Black Hart

Gradsul by Twilight

Chapter 22 - Curse of the Sbetlaths

They waited across from the Harbourmaster's office until they were sure that nobody else was in. As the trio walked into the Harbourmaster's office, he was pulling a ledger down from a shelf. He turned, saw them and a look of disdain crossed his face.
"You lot again!" he declared. "What trouble do yer seek now then?"
Akhan said nothing, turning his head around to stare at Eloi. What had the rest of them said to this man to annoy him so much? "Best not to ask." he thought to himself.
"Esteemed Harbourmaster!" Akhan beamed at the man. "At last I have the pleasure of making your acquaintance. My hirelings here," Akhan waved negligently at the others, "have sung your praises, and I said to myself at once that I had to meet you in person."
Akhan moved futher into the room, smiling happily. Having no idea what sort of line that Eloi and the rest had spun this man the other day, he knew there was a risk that he would contradict everything they had said. But now that he had started he found he didn't much care. The bullshit had that effect sometimes. You just couldn't help yourself. And besides, this surly git probably wouldn't believe a word he said anyway. Cold hard cash was the only way to coax anything out of this curmudgeon.
"Why only last night I commented to Mareschal Veshper that he was lucky to have such a fine Harbourmaster in Gradsul. 'Vesic' says he - for that is my name goodsir," Akhan bowed politely. "'Vesic, I can't deny it - the man is a prodigy.' So there you have it - I made it my resolution to come down here this very next day to make your acquaintance. It is a marvel to me that it's possible to keep track of all the trade which sweeps through this great city! Akhan craned his neck to look out at the harbour.
"Ships upon countless ships and yourself with all of the facts at your fingertips." Akhan leaned forward earnestly towards the Harbourmaster. "I must confess that I am a student of trade. I find it fascinating in all its forms but unfortunately I found the confines of a University too small and confining for a true study. And so I dabble myself and travel, seeking out the masters in each field of this majestic undertaking of trade. And now sir, I have a proposition for you! I would have you show me your system - explain to me the secrets of your noble calling; lead me through the mysteries of your shipping grimoires! Obviously, I would not dream of taking you away from your pressing duties without compensating for your loss of time. Such a tutorial would be most valuable to me." Akhan looked expectantly at the man. "By Olidammara, I'm not half full of horse shit sometimes." Akhan mused thoughtfully.
The man looked puzzled and turned to Eloi. "By the winds of Velnius this man is possessed with a tonge that blathers like an idiot on a holy day. What is it yer after? As we did before, tell me what yer after an' ah'll tell yer what the price is!"
Eloi could hardly contain the look of extreme satisfaction that briefly crossed his face. Eloi reached into his pocket and pulled out his purse. "We're interested in the recent business dealings of the merchant Gelders. Any information relating to his recent imports and exports would be greatly appreciated."
Eloi jingled the purse for good effect then turned to Akhan with a look that was not the opposite side of smugness.
Helden looked at Akhan with no small amount of incedulity. The man knew his way with words. Eloi on the other hand, was direct, gruff and to the point, and probably laughing his head off inside, Helden thought.The half-elf, and the half-orc were a study in contrasts. It was no small wonder that these two had adventured together for so long without slitting each other's necks.
Helden shifted his position just behind the two of them and continued to watch and listen.
"Hmm," said the Harbourmaster, scratching his chin as he worked out how much he could fleece them for. "That'll cost yer a pretty Merkke."
The man went and took down a ledger from his shelf, the last one. He opened it on the desk.
"I'm off fer a walk, be back in ten minutes or so."
The Harbourmaster left the three men in his shed, hanging a sign on the door as he went. The trio gatehred about the book. They quickly poured over the ledger, which logged all cargoes being docked for the current month. It showed the date, the ship, what was unloaded, how much, taxes paid and thewarehouse to which it was taken.
There were only four entries that were taken to the Azure Trading Company that month, and all were listed as one sort of cloth or another. They flicked through the pages again, but still only found the same four.
"What about this?" Akhan asked, pointing to an entry near the start. He read it out. "On second Planting, Common Year 585, from the Shady Thorn out of Greyhawk, a crate of uncut Jet stone, value of ten thousand Merkke, five hundred Merkke taxes paid by Arbur Malachi, taken to the Primus Clearing House, Fettler Lane, Orgsworth."
