"No," Anklebiter says, flatly. "It would not."
"Do we have any salt?" Calla asks acidly.
"Zincher might. And we could let some bowls of seawater out to dry in the sun. That'd leave the sea salt behind. But you're right, AB, it was just an idle thought. Zincher's going to go after the notlions, and we need to find a way to kill them, preferably without giving him cause to suspect us."
"As for guard duty, I'd like to propose that none of the ladies take a watch together. I'm not saying you can't take care of yourselves - especially you, Calla - I'm just saying that there's no reason to give Zincher's men a chance. What about AB/Calla, Lefrik/Kel, and me/Sam?"
"That works for me," Lefrik states
"That works for me as well. I don't think Zincher has any intent of letting us leave this camp alive."
"And, if by some miracle he does, then at least we prepared for betrayal."
The stew is hearty and has a good flavor, for those of you who try it, and there appears to be plenty to go around. Some of Zincher's men nod to you as they pass, and one remarks how good it is to have the Goblin's crew with them on this bat-shite crazy place.
Erix leaned back on a pole of his tent, staring at you whenever you look over there. The mercenary's face doesn't seem to hold any of the bragging smirk or the evil leer that it had earlier. It was more of a thoughtful expression.
Night fell quickly, as did your turn on the watch. It was barely two hours into the first watch when the zombies came. There were six of them, and they moved quickly in the darkness. Anklebiter was the first to spot them, and the rallying cry rang out. It was a hard fought battle until Lefrik and Erix joined the fray. Between them, Lefrik and Erix downed four of the creatures, and Anklebiter never even had to use any magic.
Minor wounds were the most common, though one of Zincher's men had been bitten rather badly on his face. He was moaning in pain and screaming as his friends dragged him off to the tent that served as an infirmary. The camp settled back in to its semi-restful peace, and you realize that Zincher was not present in the fight, nor in the aftermath.
"Maybe healer-girl should take a look at wounded man," Anklebiter suggests, loud enough to be heard. "Great healer. Maybe save his life."
The Goblin nudges Bruendor and whispers to him: "Not see fatman. Maybe check whether he's alive or chatting with the purple-ears? Or is it too soon for that?"
"What a lovely place we've all found," Calla growls. "Let's finish this so we can get out of here."
"Hopefully something got Zincher. That'd be just what that piece of trash deserves."
Kel silently waits to see if her healing skills are requested by Zincher's camp.
"Or at least find out if he's infected with notlion rot," Bruendor adds. "Last thing this camp needs is a zombie outbreak."
Quieter, Bruendor responds to Anklebiter's question. "Good eye, AB. Might be wise to poke our heads into his tent, under the auspices of making sure one of them didn't slip past the defenses." He turns to Kel. "Go check on the wounded in the infirmary. I want to make sure that we don't have anyone close to succumbing to zombie plague. Go with her, Lef, just in case she needs some backup." With that, he motions for the rest of the group to follow him as he heads towards Zincher's tent.
Calla clenches her jaw and follows Bruendor.
Calla scowls at the big man eyeing her and her companions, and makes no attempt to hide her actions as she checks his alignment. As she gets no response from any of her spells, her frustration shows and Erix gets a brief grin on his face. The ever-present unlit cigar waggled up and down with his eyebrows as he mugged for her, but Erix did nothing else.
After the combat, with the screaming man in the infirmary and Zincher gone, the team decides to split up. Using Kelndra's healing powers as part distraction and part true desire for healing, Lefrik, Samaritha, and Kelendra made their way to the infirmary tent.
***************************************************
Anklebiter, Bruendor, and Calla waited a moment, then sneaked around in the dark shadows to Zincher's tent. Making sure nobody was watching, they slipped inside. Not much was different from when they were there earlier in the day. The trunk that was behind the desk is not visible, and the candelabra is extinguished. It is very dark inside, and only those with darkvision can see
***************************************************
Four cots sit inside the infirmary tent, with a stump in the center of the tent acting as an impromptu table. On the stump burn several candles, most of which have nearly melted down to stubs. Two men lay sweating and thrashing in a pair of cots, strapped down with canvas restraints. The newest wounded man is being laid into a cot of his own, and the restraints are being prepared as you watch.
