Swamped

You wonder if you need to avoid the eyes of the Silent Ones, since, after all, they're not going to talk. And you've dealt with enough slavers to know they usually don't even think about the "merchandise" watching them, so whoever wrote the note might not have thought them worth mentioning.

But you've also used that common oversight against more than a few slavers. Get enough info from the slaves to help you shut them down, boosting your reputation and earning the favor of their rivals in the Guild. Given that, you're wary of relying on it, even with slaves who aren't allowed to talk.

If anything, that fact makes you all the warier. Slaves who talk might let slip some clue of how they feel about this Master; these Silent Ones aren't saying anything, so you can't really tell if they're only obeying him out of fear, or if they actually believe in this "blessed task" nonsense.

As you're thinking about what to make of it, another group comes in. This consists of about five adults and somewhere on the order of thirty young children. What kind of place are you even in?

They all head up to the bar, and the adults make gestures to the bartender. Is this just where the slaves eat? It's surprisingly undersupervised if that's the case, nobody looks like a guard. Not even the ones leading the children around.

Hmm. You wonder if this place has drained all the curiosity out of its children. Because if not, you might just have a way to create a distraction.

All you need to do is "accidentally" drop your whistle near them, and see if anyone picks it up. You do so as they start sitting down, and slip away to watch what happens.

Before long, you hear the shrill sound of your own whistle. You've largely dulled yourself to it by this point, but the Silent Ones have had no such training. They're either covering their ears or staring at the child who blew it.

You quickly glance around to make sure nobody's looking your way, then shove the money under the counter as instructed. Then you sit in a corner and watch.

Someone runs out, and you're a little worried. Maybe they don't know how to deal with this and they're looking for a guard or a priest to sort the mess out. In short, someone who might think to blame you for bringing the thing in the first place.

The kid with the whistle seems to be just holding perfectly still, whistle still in their mouth. You're not sure you can get another distraction that way.

You also notice the bartender grabbing the money, though you try not to let them notice you. You're really curious about what's going on here.

A few minutes later, the bartender comes back out with... What is that?