Cloak and dagger in the capital (IC)

[Lancaster_Road]

You have been called to the Course and Hart in the lower districts of the capital to meet with an old aquaintance of yours. The message said to come alone and make all attempts at stealth. The innkeep has shown you to a back room and set out a tray of wines and cheeses well beyond the stores of the inn, and once assured you were comfortable, left you be with the others who may have arrived.

[Sinfonian]

Before arrival:
As usual Radsor prepares a disguise as he enters town. To the eyes of most observers, he is a old human male with dirty graying hair in plain, unassuming clothes. When asked for a name in this persona, he answers to "Mr. Fenton." Spot DC 24 to see through the disguise (only if actively suspicious of it): Take 10 on the Disguise check. 10+20 -6 (from changing race and age) = 24.Underneath the grubby clothes and age make-up is a wiry elf, in the prime of his life.

When shown to the back room of the inn, he looks at the spread laid out and scoffs slightly. No way would he take any food or drink from someone who had mysteriously (even for his trade) contacted him, certainly not before he has any idea of why he is here. Even an established contact can have good reason to be after him, and you don't spend more than a half century in this line of work without some well-deserved paranoia.

He takes a few moments to search the room for anything that might have been prepared as a surprise for him.

Search check for traps [roll0].

Assuming that he is satisfied not to find anything "unpleasant", he takes a chair in the corner with his back firmly placed against the wall, with a clear view of the door. He will pretend to be fast asleep, not out of place for the persona he's taken on. However, he watches the room with a partly open eye underneath the plain-looking cloak he repurposes as a makeshift blanket.

I suppose a bluff check to seem asleep?
[roll1]

[Toliudar]

Pirot Stiv

Pirot is deeply, deeply grateful that the call for this gig was after noon. It had been a late night last night, and it was two minutes into his bath before Pirot had even noticed that there'd been a previous occupant. Ah well. A little negotiation, a little give and take, and much giving had been taken. All in all, now that he was feeling a little cleaner and a lot more awake, he was starting to feel human again.

But hungry. He hoped that the boss had money for lunch. Both for him and Jenny. Jenny?

Casting around the unfamiliar bedchamber, Pirot was relieved to see the ragged-looking crow dozing up in the rafters. Making a kissing sound, Pirot enticed it down. He fished a bit of bread out of his bag for it.

Doing a quick check through his bag to make sure nothing had been lifted in the night, Pirot loosened the strap on his new lute, and headed off for the Course and Hart.

Directed to the back room, he glances over at the old guy sleeping in the corner, before noticing something much more interesting. Lunch. And wine - a local traftenberg, by the smell! Excellent. Filling a goblet once and draining it, Pirot was indeed beginning to feel like this might be a decent day after all. He dragged a chair up to the table where the tray and decanter were. If Mystery Boss wanted to make a dramatic entrance, Pirot might as well make him pay in food. He dug in, and fed every third or fourth piece to Jenny.

[Frozen Messiah]

Murdoch walked into the establishment that he had been told to come to still half-awake with Alicia following right behind him. He took a moment to scan the area, then looked at his note, then went outside and looked at the sign, then walked back in. "It would have been nice if my benefactor would have chosen some place with some more class." Murdoch whispered to himself as he scowled at the main occupants. Finally the two were lead into the back room.

Murdoch looked at the scene in front of him and began rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration as to what he was being forced into. A man with vermin on his shoulder and a person who had most likely fallen asleep due to waiting so long for this mysterious benefactor. Murdoch sat down at the table and stared at the bird with a large frown on his face. "Alicia do as you will but don't go near that bird, it could be carrying a disease." Murdoch says as he notices Alicia began to wander.
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Alicia had been the main reason why Murdoch had even found his way to this place. She had been almost pulling him along to the tavern. She walked in and took a step backwards; she was somewhat shy when it came to crowds. She followed her father to the back room and a small smile came to her face. She had learnt it is always best to smile to make a good impression. She followed Murdoch to where he sat himself and then continued to walk around. She paused for a moment to listen to her fathers warning and then nodded and walked over to the sleeping man.

