Difference between revisions of "Infiltration - RPLOG"

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The door has been locked and further secured with a heavy chain and padlock, the windows are likely to be jammed shut with the grime of years. It appears the mouse was right - no one has been here for more than a day. It can't have been too long, though - the bed and mattresses have been slept in recently, and the meal is still fresh - or at least, as fresh as it will ever be for a place like this.<br> <br>Zevran takes a moment to glance through each of the unblocked windows and peer into the house, studying it. "Seems we won't be getting in easily. We could always try and wait for somebody else to show up who might try to go inside." Zevran suggests. Waiting seemed to be the best option to him, since the others had so subtly hinted that brute force wouldn't solve the problem.<br> <br>Arimia slips her mirror shard back into her cloak and straightens up, walking her way around to the locked front door. She examines the chain and padlock, not concerned with the lock on the door itself for the moment. She fishes in her coat again and pulls out a few tools, lockpicks, before turning and saing to the others. "Didn't see anyone in there. Could be tunnels or the like. An' there's a desk. May have some information. We want to go in, or jus' watch the place? I vote goin' in, myself." She glances at Zevran then, an amused look on her features. "Zevran. It's a buildin' an' in Shanty Town. Even if I can't get the locks open, there'll be a weak spot somewhere, maybe on the roof, or one of the walls. But if we want in, we can MAKE a way in."<br> <br>Selena nods to the mouse, giving a gentle pat on the back. "I'll take a look for you. Just take care of yourself, all right?" She replies, moving along quietly and gazing through the windows - though the interior takes her attention moreso than the unimpressive exterior, double taking at something or another in the building with a surprised look on her face. "Ch-... I thought they said a gang, not nobility. Importing that stuff can't be cheap." She mutters, gesturing to the meal. "Ari, have you heard any rumors about nobles cavorting about here recently?" She queries, then glancing back to the leopardess - "The same for you? I've only heard complaints about the weather and concern about what was happening a few days ago at the soup kitchen." Though the latter comment of Arimia's is met with a nod. "Compared to that dam - or a town hall... I'm sure we could make a hole in it."<br> <br>Mirana walks back out after switching up stones and her outfit. She leans back a bit and walks along, mostly looking about for anyone suspicious while leaning into trash cans and pretending to dig around for scraps of food thrown out by the soup kitchen, nodding over to Ictus real quick before continuing to try and covertly look around for anyone watching their activities. Something was far off with a meal like that setting inside there.<br> <br>Ictus looks to Meyna and shakes his head at the mouse, he walks over with the others and frowns at what he sees in the window, "Well, this can't be good..." he looks back to where the mouse is and frowns, "I think he may know more about this than he was letting on..." he looks to Zev and nods in agreement with Ari at that, "I believe we want in... But we will want to make it subtle." he looks to Selena and nods at that, "Indeed, or they may be posing as a gang... We don't know yet." he smiles at the nod that Mira gives, but otherwise makes no mention of her as he doesn't want to endanger her<br> <br>Meyna makes her way over ot the house and begins to gently nudge each window, checking for any loose, whether it be properly opening or loose in the frame. Barring that, she also checks for loose siding, holes in the roof and other things. "I could try and pick the lock, though I'd think they'd leave a basic tripwire or something on the inside of the door. I would." Then she snaps her fingers and hurries over to Arimia and crouches down, "Oi, after you pop that lock, go look around for watchers." Then at Selena's words she murmurs, "Especially if what she's saying is true. Though that desk hints they might be as stupid as our own nobles so, there is that."<br> <br>As expected, the windows are as jammed as they appear, all of them refusing to budge thanks to a combination of grime, rust, and dust. They could be forced open if need be, but probably not without considerable noise. The padlock and door look sturdy, but not especially hard to pick. The rest of the building...well, it is the shanties. While there's no obvious weak spot, one could be created, albeit with a lot of noise and clearly telling the absent occupants that someone's been around.<br> <br>Zevran looks towards Arimia at her comment. "As much as I'd love to punch a hole in this house, that would make a bit of noise. If you want subtlety, I'm afraid I won't be of much help right now. Picking locks isn't my specialty." He remarks to the coon, realizing his rather physical skillset may not be of much help at this moment and taking a step away from the building. He turns to glance down the street instead, not really looking for anything as much as trying to occupy his time while the others try to find a solution with a bit more subtlety.<br> <br>Arimia gives a small shake of her head at Selena's question and says, "This is the outskirts of Shantytown. Easier to come an' go without really drawin' attention." She moves to the locks then, looking over the tools she has in her hand, then at the padlock. After a couple of moments she picks a tool with a triangle tip from the assortment, and a small, curved too and gets to work on the lock. After a little doing the lock pops open and she starts to examine the lock on the door. Switching the triangle tipped tool for one with more of a hook tip she starts to work on that lock, which opens in turn. "Yeah. But if somethin' happens an' we can't be subtle anymore... We'll be glad you're here, big guy." She slips her tools back into her cloak and nods to Meyna, slipping off alongslide the house, moving through shadows and looking to see if there's anyone paying any particular interest to the house. <br> <br>Mirana waits a moment continuing to look around and act as if she were looking for food. When the door opens she fakes excitement and waddles her way to the door looking around carefully. She tries to make it look as if she didn't care how the door was openned, but makes her way over, carefully and trying to be sneaky, to the food, inspecting it a moment to try and see if it where edible. She tries to let her eyes dart around though, looking for anything that might tell her more about who was here, a crest, a scrap of cloth.<br> <br>Ictus scowls at Meyna at her comment and shakes his head as he waits for Ari to pop the lock, he looks to Zevran and nods at that, "Yeah, that's true. You are our guard however, so warn us if anyone is coming alright?" he smiles as he looks around and adds, "Quietly though." he hmms? at Arimia and nods at that in agreement, "Indeed." he winces as Mira rushes in and shakes his head as he peeks inside without stepping in, "That wasn't wise..."