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I even tried Pathfinder Viking in tuxedo.. Still nothing. I guess there are still things that can't be found on the internet! I guess I have to leave my painting to "the theatre of the mind".
A city towers at the edges of Blackwood Swamp. A mouth of rickety buildings grins like rotten teeth around a calm harbor crammed with vessels. A great castle overlooks this bay, proudly flying the flag of Taldor. Yet just beyond the dike that surrounds the city, the swampland gropes outward, hungrily drawing buildings into its belly.
Perched at the mouth of the mighty Sellen River, Cassomir was built upon reclaimed swampland. Despite its age, the city has an air of impermanence; it is damp and busy and transient.
Leaving the Sellen Starling, the Mariner leads the Watchmen to the harbormaster, Breren Dalvos. He remembers the way better than he has remembered anything for a long time, and as he reaches the Breren’s offices, he gives a couple harbor guards the stink eye and says a couple words by reflex and they quickly make way.
Inside the office the group finds Breren, a rugged man with a few missing fingers and a hunched shoulder.
”By Asmodeus’s flaming a$$, look who the cat dragged in! Been so long I was startin to think ye’d been keelhauled somewhere upstream. Can’t say I didn’t hope that ye’d never return for it, but don’t add me to yer arm jus yet. It’s still here, safe n’ sound.”
Fearless looks around confused. "Who are you?" He looks to the others. "Who the f$&! is that?"
Missing digits seems to the theme of people he knows, Pinkie coming to mind. "This is Middle Fing- I mean-," pausing then resuming in a deeper ominous voice, "This man here is Breren, an old friend of mine", the last part with an edge.
I hope it's not a block of cheddar.
Cats follows along, not really knowing much about the docks, harbors, or any ship sort of crap. He wonders who the cat that is too.
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Jasper looks on and watches this play out. Mariner is certainly in his element, whereas Jasper is not. BB feels that's he's an imposing figure, and knows his power is in the social circles, not via physical threats. Mariner has established this social pecking order amongst the Dock People. Jasper will wait until they get to the up town people before stepping into the fore.
well, maybe Jasper can add a couple words to reinforce just how dangerous Mariner is.
You are so right about Mariner's arms. It's remarkable how many more names he's had to add because they just don't realize that they are staring down a Gar ...um... what do they call that big toothed fish that ..um... swallows people whole? .....
he waves his hands in distraction.
You know what I mean.
Breren Dalvos chuckles at Brother Butterfly, completely missing the veiled threat behind the stumbling delivery.
”Right then, to business.” He says and leads the Watchmen to a small office. Moving to a sturdy safe against one wall, he inserts a key, spins a couple handles, and swings open its door. From within he pulls out a couple documents and passes them to the Mariner.
One is a wanted poster for:
Alister “Sturge” Braken
Captain of the pirate vessel Tidecutter.
Wanted for crimes against the crown of Taldor
REWARD
10,000 gold
The second is a bank note for 10,000 gold payable to Dunsel of Cassomir.
”Yer a rich man Captain!” Breren grins, then winks. ”And ye managed to kill two birds with one stone.”
Cats concatulates Catiner on cashing in.
”Oooh, that’s a lot of cats. You can buy a lot of tuna with that.”
Fearless looks at the large payout. "Were their bounties put out on us? Is that how we ended up in Briarstone?"
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There was almost no way for the Mariner to ask for what he should have known without sounding like a rube. "Anything else?", he says with suspicion, thinking, Because iocaine comes from Australia, as everyone knows. And Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me. So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
Cats looks around, wondering if Mariner has more to do here or if the party should move to find Catcatian Mun.
”Let’s go find…someone? That cat?”
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Seeing the gold. Well, now that we don't need to spend a night in place by the docks or warf....
Jasper scoffs. A mocking laugh. Like *I'd* ever be caught putting on pajamas as a hotel below the first wall!
Jasper, not realizing, or not caring that he might have just insulted Breren or Mariner.
I overheard some people talk about The Sword Point? It's in the Old Cassomir district. That's a good place to go? Right?
Only the most expensive and pricy inns for BB! Mariner's treat now that he's got 20K in gold coins!
Breren smiles, a bead of sweat dripping from his brow as he takes a moment to make sure he hasn’t forgotten anything. He glances once at Brother Butterfly when the rotund priest makes a comment about killing people, but doesn’t seem to know anything about any other bounties.