"Why are you so tired? This no place to sleep, there are no pillows, or sheets, or beds to say of and there is food on the table." Alicia said as she kneeled down to look the man face to face.


Sense Motive:[roll0]

[Toliudar]

Pirot smiles and raises a glass at the man and...child?...who walk in. He scratches at his straggly beard and gestures at the food still on the table.

"Well, hi to you too. I'll have you know that Jenny hasn't been sick in, well, I don't think I've ever seen her get sick."

He pops another morsel of prosciutto into the crow's mouth.

[Frozen Messiah]

"If you have never seen it when it is sick than how can you understand when the creature is not sick, this study is flawed. I have chosen to do away with the trivialities of such endeavors as are animals and focus my energy on something more practical. You may keep your rats and birds, they are little more than trinkets in the grander picture." Murdoch responds after pouring himself a glass of wine and swirling it his hand absent mindedly.

[Toliudar]

Pirot laughs briefly, and returns to lunch.

"Wow. I bet you're fun at parties."

He glanced over at Alicia, but then returned to focus on another sip of wine.

[Frozen Messiah]

Pirot laughs briefly, and returns to lunch.

"Wow. I bet you're fun at parties."


"Being stuck in prison for being efficient will sap the humour out of you." Murdoch says calmly taking a sip from his glass after the finishes his comment, he lets the taste linger for a while in his mouth while he remembers his glory days.

[Toliudar]

Pirot nods and raises his goblet in toast to the dour fellow.

"An excellent reminder, then, never to be efficient. Cheers."

He takes a sip.

[Frozen Messiah]

Pirot nods and raises his goblet in toast to the dour fellow.

"An excellent reminder, then, never to be efficient. Cheers."

He takes a sip.

Murdoch looks over at the man with the raven and smiles a little bit, maybe this group wouldn't be so bad after all."I'll drink to that." and with that he takes a longer sip of his wine and keeps his eye oon Alicia who seemingly has taken undue interest in the man who is asleep.

[Sinfonian]

Despite the attentions of the precocious little girl, "Mr. Fenton" maintains his ruse, continuing to pretend that he is asleep while he listens and watches these other people. Information is the most valuable resource after all, there's no need in letting out any more than he needs to. Besides, there's always something to be said about surprising people.

[Lancaster_Road]

The barmaid comes through to take any orders that might be needed if people are unhappy with the wine and cheese.

[Sir_Chivalry]

The stench of devilweed wafts into the room as a man dressed in a sackcloth shirt and breeches walks in. He staggers one way, then the next, before shuffling over to the table to gorge himself on the cheese and wine present, devouring it with abandon.

He looks over at the doctor breifly, his eyes wide with a small spark of fear, before he springs over to a chair opposite him, eyeing him and his daughter cautiously.

[Toliudar]

Having eaten his fill, Pirot pulls back from the table a bit to give the new fellow room.

"Hello, all. I am Pirot Stiv, entertainment professional. Perhaps you heard of my recent turn as Gladlock in A Man for All Reasons?"

He glances around the room, clearly not optimistic.

"Perhaps not."

[Sir_Chivalry]

Having eaten his fill, Pirot pulls back from the table a bit to give the new fellow room.

"Hello, all. I am Pirot Stiv, entertainment professional. Perhaps you heard of my recent turn as Gladlock in A Man for All Reasons?"

He glances around the room, clearly not optimistic.

"Perhaps not."

"I saw it. Lady I was *pause* accompanying wanted to see it, she paid, even got a fancy drink out of it. You were good, I didn't fall asleep when you were talking."

Dorian orders two full meals to be brought for him, and pays the barmaid upfront, as well as ordering a bottle of something with far too many syllables.

