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The Song and Rose playhouse is a small, two storied building near the gates to the Ivy District but still within the Foreign Quarter, some say to avoid the need to join the Performer’s Guild. The wooden doors to the establishment stand open, and a queue of patrons is forming for the evening performance of what the posters outside advertise to be a hilarious, yet tragic comedy by the ‘renowned’ Chelish playwright Julio Valari.
NIK walks confidently through the queue of patrons to get directly in:
"Make way! Make way! I, Nicephora, Dancer and Bringer of Victory to the Green Dragon Racing Boats of Absolom, have business inside!"
NIK makes sure Samant and his BIG CLUB are closeby, and that both Garin and Zeldin are following.
Garion looks at Samant and Zeldin, shrugs and says, "I was going to ask if we wanted to look around a little to see if we could discover anything but it appears that decision has been made for us." With a grin, he follows Nik.
NIK winks at Garion with confidence, and a BIG smile
"Trust me! this is MY world yur in now!"
Indeed Garion, indeed! I do wonder if she recalls that you cannot unkick down a door?
Just a quick note... Zeldin has not been shopping yet (I don't think!?!) and so he is unarmed... He prefers a diplomatic mission at this point. :)
Zeldin is scanning the crowd to see anything that seems out of place...
and Calix, if it is appropriate to our direct action...
Samant follows Nik closely... wincing as she draws so much attention to our little band.
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Nik strides confidently past the queue, followed by the other three prospective Pathfinders, the patrons outside allow her to pass without resistance, apparently impressed by her announcement, but upon reaching the doors she is intercepted by an half-elven man wearing clothes which have clearly been carefully designed to look as cheap as possible while still remaining elegant. "Excuse me ma'am," he says in a haughty tone, "but I am afraid you will need a ticket just like everyone else, no matter what..." he sniffs dramatically, "affiliations you may claim with the boat races."
"Are you saying that I don't have the required dancing skill to perform here?"
NIK tries to make room around her, kinda urging Samant to help if I can!
"Or that I have TOO MUCH of it?"
NIK puts on quick dance routine (a very seXXy one!)
Perform Dance
In a LOUD voice so everyone can hear:
"By Calistria THERE Good Friend is my entrance ticket!"
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The half-elven man watches the performance with a detached aloofness, his left eyebrow raised appraisingly. At the culmination of Nik's dance, a few members of the queue begin to clap in appreciation, soon joined by others, but the half-elf just nods quietly. "You do have... some talent," he concedes grudgingly, "but now is hardly the time for an audition, the curtain rises for The Infernal Follies in less than an hour... if you return after the performance, we can discuss your career then."
To the crowd:
"Good people of Absolom! I hope you enjoyed this dance! Tonight Inside you will enjoy SO MUCH MORE ThanX to the Song and Rose and the work of the great Valari!"
NIK gets closer to the half-elf so only he can hear
"Consider this a free warming of the crowd. I'll give them an even better repeat performance if you just help me and my friends out with something. It will only take a second of your time!"
Diplomacy
NIK leans close and adds:
"I know how the snobs from the Performer's guild can treat foreigners and bohemians like us. I'm not from here you know. I was a nobody from the North until dancing gave me a chance to become somebody! I just need a bit of help from a fellow performer!"
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The half-elf lets out a small sigh, then nods, "I can see the potential benefits in that arrangement... come inside and we can discuss this small favour. I am the proprietor of the Song and Rose, Ivan Thraine."
Ivan leads the group through the playhouse doors and into a small office to the side of the entrance, he sits behind a tidy desk and motions you to take seats opposite.
NIK lets the guys have the chairs while she sits on the edge of the desk, legs neatly crossed amazon-riding style!
"By Calistria well met Master Thraine! I'm Nicephora but I hope yul cal me NIK! All my friends do! And this is Samant, Garion and Zeldin. We are worried about what happened to the great Lady Anita Landross. We want to help her, and since you know her well, we thought you could help us help her."
NIK, on her way to the office and now she is here, looks around to see if there is anything she can spot that would give me an idea why this Lady Anita wuld have liked this place.
Cuz she seem to like animated things is there any clues like that Nik can see? Like maybe the play beeing about animated people or dolls?
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"Ah, Lady Landross" Ivan says affectionately, "it has been some time since she last graced us with her attendance... almost a year in fact, she had tickets to a performance but never arrived—I had assumed she had gone off on another of her expeditions. It would not be the first time her work had prevented her from indulging in the Arts. If there is any way at all that I can help her, I am at your service."
Perception
To Master Thraine: "Expeditions? Desna's stars that sure sounds exciting! what kinda expeditions did she do? Did you ever go visit her at her place? Do you anyone here, or a patron here, she was REALLI close to?"
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In a small cushioned basket in the corner of the office, a tiny metallic 'creature' lies curled into a small ball, if it where not for the rhythmic movement it would not even be recognisable as anything other than a ball of metal.
"Oh, she is a Pathfinder, don't you know?" Ivan says with a smile, "she is always flying off to some exotic locale to uncover the secrets of the past."
"I did visit her keep once or twice, to discuss her writing..." he pauses for a moment, looking away, "she is an aspiring playwright you see, I was helping her to conceptualise her vision."
"Hmm... she has occasionally attended the theatre with gentlemen friends... though they never last long, she doesn't have much time for relationships."
"She was a playwright? isnt it great how everyone likes the arts! I just BET her vision had to do with animated things like that metallic cutie in that basket!"
NIK points to it
"So you visited her keep? I bet she had like lots of those animated things protecting it! That must be something FUN 2 see right?"
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"Ah yes, art truly is the universal language, no?" Ivan says, "Actually her play doesn't really focus much on animated creatures... though I don't think I should really be telling you much more about that before it is finished."
"Oh, she does have some wonderful artifices in her home, I didn't go past her reception area, so I can only wonder what she might have beyond... I commented on how interesting they where, and she gave me Buttons here as a gift," he points to the metallic ball, before clapping his hands, "Buttons! Come on!"
The tiny creature uncurls itself to reveal a smooth construct with a vaguely feline form. 'Buttons' stretches, and then leaps up onto Ivan's lap, who rests a hand fondly on its back.
"They were many of them in that reception area? I bet they must have looked a LOT more dangerous then Buttons right?"
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"Well, some of them looked quite formidable, not that Buttons here is completely harmless," he pats the construct on his lap proudly, "she is quite dangerous to some of our smaller intruders."
Ivan stops speaking for a moment, considering the group with a tilted head, "You seem very interested in the protections in Lady Anita's home... how exactly do you know her?"
NIK takes out her Pathfinder's Wayfinder and shows it to him:
"Look I m not gonna lie to a fellow performer: I don't know her very well! But like me she is a Pathfinder and we try to help each other when we can. Like entertainers who help each other ... you know. Well she dissapeared and we are all REALLY worried so we want to find her and help her if she's in any kind of trouble. So if she is a true friend of yours, you can help her by telling us how we can get inside her keep without getting ourselves killed. Calistria make me ugly if i m not telling you the truth!"
NIK kisses her lucky coin on Calistria's side
"And if I m lying you have seen us, u know our faces and can report us to the city law!"
"We each have one crafted to represent a bit who we are! Mine is all pink and flowery because ... well ... cuz that s me! pink and cute and flowery!" giggle "so will you help us Master Thraine? Lady Landross needs us, you friend needs you!"
Samant clears his throat, we're not going to take up anymore of your precious time, but is there anything the Lady might have said before her disapperance? Any beaus that may have felt slighted? Any distractions that were causing problems in her work? We've been sent to discover why she has gone, and any information you may provide could prove beneficial to our cause.
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Ivan nods at Nik's explanation, "Of course, I will try to help, but I don't really know anything about how to bypass her security..." he looks over to Samant, "As far as I know, all of her relationships ended amicably, she is very considerate you see, I don't know why anyone would wish her ill."
Ivan looks distracted for a few moments before leaning over his desk confidentially, "To be completely honest, the Lady did seem rather disturbed by some of her discoveries, she refused to tell me the details, but whenever our conversations turned to her more recent expeditions she would get very quiet."
Do you have anyone else we should speak with that may have additional information?
Well thank you for your information, and we'll let you get ready for your show.
"Yes ThanX ever so much Master Thraine! Yuv been veri helpful! I ll let u know what we find out about Lady Landross!"
NIK gets ready to go ...
When we are ooutside, to Samant,Garion and Zeldin:
"Lady Anita did something in her last expeditions that musta gone very wrong! I've been like curious from the start why she would have left the Pathfinder Society in the first place. Maybe THAT S the reason! What do you think we should do next? Go 2 the keep?"
She's been out of the pathfinders for several years, no reason was given for her quitting the pathfinders
The question is; what should our next step be?
I would think we should inspect the keep next. See what there is to see."
"But dont u find it kinda strange Samant? I mean the Pathfinder Society seems like a pretty sweet deal, why would someone just leave giving no reason? Garion I think if there are like no more clues we can find in the city u may be right the keep culd be the next place 2 look! I realli hope we culd learn more about her tho ..."
"But dont u find it kinda strange Samant? I mean the Pathfinder Society seems like a pretty sweet deal, why would someone just leave giving no reason? Garion I think if there are like no more clues we can find in the city u may be right the keep culd be the next place 2 look! I realli hope we culd learn more about her tho ..."
I've read her profile in the archives, just as I've studied all of ours, and every other pathfinder out there. She was a secretive woman. I'm not sure asking around the city would be more of a benefit than breaching her home. My vote is the keep and if that turns up a dead-end we can attempt to ferret out further information.
"Well lets go to the keep then! Just stay close with that club and make sure none of those animated dummies get their dirty hands on me! Number rule at the Taverna: no touching the Dancing Girl!"
Nik winks at Samant
"Not unless she wants to of course!" giggle
Until it gets dark we can just scout the building. We need to figure out the best point of entry, away from random passersby, nosy neighbors, etc. The council designated this off limits, because some of their patrols never returned. We need to assume whatever guardians are left behind are hostile.
Samant says this all pretty quickly, slightly flushing at Nik's previous statement.
"Sounds like a great plan to me! Let's do it!"
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By the time the group arrives at Lady Anita's keep, the sun has already sank beneath the rooftops, leaving the street cast in purplish shadows. There are few people on the street a this time of the evening, and making a quick circuit of the building reveals it to be enclosed by a high black-iron fence, beyond which sinks a small stream that stands as a pale imitation of a moat. A bridge extends from the single gate in the fence, across to a pair of heavy wooden doors set into a thick outer wall, containing a four story tower built of dark stone within.
As the group return to the front of the building, a small patrol of three watchmen nod a polite acknowledgment as they continue down the street, and a small boy climbs nimbly down from a streetlamp he had just illuminated, moving on to the next one quickly.
NIK whispers this 2 the group:
"I was thinking of maybe goin in thru the sewers if at all possible. I dont think we shuld climb that fence, too much risk of be seen! I can try and pick the lock of the fence gate!"
NIK tries 2 remember the 3 watchmen and the boy, just in case.