Locate Klepperich's Boss

It was breakfast time in the back tavern of the Freelancers, and Manu was holding forth telling those present about the two mutated giant elk they'd culled, with a 3rd eye in their foreheads.  The hanyou's black eyes were slightly wider than normal as he described the creature, and then with a flourish he said, "And we brought one of their heads back, it is still in the conference room!  Arnari will send it to be taxidermied!"

This caught some folks' attention; and Manu led 4 people upstairs to see:  Vin, the Cloud elf in white, with bags under his eyes; Maghris, the fluffy nekomata alchemist, who avoids melee as much as possible; Kairos, the dignified, beardless, bald dwarf with a bow a quarter as much longer as he was tall; and Aranel, the half-elf with impeccable clothing, uncanny colouration, and compelling eyes.

Manu's companions had not been in the conference room since Maghris' resurrection.  Not only was there a grisly giant elk head, with the third eye cut out of its face, but mounted on the wall was the head of a young green dragon!  A bronze plaque was underneath it:  Carpalor, known to the kobolds to the north as The Fake Snake.

That was very exciting, and inspired by these sights, the 5 Freelancers went down the hall to Arnari's office.  The shelves around the room were pretty much the same, with musical instruments and knickknacks and such.  The chairs, however, were more organized, in two parallel semicircles around the bearskin rug.  Arnari's desk was mostly clear; she'd put all the papers in a single stack, precariously tilting to the side.

Manu, who had become taller at some point, bonked his horns on the doorway.  "My neck always hurts," he complained, and he kind of collapsed into a sit on the bearskin rug.  Surprised, he ran his hand through it.  "I've never done this before," he exclaimed in delight, "This is great!"

Maghris had to look around, but he found the chair he always sat in, and sat down, tails waving lazily.

Vin chose the comfiest-looking chair, and snuggled in.  After a few moments, Vin realized it wasn't comfy.

Kairos sat in a study chair appropriately-sized for a dwarf.  His small, parti-coloured drake Helike came up to him and put his head on Kairos' lap.

Aranel just sat in an appropriate chair, knees and ankles together.

Arnari, while all this chair-choosing had been happening, had pulled papers out from the stack and put them in front of her.  "I have a few missions for you today," she started.

• Pirates River – not terribly urgent, but standard.  Is 100gp plus and uncommon potion each.  Barring some disaster [here, Arnari knocked on her own head] I will send the next big group to check on Gwidion.

Manu spoke up from his place fondling the bear rug.

Manu:  we have gone two or three times, and not found any pond junk!
Arnari:  …pond junk?
Manu:  like, cool shit under water, chest, et cetera.
Vin:  oh yeah!

Arnari chose not to reply to that odd complaint.

• Second:  retrieving eggs for House Aldous.  100gp/egg unless you find cool eggs like a courser.  You can trade 10 egge for a mount; if you are super lucky, you could get two.
• Third mission is… I think, some are on this… find Klepperich's boss.  This will pay 150gp/person, because Wymar really wants them tracked down because he has heard of people going missing still.  Just find this person – Siddi – then later, we can bust the door down.

Kairos frowned, scanning his memories.

Kairos:  for those of us not "in the know", what is this person for…?
Vin <intensely>:  Klepperich is a dirty pressganger.
Aranel <frowned as she recollected>:  well, Klepperich pressganged Amar, who is no longer in the tunnels, and some people still are?  They are going to the… Hindmarsh gladiator pits, and some to a ship, like.. the Clorinde.
Maghris:  I think we should do this.
Vin <intensely>:  I'd like to murder the dirty pressgangers.  <entirely normally>  but I'd also accept the egg mission, because I'd like a mount.
Maghris:  would also do eggs.  Adventure!
Kairos:  definitely interested in following up on press gang, but otherwise I'm more interested in pollution than eggs.
Manu:  do you not want a mount?
Kairos:  I have a Mount.
Manu:  uh, Manu does not have a strong preference.  Eggs are cool… if we had found cool stuff on pollution…
Maghris:  am actively against going there.
Kairos:  have you heard of philter of love
Manu:  the rewards are great, but I want there to be cool stuff.
Kairos:  I heard of a goose-headed hydra.
Aranel <startled>:  that's not cool.
Manu:  I don't believe they exist.
Aranel <mildly>:  the mission in the city seems the most pay for the least effort.
Arnari:  I also have gryphon eggs for House Liona
Vin:  I still think press gangers.
Aranel <still mildly>:  is Klepperich still around to talk to?

