As you head to North Bridge you're joined by Majenko, who flies up to you from the direction of the light.
"I was out when the noise started," he communicates with you as he lands on Baer's shoulder. "There's some kind of ship, and it's attacking Korvosa!"
When you arrive at North Bridge, you see the gate to the bridge is closed. There's quite a gathering of people in front of the gates. You hear a couple of guards make the following announcement: "The city's under attack! No one's allowed to go in or out!"
While you stand near North Gate you notice the sound of trebuchets being fired stops.
Mavor nudges Baer in the side and points towards the north-west.
"I'm guessing the Old Korvosa Bridge might also be closed as of now, but I recall from my time as street urchin that there smugglers close to there that have their own 'docks'. We might get a closer look from there on to see what's happening."
He looks at the others one by one if they heard what he said and motions them to follow him.
Baer nods to Mavor.
"If there isn't anything we can do, there ain't nothing we can do. This is a military matter, clearly," Baer grumps, but still follows the half-orc to the other side.
"Majenko, can you tell us anything about the ship? What kind of maniac would attack with just one ship?"
This is a military matter, clearly,
"Certainly, but i'm not surprised if it would become a greater matter than just a military one."
To be sure, Denario puts on his wrist sheathe.
"Not really fond of going against a whole ship's crew."
Tural adds to all the comments.
"The trebuchets stopped. That probably means either the ship is down or there is something weird going on."
He seems a bit on edge, not sure what to make of the situation.
"The ship had black sails and looked Chelish," Majenko replies to Quorthos. "It was rather big, and there were yellow lanterns all over the ship."
You head toward the docks near Old Korvosa's bridge and soon reach them. Mavor leads you through the docks, till you stand on the easternmost dock still connected to North Point.
In the distance, far east of the burned down Eel's End, you see the ship Majenko mentioned. The ship's burning, its sails are torn, and there are several large holes in the ship's hull. While it sinks you gradually see all of the ship's yellow lanterns extinguish.
"What a mess," Allyph mutters. "How do you suppose they clean that up?"
"Well they made quick work of that. I wonder why it was sunk. Did it have any hostile intentions or did it just not register itself when it approached Korvosa?"
Mavor looks on closely, trying to see if there are any survivors swimming in the water, trying to escape the sinking wreckage.
Denario shakes softly.
"I'm placing my copper on the latter.
What attacker would declare itself 'hey, i'm going to attack your city, let me load my catapult.'
...moment of silence.
"If you want to baffle your opponent, you can either bluff or make a strike that puts them off balance, it looks to me they did the second. Whoever did this, is probably set on causing chaos for a purpose yet unknown, though a diversion would be a potential goal."
Baer sees what she can see.
"Well, ain't nothing that concerns us. We should get back to the inn, I guess."
Unless there is something else to do, Baer returns to her regular routine, mostly waiting for Cressida to need her again.
"I don't have a good feeling about this at all. I think we should stay ready to act at any moment. Doesn't feel right at all."
Tural says as he follows Baer back to the inn.
"I don't have a good feeling about this at all. I think we should stay ready to act at any moment. Doesn't feel right at all."
Baer considers the tree Tural.
"It's not really our job to worry about it, is it? We have jobs to do and others have their jobs to do, right?" Baer grunts.
"Not sure what we should be ready for, really. So a crazed bunch of pirates randomly attacked a city. Drunk people do things."
"Heh, even drunk I wouldn't attack a city guard, let alone attack a city. I doubt it were drunk pirates. But let's see what Cressida knows when we see her next. No doubt the Marshall knows more aboutwhat happened."
Mavor makes ready to head back to the inn and loks back to the others to see if they're also ready.
Mavor looks for survivors in the water, but doesn't see a single person in between the floating wreckage from the ship.
While discussing what happened and if it's any of your concern, you head back to the Three Rings. From there, Quorthos heads back home.
------
The next morning you hear a lot of talk about what happened last night. Those who wish, can listen to the stories told to gather some information.
Mavor goes round town the next morning and hears what can be heard from his contacts within the Old Korvosa.
