The Funeral (Stonegood judging) [finished]

[Rystil Arden]

'House Cannith...I wonder if this Ceshil is up to some sort of trick like Elaydren...' Siobhan says nothing, merely observing with her keen senses, including her sixth sense, looking for a clue as to the significance.

[inky]

Niccolo looks back and forth between the two men. "An acquaintance of yours?" he asks. "Someone also come to pay his respects, perhaps?"

[Bront]

Stulgar instinctively reaches and puts one hand on his weapon, though he does not draw it yet.

[Someone]

Niccolo looks back and forth between the two men. "An acquaintance of yours?" he asks. "Someone also come to pay his respects, perhaps?"

”You like to keeps your minions in the dark, don’t you?” says Ceshil. ”You had to be more generous with your money: they won’t be enough. So retrieve the message from the gnome, give me it, and there won’t be any problem.” The man with the Cannith badge nods at some point outside the post office’s door. Outside, you can see how several armed men shift and take position*.

*ooc: They seem to wear light armor and carry swords. A common sight in Sharn, and they weren’t as obvious before as they are now, so you didn’t mind them.

[Bront]

"Obviously you didn't tell us everything," Stulgar says, turning an angry eye at Orerreth.

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Bront

"Obviously you didn't tell us everything," Stulgar says, turning an angry eye at Orerreth.

Orerreth grabs Stulgar andlead you (all) away from Ceshil, who frowns and adops a more defensive posture. "I also didn't lie you, exactly." whispers. "It's true I was going to visit the chapel, and I meant no harm to you. I just feared being followed an attacked, and thought that going out of that tavern with you all would lead anyone watching to think I hired some bodyguards."

"If you feel fooled, I'm sorry, but now I need your help. It's for a good cause. I'm going to receive a message with the location of something very dangerous, something that must not see the light again. House Cannith wants it for their own benefit, no matter the cost for the world. What do you say?"

[inky]

Niccolo frowns slightly. "I hardly approve of being deceived, but in this case I think his manners are worse than your methods."

He takes a step forward, glancing back to see what the others are doing. "You may as well retrieve the message; then we can worry about making our exit."

OOC: If those guys have their swords out I'll draw mine, otherwise I'll hold off. If any of them try to get past me I'll take a swing at them, I guess, and if not I'll just wait for Orerreth to retrieve the message.

OOC: Is the door the only exit from here? Any windows or anything or, I dunno, thin walls we could kick through?

[Bront]

"What object is this needs to be kept away from the hands of the houses?" Stulgar says. "And why should we believe you now?"

[Bront]

OOC: FYI: Next week, I'll be on vacation and unable to check Enworld, likely from some time on Thursday till next Tuesday or Wensday, and after that I may still have sparatic access for the week, as we'll have visitors and later a Convention.

[Someone]

"Well, I'm sorry. I didn't expect any problem being in your company." says Orerreth. "The object is a crystal" whispers, answering Stulgar's question. "Slightly smaller than a fist, similar to those wizards use to hold their spells. It contains weapon and war machine designs and schemas that must be destroyed. Basher had it once, but I don't have time now to tell you the whole history, and frankly, it'd be better for you not to know."

"Don't listen to him" says Ceshil. "He's a traitor to his own house. I tell you something - I'll give each of you fifty gold pieces. All you have to do is to leave this place and forget you've seen any of us"

Meanwhile Niccolo evaluates their possibilities. They are not so good - the only way out is the door. The walls are solid, and in any case they separate you from a long, long fall as the whole post office floats thanks to the special characteristics of Sharn. Behind the counter where the gnome waits doing his best to ignore you there's a door, but you can see it leads to a small spiral staircase that goes up and you don't remember any other exit from this small building (surely they keep their arcane machines and other magical and mundane means to send signals and messages there)

About the men outside, you'd say they are more numerous than you, but it's difficult to say how many of them there are, since they can easily hide within the crowd, but you can tell they are keeping attention and are ready to intervene at any moment. You also can't see any guard, but you remember there was a small market maybe 150 feet to the west (you can't see the market from here) and maybe you could find a guard or two there. I remind you that he whole place is a net of floating footbridges and platforms.

[Rystil Arden]

"You say that it is better not to know, but...We need to make a choice, and if you wish us to choose to help you, would it not be best to tell us so we can make an informed decision."

'If what he says is true...then the spirits' plan finally makes sense. Balance in all things--give and take. First they have me help House Cannith recover a schema to keep it away from the Lord of Blades, even though House Cannith's own motives in the matter were so murky...and now they have me prevent House Cannith from recovering another schema. The ebb and flow...perfect irony.'

[Bront]

Originally Posted by Someone

"Don't listen to him" says Ceshil. "He's a traitor to his own house. I tell you something - I'll give each of you fifty gold pieces. All you have to do is to leave this place and forget you've seen any of us"

Stulgar turns to Ceshil, "Your money means nothing to me. Do you intend to impede our path? If not, we have business to attend."

Stulgar lets his battle axe slip into his hand.

[Manzanita]

The prospect of 50 easy gold pieces has an appeal to Raven, but the whole situation is of much greater interest. Seeing that violence could erupt, she flips her large sheild off her back and onto her arm. With her other hand, she draws her long sword.

She smiles.

"This could be important. I would hear more. Let no man raise his weapon against another until we've straightened this out."

Raven cocks her head & studies the men, trying to get a sense of who's telling the truth.

OOC: Sense Motive +4. Nice to see a quick-moving adventure. I've been out of town, but should be back in gear by Monday.

[Someone]

"You say that it is better not to know, but...We need to make a choice, and if you wish us to choose to help you, would it not be best to tell us so we can make an informed decision."

”Actually the essentials have been told” says Orerreth. ”I’ll be glad to tell you the details of the crystal’s origin and what happened to it, but I’m afraid this isn’t the place or the moment.”

"Your money means nothing to me. Do you intend to impede our path? If not, we have business to attend."

”As a matter of fact, yes. That crystal is legitimate and very valuable property of house Cannith, and I have a small army out there. If you stand with him, you stand against us. The solution is very simple: give me the message, and nobody will be harmed.”

Raven cocks her head & studies the men, trying to get a sense of who's telling the truth.

Raven had time to study Orerreth and Ceshil thoroughly and she’s quite sure both of them are telling the truth. Except maybe when Ceshil said the “small army” bit, but anyway the Cannith seems to be sure he has the upper hand.

[Rystil Arden]

*Siobhan is sensing motive as usual and listening to the spirits for advice. Barring that, she's never really trusted House Cannith, and this doesn't really seem like a time to start:*

"Were you in actuality the 'legitimate' owner, sir, you would not need a 'small personal army'--you could have just had this man arrested. This seems to me another one of many cases where certain members of your house assume that they are privileged to ownership of any schema in existence simply because they belong to the house with the Mark of Making. If you had come alone with a legitimate warrant, then by virtue of his deception, I would have been tempted to believe you over Orerreth, but since your presentation so far has involved bribery and threats of violence via personal henchmen, I am forced to conclude that you are in the wrong. If I am wrong, you have only yourself to blame--just repeat this to yourself a few times every day: 'The good guys don't lead with bribery and threats.' "