Arnari pulled another paper out of the stack, and had to use both hands to keep it from falling over.  She studied it for a minute.

Arnari:  Wymar has thoroughly investigated Klepperich.  Without getting weird with interrogation, he found a couple of bases.  One in the Trade District, near the docks & bars; one in the Trade District, near the west end of the city.  So, the mission here is figure this out without being seen.
Aranel:  you think Vin won't attack it?
Kairos:  you think Helike isn't noticeable?
Arnari:  I have Hopes.
Manu:  I can be less Manu
Maghris <tails twitching>:  adventure in town!
Vin:  first needs shopping.
Aranel <to Arnari>:  you didn't answer my question
Arnari:  it's been too long.  He was exiled from the skylith.

So they took the mission in town, and left Arnari's office to visit the quartermaster, a Maker gnome named Waywocket, since Vin needed shopping.  Aranel considered her situation, then exclaimed, "Wow, how exciting!  Clandestine activities!  …I have no idea what to buy."  Manu looked at her, flabbergasted.

When the Freelancers were done acquiring things from the quartermaster, they were left with the question: where were they going?  Initially they'd thought Vin and Aranel could go to bars, while everyone else was in the air on flying mounts keeping watch.  Manu didn't like that.

Manu:  too much to watch
Aranel:  disguise Kairos
Kairos:  no.  Manu?
Manu:  no
Maghris:  could do something with mechanical, then apply surprise kit

The Freelancers headed down the street to the other bars, which were of course inferior to the Freelancers Tavern but pressgangers would not show up around there anyhow.  They left their mounts in the stables and continued to argue about what to do and what to look for as they walked.

Even whilst arguing, the group kept their eyes roaming, looking for any sign of anything untoward, or any indication at all of where to begin with their hunt for this person.  It was a fairly normal day in terms of weather and street traffic, with not a whole lot happening.  <Narrator voice:  and then, Matt rolled a nat 1 on perception>  Manu, walking with them, was feeling clueless how he would be able to contribute to this mission, but saw someone in an alleyway as he passed the opening.  When he turned his head, they ducked around the corner.

Sure someone was getting press-ganged in the moment, Manu forgot everything else and ran down the shadowed alley.  His voice boomed as he cast thaumaturgy, "HEY YOU! DON'T BE A DICK!"  Vin chased after the hanyou.  Maghris followed the two of them, curious.

Aranel was less ready to go haring off down an alley, and cast message.  "What do you see?"  Manu replied, "I dunno, some guy's doing a press ganger or something!"  Aranel sent back, "You go!" and gave him bardic inspiration.

Manu saw the alley dog-leg like so many passages in Cliffshadow do.  Windows were on the alley, some shuttered, some open; there were back doors, trash, crates.  He dashed to catch up.  The others followed, even Aranel and Kairos, to avoid losing sight of Manu.  Manu ran around to the left and the alley opened up to a small courtyard, and skidded to a halt.

Manu saw 4 people: a male human in red with maul, a female half-elf with a drawn longsword and wearing a blue cloak; and two others behind with shortbows, arrows nocked.  Notably, nobody appeared bound (or about to be).  As Maghris and Vin rounded the corner, they also halted in surprise.

Manu:  this is really confusing.  I can't tell – if you could just tell me, which of you is being pressganged?
Man in red:  we just want your money.
Maghris:  we aren't giving you our money.  We're just here to help.

Maghris ostentatiously pulled out his light crossbow, and held it ready to fire on the closest one of these four, if any of them attacked.

