Side Quest.IV
Calli & Taylan: Recovering The Dragon
While Nightingale and Trevor were preparing for their assault on Eel’s End, Calli and Taylan were meeting at the shop Master Roshi runs, Nabootique, to find out what it is he needs of them. Rumours on the street report that there was an impressive robbery after a high-society party, and that a new exclusive art gallery had opened that was only allowing those of noble birth to visit.
Calli gets to the small store and browses the strange variety of things for sale while she waits. Stationary, hair products, maps to notable places in Korvosa, various trinkets. The air is heavy with sandalwood and aloeswood, and she’s picking through an impressive collection of natural crystals when Taylan appears next to her. Taylan is still wearing the robes from the last time they were together at the party, and she reflexively whistles with a gesture to use one of her cantrips and spruce him up. He smiles as the itching vanishes, and leads the way past some jingling beaded curtains towards a closed door in the back. They hear the sounds of hushed voices whispering frantically (Roshi and possibly a woman?), but when they opened the door Roshi was alone and dropping into lotus position.
“I’m glad you’re both here. I need your help recovering a dragon statue that was stolen from me. I paid to have something brought into town during the riots, but the shipment was attacked. ” He begins. The man smells of alcohol already, in spite of the early hour, but his speech is unaffected.
“Have you reported it?” Calli queries.
“Ah, no, I have to admit it was the Cerulean Society that was assisting me in this. A rival gang known as the Dusters were responsible. The statue is now on display in a new art gallery that’s opened, have you heard about it?”
They nod that they’d heard, and Calli asks again, “Have you tried just explaining to the curator that it belongs to you?”
“She isn’t inclined to return it, as it was her gang that stole it. People think the leader of the Dusters is her Shoanti boyfriend Kynndors Thoc, but it’s Marlessa the Sczarni who really pulls the strings. She’s set up in a townhouse along the border between North Point and The Heights, only allowing nobles to enter. That’s why I needed you, specifically, Calli.”
Calli, in her pink-haired persona, furrows her brows and looks at Taylan with narrowed eyes. He puts his hands up in defense as she exclaims, “How many people know who I am?!”
Master Roshi reassures her that he hasn’t told anyone else, “I have the ability to see the world truthfully as it really is.”
They decide that Taylan would act as her manservant and protector, as it’s known Calliandra isn’t often seen in public without a guard, mostly Nightingale, at her side for years, so it was easily believable. Roshi says he’d be good at being her servant, he was used to being smacked around during training.
Calli looks horrified and reassures Taylan, “I’m not going to hit you!”
“You can, I don’t mind,” he sweetly offers.
Roshi queries, “Do you not discipline your servants? How do you maintain any order?”
“With kindness and respect!”
“And that works for you? Huh.” he continues, “With your connections and Taylan’s skills I think you two can figure this out. In return I’d be willing to owe you a favor, help you train in a skill of interest, or simply pay you for the trouble.”
Taylan eagerly accepts, “A test! Of course, master, we’ll make you proud!”
Seeing his excitement, and remembering the wonderful job he’d done helping her through the birthday party, Calli also accepts the terms. She then talks up how important Taylan’s contribution to their performance at the restaurant had been, and how marvelously he’d assisted, saying that he should already be making him proud.
Roshi, hearing that, stands and moves to the younger man. He takes him by the shoulders and gives a quick but firm, “Well done,” before returning to his spot. Taylan’s eyes shine briefly with the threat of tears. Roshi asks Calli, “How’d I do?”
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Along the way to the gallery Calli had changed clothes and features back into the Calliandra of her previous life, with a broach accented in rainbow ribbons to proclaim her as a follower of Shelyn. Fitting for an art visit. Taylan remains in her brother’s old robes, but is walking with a new energy, still buzzing with pride after being praised by his master. He asks if there will be a cafe, and she promises to buy him a pastry. She gives him a few tips on the types of things he could say when viewing the art.
“And if I don’t like it, I say, ‘it’s shit.’” Taylan offers.
“When people don’t like art they say something like, ‘what an interesting viewpoint the artist had.’”
They approach the two-story dwelling and are stopped by two heavy guards outside the front door. The guards stand up a bit straighter, looking quite self-important, and demand her name. Calli gestures airily at the obvious birthmark across her face and lightly scoffs, “Isn’t it obvious?” The men side-eye each other and with silent agreement decide she passes some unspoken test. “Oh, of course, apologies my lady, please go through,” the one with the patchy beard replies. It’s obvious to Calli they have no idea, but that she’d had the right amount of entitlement to seem like nobility. Taylan bows to them as they pass.