<br> <br>Meyna looks over her shoulder and starts to shoo the vixen back muttering, "If this is what you consider subtle I'd hate to see what you consider going lo-" She jumps back at the sword falling, trying to catch it before stopping herself short and instead quickly creates a cushion of air to keep the sword from making too much noise. She then reaches out and picks the sword out, checking it over for any markings before lifting it to put it back how she figures it was hanging. Then she looks back into the room proper, looking for other problems that might need to be fixed before someone clods into it. Ictus' scowl is finally acknowledged with, "What, it's true."<br> <br>The insides of the longhouse smells of stale air. The living area doesn't seem too out of sorts - now that there are eyes on the inside, a straw mat lies by the door, bearing the recent prints of many boots. There's no obvious sign as to exactly who might be the owners, but the slender rapier that narrowly missed Meyna is once again, of too fine a make to be owned by the poor, let alone risk being notched or blunted being used in such a fashion. No obvious markings, though, which is a pity. A large stove, meant for communal cooking, lies on the opposite corner of the hearth, and two doorways lead into the sleeping quarters and the tiny makeshift study. Very sparsely furnished indeed...<br> <br>Zevran watches the sword fall, and waits a few moments to see if any traps go off. After his cautiousness was sated, he carefully made his way into the house and started to move towards the table. As he approached the table, he started to notice an odd sound caused by his steps. He stopped and tapped his foot a few times on the floorboards, noticing the ringing that showed there was a hollow area underneath. "Hey, I think something is over here." He remarked, kneeling down over the floorboards. He paused for a moment, as though deciding whether it would be worth it to risk any traps to pry them up. Eventually, his curiousity got the better of him and he started to pull up the floorboards, revealing a trapdoor reinforced with steel rebars and no obvious way of opening from this side.<br> <br>Arimia makes her way back around to the door and pauses, taking the changes in. She cautiously enters and looks around again, watching Zevran pull the boards up. "See if you can find some way to open that. Preferably quietly, though... Well, the floor is torn up now, so there will be little hiding that we've been here." She moves to where she remembered seeing the desk then, planning to sort through it. <br> <br>Paying no mind to Ictus or Meyan, Mira inspects the food carefully before taking it and bundling it up on a pocket as best she can. She looks around at those who talked to her, "Don' 'now wat you be a-talking about but 'll just be 'ooking for 'ore o' this kind-a stuff, 'ank ya." she says very very quietly to the others as she continues to look around pretending it is for more food. She looks under the table as well as as around without moving too much. Being very careful about how she bends.<br> <br>Ictus winces at the sword as it falls and sighs in relief as there is little sound, "Good thinking." he rolls his eyes a little though at the comment but otherwise pays it no mind, he steps in after the others quietly and frowns as Zevran pulls up the boards. He sighs a bit and looks to Ari with a nod, "We still don't want to alert anyone we are here though..." he hmms? at Mira and nods at that before he takes a soulgem from a pouch at his belt to switch out with his current one<br> <br>Meyna taps her foot as she doublechecks the sword, making sure it's as close as she can guess it would be. "Before we go, I'm going to stir the dust up a bit to hide that too many of us are walking around in here and most of you aren't trying to match footprints or obfuscate anything. Like bringing a damned acordian on a heist. I swear I'll shoot the first one of you to give us away if someone's watching." As Mira picks up the food she mutters, "Really?" before drawing her pistol, testing the weight, "Put the food back please, I doubt most people would pick a lock and steal the food and leave the other things here. Go stand lookout where your disguise you know, makes sense." Then she begins to check for other hidden compartments, carefully knocking with her knuckles every few steps. <br> <br>Everything proceeds as it was. There's not a sound from outside save the usual bumps and thumps of the slums, and the air remains still within the longhouse. As Arimia begins searching the desk in the tiny makeshift study, there are no hidden compartments apparent from the outside, but the smell of ink and paper wafts from within. However, a faint crinkle comes from within the drawers, like that of glass beginning to crack.<br> <br>Zevran studies the trapdoor, occasionally pushing on it to see if it gives any. With the floorboards pulled up, he doubted it would be possible to completely hide signs of the group's presence there. The floorboards might be able to be fixed, but he didn't want to cause any extra damage to the structure by forcing his way through the door, especially since that might make a large amount of noise as well. He decided to stand up instead, glancing around the inside of the longhouse.<br> <br>Arimia immidately stops pulling the drawer when she hears that noise coming from it. She takes a step back, nose twitching, and frowns. She turns sideways then, to offer less of a target if the desk were to suddenly become shrapnel or the like. She reaches her metal arm out and slips it into the desk drawer as best she can, feeling around for what she assumes to be a glass bottle or vial of some sort. "As a note, I smell somethin' like oil. If this is a trap, it is likely to cause a fire if I set it off. So be aware we may need to leave in a bit of a hurry an' all."<br> <br>Mirana looks over to Meyna as she contiues to talk on as if no one might be able to listen in. She walks back and puts the food away scowling a bit. "'ou lot will be buyin' a dinner then.." she says walking over toward the sleeping quarts and peaking in carefully. She listens to what Arimia says and nods gently. She bites her lip a moment, a hand moving to her belly.<br> <br>Ictus hmms? at Meyna and nods at that, "Good point..." he ponders a bit and looks around, "On that note, anyone here good with Earth Magic?" he blinks at Ari when she speaks and frowns as he shakes his head, "Let's search first and then open that..." he looks to Mira and sighs as he follows her into the sleeping quarters to have a look around<br> <br>Meyna gives Mirana a strange look, then turns her head to Ictus and asks dryly, "You're not letting her drink as well as dance around doing dangerous things are you?" She steps to the side, adding, "I'll be stirring the dust with air magic, if you're talking about popping that hatch I'd just find the nearest culvert and use a map or make one to find out where it's at. Once there you'll probably find markings for the... I'm still guessing smugglers, especially with this."<br> <br>Indeed, as Arimia eases the drawer open, the crinkling turns to a crack. Whatever's shattering must be too far inside to be reached easily, for all she feels is papers. A few seconds later, the desk erupts in yellow-white alchemical fire, clearly intended to destroy its contents. Arimia manages to grab ahold of a number of papers and save them from the rapidly rising flames, though - most of them are badly charred, but enough remains to make out various writings, along with the now partially melted wax seals, but now's probably not the time for closer inspection as the flames begin to spread as the oil soaks through the wood and begins to spread.  
 
