Laza nods asking "Which taven at the docks? And what does Oliver look like?" upon hearing the answers will say "That will be enough for now. Thank you." and heads that direction.
On route to the bar Laza will use his hat to change appearance to look more like a dock hand, though still a Tabaxi of course. Entering the bar, if he recognizes a person with Oliver's description he'll plop down at the same table (though not across from, or next to, kind of on the other angle), order a pint, and just stare into it for a minute.
((I assume you mean Roman, the brother that hasn't done as well for himself and hangs out by the docks? Sorry, I wrote the wrong name at one point. I've corrected it now))
"Roman hangs out at the Gnarled Anchor. He's short for a human, blond hair. Tell you what, I'll come with you and point him out if he's there."The two of your head down to the docks and into the Gnarled Anchor. It's a ramshackle and rowdy place, full of sailors and dock workers. It has bits of nautical equipment hung all over the walls and a series of flags from different ships hung around the walls.
Eloise sticks her head around the door "Yeah, he's the guy sat by himself on that table on the left." She gestures subtly to you. "You want me to stick around in case you need anything?"((If you do, she'll get a drink and sit elsewhere in the bar. Otherwise, she'll head off))
When you sit down next to Roman you glance at him. His naturally light hair is frizzy from the sea salt and darkened from dirt and grease. He has a few days of stubble on his chin and a few ales inside him by the looks of it. He's staring into the bottom of nearly empty glass of ale. When you sit near him he nods a brief acknowledgement to you and then continues to stare in silence.
The spider makes their way over to the area where the cabbage cart went. They rest on the false wall, waiting for the cart to return.
[Wanting to hop on the cart when it comes back out and get a closer look at the driver(s). If my wildshape would be running out soon though, I will just make my way back to the inn.]
You wait on the wall for a while. Perception check: 8 You strain to hear the noises coming from the other side of the wall for a clue, but don't hear anything useful.
After about twenty minutes the door slides open and the cart rolls out. You're able to hop on to the cart. The cart has a single driver - a young elven male. You spend some time surveying him as you roll slowly out of the warehouse. He's dressed like a normal poor worker but something stands out as "off" about their demeanour. Eventually you pinpoint that they have a rather nice dagger on their right hip. It's moderately ornate and looks expensive. When you reassess them, you note that they hold themselves straight and tall and appear to be more alert than the average cart driver.
The back of the cart is a sea of vegetables, mostly carrots and cabbages.
(Does Rothnar knows of any of those people, names, and or business? He was but a child but maybe some ring a bell?)
You recognise Auric Letani's name. His family has run Letani's Magical Goods in the market district for a very long time. It's famed for having the very best magical items of all sorts. Adventurers love to shop there once they've hit the big time. You don't know him personally, but his reputation is of a successful business owner with a decent reputation. You haven't heard of Oliver, Loris or Roman. Intelligence check: 5 You don't have any bright ideas about how to get more information ((although if you, as a player do, you can obviously still roleplay them - I was just seeing if Rothnar was smart enough for me to give you a hint)).
Eloise sticks her head around the door "Yeah, he's the guy sat by himself on that table on the left." She gestures subtly to you. "You want me to stick around in case you need anything?"((If you do, she'll get a drink and sit elsewhere in the bar. Otherwise, she'll head off))
When you sit down next to Roman you glance at him. His naturally light hair is frizzy from the sea salt and darkened from dirt and grease. He has a few days of stubble on his chin and a few ales inside him by the looks of it. He's staring into the bottom of nearly empty glass of ale. When you sit near him he nods a brief acknowledgement to you and then continues to stare in silence.
On the way Laza would have asked if she knew why he was down on his luck these days; what happened, or what he failed at. Arriving he'll put a coin in her hand and say "Have a drink on me if you'd like, though I'll handle Roman."
After draining about half his beer Laza will sigh, and start loudly mumbling to himself "Those mother ****ers down at the docks..." ((replace 'docks' with whatever area/place Roman was having problems at.))