"Name's Dorian by the way, though most people call me by my other name, Lancaster."

[Frozen Messiah]

"Lancaster, has a familiar ring to it. Although your reaction means that you must at least have an idea of who I am." Murdoch gazes towards the man called Lancaster, "Are you a soldier...or were at one time?"

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Alicia walks away from the sleeping man and takes a seat beside her father. "So you were a soldier, did you fight with my dad. Dad never talks about the war to me. Was it violent, or scary, or maybe was it dull?" Alicia asks Lancaster now that she is feeling a little bit more safe near her father.

[Toliudar]

Pirot accepts Lancaster's slightly backhanded compliment with a deep bow of the head, then turns with interest towards Murdoch and Alicia's questions.

Daughter. Oh, thank goodness.

He munches on a cracker, and listens with interest.

[Sinfonian]

By all the Nine Hells...this group is tiring. If I actually slept, these would nearly drive me to it. So far there's a pretentious lush, a self-aggrandizing actor, and droll ex-prisoner and his strange daughter. Who knows what is next

As before, the "old man" maintains his charade of sleep, pleased to have the undue attentions of that girl removed from being inches away from his face.

[Lancaster_Road]

The barmaid comes back in with plates of food for Dorian, and then pulls up a chair.

"I'm off my shift at the moment. So, tell me about yourselves."

[Toliudar]

Pirot

Pirot turns, offering up a bit of cheese to Jenny. In his experience, barmaids spent their days wading through the wearisome stories of strangers, relying on a steady flow of beer to keep the accumulated crap from sticking to them. To have one who, on her own time, invites herself into a private group in order to draw out even more tiresome self-revelation...well, that could only mean one thing.

"Ah, but at the end of a long day, miss, and after offering up such a delectable array of provender, it should be you who are the focus of our rapt attention. Please, I encourage you to put your feet up, to relax and perhaps to sample your own exceptional capicolla.

"It must be an extraordinary burden, always having to cater to the needs of the kinds of boors who seem to comprise the clientele that I saw at the front. Simply agony for a woman of your obvious refinement, education and sensitivity. Some wine."

Without waiting for a response, he has gurgled the remnants of a decanter into a goblet and slid that into her hand. Pirot smiles and turns to extend the smile to the others in the room.

Pirot is using the Trap of Words power from the Master Manipulator feat:
Sense Motive: [roll0]
Master Manipulator
Your words are your weapons. You confuse others with your speech, luring them into giving up vital secrets and leaving them dumbfounded with your carefully constructed, conversational static.
Prerequisite: Cha 13, Diplomacy 9 ranks.
Benefit: This feat grants two new uses for the Diplomacy skill. You must share a language with a creature to use these options against it. Neither ability functions during combat.
Captivating Speech: You can distract a creature with your compelling delivery and witticisms. With a successful Diplomacy check opposed by the target's own Diplomacy check or Will save, you can impose a -4 penalty on the target's listen, Sense Motive, and Spot checks so long as you continue speaking. You can affect a number of targets equal to 1 + your Cha bonus (if any), as long as they are all within 20 feet.
Trap of Words: If a creature attempts and fails to successfully to use Bluff to lie to you, you skillfully maneuver the conversation to confuse the target or trick him into letting slip a vital clue. After succeeding on your Sense Motive check, you can then engage the target in conversation for at least 1 minute. At the end of this time, make a Diplomacy check opposed by the target's Bluff check. If you succeed, the target inadvertently reveals his lie and the reason behind it.

[Sinfonian]

"Mr. Fenton" nearly breaks his cover upon hearing the overblown actor describe the barmaid (however suspiciously acting) as being of "obvious refinement and education". He is able to barely suppress a laugh that would give him away. At the same time, he gives some credit to the man spewing hot air as being quite clever with the way he tries to use his words, though perhaps not quite up to his own exacting standards of social manipulation. He doesn't know quite what's happening, yet, but he's interested to see where it might be going.