CH. 01 - Crane's Angels

[GravityEmblem]

April sighs and shakes her head. She begins wondering if she should have volunteered for this mission. She was a talented fighter, but the few people who really knew her would hardly call her a “creative thinker.” Without saying goodbye, she exits the shop, keeping a sharp eye out for the Dwarf. The fact that he checked out of his inn indicated that he was planning to leave town today. She resolves to search for him by the city gates.

[Daos]

Poppy pays for her drink and then quickly looks back to the scene behind her.  She witnesses the human who mentioned the bald dwarf suddenly turn around and walk out.  A few moments later, the drow woman gets up and walks out after her.

Meanwhile, April stepped outside and considered her options.  The garden of Si'ahl had three main gates, and its port.  The gates were to the north, in the direction of Noisy Waters; to the east, toward the Cascade Mountains (and beyond that, the Riverdom) and to the south toward the Belar Habitat.  Then of course, there was the harbor on the garden's western side, which led into the bay and eventually, the ocean.  Someone looking to flee the garden could conceivably take any of these paths.

[HorizonsDream]

Kalinda watches April walk out. "That was abrupt," she comments.

[Daos]

Starbuck does not answer Kalinda, as she is next in line now that Poppy is done, and she hurries to the counter.  She grabs a nearby barstool and pushes it over, scraping against the floor, and then climbs up on top of it so she's closer to eye-level with the barista.  "One coffee, please!" she says, nearly vibrating right off the barstool.

The dragonborn looks down at her and snorts.  "I think you've had enough, miss."

Without any warning, Starbuck suddenly leaps across the bar, grabbing his apron and jerking his face toward hers.  "I'LL TELL YOU WHEN I'VE HAD ENOUGH!"

"Alright, alright, geez," the dragonborn says, prying her shaking hands off of him.  "One coffee, yeesh."  He goes about brewing the cup, muttering to himself about how much he hates these festivals and how he should be running the place.  Once he hands it over, she pays for it, gulps it down immediately, then hops off the barstool and dashes at full speed outside.

"Next!" the dragonborn says, looking to Kalinda.

[GravityEmblem]

April decides to check the ports, first. That would be the easiest to check--the criminal wouldn't be able to escape that way without charting a boat, first.

[Matt4]

"Thanks for the coffee, dude! And... Good luck!" - Poppy says to the bartender, tipping an invisible hat and going out while glancing at the little addict slurping on her coffee.
She gave one last look at the other drow woman in the bar as she wondered if she was somehow involved, but Penelope quickly decided that she seemed oblivious enough to what just happened.

As she came out of the Siren's Song, she streched her muscles and sipped on her drink, as her eyes darted across the place, looking for the human and the drow.

[Daos]

April
April makes her way through the garden toward the western side, where the docks are, all the while keeping her eyes peeled for any bald dwarves or suspicious characters in general.

The harbor is massive, large enough for dozens if not scores of ships.  Si'ahl is one of the most popular ports in all of Cascadia, with people regularly coming and going even on non-festival days.  Currently, the harbor is full of various ships of multiple designs--most are of the sleek, Cascadian build but there are a few Kanatan, Gullfolk and Siyouan ships, as well as even one or two of designs that April doesn't even recognize.

Sailors and dock workers walk to and fro, going about their business, as ships are loaded or unloaded (depending on whether they just arrived or are about to depart) with cargo.  April notices a handful of sailors talking to someone they refer to as 'harbormaster,' a grizzled looking high elf in a long dark jacket, with a tricorn hat.

"What are these ships you've claimed to see?" asks the harbormaster.  "Ravenite?  Celestial?"

"No, these ships were way larger and not like anything we've ever seen before," answers one of the sailors.  "And they were far out to sea, way further than any of our ships would dare go out, not even those fancy Celestial vessels even."

The harbormaster chuckles.  "I think you lads need to lay off the grog for a bit."

Poppy
Stepping outside of the cafe, Poppy looks around, trying to identify the human and the drow among the crowds.  She sees the human heading westward, toward the harbor.  The drow, meanwhile, seems to be following but then abruptly turns down an alley to the north and vanishes from sight.