Akhan quickly skimmed through the book again then closed it.
"No other Jet arriving in Gradsul this month - none that was declared anyway. If we've got the time then I'd like to see just who this Malachi is and where he lives." Akhan said.
As Akhan finished speaking the door opened and the Harbourmaster returned.
"I trust yer got what yer were looking for," he said. "By the way, you never said, what guild is it yer works with? Ah ain't seen yers about afore."
Eloi pulled out five Merrke from his purse and gave them to the harbourmaster. "For you absence."
"Hmmmph!" the Harbourmaster declared at Eloi's avoidance of his question, but seemed content to pocket the money anyway and allow them to be on their way.

Eloi and the others quickly left the office. "I think we should take a visit to Fetter Lane and check out the Primus Clearing House. Do we have time before our meeting with Veshper?"
"Yes," Helden nodded vigorously at Akhan. "Let's not waste time. We should investigate this Malachi person, and perhaps pick up the trail of the jet as well. That's a lot of money, ten thousand Merkke." Helden mused. "Not all real I'll bet."
It took them fifteen mintues to find the Primus Clearing House, which was just another large warehouse in the Orgsworth district. As they approached, they could see that it was very busy with cargo going into and out of the premises, cartmen and warehousemen milling about everywhere. There also seemed to be quite a number of guards, and well-to-do people coming and going. With all those people about there was no way to get in without being seen, not at that time anyway.
"Ahem," a man coughed beside them, and they turned to see a well-built man, dressed like the guards but with a finer uniform and a black circular cap with a feather in it. "I noticed you gents checking out our fine establishment, could I help you in any way?"
The man spoke to Akhan primarily, who was the best dressed of the trio, and watched them closely, his left hand holding onto his scabbard as though in case he needed to draw his ornate shortsword in a hurry.
Eloi shoved his way in front of Akhan and addressed the man.
"We're merchants. We heard that some Jet had arrived at the clearing house. We wanted to know who the importer was so, that we may approach him with an offer. We have a client who would pay handsomely for a large quantity of Jet."
Eloi reached into his pocket and drew out a Merrke. He offered it to the guard. "Any information you might have would be rewarded." The man pocketed Eloi's coin and pointed into the warehouse.
"Turn to the left, see Karrig in the office, he's the clerk. Give him one of these," he said nodding towards the coin, "and tell him Elleus said it was okay to tell you. He should be able to help you."

Smokelight looked at Adder. "I guess we will be sitting here for a while... Have you noticed that a lot of this job is sitting and looking at buildings or warehouses? I'm starting to feel like a constable or a city watchmen."
Adder turned to Smokelight. "What can I say? We play a game of patience. Let us hope that Our Lady has something interesting for us to occupy our time."
Smokelight's premonition of watching a building endlessly provedunfortunately accurate - in the four hours they sat in the muggy Gradsul afternoon they had seen no-one enter or leave the house. Dejected they trailed off to the Mareschal's office where they met up with Cinion and waited there for the others to arrive.

Fifteen minutes later, and a Merkke lighter, they stood outside the premises of Arbur Malachi, 'Quality Jeweller and Gemcutter', on Helstrasse in the Gartten district.
There were no windows to the shop, undoubtedly in the interests of safety. When they entered, an older man, with greying black hair spoke to them from behind a counter. He reminded Eloi of Mordekei, and the thief quickly noted the two men hovering about in the back shop, undoubtedly guards of some sort.
"Can I help you sirs?" the man asked.
Akhan wondered what sort of subtle device Eloi had in mind for pickingthis jeweller's brains. He sat on the edge of the counter and smoothed the folds and creases which had appeared in his garments. "Ah, well, it's rather delicate Master - Malachi?," Akhan raised his eyebrows, looking for confirmation of the man's identity.
"You see our esteemed employer keeps a mistress," Akhan's voice had dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "And what a great beauty this strumpet truly is. Not only that, but a dancer too." Akhan's good eye gleamed and he grinned at the jeweller. "The simple fact is, our master is besotted. He can't deny this trollop anything she asks for - she wraps him round her finger. Or whatever other body part the voluptous tart decides."