He also decides to visit a tavern close to the docks where they were last night, trying to ask around the old sailors and seadogs there to what exactly the yellowish lights meant on the ship and if pirates would actually be so stupid to sail into Korvosa.
Know (Local)
Sense Motive
"Ha! Told you lot it was pirates!! Maybe you'll listen to me next time," Baer says, putting the entire event behind her.
"The story about the foolish pirates was a lie. That man was just sucking it out of his thumb, trying to sound interesting."
Ge gives Baer an apologetic look.
"The rest of the information I believe is true."
This guy's talking bull.
"I agree with Tural Baer, that was a horrible bluff.
We'll probably find out what went on, given whatever task we're on next would likely have us look into it."
'Tree' gives Baer an apologetic look.
"The rest of the information I believe is true."
Baer guffaws, disagreeing.
"Ha! No, it was drunk pirates. I assure you the information I heard was good," Baer grunts. "There ain't no reason otherwise. It doesn't make any sense."
Baer shakes his head at Tural.
Some people will believe anything.
Mavor has no trouble finding a group of old sailors in one of the taverns in Old Korvosa. They eye the green half-orc with the greataxe and greatclub suspiciously as he approaches them.
"Whaddaya wan, lad?" one of them asks with the voice of someone who's smoked too many pipes in his life.
The man coughs and one of the others claps his back: "Oy! Dun ye be fallin' part now, mate!"
"No way, you sure?" Allyph asks Denario and Tural, full disbelief.
"I could've sworn he did sound like he saw what happened..."
[Insert look of disbelief not shown on face]
"I've seen such people on multiple occasions during a game of cards. There's the proper bluffers and the poor liars, this guy's the latter."
Mavor approaches the old sailors and takes a seat.
"Next round's on me lads. I've got a question for you all. You might have heard of the ship that was bombarded this night?"
He says as he calls for the waitress, indicating a round for him and the old seadogs.
"There was something strange about that ship, no one answered the calls from the guard and it seemed adrift like no one was on board at all. The ship was alight with yellowish lanterns, is that usual proceedings? I guess that even drunken pirates, a tall tale I've heard, wouldn't signal their approach am I right? So what are your thoughts on this strange ship and this strange event?"
When Mavor returns from the tavern and his rumour-collecting he sits down with the others of the group.
"I've heard a lot of stories, one including drunk pirates attempting to get into the city under cover of darkness. Well the fact that they were using lanterns didn't fit that story, as well as the several others I've picked up that seemed more logical. Anyway I've asked a couple of old sailors in a tavern about the matter and this is what they told me..."
"I'll 'ave me an ale!" the old sailor who's just stopped coughing says.
"Aye, heard of 'at!" he later says, when Mavor starts about the ship. "Could 'ear 'em trebuchets from up t' walls!"
Another one interrupts Mavor the moment yellow lanterns are mentioned. "Alight wi' yellowish lanterns ye say? A single one o' 'em's a nautical warnin'! It's to signal a ship bein' under quarantine."
"A single one means quarantine eh? How about when there's multiple of those yellow lanterns? There were many I could see as the ship sank. Unfortunately, no one was swimming off of the ship, else I could have asked the crew myself."
When the waitress comes again with the drinks, Mavor pays a gold piece and whispers to her to keep the change and share it with the other waitresses in the tavern.
Unless there is something else to do, Baer returns to her regular routine, mostly waiting for Cressida to need her again.
It was pirates. I'm sure of it. No one is going to prove otherwise with the ship at the bottom of the river.
Whilst waiting for Mavor to return Tural decides to take some time with his 'pet' scorpion while drinking some ale in the tavern.
The sailor who told about the yellow light shrugs. "I dunno. Maybe 'ey were partyin'?"
"Sure stand out, more o' 'em lanterns," one of the other men says. "Maybe 'ey were 'fraid t' enemy couldn't spot 'em?"
The old men laugh and with that the subject's dropped. If Mavor decides to stay, he won't obtain any new information.
