Dog sits quietly in an alley against the hard stone of the dressmaker. His eyes are closed as he listens through Stitches' ears.
Dog:
"-ame deal it always has been, Mr. Krober," says a decidedly goblin voice. "So don't play dumb about this."
Mr. Krober replies with a grumpy, exasperated rasp. "If the city watch had more men..."
"Then you wouldn't need our services," says a different, confident goblin voice. "Take it up with your councilperson."
"Services? This is just outright r-" says the jeweler.
"Tut tut," says the confident goblin. "No more stalling, Mr. Krober. I happen to know that you have seen..."
There is a snapping of fingers and a lengthy pause.
"The scroll, dumbass. Okay, just give it to me."
A shorter pause precedes the confident goblin saying, "Oh, wow, an increase of almost double your previous customer traffic. You've been busy, Mr. Krober."
Dog hears the distinctive thunk of a bag of coins on a wood table or counter. "Busy, sure, but my sales have hardly increased for it."
"Mr. Kroger, we cannot make people buy your wares. That part is up to you."
The jeweler sighs. "If I didn't know any better, you lot are just paying people to come here to window shop."
"It is a good thing you know better," says the confident goblin. "We will see you next month."
The jangle of a tinny bell rings as the goblins emerge from the jeweler, heading further down the street, passing by a butcher, a candlemaker, and going into a book seller.
Dog, still invisible, comes back to himself and says to the group around him: "They're racketeering. Seem pretty good at it. We should, medium-term, work with the watch to make these folks more confident in the safety of their businesses. After, of course, stopping these gangsters and whoever they work for. Our going theory is that these old friends of yours, Ronis, are using the goblins and others to pull in funds to allow them to do whatever it is they're doing? I'd guess we follow your cousins, Gregory, and see where they go. Tock, you might want to pull some resources from your official capacity to keep an eye on these streets. This now officially involves the law and order enforced by the Crown. As if there wasn't an divine cataclysm coming as well. And a play to commission."He sighs, ready to follow the goblins.
Would Tock recognize any pattern in which merchants the goblins are hitting and which ones they are skipping? Aiming to maybe skip ahead to the next merchant the goblins would hit and set something up. But if there is no apparent pattern then will figure out something else.
Would Tock recognize any pattern in which merchants the goblins are hitting and which ones they are skipping? Aiming to maybe skip ahead to the next merchant the goblins would hit and set something up. But if there is no apparent pattern then will figure out something else.
"Please don't call the people who kidnapped and tortured me my 'friends'. And fine, let's just do *something*, whether it's confront the goblins now, follow them, whatever. Alert the guards. Something. I can't just sit around and wait forever." Ronis seems to be getting increasingly more ansty.
Tocksays, "I understand, Ronis. I will put a stop to this now and after that we'll figure out how to solve the problem permanently."
He casts Disguise Self to appear as the other kenku had and he practices saying the phrase as closely as he (she?) would, "You have done well. Go home today and wait for further instructions."
He walks up to the store the goblins are in currently and waits outside. Once they emerge he will say the phrase he just practiced. After saying it he nods and walks off.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Martin & Dog:
Random table ahoy!: 8
The jeweler tenses at Martin's words. He sighs and his shoulders sag. "Not so much a problem," he says. "Just not making coin like they promised. Not losing it either, though. I am making more money but not above what they charge me. Why? What's it to you?"
Tock:
Investigation (17): 17
The goblins stop as they emerge from the book shop. They are chattering in goblin but stop when they see Tock in his disguised form.
"Huh?" says the smallest goblin. "Really?"
"Okay," says the tallest one, slowly. "We only have 3 more to go today."
"Do...we come back this way tomorrow?" says a third one.
While the three males pepper him with questions, the female watches him with suspicion. Eventually she says, "Shut up!" silencing her brothers. She steps forward, not raising a weapon or hand. "Who are you?"
This silences the goblins even more than her barking at them. The four goblins stare at Tock, their eyes hardening as they inspect him.
Martin flourishes his glamorweave cape, and reveals the fine armaments and clothes. “I am In service to protecting the kingdom’s roads from various dangers. Normally, racketeering like this is outside my responsibilities, but these goblins... they don’t seem threatening enough to run a gig like this. I’m missing something. Can you tell me what’s happening?”
