Warlock! Something is Rotten in Grim Biskerstaf...

cowleyc says:

"Could be anything. Likely a result of you manlings shitting into holes that drain into the sea. Disgusting habit."

"Awful, I say, awful that we don't shit gold like you dwarves!"

Oct 26, 2022 7:37 am

Inside the Manky Mermaid
A few patrons take note of the Red Priests entering the bar, and of them beginning to ask questions, but religious types gets a hard go of it typically at the Manky Mermaid. They appear to be looking for someone, and the frowns and shaken heads they encounter indicate little progress towards finding that person.

As Foghorn and Rausimod talk, Trusova and Banio continue their conversation with the man in the corner -- the one with the sack and the highborn clothes.

"Uh..." he stammers. "Trial?! There is no need for a trial, sir! Sirs! Erm, sir and lady! I only seek knowledge. I will pay. I have coin! I seek only to access the tomes in the library." His voice lowers as he looks about, warily. "To... to learn a certain magical spell. But we cannot speak of it here!"

OOC:

Couldn't wait!

Lambert, are you going back in? You certainly can, coast is clear so to speak. Those three dicks are inside looking for Pagric, so far without success.

Also, the conversation between Foggie and Raus is excellent!

cowleyc

Oct 26, 2022 8:35 pm

When Rausimod sees priests of a rival god enter the tavern, he pulls up his purple hood and turns so that his shield isn't visible. It would not do anyone any favors were they to discover an initiate of the Dragon here.

"Looks like more of your shit just walked in."

Trusova, Road Warden

Len

Oct 26, 2022 9:09 pm

She's starting to see how the game is played. If this was a battle, then Banio would have just savagely blunted the noble's vanguard, and he's teetering on a full-on rout. Now is the time to charge.

"Shall we throw him in the stocks pending judgment, sir?" Trusova says to Banio in a deep voice eager for violence, playing into the deception. At least, she thinks it's a deception. Banio is so convincing, she wouldn't be surprised if it turned out he ran the College of Doors.

Banio Phelbt

Ciriaco

Oct 27, 2022 1:12 am

Banio raises his pudgy little child's fingers in order to forestall Trusova's wrath.

"Not yet," Phelbt answers her. "Let's give him one more chance."

That said, Banio leans as far as he can-- which is not terribly far-- over the table towards the stranger and crosses his arms atop the scarred wood. His eyes bore into the other man's.

"You will speak where I tell you to speak, sir. I told you that you had one chance to make your case, and I do not like to repeat myself. The College does not have time to indulge every gadfly with fanciful notions about sorcery." On the heels of this heated whisper, Banio draws a long breath, as if trying to calm himself. "Now. If you please. Tell us the spell you seek, and tell us, as well, what is there in your little sack."

Banio is quite interested in the contents of that satchel, but it wouldn't do to let their Marenese mark know it. So Banio flicks a vaguely disgusted glance over the velvet bag, as if the nobleman had placed a turd on the table between them.

Oct 27, 2022 1:13 am

OOC:

Sure! Why not?! Might be that Lambert slinks in and tips poor Pagric off!

Finding the affront of the Red Priests too much, Lambert can’t help himself: he spits into the alleyway and then makes for the front door of the Mermaid, ready to make mischief.

Trusova, Road Warden

Len

Oct 27, 2022 2:32 am

Trusova backs off with feigned reluctance, but not so far that he forgets she's there.

Oct 27, 2022 7:55 am

Wolke slips back into the bar and finds himself assaulted with the smells, sights and sounds of a place stuffed with Biskerstafans determined to blow off steam and escape the day's worries. Two of his companions are at a corner table with a foreign nobleman, a man who looks white as a sheet as Banio explains the way things are to him.

"Necromancy," the man from Fair Marenesse whispers through obscuring fingers, barely loud enough to be heard. He meets Banio's gaze, then Trusova's. "I have gold. I will pay," he answers without directly addressing the question of the sack.

Oct 27, 2022 8:42 am

Knowing Pagric, and knowing where he usually props up the bar, Lambert makes his way through the throng to try reach the man before he’s found.

Oct 27, 2022 8:10 pm

As Lambert slides into the ground, he watches as patron after patron waves away the three priests he met outside. Fisherfolk, dockers, laborers and other hard-working types seem to have little time for the trio of red-clad men.

