Renew the Pact: Time of our Lives, part 9
Log Info
- Title: Renew the Pact: Time of our Lives, part 9
- Emitter: Whirlpool
- Characters: Paenitia, Aryia, Seyardu, Lyme
- Place: Goldcoast of Veyshan, Tashraan, Jail
- Time: Friday, July 23, 2021, 8:51 PM
- Summary: The adventurers were interrogated by Tashraani guards, then locked up. Unexpectedly their cell doors opened and they were able to head down a hall, helping the party members who had eaten the food and subsequently been affected by the drugs in it. In the guard room, they hear the guards fighting with a large prisoner, and another way out seems to exist. They take it, and are met by Akoniril, who hopes they weren't expecting her. The adventurers are more bitter than surprised, at having been caught and released. Akoniril explains they all have been framed for Murder, not just Farland as the guards implied. Her information can't be trusted, but being locked up 'for assisting the police by answering questions', isn't typical either. She says they need to get to the bottom of it, there isn't much time, and vanishes. The adventurers discuss where to start, Paenitia suggests they know so little just about anywhere will do and they might as well get their equipment from the inn so they aren't wandering around in underwear or prison uniforms. After they can try the temple. This is agreed, and they return to their lodgings to find a bunch of guards there.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing, in Order =-=-=-=-=-=-= Paenitia 3'0" 34 Lb Halfling Female A Lucht knight, dark skinned in bold feathery finery. Aryia 4'8" 110 Lb Shadow Elf Female A heavily scarred mul with a curious look about her. Seyardu 5'6" 150 Lb Sith-Makar Female A friendly silver sith-makar with a perpetual squint. Lyme 7'2" 435 Lb Orc Butch Black-skinned oruch of suitable stature -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NPCs of Note =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Akorinil Belvade Shadow Elf Female Diplomatic Delegate, Priestess of Taara, Aristocrat -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= As the GM -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Whirlpool 5'0" Otyugh I am stinky! -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
Previously
The adventurers are taken by the Tashraani guards and questioned individually. Some are helpful, some are obstructionist, some feign ignorance, others are blissfully ignorant. Little is learned and the guards are satisfied. Satisfied that they have enough reason to imprison the adventurers without explanation, that is, so they are. They're left to speak to each other, and largely don't. Several have been imprisoned before. They are given food, which many don't eat, due to Aryia's warnings and having been imprisoned before. Later, their cells doors open and they are able to escape, a particularly unruly prisoner having all the guards' attentions.
The adventurers make their way down the hallway.
Down another. There are rooms on either side, but they mostly seem like storage. Box upon box of goods, taken from various things and situations, no doubt, alongside copious amounts of bookkeeping and more. So many people pass through here in a day, no doubt.
Only one way lays ahead, and indeed, it seems the party is heading out the back door. On the way, there's a guardsman who is asleep at his desk, an empty tea cup beside him.
Moving to the back door -- which is conveniently open -- everyone slips into the alleyway.
There, a robed figure awaits.
They gesture for the group to follow them, and indeed, there's little to do but that. Through the vast network of alleys in Tashraan, they slip, one after another, until the guard station is left far behind. Finally, the figure turns to pull down her hood. Scarlet hair falls down around her shoulders.
"You were expecting someone else, I hope?" says Akorinil Belvade. Your temporary savior.
Now
Aryia blinks, a stunned expression on her face before it turns into a heavy scowl. No... not her. Anyone but her. The scarred elf's fists clench, lips pressed into a thin line.
Seyardu had no better choice than to follow away from the guards. Hopefully they would be understanding, but she did not expect it. And there were more pressing matters. So they followed. Followed until Lady Akorinil revealed herself. Her expression was unrevealable as always, but she was bothered.
"We were not expecting anyone. Were you expecting us?" She asks.
It is not the little Knight's first prison break. She has escaped from other jails and other corrupt nobles. Taashraan may be corrupt, based on having imprisoned her; they would not have if they were not.
"I was not expecting the Mad Dogs, but that was the hope." Paenitia says, "Were they here they would come for me."
There's a slow smile on her face, Akorinil then rolls her eyes at Seyardu and Paenitia's response, though she doesn't look less good humoured about it. "Getting you all out was not without considerable expense, but I have my reasons. Now, come along. We need to scurry away before more of the guards wake up."
She begins to stride away from the watch house.
Aryia sulks after her, the my noises she made was the grumbling of her stomach and the voiceless, muttered cursings in Undercommon. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Never trust a Taaran priestess.
