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Kelris is a bit taken aback by being approached b y the Major, ”Sir It is an honor to meet you. You are asking me to make s show of killing any slaver leaders? I can do that for you sir, I will not throw my life away foolishly, there are many who need to be saved in my life and I plan to do as much as possible. Is there anything else I can do sir?” Kelris asks
Kelris bites down on the bile that is building up in his throat at the thought of this entire area. "People enslaved and no one here even cares, they sell them as if they were grain." Kelris keeps his eyes averted to hide the fire that is burning there.
The gnolls are quick to pull out their saps and beat down Aura to keep her in her place. They snarl at Fethril and James, clearly upset that one of their slaves tried to escape. The harbormaster translates, "They want to know how you intend to pay for the escape attempt."
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Sabert looks down at his "new clothes" in disgust, shaking his head. "What are we getting into??" he murmurs softly as the iron collar fits snugly to his neck and latches with a horribly gut churning "CLICK". He follows onto the ship, and passes the time during the voyage trying to keep the slaves (and his own) spirits up with song after song of perseverance and strength.
Arriving in port, he blinks his eyes as he is pulled into the bright sunlight of the port and then shoved down the gangplank. As his eyes adjust, he keeps from gawking about, but just barely. He has never in his life seen such open depravity.. at least not where he couldn't do something about it anyway. He allows himself to be shepherded along to the pens, and is caught off guard when Aura fights back. Rage fills his eyes as the gnolls set themselves on her, but at the last minute he catches her bluff and checks himself. Meekly, he stares at the ground and allows himself to be led in.
As soon as the group is tossed into the pen, he moves towards his "fallen" friend and begins to minister to her wounds as best as he can. "That was dangerous!! Genius, but dangerous! Why would you do that?!" he whispers to her as he leans over, supposedly inspecting a head wound.
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Truly shocked that the gnoll struck Aura,"Pay for...?!?" Fethril takes a moment to compose himself. He quickly straightens his robe, takes a deep breath before continuing. "Surely your low-born beast enjoyed striking a slave of a superior race. An elf no less. Payment enough I should think. Unless you mean to tell me that he has never had a slave try to escape before. I was told you and your...men were professionals. Try to act like it and we can avoid any real trouble. He's lucky he did no serious damage to her, or I would have his pelt for a carpet. Besides, even you have to admit it's nice to see one with a little fire left in them. I have found that buyers are drawn to such slaves. It raises their price and our profit."
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Once Aura comes to inside the pen, she sees Sabert staring down at her and hears his question. Groaning a bit as she sits up, she says quietly "Couple of reasons: first, it made sure that they didn't search me too thoroughly. Second, it provided a distraction for the others, who are, to be honest, terrible at lying. Third, they absolutely wouldn't have killed me. A dead slave is the surest way to make sure you don't stay in the slavery business. Also, if there are any Andoran freedom fighters in the crowd that saw my little display, they'll likely be inspired to come save me."
As she begins stirring, her hands move over her body to make sure that all of her blades are in place.
The harbormaster translates what Fethril said back to the gnolls who snarl back. "They say if you're so...gnack-yarsh, trust me you don't want to know the translation, about it you can come with them to their camp."
One gnoll approaches James and starts pulling away his scythe, dagger, and shortbow, while the other moves to Fethril to take his longsword and longbow.
"They also say they can't trust that you won't lose your weapons to the slaves so you'll be relieved of them. Safety, of course. They'll store them in the trunk that is part of the package and will have them returned in the future."
The gnolls lead Aura, Kelris, and Sabert to a line with more slaves that they have purchased. There is a halfling woman tied at the end of the line, attached behind a Kellish man, scowling at everyone and everything around him, further attached to a Kellid woman who towers above them all.
Aura is attached behind the halfling as the gnolls laugh, threaten everyone, and laugh harder. They call the hyena that was watching the other slaves to them and feed it a bit of jerky from a pouch. The harbormaster translates one last thing for Fethril and James, "They say you'll be traveling for about a week, so best fortify yourselves now."
The gnolls, not being able to speak Taldane, quickly give up trying to verbally speak with Fethril and James and instead just make intimidating motions at the slaves, regularly sending their snarling hyena at them and laughing when anyone flinches. They don't seem to mind when their chattel talks among themselves, allowing you to learn the names of the others here. Gima is the name of the halfling woman and she seems to be from a farming community based on her talk of "bad harvests" and "failing to predict the weather".
The Kelishite man goes by Talmin and appears to have recently sold himself into slavery to settle his debts. He is still bitter about it and only spoke after enough prodding from Gima.
The Kellid woman informs you that her name is Epanas and she comes from a land of great disparity. She was captured several years ago and has only recently come to the markets of Katapesh.
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As Aura begins to "come around" and explain herself, Sabert does his best to hide a smile. "Very good idea!!!" he whispers to her, helping her to her feet when she's ready. He adds a bit of drama to it, acting like he is supporting more of her weight than he really is.
As the gnolls begin their games with the hyenas, Sabert tries to find a balance between stoic boredom and feigned fright.. Auras words reassuring him that the ugly brutes wouldn't really allow anything to happen to them. "You know.. you're right, and I should have thought of that sooner! I'm sure it won't prevent a bit of knocking about, but any long term damage would lower our price!" he says softly.
As the halfling woman begins talking of bad harvests, Sabert gives her a knowing wink.