From here the plan is to attempt to get a drunken conversation going where both share grievances, and then use this to get information on his bro. We can RP parts of the convo, though sometimes it can take a long while to do a full back-and-forth here. He'll also be disguised, and using the name Iduali
Eloise sticks her head around the door "Yeah, he's the guy sat by himself on that table on the left." She gestures subtly to you. "You want me to stick around in case you need anything?"((If you do, she'll get a drink and sit elsewhere in the bar. Otherwise, she'll head off))
When you sit down next to Roman you glance at him. His naturally light hair is frizzy from the sea salt and darkened from dirt and grease. He has a few days of stubble on his chin and a few ales inside him by the looks of it. He's staring into the bottom of nearly empty glass of ale. When you sit near him he nods a brief acknowledgement to you and then continues to stare in silence.
On the way Laza would have asked if she knew why he was down on his luck these days; what happened, or what he failed at. Arriving he'll put a coin in her hand and say "Have a drink on me if you'd like, though I'll handle Roman."
After draining about half his beer Laza will sigh, and start loudly mumbling to himself "Those mother ****ers down at the docks..." ((replace 'docks' with whatever area/place Roman was having problems at.))
From here the plan is to attempt to get a drunken conversation going where both share grievances, and then use this to get information on his bro. We can RP parts of the convo, though sometimes it can take a long while to do a full back-and-forth here. He'll also be disguised, and using the name Iduali
On the way over, Eloise talks about Roman. "I don't know the details, but he used to work for Sammus at his warehouse. Then, about three months ago, he didn't. I haven't found anyone who talked about the details, but nobody has seen them together. I guess they had a falling out." ((The warehouse in the docks area so your sentence ending "down at the docks." makes sense.))
Eloise takes the coin gratefully. "No problem, I'll be at the bar if you need me!" and shoots off like an arrow to buy a drink.
When you grumble to yourself you notice Roman's ears prick up and he turns to you. He slurs "What've those bastards done to you, friend? Chewed you up and spit you out no doubt..."
((You're right that we want to be efficient with the back and forth in the RP. If you tell me what you tell Roman and give me a deception roll I'll tell you how he responds. Make the roll at advantage as he's quite drunk already))
[Ruhvon will continue to ride along in the cart as far as his wildshape allows, less a few minutes to allow to exit the cart and find a hiding spot before continuing back to town.]
Hearing Roman respond, Laza says "Eh? Ah... sorry... must be a bit loud. I work for 10 years for those ********, then some new kid comes in, says he can do my job for less and in half the time, so they just let me go! Kid wouldn't know the back side of his ass of it bit him! I know everything about how this shit works! They wont go a week before they start comin' back. 'Iduali, we need you. Iduali we were wrong.' can't wait to see the look on their faces!"and he'll slam his drink and order another asking "you?"
[Ruhvon will continue to ride along in the cart as far as his wildshape allows, less a few minutes to allow to exit the cart and find a hiding spot before continuing back to town.]
You ride along for a few more minutes until the cart stops next to a ship moored in the docks. It's a medium-sized vessel and doesn't look out of place compared to the other ships you've seen. Sailors and dock workers mill around. They seem to avoid your cart though, until the cart-driver gives a whistle. Three sailors emerge from the ship and begin transferring the crates of vegetables from the cart to a pallet suspended from a wooden crane nearby. Perception: 6 You don't notice anything odd about the crates themselves, but the workers are handling them more carefully than you would expect them to handle vegetables. Combined with the way the other workers are ignoring the cart, it seems something is off.
You're positioned next to the last crate to be moved to the pallet and could jump into it and be carried on to the ship if you wanted to and not be spotted. You have about 30 minutes of wildshape remaining.
