Skulking, Slaveships, Papers, and Pirates

SUMMARY: Yelrona's investigation of the Syndicate's involvement in the Veyshanti slave trade continues.
 Her spying on shipping routes in the Warehouse District has turned up a number of ships engaged in "unofficial" missions, but in a city as busy as Alexandria that's no surprise. Her investigation of one such ship in the Shipyard concludes that, while it is certainly engaged in illegal smuggling of _some_ sort, it isn't anything the Slavers Inquisition is concerned with.
 She is spotted while skulking around the Shipyard by Amaya, who doesn't seem too concerned, and by Elian, who is still less so, and catches them up on events.
 They are joined by Cedric the totally human paperboy, who catches them up on current events.

At last it seems that it's not raining anymore in the city and as such Amaya has turned up on the shipyards, up on a vantage point as she watches the work going on at the various ships, the workers taking advantage of the low tide to get busy with the repairs and the building of additional ships. She takes a drink from her ever-present bottle then wipes her mouth on a sleeve.

The shipyards are mostly occupied with incomplete boats in various stages of construction, but there are a number of older boats being repaired or retrofitted with new features. One such ship is docked not far from from Amaya's vantage point, and she happens to be looking in the right direction at the right time to see Yelrona slipping out of it through a hole in its hull, slipping quietly onto the docks. She moves quickly, putting some distance between her and the boat while avoiding the bulk of the people in the shipyards, which puts her just below Amaya's position and apparently unaware of her presence.

Now that seems to be a familiar figure, Amaya squinting her eyes as she follows the Llyranesi with her gaze, taking another swig of her drink before she swings herself up to her feet and then down onto the lower position, her motions not hiding the gracefulness of her body as she lands not too far from the other woman, on her feet thankfully, even if she does sway for a brief moment, most likely the spirits having some say about that. "Now, if I didn't know better it seemed as if you might be skulkin' around here." a wicked grin to her expression and she saying it in a low tone.

Yelrona is briefly startled, but covers it admirably. "Well, of course," she replies smoothly. "Is there any better place to skulk?"

"You tell me." Amaya opening her arms to the side a moment and then stepping to one side, glancing over one shoulder to the rest of the shipyards and then back to you, "You were the Tarienite back at the Inn, right?"

"Funny," Rona says, straightfaced, "I thought _you_ were the Tarienite back at the Inn! But as for skulking... well, the Trades District is pretty good for that, but there's a lot of competition, so most of the good skulking spots are taken. You have to get there pretty early. Same goes for the Warehouse District. For my money the Shipyard is the best for casual, low-stress skulking. Also, have you ever noticed how, when you repeat a word like 'skulking' often enough, it starts losing meaning?"

"Hey, use it, don't abuse it, that's what I always say." Amaya replies with some amusement at the part about the skulking word, tucking her bottle against her belt and folding her arms together while she regards the other woman, "But well, too bad you were just doin' some casual skulduggery, for a moment I thought you could have some interest on that ship there." she points with her thumb back where Rona came from, "And I already went to pay my respects to Tarien last night, too bad you weren't there. But then again there was this knight in shinin' armor oggling at me so...., not much opportunity for skulking. And you are right, it does start to lose the meaning."

Yelrona nods. "Knights and skulking really don't go together especially well, in my experience. And believe me, I've tried. And no, no interest in the ship... though I couldn't know that for sure until I looked."

"By the holes in the hull it does seem like it took a beating, and most likely heavy cannons." Amaya says with a shrug of her shoulders, "Now how a ship of that dimension was able to get away from a pursuer with that kinda firepower, I am sure that'd be quite the tale." well, she seems to know her ships at least. "Anyway, I don't think I got your name back at the Inn though, I am Amaya."

"Oh, how rude of me! I'm Yelrona. And as I understand the situation, it _didn't_ get away... the Alexandrian Navy brought it in after most of its crew abandoned ship. A smuggler's vessel," she explains, looking disappointed. "Nothing more."

"Well met, then." Amaya grins as you explain further about the ship, in fact she seemed to expect it almost. "Ah, so not a simple academic interest, hmm?" she says amusedly. "Did you expect to find more than what you did?"

Yelrona nods, then regards Amaya carefully for a little while. "I was hoping to find evidence it had been rigged for hauling slaves."

Amaya loses some of the amusement on her expression, "Slaves, huh?" her gaze seems to focus and she regards Rona more carefully as well, "What's goin' on? Slavers shouldn't be taking this far down to Alexandria." she says, glancing back to the shipyard again.

