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With a casual flick of the wrist, Luisila tosses Baz one of the potions of Cure Moderate Wounds.
She then *casts* Stabilize before removing any weapons from the sailor that Súrë and Ilivan took down, and checks to see if the man is dead or merely unconscious.
If he is not dead, Luisila will check she is back in her true half-elven form *cast* Copycat, dump the contents of the final Cure Moderate Wounds potion down the man’s throat and as he comes to *cast* Burst of Radiance at least 15’ behind herself.
If he’s still not awake, she will channel positive energy, ensuring only THIS sailor and Baz are in the area of effect.
Once she has the waking man’s attention, she will say:
“We are Luis and Isla, half-azata gatekeepers to the Pleasure Dome of Calistria, on the plane of Elysium. Welcome to the afterlife! There are many more like us just waiting for you, beyond the threshold. However, for non-believers to enter, you must answer any questions we put to you, fully and honestly.”
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As the one sailor tries to bull rush past Desmond, the ranger just sticks his elbow out and repels the guy. Though he could take a swing, Desmond just feels sorry for guy and lets the man surrender. He sheathes his sword and shakes the guy down, kicking his weapons aside.
"Really? You know, I've had flies hit me harder 'n that. Next time, bring your shoulder down. Ah get over with the others! And don't try anything stupid."
Des walks the thug into the main room with the others. He walks in just as Luisila is giving the other guy a fake introduction to the Calistrian afterlife. He waits to see what the cleric may learn.
---
The sailors and warriors, lined up to be disarmed and circled like a hawk, watch as S1 is taken outside by the Louis. A2: "Probl'y gonna execute him. Poor bastard."
All the remaining foes inside, all in agreement that living is good, allow S4 to speak first (having been around the longest (roughly two-and-a-half weeks.) "Wouldn't know who he works for. Keeps a Captain's Log of every damn errant thought he had over the past two months. I'm sure it's full of useless junk about that little old wench of his, but there might be something in there. Head full of gas, old Captain was. Oh well, paid his way to Hanspur's house, he did."
S2 queues in on the order of operations. "What he did with the input? First, the boats came in, after Karvis would pelt the shipments with arrows and kill everyone on board from afar, press-ganging anyone left. How he knew when they left is beyond me. Probably listened in while in town. Once they returned here, they'd check in all the inventory with Deremin and put it in the Dead Man's Chest. He should have a key for it. It's the room attached to his room, of course. Greedy bastard."
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Meanwhile, in the Pleasure Dome...
The man awakens after the channeling.
"Oh, wow. Ha! Tines did pull through! Whoo!" He throws his hands up in excitement, then clutches his remaining wounds. "Ow, I thought it wouldn't hurt once I'm dead. Plus, why am I still in this hole? And who's that?" He looks around to whatever surrounding you put him in, and lastly at Desmond . "But, yeah," he a hand at each Gatekeeper and clicks his tongue twice. "I'm an open book! What you wanna know? Pleaassuuuure doooomeeee..."
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Desmond addresses the injured man, "Hold your horses there. Before we let you in on Calistiria's endless pleasures, I must know who was your employer during your final career as a river-rat raider. What were some of the larger goals of the organization?"
Desmond folds his arms, trying to look as much like an after-life enforcer as possible.
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♩♪ We’re a long way from home. Welcome to the Pleasure Dome. ♩♪
Luis and Isla draw their whips and take off the crimson bandanas that cover their respective heads.
"Ow, I thought it wouldn't hurt once I'm dead. Plus, why am I still in this hole? And who's that?"
“Praise Calistria! There’s a fine line between pleasure and pain. You’ll find both exist in the Savored Sting’s realm. If you were to complain about what is about to be done to you, you’d be the first!”
“Now kow-tow before us, dog while we bind your arms and blindfold around your eyes.”
The twins will then point their whips at Desmond and curtsey low.
“You have the great honor of being in the presence of the Peerless Tordurbar, He of the Endless Forms and Major Domo of the Unquenchable Fire! All praise Her Name!”
“Normally an entity of pure entropy, He chooses this form and a facsimile of a Prime location you are familiar with to judge mortal petitioners in a way that puts them more at ease. His true form would send US mad – let alone a worthless worm like yourself!”
“You would be wise to answer his questions openly and honestly.”
