Another morning beckoned Ambika to drag herself out of the temporary shelter commonly known as an inn as she made her way down to the morning tavern she had agreed to rendezvous with Gerhart at following yesterday's events. Might as well make good use of the stolen coin, after all. Even if willing herself out of the confines of bed was only marginally easier than before she was certain her son was still around in some form.

The hour was on the earlier side of morning, the time when workers would normally gorge themselves in preparation for the long work day. However, something immediately rang alarm bells in Ambika's mind. The place was not as crowded as she would have thought, especially given its large capacity and affordable prices. Perhaps there was something to this phenomenon, but there was not enough information to suss out anything concrete for the time being. Someone's lips were bound to slip something useful, especially in a location like this. Even if time was a luxury neither she nor Gerhart could afford.

For the moment though, there was naught Ambika could attain other than breakfast, and so she did, ordering herself a plate of mixed dumplings alongside a glass of spring water and unfurled the newspaper conveniently placed on the newspaper stand by the inn entrance. Most of the paper was plastered with reports of riots, revolts, rising tensions amongst the miners, smiths, and craftsmen, one could swear this entire newspaper was deliberately designed to get a rise out of people. The rest of the paper would yield little of interest, except perhaps a small list of missing peoples. There will always be missing people in the world, however, so Ambika saw no reason to suspect that it was in fact, a pertinent piece of evidence she ought to have looked into.

SPOILER: Click to show

Chapter Two

Quest Name: Sudden Disappearances
Participants: Two or more
Location: Crescent Isles
Post Requirements: 5 posts per person, 200 words per post
Reward: Ability to take on Part 3, +1 Renown
Description: Having discovered previously for that Grand Chancellor that the Royal Office of Treasure and Commerce on behalf of the Crown, had been causing unrest due to fear that the Crescent Isles mining industry was becoming too strong, he has asked you once more to look into a sudden string of disappearances in Guandao. Over the last week several people from the poorer areas of the Trade City have gone missing, usually young and healthy individuals thus far which is more cause for concern.

You are tasked with investigating where these people might be going and who might be causing these disappearances. Your investigations will lead to a forced labor camp set up by the empire to take some of the Silver and Gold from the nearby Mountains right under the watchful gaze of the lords of Guandao and the Starlight Council.

By the time Ambika makes her way down from her room in the tavern, Gerhart is already through most of his morning breakfast. He is currently caught in a tug of war with Thoman over the T-bone from their shared steak and eggs.

"Come on Thoman, I paid for it! It's only fair I get to chew on it." The ranger protested.

"As a dog, I don't have money. That's an unfair advantage."

Gerhart sighed and let go, "Fine, but I get the next one."

Thoman does not care. He won this battle and immediately goes to town gnawing on the bone. For a moment Gerhart considers wiping his hands clean on the dog but he remembers the manners Cirice had so patiently been teaching him and grabs a napkin instead.

"Someone's off to a slow start this morning." He grinned as Ambika took a seat with her food. "S'fine, already talked with the bar keep about some of the areas in town. Couple of good ideas on where people might be going to and disappearing from.....Port side is an easy check, lots of people moving in and out, warehouse space to hide people, easy to smuggle through if you're careful. Couple of less advantaged places around town, might be some people impacted there that will be willing to talk....though communities like that are usually pretty protective of each other so it might be even more difficult right now."

"I see you have noticed the oddities as well." Ambika ignored the snark directed her way and went straight to the point. "The less advantaged areas would probably be our best bet, even with the odds stacked against us. The more privilege one holds, the more likely they become brazen in their approach. It would not surprise me if we see a kidnapping in broad daylight." Her food would arrive then, and she would help herself to her meal, sliding some of the appropriated coin to Gerhart in case he wanted to order extra food following the sight of him fighting with his dog over steak. She'd wistfully recalled the days when Levania - the family horse Kishan had found injured all the way back when he was but a little pony and the family consisted of only her, Florentio and a three-year-old Kishan - regularly tried to scarf meat not intended for him. Her mind wandered to Levania as she wondered how he was doing before surmising he was likely either dead or really old by horse years. He disappeared alongside Kishan 9 years ago, after all.

