Pinpointing the Hadid Plant Saboteur

It was the day after the Harvest Holiday, and everyone was very mellow in Damakaios' office.  He had listed off the same missions as before, which caused them to wonder about how slowly things changed in Commerce.

• The villa purchased by the Amabels appears to have a giant undead shark in the atrium, so that's likely the next thing the Freelancers should take on.
• House Hadid still wants to find out who cursed their tree.
• House Hadid is still wanting pristine cheshire hides.
• Skylith Leander… it's strange because it rolls.  The top rotates over the course of the year, so it's populated by mostly nomadic centaurs.  The Red Wind centaur tribe will pay for the discovery and destruction of whatever has been destroying their horse herds.

As Dryali, Fine Branch, Terrance, Tuala, and Ana mulled these choices, Damakaios added, "Hadids will still pay, if it's not a pristine hide."

Fine Branch:  is there a sliding scale?
Ana:  regardless, I don't want to do this, because I don't usually slay things in a way that results in a recoverable hide.
Dryali:  what do these pay?
Damakaios:  Amabel - 250gp each; Hadid - 300gp each; Leander - 300gp each.
<Damakaios glanced at a very nice paper with pressed rose petals.>
Damakaios:  it's Yolanda Hadid funding this, and she wants to know who cursed that fucking tree.
Terrance <concerned>:  maybe the tree's behaviour was caused by vines.  Like, kudzu
Dryali:  the vines were brought in from outside, and were unlikely to have affected the tree
Ana:  wouldn't the tree have to be cursed way in advance, and then activated?
Damakaios:  Anwar mentioned that he'd been playing on it
Dryali:  but then the curse could have been there, waiting
Tuala:  talk to the staff
Ana:  surely they brought in extra
Damakaios:  might be a good idea to ask the staff about catering

So, the group took the investigation mission, and headed out to visit the Hadid villa.

It was a half-hour walk to Hadid Villa, north and east from Freelancers Tavern, up towards the Rim.  Once they arrived, everyone hesitated, then Fine Branch stepped up and knocked at the door, their tails waving lazily.

A relatively stout Fire sagani, of human or possibly half-elf extraction, opened the door.  He was in livery, but seemed matter-of-fact as he asked, "How can House Hadid help you?"

Fine Branch replied impudently, "We're here to find out if you have any more angry trees!"  The Fire sagani's eyes widened in recognition.  "Oh, Freelancers!" he said happily.

Ana elbowed her way in front of the taller people to say importantly, "Yes, Freelancers!" while Tuala just showed his badge.  The Fire sagani turned back to Fine Branch.

Fire sagani:  we don't have any, right now.
Fine Branch:  should we come back?
Fire sagani:  I can show you the atrium.
Ana:  okay, great!
Dryali:  might we know your name?
Fire sagani:  Ingham.

Ingham admitted the Freelancers and walked with them to the atrium.  The sudden silence was a bit awkward, so Dryali made an attempt at small talk.

Dryali:  I was here at that party; who was catering it?
Ingham:  due to previous ill-intentioned attempts at sabotage, we do our own now.
Dryali:  including that party?
Ingham:  we sometimes hire external wait staff, but try to vet them thoroughly.
Ana:  how long have you worked for the House?
Ingham:  worked my way up from footman, so 20 years now
Terrance:  is there a head gardener?  Who handles all the plants?
Ingham:  there is gardeners, but there's just the atrium; so all mine.
Terrance <disappointed>:  so, just inside.

At this juncture all arrived in the atrium.  A gardener was on one side tending to some trimming, and to the Freelancers' surprise, the tree was still there.  It was starting to dry out, and they examined it with amazement.

Dryali:  were there outside staff or gardeners…?
Ingham:  we went to the usual outside garden for those … assassin vines, but they have always been fine
Terrance:  how long have they worked with the Hadid family?
Ingham:  been working for 3 years; they are called The Green Grove.
Tuala:  have they had any turnover recently?
Ingham:  do not know.
Ana:  that's the gardeners, what about wait staff?
Ingham:  we did hire some extras - about 10 people - to carry about the trays
Dryali:  you know these?
Ingham:  temp staffing agency.  As far as I know, they were not at that end of the garden.
Ana:  we might want the name of the agency, because that can be a lead.
Dryali:  any new staff?
Ingham:  no; the Hadids treat their staff well.  They are very nice people.

Ingham's coded statement was understood by all to mean: they pay their people very well and aren't abusive.  Unlike whoever the hell had convinced Hikawera to join Freelancers and be permanently bitter.

They were still looking at the tree, which was too far gone to really yield any clues whatsoever.  Terrance tried to be smooth, and lean over it so she could whisper to Ana, "Still wanna talk to the gardeners.  They could have been blackmailed."  Ana replied, "Well, what about this guy?"

