Tessirda looked the man up and down, and shook her head. "We won't hurt you unless you make us. Now, how long have you been here?" A sensible enough questions - and if the answer was more than one night, a really damning peace of evidence.
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"Calm down, we just want to talk to you". Tessirda announced, the friendly face to Amunyet's mailed fist. "Really, you being here might be fortunate. You might clear up a few questions we've got about this place".
Tessirda nodded solemnly. "I am not really good with this... but better than just waiting around. This issue stinks to high heavens."
Tessirda phrased her words very carefully, unwilling to offend or maybe shock the jumpy little gnome too deeply. "Zindit, I am not willing to let this go. There is something very wrong about this issue, and Lahur would probably want us finding out the truth. So I need to know when he took the money, who saw him last, and where exactly his trail stops. If he left the goblin, someone had to see him do so. Why didn't he take someone for security? Can you find these things out in the goblin?"
Tessirda sighed, and moved away from the sleazebag. "Well... no. We have not come to rob you, or break a leg to reduce the credit. We've got a serious loss here. If you would grant us some more time to recoup that loss, we'll take it. We'll be thankful. But you will be paid in full." She turned away, grasped her pendant, and lowered her head. What was she to do here? She had come dangerously close to being a harm already. But the issue shouldn't rest. "Zindit, I have a job for you" she finally said. "When we are among ourselves."
Tessirda seized up the sleezy moneylender. "I see. So what have we left to do? We believe you that you have nothing to do with this, but... this evidence had to be placed recently. Do you know anything about this, or know who might do?"
"So... I take it you did not hear, see or otherwise wish to share anything that might be helpful in finding whoever is resolved to have you killed with us as your executioners?" Tessirda asked, fighting hard to keep her composture in this. The man was so obstinate, she wondered how he ever could have survived as long as he did.
"It can't be Saul" Tessirda replied, shaking her head. This was so clearly impossible to her, she didn't pay it a second thought. "Saul send someone to pay you last night. Larur, our floor manager. We found his cloak, bloody, in your trash. Someone intercepted him, and decided to give each of us a reason to attack."
Tessirda had just tried to find some restraint for the man when he came to, but breathed a sigh of relief as he proved sensible. Her fears seemed to have been less well-founded. "We need to talk to you, very badly. Someone is trying to set you up for murder. And we were your intended executioners. So I think we'd both rather like to know why."
"Because I want none to be even tempted to do something foolish" Tessirda interjected before Amunyet had a chance to wake Smeed. "Look, we're on very thin ice here, we basicly mugged him in his home. He's rightfully scared and if we hold him at swordpoint he might just decide we'd kill him anyway and try something tragic. Let's secure him, and give him a little time."
"Lets get the monkey in a cage, and some chains on Smeed." Tessirda declared, swiftly and decisively. Smeed would not sleep forever, and having him resume his assault seemed like a really bad idea. "Anyone have some rope or other restraints?"
Tessirda sneered, as the situation turned ever worse. "STOP! Stop this right now! Someone is trying to set us BOTH up here, stop. We're Wasp's T!~&, we're playing into his hands!"
Tessirda just about tried to grab the Monkey, twist the ape's arms into submission and allow someone else to tie him when she saw Zindit threw her blade. Well, that settled the idea... so she decided to just kick at the baboon's head and hope for the best.
"It's just a stupid monkey. I think we should be able to wrestle it into submission, if not individually, then as a team of two" Tessirda added, seemingly on Kelne's side. Killing guard dogs (or monkeys) wasn't going to cause her much of a guilty conscience, but doing so might make any negotiations afterwards much harder.
Tessirda had began to grimace at Zindit's increasingly incoherent ideas, but her latest comment brought a smile to her face. While she still didn't nearly comprehend just what went on in Zindit's head most of the time, this once she was right - being told someone was out to kill you motivated most people.
"I don't know." Tessirda replied to Zindit, glumly. She felt conflicted as well - on the one hand, Saul hadn't felt like a bad person to work for, and they were more or less implicating him with murder of one of his employees. On the other, the planted evidence looked a little too convenient, even if she'd initially have fallen for it. "Zindit, you're smarter than me. Why would someone put this here, if not to make us kill the moneylender out of revenge?" She finally conceded. This puzzle was too hard for her.
Tessirda had drawn her weapon and turned towards the house in anger when the explanation hit her like a ton of bricks. "Yes.. I think. I think that makes sense. But... Saul's... why would he rob hims..." Then Amunyet continued to spin her theory, and Tessirda's nods grew more eager. "Yes, what better way to get rid of the debt? That son of a snake..."