Ambika finally noticed her emotions were showing on her face, and swiftly placed the pieces of her mask of neutrality back together as she moved to finish her meal. Memories of times past did not belong in this situation. After breakfast was complete, the two would set out for one of the more impoverished regions in Guandao, one that would stay largely dim until noon neared. Not the best approach, but they would be lucky enough to be rewarded by a kidnapping happening right in front of their eyes with a gang of muscular thugs throwing people into multiple wagons, the sturdy kind used to transport prisoners. One of those wagons would happen to drive against the direction they were heading in, so Ambika took the opportunity to jump[1] to the top of the wagon, landing prone to muffle the noise as best as possible, then securing an anchor over one of the clothed surfaces of the wagon before throwing out the carabiner on the other end of the improvised grappling hook[2] at Gerhart for him to follow, and help him up if he so chooses to take this route.

---

[1]Long Stride

[2]Improvised Engineer: Anchor + Spidersilk Wire + Carabiner

Gerhart put up a hand to refuse the coin, he had enough of his own and unknown to her he had already worked out a deal with the barkeep. Once this was all over, he had plans to come back and help fix some furniture. Even if he made good coin now, he still had the love of doing little odd jobs to get stuff for free.

"I can handle talking to those folks, I have some experience living that kind of life. I have a suspicion people aren't just being yanked off the street. The people behind this are way too clever for that." He smiled as he pushed back from the table to get ready to head out.

"My guess is they are enticing the people away. Doesn't take a whole lot to get someone to follow after you when they have nothing at all, ya know? Ended up in a fair few weird situations taking similar offers."

The ranger wasn't sure just how Ambika would take the revelation of his past life in the slums. He imagined she wouldn't judge him, not that he was worried about it even if she did. It was odd getting used to the fact that people didn't immediately look down on him now. He had clean clothes, regular baths, and equipment that wasn't scavenged off of abandoned battlefields.

He stopped a moment to watch the process with the carts. It was definitely the strangeness they were looking for. People weren't being thrown in chains and tossed into the back of the carts, but none of them seemed happy to be there. Probably a terrible job offer...worse than Gerhart's stint working for Elf Bezos.

Gerhart did not trust his own ability to be so graceful and quiet, but he did trust his ability to cover for Ambika. It's a good idea to approach the carts from above, but anyone catches the wire or her and its game over. Best keep their eyes low then.

He waves down one of the guards as he jogs down the road, "Yoooo, what's happening here?"

The guard raises an eyebrow, "....workforce development program."

"Uh huh, right, not takin' anyone against their will are ya?"

"They are all willing participants."

The sad eyes of some of the people being loaded up seems to point to a different conclusion.

"Can I join?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"We got enough."

"Surely you got room for one more guy."

Gerhart was ready to keep this conversation going for as long as Ambika needed. He wasn't sure what her plan was....which they should probably talk about that more going forward. Little coordination as a treat. But he could keep the guard busy if she wanted to free people or just let her slip inside to sneak along with wherever this caravan is going. He would keep his peripherals open to try and catach any signal from her.

Ambika took Gerhart's words about his experiences well enough. Looks can be deceiving, after all, and she was no stranger to that herself, having performed unsanctioned murders to survive back in her youth. "Very well." She said as she took the coins back.

'Doesn't take a whole lot to get someone to follow after you when they have nothing at all.' Those words struck a chord in Ambika's old heart as she recalled how eerily quickly she slipped back into thievery after leaving for the outside world for the first time, and how she descended further into the criminal world with little to no hesitation if it meant she could survive better. As an aside, Florentio definitely used verbiage along those lines when it came to how he won over the popularity of the masses, even if he had genuinely good intentions. She did little but to nod and follow him out.

Gerhart drawing the attention of the traffickers allowed Ambika some time to consider other options. Getting inside and staying hidden would probably be the best choice, but the caravan near Gerhart seemed pretty full... Well, she could probably bribe someone and take their place instead. She pointed down at the caravan, and then at the direction it was currently pointed at. Freeing the people now would just work against them in the future. Better to see where this goes and get down to business from there.

_"Hello." Ambika whispered into the caravan, loud enough that someone could hear it, but not so loud that too many would. _{"Get out of the caravan and you get 10 Solars each."} Not her money, anyway. In response, a tall Grem with imposing muscles would stand up, causing the caravan platform to shift unsteadily then rebound as he exited, uttering just two words. "I'm out."
Ambika would levitate her promised bribe in front of him and let him grab them before slipping in while their attention was squarely at the Grem. That should earn Gerhart an in as well. The other participants seemed to be surprised at the presence of an old lady, but opted to keep mum and give way for her to sit further inwards. After all, these people largely survived by not asking questions in the first place.