Akhan sighed deeply. "But now she's developed a new interest. Apparently she has decided that she can predict the future - she will make our master even more rich than before and provide him with all he wishes to know about his enemies. All she needs to get started of course, is a small fortune in precious stones. The arcane mysteries she seeks to dabble in require some particular tools." Akhan leaned back, grinning in silent mirth.
He slapped the counter top, "So what could you provide us with good Jeweller? What sort of stones do you trade in and can you possibly deal in the bulk required? Because if I know anything of this world then it's the bottomless thirst of women for gems." He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Eloi. He hoped this was irritating the Baron as much as it was amusing him.
Eloi slapped his forehead, looked at Helden forlornly and stepped forward shoving Akhan out of the way. "Pardon my companion, he tends to get a bit wordy. Basically, we're looking for Jet. A lot of it too. Our sources lead us to believe that you are the main man in these parts to speak to regarding our requirements. Tell us they're wrong and we'll leave, if not maybe we can do business?"
"Jet?!" the man said questioningly. "What is it with jet lately? I had some earlier this month, but it was ordered specially by a local artist - he came in much like you and asked me to get him some, quite a lot actually, for a mural he was creating, so he said. Had to wait a month to get hold of it, imagine it would be the same for you, but then again likely as not you'll not want as much as he did. What sort of quantities were you thinking of?"
The man waited only for a moment for an answer.
"Do you people know something that I would wish to know about myself? Is there some reason to be hording jet, a profit to be made?"
The man narrowed his eyes and looked at them suspiciously.
Eloi leaned over the counter feigning interest. "How much exactly did this artist want?"
In order to allay suspicion he cast his eye towards the nearest bit of jewellery. "That is a pretty trinket, how much would you be asking for it?"
"Now, back to my question. Just exactly how much Jet did this fellow want? We're looking for about twelve thousand Merrke worth. He surely couldn't have been wanting that much?"
He looked at Malachi then continued. "Are you able to supply that quantity at short notice? My client would be willling to pay a bit over the going rate? If not, then perhaps you could give us the address of this artist? Maybe he would be willing to sell his supply at the right price?"
"A darn sight more, in fact," the man said. "He paid fourteen thousand, once I had covered my taxes and guild dues and all.  But as I said it'd be amonth before I could get my hands on that amount again - at least a month anyway."
The man looked over at the ring Eloi had pointed to.
"A hundred and fifty Merkke for the ring. And I wouldn't count on him selling a piece of the Jet," he continued. "He was quite eager to have it, and jubilant when it arrived. But if you like you can try - his name is Argand Sbetlath, he lives with his old man at Hochel Manor. Its on the Dreadwood Forest road, just to the south as you pass Maldurnan Keep, you can't miss it. Maybe a couple of hours' ride out of town. Struck me as a spoiled little rich brat."
Eloi nodded to the man. "Thank you for your time. Let me go and speak to the rest of my group. As you appreciate we are in somewhat of a hurry to obtain the Jet. We shall give Sbetlath a try first. If he is willing to sell us some of the Jet then all well and good. If not we shall return and I am sure we can do business."
Eloi motioned to the others and turned to leave, but before doing so paused. "I am very interested in purchasing that ring. Would you keep it for me? I would be willing to leave a 5 Merrke deposit."
After Malachi agreed Eloi turned to leave. Helden, surprised that the half-orc had not picked up on his last prompting, raised one last question at the jeweller - seemingly casual, almost as a afterthought, he asked, "And would you be the right person to help us if we had need of a large quantity of jade as well? Unless you know of some other who might help us."
"Jade?" the man asked. "Know something about that too, eh? Well, I can try to get anything for a price, but Jade would really cost you. Main supply for that is in the Amedio forest, and with the Sea Princes and Brotherhood ships its not something you see often. Unless you have a contact with either of them, that is."
Their business done, the trio left Malachi's shop.
Outside, Eloi spoke to Akhan and Helden. "Akhan, these are simple folks. They are unlikely to be impressed by your fine words. They like you to get to thepoint. He knew you were spinning him a yarn straight away. We have made considerable progress. I think we'll agree that Hochel Manor will be worth a visit. We should find out what Vespher and Halykk knows about Sbetlath and his father."
