Tamryn, certain that he tricked Mrs. Beaufort into thinking that he stole Kyrsa’s important papers, dashes into the dining room, then stops and tries to blend in with the servants.
Akyan raises an eyebrow when he hears Tymothy's voice. First he wants them to stay up here, and now he wants one of them to go down as a witness? "I'll go with you." He says to Mina. With that, he follows her downstairs.
Mina and Akyan descend the secret stairway, and find themselves in a stone-floored cellar that contains a desk as well as several lockable chests and cabinets. The room is approximately 30x30 feet, and on the opposite side from the bottom of the stairwell, there is an arched opening in the southern wall leading to a subterranean earthen tunnel. An iron-barred, locked gate covers the opening. The room is lit by several torches in sconces on the walls.
Loris Donegall stands with his arms folded, looking annoyed. Beside him, on top of the desk, are several boxes of files, evidently withdrawn from a couple of open cabinets on the wall behind him. There is also a large ceramic bowl containing the flaming remains of some papers. Tymothy the sheriff stands next to the merchant, not taking his eyes off him.
"Mr. Donegall," says Tymothy, "would you repeat for our visitors what you just said to me? What are you doing down here?"
"I am destroying some documents that I no longer need."
"And what documents would those be?"
"I'm turning over a new leaf, and thus I am destroying any document that could be used to blackmail me. Or anyone else. Not that I would do that."
The sheriff glances over at the two elves. "And why are you doing this?"
"In order to show my new business partners how morally upstanding I am."
"Uh-huh," says Tymothy, smirking. "Right. Can you tell me what might be on those documents that you say could be used to blackmail you?"
"Honestly, I'd rather not" states Donegall, flatly.
The sheriff turns to Mina and Akyan. "I don't want anyone to say that I went digging through Loris' papers without a reason, or that I planted evidence. I'm not interested in who he sleeps with, or if he has a secret bastard child somewhere. I need you to look at what he was attempting to destroy, in the bowl and in the boxes, and see if he is covering up any crimes. If you find something, that would give me a reason to confiscate them all before he can destroy the evidence. Gods above, I hope you do find something, or else this means my career as a lawman in this town is over. I will remain over here with Loris, as he contemplates his new-found ethics."
(You can each individually roll Investigation, or if one of you helps, the other can roll with advantage).
Tamryn, wild-eyed, wild-haired and holding his bruised nose, rushes into the dining room, his arms full of the attache, papers spilling out onto the floor. All conversation in the dining room ceases. He is... unsuccessful... at blending in with the servants.
Kyrsa glances at Mrs. Beaufort, surprised that they both found the situation funny. "Well, that was unexpected." She sighs, "I'd better go after him." She gives the clerk a nod before heading after Tamryn.
"Is Tamryn trying to make a distraction to keep the clerk and I out of the game room? Or is he making a distraction for himself?" Kyrsa asks Akyan.
Akyan starts to look through the documents in the file boxes and the bowl, and sees rows and columns of numbers and ledger entries, as well as legal deeds, contracts and claims, and he breaks out in a sweat and his head starts to spin. He looks at Mina in a panic.
The ranger remains calm, and in an orderly manner begins to go through the paperwork. It soon becomes apparent that shortly before the big gold strike that turned the mine's and the town's fortunes around, Loris Donegall had made an agreement to sell a 75% stake in the mine to a Mr. Humphrey, the chief engineer and miner. The very next day, gold was discovered, and the day after that, Humphrey died in a mining "accident" and the agreement was hidden, leaving the sole ownership and possession of the mine in Donegall's name. Mina also finds evidence that the mining company has been skimming the miner's wages and refusing to pay for safety upgrades or to cover expenses for those injured working there. In addition, anyone who speaks out against Donegall is not only fired, but Loris puts pressure on all other employers in town not to hire them, forcing them to relocate to find work. All in all, no "smoking guns" but plenty of things suspicious enough for the sheriff to follow up on.
In the bowl, you find only a few fragments of paper among the ashes, but one contains the signature line "With Love, Tymothy". Nothing else is legible.
As Mina reads these papers, her disdain of Loris grows. How could a person be this way? She gathers up all the discriminating documents and shoves them against Tymothy's chest. "Here" she says angrily, "this should do it." and she pulls out the fragments out of the ashes in the bowl and gently hands them to the sheriff, "You'll be happy to see this as well." She then turns on her heel and heads up the stairs.
