Crow paused as she was about to weigh into the conversation to stare at Temple, bewildered at what he was referring to before cottoning on.  "When have you...  no, no.  I don't want to know.   You are sure about this information?  Of course you are, you wouldn't bring it to us.  Would you be able to identify this... commodity... if you saw it?" 

They had done a good job of making enemies lately.  It was time to start making friends.  Or some approximation of that, given the nature of these people.

Crow cocked her head at each member in turn.  "  We must have each other's back.  Yes?  An attack on one of us must be met by the strength of us all.  This may be a tough, dangerous job for no shine to pay for the trouble.  We make names for ourselves, and some will want to erase us before the ink dries.  We take this job for a member of the crew, and we use it to make some contacts. Tomorrow we can start looking for this fat hog.  Kray's spell will help us, and my contacts can hopefully do the rest."

"Every couple of weeks, my contact has occasional use of my... services and a disconcerting interest in furthering them." Temple answers, opening the door on uncomfortable speculation as to what he of all people would consider 'disconcerting'. He moves on to the rest of the questions one by one "I am as sure as I can be. I am useful to the one who provided it and were they going to 'expend' me as an asset, they would have done so when they discovered that I knew more about them than most. And personally, no but if it is the hostage, prisoner or trophy they suspect then there will be no mistaking it for anything else."

 He does however, have something of a ray of hope to offer "There may be some remuneration. My contact has done things like this before - usually with adventurers. Put them on the trail of an enemy of theirs or an opportunity they value. When my contact does this, it's almost always to the benefit of their tools, as well as themselves because she usually wants to use them again. If nothing else, we'll make contacts in some of the darkest corners of the city this way."

Buto sat quietly.  Not really listening, not exactly not listening.  His connection to the world and the people in it was always tenuous, at best.  One could never know where his thoughts really were, but it was clear he wasn’t particularly concerned with the things around him.  Not until blades were drawn, at least.  That could always bring his focus, if only for a short while.

When he did finally open his mouth, he had a unique talent for saying almost, but not quite exactly, the wrong thing.  No need for fear, Ash.  When they have made a belt of you, Buto will avenge you.  There is no need to have your scales rot away in the underground.  Buto will have you re-fitted as reins for one of the horses.  Maybe this Grammie of yours can do it.

Buto paused for a moment in what might have been consideration, hard to say.  Ok, maybe better we don’t need to avenge Ash.  We should find this inland whale.  Buto will search for him, Buto is an excellent detective.

Ash’s serpentine eyes widened as much as they could as Buto spoke, reaching their peak expression of surprise as Buto offered to investigate whoever this corpulent fellow was.  Um…thanks, I think?  I, um, mostly agree?  Let’s just focus maybe on keeping my scales on my body and worry about revenge later.  But under no circumstances is anyone to turn me into anything! I need a drink! Crow, you find this whoever-he-is and lets get the job done.

Ash stomped off to the bar, where Horus was currently chatting with one of their regulars, and poured himself an ale from the wooden keg.  He rarely seemed so…emotional about their jobs.  Perhaps the memory of nearly dying twice under Ghelve’s shop had set him on edge.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:54, Sat 20 Apr.

Kray regretted his jibes as soon as Ash began to speak.  Rarely did anything get to the tall, slender man who had been his best friend since he could remember. It was a bad sign that he took the jokes so personally.


Kray followed him to the bar and slammed down a few gold coins on the rough wooden counter. "Ale isn't going to cut it tonight, Asho.  We need something stronger.  Horus, you got any whiskey?"

Kray waited till they both had a glass, then toasted to each other and threw it back.  He would regret the drink tomorrow, but not tonight. "What say we finish the bottle, talk about ways you could sneak Jinx to a bedroom without Cruch seeing, and worry about tomorrow when the hangover wears off?"