Tessirda mulled things over for a moment before replying to Amunyet. "I don't know. If he's behind that, I don't know what he stands to gain from it. I mean, if Lahur was carrying a big payment, there's no reason at all to kill him off. Sure, you pocket the money now, but you risk angering a customer who's already on the way to paying you."
"It makes a certain kind of sense that he would have checked his appartment to see if he bolted town on his own." Tessirda answered, thinking hard. She knew she wasn't too bright... had trouble getting this issue really sorted out. Why would someone vandalize the appartment of someone they robbed and killed? It made no sense - you want to get yourself away from this, not possibly leave more proof
Tessirda nodded. While she was not quite as hopeful as Kelne, but they should check as well as they could. She wasn't too interested in just becoming a blunt object of her employer - something rubbed her wrong about this whole situation. Why had he been sent out alone?!
Tessirda had already moved to take on speed in forcing the door, but Kelne's words stopped her. He was right, she was hasty. She didn't like the man's tone and behaviour, but... they had no proof. Worse, the whole thing, she reminded herself, was all but an open and shut case. "If we break open the door, this will end in bloodshed. I don't think being an arrogant jerk alone is worth that." She conceded, and moved to Kelne's side.
Tessirda looked at the moneylenders home, and knocked lightly, She didn't know much about him, but he didn't seem to be a very sociable or likeable fellow. Which admittedly made the position of "talk first" harder to maintain.
Tessirda sighed, and nodded. "Yes, I think most likely some thug feels really lucky right about ne." She replied, and looked Saul over. She wasn't going to press the point, but Kelne seemed to share her feelings. "We should check if he reached this Smeed character - But lets be careful this time around." She shot a short glance towards Zindit, whose inclination to disturbing ideas might not entirely fit well with a diplomatic approach.
Tessirda looked Saul over, something about the hurried tone not quite sitting right with her - but he maybe (hopefully) was merely concerned about his employee. She dediced having a look at this. "I think we'll see if he even arrived at that moneylender. Wait a second." There it was. He was delivering a payment. A sizable sum, most likely. Why didn't he have any support, someone to cover his back against a holdup? "Who was with him when he delivered this payment? Did they return? That would be a good point to start."
Tessirda looked thoughtful as she considered the situation. A lot of moneylenders were crooks and fully capable of taking an arm and leg into payment - but generally that was bad business, since arms and legs were not usually easily converted into coins. Still, this was a matter they'd definately need to check out. "I think we'll just have to pay this fellow a visit."
Tessirda looked at the eager little gnome. She gave her a smile. "Let's call in the gentlemen at arms." She winked, and moved back to the entrance area. They'd probably conclude there was no harm done here. Late she'd speak with the priest about her own role in the rebuilding of the sanctuary.
Tessirda looked over the two liberated people, and felt a little pride in what she did here. This wasn't petty revenge, and that was good, to her. "How was he involved with the actual priest? Was he in on this, or did the "Pauper" take advantage of him?" She tried to sound casual, but the she knew people... and the boy probably knew something. Including on just how she needed to talk to the priest again
Tessirda looked at the child, and smiled. This was easier than she expected. "Why would I slay you? You've done nothing to me, and as far as i know came to this sanctuary with no bad intentions." She paused, and offered a hand.
Tessirda looked up. The pile of rags she had dimly registered before had just started quivering. It could be the boy she saw earlier. So she put aside her grisly work for the moment, and took a few steps towards him. Not yet within arms reach (the boy was going to be too frightened), but close enough he'd know she was adressing him. "Hey... Is this your room?" She asked, intending to calm him down a bit, so she could talk to him longer.
Tessirda moved the bodies to the room, putting them next to each other. Each of them she cleaned up as well as she could, given the little time. She'd ask the priest to say a small prayer for their benefit. They were evil, but maybe their evil was rooted in desperation rather than malice... a slim distinction, one she wouldn't have paid any mind a few scant weeks ago - but now, she forced herself to count on it.
"Alright, first things first." Dead bodies didn't make for an inviting mission, and besides... they were too grisly a reminder on what it had taken to free it. So she decided to use one of the side chambers as a makeshift morgue. Getting a few worksmen here was the next step, but she would take care of that in the evening.
Tessirda, with the safed girl in tow, began to survey the scene, assess the damage the thugs (and their less than planned rescue) had caused. The mission was in sorry shape... but maybe, with a little work and money, it might turn out to be a good place inside Riddleport.
Tessirda shook her head. "You can thank me until you are blue in the face, Maybell, and it wouldn't do anything good. I like you, really. But i can only help you out so many times, and this one counts tripple at least. Sooner or later, you've got to take control of what you want to do. Not a pimp and not the tiefling. You." She gave her an encouraging prod below her lowered chin. "I'll test the waters with the others. You think about what I told you... but first, I think I've got to help mop up this mess here. You tagging along?"
Tessirda looked Maybell up and down, and shrugged. She had gone behind the back of the church of Calisitra. Tough position to be in. Some revenge would be enacted on her. "I don't know. I can talk to them, but you'll have an uphill battle here. I'm behind you, though. If not, we find another way."
Tessirda shook her head. "It didn't work out here, why should it work better somewhere else?" She pondered for a moment, what she was going to do. Just turning Maybell out of town, on a ship towards a place she had no connection to at all guaranteed she'd end up in another abusive pimp's clutches almost immediately. "How about this, you stay with me for the moment. I'll talk with the house if they take you back. If not, we'll find a good place for you before you set out. Ann since you'll be staying with me, he won't risk it coming after you - as long as you don't run out again."
Tessirda met up with Zindit and Maybell soon enough, and nodded. "Good to see you unhurt. Thank you Zindit. Sorry I lost touch with you in the battle." She put an arm on the girl's shoulder, and squeezed for a moment, trying to reassure her. "We'll get you out of town soon enough." She had half a mind of giving her some further words of encouragement. She was as much at a crossroads as she herself had been. There had to be something she could say that made it all better, all easier. Maybell wasn't cut out for the work she did, and it showed all too clearly to Tess. But she just lacked the words and the ideas. Dawnflower, guide my hands she whispered... and just took her shot. "Do you know what you want to do once you are out of town? Do you have someone to take you in? To stay with until you have solid feet under you again" [ooc]We can take this discussion off the main thread, I don't want to hold anything up[/i]
Tessirda once again was feeling a slighty bit puzzled by the gnome. She was behaving as oddly as any of her fey-touched kin, but Zindit's behavior to herself was still unsettling. Why exactly was she as eager to please as she was, and yet seemed to be so fearful at the same time? "Well, I suppose this is good news, in a way. I would have preferred to bring him in alife, but his men started the bloodshed, we just ended it." She answered Zindit, with a smile. Maybe building a little trust and mutual sympathy would get her past the strange behavior. She was, however, somewhat concerned about Maybell's whereabouts, but couldn't very well leave her prisoner with Zindit. Not after her helpful suggestion earlier. "Have you seen the girl who was with me when you came here? She's called Maybell"
With the battle concluded, Tessirda finally put her blade back into place, and watched around for Maybell, who she had sadly let out of her sight in the heat of the moment. Her prisoner could wait - the somewhat foolish, but unfortunate girl was what brought her here, and she'd not walk out without knowing her to be save.
"I don't know, and that worries me" Tessirda replied, torn between leaving the prisoner behind, leaving him with Zindit (which she wasn't sure was a good idea at all), or standing on the sidelines. "You run ahead, Zindit, and see if they need any help. I'll follow along as quickly as possible"
Tessirda marched the man around the mission, keeping her blade handy, but not holding him at swordpoint. That would be both unnecessary, and just quite felt... vindicative.
"She won't hurt you. Just keep your hands where we can see them, and follow us back inside for the moment" Tessirda replied. She wasn't sure at all what to do with the prisoner, but she'd make it up as she went along.
Tessirda almost choked on her own tongue as she heard Zindit's suggestion. She almost immediately tried to rationalize the gnome was trying to scare the prisoner, but that was a little - alright. A lot too close for comfort. "Zindit, this is really not necessary, I think he's well subdued." She replied, once she had regained some composure. Her face however still was somewhere between incredulous and horrified.
"That would be best, yes." Tessirda replied, as she reasserted a less painful grip on her weapon. "Thank you, I'd not have gotten him without your help." She gave Zindit a brief smile, but kept her eyes on their captive nevertheless. Getting this far before being killed in a surprise attack was way too embarrassing a way to die, after all.
Tessirda had quite enough of the tree, and put aside her doubts, and just her back into it more. She grunted at the exertion, but managed to make some more progress, despite the sword almost paralyzing the one hand she held it in from the exertion.
Tessirda put her muscles into action as she began to make progress up the tree - trying to not think about the precarious balance and position she put herself in.
Tessirda, glad to have averted a direct conflict with the actual caretakers of the asylum darted towards the gnome, just as she fell to the ground. Her blade would make climbing awkward, to say the least, but noone was going down here.
"I just wanted to make sure you know why we're here. If you can, take a look for Maybell. She must be scared." Tessirda replied, and raised her blade again before she returned to the fray.
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