Wine, Danger, and Song

Posted on 05 Feb 2022 @ 12:14am by Mage Kalian Winter & Warrior Martin Josceran & Warrior Rhiannon Cadash & Warrior Katya Charbonnet (Shar-bon-ay) & Rogue Elinowy Ursulas

2,594 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Summerday La Fête
Location: Jader
Timeline: Cloudreach 25th

OOC: Continued from post "In Vino Veritas"

Here they were again, thought Kalian. Martin, Elinowy, Rhiannon, and himself, in the thick of it. Except this time, instead of being stuck in a silverite mine with a bunch of enslaved miners, they were standing in the middle of a huge Chantry party, near the privies. And this time Martin was getting chewed out by other guardsmen before they saved the day. Well, Kalian hoped that'd be the outcome.

Whilst Martin talked to the other two guards, Kalian knelt next to Rhiannon, put an arm around her waist, and whispered into her ear. "I think we need to sneak into that warehouse tonight, and see if these wine bottles were part of the shipment the Night's Kiss transported for Carlos Acerbi. And, uh… I think we ought to mention it to Martin and Elinowy. What do you think?"

Rhiannon felt Kalian's arm slip around her waist. It felt comfortable. His breath against hers ear as he whispered brought a smile to her face. She gave a small nod as she turned enough to whisper back. "I think that we should as well. As for letting Martin and Elinowy know, I would suggest we be careful in how it is approached. Yes they should know but not here."

Kalian nodded gravely. "You're right, of course. It's probably just a coincidence, but it would sooth my conscience to be sure."

Whilst the guards and their helpers were busy, Jerard took Elinowy's hand. "Thank you, Sister, for the comfort of your words and song." His speech was only slightly slurred, and Holy Andraste, that flaming red hair, those lovely blue eyes… usually Jerard would not be so bold as to proposition a Chantry sister, but the liquor the dwarf had given him had a bolstering effect, and it was Summerday festival after all. "Perhaps you would accompany me back to my home, and uh, console me there?"

Elinowy gave the poor man a kindly smile and a light embrace. "Seek the Maker's blessings. The Chantry is always open to all who need comfort. I will mention you in my prayers in the fading of the day's light. Peace with you my brother.". she said as she broke the embrace and held the man's forearms compassionately. Giving him another smile, she walked over to join her companions.

Once Martin and Elinowy were both free to converse privately, Kalian held Rhiannon's hand, and addressed Martin and Elinowy with his voice pitched only to be heard by their group of four. "Rhiannon and I have some information that may or may not be related to these bottles of wine." Since it involved the Night's Kiss, Kalian left it to Rhiannon to explain.

Rhi looked to Kalian then to both Martin and Elinowy. She motioned to move more off to the side away from others who could over hear. Once there she spoke softly. "My mother was contracted to pick up a few cases of wine from Val Royal and bring them here just before the festivities."

"Not that there's necessarily a connection," added Kalian, reluctant to suggest Rhiannon's people might be doing anything illegal. "Many merchants and other people in Jader would be ordering special shipments of wine for the festivities. All the same, Rhi and I think we should verify those aren't the same wine bottles."

Well, that was so flimsy a lead as to be almost meaningless. As Kalian had pointed out, wine shipments for the summerday festival were hardly out of the ordinary. On the other hand... Rhiannon had dropped enough hints about her activities as to suggest they were not always in perfect compliance with the law. Someone who hired her crew might do so because they trusted she would be discreet about it... but that still wasn't much to go on.

"Can't hurt to check, I suppose." Martin paused, thoughtful. "Actually, I might ask the harbourmaster for a list of all the wine shipments that came in recently. That should include a specific list of the contents of each shipment."

A human woman in the crowd caught Kalian's attention, not because she was tall, blonde, and beautiful, but because her gaze was fixed on Martin and himself with an expression of recognition and she was headed toward them. Kalian recalled meeting her for the first time at the Jader orphanage – both of them had been helping out there during the Blight when the city struggled to handle the surge of Fereldan refugees. "Katya! It's good to see you."

The warrior smiled. "Hello Kalian! Martin! How are you? It's been a while Kalian! How are you? Enjoying the Summerday Fete?" The tall blonde regarded her friend. Well since Katya was an orphan herself and had grown up in the orphanage, it was a pleasure to help the kids. Kalian had made a favorable impression on both Katya and Miss Caroline the woman who ran the orphanage.