The door has been locked and further secured with a heavy chain and padlock, the windows are likely to be jammed shut with the grime of years. It appears the mouse was right - no one has been here for more than a day. It can't have been too long, though - the bed and mattresses have been slept in recently, and the meal is still fresh - or at least, as fresh as it will ever be for a place like this.<br> <br>Zevran takes a moment to glance through each of the unblocked windows and peer into the house, studying it. "Seems we won't be getting in easily. We could always try and wait for somebody else to show up who might try to go inside." Zevran suggests. Waiting seemed to be the best option to him, since the others had so subtly hinted that brute force wouldn't solve the problem.<br> <br>Arimia slips her mirror shard back into her cloak and straightens up, walking her way around to the locked front door. She examines the chain and padlock, not concerned with the lock on the door itself for the moment. She fishes in her coat again and pulls out a few tools, lockpicks, before turning and saing to the others. "Didn't see anyone in there. Could be tunnels or the like. An' there's a desk. May have some information. We want to go in, or jus' watch the place? I vote goin' in, myself." She glances at Zevran then, an amused look on her features. "Zevran. It's a buildin' an' in Shanty Town. Even if I can't get the locks open, there'll be a weak spot somewhere, maybe on the roof, or one of the walls. But if we want in, we can MAKE a way in."<br> <br>Selena nods to the mouse, giving a gentle pat on the back. "I'll take a look for you. Just take care of yourself, all right?" She replies, moving along quietly and gazing through the windows - though the interior takes her attention moreso than the unimpressive exterior, double taking at something or another in the building with a surprised look on her face. "Ch-... I thought they said a gang, not nobility. Importing that stuff can't be cheap." She mutters, gesturing to the meal. "Ari, have you heard any rumors about nobles cavorting about here recently?" She queries, then glancing back to the leopardess - "The same for you? I've only heard complaints about the weather and concern about what was happening a few days ago at the soup kitchen." Though the latter comment of Arimia's is met with a nod. "Compared to that dam - or a town hall... I'm sure we could make a hole in it."<br> <br>Mirana walks back out after switching up stones and her outfit. She leans back a bit and walks along, mostly looking about for anyone suspicious while leaning into trash cans and pretending to dig around for scraps of food thrown out by the soup kitchen, nodding over to Ictus real quick before continuing to try and covertly look around for anyone watching their activities. Something was far off with a meal like that setting inside there.<br> <br>Ictus looks to Meyna and shakes his head at the mouse, he walks over with the others and frowns at what he sees in the window, "Well, this can't be good..." he looks back to where the mouse is and frowns, "I think he may know more about this than he was letting on..." he looks to Zev and nods in agreement with Ari at that, "I believe we want in... But we will want to make it subtle." he looks to Selena and nods at that, "Indeed, or they may be posing as a gang... We don't know yet." he smiles at the nod that Mira gives, but otherwise makes no mention of her as he doesn't want to endanger her<br> <br>Meyna makes her way over ot the house and begins to gently nudge each window, checking for any loose, whether it be properly opening or loose in the frame. Barring that, she also checks for loose siding, holes in the roof and other things. "I could try and pick the lock, though I'd think they'd leave a basic tripwire or something on the inside of the door. I would." Then she snaps her fingers and hurries over to Arimia and crouches down, "Oi, after you pop that lock, go look around for watchers." Then at Selena's words she murmurs, "Especially if what she's saying is true. Though that desk hints they might be as stupid as our own nobles so, there is that."<br> <br>As expected, the windows are as jammed as they appear, all of them refusing to budge thanks to a combination of grime, rust, and dust. They could be forced open if need be, but probably not without considerable noise. The padlock and door look sturdy, but not especially hard to pick. The rest of the building...well, it is the shanties. While there's no obvious weak spot, one could be created, albeit with a lot of noise and clearly telling the absent occupants that someone's been around.<br> <br>Zevran looks towards Arimia at her comment. "As much as I'd love to punch a hole in this house, that would make a bit of noise. If you want subtlety, I'm afraid I won't be of much help right now. Picking locks isn't my specialty." He remarks to the coon, realizing his rather physical skillset may not be of much help at this moment and taking a step away from the building. He turns to glance down the street instead, not really looking for anything as much as trying to occupy his time while the others try to find a solution with a bit more subtlety.<br> <br>Arimia gives a small shake of her head at Selena's question and says, "This is the outskirts of Shantytown. Easier to come an' go without really drawin' attention." She moves to the locks then, looking over the tools she has in her hand, then at the padlock. After a couple of moments she picks a tool with a triangle tip from the assortment, and a small, curved too and gets to work on the lock. After a little doing the lock pops open and she starts to examine the lock on the door. Switching the triangle tipped tool for one with more of a hook tip she starts to work on that lock, which opens in turn. "Yeah. But if somethin' happens an' we can't be subtle anymore... We'll be glad you're here, big guy." She slips her tools back into her cloak and nods to Meyna, slipping off alongslide the house, moving through shadows and looking to see if there's anyone paying any particular interest to the house. <br> <br>Mirana waits a moment continuing to look around and act as if she were looking for food. When the door opens she fakes excitement and waddles her way to the door looking around carefully. She tries to make it look as if she didn't care how the door was openned, but makes her way over, carefully and trying to be sneaky, to the food, inspecting it a moment to try and see if it where edible. She tries to let her eyes dart around though, looking for anything that might tell her more about who was here, a crest, a scrap of cloth.<br> <br>Ictus scowls at Meyna at her comment and shakes his head as he waits for Ari to pop the lock, he looks to Zevran and nods at that, "Yeah, that's true. You are our guard however, so warn us if anyone is coming alright?" he smiles as he looks around and adds, "Quietly though." he hmms? at Arimia and nods at that in agreement, "Indeed." he winces as Mira rushes in and shakes his head as he peeks inside without stepping in, "That wasn't wise..."<br> <br>Meyna looks over her shoulder and starts to shoo the vixen back muttering, "If this is what you consider subtle I'd hate to see what you consider going lo-" She jumps back at the sword falling, trying to catch it before stopping herself short and instead quickly creates a cushion of air to keep the sword from making too much noise. She then reaches out and picks the sword out, checking it over for any markings before lifting it to put it back how she figures it was hanging. Then she looks back into the room proper, looking for other problems that might need to be fixed before someone clods into it. Ictus' scowl is finally acknowledged with, "What, it's true."<br> <br>The insides of the longhouse smells of stale air. The living area doesn't seem too out of sorts - now that there are eyes on the inside, a straw mat lies by the door, bearing the recent prints of many boots. There's no obvious sign as to exactly who might be the owners, but the slender rapier that narrowly missed Meyna is once again, of too fine a make to be owned by the poor, let alone risk being notched or blunted being used in such a fashion. No obvious markings, though, which is a pity. A large stove, meant for communal cooking, lies on the opposite corner of the hearth, and two doorways lead into the sleeping quarters and the tiny makeshift study. Very sparsely furnished indeed...<br> <br>Zevran watches the sword fall, and waits a few moments to see if any traps go off. After his cautiousness was sated, he carefully made his way into the house and started to move towards the table. As he approached the table, he started to notice an odd sound caused by his steps. He stopped and tapped his foot a few times on the floorboards, noticing the ringing that showed there was a hollow area underneath. "Hey, I think something is over here." He remarked, kneeling down over the floorboards. He paused for a moment, as though deciding whether it would be worth it to risk any traps to pry them up. Eventually, his curiousity got the better of him and he started to pull up the floorboards, revealing a trapdoor reinforced with steel rebars and no obvious way of opening from this side.<br> <br>Arimia makes her way back around to the door and pauses, taking the changes in. She cautiously enters and looks around again, watching Zevran pull the boards up. "See if you can find some way to open that. Preferably quietly, though... Well, the floor is torn up now, so there will be little hiding that we've been here." She moves to where she remembered seeing the desk then, planning to sort through it. <br> <br>Paying no mind to Ictus or Meyan, Mira inspects the food carefully before taking it and bundling it up on a pocket as best she can. She looks around at those who talked to her, "Don' 'now wat you be a-talking about but 'll just be 'ooking for 'ore o' this kind-a stuff, 'ank ya." she says very very quietly to the others as she continues to look around pretending it is for more food. She looks under the table as well as as around without moving too much. Being very careful about how she bends.<br> <br>Ictus winces at the sword as it falls and sighs in relief as there is little sound, "Good thinking." he rolls his eyes a little though at the comment but otherwise pays it no mind, he steps in after the others quietly and frowns as Zevran pulls up the boards. He sighs a bit and looks to Ari with a nod, "We still don't want to alert anyone we are here though..." he hmms? at Mira and nods at that before he takes a soulgem from a pouch at his belt to switch out with his current one<br> <br>Meyna taps her foot as she doublechecks the sword, making sure it's as close as she can guess it would be. "Before we go, I'm going to stir the dust up a bit to hide that too many of us are walking around in here and most of you aren't trying to match footprints or obfuscate anything. Like bringing a damned acordian on a heist. I swear I'll shoot the first one of you to give us away if someone's watching." As Mira picks up the food she mutters, "Really?" before drawing her pistol, testing the weight, "Put the food back please, I doubt most people would pick a lock and steal the food and leave the other things here. Go stand lookout where your disguise you know, makes sense." Then she begins to check for other hidden compartments, carefully knocking with her knuckles every few steps. <br> <br>Everything proceeds as it was. There's not a sound from outside save the usual bumps and thumps of the slums, and the air remains still within the longhouse. As Arimia begins searching the desk in the tiny makeshift study, there are no hidden compartments apparent from the outside, but the smell of ink and paper wafts from within. However, a faint crinkle comes from within the drawers, like that of glass beginning to crack.<br> <br>Zevran studies the trapdoor, occasionally pushing on it to see if it gives any. With the floorboards pulled up, he doubted it would be possible to completely hide signs of the group's presence there. The floorboards might be able to be fixed, but he didn't want to cause any extra damage to the structure by forcing his way through the door, especially since that might make a large amount of noise as well. He decided to stand up instead, glancing around the inside of the longhouse.<br> <br>Arimia immidately stops pulling the drawer when she hears that noise coming from it. She takes a step back, nose twitching, and frowns. She turns sideways then, to offer less of a target if the desk were to suddenly become shrapnel or the like. She reaches her metal arm out and slips it into the desk drawer as best she can, feeling around for what she assumes to be a glass bottle or vial of some sort. "As a note, I smell somethin' like oil. If this is a trap, it is likely to cause a fire if I set it off. So be aware we may need to leave in a bit of a hurry an' all."<br> <br>Mirana looks over to Meyna as she contiues to talk on as if no one might be able to listen in. She walks back and puts the food away scowling a bit. "'ou lot will be buyin' a dinner then.." she says walking over toward the sleeping quarts and peaking in carefully. She listens to what Arimia says and nods gently. She bites her lip a moment, a hand moving to her belly.<br> <br>Ictus hmms? at Meyna and nods at that, "Good point..." he ponders a bit and looks around, "On that note, anyone here good with Earth Magic?" he blinks at Ari when she speaks and frowns as he shakes his head, "Let's search first and then open that..." he looks to Mira and sighs as he follows her into the sleeping quarters to have a look around<br> <br>Meyna gives Mirana a strange look, then turns her head to Ictus and asks dryly, "You're not letting her drink as well as dance around doing dangerous things are you?" She steps to the side, adding, "I'll be stirring the dust with air magic, if you're talking about popping that hatch I'd just find the nearest culvert and use a map or make one to find out where it's at. Once there you'll probably find markings for the... I'm still guessing smugglers, especially with this."<br> <br>Indeed, as Arimia eases the drawer open, the crinkling turns to a crack. Whatever's shattering must be too far inside to be reached easily, for all she feels is papers. A few seconds later, the desk erupts in yellow-white alchemical fire, clearly intended to destroy its contents. Arimia manages to grab ahold of a number of papers and save them from the rapidly rising flames, though - most of them are badly charred, but enough remains to make out various writings, along with the now partially melted wax seals, but now's probably not the time for closer inspection as the flames begin to spread as the oil soaks through the wood and begins to spread.  
  