"You were to get us out then. We will listen, at least. Though Farland is missing, he was with us before this. Were you to get him out, as well?" Seyardu asks before she continues walking. It was true, they needed to be on their way as quickly as possible. But the fact their employer was missing was concerning. "And I am not sure what drugging so many people accomplished. Seems like an unecessary expense, and one which nearly backfired."
Paenitia runs to keep up, short legs and all. Her mood is also not very good, she's had little sleep, nothing to eat, in a hot and foreign land that doesn't appreciate her fashion sense. "Okay. I am interested in the reasons. Do you know what happen at the Temple of Navos or that not matter?"
"I've done considerable business in Tashraan. I had to call in a favor or two to get you out, yes, but Farland must be in grave danger. He wasn't in the tower. Finding him will be a top priority for you. On that front, I can't really say, but I'd hate to see the little gnome die. I did try to warn him he was in treacherous grounds." She smiles.
"He assumed his preparations would work. They did not, clearly. No magic can save you from the gravest danger of all: politics."
Aryia signs to Seyardu with a heavy scowl, "Ask her what she wants with us." There wasn't much more to add aside from glaring daggers at the priestess. <Handspeech>
"If he was not in the tower, then that is concerning." Seyardu agrees. Not trusting the woman, but also unsure how much to share. "So, I will get to the point, I think. Why are you helping us then, Akorinil? It is not likely out of goodness in your heart, and the favors and investments in getting us out, you must need something out of us."
"So the politics," The dark skinned Lucht says, "there the people we should know about, or that is part of the surprise? Where the prisoners go from the jail?"
She exhales, "some questions, there no point to ask, the answers are obvious. Somehow what we do help her. How? Why? Can we trust what she say?"
"I think no." Paenitia stares up at Akoniril's back, "I curious but honour demand I help Farland, so I am set to the path to do so." "Perhaps I'm fond of the gnome. Can't a girl be fond of an old acquaintance?" asks Akorinil, innocently.
"Perhaps I merely want you concerned and paranoid, or perhaps I'm disinclined to see whoever's opposing you win, presuming I even know who that is -- which I don't. Or maybe, just maybe, I'm not so bad."
"In any case, I don't think it's a coincidence you were arrested shortly after consulting with the Temple of Navos. Don't you think that odd?"
"Cut the shit and get to the point," Aryia hangrily signs at the priestess, unsure if she even know what she was motioning about. Aryia was lacking on sleep, food, and patience. <Handspeech>
"It may not be a coincidence, but we were brought in under suspected charges of murder. Which seem a bit ridiculous given the time frame, especially for how long we were asleep, which was not long." Seyardu sighs. "I will be honest, I do not trust you. I agree with Aryia, you are, what is it, attacking a bush? Be plain with us, explain what is to be done." Seyardu replies with a shake of her head as she continues on. "Why were you at the auction anyways?"
"Shaeven very insistent we stay over at the temple, in the ruined clothes and ruined mood." Paenitia says, "But it could be odd we arrested after the auction, or the time in the market, or talking to the mercenaries from Charn. It may be the coincidence, although there not much of that."
She stomps along, small feet making heavy slaps, "I am not the one for dealing with magic. You need the windmills jousted, you call for me."
"..att...acking a ... bush?" says Akorinil, blinking her eyes at Seyardu in obvious confusion. "As a Taaran, I have attacked many bushes, but I asure you none of that is going on *here*." She puts a hand over her face.
"The time frame *is* a problem, but I don't have all the answers. I just know that the lot of you are innocent and I'm eager to see how it plays out. I suggest you start with the Navosians, but then, but it could go back to the auction, yes, or that could merely be the scape goat. I can't say. My business here is separate from your own." OR IS IT?
Aryia gives Seyardu a look of 'that's not what I said but alright'. She shakes her head and continues signing at Seyardu, her walking sideways at the kept following. "Ask her how we can trust a Taaran clergy? What's in it for her?" <Handspeech> Paenitia stares at Akoniril, "I do not think she mean it the way you mean it."
Blisslessly unaware of what Aryia is signing. She sees the Mul'niessa's hands flutter and flap, catching none of it. Although she's starting to recognize one of those rude-seeming symbols. Probably the Taaran one. "There a time frame? The Temple at least we know where it is, the auction, the people have blown like leaves. They will be harder to find."
