Search Posts
Zindit nearly jumped back as if she had been struck. "Wha-y-yes ma'am!" she quickly replied to Tessirda. Calmdowncalmdownshejustwantsyoutodoajob She kept a fearful eye turned to the floor as she followed closely behind the elven woman. "Be careful healing the monkey Zavos. It might try to bite again..."
Zindit quickly came back inside, giving every one a thumbs-up and bobbing her head excitedly. "Everything's-okay-we-can-go-now-and-we're-really-sorry-about-this-sir-if-y ou-want-to-relax-after-today-there-are-a-lot-of-fun-games-at-the-Gold-Gobli n!"
"Yes sir, Mister Kelne!" Zindit chirped with a quick and clumsy salute.
Zindit went to the back of the building, close to where they had snuck inside. She looked for a window and peeked through, checking to make sure no one was watching, and then quickly went through, beginning a slow walk around the building while trying to keep a subtle eye out for anyone watching.
"Or maybe did you hear someone get mugged outside your house?" Zindit quietly asked, hoping to be helpful. Maybe he just got stabbed on the street and robbed. It happened often enough in Riddleport. "You aren't mad at us are you?" she asked, wringing her hands and looking up at Smeed hopefully. "We warned you that we were set up to kill you so we're okay, right?"
Zindit pointed meekly at the bloodied cloak, opting to keep quiet for the time being. She lamented that she had not hidden her face from Smeed earlier...
Zindit looked uneasily at the budding argument between the two godswomen, and decided that it was wisest to avoid having to support one over the other. She backed away and helped Kelne secure the babboon.
Zindit slowly backed away from the door, handed the cloak over to the others, and began to quietly search over the room, mostly out of instinct. She was looking for anything the caught her eye as valuable before she remembered who she was with. Looking over her shoulder guiltily at Amunyet and Tessirda, she turned back to searching, this time looking for anything out of place as the others handled talking to Smeed. The feeling that the others were watching her as she worked distracted her somewhat...
Zindit let out a deep sigh of relief after Smeed fell. "I-is he okay?" She turned listen at the door, to ensure no one else came in to surprise them. "What about the monkey?" she asked with a newly worried look. Smeed probably wouldn't take the death of his pet well even if they did explain the situation.
"Sir if you don't stop they won't be able to save your monkey!" Zindit called out as she wrung the bloodied cloak in her hands and kept near the door. The fear of Smeed getting out was lessened for the moment, but now she was concerned about anyone coming in.
Zindit backpedalled to the unopened door, hoping to block Smeed's exit. And hoping the others could stop him from hurting her. Her dagger was in the other room, so she did the only thing she could think of. She held forth the blood stained cloak and yelled, "Mr.Smeed-look-we're-sorry-about-your-monkey-and-I'm-sure-Miss-Amunyet-will -be-nice-and-heal-him-but-he-attacked-us-and-we-were-just-trying-to-show-th is-to-you-because-it's-Mister-Larur's-cloak-and-it-was-in-the-trash-outside -your-house-like-someone-left-it-there-and-it-looks-like-someone-is-trying- to-set-us-all-up-at-least-that's-what-Mister-Kelne-thinks!" Her eye was aglow with near panic as she tried to hold her ground.
Oh no! Ohnoohnoohnoohnoohno! Zindit looked back to see the baboon ready to charge Kelne in the distance. She was too far to reach him, and if Smeed was upstairs and decided to make a break for it...well that would just cause all sorts of confusion and bad news for them later on... He would think they were breaking into his house!! She looked back and forth between the other door, the stairway, and the looming fight behind her, and finally threw her dagger at the baboon. It was a wild shot, but maybe she could hit it. She was allowed to, right? It was attacking them after all... Besides, if Smeed saw her now, she wouldn't have a weapon on her and he would be put at ease! After throwing her knife, she quickly pointed to herself and then at the other door, smiling and nodding to let them know that she would take care of Smeed if they wanted.
Zindit looked back at the others, obviously shocked by what she saw, and whispered with a hiss, "There's a monkey with a dog's face in there!" She then turned back to look at the doorway further inside, and did what she assumed was expected of her. She started forward to try to sneak past the baboon to find Smeed. She hoped it didn't start barking. Dogs were bad enough as they were...
Zindit grinned widely at the others as she heard her picks click into place, and slowly opened the door as quietly as she could and waving for the others to follow her inside. Now this was familiar ground for her!
Zindit's eye lit up at the suggestion. "Yesma'am!!" She went to the door and almost immediately went to work, fishing her tools from her belt and assuming the others would crowd around her. She stopped herself at the last moment, turning and asking, "Should we do this through the front or the back?" She wanted to be certain that they chose, just in case they got into trouble for this.