”Uh, nope! That’s all! Unless ye need somethin else from me, I think we’re square.”
Brother Butterfly mentions a fine inn and Breren chuckles. ”You could maybe buy the place with that gold!”
Leaving the Harbormaster a lot richer than when they arrived in port the Watchmen make their way to the Sword Point where they are offered the first good meal, warm bath, and soft bed in weeks.
The next day the group tracks down the Esoteric Knights of Evolvement at the Sceptered House—a reading room and lounge within the Abbey Green District of Cassomir. Run by the outrageous Mollie Mabb, the Sceptered House is one of the more exclusive inns in the city. Cramped book-filled chambers are linked by oddly twisting staircases, leaning walls and strange corners a result
of subsidence. In a study, surrounded by diagrams of ship plans, the group eventually finds the bleaching gnome Ethem Baler.
Ethem, chief shipwright of the Imperial Naval Shipyards, is cordial but reserved, but with an introduction by Skywin and mention of the Sellen Starling, he diverts some of his attention away from his obsession and gives it to the Watchmen.
”So you are the Captain of the Starling?” Ethem looks to the Mariner. ”A fine ship she is. I oversaw some of its construction right here in Cassomir’s shipyards a couple decades ago and I’m glad to hear Skywin is still minding her tiller. So, what brings you to me?”
Fearless gets straight to the point as he places his hands on his hips, trying to figure out how best to word the crazy situation they have found themselves in. "We are in search of a man named Lowls and a book called the Necronomicon."
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Brother Butterfly rolls his eyes. He tries to whisper to Fearless a core provision of preaching and conversion of people to your beliefs.
Fearless, cut that out. You wine then, and dine them before you sixty-nine them.
He then straightens up and speaks in his most diplomatic voice.
What my companion really wanted to say was that you are reknowned in The encartan. Your ships last decades, while other ships get skutteled (BB hopes that's the right term) running into a baby sandbar. We heard Lowls, or one of his associates was planning a really big and dangerous trip -- so we needed to consult *THE BEST* first.
I'd have activated Songbird spell prior to coming into this Inn, knowing it's prestige.
Cats keeps an eye on things as Brother Catterfly does what he needs to do to find his next wife, and maybe even help the party.
sixty-nine
gnomes
baby
really big
The Mariner had taken a deep breath to bellow out something ominous to the shipwright, somewhere between threat and flattery. But deflates as Butterfly butters up this tiny muffin of a gnome, ready to do gods knows what.
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So, Ethum, I hear that The Sword Point is *the* place to stay at in the city. You agree? Because , if that's the case, Count Lowls would probably stay there also. Right?
I'm asking because I want to kill two harpies with one halfling sling stone. I'd like to track down Lowls and find the most opulent place to sleep.
Etham is at first hesitant to chat, but when Brother Butterfly begins talking ships the bleachling opens up wide. He doesn't know much about Lowls, but he does not a few things about the man Lowls came to see in Cassomir.
"Miacknian Mun is widely regarded as an alchemical genius, but his experiments are sometimes off-putting and shunned by established scholars. When he came to Cassomir, he found an abandoned prison, mostly fallen to ruin, and restored the infirmary to function as his lab. I suppose it's ironic that Mun had to take to sleeping behind bars to keep the ignorant and upset out of his lab." Etham waves a hand dismissivly, but it seems something weighs upon him, and after thinking for a for a moment, he decides to trust you with something else.
"So, it's not commonly known, but Mun had a number of visitors over the past year, but each vanished without a trace—perhaps they all left by night, but it is odd. Mun has also mentioned a mysterious colleague who started living with him. He wouldn't say who it was, only referring to him or her as his “anomalous friend” whatever that means. I've thought about going to the city watch, but I'm not sure what I'd tell them. If you learn anything, perhaps you could pass it back my way?"
Cats listens to the story, thankful that Brother Butterfly can anyone to open up their lips or legs to his hairless inquiries.
"So...Catckian Cat is in the jail, huh? Well, okay, that might make him easier to corner if he doesn't want to talk," Cats muses.
Cats struts back and forth.
"I think we can wait until catmorrow before checking that out, yeah? Might be nice to get a bath and a decent meal, that is, if Catiner's buying, because I'm pretty broke," Cats looks to Mariner who just won the jackpot.
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Yes, a nice evening in a kingly room! A decent meal -- as Cats had indicated - and a warm bath in which to shave off this sea salt hair.
BB thanks Etham for his time, and gives an appropriate bow of respect.