Crow watched Ash go, understanding a little of what the man was feeling.  They each must have felt hunted over the past few weeks... well, not Buto... but the rest for sure, but Crow had felt it personally.  This was her crew, pulled from childhood relationships, and she had made the choices that had sent them into danger.  The head in a box had weighed heavy on her mind, along with the amorphous threat of the Eye Abomination.  Like rolling dark clouds in the distance, every present but never seen to get any closer.

She was pleased to see Kray follow him over to the bar and knew she would be carrying him to bed in a few hours.  She would not admonish him for the head he would have tomorrow.  She told herself that and hoped she remembered.

She kept her words for the remaining of the crew, careful to keep the words pitched too low for Ash to hear.

"We start tomorrow.  We will look into these sightings and see if we can get a name.  Buto, someone should check on the orphans, and then keep close to Ash.  He will be a target, and we need our strongest warrior to keep him safe. They will think twice about trying to remove anything from him if you are nearby.  Yes?"

"Kray and I can use his spell and my contacts to learn a name and maybe some background.  Temple, Cruch, Jinx, you will need to do the leg work then.  We can see what we can learn tomorrow, and then we can meet here for a late dinner and share our findings.  Questions?"

 "None. I am less than adept at talking people around to my way of thinking, but I know a great many people who are. I'll go and talk to a few of them, see what information is available for sale." Temple replies in response to Crow's proposal, adding "Whichever of us can put on the best front should likely concentrate on tracking the palanquin in Old Town, the others, the South Market. There are more guards around the latter, but they are also considerably less likely to care about 'keeping up standards' the way Old Town guards are."

 Just because he looks by far and away the most human of any of them, it doesn't mean that he's unaware of the prejudices and pettiness that so often orients people against those who look different in some fashion.

Ash accepted the proferred whiskey.  The liquor selection and purchasing was done by Cedric who had an excellent knack for whiskey that was both cheap and utterly disgusting, but in the docks, it hardly mattered.  Ash raised his glass sullenly and gulped the burning kerosene down.

You called me Asho.  You never call me that.  Only the Doc uses that name.  I’m not that bad off, Kray.  No need to get your motherly feathers in a ruffle.  I’m just…well, I’m just comin’ to terms with the fact that our lives, these jobs, they’re different than they used to be.  Back in Pent-In, if you got caught in a caper, you got a few days in the caves and that was about it.  Maybe you got sent to Phinara Daemyar and had to write one of her scales-blasted journal entries, but there weren’t any real-real consequences.  Even our first jobs outside of the Pent-In-Tentiary mostly only meant a lump on the ol’ melon.  But since we got involved with…whatever is going on here…I mean, we all feel it.  It’s a new kind of dangerous.  And I’m coming around to the realization that my scales… well, they’re likely to be the first to go, not accounting for Wink.  I gotta stay in the thick of it, ya know, but I just don’t have the killin’ power that that blue monster’s got.  I’ve gotten pretty good and duckin’ and dodgin’, but when my intuition fails me, it means a blade gets sheathed in my guts, and healing or no, that hurts. And one o’ these days will be the last time.  That Minotaur over there on the wall nearly did it.  These dark-skinned so-and-so’s nearly managed it.  That half-baboon freak there on the other wall nearly managed it. It just makes me wonder how much time I’ve got left.

Ash took another glass of the pungent-as-it-was-potent whiskey from Horus and held it up to Kray in toast, again. Well, enough o’ my bellyachin’.  Here’s to the ugliest crew in Ptolus, and bein’ alive another day. Ash swallowed the stuff down and made a mental note to himself to ask Cedric to find a better whiskey next time he went out.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:47, Tue 23 Apr.

As the conversation progressed and orders were given, Cruch listened to what Temple had to say.  The man seemed very adept at getting information from his contacts so he trusted he would fulfill his duty.

Ash and Buto had theirs, Kray and Crow wold be using spells to aid them in finding anything so that left Cruch and Jinx to do the leg work.  He would rather head the South Market than Old Town, so that is what he told them.  "Jinx and I will head to South Market.  We will be fitting in a bit better there I think.  Everyone be careful!"

Crow took Ash and Buto with them the next morning.  She had the orc twins head out separately, so as not to be seen together.  They had the same destination in mind that morning, but different tasks to perform upon arrival.  Crow, Ash, and Buto were there to keep an eye on him, supposedly.    The spell he planned to cast that morning would leave him helpless for a few minutes, and that was bad to be in many areas draped in the Spire's shadow.

Of course, the true reason to bring along the two giants was for Ash's protection, not Kray's.  There was no way of knowing who would come looking for him or when, but they wanted to keep a group around him when possible until this job was done.

As they entered the South Market,  Kray carefully walked around the edges of the shops and taverns that made up most of the surrounding buildings until he found what he needed: a small piece of brick that had been knocked off of a silversmith's tarnished shop front.  Clutching his finding in one hand, Kray took up a spot on the edge of square, out of the way but with good vision of the whole area.

He felt stupid, standing there with his bit of broken brick and Crow's goggles perched above his beak.  His feathers with pulled tight to his face, an indication of deepest embarrassment to anyone that knew Tengu facial expressions.  He did not like wearing the bird-like glasses.  He couldn't say why... he already looked like a bird, but it still made him feel very self conscious.

He shook his little head to rid himself of the extraneous thoughts and focused on two things... the man in the palanquin, and the little bit of brick.  After a moment, he openned his eyes, seeing more than just the people and stones, but shadows and whispers of everything that had happened or been said in square in the past few days.  It overwhelmed the staring Tengu, but he kept his concentration and pulled out anything he could about their target.

  Cast Ears of City to learn anything about the man in the palanquin.  Perception check (optional instead of Diplomacy) to make a diplomacy check as if he spent 1d4 hours talking to local people.  He can do that once every round for 4 rounds.  Checks - 31, 12, 15, and 25 (the 31 is a Nat 20)

After the stream of images and sounds ended, Kray passed the glasses back to his sister and repeated the spell, this time on her.  4 eyes and 4 ears are better than one, after all.

Cast Ears of the City on Crow, she attempts the same checks for 4 rounds.  Checks 37, 32, 32, 22

 "It is your name, Asho. But then, I knew your names from the door signs long before anyone was willing to talk to me." - a statement made wryly rather than in heat, since young Temple was both a precocious bookworm and freakishly normal in an orphanarium where most of the children were more... singular... in their nature. Well, freakishly normal until he was a little older, and 'normal' went by the wayside. He raises his glass, touches it lightly to the other man's and drinks from it, "Progress of a sort." he comments with some amusement "Your first step into a wider world. Everyone in this city is connected to someone... But if it's any consolation, our combat abilities won't be what save or damn us in it. It'll be our ability to read the currents and navigate them."

 With that, he remains unusually long through the evening, talking quietly - even, as the drink flows - sharing a few anecdotes about his week, which are by turns hair-raising and entertaining, even painstakingly stripped of identifying names and places it's quite obvious that when he's not stitching up wounds and setting bones at the Arena he's doing the exact opposite for some extremely unpleasant people who need the services of a professional.

 But bless him, he's trying to be friendly.

 Come the morning, he sets out to do the usual round of the information brokers, starting with the ever-dependable Mr Temeste at the Book Wagon.

In reply to Temple (msg # 21):

Oh, I didn’t mean nothing by it, Doc.  I don’t mind when you use my full name.  You always have, it’s normal.  But this feathered pain-in-the-scales only unpacks it when he’s feelin’ especially motherly.  An’ I don’t need it.  I just need us to find a thread to pull on and get on with this job.  Like you say, new allies…ok, maybe not allies, exactly, but business acquaintances, well bein’ on their good side is a good start to keeping ourselves amongst the breathin’.

Ash spent the remainder of the night sitting with the Doc and Kray, and the others as they came and went, laughing and occasionally staring in bewilderment at some of the stories shared.  For just a moment he could almost think they were all friends and that there wasn’t a nasty, gruesome world just outside their door, waiting to swallow each of them up in turn.  It was a good night.

——————————————-

Ash couldn’t keep his eyes still as they moved through the market the next day.  From what Temple had said, he shouldn’t be in immediate danger from these deep elves, and as long as they could pull off the job, things ought to stay that way.  That wasn’t quite enough to settle his nerves, so he moved on edge most of the morning.

For the first time in his life, Ash was happy to have Buto nearby.  The blue mountain was certainly enough on his own to make any would-be assassins reconsider.  Or at least decide to wait for another day.  That was an odd feeling, as Buto was normally nothing more than a pain in Ash’s rear quadrant.

Ash took up a position to watch the streets around them as Kray began his spell.  Better prepared than skewered.  He glanced at his friend, eyes blank and apparently unseeing.  He was there, but also not.  Kray had tried to describe it to him once.  Something like dreaming to Ash’s mind.  Kray’s body was here, but his mind was everywhere else.  Somehow connecting with the people who had come and gone from this place recently.  Ash couldn’t fathom it.  He preferred his boots to be firmly on the ground and his mind to be fixed on their immediate surroundings. At the moment those surroundings seemed peaceful; Ash only hoped it would remain that way.

In reply to Temple (msg # 21):

Two comedians were mocking passerbys, cracking jokes. A small crowd laughed at each one. Walkers would chuckle until they got picked on, but it was all light hearted and surface level. It seemed the duo was making a few coins for their efforts. They said nothing about Temple as be passed. Which likely ensured they got to make jokes again tomorrow.

Temple had to look for an extra minute to find Darthalis, as he had moved the Book Wagon for one reason or another.

The flamboyant man was talking to a duo of halflings, trying to sell them on a thick tome. It seemed he was successful as they handed him a number of coins and then moved away. It was almost comical the size of the book tucked under one of their arms, looking like a small child with a huge book.

As they departed Temester winked at Temple and greeted him. "Goo'day Doctor!"

In reply to Kray (msg # 20):

Crow caught a flew glimpses of information. The spell made it feel like a bad fever dream, flashes of information that felt completely disjointed. She tried to focus on the details Temple provided. It felt like she didn't get anything useful. But as the spell faded it felt like an idea taking shape. First she felt like the person hadn't been seen for months. At least 6, maybe more. Second she got the sense of a large house which felt... Wrong.

She shared these details with Kray before his casting which helped him dial in a little better. The timeline helped him focus more on the past, rather than things so recent. He was even more successful and felt some certainty when the spell coalesced everything into his mind.

He felt very clearly the person frequented a two story house somewhere in the vicinity. As Crow had shared the house felt off, wrong. The kind of place good folk avoided. Kray felt confident he would even know the house if he could find it. There was a palpable feeling of revulsion that surrounded the being. Anyone who saw them as they were carried around felt something akin to sick or grossed out, but no one could put a finger on why.

It seemed like they would have to put feet to pavement and simply canvas to lay eyes on this house which seemed like it should stand out once they found it.

 To the contrary, Temple has long been an advocate of the notion that the only way to possess any dignity worthy of the name is to know when to let go of it... Bullying, however?

 Well, a person of dignity doesn't put up with that sort of thing and there ever so many inventive and informative ways to express ones dissatisfaction, if you have the time and somewhere to put the leftovers.

 Besides, he's very much distracted from the street performance by the relocated book wagon... A Ptolus tradition a decade old, broken for no clear reason and - as someone who would stab someone in the hand for moving his scalpels - one which upsets his sense of order in the world and leaves him unsettled even before it occurs to him that...

 ...well "Good day Mr Temeste. Would that I were curious enough to ask how many people have paid for an answer to the question of your relocation this morning."

 Because that is exactly the sort of thing Temple would do. He smiles - never an entirely comfortable expression on his face, having a look as if he's carved one from Someone Else and imperfectly stitched it into place over his own - and engages in a few short pleasantries before coming to the point of his visit as he sets a small stack of coin on the counter, bright gold and covered by his hand "I find myself looking for a particular sort of information today, Mr Temeste. A provenance of a very specific sort... Have you a moment?"