Hearing Roman respond, Laza says "Eh? Ah... sorry... must be a bit loud. I work for 10 years for those ********, then some new kid comes in, says he can do my job for less and in half the time, so they just let me go! Kid wouldn't know the back side of his ass of it bit him! I know everything about how this shit works! They wont go a week before they start comin' back. 'Iduali, we need you. Iduali we were wrong.' can't wait to see the look on their faces!"and he'll slam his drink and order another asking "you?"
deception23
"I feel you friend! Wankers the lot of them!" he slurs slightly and sways. "I got screwed over too. By my own brother no less! I used to work for him, ran one of his warehouses, but then he started getting into some bad business. Wanted to run some stuff through my warehouse. I wouldn't have any of it. Illegal and immoral. Wanted nothing to do with it and didn't think he should either. When I told him so he fired me. His own brother! Couldn't believe it. Now I'm lucky to get a day's labour." He lets out a belch.
"Family! Bah!" Laza exclaims "The people yeh assume'll never screw yeh over, but the ones most likely to do so eh! Though sounds like yeh got yehself clear of the 'thorities at least. Don't wanna get mixed up with anythin' illegal n' immoral." Laza takes a sip of drink and continues "Had a cousin m'self. Tried to have me sneak some drugs er some such into town. Ended up spending a few nights in a cell before I could talk my way out. I'll repay that sum***** one of these days. I'm sure you wouldn't mind if he got his too eh?" ending with a bit of a chuckle.
Roman nods along in agreement for most of what you say, until you get to your question at the end when he recoils a little. "Sammus is a right bastard alright, but blood's blood. I wish he'd stop what he's doing, but I don't want to hurt him or nuffin'. That'd make me worse than him! Nah, I wouldn't mind if he had a little scare that set him straight, but that's as far as I'd go." He takes another large swig of ale.
"Hah! 'Course friend. I'd never want anything bad to happen to meh cousin either. But sometimes they gotta be scared straight! They gotta know what harm they caused." Laza replies, changing the subject a bit and tries to simply befriend Roman a bit. ((at this point Laza would just try to chat with him, and see if he can get him to slip up about anything at all helpful, while also being careful to remain simply friendly))
[The spider hides in the crate, but once out of the cart it looks to make its escape as soon as possible.. perhaps just as the pallet is being lifted to be brought aboard.]
"Hah! 'Course friend. I'd never want anything bad to happen to meh cousin either. But sometimes they gotta be scared straight! They gotta know what harm they caused." Laza replies, changing the subject a bit and tries to simply befriend Roman a bit. ((at this point Laza would just try to chat with him, and see if he can get him to slip up about anything at all helpful, while also being careful to remain simply friendly))
Persuasion check: 15
You try to gently coax more information out of Roman about his brother, but he seems very reluctant to go into details with you. After a few hours, he stands up and sways unsteadily. "Right, I've got to get to work. It was nice chatting with you, friend. If you find yourself in here again, I'd be happy to talk again."
[The spider hides in the crate, but once out of the cart it looks to make its escape as soon as possible.. perhaps just as the pallet is being lifted to be brought aboard.]
You hop into the crate. Now you're a bit closer, you see that, hidden amongst the vegetables are a couple of small wooden boxes. You can't tell what's inside them, but it's clear that they're being smuggled by Sammus' company, hidden in the produce. As the boom of the crane swings out over the ship you clamber out of the crate and on to the crane itself. Nobody notices your spider form. Over the next ten minutes or so you crawl slowly over the crane until you make it back to dry land and find a quiet corner to transform back into your usual form. You're able to leave without incident (if that's what you want to do)
You find yourselves with a moment to regroup and share your findings and plans. We can skip ahead to the meal, or you undertake any schemes you'd like to do before that if you wish.
Back in their common room the group sees Laza with a small weasel on his shoulder reading from the book that he'd gotten from the library back in town. Once everyone is together he says "Well... I found out our man is a bit of a dick to family, and is running some type of illegal goods out through a warehouse down on the docks. He'll definitely have some enemies there. Eliose might know a bit about them if we ask."
Eloise thinks for a second. "Figures he'd be up to something no good. The richest of the rich always have their fingers in some jar they shouldn't. Wonder if it's related to the contract on him? I haven't heard of any enemies down in the docks, but I have a few contacts. I could ask around if you like?"
