Laying Low [Everyone]

Sunrise's eyebrows go up and she glances at Glen at this, then looks back at Korogur. "He have a woman with fancy proper handwriting on staff? One of the reasons we were assuming most or all of the family was in on it was because based on the script, whoever physically wrote the note wasn't dumb muscle."

"Most of the lieutenants have wives and daughters," he offers, but he sounds uncertain on the finer points of handwriting.

Tree groans quietly and closes her eyes. "Before we left. Rasimi asked me to teach her how to write prettier. I didn't think anything of it!" she adds defensively. "She wasn't sinister or anything!"

"Rasimi," Sunrise repeats thoughtfully. "Thorn thought she might be a weak link? That she maybe wanted to break away from the rest of the family, pursue her own goals. Could this be her making the attempt?"

Thimb was slightly offended at being accused of thinking all orcs are the same, but she keeps that to herself because that was a her problem, not an anyone else problem. "So... Trey and Thorn are one kettle of fish, and his... spouse, running off is a sore spot because it makes him look bad, but has nothing to do with, well, this," she said, gesturing around them. "So... I mean, everything sounds risky because people just tried to kill us, but... it sounds to me like he might be a potential ally? But he beat his spouse, so, screw that guy? But he would also be the most motivated to find someone potentially ruining his family's reputation?" Thimb frowned. This was all way more complicated than she knew what to do with.

"Or we could blackmail Durug, maybe? Get him and Rasimi to help us fuck over Arnem and Treygis?" Turning to Korogur, she adds, "It sounds to me like you'd be better able to take over in such an event." <And,> she projects to Sunrise, <I don't know how much I'm idealising what the gangs do for their communities, but is there any benefit in encouraging the Redfangs to join forces with the Westside lot?>

Sithani can feel Sunrise tense at the suggestion. Without looking at Sithani, she shakes her head subtly.

Korogur laughs easily at this. "Me? No, gods no. First of all, I don't want to run the family. I got a ship to run and that's enough. Second of all, I'm hardly high on the list. If anyone takes down Arnem and Treygis and Durug, Uncle Trukurth would be the natural next-in-command. He's in charge of sea-business. And, yeah," he adds to Sunrise and Thimb, "it wouldn't hurt to talk to Rasimi. If Durug offered her a way out, she'd take it in a heartbeat."

Glen, having been lost in thought, nods briefly. "All of this comports with what I've been hearing about the outside. More organized bandits with a new leader using new tactics. It must be Durug." He looks at Korogur again. "If this is Durug and Rasimi making a play to break off, which side do you think Mokoz ends up on?"

Sunrise holds up a hand. "We're getting a little far afield. The immediate issue is just to make sure they don't have a reason to grab Tree again - and while I'm not feeling particularly friendly towards Laerdya right now, I'd rather not have her kidnapped either, if for no other reason than that it would throw the city into a panic."

She takes a deep breath. "So. A) if we can work out the logistics to do so safely, Tree, will you please meet with your mother, at least just so they can't dangle you over her like a lure anymore? And b) can someone secure that man's arms and legs so we can wake him up and confirm our guesses?"

Tree gives Sunrise an unhappy expression but nods reluctantly. "I really, really don't want to. But if it'll help the city... okay."

"Thank you," she says, and means it; in her voice and expression is the knowledge that Tree really could screw over quite a few people if she chose, and be entirely within her rights doing so.

Glen motions to Ka'Ri, and the two elves tie up the captured guard. Glen goes back over to the door and stays where he was previously.

"Okay," Sunrise mutters, "here we go."

Rising from the couch, she steps to a side table where she fills a cup from an elegant glass pitcher of water. Crouching in front of the bound man, she throws it unceremoniously in his face, then gives him two judicious slaps before sinking back into her seat as he comes to.

He groans and comes to, coughing away the water.

Sunrise fixes him with a hard stare from where she lounges on the couch. "Are you awake enough to understand me?"

Glen walks over and crouches beside him, reaching out and touching him with a hand encased in a soft golden glow, healing his wounds. "You're safe, for the moment."

((He is healed for 4))

"And moments can be so fleeting, can't they," Sithani coos softly.

<Is that too much?> she asks the group.

"You don't have to go alone, I mean, obviously," stammered Thimb to Tree, glancing towards a certain dashing pirate, "but if you were worried about, well, how she might react to some of us as opposed to others- I mean, if you want me to go I will? I'm sure any of the others would, too," she added on hurriedly, "but, I can only really talk for myself, well, and them," she added on as Hamish hopped up on a table next to Tree, trying to look as soft as possible.



This was all derailed when the slapping started. Okay. Well, Thimb wasn't going to convince anyone of anything, but she could add dramatic effect. Just a little nudge of prestidigitation here and there, make the lighting more or less dramatic (but subtly, trying to pretend it was simple a convenient candle flicker).

((Thimb trying to Help with an intimidation or persuasion check))

Tree nods at Thimb and pets Hamish absently. The guard looks around him and takes in the luxurious surroundings with a jaded eye. "What do you want?"

"Answers. Give them, and you'll be fine. Withhold them, and I won't be able to stop my compatriots from what they may wish to do with you. Or to you." He nods at Sunrise and returns to standing at the door.

Sunrise eyes him, looking almost bored. "Let me be clear about your situation and what's going to happen next. You're going to stay here tonight. In the morning, you will be loaded into a carriage and brought... somewhere." She watches him, her eyes giving away nothing. "Right now, the plan is to deliver you, trussed up just like this, to the office of Captain Callahan. Let's call that the neutral outcome." She shrugs. "By all accounts, Callahan is a fair man. You'll be tried, of course: assault, attempted kidnapping, conspiracy to murder a city official, and you'll likely be convicted and eventually hanged. But he won't let anyone, say, break your arm for fun or piss in your stew, and when you die it will be quick and relatively painless."

She gives him a thin smile. "But let's be honest. You're an imaginative man; you know there are much, much worse places we could bring you. And, for that matter, much better places, where you could perhaps live a long and happy life far away from here and never have to worry about any of this ever again."

Now she leans forward slightly. "But the question, Mr. Thresen, of where that carriage will take you lies entirely in your hands: in what you do and what you say tonight, and how much you choose to please me or piss me off. So: what would you like to tell us?"

When he begins talking she will use Detect Thoughts, looking for a lie giveaway.

The man listens very politely to her speech, then laughs easily. "I don't recall assaulting you, young lady. I do recall your party resisting arrest. As for the other charges: pure fantasy. Not anything you can prove in court. But since you feel free to threaten a law officer and since I like having my arms unbroken, I'll happy listen to any questions you want to bat my way."

She looks darkly amused. "You care to gamble on how it would go if it were our word against yours? I wouldn't, in your shoes." Her eyes narrow. "Who put you up to this, and what was the goal?"

For his part, Glen looks very amused by the proposition that Thresen was acting lawfully. "You should drop the act. If anyone is going to be proving anything in court, it will be with my testimony as a City Guardsman personally deputized by Captain Callahan, as well as that of the Feytower Commissioner you claimed to be 'protecting' and that of a respected and honorable paladin outside whose temple you chose to do violence."

Glen receives a bland smile. "Your testimony that I, personally, did what, exactly?"

To Sunrise, he ponders his answer carefully. "I did nothing, obviously, but now that I look back on certain events with clarity, I fear my second in command Gharak may have intended to take that girl," he nods at Tree, "outside the city gates to meet an interested party."