Silence engulfs this small portion of the dock, as everyone from the prisoners, to Laria, to the captain, just take a deep breath and accept their fate. However, a whisper can just barely be heard, saying "It's true, his name really is Barrel Rope. His father was the most unimaginative of sailors."
Kohl's eyes glaze over. She nods and says "Very well. You're all welcome to Kintargo. Enjoy your stay." Then she leaves.
The halfling slave watches with interest and concern, but what good would his word be? He follows his mistress to a new vessel without a word.
The captain gives a quick nod to the group, then turns to his crew. "Let's get the hell out of here." and they row out of port like there's no tomorrow. In fact, they nearly bump into a chelish warship that's just coming into the bay.
Phillip breathes out. Well let us get back to home and figure out what to do next. Maybe help out more dogs?
It's a fairly short jaunt back to the nest. While the group walks, Tarnagius feels a light weight perch upon his shoulder. "You're welcome, Mr. Rope."
It's Blosodriette.
Kethaera mentally breathed a sigh of relief after that was over. When they got back to the nest, Kethaera breathed a sigh of relief.
"By Shelyn's grace, that was a close one. By the way, Tarnagius, I think you could use the armor, so here you go."
She tosses him the chainmail that they had taken from the dead dwarf.
She then hands Phillip the bow.
"Hopefully it'll serve you better than it did our enemies," she told him.
As for the mace, she wasn't quite sure. "I prefer swords, but I'll use the mace unless either Jules or Pylos would like to use it," the half-elf said.
Then, she turns to the prisoners that they had worked together in freeing.
"If any of you wish to do so, we would like to have you on board with us as I'm sure all of you would like to give the Thrunes some payback," Kethaera said.
Oh, that explains it. Appearances to the contrary, the mortals had it under control, imp.
Tarnagius takes the armor and nods a brief thank you to Kethaera.
That being said, it may well involve fighting, so if you don't like that, the lady here he gestures to Laria will know how to get you out of here.
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Tarnagius feels a small claw dig into his armor. "If you say so, Mortal Rope. I will leave you to your Mortal Coil." Then she floats away, giggling.
Kethaera can tell that each weapon and armor are exceptionally well made, but none of them carry traces of magic.
The bow actually looks pretty rough to the untrained eye, but is made of elm, giving it superior strength and durability (+3 Str).
The heavy flanged mace is probably made of iron, but is coated with a nicely polished bronze. Each flange is shaped like that of a butterfly wing, and engraved on each side is an infernal word for things like "Duty, Honor, Zeal, Faith".
There isn't much to say about the chainmail, but as far as mail goes, it is pleasing to the eye. It is layered in such a fashion that it should be fairly easy to maneuver in, though the chain links do pose a difficulty when it comes to sneaking.
Forvian, now recovering from the ordeal, stands up as dignified as he can. "We would have been with you even before our capture and labor. Thrune will pay for what he's done to our city. Just give us the word and we'll do whatever we can, such as keeping the streets safe. I'd like to clear out the vermin calling themselves the CCG."
Kethaera is unable to read the writings on the mace and asks Tarnagius and Pylos can they read them for her.
"Yeah I know it's surprising that a Chelish diva doesn't know Infernal but I've never felt comfortable learning the language. Plus my mother forbid me to learn it anyhow."
She then turned to the Silver Ravens' newest members, saying, "Yes they are nothing but thugs. We must do everything we can protect the freedoms of the people of Kintargo."
"Okay..."
She then went up to him to hear what he had to say.
Phillip spends some time getting his equipment cleaned and sharpened.
Jules declined the weapon. "I'm afraid not. It's far to large for me to use. That said. Targanius, I think our new recruits would do well under your tactical mind.'
Just go find me your infernal bindings, imp.
Tarnagius shakes his head violently as Blosodriette flies away.
Very well, if nobody has any objections, I'll be leading you lot. You'll be reporting to me, and I'll do my best to ensure that you work as effectively as possible. Everyone, get some rest. We're gonna need everyone to be healthy before we star figuring out what you can do to help.
