"Douglas Leafwhisper. It is my pleasure to meet you each, Dyumi Eyrad, Asledin, Imra, Soriah, and Flint." Remembering the last two from the bar. Turning to Ula, "I am sorry I did not get your name." 

Asledin glances at Raskin heading for the door, then looks at the envelope as Irma holds it up.  The farmer shrugs slightly and asks, "Why do you care 'bout what's innit?  Just need to keep it safe, yes?  Did I miss something?".  The last question was asked while Asledin glanced at a few of the faces around him.  He stops at Douglas, and nods an introduction, then also looks at Ula, then back at Irma.

"Because it's a mystery!" answers Soriah, gleefully.  She comes closer to the envelope and begins to stare at it from various angles, sometimes biting her lip, sometimes squinting, sometimes holding her thumbs and index fingers in an inverted way in front of her as if framing a picture.  She circles around Imra, climbing on chairs and squatting down until she has viewed the object from every possible angle.  "Isn't it exciting?!?"

“It’s dangerous.  If they are going to all of this effort to protect it from falling into the wrong hands, someone must want it badly.”  Flint looks around the room and introduces himself to the others he has not already met.  “Name Flint, look forward to working with you all.  Anyone got an idea, or should we all just sit here and stare at the envelope?”

Quote from LAXGunner >>

“It’s dangerous.  If they are going to all of this effort to protect it from falling into the wrong hands, someone must want it badly.”  Flint looks around the room and introduces himself to the others he has not already met.  “Name Flint, look forward to working with you all.  Anyone got an idea, or should we all just sit here and stare at the envelope?”

 

 "I have a few. First, money."

Dyumi picks up the bag and hands it to either Flint or the nearest volunteer.

"Start counting. We need to get the living expense money split equally if we're to be here for the next week."

(DM, how much does each person get, split equally?)

"Next, the letter. We should figure out who holds the letter and how to best protect them. I suggest taking shifts."

Realizing they're the last one to introduce themselves, Ula belatedly pipes up, raising one hand in greeting. "Ula Raethran. Professional sailor, not that that does me much good here." They shrug and leave it at that. 

Ula doesn't try to take the letter, but just looks over the shoulder of whomever is currently holding it. Does the wax seal have a crest or recognizable mark stamped in it?

After looking at the letter, Ula will volunteer to count the money if Flint doesn't care to.

Dyumi squints at the seal.

Investigation: 2

"My eyesight ain't what it used to be, someone else take a gander."

Flint looks in the bag with a start and holds it open for everyone to see, about a third full (10lbs) gold. Not a silver or copper in sight

"The reason you use an agent to hand a group of agents a package for yet a fourth party all with prerecorded information is because you believe your opponent is stronger than law enforcement or the package is illegal." Douglas begins in his archaic way.

"In either case that rules out using or drawing the guards. Further this type of job would be a test, either establishing blackmail or competence. "

"The two remains options would be to rent one room, leave the letter in plain sight in the room with two people guarding it, two people sleeping in the same room, and three out in the bar. Switch every four hours in a sleep, sleep, guard, bar, guard, bar, sleep, sleep cycle. This option is good against a lot of opponents who all know what the item is and against those who can appear as one of us."

"Then there's the tricky option, we put the envelope in another envelope and we fill seven other envelopes to look identical and feel the same as the guarded one. We each take one of the fakes and subtly mark it so we know it. Then we give the original to someone skilled at slight of hand. We proceed to play a game over the next week of trying to plant our envelopes on one of the others here, so that we have no envelopes on your own person."

"This option is good against a few opponents greatly more skilled than us, as the odds are against them getting the right envelope without revealing themselves. It also stops an imposter taking out 1 of us and collecting the envelopes or forcing information out of one of us as after a few exchanges we won't know where the original is." Douglas will explain hoping everyone understands his explanation.

"Well,", Asledin begins, "we already have a room."  Asledin spreads out his hands, gesturing to the room they are standing in.  "But I don't think leavin' the thing out is a very good idea." Asledin continues, "But that tricky option might have merit."

(DM, please describe the room, specifically entries and exits.)

Imra blinks as he tries to digest all Douglas has said... "Huh?  I.... I caught the last part.... I guess I can hold the letter for now.... and stay in here.... if someone wants to stay with me.... and the others can get decoys? And wax of this colour?"

Imra holds up the letter, "it feels like a long flat brick... and only just as heavy.. so a few ounces..."

The room is 18'x12' with a 12' ceiling. Wood floors, paneled up to 4' and white plaster from there up and the ceiling. There is a window at the end opposite the door (the 18'). The window is shuttered, closed, latched and curtains drawn. There is a sconce by the door with light cast on it. The circular pedestal table  thta could easily accommodate six players though there is only one chair.

“Hm, not so sure about the tricky option.  Sounds too clever, and too easy to lose the right letter.  I do agree that some of us should be out in the main room, keep an eye out for anything odd, or for our friend in the blue cloak.”  He looks across the sparsely furnished room “maybe we leave a decoy out in the open and find a place to hide the real one?”  He searches the room for a potential hiding spot, cracked floorboard, hole in the wall, or something similar.  Investigation: 12.

“Hm, not so sure about the tricky option.  Sounds too clever, and too easy to lose the right letter.  I do agree that some of us should be out in the main room, keep an eye out for anything odd, or for our friend in the blue cloak.”  He looks across the sparsely furnished room “maybe we leave a decoy out in the open and find a place to hide the real one?”  He searches the room for a potential hiding spot, cracked floorboard, hole in the wall, or something similar.  Investigation: 21.

The envelope is 10"x5" heavy parchment paper. The lump at one end is roughly the size of a small rock, maybe an inch at it widest, half to three quarters of an inch tall maybe, uneven.

There really isn't anywhere to hide something here (except maybe under the table)

"I was thinking we keep it on our person, and trade off a few times per day. Remember, we must stick together and blend in with the bar crowd. Our goal is to not arouse suspicion."

Imra nods, "We need to blend in, but the letter should never leave this room.  It should never be in a place where someone can pick it."

"First, how much gold is there?  Second, do we know which rooms are ours.  The kenku said 'the suite' but what is that?  How long?"

Imra walks around, looking to see if he can access doors to other rooms.  Is this like a hotel suite?  With bedrooms adjacent?

"The suite is this gaming room, which does not come with beds so sleeping would be on bedrolls on the floor, unless the management says no in which case we would need to rent a private room for the job." Douglas explains.

"There appears to be about 500 gold in the bag, if its all gold. Thats 71 each with 3 left over."

"The option of leaving it out in the open in a room with four of us, 2 sleeping, 2 guarding works, because no one is allowed to touch the envelope and no one is ever alone with it. You can't  take one of us out in the privy, magically look like them and wait to hold it or ask for it, and stealing out of the room means fooling two attentive guards and not waking the two sleeping ones. It forces a pretty straight up confrontation, probably at some point in the early hours of the day when most of the inn is sleeping."

"The decoy option with multiple decoys and the real letter in play is risky, but works because the odds are in our favor and we are just as blind as our opponents. As they take the letters from us we figure out who is coming in to contact with each of us revealing our opponents. But yes they could get lucky on the first or second letter and get away. Its a gamble and we would be the house. This option is the least likely to provoke a direct confrontation or involve law enforcement. "

"We should vote or decide on our method of keeping the letter safe, including options i didn't propose, before resolving the rest of our accommodations."

This is one of the back rooms that people rent for private card games and such. This isn't the suite

(In D&D coins all weigh the same, 1/50th lbs so that's roughly (or in this case exactly) 500gp)