... impersonates the voice of some random person from a long time ago in a remote village somewhere.
He says, "I am after your employer and want to cause him a lot of discomfort and inconvenience to start with. I decided to make you disappear and there is two options. Either you leave or I murder you. I was going to decide that in the evening - it's much cleaner to kill you in your humble apartment on the second floor instead of out in the public. That's in case you decide to not leave."
He leans closer and whispers in a random female voice, "But out in public can be fun too!"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Martin & Dog:
"No, no, it isn't the goblins, obviously, but they are who I deal with, mostly. The salesman who pitched it is a halfling who goes by the name Jola Heatherbarrow. I don't think he runs the thing, though."
The bell jangles as a pair of elves enter. They are young but wearing expensive clothes. They engage themselves in browsing the wares on display, discussing among themselves and then with the jeweler. They leave without even trying a piece on.
The jeweler sighs. "Whomever employs Jola and the goblins, they drive high end customers my way. I pay every month for their services. It is....not the boon I expected it to be. But..."
The jeweler shrugs as the bell jangles again and a young human man comes in. He is much less fancifully dressed and begins to browse the wares...
Tock:
Intimidation: 5 vs. 10
"Wart, we should get out of here," says the smaller of the goblins.
"Good idea," says another.
The female squints her eyes but then nods. "We will take this to Jola. Don't go back to the room."
The goblins walk past Tock, away from the direction they were going.
Tock disappears into a nearby alley and disguise self into an urchin-looking human in non-descript clothes. He returns to the group and says "I'm Tock".
"They stopped what they were doing for now and went to their employer. His name is Jola. I'm going to follow. I believe these merchants can breathe easy now."
Tock ...
... will "take care of this". He will cast pass without trace and head quickly in the direction the goblins went. He will assess the tactical situation with a singular goal in mind - killing the female goblin. Either in a crowded place by squeezing past past them and doing a quick unexpected dagger-to-the-heart or if there are alleys then from afar by crossbow.
Depending how to situation evolves he will try to eliminate the other three as well.
"No, it is a flat rate, thank the gods. 30 silver."
Tock:
You can pick your location, then: An open square (guards patrol are here on a 7 or higher: 10, the main thoroughfare, the old city gates (guards are stationed here), or the steps of a manor in the quiet, wealthy part of the city. They are walking in the open and taking no shortcuts through dark alleys.
Seeing where the goblins are going and what the situation is he's going to duck into an alley, drop his illusion and dimension door himself to the old city gates, a few steps on the other side or guardhouse or something where his arrival won't be a spectacle.
He will approach the guards and introduce himself, pulling rank if needed. "Four goblins are approaching in a minute. Stop them and pull the female aside, I need to talk to her."
The guards look at each other then back at Tock. One of them heaves a sigh and then turns to look at the incoming goblins.
"You should know which one is the female, right?"
"Don't start with me."
The goblins approach and the guards stop them. They have a few words with the guards but nothing turns heated. The pair of guards do not even look back at Tock before they let the four goblins through. One of the guards gives him a shrug as they move back to their posts and resume their bored vigil of the traffic. The goblins, meanwhile, continue into the inner, wealthy portions of the city.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Tock facepalms and leaves. In the nearest alley he casts disguise self once again to look like a goblin himself. Followed by Pass without Trace, then runs after the goblins. (stealth check: 38)
He will actually move past the goblins and tuck into an alley, take aim and take a shot (with bolt+1) at the female goblin as they pass by the mouth of the alley.
Attack: 19 Damage: 25 (might be a surprise attack, so here is another attack roll in case it's a crit: 15)
Dog, still invisible, grunts affirmatively to Martin but settles in to watch the new out of place human to see if he’s really just browsing or here for other reasons. If he’s really just browsing, Dog will suggest Martin (and not a disembodied Dog-voice) ask more about Jola the halfling to see if we can find out more about the, how often they are seen, where they live, what they look like, if there’s a way to contact them, anything else distinctive about them, etc.
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Dog sits quietly in an alley against the hard stone of the dressmaker. His eyes are closed as he listens through Stitches' ears.
Dog:
"-ame deal it always has been, Mr. Krober," says a decidedly goblin voice. "So don't play dumb about this."
