▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
As Fiammetta casts her spell, the half-orc caught in the area stands motionless. This way, she can avoid slipping, but there’s nothing the half-orc can do to avoid Dolgarth’s cautious attack. The flail hits her right in the face, making her spit blood as a few teeth are taken away from her mouth. In the meantime, Aldus casts a healing spell on Jakwin, bringing him back to his senses. Nebraska successfully moves in the room, but as she does so, she gets attacked by the male half-orc. As soon as she lands, Nebraska is reached by a powerful kick stealing the breath out of her lungs.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
The half-orc do not have any intention to let the Pathfinder organize and take place into the room. To this end, they unleash their strength in another impressive flurry of blows. The male half-orc focuses on Nebraska, and although the girl is able to avoid the first assault, there’s nothing she can do in order to dodge the second, and she collapses to the ground, dying.
The half-orc female, in the meantime, targets Dolgarth. Thanks to his high defenses, though, the half-elf parries both hits with ease.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
: mage armor (Fiammetta, 55 minutes remaining)
Half-orc (Green)
Half-orc (yellow)
Fiammetta
Dolgarth
Aldus
Jakwin
Nebraska
______________________________________________________
--- ---
--- ---
--- ---
|
"No!" screams Aldus as Nebraska falls unconscious. 'Ok, keep it together, Aldus. Distract him first and then strike.' He unsheathes his rapier and mocks the half-orc who attacked Nebraska "Hey, I'm next!" He pretends to thrust from the left but develops the movement into a simple flourish.
"Jak, what about some music?", the Galtan yells.
___________________________
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Fiammetta fails to hit her foe, the half-orc she aimed for dodging the acid dart narrowly. “Tshk. You need better than that”, mocks her the half-orc while Dolgarth’s attack fail to connect, with such a timing that it’s not entirely clear if the woman was referring to Fiammetta or Dolgarth. Aldus successfully feints in the meantime, while Jakwin further heals himself and Nebraska keeps losing blood.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
The half-orcs grin and focus on Dolgarth. They perform such a quick series of unarmed strikes that they’re barely discernable, but Dolgarth parries them all. The half-orc are stunned in frustration. “How did he…” they both say with surprised faces.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
: mage armor (Fiammetta, 32 minutes remaining)
Half-orc (Green)
Half-orc (Yellow)
Fiammetta
Dolgarth
Aldus
Jakwin
Nebraska
______________________________________________________
--- ---
|
If he can dodge that, I'm unlikely to hit him that way. I didn't want to do this, but I guess I have no choice.
Fiametta grabs her amulet with her left hand and strokes it. "Feel the power of Asmodeus!" she snarls. A ball of red light flies from the center of the amulet, smacking the half-orc in the face.
|
|
Taking advantage of the half-orc's apparent lack of concern towards him, Aldus jumps the stairs and rolls to where Nebraska lays unconscious.
Though he miscalculates his landing, the Galtan manages to reach the rogue. His rapier shining bright for a moment, he thrusts at the half-orc's back.
____________________________________
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Fiammetta’s ball of red light flies to the half-orc. “What the f!+$ was that?”
“Don’t waste your time and stay focused!” barks the other half-orc in response.
Dolgarth fails to deliver the decisive blow to his opponent, and when Aldus jumps over the male half-orc’s head, the hulking creature seizes his opportunity and punches Aldus on his back. The Galtan bard though manages to land safely despite the attack and pierces the half-orc’s back with his rapier. “AAAARGH! ”, roars the half-orc in pain.
Jakwin carefully takes advantage of the chaos and staggers back. Dolgarth offers him the cover he needs in order not to get targeted again.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
The male half-orc counterattacks, but Aldus is in a lucky streak and dodges both unarmed attacks. The female half-orc hits Dolgarth in the face with a solid punch, but the half-elf Pathfinder successfully parries her following kick.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
: mage armor (Fiammetta, 32 minutes remaining)
Half-orc (Green)
Half-orc (Yellow)
Fiammetta
Dolgarth
Aldus
Jakwin
Nebraska
______________________________________________________
--- ---
|
|
Dolgarth yells simply, flicking his heavy shield over his arm so his hand is free to hold his face and bleeding nose. The shield still in a defensive position, he nurses a wound and a grudge. "You know, I was tryin' to be nice! Well, I really wasn't, but you get the idea!" With that he attempts to ram his flail sideways into his attacker's face. Attempt being the operative word. "Now stand down, before we have to scrape you off the deck!"
