"Nasty noses are meant for breaking..." Maerk grunted in agreement. He had little use for the conniving and squirming and slippery words of such folk who sought to seats at the council table. His view was leadership by the prowess of one's axe. But he was not in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. The rules were different here. Men were weaker here.

Maerk glanced over at Alak. This one's not weak, he thought to himself. The Hellknight had proven himself to be a brave and capable fighter, traits the huge Ulfen could appreciate.

"So Voz make pay to Roxie," Maerk stated. There was no judgement in his voice. It was her place, it was her decision. "Voz bring others to tunnel?"

Roxie shook her head.

"Not that I saw anyway. If I would have caught her bringing friends I would have charged her extra. And before you get any ideas, she wasn't given a key or nothing. She had to come during normal  operating hours...although I'm not always sure she left during hours. I would see her come and go a couple of times but didn't really pay much attention to it. It was gold in the purse and whatever she was doing wasn't causing me a mess or a hassle or nothing."

Nezaglomie remains cagey, "Well, thank you for the information."  To the others she adds, "I suppose we should go pay a visit to Voz to find out what is up.  I don't know whether the council would or would not be interested in this little development."

"One rat a a time..." Maerk grunted. "We shake Voz first. Then maybe Council, yes?"

"I don't think the Council knows anything about this, had they of this whole matter would have been swept under the rug already and Warbel's plead's ignored." She reminded Maerk and Z. "I think Voz is doing this alone, or at least with someone outside the council. That said, the Council should be apprised of our findings. Minus, Roxie's involvement."

[OOC: Yala is Chaotic Good, so she'd hide a small truth here and there for a friend if it in the end helps get the greater evil IMHO. ;) ]

Sularius nodded at Yalandlara's comment, "I agree, the council should be informed. But I see no reason they need to know about Roxie's involvement."

Maerk helped himself to another pig's ear. "Maerk say not to tell council, go find Voz. Maerk remembers the fire..."

Dreki starts poking around the storage room some more. Clearly bored and ready to move on.

The group heads on over to Voz's shop, the Reliant Book Company. It is a small free-standing building nestled away in an out-of-the-way corner of Breachill. As such it gets very little foot traffic, instead seemingly relying on people to seek it out specifically instead of just window shopping and passing on by.



Despite it being noon during the week the place looks dark and locked up. The front door is locked and the four windows are likewise locked and shut as well. Judging by the lack of footprints in the dirt it seems that nobody has been her for at least a little while.


Pick the lock/window: DC 20 thievery
Force open the front door: DC 16 athletics check

Nezaglomie studies at the door, wondering how many Produce Flames it would take to blast open  the lock. "I'd probably burn the whole block down, first," she says to nobody in particular while gazing around at the wooden buildings.  She stands aside to let the larger and/or craftier folk take a shot at it.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:48, Thu 02 Feb 2023.

Sularius takes a look at the lock on the door, and then notices the windows, which might be a bit less obvious. "I could probably pick lock on the door or one of the windows, if we want to gain surreptitious access."

This is an out of the way part of Breachill and the occasional person that wanders on by is on their way to or from business but otherwise seems to have been forgotten by the rest of its residents. Moss grows among the cobblestones, thriving from the lack of foot traffic that would trample it or scrape it from the stones. The walls and buildings form deep shadows that create a sense of isolation as if the light itself was barred from this section of the town.

It isn't foreboding however, instead having a sense of peaceful isolation. It is no wonder why a bookstore would be found in this area. Without the constant thrum of passersby or the calls of merchants and pedestrians greeting one another it feels like a hidden gem, a secret place within the city where one can find peace and quiet for focusing on ancient tomes and deep thoughts.

As the group looks around the isolated bookstore they notice that almost nobody comes by and the few that do are too busy focused on their own matters to pay the heroes any mind. As long as the group remained quiet it was unlikely anyone would notice their activities. However any loud noises, like the cracking of wooden frames or the breaking of windows, would likely resonate twice as loud given the lack of background noise to obscure it or mask its true nature.