Blosodriette sits down upon Pylos' arm and swings her legs. "Thank you, Master. It was my pleasure."
Vendalfek suddenly leaps upon Pylos' head and says "Hey! What about me? I did good too, right?"
The new freedom fighters each nod and say "Yes sir!" then they go about their new accommodations. As Forvian turns, Laria snatches his arm. "Oh no you don't. I put all my reputation on the line for you, and I expect to be repaid with interest."
Forvian narrows his eyes, confused. "What would you have me do?"
Laria rolls her eyes and pulls his arm, leading him upstairs. "Take a guess." She then turns to whoever is still around and says with a mischievous smirk "Good night everyone.", then pulls Forvian away. Rexus raises his eyebrows before turning 180, walking back to his work while he whistles.
A troupe of halflings enter a half hour later, each carrying some portion of dinner. Two large, roasted turkeys with stuffing, sage and cider gravy, cesar salad, and black currant trifle. They also bring Lamashan harvest ale, and mossflower cider to drink. "Thank you for your hard work!" They all cheer in unison.
Current people at the nest:
- Rexus in the storage room with both tables covered with stacks of papers
- Bwikki near the washroom, with a few crates that form his alchemy station
- Nisha and Aly the halfling are in the common room talking. She's applying salves for him.
Phillip chows down.
Jules graciously ate the provided meal and went back to work on his patrol map and waited for word from his eyes and ears.
Occasionally he walked into the storage room to assist Rexus in working through the information.
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"Of course, Vendalfek, you did very well," Pylos said with a grin as he lead Kethaera off to the side, away from the others.
Shrugging her shoulders she replies, "While I knew that they were capable of taking care of themselves, I was still worried about them. I was concerned that they would try something stupid like I don't, try to kill every guard including ones who were fleeing leading both Tarnagius and Phillip into a Hellknight patrol. But even then I wanted to make sure that they didn't get left behind. I might not like their attitudes or their views on how this rebellion should be done but I know that their hearts are in the right place. So I care about them. But maybe you're right: I probably should trust them more often. But still I just worry that their attempts to keep this rebellion in the shadows will backfire on them..especially since Tarnagius is so paranoid and Phillip is so kill first and ask questions when I feel like it."
While a sunny and clear day, arctic winds sweep in from the north, resulting in a nip in the air. As a Moonday, today is important for stargazers and worshippers of Desna, especially with the clear sky. Forvian never came back to bed, but he's around in the morning. Laria has set the usual for breakfast: Scones, oat meal, and ample amounts of coffee. The smell of bacon slowly wafts down to the nest.
"Good morning everyone," Laria says in a happy tune. "Got any plans for the day?"
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Phillip dines upon plenty of bacon and coffee. Looken to help stop animal cruelty and let some more dogs out of their cages.
Tarnagius enters from the sewers the way he usually does.
Working out a way to effectively use our newest accomplices. They're a lot of head-kickers, which I like, but the revolution as a whole isn't built for fighting in the streets yet, and we can't fight either the Dottari or the CCL in any substantive way without getting ourselves killed.
He grabs some coffee and a scone.
Speaking of imminent self-destruction, how many people can you afford to feed without attracting attention? I know the restaurant front provides some cover in terms of large amounts of coffee, flour etcetera, but we can't house too many people in one place, and it may be wise to find another potential base before we find ourselves with too many people to hide in one place.
Laria responds "We can keep a few more, but you're right Tarnagius. It's going to get cramped down there in the near future if we keep this up. I think we could have... maybe a dozen more at most. And then we'll be real sardines. That being said, I really don't know of any other place that would make for a good base."
Does anyone else have some space that can hold a few?
"Not that I know of. We have the place below the livery, but it doesn't have access to fresh water, and I recon that living down there near the filth will get everyone sick. I know that the Sacred Order must of had some kind of base within the city, but alas I don't know where it is. Oh and there's the cult of Milani. I'm sure they had some place to meet. However, and don't tell Rexus, but I don't think either organization is still running. Which means Thrune has already wiped them out."
