"Let's go to the circus first as the other two destinations are further to the south," Gavril suggested on returning from the inn.
"Sure, we could catch the animal act," Paullus interjected.
So the party headed to the area of the Black Circus which consisted of a mass of tents, wagons, shelters and one fixed building. A small army of circus performers and staff were tending the animals, practicing their acts, and tidying up the circus building.
Ciprian found an unlucky target and asked for Rahmir, the beast tamer.
"Sure he's over there with the Mastodons," came the sprightly reply.
The group moved toward an area full of cages. There they saw a huge, almost 7 feet tall, but wiry human. He had the caked makeup of a clown crusted on his face from a previous performance. He was busy cleaning one of the circus’s mastodons in a cramped cage barely 20 feet square. The mastodon was trumpeting and generally seemed displeased at the situation.
Ciprian moved around the cage to sidle up closer to the man, "Rahmir? We would like to ask you some questions about Dahab."
This got no reaction from the huge man in the cage. Meanwhile Paullus moved around to stand facing the mastodon. Ciprian tried again, a little louder this time, "Rahmir? Are you Rahmir?"
The man finally seemed to notice that someone was speaking to him. "Wha. Huh," he exclaimed turning toward Ciprian at last. He put his hand up near his ear as if to indicate he was not hearing Ciprian's request.
Gavril had noted that the door of the cage was unlocked and Ciprian, shaking his head and muttering went around to the door and entered the cage. There he stood with the man right under the flanks of the mastodon.
"Speak in this ear," he shouted, pointing to his left ear as the mastodon became more agitated.
"Are you Rahmir?" Ciprian again asked almost screaming.
"Yes, but you can see I am very busy. What in the world could you want?"
"We are looking for your friend Dahab. Have you seen him recently?"
"I spoke with Dahab a few days ago," Rahmir answered and then immediately went back to cleaning the mastodon.
"Excuse me, but was Dahab different recently? Do you have any idea where he might be?" Ciprian continued with his most diplomatic voice.
Putting down his bucket Rahmir turned toward Ciprian, "The last I saw him, he told me he was in love, but I do not know with whom. The lover is very generous."
"How do you know that?"
"Dahab showed me some new gifts the lover had plied him with, a beautiful leather jerkin, a fine belt and boots all made of the most beautiful deep ocher tint. Dahab said that his lover had made the items."
"How long had Dahab had this new lover?"
"I am not sure, he only told me about this a couple of weeks ago, it certainly had been going on longer than that."
"Was the ocher color darker that this?" Ciprian asked showing his belt to Rahmir.
"Yes it was a very dark, beautiful color. I am very busy here and need to get back to work," Rahmir said picking up his pail and going back to work on the mastodon.
While this was going on the mastodon was becoming more agitated and Paullus cast Speak with Animals and began to converse with the creature.
"Hot, Hot. Need cold." the mastodon mumbled dumbly.
The party began to look around for water but the closest barrel or trough was too far away and too heavy to move. Armania began to cast Ray of Frost on the creature but thought better as that would cause damage to it, probably enraging it further. As Ciprian left the cage the monster began kicking and stomping around, damaging Rahmir and smashing the door bending it shut. Rahmir tried to calm the creature after picking himself up off the floor. Paullus tried to calm the mastodon using his Handle Animal skills and Armania decided to cast continual Ray of Frost on the metal of the cage.
After a few minutes the group and Rahmir were able to calm the monster and it stopped thrashing about the cage. Erevel tried to open the cage door but it was bent out of shape and stuck tight. With the aid of Gavril, Paullus and Ciprian they managed to straighten out the shape of the door enough that it could be opened. Rahmir did not even acknowledge the group as they left the circus area.
"So Dahab has a new lover. I wonder if that is important?" Gavril asked.
"Could be, but maybe immaterial too," Ursina responded.
The party then headed to the Shipwreck. They knew that the kidnapper had indicated to meet at dawn but some scouting wouldn't hurt.
A juddering mass of ship’s timbers had been lashed together in this portion of the Ships’ Graveyard to form an open plaza. A series of towering houses, many of which are modified sterns from large ships,
overlooked this broken place. The whole area was quite empty, a stray dog wandered through. It appeared that a recent spate of tremors in the Shipwreck’s supports had left the structures contorted and largely abandoned.
Ciprian noted the buildings were dark and entered one at the back of the area, as he sneaked in he began to hear muffled voices from above. The voices seemed to be discussing an upcoming heist at one of the estates of Okeno. As Ciprian stepped upon a small stone, the voiced stopped for a few minutes as Ciprian froze. Soon the muffled discussion began again.
Ciprian moved out of the building just as Gavril noted a group of rogues enter the area and walk into another ramshackle building. The group took a good look at the party but did not accost them.
At this the group began to walk quietly to the south to exit the Shipwreck back to the main north-south street. The next stop was the great dome of the Temple to Gozreh which was in the midst of the fleshfairs in the south of Okeno. On the way the party saw Princess Njano two bodyguards following them through the streets. The pair did not make a significant effort to hide and they acknowledged Armania who signaled them indicating she knew they were around.
The great dome of the Temple to Gozreh, was under repair, scaffolding wreathed the dome’s outer surface. Twenty or so builders toiled on scaffolding over the fractured dome. A few others stood at the ladders leading up to the scaffolding. After they asked for Azeem, the group was told that they can either wait for him to come down from the scaffolding at the late end of the workday or climb up to talk to him. Climbing up would require navigation of a number of old and rickety ladders that were loosely tied to the dome’s outer surface, and balance across narrow planks that connected the scaffolding.