Yelrona nods grimly. "They shouldn't," she agrees. "But it seems they are. As far as I can tell, the Syndicate has made a trade deal with the Veyshanti -- slaves for drugs. I've been trying to identify the shipping lines responsible for running both for weeks, now. I thought I'd finally traced it down... but I was wrong. Or at least, if I was right, they are several steps ahead of me. Smuggling, yes. Slave-running, no."

Ga'Elian seems to appear from nowhere in particular by the two Tarienites, in fact, exactly behind Yelrona, and quickly covers her eyes with his hands, saying "Guess who?" in his unmistakable voice.

Amaya mmmms, rubbing at the side of her face as she listens to Rona's explanation. "Those lil pricks. But if they indeed have a slave ring aroung these parts it might be too obvious to be dropping the slaves right in Alexandria. Maybe in nearby ports and then bringin' 'em by wago-" she stops mid-sentence, one hand sliding closer to her scimitar as someone drops by, maybe she confusing it with a guard, though upon looking more carefully at the man's face she eases up her stance.

GAME: Yelrona rolls perception: (12)+20: 32

GAME: Ga'Elian rolls Stealth/YU+Urban: aliased to Stealth+4+2: (5)+33+4+2: 44

GAME: Yelrona rolls bluff: (3)+11: 14

GAME: Ga'Elian rolls SenseMot/Ioun: aliased to Sense Motive+2: (16)+5+2: 23

Yelrona is briefly startled by her assailant, and doesn't manage to cover the fact especially well, although she tries. "Um... Zippo the Rogue?" she guesses, or pretends to, anyway.

She greets Elian with a smile and a peck on the cheek and continues to Amaya "No, it's the other way around... the Syndicate is shipping out slave labor to Veyshan, and getting drugs in exchange."

Ga'Elian smiles and says, "Slaves? Drugs? Exchange? Surely the authorities don't allow this?"

Cedric has arrived.

"Money in the right pockets can make a lot o' people look the other way." Amaya comments to Ga'Elian's words, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Eyes then go to Yelrona, "That's troublin' to hear though, but do you know where they are getting the slaves from?"

"Papers? Papers, sir?" The thin young man stands at the street corner. Perhaps he'd always been there. Perhaps until now, Cedric's just been QUIET. His shock of rust-red hair is unruly, as though he hadn't a comb (or didn't know how to use one!). He wears a printer's leather apron, and his freckled skin is stained with inkspots.

The Tribune's headline reads: "Gardener in the Dark Still at Large!" Below it are reports of the recent demon attack, as well as other recent event.

Yelrona laughs, and nods in agreement to Amaya. "As far as I know, the Syndicate is WOEFULLY behind on their Criminal Activities Licenses," she observes dryly. "But their money spends as well as anybody's. And, not entirely," she tells Amaya. "I got involved initially because of some friends," she waves vaguely north, towards the Warehouse District, "who lost family, or who had normally reliable workers just disappear one day. Turned out a lot of poor, strong, worker types were just... vanishing. Thought it was a murder-spree at first, or maybe another demonic attack... course, the Guard could care less, long as nobody _important_ is disappearing, and nobody raises too much of a stink. Turned out they were being kidnapped, though. So... I'm sure it's larger in scope than what I see, but that's what I see. And, speaking of demonic attacks: here, let me have one of those!" he calls out to the totally human paperboy, tossing a small coin in her hand.

Ga'Elian looks at Cedric with interest at the tidings of the 'Gardener' and even greater interest at the word 'demon'. He, too, exchanges coin for copy, and says, "I wonder if this Gardener has only been active in the City. A day or two ago, a pair of treants came very near the Wilderness Pointe village seeking help with a grove in their care that had been subjected to some powerful curse."

Amaya 's attention gets taken for a brief moment by the paperboy, eyes skimming over the headlines. Her lips remain pursed in a considering manner after the brief skim, attention back on Yelrona, "Well, unless they are gettin' people and shippin' them right away they must have some kind of place in the city where to stash them. And that means someone must have seen something. Of course that having someone speak against the Syndicate is an whole other matter all in itself." she doesn't buy a newspaper, she needs it for important stuff, like booze. And besides, maybe she will just have a look once the others are done with it.

"Jusst two copper," the young, totally-a-human man replies to Ga'elian and Yelrona, with a grimace as though he's holding onto words. There's a faint lisp to the word, before he cuts it off, and then he holds out a copy of the Tribune to each.

As he does, he catches Yelrona's eye with a troubled look of his own. It's easier to translate perhaps, with magic to aid the illusion, to give him a more human shape and form.

