"Then I must have been born under lucky stars to have folk such as you find me in my hour of need.  We haven't much to offer but my parents are friends with many in our community.  Should you ever find yourselves in Worden, we will see to it that all the folk in the village know what you've done for me," Malia says with a parting smile for everyone, before heading upstairs with Zemo to prepare for her journey.

Leelan and Aubrey are able to lead the others on the short walk to the Blue Orchid.  It is on the southern edge of Umbridge, where the stone buildings and townhouses of the city start to give way to the pastures and farms of the countryside.  Long ago a provincial tax assessors office, the Blue Orchid has been converted into an upscale hotel with a music parlor attached. Now in late morning, the parlor is empty, with chairs stacked up beside tables and the linger odor of last night's pipe smoke still in the air.  After ringing the desk bell, an old human woman in spectacles greets you and sends a page upstairs to alert Lady Shelley that she has guests.  After a few minutes, a human man with a thick grey mustache, dressed in a manner befitting a butler or waiter, descends the stairs.  Leelan, you recognize this as Gregory, Lady Shelley's assistant.  He smiles at recognizing Leelan and then looks over the rest of the group as he approaches, his eyes stopping on Aubrey.

Aubrey:

 "Master Goldentide.  To what do we owe the pleasure?  Don't tell me you've taken up the mercenary life.  Are you now an associate of our friend Leelan the gnome?"  He smiles and the tone suggests good natured ribbing, but his posture shows his surprise and unease upon seeing Aubrey.

To Leelan, "Have you an update for Lady Shelley?  No no.  Spare the details for the moment.  I will show you all upstairs."  He leads you up the narrow staircase to the second floor.  The layout of the building betrays its history as an accounting office with halls barely wide enough to walk and small wooden doors.  But the walls are freshly painted and artwork hangs everywhere.  He leads you to a door at the end of the hall, which opens up into a suite which must cover 1/4 of the second floor.  The apartment is richly furnished with desks, chairs and tables of exotic wood and thick carpets.  Everywhere throughout the space are books, scrolls and maps. A human woman of perhaps thirty years stands before you, her dress befitting a noble but her appearance that of someone not concerned with fashion or etiquette... her glasses are smudged and her slightly curly hair looks like it hasn't seen a comb in days.

"Good morning, good morning Leelan.  I am thrilled to see you.  Tell me, have your investigations born fruit?  I am breathless to hear all about it.  Are these your companions?  Oh - Aubrey.  What a pleasant surprise.  How are your father and aunt?  And why are you here?"

On the way to the Blue Orchid, Leelan entertains Grugga with a conversation. "No fault of yours, friend. I merely wanted to establish a distinction between gnomes and halflings. While our statutes are similar, we are distinct races. Though, my kind isn’t as common down south as some of the other races."

Arriving at the Blue Orchid, the gnome salutes Gregory. "A good morning to you as well. Citizen Aubrey is indeed one of my companions. His help has been invaluable in the investigation, which we will report to Lady Shelley at once."

Once they are invited to, Leelan will lead the party up to Lady Shelley’s office. Once he sees her, he will take off his beret and take a bow. "Good morning to you as well. Always a pleasure to see you too. Allow me to introduce my companions." At which point he will briefly present everyone individually. "We have investigated the docks overnight. We have made contact but erm…Things are more complicated then what we had initially anticipated."

Leelan will begin recounting the events of last night. He mentions how with the help of Seamus, they had managed to acquire pole boats to check out three lobster traps. He explains how the traps had been savagely ripped apart and shows her the hydra teeth that they found. He tells her that there were no seafolk, just a young hydra using the underside of the docks as its hunting ground. "I am sorry. This might not be the result you expected. However, things also took a turn for the more…dire." He will tell her about the sordid crime that almost cost the life of the young Malia. If at any point, one of his companions wishes to expound on the subject or add any other information the gnome might have forgotten, he will let them speak.

