CH. 11: The Show Must Go On

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (Masked Dragon Inn, Ismene's Room)
"And your reaction only proves I am right," Miriam retorts. "All I hear from you are complaints you aren't getting properly rewarded for your good deeds. Well, that's life. We do what is right because it is right; not for accolades or coin or respect or glory. Maybe you have helped people in the past, but I'd be willing to bet my sword and armor you only did so because you hoped it would benefit you in some way. You're lying to yourself if you think otherwise."

She puts on her coat and bundles up. "Helping others is not a shield you can use against criticism. Regardless of how you try to justify it, you are helping evil men that are doing evil things and whatever good deeds you once did does that balance that out. At least have the guts to own up to your selfishness." Looking to Ismene, she adds, "I'm going to try and make some arrangements. Please consider my offer. We could use someone of your talents." She then turns to leave.

Kendra Synclair (Prefect's Mansion)
Tethys chuckles. "Aging...yes, I do feel older. But having no idea how old my people can get, I'm not sure entirely what that would really feel like." He scratches at his chin. "But in any case, yes, I do have something for you. I've caught word that there is some kind of performance that is going to be put on today for the soldiers. While it heartens me to see that someone is appreciative of our hard work...I can't help but be suspicious. This could well be a ruse or scam or prelude to some kind of rebel attack. I'd like you to check it out for me. It's to be held in the market at Tenth Watch. No idea who is behind it, or why, but hopefully it's all on the up and up."

Tulbas Erogund (Mageware Shop)
"Very well," Magnus says, standing up. "Let us begin. We'll start with the spells you have memorized for today." He begins instructing Tulbas on unusual applications of spells, beyond what they are commonly used for.

Grubnick (Grand Market)
"Aye, that ugly mug of yours stands out," Delharn jokes, grinning. "As for an escape route...good idea. Probably should have a meet up place, too, in case we get separated. Someplace that won't be conspicuous."

Arulia Seroth (Seven Centaurs, Common Room)
After her bath, Arulia heads back down to the common room. Niniva comes down, also cleaned and freshened, at almost the same time. "That was wonderful," she comments. "I've heard there are nobles who have rooms like that in their homes. Can you imagine being able to do that every day?" she asks.

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (North Sewers)
Ne-Chanz spends 2 silver on 10 torches and places them all in his pack. His flint and steel should be sufficient in lighting them, when he needs to.

The three return to the old warehouse and enter through the sewer entrance there. At the bottom of the ladder, they find the equipment they had left there before, untouched. Ne-Chanz lights a torch, and they retrace their steps through the room with the big rats, past the area they fought the gelatinous cube, through the door they unlocked, then back up to the last door they had found. It doesn't appear anything has changed since their last visit two days ago.

Shima looks over the door. The wood is rotting in a few places and looks quite old. He searches carefully, but finds no evidence of traps. So he pulls out his tools and sets to work on the rusty padlock. It's barely functional any more. He could probably knock it off with a good whack from a weapon, if he didn't care about making noise. He easily picks it, and it comes open.

(Shima searches the door for traps [TN 20%] (1d100): 61, fail. He finds no traps.
Shima picks the old rusty (+20%) padlock [TN 70%] (1d100): 58, pass.)

[Haahque]

Miriam's response leaves Haahqae speechless. If you’re not given any accolades or coin or respect or glory for doing what is right, then what is the point of doing what is right? Is it just for suckers who like being beaten within an inch of their life and given nothing for it? Of course Haahqae did what he did because he thought it would benefit him in some way, often he was wrong, but what’s the point of having a life quest if one couldn’t work towards it during their life?

“No one’s completely good, and no one’s pure evil. We all have to find our own path that we think is right. Sure the Baaz might be more evil then good, and do things which hurt people much better than they are, but I’m not helping them do any of those things. I’m putting on a show for them, where they’ll be seated and not bullying shopkeepers nor plotting evil deeds.”

The comment is mostly to reassure himself that he’s not making a mistake, on this course of action. But with how Miriam’s talking Haahqae still feels unsure of himself, so he looks to Ismene for guidance. Maybe she’ll have something to say that will make him feel better.