"Anyways, I think it is time we went and found the others. Hopefully they will have had as fruitful a few hours."
He looked pensive for a moment and then added. "Oh, and if you think I am going to stand the tab every time we bribe some information out of people then you are very much mistaken."
Before Akhan had a chance to reply to Eloi's tart remark, Helden looked at both of them and smirked. "The one that does the talking successfully gets to do the paying. It's an unspoken rule. Besides, you're the boss."

Before long Eloi, Akhan and Helden had returned to the Mareschal's office.
Ensconced within were Smokelight, Adder and Cinion, plus three marine officers. Just after they arrived, Bekkar the Peloran priest also entered, followed by Mareschal Veshper. Eloi had barely got his hands on the wine jug that the others were drinking from when Veshper cleared his throat and began talking.
"The warrant for the arena has indeed been signed - my men recovered over fifty of their counterfeit Merkke, so the Sheriff had no worries there." He smiled, showing how pleased he was that it had all proven true. "Now we must do the raid itself - it is a large place, and undoubtedly some of those involved are going to get away, perhaps even our major players. The owner is Garrald Sbetlath, and he runs it using his family, mostly sons and cousins. This should be borne in mind, if one of them is arrested they are all likely to end up causing trouble."
"Even more to be borne in mind is the suspicion that some, possibly even all of those involved are were-rats! Every man has been equipped with magical or silver-tipped weapons to take care of that, but I pray it will not come to a battle, for even one injury might be too large a toll on our men.
"Our aim is to secure the arena, arrest those involved in running it and bring them to the Umberdtine for questioning. We then will search the premises and try to secure the counterfeit coinage - perhaps Baron Eloi will add a few words at the end in what he expects of us, and how we can help out each other.
"Our main weapon is numbers - there are six main entrances to the arena. At five of them there will be a plattoon of twenty marines, who will merely secure that entrance and prevent anyone from entering or leaving. At the sixth, myself and twenty marines, plus your own team," he said nodding towards Eloi, "Will enter, seek out Sbetlath and serve the warrant on him and his people. They should have little or no reason to suspect we know of their lycanthropy, so perhaps if we are sure to make no mention they will come along peacefully, hoping to hide it. Once we get them to the Umberdtine I have special cells here that will cope with their kind with no problem whatsoever."
"Baron," he said to Eloi. "If you wish to say anything, and if anyone else has something to add, please feel free. Do you have any preferences as to when we do the raid, or to any other matters?"
Smokelight nodded gravely as he heard Veshper go over the raid. The Mareschal had planned the raid quite well, and the mage felt he had little to add. He silently said a prayer to Istus that she was on their side tonight. Smokelight was relieved at the seriousness with which Veshper took this raid, the precautions and the numbers of back-up men.
After Veshper was done briefing them of the details of the raid, Smokelight made an attempt to pull him aside and discreetly comment on his intentions to accompany the raid invisibly, while scrying or detecting for magic or danger. Smokelight then told the Mareschal he intended to stay with the group, and in nearly constant verbal contact with one of his team members - probably Cinion, with his sharp halfling ears. The mage thought it might be good, on top of all the other precautions, to have a potential "surprise" on their side should things turn dangerous.
"Thank you for all of your cooperation and help, Veshper," the mage said quietly. "I am sure Gradsul and the Realm could use more officers like yourself."
Eloi stood, brushed down his grubby tunic, cleared his throat and addressed the ensemble.
"Vespher, thank you for you careful planning. I am interested to hear that the arena is owned by Gerrald Sbetlath for we have found out his son, Argand recently purchased fourteen thousand Merrke worth of Jet. It would appear that the Sbetlath family are in league with the Scarlet Brotherhood."
He paced up and down uncomfortably. He was unused to addressing such large groups.
"I would echo Vespher's words. It is of the utmost importance that no-one escapes the arena. If even one person escapes then our efforts may have been ruined. It would be my plan after our raid on the arena that we swiftly move on the Sbetlath home, Hochel Manor on the Dreadwood Road. We cannot risk anyone at that house being warned in advance."
"The people we are dealing with are very dangerous and everyone should remain on their guard. I am particularly interested in anyone we find of Suel origin. Should anyone find someone who fits the description I want to know about it straight away."
He stopped and looked at Veshper.
