The door is not locked and opens easily revealing storage room full of crates, barrels and supplies.
only enough supplies here to perhaps reach Westcrown in Cheliax or Merab in Thuvia.
The barrels seem to full of various types of food supplies.
There are some apples at the top of one of the barrels. While not freshly picked, they are a few that are mostly unbruised if one is not too picky.
The group descends down the stairs to the ballistae deck. Six large ballistae are housed here, screwed to the deck and mounted on rails so they can be pushed through the swinging doors on the side of the hull and fired at nearby ships. There is no ammunition present for these weapons, however, and the deck is empty. The southwest corner of the room contains an open trap door. The doors are visible, one to the north and to the south.
Sensing no noise behind either door, both are opened and revealed to be empty.
The door to the north reveal simple quarters containing several recently slept-in beds and the dark lantern on the floor is hot to the touch, as if it were recently lit.
The door to the south are finely appointed quarters containing a table, some chairs, bookshelf, and a few barrels, all of which have been screwed to the deck. A stack of papers on the table is from the ship’s former life as a slave ship for Qadira and contain manifests and records of deliveries throughout the Inner Sea. This room is dusty and dirty and
doesn’t appear to have been used recently.
Peering into the trap door in the southwest corner of the ship you can see that the deck below is also not illuminated. Jeffrey, Kimiya, Bennybeck and Watkins all peer into the darkness and see nothing below, but there are some scuffling and faint indiscernible noises from below.
The blind oracle has darkvision however and is able to see that the unlit floor below has several things of interest. Moumoku sees at least ten shackled, bound and gagged slaves down below. From her brief look she sees at least one half-orc guarding the stairwell on the forward of the ship. He looks ready to attack, probably having overheard your voices or movement thus far on the ship.
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Jeffrey points at himself and then down the hole. He then points at everyone else and at the door that leads downstairs, where the half-orc is waiting. "Open it, then I go. When I'm there, you move."
He then waits for the others to move over to the door and open it. Once the door's opened Jeffrey jumps down the trap hole, causing all the racket that accompanies the jump of an armored man.
Jeffrey drops down and makes a tremendous racket as he clatters to the deck below on top of a crate.
Darkness.
Jeffrey can't see anything for a moment until he realizes his face is buried in the floor. Raising his head he can see the faint illumination of his party hustling down the stairs. It appears that his drop has distracted the half-orcs enough that he does not take a swing when the party flies down the stairs. In the faintly illuminated deck there are a dozen captives bound and gagged against the wall and he hears sounds of rustling behind him. Looking behind him he sees there is a second half-orc who swings his gaze towards the prone fighter.
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At a safe distance from the nearest enemy, Jeffrey doesn't worry too much about his prone state of being. His ever so bright smile widens when he realizes his plan has worked, and he clambers back onto his feet.
"Good evening!" Jeffrey says as he 5-foot steps toward the half-orc. He then swings his longsword, hoping to make quick work of his opponent.
Moumoku's lights illuminate the lower deck, providing light for all to see.
Benny's bluff is superb and as he slams his mace into the half-orc the creature isn't sure what just happened. Watkins follows up and is able to fire two arrows into the half-orc before he was fully prepared. The northern half-orc collapses onto the floor from the onslaught.
To the south, Jeffrey's longsword slices through the midsection of the half-orc and makes quick work of him just as he wished. The second half-orc collapses to the ground. In a matter of seconds the battle is over. The captives squirm and wriggle on the deck, unsure if you are here to kill them or rescue them.
This is 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. Well, if discount the dozen captives and two bleeding half-orcs that is. A quick search among the captives does not reveal the sign of anything who resembles the Pathfinder Cestis.
Two men struggle to speak, gags still in there mouth. One is younger than the other by twenty or so years and is dressed in richer clothing. He struggles ferociously against the bonds and is trying to be quite chatty with the gag in his mouth. The older one nods his head and simply attempts a single word.
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"That was easy," Jeffrey comments, again. He's starting to feel like everything's a bit too easy.
There's probably something really bad waiting for us. There's no way the Lodge gave me such an easy job.
Jeffrey cuts all the prisoners free. "Those who are able to give us the information we want, please stay a moment to inform us. Everyone else can, if able to, leave. If you'd rather not leave on your own, wait for us to be done here and we'll escort you."
As you get a good look at the captives you can see that the majority of them are prominent Cassomiran citizens. The younger one who was anxiously trying to speak introduces himself as Orfeo Bozbeyli, the arrogant young nephew of Cassomir’s governor. He instantly bursts into a tirade wondering what has taken you so long to free him.
Looking to Kimiya he makes a disgusted face, "What IS THIS? They send some abomination to free me? I swear, this town has no gratitude."
The majority of the others are extremely grateful and pay the young man no mind.
After thanking you for saving him, the older man introduces himself as Creighton Nish, a former Andoren Eagle Knight who now works in Cassomir as a relics dealer for interests back in Andoran. He is barely conscious and is bleeding from a wound in his chest. He attempts to stand, but slips in his pool of blood and falls to the deck in pain. "Wh-what can I do for you?"
Benny sees the the man contains many valueable items of interest, but this is likely do to him being a rich nobleman. Benny also notes that one of the fallen monks has Pathfinder Cestis’s wayfinder in his belt pouch.
Nish nods to Kimiya and says, "Pathfinder Cestis was never brought here, though one of the monks took something of his when they grabbed him at the relics auction. Everyone here was treated well and only ever heard their captors speak in Orc, though they kept saying the name “Luscilia” during their conversation."
Nish grunts in pain but nods, "Aye. Don't expect me to be hopping through hopes like your friend yonder, but I'll live."
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No idea with how many they are, but I'd rather not take chances.
Jeffrey switches his heavy steel shield for his tower shield, and moves up to the others. Once next to them he whispers "I'm going up. I don't want them too close to the people we freed."
He assumes total defense as he moves past the others and up the stairs, ending up at the floor above. If no enemies are there, Jeffrey will relay this information to his allies downstairs.