As they arrive at the Blue Orchid and meets Greogory Steelsong Aubrey smiles and nods as Leelan explains his presence there. "Yes, as I am expected to lead House Goldentide one day I believe I would need a more versatile education of the world around me than I would recieve by simply serving my fathers needs, don't you think Gregory." Aubrey says confidently to the seneschal. "You are a true and loyal servant to the Shelleys Gregory, I would hope with all that you have done for them you will have all the appreciation you deserve." He adds, again jabbing at Steelsongs position before following him upstairs.

As they enter the suite of Lady Shelley Aubrey puts on a worried face over the state of their hostess. "Good morning to you too Lady Shelley, I hope your stay at the Blue Orchid is a pleasant one. It seems very practical staying like this and not having to bother with a town house when you visit Bardstown milady" Aubrey says with a slight bow. "The reason for my presence is that I am a proud associate of Leelan, and in that capacity I have taken part in the investigations whose findings Leelan will brief you on milady. As for my father and my aunt they are at the manor taking care of our family's business. But I see such worldly matters won't hinder you from pursuing your personal interests Lady Shelley. I am glad if we in any way will have furthered your personal research." He says before letting Leelan recount last nights adventures, to which he just nods and has nothing to add.

Guilim shrugs and frowns at the thought of having such magic used against him. He shrugs it off and puts it up to humans being to paranoid before shaking his head at the fact he is the same way after being a mercenary. "Now I am starting to see why the Hook and Axe did not take jobs here. All the knights would be worried about their mistresses being revealed." The halfling mutters with a small laugh to himself, nodding to Malia as she is led off by the the elven servant.

As they leave and head to the hotel he takes the time to attempt and learn the layout of the city, noting where important places might be.

Quote from DarthDrizzt >>

Guilim shrugs and frowns at the thought of having such magic used against him. He shrugs it off and puts it up to humans being to paranoid before shaking his head at the fact he is the same way after being a mercenary. "Now I am starting to see why the Hook and Axe did not take jobs here. All the knights would be worried about their mistresses being revealed." The halfling mutters with a small laugh to himself, nodding to Malia as she is led off by the the elven servant.

As they leave and head to the hotel he takes the time to attempt and learn the layout of the city, noting where important places might be.

 

While this would be common knowledge to Aubrey (who was raised here) and Rohuzar (who spent considerable time working for the legion), the others who are new travelers  here would now be picking up more of the depth of the bureaucracy and personal information collecting going on within the Empire.  All the forms, licenses, waivers, customs reports... you're now getting the sense that someone is reviewing and collating all of that data about you.

Guilim, all of this walking back and forth is starting to put your bearings together.  The Emperor's castle is the centerpiece of town, with the estates of the greater or wealthier nobles either on the hill behind it or at the base of the hill below it.  The coastline and docks north of the castle are where all the commerce happens... with shipping and warehouses clustered to the west, and shops and markets clustered to the east, near the Robust Hound.  Across the south branch of the Breitvasser (which to your eye looks like a glorified drain, drawing out the sewage and wastewater from the below the city and dumping it into the lake) lies Umbridge.  Umbridge feels like a different town to you, but there is no space between it and Bardstown other than the south branch.  Locals seems to refer to it as though it is part of Bardstown but in a way that still makes it feel separate.  Maybe it makes sense once you've been here long enough?  From what you can tell, Umbridge seems to be the place to live if you don't have enough money to live up on the hill in Bardstown, but you do have enough to avoid the slums in town.  It has nicer townhouses, like Aubrey, but also rows of smaller apartment-type homes which look like nicer and newer versions of the ones you see near the docks.  The stadium the locals call the 'little prince' is in the center of Umbridge and is the largest structure this side of the river.  

Lady Shelley listens with rapt attention to Leelan’s narrative.  She wears her reactions plainly on her face, at times looking shocked, awed, horrified, or intrigued.  But by the end of the story, her disappointment and confusion is plain on her face.

