The group garners some attention, but the townsfolk and the dwarves alike seem to accept your presence readily enough. They seem to be rather amiable all told, and they have little reason to mistrust you.

Once the night gets late and the chit chat is done, Martha gathers the crew in her room for a private conversation. On top of the door being shut, she uses Message to communicate to the party for extra caution. They hear in their minds the following: 

"The dwarves have been commissioned to repair portions of the keep. Especially the primary gatehouse which has a fault line in a critical portion of the structure. They haven't started repairs yet, only prep work. They are annoyed by the job because they have to go slowly due to a requirement to keep the gate functional. They can't just tear it down and rebuild. We need to keep an eye on these guys, and search their rooms. I will prepare my invisibility spell tomorrow morning. Also, I want to stay here and work on magic items tomorrow. Would you all investigate renting the property? Did you learn anything Respar? You can reply to this message."

  Jesla looks over from her bed that she is sitting on.   It made more sense to save money and room with Eya.   She wasn't the worst of roommates. The devil woman didnt snore much which was a positive.    The young barbarian grinned at this thought, a little bored with their present mission.    

'Wulfric' spends most of the dinner poking at his 'disgusting' food and trying to avoid Jesla's gaze while Respar and Eya do their work.  He insists that he has his own room and spends far too much time cleaning himself his clothing, his bed, etc. with prestidigitation.

When Eya holds a meeting via the message spell, Kiven replies "well this is probably more Respar's territory, but it seems like a good opportunity for sabotage.  We could sabotage the repair efforts, somehow try to use the fault to take down the whole gatehouse, or use it to justify why the gate might get stuck open without raising too much suspicion."

Respar adds through the magic, "If we try to sabotage the gate, we have to be careful of the timing and extent.  If we do too much, too soon, they might get the go-ahead to quickly replace it entirely."

Understanding there is a limit to how much he can send over the spell, he writes the following on paper.  "I heard several rumors this evening.  We need to ask Thorne if he knows anything about Father Donnagin possibly being exiled here, and Lord Havleyn being a depressed sort.  Final rumor, Mama Giuseppe goes to the Watchtower weekly on Mondays to cook stew for the men.  If that is true, this might be of use at some point."

After everyone has read the paper, Eya nods to Respar, takes the parchment, and folds it in half. She takes a candle and lights the parchment ablaze, making sure it burns up completely as she holds it out her window. She crumbles the ashes in her hands to ensure its destruction, seemingly uncaring about the minor fire. 

Before going to sleep, Eya sits cross-legged in her bed as she mentally sends a message to the Cardinal, "At Aldencross. Many rumors learned. Was Father Donnagin exiled? Lord Havelyn depressed for some reason? Potential secret passage, Inn to Keep. Still investigating. Eya out."

She goes to sleep.

The response comes a few minutes later. "Havelyn mourns dead wife and known for dour mood, Donnagin asked for current post, no scandals, secret passage sounds promising, old lord's scandals well known. Hail Asmodeus" 

Eya wakes up early in the morning and goes out to have a quick breakfast. She makes small talk with Mrs. Barhold while she eats and lets her know that she will be quietly working in her room to prepare for the opening of her shop. She also lets her know that she will be exploring the various shops in town in the afternoon and inquiring on renting a space for the business.

"Mrs. Barhold, do you know of someone named Vallison and where I may find them?" she asks. "I was told they may be able to help me in renting out Jannete Millry’s old home."

Eya also finds some time in the morning to give her party the information she received from Cardinal Thorn discretely via the same means she used previously.

After all that, she begins work in her room. She takes a great deal of care in making sure that her workspace is clean, neat, and quiet before she starts. First, she prepares her spells for the day, memorizing a mix of spells that she believes will help with stealth, misdirection, and information gathering. Then, she begins work on creating a new magic item. It's a grueling process that involves designing the magical schematics, etching magical runes onto the base with fine tools, then applying and infusing the actual magical effects into the item. The latter two steps are repeated multiple times, iterating over and over until the magic is so refined and stable that the effects become permanent. 

Eight hours later, sweat can be seen on her forehead and she is breathing heavily. "That's enough for today," she says softly to no one in particular. There's still a few more days of work involved before this item is complete. She puts away her things and keeps the unfinished item with her in her bag.

---

Around 3pm or so, "Martha" heads out into town. She goes to visit the crazy alchemist first, a man she was told goes by the name Teryth Caldwin. 

The Mrs Barhold smiles and says, "Master Vallison? He owns the big manor in the center of town, you can't really miss it."

After asking around, Eya gets directed to a shop on the western side of town, called Master Caldwin's Cauldron. The front of the store displays a curious collection of knicknacks, but it seems most of the actual products are stored behind the counter, instead the area is filled with various boards with information on the products available. Pictures are included for those who cannot read.

