Kessel moves to find information on his own, finding a local tavern to see what he can glean:
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"So," Kessel says as they set sail on the river, "I suppose we might now reconsider the history of the Xoltec Empire, the empire was not a myth and now we see these undead hoards are not myths, and I'd imagine the likelihood of these two being unrelated narrows. Perhaps it would be prudent to learn from history rather than dismiss it?"
Kessel will start his bard song. +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls.
Kessel responds to the call, pulling his bow and trying to find high ground from which to shoot from.
The corner of Kessel's mouth twitches at Blake's comments. The bard calmly finishes his drink with a single gulp and stands, pulling coin out for the waitress, and tossing it unceremoniously on the center of the table. "You say you're not interested in history," Kessel says glaring at Blake, "I presented two scenarios explaining how the past may well be relevant here, and you laugh it off spouting utter unfounded, unrelated, nonsense. It may well be that these tales of undead are just that, tales, but should there be any truth I find it worrisome these unnatural creatures should spawn in the very center of a fallen civilization that was once know for such dark magic. I have always found the annals of history hold many lessons about not only the possibilities, limits, and follies of great civilizations but also a greater understanding of people who were part of the making of such civilization. It speaks to the proclivities and very nature of the people who came before us and people don't change, only technology. It's been said that those that don't study history are doomed to repeat it. That is mistakes made then will still be made now if we fail to learn from their example. Now you may well be content to wallow in your own ignorance but learning, sir, is my life's work and I will not sit here and have it mocked. "Gentlemen," Kessel says turning to his other companions, "If you'll excuse me, Magnus, Erick, I find myself wanting to be elsewhere, perhaps we'll speak more on the ship, especially should you find anything at your chapter house. I'd be most interested to hear what they've got to say about these rumors and tales from our destination." Kessel then turns and leaves.
"Well, entirely speculation, but suppose it were mystic artifacts that built that empire, and suppose someone discovered the secrets to whatever arcane relics these ancients were using and repaired them? Suppose these ancient Xoltic rulers weren't destroyed, rather just killed, and now, for whatever reason, they've returned to work their conquest again? The past has a way of coming back to haunt the present."
Kessel thinks for a moment as the others chat, wracking his brain on what he he remembers about Xoltec Empire, but sadly this was not his part of the world, and so only the the strangest tales came from this exotic land.
"I seem to remember hearing tales about this Xoltec Empire, they used undead armies and servants, vast amounts, probably through some sort of relic or artifact, because the empire collapsed in but a single night, they called it the Night of the Bloody Bones if I recall, as their undead creations turned on them." Kessel says, "I wish I could remember more, but local politics is usually a bard's bread and butter, and history from exotic lands is more of a traveling storyteller's gig. Certainly we follow the histories of the world, but usually to explain how our local patron's deeds excel those of distant lands or how his enemies are comparable to villains from some alien land. Undead armies was never much a problem in the Dragon Isles, it a shame too, lots of good rhymes with Xoltic.
"I have been well compensated for my work," Kessel says to the waitress, "And with no home or hearth to which to maintain I have to spend my money on material comforts. I suppose as the others are eating I shall have a dish of the gumbo as well." Kessel pays for his drink and meal, though he clearly dislikes handling coin, but Kessel finds a few extra silvers for the lady serving him. "If it's not the lizzard folk's way, and these stories of undead are, as you say, boojam, what would have been the source of these attacks? Have you heard talk of a 3rd party?"
"I'll have whiskey and water if you have it," Kessel says, giving their new companion Erick a curious look, "Although I'm not as concerned with the grain it's made from, so long as it's been aged a bit. If you don't have any whiskey I'll have what my friend here is having," Kessel says pointing to Magnus, "And, when you have time, we would be very interested in the news of the day. We're sailing up river and you must have stories drifting down to you by now."
Kessel rises from the deck, his white shirt almost gleaming despite the sweat and grime everyone else is covered in, the collar and cuffs ridged despite the humidity. Kessel is a slight man, of about average height, but with large dark penetrating eyes. He strolls over to Magnus with a slight nod. "Sounds like fun," Kessel says, the strangers may well be amazed at how deep and rich his voice is considering his stature, "As much as I enjoy practicing my lute for the ladies I find getting the lay of the land and hearing what the locals have to say is a better and more practical use of my skills. Although I think I'll pass on the pint unless they don't have a suitable drinking whisky."