Kalian raised an eyebrow at Martin, unaware that he also knew Katya, but given her history with the Jader guard, it wasn't that surprising. Kalian said, "Katya, I'd like you to meet Rhiannon and Elinowy," and gestured to each of the women in turn.

Katya bowed, "Ladies, a pleasure! Any friend of Kalian is a friend of mine."

Rhi looked the tall blonde up and down. She could definitely tell that she was a warrior. Rhi watched this Katya closely as the woman she had approached and how she talked to Kalian. Not sure what to think when Katya bowed, it was when the woman that any friend of Kalian is a friend of hers, Rhi relaxed a little. Rhi was about to respond when she heard a commotion over where the guards had gone with the body.

The scarlet clad sister bowed her head in greeting. "A friend of Kalian is indeed a freind of mine. May the Maker's grace be upon you. I am Sister Elinowy Ursulas."

Martin glanced at the newcomer. She looked vaguely familiar, but it wasn't until Kalian called her name that he remembered meeting her at the orphanage. Katya something or other, he couldn't remember if she'd ever shared her last name, but he did remember her as a reliable and hard worker.

"Greetings Katya, I - " he didn't get the chance to finish his sentence.

Before introductions were completed, they were interrupted by a commotion in the direction the two guards had gone with the body.

The crowd was abruptly stilled by the booming voice of Guard Captain Landry, disrupting all conversations in their vicinity. "Guardsman Josceran, report!" Kalian turned with the others to watch her approach.

In a glacial tone Kalian might have sworn left frost on his eyebrows, the woman spoke to Martin, "I see you failed to learn your lesson, Guardsman Josceran. Once again I find you conducting guard business by conspiring with vigilantes. The same miscreants you associated with the last time you were in dereliction of duty." She glared at Martin's companions in turn - the Chantry sister, the supposed dwarven businesswoman, and… she didn't recognize the dark-skinned human, but he fit the description given by some witnesses from the mine. Her eyes narrowed to see the tall blonde guard-turned-mercenary. "You four, mind yourselves or I'll have you thrown in jail. Martin, return to the guard station with me. Immediately." She gestured for Martin to precede her, leaving him no choice but to comply.

Rhi had watched as the Captain of the guard came into view. The woman was definitely one that you could not miss. Not only was she an imposing individual, her voice carried. What irritated Rhi the most though was how she looked at the four of them. With Rhi this response came naturally. "Oh, aye captain."

"Good to see you too Captain!" Katya said sarcastically.

Kalian watched his friend's exit worriedly. If he didn't know better, he might think all this attention Landry gave Martin suggested she had taken a special interest in him. "Uh, that can't be good."

"It isn't! People wonder why I left the guard! That woman and I use the term quite loosely in the Captain's case, has no sense of humor whatsoever. I swear she lives to make other people's lives miserable! She has no idea what being a woman means. None at all! She seems to think she has to be like a man to be captain of the guard." Katya said. "So Kalian, what is going on?"

Rhi shook her head slightly as Martin headed off with the Captain. She heard Katya's opinion on the woman and gave a nod. "I know how and have dealt with women like her. Though I do not think that it would help Martin if I were to get involved." There was a slight pause as a very mischievous grin crossed her face, her crimson eyes shown brightly as she let out a rough giggle. "No, I will leave at alone."

Katya smiled. "I have a feeling we are going to get along rather well Rhiannon! Yes, better to leave it alone at this point! I do not envy Martin though!"

Answering Katya's question, Kalian said, "What is going on here is that a man died, probably from drinking poisoned wine. His friend said he bought it from some elves wandering around the festival. We found a second bottle - the label is distinctive - but it only made the woman who drank from it sick, seems that she didn't drink enough to kill her."

Rhi looked up it Kalian andngave a nod. "If it is one of the poisons that I know of, them she should count herself lucky that all that happened was her getting sick."

Elinowy listened carefully to the discussion of her companions and the guard. She had not witnessed anything they reported, but if someone, elves, were passing tainted wine at the Festival of Andraste's beautification before the Maker, it needed to be stopped to protect the innocent and the honor of Andraste.