"If it's not a bother it could be good to know who he's pissing off. I'm personally also curious about what he may be smuggling... Though maybe I'll go down there and see what I can find. Though perhaps the others found something in their time off." Laza says, adding "And... while generally it isn't much of our business... if you happen to learn who put the contract out, it might be interesting to know."
Eloise comes back to you a few days later. "OK, so I asked around the docks. There are some workers who are pissed at Sammus. Apparently he throws money around a bit and gets preferntial treatment and treats everyone who doesn't work for him as an obstacle. They're not best pleased. If you like, I could set up a meeting with some of them in you like? Didn't find out anything about who might have put out the contract though."
You can ask Eloise to set up a meeting with the other dock workers if you like, and that can be before or after the meal you have booked at the Coiled Serpent. If you don't want to meet them or want to do the meal first, I suggest we skip to the meal?
((I assume you mean Roman, the brother that hasn't done as well for himself and hangs out by the docks? Sorry, I wrote the wrong name at one point. I've corrected it now))
"Roman hangs out at the Gnarled Anchor. He's short for a human, blond hair. Tell you what, I'll come with you and point him out if he's there." The two of your head down to the docks and into the Gnarled Anchor. It's a ramshackle and rowdy place, full of sailors and dock workers. It has bits of nautical equipment hung all over the walls and a series of flags from different ships hung around the walls.
Eloise sticks her head around the door "Yeah, he's the guy sat by himself on that table on the left." She gestures subtly to you. "You want me to stick around in case you need anything?" ((If you do, she'll get a drink and sit elsewhere in the bar. Otherwise, she'll head off))
When you sit down next to Roman you glance at him. His naturally light hair is frizzy from the sea salt and darkened from dirt and grease. He has a few days of stubble on his chin and a few ales inside him by the looks of it. He's staring into the bottom of nearly empty glass of ale. When you sit near him he nods a brief acknowledgement to you and then continues to stare in silence.
DM - Silver Blades homebrew
Vonrak Hammerstone - Fighter/Wizard: Pick and Play
You wait on the wall for a while. Perception check: 8 You strain to hear the noises coming from the other side of the wall for a clue, but don't hear anything useful.
After about twenty minutes the door slides open and the cart rolls out. You're able to hop on to the cart. The cart has a single driver - a young elven male. You spend some time surveying him as you roll slowly out of the warehouse. He's dressed like a normal poor worker but something stands out as "off" about their demeanour. Eventually you pinpoint that they have a rather nice dagger on their right hip. It's moderately ornate and looks expensive. When you reassess them, you note that they hold themselves straight and tall and appear to be more alert than the average cart driver.
The back of the cart is a sea of vegetables, mostly carrots and cabbages.
DM - Silver Blades homebrew
Vonrak Hammerstone - Fighter/Wizard: Pick and Play
You recognise Auric Letani's name. His family has run Letani's Magical Goods in the market district for a very long time. It's famed for having the very best magical items of all sorts. Adventurers love to shop there once they've hit the big time. You don't know him personally, but his reputation is of a successful business owner with a decent reputation. You haven't heard of Oliver, Loris or Roman. Intelligence check: 5 You don't have any bright ideas about how to get more information ((although if you, as a player do, you can obviously still roleplay them - I was just seeing if Rothnar was smart enough for me to give you a hint)).
DM - Silver Blades homebrew
Vonrak Hammerstone - Fighter/Wizard: Pick and Play
On the way Laza would have asked if she knew why he was down on his luck these days; what happened, or what he failed at. Arriving he'll put a coin in her hand and say "Have a drink on me if you'd like, though I'll handle Roman."
After draining about half his beer Laza will sigh, and start loudly mumbling to himself "Those mother ****ers down at the docks..." ((replace 'docks' with whatever area/place Roman was having problems at.))
