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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 4404406" data-attributes="member: 3285">Vengeance in Freeport: Part 6 – Xangy’s Pottery ShopDril joined them at Xangy’s pottery shop, healed by Father Peg-Leg.  The shop was a small stone building located at the northern edge of the Eastern District where it met Drac’s End. Light spilled out of the one-story building’s windows from a lantern hanging inside. Once they reached the door, a “Closed” sign was clearly visible hanging from the open door’s frame. “Well, looks like their closed,” said Kham with a smirk.  “I guess we should just go home.”There was a loud grunt just before a piece of pottery flies from the side and shattered inside the doorway, its fragments tumbling in all directions.“That’s all the excuse I need.”  Vlad barreled into the shop, sword drawn.The shop’s interior had obviously seen better days. Toppled pottery, some broken, some not, lay haphazardly on the shelves that stand against all four walls. A long table dominated the center of the room where lumps of clay, sculpting tools, and a basin of water resided. Beside the table were a stool and a stained pottery wheel.  The person who threw the ceramic object was seated on the stool, his back to the entrance, as he cleaned out broken shards from beneath a shelf.Before Vlad could get his attention, the young man swivels to face him. He had short black hair and a faint goatee. With a sneer he said, “Since you obviously can’t read, let me speak plainly— we’re closed.” The youth repeated the last two words in Elorii and Solani for emphasis before dumping his collected fragments into a wooden trough.Kham sniffed.  “That’s nice. You’re Rufus’ boy, right? I think you can stay open for a couple more minutes.”“Maybe you didn’t hear me the first time,” said the young man.  “We’re closed.”Sebastian put his palms together and pointed his fingertips in the shopkeeper’s direction.  “We are here on Council business.”  He pulled a broken piece of pottery out of the voluminous folds of his cloak.  “It this yours?”“For the last time,” said the young man, voice rising, “we are—“Kham kicked over one of the large pots.  “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you. What did you say?”The young man’s eyes went wide.  “I said…we’re…”Kham took out a pistol and aimed it at his head.  “A little louder.  I keep hearing that you’re closed, but that can’t be right, can it?”Sebastian put one finger on Kham’s arm.  “Kham.  Please.”The shopkeeper swallowed hard. Kham shrugged and put away his pistol.Sebastian gave him a pained, look-what-I-have-to-put-up-with smile.  “My name’s Sebastian.  What’s yours?”“Leukien.  Leukien Xangy.”“Nice to meet you Leukien,” said Sebastian.  “We were recently the victims of a bombing.  Some people were killed, some were very hurt.  So you’ll have to excuse Kham if he’s upset.  Many peoples’ lives are at stake.  Do you understand?”Leukien nodded, all traces of his irritable nature replaced with fear.“Good.” Sebastian displayed the “X” markings on the fragment. “Do you know what this sign means?”Leukien nodded again.  “Yeah, it’s one of my dad’s pieces. Just look at any of his work and somewhere on the bottom are those four X’s. He said they represent the four generations of Xangy potters that came before him.”“Where’s your dad?” asked Kham.“He was killed a few weeks ago.” Leukien’s eyebrows knitted together.  “He died from a lightning blast. Took him full in the chest, though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Never thought I’d be glad my mom’s blind; the body wasn’t pretty.”Kham’s posture sagged.  He wasn’t expecting that.  “Sorry to hear that,” he said quietly.  Then he wandered off to examine some of the unbroken pottery.“What happened here?” asked Beldin. “There was a break-in last night. Found the place in shambles this morning. Decided to walk off some of my anger before coming in to clean up tonight. Funny thing is, I can’t find that anything’s missing; just a lot of items shoved around. Didn’t even check the back room yet. It was probably those thrice-damned orcs.”Sebastian and Dril exchanged glances.  “What orcs?”“Four of the stinky things were in here yesterday looking for my dad. When I told them he died, I thought they’d leave. Nope. They started to snoop around and even tried to go into the back room there.” Leukien gestured behind him. “When I told them to take a walk, one of ‘em drew some kinda fancy grooved dagger and pointed it at me. One of his buddies said I “wasn’t worth it” and then they all left.”“Do you have any idea who your father might have crafted this jar for?” asked Sebastian.“Nope. He made several jars of that style—some with tops, some without.” Leukien thought for a moment. “But it is possible he recorded the sale and its buyer in the accounts ledger.”“Can we see it?”“Sure.” Leukien rummaged around in the back room, only to return with a large book.  “Take a look.”  He handed it to Sebastian.Sebastian cleared out some pottery fragments and lay the book down.  A piece of one of the open pages had been crudely torn from the ledger. “The date indicates the entry is from a few weeks ago,” said Sebastian.  “Interesting.”Dril pointed at the remaining part of the entry.  “Kenzil: Eight ja—“ was all it read. “Remember anything about that sale?”Leukien thought for a moment. “Yeah, I was here for that. An order for eight jars with jeweled tops. I recall the buyer was a black-robed man with long silver beard braided into two lengths. He seemed pretty nervous, his eyes darting back and forth from my dad to the front door. I figured him for some eccentric coot who wanted jars to keep cremated relatives in.”“If it’s Kenzil the Evoker, I know where to find him,” said Sebastian. “If there are seven more of those things…” said Kham.They all ran for the door.</blockquote>

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