I might just call on you to design a ship for one of my business ventures real soon. How far out are your orders? What's the deposit like for repeat customers, because you did design the Sellen Starling, so this is technically repeat business.
"What!? We can't wait. This mysterious colleague staying with him could be Lowls. He could be here right now!" Fearless pokes his finger into the table before holding his arms out incredulously.
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Hmmm. Fearless has spoken "eloquently" and requested The Watchmen spring to action.
Let us take a moment to compare and contrast our options.
BB opens up both hands palms facing up as if holding phantom items.
In this hand we have Swampy Slums.
and he makes exaggerated movements like his left hand has an actual weight - not too heavy but not too light. Like he's holding a Grapefruit.
and in this hand, we have warm baths(it goes unsaid, but always inferred -warm baths AND a sharp razor) and fine foods to tease the palate.
With his right hand, he exaggerates the weight as undeniably heavy. As if he were a human scale and one side of the scale was obviously heavier than the other.
He looks at the others to see if they are with him and the obvious answer of checking into The Sword Point, or if they are insane maniacs that choose a swamp.
Cats listens to Fearless, but then his stomach rumbles equally ‘eloquently’ about food and the desire for a good sit and sleep.
”I want C-A-T, and that spells ‘food’, so let’s go eat food,” Cats iterates the idea that food is good, and that’s even something Fearless should understand. It’s food. Of course we should eat it.
And Mariner needs to treat everyone.
Fearless' stomach also rumbles quite loudly. He hadn't realized he was so incredibly hungry as he was always this hungry. "Food first then Lowls!"
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Jasper hears the stomach rumbling from Fearless and he knows he has this diaglogue won.
He smiles, and thinks to himself. Yet another conversation that I've won. Too many to count. and they go along with me having seen the light of my logic. Now for another one of my requests to win......
Remember Mariner, when you pay for the hotel, tip the maids to get an extra set of hands for our rooms. I *NEED* the dust bunnies cleared out. Remember that disaster at the Inn at Thrushmoor? There were enough DB's there to build a fiersome golem.
Cats goes to get some food, assuming it's time to eat.
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"Well we're already the finest place, right?" The Mariner puts the Watchmen up at the Sceptered House.
Paying for four rooms with breakfast in bed. He leaves extra tip for the girl named Breakfast who was assigned as Butterfly's personal maid, to dust bunnies or whatever sickness was called upon. Catnip along with a mix of wet and dry food for Cats. Fearless gets two servants to keep his mind busy on whatever he wants. As for himself, the Mariner orders a bottle of the finest booze in the inn, and chases it down with the second finest bottle.
If they survive the night, they'll meet the next mad man at the prison.
Before the prison, the Mariner will call upon his note of gold and split among the Watchmen.
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Brother Butterfly accepts the gold with a grateful demeanor. Thank you Mariner! It is always a pleasure doing business with you! And.... it was business doing pleasure with Breakfast!
He finishes that last part with a wink. Thanking Mariner for his mighty fine purchases and creating a clean environment for BB to be in and sleep in.
Cats is pleased with the sudden windfall, and eats and sleeps and bathes to his leisure, even shaving (though not nearly so completely as others).
In the morning, after grabbing a few scones, Cats will be ready to get after the Mun.
few scones
After an evening of shore leave R&R the Watchmen wake and make ready. Once Breakfast has been had, she gathers her clothes and slips out the back window lest her mother catch her with another patron. Brother Butterfly has second breakfast, and maybe third, before the party sets out and makes their way to the Blackwood Swamp.
The gales of the Inner Sea have taken
their toll on this grim old pile, thick with the fetid odor that blows across the murky land when the wind is high. A venerable building rises from a windowless ground floor to a high steep gable several stories above. A single great iron door scowls at visitors. A small and austere garden decays out front, surrounded by a rusting iron fence six feet high and pierced with a gateway. Perched upon the gate are a murder of crows.
Thick ivy crawls all over this tall building, even breaking through the attic windows. The garden is utterly decayed and neglected—overgrown in summer or dying in rotting heaps in winter. The area within is heavy with undergrowth, and the ground is muddy. Booted footprints stray from the flagstone path here and there as if someone wandered onto the property and was snooping around. A few weathered marble statues of swans and angels clutter the yard. A single path leads from the rusty gate and up a short flagstone path to the main entrance.