Luis and Isla bow again to Desmond, gesturing for him to ask any questions he may have.
In the Pleasure Dome...
"Oh, uhhhh, 'kay." He pauses a moment, likely to think (after giving in to the guardians' demands.) "Boy, this bandana sure does smell nice," he says, thinking out loud. [b]"Oh, Deremin was the guy who hired us! If someone was paying him, then, uh, I dunno. Beats me."
He continues into the second question. "Uhh... organization? I guess if you'd call the guys an 'organization,' then our plan to throw that boat piece in the closet into the water was gonna happen at some point."
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In a commanding tone Luisila asks, “What do you mean by ‘boat piece’? Were there any traps in your last dwelling on the Prime?”
With the bound and blind-folded man lying prostrate before Desmond and herself, Luisila is happy to leave any further interrogation to Uncle Guaril’s man while she heads back to the others.
She waits for a response, before pointing at the burly ranger, making a rapid ‘glove-puppet-talking’ movement with her right hand and then pointing at the captive.
She pauses for a moment and again points at Desmond and the prisoner, makes a ‘two-fingers walking’ movement with her right hand and then points at the house. She waits for Des to acknowledge, and then proceeds back to the house to commence a very thorough search for traps and items of interest.
Upon seeing that her favorite sylph has returned, Luisila says, ”Hey Súrë! I’m thinking of a number between 1 and 10. Guess what it is?”
She will say “ ‘warmer’ … ‘colder’ … Oh, white hot, Súrë!” until he gets it, when she’ll add:
“Maybe, one of our new friends will play it with you?”
In the Pleasure Dome...
"You know, Hanspur*? The Drowned Rat?" He shrugs, still blindfolded. "Thought he might be swimming under the Dome or something, I dunno. Must not be."
"The boat piece, though, I'm meanin' a figurehead from an old ship, dressed up like some pirate lady. Deremin kept it in the building, call'in'er her "Bemsara* or somethin'. Told us to waste our time and pay respects each time when we passed. Probably left a bunch'a stuff to sell in front of it." He grins, continuing. "Won't be needin' that, though, what with the Pleasure Dome and that."
*DC 15 Kn Religion, or 10 if you are from the River Kingdoms
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Wall hangings, paintings, and rugs futilely endeavor to cover up this room’s mildewed surfaces, making it resemble a plague victim slathered with makeup for a funeral. A large bed in good condition sits in the room’s northwest corner, and a writing desk, chair, and small bookcase of damp wood round out the furnishings. The room is heavy with the smell of incense, which masks the omnipresent dank odor.
Underneath one of the many rugs is a door, seemingly shaped into the floor. It is closed. You hear nothing underneath but marsh (and would be all you find, should you open it without jumping into the grossness.) There is also a locked door in his room, which was defined as the storage room (A.K.A. Dead Man's Chest.)
Additionally, there is the Captain's Log (labeled as such.) It's a relatively thick read, but given a few minutes, you can find a few entries with some keywords you've thought of or mentioned over the past hour.
Knowledge Local or Nobility for the Helkit/the term Bloodied.
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Desmond tries a different tack, "So, Hanspur isn't the name of Deremin's boss? Well, how were you guys able to move your stolen goods? Was someone taking them off your hands, or were you just selling your stolen goods off to whoever had need of it? What is, I mean WAS, what was your supply chain like?"
"Uhh... I dunno, honestly. I just helps sail the halfling's boat to raid shipments, but then I drove us into a rock once, so they put me on night watch."
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"Well, ya done a real good job of that, haven't you?" Desmond removes the man's blindfold.
"Sorry, no pleasure dome for you, but have a pleasant dream at any rate."
He draws his greatsword and brings the butt of the hilt down on the man's head, trying to knock the poor guy out.
After knocking the man unconscious, Desmond rests his blade on his shoulder and makes his way inside.
"So...what'd we find in here?"
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Luisila tells all her companions about what she has found.
She will call out to her companions “There is a trap-door and locked ‘Dead Man’s Chest’ door still to open. Let’s use the key we found.”
“Omrax, Varg, Súrë are you OK to watch the prisoners?”
“Baz, might pay for you to be fully healed first, if you’re not all ready.”
Luisila will *cast* Detect Magic and check both doors carefully for traps before opening them.