The sleeping quarters are much as seen from outside, but with a few additions that weren't visible through the windows - bags of crown tucked under pillows, not quite well hidden or perhaps even bait, old boots, and on one of the mattresses, a map of Sweetwater with various markings on it. Commotion, however, begins to rise, as the oil fire begins to spread in earnest - there must have been a lot of it that trapped drawer. Perhaps it would be best to beat a retreat and then try to douse it before it spreads further...<br> <br>Zevran continues to study the door for a moment longer, but the sound of crackling flames catches his attention and he looks towards the desk. "Damn it." He mutters under his breath as he stands up and starts to move towards the door, away from the flames.<br> <br>Arimia starts toward the door, tucking the papers she's salvaged into a pocket of her cloak. "There's a fire, our presence will be known." She flashes a grin then and says, "Let's get out an' make it look like a smash an' grab on the way. Grab anythin' of value. An' remember, it's of value to the folk of Shanty Town. "She moves to grab the rapier from where it's hanging on the wall. "Grab the blankets an' other bedclothes. An'... I'm sure you can figure out what to grab."<br> <br>Mirana gives a startled, but muffled yip as she waddles her way to the matress holding the map and waddles as quickly back out as she can, trusting her Sacred Family to keep her safe from the heat of the flames and the harm of the fire long enough. She'd not forgotten her promise, making her way back toward the main door as quickly as she can.<br> <br>Ictus winces at the fire and growls a bit as he mutters, "And this is why we should have searched first..." as he moves to grab a sack of crown from under the bed, ignoring the others as he figures the crown would be grabbed first<br> <br>Meyna doesn't hesitate, she quickly runs a few quick numbers before there's a rush of air and the fire is somethered by quite literally sucking the oxygen out of the area. When the fire's out, the air rushing back in probably sounds interesting and might swirl some dust, ashes and other light things. She looks annoyed at this point and says, "Next time can we not light the damn place on fire? Biggun, whatever your name is, I'm going to resecure the chain and door, can you break it down on our way out? Ari, get a few... anyone you can think of to keep watch on the place. We need to see if we can find a map of the sewers and all of you take anything that isn't bolted down. We'll need to do something about the chemical, don't need a fire spreading to the neighborhood. We won't get paid" and she might feel bad, but that's a different matter.
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The sleeping quarters are much as seen from outside, but with a few additions that weren't visible through the windows - bags of crown tucked under pillows, not quite well hidden or perhaps even bait, old boots, and on one of the mattresses, a map of Sweetwater with various markings on it. Commotion, however, begins to rise, as the oil fire begins to spread in earnest - there must have been a lot of it that trapped drawer. Perhaps it would be best to beat a retreat and then try to douse it before it spreads further...<br> <br>Zevran continues to study the door for a moment longer, but the sound of crackling flames catches his attention and he looks towards the desk. "Damn it." He mutters under his breath as he stands up and starts to move towards the door, away from the flames.<br> <br>Arimia starts toward the door, tucking the papers she's salvaged into a pocket of her cloak. "There's a fire, our presence will be known." She flashes a grin then and says, "Let's get out an' make it look like a smash an' grab on the way. Grab anythin' of value. An' remember, it's of value to the folk of Shanty Town. "She moves to grab the rapier from where it's hanging on the wall. "Grab the blankets an' other bedclothes. An'... I'm sure you can figure out what to grab."<br> <br>Mirana gives a startled, but muffled yip as she waddles her way to the matress holding the map and waddles as quickly back out as she can, trusting her Sacred Family to keep her safe from the heat of the flames and the harm of the fire long enough. She'd not forgotten her promise, making her way back toward the main door as quickly as she can.<br> <br>Ictus winces at the fire and growls a bit as he mutters, "And this is why we should have searched first..." as he moves to grab a sack of crown from under the bed, ignoring the others as he figures the crown would be grabbed first<br> <br>Meyna doesn't hesitate, she quickly runs a few quick numbers before there's a rush of air and the fire is somethered by quite literally sucking the oxygen out of the area. When the fire's out, the air rushing back in probably sounds interesting and might swirl some dust, ashes and other light things. She looks annoyed at this point and says, "Next time can we not light the damn place on fire? Biggun, whatever your name is, I'm going to resecure the chain and door, can you break it down on our way out? Ari, get a few... anyone you can think of to keep watch on the place. We need to see if we can find a map of the sewers and all of you take anything that isn't bolted down. We'll need to do something about the chemical, don't need a fire spreading to the neighborhood. We won't get paid" and she might feel bad, but that's a different matter.<br> <br>Once  the fire is doused and everyone's out, there's time to look over the party's gains. The papers are badly charred and spoiled, but plenty is still legible. Of particular interest is a section going into exact detail how a riot should be incited in the shanties by "instigators", with the date of operation dated a little while go. Various other "objectives" about Sweetwater are to be "subverted", with "great importance placed on taking advantage of pre-existing conditions", under which someone's made an additional note, "weather". By the looks of it and the dates on some of the documents, the house's occupants were to carry out their goals over the next two weeks or so and clearly weren't intending to return any time soon, which explains the abandoned meal. The wax seals, however, have been melted away from common or obvious recognition.
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The map, on the other hand, is less obvious - small circles have been drawn about various points in the countryside and one about Firmament. Their meaning's not immediately apparent, but it's clearly connected with whatever "objectives" were mentioned in the documents.<br> <br>Meyna slips out last, after one last cursory look around, then she secures the chain and says, "Make a mess of it if you will. The rest of you need to scatter. Take a long way around, don't head straight home. We'll have to go have a chat with the neighbors in a bit I think."<br> <br>Zevran chuckles as he hears Meyna's comment. "No problem. I've been waiting to break something all night. And the name's Zevran, by the way." He responds to Meyna before moving over to the door. He starts slamming his fists into the door, although he seems to be holding back his strength a bit. After doing some visible damage to the door, he raises both his fists above his head and slams them simultaneously into the door to knock it off its hinges and inward. "Well, that was fun." He remarks, turning and moving over to the rest of the group. He takes a cursory glance over the documents that they managed to pull out of the fire before his eye catches on one with the word "riot" on it. He grabs the document and starts to read it, his expression slowly shifting to one of anger. "Damn it. This must have been how that riot a few days ago was planned. Come to think of it, that chemical that caused the fire smelled like the firebombs used at the riot. Why couldn't we have found this earlier?" He says, his face turning into a scowl and his hands curling into fists. He puts the now slightly wrinkled document back with the others. "Damn it, whoever did this is going to pay. Life in this place is bad enough without some conspiratorial fools exploiting folk." He mutters. It takes him a few moments before he visibly relaxes.<br> <br>Arimia gently takes the document back from Zevran and tucks it in her cloak. "They will. When we find them. I have some folk to go talk to. I'm sure you all have folk to be chattin' with too." She sets off then and goes to meet with the mouse. She explains what was found, and what happened. Then if any of the others followed her she lowers her voice and whispers something to the mouse, before turning and heading deeper into Shanty Town. <br> <br>Mirana looks over the documents and the map, taking the map herself and passing it to Ictus, finally letting the disguse drop. She doesn't follow Arimia, nor stick around much. She promised to leave when things were getting rough, so that is what she does, taking off with a bit of Air manipulation and flying back to town.<br> <br>Ictus blinks as Meyna extinguishes the flames and chuckles, "Nice move." he hmms? at that next and nods at that "Sounds good and don't look at me, I advised against setting off the trap as well." he moves to help with the deciphering of the papers and frowns, "Well... Seems like they have been planning this for a while..." he hmms a bit at the seals but sighs and shakes his head before he nods in agreement with Zevran. He frowns at Ari as she walks off and shrugs a bit before watching Mirana leave, before he wanders off as well<br> <br>Meyna shakes her head and breaks a pair of windows with the butt of her pistol before hurrying after Arimia. "Hey one sec, need to run a few things past you" Before stepping in step alongside. Ictus's compliment is met with a bit of a shrug, "Not too bad, caught it quick enough. Too big and it'd be a bit harder. Don't... think I did it too cleanly even then though"

