Defiance in Phlan, 7-player [5E]

[JNAProductions]

What, exactly, has this merchant done, pray tell? Sam asks. I don't know much about this gnome of yours-but I know that even the Harpers can make mistakes.

[CinLee]

I don't mind taking on the name and roll of Melberta for one night but I am going to need more information to do so.

Lexi tried to hide her excitement and nervousness. Taking on a new roll was exciting but with so little information, Lexi was wondering if she would be able to pull it off.

[apheline]

"What sort of information did you want to know?" the Harper asks. "As for what she's done, Mellberta has been caught keeping, abusing, and trading dangerous animals."

[CinLee]

The thought of anyone abusing animals sent a shiver through Lexi. Lifting Terralin from her shoulder Lexi brought her to her chest protectively. Absentmindedly petting Terralin, Lexi turned to the Harper.

What do you need me to do?
If I am to pretend to be Melberta, I need to know what to do and how to act. You said she was a merchant. Do you need me to work in her shop, or is there more to this? What is your plan? What of the others? How do we all fit into your plan?

[apheline]

"Luckily, the seller has never met her, so you can act however you like. You go to the meeting place - a barn on the outskirts of town. Just tell her you're there for the egg."

[JNAProductions]

Spoiler: Insight Check

Show

(1d20+2)[6]

Well... Poop.

Sam eyes the man, taking his measure and making sure his word is good.

[apheline]

He seems to be telling the truth.

[JNAProductions]

Alright. I'm in, Sam says. Once we mention the egg, what's the next step?

[willowedc]

Talia scowled slightly as she listened. “It would be stupid and foolish to ask Lexi to impersonate this, Melberta without at least a basic disguise. No matter if the trader hasn’t met her personally, he will have heard of her or else why would he dare arrange a trade meeting? Contrary to popular belief, all gnomes do not look alike. Forgive me Lexi, but there’s no way a woman who looks and acts like Lexi would be convincing as an abuser and trader in animals. Sweet Celestian, she has a pet squirrel! She undoubtedly has a presence that animals find comforting, an abusive animal trader would not look upon animals with a kind eye.”

“For this scheme of his to work, you would need to have a crueler air about you, as well as more animal trophies upon your body,” she paused and dug around in her pack for a moment, before standing and walking around the table to stand next to Lexi’s chair. She had her performance make-up kit in her hand.

“Is Melberta of rock gnome or forest gnome heritage? I would assume forest gnome due to that race’s ability to speak to small creatures. However, rock gnomes are more abundantly out and about in the world. Does she have any identifying scars? Hair color, eye color, preferred design of clothing? Does she have a particular way of speaking? An identifying physical habit?” she asked the hooded Harper as she set her case on the table and opened it. Exposing the three layers of her kit, revealed an assortment of items that were seemingly all jumbled together.

"I can work on Lexi's disguise and listen at the same time," she stated as she waved at the Harper to continue, while she searched for her selection of skin pigment and hair chalk.

[Shades of Gray]

Beautiful smiled as the disguise kit was placed on the table. "Wow hon, that's pretty comprehensive," she said as she eyed the various supplies. For all of their talk about natural beauty, the priestesses of Sune sure used a lot of product. A habit that Beautiful kept, though she never used it to conceal, only to draw attention or accentuate. You must remind me to ask if I could borrow some of that some time. Beautiful says, absentmindedly using her apron to blend her blush into her cheeks more thoroughly. "Once in a blue moon we get a special event that books out the Kettle, and Madame Freona pays me a bit extra if I hide the tats. I have a helluva time finding my shade."

[CinLee]

Lexi was surprised when Talia rounded the table. As she pulled powders, creams, paints and brushes from her bag, Lexi's nervousness ratcheted up a few levels. Before the images of slightly deranged artists could take hold, Lexi turned her focus back to the Harper.
Egg, what type of egg? You said she had other animals. Are they being cared for? If need be I could get word to my aunt. I am sure she could get her druid circle to care for or find homes for them.

Focusing on the welfare of mistreated animals, helped Lexi ignore Talia circling around her with strange concoction.

[Mari_Lilac]

Noticing the Harper's momentary slip up Mori is taken aback for a moment, before studying him closely again, trying to discern his actual age


So... let me get this straight Harper Collins: You actually think that when you leave this establishment near noon, looking like you are right out of a novel recounting the greatest heists, melting under your cloak in the midday sun, no one will pay you any heed? Looking the way you do people from the street next over will be staring at you, through buildings!

Oh, and... why not use magic to disguise yourself? Even if you were not personally capable of it, I'm sure your organization would be able to make means available to ensure secrecy

Seeing the commotion near Lexi she shoots a quick glance across

Huh, I can not tell what all of those are for, but I do recognize some of those palettes and tones, I assume they are part of how you make a living? Seeing their high quality and associated high price, I mean.

Ah, apologies...

