Guilds and Gambles
Slothrop decided there were too few people to manipulate in the forest so he followed the tracks in the snow back to Old Weir. He headed straight for Julian's where he found very innocent-looking Safad and Zireael sitting down to breakfast.
Julian came in looking tired from his night out on the fire brigade, and sheepishly said he had some good news and bad news. The good news was, the town had figured out the fire at Daleman manor. Turns out in the rubble of the embers they found a secret basement that had a tunnel in it leading out underneath the wall to a toolshed at a nearby farm. Percy was clearly a smuggler. The fire that burnt down Daleman manor and killed Percy Dalemen, Talg Harker, and Vekkie Boosal, must have been a business deal with the Thieves Guild gone wrong.
The bad news was, Julian had been doing oddjobs with the guild to make ends meet after losing his job at GPS, and the guild knew it wasn't their doing. Just then, a large muscled elf pushed his way into the kitchen. He introduced himself as Keeper Moss and explained the rest while Julian stared at the floor. See, through no fault of Julian's he had let slip--been manipulated into leaking--that his houseguests had been asking around about Daleman manor. Furthermore, they had been seen stopping by that very day at the estate. Keeper explained that if Safad and Z did not want their friends in the Weir Watch to catch wind of those two very interesting tidbits, they would do a job for the Guild. With their smuggler gone, they had to get a shipment out of the city. And with the Weir Watch up their ass, Safad, Z, and Slothrop were just the trio to do that job. Unless of course they wanted the Weir Watch to catch wind of their names. Triple homicide, arson...think about it. Rook chuckled.
They were instructed to meet in the back room at the Lonely Stag for a working lunch. There they met Keeper and "The Foot" who Slothrop charmed with thieves cant. The Foot then explained the details of the operation: meet outside a warehouse in the southwestern part of town and transport a wagon with a chest on it through the east gate. Deliver it to Gally at the icehut by the sawmill outside of town. Don't fuck it up, and good luck.
Slothrop told the amateurs to pipe down and hatched his plan. He meticulously studied the Wastekeeper Guild's workings, learned their accent and their ways. The group then asked the Thieves Guild to instead provide two carts, filled with as much trash as they could. Slothrop went to work on the old Monarch cloaks they had in their packs and devised disguises that fooled Julian. Rolling a natural 20 with a +12 modifier will do that.
At the appointed hour the three newest members of the Wastekeeper Guild picked up two trash carts outside a warehouse and wound their way through the drunken Midwinter revelers, working overtime so the tourists could enjoy Old Weir's signature celebration in a clean space. All was going well until cloaked figures on rooftops in an alley shot crossbow darts at the party. They failed saving throws and fell unconscious. Only to wake to the familiar face of D'luk Cassin, who was just as shocked to see them. D'luk asked them what in the hell they were doing transporting a large shipment of Laudinsfös, bound for Lakeville, out of the town. Slothrop, Safad, and Zireael explained they had fallen into some trouble with the thieves guild, who wanted to frame them for the recent fire in town. D'luk saw the urgency of the situation and told them to do what they must and meet up outside town.
Safad thought it best to test a few of the gates. He used his sorcery to detect the surface thoughts of the guards at different gates, and learned that the Weir Watch guards were thinking fairly typical guard thoughts while the Vostewylde Alliance guards were waiting for something, expectantly. The east gate had two Monarch guards and two Weir Watch. They made for that gate.
The masterful disguises fooled even the perceptive and on-edge Weir Watch, who bantered with the Wastekeepers about overtime during the holidays. They waved them through to deliver the trash to the garbage pits, but the Monarch assholes had other ideas. They taunted to trashmen with "rot-face," and "rancid breath," telling them where they come from the garbage men are the lowest of the low. They tried to throw some of their trash on the ground but instead struck something hard under the garbage...the chest!
Strangely, the Monarch guards looked horrified and told the Weir Watch there was nothing to see here, to send the garbage men through. But it was too late, the Weir Watch was suspicious. They had the Wastekeepers uncover the chests, while Slothrop explained it was on the side of the road, put out with some other garbage. The Weir Watch believed the innocent Wastekeepers but wanted to know more about this thing and were about to open the chest. The Monarch guards gave Slothrop, Safad, and Z the look and were drawing their swords, prepared to take out the Weir Watch guards. Safad's sorcery bubbled up and he put the Weir Watch about to open the chest to sleep. Zireael turned to defend the other Weir Watch from the Monarch guards, slaying him in two slashes of his deadly sword. Slothrop slipped away to the periphery. A drunken reveler came to help but thought better of it after seeing the guard slain. Safad's magic put under the remaining guard. Slothrop came back and the trio intimidated the remaining Monarch guard to skidattle unless he wanted to share the fate of his brethren. He skidattled.
Safad, Zireael, and Slothrop then hightailed it out of town, annoyed at having lost control of the situation and the bickering about the chaos that ensued. They ran into D'luk whom they convinced to let the delivery carry on as normal to follow it through to the end and gather more information about the drug racket. He went back to smooth things over with the Weir Watch and the Hibernal. They 86'd the body of the Monarch guard.
Safad, Zireael, and Slothrop met up with Gally who gave them the universal sound-of-the-swallow trademark whistle, and had them steer the shipment of sfös into the ice hut. The group set off for the Forgotten Forest, walking in silence, stealing glances at their party-members. Sharing meaningful looks. Who had they become?
Yet somehow, they managed to further a Hibernal sting; save the lives of two Weir Watch; and make good on their job for the Thieves Guild. Only group they ran afoul of was the Monarch guards -- now having killed 10 of their number, but who's counting...