"What the hell?" The guard's attention is pullled by the shifting of the cart and the moving around.

The grem hops down and snorts, "I don't need this gig. You can deal with it or not."

The guard and grem face off for a moment, but the guard eventually backs down. He was one of the few people in this cart that he couldn't easily bully. Something that doesn't go unnoticed by Gerhart. Seems this is as unfair as he thought, they will take whoever they can get but the preference is for people to meek to do anything.

"Looks like you got another spot." Gerhart climbs into the cart without waiting. He hangs onto to the frame and grins towards the guard. "Come on, we are losing sunlight."

Many expletives and a creative use of the Common language spill out of the guard as he gets the caravan moving again. This was all too stupid for him to deal with. He already had a headache, he just wanted to get this transport over with.

The wheels of the wagons started to move again and the draft horses whinnied under the strain of getting things moving. Slowly the group began heading through the towon and towards the outskirts. People inside the wagons remained quiet, looking tired and exhausted. Gerhart settles in to a seat to wait to see where this is going.

He didn't really expect this trip to last much longer than their arrival. The ranger had already begun to brace himself for what they were about to see. He'd worked plenty of jobs like this growing up when he had nothing. The abuse and mistreatment the people were probably faced with wasn't easy to relive.

Eventually, the mining operation starts to come into view. A lot of recent work and digging has been done, hence the call for so many more workers. Many of the workers looked similar to the people they saw in the carts: tired, dejected, and willing to do anything if it meant getting a meal.

Ambika carefully inched towards Gerhart while in the wagon, the other workers giving way while complaining but nowhere near loud enough to give anything away. The ranger was fully armed, after all, and the old lady was imposing in her own way.

"I figured we should work something out before charging in." She started as the mining operation came into view. "Looking at the scale of the operation, it is safe to assume there is a sizable military force in the region." That this could happen on such a scale without having been shut down can only suggest one or two things: either this is secretly state-sanctioned, or an inordinate amount of corruption is involved.

"If I were someone more charismatic, I would suggest fanning and staging a revolt, but alas, that role is beyond me." That would have been Florentio's choice if he were in such a situation, after all. That man could evoke tears out of a stone. But he is not, no matter how much she wished for it.

"Other options would likely be to cause some form of visible disruption and use that as a distraction, be stealthy enough to sneak in to wherever the important information is stored, or play along until an opportunity presents itself. I would prefer not to go with that last option if I have a choice." Ambika continued, mentally preparing herself for what was to come. There were so many ways this could go wrong, up to and including being treated as suspicious the moment the labour camp guards saw them.

"I am open to other options if you have any ideas." She concluded, wanting to hear Gerhart's opinion of the matter as well. It was her prerogative to assume the worst in everything, a life skill inculcated through a litany of unfortunate experiences that befell her in various ways, so she may very well be overthinking matters.

"As much as I would love to rile everyone up, that takes time. I bet we could rally a few people behind us, but they don't have weapons and we don't have time to set up anything....I do like it though. Idea for the back pocket." He grins widely to the woman.

This was sort of a catch-22 situation. No answer was perfect and each one created its own sort of problems. At the end of the day, Gerhart figured they both knew a massive worker rebellion would cause a lot of problems for the area. They had to think of a way to mitigate that.

"I'm honestly surprised we got this far." He laughs a bit. "With how geared up I am....the more discerning guards are probably going to know something's up."

He lets out a sigh and leans back against the wagon to think. What would his dad do? Or....at least what would the heroes in his dad's stories do? Suddenly, he sits up with a big smile.

"How confident are you in sneaking in? I think we can combine a revolt with a big enough distraction...I'm just gonna need a bit of time."

"I would likely not pass muster either," Ambika agreed with Gerhart's assessment. Both of them were too different from everyone else in the wagon, who, thankfully, did not seem inclined to rat them out just yet. That might change once an authority figure appeared.