Samritha said, "Wait! What's going on here? Why are these men being restrained? Why aren't you healing them?"
Anklebiter and Bruendor seethe room exactly as they had left it before, with the aforementioned lack of a trunk.
"No fatman" Anklebiter whispers, frowning. "And no trunk? Occultum video!"
At the sight of the restrained men gripped by sickness, Kel has a very bad feeling about this camp.
Calla waits, keeping an ear out for any approaching trouble.
"Calla, keep an eye out while AB and I check on Zincher. Anyone comes by, stall them and make enough noise to let us know so we can get out. We shouldn't be long." With that, Bruendor inclines his head to the goblin, and creeps into Zincher's tent, heading towards the private area.
Anklebiter nods, wordless, and ghosts ahead of Bruendor. The Goblin moves a little faster than the Dwarf, his hide somehow blending in with the tent's colouring as he goes.
Bruendor and Anklebiter stick their heads into the divide in the canvas partition that separates the public business area of Zincher's tent from the private quarters. They see no signs of Zincher, but they do see the large ion-banded trunk at the foot of a four poster bed, complete with wool-stuffed mattress and pillows. In addition, the area contains a decent sized traveling chest, opened to reveal numerous tunics, pants, and boots. There is even a pair of courtly dress shoes.
The duo hadn't even had a chance to go inside the back half of the pavilion when the large form of Akron Erix moved across the outer exit. Erix leaned his big form in, and grinned, switching his unlit cigar from the right side of his mouth to the left.
"Oh good, I was hoping to find you in here. We don't have a lot of time. Mind if I come in?"
***********************************
Kelendra looked over the sick men, and determined that they were definitely suffering from more than just their visible wounds. The fever sweat wasa dead giveaway. It was likely that these men had contracted the zombie-disease from the notlions.
"I mind," Anklebiter says, his voice chilly, "but it sounds as though you'd better come in anyway. What is it you wish to discuss with us?"
Bruendor jumped as Erix leaned past Calla to poke his head into the tent. He leveled his stern gaze towards the large man, and inwardly wished that Lefrik was here. "Sure, come on in, make yourself at home. Might as well send Calla in as well, for all the good she did out there." His hand is on the hilt of his rapier, and he has taken a step in front of Anklebiter to block Erix should he try anything. "I don't suppose you know where your boss went? We noticed that nobody saw him during the notlion attack, and wanted to make sure one didn't slip past the defenses."
"And, understand, we are not feeling very trusting right now," The Ulfen adds.
"It's a free camp," she replies, loudly enough for Bruendor and Anklebiter to hear, though hopefully not so loudly anyone else can. "We were just looking for Zincher.
"What's your concern with the time?" she says, her voice full of suspicion.
Erix came inside the tent, grinning at Calla. "My concern is that I have some things I want to discuss before Clegg gets back. You see, he's been acting real erratic since we got here. I've been with the man for most of four years now, and these last days he's almost a completely different person. Edgy, secretive, and he keeps disappearing at night. And his obsession with those purple beasts. You were right when you said if one got loose on the mainland, we be in the middle of a zombie epidemic. Now, I ain't seen any of those drow, not like you were talking about, but I can sneak it into a conversation with him tomorrow and see if I can pry some answers loose."
"You see," he said, with a perfectly serious face, "I don't exactly work for Clegg Zincher"
"He twitched when I mentioned the Drow," Anklebiter says, his eyes narrowing as he looks at Erix. "He wouldn't be the first human to take their money. So. Who do you work for?"
Erix looked at the three of you for a moment, then seemed to make a decision. "The Sable Marines out of Korvosa hold my contract, currently. I am a deep cover agent reporting to them on the gangs of Riddleport, specifically Zincher's group. I've been working for them here since Zincher found out about their last agent and had him flayed alive, then dropped his corpse outside the Marines' headquarters building in Korvosa. That was about four years ago. I've been working closely with Zincher a little over a year - after three years of grunt work - and I am close, so close, to wrapping up him and his entire network."