“So you did not encounter any sea-dwelling humanoids… but I am not seeing how the encounter with this hydra rules any of that out.  Perhaps they themselves were temporarily driven out by the beast... or perhaps the beast and they share some relationship, like horses and men.  And what did this fisherman Shaemus have to say about all this?  Based on my read of his interview, he was quite adamant that he had witnessed these merfolk with his own eyes.  Has he recanted that testimony?”

She begins to pace back and forth, her voice rising in pitch, as she recounts different scholarly sources, witness reports, anecdotal accounts, almost all of which mean nothing to any of you.  “Years have gone into this study." she concludes.  Not just my own time, but that of scholars and correspondents of mine as well.  We are so close.  I can feel it!  I refuse to believe this was just a misidentified and thrice be-damned hydra!”  She stares out at all of you, as though she expects you to defend yourselves, or yield to her determination.

At this time Gregory approaches from the back of the room.  “My lady… it is far from the final word on the matter, I understand.  But let us conclude our business with these gentlemen and I will order up a noontime tea service from our host.”

Grugga waits for a polite pause to interject, "Shaemus' description seems to match up with what we found..." he lists on his fingers as he recounts a matching piece of evidence, "Always by the lobster traps; always in a group, because they were attached to one body; glowing eyes; fear of fire." He looks to his companions to check for consensus, "M'lady, I think he saw the hydra heads and assumed them to be separate beings. However, you are correct that it doesn't preclude the existence of merfolk in the lake."

"As we clearly have invested considerable time into this investigation already perhaps we should go back, tonight even, and resume our search for these merfolk, if only to please Lady Shelley." Aubrey mentally suggests to Rohuzar, expecting him to decide if they are to pursue this matter or not. (Using Awakened mind)

Rohuzar holds up a hand to interrupt. 

“Lady Shelley, if you are dissatisfied, then the job is not finished. That said, I must tell you I had hoped to address a secondary bit of information and test how much interest you have in it.”

”I have been informed that a strange creature of intelligence was found on a nearby farm. It is voon… vound… it is injured and vith child. This vas not paying work, so I have not gone to search out the details. But if you are interested in strange peoples, I need only a promise of payment and understand this job vill not vait til next veek… veeek… not vait til later. Ve must go now. Then come back for river. Although I must admit, I suspect river people may be a hag, or hag coven.”

”Is your money, and I look to earn it. If you vish, I stay and keep looking in river til satisfied.”

8

 Lady Shelley pauses at Gregory's interruption then turns, facing away from all of you to look out a window.  She listens in silence to Grugga and Rohuzar while the speak.  A few more moments pass without response.

Eventually she lets out what almost sounds like a sob at first, but which finishes as a long sigh.  "I apologize for my lack of decorum."

"No.  I don't think any further work is warranted at this time.  You're quite right.  I can see that.  Based on what you've told me, this hydra does sound like it fits the present evidence... as well or better than my own hypotheses.  In any case, it is obviously dangerous work... more dangerous than I had intended when I hired you.  This will be all, for now."

Without turning to face you again, "Gregory.  I had promised Leelan and his associates payment.  In the event of an unsuccessful operation, the fee was to be 10gp per person, for their time and risk.  Considering the danger they faced and their heroism in rescuing the peasant girl... make it 12gp each."

"Mr. Rohuzar, at this time I will not be in the market for additional services.  If you should choose to investigate the 'mysterious creature on a farm' on your own time, and it turns out to be something interesting, I may elect to pay for that information at a later date.  But I am not making promises and I am not interested in financing any more expeditions right now."

She walks closer to the window, still not looking back.  "It has been a pleasure, gentlemen.  Now, please excuse me."

Rohuzar nods, satisfied. “Thank you for your business, Lady Shelley.” He gives a crisp salute and nods to Gregory on his way out. 

Aubrey bows to Lady Shelley and nods at Gregory before following Rohuzar out of the suite.

Outside the Blue Orchid Aubrey turns to the others. "I remember there was a posting in Old Imperial back at the Robust Hound Inn and Tavern that said a Doctor Ignatius Della Rosa at the Universitas Vitae would pay 100 pieces of gold per liter of hydra blood. What do you think Leelan. How much blood could we harvest from that carcass?" Aubrey asks the scholarly gnome.