"Enough to get what we need and leave." Ambika certainly hoped things went as smoothly as the reassurance she tried to give regarding her stealthiness. "I can offer some smoke[1], some flashes[2], and some fire if you need them." She first drew out a glass sphere with charcoal inside. "Glass. Break it and you get what you need." She would then follow with a scroll, one of the battle trophies from the Lunar Rebels who had learned the ways of the Oniwanban for their criminal purposes. "A fire scroll[3]. Can be set and activated remotely, but I will need some kind of signal to do so."

Ambika would hand whatever Gerhart needed, if any, to him as she pulled out yet another scroll[4]. The wagon was slowing down, which meant they were either near the final destination or a checkpoint. She was ready to disappear at a moment's notice as the wagon doors opened, and ready to unleash Gerhart's choice of entry point distraction if that became necessary.

---

[1]Improvisation Engineer: Glass Sphere + Charcoal Powder

[2]Improvisation Engineer: Glass Sphere + Flash Powder

[3]Fire Flower Scroll

[4]Concealment Scroll

"I'll take the fire scroll, you'll know when." He grins and yoinks the scroll before hopping from the cart. Gerhart pops his head in one last time looking to the other workers who have been very confused. "You gang just...stay here."

Time for something incredibly stupid.

Gerhart starts to stroll towards the mining set up with a confident look. He isn't the best performer, but like his dad said sometimes you just have to fake it to make it. Sometimes if you just act like you are supposed to be there, then people assume you are. Confidence is apparently half of the art of lying.

As he heads in the ranger can see just how bad this operation is. The people here are definitely overworked...clear signs of abuse as well. He can imagine these people are being worked to the death with little concern for when they do. These folks were all expendable as far as the guards were concerned.

Big, breakable structures would be the first thing Gerhart looks for. There are plenty of lifts around the place, simple machinery to help move large bits of material. Perfect. Bet they would hate if those things got destroyed.

When he reaches the middle of the labor camp does a guard stop him, "Hey, who are you? You're not one of the regulars."

"Maybe I'm a new regular. Can't become a regular if you don't let me in."

"Who are you with?"

"Who are you with?" Gerhart shot back with a bit of sass.

"All right, guards get this kid. Throw him out of here."

"Now now, don't be rash it would suck if something happened..." He raises his hands with a smirk, lightning sparking off his finger tips. Gerhart suddenly shoots forward like a bolt of lightning.[1] "This.

He slaps a the fire scroll onto a crane-like machine.

"Or this." Darts across again slashing the ropes on another piece of machinery before looking to the guards. "Or you."

He zips forward one last time towards the guards. When he hits the middle of the area between them a small explosion of lightning eminates from his body shocking all of the guards immediately near him.

---

1. Astrid's Valkyrie Strike

Ambika activated the scroll[1] she had on hand as Gerhart exited the wagon, exiting the wagon at the same time as he did to not give away a double shift in weight. Her trained silence[2] would handle the rest as she sauntered right up to the fanciest building in the labour camp, keenly observing the guards' equipment and telltale signs of traps and trying to formulate a plan to get inside.

Then, a loud thunderous boom would echo behind Ambika. Was that what Gerhart meant by 'You'll know when'? A finger snap and the scroll[3] would spontaneously combust, generating a flowery flare which quickly engulfed the entire crane-like machine and causing frantic shouts to erupt all over. She would not waste any time to even confirm what happened, however. No point to a distraction if she herself got distracted in the process. A finely-dressed Sun Elf, likely the officer-in-charge slammed the door open with their bodyguards following behind and yelled at the other guards to follow him to inspect what was going on, not bothering to even lock the door before leaving. Lucky for her, at least, though it only made her all the more wary about the probability of the plan going south as she made her way inside.

Finding the officer's room was a breeze - it was the only room with a specially crafted door that contrasted the rest and on the second floor. Magically enchanted and locked. But of course. Not that it would stop Ambika from breaking in. Carefully shaping a piece of wire to hit the lock mechanism accurately and quickly enough[4], the door would unlock and give way to its secrets. Deftly making her way to the desk, she would grab whatever documents that were not nailed to a surface as the enchantments on the door activated and triggered the building alarm, activating the security golems. She supposed the time for subtlety was over, as she used the final scroll[5] she had with her to blow a hole clean off the wall, then threw a flammable glass sphere[6] to set the place on fire as she jumped down, landing without a sound and without injury[7]. Might as well go all in on chaos at this point.

