An EIC Interlude, Part Two
"Who's next on our list?"
"You didn't mark up your own map when you had the documents?"
"...no fair! You only told me 'a major' and 'a hostler'! I don't even know which documents you got them from!"
"Well, I did tell your master that I'd make sure you learned a few lessons, and I sure bet you've got things you'd do differently now, don'cha?"
Eike did not dignify that with a response. A few minutes later that hochlander grunted.
"The hostler. Runs, but does not own, a stables at one of the bigger crossroads up ahead, maybe ten miles."
"...and we're on the little main circuit headed west... Oh! I know where we are! You are thinking of Mister Sabras!"
Eike looked over at him with big eyes.
"There was something about that stables that made the drivers laugh and only tell stories when I couldn't hear, I got scolded once for asking about him when I listened too closely. I've always wondered what it was about!"
The hochlander hesitated. He certainly felt as if he were stepping into a trap. He couldn't just ask her about it if it was what it sounded like. And he really didn't want to debrief her after sending her to infiltrate either...
Maybe he should do the in person investigating this time.
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Eike spent her time at the drinking house kitty corner to the stables at the crossroads. There was actually a third building there as well- a quiet bunkhouse away from the drinking- but she found good company with cold (small) beers. It was late afternoon, before any of the travelers that would stay the night arrived, and so a group of bored women (from not very much older than her to much older than her) swept her up in their conversation, killing time until they worked. It was a very enlightening few hours for Eike, confirming a few things and surprising her with a lot more. It was also the first time she got to share some of Shaylla's more particular methods against diseases, and she felt a bit proud of that.
"So they arrange to pass through, but they don't...?"
"Don't sign in at the inn because they aren't staying, they just 'change horses' at the stables. Yep, you got it!"
It was about then that the hochlander opened the door and meet her eyes, jerking his head to tell her they were done. She could see he was already blushing, and it got worse when he saw who she was talking to. So she said her goodbyes and accepted well-wishes, then trotted up to him grinning brightly. Innocently.
"Not our guy?"
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"...and so apparently it works out really well for the women, actually, because the hostler wants to be able to claim ignorance to the owners so he just lets the extra rooms in the old hayloft for a few silver an hour no questions asked, and that means they get to set their own rates and be choosey about their clients! So it's apparently a lot better than some of the towns, I mean they didn't tell me very much- but from how much they said they paid and how often he should have a second mansion hidden somewhere around here, should we go looking just in case?"
"...please stop. I'll ask you in the future, I promise..."
"Are you going to say the words?"
The hochlander sighed. Eike smirked. Let it never be said she wasn't petty sometimes.
"There are things I would do differently knowing the things I know now."
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"So..... What can you tell me about our third potential?"
"You were the one who had the documents."
"...you suck."
The hochlander chuckled.
"The Baronette Swallowvale formerly held the first major toll point after the crossroads as it bends back towards the river. He currently holds a small keep on a knoll overlooking the water, and title over a nearby, and has been seen little in public since his reduction in circumstances. The village has a warf where river craft frequently overnight.
"His known haunts include the Golden Drake, a local gambling establishment of some repute, Three Blue Grapes, a similar establishment, and the local docks where he seems to speculate on cargos in the hope of regaining his fortune. Lack of coin has seen his debts called in twice at the Golden Drake, which he met via an auction of goods levied from his village and gleaned from his speculation."
"You suck So Much."
"And now that you know, would you have done anything differently?"
"I would have made up some stupid things about him and let you be insufferably smug as you spilled it all correcting me?"
"Would it have worked?"
"...yes?"
"Well then. You now have another tool, because the 'stupid thing' you would have made up could be used to misdirect me in certain useful ways."
"...you suck SO MUCH."
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The two of them made good time, and arrived at the bustling not-quite-town mid evening. A quick survey gave them three gambling houses, two inns, four taverns, and eight ships tied up at the docks.
First things being first, they acquired lodging at the lesser of the two inns, and spent dinner talking and laughing and building the image of a father-daughter pair in from the countryside, him a hunter and she learning her letters to be a scribe.
The conversation on the paper they passed between them was, however, vastly different than a listener might have imagined.
-I want to delay going after the Baronette for a day, there are too many other moving pieces here. Are the gambling houses in on it? How do the money and goods move, exactly?-
-Can I investigate the gambling houses? I have a few ideas.-
-I would prefer tracking. Can you do this safely, without backup? I'll need to be away from the town and your master would murder me if I wasn't here when something happens.-
There was a long pause in both the conversation and the sritching quills as 'the daughter' hesitated, then started 'puzzling it out'.
-I think I can. I just want to see their records on how the auction for the levied goods was set up, not get near their money or records of money. There's only so much space in highly secured places, so they probably have those in a place I can get into and out of unnoticed.-
"Good work! It looks like you got it!"
"Awww, thanks pops!"
-Fine. We scout tonight together. Plan on being solo for infiltration. Your secondary objectives are to see where the goods were levied from and to identify the real owners of the Golden Drake-
-Real?-
-They pay their taxes, but under the name of a dead man. Sometimes it's a good faith failure to update all the records. Sometimes it's not. No one usually makes a fuss as long as they pay.-
-So you think it really might be our guy this time?-
-Only if we can find proof.-
The conversation drifted, and the lesson came to an end. The two bid the innkeeper good night, and trooped off to their room. A quick turn of the bolt, change of clothes, and drop out of a second story window, and a strutting merchant followed by a scurrying young scribe headed out for a night on the town.
This began, naturally enough, with gambling.
The hochlander was expansive, large gestures and a booming laugh. The scribe was nearer a boy than a man, hurrying in his master's shadow, settling tabs and buying chits. Between the two of them, every inch of the inside was marked, entrances and exits and staff patterns noted, and a minor sum was lost at the tables.
"Ah! Enough! Time for the proper drinking!" The merchant boomed, and exited grandly.
"Ah, excuse me, I thought I heard the stables were around back? Yes? Thank you." The scribe murmured to a server, and slipped out the door.
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Eike woke to the sunrise, and a note on her bedside table.
-Gone till sundown. Meet me at point 7, or 12 if compromised. Don't mess up.-
She sighed. No backup, no audience, no plan. Well, it was time to fix that last one at least.
She was betting on three things:
First, that the counting house portion of the casino would open a few hours before the front doors, to get everything in order.
Second, that they were too cheap to pay for full security before the front doors opened.
Third, that her getting to the archives without getting seen would allow her time inside.
So she just needed to fill in the gaps. Where she could enter, when the best time was, who was going to be there, little things best done afoot.