"It seems that there are a lot of farmers with bad harvests around here.." he says. "But a little experience can help with predicting the weather. Or maybe more eyes on the horizon can help with that too?"
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Fethril makes certain to 'check in on the merchandise' often to ensure that they remain unmolested during the journey.
She thinks of me as her Prince? Well now, that is interesting. I mean, it does make sense as the only other elf in the vicinity. Still, it is nice to hear she holds me in such high regard. A prince is overstating my importance, buy not by much.
Gima notes the way Sabert is talking and quickly picks up that he knows of her organization. "It is always calm before a storm, and this weather will certainly change soon." "The slavers will become lax and that is our chance."
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“Your goals are to capture the veiled spymaster and to bring the scrying mirror I observed back to Absalom for further study. If the spymaster dies before she is brought here, that would be regrettable but also understandable.”
"That may be undesirable at the moment. It would but everyone on alert. Can you convince her to wait until after we getthe mirror? Sell it as she has the opportunity to liberate the others on the island as well."
May as well see if someone else is using the same strategy. The mage calls on the power of Nethys, allowing him to see magical auras.
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Sabert nods at Fethril's suggestion and turns back towards Gima. "There may be better times to plant though, and not just at the first rainfall. The fields should be prepared for a better harvest!" he says. "Friends may be able to supply.. certain experts and items.. It would be a much better harvest if we were to wait. What do you think?"
Luckily when Fethril casts his spell the gnolls are busy amusing themselves with their hyena. He sees no indication of magic among the other slaves, but each of the gnolls is carrying a couple of potions.
Now that Kelris has mentioned Gima's plan to escape everyone is able to better see the cracks and strain in the halfling's facade. She is clearly panicking now that she is a captive, possibly brought on by a similar traumatic experience. "My-the previous locations-," she cuts herself off a few times before deciding on her words. "Crops always need rotation for the good of the soil and future generations of plants. This rotation is coming sooner than expected, but will happen all the same."
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Not knowing the particulars of what Sabert is saying, but knowing that they are speaking in code, Aura will "trip and fall" next to the halfling woman, with the intent of getting close enough to whisper something to her.
"If you do something stupid now, you'll regret it. If you just keep going and stay calm, you'll be free before the week is up. Do you understand?" As she speaks, she moves her arm in such a way that it gives the briefest hint one of her daggers, as if to emphasize the point.
Aura then stands back up and continues trudging along.
Gima's hard-rimmed eyes hold Aura's own without flinching, even as the elf stumbles away.
With slaves in tow, Hargur and Vangru lead their tiny caravan northeast past cultivated fields of pesh cacti that surround Okeno and to a small ruin near the road with just enough of a superstructure left to provide some shade. Here the gnolls, who are naturally nocturnal, decide to stop for a rest, letting the leashes on the slave collars slightly loose and their hyena a bit of space to run in.
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Fethril walks toward the prisoners, taking a position behind the halfling. "I could have sworn I heard some kind of creature or insect over here. I would take care that you slaves don't get bitten." He points to James, "Come over and tell me if you hear it as well. I would hate for anything to damage the property." He then moves over to Aura and begins playing with her hair. He leans in close to her, lips near her ear. In Elvish and a low tone, "She's trying to pick the lock and escape." Her then steps away with a grin on his face, he switches back to Common, "Yes indeed, I have plans for you 'maiden'."
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"What are you doing???" Sabert whispers to Gima, carefully looking about to be sure they aren't seen.
"Please.. the time is not yet ripe. We have friends and we can effect more chaos and save more people by timing things right. If you do this now, its only going to make it harder on everyone, and more people are going to get hurt!!"
Aura's quick jerk on Gima's rope causes her to scatter her "lockpicks" across the ground. The motion causes the gnolls to look up from where they are lounging but they see no metal or obvious bits and return to their previous positions. Gima hisses, "Are you trying to get us killed?! Slave life expectancy among gnolls is less than a month! Let's get away while we can!"
"Yes! Better than being beaten and eaten by those monsters." Gima begins sidling over to where her 'lockpicks' are in an attempt to scoop them up.
Gima calms somewhat now that Kelris has mentioned that you plan on escaping in the future, though she looks curious as to how you will accomplish it.
The gnolls, deciding that there is too much noise being made, grab their saps and stalk towards Epanas, the Kellid woman.
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As the Gnolls advance towards the Kellid woman, everyone's attention is drawn to the scene; Everyone, that is, except for Aura. Drawing out and dismissing the shrink Item effect on her picks, she will pick the lock quickly and quietly.
The last thing that would happen is that Aura would palm her best dagger and put away her tools.
The gnolls snarl at Kelris and proceed to beat him instead of Epanas.
After both beat Kelris they turn toward Aura, having seen her playing with her collar . They stalk in her direction, menace clear in the air around them.
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Noticing the thrashing given by the guards and Aura's work on her collar, Fethril tries to intervene before the gnolls realize her collar is unlocked. He walks between Aura and the slavers.
"Hey, you've had you fun with the human. Leave this one alone. I still have plans for her. Besides, we need to get moving. We don't want to be late."
The gnolls growl and snarl, clearly trying to intimidate Fethril out of the way, even going so far as to call their hyena to them.
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With a quick whistle to James, "I have a dog too." The mage then spats out a quick series of words. Electricity begins to spark and arc across his fingers. The energy looks eager to leap at the gnolls. "I would rather it didn't have to come to this. Surely you do not care to press the matter. Is any slave worth dying for?"