conversations: human
conversations:  EverBright 
  
  Midday - spring
  
  
  Johanes paused briefly walking down the crowded street. The bright midday sun hung over head. He leaned over to examine some trinket at random as a cover to check if he was being followed. It was almost a ridiculous precaution, he didn't even remember the last time he had picked up a tail.
  
  The hustle and bustle of the city kept moving on behind him -completely oblivious to the skinwalker.
conversations: Ragnarok'n'Roll:
conversations: human
conversations:  Why hello your eminence, what a  pleasant surprise  too see you out and about. Why I can scarcely wait to see what  wonderfull machinations  you have in store for me….   Johanes regards tho copper coin in the dirt a moment longer.  The Emperor's face stares back, the very picture of dying authority.  He slips it in his pocket and stands, taking a moment to straighten his clothes.    Nor you I, I imagine.  
  
  Today he wears his skin in a darker shade than is usual: the tanned brown of a traveling mercenary, rather a common sight in everbright, these days.  Strange, how quick war can change a demographic.  A sortsword and small shield rattles quietly against his worn leather coverings as he walks.  The street is filthy.  The buildings and people are filthy.  Another few blocks south, and Johanes would be standing in a full blown slum.  Nothing for it though, he had asked the dock guards where an  "ol' merc could get a roof'n bed on the cheap"  and they obliged.
  
  He regards the ratty tavern in front of him:  Lady Inn the Water .  The front door is roughly painted with a lady's arm raising a sword from an overflowing flagon.  It's certainly no adventuring guild, hard as they might be trying, but it's the only two story building on the block, and looks to have rooms to spare.   It'll do  he thinks on his way in.    If there's one place invisible from high society, it's down below their boot heels.  
   
   Spoiler: OOC 
  sorry for the late post.  i was staffing a charity event yesterday and things got Kinda busy.  😳
   
conversations: commander panda:
conversations: human
conversations:  The Inn was a little underwhelming but serviceable. The price was likely right though. The location was far enough away from the docks that the smell of fish didn't cling on everything but far enough from the core of the city to not break the bank.
  
  
   "Welcome to the Lady."  said an unenthusiastic one eyed man. He was balding but seemed pleasant enough. A thick black eye patch covered up a full third of his face. It was clear he believed in bathing at least once per week - Today wasn't that day though.
  
   "How many nights can I sign you up for"  He asked in a hopeful tone.
conversations: Ragnarok'n'Roll:
conversations: human
conversations:  "'Pends on the coin yer askin'." 
  Johanes sticks in the entryway for a moment, making a show of shrugging off and hanging his tattered traveling cloak while he cased the room from the corners of his eyes.  Never enter a room without knowing what, or who, is in it.   
   Spoiler 
  spot check, using an inspiration point to add int [Roll]1d20+5[/Roll]
   
  
  corners checked, the spy strolls across the room and drops heavily on a creaking stool, a few feet down the counter from the innkeepers blind side.   "An' how work is, a'corse. I'm new off tha boat, where's a man gotta go to get a job round here?"  He flicks his majesty's coin across the bar, then follows it up with three more.   "An a drink, while I'm at it."  
   
   Spoiler 
  gathering information as johanes strikes up a conversation. social intuition lets me take 10, and reduces time down to [roll]1d4+1[/roll]x10 minutes.  i'm going to spend another inspiration point to boost my check, so that should be 18 overall.
  
  johanes is fishing mostly for information regarding general military stuff in the city. who has been hiring mercenaries, who runs the city guard, what do people think of this impending war, ect.  he's trying to keep his questions innocuous, though, so if necessary here is a  bluff check (take 10):23 i can roll something else if you want though.
   
  
   
   Spoiler: EDIT OOC 
  whoops😳 i messed up the formatting on the spot roll then accidentally edited the other roll.  sorry about that.  i didn't see the roll before went to the edit screen, though.
  EDITEDIT aaand now neither is working.
   
conversations: commander panda:
conversations: human
conversations:  Spoiler 
  ok, fixing the messed up rolls that just happened
  spot  (1d20+5)[ 21 ] 
  GI time  (1d4+1)[ 2 ]  x10
   
conversations: commander panda:
conversations: human
conversations:  The inn keeper is taken back a moment. He pauses to think.  "Sooo you don't have a job."  he asks rhetorically.  "Be best if you pay up front then." 
  
  The lobby of the Inn also doubled as a dinning room and a tavern. There were 6 tables in the main common room, with a long bench running the perimeter of the room on three sides. There was chubby waitress that looked like she was someone's grandmother. She was busy sopping up some spilt ale at the only occupied table. The three men at the table sipped their drinks and never looked up. There seemed to be nothing remarkable about them, from their rough hands, likely trades people or sailors.
  
  
  A warm ale makes it to Johanes eventually.
  
   "A job eh? " The Innkeeper thinks for a moment. He holds up his new coins and places them in his pocket.  " The city guard is always looking to hire capable people."  He frowns slightly.  "though that also puts you into the military. Not sure someone like you would work well with so many rules and pointless marching. Always marching those poor bastards, even in the rain and snow. Maybe the adventurer's guild based out of the Keep's Inn is more your speed. Lots of people going in and out of that place. Just watch your back - a bunch of sharks and pirates." 
   
   Spoiler 
  
  
  Other information gained over the course of 20 minutes of chit-chat:
  
  -The guards of the city have their own hierarchy. When they are in the city they report to the magistrates. When they are deployed outside of the city they report to a General.
  