She turns back to the Harper

I do have to agree with my... companions, though. It is foolish to believe that someone would seek out a specific merchant with absolutely no knowledge of them, and while I loath to question Ms. Wildthorn's capabilities, I fear she will need more information to properly fool someone who would sell something the Harper's feel need to intercept.

[apheline]

"Mellberta is a forest gnome with auburn hair. Her only particularly distinguishing feature is a long, thin scar on her left cheek. I always assumed that it was from an animal that was able to fight back, but I don't guess she'd tell us if we asked about its origin."

The Harper looks down at the table sullenly, "A lot of the animals are in really bad shape. By the time we got to them... Some didn't make it at all. The Harpers are doing everything we can to rehabilitate them and reintroduce them to the wild, but it's not really our specialty. If you know someone who would be able to do a better job, I'm sure we'd prefer her to do it.

"As for the rest of the plan, there's not much more I can say. You meet at the barn at 8, make sure you place the pin on one of the dragon egg sellers, trade the fake diamonds for the dragon's egg, bring it back to the stables here. Avoid fighting at any cost. Make sure the egg isn't damaged..."

The Harper looks around the table, "Don't suppose any of you are the sneaky sort? Who wants to try and place the pin?"

[CinLee]

Wait, I think I missed something. You want me to take a fake diamond and trade it for a dragon egg. While someone stealthily place a pin on one if the sellers? Most of the farms are to the northwest. Which barn am I going to? What if they check the diamond? If I was trading a dragon egg for a gemstone, I would have a dwarven miner or jeweler at least with me. How many sellers will be there? Will there be any harpers around to take the smugglers into custody? What is the purpose of this operation?

Lexi's head swam with a thousand questions. If this was to work they would need details. Details this cloaked Harper was not providing! With quick glances at the others Lexi tried to think of all the information they would need.

Can anyone else think of anything else we need to know?

[apheline]

The Harper raises his voice slightly in frustration. "I can give you the full details, but not until I have your word that you will help me. So far, Beautiful is the only one who has agreed. That leaves 6 others left by my count."

[apheline]

The Harper thinks back... "Now that I think about it, Sam also agreed, and perhaps Moir when she was berating me... All right, that leaves just Lexi, Adrian, Cirdan, and Talia..."

[willowedc]

Talia tossed the Harper and annoyed frown as she muttered, “As though scars aren’t ridiculously identifiable. A scar from a claw or talon is less likely to be thinner than a scar caused by a blade,” she added as she painted a slightly jagged, long thin line onto Lexi’s left check. She blended three additional skin tones into the line, giving it the appearance of an aged and fully healed scar. Absently holding onto the second brush she'd been using, by holding it in her mouth. After she finished the scar she glared at the Harper. "Ewe earshoushly eed rush," she mumbled.

When she realized she wasn’t making any sense she removed the brush from her mouth and tried again. "Seriously?" she asked as she shook her head. "Fine, I accept a part in your task," she snapped. "As though I go about accosting people with my make-up kit, without a perfectly reasonable justification. Beautiful," she said a she looked toward the woman. "I’d be glad to share. I make the skin tone pigments myself, an old performer taught me while I traveled with them. No insult taken Moir, I find it’s best to use the highest quality tools I can. This,” she pointed to the make-up case, “ensures that my troupe becomes who we need to be at will.”

“Sneaky?” she asked, slightly more high pitched than she intended. “That rules me out. However, seeing as it is a dragon egg we are going to be acquiring,” she set her brushes down and released her wealth of white braids and shook them out, before gathering half of the long mass, swirling it around itself and pinning it to her crown with a pair of gold and silver decorative dagger like hair sticks. She removed a odd black line from her case and stuck it in her gums.

“Madam Ava, mistress of identification,” she said in a raspy voice, as she slightly hunched over and used the back of Lexi’s chair as a support. “For a small fee, to offset the use of my life energy in support of your quest for knowledge, I’ll identify any arcane or natural item or creature,” she cackled. Her maniacal grin exposed her now seemingly aged and blackened teeth.

In the next breath she was standing her full height with an amused smirk. “I don’t think it is unreasonable for even a veteran black market merchant to have a way to confirm the identification of something as rare as a dragon egg. How good are these fake diamonds of yours? We have to expect that the trader will be as suspicious as we are. Which reminds me, I'll need a pearl worth a hundred gold pieces if you want the dragon egg to actually be identified. If you are unfamiliar with them, it's one approximately this size," she pointed to her left ear, where a pair of white pearls hung on a gold hoop earring.

[JNAProductions]

I can sneak, Sam says. And lie my ass off if I get caught to boot, they say with a grin.

As Talia and Beautiful work on the disguise, Sam looks over their shoulders. Normally, I'd give some advice-I'm a fair hand with disguises myself-but I think you two have it covered.

[CinLee]

Lexi looked perplexed at the Harper.

Oh, yes. Perhaps I did not make myself clear. I already agreed to help you. If you need it formalized, then yes I will help you in this task.