"Did the call for 'eroes give us the authority to break in in town?" He asks quizzically. "Not dat I'm 'gainst et or 'n'tang. Jus you biggun's are always gettin' uppity over 'Personal Belongings' an rot." he gestures and makes a face like he was sucking on a lime.

Nezaglomie gestures at Sularius to go ahead.  "We have to check this out.  Who knows what troubles this person could be bringing into the town -- or has already brought into town -- through his underground dealings.  Just keep it quiet."

Sularius nods, "Right, well keep an eye out while I work this lock." He reaches into his pack and pulls out a set of tools and begins to work on the door lock. After a few moments, a click is heard and he says, "Right, I think that did it."

Thievery 20...right on the dot

14:59, Today: Sularius Alariel rolled 20 using 1d20+11 with rolls of 9.  Thievery.

The lock of the door turns with a satisfying click allowing the group to enter the bookstore.


Inside they find themselves in the main shop area full of bookshelves displaying rows of rare tomes. A few are secured inside locked glass cabinets. The books seem incredibly esoteric and are likely unfamiliar to the group with titles like "Chronicles of the Dream Weaver" and "Lost Kingdoms of Elvander, Vol VII".

To the left is a closed door bearing the sign "Staff Only" and behind the counter and till is an opening that looks like it leads to Voz's personal chambers.

As the group enters the store, Nezaglomie looks around to see if anyone is noticing them breaking and entering.  Once she enters, her natural acquisitive nature comes to the fore.  She looks around, searching for arcane tomes and casts Detect Magic, almost in an awed whisper.  She feels sure that this store, owned by someone who is some sort of Bad Guy (and therefore available as "loot"), is going to yield the sort of magical reward she lusts after.

Maerk quietly glanced around the place, but books were only good sources of fire starter to him. His huge frame seemed to fill any available space, and it was all he could really do to keep from knocking things about. He was more interested in the door to the private chambers. He started to raise a foot to kick it in, but then thought better of the idea, and waited for one of his more nimble companions to check it out.

The party moved through the musty rows of shelves with ancient and exotic tomes lined in a row. Nezaglomie completed her spell and began to scan around but to her surprise she didn't sense a single magical aura in the area, at least not one that wasn't obviously in possession of one of her compatriots.

Meanwhile by the bedroom door Maerk raised an iron-clad boot off the ground ready to kick in the door but something made him hesitate and with a soft clunk he lowered the boot back to the ground, looking around for a companion to instead open the door with a little bit more subtlety than a giant viking kick down the middle.

Trying to keep from feeling disappointed, Nezaglomie joins Maerk at the "Staff Only" door.  "Yeah.  This is where the good stuff will be," she says.  When he hesitates, she nods, "Ahh, traps.  Yes, we should check."  Not really sure what she is looking for, beyond the obvious sort of holes that darts might come out of, she nonetheless gives the door a pretty thorough check.

08:45, Today: Nezaglomie rolled 22 using 1d20+7 with rolls of 15.  Perception.

Yalandlara frowns gently at all of this. "You know I'm not a fan of all of this, but if it turns out that she is in fact behind a lot of this." She continued with a frown.

Finishing their investigation of the main room the party discovers an empty cash till and a ledger of sales. The ledger is pretty mundane, just a list of tomes bought and sold with no real pattern or titles that jump out at anyone. Right towards the end however is a note about a magical parchment to summon fire mephits that also has a note in the margin about how the scroll has gone missing.

So far this aligns with what Voz had said way back at the beginning of the adventure, that her ex-assistant, Calmont, had stolen the scroll and used to set the town hall on fire with a good number of citizens inside at the time.

The door next to Maerk is the bedroom and upon testing it, the door seems locked. <orange(OOC: DC 20 thievery to unlock</orange>) A quick test reveals that the door to the "Staff Only" room is unlocked.

Which way first? Bedrooms through the locked door or Staff Only door through the unlocked door?

(Unlocked door first.)

Dreki turns the knob and walks in. Seemingly oblivious to the potential for traps or else figuring that his reflexes would save him, it's not clear as he strides across the threshold confidently.

Sularius follows the group, not interested in being first into the room unless there was need for his specific skills.