CH. 10: Hard Choices

[Haahque]

"Oh no, I won't have time to be selling drinks, I'll have a performance to do. I was suggesting that you might want to send out someone to sell the ale and you would make all the profits from it. I was expecting that at tenth watch on monday you probably weren't going to have as much clientele here at the inn as three or four score baaz which should be at this performance. If you don't want the extra customers, then that's fine as well."

Haahqae grimaces a little when he hears the steep price for his advertisement here. There's only two baaz here... If both decide to come he makes 5 silver off each baaz then he's not even making any money in profit. Maybe the kapaks would come and pay as well? Or maybe it's worth it just to get his name known in the baaz community so that they can convince their friends to come? "I really don't expect any sort of damages associated with this. How does this sound? I'll pay you a steel, and if not so much as a mug gets broken, then you'll let me come back tomorrow and give the same advertisement free."
In any rate, it should be good practice to get some more reactions to his performance.

[djhyland]

"You spoke to the idiot? Arulia exclaims. "And he was trying to escape? What did he have to say for himself? Why did he have my father taken prisoner?!" She scowls, then asks, "Speaking of things going wrong, do you know about the fire? Do you know what happened there?"

Arulia takes a deep breath and sighs, letting her anger drain away. "I know you'll do what you can to help, and I'm grateful...I really, really am. But I'm afraid that it won't be enough."

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (High Hand Inn, Common area)
"Profits?" the woman repeats. "The baaz don't pay for their drinks as it is. You're asking me to give my ale away for free in larger quantities than I am already forced to. What good are extra customers if they take and don't pay?" she asks. "You would ruin my business by getting me involved. It sounds like a bad deal to me."

Gregeddin (Prefect's basement)
Tethys observes Gregeddin very carefully as he speaks, almost as if he were peering into the man's soul to ferret out the truth. "You would have me believe you are just an idiot who acted completely alone, against the wishes of the Trade Guild, and it was just a coincidence that someone set a building on fire around the same time?" he asks.

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (Haven North Sewers)
Shima takes the lead, trying to remain stealthy. It's in vain, though, as both Felran and Ne-Chanz make enough noise collectively to alert anyone of their approach. They carefully walk through the rat swarm, although they accidentally kick or even step on a few along the way. The rats squeak in protest and scurry away at these slights. This of course, makes even more noise.

The south tunnel turns to the west after about 30 feet. Another 30 feet after that, it opens up into a large chamber with a river of sludge going through it. A wooden bridge connects the tunnel opening to the other side of the sludge river. Although it looks old and rickety, it seems strong enough to hold their weight. Across the bridge are more rats, but they seem to be feeding on something.

The smell of the sludge is pretty potent, but still bearable. It looks like there's another tunnel opening to the north, beyond the bridge.

(OOC: chese, it depends on what you mean by try and open it. If you mean pick the lock, first you'd need a lockpick. But even then, your odds are only 10%, and since there's a -20% penalty, that makes it impossible, basically. You could also try and beat the door down with an Open Doors check, if you don't mind making a ton of noise.)

[Haahque]

"Wait a second... why don't the baaz pay for drinks here? I can understand them not liking the swill at the tankard, but your stuff is much better right? That's why they would be willing to pay to go here instead."

[Chris1234]

Shima peers across to try and make out what the rats are feeding on - at least its approximate size and shape {Observation (12) ?} and then checks the bridge for sturdiness {FT 20% ? Detect stonework traps/pits/deadfalls (1-3 on 1d6) ?}

If it seems that it will take the weight of Ne-Chanz, then its time to cross the bridge, one at a time, otherwise, the dwarf says, "This bridge won't take your weight, Ne-Chanz. We need to go back the other way. Follow me.." and leads them back to the previous western exit.

[HorizonsDream]

"According to him, he was trying to do all that he could to help the trade guild," Kendra explains before she lets out a small groan. "He didn't actually plan any of this out. He just came up with it on the spot, and his lack of foresight is what got your father and my husband in trouble." Kendra absently runs her fingers through her pony tail, and lets out a sigh. "It might not be enough, you're right. I have to try though. After meeting with the prefect, and getting to know him a little bit, I might be able to pull something off. It just might take some time. How long do you think you and your family can survive without your father?"

