A fresh start

[LittleLuna]

"Could you ask them something about anything we don't know? Mabye from where the ships come or what goods they unload?" Vee asks Amon.

"I hope so, cause if they don't, we had problems for nothing..." she mutters to herself.

[JadedDM]

Amon nods to Vee and addresses the gnolls again.

"Do you know where the ships came from, or where they went? And what goods did they bring?" he asks in Gnollish.

[Breila]

"We do not understand what the men say. We do not know where the ship goes. But it smells strange, not like this land, or ours.
It brings drink for strange thoughts and cloth for rich people. Last time, the cloth smelled strage. Like metal. And the ship smelled of a lot of money."

Krtk seems eager to please, now that Khchk looks a little better.

[JadedDM]

Amon turns to his human and half-elven companions. "Hmm, Gnollish is such a crude language. It lacks the nuances of Common. They say they don't know where the ship comes from. But it smells like a different land than this one. And like money. They also say the ship carried 'drink for strange thoughts' and 'cloth for rich people.' And the cloth smelled of metal. What do you all make of that?"

[Stik]

"Why, I can make a hat, or a brooch, or a...Sorry. It's a reflex." Martin swallows, then continues.
"Ahem. 'Drink for strange thoughts' is obviously liquor, or some more powerful intoxicant. 'Cloth for rich people'? Silks, perhaps. And if it smelled of metal, cloth-of-gold?
"These smugglers seem a bit...penny ante. Assuming it's liquor and not hard drugs, the stuff they're smuggling seems legal. The only reason to smuggle it would be to avoid paying the taxes. Hard to make big illegal money on something like that.
"I mean, what's the import tax on whiskey round here?"

[Jenara]

"Drake shut.... Oh" She starts to say, suddenly hearing something worthwhile from the mans lips. "We found silks in the mansion, yet why smuggle them?" Brax comments as she checks the creatures wounds, it was too long since they were injured to help them with anything other than magic.

"Or... Perhaps the cloth is a ruse?" She smiles.

[The_Muffin_Man]

Searos groans at Drake's "revelations" having figured this all out himself. "Ask if it ever saw more of these wolf's head gold coins. Maybe there's a clue to be had in there."

[JadedDM]

Amon poses Searos' question to the gnolls. "Did the men ever use coins with a wolf's face on them?"

[Breila]

"I never saw the men use coins" Krtk tells Amon. Then he looks to his brother. "Did you?" he asks him.

Khchk thinks for a moment. "I saw coins in a box. Different kinds. Different colors, different smells, different signs. Heads like men, heads like ours." he answers. "Men got angry with me for seeing them."

[JadedDM]

Amon translates what the gnolls tell him to the others.

"Well, they're not Keoland coins, that's for sure," he says. "Our coins have sparrows, hawks, eagles, lions and griffons on them."

[Jenara]

"So what are we doing with them?" Brax asks over her shoulder, it was obvious they were up to no good in the Mansion, these Gnolls had told them all they could... Would they help them??

"I can heal them, given time. Do we want their aid?"

[The_Muffin_Man]

Searos ponders their answer for a moment. "Were they smuggling the coins?"

[JadedDM]

"Why smuggle coins?" Amon asks. "I can't think of any reason why that would be necessary. There's no such thing as illegal tender, is there?"

[The_Muffin_Man]

Searos shrugs with an almost apologetic look on his face. "I don't really know to be honest. But so far, these coins are the only thing that don't fit."

[Stik]

"Counterfeit is the only illegal coin I know. But I think you might be overthinking things. Perhaps they merely were upset that the help saw the cashbox. Can't have that, can you?
Martin begins singing quietly:
"You've got to carry weapons
Cause you always carry cash.
There's lots of shady characters,
Lots of dirty deals.
Ev'ry name's an alias
In case somebody squeals."