The crew has gathered together in a private dining area, away from the activity of the main room. Cecelia has drawn the thick woolen curtains so the sound from outside is suppressed; the opposite is also likely true.
The low table, built in the willowy elven fashion, is lit with a glowing green moss, throwing odd shadows as the conspirators discuss their findings, their leads, and their next actions. Cecelia has left the room, but is nearby in case the crew feels the need to ask her questions, or have an errand sent.
ooc: Assume you are all aware of the same information, what’s the next plan of action? If you wish to contact someone reasonably obtainable to get their input, feel free to do so.
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"Is Cogsworth a lieutenant commander? He was definitely at the top of my list. Who else do we know is an officer of the TC and would have a grudge against Tooly?" Blendin asked, the sadness thick on his tongue as the dwarf's name escaped his lips.
ReplyDelete"He certainly seems the most likely," Harmony opines. "From what the captain said--" she nods to Gardner, "if it was him, he'd have to get a loan, which means someone else knows, and there may even be a paper trail. Who would loan this Cogsworth three thousand cogs?"
ReplyDeleteYou hear a commotion outside in the main hall. words drift through the heavy curtain, "...gotta help...after...crazy, I..." The voice is familiar to blendin's ears - unmistakably Platt.
ReplyDelete"Sounds like Platt has decided to make a visit to our lovely Cecelia." Blendin states as he slides out of his chair.
ReplyDelete-------------------------------------------
If at all feasible, Blendin will suggest that he make his way stealthily to the front door while one of the others confronts Platt.
Stealth = 10
looks feasible to me.
ReplyDeleteHarmony sits up, eyes wide when Blendin mentions Platt's name. "What? Platt's here?" She purses her lips. "You guys wait here, I'll try to get him in here."
ReplyDeleteWhen (If) no one objects, Harmony slips out of the back room and makes a beeline for the panicked accountant. Flashing one of her bright-but-shy smiles, she says, "Mr. Platt? Someone pointed you out to me. I'm Harmony, Coyne's assistant? My employer's shop burned down, and I was told you might be able to arrange a loan to build a new one. I'd be very grateful..." She looks down, lips pursed, then back up, smile slowly spreading again, and bats her eyes. "We can discuss the terms back here...in privacy."
---------------------
Persuasion 9 after 2 bennies. That leaves 2, right?
Blendin will make his move to the front door as Harmony distracts him.
ReplyDeleteBlendin has positioned himself at the front door as Platt begins to sputter. "What the... girl, I'm busy and . Off with you!" Cecelia gives Coyne's assistant an odd look, and perhaps the hint of a smile, "Actually, I believe that this young lady might be just the distraction you need. I will post a guard, just outside the room, to make sure that nothing gets out of hand. I believe in protecting my assets, but this will of course increase my fee. I promise you, any harm that comes to you while you are in my house will be doubly repaided." She says this last part loudly, where it can be heard by the occupants of the room.
ReplyDeletePlatt grumbles, but submits to her direction. As he enters the room, he blinks as he adjusts to the dimly lit surroundings. "Who are you, then? I..." realization dawns, and he falls to his knees, "Mercy! Please, Captain, mercy!"
ooc: took me awhile to come up with a reasonable way to interpret the dice. sorry about that. continue. Blendin, if you want to re-enter the room feel free to do so and continue.
Before anyone else can respond to the sniveling accountant, Harmony says soothingly, "Relax, Mr. Platt, we only want information. Tell us what you know and you'll be fine, even after you leave Miss Cecilia's establishment. Right, boys?"
ReplyDeleteBlendin walks back into the room as Platt falls to his knees. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Mr. Platt. I'm sure my offer is still stands if you start talking."
ReplyDelete"Will he be fine, Harmony? Given recent events I don't venture opinions on such things anymore. Before I went to sleep I would have said my friend, who used his skills to save the people of Bridgeways and several grain ships, would be fine in the morning. I'm sure Harmony would have said the same for Coyne. And look at me, I'm an ancient by the standards of the Skies and by all rights should have been gone long ago, yet here I am. And here you are. And now we need to know how interested you are in your own self preservation. And how much you value cogs worth for your role in what happened." Gardner tries to give only the slightest hint that he might be referring to a name rather than coinage.
ReplyDelete--------------------------------------
Intimidate 8, Notice 4, spent 1 benny
Platt looks past the blendin to see the elven heavies guarding the other side of the swinging curtain. Seeing no help there, he throws himself on the mercy of the crew, in exhausted sobs. "Mother have mercy. You know who it is, then. Cogsworth, as you say. He put me up to it.