"You said they were avoiding the answer, Aryia." Seyardu responds to the look. "That is what was said, was it not? Like one who attacks a bush to sound like they are hunting instead of actually doing what they set out for. Regardless, Yes, Akorinil. You are a follower of Taara, and you are likely not acting for our good. What do you stand to gain from our actions? We will find Farland, as that is important, but you are only helping us for your own benefit in some way, either directly or not."
"...you people are *adorable*," remarks Akorinil, with a smile on her face. "Who says I can't act for the good of another? Such simplistic notions. Your story could have ended back in that jail, or it could end elsewhere. It was more interest4ing to me to end elsewhere -- if it ends at all. I don't know the outcome, just that there's a better place for it to end that doesn't involve perfunctory execution in a Tashraani jail for a murder you didn't commit, and besides, I like Farland. We might be on opposing sides of certain things, but he's a charmer and I have concerns about him. Don't tell Griva that, though. She'll get Concerned." The capital c is implied.
Aryia waves off Seyardu's question. It was close enough, just missing all the swearing she wanted to do at the priestess. "What are we to do next, then? You still haven't answered that." <Handspeech>
Paenitia does not reply. Her thoughts mull, turning red. She strives to keep to her vows, but she was raised in a hard land where people die easily, often at the hands of cruel toadies and petty, puffed up nobles. The Priestess of Lies might be spreading some to make her murderous, so she has her doubts but those are failing before her experience here.
"Fine. Who you want killed?"
"Who says I want anyone killed? I mean, there are some people in *Charn* I want dead. Who you kill is up to you. Find who did this to you. I'm just interested in how the story goes," replies Akorinil with a smug smile. Infuriatingly so.
"But be careful. You don't have long and the guards will be looking for you. I can only delay them so long."
And then she holds a finger to her lips.
"I'll be watching you with great interest."
...and then she's gone. Just like that.
Aryia blinks, then pouts, crossing her arms as the Taaran vanishes. "What now." <Handspeech>
Seyardu was about to speak again, but before she could, they were gone, and they were left alone. Seyardu sighs.
"It would have been helpful if she was more, helpful. But she is right as well, we need to act quickly. But we do not have our equipment, nor is Ramirez here. We will need our things, though if it is safe to return for them, I do not know."
She says, looking around where they were to get their bearings.
"Ha ha, they will hope they do not find us, it will be the short encounter." Paenitia growls, sounding remarkably like a gnoll, both in her hyena like snicker and the deep rumbling warning that follows.
"She help only herself. The questions will have no useful answers. We are the pawns. She do not say who behind this, even who she suspect, so we are to bumble and maybe trip over the person most hostile to us."
"Is it Shaeven, the auctioneer, the woman with the rust monster? They are the big politic here? It someone else?" She holds her fingers a tiny bit apart, "This what we know in this whole place. We can start anywhere."
She whistles loudly, then listens, "I see if I can find Ramirez, then we will not part without bloodshed, and we shake here until the secrets fall out. Maybe we start at the temple."
"Tell Paenitia that we will get Ramirez and our things first. But we need to be fast before the guards realize we're gone. Then we make for the temple," Aryia signs towards the sith-makar, the elf rolling her sleeves up. <Handspeech>
"If we kill any guards, it will only lead us further into trouble." Seyardu sighs. She looks to Aryia's hand signs, and to Paenitia with a nod. "Aryia suggests we go get Ramirez and our things first, and go quickly before the guards know we are gone, and likely start looking for us. And starting with Navos seems like a good idea. They seem the most likely to have answers or directions. At worst, it is their fault. At best, they are still on our side, and are someone who live here, who is knowledgeable and may point us in the correct direction."
She looks down to herself for a moment, and shakes her head. "I am sorry, this one is not the best suited for moving unnoticed. Even without the feathered dress, sticking out."
Paenitia stares at Seyardu, "No, you do not understand. The guards will act as if we kill them already. It has move beyond that. They frame us for Murder, they will kill us if they catch us. Do not let them."
"This will require hard action. Be ready to take the necessary steps. I agree, we get Ramirez, then the Temple, but do not trust them more than the Priestess of Lies. We have to hold the elf feet to the fire to get the answers already, if they do not like what we discover, it easier to silence us than resolve."
"We see if he have some strange mission for us too." The little Lucht, "you are the best for this, because I would not have the other allies. You. Aryia, I trust. The orc and the bard too. The rest, I do not spit or throw far."
"No," Aryia cuts in with a hand. "We are not wanted for murder. Farland is." <Handspeech>
At least, that's what they were told. The guards might not have been fully honest.
Imagine! A Priestess of Taara more truthful than the legitimate local authority.
Stranger things have happened.
