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"Let's go to the Blue Marlin." Finn suggest. Once there he orders two beers and listens to Persephone presenting the issue at hand. "You best set up shop here, and I tell the guys to send them all to you. And you tell them how you want to handle it in the future."
Finn is busy with one of the other bookkeepers to hand out the wares to Zolkar.
Finn and the dockworkers carry all the stuff on the ship. With that many men it takes only a short time to get it cleared out.
"No one. They come sometime later." Finn replies.
"The Ship Yard in Corenty, Cheliax. The Sea King Shipyard or The Devil's Own in Absalom. Have one built." Finn suggests. "You want to become a captain?" he asks.
"Sure thing boss." Finn replies and takes a look out on the sea himself to estimate the time.
The delivery goes to Zokar and the other shop, but both don't open the door and just tell them to go away. Resulting in a fruitless walk. They turn and walk back towards the docks.
"Yeah. The boss sent us on another tour. I don't get why. But I'm paid the same even if it's just a walk in the fresh air for the wine." the talky guy replies.
The thug comes back out and tells his companion. "Nope, not interested." before the two move on.
While the three stand outside of The Pig's whistle, two dockworkers with a cart come along, with the well known boxes of wine. One stands next to the cart, the other one walks in. "Hey. We still have wine to offer. Are you interested today?" the dock worker asks.
"No, of course not. Fancy hat told one of them was a woman who used magic to appear as one of our kind. With a limp."
Finally the thugs come back from their tour. They park the still half full cart in the yard and come in. "It went to s$&~. Three of our 'customers' don't want to buy anymore. And fancy hat, had imposters who sold him our wine before we did. The crates are in the cart. And we got only payed for four boxes." Sense Motive DC13: Big guy is worried he might be in trouble.
"Aaarrrrgh. You all think you're very clever aren't you?" the thug fumes. "Let's see if you still have that stupid smile on your face tomorrow." They simply move on with their cart.
A few minutes later the thugs arrive. There is a knock on the back door. When opened, the thugs are there with their cart. "Your delivery!" the talky guy greets Zokar.
After a long moment staring contest the other thug shrugs and turns to leave. "I'll give your regards to the boss." He salutes with two fingers, picks up the crate, and follows his companion outside. A short squabble erupts among the four guys, to which the talking guy puts his foot down and then the group and the cart move on.
Perception DC20: No trouble. The boss will take care.
"I don't care what you want. Here is your delivery. Pay up." the guy demands.
Finn pats the guy on the shoulder. "Dude. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but if our book keeper here doesn't come to work tomorrow, Gorm will be pissed." Luckily for Arawyn Finn doesn't notice, that her shoulder isn't where it looks like it is. Finn moves on to the Blue Marlin.
As luck has it Finn comes walking from the direction Filip is running to. "What's going on here?" he demands to know as he spots the standoff.
To no one's surprise the guys walk straight to the Marinelli city block, high five with the guys on watch in the passage and walk in.
As the last ladies are gone and the job is done, the thug and one of his buddies leave the docks.
"You'll find us outside. There is always one of us in sight."
The thug grabs the drunkard's arm, wrests the bottle from his hand, and drags him out of the tavern. The other patrons turn to their own conversations again. Then he comes back to collect. After receiving the coin he tells "Next time you come to us first or it cost double."
"Your choice." the thug answers and releases the man.
The bar falls silent and watches with interest what is going on. "We are those who oversee the business here. And we take two silver for our service."
"That's not how this works. You seem to be new here so let me explain. If you do business at the docks, you pay us a fair share, and we take care of the scum." the thug explains.
But the man is interrupted by a thug, who grabs him at the neck from behind putting him in a headlock. "Ma'm. Is this dude causing you trouble?"
"Enjoy the city somewhere else." one 'suggests' and spits her in front of her boots. I case one would walk around, one would find the northern passage walled up too and the western one has two more of those persuasive gentlemen.
Faerveren finds that the passage between two houses on the south has a 15 feet high wall as a late addition that prevents entry. Walking around and trying the passage to the east she finds that there are two thugs standing in the passage who, with a grim face inquire "What do you want here?"
"Haha, run girl, I'm here if you change your mind."