------
The next morning, while you're eating breakfast at the Three Rings, a man enters the tavern. For some of you he's a familiar face: Grau Soldado, the man Baer and Allyph helped when the riots had just started.
Grau later came to the inn to thank Baer and Allyph for helping him. He was then sobered up looked like a proper guard of his rank.
When you met Vencarlo Orisini, he thanked the ladies for helping Grau. He also revealed that Grau was once one of his most promising students.
Grau, who doesn't wear his guard uniform, looks around and spots you. You notice the distressed look on his face as he approaches. Before he's even come to a stop he addresses Baer and Allyph: "Is there a private place we can talk?"
Baer looks up from her pickled eggs to grunt and nod at Grau, motioning a fist for the man to sit. She does not rise, nor offer a hand, nor offer drink, but she is happy if he wants to sit.
"What do you want, Grau? We can talk here, ain't no one care what I have to say," Baer says, shoving some sauced bread into her yaphole.
Mavor drinks one more drink with the old sailors, claps them on the shoulder and thanks them.
"Ha, thanks so much for the info. I'll be seeing you all later in a tavern g'night."
Mavor heads back to the Three Rings, knowing it's late he heads back inside and back into his bed. I'll tell them tomorrow morning during breakfast.
"I've talked to a few old seadogs last night. They said a single yellow lantern signals for a quarantined boat in naval terms. Multiple lanterns though wasn't something they've heard about, rather something they had a laugh about. If it was a quarantined boat, it would have been an excessive warning."
"I've talked to a few old seadogs last night. They said a single yellow lantern signals for a quarantined boat in naval terms."
"Quarantined? Quarantined from what? Bad grog?" Baer grunts, not believing any of it. "It doesn't make any sense."
Baer eats more oatmeal.
"If the boat was signaling quarantine, why was it struck down? If it didn't need to be quarantined, then why did it have lanterns. Ha!" Baer points her spoon at Mavor, clearly believing she made a point. She lowers her spoon back to her oatmeal, thinking more.
"Maybe it was one of the guards who was drunk and started the conflict."
"We'll have to wait and see. Maybe we'll see what happened sooner or later, maybe not."
He says as he shovels some oatmeal in his mouth.
Mavor looks at Baer and grunts once.
"Think about it Baer, if there's a quarantined boat and no one on the ship can answer the guard's calls, then the sickness or disease must be quite dangerous right? What better way to stop it from spreading than to sink the ship it was carried on?"
"Quarantined?
Things must've been really bad if that's the case, you don't quarantine if it isn't a deadly disease. The part that doesn't make sense, is a quarantined ship that seems abandoned and still firing at the city."
"It didn't fire at the city Denario. The trebuchets of the city were the ones that fired upon the ship."
Quorthos shakes his head absently, not really paying attention to the talk of ships and plagues. Not much to worry about, is there? The boat's sunk. Quorthos spends time thinking about the encounter with Blackjack, and wondering why his aid of the hero didn't merit some kind of... something, a surreptitious contact or secret message or something. Perhaps he needed to be more patient... or perhaps Blackjack was unable to handle the situation alone. He is just about to raise the issue for the umpteenth time with his colleagues when the guardsman arrives.
--
Quorthos doesn't recognize Grau, especially out of uniform, and agrees with Baer. "Here's fine to talk," he nods. "You know this guy?" he inquires of his companions, angling his head at the newcomer.
Tural shrugs at Quorthos and whispers to him.
"Baer seems to know him. Never met him before."
Grau seems slightly taken aback by Baer's reaction, but sits down anyway and starts talking. "My niece is sick. I don't know what she has and neither does anyone in Trail's End. She's broken out all over in red pocks and can barely keep down food, or even the swill that good-for-nothing herbalist gave her. Her mother's talking about going to the Bank of Abadar, but her family can't afford to pay the prices their clerics would demand. Then I remembered how you and your friends handled yourselves during the riots, and how you helped me out, and I figured you all could help. A bunch of resourceful folk like you, I'd bet if you don't already have a way to fix this you must know who can. Surely you can't just sit by while a child suffers, can you?"
