Arc 1: Leaving the Nest

[Brian]

After spending a while chatting with the merchants while 'considering' various merchandise, Gwythyr returns to the assigned meeting place to discuss matters with his colleagues.  "From what I was able to determine," he says slowly, "our ... employer," 'benefactor' and 'patron' are both too kind of words, here, "has made no real enemies.  As you can guess from his ... distinguished ... personality, he also has no real friends.  He was fortunate in the eyes of other merchants to hire Ser Bonivace, who by merchants is among legend.  His own mental ability is likened to that of the beasts that pull the wagons."  He pauses at this, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

"Ser Bonivace also has an idea that may revolutionize mercantile practices among pearl vendors.  The main opposition to it is the most awesome opposition the world can muster: the pride of our employer.  There are five major pearl vendors, and aside from this obstacle, they express firm interest in this idea -- an idea I suspect the Empire would not enjoy."  He gives his companions a meaningful look, being cautious that there are no obvious eavesdroppers for this comment.

"As to the attacks, I have found tales of ten among pearl merchants, six of them targeting our employer.  A single family by the name of Ferri has gone unmolested, though, Ferri is in truth owned now by ab'Hazzir.  Additionally, I have discovered a metal goods vendor who had an outrider suffer an identical fate."  He eyes his companions then, and shrugs.  "Make of it what we will."

[Dracos]

"Interesting...though I don't think it relates to the killings.  The grocers mentioned that some of theirs went missing, and that the hunting has been a bit lean of late,"  She petted Shiva as she thought, the cat purring gently.  "I don't think the answer is going to be simply in the city.  If it was, we'd see more gains being made on it, as outside of a lone murderer, there's not much to indicate any wealth has been acquired or that serious efforts at hindering a business have taken place."

Not that the ab'Hazzir shouldn't be talked to in a bit, but now was not the time and place for such things.  It was an unlikely business deal anyway.

[Merc]

Marcelo sighs. "You know, all this running around isn't getting us anywhere," the hexblade grumbles. "We might as well try out the kobold's plan, it's simple enough and has us -all- at least doing something if we're keeping an eye out on the guards."

An emphasis is placed on that 'all', showing how the arcane warrior would like to feel like he was at least doing something semi-useful, but mostly to stave off boredom while the others did asking questions. He could join in, to be certain, but the intimidation tactics he'd feel more comfortable using wouldn't earn him many friends in town, and he'd like to be able to stick around the place from time to time without worry about who'd want to jab a dagger in his back and twist it.

Well, more so than the usual worry anyhow.

[Brian]

"Of course," Gwythyr says absently, his eyes distant.  "I doubt anything will come of it yet ... but it does add to the total knowledge we have of the situation.  I would expect anyone behind it to be more discreet, regardless."  His eyes suddenly focus on the kobold.  "Your plan calls for action, and at this point, we must act to know more.  I agree with Marcelo ... though I think we should be careful.  Letting the guards know that we risk their lives to uncover this situation will win us no friends.  The tidbits I've garnered probably mean little, if anything, but will make good fodder for the curious guards who wonder at our role."

He pauses suddenly.  "I did not think to ask.  Did Ser Bonivace notify the caravan guards as to our purpose?"

[Ebiris]

"No mention was made of telling the caravan guards, though whether such occured regardless I cannot say," Rudi shrugs eloquently, seemingly unbothered by his comrade's inability to use his name. "Likely they will have inferred our purpose from Ser Pugliacci's tirade, however."

[Dracos]

"Not all caravans are being attacked though, Rudi, even of Pigliacci's crew.  By joining with one, we have a good likelihood of simply traveling unmolested.  Moreso, have any of you been studying tracking?  If we use another as bait, it'll do us no good if we can't find them.  Why go through the ruckus when we could simply head out on our own?"

[Merc]

Marcelo shrugs. "Alone, or with a caravan it makes no difference to me. All I'm certain is that we're more likely to find answers out there than here."

[Brian]

"I agree with Rudi once more," Gwythyr says with a frown.  "But it seems that pearl merchants specifically present greater targets, unless it is simply an unlikely coincidence.  If we travel as a group, not escorting anything even potentially valuable ... I expect that we will encounter nothing, which will then equal our pay."

[Ebiris]

"Ah, but it is not the caravans themselves that are targeted, is it not so?" Rudi asks. "It is the guards who always happen to be well out of sight of the caravans at the time, yes?" He then shrugs, hissing softly, "I admit there is no guarantee of us finding our prey out there even if we have the disappearance of a particular guard to focus our search, but if any of you can offer a more certain method I would be agreeable to pursing it."

[Dracos]

OOC: Ye doin' it to~ Rudi.
IC:

"It has too many strings attached and seems less certain to me to be attached to a caravan that will keep going, instead of using the map that the caravan-master gave us of incidents," She produced his jot up of earlier.  "With one of us as bait, we can ensure that we have no false signals to go by, and whoever is playing bait can be outfitted with potions or whistles so they could let us know immediately a problem is occurring.  Worst comes to worst, we can hire a local tracker in the area if it seems too much for us once we're out there.  Is that agreeable, Rudi?"

[Ebiris]

OOC: you see it enough times and you start to get confused...


"Is that you volunteering to be bait, then, Mesina?" the kobold asks with a trace of dark amusement. "This way will probably be quicker, but carries more risk. If you're willing to shoulder them, so be it," he agrees.

[Dracos]

OOC: Very fairly said. =)
IC:

"Well...  I can prepare some escape spells. That'd probably be best.  Very well, I'll volunteer for the bait.  We'll use message or signal whistles to note if I'm being chased and the rest can ambush it, ideally." Mesina replied while walking towards the city gates.

[Brian]

Gwythyr nods wordlessly at this, falling in step beside Mesina, but pausing to glance at Marcelo to gauge his reaction.

[Merc]

Marcelo merely shrugs and grins as he likewise falls in step with the others. Hey, if someone wants to act as 'bait' knowing full well what such a job entails, who was he to stop them? Personally, he'd prefer seeing someone he didn't know suffer the potential pitfalls, but as long as he wasn't the one suffering, he could live with getting on with the job.

[Bjorn]

It isn't quite a direct path to the city gates you take, with a quick detour by your lodgings to pick up your weapons and travel gear, but you're out of the River Gate by noon.

Travelling to the other side of the Maze often takes about two hours, even though it's a distance of only five miles or so, and today looks to be no exception.  The Coast Ride zig-zags at this point, weaving from ford to narrow bridge as it cross the various off-shoots of the Indigna.  Traffic on the bridges is always a problem.  Most of it is, as usual, fearful parties of villagers making trips into the big city, with slow ox-driven carts that take up most of the road.  But as you come up on the last bridge, your way is blocked by the bulk of a caravan.