Adventures in Esyldien - Campaign Thread

Paid by whom?  What assassin are we capturing?  What heinous crime did they commit at your orders?  So you paid them, and now you want us to clean up your mess, is that it?  You murdered the last monarch, didn't you!  Villain!  Admit the truth, or face the wrath of Summer's Tears!  says Witt completely internally and within his own mind, as he says absolutely nothing at all out loud.

"Why don't we start with you telling us the details of this job. Who's this assassin, and what's your interest in this?" Sora spoke with a calm but demanding tone, crossing her arms as she looked back at the so called Duke sternly. This wasn't the first job negotiation she'd had to deal with, even with a potentially hostile client. She was going to make it clear that the group would not be easily pushed around.

9 crept into the room behind others, eyeing the 2 guards. Hearing Sora talk, she mentally nods in agreement with herself, and decides to leave the talk to her. She takes in the room, the guards and the Duke himself, looking them over with her studious eye. She is also going to carefully listen and focus on the Duke for any new discoveries behind his mocking charm curtain. 

Perception: 17

Insight for later in the conversation: 25 + 4

Moira

Striding into the room Moira takes a seat slightly off center but not at the end of the table. Rusty quickly hops onto her lap before continuing to jump up onto the table sitting looking around at everyone there. After a few moments Rusty walks across the table towards on of the guards leaning over the edge slightly sniffing the air. Moira keeps her eyes on Hakon for any reaction to her familiar.

Nemeia feels a bit embarrassed as she'd glossed over the important details one would make prior to accepting a job from a stranger. Good thing Sora was here to handle that sort of business. She nods along with Sora's requests trying to back up her friend's questioning. 

Duke Hakon looks over the entire group with a smug smirk playing across his lips. "Is that what you're calling yourselves? Amusing. But as you say, let's get down to the details."

"I'm sure you've likely heard the unfortunate circumstances of recent events here in our troubled kingdom. Needless to say as a loyal citizen I cannot allow such injustice to fester. And as everyone knows -" Hakon stops himself as he sees Moira's familiar walking across his desk, clearly annoyed by the display and distraction. The guards don't do anything but continue observing quietly in response, likely as they are waiting for word from their boss before taking action. "Excuse me but do you mind taking a proper handle on your pet please." he demanded. Regardless, he quickly forced himself to regain composure as he continued.

"Ahem, where was I? Ah yes. Everyone knows that the previous queen of our kingdom was assassinated. Likewise everyone knows that the current queen, the evil daughter that she is, was responsible for the assassination. It's unlikely she killed her mother herself, of course, most likely it was Konor, that brutish gorilla she keeps as her personal guard. Regardless, she is without a doubt responsible. And I for one would see Enalie's evil deeds brought to light!" He pauses then bringing his fingertips together in a thoughtful gesture as a hint of frustration slides across his face. "Unfortunately it's been a month since the dark deed was done and we have yet to find any evidence to prove the current queen's guilt. She taunts us from the safety of the castle even as she leads this kingdom to ruin. This land, nay this entire country deserves someone better to rule." Looking over the group once more he continues, "So it is my hope that outsiders might bring with them a fresh perspective. Perhaps you might find something we could not. To that end I also intend to ensure you are properly incentivized. Thus I will be sure to pay you handsomely if you find the proof we seek, or if that is not possible, just removing the assassin completely will be most helpful. Shall we say ... 100 pieces of gold for each of you once you've resolved this matter to my satisfaction." 

Nemeia's eyes glance to the others gathered around her. She'd thought the task may be a more noble assignment and she slowly grows worried about the ramifications. To accept such a job would be treason. Surely the others knew that. Surely Nemeia's quiet scholarly life of study and hard work wasn't going to come to an end because of... treason?

"Um..." she says mostly on accident as her mind runs through the ramifications of what is happening at this very moment.

