"Radniche already talked to us,"  Vadim waved some of the paperwork from the Hergstag case at the goggles, "You go ask busy Vorkstag how much money he will lose and how dangerous it will get if we have to break down door and take him in to the Courthouse.  Who will supervise fumes then?"  He taps the official seal for emphasis.

"Maybe Vorkstag finds an apprentice for ten minutes.  Maybe you can watch these chemicals for him."

"Issue liability. Not trained in floor safety procedures. Could damage equipment, cause spill, get hurt, get workers hurt. Worker safety too important to us. Can't come in. You come in, you trespassing. You trespass, I set dog on you.

Better you stay outside, yes, yes?" The pale little figure said to Constantine.

He swung his gaze to Shade.

"Hmmm. Might be beneficial, yes? Still not safety certified. Still can't come in. Still in the middle of production. But can send workers to you when done. Free, yes, yes? No charge? Where your clinic?"

He shifted behind the slot when Vadim spoke, looking like he was hopping from foot to foot.

"Radniche?" He snorted. "Radniche a liar. He charge fifty gold for supplies, then write sixty on invoice. Sells saltpeter cut with charcoal. Not trustworthy."

He paused and seemed to be considering.

"Alembic pressure stable in an hour or two. After that rendering process not require so much supervision. We make appointment, yes, yes? Come to station house at ninth bell for interview, yes, yes?"

"You do not want to do that to your dog," Vadim said with a meaningful look at the face behind the slot.

"I didn't much like Radniche either." The older man's craggy brow furrowed in a frown, "I understand you have work to do.  I am a working man, I know work comes first.  But I do not think we have time to wait an hour or two for answers."  Seeming uncertain, Vadim looked to the others.

"How long would it take to go to the Judge for a warrant?  I am thinking that she will not be pleased at the intrusion so early." He raised his voice for the benefit of the goggle-wearing gatekeeper, "If we wait, we are waiting here.  Maybe we have a look around outside in the mean time."

“What if only one of us went inside, would that not be safer?  The rest of us can wait outside the factory itself.”

Sir Constantine Godalming rolled 14 using 1d20+8.  Diplomacy

“Perhaps the girl as she is not very disruptive?”


SCG steps down and checks on the horses.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:52, Sun 16 Feb 2020.

Darcon tapped his staff impatiently on the cobbles and waited for the small pale figure to respond to Constantine.

Just in case it did not allow them in still, the mage began preparing a simple spell in his minds eye that might be able to encourage the creature to let them in.

---

Shade nods to Darcon; he had indicated he had skill in easing the minds of the reluctant as well, and she wanted to keep her spells in reserve.  If she was to be up again researching another of the Beast's crimes, her options were going to be limited, and the wizard had had a full night's rest.

The little man nodded.

"Yes, yes. You wait outside. Very good. Vorkstag come to guard house to give statement in an hour or two." His long nose bobbed as he nodded.

He shook his head at Constantine's suggestion.

"Little girl can't come in. Little girl not certified on proper safety and chemical handling protocols. Little girl, wait outside with the others."

He seemed on the verge of shutting the sliding hatch when Darcon reached out with his mystical energies to lay a gentle finger on the gatekeeper's mind.

The effect was instant, and not at all positive. As Darcon spoke the mystical words and performed the proper gestures to awaken the arcane power the watcher's eyes snapped to him and he began to squeal.

"Infamy! Assault! Coercion! My mind a fortress! Your tricks not work on me!" He slammed the slot shut in a fury and there was a clatter of activity from behind the door. The clatter of chains, and a deep, rumbling growl punctuated now and again by booming barking.

The door didn't open again to unleash the dogs on them, but it looked as if they were corralled inside the room.

---

The gate keeper passes his will save and isn't affected by Charm Person, but he did seem to have enough expertise in Spellcraft to recognize the spell as it was being cast.

“Tricks? What trickery?  All I see is a diffusion of possible violence and a man refusing six ways from Sunday to allow a lawful search of the premises.  Clearly you are obstructing justice and you believe yourself in the right but you are not.  Open the gate! Muzzle your dogs and take one of us to go through the premises extorted by yourself to ensure everyone remains safe.”