Mr. Krober replies with a grumpy, exasperated rasp. "If the city watch had more men..."
"Then you wouldn't need our services," says a different, confident goblin voice. "Take it up with your councilperson."
"Services? This is just outright r-" says the jeweler.
"Tut tut," says the confident goblin. "No more stalling, Mr. Krober. I happen to know that you have seen..."
There is a snapping of fingers and a lengthy pause.
"The scroll, dumbass. Okay, just give it to me."
A shorter pause precedes the confident goblin saying, "Oh, wow, an increase of almost double your previous customer traffic. You've been busy, Mr. Krober."
Dog hears the distinctive thunk of a bag of coins on a wood table or counter. "Busy, sure, but my sales have hardly increased for it."
"Mr. Kroger, we cannot make people buy your wares. That part is up to you."
The jeweler sighs. "If I didn't know any better, you lot are just paying people to come here to window shop."
"It is a good thing you know better," says the confident goblin. "We will see you next month."
The jangle of a tinny bell rings as the goblins emerge from the jeweler, heading further down the street, passing by a butcher, a candlemaker, and going into a book seller.
Dog, still invisible, comes back to himself and says to the group around him: "They're racketeering. Seem pretty good at it. We should, medium-term, work with the watch to make these folks more confident in the safety of their businesses. After, of course, stopping these gangsters and whoever they work for. Our going theory is that these old friends of yours, Ronis, are using the goblins and others to pull in funds to allow them to do whatever it is they're doing? I'd guess we follow your cousins, Gregory, and see where they go. Tock, you might want to pull some resources from your official capacity to keep an eye on these streets. This now officially involves the law and order enforced by the Crown. As if there wasn't an divine cataclysm coming as well. And a play to commission." He sighs, ready to follow the goblins.
Would Tock recognize any pattern in which merchants the goblins are hitting and which ones they are skipping? Aiming to maybe skip ahead to the next merchant the goblins would hit and set something up. But if there is no apparent pattern then will figure out something else.
No, there is no obvious pattern.
"Please don't call the people who kidnapped and tortured me my 'friends'. And fine, let's just do *something*, whether it's confront the goblins now, follow them, whatever. Alert the guards. Something. I can't just sit around and wait forever." Ronis seems to be getting increasingly more ansty.
I think Martin is going to go into the jeweler’s.
“I’d like to speak to you about your goblin problem.”
Paladin - warforged - orange
Dog nods at Ronis invisibly. Then follows Martin to the doorway of the jewelers to listen and serve as backup.
Tock says, "I understand, Ronis. I will put a stop to this now and after that we'll figure out how to solve the problem permanently."
He casts Disguise Self to appear as the other kenku had and he practices saying the phrase as closely as he (she?) would, "You have done well. Go home today and wait for further instructions."
He walks up to the store the goblins are in currently and waits outside. Once they emerge he will say the phrase he just practiced. After saying it he nods and walks off.
Martin & Dog:
Random table ahoy!: 8
The jeweler tenses at Martin's words. He sighs and his shoulders sag. "Not so much a problem," he says. "Just not making coin like they promised. Not losing it either, though. I am making more money but not above what they charge me. Why? What's it to you?"
Tock:
Investigation (17): 17
The goblins stop as they emerge from the book shop. They are chattering in goblin but stop when they see Tock in his disguised form.
"Huh?" says the smallest goblin. "Really?"
"Okay," says the tallest one, slowly. "We only have 3 more to go today."
"Do...we come back this way tomorrow?" says a third one.
While the three males pepper him with questions, the female watches him with suspicion. Eventually she says, "Shut up!" silencing her brothers. She steps forward, not raising a weapon or hand. "Who are you?"
This silences the goblins even more than her barking at them. The four goblins stare at Tock, their eyes hardening as they inspect him.
Martin flourishes his glamorweave cape, and reveals the fine armaments and clothes.
“I am In service to protecting the kingdom’s roads from various dangers. Normally, racketeering like this is outside my responsibilities, but these goblins... they don’t seem threatening enough to run a gig like this. I’m missing something. Can you tell me what’s happening?”
Paladin - warforged - orange
Tock:
... impersonates the voice of some random person from a long time ago in a remote village somewhere.
