Malusha quickly enchants his crossbow, as Nella heals up a few more of Wei Tchak's wounds... enough that he is able to get back to his feet, if a little wobbly.
Masym and Jones both continue forward, following the path of the fleeing thugs, ready for trouble.
But trouble is also ready for them!
As Jones moves forward, the light from his ioun torch sending shadows racing about the stacks of crates and supplies... stacked far more neatly here at the back then they were where you came in, he will note absently.
,
As he comes around the corner, Masym struggling to pace him with his legs still covered in dried goo, he sees a few things.
The first is one the men, the one he shot only moments before judging by the shaft still sticking out of his shoulder, trying to open the large loading door on the eastern wall, but having a hard time with it. The second are both the other men, attempting to hide behind crates and barrels, though not doing a very good job of that either. And lastly, one of those men lobbing another bag of small goopy substance at the archer's head... which Jones easily avoids, stepping aside as it bursts open, spreading its gooey adhesive harmlessly over a barrel behind him.
In response, he calmly launches an arrow at the man on the door. It sinks into his back, right beside the previous one. His body hits the still unopened door with a thump, before sliding to the floor.
The other two swear, as their hiding places prove less then adequate and they quickly abandon them, moving up to engage the man with the bow! Jones barely knocks the first cutlass aside, and is unable to dodge the second one at all, as he gains a small gash on his thigh for his troubles.
- Round 7 -----
Malusha, Jones (-17), Masym (entangled), Nella (-11), Phoebee, Wei Tchak (-19, deaf) --------> We are here!
red, yellow (-6)
Active Conditions: Bless (+1 to hit), Inspire Courage (+1 to hit/damage) [Except Wei Tchak]
Party is up!
Nella, Wei Tchak, and Malusha quickly move up when they hear Jones and Masym running into trouble up ahead, while Phoebee decides to climb up the mountain of crates and avoid the bottleneck.
Jones, feeling confident, fires an arrow point blank at the man in front of him. The man's eyes go wide, not expecting him to do that, and only barely manages to duck his head to the side and avoid getting it in the eye. He instinctively hacks at Jones with his cutlass, but is too busy ducking to have any accuracy. Jones then hops up on the crate to his left, and clambers from there up a few more. The second thug tries to cut him down as he goes, but has no better luck then his comrade.
Masym steps into the space created by Jones' maneuver, and thrusts his spear into the nearer pirate while he is distracted by Jones.
Both men start to get a little desperate, feeling themselves getting hemmed in. They both attack Masym, but they seem to have forgotten how to use their weapons, then one of them takes a step back, much to his buddy's dismay.
- Round 8 -----
Malusha, Jones (-17), Masym (entangled), Nella (-11), Phoebee, Wei Tchak (-19, deaf) --------> We are here!
red (-6), yellow (-6)
Active Conditions: Bless (+1 to hit), Inspire Courage (+1 to hit/damage) [Except Wei Tchak]
Party is up!
For Malusha, forgetting to load his crossbow ends up a precursor for forgetting how to load it... as he seats the bolt slightly off the groove in his haste. The end result nearly takes off his hand as it misfires out of the barrel!
Jones proves to have a better handle on the process with his bow, as he shifts over, and shoots down at the pirates from above. They prove to be fish in a proverbial barrel from that vantage point, and one of them drops with a scream as the arrow sinks into his chest.
Wei Tchak decides to take the high road once more, clambering up the pile of crates until he is perched about ten feet above Masym, like some sort of feathered gargoyle.
The final foe's eyes can't decide where to focus, as threats seem to be descending on him from all sides. He is not at all ready to block Masym's spear, as he gains yet another long gash to remind him. The threatening words that follow seem to make up his mind for him, as he suddenly drops his cutlass, and throws up his hands.
"Alright! Alright." He mutters, sullenly, as he steps back away from Masym. "Croat don't know who he's messed with."
A quick check on the four thugs will reveal all of them are still alive and stable, though only the last is conscious. All of them have well-made gear, though they don't have nearly as many alchemical items as you would have thought, having used many of them during the fight.