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Fiammetta this time misses her target, while Dolgarth fails to connect with his opponent. Jawkin and Aldus miss as well. Nebraska’s conditions continue to worsen.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
“Now you shall suffer!” The male half-orc attacks Aldus—the bard is able to dodge the first attack, but he’s reached by the brute’s kick, stealing the breath out of his lungs and sending him to the ground. The male half-orc grins and steps to his left, away from the stairs. Dolgarth, in the meantime, is able to parry both the attacks of the female half-orc.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
: mage armor (Fiammetta, 32 minutes remaining)
Half-orc (Green)
Half-orc (Yellow)
Fiammetta
Dolgarth
Aldus
Jakwin
Nebraska
______________________________________________________
--- ---
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Fiammetta hits the half-orc female right in her face. The half-orc screams in pain but she does not give up yet. In the meantime, Jakwin hits the half-orc male with his sword. Although the creature seems to be on the brink of death, there’s something that keeps him going. Half-orcs are a resilient lot, and they fight to death…and beyond, apparently. Unfortunately, Dolgarth isn’t able to deliver the killing blow to the half-orc female.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Resorting to their last energies, the half-orcs attack desperately, but they’re too weak and wounded to actually pose a threat to Dolgarth and Jawkin. Just after making their first attack, both the half-orcs collapse to the ground as empty sacks, blood flowing out of their wounds.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
: mage armor (Fiammetta, 32 minutes remaining)
Half-orc (Green)
Half-orc (Yellow)
Fiammetta
Dolgarth
Aldus
Jakwin
Nebraska
______________________________________________________
--- ---
|
|
"Thank the darkness," Fiametta sighs. I didn't think they'd ever fall."
She looks over at her companions, half of whom are bleeding out on the ground. "This won't do at all -- let's try to keep everyone alive,yes?" She runs down the stairs and kneels by Nebraska, who has been unconscious the longest, trying to bind her wounds.
|
|
"That seems like a better option than the alternative," Dolgarth mutters, stumping over to Nebraska. "Aldus looks all right for the time being, considering...Jak, do you have any magic left? If you do, I'd say use it. We're not on a short clock and I'd say we should be done with investigation for the day." He unties his stiff neckband, which is also designed for use as a bandage, and tries to wrap it tightly around Nebraska's most prominent wound. He seems to have it under control until the pain in his head suddenly mounts causing him to twitch massively. He unwraps the band and, lacking water, tries soaking it in the grease to sanitize it for another try. "We may want to keep those half-orcs away from the Boneyard too, but our allies come first."
Neither Fiammetta nor Dolgarth are able to stabilize Nebraska.
In the meantime, Aldus stabilized on his own.
|
|
"On it," grunts Jak as he hops over to Nebraska's, calling on his gift once more to try to keep her alive.
When she wakes up, it's with Jak's charmingest grin hovering over her face. "Hey, Nebs. Welcome back!" He looks around, noting the two downed half-orcs. "Well," he says brightly, "that could have gone worse."
His grin fades, "Oh, and I'm out of spells until I can catch some shut-eye."
|
Nebraska gasps to life, rolling onto her back on the wooden floor.
[Heavy Breathing]"WHAT! Where. How. Did. I. I. I was just tumbling in..." She finally looks up at Jak, "Thanks, that was close wasn't it? Sorry guys. I'll, we, maybe. Let's try to learn from this, eh? Gods, I feel like s%#+."
She struggles to her feet, taking whatever help that is offered. Seeing Aldus still down more of the prior events start to sink in. 'Three of us we dropped, that exposed some issues there. I need something to attack at range with so I don't have to put myself physically at risk everytime.'
"What can we do for him? After searching the rest of this place I can run and grab a scroll if we just carry him out.. If no one else comes back.."
|
|
Jak stands back up, looking over at Aldus, "That's about all I can think of. Until we get some healing, we'll just have to take care of him." He shrugs, "I'll carry him. Dolgarth needs his hands free if we run into more trouble."
He looks at the rest of the ship, "I think any stealth we had might be worthless now. I'd suggest Dolgarth just take point as we finish our search here."
|
|
Fiametta allowed a sigh of relief to escape her once Jak had revived Nebraska. Then she stood up and pulled at her robes, straightening them.
"At the Academy, the instructor would always give us notes after a Practical Exercise. What we did right, what we did wrong. Mostly what we did wrong." She frowns as she sees a streak of Nebraska's blood on her sleeve, and tries rubbing it off with her thumb, but just smears it deeper.
"I wasn't taking notes, but I think it's clear that we need to hit our enemies more. And not let them hit us as much. Mostly that. In retrospect, I'm not sure I would grease the area like that -- I was trying to keep them from surrounding us, but it may have just kept us from surrounding them. I don't know."
"I still have a spell to put people to sleep, and my touch can distract people in combat. If I can get close enough to touch them. And Nebraska, you can have one of my daggers if you need something to throw. I've got two. Well, three, with the silver one."
