Adventures in the Trade City

As the small groupe exsits though the port into the trade city you are instantly assulted by the cits sounds and smells, the City that never sleeps, that never forgets, the Jabbress of Trade.

Standing as dos both are a Gaurd looks over to dos both before offering a nod to Jarxan but turning too his companons. "Names and reasons for entering the City?"

\\Demo would not be present for this.//

//who can be present for this? heh

Za'nara lowers her eyes and keeps her head bowed. She stands towards the back of the group, her collar with its name plate and owner, clearly visable.

Unless anyone else tagged along with them I think it was only Jarxan and someone else that went though, although ther eis nothing stopping you folks heading off into the city to conduct your own investigations when you hear about what happened that caused the two to head off into town.()

Yeah, Elorfin was with

*Naralad sends the Initiate Elorfin to Schyndylryn with the orders:*
''This assassin must be tracked. Ask around. Discover if foreigners arrived recently, discover who they are and their connections in the city. Go.''

Everything below this post is to be IC please.

-Elorfin wraps himself in his cloak, pulls his hood up, and heads of into the city with his orders. He uses his tracking skills and the hunting abilities of his giant spider companion Cuchtan to try and track the assassin. As he moves along the allys and buildings, he speaks to the locals to see if they had seen anything or observed any recent foreigners.

*for the past several days Elorfin had been going to a from the city, occassionaly returning to camp to buy provisions. Thus far he has found little (DM????) but continues searching, not wanting to dissapoint the Zau'Afin's.

Place holder-

Jarxan's eyes rolled at the guard, though he received his proper recognition. A sleeve of his armor unlatched and pulled up to show the mark of nobility burned into it. "Looking for a shadowy type figure, seen any around sargtlin?" He'd say casually, strapping the gear back to his arm after rolling the sleeve up.

The native noble just shook his head as he watched the initiate Zau'afin scurry off and make a scene amongst the alley ways and drawing up a sore of a sight as he pushed through merchants with various questions. Jax wouldn't follow suit with this method, standing out was a good way to be avoided. A hand reached up to pull the spidersilk hood over his head and drift past the guard (likely not knowing anything about the assassin).

Jarxan knew some decent spots to pull together information. However, it required scaling the many layers of the ziggurat and that was usually a hassle. A low growl emanated from under the low hanging hood as the drow noble minded the spikes on his shoulders when bumping and brushing through the crowded trade district.

The place was filled with all sorts of odd creatures and stalls. Every so often an ogre, with several smaller handlers in tow, would tower on by. Every so often a gurgle and roar could be heard as it tried, with futility, to toss it's deep gnome buyers to and fro- only to have it's mind cooled. Orcs, duergar, illithids, deep gnomes, it was a who's-who of the power races underground.

"Stone Flyers here! Young pups freshly trained to suit your raiding needs! Great prices!" Yelled a drow off to his right, he towered over a handful of small, stone, wolf like creatures with wings. They whined and barked each time they banged their heads on the enchanted cages which kept them from simply gliding away through the floor.

"Hey, masta...masta!" Came the tug at the hem of his cloak, prompting his glance down at the shorter gol. The ugly little creature was riddle in warts, missing an eye, and grinning from ear to mildly deformed ear. "Yo' Wann' buy blud frewts! Or-or-or demonsies heartses!" His tugging came again "Overs tha' way! Tha' way!" A stubby little digit pointed to a shady looking stall run by an illithid. Mind flayers were a nasty sort to deal with and Jarxan never favored being around them- and they likely knew it given the gol's advertisement rather than a mental one.

"Maybe later, now get out of my way." His reply was sharp as the shoulder check he gave to get the gol to let go of his cloak. He had a joint in mind, an old acquaintance he had back in the City of Blades who moved shop. A few turns down some less than reputable alleys and builds between the ziggurat would see him well on his way to the duergar tavern.

"Hey, you! illiythiiri! Frush mushroom powder...Luhix and Agony, real cheap!" Came a raspy voice of one of the shadows. A dealer in hallucinogenic powders and plants, it seemed. "Come on! You'll feel real good!"

With a sigh he simply waved the dealer of nefarious goods off, this wasn't the time either way. "This had better be worth it, vithing damnit.." Jax muttered to himself, having to avoid the perils of the marketplace and the back alley dealings of people he couldn't see.

His toils ending with the brighter view of the duergar tavern. A torch illuminated the dead end that made up it's door frame. A rather gruff looking orc stood at the front. "Uueehh, halt you!" When the drow approached him. "Sta' yo' buniss!" It barked poorly.

"I'm here to see Grumix, the Shadowmaster of the Blade City." He said with a little official sounding backing in his tone. The orc blinked and replied, "Gru'ix! I ain't ever 'eard o' no' Gru'ix!"

Orcs weren't known for their ability to lie and the one in front of Jarxan was no exception. Moving forward he reached out to hand the orc a piece of parchment with several gold coins underneath, a bribe to get past the door man. "He told me to give the orc at the front this." The gaps between the missing teeth in the orc's head became very apparent as soon as it pieced everything together.

"A'right. Go on!" Nodding behind to the door.

The Duergar establishment, dubbed the 'The Chipped Hammer', wasn't your average place. At least not for a drow and certainly not for Jarxan. There had been a lute player up on a far back platform who plucked away at a mellow tone. That mellow sound immediately cut off with a 'Cr-hink!' of a mistaken note. All those beady eyes behind lowered tables were all on the Ogre (read: Elephant) in the room.

Jarxan stayed by the door a moment, gauging if he was to be rushed and ejected, before slowly moving to a bar set up along the entirety of the left hand side of the room. Of course, the bar was set about a foot lower than he was used to, so it made for an odd lean when he flagged the tender down.

"Oi! We don't server your kin-" That attempt to shoo him away was cut off by the audible thud of a coin bag hitting the counter top.

"Bring me Grumix...I know he's back there." Grumix, an old ship mate of Jarxan's, had moved his smuggling and thieving operations to the Trade City when the King in Gracklstugh caught wind of his business. Or rather, when he wasn't paid the increase in bribe he tried to con out of his kin. If anyone could put an ear on the street to locate some shady figures, he was probably the best Jarxan knew.

Grumix would step out of the door, cutless in one hand, surface rum in the other, his attie, look.... and smell had not changed much over the years. "Jar ye, ol boot lickin land lubin geet, in all da inns in all da undar, yo'll appin ta walk inta mine?! Wheres the ten silver yee owe meh!?"

Elorfin, moved through the city like a ghost, sticking to the shadows, listening and watcing for any talk of the needle wielding assassin that had caused so many deaths. Slowly but surely, he bagan making contacts in the alleys and streets of the city, speaking to the shady merchants in dark corners, asking any if they had seen the unusual assassin. When the moment of revelation hit him, he went to the illithids. Who better to see an unseen foe than one who could see their mind. To the illithid merchant he went, again making his connections for house Zau'Afin and for himself. Upon reaching the illithids, he asked them about the strange assassin and if they had felt the prescense of anyone strange on the day the incident had occurred. As a reward for some answers, Elorfin would provide a slave to them. While he awaited their answer, he found a high building and perched atop it like a gargoyle with his giant spider companion, keeping his eyes and ears open to all below.