You will end up with 3 smokesticks, 3 thunderstones, and a single tanglefoot bag. They also each have masterwork studded leather armor, a masterwork cutlass, a regular light crossbow, and set of masterwork thieves' tools.
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After seeing the last of the thugs give up, Malusha steps towards Nella. "That was exciting." He smiles. "Reminds me of our times up north. I've often thought about those times." He looks into her green eyes for a second, as if he is about to say something important, but then the moment fades. "I see blood on your clothes. Are you still injured?"
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"Oof...yeah, but I'll be fine," Nella chuckles. "I've had worse and it looks like Tchak is worse," she adds, more seriously. "We need to be more careful next time; we're a little rusty on working together and it shows!"
She glances at the subdued thugs, whom Jones is busy tying up. "But at least we know we're on the right track. No sense in setting up an ambush like that if you didn't have anything to hide."
______
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Once the pirates have all been tied up, Masym watches the pirate who presumable uttered their employer's name closely. "Nice job of not pushing your luck there." Masym drawls as he presses the point of his spear against the other man's throat. "Now, let's talk. Or rather I ask, you answer. Think you can handle that?" His gaze is not friendly, not in the slightest. "Croat. Who is he? Where can we find him?"
"Hide?" He man nearly chokes at Nella's comment. "You kicked down our door! We's defending ourselves!"
As Masym steps in, and starts grilling him, he glares back at him all surly, going silent again... at least until Masym asks about Croat.
"Whaddya mean, who's Croat?" He responds suddenly, looking confused. "Ain't you workin' for him?"
When it becomes evident that you don't know who that is, he looks even more confused. "Then who sent you lot? We was just mindin' our own business, and you come bustin' down the door and shootin' and stabbin'!"
He tries to feign innocence, then doesn't pull it off very well.
"You should untie us and leave now, and maybe it won't go all crooked-ways on ya!" He suggests, hopefully.
"What?! Nothin'!" He calls out, as Malusha starts looking in crates. "Just stuff we're storin'... for a friend."
He looks a little nervous.
The crate Malusha looks in, contains bolts of cloth, mostly earth tones.
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"Don't you get it?" Nella says to her friends as a light dawns in her eyes. "Whoever Croat is, he must be someone that's an enemy of Alejia - not surprising, since it sounds like she's made plenty of them lately."
Turning her gaze to the one thug, she frowns. "Who we are isn't important. We have it on pretty good authority that this is the place to come to if you've got things that you don't want anyone to find - like stolen goods, maybe? This'll be a lot easier for everyone if you just tell us what you know about Alejia and what she's up to - and this Croat guy, too."
"You don't know Alejia. She'd eat you for lunch!" He says, to Nella, as the priestess tries to reason with him.
But when Masym steps in, with a far less friendly tone, he promptly backpedals on the attitude a little, trying very hard not to move as the spear presses down.
"Hey now, I'm cooperatin', ain't I?" He mumbles, hastily... though he seems to keep one nervous eye on Malusha all the while, as the cleric looks into random crates.
"But this is Riddleport..." He shrugs, though it comes off awkward with his hands bound. "'Round these parts, snitches don't get stitches..." He tries to look friendly, forcing a smile on his face. "They get a paycheck!"
"And maybe there hands untied!" He adds.
"Then I can probably tell you all sorts of things." He offers. "Just the hired help is all, you don't wanna hurt a poor bloke just makin' money to feed his starvin' family, right? Solid chap like you!"
As Malusha continues looking at crates, he adds. "Though you should stop that one from opening those all careless-like, some's that's fragile."
Malusha continues to examine the boxes and other supplies, most of which look relatively recently arrived, and recently stacked, all in neat piles, unlike the other side of the warehouse where you came in. They seem to be all over the map as to what they contain though, dried foodstuffs, fabrics, random ores, smelted and not, small icons to various religious organizations, etc.
He does notice, that one of the larger crates, at the bottom of a pile off to his left, looks like it has been hastily closed, very recently. As he goes over to open it, your prisoner suddenly starts talking hastily.
"Now, I ain't got nothing to do with that." He blurts out.
Inside the crate, Malusha finds an unconscious woman, her hands bound, and a gag on her mouth.
