Arc 1: Leaving the Nest

[Brian]

Gwythyr nods at the kobold absently, carefully stowing the paperwork in his scroll case with his sheet music.

[Dracos]

Mesina had a relieved look on her face as they made their way out of the office.  While it was only the first of those they could've gone, having things get back onto the right foot was a relief, and negative momentum could've easily gotten ahead of them and ensured they never worked this trade again.  Trade was as bad as ever, and she didn't want to stoop to petty thievery to keep things in the black.  Her thoughts though were kept to herself, hidden behind her veil as they began their walk towards Diver's Jetty. 

The first thing to do clearly was meet with the client.  Undoubtedly they had legwork done of their own before funding such, and if not, recognition and cooperation between client on their group would be a boon in investigating the missing guards.  Handling it entirely was not much of a question in her mind, as much as the first impression with a new customer was important for more than just the customer in front of them, how they handled this certainly would be critical in turning around the reputation of the company, and a job half done would only solidify the rumors of them being neophytes.

OOC: Agreement for moving in nonhostile situations should be almost unnecessary :)

[Bjorn]

OOC: General layout of Brindisi:  Brindisi has three main gates: Northgate at the road up to Imperia, Southgate on the road to what was once Fars Ia, and Rivergate, which is a combination of the docks and the road to Brinitti.  Each gate has one of the three major trade markets right in front of it: Prince's Market, Southgate Stalls (which you've just left), and River Market, respectively.  The three are connected by a triangle of roads forming Brindisi's major highways.  Clockwise from Northgate, they are River Causeway, Low Road, and High Road.

Diver's Jetty is one of the many, smaller speciality market-places of Brindisi, for pearls, fish, ships, dockyard contracting, and the like.  It's just south of River Market, up Low Road from where you are now.

On the chance that you might want a chance to talk IC amongst yourselves, I'm going to wait to post next until either everyone has posted either IC or OOC saying "ready to move on," or tomorrow morning my time.

[Merc]

OOC: I'm ready to move. Don't really have anyhting to add at this time.

[Bjorn]

When you leave Ditchdigger's office, the day is well begun.  By now, you've lived in Brindisi well enough to become used to the need to elbow people aside to make your way up Low Road.  It's no longer as busy as it once was, the old people say.  Certainly, compared to River Causeway, which is the only of the three main roads that still carries caravan traffic, Low Road is a simple, easy stroll.  Brindisians, however, live their lives on the street.  The towering buildings that crowd the avenue are built to withstand the storms that sweep in from the Shifting Sea.  Stone, with tiny shuttered windows, people seize every opportunity to spend time outdoors.  Shops spread their wares out, business meetings are conducted on the walk, laundry, cooking, play and romancing and squabbles, all whenever possible on the streets and in your way.

Diver's Jetty is very Brindisian.  Facing seawards on a branch of the River Indigna, the buildings which line it are actually a stormwall, with heavy doors and no windows.   The biggest of them are used as shipyards; the rest are warehouses.  All the rest of the business takes place in the half-circle courtyard between the city and the docks.  Tents and stalls shade middlemen who haggle over pricing with merchants with their wagons and caravans at the same time as they send underlings off to negotiate with the sailors and divers in the spread around their ships.  As the seat of the pearl trade, Brindia's only native resource, Diver's Jetty is still teeming with business.

Ditchdigger's letter of reference didn't include an address beyond "Diver's Jetty," which is hardly surprising.  Space in the Jetty is first come first serve, every morning. 

[Dracos]

With cheerful abandon, Mesina somewhat lead the way into Diver's Jetty, casually gossiping and chatting with the local merchants as they walked, taking a look at the products coming through and even making a few quick purchases.  While her path was a bit winding, the party found itself remarkably quickly approaching what was the current tent hosting Enrico's business and his associates.  Entering, she politely inquired if Enrico was available.

[Bjorn]

The only person working at the desk at the moment is a long, sallow man, with a receding hairline and forgettable features.  At Mesina's question, he puts aside his paperwork and looks mournfully across at her.  "May I ask who is enquiring?" he sighs.