Sora remained standing sternly as she considered the Duke's words. She wasn't thinking on such grand terms as treason but rather focused on what it was exactly that the Duke was after. Capturing an assassin was, on its own, a fine task and all, but this man seemed less interested in the assassin itself and more focused on implicating the current queen. At times like this she found it useful to be very clear on things. "Let me get this straight, just so there's no confusion between the two of us. Do you just want us to investigate the previous queen's death and uncover the details of her assassination, assuming she was actually assassinated in the first place? Or are you trying to pay us to fabricate the evidence you want? Cause I will tell you right now, we might be willing to do the first one, but there's no way in the Hells that we're doing the second one for you." She paused for a beat just to add weight to her words before adding, "Just so there's no confusion between the two of us."

Moira

"Of course sorry."  In a small puff of smoke Rusty disappears only to reappear on Moira's lap once more.

"Ah, I see that is how you might misinterpret my request." The Duke says after taking time to consider the reactions of everyone in the group. "Then allow me to ease your fears. Rest assured if I simply wanted fake evidence planted somewhere I could have easily managed that much on my own. But committing such treason would be of no benefit to my noble goals. And, to be quite blunt, if that was the case I definitely would not want to provide random strangers such as yourselves the ammunition that you would need to blackmail me. So no, that's not what I want from you. My request is more to your first suggestion. Simply investigate the prior queen's death as an independent third party, nothing more nothing less. I am confident that you will inevitably discover the truth for yourselves, and hopefully the evidence needed to bring the current queen down. I've even provided you a place to start. The queen's guardian Konor. There is simply no way that child would have managed any of this without his knowledge or assistance. I suspect he is in fact the real assassin, so even if all you manage is to remove him from the board, permanently, then you will have made great strides towards bringing true justice to this kingdom."

Nemeia's tension slowly releases though the situation has her quite on edge still. She continues looking to the others checking on if they agree with the terms. She wasn't going to speak out again for fear of embarrassing herself further. She did like the idea of making sure the person behind the murder was brought to justice. It would probably even make quite the name for herself if she had a hand in it. People with a bit of clout to their name had a much easier time performing their experiments and one hundred gold would help quite a bit to start up a new laboratory. 

"Justice sounds lovely and all, but people tend to have a very different sense of justice based on their perspective. Something I know all too well." Sora shoots back in a determined tone. Placing her hands on the table directly as she leans forward staring intently into the Duke's eyes. "After all you said it yourself. You want this all resolved to YOUR satisfaction. What if you're not satisfied with the results? What if the truth comes out and it's not to your liking? What happens to our payment then?" She tries to push him slightly (in the verbal sense) in an attempt to see just how strong his convictions are, and more importantly, how reliable he would be if things don't turn out well. Sometimes one had to play hardball in these sort of negotiations.

Moira

"Finding those responsible for the queen's death would of course be a great honor. I am sure we are here in the city now for just that reason."

Nemeia nods in agreement to Moira's statement. 

Witt also nods.  He's impressed, and a little scared, by Sora's approach, but it seems to be working.  His lips move silently as he mouths a quiet prayer to the Harvest Watcher.

“Not to mention that offering us a measly 100 each is extremely cheap coming from you. I’m sure you can afford to spend more, if you actually wish to accomplish something here.”

9 also makes the slightest movement forward, throwing a passing glance at the guards before drilling the Duke with eye.

Duke Hakon seems a bit annoyed with how insistent the group seems to be at the moment. Perhaps he was hoping this would be a much simpler transaction. Nevertheless he takes a quick sigh and pushes back without losing composure.

"Of course, we should all be so honored as to provide such a great service to the throne. But in the interest of clarity, I'm not simply asking for the truth here. I'm asking for proof. My satisfaction depends on the nature of that proof. If you have proof of who committed this assassination, I will be quite happy. In the worst case, so long as you manage to find and dispatch the assassin with sufficient confidence then I will be satisfied. That said, should you return without the sort of evidence I'm asking for, ... " He lets the words hang in the air for just a bit longer then is necessary, "Well, I would have to review what ever evidence you do manage to find in that case. Understand, many of our investigators have been thwarted already. If you fail to complete your task because you ended up likewise compromised then that would hardly be worth such compensation as what I'm offering. Even in those cases however, I will take whatever evidence you do provide and give you proper, adjusted, compensation based on the quality of its contents."