ReplyDelete"At first I was just going to broker the deal for a fee, just a transfer of cogs, but he couldn't afford the bakers. He needed coin, groused about how wealthy the dwarf had become. He tried to get a loan, even if he had to pay it off for the rest of his life, but no one would deal with him directly. His reputation is not good down here near Choirhall. So he came back to me, offered me what money he could muster to solve it. I had a friend at the Bank who could put a lien on your engineer, subtle like, to cover the cost of the loan and my fee.
"Cecelia, she gave me the coin to pay the bakers. She doesn't ask questions, but she knew what it was for, as sure as can be. She's the one you want!"
Platt covers his face and cowers. The crew believes he is being mostly honest in his tale.
"Well, we will certainly need that lien removed, Mr. Platt. What do you say, Captain, do we go after Cogsworth guns blazing, or maybe we perform this in a quieter fashion?" Blendin asks as he slides the ironwood dagger from his belt and begin thumbing the blade.
ReplyDeleteHarmony sighs heavily. "Mr. Platt, do you have any documents proving what you say? With proof, the Council would likely forgive your role in this in exchange for your evidence and testimony against Cogsworth. Without it, the Council won't have anything to go on, and these men might be forced to take matters on themselves, as some of them--" her eyes flash across Blendin and Gardner "seem very eager to do. If that happens, I doubt they'll stop with Cogsworth." She gives Platt a meaningful look.
ReplyDelete----------------
Persuasion 6
Ah, good-cop, bad-cop works so well when it's genuine...
Platt laughs ruefully, and then rolls over on his back, letting out a full belly laugh between his tears. "The council? I think not. Of course I don't keep records! In my line of work? Besides, demoted or not, who's word would they believe? Mine, a lowly crooked accountant? A she-elf gangster? Or one of their officers?" He returns to his self-pity.
ReplyDelete"I think he's got you there, Ms. Harmony," Blendin says. "You can get that lien removed, can't you, Mr. Platt? I'd certainly hate to break a promise."
ReplyDeleteIntimidation = 6 (1 benny spent)
"Wait, maybe. Did you contact the Grower's?"
ReplyDeleteHe can tell by the look on your faces that you did, and shakes his head.
"Then it is too late. The Grower's will have contacted the Council Bank by now, its part of their charter. If we tried to remove the lien after his death, particularly if they caught wind of his shipmates being involved, we could all end up in prison or worse!"
He straightens, ever the accountant. "The Council Bank will send someone, probably a Courier, to collect the money from his business partners or next of kin; most likely you, although I guess its possible they would try to collect from his family in the Dwarven Kingdoms. I think it unlikely. You'll be required to turn over any of his possessions for value assessment and liquidation... well usually, within a day or two. If you fail to comply, the TC will send a squad. When they come for the money, they have been known to be less understanding.
"Once they have his goods, they'll liquidate it in the Nexus, take a fee, pay his creditors and then if there's any left over, they'll have a courier return it to his kin. There's often not much left over.
"The plan was for Gabriel to send someone to pick up the fee under the false name. I don't know who he has selected for that job, he kept us separate."
"What false name?"
ReplyDeleteooc: ...rolls dice behind the screen. In fact, you should just assume when I post, there's always the sound of *rattle,rattle,clunk* going on over here.
ReplyDelete"Phillip or Phelps or something, I don't remember or I'd tell you! It was definitely a Ph" he makes the sound a few times for clarity, "name! I swear on the Mother's Tears!"
Harmony sighs heavily, looking exasperated and slightly embarrassed. "Well, he's right about the TC not believing him without proof. As for the lien, it would seem your friend's relatives won't see much of his wealth. Perhaps the culprit, Cogsworth, will make up the difference if asked the right way. That would require him to be alive, of course."
ReplyDelete"Except that he," pointing to Platt, "had to secure the loan for Cogsworth, or whoever, and the lien is merely the scam to be used to recover the cogs to pay off the loan. You have to wonder what tune we'd hear if the lien didn't exist and this miscreant was purely responsible to pay off the loan without his promised payment. I doubt Linart forgives many loans."
ReplyDeleteXisco gets up and leaves the room. If asked by his companions his response will be, "I'm going to see about a death cult." He gives Cecelia a hard stare on before leaving the tavern. He will then go see about a death cult.
"Well..." Harmony muses after Xisco has gone. "This is all very unjust. I suppose the perpetrators should pay off the lien. It's a pity for them they don't have the liquid assets, but they can always liquidate what they have, right, Platt? How much money could you come up with if your life depended on it, hm?"
ReplyDelete"What does the bank have as evidence of the debt? The lien must be back by some evidence of the underlying obligation?"