"I think that is all I need to say."
"You cannot be serious, Baron," one of the marines declared. From his shoulder pips he was a captain. "There will be hundreds within the arena, and we have only twenty men at each entrance. There is no way that we will keep everyone within. The best you can hope for is to quickly get hold of the employees, and if fighting breaks out I am sure even that will cause chaos. If even one of them turns into wererat form I think we will have a stampede on our hands."
Veshper nodded. "Captain Harrat is right, I think. I'm glad you pointed that out - in the end, our own safety is paramount. If they are trying to flee en-masse then we get out their way. I think it is really the Sbetlaths we are looking for, and anyone else connected to them. I will recognise Garrald, but am not so sure about the rest of them. A good point from you too, Baron - once we are finished there we will go to Hochel Manor. I will see to a warrant before we depart. Does anyone have any ideas about the best time to strike?"
"Mareschal," Helden beamed at the man, evidently pleased at seeing his benefactor again, although he was professional enough not to look too effusive, "Sbetlath is a name we were becoming all too familiar with. It is I believe his son, Argand, who recently procured a shipment of jet, obviously to construct that gate we've heard about. Yes, hopefully this arena raid will uncover more concrete details that are afoot."
Eloi looked around the room. "Speed is critical here. It could be our friend or our enemy. Vespher, how long would it take you to get a warrant?"
"An hour or so," Veshper replied. "I should have thought of it beforehand. But I could have some men placed on the road there to intercept anyone escaping the arena. They'll set up a roadblock and let no-one past until we get there. That way we can hit the arena first, then head over to the manor before they'd get a chance to get there."
"There is another point to make about the arena itself and what the Baron and I discovered of the operation there." Akhan added. "I saw members of this group appearing out of a hole which was out in the floor of the arena. I'd assume from that that there may be some hidden rooms concealed beneath the surface. Of course, they may have abandoned this location but we still have to search it. And fighting through tunnels, unknown tunnels, may be extremely hazardous. Before we spring our trap, I want to arrange what sort of force we're intending to send down into that particular pit."
Akhan looked questioningly at Veshper. "It makes sense to take some sort of illumination down there with us, but if there are any of your men who are blessed with the talent of enhanced vision," Akhan tapped his Eye through the patch, " then I would ask that you attach them to our Baron's little force for the underground search. I think we need to get down there pretty quickly too. We may find our quarry disappearing rapidly under our very feet if we don't move to stop that possible escape route."
"That's a good point" Adder murmured and nodded thoughtfully. "It would be helpful if we knew the layout of any existing sewers or tunnels below the arena. I have to agree with Ahkan; regardless of what the masses do, our targets, if they're even present, will most likely try to flee using this route. I suggest that our team scouts the arena perhaps half an hour in advance before the Mareschal closes the net. After all, if no one of interest is present, we'll have really blown it."
"I'm not sending any of my men down into ratmen tunnels," another marine officer said. "They're neither trained nor equipped. That would be your territory, Baron."
Veshper agreed. "It would be a massacre - out in the open when a half dozen or so men can gang up on the one beast they have a chance. Not so down in a tunnel. I'd hazard the Major's right, Baron, and you and your men have more experience in that direction." He pointed downwards.
"I'd reckon you scouting the arena beforehand might be an idea - so long as you don;t think there's a risk of them being alerted to the forthcoming raid. These tunnels, by the way - I'm thinking they might just be drainage tunnels. They rarely do it nowadays, but they used to flood the arena for mock naval battles or to fight sea monsters like Sahuagin. Its just that sort of thing's out of fashion in Gradsul now, and they prefer racing like tonight."
"If you want to get underway, carry on. We will keepthe bulk of the men here to avoid alarm , and set off half an hour after you. If there's some reason to abort, send someone to us and we'll make it look like a parade drill."
Eloi turned to the party and smiled. "Well, I think we should get going."
He looked at Veshper then at Bekkar. "Vespher, we'll rendezvous at the front entrance of the arena once the place is under our control. Bekkar, you'd better come with us. If we are going into the sewer's below the arena then that is the place we are most likely to come across Wererats. We will need your assistance."
He patted his dagger for reassurance. "Let's go, oh and Vespher don't forget the warrant for the manor."

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