Crow gathered the group together, finding Cruch and Jinx as they were about to start working the locals for information, and pulled everyone into an alley.  People might have looked at them askance or with suspicion, but seedy-looking activity was not out of place in this square, and the raw bulk of 4 bigger crew members dissuaded anyone from looking too long.  Only Temple was missing, but they would have to get him up to speed that evening at the Den.

"This quarry. It has been to ground for a while.  Yes?  We did not detect any trace of him for two seasons.  There is house that he is linked to. Do not ask how.  The spell did not make that clear.   Crow made an involuntary gagging relfex.  From the sickening whirl of the spell's sensations AND the memory of how that house had felt.  Worse than the lake under the sea.  "This spell, it was... noisy... but effective.  We will recognize the house when we see it.  We need to proceed with caution.  It felt...   Crow chose her words carefully, picking through the feeling she had from the house without experiencing them again any more than she had to.  "off.  Corrupted.  Unnatural.  We will know it when are close.  Do NOT enter without the whole crew.  Yes?  We find it only, then gather at the Den to discuss our next move. We need Temple to identify the prize, so we cannot proceed without him.  Questions?"

Crow will listen to suggestions, and if nothing better presents itself, will break the team into one group of Ash, Jinx, and Kray.  She will take Cruch and Buto with her.   They will look for the house until dusk.

Ash was, not for the first time, impressed with Kray and his magical ability. Back at Pent-In he had teased his friend endlessly as he had first begun trying to contact the gods. He looked so silly, and he hadn’t had a guide to show him the way.  But there he was, again and again, fumbling his way through the dark, figuratively and literally, for he made most of his attempts at night when he thought no one was watching.  If Ash’s scales could properly blush, they would have at the thought.  He’d been good-natured, but relentless in his humor.  And here Kray was, using that magic, that power, to track down someone that even these powerful dark elves could not find, and in the span of a few minutes, not days or weeks spent canvassing the city.

Alright, Kray, then let’s get moving.  Maybe you can give me a description of the place as we go, so I can help you keep an eye out.

Their guard duty concluded and a plan agreed, Buto hefted the enormous axe in his hands.  Most people would not be able to life the giant, steel axe head from the ground, but for Buto it moved naturally and fluidly.  The haft was an enormously thick piece of ironwood, almost as thick as most men’s arms, but it fit easily in Buto’s hands.  Though still wicked in appearance, with jagged teeth fashioned along the blade and spikes on the back end that would gouge as the blade sliced, this axe was much more refined, of a masterwork quality with unseeable magic inlaid, enhancing it’s power.  It was, in every way, a significant improvement over the one he had taken from the arena.  That had been solide metal, both head and haft, with crude weld marks showing at the joint.

Buto admired the axe in the sun for a moment as they walked.  Somehow, he couldn’t quite let their departure from the sea cave go, and he found himself commenting, whether to Crow or to himself he couldn’t have said for sure, You know, when this is finished, we could go back to the cave.  Who knows that treasures we left in there.  We checked such a small part of the place.

After that he focused his eyes on the building around the.  Crow had said that the place would feel wrong.  Buto was familiar with that kind of feeling, so he tried to focus on the houses around them.

When Crow and Kray found her and Cruch, the two of them were just walking around enjoying a snack of some kind of avian variety.  They had the orders and were looking around but hadn't caught sight of what they were looking for and as time passed they got hungry.

After listening to Crow describe what they were looking for and split the group up, Jinx went with Kray and Ash.  Jinx was often paired with Ash, not so much with Kray 'the gnoll destroyer'.  As they split off, Jinx said, "if it is a two-story building it will be a bit easier to find.  I will send Skydrop up above, he should be able to see something much quicker up there." Jinx whispered into the strange pet's ear and off it flew gaining height as it went.