"Was just watchin' over her is all, make sure no harm came to her! Dangerous place, Riddleport." Even he doesn't look like he believes that line.
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The bard begins to play a little tune on her mandolin and begins to sing a little melody as she weaves magic into her song, directing it at the pirate
Come little pirate, I'll taake thee away
Into a land of enchantment.
Come little pirates, the time's come to play,
Here in my garden of magic.
DC 14 Will
She attempts to charm him
As Phoebee starts to play her song, the man suddenly looks at her funny.
"Wha... hey... get outta my head..." He starts to object, but his voice tails off.
"Oh... wait... your pretty." He finishes, giving the bard a big smile.
"You and me. We're buds, right? Maybe you can talk some sense into this lot." He adds, conspiratorially, nodding towards Masym.
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She gives him a big flirty smile Thanks for the compliment cutie! she says. I am sure that as long as you act like a good boy, I wouldnt want you to be naughty and get hurt, that Masym and my friends wont hurt you. They are good people but they dont like getting arrows stuck in them or hit with sticky glues or sticky tape or thunderstones. But that is all in the past. she sayw with a wink that tells him that he and she can have the world.
"Well, you should tell 'em not to be breakin' into other peoples places then!" He says, clearly not buying that the others are as nice as Phoebee.
"You should get far away from those ones. Once Alejia gets back and learns what they done did here, she's gonna be out for blood, for sure! Wouldn't want you to get caught up in all that."
"Don't worry, I'll try ta keep you outta it." He adds.
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Nella gapes at the sight of the unconscious woman inside the crate and shoots the conscious thug an icy glare. "Riiight...I'm sure the crate and the binds and the gag are just a special flavor of Riddleport hospitality, right?" she snaps. "Come on guys, help me get her out of this crate," she adds as Phoebee begins working her magic on the thug.
Once the woman is out of the crate, Nella begins to check her over to determine what sort of state she's in. "Psst! Phoebee, ask him what the deal is with her," she hisses.
The woman appears somewhat dehydrated, and has perhaps been beat up a bit, but is not in any immediate danger of dying.
Malusha is easily able to lean in, and touch her lightly, with a quiet prayer to Sarenrae, and her eyes flutter open, as she looks up at you, confusion on her face.
"Wha..?! What's happening?"
Once she has calmed a little, the woman will talk, though she keeps glancing at the captured pirate with a worried frown.
"My name is Iatha." She explains. "Iatha Oedricius, of Andoran. I am considered somewhat of an expert on Thassilonioan religions. I was contacted by the local head of the Order of the Cyphers, to come out here and help them with some particularly vexing iconography they were working on."
"It was such a unique opportunity." She adds, clearing not sure of that anymore. "Tammerhawk assured me I'd be perfectly safe..."
Her voice trails off for a moment, as she collects her thoughts, before she continues, shaking her head slightly as she recalls the events that followed.
"Our ship, the Starfire, was beset by those awful pirates only half a day from Riddleport. It was horrible! They killed everyone. Men, women, everyone. Just out and slit their throats, right there on the deck, and dumped the bodies overboard without even a solemn word."
"Their leader was this vudrani woman named Alejia. A horrible woman! She spared me for some reason. I'm not sure why... it seemed like she just hadn't decided what to do with me yet."
"They sailed us north, up towards the Linnorm Kingdoms. Then, in the middle of nowhere, they sunk the Starfire. I was loaded back onto their's, a ship called the Lionfish. Alejia didn't go with us, she boarded a small skiff, and rowed ashore out there on her own."
She scowls angrily at the captured pirates. "They brought me back here on the Lionfish, and I've been here, being treated perfectly monstrously by these four, ever since."
"Woah, hey now!" The pirate hastily interjects. "We may have roughed her up a little, but that's just professional courtesy, ain't it?!" He looks over towards his new friend Phoebee for support. "We wasn't gonna hurt her too bad. Just make a few coins sellin' her back is all."
He glances over at Masym. "Remember? Makin' a livin'? Starvin' family to feed?"