  -People are nervous about coming war. The kingdom is stronger than most of its neighbors though and likely isn't in any real danger (or is it?)
   
conversations: Ragnarok'n'Roll:
conversations: human
conversations:  Johanes waves a hand dismissivly at the talk of pay  "Fine. I'm good fer a few days."  He throws back the rest of his drink.  It's refreshing, if nothing else.  Reminds him of flavoured water.  "Corse, you never actually told me yer rates"  The military hierarchy is an intriguing topic, but a random inkeeper likely wouldn't know much of use.  More importantly, a random traveling mercenary likely wouldn't care enough to ask.  That discussion would be for another face in another place.
  
   "Tell ya what: I've slept in my share a watering holes, and I've got a skill for eye'n them up.  I got coin enough for a week in bed, I reckon.  how much? " Johanes stands up and begins patting himself down.  he knowns, of course, exactly where his money pouch is, but the search gives him a chance to reposition himself.  As he pulls out the cheap little purse, johanes leans against the counter with is back to the table of three, placing himself between them and the bartender.  he counts out fourteen small silver disks onto the counter, and slips the pouch away again.
  
  As the man closes his hand over the silver, johanes darts his hand in from the innkeeper's blind spot and caches his sleav. He doesn't  grab  the man  per se , so much as firmly, and silently, advise stillness.   "Make that two rooms."  He looks the man in the eye, all trace of playfulness gone to the wind.  He speaks in a low voice.   "I got a lady friend coming, likes her privacy an keeps her own hours.  Best leave her room alone, yeah?"  From another pocket Johanes brings a small handful of more coins and counts seven onto the countertop before sliding them under the man's palm.  for just a moment the light caches them and reflects the colour of gold.  "Anyone wants us, you leave her out an just send em straight to ol' Micky's room, savvie?" 
   
   Spoiler: ooc 
  diplomacy: [roll0] I'm using my last inspiration point to boost this roll.
  I assume he says the standard daily fare for poor lodgings (2sp/day) but if not, just assume he gave the guy the requested price.
  
  Also, if it's not obvious, Johanes positioned himself that way so no one else in the room could see what was going on.  I can make slight of hand rolls if you want, but they shouldn't be able to see from the table in any case.
   
conversations: commander panda:
conversations: human
conversations:  Spoiler: still ooc 
  my roll crapped out on me again.  bad omens🫤.
   (1d20+16)[ 22 ] 
   
conversations: commander panda:
conversations: human
conversations:  The innkeeper takes your coins and quietly deposits them in his lockbox. He grabs two keys off the wall rack behind him and hands them to 'Micky'. " Savvie"  he says quietly and gives a quick wink with his good eye. Nobody else in the bar seems to notice the transaction or pay it any mind.
  
   
   Spoiler 
  
  
  Normally prices in the city are inflated but this place is kind of run down, 2 sp would be fair.
   
conversations: Ragnarok'n'Roll:
conversations: human
conversations:  Johanes gives a small grin and folds up the number tab on one of the keys.  "My room"  he says, showing it.   "Pleasure do'n business, Mr…."  
  
  A minute later johanes stands in 'Micky's' room, at the rear of the second floor. this room and the one across the hall each came with a heavy cotton blanket, for cool nights (surprising.) both are now rolled up and placed lengthwise on the mattress.  Johanes lays the beds main blanket over the extra two and tucks it in.  The vaguely person shaped lumps wont pass any kind of close inspection, but it should convince anyone looking through the keyhole.  It will be worth a minute of warning, if they try to come in after him.  Johanes unbuttons his shirt to get at the bottomless bag strapped against his stomach.  The shovel he pulls out is mostly for burying corpses, but he doesn't plan to make any yet.  On his way out, he leans the shovel, blade up, against the door and closes it slowly so it doesn't fall.  It won't land loudly, if the door opens, but it will land loudly enough.
  
  Johanes locks up and crosses the hall to his 'lady friend's' room.  'Room' might be a strong word; 'closet' does it better justice. There is a bed, a trunk at it's foot, a lamp on a stool, and a small shuttered window.  With the shutters open, the spy can see a dead end ally filled with  The Lady s trash, looping around to the street.
  
   "Handy"  he mutters, shutting the window.   To business then.  Now that i have this hideaway organized, what is there to do next?   At present, Johanes considers, his most pressing obstacle is a lack of information.  The dossier provided to him before embarking on this mission was frustratingly vague.  He knows who the key factions are in this reagin, and their stakes in the city.  He understands the geographic, political, and economic significance of Everbright.  He now knows that the people of Everbright are on edge, and that military commend is fractured between a single general and a horde of bureaucrats.    A start, but all well known information.  it's time to start putting names and faces too these entities.  
   
   Spoiler 
  He has replenished inspiration, btw.  Ne's taken a minute to organize his thoughts since talking to the innkeeper.
  i'm rolling knowledge nobility/local to see if i already know of any specific influential figures in Everbright.  inspiration points on both.
  knowledge (nobility)  (1d20+9)[ 15 ] 
  knowledge(local)  (1d20+8)[ 9 ] 
  
  also, is there a library or public record house in town?  specifically one associated with the magistrate? knowledge(local)  (1d20+5)[ 15 ] 
   
conversations: commander panda:
conversations: human
conversations:  Spoiler 
  
  
  
  
  There are a few libraries but none are directly related to the magistrates at all. Most of the magistrates are based out of the administrative building at the center of the city in the square (same building the guards are based out of). You vaguely remember the name Magistrate Thorwhal being mentioned someplace or other. Apparently he acts as some sort of judge and low level city administrator. This is all the specifics you seem to be able to call up.
   
conversations: Ragnarok'n'Roll: