The City of Glasken - Party One

[Blackknight1239]

Daro Lochreen

Daro walks over the rather annoying child. "Why extactly do you want to do something...here? Silver is silver, isn't it?"

[Rizban]

"Well, yeah, but if I leave on an errand, I might not be able to find you again to help you out! It'd be silly to just leave you without my aid in your... uh, circumstances." The street urchin looks a bit worried that he's going to be sent on his way and unable to do anything more for the party.

[Blackknight1239]

Daro Lochreen

He knows something. "What do you mean, circumstances...?" Daro slides a little closer to the child, hoping to scare him a little.

[Ganurath]

Kantu

The half-orc smirks behind the mask of his helmet, waving a hand dismissively. "Ah, they'd figure it out when I show up. Now, directions..."

Kantu closes his pack before glancing away from it to the group. "Be nice, Doggy. Think he'd know the way?"

[Rizban]

The urchin steps back nervously.

"Well, I just, uh, you know, um, thought, I dunno, you needed help."

He turns to run before something unpleasant happens.

[Blackknight1239]

Daro Lochreen

"Hrmm...hey kid, a gold is in it for you if you show us where...this place is." Daro sticks out the folded note with the address towards the kid.

[Rizban]

His eyes get huge.

"For real? That's easy!"

The kid looks at the paper for a minute, turns it upside down, twisting it around as he scrutinizes it. Finally he leans in closely so that only Daro can hear him.

"Yeah, I'll take you there, but uh... one thing... I can't actually read... so uh... little help?"

[Ganurath]

Kantu

"Sure thing, kiddo." Kantu, since he's already crouching, takes the paper and reads the address to the kid, being sure to run his finger under the letters in the hopes to help learn.

[Blackknight1239]

Daro Lochreen

Ah yes...I must remember everyone doesn't get an education. Daro watches the Half-Orc read out the directions for the urchin, making sure he's paying attention. "...and when we get there, you'll get your reward."

[Rizban]

"Oh, right, right... it's down by the docks. You don't want to go there all together and armed though. They'll think you're a gang or criminals or something looking to hit people up for protection money or something. Yeah, see that'll get you killed real quick in that part of town. Or maybe just arrested and questioned for a few days without food and water..."

The kid shudders as he speaks that last sentence, almost as if he has experienced that part personally.

[Ganurath]

Kantu

Kantu tilts his head. Sounds like his smitey days on the road. "What about just me in my shiny paladin-ness, with the rest a safe distance off?"

[Rizban]

"Well, that could work. Keep your sword sheathed though, or things might get ugly..." Looking at Kantu quickly. "Uh, no offense..."

[Ganurath]

Kantu

The half-orc wearing a full mask helm tilts his head, then shrugs before standing up and slinging his pack over his shoulder. Not until he get a gold piece out in hand first, though. "Someplace to drop these guys off, then me the rest of the way, then."

He then glances over the group. "Oh, right, not alone today. You guys like my plan?"

[Omegonthesane]

Rose follows the others, resisting the urge to comment on how obviously fishy the deal is ethics-wise - because she was more worried about her own hide than the ethics of the deal when she said she smelt a rat. The stuff in the box could have been just about anything really, this city banned so much crap.

Funnily enough, she also sees a rat. Just like she'd been at his age, a kid looking to mooch off people with actual money. Gone through the prison system, too, at least once. Varan - or was it Verin? - paid for some letter and paid more to get the boy outta here, but he wasn't going - especially after Daro offered him gold just to be Mr Navigator. Heh. Not able to read. Cute. Had taken Rose years to pick it up herself, and she still struggled with some things.

"Well Kantu, I'm seeing a problem here. Guy goes out alone, unguarded - even a big guy like you, an' especially a slow guy like you... usually the wererats get him*. Who'd try to bluff you into doing that?"

* 'The wererats got him' = Euphemism for 'he was murdered and we suspect people waaay too powerful to actually name'.

Rizban

Spoiler

Show

It's a little late, but I was bluffing against Verin to make him not realise that I'd changed 'the hobbo mafia' to 'trustworthy people' mid-sentence.

Also, Sense Motive on the kid. (1d20+4)[19]

[Ganurath]

Kantu

"Well, I'm big, like you said. Plus, I'm shiny like the guard, and can burst into flames if I see any wererats. So, unless you have a better idea..." Euphemism or no, Kantu is still Kantu. Plus, it's not the sort of phrase one would hear around the Temple of the Shining One.

[Omegonthesane]

"Yeah, I got a better idea." Well, a minor improvement to the boy's idea at least. She gets up on tiptoe and whispers in Kantu's ear. "Rather than stay where he drops us off, we follow you from the sidelines. When someone tries to shank you, we pop out and shank 'em first."