Grugga accepts the reward from Gregory gratefully, "thank you," he murmurs under his breath to the steward. Then he shuffles his way out of the building with the rest of his group.

Once outside he agrees with Aubrey, "Ach! I can't believe we left something so valuable sitting on the beach. Hopefully the blood isn't too clotted. Leelan, I think I have some tools that might work extract the blood." He pats a satchel of odds-and-ends instruments at his side.

DM, I'd like to insight check if I can see why Lady Shelley seemed at the verge of tears: whether it was academic frustration or whether  it might have been something more perosnal.... if that's ok.

Insight: 18

As the meeting seems to be over, Leelan bows again respectfully. "Good day and thank you, Lady Shelley. I’m terribly sorry we couldn’t manage to help you prove your theory. If you ever require our services, I would gladly assist you again. And as always I remain at your disposition should you want to compare notes."

Once outside, Leelan readjusts his beret on his head. At Aubrey’s question, he begins to think: How much blood could one collect from a dead hydra that has had around 10 hours to decompose?

Medicine (?): 9

Gregory escorts the five of you down the stairs then asks you to wait a moment while he goes into a back room at the Blue Orchid with the old woman from the front desk.  He returns with a pouch of 12gp for each of you.  "Thank you for your hard work on behalf of my Lady.  You've done a service for the people of Shelley, for the realm and for the advancement of scholarly knowledge.  Safe travels, each of you."

Rohuzar:

Grugga and Leelan discuss the logistics of harvesting blood from the carcass, now that the party has remembered it may hold significant value.  Leelan, there are many factors to consider in terms of how much blood may be there.  Based on its size, its not hard to imagine this creature may have held 10 liters or more of blood in life.  It definitely lost a lot of blood during the battle.  Clotting rates are difficult to calculate without more knowledge.  To Leelan it would seem logical at least some blood should still remain but how much?  You cannot say.

*It is worth pointing out now that you may have heard Imperial terms like mile, foot, pound, pint, etc., and also now liters used as units of measure.  The Empire, as well as all the nations you're likely to visit, use the Imperial system of measurement.  However, dating back to the founding of the 2nd Empire, the magical colleges have all used the metric system.  So potions and the like are all measured by L and ml whereas products and goods, like beer, are measured by the pint or the pound.*

"Mmm…Regretably, I lack the data to evaluate how much blood we could harvest from the carcass. But one thing is for sure: the longer we wait the less blood we’ll collect. We should also attempt to find a solution to dispose of it once we’re done.", remarks Leelan.

"Grugga, do you have the tools necessary with you or do we need to collect anything before heading to the docks?" Aubrey asks the artificer, ready to leave for the carcass.

Rohuzar distributes 5 gold pieces to everyone. 
“This is the cut. Large portion goes to guild. I save some back for group expenses. I keep books to track our jobs. If you think your cut is unfair or you incur some exceptional expense, ve can discuss compensation. In meantime… ve need to keep taking jobs.”

Rohuzar will also assist in anything the blood suckers need

Guilim shows his disappointment at the small intake of gold. 5gp was enough for a room sure but it was not what he needed to send back to his family.  "Then we need something that makes more money to make it worthwhile. 5 gold peices is not going to keep any mercenary worth hiring interested for long." He says honestly, knowing that some of the more famous ones expected large amounts of gold before even starting a job.

Grugga and Leelan continue their conversation and plotting on how to collect as much blood as possible, while the group picks its way back across town toward the docks.  It is early afternoon at this time.

Stopping in the market district, you are able to locate some flasks at The Green Dragon Apothecary.  The shopkeep is a human, his age difficult to pinpoint as he shows signs of some terrible affliction, his cheeks unnaturally sunken and old scars, somewhat like burns covering his skin.  He produces some stoppered flasks in .5 liter size for 4cp each.

Assuming you choose to purchase some, how many would you like?  Also, is anyone shopping for anything else at the moment?