He says, "I am after your employer and want to cause him a lot of discomfort and inconvenience to start with. I decided to make you disappear and there is two options. Either you leave or I murder you. I was going to decide that in the evening - it's much cleaner to kill you in your humble apartment on the second floor instead of out in the public. That's in case you decide to not leave."
He leans closer and whispers in a random female voice, "But out in public can be fun too!"
He stands up again, "Do you have questions?"
Martin & Dog:
"No, no, it isn't the goblins, obviously, but they are who I deal with, mostly. The salesman who pitched it is a halfling who goes by the name Jola Heatherbarrow. I don't think he runs the thing, though."
The bell jangles as a pair of elves enter. They are young but wearing expensive clothes. They engage themselves in browsing the wares on display, discussing among themselves and then with the jeweler. They leave without even trying a piece on.
The jeweler sighs. "Whomever employs Jola and the goblins, they drive high end customers my way. I pay every month for their services. It is....not the boon I expected it to be. But..."
The jeweler shrugs as the bell jangles again and a young human man comes in. He is much less fancifully dressed and begins to browse the wares...
Tock:
Intimidation: 5 vs. 10
"Wart, we should get out of here," says the smaller of the goblins.
"Good idea," says another.
The female squints her eyes but then nods. "We will take this to Jola. Don't go back to the room."
The goblins walk past Tock, away from the direction they were going.
Martin and dog
“How do they drive the customers in? Do you pay per customer or a flat rate?”
Paladin - warforged - orange
Tock disappears into a nearby alley and disguise self into an urchin-looking human in non-descript clothes. He returns to the group and says "I'm Tock".
"They stopped what they were doing for now and went to their employer. His name is Jola. I'm going to follow. I believe these merchants can breathe easy now."
Tock ...
... will "take care of this". He will cast pass without trace and head quickly in the direction the goblins went. He will assess the tactical situation with a singular goal in mind - killing the female goblin. Either in a crowded place by squeezing past past them and doing a quick unexpected dagger-to-the-heart or if there are alleys then from afar by crossbow.
Depending how to situation evolves he will try to eliminate the other three as well.
Martin & Dog:
"No, it is a flat rate, thank the gods. 30 silver."
Tock:
You can pick your location, then: An open square (guards patrol are here on a 7 or higher: 10, the main thoroughfare, the old city gates (guards are stationed here), or the steps of a manor in the quiet, wealthy part of the city. They are walking in the open and taking no shortcuts through dark alleys.
Tock..
Seeing where the goblins are going and what the situation is he's going to duck into an alley, drop his illusion and dimension door himself to the old city gates, a few steps on the other side or guardhouse or something where his arrival won't be a spectacle.
He will approach the guards and introduce himself, pulling rank if needed. "Four goblins are approaching in a minute. Stop them and pull the female aside, I need to talk to her."
Tock:
Persuasion (14): 11
The guards look at each other then back at Tock. One of them heaves a sigh and then turns to look at the incoming goblins.
"You should know which one is the female, right?"
"Don't start with me."
The goblins approach and the guards stop them. They have a few words with the guards but nothing turns heated. The pair of guards do not even look back at Tock before they let the four goblins through. One of the guards gives him a shrug as they move back to their posts and resume their bored vigil of the traffic. The goblins, meanwhile, continue into the inner, wealthy portions of the city.
Tock facepalms and leaves. In the nearest alley he casts disguise self once again to look like a goblin himself. Followed by Pass without Trace, then runs after the goblins. (stealth check: 38)
He will actually move past the goblins and tuck into an alley, take aim and take a shot (with bolt+1) at the female goblin as they pass by the mouth of the alley.
Attack: 19 Damage: 25 (might be a surprise attack, so here is another attack roll in case it's a crit: 15)
Martin looks to dog for any further.
“This really isn’t my wheelhouse. Seems like we learned something interesting though.”
Paladin - warforged - orange
Dog, still invisible, grunts affirmatively to Martin but settles in to watch the new out of place human to see if he’s really just browsing or here for other reasons. If he’s really just browsing, Dog will suggest Martin (and not a disembodied Dog-voice) ask more about Jola the halfling to see if we can find out more about the, how often they are seen, where they live, what they look like, if there’s a way to contact them, anything else distinctive about them, etc.