• The man with the maul and the woman with the longsword stepped up and flanked Manu.
  • Maghris shot at the man but it went wide.
  • The man in red grinned at Manu, and confidently slammed the hanyou with his maul.
    • Manu didn't like that and responded with hellish rebuke.  The flames leapt out from where the maul had connected and thoroughly scorched the surprised human.
  • Manu told him, "Just don't hit me and it won't happen and it's good."
  • The man growled and swung the maul again but missed.
• The half-elf noted they were both injured, and slashed Manu twice with her longsword.
• Aranel arrived around the corner, and the arrival of her amazing presence caught everyone's attention.  The other Freelancers were so inspired they were bolstered by it.
  • Taking in the situation, Aranel cast dissonant whispers at the half-elf woman attacking Manu.  "Don't you want to run away?" swirled in her head in Trade and Elvish, and the woman got a headache, but did not run away.
• A half-elf with a shortbow sent an arrow over Manu's head, between his horns.  He pressed his lips together and his next shot crit Manu, who topped to the ground with the arrow in his upper chest.
• By this time Kairos was also around the corner, and a human with a shortbow sent an arrow well past the bald dwarf. 
  • "Grab his stuff and let's go!!" he shouted at the man in red.
  • Both archers ducked around the corner.
• Kairos shouted, "That's it?!  You suck at this!" after the archers.  But he walked up to Manu and cast cure wounds on the prone sorcerer, then drew his daggar.
• Manu's eyes flew open.  "Hey!  I'm on the ground?!  This is familiar!" He used his sorcerous abilities to twin cast mind whip on his two assailants.  They both got a headache, and for the half-elf, who already had a headache, it was debilitating and interfered with reaction times.
  • The wild magic surged with Manu, and mosted of sparks and flames swirled around his fingers and horns.  He stood up and moved away 15', stumbling.
  • The man in red swore, "Fuck, they got healing magic.  Get the fuck out!"
• Vin also cast dissonant whispers on the half-elf with the longsword.  Her eyes widened as the fear hit her, but because of the mind whip, she could not flee.  A trickle of blood came from her right tear duct.

Maghris felt braver, seeing how these assailants were so injured, so he moved up to the man in red, pulling his quarterstaff off his back, and bonked the fellow on his head.  He sank to the ground, unconscious.  Mr Zircon flew over to the terrified half-elf, and used its force strike on her; she too sank to the ground, unconscious.

Aranel moved up to Manu, ready to cast vicious mockery if the archers reappeared, but of course they did not, having GTFO'd. 

Aranel looked at the unconscious pair, and exclaimed, "Oh!  Rope!  I should have gotten some of that!"  Vin smiled at the scatterbrained bard, and pulled out some rope.

Kairos looked thunderstruck.  "Wow, I didn't either," he said, as Manu pulled out rope.  Maghris said, "I thought about it," as if it's the thought that counts when one is needing to tie up would-be assailants.

Maghris told Manu that he could make an experimental elixir for him.  "It can heal you!" he said excitedly, "That's an option!" He pulled out his alchemist supplied and figured out how to make it healing, the handed it to Manu, who accepted it suspiciously.

Manu <sniffed the flask>:  is there alcohol in this?
<Manu drank the flask and it healed him quite a bit.>
Maghris:  can I have the flask back?
Manu:  o hey, well
Maghris:  I prefer to keep them

Manu turned back to what he was doing:  tying up the man in red, who was built like a guy who would swing a maul.  Kairos helped, and Manu applied the bardic inspiration to his efforts.  Vin, meanwhile, tied up the half-elf woman, and Aranel helped, so Vin got to apply the actual bard to his efforts.

Then, since they had the courtyard to themselves, they waited for their captives to wake up.  The Freelancers disarmed them and Manu put their weapons into his bag of holding so they would not be in evidence:  the longsword, the maul, a bunch of daggars.  Manu also removed their boots and scattered some caltrops.   Their leathers, albeit colourful, were not in the best shape, but Kairos lifted 30gp from one and 90gp from the other.  "Seems fair," he said, "Turnabout is fair play."  Maghris nodded, "Makes sense."

Vin just sat in a patch of daylight, waiting.  After some time passed, the captives started to stir, and unbeknownst to the other Freelancers, the Cloud elf started talking to the two semi conscious people telepathically, alternating between them.  The mental voice was creepy, and a deep voice echoed behind it.  We are scary.  Tell us what we want to know.  Vin hates press gangers.  They groaned in pain, and Vin stopped.