After giving her assessment, Fiametta glances around the area to see what is there.
Now that the combat is over, Nebraska has been brought back to her senses and Aldus’ conditions have spontaneously stabilized, the Pathfinders have the time to pay attention to their surroundings. They’re clearly in the lower deck, the place where cargo would ordinarily be stored for passage, but aside from several empty barrels and a few broken crates, this room is empty of cargo. It is filled instead with more than a dozen shackled slaves.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
: mage armor (Fiammetta, 32 minutes remaining)
Half-orc (Green)
Half-orc (Yellow)
Fiammetta
Dolgarth
Aldus
Jakwin
Nebraska
|
|
Not knowing anything of first aid and having spent all his healing abilities, Jak simply stoops to investigate the two unconscious bodies.
He shrugs, "No clue about the potions, but this is a Wayfinder!" He suddenly realizes that the room has captives. He stands up, grins, and holds up the Wayfinder, "Hopefully we can help you folks out. But can you tell us who you are. And do any of you belong to this?"
The shackled prisoner reveal their names one after the other, trying to get Jakwin's attention and asking to free them. Even though most of their names do not say anything to the Pathfinders, there's a man named Creighton Nish among them, and another named Orfeo Bozbeyli.
|
|
Nebraska shivers at the sights of all the emaciated people chained to the boat's hull. She hadn't noticed their tired, quite presence before.
"This is horrible." barely squeaks out. "We have to free them, you all agree right?" Nebraska scans the faces of her partners looking for the same empathy that she feels.
Noticing the bottles, Nebraska crouches and rolls one over in her hand.
"The writing is faded, smeared. No, I'm not sure what these do."
The Wayfinder catches her eye though, "Whoa, those can be powerful!"
|
|
Fiametta looks at her companions appraisingly. Probably a good thing the Galtan is unconscious, all things considered.
"Well," the lawyer temporizes in a low voice, "it really depends on whether these are legal slaves. Taldor allows slavery, to an extent, so if they were lawfully acquired, freeing them would be a crimimal act. We'd be unlikely to be spend any time in a Taldan jail, but their owners would be well within their rights to bring suit against us, and our employers. So it would be best if we could find their papers before we did anything drastic, so that we know what we're dealing with."
Fiametta takes a breath, then continued. "Now, if they are illegal slaves -- like, kidnappees, for instance -- then of course we can free them. It's just important that you understand the risk we would be taking if we can't prove their provenance."
Then she stares at the captives for a long moment, and take mental notes as to their condition."It is also...possible, that even if they are legally purchased slaves that we could temporarily take possession of them, due to their abandonment and neglect. We'd want to take them straight to the local constabulary, of course, just like we would any other lost property. Then it would be up to the authorities whether they would hold them for their owners, or release them. That would open us up to questions we might not want to answer, though."
Fiametta reviews the facts in her mind one more time, and considers whether she left anything unsaid. "That's your legal advice for the afternoon. Now while you all discuss, I'm going to take a look at these potions, and see if I can figure out what they do."
Fiametta takes a moment to examine the first potion. After a few moments, she says, "Thank the darkness. All four of them are light healing potions. Who wants to pour one of them down Aldus' throat?"
|
|
Dolgarth surveys the gaunt rows of slaves, trying to be impassive but still feeling sorry for them. 'If information on the legality of these slaves was in the log book, it could be gone now, unknown to us.' Aloud, he remarks, "Given the circumstances, one would think they have been kidnapped by these cultists. Still, we don't know, so perhaps we can take them to the authorities in an attempt to figure it out. They could get a square meal there, if nothing else. And as long as we're going there, we could bring these half-orcs along." His rudimentary attempt at sanitizing his bandage having made as much headway as it was likely to, he kneels over the closer of their former combatants and tries to bind their wounds. "I think we'd prefer they didn't die, but we needn't use any of those elixirs on 'em. Should probably give one or two to Aldus, though."
Another painful twinge of the head causes his efforts to be in vain once again. Seeing little point in trying to soak his bandage in grease again, he tears a long strip of cloth from the clothes of one of the half-orcs for his next go. 'Damn, my head...but Aldus, Nebs, and Jak certainly had or have it worse.'
The slaves starts yelling insults at Fiammetta as she gives her legal advince on legitimate slavery. One man in particular, Creighton Nish, seems to be particularly angry at the Cheliaxian wizard. "You dirty lil' devil-sucker! Slavery is a crime against humanity! *Puah!* These half-orcs were better captors! We are not anyone's property! We're free men and women!"
Others in the crowd are on Creighton's same page, while only a few of them (only two, apparently) keep their heads down, resigned to whatever the fate has in store for them.
|
|
Jak gives Fiametta an incredulous look as he bends to pour one of the potions into Aldus’s mouth.