[Rizban]

The kid's eyes get big at the mention of shanking. Rose realizes he's only feigning fear and knows he's fast enough and familiar enough with the city to escape before any really dangerous goes down. Beyond that, he seems to be exactly what he appears, a kid out on the streets trying to hustle a few silver. The letter though, is apparently legitimate. He can't read or write, so it would have been obvious had he tried to forge something.

[Ganurath]

Kantu

"The part where you guys follow from a safe distance works for me, but..." Kantu glances around, then whispers in Rose's ear. No need to embarass her. "You realize I'm a paladin, right?"

[BenTheJester]

A smile decorates the corner of Varan's lips as he hears the orc mention again that he is a paladin.

"You know, maybe I should speak with them once we get there. Somehow I seem to have a knack to convince people.

"Besides, from the merchant here has told us, the guardsmen will most likely work under the orders of a man who engages in some "unlawful" activities. And from my experience, those are not the kind of persons who enjoy shiny paladin-ness"

[Rizban]

"Uh, yeah, so.. let's go. It's this way."

The kid takes you back and forth down winding streets as if to take you on a round about route that you're certain to be unable to follow back exactly. Probably so that you'll have to pay him again to get you back to this part of town.

About 10 minutes into the walk, the kid tugs on Kantu's elbow and hands him another piece of paper.
"So, uh, could you read this one too? Queitly?"

[Ganurath]

Kantu

The half-orc nods, looking at what the paper has to say. Assuming it doesn't involve anything overtly criminal, he'll be discrete. If it does... Well, it depends on the content and Kantu's judgement.

[Omegonthesane]

Rose is a native, and unlikely to be much misled by any circuitous route tricks, but it again strikes her as suspicious. Maybe the kid's only out for money, but his boss probably wanted more, if they were having him take this long about getting them somewhere.

She walks over to the kid, trapping him between her and the paladin (though perhaps best not to count on Kantu's reactions...). Takes a brief glance at the paper; decides it's not worth the trouble to read, not from that angle.

Spoiler

Show

Knowledge (local) to identify a quicker route (1d20+3)[19]

[Rizban]

Rose suddenly recognizes the neighborhood and realizes their destination is about about two block to the left and a block behind them. The urchin leading you is turning left at the intersection you just reached and probably taking the party to the warehouse now.

[Ganurath]

Kantu

Kantu's brow furrows as he reads the note, glancing over his shoulder at Varan before closing the note. They'd need to talk later. "Says it's private information that a runner should know better than to snoop into. We almost there?"

[Omegonthesane]

"Yeah, we're almost there." Rose conspicuously gets a strand of hair out of her face, then considers asking about the letter but decides against it. Not her business, not that interesting anyway, and too much curiosity killed the cat. Then she breaks eye contact with Kantu and leans in on the kid. Better that the whole party not join her in being too suspicious of him, lest he run off.
"Just between you an' me, why'd you take us the long way?"

[Rizban]

The kid acts as if he doesn't hear Rose speak.

"And here we are. See that building about a block down? That's the place. So, uh..."

The kid begins to eye Kantu's gold.


Even from here, it's obvious that something about the warehouse is fishy. Perhaps it's the two heavily armed guards smoking out front. Perhaps it's the unmarked ship pulled up at the wharf across the street. Perhaps, just perhaps, it's the large crates of freshly caught fish being offloaded into the warehouse...

[Sallera]

Verin

"Smoking. They couldn't be drinking instead, no, that would make things too easy... Looks like a busy place. Wonder who it belongs to?"

[Ganurath]

Kantu nods, preparing to hand the kid the gold. He then pauses short, getting out his pack. "Almost forgot, Doggy gave you a silver to leave. Since you didn't, you owe him one."

He pulls out a silver, tossing it to Valar. He then holds the gold piece to the kid, but won't let go until he's sure the kid has heard what he has to say. "Now you owe me one. You can pay it back by..."

His voice turns from friendly and boistruous to hard and serious. "...Giving the note back to its proper owner."

[Omegonthesane]

Rose starts fingering the knives when the kid refuses to talk, but other matters soon become more pressing. Other matters like having reached the destination at last. The fish trading, she hadn't expected, but given a dodgy warehouse...

The paladin being dumb enough to give away any leads, she really hadn't expected. Or the change in tone - he was dead set on giving the note away. Even someone that dumb might not budge in their convictions easily.

"Wait, isn't Varan the proper owner of that note? The kid went to him, no one else, to deliver it..."

[Rizban]

"Varan? Who's Varan?" The kid points at Varan. "I was told he was someone else... Are you sure your name is Varan?"