"If we trust what the priestess say, which may be correct, or may be sowing discord for us further, they may have decided, though I do not wish to admit so." Seyardu sighs. "The guards were keeping us in there, as if we did do some crime, and were not just questioning us about what happened. And that is not including the fact that Farland has gone missing in the process."
"I trust you as well for this, Paenitia. Between all of us, we should be able to resolve this."
As much as the silverscale wishes to trust the guard, she doesn't fully believe being locked in the jail is part of standard procedure. For 'questioning'.
As for the little red revolutionary, she fully believes that if the 'authority' locks you up without evidence for something you didn't do, they aren't planning on 'being nice' and you'd better act accordingly. She will bring the fight to any guards that try to take control of her body again. They are no more than serial killers to her at this point. She will die on her feet instead of in chains.
It is a quandary who to trust, but having been presumed guilty by the guards and freed by Akoniril, she's not about to test the validity of the priestess' words by being captured again, even if she doubts the explanations given.
Aryia deflates some. She should know better than this by this point. The elf just nods at the topic of trust, and her stomach rumbles at the thought of food.
Well, your next move is up to you.
The prietess is gone. You just, now, need to figure out where you want to start asking questions. Which could be any number of places..
"Okay, I think the Inn this way." Paenitia declares, picking a direction and starting out. Hopefully she's picked up on the layout of the city. "We get our things, the Temple is easy enough to find from there."
Aryia nods and follows after her, a bit of a hefty fuming at the situation in her step.
"I have some food in my bag, when we get to the inn." Seyardu replies to the sound of Aryia's stomach, patting the Mul'niessa on the head. "It should be enough for the day, at least. Then to the temple. If they had us in there, the sooner we take care of Ramirez, the better. As well as our things, if they did not intend on us returning to our rooms."
Seyardu chuckles a bit, beginning off on her way as well. "At the very least, it means our weapons and armor were not confiscated. So that is good."
Aryia pouts at the gesture.
Lyme keeps quiet, trying to cut through his earlier drugging. He's ... a bit better now, though
GAME: Lyme rolls perception: (10)+4: 14 GAME: Aryia rolls perception: (8)+12: 20 GAME: Paenitia rolls perception: (5)+4: 9 GAME: Seyardu rolls perception: (17)+3: 20 <OOC> Paenitia says, "stealth synergy" GAME: Paenitia rolls stealth: (8)+9: 17 GAME: Lyme rolls stealth: (19)+1: 20 GAME: Aryia rolls stealth: (17)+10: 27 GAME: Seyardu rolls stealth: (4)+0: 4 <OOC> Paenitia says, "Stealths: Aryia 29, Paenitia 26, Lyme 20, Seyardu 19"
Approaching the inn is easy enough.
You're able to avoid too much attention, despite your garb, and slink closer.
There is one very large problem. There are a couple of guards parked outside the inn.
Seems they 're right there, watching. A bit more scanning shows a third guardsmen, mixed in with the various people coming and going, keeping an eye on things. Interesting. What are they waiting for? You? They may not even be aware you escaped yet.
Lyme isn't subtle. He can't even see subtle from where he's standing.
Sneaking in may be hard.
Seyardu stops a distance away. she stands out, a decent amount. And if they were looking for them, She would be the most immediately obvious.
"Guards here." Seyardu says with a glance to Paenitia. "That is certainly strange. Perhaps something happened while we were out, or perhaps they are waiting for us. It is hard to say, but concerning."
Lyme folds his arms on his chest. "Well, what do we do? Punching them won't work." Gotta start the logic chain in the familiar place. "Can we get in through the kitchen?"
At least one fighting manual has an illustrated technique for dumping a friend in a sack.
Not related at all.
Lyme is looking for alleys and such. Lyme doesn't sneak well, but he knows what the back door is.
"Then we find some other way in." Paenitia says, looking at Seyardu, "What you think?"
"A distraction may be possible. Enough for one to slip in quietly to collect things." Seyardu suggests, looking to the guards." Or we climb to the rooms, go through the window if possible. It may be safest to test that first, if we go from the back.In one of our rooms, take the things out that way. If not possible, we go for the distraction. We all have keys to our rooms still, so they should still work if necessary. I think that the best plan for a bad situation, best not to alert the guards unless necessary."
There are windows on all sides. It is an Inn after all.
"Ha ha, it is fine, if the climb in fail we will have our distraction." The Dark Lucht says, nodding towards Lyme, "that be your chance."
"Okay Friend Dragon, lead the way." She tells Seyardu.