Kessel leans back, smiling as he strums his lute, he was certainly no dandy like Magnus, but he did like the attention of the ladies. He was no mistral though, he wasn't taking requests, but all the same he was happy to practice his craft for the enjoyment of the young ladies on the boat. Kessel's dark eyes occasionally darted about the boat, finding his companions, noting dangerous looking strangers, and of course, glancing at his companions, noting the things that bards note: the hair, the nape of the neck, the hands . . . stuff bards talk about in their ballads. Certainly there were a lot of words that rhymed with the other name for a chickadee, and that was indeed a prominent feature of a lady that even a gentleman of wealth and refinement might admire, certainly no bard would ever pen the words: "She had beauty and grace, had learning and whits,
A wry little smile crested Kessel's face as he amused himself with his internal rhyming. As a young man Kessel was often amazed and amused by the sure volume of filth he could never put to paper.
Kessel finds a spot on the raft nearer to the center with a bit of cover, and relaxes himself into sleep, they were about to embark on an adventure up stream and there was no knowing when he might get the chance to sleep again.
Kessel leaves with the others but waits till they're away from Petucchio and his daughter before commenting to any remaining memebers of the group. "Things seem bad up river," he notes, "I wouldn't characterize him as desperate, but he did agree to take us for free rather quickly. With luck this will be something that we can put our rather unique set of skills to use on or else we may be stranded upriver or worse."
"It is a generous offer." Kessel says, he hints that he might say more, but he leaves his short statement hang.
Kassel casually strums his lute. "You'll forgive me if I don't give an opinion as to the finances of this particular adventure, I'm afraid I don't have enough information to properly bargain, and as a bard trained for royal service I must say that I still don't quite care for handling money. It's more of a minstrel thing to scrounge and pinch coin, but regardless once this ugly matter of payment is done, I'd like to know what the situation is first hand my lady, as of now we've heard but rumors, and I've often found that first hand accounts are by far more reliable, by which I mean somewhat reliable, certainly some details will be useful, but only something set in stone, or, for the lack of chisels, something put into the strict iambic pentameter and rhyming pattern of a proper verse can keep the details fresh in one's mind."
Kessel says nothing, continuing to strum his lute, but his dark eyes are keenly focused on the conversation in front of him.
"Well if we had a paladin or cleric capable of turning the nasty things I might suggest a different course of action but my abilities are to inspire and befuddle and sadly the mindless hoards of the undead are simply not at all appreciative of music. Perhaps we should have a group meeting and discuss our options?"
"Although," Kessel adds, after musing it over a moment, "I believe I'm better equipped to deal with lizard men then undead hordes, they're a group that might be negotiated with. The problem with undead, especially the shambling mindless sort, is that they're impossible to reason with, have little or no fear, and are relentless. Besides, ruins, ancient civilizations, forgotten lore? These are the things my kind feed on. Civilizations with undead guardians usually have a lot of those secrets "man was not meant to know" floating about, and from my point of view, being a story teller, knowing things I can't share is terribly cruel. I will bow to the consensus of course, but my initial thoughts are for involvement lizard folk." "The only positive I can think of with the undead is that there are more words that rhyme with dead or undead, then rhyme with lizard."
"Well, depending on the geography, it may not be an either or situation."
"We were just talking about potentially going up river," Kessel says, as he takes another sip of his whiskey.
"That depends, how do you feel about traveling up river?" Kessel asks, "Maybe fighting some lizard men? Perhaps an undead hoard, a hoard the likes not seen for nearly 30 years? It would fit the bill of getting out of town for a few days but it could be dangerous." Kessel takes a sip of his whiskey, and then a sip of his water, rolling the two in his mouth to maximize the flavor before swallowing. "I've never been adverse to danger but should we be killed it would make testifying in favor of our client rather difficult. Also, my ballad, I would hate to lose that work." Kessel shrugs as if to say nothing else would really matter.
Kessel moves to the bar, unslings his lute, and begins plucking away at the stings. "Barkeep, whiskey and water please," Kessel says when he has the barman's attention, "and if there's any gossip worth sharing I'll have a taste of that as well."
"There are other worries concerning Three Penny Port, besides the Akkavin weresharks, the pirating, and their spies and gangs of murderers and thugs that we managed to out maneuver before they could abduct us or slaughter us in our sleep: they also have an army of Sahuagin. I shouldn't think a direct assault on the port advisable to retrieve your ship without a considerable fleet backing you up anyways. I doubt you'd be interested in our miraculous escape."
"Seeing as this is a job and not a performance I shall not hold you in suspense, as Magnus has already stated we discovered your ship, but sadly we were not in the position to retrieve it. The house Akkavin has your ship The Green Razor and now it's been renamed The Jade Sunset. It was last seen in Three penny Port. The captain was named Mene Mahalo, perhaps the name means something to you?"