Maybe the two witnesses who are still at large?
Julian came in looking tired from his night out on the fire brigade, and sheepishly said he had some good news and bad news. The good news was, the town had figured out the fire at Daleman manor. Turns out in the rubble of the embers they found a secret basement that had a tunnel in it leading out underneath the wall to a toolshed at a nearby farm. Percy was clearly a smuggler. The fire that burnt down Daleman manor and killed Percy Dalemen, Talg Harker, and Vekkie Boosal, must have been a business deal with the Thieves Guild gone wrong.
The bad news was, Julian had been doing oddjobs with the guild to make ends meet after losing his job at GPS, and the guild knew it wasn't their doing. Just then, a large muscled elf pushed his way into the kitchen. He introduced himself as Keeper Moss and explained the rest while Julian stared at the floor. See, through no fault of Julian's he had let slip--been manipulated into leaking--that his houseguests had been asking around about Daleman manor. Furthermore, they had been seen stopping by that very day at the estate. Keeper explained that if Safad and Z did not want their friends in the Weir Watch to catch wind of those two very interesting tidbits, they would do a job for the Guild. With their smuggler gone, they had to get a shipment out of the city. And with the Weir Watch up their ass, Safad, Z, and Slothrop were just the trio to do that job. Unless of course they wanted the Weir Watch to catch wind of their names. Triple homicide, arson...think about it. Rook chuckled.
They were instructed to meet in the back room at the Lonely Stag for a working lunch. There they met Keeper and "The Foot" who Slothrop charmed with thieves cant. The Foot then explained the details of the operation: meet outside a warehouse in the southwestern part of town and transport a wagon with a chest on it through the east gate. Deliver it to Gally at the icehut by the sawmill outside of town. Don't fuck it up, and good luck.
Slothrop told the amateurs to pipe down and hatched his plan. He meticulously studied the Wastekeeper Guild's workings, learned their accent and their ways. The group then asked the Thieves Guild to instead provide two carts, filled with as much trash as they could. Slothrop went to work on the old Monarch cloaks they had in their packs and devised disguises that fooled Julian. Rolling a natural 20 with a +12 modifier will do that.
At the appointed hour the three newest members of the Wastekeeper Guild picked up two trash carts outside a warehouse and wound their way through the drunken Midwinter revelers, working overtime so the tourists could enjoy Old Weir's signature celebration in a clean space. All was going well until cloaked figures on rooftops in an alley shot crossbow darts at the party. They failed saving throws and fell unconscious. Only to wake to the familiar face of D'luk Cassin, who was just as shocked to see them. D'luk asked them what in the hell they were doing transporting a large shipment of Laudinsfös, bound for Lakeville, out of the town. Slothrop, Safad, and Zireael explained they had fallen into some trouble with the thieves guild, who wanted to frame them for the recent fire in town. D'luk saw the urgency of the situation and told them to do what they must and meet up outside town.
Safad thought it best to test a few of the gates. He used his sorcery to detect the surface thoughts of the guards at different gates, and learned that the Weir Watch guards were thinking fairly typical guard thoughts while the Vostewylde Alliance guards were waiting for something, expectantly. The east gate had two Monarch guards and two Weir Watch. They made for that gate.
The masterful disguises fooled even the perceptive and on-edge Weir Watch, who bantered with the Wastekeepers about overtime during the holidays. They waved them through to deliver the trash to the garbage pits, but the Monarch assholes had other ideas. They taunted to trashmen with "rot-face," and "rancid breath," telling them where they come from the garbage men are the lowest of the low. They tried to throw some of their trash on the ground but instead struck something hard under the garbage...the chest!
Strangely, the Monarch guards looked horrified and told the Weir Watch there was nothing to see here, to send the garbage men through. But it was too late, the Weir Watch was suspicious. They had the Wastekeepers uncover the chests, while Slothrop explained it was on the side of the road, put out with some other garbage. The Weir Watch believed the innocent Wastekeepers but wanted to know more about this thing and were about to open the chest. The Monarch guards gave Slothrop, Safad, and Z the look and were drawing their swords, prepared to take out the Weir Watch guards. Safad's sorcery bubbled up and he put the Weir Watch about to open the chest to sleep. Zireael turned to defend the other Weir Watch from the Monarch guards, slaying him in two slashes of his deadly sword. Slothrop slipped away to the periphery. A drunken reveler came to help but thought better of it after seeing the guard slain. Safad's magic put under the remaining guard. Slothrop came back and the trio intimidated the remaining Monarch guard to skidattle unless he wanted to share the fate of his brethren. He skidattled.
Safad, Zireael, and Slothrop then hightailed it out of town, annoyed at having lost control of the situation and the bickering about the chaos that ensued. They ran into D'luk whom they convinced to let the delivery carry on as normal to follow it through to the end and gather more information about the drug racket. He went back to smooth things over with the Weir Watch and the Hibernal. They 86'd the body of the Monarch guard.
Safad, Zireael, and Slothrop met up with Gally who gave them the universal sound-of-the-swallow trademark whistle, and had them steer the shipment of sfös into the ice hut. The group set off for the Forgotten Forest, walking in silence, stealing glances at their party-members. Sharing meaningful looks. Who had they become?
Yet somehow, they managed to further a Hibernal sting; save the lives of two Weir Watch; and make good on their job for the Thieves Guild. Only group they ran afoul of was the Monarch guards -- now having killed 10 of their number, but who's counting...
Maybe the two witnesses who are still at large?
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