ReplyDelete"I think, like, uh, Blendin said, it's a scam. Platt here forged something, right?" Harmony looks accusingly at the accountant.
ReplyDelete"Yes, that's right. Forged dozens of small transactions over the course of a few years. Linked it to other real transactions to make it hard to distinguish the real from the false. Backdated payments to the Council. Cogsworth had a copy of the dwarf's common writing, and his penmanship was atrocious, but easily replicated."
ReplyDeleteooc: Sam, any particular death cult you're looking for here? Shoot me an email with details.
"What if we set up a second forgery. We go and select the same bank to execute Tooly's estate. We hid his assets and forge paperwork to support him having none. We file those along with forged papers indicating a debt of twice the amount of this one against Cogsworth owed to Tooly."
ReplyDelete"Why don't we let Cogsworth collect and then make sure he meets his late demise and we collect directly from him." Blendin's voice fills the room with his contempt
ReplyDeleteThe accountant looks contemplative. "Might work... but it took me weeks to forge the first set, anything that fancy will take time. But just hiding his money is easy enough, we just put together some paper stating he lost his assets to one of you a few months back, and was working as an indenture... You were on Bridgeways? I know a notary there who would back up that story for a fee, and I know his handwriting so..." He collects himself, seating himself at the table and writes invisibly on the surface with is finger, as if to help organize his thoughts. "It'll be a start. But going after Cogsworth this way, that'll take time. I can help you though, assuming it's worth enough to keep me alive. But its blood from stone; he has no money to speak of."
ReplyDeleteXisco remembers his days as a youth, a few months ago, when he was still a student here. The towers of the Athenaeum are as he remembers them: stark, quiet, and frankly rather boring. But these newly painted buildings have a familiar motif. The walls are painted orange and purple, with large hearts etched into the stone. A gang of young men and women, wearing shirts dyed with the same heart-shaped emblem are greeting passers by and handing out single cogs or a crust of food to those who pass too close. Most seem to be avoiding them. Xisco recognizes them not as death cultists, but as worshippers of the Beautiful one: The Beloved.
ooc: so, is a plan forming or what, folks? Should I bump us forward in time? A dwarf requires vengeance!
ReplyDeleteWell, I thought Blendin's plan was the best, but Harmony disagrees, so I didn't want to say anything...
ReplyDeleteEither one seems feasible, though we can only trust Platt as far as we can throw him. Which would be really far, so long as we can get our hands on him.
"I don't care about getting money from Cogsworth, just ruining him. Enough of a debt could jeopardize his rank and status I would think. Still he's proven that he's willing to kill in revenge so perhaps a more civilized solution would only endanger us further. Perhaps we should seek out Tooly's kin and see if they want to be involved. How do Dwarven clans feel about vengeance? That would let things cool down for a while, make Cogsworth feel safe, and we could smuggle out Tooly's possessions immediately. And I have no intention of killing you Platt, so long as you cooperate with us."
ReplyDelete"I'm not much for this waiting around doing nothing idea. I know Tooly would want Cogsworth's head on a platter, sooner rather than later."
ReplyDeleteooc: knowledge checks, 4, 2, 10 (G,B,H): Gardner and Harmony are both aware of the dwarven kin relationship being particularly strong. Harmony, due to her close interaction with Coyne, is aware of the very low birthrate among dwarves, and that under current dwarven tradition, wrongful death by the hands of a non-dwarf is almost always met with familial reprisal. The kin would likely be more than happy to get involved, but it would almost certainly be a violent action.
ReplyDeletePlatt seems to relax at hearing he might survive the night, and takes a long pull on Xisco's abandoned drink, sloshing it as he sets it back down half-empty. He speaks in an urgent whisper. "I can have your debt transfer and indenture contract written up by tomorrow morning. I'll need supplies, probably 30 cogs worth, from the Nexus. For Cogsworth's debt... two weeks. I'd need about that long to get together the papers I need to make it pass anything more than cursory inspection. If you want it airtight, four.
"I have a small bit of coin, you can have it all, but I'll need off this island. Cecelia will want her money some day, and if I help you, I can't pay her back."
I think we should set something up paperwork-wise, have Magnus watch Platt and Cogsworth, take Tooly's possessions back to Mt. Ore and find his family and involve them in the final revenge plot.
ReplyDeleteBlendin thinks we should take care of this now. If we run off with Tooly's stuff, we will just end up with the TC on our tail. Besides, we don't even know if Tooly has kinfolk to take revenge on his behalf.