[BishGada]

Tulbas takes few deep breaths, "Yes... I was carried away in thoughts. Let's go to Gregeddin house."

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (High Hand Inn, Common area)
The innkeeper glances around, keeping an eye on the draconians. Lowering her voice, she says, "I have to water down my ales for the soldiers. Otherwise I'd be broke already. All of the innkeepers in the city do the same thing. The difference with the Tankard is they have always watered their ales down. But the soldiers never pay for their drinks. Asking only leads to black eyes and bruises."

Tulbas and Gobax (300 Market Street, Gregeddin's House)
The two continue their walk, arriving at Gregeddin's house. However, they are surprised to see as they approach that the door is wide open and various draconian soldiers are coming and going. They hear quite a ruckus inside, as if the baaz were tearing the place apart. Two of them stand outside, keeping guard, and are talking to each other.

"No sign of anything useful yet?" asks one.

"Nothing yet, sir. It's a big place, but there's almost no furniture at all. He might be hiding something in the floorboards or in the walls, though."

A third baaz rushes out to join them. "Sir, we found a lot of weapons and armor in there. Enough to arm a small group. Some of it is masterwork, in fact."

"Interesting... Confiscate it all. The prefect will want to know about this. This could be the evidence we're looking for..."

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (Haven North Sewers)
Whatever the rats are feeding on, Shima gets the impression there are multiple ones and that they are mostly just chunks now. He'd guess they were man-sized, though. The rats have been feeding on them for some time.

The wooden bridge is made of wood, and thus his stone sense is useless on it. That's why the bridge looks dangerous. A stone bridge would be much sturdier. But he figures it might hold their weight, if they cross slowly and carefully and only one at a time.

(OOC: As long as they move slowly and one at a time, the bridge can be crossed with a DEX check with a -1 penalty for every 100 pounds you weigh, including equipment. If you are moving faster than 1/3 walking speed, then you suffer an additional -2 penalty to the check. Ne-Chanz will also suffer an additional -4 penalty as he can't see where he's going, so there's a high chance he might step right off the bridge and fall into the water.)

[Chris1234]

Shima says, "This bridge probably won't take your weight, Ne-Chanz. We need to go back the other way."
He leads them back to the previous western exit, adding " Follow me."

[TristenC]

Let's turn ahead down a wide street so they don't mark us... he says quietly.

[BishGada]

Tulbas goes with Gobax but immediately when out of sight he says anxiously, "We must find out what is going on there. Their 'This might be the evidence we look for' can be his death sentence. Maybe I should approach alone... If they ask I will point Magnus connection to Gregeddin as an excuse to check on him. Deliver message or whatever." Tulbas waits only few moment for Gobax answer, all along listening carefully to see that the Baaz are still causing mayhem in the house.

[TristenC]

Be careful... they may not believe you're with Magnus. If there is trouble, run back this way.

[spyguy1503]

Ne-Chanz follows.

[djhyland]

Arulia shakes her head. "Honestly, I'm surprised that we haven't been evicted yet," she says. "Father showed me his records; we're far behind on our expenses already." She blushes at the memory. "I didn't know how badly off we were, but after I refused to marry a suitor he brought over, he showed them to me. I'd guess that if business picked up I might be able to run the forge well enough to maybe break even, but there's not enough business." She sighs sadly. "I'd think that the army would need horseshoes and nails and things like that, but they must have their own blacksmiths."

Having talked exhaustively about her own problems, Arulia remembers that Kendra might have problems of her own. "What about you? With Norris in prison, are you getting by?"

[JadedDM]

Tulbas and Gobax (300 Market Street, Gregeddin's House)
Tulbas approaches the two baaz talking by the door. When they see him, they shoo him away. "Get lost, kid. This is official business. We don't need any ankle-biters running underfoot, getting in the way."

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (Haven North Sewers)
Shima guides Ne-Chanz back up to the rat room, then this time heads west. The tunnel here turns northward and after about 40 feet, abruptly stops in what seems to be a dead-end.

There is a door here, to the west. It also has a padlock on it, but this one looks a bit simpler in design, but still formidable.

(OOC: This lock can be picked with a normal check, no modifiers.)