"Something I'd wish we weren't involved in, but it can't be helped, and I knew you had to be warned. We could have skipped town, left you to your fates, but that would have weighed heavily. It's possible that they would have assumed you had nothing to do with this incident, but seeing as we know they've pirated and claimed one boat, with an implication that they may have a fleet of pirated vessels, we decided that we couldn't risk it. "It's your ship and your call captain, I'd advise fleeing port with all haste, but you might stay and we'd have to flee for the safety of the ruins, traveling inland. It would be a gamble for both of us, but I'd think that even house Akkavin wouldn't be so bold as to seize your ship whilst in port. However beware of delays leaving port as it may be a set up for piracy at sea. That is should you stay."
"We have accidentally uncovered a Akkavin plot involving kidnapping, piracy, murder, lycanthropes, and the use of Sahuagin monsters. This port isn't safe. Seeing as they know what ship we arrived on your crew may also now be at risk, for that we can only apologize, I would recommend fleeing port with all haste, but should you decided to ignore our warnings and stay we will need to flee into the ruins because they cannot chance allowing us to live."
"You're in luck, we don't have time to haggle, get our crew and our drugs and we'll give you seven gold. Keep in mind we're in a hurry."
"We're looking to collect our crew, there's a storm brewing and I think we're like to be at sea to try to out run the squall." Kessel pauses, then notes what the man is chewing: "That's Lai root, you pick it or buy it? I've heard that it's good for sea sickness, and seeing as we could be in for a heck of a storm it might be useful to have some."
"I'd have preferred the more glorious route, I am writing a ballad after all, but reefing the ship only to be murdered by Sahuagin marauders is a decidedly less epic twist to the tail, and one I'd prefer not to sing. Especially as Sahuagins aren't known for their music and are unlikely to share the song. I shouldn't mind dying if my music lives on. For this reason alone I think we should consider fleeing."
"Well then we should get to the laugh, or else try to flee town, one or the other. We may convince the captain to flee the port, especially with out knowledge of piracy and the Sahuagin army."
"We're talking the ship for Akkavin business," Kessel whispers as they walk, "We didn't take it sooner because we needed the say so from the local faction heads, I mean only family have that pendant and the very idea that we would have sailed into town and killed one of the local faction heads to get our hands on one is laughable. Clearly we're here for a secret mission. Time is of the essence and Jemerae is scrounging us up some crew that will join us, hopefully, before we cast off, but we may have to leave without them."
"The Green Razor is the ship we were sent to retrieve, whoever has the most silver tongue, take that pendent we took from about Jemerae's neck and use it to bluff past the guards, we may even use it to get the ship cast off from the pier. With luck we may get out of sight before the chase begins in earnest."
"The late council of thugs back in that warehouse were speaking of kidnapping or killing us before we barged in, which suggests that they already are well aware of our arrival and are likely already targeted once the escaped men find the town guard. Even if the two can't remember us, aren't aware of all the details, or cannot give a description of the attackers, this is not a robust town, and so I'd think the local magistrate would simply hang any well armed strangers to be on the safe side. We will need to escape town. We should either try to take the ship tonight, perhaps in the confusion that will happen once our incursion has been discovered, or we will need to find a place outside of town to hide out."
Kessel moves towards the open door, waiting for a front line fighter to take the lead, ready to lend aid if needed.
Kessel will do a quick search of all the bodies in the room before moving onto the next one, he gives the next room a quick scan:
"Agreed," Kessel says, "He knows the boat we're after, unless there's more then one pirated vessel docked on his wharf."
"Better make it quick, there might be another secret exit out of this building, and our guards up might miss one of those two. Unlikely but why take a chance."
"Okay Jemerae," Kessel says pulling his sword, "you win, I was arguing to keep you alive but clearly you're correct, we need to put you down."
"What companions are you talking about? You're the only one from your organization still alive in this warehouse at the moment, but speaking of the death sentence, I believe piracy, grand theft, and in some jurisdictions crimping are capital crimes, that is supposing some of the ship's original crew remain alive, otherwise murder is most certainly on that list. If they're still alive Jerarae I'd suggest you tell us where they are, I'm quickly running out of reasons not to let my companions here simply slit your throat."
"That doesn't sound like the position of a man that wants to walk out of this room alive." Kessel says, "We're not here to fight you believe it or not, we're just standard run of the mill trouble shooters looking for a missing ship. We were going to negotiate for it's release, I mean who's to say how it came to be in your family's possession, but after all that blood shed I'm wondering if negotiating is beyond your type and we just shouldn't take it? Are you Gervas or Jemerae by the way? I've only been in town the one night so I'm not quite as up to date on every member of this local Akkavian operation I'm afraid. Embarrassing I know but we have been under some constraints since we came ashore."
Kessel will continue his bard song as a move action, take a 5ft step diagonally to get a flank, and stab a wereshark.
Just re-posting this as it would have gone off last round when the shark came into bite me. Also, the old rolls for convenience sake were 24 to hit, 5 damage.
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