“Freelance, aye? Well that’s the first bit of good news I’ve heard all month! Thanks Miss... uhm... what’s your name?” The halfling was brimming with a smile, and there was a flicker of hope in his eyes, now shining bright. “Welcome to the Mouthpiece!”

"Lia."  Lia says with a smile of her own.  "Do I get a desk, and do you have anything for me to look into, or do a write up on right now?"

Terin Deception w/advantage: 7

"Um... as for a desk, any of the free ones here is yours, if you want. Story wise, I can't make any demands as long as I can't pay you, right?  But jokes' aside, I want to see what you can bring us, just don't get your hopes up of having the full story printed. The Fist always gets final say... but if you're curious, and undaunted, try and find out what's going on at insight park, and why people would be willing to risk their livelihoods for what is little more than a repurposed trash heap. Just... don't get into any trouble, alright?"

-----------------------

Terin, Marik, the slower of the two, seems to have caught up to the fact that you are no mere servant, but in fact a patriar yourself, and, turning a few shades paler, stammers: "I.. It would be my pleasure to guide you to your wares, please forgive my ignorance. I didn't you. Unfortunately, we cannot abandon our station right now, but maybe you, or one of your servants, could make an appearance after sundown, so we could take care of this?"

Shades grumbles a bit to himself upon being removed from The Stubborn mule “didn’t even get to finish my pie” and then turns to the dwarf to hear his story. Shades is a bit troubled with the alleged accuracy of the warforged but believes the dwarf isn’t trying to lead him astray.

“There’s no need for any fisticuffs here my good sir. I don’t believe I caught your name Mr...? I overheard the barkeep saying the pair of you had a tab. Any idea how much that might be? Or should I just ask the barkeep?”

"What... You think I'm broke?! How dare ye... I'm Magnus Copperbeard, an' I won't be spoken ta in such a tone!" He throws an ineffectual punch, which Shades easily dodges. "Stand still! Dammit!". After a couple more, he slumps against the wall again, sighing deeply: "Truth is, 'm a drunk...Gavin's far to kind, offr'n me a place when I got nowhere ta go 'tween voyages. 'e makes mo' of 'is bus'ness wi' sailors an' the like. We're a rough sort, an' 'e knows, how ta han'le the likes of us. But I think I owe 'im a month's wages or so... but if ya lend me the money, I know of a way ye can make it back double."

Terin gives a slight harumph, "I will return at sundown then. Carry on and do good work for the city." 

OOC: What time of day is it?

It's early afternoon, sundown is likely three or four hours away.

“How much is your tab Mr Copperbeard?” Shades asks inquisitively again. 

"Umm..." he goes several shades darker "about twenty guilder, I think.." Magnus stammers. You can tell that he does not like this questioning.

"Oh, well I was thinking more of a editorial-type or helping with printing of the paper, that sort of thing."  Lia says with a sigh.  "I don't think information-gathering would work very well for me.  If I could help here in the office, reading through reports and helping to put those into a better format for printing, or in the actual work of printing the paper, then I think that would fit my talents quite a bit better."

"Well, umm... I don't really have anyone that does the typesetting or printing... so... consider yourself hired, Lia!" The rotund halfling gives her a sweaty hand to shake, and a slimy smile to go with it.

"Great." Lia says with a nod.  "Any rumors, stories, or research I can read through to get an idea of what I am working with?"

"Yeah, knock yourself out..." , with that, Needle pointed to a filing cabinet in the corner, seeming close to bursting with files and papers. "Those are our archives... I'm sure there's still a story or two in there that we haven't published yet. Just... uh... don't get discouraged by the cut up bits and the black ink markouts on some of them. It's what the Fist do... But, if it's alright with you, I'm going to go back to trying to find a way to keep this paper afloat for another week." With that, he returned to his desk, picking up and leafing through the notes you now recognise as cost calculations and loan certificates.

“I apologize if I’ve offended you Magnus. I was trying to figure out if I had enough guilder to cover your tab. Sadly, I can only cover about half of it. If it would be helpful, I can go pay Gavin 9 guilder now? You mentioned that you had a job that could pay double your tab in guilder. ... What exactly needs done to get paid?” Shades says hoping that he’s smoothed things over. 

“Tha’s mighty good o’ ya. I told Gavin I’d ‘ave the guilders in three day’s time, but he wouddn’t lissen... Alls I need is someone to make a commotion up in Tumbledown ta drawn the Watchers an’ Fists away from the Brampton riverside fer half an hour, tomorrow at dusk. I’ll find ya an’ make sure ye get yer share”

Shades regards what magnus has said carefully, weighing his options of what he could do to cause a long enough distraction without drawing attention to himself. 

Insight 8+1

Magnus seems to have completely forgotten about the story with the warforged, and is now intent on getting you involved in what sounds like some smuggling scheme. Seeing as he is very drunk still, and that he’s basically told you were it’s going to happen without any pressuring from your part, you don’t know how many others might know of this idea.

“Before I agree to this, who else knows about this job at the docks tomorrow night? I don’t want to stick my neck out to far if you catch my meaning.”

“Me, you an’ some of the guys off the Empress... that’s it, I swear.”