Lexi giggled internally, wondering if all Harpers were this literal. The few Enclave members she had meet were much more easy going and exuded an aura of confidant this Harper lacked.

[apheline]

The Harper nods approvingly as you agree to help. He stands and begins pacing around the table and pulls a small sack from his wildly overdramatic cloak, tossing it to the center of the group. As the bag clinks onto the wooden table, it topples to one side and a pile of clear crystals falls out.

“Yes, diamonds,” the Harper blurts out before anyone could actually say it and you get the suspicion that he had practised this part of his proposition, over and over, earlier in the day "Actually, no, they’re not diamonds. They’re just a glamour. But they’ll look like diamonds until midnight tonight. Plenty of time for you to swap ‘em.

“’Swap ‘em for what?’ you might ask… Well, that comes later. First a little background…

“You see, our dear friend Mellberta was up to some pretty crooked deals. Tonight, she was planning to illegally purchase a dragon egg. Problem is, Mellberta aint cooperating with us, so that put us in a pickle. We needed a gnome to stand in for her.

“That’s when you all came traipsing into town and the High Harper gets wind of Lexi here.” The cloaked man points roughly in the gnome’s general direction. “Lexi will play the part of Mellberta the merchant. The rest of you will be her entourage of hirelings.

“The dragon egg seller is going to be waiting tonight just after dark at a farm house. She’s expecting a gnome woman with six body guards.

“Lexi will take the ‘diamonds’ –“ he makes air quotes “—and make the trade. At some point during the exchange, one of you others will place this –“ the Harper holds up a small, silver pin “– on one of the sellers. Doesn’t have to be the elf woman, it could also be any of her crew." He sets the pin on the table in front of Sam.

“After that, you’ll all bring the egg back to the stables behind Madame Freona’s, here," he points toward the back of the building, "and meet me."

The Harper looks you all over again. “It’s vitally important that none of you use your real names. Probably best if you just call yourselves ‘the buyers’ so you don’t screw it up. Under no circumstances should you fight the sellers or harm the egg.

“Hopefully that answers any of your remaining questions. But since you've all agreed to help, I'll be more than willing to answer anything further.”

The Harper's eyes fall on Lexi, now made up, and he barely stifles a laugh. "I was imagining a more realistic scar, but it'll do, I suppose. I very much doubt that this Elf knows anything about Mellberta."

[Mari_Lilac]

Is there any chance I could look over the place the exchange is supposed to happen at? I am not much for sneaking, but I feel fairly confident I would be able to find any traps, ambush spots or the like.

I am quite looking forward to our backup meeting their backup in the same hiding place while the deal goes down.


She chuckles

[apheline]

"The meeting isn't until 8 tonight. That gives you about 8 hours to get prepared. Scouting the area before the meeting might be a good plan."

The Harper gives you directions to the Barnhouse where the meeting is to take place.

[CinLee]

What languages dose Melberta speak? Maybe if Talia and Beautiful saw Melberta they could do a better job on the disguise. Could they see her?

[JNAProductions]

Well, I'm going to go check out the barn. You-Harper fellow-you stay in here for about an hour after we've all left. No need for us to be seen with you any more, Sam says. Don't want any eyes the sales people have in this town getting suspicious.

[apheline]

The Harper turns to Lexi, "I'm very sorry, but I can't let you see Mellberta. It's far too dangerous."

[Mari_Lilac]

I shall accompany... Sam? Was it? I have a feeling a place like our barn might hold secrets not readily apparent without a keen eye.

...Collins, really now, how dangerous can an imprisoned halfling merchant be?



She shakes her head slightly before getting up and heading towards the door.

[apheline]

Spoiler: For those that go to the barn

Show

It takes about 20 minutes to walk to the barn which is located just outside the city. As you get closer, you notice that the barn is a simple 30-foot wide by 80-foot long structure. It looks large enough to have both a ground floor and a hay loft within.

Spoiler: For those that stay to help with the disguise

Show

You take your time and work until you feel like you have made vast improvements. You take a step back and look at your handy work. "Not bad..." the Harper remarks.

[JNAProductions]

Well, let's go check it out, shall we?

...

Did that Harper guy mention if anyone still owned this? Sam asks.

[willowedc]

"Harper Collins," the aged Talia rasps, practicing her accent. "Will we be using a wagon to transport the egg or do you have another means? An aged woman like myself, doesn't move as fast as the young'ins and it would allow us a means to hide our weapons. I realize we are not to fight, but I have no intention of loosing my life to the retrieval of an egg; should anything go south."

[Shades of Gray]

Beautiful wipes the various powders, creams, and loose eyelashes that accumulated on her arms onto her apron. She had been flirting around between customers and the task at hand. My my, sweetheart, this has to be the best that Melberta's ever looked. she complimented as she let Lexi her the silver drink tray as a mirror, licking the corner of her apron to wipe some stray red pigment away from the artificial scar.