[djhyland]

Arulia smiles at Niniva's excitement, but shakes her head in reply. "I can't," she says. "I felt...well, I don't think I'm the kind of person that this place is for."

As Niniva and Arulia leave the Seven Centaurs, Arulia can't help but feel a sense of relief. "Are you planning on going back home, now?" she asks Niniva. "I'm going to see if I can find Kendra and ask if she has any news on Father. I suppose I should go to open the shop, too, but I doubt I'll be missing out on much business if I see Kendra first."

(OOC: Arulia will go to Kendra's house to look for her there. If Niniva wishes to join her rather than go home, she'll be happy to take her along.)

[Chris1234]

{OOC: I must have remembered it incorrectly - I thought the lock was high quality. Never mind. Anyway, assuming here that we've picked up the weapons that were where we left them. Otherwise, we'll go back and equip them immediately.}

Shima puts his lock-picks away, equips his shield, and says, "Ready?"
The dwarf steps back behind his two companions allowing them to open the door and proceed beyond.
As they step though and head northwards, the dwarf equips his spear and follows them.

[HorizonsDream]

"A performance for the soldiers?" Kendra asks. "That...even sounds a little suspicious to me. Either someone is trying really hard to get into your good graces, or they are planning something," Kendra says.

[TristenC]

Heh. You're no wildflower yourself... though you are pretty wild, he counters with a chuckle. I wonder if we could get into the basement of that building we torched safely... Nah, it should be somewhere close... Both of our inns are nearby, only one road to cross... the checkpoints near the market will probably be distracted... I don't like the idea of heading home after... He thinks back to the Bard's offer of shelter several days ago... I don't like it much, but there is another possibility... a man offered me shelter for helping him with the Belzorites... his home is near the Haven Arms, but he was arrested... with another event like this they might look there for conspirators... he shakes his head, No... I don't like it now that I think more on it... We should take extra care not to get too near the barracks in any case, since they're so close.

[Ooc: Are the green areas around the high-hand parks/wooded areas?
where exactly was the Belzorite layer?]

[spyguy1503]

(Did we pick up our weapons? If not, retroactively do so.) Ne-Chanz lights a torch and draws his sword.

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (Masked Dragon Inn, Ismene's Room)
Ismene shifts her weight from foot to foot. There's an awkward silence as Haahqae just stands there, looking to her to say something. Finally, she says, "I, uh, try not to get involved in moral debates. Miriam has a lot of opinions on that sort of thing, though." She absently pets Arcane. "That's why she wants me to go back to Langtree with her, to help her fight. But I'm not much for fighting. I kind of just want to be left alone to my studies, you know? As long as I can do that, I don't care who's in charge."

Kendra Synclair (Prefect's Mansion)
"Either way," Tethys says, "I would prefer to know beforehand. If you find any evidence that this is some kind of trap, then you have my authority to arrest the performer and cancel the show. On the other hand, if this is legitimate...well, it might prove useful to us. It's always good to know whom one's allies and enemies are, yes?"

Grubnick (Grand Market)
"Well, lad, you know the city better than me by this point," the dwarf admits. "Perhaps it would be better to split up then? We each head for a different safehouse, in case the other is caught. That way at least one of us is guaranteed to escape, especially if they think only one person is responsible."

(OOC: Yes, the green spots are lightly wooded. Belzor's lair was on River Way. If you see where the street name is, the lair was very close to the letter 'R' in 'River Way.')

Arulia Seroth (Farmer's Street)
Niniva thinks it over. "Oh, I might as well come. I have nothing else to do, anyway," she admits. The two depart the Seven Centaurs and start making their way toward the jewelry shop.

While walking north on Farmer's Street, a woman wearing all black robes approaches them. She has her hood up, obscuring her face. But the icon around her neck, resembling a dragon with five heads, is quite visible. "Ah, what lovely young ladies you two are. Searching for work?" she asks. "The temple is opening up the old brothel soon and could use some women like yourselves. How does a steel piece for each day of work sound?"

"An entire steel piece each day?" Niniva asks, surprised. That's more money than Arulia and Cassilda make put together.