He flashes his charming smile as he adds, "Fret not, so long as your investigation bears true results, whatever that truth might be, I will guarantee your payment. Now then. You all seem willing to find the culprit, and I am willing to pay for their capture. So do we have a deal?"

"Not so fast there." Sora stopped him, she wasn't going to make this that easy for him, "With conditions like that, what's to stop you from being suddenly 'unsatisfied' with any evidence we bring to you? If you want a deal then we're going to need better terms. So here's what I propose. We will look into this assassination. We will find evidence of the truth. What ever the truth is, regardless if it's what you want it to be or not. We will give you whatever proof we can once all is said and done. However!" This time Sora added a deliberate pause before she continued, "In order to make sure you don't end up trying to talk your way out of paying us, I recommend a down payment. Half up front, half on completion, pretty standard practice." She stands up again crossing her arms once more. "After all as noble as it might be to catch this assassin, the fact remains that you need us more then we need you. And like my friend here said, clearly you can afford to risk such a paltry sum. So it's, I think, in everyone's best interest for you to show us just how sincere you are when it comes to this investigation."

Moira

“Don’t be silly. I am sure the Duke is a man of his word.” Smiling at the man first I turn away from the ‘Duke’ and whisper to Sora “Trust me we don’t want any more strings on us than we must.” Turning back with a practiced smile. “I think we can agree to the terms as you have stated them. Unless any of you think we should discuss the matter first?” Directing the last bit to her friends while trying to give off an air of confidence. 

Duke Hakon looked back and forth over the group a few more times as he considered the terms placed before him. With a somewhat concerning smirk he reached over and sounded a pristine golden bell sitting next to him on the table. Almost instantly the door to the office opened with the elder butler leaning in, "You rang master?"

"Bring the coin box so we can finalize the terms of this contract." The Duke ordered him.

"Right away master." The butler bowed as he closed the door. Hakon remained quiet with the same smug smile on his face, seemingly satisfied with the negotiations. 

"Not to worry, my dears, the terms are quite acceptable to me." Hakon continued speaking with the rest of the group, "I'll be happy to leave the details of your investigation to you. However if you don't mind I have a small suggestion. You will find it quite difficult to investigate the castle and the royal family properly with how much they've tightened security recently. At least that is the case normally, however as luck would have it you have an easy way in. Tomorrow night there is a gala at the castle proper. It is an important event of state, technically a celebration of the end of the harvest season. But also an important event for the highest dignitaries of the land to discuss business and the future of the kingdom. Tradition demands this gala to take place, as well for the queen to make her appearance there. If you wish to see the queen and her entourage this will be one of the few opportunities you will have. I'll be sure to make arrangements so you will be allowed to enter. Though I recommend dressing the part. To that end ... "

At that moment the door opens and a different man, younger the the previous butler but wearing the same well dressed uniform, walked in with a jewel and gold encrusted metal box. After setting the box down on the table, Hakon goes about maneuvering his hand above it. An impressive display born from a simple illusionary magic appears immediately above the box and you can see the Duke input some manner of letters or numbers before the display disappears with a twirling flourish. You hear what sounds like a quick succession of sounds like the stacking of coins before a quick bell chimes from the box. The duke opens the box and you see within five stacks of gold coins. Hakon pulls each one out, one by one, setting the stacks of gold coins, each one ten coins high, before the party. In essence pulling out ten gold coins per party member.

"This should be enough to get you something passable for the gala. This should also be all you need to prove my sincerity. After all I did not get to where I am today by not knowing the value of a gold coin." Hakon smirked, "Consider yourselves hired. You're welcome to take this gold as a down payment, run off with it, or use it to prepare for tomorrow evening's event. The choice is entirely yours. Of course if you are the professionals I expect you to be, then I am sure we will be seeing each other tomorrow night as well. I do look forward to learning what you find."