Revision as of 09:05, 6 September 2013

Participants

Date

6/9/476

Log



Zevran

Late at night, on the edges of the shanties. One set of beings have retired to their beds, while another has risen from their slumber. The hushed murmurs and shuffles of activity can still be heard from deep within the heart of the shanties, but today's focus is on the edges of the shanties, where at least a breath of fresh air can be had every now and then.

On one side of the narrow dirt street, a ramshackle longhouse of the sort which might house three or four poor families. On the other side, a hooded and cloaked mouse with little more than a lit candle, waiting within the cluster of hovels so ubiquitous to the shanties, awaiting the arrival of those who would respond.

Zevran approaches the light provided by the candle as quietly as he can, giving a slight, soft cough to signal his presence to the mouse. This seemed a close match to where the request had said to meet, but he remained silent and watched the mouse, as though checking for some sign that he was in the right place.

Arimia makes her way to the location that was mentioned and looks around. She takes her time getting a sense of the place, then makes her way to the mouse, pushing her hood back and looking right at him, saying, "What's goin' on? Things are generally handled in house, as it were."

Selena makes her way along with a quiet yawn, glancing up at the night sky for a moment and rubbing her eyes. The glow of the candle prompts a little more alertness in the wolfess, moving along and waving over to the raccoon and rhino currently there. "Ari, Zevran..?" She greets, the latter name punctuated with a curious look before the mouse is greeted with a nod. "What's going on indeed. The fuss at the soup kitchen's barely been cleaned up, if it even has."

Mirana waddles along a bit to the mouse in question, and gives a nod to Selena, Zevran. She sighs softly, "I saw your note." she says quietly giving a yawn herself. "Something about watching over something." she says, choosing for now to completely ignore Arimia as she listens, tails waving behind her softly as she looks at the candle and waiting for more information.

Ictus walks along with Mirana and looks about curiously, he nods to the others and hmms, "Well, long time no see Zevran." he smiles though as he passes over Ari and looks to the mouse, "I saw the note as well, neighborhood watch huh?"

"Ah, a fine evening to all of you folk," the mouse says, although there's a slight tilt to his voice on that final word. His eyes lock onto Arimia for a moment, then leans in to whisper to her, perhaps with more than a little fear before regaining his composure to address the group.

"Yes, there's been some concern lately over the...um...residents of that home over there," he says, pointing out at the ramshackle longhouse. "New folk move in, and then suspicious activities taking place and all at this time of night for the last few days. This may be the shanties, but it's a good part of the shanties, and we really wouldn't like the nastier gangs moving in, especially since the trouble hasn't died down after those last riots. If you would mind just lying in wait, investigating a little and then coming back with what you know, I and those I represent - the folk who live in this area - would be mighty grateful." Odd, how he's a little sparse on the details.

Zevran listens silently to the mouse's explanation of the reason for the request. "Strange things happen in the shanties all the time. Must be rather odd for you to have requested help. Is there any chance this could turn into more than just a stakeout?" He remarks to the mouse. The tone of the last part of his remark sounds more excited or eager than cautious, oddly enough.

Arimia listens to the whispering mouse, then gives a noncommital shrug of her shoulders. She asks, "What sort of suspicious activity are you talkin' 'bout?" She waves a hand then and says, "I'm gonna go take a look, tell Selena an' Zev. Those two'll be able to make some sense of it at least." And then she's moving. She lifts her hood back up and tugs her cloak about her, color seeming to fade, even from her vibrantly pink fur, as she moves. And once she reaches a shadow she melds into it and starts to make her way toward the house in question as quietly as she can, hands moving to pull out various items. A dagger, a long, dark grey glove that gets pulled onto her metal arm.

Selena raises an eyebrow at the description given - or the lack thereof, really. Zevran's zeal is met with a decidedly conflicted glance; "I'm fairly certain having a fight wouldn't help the situation." She says simply, glancing over to Arimia as the raccoon moves out. "I'd take her advice, if I were you." She mutters, relaxing herself slightly. "So, could we get a better explanation?"

Mirana gives a frown as Arimia seems to be up to her same tricks, giving a soft sigh, "Yes a bit more information would be useful." she says, not really planning on getting it that easily though. She flashes a smile. And after we chat a bit, you'll have to excuse me." She looks over to Zevran and Ictus, smiling ever wider seeing Ictus there. She whispers to them both carefully before resuming her wait.

Ictus hmms as he listens to the mouse and ponders a bit, "Well, who are the residents exactly? I can see that you are worried about them, but what have they done so far?" he looks to Zev and sighs as he shakes his head, "Hopefully not..." again he ignores Ari and looks to Selena, "Indeed." he nods to her and hmms? at Mira with a small shrug

Meyna is whistling as she walks, not worried about much at the moment. Sure she's running late, but one can't rush maintenance. She makes her way over, nodding to Arimia before she fades away, having caught... little of it, but she gets the idea quickly enough. She slips her pistol free and checks something, turning it over and making a few minor adjustments as she says softly to the mouse, "What activities?" At a few familiar voices, she offers a nod to Selena, then a scowl at the two vulpines, particularly at Ictus. She tweaks a few things, then flips the pistol back by the trigger guard and slips it into it's holster as it's spinning before she slips her second free and says, "If it's just observation, but you're trying to avoid a fight, why are you being so vague anyway?"