Man in red:  I had the worst dream… <opened eyes> …aw, fyuck.
Half-elf woman:  this is still better than my dream.  <to the Freelancers>  just let us go, we didn't take your shit.
Maghris:  well, we took yours.
Half-elf woman:  ah fuck.
Vin <pleasantly>:  we're just looking for a bit of information
Half-elf woman:  what sort of information?
Man in red <simultaneously>:  we're just here to mug people
Maghris:  have you heard the name Siddi?
<Both captives turned to look at Maghris, their heads obviously clearing.>
Man in red:  Siddi has been offering jobs…
Half-elf woman:  …but we're not interested in what he has to offer.
Kairos:  how do you get in touch with him?
<The captives looked at each other, and the man in red shrugged.>
Half-elf woman:  I'm not sure, he approached me.  I understand he is in the west of the Trade District.

Manu had been behind the others all this time, not saying anything.  At this juncture, he cast message to the human man: "Your big club hurt me.  Please be honest with us, remember I can see inside your head."  The man looked around, startled and shaken, and nodded.

Aranel <smiled winningly>:  what was the job you were offered?
Man in red:  we do not know where Siddiqui's office is.  We're interested in robbing people, not taking people to Hindmarsh for money.  <frowned slightly>  you can rob people a second time; but send people to Hindmarsh, and they're gone.
Vin:  do you know the last person were taken from, or do you know who?
Half-elf woman:  we didn't take the job offer.  We just know, in western part of Cliffshadow.
Aranel:  did you know what Siddiqui did before this?
Half-elf woman:  Siddiqui came with a bard friend from Hindmarsh.  <sighed> The bard was very charming.
<Aranel smiled again, amused.>
Half-elf woman:  sorry, lady, I don't swing that way.
Aranel <gently, still smiling>:  do you know who Siddiqui was working for?
Both:  no.
Man in red:  press-ganging is bad news we did not want to be involved

The other Freelancers righteously interpreted these statements to be an attack of conscience on the part of these career muggers.  Aranel, however, was used to intrigue, and saw that they were concerned if they'd gotten involved, eventually they too would be press-ganged, and sent to Hindmarsh or out on an airship.

<Narrator voice:  what happened to result in the above conversation?  Matt rolled a 23 for intimidation on Manu, Shari rolled 18 persuasion and insight on Aranel, and everyone else rolled single-digits on insight.>

Aranel narrowed her eyes, and looked at Vin, then at the man in red, then back at Vin.  She shrugged every-so-slightly; maybe nobody noticed.

Aranel:  thank you for the information.
Manu:  you are both idiots!  Robbing people not good!  We are paid much more!  I have tried this!  Freelancers are right there <points back at Freelancers Tavern; remember, they'd not gone far> you might go there!  Your weapons will be there.  You should join us!  I will be nice, though; I will not keep your shoes.
<Manu put their shoes next to the two people.>
Kairos <approvingly>:  you seem to have fighting skills, at least.
<Both captives' expression changed, as they realized they were facing Freelancers.>
Half-elf woman:  my name is Moulari.  I might be interested.
Man in red:  Tobiah.  What do I have to do to get my maul back?
Manu:  am sure it won't be too much
Vin:  it's up to the head honcho to decide.
Manu:  I got paid 100gp for my last job, and got to keep other person's stuff!
Tobiah:  how dangerous are these jobs?  I heard Freelancers <hesitated>
Maghris:  I did die once, but got better.
Moulari:  is it true?  Do you eat kids?
<Aranel's smile became obviously forced.>
Manu:  never observed anyone eating child.  Not even a baby goat
Tobiah:  no, do you make kids join you, we heard you do this.
Aranel:  you don't look like kids.
Tobiah <pragmatically>:  you're offering a job, and we're tied up.
Manu:  no.  but it is dangerous.  But there are healers.  You are aware of it; you saw it and said, "let us get the fuck out of here"
Aranel:  Freelancers is on Sparrowhawk Street.
Manu:  do not recommend retaliating; you will be very dead.
Moulari:  we know where it is
Tobiah:  they got good booze

Aranel suggested to Manu, if the Freelancers were sincere, they would not leave these two weaponless, and give them back a daggar each.  Manu produced two daggars, and the Freelancers untied them and handed them the daggars.  Tobiah and Mulari pulled on their shoes and stepped carefully away, for Manu was picking up the scattered caltrops.