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Omrax continues to watch the prisoners and make sure they do not have any accidents as they are prone to do.
"No Sir Súrë, I have not seen the frog. Are you certain you can pick up frogs? They might be protected by the local environmental and fauna protection agency. Although these pirates are in violation of at least a half dozen ordinances on proper use of river craft. ".
The key works fine on the lock, and there are no traps to be found!
There are nearly a dozen crates stacked inside this room, each one stamped with the Glyph of the Open Road and weighing approximately 100 pounds.
---
Meanwhile, in the guard pow-wow...
Súrë's fat frog is seen by all, though Omrax gets a number of weird looks (which is punctuated by A2 pointing out the obvious.) "You're... uh... not from around here, are you?"
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“Woo Hoo! Jackpot, baby!”
I see a somewhat more grateful VC Valsin and Smine as a result of us finding this!
Luisila will have a quick check over the crates for traps and inside a couple for kewl stuff, like a stone tablet housing, angel of death summoning, House of Thrune destroying ark, before saying to the others.
“Des? Varg? How are your people skills? I think we might need some laborers to load all of this stuff onto our barge. Do you think you'll be able to motivate them?”
Luisila thinks back to one of her first missions for the Society, which involved loading a crate into a boat, before she entered the notorious 'Alley of Deadly Halflings.'
"Maybe we can manoeuvre the barge under the trap door and load the crates onto it that way? Omrax, your sailing skills might come in handy."
She pauses to think if they've forgotten anything. “Then it might be time to head back to Tymon. Yeah?”
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MAGIC breastplate, heavy steel shield, mwk rapier, heavy crossbow with 10 bolts, MAGIC cape, MAGIC gauntlets, MAGIC "round metal container with a wooden coin that barely fits inside", key, 59 gp
Des is able to get a pretty good idea about a couple of the magic items. He slaps Varg on the shoulder. "What do you say, Varg? Think we can get these little sailor's to load all this stuff for us?"
Without waiting for a response, Desmond turns to address the prisoners. "Alright, listen up you gorram scum! This haul in here? It is your job to load it all on the boat we've got docked out front. You do this all toot sweet, and we may just let you go. Waste our time...and I'll be happy to show you what I can do with this greatsword...I am a little disappointed I didn't get to use it."
The ranger then takes a look at the log book that Luisila found. "Hey, Uncle Guaril needs to know about this." He takes the notes and folds them up to keep in his pocket. "You guys don't mind if I keep these, do you?"
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Omrax is willing to pilot the boat into place as needed (T10) and receive the cargo.
"Gentlemen, your cooperation will do wonders to start you on the path to righteous living. Please do not disappoint my good friends."
Nodding to Varg and Desmond.
"They have been known to be less patient with sailors than I am. Fortunately, I have full faith you will make a wise choice."
Baz is unable to recall anything about Helkit or the Bloodied Rank.
Desmond is incapable of identifying any of the items, though Luisila can tell why despite Des' better attempt on the container (given its more powerful aura.)
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Luisila gives the stockroom a good lookdown and merely finds that these supplies were the ones intended for Nerosyan in the most recent shipment. It would be a fair assumption to believe she has searched everything in this ramshackle locale.
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Meanwhile, Team Intimidate takes the faster initiative and drives the crew to work the mean way (though it produces results nonetheless.) The rest of the crew is not startled to see S1 knocked out on the boat, though is far more surprised that he isn't dead!
~~~
The (half-day) sail back to Tymon is uneventful, beyond those events from which you bring yourself.
Captain Demliah is already meeting with VC Holgarin Smine back at his "totally not a Pathfinder Lodge" Pathfinder Lodge, the two of which are already snacking on pretzelbread, honey, and tea.
He looks to the ladycaptain of the Terrepin, "Agreed. If she's brought back, she's yours. Otherwise, gold is on the way." Demliah nods, taking one piece of bread to-go. She gives a nod to the party as well, not being rude by speaking with her mouth full or delaying your inevitable meeting.
The Dwarf sends you praise only after nodding once and offering some more snack foods. "Well done. Everything I hoped for out there. Whatever else, our immediate enemies are done for. Hopefully gives anyone thinking about doing the same pause. But there’s the problem. There’ll be more, because they weren’t acting on their own."
