Sora narrows her eyes briefly, thinking about everything the assassin has said up to this point. At this point, she decided, they should probably have a discussion with the others first. She stood up from her chair, happy to just leave it there for now, as if to signal they would return. "Well thanks for the chat. We'll have to consider your terms, and I'd hate to disturb a guest of the royal family any longer then we have to. We'll be back once we've settled on an offer." She then walks out of the cell, trying to urge the rest of the group to follow her outside of the dungeon.

Moira

Moira walks quietly back up the corridor to Kal and Witt. “I need one of you to go down there and tell Konor that the prisoner has a friend that wishes to see him. I need all except the guards or any of us that he has not seen to not be in there.”

Konor is standing there next to Kal and Witt, he had been silently considering what Witt had told him. His only answer to the halfling was, "If it were solely up to me, I would have long since cleaved that man in two for daring to hurt those dearest to me. However the sad truth remains. He is but the blade paid for the kill, the true killers are those who hired him. With him gone another would simply take his place. The priority must be to take down those truly responsible if we want to keep people safe."

As Moira approached he turned to face her. He seemed curious about what he was planning but otherwise remained where he was. The assassin certainly knew his face after all.

Khorzik leaves with Sora, then removes his [spell]disguise self[spell]. He addresses Moira. " We will remain earshot. Kal'duros, can you periodically check in with her?" 

Moira

”Sorry Konor didn’t see you there. I need to throw him off a bit and get his guard down. Would you mind leading me down to the cell. I’m going to complain to you the whole way down. And if you could tell him he has a friend that’s come to see him. That would be great. I’m going to try and use that spell. And perhaps he will be more willing to tell me who his contacts are.” If Konor agrees Moira will follow him to the cell speaking loudly all the way down there. “What sort of way is this to treat a person? You have him down here like some sort of vermin and just let those mercenaries rough him up all they want. This is deplorable l! I don’t care what he’s done he still deserves better than this!” She pauses a moment for Konor to tell the assassin that a friend is there to see him. Then as she enters his eye sight, as soon as she can see him "Omoh meropel"

(The hope with the theatrics is that he will be off guard at least to not gain the advantage in the roll. Also it’s a DC 15 Wis save)

 Before Moira heads down to the cell, Sora would have moved up there to try to talk to the everyone and strategize about their next move. 

"Up to you all what you want to do with this guy, but he's just a pawn in all this. I'm not sure who hired him, but I have a theory as to who's really pushing things in the background with this whole assassination." Sora told everyone, "One thing he let slip, the person behind whoever hired him was a man, and he's probably bankrolling this mess. Can you think of any men who would be happy to spend money on a problem and is super interested in taking advantage of the situation to his advantage?" She smirked knowingly as she let the implication hang for a moment. "I'm sure our friendly neighborhood Duke is causing problems. Too much of a coincidence that he gets us into the gala on the same night of an assassination. Probably wanted to use us as a distraction while he convinced some other big shot with more greed then sense to hire the assassin. Then he could make his move while laying the blame on whoever Dan's client is. Problem is, we got no proof of any of this yet. Just my wild theory at the moment. And we still need the actual name of whoever hired him."

Khorzik considers everything 9 says and then listens to Moira's fabricated outburst. "It occurs to me that with 9's ability to detect falsehoods torture may be an option. My initial objection was because of the fabrications one tends to create when seeking to mollify one administering extreme levels of pain. I only point this out as a last resort, should alternative efforts prove unfruitful. Actually," Khorzik thinks for a moment, "I can see no reason why this tactic would not be our first recourse."

Moira

Moira will assure the others. “I intend to make no deal. It will still be an option but I do hope it will not be needed. Give me a bit to try another route before we turn to torture. I prefer to not become what we hunt.”

Torture isn't an option, says Witt, frowning at Khorzik.  I think we should make a deal.  I mean, I don't like the thought of making a deal, because he seems like quite a bad person, but the man who paid him is much worse, so that has to be our priority.  And Konor agrees, and this is his house, so that's important too.  If 9 or I cast the spell that requires truth, we can simply as him if he intends to abide by the terms of the deal.  He can refuse to answer, but that just means the deal is off, no?

Khorzik listens to Witt intently. "You should save your spells for other purposes. 9 does not require a spell to sense the truth, and his intentions have been verified. We need merely propose the deal and secure an answer, as you stated." Khorzik turns to Konor. "Do we have your authority to propose a deal for freedom in exchange for information? Although I find deception distasteful, with care you could find other charges to legitimize the captive's incarceration or execution."

9 grits her teeth, “I am absolutely against releasing him. Even if he is just a tool, he agreed to be one. He almost killed a child. However, if everyone thinks that releasing him is better, I can’t do anything about that. I just think that we can consider another way to go about this. A though came to me that we might be able to fake the princess’ death, and then deal with the assassin here to make sure that the original hirer does not realise that something went wrong.. He is talking a lot about having nothing to loose, but he still has all of his limbs. I don’t like the idea of torturing him, but it seems to me a better way of getting the truth than releasing him. Also, I think that we don’t even have much to find out from him. As we mentioned, he is just an assassin. My understanding is that, Linthe told Hakon to tell someone else to hire the assassin. Nothing new.”