They only go a few steps into the front hall before being accosted by a flamboyant woman doing her very best to cosplay someone important. She greets Calli warmly, thanking “Lady Eudicot” for gracing them with her presence. Taylan bows, and she ignores him.
“Lady Eudicot is my mother, I’m Eudicot-Kallisreavil, but don’t dwell on it. Who do I have the pleasure of meeting?” The woman had, like the guards out front, outted herself as someone who didn’t actually know anything about who was who in society.
The woman introduces herself as the gallery’s curator, this was Marlessa. She provides them with a flute of champagne and hors d'oeuvres, and Taylan bows a few more times as he thanks her. Calliandra makes a point to introduce Taylan as her personal bodyguard for the day, and the woman begrudgingly welcomes him as well. They’re left to wander on their own, and as they take in the building it becomes apparent to Calli that it was done by someone who had no actual taste. It is very clearly a home hastily packed with paintings and statues. It’s gaudy and badly organised, with very little of real value on display. The only notable piece is a dark painting by Salvator Scream depicting a bull goring someone. But it’s also heavily guarded. There’s two more guards in the back garden, a couple patrolling downstairs, and a couple more upstairs. It makes the building feel crowded even before you take into account the handful of other patrons wandering through. Upstairs there’s a locked room that they observe the guards using as a break-room and within they hear the sounds of two dogs. Taylan whispers that they must be released to help guard at night.
Calliandra calls over Marlessa to a generic but pretty painting of flowers in the woods and asks if the gallery has asking prices for the works on display. Marlessa says not at this time, as they’re still getting set up, but possibly in the future. Marlessa then says what they are interested in is taking art on loan to display for noble families who might want to show off their pieces. Calli is saying she’d spread the word to her friends, when they hear someone call out for Marlessa. They head down to watch as a large Shoanti man trailed by a couple of goons begins criticizing her for not paying enough attention to him lately. This marks him out as Kynndors Thoc, and Marlessa drags him off downstairs to put an end to his uncouth display.
It’s in ground floor front room when they finally find what they’re looking for on some shelves still half filled with books. The dragon statue is about two feet tall, an ornately detailed piece, and securely locked behind glass. The room has a large window that faces the street, and the two are quietly discussing possible options for their quest when they notice someone out of place. A woman with large blonde hair is looking around more at the security than the pieces, and Calli confirms to Taylan she doesn’t belong to the nobility. They start to wonder if she’s also casing the joint when the woman clocks she’s being studied and quickly leaves. Taylan and Calli both immediately leave after her, but the woman turns down a nearby alley and vanishes. They see a ladder leading up to the roofs and figure out that if they wanted they could use that to cross over to the skylight in the upstairs bathroom of the art gallery, should they decide on a nocturnal mission.
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The job was feeling very much out of their skillset, and they needed somewhere to talk over their approach. Having promised him a pastry, Calli lead them to a sweet little cafe not too far away and after entering a slightly older man with an impressive but impeccably groomed beard, complete with oiled handlebar mustache calls out, “Welcome Calli! How lovely to see you! Who’s your friend?” Calli introduces Taylan, and then explains that this is the owner, and Nightingale’s father, Adam. Adam reaches out and after a friendly handshake says to him, “You’re a man of the craft. You don’t go to the Acadamae, do you?”
Taylan, impressed he knew right away, explains, “I’m self taught, really. It just comes to me naturally, like it’s in my blood. Master Roshi is helping train me now, though! How’d you know?”
“Oh,” he thinks for a moment, “He runs Nabootique, doesn’t he? Glad to hear it. I’m something of a self-taught man, myself! Though I do need to study to make my magic happen.”
Taylan confirms about Roshi, and Adam asks them, “What can I get you both? On the house! A friend of Calli’s is a friend of mine.”
Taylan is gobsmacked at the generosity, and doesn’t know where to start, so Calli orders for them after confirming Taylan has a sweet tooth. “Mochaccinos, and a few sugary baked goods, please, and of course I’ll pay!”
”Nonsense. I won’t hear of it.” And he returns shortly with their drinks and a three-tired selection of treats. Taylan is beside himself with joy, and tucks in. Adam takes the opportunity to ask Calli, “Where is Nightingale, today?”