The Freelancers all sized up Ingham, although trying not to do so like it was a challenge.  He seemed perfectly honest.  Terrance and Tuala noticed, he moved very competently and his livery, at second glance, was very nice and cut for fighting.  And from his attitude, super loyal to the House.  Do Not Tangle With Ingham, they concluded.

Ingham had noticed Terrance, who was not as smooth as she wanted to be, trying to whisper in the ear of someone 3½' shorter than her.   He gestured at the gardener trimming, then asked, "Do you have any more questions?"

Dryali asked, "What are our limits…?"  and Ingham waved the gardener over.  "Garriel can escort you."  Garriel, a human man, straightened and joined them, a questioning look on his face.  "Garriel, please show these Freelancers out, when their questions have been satisfied."  He bowed himself away.

Garriel was wearing heavy leather boots and gloves, and still holding the clippers.  He started taking off his gloves as Ana asked, "Did you notice anything odd before the garden party, with the plants that had been brought in?"

Terrance asked, more darkly, "How do you feel about plants?"  Garriel stopped and gave the firbolg a strange look, and Dryali said, hastily, "Terrance can talk to trees, and swears she can hear their music."

Garriel relaxed again, and said, "So, there was standard pre-party craziness.  Ingham did as good as he could, getting things organized to the high standard Hadid requires."

At that, Garriel looked at the dead tree, clearly upset.  He did not cry.  He was not going to cry.  Terrance reached out, but basically just air-patted his shoulder.  Fine Branch's eyes narrowed, ears not quite flattening as they listened to the subtext of Garriel's words.  He was clearly not a huge fan of Ingham, and was sad about the tree.  He didn't feel any guilt about the tree, but underneath it all he was peeved at Ingham about it.

Dryali was also looking at the tree, realized it had no seeds or cones, and said so.  He looked at the other tree to see if it was in the same state, as Garriel gave him a serious side-eye.

Terrance:  any family members sick or need expensive treatments?
Garriel:   no.
<Garriel was clearly wondering about these Freelancers.>
Garriel:  Green Grove… we're pretty happy with them, always high quality stuff.  No root rot, insect-bitten leaves, or anything like that.
Dryali:  but they did send you assassin vines!
Garriel:  well, confused by that.  The owner, Natik, assistant Amarosa… I don't reemebr who did the deliveries [for the party], but they do them [in general]
Tuala:  it's been these two the entire time?
Garriel:  Amarosa is more recent, but started within 4-6 eighths of our hiring them.
Dryali:  what people are they?
Garriel:  Natik looks a lot like you <pointed at Terrance>; Amarosa is a human.
Dryali: do you remember when they delivered the plants to the party?
Garriel:  don't remember who delivered, but do remember setting pots in the right spots.  It was crazy
Dryali:  …
Garriel:  might have been both
Dryali:  just wondering if the plants were swapped later.
Terrance:  we know who delivered them, was that their own supplier?
Garriel:  they grow their own stuff.
Terrance:  we should visit them
Dryali:  yeah… oh.  Did you see them interact with the tree?  <gestured>
Garriel <shook head>:  was crazy busy.
Dryali:  who else should we talk to, here?
Garriel <decisively>:  the Green Grove is where I would go next.
<Garriel slapped his gloves into the other hand.>

They all started towards the door, and made it back into the villa.

Tuala:  I wonder if anyone not-Druid could do this.
Ana:  lot of people could cast curses; there's a lot of animation options.
<Narrator voice:  and that's a 28 arcana check for Grace.>
Dryali:  should we detect magic?
Ana:  wasn't that done before?
Everyone else:  no

So, they returned to the atrium, and Ana embarked upon some quality mumbling.  When this continued for more than a couple sentences, everyone understood this was the Maker gnome's idea of a ritual cast for detect magic.  The Freelancers looked around the garden some more, and Garriel slapped his gloves again.

Ana wandered around the garden.  The tree still had the remains of necromantic magic on it, but Ana was unable to locate any runes.  She checked elsewhere, but nothing.  Ana also checked the remaining tree.  It was fine, although some hints here and there indicating plant growth had been cast on it at some point.

She shrugged at the others, and Garriel led them out.  He gave them directions to the Green Grove.

The Freelancers headed south from the Hadid Villa, and a little east; they found themselves south of the Amabel Villa, with its deadly fauna; and southeast of Freelancers Tavern, into a part of town sporting less villas and more shops.