"I'm not sure," the mouse says to everyone. "Like I said, we think it's likely that there's a new gang that's set up shop in there - we don't have any proof, and the families around these parts are a little worried. Better the evil you know, right? There's been some comings and goings in the last few days, but the place has been locked and quiet since yesterday. Our friends of our friends don't seem too concerned, though, even with others potentially muscling in on their territory, and we were hoping if we had something to go on we could show it to them and spur them into action getting us the protection we paid for. A sighting of something would be fine...although something more solid would be better. Not that I'm asking you to do anything illegal like breaking and entering." A pause, and then a slump of the shoulders in resignation. "I'd love it if I had more to tell you folk, but if I did I'd just go straight to the Guild instead of spending crown hiring you folk to find out."

Zevran sighs as he notices the responses from Selena and Ictus. He mutters something about never being allowed to punch things before eventually giving a slight nod to Mirana. He notices the arrival of another folk he hasn't met and gives her a nod of acknowledgement before turning his attention back to the mouse. He listens to the mouse's newest information before speaking up. "A new gang is never good. It would throw the power struggle between the existing gangs into further chaos. I suppose finding some reason to get your 'friends' to try to stop it would be best for everyone. Although it seems this will just be another boring stakeout." He responds to the mouse, shifting his glance towards the longhouse.

Arimia continues toward the house and moves along the side of it, taking advantage of her small size and the shadows to remain unseen. She pauses near a window, and listens to see if she can hear anything, after a couple of moments she reaches into a pocket on her cloak and pulls out a small mirror shard, which she holds up to the window, at a slight angle so she can see inside.

Selena gives Meyna a friendly half-wave, then sighs quietly. "If I was down here more often I'd probably be able to help more with that." Glancing over in the direction Arimia had made off into, she stifles a yawn then turns back. "...Really, she knows this place a lot better anyone else here. I suppose all I have to add is that it's entirely possible the gang you hired is sending in its own members to pressure you into paying more for service. It has happened before. Since you're here, Meyna, I think I'd defer to what you have to say on the matter." She replies with a shrug. "Still, we don't know what gangs you're even talking about in the first place; that doesn't help either."

Mirana shakes her head a moment, "Isn't there something more you can offer?" she asks but gives a sigh. She walks over into the darkness of a side street. She sits back there switching her gems , and then taking the time needed to make herself look like an elderly husky. She even picks up the the dirt around her, dirtying up her dress, and ripping it in a few places. She had many more to work with.

Ictus blinks as he spots Meyna and shakes his head in confusion at the scowl. He looks to the mouse and ponders a bit, "Well... Alright, we'll check it out." Zevran and chuckles a little before he looks to Selena with a sigh, "True..." he ponders a bit as he looks to Mira and hmms as he walks over to her to whisper something with a concerned look before he looks to the others curiously

Meyna adjusts the sights of her pistol before snapping it at some imaginary target, testing the alignment. It's holstered again and says, "The beings only stick around for a few days at a time right? Late nights only? I'd guess smuggling personally, but that's just because I don't think there have been any open demands right?" She then rolls her shoulders back and rubs her chin while considering. "No chance you've gotten a look at these people is there? Or do you know anyone that has, because I can go wake them up happily. Might need to do that anyway, you'd be surprised what others see and people are so... much less guarded when woken up." The confused look is given a look of.. something. Somewhere between bemusement and annoyance. "Speaking of which, anything aside from a fight you want us to avoid?"

The mouse nods ruefully. "Not really, although one of my neighbours said they really carried themselves oddly. And a fight's the worst thing that could happen - I don't want them going down hard on us. I wish I knew more, but we're feeling unsafe -" which is probably an understatement, considering the Shanties- "And it's hurting everyone's peace of mind. Now, I don't think I've anything left to say, please, so if you would..."

As everyone approaches the longhouse, they're able to see what Arimia is currently seeing via her mirror: the longhouse is built for three or four families living in cramped quarters, but while there's some veneer of disorganisation and a honest attempt at making it look like poor, it's been furnished for one, at most two. Most of the windows have had wooden blinds pulled over them behind smeared and stained glass, but a few apparently have been deemed dirty enough to not need concern - and through those, a few rooms can be seen. A table on which the remnants of a cold meal can be seen, bread and cheese wrapped and covered against pests, cupboards, a bed and around it, four or five mattresses and hammocks, the latter strung up between the longhouse's supports. Perhaps the oddest thing is a desk and wooden stool in an otherwise unoccupied room, quite the luxury for the poor of Shanty Town.

The door has been locked and further secured with a heavy chain and padlock, the windows are likely to be jammed shut with the grime of years. It appears the mouse was right - no one has been here for more than a day. It can't have been too long, though - the bed and mattresses have been slept in recently, and the meal is still fresh - or at least, as fresh as it will ever be for a place like this.

Zevran takes a moment to glance through each of the unblocked windows and peer into the house, studying it. "Seems we won't be getting in easily. We could always try and wait for somebody else to show up who might try to go inside." Zevran suggests. Waiting seemed to be the best option to him, since the others had so subtly hinted that brute force wouldn't solve the problem.

Arimia slips her mirror shard back into her cloak and straightens up, walking her way around to the locked front door. She examines the chain and padlock, not concerned with the lock on the door itself for the moment. She fishes in her coat again and pulls out a few tools, lockpicks, before turning and saing to the others. "Didn't see anyone in there. Could be tunnels or the like. An' there's a desk. May have some information. We want to go in, or jus' watch the place? I vote goin' in, myself." She glances at Zevran then, an amused look on her features. "Zevran. It's a buildin' an' in Shanty Town. Even if I can't get the locks open, there'll be a weak spot somewhere, maybe on the roof, or one of the walls. But if we want in, we can MAKE a way in."

Selena nods to the mouse, giving a gentle pat on the back. "I'll take a look for you. Just take care of yourself, all right?" She replies, moving along quietly and gazing through the windows - though the interior takes her attention moreso than the unimpressive exterior, double taking at something or another in the building with a surprised look on her face. "Ch-... I thought they said a gang, not nobility. Importing that stuff can't be cheap." She mutters, gesturing to the meal. "Ari, have you heard any rumors about nobles cavorting about here recently?" She queries, then glancing back to the leopardess - "The same for you? I've only heard complaints about the weather and concern about what was happening a few days ago at the soup kitchen." Though the latter comment of Arimia's is met with a nod. "Compared to that dam - or a town hall... I'm sure we could make a hole in it."

Mirana walks back out after switching up stones and her outfit. She leans back a bit and walks along, mostly looking about for anyone suspicious while leaning into trash cans and pretending to dig around for scraps of food thrown out by the soup kitchen, nodding over to Ictus real quick before continuing to try and covertly look around for anyone watching their activities. Something was far off with a meal like that setting inside there.