From here the plan is to attempt to get a drunken conversation going where both share grievances, and then use this to get information on his bro. We can RP parts of the convo, though sometimes it can take a long while to do a full back-and-forth here. He'll also be disguised, and using the name Iduali
PbP 🎲: Tyekanik; Moneo Noree; Korba Muris; & occasional DM:
On the way over, Eloise talks about Roman. "I don't know the details, but he used to work for Sammus at his warehouse. Then, about three months ago, he didn't. I haven't found anyone who talked about the details, but nobody has seen them together. I guess they had a falling out." ((The warehouse in the docks area so your sentence ending "down at the docks." makes sense.))
Eloise takes the coin gratefully. "No problem, I'll be at the bar if you need me!" and shoots off like an arrow to buy a drink.
When you grumble to yourself you notice Roman's ears prick up and he turns to you. He slurs "What've those bastards done to you, friend? Chewed you up and spit you out no doubt..."
((You're right that we want to be efficient with the back and forth in the RP. If you tell me what you tell Roman and give me a deception roll I'll tell you how he responds. Make the roll at advantage as he's quite drunk already))
DM - Silver Blades homebrew
Vonrak Hammerstone - Fighter/Wizard: Pick and Play
[Ruhvon will continue to ride along in the cart as far as his wildshape allows, less a few minutes to allow to exit the cart and find a hiding spot before continuing back to town.]
Hearing Roman respond, Laza says "Eh? Ah... sorry... must be a bit loud. I work for 10 years for those ********, then some new kid comes in, says he can do my job for less and in half the time, so they just let me go! Kid wouldn't know the back side of his ass of it bit him! I know everything about how this shit works! They wont go a week before they start comin' back. 'Iduali, we need you. Iduali we were wrong.' can't wait to see the look on their faces!" and he'll slam his drink and order another asking "you?"
deception 23
PbP 🎲: Tyekanik; Moneo Noree; Korba Muris; & occasional DM:
You ride along for a few more minutes until the cart stops next to a ship moored in the docks. It's a medium-sized vessel and doesn't look out of place compared to the other ships you've seen. Sailors and dock workers mill around. They seem to avoid your cart though, until the cart-driver gives a whistle. Three sailors emerge from the ship and begin transferring the crates of vegetables from the cart to a pallet suspended from a wooden crane nearby. Perception: 6 You don't notice anything odd about the crates themselves, but the workers are handling them more carefully than you would expect them to handle vegetables. Combined with the way the other workers are ignoring the cart, it seems something is off.
You're positioned next to the last crate to be moved to the pallet and could jump into it and be carried on to the ship if you wanted to and not be spotted. You have about 30 minutes of wildshape remaining.
DM - Silver Blades homebrew
Vonrak Hammerstone - Fighter/Wizard: Pick and Play
"I feel you friend! Wankers the lot of them!" he slurs slightly and sways. "I got screwed over too. By my own brother no less! I used to work for him, ran one of his warehouses, but then he started getting into some bad business. Wanted to run some stuff through my warehouse. I wouldn't have any of it. Illegal and immoral. Wanted nothing to do with it and didn't think he should either. When I told him so he fired me. His own brother! Couldn't believe it. Now I'm lucky to get a day's labour." He lets out a belch.
DM - Silver Blades homebrew
Vonrak Hammerstone - Fighter/Wizard: Pick and Play
"Family! Bah!" Laza exclaims "The people yeh assume'll never screw yeh over, but the ones most likely to do so eh! Though sounds like yeh got yehself clear of the 'thorities at least. Don't wanna get mixed up with anythin' illegal n' immoral." Laza takes a sip of drink and continues "Had a cousin m'self. Tried to have me sneak some drugs er some such into town. Ended up spending a few nights in a cell before I could talk my way out. I'll repay that sum***** one of these days. I'm sure you wouldn't mind if he got his too eh?" ending with a bit of a chuckle.
PbP 🎲: Tyekanik; Moneo Noree; Korba Muris; & occasional DM:
Roman nods along in agreement for most of what you say, until you get to your question at the end when he recoils a little. "Sammus is a right bastard alright, but blood's blood. I wish he'd stop what he's doing, but I don't want to hurt him or nuffin'. That'd make me worse than him! Nah, I wouldn't mind if he had a little scare that set him straight, but that's as far as I'd go." He takes another large swig of ale.