He gets a bite himself, possibly to permit anyone to add anything they might have learned. "Helkit Silverbane — she’s a problem: Lots of money, lots of clout. She could just hire another group and hardly lighten her purse. We need to take this to her—make her see we’re more than she can handle. But going up against the bloodied... that’s like swimming upriver. Through piranha. Bleeding."
"Law’s not an option. First off, bankrolling pirates... barely a crime here—only if you get caught. Even with witnesses, she’s hardly red-handed. And bloodied’s word in court is worth lots more than words from captured bandits or the ones that caught them. Tymon’s got some hard laws, but this wasn’t really even in Tymon. It’s all... borderline. Don’t think we could make formal charges stick."
Smine sips his cooling tea thoughtfully, the furrows of worry on his brow slowly evening out. "Got one option, if you want to take it. Can’t hit her in court... but Tymon wasn’t built on courts." His eyes widen as he leans in close, "Ever heard of the Law of Grievance?"
Smine lays some local code on the group . "The Law of Grievance. Any person with a grievance and can't settle traditionally can call for an arena duel. Regardless of rank. Rich or poor, 'Bloodied' or 'Clean'. Rarely deathmatches, but more public than a court of law. Heck of a lot more attention too. Can't sell tickets to see the local judge. Plus, keeps murder rates down. Beating the snot out of a jerk tapers off bravado." Smine begins on another piece of bread. "If the loser's caught taking petty vengeance later, they're dead. Not the regular dead. They're put on the arena again. No gear, no nothin'. Just their naked self and dire bears, girallons. Or whatever flashy thing Freth finds." He shakes a remaining crust piece at Varg. "Hard to punch a bear to death, I'd wager. Crowds love it."
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Luisila spends the trip back with the gathered magic items, trying to identify them.
It’s a kinda magic!
Once they arrive back in Tymon, Luisila listens closely to VC Smine’s explanation of the community’s ‘grievance procedure.’
“So, you want us to be gladiators? Cool!”
Can you believe she has questions?
“How does it work? I mean is it ‘we choose ONE champion’ to fight theirs? Or is it our seven versus their seven? Can Ilivan and Sahrek participate?”
“What is not allowed? I assume lethal force is permitted? Can we use any spell or magic item? Is there time to buff before the referee says ‘go’? What is the victory condition? One side yields or is eliminated?”
“When will the fight begin? Can we get any intelligence on who the opposition is and what their strengths and weaknesses are? Will we get the chance to rest and get spells back?”
Smine answers all her questions in one go. "Challenged sets all the terms."
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Desmond listens to VC Smine's explanation of the Law of Grievance.
"Alright - that sounds all well and good. Where can we find Helkit? How do we go about making a formal complaint, or whatever, to enact this Law of Grivance?"
The ranger eyes the VC's food. A rumbling in his stomach betrays his hunger. He roots around in his pack and digs out a ration pack and nonchalantly tears into it and starts munching.
@Des: "Already send a girl to find her. Once she's back, go find Helkit. As for the challenge, it's simple. Just challenge her. Mention the Law of Grievance. If any eyes are watching, all the better. Can't afford to lose face around when she's got that far to fall. Doesn't have to be flashy. You can ham it up, if you want. This place runs on gladiatorial combat." He pushes the plate of snacks he offered earlier towards Desmond, noticing him eating something else. "Get your terms. Be ready for a fight."
Smine shrugs at the second question. "Not sure. Just look ready to fight right now when you challenge. Put up a front, if you gotta. Plus, don't have to perform in the fight. Just easier to see when you're not being pelted with tomatoes."
minutes later, a girl (still a little soot-y) arrives to the meeting house. She is a little wary until she sees everyone's Wayfinders, then speaks. "Master, the woman you were looking for is at the Arena, practicing." He nods, offers her a piece of bread. After taking the snack, she takes her leave. Smine gives you the needed info with a nod of his own. "Arena of Aroden. Best of luck." He takes the emptying tray to the back and lets everyone get on their way at their leisure for their optional mission.
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"Aye Varg - if there's no fear of death, then what's the point?" Desmond rubs his scruffy cheek with the back of his hand in thought.
"As for who will challenge Helkit - I think our dear Paladin would be the most appropriate. But I don't wanna pressure nobody. I'll be a pleased as punch to put forth the challenge."