---

[1]Concealment Scroll

[2]Pass without a trace

[3]Fire Flower Scroll

[4]Lock Pick

[5]Concussion Scroll

[6]Improvisation Engineer: Glass Sphere + Crude Gunpowder + Flash Powder

[7]Cat's Grace

"Man that really has to suck for you...like, does it hurt?" Gerhart looks down at the guards, too paralyzed to do anything for the moment.

He steps over one and heads towards what he can assume is the foreman's tent, the camp was big enough to have two. A sign of just how involved this operation was. Time to rifle through some papers. Thank Ginma he learned how to read, this is so much easier now. Most of this seems to just be shipping manifestos and ledgers. OK letters he gets, numbers are a work in progress, but it seems important nonetheless.

Ah-ha! Letters, these are important probably. Signatures from the council eh? This certainly would be incriminating if given to the right people. Who were those right people?

Time to figure that out later, sounds like Ambika is getting things going pretty intensely out there. Gerhart pokes his head out the tent to see full on chaos happening. All right then.

"Let's go everyone!" He grins and jogs out to start cutting through as many chains as he can.

Those who are not tied up are already running, others are choosing to risk it even while chained. They have caused a good amount of chaos and it seemed like there was little more to do. This place was ruined.

He grins and waves to Ambika, "Ready to skip out? I got some fancy little secrets."

"As do I," Ambika replied. The operation was veritably ruined, though she doubted this was the end of it. People of power rarely let resistance to their brutality go ignored, especially not when it was people under the Crown, or perhaps even the Crown itself. For now, though, it was time to leave and return to civilization. Not as easy as it sounded, given all the chaos and self-interest devouring any sense of rationality but luckily, she would manage to hitch a ride on one of the absconded wagons, likely together with Gerhart, what with his sharp instincts. Just for good measure, though, she threw out a smoke grenade as the wagon began to drive away to cover their escape.

The others who managed to get in exhibited various types of emotions - some were cheering and swearing away at the jerks who tricked them into unfair labour, others wondered what they were going to do from tomorrow onwards, and a few were shriveled up, worried about possible retribution. A sordid reminder that they might have saved some, but perhaps doomed others in equal measure. Nobody could save everyone, after all.

Anyhow, the return to Guandao went relatively peacefully, and eventually the two would sit down and go through the papers they've retrieved from the camp. Between orders, bribes, ledgers, official seals and missives, it was all but confirmed that the Crown was involved in the establishment of that large-scale labour camp. They did well to obfuscate the receivers of said bribes, however, and there would be insufficient evidence to pin down the other party just yet. Regardless, this was quite the bombshell and could cause quite the upheaval should word get out loudly enough. Not that Ambika had any personal interest in any of the political intrigue, but awareness was a necessity at the very least.
"Do you intend on doing anything with this information?" She asked. "Personally, I have no particular inclination one way or another. So they are yours to utilize."

"Hold on....wait....ah Ginma's fuzzy horse ass I should've brought....Hal with." Gerhart takes a hard step then surges forward to catch up with the wagon, coughing his way through the cloud of smoke.[1]

The ranger swelled with a bright, but breathy laugh as they road off. He hung at the doorway, hand outstretched to pull in any few stragglers they could. They got as many people out as they could, Gerhart tried not to let himself get bogged down thinking about those who didn't make it out. There was only so much he could do, he wasn't the storybook hero he dreamed of but he was still doing good.

"Don't spend it all in one place." He smiles and tosses his entire coin purse into the wagon for the survivors to scrounge up.

As he pours over the notes with Ambika Gerhart does something he has almost never done, he frowns. Though it is short lived.

"Ah man, I thought I got something cool, you got the same stuff!" The frown is quickly wiped away with a smirk.

He does pick up a few of the papers to look them over. While still a boy at heart with a lot of boyish charm, he was starting to piece together the more mental aspects of being an adventurer. Everyone else around him was advancing and growing, he couldn't stay stagnant just because he was comfortable being the little guy. Jobs like this had to be taken seriously.

Gerhart rubs the back of his head, "Well....the guy I would normally take this stuff to is kind of dead I think, but my girlfriend might know some of the people at least...point us in some right directions at least."

---

1. Rushing Charge