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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 19797" data-attributes="member: 143">Part 24The rain continued in a steady patter as night settled over Elturel, and its citizens settled by warm fires to banish the chill of the day from their bones.  The area along the city’s docks, at the base of the bluff atop which the city perched, was particularly quiet, the night and the rain casting a pall that was barely interrupted by the infrequent light cast by the street lamps along the crowded riverfront boulevard.  The end of that narrow stretch of road, away from both the docks proper and the circuitous road that led up the cliff to the outer wall of the city, culminated in a cluster of old but sturdy warehouses.  Owned by the city’s major merchant interests that engaged in long-distance trade, they were typically used for temporary storage or to hold items slated for transshipment to other destinations along the various trade routes that the city intersected.  Only a single lamp cast a faint glow along this dead end, its flame flickering as if it was reluctant to serve its duty this night.  Thus it was that the four shadows that moved down this dismal street went unseen, moving silently in the shadows of the looming warehouses toward a structure near the very end of the street, near the lapping waters of the River Chionthar.  The cobbles here were choked with thick growths of weeds and a slippery layer of muck that clung at their boots as they walked.  The four figures were determined, though, ignoring the weather that had most decent folk resting in the shelter of their homes this night.  Soon they marked their destination, a place that they had already scouted earlier that day, and with purpose slipped into an alleyway between two of the squat buildings.  At the end of that alley, with little but mud and the face of the cliff beyond, they found a heavy door in a recessed threshold.  “Just a second,” Benzan said, bending before the heavy but not particularly sophisticated lock on the door.  The darkness did not hinder him in the least, but Delem was utterly blind, and even the gnome’s low-light vision was little help in the gloom.  They had considered having just Benzan and Lok sneak out to the warehouse, as they possessed darkvision, but with assassins still possibly seeking them, they decided against splitting their strength.  Once they got inside, Delem could provide his own light.  The lock clicked audibly, and the door opened to reveal a black interior.  Benzan urged them all inside, and then closed the door behind them.  The place was silent, save for the patter of the rain on the roof above them.  The interior of the warehouse was a single open space, perhaps twenty-five feet across and double that in depth.  There were windows, cloudy panes high up along the walls, but with the darkness outside they were only distinguishable from the walls as vague gray squares.  What struck them immediately were the smells; the sharp odor of herbs and spices with a hint of coffee grounds mixing with other, unfamiliar scents.  “A light, then,” Benzan said, “but keep it dim.”In response, Delem called up a faintly flickering flame, sufficient to illuminate the area around them but unlikely to draw attention to themselves.  The light revealed several rows of large crates, marked with a variety of merchant symbols, but the cavernous interior of the warehouse was far from crowded.  A thin layer of dust hung over the place, indicating that no one had been in here for some time.   “Looks like this might be a dead lead,” Benzan said, as he walked slowly out into the place, his bootsteps making a slight echo on the hard stone floor.  “Doesn’t look like anyone’s been here for a while.”“Well, we’re here, so let’s check it out,” Cal suggested.  The four men spread out into the interior of the warehouse, checking the boxes and sifting through piles of discarded old materials like moth-eaten and moldy bolts of cloth and staved in barrels that still smelled strongly of the wine they had once held.  Delem’s flickering flame faded after about a minute, so Cal cast a cantrip that caused the tip of his sword to glow like a torch, allowing him to poke it into dark crevices to look for clues.  “Hey, over here,” Benzan called from the other side of the warehouse.  “I think I’ve found something.”Cal and Delem joined him beside a pile of crates that he and Lok were moving aside, revealing what looked to them like just another foundation block.  “I don’t see anything,” Cal remarked.“Ah, it’s good work, I’ll grant them that,” Benzan said, as he drew his dagger and began poking around the edges of the slab.  Finally he was rewarded with a loud click, and a section of the seemingly-solid slab rose up out of the floor, revealing a wide but shallow space underneath.  “A secret compartment!” Delem said.   “Looks like someone has something to hide,” Lok commented.  Cal shone the light down into the space, which was about fifteen feet square, extending for a fair distance under the foundation of the warehouse, and about four feet deep under the thick stones of the foundation.  Before anyone could suggest caution, Benzan jumped down into the space, and began poking around.  “Looks like some weapons racks, storage shelves, and a few crates… all empty,” he called up.  “Whoever used this space, they cleaned up real well—hello there.”“What?” Cal asked.“Found something,” he said.  “Stashed behind a rack—looks like someone missed it.”He popped back up through the narrow opening, showing them a small wooden box, just a few handspans across.  “What is it?” Delem asked.“It’s a box,” Benzan said dryly, but he was already examining the box, carefully checking for hidden traps or catches.  He didn’t find anything, and the box came open after a few moments of jimmying its clasp with his dagger.  Inside were several padded spaces, all but one of which were empty.  The last, however, held what looked like an open metal box, the bottom of which was fashioned with a design that protruded from the metal.  “So we have our answer, it would seem,” Benzan said.  Lok and Cal were silent, but their faces bespoke a similar understanding.  “I don’t understand,” Delem said in confusion.  Benzan held the object up into the light.  “This, Delem, is a casting for a five-pound silver bar,” he said.  “But—the hobgoblins were casting their own bars at the fort,” Delem said in confusion.  “I don’t see how this is linked.”“Their refining facilities were very crude,” Lok said, “and those bars we found contained impurities that would have to be removed, and the bars recast.  In addition, silver bars are not generally accepted in trade unless they are marked with a reputable stamp, attesting to their purity and weight.” “There’s more to you than meets the eye, my friend,” Benzan said as he looked at the genasi.  “For a guy who doesn’t say much, you’ve got a brain inside that thick skull of yours.”Seeing that Delem still hadn’t fully made the connection, Benzan indicated the metal design at the bottom of the mold.  “See that symbol?  Recognize it?  I’ll give you a hint—we saw it last at the party the other night, on the breast of one of our new aristocratic friends.”Delem nodded, realization finally setting in.“I should have seen it earlier, really,” Cal said, “It does make sense—”“A pity you will never get the chance to share your revelation with anyone,” a voice came from the darkness behind them.The four spun as one toward the sound.  “Benzan?” Cal whispered, drawing one of his wands from his coat.“I can’t see anything,” the tiefling hissed, as the four rose, weapons coming into their hands as they spread out warily.  “A fascinating little group,” the voice continued, coming from somewhere in the direction of the door, on the far side of the building.  “A gnome, a sorcerer, a genasi, and… ah, a demon spawn, no less.  Interesting, very interesting.  A challenge—and I so like a challenge.”“Why don’t you reveal yourself, and I’ll show you a challenge,” Benzan said.  As if in response, the light from Cal’s sword suddenly grew dim, its light fading to a feeble glow.“Oh, that can’t be good,” Benzan said.</blockquote>

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