When she gets to Jhaartael, "I can't be in the same room with that man again. I'll be in the dining room, ready to leave." and she heads out the door, on her way to the dining room.
Tymothy's eyes widen as Mina thrusts the sheaf of papers at him. He starts to leaf through them, and his eyebrows raise, and then furrow, and his mouth forms a grim line.
"Loris, I'm detaining you and taking you in for questioning in the death of Jonathan Humphrey. In addition you are being charged with stealing from your miners, and just being a general jackass. Turn around and put your hands behind you."
Donegall appears limp and deflated, his bluster all evaporated, and the sheriff puts a pair of wrist manacles on him, and starts to lead him upstairs. He pauses, and then comes back to Mina. "Thank you. You don't fully realize how much this means to me. If each of you wants to take one... one item from this room as a personal reward, I will look the other way. I will still check you for 'extras' before you leave, though."
He then goes back and escorts Loris up the stairs.
Akyan's panic fades as Mina hands the papers to the Sheriff. Mission complete. This went so much better than he had expected He smiles slightly at the sheriff's offer. "It's our pleasure." He says as he picks up the hat of disguise. "Do you mind if I take three for my companions outside? I know at least one of them would benefit from these." He picks up the boots of elvenkind.
"I have no idea what Tamryn is doing, he hasn't told me anything." Akyan replies to Kyrsa, "But don't worry about it. The mission is complete. We also get a reward."
"Tamryn, which of these items would you prefer?" He lists the items off to Tamryn minus the hat of disguise and the boots of elvenkind. "Which one would Lyndaran want? The sheriff has been so kind as to reward us with the ability to steal one item from Loris."
Correal awaits the others in the game room. When Mina appears he sighs in relief as it appears the mission was successful. He nods to her his understanding as she disappears into the hallway.
Seeing the shackled Loris accompanied by the sheriff from below he says, "Ah! You got your man. I commend you sheriff."
((assuming the sheriff repeats his offer to him, Correal/Jhaartael with thank the sheriff and descend to see if there is anything which might help him support his team.))
Downstairs, Jhaartael will ask for more details on how things unfolded from Akyan. Perusing the items found, he will express interest in the Pearl of Power
Before Mina heads up, she thanks the sheriff, "I'm glad we could assist you, this man needs to be taken care of and it appears you are the right one for the job." She looks through the chest and picks up one of the studded leather +1. (Let me know if others want this and we can work through it!) She nods to Tymothy and on her way out to the dining room, she tells Jhaartael about the offer if Tymothy had not.
Kyrsa, not wanting to break character even though the mission goal was complete, makes her way after Tamryn. She tells the clerk, "Thank you for coming with me to fetch this, but..." She chuckles a little, "It looks like I've got to go fetch it again. Blasted servant, I should have known that one was up to no good." She dashes after Tamryn, bursting into the dining area and immediately spots Tamryn--who is apparently now the center of attention as everyone stopped to stare at him. She makes her way over to him, walking deliberately and raising a hand towards the other elf. "Now, I would advise you to hand that over. If you do so without a fuss, perhaps you can keep your job."
To Akyan she says, "Alright, well...That's a relief. Just remember that the mission is not over until we are safely away from here. ...reward? What kind of reward?"
"The right to steal something." Akyan answers plainly. "Don't worry, I've got yours, and I'll get Tamryn's and Lyndaran's as well. You all just get out of here, we'll meet up with you later."
"Mina was able to find evidence that Loris had someone murdered. Now he's getting what he deserves." He says to Jhaartael, "I just told Kyrsa to get herself, Tamryn and Lyndaran out of here. It sounds like Tamryn may be causing some trouble."
Jhaartael muses, "Hmmm... Quite the unsavory character this Master Donegal... But, those that insist at playing in the shadows, have only themselves to blame when their games end upon being exposed in the circle of light."
Already at the top of the stairs, Mina looks back at Correal, nods, then turns and heads down the stairs towards Tymothy's voice.
Tamryn, certain that he tricked Mrs. Beaufort into thinking that he stole Kyrsa’s important papers, dashes into the dining room, then stops and tries to blend in with the servants.
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
Akyan raises an eyebrow when he hears Tymothy's voice. First he wants them to stay up here, and now he wants one of them to go down as a witness? "I'll go with you." He says to Mina. With that, he follows her downstairs.