DM - Silver Blades homebrew
Vonrak Hammerstone - Fighter/Wizard: Pick and Play
"Hah! 'Course friend. I'd never want anything bad to happen to meh cousin either. But sometimes they gotta be scared straight! They gotta know what harm they caused." Laza replies, changing the subject a bit and tries to simply befriend Roman a bit. ((at this point Laza would just try to chat with him, and see if he can get him to slip up about anything at all helpful, while also being careful to remain simply friendly))
PbP 🎲: Tyekanik; Moneo Noree; Korba Muris; & occasional DM:
[The spider hides in the crate, but once out of the cart it looks to make its escape as soon as possible.. perhaps just as the pallet is being lifted to be brought aboard.]
Persuasion check: 15
You try to gently coax more information out of Roman about his brother, but he seems very reluctant to go into details with you. After a few hours, he stands up and sways unsteadily. "Right, I've got to get to work. It was nice chatting with you, friend. If you find yourself in here again, I'd be happy to talk again."
DM - Silver Blades homebrew
Vonrak Hammerstone - Fighter/Wizard: Pick and Play
You hop into the crate. Now you're a bit closer, you see that, hidden amongst the vegetables are a couple of small wooden boxes. You can't tell what's inside them, but it's clear that they're being smuggled by Sammus' company, hidden in the produce. As the boom of the crane swings out over the ship you clamber out of the crate and on to the crane itself. Nobody notices your spider form. Over the next ten minutes or so you crawl slowly over the crane until you make it back to dry land and find a quiet corner to transform back into your usual form. You're able to leave without incident (if that's what you want to do)
DM - Silver Blades homebrew
Vonrak Hammerstone - Fighter/Wizard: Pick and Play
You find yourselves with a moment to regroup and share your findings and plans. We can skip ahead to the meal, or you undertake any schemes you'd like to do before that if you wish.
DM - Silver Blades homebrew
Vonrak Hammerstone - Fighter/Wizard: Pick and Play
Back in their common room the group sees Laza with a small weasel on his shoulder reading from the book that he'd gotten from the library back in town. Once everyone is together he says "Well... I found out our man is a bit of a dick to family, and is running some type of illegal goods out through a warehouse down on the docks. He'll definitely have some enemies there. Eliose might know a bit about them if we ask."
PbP 🎲: Tyekanik; Moneo Noree; Korba Muris; & occasional DM:
Eloise thinks for a second. "Figures he'd be up to something no good. The richest of the rich always have their fingers in some jar they shouldn't. Wonder if it's related to the contract on him? I haven't heard of any enemies down in the docks, but I have a few contacts. I could ask around if you like?"
DM - Silver Blades homebrew
Vonrak Hammerstone - Fighter/Wizard: Pick and Play
"If it's not a bother it could be good to know who he's pissing off. I'm personally also curious about what he may be smuggling... Though maybe I'll go down there and see what I can find. Though perhaps the others found something in their time off." Laza says, adding "And... while generally it isn't much of our business... if you happen to learn who put the contract out, it might be interesting to know."
PbP 🎲: Tyekanik; Moneo Noree; Korba Muris; & occasional DM:
Eloise comes back to you a few days later. "OK, so I asked around the docks. There are some workers who are pissed at Sammus. Apparently he throws money around a bit and gets preferntial treatment and treats everyone who doesn't work for him as an obstacle. They're not best pleased. If you like, I could set up a meeting with some of them in you like? Didn't find out anything about who might have put out the contract though."
You can ask Eloise to set up a meeting with the other dock workers if you like, and that can be before or after the meal you have booked at the Coiled Serpent. If you don't want to meet them or want to do the meal first, I suggest we skip to the meal?
DM - Silver Blades homebrew
Vonrak Hammerstone - Fighter/Wizard: Pick and Play