Ictus looks to Meyna and shakes his head at the mouse, he walks over with the others and frowns at what he sees in the window, "Well, this can't be good..." he looks back to where the mouse is and frowns, "I think he may know more about this than he was letting on..." he looks to Zev and nods in agreement with Ari at that, "I believe we want in... But we will want to make it subtle." he looks to Selena and nods at that, "Indeed, or they may be posing as a gang... We don't know yet." he smiles at the nod that Mira gives, but otherwise makes no mention of her as he doesn't want to endanger her

Meyna makes her way over ot the house and begins to gently nudge each window, checking for any loose, whether it be properly opening or loose in the frame. Barring that, she also checks for loose siding, holes in the roof and other things. "I could try and pick the lock, though I'd think they'd leave a basic tripwire or something on the inside of the door. I would." Then she snaps her fingers and hurries over to Arimia and crouches down, "Oi, after you pop that lock, go look around for watchers." Then at Selena's words she murmurs, "Especially if what she's saying is true. Though that desk hints they might be as stupid as our own nobles so, there is that."

As expected, the windows are as jammed as they appear, all of them refusing to budge thanks to a combination of grime, rust, and dust. They could be forced open if need be, but probably not without considerable noise. The padlock and door look sturdy, but not especially hard to pick. The rest of the building...well, it is the shanties. While there's no obvious weak spot, one could be created, albeit with a lot of noise and clearly telling the absent occupants that someone's been around.

Zevran looks towards Arimia at her comment. "As much as I'd love to punch a hole in this house, that would make a bit of noise. If you want subtlety, I'm afraid I won't be of much help right now. Picking locks isn't my specialty." He remarks to the coon, realizing his rather physical skillset may not be of much help at this moment and taking a step away from the building. He turns to glance down the street instead, not really looking for anything as much as trying to occupy his time while the others try to find a solution with a bit more subtlety.

Arimia gives a small shake of her head at Selena's question and says, "This is the outskirts of Shantytown. Easier to come an' go without really drawin' attention." She moves to the locks then, looking over the tools she has in her hand, then at the padlock. After a couple of moments she picks a tool with a triangle tip from the assortment, and a small, curved too and gets to work on the lock. After a little doing the lock pops open and she starts to examine the lock on the door. Switching the triangle tipped tool for one with more of a hook tip she starts to work on that lock, which opens in turn. "Yeah. But if somethin' happens an' we can't be subtle anymore... We'll be glad you're here, big guy." She slips her tools back into her cloak and nods to Meyna, slipping off alongslide the house, moving through shadows and looking to see if there's anyone paying any particular interest to the house.

Mirana waits a moment continuing to look around and act as if she were looking for food. When the door opens she fakes excitement and waddles her way to the door looking around carefully. She tries to make it look as if she didn't care how the door was openned, but makes her way over, carefully and trying to be sneaky, to the food, inspecting it a moment to try and see if it where edible. She tries to let her eyes dart around though, looking for anything that might tell her more about who was here, a crest, a scrap of cloth.

Ictus scowls at Meyna at her comment and shakes his head as he waits for Ari to pop the lock, he looks to Zevran and nods at that, "Yeah, that's true. You are our guard however, so warn us if anyone is coming alright?" he smiles as he looks around and adds, "Quietly though." he hmms? at Arimia and nods at that in agreement, "Indeed." he winces as Mira rushes in and shakes his head as he peeks inside without stepping in, "That wasn't wise..."

Meyna looks over her shoulder and starts to shoo the vixen back muttering, "If this is what you consider subtle I'd hate to see what you consider going lo-" She jumps back at the sword falling, trying to catch it before stopping herself short and instead quickly creates a cushion of air to keep the sword from making too much noise. She then reaches out and picks the sword out, checking it over for any markings before lifting it to put it back how she figures it was hanging. Then she looks back into the room proper, looking for other problems that might need to be fixed before someone clods into it. Ictus' scowl is finally acknowledged with, "What, it's true."

The insides of the longhouse smells of stale air. The living area doesn't seem too out of sorts - now that there are eyes on the inside, a straw mat lies by the door, bearing the recent prints of many boots. There's no obvious sign as to exactly who might be the owners, but the slender rapier that narrowly missed Meyna is once again, of too fine a make to be owned by the poor, let alone risk being notched or blunted being used in such a fashion. No obvious markings, though, which is a pity. A large stove, meant for communal cooking, lies on the opposite corner of the hearth, and two doorways lead into the sleeping quarters and the tiny makeshift study. Very sparsely furnished indeed...

Zevran watches the sword fall, and waits a few moments to see if any traps go off. After his cautiousness was sated, he carefully made his way into the house and started to move towards the table. As he approached the table, he started to notice an odd sound caused by his steps. He stopped and tapped his foot a few times on the floorboards, noticing the ringing that showed there was a hollow area underneath. "Hey, I think something is over here." He remarked, kneeling down over the floorboards. He paused for a moment, as though deciding whether it would be worth it to risk any traps to pry them up. Eventually, his curiousity got the better of him and he started to pull up the floorboards, revealing a trapdoor reinforced with steel rebars and no obvious way of opening from this side.

Arimia makes her way back around to the door and pauses, taking the changes in. She cautiously enters and looks around again, watching Zevran pull the boards up. "See if you can find some way to open that. Preferably quietly, though... Well, the floor is torn up now, so there will be little hiding that we've been here." She moves to where she remembered seeing the desk then, planning to sort through it.

Paying no mind to Ictus or Meyan, Mira inspects the food carefully before taking it and bundling it up on a pocket as best she can. She looks around at those who talked to her, "Don' 'now wat you be a-talking about but 'll just be 'ooking for 'ore o' this kind-a stuff, 'ank ya." she says very very quietly to the others as she continues to look around pretending it is for more food. She looks under the table as well as as around without moving too much. Being very careful about how she bends.

Ictus winces at the sword as it falls and sighs in relief as there is little sound, "Good thinking." he rolls his eyes a little though at the comment but otherwise pays it no mind, he steps in after the others quietly and frowns as Zevran pulls up the boards. He sighs a bit and looks to Ari with a nod, "We still don't want to alert anyone we are here though..." he hmms? at Mira and nods at that before he takes a soulgem from a pouch at his belt to switch out with his current one

Meyna taps her foot as she doublechecks the sword, making sure it's as close as she can guess it would be. "Before we go, I'm going to stir the dust up a bit to hide that too many of us are walking around in here and most of you aren't trying to match footprints or obfuscate anything. Like bringing a damned acordian on a heist. I swear I'll shoot the first one of you to give us away if someone's watching." As Mira picks up the food she mutters, "Really?" before drawing her pistol, testing the weight, "Put the food back please, I doubt most people would pick a lock and steal the food and leave the other things here. Go stand lookout where your disguise you know, makes sense." Then she begins to check for other hidden compartments, carefully knocking with her knuckles every few steps.

Everything proceeds as it was. There's not a sound from outside save the usual bumps and thumps of the slums, and the air remains still within the longhouse. As Arimia begins searching the desk in the tiny makeshift study, there are no hidden compartments apparent from the outside, but the smell of ink and paper wafts from within. However, a faint crinkle comes from within the drawers, like that of glass beginning to crack.

Zevran studies the trapdoor, occasionally pushing on it to see if it gives any. With the floorboards pulled up, he doubted it would be possible to completely hide signs of the group's presence there. The floorboards might be able to be fixed, but he didn't want to cause any extra damage to the structure by forcing his way through the door, especially since that might make a large amount of noise as well. He decided to stand up instead, glancing around the inside of the longhouse.