Mina and Akyan descend the secret stairway, and find themselves in a stone-floored cellar that contains a desk as well as several lockable chests and cabinets. The room is approximately 30x30 feet, and on the opposite side from the bottom of the stairwell, there is an arched opening in the southern wall leading to a subterranean earthen tunnel. An iron-barred, locked gate covers the opening. The room is lit by several torches in sconces on the walls.
Loris Donegall stands with his arms folded, looking annoyed. Beside him, on top of the desk, are several boxes of files, evidently withdrawn from a couple of open cabinets on the wall behind him. There is also a large ceramic bowl containing the flaming remains of some papers. Tymothy the sheriff stands next to the merchant, not taking his eyes off him.
"Mr. Donegall," says Tymothy, "would you repeat for our visitors what you just said to me? What are you doing down here?"
"I am destroying some documents that I no longer need."
"And what documents would those be?"
"I'm turning over a new leaf, and thus I am destroying any document that could be used to blackmail me. Or anyone else. Not that I would do that."
The sheriff glances over at the two elves. "And why are you doing this?"
"In order to show my new business partners how morally upstanding I am."
"Uh-huh," says Tymothy, smirking. "Right. Can you tell me what might be on those documents that you say could be used to blackmail you?"
"Honestly, I'd rather not" states Donegall, flatly.
The sheriff turns to Mina and Akyan. "I don't want anyone to say that I went digging through Loris' papers without a reason, or that I planted evidence. I'm not interested in who he sleeps with, or if he has a secret bastard child somewhere. I need you to look at what he was attempting to destroy, in the bowl and in the boxes, and see if he is covering up any crimes. If you find something, that would give me a reason to confiscate them all before he can destroy the evidence. Gods above, I hope you do find something, or else this means my career as a lawman in this town is over. I will remain over here with Loris, as he contemplates his new-found ethics."
(You can each individually roll Investigation, or if one of you helps, the other can roll with advantage).
Tamryn, wild-eyed, wild-haired and holding his bruised nose, rushes into the dining room, his arms full of the attache, papers spilling out onto the floor. All conversation in the dining room ceases. He is... unsuccessful... at blending in with the servants.
Correal sighs and leans back in his chair. He will stay in the room to await Krysa and Mrs. Beaufort.
Eryndor - Red Dead Annihilation | GM - Volo's Trade Franchise - PF2e Adventures set in the Forgotten Realms
Akyan sighs. At least Loris is still charmed. "Very well, I'll see what I can find." He walks over to the documents, and starts sifting through them.
Investigation: 8
(I hope Mina has better luck lol)
Seeing that Akyan is having trouble, she heads over and tries her own luck at finding the papers the sheriff is requesting.
Investigation 18
(Mina to the rescue! Because apparently, Akyan forgot how to read! :D)
Kyrsa glances at Mrs. Beaufort, surprised that they both found the situation funny. "Well, that was unexpected." She sighs, "I'd better go after him." She gives the clerk a nod before heading after Tamryn.
"Is Tamryn trying to make a distraction to keep the clerk and I out of the game room? Or is he making a distraction for himself?" Kyrsa asks Akyan.
Akyan starts to look through the documents in the file boxes and the bowl, and sees rows and columns of numbers and ledger entries, as well as legal deeds, contracts and claims, and he breaks out in a sweat and his head starts to spin. He looks at Mina in a panic.
The ranger remains calm, and in an orderly manner begins to go through the paperwork. It soon becomes apparent that shortly before the big gold strike that turned the mine's and the town's fortunes around, Loris Donegall had made an agreement to sell a 75% stake in the mine to a Mr. Humphrey, the chief engineer and miner. The very next day, gold was discovered, and the day after that, Humphrey died in a mining "accident" and the agreement was hidden, leaving the sole ownership and possession of the mine in Donegall's name. Mina also finds evidence that the mining company has been skimming the miner's wages and refusing to pay for safety upgrades or to cover expenses for those injured working there. In addition, anyone who speaks out against Donegall is not only fired, but Loris puts pressure on all other employers in town not to hire them, forcing them to relocate to find work. All in all, no "smoking guns" but plenty of things suspicious enough for the sheriff to follow up on.
In the bowl, you find only a few fragments of paper among the ashes, but one contains the signature line "With Love, Tymothy". Nothing else is legible.
As Mina reads these papers, her disdain of Loris grows. How could a person be this way? She gathers up all the discriminating documents and shoves them against Tymothy's chest. "Here" she says angrily, "this should do it." and she pulls out the fragments out of the ashes in the bowl and gently hands them to the sheriff, "You'll be happy to see this as well." She then turns on her heel and heads up the stairs.