"The biggest problem is that he is cautious to the point of paranoia about his private records. It wasn't until we came to this island that I had any idea where he might hide them. Coming here forced him to bring them with him, and I bet they are in that big chest he keeps with him. But, since his random disappearances started, I think there might be more going on than just a criminal network."
"I was hoping I could enlist your aid in figuring out both what is going on, and what is in that trunk. I can't pick the lock, and I don't want to smash the case open. That would give me away, and I'm not ready for that, just in case what I need isn't there. I'd like to talk more, but Clegg could be back at any moment. Can we continue this conversation in your tent?"
The Goblin grunts sourly. "Fine. I'll believe it. One thing more before we get on with things," Anklebiter says, his voice flat. "The story about the hammer and the little girl...?"
"Do you believe everything you hear, Mister The Insane? You shouldn't. Especially not from those that style themselves as your adversaries."
Calla grunts sourly, but then nods her assent to her companions to further their discussion with Erix elsewhere.
"Do not presume to make jokes at my expense," Anklebiter says, his voice cold as ice. "I would normally kill the kind of soulless bastard you pretended to be, and then go out to have a drink with my friends to celebrate a job well done. Do not give me reason to doubt your veracity at this time. Now. I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and work with you. Reciprocate appropriately."
"Don't get prickly with me, goblin. I gave you good advice. I am what I appear to be, because my life depends on it. Now, let's get out of here before Zincher catches us together in his tent."
Anklebiter mutters something uncomplimentary in his native language --
Bruendor's scowl never fades from his face as he listens to Erix. "Yes, let's finish this somewhere else. And quickly - every moment we idly waste is another that Zincher gets to position his pieces as he wishes. Meet us in our tent in half an hour." When Anklebiter gives the go ahead, he heads out of Zincher's tent.
"Agreed," he whispers back to Anklebiter, but loudly enough that Calla can hear as well. "Let's go grab the three of them from the infirmary, and get them up to speed."
Lefrik glances over those wounded to glance at their injuries, "Kel, can you tell what sort of injuries they have?" A grim thought occurs, and he whispers, "Do you think they're infected? On purpose I mean... that scum seemed fascinated by Notlions"
Kel grips Lefrik's arm and pulls him back, out of the tent. "Those men have the cursed fever! What madness is Zincher planning that he would have infected men like these and the desire to bring those creatures back to the mainland?" Moving quickly to rejoin the others, Kel practically drags Lefrik along, "Come on, we might be next on the 'infected list' for this psychopath!"
Lefrik gets dragged along by the oracle still looking pole axed at the news. "He's insane."
Once everyone was gathered in the tent, Erix joined you. The big man looked a little uncomfortable, but gave his story succinctly.
"I'm a mercenary, no bones about that. Been one for years. The Sable Marines hired me to spy on the crime lords of Riddleport, and I've spent four years making that happen. Zincher's no fool, and so I've had to act the part every minute of every day. Which is how I know that something's going on with Zincher now. Since we got to this island he's...changed. That trunk in his tent? He used to have it either hidden so well tht no one knew where it was, or carried with him if he had to leave town on business. Now he just leaves it lying about in his tent while he disappears to who knows where."
"And this obsession with those creatures. You were in the infirmary tent" he said to Kelendra, Lefrik, and Samaritha. "You saw those guys he has restrained in there. He thinks those tongue things are the larval form of the purple beasts. He's willing to sacrifice those men to try and harvest the larva."
"I want you to help me capture Zincher alive, so we can get the truth out of him about the drow, and get into that trunk. I am sure that trunk contains what I need to take Zincher back to Korvosa, turn him over to the Sable Company, and get out of this line of work. You have a certain reputation, both for being competent and for doing the right thing. Will you help me?"
Her well-cultivated mistrust of those around her rearing its head, Calla weighs the man's words, trying to determine how truthful he's being.
"We have little love for Zincher; he was monster enough before he ever came to this island. If you say your people can take care of him, I'm willing to see what I can do to help. You have no idea where he's gone?"