“Oh, I’m not entirely sure. He had a few errands to run,” which was only half a lie, “but Taylan is looking out for me.”
“Well let him know I miss him, would you, and that he should swing by to say hello. And how are you getting on with your… studies.”
The way Adam falters at the end said far too much to Calli. He clearly knew that she wasn’t actually at university. She’s briefly mad all over again, but it occurs to her that if they needed to find him and went looking at the school it could have blown up their story, so perhaps it was for the best they were in on the ruse. Still, she’d add it to the list of things he has kept from her. She smiles and says confidently, “Oh, wonderfully! I’m learning so much!” It’s delivered so well that Adam is a bit confused for a moment, and wonders if he’d misunderstood his son. He changes the subject.
“Taylan, what is that interesting amulet you’re wearing?”
Taylan lifts up the white dragon pendant, “I’m not entirely sure. I had it when I was found as a baby, and I’m trying to get more information about it. Do you recognize it?” He passes it to the older man, who inspects it closely.
“I can’t say I know exactly, but here on the back it looks like there are some worn runes carved in to it. Do you mind if I take a rubbing? I can look into them for you, see what I can turn up?”
This is almost too much for the young man. Piles of food, friends, and possibly a lead into his past? Taylan thanks him, and Adam heads into the back again with the amulet.
The two get to planning. If they want to try a mid-day grab, they’d need a distraction big enough to keep everyone’s attention while they nabbed it. Calli could use a Silent Image to make it seem like the statue hadn’t moved and buy them an hour to get away. The drawbacks to that plan were the giant window in the room with the dragon, and needing to get into the locked case without obvious tampering. Neither of them had lock picks, or even knew where to get any. They lament that they didn’t know how to contact The Flame, the thief Taylan had helped subdue at the party a few days back. Taylan suggests they could ask Nightingale, and Calli politely demurs.
The other option was sneaking in at night when the windows would be covered and there’d be less people to avoid, but the biggest worry to that was the pair of dogs they’d heard. They decide they’d need to drug some meat to put the dogs to sleep, neither intending to do lasting harm, and began trying to estimate if chamomile would be enough, when Taylan remembers a conversation he’d had prior with Young Alice at Ruby’s Rest. He noticed a strange bottle in among other makeup and perfumes on her little dressing table, and had asked her what it was for. She’d explained that if a client was too drunk or difficult it was a way to knock them out before any real trouble occurred. When he shares this with Calli, she remembers Portia having said something similar to her. They agree their next stop would be the brothel.
Adam comes out again and passes the amulet back to the younger spellcaster. They exchange friendly goodbyes and depart.
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Even after stopping for Calli to change back into something more suitable to adventuring and looking less like a noble daughter, the pair make good time to Ruby’s without incident as the sun begins to descend. The city was showing signs of returning to life after the troubles of the past two weeks, though the smells in Old Korvosa remained as dire as ever. When they ask Madame Devlin, the wizened matron of The Rest, if she has any spare sleeping draughts she can spare, her reply shocks them.
“What are you lot up to today? I’ve just given some to Nightingale and Trevor maybe an hour past!” The pair share a confused look and admit they’re not working the same job at the moment, so they really couldn’t say. Thankfully she did have some left, and in spite of Calli’s attempts to pay says, “You’ve not used up my goodwill just yet. But you-” and she points at Taylan, her warm face taking on a cold edge, “You need to start paying when you stay with Young Alice. Only the first time was free for protecting us in the riots, and I know you’ve been back multiple times since.”
Taylan nervously pulls the impressive sapphire gifted to him by the youngest Endrin and holds it towards her, “Is this enough?” Madame Devlin’s eyes go wide, but Calli covers it and pushes him to put it away again.
“Taylan, you can do a LOT with that, but you won’t be able to spend it all at once like that.” she warns.
Devlin, through obvious restraint, concurs, “You could potentially buy all of Ruby’s with it.” Seeing how this idea is obviously something of dreams for the naive urchin, she follows up, “But it isn’t for sale. Bring me coins next time you come, or don’t come.” She bids a friendlier farewell to Calli and the two head back across North Point, picking up some juicy cuts to drug along the way. Taylan admits to Calli that Alice just sneaks him in, anyway, so he wasn’t concerned, but if he had to he’d just shove a few coins under Madame Devlin’s door.