Constantine's protestations prompted no response from the interior of the building, although the sounds of furious activity could still be heard behind the gate. There was something big prowling around in there, obviously dragging a length of chain which slithered and clattered over the floor as whatever it was paced back and forth behind the door.

Over the sounds of the guard dog there were opening and closing doors and pitter pattering feet, more than one pair, dashing to and fro hidden by the big double doors.

"Are we going in, then?"  Vadim scratched the top of his head, studying the front of the building.  "Solid looking door.  Could take some time.  Will make a lot of noise.  Maybe we look for other ways inside."  He paused, tattooed fingers fiddling with the worn fastenings on his coat.

"How long until the trial?  I am thinking perhaps it is better to go to the Judge, get warrant for searching and some tools."  Vadim picked his teeth with a fingernail, "My gut is telling me something here is big trouble."

“Just in case I suppose it best if at least some of us return to town to swear out a warrant and some remain here so nothing bad happens.”

SCG gets the driver to turn the carriage around...

“I will seek a warrant if you lot want to stay and observe the going one here I may return in just over an hour.  I suspect going around the compound from the outside will provide more clues.  If someone leaves ask to inspect them.”

With that SCG heads back to town for a warrant
This message was last edited by the player at 00:37, Thu 20 Feb 2020.

Constantine took the carriage and left the others, who settled to guard the closed up factory while waiting for the legal go-ahead to enter and search for clues. They first completed a circuit of the building to confirm that there were no secret doors or back entrances, and then arranged themselves by the road to keep an eye out. The pacing, rattling sounds from within gradually subsided, and apart from the steady clouds of yellow smoke there wasn't anything to indicate that the structure was inhabited.

There was little to do but watch, and the waiting was broken only by one odd incident.

Several minutes after Constantine and the carriage disappeared from view the smaller inset door swung open, revealing a glimpse into what appeared to be a large room with a platform for loading freight onto wagons. The glimpse was brief and no creatures, not even the small gateman, could be seen. It was only open for a moment and, perhaps seeing a gaggle of adventurers still sitting in front of the factory, it snapped shut again immediately and the ratcheting click of a bolt snapping shut was heard.

"Well then, I think it's time for a little look.  Nook, my love, let's get you to the top of the fence and see what you can see.  If a cat can look at a king, he can certainly look at a factory," Shade says.  She'll help give Nook the ramp he needs (perhaps with a boost from mage hand if necessary) to get him to the top of the wall so he can pace about, cat-like, perhaps descending into the factory to lurk and look if he can do so safely.

Nook leapt from joist to joist with relative ease, picking his way nimbly through the broken glass cemented to the top of the high receiving area wall to deter trespassers. He glanced into the courtyard and Shade felt his reaction instantly.

Nook's attitude toward dogs was a haughty mixture of caution and contempt. The one exception was the graying, arthritic collie that always padded amiably after the superintendent at Shade's boardinghouse, who Nook viewed with an aloof and patronizing fondness. The dog enclosed in the factory prompted none of these feelings in Nook. Instead a thrill of genuine fear shot through their emphatic link, layered with disgust as for something grotesque. Clearly whatever 'dog' had been unchained there unnerved Nook far more than even large and hostile guard dogs in the city did.

Still, Nook wasn't one to let fear rule him. He simply chose to explore somewhere else on the premises, a decision wholly unconnected to the unnerving presence in the courtyard. Obviously. He climbed from the wall to the roof, scrambling several times with his claws to gain the upper eaves, and padded over the slate tiles there. He didn't have a way to report what he found, but Shade didn't detect anything through their empathic link alarmed him or aroused his curiosity.

Pacing up and down on the street where he could best be warmed by any traces of early morning sun, Vadim had continued his default habit of fidgeting and sour introspection.  When the door opened and closed with no apparent hand he stopped and snorted.

"Haunted, too, is it?" he said drily, and then on a count of two the copper dropped somewhere behind his weathered forehead and he cursed. "Get that cat down here.  I smell a rat." Hands raised as though to grab someone his lantern jaw swung side to side, seeking.