"Of course, make what ever deal you feel is best." Konor replied to Khorzik, "Though myself and the Queen will still want to have final say on whatever deal that is. Just to ensure it's something reasonable, even if not palatable." He then turned to Moira, "But before that, I'm curious to see what idea your friend has first." With a nod he led Moira back into the prison room, grunting in an visibly annoyed manner at her near screaming once he was within sight of the assassin. "It seems you have a friend who wants to speak with you." He told 'Dan' now that the two of them were in front of his cell.

The assassin looked up at Moira clearly confused by what was happening. Even under the best of circumstances this was unexpected and he had no idea what this new ordeal was all about. He didn't realize a spell had been cast even as the magic washed over him. At first the effect was subtle, but it was significant. A genuine smile grew across his whole face show just how happy and relived he was to see Moira. He stood up and walked to the edge of his cell so he could stand closer to Moira and offer his gratitude.

"You came! You're here! Oh thank the gods." the assassin exclaimed happily, "I don't know who you are but I'm so happy you came to help me. It's been terrifying here. Everyone wants to kill or torture me! Not that I blame them, I guess, but honestly I just wanna leave this all behind me. I never should have accepted this job! Please, help me!"

Moira

Moira gets a hurt look at the assassin’s words. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised you don’t remember me. You were pretty drunk. We met the other night at the tavern. You kept going on about some job you had at the castle. I guess this is what you meant? How could you be so dumb? You tried to kill the princess?!? Anyway those ‘people’  She puts a nasty twist on the word ”They say they want a name from you. But if you don’t give it they are going to just release you, and “let slip” that you cooperated with everything. Then watch and see who comes after you. They say they might have rules about giving you a merciful death but they doubt who ever hired you does. The worry in her eyes intensified. “I think they really mean it. And you know what will happen to you then. I just can’t bear it. Tell me who is reply behind this and I will go before the queen and beg for mercy. Maybe if I take on part of the punishment they will see that you are not all evil.“

Deception/Persuasion: 23

"Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't think I got that drunk! Really I enjoyed our time at the tavern." He speaks as though hoping to convince Moira that he actually remembers her in order to avoid the embarrassment and insult of admitting he can't remember such a thing. "And I'm also sorry to worry you. You're right, like I said, I shouldn't have taken this job. But the money was just too good. There's always people willing to pay big piles of gold for royal assassinations. I was told all of the guards would be distracted because of the gala, it was too good to pass up. I should have known better." He leans his head against one of the bars of his cell for a moment before looking up at Moira with a smile. "But if they're really thinking of letting me go then that's great news. I couldn't care less what they say about me after that, I can just disappear. I've got nothing to fear from that pompous Duchess that hired me. That pathetic Delphenne ***** couldn't even lace her own boot without a small army of maids to do it for her. All the while complaining how she deserves so much more. Seriously. The worst she could do is maybe hire another assassin with the Duke's gold, which I'd honestly prefer that at this point. But I doubt that prick would front the coin for her to clean up her own mess."

Moira

And Moira drops the spell. “Yes I suppose you don’t have any thing to fear from the ‘Duke or Duchess’. Konor If there is anything more you need to know I think you will find my ‘friend’ here to be quite a bit more accommodating. Without any more talk of deals. Perhaps begging for a quick end.”  She gives the assassin a all to sweet smile and walks to join the others. “It would seem Duchess Delphine hired the man with Harkon’s money. We could arrest them next and see how it goes from there. Perhaps one of them will yet lead us to Lady Linthe or perhaps she had some other plans.”

Konor gave the prisoner a half chuckle, enjoying watching the confused look on his face, "I'm sure we can discuss how agreeable he would be to being an official witness in exchange for keeping his head, but at this point such matters are mere formality. There's nothing more we need here." He walked into the cell, only long enough to retrieve the chair from there before closing the door, ordering one of the guards to lock it down once more.

An angry scowl spread across the assassin's face as realization came over him. He remained silent and simply moved back to sit on his bed, very deliberately looking away from everyone. It was clear he was done talking, not that he had anything left to say.

"Well that went better then I expected." Sora said to Moira while trying to stifle a laugh, "Now that they know for sure Hakon and this Delphine are behind the assassination attempt they can deal with that royal mess. I say we should go to this house you found and check it out. If that is where Linthe is staying we might find something useful there."

Excuse me, sir?  Witt asks Konor.  Do you mind if I stay behind and talk to, um, 'Dan'?  The prisoner, I mean, that's the false name he gave us.  I assume it's false.  I think he's... in a delicate place right now, and maybe this is a chance to get him to rethink some things.  

Nemeia can't help but to be impressed with Moira's skill and poise. "That seems to confirm your original suspicions. Do you think the Duke will be willing to pay us for the work if he's arrested for funding a separate assassination attempt? Do you all think that this assassination attempt is tied to the Queen's death or is it a different plot all together?"

"You are welcome to try speaking to him if you like. But I don't think your words will reach him, much less do any good. He'll be lucky if he spends the rest of his life in this dungeon instead of being executed for nearly killing the princess." Konor said to Witt, he walked past before addressing the rest of the group. "Your assistance has been extremely helpful to us. Thank you. We will be questioning The Duchess as soon as we can. But protocols being what they are this will take some time. If you intend to investigate this Lady Linthe then I can only warn you to be very careful. I suspect that any attempt to investigate her home directly will be very dangerous. She's spent a great deal of effort making sure her secrets stay hidden, after all."