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (North Sewers)
Shima readies the spear he picked up at the entrance and steps aside to let the others open the door first. Felran opens the door, revealing a small room. Across from the door is another door; it looks like the same one they first encountered, with the very good lock on it.

To the north is another door, but this one has no padlock on it.

(OOC: Oh, I misread your earlier post. I thought you went all the way back to where you last left, near the old door. Not the newer, harder door. Well, just as well; with a roll of 58, you would have failed to pick that lock anyway since it had a -20% penalty to it.)

[Chris1234]

{OOC: No, you were right, I thought both doors were high quality.. (spear and shield readied, if that's ok.)}
Shima offers to check the newly revealed northmost door for traps.
If the offer is accepted he will do so, and try to remove any found, thereafter re-equiping shield and spear and take position at the rear of the party.

[TristenC]

[Ooc: so basically straight north with only the largest, fortified concentration or troops in the city between... And we'll be right between them during the attack...]

Grubnick looks around the market for any other viable vantage points. I just realized, we'll be directly between the two largest groups of soldiers in the entire city... with the old fort just north of us and the assembly to the south; by the time we're ready to withdraw we'll be utterly surrounded. Maybe we'd better pick a perch with a better escape route...

[Ooc: is there a decent location to the East (left?) near the High Hand and those woodsy areas, or to the Southwest (man that upside down map is throwing me off) where the Haven Arms and Gregeddin's house are?]

[Haahque]

“Yes, she certainly does seem full of opinions.” Haahqae pauses, considering his options. He doesn’t want to tell Ismene that she’s wrong to not have opinions. Everyone has opinions, just they’re more important to some people than others. And sometimes the best matches are made when one person has opinions on such things and the other doesn’t. Certainly it helps reduce arguments. But at the same time he does agree with Ismene’s outlook somewhat, and commends her dedication to her studies. Such goals are noble endeavors, but lately Haahqae hasn’t been able to be left alone to his studies. If he had found some evil clerics to turn in he could have summoned a familiar and pushed the known boundaries of magic already, instead it appears the tasks coming from this new administration are difficult and rewards are infrequent, if given at all.

“That’s a noble goal. Being able to study peacefully. I wish you the best of luck with it, for I know it can be hard in times like these. I might even like to help you with it someday, but today I have a performance to do. I should probably get going to prepare for it, it’s going to be a little more substantial than the demonstration I did earlier today. Of course you’re invited, if you’d like to attend. It might be a place full of uneducated unwashed brutes, but it should be the biggest performance I’ve done in Haven to date.”

Taking a couple steps towards the door, Haahqae turns to add “If you need help with anything, be it rescuing a friend, finding that one book you’ve always been looking for or even just wanting a couple of steel, you can call on me and I’ll do what I can.”

[spyguy1503]

"Go ahead." Ne-Chanz says. Felran concurs.

[HorizonsDream]

"I'll look into," Kendra says. "In the meantime, can I visit my husband?" she asks.

[BishGada]

Tulbas cleans up the table and follows Magnus to the laboratory in the back room of the house. "Well, I just recently learn the spell 'Spectral Hand'. From what I've read is like a force field that enable you deliver touch spells attack from a distance. I was wondering if it can be used to grab something, to distract opponent, to interfere with one vision or other ways to use it since it was not stated clearly." With his excitement Tulbas misses some words while he speaks, although usually his speech is very eloquent.

[djhyland]

Arulia knows that she should make a quiet excuse and hurry along without drawing attention from this woman. She's a servant of the Dragon Queen, and Arulia doesn't want to risk drawing her attention, even in such a small way. But for this woman to...to lie about the brothel that she's been wracking her mind to keep from opening...well, she'd have had a hard time biting her tongue even without Niniva's possible interest.

Arulia stares into the priestess's eyes with as cold an expression as she can manage. "Oh, I suppose the Dragon Army is going to pay the women it employs in its brothel so well, just like it pays the taverns so well when the soldiers drink there? I suppose that these women will be treated with the same respect that the Army has shown to all the merchants in the city?" She shakes her head slowly while continuing to stare daggers at the woman. "Tell me, if the brothel is to pay so well, will you be working there alongside all the women who volunteer for the job?"