[Brian]

"The Free Company," Gwythyr says, a sardonic smile playing about his lips, almost hidden in his beard.  "We are here to fulfill a contract."

[Bjorn]

"Certainly," the man sighs lugubriously.  "Well, I am the caravan-master, so you'll report to me.  Do you know to which caravan you were assigned?"  He begins to shuffle through his paperwork.

[Ebiris]

"This contract is not to escort a particular caravan, you understand," Rudi speaks up, hissing softly as he runs his tongue over a row of tiny sharp teeth. "We have accepted a contract through Mr Ditchdigger to investigate the disappearances of those who have been providing such escort in the past."

[Bjorn]

The man continues to page through the papers as Rudi speaks, nodding absently.  "Ditchdigger, Ditchdigger, yes..."  He looks up, a fleeting expression of surprise chasing the permanent gloom of depression from his face.  "The contract to investigate the deaths?  Well.  Um.  Yes, well.  That contract is not my responsibility.  Ser Puggliaci is here, in our warehouse, and you should speak to him.  But I expect you'd find that you'd just be better off asking me questions."  That doesn't seem to be pronounced with any smugness or arrogance, but rather some sort of fatalistic gloom.

OOC: Ser/Sera is the Berevian for Mister/Mistress.  Both are in common usage, though you might be able to deduce something about a person by which he uses.  Neither get used if the person has no family name.

[Ebiris]

"Deaths?" Rudi repeats, sounding oddly... eager? "Ser Ditchdigger only said they had went missing, does this mean bodies have been recovered?" he asks, rubbing his clawed hands together before him.

[Bjorn]

"No, we've found no bodies," the caravan-master replies slowly.  "There are always a few guards who find the life difficult and choose not to finish their contract."  There's an implicit accusation here that the guards don't know what a really difficult life is like.  "But ten in a month?  With none of the other guards suspecting they were going to run away?  No, something happened to them, and that can only be death."

[Dracos]

"It must be making things hard, especially if word gets around that your traveling guards are repeatedly vanishing,"  Mesina mused considering it a bit from their side.  Sure, the murders were tragic, but if they soon found themselves unable to hire guards, they'd swiftly become targets for every bandit group with an ear to the ground and a thirst for easy profit.

"Where did these vanishings occur?" She questioned businesslike.  "Were they in either city along the routes or during their travels?  Have any guards talked about any circumstances of note surrounding the disappearances, or the how and when they discovered they were gone?   Being able to narrow down the facts of the disappearances as you know them, will help us speed a resolution of it."

[Bjorn]

"No," the caravan-master disagrees, "there's been little commotion so far.  Death is quite common among the caravan guards, even on the Coast Road.  The mystery, as it were, is not that the outriders are vanishing, but that they're vanishing and the caravans themselves are not."

Pushing aside most of the loose paper on his desk, the caravan-master reveals a large map of Brindia already spread out.  "All of the disappearances happened within fifteen miles of Brindisi, with none on this side of the Indigna Maze." He points out the region he's indicating on the map.  "The outriders simply did not report back to the caravan after scouting outwards.  No sign of them was seen afterwards, though this isn't really surprising.  Standard policy in such cases, as I understand, is for the guards to pull in closer to the caravan in preparation for an attack."

He pulls at his lip thoughtfully.  His gloom and lethargy seems to have vanished in the light of this discussion, replaced by a grim energy.  "I did some investigation," he adds, "and checked with some of the caravan-masters along the Imperia route.  They'd seen quite a few incidents of the same nature over the past year, ending some time before the first of our caravans was hit."

OOC: From your experience, the caravan-master's comment about "even on the Coast Road" makes sense to you.  Aberrations from the Waste have to cross either the Imperia route or the Indigna Maze to get on the Coast Road.  Both those areas have a lot of travel, which means a) less of the Aberrations survive to make it across to the Coast Road, and b) a lot of people die trying to keep the other areas safe.

The Indigna Maze is the name given to the complex set of channels that happens when the River Indigna hits the rocky terrain on which Brindisi is built.