"Maybe someone is playing ghost."

---

OOC: Looking (so to speak) for signs of an invisible creature to grapple.  Vadim has the Blind Fighting feat if, you know, he's not entirely crazy and something attacks him.

06:27, Today: Vadim Karamazov rolled 18 using 1d20+4.  Perception (Possible invisible persons).
This message was last edited by the player at 20:15, Fri 21 Feb 2020.

Quite disappointed by his spell failing, Darcon waited outside with the others with pursed lips. Constantine and Shade appeared to have the right ideas, getting a warrant and sending a familiar inside to investigate respectively.

However, when the door opened and closed again seemingly with no one appearing, the mage was immediately suspicious. Vadim also seemed to have the same idea, though of course they could never be sure.

"Beware," Darcon whispered urgently. As a precaution, the mage took out his slender ashwood want and murmured a command word.

---

Cast Mage Armor from wand.

Our heroes fell into a ready stance, backing against each other and facing outwards against any assault from invisible creatures. They stood poised, every sense straining, their postures tense. A minute passed. Another.

At length the tension faded somewhat, and no attacked seemed forthcoming. If they were being observed by an invisible creature its concealment was either natural and permanent, or the magic keeping it invisible was very powerful. After ten minutes it became clear that there was either nothing there, or whatever was there had no intention of attacking them.

After Nook's circuit of the roof he returned to the ground. And, while he did begin miaowing disconsolately and rubbing up against Shade's stockings, he didn't seem agitated or alerted to any imminent threat.

The minutes stretched on and still nothing stirred in the factory. An hour passed. Where the hell was Constantine with that warrant? Could something have happened to him?

The sun rose to its midmorning height and burned away the last of Lepidstadt's pervasive night time fog. The factories and warehouses around the chymic works were beginning to come alive as well, foremen and workers passing our heroes as they began their day's labors. Still nothing moved inside.

At length a figure came puffing up the lane, evidently having run all the way from Lepidstadt proper. But it wasn't the returning paladin. It was an urchin, one of the rough and tumble street youths that always seemed under foot in a city like Lepidstadt. He was perhaps nine or ten, with a filthy face and a frayed flat cap pushed back on his curly hair.

He looked from Shade to Vadim to Darcon and nodded, satisfied that he had found the right group.

"A gentleman asked me to deliver this to you." He said and held out an envelope in a grubby hand.

It was sealed with a blob of raw wax but not stamped with any device. Inside was a simple folded sheet of parchment with a note written in a spiky hand.

Suspicious transactions at Bertille's Pawnbroker on Amhurst Lane.

-A Friend

Shade raises an eyebrow, but gives the boy a copper for his troubles, and then holds a silver up just out of reach.  "'Tis the message from an honest man, or a liar?  Opportunist or fiend?  Fancy duds or someone of the cobbles?  A smart and clever lad like you would know," she says, raising an eyebrow at him and glancing briefly at the coin before going back to him.

The youth caught the copper gladly and eyed the bouncing silver coin with equal greed.

"'E didn't seem too honest to me, marm. He stood in the shadows-like, to keep me from seein' his face. That little alley on Amhurst, just across from the pawnshop. An he was wearin' a workin' man's clothes. But he looked the dandy to me. Smelled it too, with some sort'a oil in his hair. Alls I can tell you beyond that is that he was tall."

The urchin grinned, tugged at his cap, and darted forward to snatch the coin from Shade's fingers.

"Thankyer, marm."

He called as he scampered back down the lane way.

"Wait!" Darcon called out to the urchin as he scampered away.

Peering at the missive and gave a small shrug. "We might as well check it out, though it could very well be a trap."

Turning around and gesturing towards the building they stood outside of he added, "We can always come back here once Constantine gets us a warrant, assuming he gets it ofcourse."