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When it’s suitably dark they climb up and sneak across the roof tiles to the skylight, only to find that they were not the first ones there. The window was already open, and a knotted rope hangs down into the bathroom below. They suspect it was the strange woman from earlier, and decide not to look a gift horse in the mouth. They descend, and as they creep through the building pass sleeping dogs next to half-devoured meat and knocked out guards. They make it all the way to the glass case without issue. Taylan pulls out his acid wand to work on the lock, and Calli looks around to keep watch just in time, for sneaking up behind her was a cloaked figure raising a cosh to strike.
Calli simply holds out a hand gesturing for them to stop and explains, “You can take whatever else you want, we just want one thing and we’ll go.”
The figure halts, and pulling down the bandanna over their mouth gives an uncertain, “Calli?” The woman is then recognized as Katrina Brown, the master thief the pair had been talking about earlier that day.
“I suspected it was you, you sneak!” Calli exclaims.
“I thought you recognized me earlier, that’s why I booked it. You say you’re also here to take something? What are you after?”
“This dragon statue, I’ve just burned through the lock!” Taylan answers.
“But that’s what I’m after!”
Taylan and Calli again look at each other in confusion, which seems to be the mood of the day. “But, who hired you?”
“Master Roshi, who hired you?”
“Master Roshi! Why wouldn’t he just have us working together?!” Calli is so baffled by this revelation she forgets the danger of their mission and opens the glass case. Katrina’s eyes sharpen and she begins to ask if they’d checked for traps or alarms at the same time as Taylan reaches in and grabs the statue.
They had not.
Alarms ring through the house, and they begin hearing shouting as guards run up the stairs from below. The Flame bravely stands in the hall, rapier drawn, facing back to where the guards are approaching. Calli employs her Silent Image spell to create an illusion of the lithe thief diving into the next room over and leaving behind an empty hall, where the front door stands. She jerks her head towards it to indicate they should go out that way while the guards are misdirected. Taylan rushes past and begins unbolting the many locks on the sturdy door.
The guards fall for the illusion, a short one shouting, “They’ve gone that way!” and leading the other two after the decoy. Katrina opens the front door, and the three wanting to exit are shocked to see four trying to get in, with the one in front on his knees with a set of lockpicks. “Get them!” the kneeling man shouts. Calli tries diplomacy by offering “You can take what you want, we just want to leave!” but Taylan responds to the threat with some magic missiles directly to their face.
The guards in the back room hear the ruckus and turn to come back through, but are momentarily confused by the empty hall. The short one reaches out his hands tentatively, and they pass through the illusion. “Hey, this is magic!” Calli, directly on the other side, dodges hands that come far too close for comfort. The Flame recognizes something about the thugs outside, grabs Taylan by the shoulder, pulling him back and exclaiming, “Stop fucking around with the Cerulean Society!” and unleashes a giant breath of flame into the men, setting a couple alight, and slamming the door to shut them out again. Calli realises they’ll have to go through the guards and back the way they came, and uses her weight to help shove the little man back into the other two guards still behind him in the doorway next to them. He smells of alcohol, and stumbles into his comrades tangling them all together. She then begins her escape. Taylan also takes off at a run. Behind him, there’s pounding on the front door, and it’s clear it won’t hold long.
The guards seem to have trouble getting organised again, the drunk man blocking the door, and Calli wonders what kind of punishment he’ll receive for drinking on duty to such disastrous effect. Calli gets to the bathroom and waits to shut and lock the door behind the other two when they make it, which they do in moments. Katrina gets up the rope first, this being her bread and butter, and she offers a hand to help the others. Taylan’s robes make climing the rope more complicated, which slows them all, and as they’re beginning their escape across the roof the guards climb out after them.
The guards shout at them to stop, and Taylan glances back in time to see one aiming with a crossbow, when the smaller guard shoots out his hand, palming the weapon to the side and causing him to miss. Taylan recognizes the maneuver, it’s one he’s seen Master Roshi do many times.
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The three get away and make it back to Nabootique unmolested. As they head back towards Roshi’s room, Taylan leading, he hears sounds of quick movement and exertion, and he swears that Master Roshi is still dropping into lotus position as he opens the door. The young man’s sharp mind notices the open window, the discarded guard uniform not quite hidden enough on the bed, and the faintly detectable increase in his master’s breathing. He acts as if he sees nothing and declares the mission a success.
Roshi is delighted, and looks in particular at the two women. “Tell me everything.”