"Tell him we were probably suppposed to be tricked into killing him!" she whispered to Zavos helpfully. Surely Mister Smeed would understand then. She smiled hopefully at Tessirda after the suggestion. Honesty was important to Sarenrae, after all!
Zindit stared blankly at Tessirda when the elven woman suggested the gnome was smarter than her. Surely that must have been some sort of trap. When Tessirda asked her what her thoughts on the matter were, she then looked like a doe staring a wolf in the face. "Um..." She knew she couldn't break and run. Maybe it was a test. Yes, she was being tested. "Well...maybe...maybe Smeed hates Mister Saul and put it there because if we attack him then Saul will be in trouble. Or maybe they did it so we'd think it was Smeed and they know he's one of Boss Croat's men and that we won't mess with him?" "Or maybe Smeed's boss hates Mister Saul and he put it there. Or maybe someone hates Smeed and Mister Saul. Or maybe someone hates Smeed's boss and Mister Saul. Maybe someone just hates Smeed and thought using Mister Saul would be a good way to get him. We know people that hate Mister Saul don't we? Like whoever left that snake at the Goblin?" She gasped at her next thought. "What-if-Larur-hates-Mister-Saul-and-stabbed-himself-and-left-the-cloak-her e-and-ran-off-with-the-money?!" Or...or maybe it was one of them! She looked back and forth at each of her companions, wondering which of them would be most likely to murder for money... She couldn't think of any other reason to leave the cloak there other than to goad them into attacking Smeed or to make them back down and take no action before harming one of Croat's men.
Zindit had gleefully scampered off after the others, nearly yelling for their attention before catching herself. But when the priestesses began discussing the matter between themselves... "B-but Mister Saul wouldn't lie to us would he?" she weakly defended their employer. It wouldn't do to turn on her boss so quickly. It wouldn't do to stand strongly against the others either.
Zindit tilted her head to the side as she stared at the back door. She glanced at Kelne, then back at the door, then back at Kelne again, as if expecting him to suggest something involving locks and lockpicks. She knew Kelne knew she did good work. And if it turned out to be a bad idea, it woudn't be her's!
She then busied herself by digging through Smeed's garbage. People often threw away interesting and useful things. Perception: 25!
Zindit followed Kelne around the back, eager to be doing good work and pleasing the others again.
"M-maybe it's the same person that's been trying to bother Mister Saul..." Zindit chimed in. "But...how many enemies does Mister Saul have?" Stealing Saul's payment to a moneylender certainly seemed like a good way to get him into trouble to her. Though taking the money itself was probably a decent perk.
Zindit looked back and forth between her companions, wondering if it was wise to interrupt them over the thought that had just popped into her head. She inched forward and quietly spoke up, asking "H-hey. You don't think whoever left that snake at the Gold Goblin is still out to hurt Mister Saul's business do you? Should we ask him if he keeps any snakes?" It made logical sense to her gnomish mind, at least.
Zindit wrung her hands as she kept to the back of the group, not daring to raise her voice for fear of setting any of her tense companions off. She looked about the townhouse's front and the surrounding buildings nervously, trying to spot any potential trouble the others would need to know about.
Zindit had fallen completely silent as tensions seemed to rise between her employer and everyone else, particularly Tessirda. She was torn between taking Saul's side simply for job security and supporting Tessirda in order to stay in her good graces. She looked back and forth between them nervously and shuffled back from the crowd, wishing she could just disappear. She began to stare at the floor until things seemed to come to a close. She looked up in time to see the glance Tessirda was giving her, and she jerked back slightly with a barely stifled yelp. "Y-y-yesma'amI'llbecarefulthistimeIwill!" she hurriedly tried to assure everyone, nodding her head vigorously. She tried not to look either Tessirda or Saul in the eye. She desparately wanted to avoid having to choose between them in front of the other.
"Should we go to Larur's first?" Zindit asked, looking up at the others. She didn't seem overly worried, not realizing that her job was likely put at risk by Saul's current problem. She was still fiddling with the potion she had been entrusted with. It was sorely tempting to try it out, just to see what it was like to climb on the ceiling. She had taken to opening the cap and sniffing it to see if she could get any effect that way, but to no avail.
Zindit hovered behind those working on identifying the claimed goods, staring curiously at the items. Potions that make you climb like a spider? I could have used one of those... She rubbed her elbows, still sore from the fall back at the mission. "MissAmunyet, don't Pharasma priests use daggers? You should have that one too!" she suggested eagerly, quick to take any opportunity to stay in the priestess' good graces.
"Yes sir!" Zindit chirped with a wide grin. She felt like she was on top of the world when she went back to her duties. She already had enough money to keep herself fed for quite some time, no more rat for her! And the best part was, nobody here suspected her of anything! She was hiding in plain sight! She was finally starting to feel a little safe...
The long streak of small victories left Zindit unusually cheerful and energetic for a time as she returned to her duties at the Gold Goblin. She didn't even have nightmares again until the next night!
You have my dagger!
Zindit smiled at the prospect of taking all the shiny valuables back with them, but took care not to voice her agreement with Zavos. She looked at Tessirda, ready to agree with whatever she suggested.
Zindit poked curiously at one of the thunderstones as the others gathered. She was wondering how they worked.
Zindit's eye widened at the sight of the loot they came across during their search. She was painfully tempted to grab this and that, especially the strange jewelry, but she remembered where she was and felt as if the others' eyes were on her at all times, so she kept her fingers from lingering too long near any of it. "This is all ours now, right?" she asked the others hopefully.
"Yup-let's!" Zindit chimed in, nearly bolting again but holding back her step to keep the Osiriani priestess within sight.
"Um..." Zindit scratched her head. "I don't know where MissTessirda is. I was trying to find her for Kelne. He's upstairs with those priests that he doesn't think are really priests I think. There was a trap going up the stairs to their room but I got rid of it so it's safe to go up now!" she pointed out eagerly. "I think Mr. Kelne wanted me to get MissLadyTessirda to come upstairs to him because of those priests. He thinks one of them is bad maybe."
Zindit yelped when Amunyet called out to her, but quickly composed herself as much as she ever could be. She nodded eagerly at the priestess' question. "Yes ma'am! I have lots of rope, lots and lots!" She pulled a coil of old, somewhat frayed, but still useful rope from her pack and went to work tying the men up, smiling innocently at both the priestess and the prisoners as she worked. She was becoming downright giddy by this point.
"Hee..." Zindit grinned at yet another job well done! This was the best day she could remember in years! Putting the wire aside, she looked about for Tessirda. When she didn't find her, her cheer faded somewhat. She continued to wander around the first floor, looking for the others and growing increasingly worried the longer she went without seeing Amunyet, Zavos, and the rest. She kept her knife out as she wandered from room to room, hugging the walls and trying to stay out of the beggar's path yet giving every last one of them suspicious looks.
"I'll go tell her what's going on!" Zindit happily exclaimed. Maybe now she could get someone else in trouble with Tessirda! She won't have time to suspect me of anything then! She ran back downstairs to inform the elven priestess of what little they had learned, but stopped again at the tripwire. If someone were to get hurt here because they forgot to mention it, she would surely be in trouble. She got down on all fours and went to work at removing the tripwire, and disabling whatever it might be attatched to.
"MissLadyTessirda's a priest of Sarenrae I think. Should we let her talk to them?" Zindit whispered to Kelne, dropping her voice even further and looking around nervously before speaking Sarenrae's name.
"Well..." Zindit started, a bit nervously this time now that she knew the two were supposedly priests. Touching both index fingers together childishly, she gave the only excuse she could. "They attacked us first when we came to help somebody."
"We picked the lock and stepped over a tripwire and came up the stairs!" Zindit replied helpfully. "There's a tripwire down there." She motioned behind her with her dagger.
Zindit stepped over the wire and ran after Kelne, trying to keep up with him so that she could spot any further trouble. Kelne had to make it back to tell everyone how useful she was after all!
Zindit was just about to start wandering up the stairs beyond the door when she noticed the tripwire. With a hiss, she turned around to stop Kelne from moving past her, waving her arms around to make up for her lack of bearing in size. "Wait! Waitwaitwait! It's trapped! We have to be careful and step over it! Is anyone else coming up behind us?"
"Ha!" Zindit smiled with absolute glee as her good fortune seemed to keep coming. Pushing the door open, she continued to ramble on, "See Mister Kelne! I do good work and I'm really dependable and really trustworthy!"
Another irritated sigh as Kelne gives serious thought to just kicking in the door. Petty vandalism is, in theory, beneath his dignity. In the end, he returns to the stairwell and calls up, "Anyone any good with locks?" Zindit gasped in delight. This was turning out to be her day! She ran up to Kelne, chirping "Yesyesyesyes! I'm reallyreallyreally good at working on locks I work on locks all the time but not to break into places because that would be wrong but sometimes people need them worked on so I know how!" She was already fishing her tools out of her pack when she arrived at the locked door, after which she immediately went to work, standing straight as she did so and squinting into the the keyhole with her one eye. [i]They're going to be happy with me I'm doing really good there's no way they'll accuse me of doing anything wrong...
Zindit was grinning from ear to half-missing-ear. She was impressing everyone today!
Zindit tugged Maybell along eagerly. "We beat 'em all up? And some of them are dead!" she cheerfully reassured the girl. They were bad men right? So it's okay if they're dead?"
|
