Day 14 (S9)

The next morning, they began to plan their heist.
Per Kin's recommendation, they established a pattern of behavior over three days.
Alice an Aurelius first went with Kin to buy empty barrels and boxes. They carried a few up the stairs and piled them in the corner of the room.
Rina would go to the Floppy Hat Inn three times a day just for show. In the mornings she would bring the party coffees from the Blackblood coffee shop, mid-afternoon she would help Kin move his barrels up and down, then she would bring them candied mushrooms from the Withershroom Cafe to have for dessert in the evenings.
On the first day, Rina sees the Wizard exit the room as she was taking coffee to the rest of the party. She could briefly see inside the room he was coming out of, but could not see the chest.
"Hey!" he said, "What are you looking at?"
"Oh, nothing" she said, "I just wondered how much better the penthouse is from a regular room - apparently a LOT better" she smiled, then continued up the stairs.

"When I went to the bar last night I heard the Barbarian and Fighter talking - they said that they haven't even seen the chest that the body is in."
"Which means what?" asked Aurelius.
"It means if we steal it they won't know the difference" said Alice.
Rina arrived in time to hear the end of the conversation, "I also saw inside their room" she said, "I didn't see anything important, but now I can Scry in there if needed."

They talked most of the day about the heist, and carried their empty barrels back and forth.

In the evening, Rina got back to the Tunnel inn and wrote in her journal for the evening, then began reading the Bolgroth Book.
She took notes from the book she acquired from the library on The Kingdom of Bolgroth:

Thousands of years ago, when this country was just a wild wasteland, a great conqueror set upon the land. Bolgroth the Conqueror took to the native peoples and creatures with sword and with fire.
His campaign stretched from the western to the eastern end, conquering all of the north side of Kay'Lend, (except for Raracol which he deemed uninhabitable anyway.) A proper warlord he bound and united the people under his banner, a red flag without symbol, simply a bastion of death.
It was a horde of power and influence, culminating in a great capital known as The Blackkeep.
However the kingdom could not exist forever, and eventually Bolgroth the Conquerer passed. He was killed by his sons and daughters who wished to inherent his kingdom.
The fracturing siblings fought and bled over the kingdom, turning it into scraps. Two prominent siblings rose against the rest, the eldest born, and the second born - the first son.
Some claimed that as Princess Asmery, the daughter who was born first, deserved the throne.
Others argued that Prince Ragnar, the second born but eldest son, deserved the throne on merit of him being male, and a proved warrior.
They gathered siblings to their causes, launching campaigns against each other.
The resulting war was bloody, and devastating. The people could not give enough of their blood and food and labor to endure the 15 year long war, known as the War of The Red Dunes. So many bloody battles met together on the fields between what became The Kingdom of Bolgroth and Asmery that the landscape was so salted by the blood content it became a desert.
That desert is now Drysky desert. Eventually the daughter Asmery won the main war, she killed her brother Ragnar and split the kingdom into an East and West side. She took over the West and renamed it Asmery after herself. She gave her youngest brother - who helped her win the war -the Eastern side. He tried to rename it, but after his passing the people never quite gave up the name Bolgroth.
The people hold tight to their history, most have a cruel sense of independence, and look to other kingdoms as having taken their lands and strength. Asmery floods their trade routes, Raracol discovered they could also farm wither, Basta'Thrope' just gained independence across the desert, and Cofamoso avoids trade routes in favor of going through the friendlier Basta'Thrope'.
Currently the kingdom is run by King Garrison Bolgroth, the progeny of Bolgroth the Conquerer.
The country is restless, run by local barons, and years behind on progressive trade routes and public works. It is a shadow of its glory, and worships the memory of Bolgroth the Conquerer and the glory days.
They have a longstanding rivalry with Basta'Thrope', due to the curse of Therianthrope originating from the Kingdom of Bolgroth.
Some scholars believe that Therianthropy was a curse invented to transform Bolgroth the Conquerer's people into more powerful beast people, making himself and his force unstoppable. While he did employ Therianthropes, his human citizens never got used to the new animal people, and after he died the prejudice took over again and Therianthropes were tossed to the wayside.
Roughly 70 years ago the Therianthropes staged a revolution. After gathering themselves across the desert into a less controlled Bolgroth territory, they declared independence. 2 years ago they were granted protections as a nation by Cofamoso, Pennislovica, Raracol, and Ilianga. They are currently negotiating with Asmery but are snagging on issues of the Church of Luminus overreach.
The revolution was less bloody than anticipated, with officials in The Kingdom of Bolgroth screaming to wipe them out, but ultimately King Garrison Bolgroth let them go with relative ease.
Due to this, the people are demanding a stronger king, the kingdom is at unrest, and they are losing money fast.

rina 9, 1

Next: Day 15 (S9)