Ciprian moved to the ladders, activated his Boots of Levitation, and began bracing himself against the scaffolds. At the same time Armania began climbing the ladders, and balancing across the planks. At the back of the dome they found Azeem who was slight of frame and wiry, with weathered skin making him look aged. He seemed surprised when the someone had come clambering up the scaffolding; while busy, he welcomed the chance to take a breather and talk to them.
"We heard that you are a friend of Dahab," Ciprian began.
"Why yes, how did you find that out?" Azeem responded.
"The Hyena Princess Njano has tasked us with finding Dahab. It seems that he has been kidnapped," Ciprian answered.
"The kidnapper had already sent one of his ears back to the Princess," Armania added.
"Oh, no. My good friend Dahab is in bad trouble."
"Do you know anything that might help us?" Armania asked.
"I know he has a new lover, Fazar. This new lover is a tanner working in the Tanners' Quarter," Azeem responded worriedly.
Ciprian and Armani continued talking with Azeem, they were able to get information about where Dahab lived, but nothing else new or different than Rahmir had given them. At length Azeem stated that he must return to work. Then Ciprian and Armania made their way back down the scaffolding.
"Well now we need to go to the Tanners' Quarter on our way back to the inn," Armania said regaling the party with the conversation.
As the group approached the Tanners' Quarter the stench became even more overwhelming making the party glad that they had not eaten anything since breakfast. The area consisted of several low buildings made of mud walls. Each seemed to have an open courtyard, possibly housing tanning vats and pits. Immediately behind and around the district, huge piles of animal feces are mounded against the back walls of buildings.
Having no idea which Tannery Fazar worked at Ciprian led the party to a business named Falak's Leathers. He entered the main door and found a middle aged woman behind a table laden with leathers.
"Yes, may I help you?" she asked in a raspy voice.
"I hope do. We are looking for a specific color of leather," Ciprian responded.
"What color do you want?"
"I am looking for a dark ocher color. Even darker than this," as he showed his belt.
"We don't have any color like that. I believe that color would only be available at Salir's Fine Leathers," she said with a yawn.
"Where would I find Salir's?"
"It is four buildings to the east," she indicated with a bored expression.
The party made their way to the east. On the western side of the building, beneath a sign that read “Salir’s Fine Leathers,” stood the primary entrance to the tannery. The simple workshop consisted of a single-story mud-brick building wrapped around two sides of a probable tanning yard; an 8-foot high
mud-brick wall enclosed the other two sides. A sturdy looking wooden gate stood in front of the party to the east.
Ciprian opened the single door and entered a room. Folded stacks of dyed leather filled the well-organized shelves in the store, each labeled with the type of animal the skins were from as well as the going price for wholesale and individual purchases. Boots, gloves, pouches, satchels, and clothing serve as just some of the examples of the fine wares provided here. Many were of a dark ocher color.
"I am looking for a new wardrobe. I seem to be wanting for some luxury," he answered.
"Well, I am not sure you will find what you need here,"
"I see your price is about right on these boots," Ciprian interjected after casting his appraising eye on the merchandise.
"I'm sure you couldn't afford them!"
"Well I never, I would like to speak with your supervisor,"
"Fazar is busy and cannot be bothered at the moment. Why don't you come back tomorrow?"
"Ah, Fazar. Do you know Dahab?"
"I have seen him before, but he hasn't been around for a few days."
All the while the woman had been stepping slowly toward a door to the east. Gavril entered the room and Armania was checking for magic, which presented four items on the woman, bracers, a cloak and two items in a satchel. Ursina followed Gavril into the chamber as Erevel stood watch at the door.
"Are you sure that Fazar is not around?" Ciprian continued. "We would like to speak with him about Dahab."
The woman opened the door and said "Could use a little muscle out here."
One of the guards raced to the door and demanded that the party leave immediately. Gavril and Erevel headed toward the door as the other guards held their bows at the ready. As Ciprian moved out of the doorway the woman clerk broke out a dagger and stabbed at him. This led to multiple attacks by Gavril and Paullus firing away. One of the guards began blowing on a horn that made a loud retort through the air of the tannery.
Armania went invisible and dimension stepped into the dining area and beyond the next door. There she found an empty hallway but it opened into the tanning pit where several guards and leopards were stationed watching workers toil away at tanning and dyeing the leather.
The guards in the dining hall fired bows at the party while Erevel moved up to destroy the first guard with Gavril assistance. Paullus and Ciprian finished off the woman about the same time as Erevel strode into the dining hall and found herself surrounded by the enemy. Utilizing Come and Get Me she gave up defense to allow reaction attacks to every enemy strike. This wore down the enemy quickly. Armania, ignoring the leopards seemingly scenting her, dimension stepped further into the tannery finding a hallway, bedroom and finally a spacious and airy room that contained a half dozen large wooden tables covered with untrimmed hides. A wall of wooden racks holds freshly tanned and dyed leather. A man was in the room overseeing the work of four laborers who were cutting and trimming finished hides using the hammers, scrapers, brushes, and sharp knives that filled the tables.
Meanwhile the rest of the crew finished off the rest of the guards but awaited what might come next.
DM's Notes: The party earned 3,067 XP for the night.
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