Moulari:  I'm not sure… you don't seem like shitheads, but look near [block in western Trade].  I'm not sure it's exactly the right spot, but it might be close.
Aranel:  is the bard still around?
Moulari:  mmm, I hope so
Kairos:  can you describe him?
Moulari:  he was another half-elf.  Tiny bit of a goatee, thick black hair.  Average height, lean build, hot ass.
Aranel:  do you know what instrument he played?
Moulari:  flute?  Drum?  Shawm?
<Narrator voice:  Shari wants to tie preferred instruments to skylith/thalassa of origin, but this piece of culture has not been fully developed for Skyway.>

At this the two left in the same direction as the archers had.  The Freelancers shrugged.  It was high time to visit western Trade District.

<Note:  narrative sequence was the best I could do, given the notes from the session.>

The Freelancers walked over to the street Moulari had indicated.  It was not that busy, but not abandoned like some places to the south.  The buildings seemed to have some businesses on the ground floor with apartments above.  A cross street to the east had a pub or two, but no inns were in evidence.  The road west was at least a major block to the north; people on flying mounts could be seen overhead, heading from Guildstrom to the western Parkside or vice versa.

Maghris proposed going with the original plan:  overfly with a couple people on the ground.

Kairos asked, "What does Siddiqui look like?" which made everyone realize they only knew that his bard friend had a hot ass.

Manu wanted to twin cast invisibility on Kairos and his mount.

Aranel preferred to return in the evening and look for the bard performing.

Vin suggested doing a 1-drink-per bar crawl now.

Manu and Kairos headed back to Freelancers Tavern, a few major blocks eastward in Trade District.  Once there, Kairos went to the stables and got his pegasus, Catherine, upon which Manu did twin cast invisibility on the pair of them, and they took off westward.  Then Manu found Arnari, who was supervising cleanup in the public meeting room and told her what they'd found.  She had him drop the weapons with Tomtom, and tell him who to look for.

Manu did ask her about new bards in town, but Arnari did not know anyone matching the description.  She wrote it down for later, though.  Manu also asked around the front of the tavern.  He got descriptions of new bards, but no soul patch, and an unfortunate ass.  No one matched the description Moulari gave, although Kowiri had 2 black-haired half elves.

Meanwhile, Vin had prevailed upon Aranel and Maghris to try the bars.  Both Aranel and Maghris were so horrified by the shitty beer that they were useless for anything else, each agreeing that the beer was "good for hiding poison in."  Vin, however, was used to shitty beer, and as he nursed his, heard a couple of people talking about meeting up in the city – oh, that's Siddi – at the other end of the block.

Vin told Aranel and Maghris, and then tried to tell Kairos with message, but wasn't sure where the hell Kairos was.  After multiple attempts every minute or so, the cast of message finally caught Kairos flying overhead on Catherine, and he got it.

Kairos banked and flew lower, looking in windows of various buildings.  He got to the building in question and through a second-storey window, saw a human with a couple of people deferring to him.  On a second pass, he got a closer look:  black hair, olive skin, and an unfortunate moustache, waxed and curled.  On a third pass he heard people calling this person "Siddi", and noted the human had nice travelers clothes, and was stocky but not overweight.  He saw nobody matching the bard's description, and could not tell if the 4-5 others he saw were visiting crews or if they were there permanently.

Then Kairos saw, through another window, a poster of Freelancers on the bedroom wall.  He burst into laughter and circled higher so he would not be heard.  But he'd seen enough, and returned to Freelancers.  He reported the location to Arnari, who paid him and Manu 135gp each, then sends Kairos back out to rescue their compatriots from shitty beer.

Once everyone was back in Arnari's office, Arnari paid Aranel, Vin, and Maghris 135gp each, while Manu relayed the entire tale of their day, including the spreading rumours.  Arnari chewed on this information for a while before responding.

"As for children with Freelancers, that's odd; I'm not sure where that comes from," she started, "as far as recruiting does, that's how Evvie, Aleki, and Laki joined.  I'm glad I was warned.  We will be extra careful to be vetting them, in case they join with an intent to sabotage.  

"Otherwise, great!" she concluded, "But I'm sad Manu was down'd in a common street fight."

Maghris rejoined, "We can build our network of friends then," the nekomata was still confused at how Freelancers didn't seem to have a network of ears on the ground throughout the city.

Manu thought about the sabotage, and how the group had lifted 120gp from Moulari and Tobiah, and went back to Tomtom, and provided 30gp to Tomtom for the two of them as a signing bonus if they actually joined.