February 16th: Ritholme, Mining & Lumber

"What the citizens of the city decide to disclose or not disclose is really their own right, now isn't it? Or are you suggesting," he puts the slightest emphasis on these words as he leans forward, putting his feet down, "that the Baronet should have such absolute power over the people he serves, hm?"

The office looks moderately used, such as you can tell anyways, as it has seats for visitors and a small thing of candy on the desk to share. The book he's carrying is 'I Want To Be Your Canary", an old dramatic play done up in book format.

"Absolutely not sir."

Zeiss smiles a little more, then takes a seat.

"It's just that me and my friends made an arrangement with Lady Lightmane. You see, she wants us to restore the economy to its previous state. As it was before the war I mean. I only assumed you would know why your fellow citizen do not want to talk about Ritholme's lack of trade with Holtburg. After all, the prosperity of this town is of your concern, right?"

"Oh of course, of course. But, if you'll look around, Mister Envoy of Holtburg, you'll find Ritholme is quite prosperous as is. So I'm not entirely certain there's any need to change anything so grand and sweeping as 'the economy'," he does the finger quotes with this phrase, "when people are living well and happy. And that, good sir, is my only real concern."

"Forgive my companion's intrusive manner, but it wouldn't strike me as a matter that makes a stop at your office a fruitful visit if not all trade ceased to continue," Rory entreats, taking on a tone of genuine inquiry. "Still, all trade has stopped, and we would appreciate your aid in finding out why. Maybe something happened around the same time, a 'change in the winds'? Surely you've noticed something."

"Well, I never did admit all trade had stopped, just that it wasn't really my department's interest. Still, if you folks really are from the Office of her Ladyship," his tone and face indicate how unlikely he finds this, "Then in the interests of diplomacy I will tell you that the companies of Ritholme have found other buyers, and the people seem happier for it. And like I said, that's my only concern."

"Yes, we learned that people have a better pay than before. We do not know why, but it is good to know. The ones who work can take better care of their family now. Can I take one?"

Zeiss points at the candies. Believing that the Baronet took his question as rhetorical, he takes one of them.

"I think it is time for us to leave. But you seem to care greatly for your fellow citizens. For how long have you served as Baronet?"

"Oh, not long. I've been in this position for about 12 years now, inherited from my mother of course."

Zeiss get up from his seat.

"Then I hope you will serve for many more years. Thank you for your time. Oh! One last thing."

He turns to Rory.

"Did you see anybody with those rings?"

He signs Rory to show him.

Zeiss wrote:"Did you see anybody with those rings?" He signs Rory to show him.

At the mention of the rings, Rory gives Zeiss an incredulous look.

"Come on Rory. If one or many of these people are here, it would be good to know."

Zeiss looks at Rory with patience.

Rory reluctantly pulls a ring from his bag of holding, the one he had carved and cleaned away from as much dead man as he could. As he is about to put it on the Baronet's desk, he glimpses the inner circle of the ring and notices that the markings upon it have faded.

He refrains in time so that the awkward slip-up is barely noticeable, and holds it up for him to see, feeling the need to explain. "Completely mundane and featureless, save for the fact that it was stuck to the wearer's finger. The, uh, absence of a finger save for the skin on the inside should explain what I did--what I had to do, to get it off. There were markings faintly noticeable on the inside, but they've long since faded. Strangely, one of our group could discern no trace of magic."

The Baronet grabs the ring and looks at it, for the first time real curiosity and worry crossing his features. "Not Woven? Not magically made? How... unusual." He frowns. "I'm afraid I have not seen any rings like this in memory, but I shall inform my people to keep an eye out." He hands it back to Rory, still looking troubled.

"Thank you again for your time. We will now depart. And be wary of the ones that wear these rings. They are without mercy."

He bows one last time and leaves the baronet's office.

@Zeiss

Spoiler:

while the team is at the Baronet's office Tab will grab a paper and find a place to sit and read it while watching as much of the town as he can looking for anything that stands out.

Spoiler:

Snarg remains unmoving from his spot as the rest begin to leave. "Baronet Holt, I have a somewhat more important issue to bring to your attention that goes a little beyond trade and has to do with the town's safety. This is ... unofficial info right now. If I was an honest Gnoll, and I am, I wouldn't feel right leaving without telling you about some disturbing happenings in the area." He begins pacing back and forth, finger twirling his right ear. "As you may or may not know, Janwall was recently attacked by a group of marauders and planted assassins. You can ask the town personally if you'd like proof, but that's beside the point right now. The point is that someone's taking advantage of the current state of the world's happenings to do some unsavory business."

He stops and stares pointedly at the Baronet. "Planting assassins, sending illegally armed ships, even attacking Aluvian towns near Holtburg in broad daylight. Holtburg sent no reinforcements or even received word of this. Why? 'Someone' had the council tied up for lengths on end during that time. Although they are not in session any longer, to my knowledge, I have no idea if plans have stopped there. Why am I bringing this up to you specifically? Because they're within the same area, Ritholme is an important supplier, and Ritholme happened to suddenly cut off trade around the same time we lost contact with Janwall."

He begins pacing again, both hands behind his back. "Now, I'm not saying these are connected at all. Trade deals happen all the time, councils get tied up, and what they do with it is their business, but since we were in the area, I thought it would be wise to bring that to your attention. I know I'd appreciate knowing that if I was in the same position; that assassins and marauders are openly operating so close to this area. I'm not trying to scare you for any reason, and I haven't been spreading doom and destruction across the city, but I thought as Baronet you should know about this."

In the three spare hours Ashakel meets up with Bob and the two head to an inn, take up a table and the trolls starts practicing writing and reading letters of Common.

Zeiss tries to find a place to hide outside the Baronet's building. He plans to follow him, as stealthily as possible.

Shaking his head, Rory left to meet up at the inn. Along the way, he searched for an odd job to do for extra gold.

Rory:
To your surprise you find no jobs available in town at the moment. At all, none. Which by itself is quite odd.

Zeiss:
About an hour later the Baronet and Guardian both leave the office, chatting idly about where to eat supper that evening. Neither appear to see you, but the Guardian is in full armor and has a weapon ready.

Zeiss touches his bracelet. When he does, his face and hair changes. He looks much older, like if a man almost in his forties. Then follows the Baronet and the Guardian, forty feet away from them.

Spoiler:

Zeiss:
The two end up splitting up after a good half hour of chatting and walking no where important. The Baronet seems to be heading west, while the Guardian is going north.

Zeiss decides to follow the Guardian. He gives Rainbow, who is on his shoulder, some dried fruits. She eats it happily.

Spoiler:

Zeiss:
The Guardian keeps going until he leaves town entire, at which point he brandishes his weapon and begins looking around, far more alert then before. The odds of him seeing you at this point have jumped significantly if you keep following.

Zeiss goes behind trees to hide himself, always staying behind the Guardian, at least forty feet away. He makes sure he doesn't trip on anything that might alert the Guardian to his presence.

Spoiler:

Zeiss:
Two hours pass of watching the Gnome kill wolves, bears, the occasional Carenzi, and otherwise... and no less then four close calls where you were nearly spotted.