A while later Finn comes. "Ok. Stand there, feet shoulder wide apart, arms outstretched." He pats her down to check if some of the goods got lost in the nooks of her dress. As he is done he gives her a slap on her butt. "You're free to go. Here is your pay." He holds out a stack of silver coins. Of the 10 silver he takes two. "That is my provision for getting you this job. The rest is yours. Come back tomorrow to Gorm directly. He will introduce you to your new job you're doing from now on."
Finn leads Persephone into the storage room. It is much smaller than the other warehouse, but contains a different kind of goods. Smaller crates, things in shelves, but also a few big crates as in th elarge warehouse. "System is the same. Rows are labeled here, the numbers are written there, and for most things it should be obvious what they are. Closed crates simply go by the number sometimes. Don't leave. I'll come look after you later and check you didn't pocket something. Gorm is serious about that."
As Persephone appears for work at the dock again Finn has 'good' news. "You get to do inventory again if you want to avoid hauling boxes. The boss found once too often that something still in the books refuses to be found. And now he demands to know what is there and what is missing." He leads her to the three story building with the yard and the storage facility behind. Once there he introduces her to a clerk. "Hey Gorm. Here is Percy. She can do the inventory for ya."
"There are not many who ask for office jobs. But those are not mine to hand out. I can ask later. Until then your pretty arse is mine to haul boxes as I see fit." Finn replies with a grin. "This time from the third row in the warehouse everything needs to be put on that ship. You know the drill."
"You're late." Finn replies. "See the boat there? It needs to be unloaded til high tide. Just follow the others and carry stuff. The easy job with the list you're too late to."
"Always a pleasure to do busyness with ya. See ya next week." Teh men leave the restaurant again.
They carry a wooden crate that they drop on the counter. "Your fine wine, as ordered." One of them tells.
"There is always work at the docks. At least dragging crates around. Maybe some more paperwork. Come back early, and I'll see what I got for you."
"Well, good work." he tells going over the list. "Here are your two silver. Come along, your meal waits." "Name's Finn. What's your's?" Finn inquires. He leads the short way to the Blue Marlin, a wooden building pressed between two warehouses. Two stories high, but only 20 feet wide. Entering through the swinging doors the houses real size becomes clear. It is about sixty feet from the entrance to the bar. And to the right and left of the narrow there a jostling crowd fills the tables. Finn raises his hand and makes a few signs, before pointing to a table with two vacant seats. Taking one, he pats on the seat besides him "Sit down."
"Two and if you finish it today, I pay you the warm meal at the Blue Marlin." the foreman offers.
"Good enough for me. I have this list here. Write a copy of it, and then check all the items and the positions in the warehouse. And mark where stuff is located wrongly. I need a complete inventory today. You get a silver a day."
"Do you have references for your bookkeeping?"
The foreman looks up and musters her. "What job? What can you do?" the foreman inquires.
Persephone is sent to the office cube in the corner of the warehouse. There the foreman sits over some lists. "What do you want." he barks without looking up from the paperwork.
A cold chill creeps up the man's spine as he is surrounded by the white that clouds his vision and numbs the sound. He considers to run. But what would he tell my boss? He stabs at the elf again, in hopes of somehow getting the upper hand.
"You'll pay for that!" he shouts and attacks.
The man looks kinda amused at the determined, but limping woman coming up the road. He wonders what she is about. Foreign insignia and disabled? Makes no sense.
The men and their cart move on through the old part of town until they stop in front of a nice restaurant. An unhappy looking man comes out and another crate changes hands for a substantial amount of money. And further on it goes. Through the narrow alleys meandering through the old part of town the next stop is a back alley where the chief of the two enters a small general store through the back entrance.
"See you next month then!" the guy tells with a smirk and leaves. Outside the puts the coins into one of the caskets, that has a slit in the lid. "Come on. The next customer is already waiting for us." Together they move on further up the street.
Meanwhile the two dock workers come along, one of them pushing a two wheeled cart with some crates on it. They walk unhurried, joking about something. They stop in front of The Pig's Whistle. The one doing the talking grabs a crate and carries it inside. "Good morning. Here is your delivery." he tells and puts the crate on the counter.
"See you tomorrow." The man salutes with two fingers to his temple and a grin. He leaves together with his silent companion.
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