“It was great fun! The art was amazing, although I don’t understand why rich people like wall pictures so much.” Taylan begins recounting details, with Roshi occasionally asking for further description. When The Flame enters the story he asks, “Was there an altercation when you ran into each other? Did you… fight?” He seems disappointed when they say no. When it gets to the point where Calli shoves the guard, Roshi raises his hands to his own chest and asks, “Where did you strike him? Was it… here?” The women side eye each other in response to the increasingly lecherous behavior. At the end of the story the group can’t resist calling him out any longer.
They ask why he didn’t tell them he’d also hired The Flame, saying it would have gone smoother if they’d been able to coordinate. He says the statue was so important to him that he wanted to have contingency plans in case one team didn’t succeed. He says he couldn’t have known they’d hit it at the same time, and then asks again of Katrina and Calli, “and you two were alright? There was no scuffle?”
He looks eagerly again at the women, and Calli spots a magazine with a drawing of two woman wrestling on the cover peeking out from under the bedding. It dawns on all of them exactly what’s happened. The pervert had hoped to see a live demonstration. Calli asks, “No, why did you think there would be?”
“Oh,I heard there had been some tension at the party,” he blusters, “but I’m glad you two have worked it out, of course!”
Taylan surprises Calliandra by also asking, “if you were already in the building pretending to be a guard why didn’t you just take it yourself?”
Master Roshi admits he didn’t think he could do it alone, but that he wanted to be able to help them on the mission, and witness first-hand how his student performed. “And you all succeeded!”
Taylan asks, “Master Roshi, what’s so special about the statue? Why do you need it?”
Roshi looks conspiratorially at him, “It’s part of a quest I’m undertaking, I’m trying to collect a set of special starred balls that will allow me to satisfy a great wish!” He takes the statue and twists the head off, revealing a hidden compartment within. “This really is precious to me, and here’s part of your reward.” He hands Taylan a scroll from within. He explains the scroll would allow him to cast Burning Hands as long as he had it on his person without needing to learn it. Taylan beams with joy, bowing and thanking him. Roshi then pays Katrina the fee she’d asked for, and he asks Calli how she’d prefer her remuneration. Calli says she was interested in what he said about helping her improve her skills. Master Roshi nods, highlighting a couple of issues they’d had on the heist, and saying if she returned for the next couple of days that he’d work with her on them.
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The group departs together, and Katrina tells them both that Master Roshi had insisted she make the steal on this night. Calli mentions the magazine, and Taylan apologizes for his master’s behaviour. “He’s useful, though.” he explains, showing a glimpse of cunning Calli didn’t know he possessed. Taylan was pleased from getting closer to his new friends, and starting to see Calli as the sister he never had. First a dad, now a sister? Things were coming up Taylan!
Taylan takes his leave first, allowing the ladies a chance to speak. They eye each other warily and Calli begrudgingly opens, “Thank you for waiting until after the party.”
“Nightingale insisted upon it.” Calli would remember that. Katrina continues, “Is he seeing anyone?”
Calli makes a conflicted face and thinks about her answer. “He is, but he’s damaged.”
“Who isn’t?”
“Worse than that. His wife was killed about seven years ago, and I don’t think he’s ever recovered. He built this wall around his heart… I don’t know if there’s anything that will ever get through again. But… you should try. It might be good for him.”
The Flame grimaces, “Ahh, he was married? That is rough.” Her face becomes one of wistful resignation. “I do have a weakness for the broken ones.”
Calli’s mouth twitches as she resists a smile. “Just to be clear, I don’t want to like you. I think I do, anyway. How can I contact you if I need to in the future?”
The Flame gives her the name of a pub that she can leave word at and Katrina would find her. Then the redhead departs, vanishing back into the shadows.
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The next day the ever-turning rumor mill had new things to share: Eel’s End had been hit, Darvagos was dead, and three rival thief groups had hit the new gallery on the same night. As a result the gallery was closed indefinitely.
Over the next couple of days Calli returns for lessons with Master Roshi. He helps build upon the shove she’d administered, so that she’d be able to do it again in the future without risking return attacks when she did. He also helps her hone her ability to move about undetected. All of this is accompanied by an obscene amount of hands-on tutelage, increasingly unnecessary. Calliandra had never been so manhandled in all her privileged life. By the end of it her perception had also become a bit keener, for having to be aware of where grabby hands were going at all times became crucial. At the end of it she sought out Taylan and grimly threatened, “It is only out of respect for you that he still has all his fingers.”