No one is visible when Eya first enters the store, but a bell sound chimes from somewhere upon entry, and soon enough the alchemist himself appears from a door in the back. He's a wiry fellow, and rather frail looking. One hand appears to have been rather badly burned by a caustic substance within the past month. There's a slight quaver to his voice when he asks, "May I help you miss?"

"Hello there, you must be Master Caldwin. My name is Martha Rose and I'm new in town. I'm an alchemist myself and was hoping I could browse your wares for supplies. Oh no, your hand. What happened?" she asks, grimacing. 

He looks at his hand and grimaces, "Just a... Just a bit of an accident, some uh, faulty glasswork, it broke at the worst possible moment. It is healing well enough. It is a pleasure to meet a fellow practitioner of this most noble craft. You are of course free to browse my wares."

From the looks of it, at least half of the store's supply could be used as poison in sufficient dosage. But at least based upon her quick review, Eya cannot think of anything that would truly disable, but not kill, for more than a few hours. Killing all the birds would be child's play however.

"Ouch, that must have really hurt. I hate it when that happens. Say, would you perhaps like some part-time help around here? Perhaps at least until you've healed up a bit more? My brother and I are looking to open a place ourselves, but we haven't made too much progress on that front just yet. I'm quite capable and am a quick learner if I put my mind to something."

After a night's sleep, and finding out what Eya heard back from the Cardinal, Respar also goes down to breakfast.  Once again he scans the entire ground floor of the building, looking for signs of where a door to a basement might be, or at least a trap door.  Failing that, he will also do a brief comparison of the size of the building's ground floor from the outside, and the inside.  He also does his best to be polite to Barhold and his staff, especially the woman in the kitchen and the lads who probably have to lug anything that might be stored in a place like a basement.

Martha sees that perhaps her previous request was a little too forward, and instead changes the subject, "Ah, sorry. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here. We've only just met after all. Let's start over. My name is Martha Rose. May I have a look at your wares, Master Caldwin?"

She spends several minutes looking through the alchemist's stock and makes small talk as the two browse through the selection, asking questions and for advice along the way. "I purchased a portable alchemist's kit you know. It's quite heavy really, but it helps me practice this craft on the road. I accidentally left an antidote boiling too long once, it was a mess..."

In reality, Eya is still searching for something of use for poison.

  Annaryth will help her employers in whatever they might need for their business.  She shares the bedroom uneasily with Eya.  Whenever she has free time she sits in the common room and drinks some wine or strolls around the town out of boredom. 

Caldwin hesitates for just a moment before shaking his head in response to Eya's initial request, "No, I'm sorry my dear, but I'm just not looking for a partner at the moment, or an apprentice for that matter."

He is however quite willing to let Eya peruse his wares, and even talk a little shop as she does so. Soon enough, on closer inspection, she finds what she's looking for. The right mixture of some of these substances would, if ingested, leave a subject bedridden for days at the least. What is less clear is whether or not there is enough to affect a large number of men. She doesn't know exactly how much the alchemist has in stock.

Respar quickly discerns that whatever storage space this place has, it must be accessed through the kitchen. He makes some headway on befriending the staff.

Wulfric wakes the next day and has breakfast downstairs with any of his companions that happen to be available.  Knowing Eya will be busy for much of the day he ponders how he can contribute to this daunting mission.  The Prince is a long way from his life of study and fine living at his family's home, but he is just as confident as ever that this path with lead him to his destiny of greatness and domination over Talingarde.  Kiven decides to try his best to play the part of a polite by quiet old man that just minds his own business.

Wulfric starts his day by wandering around the inn sipping his post-breakfast tea pretending to be interested in anything in writing, the architecture, or whatever else he can silently admire.  Really he is using his persistent ability to detect magic to scan the inn and its occupants for magic of any kind.

When he is able to catch up with Respar and Jesla he asks if they'd like to accompany him in going to sink their boat now that the group has decided it is the best way to deal with the last remnants of their trip with Captain Odenkirk.

Martha says to Caldwin, "Thank you for your time, Master Caldwin. I need to speak with my brother to see how we're doing with our funds. I will definitely be purchasing some of these, but we do have a budget. I will stop by again later. It was a pleasure to meet you."

After leaving, Martha makes her way to the big manor at the center of town to talk to Master Valison.

Respar checks the basic distances between the keep, the town and the docks.  His estimation makes his plan for a possible strike team landing at the docks loom less probable than he had hoped.

Respar know she does not need to push his luck in getting into the kitchen just yet, so he will accompany Jesla and Kiven back to the boat. He also wishes to get a better look at the keep.  He knows it was built at the site of a bridge over a river.  But he does not yet know if the keep is on one side or the other, or possibly spanning both sides.

 Annaryth nods and smiles at Wulfrick.  " Of course I will be glad to help , esteemed elder. " She winks at him. 

 She will accompany him and Respar to sink the boat whenever they are ready to do so.