Allyph bites her lip and looks at her companions, to see what their reaction is before she replies to Grau's request.
Is this one of those 'one plus one' situations...?
Mavor looks to Baer with a face displaying: I told you so
Then he leans over to Grau and pats him on the shoulder.
"I'm sorry for your niece Grau, but this is news to us as well. I've heard of an alchemist in Old Korvosa who lends a hand with curatives, though his shop is hidden. I could ask around for him for you."
Mavor looks around the table with a grimace and sees if perhaps Tural has knowledge about diseases.
"We might not have the curative powers of the Abadar clerics of course, but we can perhaps find out what has caused it. Do you know if your niece has been in contact with something strange or particularly filthy? Garbage, rats, a pestilent stranger?"
"I possess some healing powers but most likely not something I am able to use in this situation. Cuts, bruises and magic sicknesses are something I could fix this instance."
Tural looks at the others to see if they come up with anything.
"I could have a look to see what it is at least."
He offers after thinking on it for a bit.
"I... I don't know," Grau tells Mavor, then turns to Tural.
"I believe that it's indeed best if you'd came and take a look at her. If she's been in contact with filthy stuff she'll be able to tell you."
Grau gets up from his chair. "Do you have time right now? I'd appreciate it if you could come right away. Please do."
"I'll help," Allyph says. "I believe the others will as well?"
"There's nothing else I have to do today, personally I'm fine with coming along right now."
Grau leads those willing to help out of the city and over North Bridge. His sister-in-law's family lives in a small community northeast of Korvosa disparagingly called Trail's End—a slight against the number of settled Varisians in the area. Made up primarily of Varisians—with a few Shoanti and socially disaffected Chelaxians—Trail’s End is poor and reputedly dangerous, but the neighborhood feels more like a small town than any district within the city proper.
and other outsiders. Knowing most city folks' distaste for Varisia's natives, the residents of Trail's End return such prejudices, creating a community that thrives off Korvosan coin but reviles the city all the same.
Only a crooked block away from the Jeggare shore, the Soldado home is a squat, two-story wooden building in desperate need of repair and gardening. Overall, the building feels like the home of a family too busy living to bother with tedious chores.
"Here it is," Grau tells you, and knocks on the door.
"Tayce, I brought some people that can help!"
"A bad place this. Here anything could have happened. Do you or her father have any enemies in this district?."
Tural asks as they head inside. Once inside he will immediately look at the girl.
Mavor follows Tural and Grau back to the house his niece calls home.
"Indeed, it's something that I've always stayed clear of until I was older. Most rough folk here aren't as easily fooled as the gullible thieves at Old Korvosa proper."
Mavor sniffs the air inside the house and looks around with care, waiting to be greeted or something by the girl's parents.
"No, we do not," Grau replies to Tural. After a short pause he adds "Bayan, my brother, was murdered long ago by highwaymen. Tayce raises her kids alone."
A boy with unruly black hair, brown eyes, and olive skin, opens the door. When he spots Grau, he immediately lets all of you in. The boy walks to the living room, where he sits down to another boy who shares the same Varisian features.
Inside, the house is remarkably clean and well-kept, filled with worn, well-used furniture and decorated with the crafts and scribblings of children. There are some sheets on the couch, and some more atop a pair of bedrolls next to the couch.
While the two boys quietly resume a game involving a couple wooden coins and a set of cards, you spot an acolyte in the kitchen. the man holds a bag of herbs and is brewing some concoction that smells of cinnamon and anise. Grau's obviously displeased when he spots the acolyte.
"Wait a second," Grau tells you. "I'll be right back."
And with that, Grau heads upstairs.
"Don't you see how bad it's become?!" you hear a woman's with a Varisian accent reply. "I had to do somezing, no? I couldn't just wait!"
"Yeah, sure, Grau," Baer agrees easily to help the man. "Lemme get my stuff." Baer gets her gear and joins the group.
She doesn't say much on the trip over, having her mind on other things.
Know (local)
Perception
If Baer sees or knows anything, she keeps it to herself.