When she gets to Jhaartael, "I can't be in the same room with that man again. I'll be in the dining room, ready to leave." and she heads out the door, on her way to the dining room.
Tymothy's eyes widen as Mina thrusts the sheaf of papers at him. He starts to leaf through them, and his eyebrows raise, and then furrow, and his mouth forms a grim line.
"Loris, I'm detaining you and taking you in for questioning in the death of Jonathan Humphrey. In addition you are being charged with stealing from your miners, and just being a general jackass. Turn around and put your hands behind you."
Donegall appears limp and deflated, his bluster all evaporated, and the sheriff puts a pair of wrist manacles on him, and starts to lead him upstairs. He pauses, and then comes back to Mina. "Thank you. You don't fully realize how much this means to me. If each of you wants to take one... one item from this room as a personal reward, I will look the other way. I will still check you for 'extras' before you leave, though."
He then goes back and escorts Loris up the stairs.
Assuming you search the chests in the room, you find the following:
one pair of boots of elvenkind
one cloak of elvenkind
two elven chain shirts
two sets of studded leather +1 armor
two rapier +1
two shortbow +1
a gem of brightness
a pearl of power
a hat of disguise
and six black opals
Akyan's panic fades as Mina hands the papers to the Sheriff. Mission complete. This went so much better than he had expected He smiles slightly at the sheriff's offer. "It's our pleasure." He says as he picks up the hat of disguise. "Do you mind if I take three for my companions outside? I know at least one of them would benefit from these." He picks up the boots of elvenkind.
"I have no idea what Tamryn is doing, he hasn't told me anything." Akyan replies to Kyrsa, "But don't worry about it. The mission is complete. We also get a reward."
"Tamryn, which of these items would you prefer?" He lists the items off to Tamryn minus the hat of disguise and the boots of elvenkind. "Which one would Lyndaran want? The sheriff has been so kind as to reward us with the ability to steal one item from Loris."
Correal awaits the others in the game room. When Mina appears he sighs in relief as it appears the mission was successful. He nods to her his understanding as she disappears into the hallway.
Seeing the shackled Loris accompanied by the sheriff from below he says, "Ah! You got your man. I commend you sheriff."
((assuming the sheriff repeats his offer to him, Correal/Jhaartael with thank the sheriff and descend to see if there is anything which might help him support his team.))
Downstairs, Jhaartael will ask for more details on how things unfolded from Akyan. Perusing the items found, he will express interest in the Pearl of Power
Eryndor - Red Dead Annihilation | GM - Volo's Trade Franchise - PF2e Adventures set in the Forgotten Realms
Before Mina heads up, she thanks the sheriff, "I'm glad we could assist you, this man needs to be taken care of and it appears you are the right one for the job." She looks through the chest and picks up one of the studded leather +1. (Let me know if others want this and we can work through it!) She nods to Tymothy and on her way out to the dining room, she tells Jhaartael about the offer if Tymothy had not.
Kyrsa, not wanting to break character even though the mission goal was complete, makes her way after Tamryn. She tells the clerk, "Thank you for coming with me to fetch this, but..." She chuckles a little, "It looks like I've got to go fetch it again. Blasted servant, I should have known that one was up to no good." She dashes after Tamryn, bursting into the dining area and immediately spots Tamryn--who is apparently now the center of attention as everyone stopped to stare at him. She makes her way over to him, walking deliberately and raising a hand towards the other elf. "Now, I would advise you to hand that over. If you do so without a fuss, perhaps you can keep your job."
To Akyan she says, "Alright, well...That's a relief. Just remember that the mission is not over until we are safely away from here. ...reward? What kind of reward?"
"The right to steal something." Akyan answers plainly. "Don't worry, I've got yours, and I'll get Tamryn's and Lyndaran's as well. You all just get out of here, we'll meet up with you later."
"Mina was able to find evidence that Loris had someone murdered. Now he's getting what he deserves." He says to Jhaartael, "I just told Kyrsa to get herself, Tamryn and Lyndaran out of here. It sounds like Tamryn may be causing some trouble."
Jhaartael muses, "Hmmm... Quite the unsavory character this Master Donegal... But, those that insist at playing in the shadows, have only themselves to blame when their games end upon being exposed in the circle of light."
Eryndor - Red Dead Annihilation | GM - Volo's Trade Franchise - PF2e Adventures set in the Forgotten Realms