ReplyDeleteXisco was hoping for a real death cult; he doesn't much want to put a love cult into danger, so he will go to the Olic and tell Taz to keep the get the ship ready to embark on a moment's notice (but keep it quiet); he will then head back to the warehouse to wait for his companions (and start preparing their belongings for travel).
ReplyDeleteHarmony muses: "If we abscond with the money, and Platt has made fake documents that trump the fake documents he made for Cogsworth...then in order to have any claim to Tooly's wealth, the TC would have to determine those to be fake, which would expose Platt to scrutiny and likely expose the ones for Cogsworth to be fake also, thus devolving everything to Tooly's relatives where it belongs."
ReplyDeleteShe looks at Platt. "Of course, that would end very badly for Platt, so I suspect he'll make the documents for us as airtight as he can, in which case the wealth is legally yours, and you can give it to his kin."
She seems slightly less certain about the last part, but continues. "I think that's the best course, both morally and practically. While Cogsworth is clearly a dangerous enemy to have, killing him would be still more dangerous, apart from moral considerations. If you're afraid of having the TC after you for a debt, you don't want to murder one of its officers.
"I say we let Platt pay his penance by reversing his forgery with another forgery--assigning the debt to his captain--and leave Shadowhaven with Platt, here, on board. That will give him both time and motivation to write up the documents you want to ruin Cogsworth." She sighs heavily. "And if you MUST kill him, his kin will be a great help, and it will be harder to pin the murder on you with a sizable delay and their help."
-----------------
tl;dr Let Platt forge documents saying Tooly lost everything to Gardner, then skip town with everything, including Platt, to plot further revenge.
Blendin looks at Harmony, "Since when does she have a vote?" Then shifting his eyes toward the captain, "I'd rather have the TC on my ass for murdering that Son of Bitch than for forging some documents; and I'd rather deliver Cogsworth's head to Tooly's kin, if he has any, than some of Tooly's trinkets. You know where my vote lies.
ReplyDelete----------------------------------------------
Sorry, but Blendin is feeling a bit touchy.
Actually, I'm glad Blendin isn't treating Harmony as a bosom buddy right off. I want her to have to work for the other characters' trust, so it will be all the sweeter when she ultimately betrays and destroys them all.
ReplyDeleteKidding.
Maybe.
"She has not vote, you have one, and I have two. Without Xisco here I think that ultimately makes this my decision. Are you familiar with the ancient Elven proverb, Blendin? Revenge is a dish best served cold. And since when do you care about angering the Trade Council? You didn't seem to care on Bridgeways. We are going to take Platt here to our friend Magnus. We'll work out the details of a paper trail to secure Tooly's belongings. Then we'll take those to Mt. Ore and find Tooly's kin. If Cogsworth is unable to pay the debt, the guild might take care of the situation for us. If not, we'll approach Tooly's kin and see if they want to be involved. Platt should stay here so Cogsworth doesn't get suspicious. With just the paperwork to cover the assets and us fleeing town he'll suspect we're just running and protecting the money, nothing more." He looks carefully at Blendin, "If the dwarves are not interested and we return here to find him still alive, I could see about granting everyone a few nights of leave away from the ship."
ReplyDeletegoing to bump forward a few days based on this plan, posting tonight. If you have any special actions you want to take in the meantime, send me an email or post here.
ReplyDeleteI had written a retort yesterday, but it was lost to the ether - I will attempt a quick retry.
ReplyDelete"You dare to speak elven proverbs to me? Do I look like a damned twig? I know better than most the murderous ideology of the elves, so keep it to yourself."
"Pissing off the TC? What are you talking about? Please. Remind me of what I may have done to piss off the TC. I'm not sure I know what you could be talking about."
"Are we really going to take a vote of future action without the presence of all crew members? So be it, but if we don't get vengeance on Cogsworth, Tooly's blood might as well be on your hands as well as this worthless piece of shit, Platt."
With that Blendin will gather his things and move them to the ship, unless he is further berated by the Captain.
Xisco is onboard with moving things to the ship, but if we desire to stay a few days he'll suggest moving to a more anonymous location (sooner rather than later), and moving the ship to a different port (what are the chances we could do that on the low-low, maybe use a different name for the ship?); depending on how much we think Roland, Harmony, and Xisco could be tied to Tooly and his companions, the can do legwork while Gardner and Blendin (well, Gardner) lay low.
ReplyDeleteIf Xisco runs across people asking questions (Bank reps, TC, et c.), he will use misdirection ("What? No, Oresmith wasn't a crewmember on this boat. You might try that one over there with vines on it.")
Speaking of misdirection, it might be good to have a separate set of papers for the Olic. Luckily we happen to have a decent forger on hand who just might be motivated to do some work for us...
closing thread.
ReplyDelete