Arimia immidately stops pulling the drawer when she hears that noise coming from it. She takes a step back, nose twitching, and frowns. She turns sideways then, to offer less of a target if the desk were to suddenly become shrapnel or the like. She reaches her metal arm out and slips it into the desk drawer as best she can, feeling around for what she assumes to be a glass bottle or vial of some sort. "As a note, I smell somethin' like oil. If this is a trap, it is likely to cause a fire if I set it off. So be aware we may need to leave in a bit of a hurry an' all."

Mirana looks over to Meyna as she contiues to talk on as if no one might be able to listen in. She walks back and puts the food away scowling a bit. "'ou lot will be buyin' a dinner then.." she says walking over toward the sleeping quarts and peaking in carefully. She listens to what Arimia says and nods gently. She bites her lip a moment, a hand moving to her belly.

Ictus hmms? at Meyna and nods at that, "Good point..." he ponders a bit and looks around, "On that note, anyone here good with Earth Magic?" he blinks at Ari when she speaks and frowns as he shakes his head, "Let's search first and then open that..." he looks to Mira and sighs as he follows her into the sleeping quarters to have a look around

Meyna gives Mirana a strange look, then turns her head to Ictus and asks dryly, "You're not letting her drink as well as dance around doing dangerous things are you?" She steps to the side, adding, "I'll be stirring the dust with air magic, if you're talking about popping that hatch I'd just find the nearest culvert and use a map or make one to find out where it's at. Once there you'll probably find markings for the... I'm still guessing smugglers, especially with this."

Indeed, as Arimia eases the drawer open, the crinkling turns to a crack. Whatever's shattering must be too far inside to be reached easily, for all she feels is papers. A few seconds later, the desk erupts in yellow-white alchemical fire, clearly intended to destroy its contents. Arimia manages to grab ahold of a number of papers and save them from the rapidly rising flames, though - most of them are badly charred, but enough remains to make out various writings, along with the now partially melted wax seals, but now's probably not the time for closer inspection as the flames begin to spread as the oil soaks through the wood and begins to spread.

The sleeping quarters are much as seen from outside, but with a few additions that weren't visible through the windows - bags of crown tucked under pillows, not quite well hidden or perhaps even bait, old boots, and on one of the mattresses, a map of Sweetwater with various markings on it. Commotion, however, begins to rise, as the oil fire begins to spread in earnest - there must have been a lot of it that trapped drawer. Perhaps it would be best to beat a retreat and then try to douse it before it spreads further...

Zevran continues to study the door for a moment longer, but the sound of crackling flames catches his attention and he looks towards the desk. "Damn it." He mutters under his breath as he stands up and starts to move towards the door, away from the flames.

Arimia starts toward the door, tucking the papers she's salvaged into a pocket of her cloak. "There's a fire, our presence will be known." She flashes a grin then and says, "Let's get out an' make it look like a smash an' grab on the way. Grab anythin' of value. An' remember, it's of value to the folk of Shanty Town. "She moves to grab the rapier from where it's hanging on the wall. "Grab the blankets an' other bedclothes. An'... I'm sure you can figure out what to grab."

Mirana gives a startled, but muffled yip as she waddles her way to the matress holding the map and waddles as quickly back out as she can, trusting her Sacred Family to keep her safe from the heat of the flames and the harm of the fire long enough. She'd not forgotten her promise, making her way back toward the main door as quickly as she can.

Ictus winces at the fire and growls a bit as he mutters, "And this is why we should have searched first..." as he moves to grab a sack of crown from under the bed, ignoring the others as he figures the crown would be grabbed first

Meyna doesn't hesitate, she quickly runs a few quick numbers before there's a rush of air and the fire is somethered by quite literally sucking the oxygen out of the area. When the fire's out, the air rushing back in probably sounds interesting and might swirl some dust, ashes and other light things. She looks annoyed at this point and says, "Next time can we not light the damn place on fire? Biggun, whatever your name is, I'm going to resecure the chain and door, can you break it down on our way out? Ari, get a few... anyone you can think of to keep watch on the place. We need to see if we can find a map of the sewers and all of you take anything that isn't bolted down. We'll need to do something about the chemical, don't need a fire spreading to the neighborhood. We won't get paid" and she might feel bad, but that's a different matter.

Once the fire is doused and everyone's out, there's time to look over the party's gains. The papers are badly charred and spoiled, but plenty is still legible. Of particular interest is a section going into exact detail how a riot should be incited in the shanties by "instigators", with the date of operation dated a little while go. Various other "objectives" about Sweetwater are to be "subverted", with "great importance placed on taking advantage of pre-existing conditions", under which someone's made an additional note, "weather". By the looks of it and the dates on some of the documents, the house's occupants were to carry out their goals over the next two weeks or so and clearly weren't intending to return any time soon, which explains the abandoned meal. The wax seals, however, have been melted away from common or obvious recognition.

The map, on the other hand, is less obvious - small circles have been drawn about various points in the countryside and one about Firmament. Their meaning's not immediately apparent, but it's clearly connected with whatever "objectives" were mentioned in the documents.

Meyna slips out last, after one last cursory look around, then she secures the chain and says, "Make a mess of it if you will. The rest of you need to scatter. Take a long way around, don't head straight home. We'll have to go have a chat with the neighbors in a bit I think."

Zevran chuckles as he hears Meyna's comment. "No problem. I've been waiting to break something all night. And the name's Zevran, by the way." He responds to Meyna before moving over to the door. He starts slamming his fists into the door, although he seems to be holding back his strength a bit. After doing some visible damage to the door, he raises both his fists above his head and slams them simultaneously into the door to knock it off its hinges and inward. "Well, that was fun." He remarks, turning and moving over to the rest of the group. He takes a cursory glance over the documents that they managed to pull out of the fire before his eye catches on one with the word "riot" on it. He grabs the document and starts to read it, his expression slowly shifting to one of anger. "Damn it. This must have been how that riot a few days ago was planned. Come to think of it, that chemical that caused the fire smelled like the firebombs used at the riot. Why couldn't we have found this earlier?" He says, his face turning into a scowl and his hands curling into fists. He puts the now slightly wrinkled document back with the others. "Damn it, whoever did this is going to pay. Life in this place is bad enough without some conspiratorial fools exploiting folk." He mutters. It takes him a few moments before he visibly relaxes.

Arimia gently takes the document back from Zevran and tucks it in her cloak. "They will. When we find them. I have some folk to go talk to. I'm sure you all have folk to be chattin' with too." She sets off then and goes to meet with the mouse. She explains what was found, and what happened. Then if any of the others followed her she lowers her voice and whispers something to the mouse, before turning and heading deeper into Shanty Town.

Mirana looks over the documents and the map, taking the map herself and passing it to Ictus, finally letting the disguse drop. She doesn't follow Arimia, nor stick around much. She promised to leave when things were getting rough, so that is what she does, taking off with a bit of Air manipulation and flying back to town.

Ictus blinks as Meyna extinguishes the flames and chuckles, "Nice move." he hmms? at that next and nods at that "Sounds good and don't look at me, I advised against setting off the trap as well." he moves to help with the deciphering of the papers and frowns, "Well... Seems like they have been planning this for a while..." he hmms a bit at the seals but sighs and shakes his head before he nods in agreement with Zevran. He frowns at Ari as she walks off and shrugs a bit before watching Mirana leave, before he wanders off as well

Meyna shakes her head and breaks a pair of windows with the butt of her pistol before hurrying after Arimia. "Hey one sec, need to run a few things past you" Before stepping in step alongside. Ictus's compliment is met with a bit of a shrug, "Not too bad, caught it quick enough. Too big and it'd be a bit harder. Don't... think I did it too cleanly even then though"