Assuming the urchin turned and came back, Darcon reached into his travel bag and retrieved a piece of parchment and a quill and inkpot; balancing the scroll against the building's wall he wrote a quick note in his elegant handwriting and handed it over to the urchin, along with a gold coin. The note read:

We are investigating Bertille's Pawnbroker on Amhurst Lane. Meet us there or wait for us at the inn. Give the person who delivers this to you a gold coin.

-Darcon

"Go to the courthouse and seek out the paladin Constantine. Give this to him and he will give you another gold coin," the mage instructed the urchin sternly.

Shade glanced at Vadim and Darcon, and shook her head.  "If I hadn't been up all night, I'd have had sommat else in my quiver to deal with those fools in there." She jerks her chin towards the Chemic Works.  "But right now we're being gammoned. We disrupt half of the supply chain by rousting respectable folk out of their beds or other folks' beds last night, ride up bold as brass in daylight to this place, and then demand entry. Someone wants us gone, I say, being as we get a note to bugger off an hour after we put this place on notice.  Maybe Conny's just caught up in paperwork, or maybe sommat more's going on, but if we all hare off to see some stranger in an alley, whatever evidence is in that place is going to be destroyed by the time we come back, if we come back at all."

She sighs and adds, "If you want to check the place out, go on ahead. I can bide here, and I've got things yet to make them rue if they think to be rid of me."

The street youth skipped back and caught the spinning gold coin, grinning and tugging on his flat cap.

"Constantine. Paladin. Aye, guv'nor. I'll get it to 'im lickety split." He said and dashed off down the lane, his little legs pumping. Two gold was more than he was likely to see in a month, and he was eager to get his hands on the coins.

Darcon left Shade to watch for dark deeds at the factory and bustled himself back towards the city proper.

Amhurst lane was a narrow but busy street towards the middle of the merchant's district. The district was divided into a multitude of little quarters, Darcon was already familiar with the Surgeon's Flats and Anatomist's Alley, and Amhurst was a similar collection of small second-hand stores, usurers, and pawn shops.

A bell above the door at Bertille's rang as he pushed into the little establishment and found it very similar other establishments run by industrious small folk. The ceilings were high but there were two counters, one half-ling sized and one regular sized, both connected by a step ladder built into a low platform behind the higher one. The walls were a missmatched collection of shelves showing a dizzying variety of used goods. There were crystal spheres and brass horns, cutlery and chipped flatware, an old saddle with cracked but exceedingly fine leatherwork, jewelry, tools, luggage, and dozens of other odds and ends. A bored looking halfling youth perked up when Darcon entered and skipped up to the higher counter, which brought him up to eye level. He slicked back a cowlicked head of hair and smiled broadly.

"What can I get fer ya, mister?"

SCG shakes his head at the youths exuberance and contrast with the heavy burden that likely means he himself will forgo sleep, sustained only by magic until the entire trial is over.

SCG makes his way to the shop along the way he makes an effort to greet locals, he hopes to pass a pie shop as it seems so long since they had all sat down to break bread over a meal among friends.

He finds himself walking along Amhurst leaving the carriage parked across from the courthouse

The group should not be surprised to see him as they sent a message.

The streets of Lepidstadt were almost cheery, with the festival air of the trial still pervading the atmosphere and the inns and taverns still full of visitors from out of town. Constantine picked up a meat pie from a dubious looking stand hawking on the corner, one of many roaming the streets. Like most Ustalavian cuisine it was simple, hearty, heavy on potatoes and gravy and ultimately very tasty.

He drew Darcon aside when he entered the pawnbrokers and they exchanged a few words of greeting and filled each other in on what they had found.

Darcon had little to report besides the curious note that had led them to Bertille's, and Constantine let him know about his encounter with Vorkstag. They were missing at warrant at the moment, but the cagey alchemist's behavior was highly suspicious.

The youth behind the counter seemed content to let them loiter, and when they turned their attention to him he shouted in a surprisingly loud voice considering his very slight frame.

"Maam! Customers!"

There was a bit of bustling and the clinking of displaced trinkets and then a small, round, pleasant faced halfling woman waddled out from the stacks of shelves towards the back of the shop. She bowed politely and shooed her son away from the counter as she took his place.

"What can I help you gentlemen with?"