An aged oruch thumps over that way in the meantime, looking intent on buying a paper. "Any word on that fight the other day?" the fellow asks. "Heard there were two lovers gots inta it, one of'em dropped dead."

Yelrona hands over the coins, plus a sizable tip, and takes the paper, regarding the paperboy with a serious nod as she skims it.

"Exactly," she agrees with Amaya, approvingly. "That's where I started, also. I've found a few of their storage sites... but they aren't stupid, more's the pity, they only use a given location once or twice before moving on. So I started tracking shipping routes, identifying boats that aren't quite going where they're _supposed_ to... but of course there's a LOT of reasons that shippers do that. Some of them are even legal. So it's mostly been a slow process of elimination."

She's distracted by Elian's comment: "Treants? This close? That must be some curse!"

GAME: Yelrona rolls sense motive: (10)+18: 28

Rona flips quickly past the first couple of pages of the Tribune.

Ga'Elian looks cordially at the paperboy, then at Yelrona's question says, "It was. It was making the branches of several trees brittle and causing their fruit to be bitter. One oak tree was also affected, rendering its dryad gravely ill. But I got a Druid of Dana, and we accompanied the ents back to their grove in time to set things right. Still didn't ever figure out what brought the curse on, though."

"Lotsa reasons, true. But they can't be perfect all the time and ..." Amaya taps her nose once, "Not too hard to sniff a crooked captain from a distance. Anyway, if you need some help on your search sometime let me know. I know a thing or two about ships.., and captains." she eyes the others a moment, first the mention of some lovers, looking at the oruch. "They got the excitement they couldn't get otherwise...?" a brow raising. She doesn't mention anything about the treants, she certainly ain't no tree-hugger!

"Heh, yeah! Heard it was a real row, too! Here, I got'em--" the oruch reaches into his pocket, and pays for a paper.

Cedric makes a noise of agreement towards the man, then nods to Yelrona as he pockets the change, with a "Thank you." There's a faint thump-sound that goes along with it, though it could be the passing of wind, or the tread of the oruch's boots as the man walks away.

"Treants page sseven," he says to Ga'elian in the meantime. "Demons continue page two."

Ga'Elian turns to page 2, and buries himself in reading it, his interest now focused.

Yelrona nods to Amaya. "I can use all the help I can get," she explains. "Let me buy you a beverage of choice later and I'll catch you up. And, no, they can't be perfect... they will make a mistake, eventually, and I will close on them. We're making progress already," she adds, looking intently at the paperboy as she does so.

Nothing like reading the paper while not paying for it so Amaya sliiiides to stand behind Yelrona to peek at the paper as well. "Alright, sounds like a deal." she eyeing Yelrona a moment and then the paperboy, looking thoughtful.

Ga'Elian looks up after an intense moment of reading, and sighs. He says, "I gather Alexandria must stand out somehow in the perception of demon lords. It sure seems to get more than its share of their attention. Of course the Binder is active around here, but I don't think he accounts for all of it."

"Paperss?" the young man asks. Cedric holds one up to be visible to other passers-by. A gobber looks over and adjusts her pince-nez, then shakes her head. The movement sends her large ears flopping.

Yelrona reads an article about pirates with some interest. "Well," she says, to nobody in particular, "isn't _that_ interesting."

Ga'Elian looks over his paper at Rona and says in an off-hand tone, "I wonder how they got that 'unconfirmed' stronghold. I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to scry it. I could overfly the place and see what's there, but I guess they're really looking for someone to make a land-expedition to go check out the place."

"Thank you for the tip, ma'am," the paperboy says to Yelrona, and then begins to make his way down the street again. "Paperss! Fresh papers!" Cedric-the-totally-a-human's long, lanky form casts a longer shadow in the Alexandrian streets.

"Treants! Demons! Treantss--"

"Battlescat, I'll take one already!" huffs an older man, near one of the shipping crates. He looks like he'd taken an arrow to the knee. Must've been an adventurer.

Cedric has left.

Yelrona is suddenly very interested. "Scrying? How does that work?"

Ga'Elian chuckles. "Well, it works magically. Beyond that, I'd refer you to Astaren. As far as I'm concerned, it works like this: I pay a wizard money, and he tells me what he sees. Some might cast spells, others might use mirrors, still ponds, or crystal balls. It doesn't really matter to me." :D

Yelrona laughs. "Ah... gotcha. I thought you meant you could do it yourself."

Ga'Elian laughs, too. "Nah. I'd be more likely to go have a look-see, and never let on that I were there."

Yelrona nods. "That's my preferred style as well... though I'm not nearly as good at it as I used to be."