”Or, here’s a thought. People should be free to live their lives.” He shrugs, ”Legal or not, we should set these folk free. Plus, like Dolgarth said, they're probably just kidnap victims." He looks at the chained people, "Are any of you slaves?” After pouring as many potions as necessary to get Aldus back on his feet...
Jak walks over to the prisoners. "You're Nish?" He pats hi pocket, where his letter resides, "A friend of ours ... The Captain .. wanted me to see you to safety."
|
|
Nebraska is relieved that she isn't alone in her concern. Seeing Dolgarth giving care to the two half-orcs and Aldus sitting up again, she moves to the people in chains with Jak.
"I don't think I agree with the law then.. sorry Fiametta, I don't mean any offense.. we're just already held so captive by time and circumstance, the mortal plight a sneering threat, for slaves to enslave each other.. I don't see the point.." Nebraska sways lightheaded and snaps out of her rambling. Looking a uncomfortable she swerves her way across the room on unsteady legs. "Here Jak, let me help." She removes a tool kit and kneels to start tinkering with the lock, "Hmm, almost, I should be able to get it here.."
|
|
Aldus wakes up coughing up violently, a drop of the potion dripping down his beard. Initially disoriented, the protests from the captives snaps him out his stupor; shaking his head he gets up with Jak's help 'Gods, what did she say?'
"Greetings, all! I'm sure that this has been a terrible misunderstanding. Our advisor just wanted to…brief us on the legal status of slavery. Legal or not, no man can rightfully be owned by another; or, as Hosetter wrote, 'No great idea in its beginning can ever be within the law.'. If any problems come out of this, we'll deal with it." the bard says, offering Nebraska the keys recovered from the half-orcs.
Whilst the three of them are freeing the captives, he overhears Jak addressing Nish and says "That makes two of us. A pleasure to see you're safe, Nish."
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Fiametta stifles a sigh, as everything proceeds exactly as she expected. I thought the Qadiran, at least would understand. She must not have come from a good family. How does Zarta have the patience for this? I guess I'll just have to redouble my efforts to serve as a beacon of ethics and morality.
She looks Aldus up and down, making sure he was truly well. "Exactly right. I certainly won't stop anyone from freeing these obviously illegal slaves, and should I be called upon to testify against you in court, I will list the many persuasive, circumstantial details which would naturally lead one to that conclusion."
Pleased with her magnanimity, and emboldened by her growing camaraderie, she leaned forward and continued in a faux whisper, still loud enough for everyone else to hear. "In fact, I must admit that I was engaging in a bit of deception. I have been charged to strike a blow against illegal slavers -- I think that we can all agree that indiscriminate slave-takers are the lowest of the low -- and I merely wished to ascertain if there was any more persuasive evidence as to the status of these slavers than what I could see with my own eyes, before I took further action. But now I am resolved."
Fiametta unconsciously pats her satchel. "I have on my person a...small item of no importance. If I place this item in the bilge of the ship it will...prevent it's continued use in the slave trade. This would certainly fall into a legal grey area, but can be defended as the only way to stop a criminal enterprise from continuing."
She pats Aldus on the arm. "It's good to see you walking around. I was becoming concerned about you."
"Now," she says to the room at large, "Does anyone have the slightest idea what a bilge looks like?"
|
|
Cracking his neck, he continues addressing the captives: "I am happy we have cleared that up. Now, we'll just finish catching our breaths and then we'll escort you all out of this dreaded ship."
Seeing that Dolgarth was already taking care of the cultists, the bard tries questioning Nish. Once the sailor is freed, Aldus offers him some water and asks "Were you with Cestis at the auction? Do you know what has become of him?"
Aldus hides his surprise at Fiametta's gentleness 'Huh. I thought she would have finished that half-orc's work when I quoted Hosetter.' He puts his hand where he received the final blow, closing his eyes from a sudden twinge of pain "I've survived worse…but I guess I should stick to archery from now on. As for bilge, not sure. Isn't it the bottommost part of a ship?"
|
|
Nebraska gets a little smirk when she sees the keys, "Oh, yeah I suppose there are those too."
To the freed people she adds another question, "Did these two half orcs have any accomplices? Did you over hear anything they talked about?"
The girl also scans the room for any cargo marked with an "x". 'Perhaps the cargo isn't on this ship but with where they brought Cestis?' she muses to herself, attempting to get an glance in to Dolgarth.
Fiammetta reaches the bilges and does what she needs to do, just like Nebraska with the marked cargo. As for Aldus and Jakwin, they free Creighton Nish first, and then the others, using the key ring found on the body of one of the half-orcs.
______________________________________________________
--- ---