The old infirmary is built of hefty stone blocks pierced with narrow windows with latticed, 1-inch- thick iron bars behind thick, crude glass filled with air bubbles. Each window has an iron shutter within that can be opened and closed by a simple latch. All shutters are closed.
Somebody lives here?" Fearless looks questioningly at the muck and decaying building as he moves up to knock at the door.
Cats moves up to inspect the door, then will knock upon it if nothing seems amiss.
"Wow, yeah Catless. This place is a dump, but maybe this is the Catterfly Marriage House, I dunno," Cats agrees with the poor standing of the abode.
Perception - door/traps
He will knock.
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Brother Butterfly hangs back. Staying about 30 or so feet away.
He is disgusted with this house and takes umbridge with Cats mentioning his name and this house in the same sentence.
Be careful there. This house certainly has disease.
BB thinks of prayers to Desna that might keep the disease and the rates and ticks at bay.
"If anyone knows diseases, it's Brother" that Mariner says without irony. Though in hearing it, makes perfect sense. This place had the visual smell of Briarstone, bringing back the memories of horrors there. He assures his hand that the broadsword rests ready in its sheath.
The Watchmen do the polite thing and knock upon Mun's door. There is a shuffle from within as someone approaches. As locks upon the door are released a distant voice whispers into the Watchmen's minds...
“The blot quivers...
The lake ripples...
His stain is here.”
As the last word fades the door to the prison opens to reveal a man with wild blonde hair wearing thick layers of stained and worn clothing. From behind his glasses, beady eyes seem almost ready to pop from his skull. He is lithe and pale, and his body shows signs of recent injury and past self-abuse, the most noticeable being the skin stretched between scars that make a web across the left side of his face. His eyes dart about like those of a hunting lizard.
"I must apologize. We are very busy today. Please return tomorrow." He says, barely taking the time to look at the Watchmen before he begins to close the door.
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Perception
"Oh no, it can't wait. It will only cat a moment," Cats says, putting his foot in the door. "We just want to talk to you about your cats extended warranty."
Diplomacy to aid Brother Catterfly
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Hold on there! We are the men at arms for Count Lowels! There was a coup that we put down for him in Thrushmoor.
Brother gives a bit of a break for the power verbs he just used to sink in.
We didn't have time for the coup to get root, we don't have time to stall. We need to report to the great and industrious Count!
He starts to move his big frame in the door.
Fearless looks confused on why Brother Butterfly is harassing the injured man. But if it helps him get to Lowls he will keep his mouth shut. "Can't you see through doors and things Shapeshifter?"
The man listens to Brother Butterfly, but hastily shakes his head. "Undead? Shapeshifters? Hmmph. Both make untrustworthy servants. Alchemical constructs are far superior and cannot be bribed or turned by priests. Perhaps you should infest in such to prevent the next.. what did you call it? Oh yes, coup. Regardless, I must apologize, for you see you have come to late. The count is no longer here. He left some time ago with our father, bound for Katheer."
There is a noise from within the house, the creek of wood above, somewhere on the second floor. The scarred man begins to close the door. "Now, if you please, we have important work to do for the Taldan Navy, and we have no time to be idle."
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Normally, he's more astute, but something about how odd this "Arcane thing" is -- throws him off.
So, he relies for something very trustworthy.
Mariner! Make a hole. You are untethered to do what you do best.
Unleash the man with nine names etched into his arm. Works everytime...so far.
Brother starts to say a prayer to Desna.
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Sense Motive
”Katheer, or did you say Cathere? What is in Cathere?” Cats backs away from the door so Mariner might marinate things (in blood, probably).
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Fearless has an excellent read on people, and he knows it for a fact. "Maybe if we find some ponies we can catch up to them before they make it to Katheer?"
You're all making me more insane, the Mariner shakes the ponies away from his thoughts. "We really just want some tea", he says with an earnest tone that ends in gloomy silence. ”Here let me get the door for you-"
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OH DANG!!! Creepy Door Guy - You are getting run-OVER! That's the opposite of some encounters where Mariner declares how we need to R-U-N-N-O-F-T.
You better surrender quickly because the Mariner is going to turn you into a grease spot on the World's Edge Mountains.
He looks to see how his Prayer is affecting the good guys and the bad guy.
lithe and pale, and his body shows signs of recent injury and past self-abuse
"Looks like you've been going at it all wrong, Pipsqueak", the Mariner flexes and showcases his arm's length of scars, "Thrust me, I'm the expert on abuse."