As they got there, Fine Branch embarked on a ritual cast of detect magic.  Their idea of a ritual cast was interpretive dance, because why shouldn't a nekomata just dance randomly in the middle of the street.  They held one tail straight out, the other spinning lazily counter-clockwise; and drew two fingers across their face slowly, as if to direct their line of sight, first with one hand, then the other.  This went on for ten minutes, after which they said they'd point out magic with their tails.  Dryali found himself bitter again, and pressed his lips together ever so slightly, but said nothing.

The Green Grove was a medium-sized greenhouse, with a front room with a counter; the room had big windows, and lots of light.  Dryali looked about in seeming wonder, but really he was casting about for any hostile plants, like assassin vines.  But there was nothing untoward.  Fine Branch was also looking about, their tails waving lazily at everything in the room.  Transmutation magic was everywhere, and Fine Branch's tails were in almost a spinning harmony similar to a cook's egg beaters.

Behind the counter was a male firbolg, casting druidcraft on a pygmy rose bush, the leaves unfurling and a rose about to bloom.  This must be Natik, but he held up a hand to forestall interruption as he continued his slow cast.  The Freelancers waited, and Fine Branch looked for any illusion magic, as well as moving so they could sense what was in the back.  It was more of the same:  transmutation magic and another person casting druidcraft.

Natik looked up.  "Just a moment, let me get this last bloom," he said in a baritone, then continued to coax a rose out of the pygmy rosebush.  All the roses were different colours.  After he finished, he gave the Freelancers more attention.

Natik:  alright, how can I help you?  Welcome to the Green Grove; we have a variety of plants…
<Fine Branch wandered away, ostensibly browsing.>
Ana:  we're here from Freelancers and…
Natik <interrupted>:  Freelancers?!  What does – they want, plants for the tavern?
<Terrance leaned forward, and gently stroked the leaves of the rose bush.>
Terrance:  you can hire plants for a party?
Natik <obviously excited to see an eligible firbolg>:  sure, yes!  I could give you a discount, if Freelancers needed plants for a party at the tavern!
Terrance:  How about plants… any talkative?  I'm interested in more talkative.
Natik:  talkative?  No, decorative. They don't respond much.  <leaned into Terrance>  They don't respond at all, actually; they're plants.
Dryali:  I dunno, that rose bush looked like it's responding.
<Natik used druidcraft to coax another rose bloom, which matched Terrance's red hair.>
Terrance:  what if… I want a plant that hurts someone?
Natik <drew back>:  why would you do that to a plant?
Terrance:  I'm just expanding the plant's ability.
Natik <appalled>:  …
Fine Branch:  you've met Damakaios.
Natik <suspicious>:  yes
Fine Branch:  we need to play a prank on him.  The entire time I've know him, I've seen him crack a smile once.  We need a plant that does something unexpected.
Natik:  I know Damakaios.  <considered a moment.>  I don't know about 'doing something unexpected', but I can make them bloom in unexpected places.  Perhaps talk to assistant Amarosa; she is more experimental.
Dryali:  do you have a lot of exotics?
Natik:  a few.  <made a face>  the thing about Houses here, is everything has to be original.  One exotic, original; the next one, copycat.
<Fine Branch visibly reacted to that comment; Tuala looked at them, and shrugged.>
Terrance:  is Amarosa in the back room, there?
Natik:  yes.  I have a couple things to finish here; feel free to talk to her.  Try not to touch the plants.

Fine Branch walked through to the back of the shop, their waving tails touching all the plants.  Terrance followed, but as she passed through to the back she winked at Natik, and he blushed, his skin tone changing not unlike how the rose blooms altered colour in response to the druidcraft.  Without a word, the other Freelancers followed, and Natik turned his attention back to the pygmy rose.

The Freelancers had been half expecting the greenhouse to be humid and warm, but it wasn't really.  The space was big and airy, with many skylights and windows.  Perhaps it was 40' x 60' wide; it was hard to tell, with all the rows and rows of plants.

They saw a human woman, presumably Amarosa, moving around in the back of the room; she had tan skin and dark hair.  She bent over trays of brightly coloured flowers.  Beyond, the Freelancers saw in the very back a large compost heap, and tools against the wall; closer to them, all the plants looked well-tended.

Fine Branch's and Tuala's ears went slightly flat, as they noticed a couple of familiar-looking vines, roughly halfway along both walls.  Tuala elbowed Dryali, and he nodded; they were assassin vines native to Nadezhda.  Ana had started towards Amarosa; Tuala gently grabbed her shoulder, then pointed the vines out, and she stopped, surprised.  In a low voice, Dryali explained to her they can attack, and have quite a reach.

Amarosa had started doing druidcraft on the flowers, and the Freelancers stayed out of range of the assassin vines, and waited.  She glanced up briefly and noticed people there, so asked the standard question, "How can I help you?  Did Natik send you back for anything in particular?"