[HorizonsDream]

"I'll have the caramel mocha," Kalinda says the moment she steps up to the counter. It wasn't her typical order, but at least she was decisive in what she wanted. "You're going to make it through today, Aceber," she adds after she makes her order and steps to the side to then wait for said order.

[Daos]

Acebar grunts and says, "Unless I kill someone first."  He makes the drink for her and hands it over.  "It's on me.  And thanks," he adds.

[GravityEmblem]

April consider’s the rumors for a second, wondering if the sailors were correct and what that would mean. But she soon puts the thought out of her mind, focusing on her mission. She approaches the harbormaster and explains her mission to him. “Has this Dwarf charted a ship out of the garden?” she asks.

[Daos]

"Nobody can charter a ship here without going through me, and nobody fitting that description has so far," the harbormaster answers.  "I can put out the word to the harbor guards to keep an eye out for this fellow, if you want, and detain him if he does show up."

[HorizonsDream]

"Thanks," Kalinda says as she takes her coffee and walks off. She tries to find a place to sit down in the crowded coffee shop.

[Matt4]

From what she heard, the human had no idea where to find the dwarf, maybe the drow knew something instead.

Swiftly, Poppy tries to catch up to the woman checking the alley she went in.

[GravityEmblem]

April thanks the harbormaster and heads to the eastern gate. The Riverdom would be a good place for a fugitive from justice to run to.

[Daos]

Kalinda
Looking around, Kalinda doesn't see any empty tables, but she does find one with an empty chair she can sit in.  The table in question has two elderly women sitting there, in the middle of a conversation.

"I'm telling you, it's true," says the first woman, an old sea elf with long, braided white hair.  "The Riverdom chieftainess makes routine trips into the Feywild, they say.  Likely she's completely in cahoots with them.  She's unpredictable and dangerous.  I can't believe our so called Supervisor bends the knee to her."

"He just pays tribute," says the second woman, a geriatric lightfoot halfling with her grey hair put up in a complicated beehive.  "If it keeps those barbarians from storming the gates, I take it as a good thing."

"Crane is weak; he's a man, after all.  This never would have happened when his grandmother was still in charge.  Ah, now Supervisor Raine, she was a leader!  She'd have done something about all the little heretics running around here.  And she would have stand up to the Riverdom, put them in their place.  Ah, I still remember some forty years ago when she sat on the throne.  I was but a young woman back then, but I remember it like yesterday.  Her death was the saddest day of my life, and for this land."

"Well, Crane is getting on himself in years.  What is he, like in his sixties?  And no heir," the halfling says.  "So soon enough things will fall back to his sister."

"His sister is no spring chicken herself, and her only child is the supervisor of Blue Glacier.  So soon enough, we'll all lose our independence and have to be ruled by someone who isn't even part of the Freewaters dynasty.  I'm telling you, it's the beginning of the end for us.  On top of that, not to mention the Ravenite raids, the strange corruption said to be blighting the wilderness and I've heard talk those Vengeful Mother fanatics are on the rise again," the sea elf laments.

The halfling nods.  "True enough.  This generation just doesn't have what it takes any more.  They grew up never knowing what it was like when the empire was still intact."

Poppy
Poppy steps into the alley, finding it dark, damp and narrow.  She sees the drow walking down it.  When she reaches the half-way point or so, however, she stops and seems to concentrate.  The drow then begins to float slightly off the ground, and levitates straight up to the top of the building on the right, then steps off onto the roof, vanishing from sight.

April
April makes her way to the eastern gate of the garden.  There's far less foot traffic here, and far more guards are stationed here, keeping a look out for any dangers that might try to breach the garden, whether it be wild animals or monsters, bandits or foreign armies.  For now, though, things seem at peace.  She doesn't see a bald dwarf anywhere, but she does spot a child crying.  The boy, perhaps 5 or 6 years of age, is a stout halfling with curly black hair and is standing alone, crying, looking at all the passing people as if searching for someone.