OOC:

Wolke, please roll 1d20 + Streetwise, trying to meet or beat 20.

Oct 28, 2022 12:21 am

OOC:

Watch your backs, sirs…

Rolls

1d20+7

(7) + 7 = 14

Banio Phelbt

Ciriaco

Oct 28, 2022 12:27 am

Necromancy?

Banio glances again at the velvet sack. He recalls the odd fellow who rose and left the table not long ago, with his sickle and his dirt-stained hands. A groundskeeper, or so Banio thought.

What sort of grounds might the man have kept?

For the first time, a touch of genuine unease creeps into Banio Phelbt's expression. He waves two little fingers at the sack, like a priest giving a lazy benediction.

"Whose remains are those?"

Oct 29, 2022 6:59 am

An uneasy look crosses the man's face as Banio asks that, and his hand goes protectively to the black bag. "Someone that meant... that means a great deal to me."

Glancing at the muscle, at Trusova, he goes on. "So. My gold is good, anyone will attest. Where my I find the door?"

Across the room, Lambert searches the crowd for Pagric, but he does not spy him. He does see a ruffian or two he's raised a mug with, a former city guardsman who once broke his nose for no reason whatsoever, and a few others he's crossed paths with in various ways previously... but no wayward Red Priest.

When the opportunist looks again to see what Trusova and Banio are getting up to, the man's practiced eye picks out two men with traveling cloaks moving through the crowd towards them. Both look like types who are used to hard living on the road, and wringing whatever they can from life with grubby, dirty, brutal hands. Before he can make a move or raise his voice, another man steps in front of him, a fair but lank-haired man with scruff on his chin and a warning on his tongue.

"Ut there, leave well enough alone, you. Mind your business, keep your guts in your belly."

Foghorn

Jabes.plays.RPG

Oct 29, 2022 9:01 am

cowleyc says:

"Looks like more of your shit just walked in."

Foghorn's gaze follows Rausimod's and alights on the Red Priests. This night needs those zealots like a boat needs its hull staved in. Chances of bloodshed just leapt up. The boat captain instinctively scans the room for his mates. Not that he's under any illusion any of this lot will band together in any event, but still. Rausimod accounted for, Banio and Trusova still working the gentleman. Is that scoundrel, Wolke, back yet from whatever skullduggery he said needed doing? Ah, there he is.

OOC:

Does Foggie also notice the highwaymen?

Oct 29, 2022 10:17 am

Lambert Wolke was a thief, and being a simple thief meant he was about twice as honest as half the crooks in Grim Biskerstaf.

He’d worked all day pulling scum off the water for a pittance. Tussled with a monstrosity at the command of a half-mad zealot. He’d seen a man’s throat cut and was vaguely aware that half their earnings had been pinched.

After that, he’d been threatened by three virgins in red frocks, and now this fella thought he’d have his say.

The thief takes a step back, hands raised:

"Right…" he says, feigning surrender.

And then he swings an uppercut at the bastard’s chin.

Rolls

Brawling? - (1d20+5)

(9) + 5 = 14

cowleyc

Oct 29, 2022 1:23 pm

Things are about to get interesting, thinks Rausimod as he sees his friend- a term being used very loosely- sucker punch one of the zealots. His hand reaches for the stool beneath his stony sit-bones, a decent enough weapon in a brawl. Perhaps this will be an opportunity to rid the city of these two.

Foghorn

Jabes.plays.RPG

Oct 29, 2022 2:03 pm

Well, shit. For once, it's neither the Fish Wardens nor the fucking Dockers that started it. Still, those two factions will take this opportunity to have a go at each other. Foggie drains his drink and cracks his knuckles as he leaps to his feet and steps out of reach of Rausimod's stool.

Trusova, Road Warden

Len

Oct 29, 2022 4:59 pm

As violence breaks out behind them, Trusova rises. She doesn't have to pretend very hard to be the muscle; she looks like a woman who was built for war. She reaches for a nearby broom, snaps off the head, and wields it menacingly, scanning the crowd for anyone who might cause her trouble and seeing if her crew is staying out of trouble.

"Who am I kidding, one of them probably started this mess..." she mutters.

Oct 29, 2022 6:17 pm