Terrance:  just wanted to say 'hi!'
Dryali <sternly>:  Damakaios.
Terrance:  we wanted something surprising!
Ana:  surprising like, kaboom!
Terrance:  hurts just a little.

Amarosa stopped and really looked, to see five Freelancers at the other end of the greenhouse.  "How can I really help you?" she said, and the Freelancers matched her change in tone.

Dryali:  we were trying to find out where the assassin vines came from.
Tuala:  several of us were working security at House Hadid several eighths ago.
Amarosa:  dunno what you are talking about.  Assassin plants?  You should just leave.

As a group, the Freelancers frowned, and Dryali made a protector eldritch cannon.  Tuala pointed at the assassin vines.

Tuala:  so y'know, they don't look anything like that one over there.
Amarosa:  you should leave.
Dryali:  really, we just want to know who paid for it.

Dryali spoke persuasively, but while he spoke, the protector pulsed, bolstering all the Freelancers.  Amarosa reassessed the group, and believed Dryali.  Her shoulders slumped.  "The person who paid me (very well) to put these, was trying to be secretive," she explained, then continued, "He was a human man, 6' tall, light brown skin, short straight black hair, with dark glasses."  She paused, contemplating Dryali and his darkened goggles.  "He mentioned The Manticores."

So, despite being on Commerce less than a year, these Freelancers knew that The Manticores are a group of mercenaries sponsored by House Lykaion.  However Fine Branch and Terrance, who had been around Ripa Daneo more than the others, recognized Amarosa's description; it did not match House Lykaion, but rather Taras of House Veltruska, another House which invested in textiles.  Those who knew of Taras knew that he joined the House because his brother had married into it.  The two Freelancers studied Amarosa, for this would be quite a complicated lie, but she appeared to be telling the truth.

Ana, Tuala, and Dryali, while listening to Amarosa, had instead been studying those assassin vines.  Ana really did not like nature, and voiced her discomfort.

Ana:  what are you doing with the assassin vines?  They are a public safety hazard!
Amarosa:  they are greenhouse security!  Don't break in, here.  <hesitated>  Don't tell Natik.  I had to grow a couple extra vines to not leave the greenhouse undefended.
Tuala:  what about the tree?
Amarosa:  the person who bribed me to do it gave me a scroll to use.  It cast some sort of curse on the tree.  Doing so was very hard.
Dryali:  why was it hard?
Amarosa:  I'd rather study it than cast it, but … couldn't quite understand it well enough.
Dryali:  probably, don't do this again; you don't want to tangle with Freelancers.
Amarosa:  I was motivated by a large pile of cash.
Fine Branch:  what was the pile of cash?
Amarosa:  a little over 1000 gold

Fine Branch remained suspicious of such a complicated scheme, and wanted satisfactory proof.  They cast zone of truth on Amarosa, but she had no problem repeating her story consistently.  They asked, "How much does Natik know?" and Amarosa told them, "Nothing.  I did not want to share the money."

Having the information they came for, the Freelancers turned to leave, then paused.  A debate broke out over whether to tell Natik.  So many considerations were in play; did he deserve to know about this reputational damage?  If he knew, would he give away that Freelancers knew?  If he didn't know, would his assistant turn his shop into a known place for plant assassins?  What about if he was interrogated by others, even though he was innocent would he appear guilty if his surprise was non genuine?

They emerged into the front of the shop, and Natik had turned all the blooms on the pygmy rose bush to the colour of Terrance's hair.  Touched, the firbolg bought the rose bush for an eagle (1 gold).  Natik smiled at Terrance, both cheeky and shy, and then the Freelancers were gone, on their way back to their tavern, bearing both information and a pygmy rose bush.

Fine Branch took great delight in relaying the tale of what had happened to Damakaios.  They tried to embellish the story, but the Pungarehu hanyou was not fooled.  While Fine Branch was talking, Dryali had the protector cannon pulse again, bolstering Damakaios.

Damakaios was genuinely happy to hear there had been no property damage, and they had all just talked to people.  He was actually smiling as he paid out 270 gold each as the mission fee minus the Freelancers' cut.  Then it sank in what the group was actually telling him, and he became more businesslike.

"This would not irreparably hurt Manticore reputation," he mused, "But this would cause some trouble, because I would be relaying it to House Hadid.  Now they can take countermeasures – and it will be an escalation, instead of a new rivalry."

Seeing the others' faces, he explained, "It's not that House Veltruska are particularly untrustworthy, but their product is not as awesome."

Dryali asked, "Is it possible this person is not acting in concert with the will of the House?"  Damakaios replied, "It's possible, but equally likely they were sent, because it's easier to disavow the adopted child."