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Masym abruptly turns away from the pirate who addresses him, unable to say anything to the man. The look of white hot fury upon his face, plus the white-knuckled grip on his spear, tells you all what you need to know; basically only his iron-willed control is keeping the pirate alive.
"You are safe now Iatha. Is there anything else you remember about Alejia? Were you able to pick up any clues as to where she may have anchored the Lionfish?"
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Tchak, who never sheathed his blade, twirls it in his hand, itching to take this pirate's head... He takes a step forward... and stands threateningly nearby, but forestalls his impulse until Phoebee is done with the fellow. He leans close and whispers in her ear.
"Finish with him quickly... he deserves the same treatment he gave this lady."
Iatha shakes her head. "It was dark, and I was rolled up in something. I didn't see much." She replies to Masym's query.
"I can tell you what it looks like though." She adds, hopefully. "Had a good long look at that damnable ship. Was an old grimy sailing ship, probably red once."
She goes on to give a rather decent description of the ship in question.
"See, there ya have it then." The pirate interjects again. "If's the Lionfish yer lookin' for, that's it for sure!"
"See, so now you don't need me no more." He continues. "Seems ya ain't lookin' to let me go... and I can't blame ya... good common sense that, who knows who I might go warn!" He nods ingratiatingly. "Not that I would, 'course."
"Maybe a good knock on the noggin' then?" He suggests. "Like those gits over there. By the time we come to, will all be moot! That way you feel like ya've done yer due diligence, and everyone walks away happy, right?"
"Right?" He repeats, hopefully.
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"This is strange...by all accounts Alejia was murdering everyone, even the experts being invited by the Order of the Cyphers," Nella frowns. "But if she spared you, Iatha, then maybe she spared the other researchers - for ransom, of some sort?"
She looks at the man, waiting for him to answer Jones' question before she poses one of her own. "And has Alejia brought any other prisoners here? If so, what did you do with them?"
The captured pirate frowns. "How should I know that?! We're just doing scut work." He says, sullenly.
"Alejia's not s'pose ta be back this way for a couple a days." He mutters. "We was just told ta 'Stay here. Tidy this place up. Keep an eye on the broad. Wait for her to return' Same ol' noise. That's all they told us greenhorns."
He nods towards Masym. "And I don't like the way that one's lookin' at me."
The thug snorts. "She ain't that thick!" he says, before realizing what he's saying, and closing his mouth.
It doesn't take long, with Phoebee playing carrot, and Masym playing stick, to press him a little more and learn that though the Lionfish is not tied up at any of the docks, it is anchored out in the harbor.... 'to avoid snooping eyes'.
---
Also, during Masym's investigation of the various bits of purloined cargo, he will have found a few items of note .
A small box, containing three flasks of acid, has a masterwork quality longsword leaning against it. A second crate, the lid off, had half a dozen large balls of tar, about the size of someone's head, molded around a thick length of rope. These are tar bombs, common among piratical-types for setting enemy ships and sailors on fire.
He also noticed a secret compartment hidden in the warehouse floor, that contained a number of ornate silk flags of obvious value.
Combined with the items, and about 180 gp in coins, you pulled off the pirates themselves, means you won't walk away empty handed from a profit department.
The pirate looks at Phoebee morosely. "Oh, aye, my days are numbered for sure now. Once Alejia learns we got made here, we might as well open our own throats."
"Time for a change of venue." He smiles at her again. "You should come with! These gits is just gonna get you killed too!"
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Nella sigh, furrowing her brow as she thinks. "Personally it wouldn't bother me a bit to leave these fellows for the guard to find - they might actually be more lenient than Alejia probably will," she whispers to the others. "But depending on how generous we are, I suppose we could dump them somewhere with just enough cash to get out of Riddleport. Either way, it sounds like we're pretty well done here."
Then she turns to Iatha. "What about you? Will you still head to see the cyphermages or are you just ready to be shut of Riddleport for good?"
"I came here to see the arch." She says, setting her jaw. "The town may be a nightmare, but that is still a wonder worth studying."
"Is it even safe to sail out of this hole?" She adds, with a frown. "No, I think I'll head to the Cypher Lodge. Hopefully things will be safer there for now."