, you can tell the bank it's ready to be sold. Use my deck to contact me on pressing questions. As for a final request: I ask for a proper burial. If you can't find my head or my hands, burn down this place."
Thinking to himself Sir Thrumbol, Esquire, Lady Davina Oplin, Lady Jubilina Herzog, Sir Elendil, Sir Ulphin. Pointing out the names to everyone; “Do any of these mean anything to you all?”
Stunned in silence he takes in her request, and nods; “We will find your remains and you will see a proper burial.”
Thinking to himself Sir Thrumbol, Esquire, Lady Davina Oplin, Lady Jubilina Herzog, Sir Elendil, Sir Ulphin. Pointing out the names to everyone; “Do any of these mean anything to you all?”K-Nobility: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21
Yeah . . you know of Sir Thrumbol, the others you heard of but can't place them. Sir Thrumbol attends your church. He sings the hymns and do other religious rituals; and you have seen him. Since Sir Elendil and Ulphin are elves, they are rarely in your part of town.
One thing you can definitely place, they are all connected to the city watch.
Do any of those names have a connection to the hostile take over of her father's merchant company that Lamm had a hand in?
Do any of those names have a connection to the hostile take over of her father's merchant company that Lamm had a hand in?
Sir Thrumbol.
Bridgette comments "Sir Thrumbol...well, well well, So he did have a hand in the hostile take over of my father's company.
I hope he likes the bad attention he'll be receiving."
Azig looks around as the others peruse the ledger. "We need to find Zellara's head and hands if we can. Or burn this place down. Lamm and his men are gone so I don't think burning it down serves any good...."
If anyone follows Azig leads the group to search, very carefully searching for traps and any other sort of dangers. Remembering the croc he stays as far from water as he can.
"Oh, I don't know. Seeing this place erupt in a pyre would serve to provide us with a well-needed catharsis if nothing else. And she didn't say to not turn it a lush pile of ashes if we found her remains."
The elf looks back at the body once again. "Either way, no need to let Dear Lamm's things go to waste. Only fair that is 'extended family' inherit his worldly possessions after this passing. Let's find everything we can. If any of you know your way around beast taming, we could even buy some meat and claim his pet."
Lem has only a passing interest in any children. His focus is on finding anything that could exonerate his friend for the murder Lamm framed him for. He does look interested in finding a dead ghost woman's head and hands, though. That sounds interesting. "Yeah, let's look for those," he responds as he looks through the papers.
"We should take anything and everything of value, as Lamm has suffered a foreclosure and has debts to pay.
So let's check this place all over before we torch it and get the children somewhere safe."
When the party sets to work looking for the remains Thoric joins them, keeping an eye out for any stonework that could have been ajar hiding a hole that these remains could have been placed. Anything that might be of value the dwarf picks up, or if it is too large he places in the center of the room.
Bridgette smiles as she comes up with an good and nasty idea
"Oh I just thought something good to deal to those corrupt nobles.
And the better part is, is that it'll hit them from outside the law they tend to pay off.
And it would hit them right in their bank accounts, and their social lives.
Which also means they'll have less money and influence to keep bribing themselves out of trouble.
We'd need a few scribes though."
"Anyone interested in going through with my idea."
Steps:
Get some scribes to make a good number of copies of the dark contracts and ledgers.
Give a copy to the various heads of Merchant companies and Caravans.
and a few select shops in town to spread the news and evidence locally.
along with a suggested action of not dealing with them, or charging them up through the nose on prices.
Likely Fallout:
No Merchant or Caravan will want to do normal business with those nobles anymore.
That'll also be true with the local shops as they become aware of what they did.
It'll mean those nobles will be paying 10 to 100 times or even more for anything
they buy, if they can buy from that merchant/caravan or shop at all.
And if the nobles need to sell things, they might get a fraction of what they
were hoping for, if they can even sell it for emergency cash.
Which means they will not be able to get things they need or want as they used to.
And since Nobles chase social trends, they won't be able to keep up with the latest trends easily.
Which will hurt them hard in the noble social scene, since they will only have
out of date fashion, and not being able to secure exotic foods for parties they host.
It hurts them in multiple areas, the Wallet and their influence among other nobles.
They have only 3 financial outcomes;
-> which can also they could starve to death as they can't even buy food
I can even imagine the servants leaving them, so they can buy food and feed themselves with this one.
-> They'll be stuck here, can't chase trends and still paying a fortune for stuff sans the luxuries.
-> this one might get them in more trouble socially if they host a party with an exotic food that is not what it is claimed to be.
Given the number of copies to be made of everything, it'll be a week or two if it is just one scribe coping everything.