Kalian looked in the direction Martin and Landry had gone. "I'm sure he'll be all right. Probably the worst Landry can do to Martin is fire him." Trouble was, Kalian knew how important the Jader Guard was to Martin, that would be an awful outcome for Kalian's friend. "I don't think we're going to find any more of those wine bottles among the Summerday revelers today. And if we're seen going around asking about them, that could get Martin in more trouble."

He looked at each of the three women as if to ask what shall we do now?

"Well at least she didn't die. Still. did the woman say where she got the bottle from?" Katya said.

"True, she didn't die. As sick as she got though, she probably felt like she was going to." This said with a bit of a giggle. Looking to Kalian, Rhi gave a nod. "I agree. We should let the guard handle it from here. Though I ever happen to come across any of it, we should procure the bottle as quickly as possible." Her tone was of one stating a forgone conclusion.

"Certainly we do not wish to cause more trouble for Martin, but it is our imperative to protect the innocent. If some diabolical Dalish plot is afoot, we need to bring it to light. We succeeded in undoing the powers of greed and evil before, I feel the Maker would bless our continuing that mission." Elinowy responded, looking at her companions.

"I agree with Elinowy! I don't want to cause trouble for Martin either. He's a good guy. However, I feel we must look into this. I believe the poisoning is intentional and we have a duty to stop it before they strike again!" Katya said.

Kalian regarded Elinowy with a worried frown. Raising accusations toward the elven population among an inebriated throng of mostly humans was exactly the sort of thinking that could initiate a slaughter in the alienage. "Martin rightly decided we must not incite a panic by raising a public outcry. There are two victims - the miller's companion for the evening, and the perfumer. The poisonings seem random to me. Plus, Martin, Rhiannon, and I have been looking for more bottles of the stuff, and so far-"

A young human man barged into their mist then, dressed in the modest clothing of a junior craftsman, a fancy sword at his side. Kalian guessed him to be apprenticed to one of the skilled smiths in town. The man drank from one of the notorious wine bottles in his left hand, tipped back to drain the last drops. Another of the bottles was grasped in his right hand - still corked. The smith's apprentice appeared perfectly healthy, though drunk. He swallowed and said, "Heard you was lookin' ta buy a bottle of this wine. Don't blame ya, tis good stuff. You want this other bottle, it'll cost ya two crowns."

Rhi gave Kalian a nod. "No trouble for Martin." She was about to continue a young man came into their mists. He was holding two of the bottles that they were looking for. One was full and the other it seemed he was just emptying. She looked at the others when then to the man. "Two crowns you say. I think I can handle that." She digs out two crowns. She holds out her hand for the bottle as she has the two crowns in her other. "Bottle first, then the crowns." She gave the man a warm yet confident no nonsense smile.

Katya smiled. Rhiannon beat her to the punch so to speak. She was going to pay the man but Rhi did it first. She liked the dwarven Woman. Kalian had assembled a good team of friends. She was looking forward to getting to know them better and going on this adventure with them. She wanted to know what was going on. She had a strong suspicion this poisoning was deliberate, but they couldn't say for sure right now.

"That inflated price better include the empty bottle," added Kalian. A bottle that clearly was not poisoned could also be a valuable clue. "Who sold you this wine?"

The young man handed the unopened bottle to Rhiannon and held out his hand for the two crowns. Then he pushed the empty bottle toward Kalian and shrugged. "Some elves. Didn't introduce themselves. I uh… heard them talking to a pair of elf women, selling the last two bottles. So that right there is the last bottle. Hope you enjoy it."

Kalian watched the man walk away, then regarded the three women. "I think we should go to the Raven's Roost, have a beer, and figure out what to do next." His gaze lingered on Rhiannon and he gave her a regretful smile. It seemed the romantic evening he'd been planning would be delayed, at least temporarily.

Rhi had noticed Kalians look of regret. She shook her head slightly as if to say, no not regrets. Her warm yet some how very mischievous smile said as much. "Two the Roost it is." She moved to take Kalians hand in hers, "It shouldn't take long to favored it what our next move is." She squeezes his hand as she looks up at Kalian. Her eyes sparkling red in the sun light. "There is plenty of time."

"Well, since you twisted my arm. Let's go!" Katya said with a big grin

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