Cruch had been enjoying the 'bird' and looking around for this thing they were supposed to be looking for.  It was increasingly getting more frustrating as the morning went on.  The appearance of Kray and Crow brought a smile to Cruch.  The two bird-like creatures were so different from each other yet so similar it was scary. It was much like him and Jinx.

As the groups parted each other Cruch moved along with Buto and Crow.  "I am glad you two were able to narrow this down somewhat.  We weren't finding anything.  So what about this place is so off?"

Kray considered Cruch's question before splitting off with Jinx and Ash.  He was excited to be paired up with the arcane expert.  He was always paired with Ash or Crow herself, and it was nice to spend time with the prodigious spell weaver.

"Hard to put specific words to it, Cruch.  Remember how that beach felt down in the cave?  Or the way the old headmaster's office felt?  Unnatural.  Like "this should not exist."  Have you every touched an undead?  Like, to try to cast a spell on it?  It feels OFF, something that looks alive but isn't.  The mind rejects it, and tries to warn you with this feeling.  I can't quite put it any better than that."

In reply to Temple (msg # 25):

The handsome human smiled at Temple's question. "Would that I could proffer an exciting explanation! Unfortunately, the truth is entirely pedestrian. The City is just doin' street work where I've been parked for so long. Hopefully I'll be right back where I was soon."

He shrugged with a genuine smile, sad there wasn't a more interesting answer. His eyebrows raised at the second question and nodded.

"Absolutely! Ask away! Hoping I have an answer for you ."

 "Ahh, yes there's been a lot of that going about lately, an after-effect of the shake up caused by so much subterranean magic glitching during the interregnum." Temple agrees, turning a glance up and then down the street before subbing a more serious expression "You always have an answer, Mr Temester, it's simply that sometimes the answer is 'no'."

 "But not today, hopefully. I'm in the market to know a great deal more about a large, bald and apparently 'greasy' man dressed in fine garments who used - for some time, up until the interregnum - to use a palanquin to travel between Old Market and Southgate. They had four bearers notable primarily for never interacting with anyone, including other palanquin carriers." pausing, he weighs the next piece of the question carefully - a reassurance of sorts, rather than a greater inquiry, serving as a promise of sorts that he's not about to start a small - or large - war over this "He also had quite serious enemies of the sort who would like confirmation of any ill fortune he has experienced, but who do not at this time intend the cause misfortune for others."

Darthalis leaned back against his wagon, his facial expression changed to one of pure seriousness.

"You're punchin' up a bit there doctor..." He said with raised eyebrows.

Temester cocked his head sideways and held Temple's eyes. He blew out a sigh, then looked past the doctor.

"Greasy." Darthalis pursed his lips as he let that word resonate in the air.

"A lot of palanquins come out of Oldtown. Most of them carrying fat men in fine clothing. But greasy. Now that word carries some weight."

Again Temester grabbed Temple's gaze and held it.

"He also hasn't been seen in months. Six at least. Maybe more. I'm assuming you don't know who he was connected with, right?"

The "book seller" nodded at Temple's confirmation.

"Listen. I would be real careful here. Your group has survived this long because you haven't hit anyone or anything too important..." He let the warning hang on the air for just a moment.

"Word is he's dead, or gone. He always went to a house on Perfect Lane. You'll know it once you see it. It's anything but perfect. It's not a White House Temple. But you would do well to avoid those."

Temester leaned his head forward, raising his eyebrows to accentuate what he just said.

 "I am fully cognizant of the risks, Mr Temester. Distressingly aware of them. It is an entanglement with people who have deep" - for a moment his eyes drop to significantly indicate the street beneath them, and by extension that which is deep beneath those streets "pockets."

 "But Perfect Street it is, and I'll be sure and to double down on warning my associates to avoid the White House. You are quite correct in warning that there's trouble to be found there that we simply don't need."

 "I take it from your not suggesting that there's more to be had that there's no more to be had, with all that that implies?" he proceeds to ask, largely unnecessarily - they're both men of the world after all - but Asho is at stake here, after all.