Well, come on. If guerrilla military bases grew on trees, the powers that be in Egorian would have been overthrown long ago. Besides, I'm not talking about moving everyone out just yet, just... establishing other branches. I already have an idea on that front.
"What do you have in mind, Tarnagius?"
"I agree with Tarnagius. And while the Dottari maybe at the beck and call of Barzillai, there are probably some good honest members who have yet been replaced. If we can somehow influence them, that would be good. Not bring them into the fold now, since we are still not strong enough yet to take on either the Dottari or the CCL, or the Hellknights of the Pyre for that matter, but if we can somehow sway the Dottari to our side, it might go a long way to chipping away some of Barzillai's forces. But for the time being, it's an option we should look at. For now, we should go gather some supplies. We do have that loot we gained from the Red Jills' leader. If anything we could add some to our rebellion's treasury, and the rest we could use to buy supplies, like potions and wands. I was thinking of wands of invisibility and summoning monsters. Might prove useful especially during either covert missions and in battle. The invisibility wands will prove useful when we investigate the burnt down music shop. Since Phillip, Jules, and I have the keenest eyes, no offense Pylos and Tarnagius, we should be invisible, while you two keep an eye out for trouble. Also, the invisibility wands will aid us in freeing any dogs we can find, so it would prove useful."
Kethaera goes and helps Rexus a bit with the translations.
Tarnagius, with his newfound language abilities goes to help as well.
"Hopefully we'll be able to go on a bit of a shopping spree but first we'll need to exchange those gems for coins. People might get suspicious if we try to pay in gems and jewelry."
"Leave that to me. I'll see them properly fenced. We have to be careful with any purchases though. It would not surprise me if powerful items were tracked."
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"Any way we can purchase a brothel?" Pylos asked as he grabbed a plate. As the others gave him a strange look, he continued, "What? Don't look at me like that. Do you know how much money that could give us? Not to mention the room to house people. Besides, brothels hear everything. All those people boasting in bed, making themselves look better than they are. Something like that could be incalculable to our operations."
Laria raises an eyebrow. "None of those in Kintargo anymore. Last one was the Calistrian temple that's been taken over by Abadar."
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No doubt it is now a 'House of negotiable affection.'
What justifies a large number of armed people, lots of secrecy, and an isolated way of doing things?
Tarnagius ponders a moment and suddenly smiles
What if we started a cult? To one of the other lords of hell? I have a hard time imagining that anyone would object to us privately 'worshipping' one of The Lord of the Ninth's lieutenants. I saw them in Egorian all the time. We're armed to protect ourselves and our secrets, our leader he gestures to Pylos was visited upon by his own infernal messenger in the temple in front of the priests, and we have secrets he abuse we are doing "internal" work
Kethaera cringed a bit from Phillip's pun.
"That pun...was...painful, Phillip," the diva said.
She then glared at Tarnagius.
"No. Simply no. I will not shall not be a part of any sort of hellish cult, even if it's not real. Do you really think people will support us if we do something like that? I highly doubt it. People are tired of devil worship Tarnagius. And people associate the church of Asmodeus with Thrune so any sort of connection with the Nine Hells will cost us every bit of support we have earned through our actions of heroism and valor. I'm sorry but if this group goes down that route I will walk out that door and will not look back."
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" A cult as a front is actually not a terrible idea. Facades amongst facades diva. No worse than posing as a noble and beating one of your slaves." he said calmly and flatly.
"The people who support us would know the truth and word among the interested could be spread discretely. Hellfire clubs are not that uncommon and places a good amount of nobles run shoulders. It could be very advantageous. You will need to come to terms that we are in a war of information. We have to control our facades on all fronts. That means appearing legitimate to the aristocracy and showing the true face of the rebellion to the loyal. Surely we will be fighting Barzillai's word aainst our own in the public."
Come now, diva. We may butt heads sometimes but give me some credit. Even if I -the one most opposed to keeping that thing he points at Blosodriette around mind, were to suddenly become a true believer in that sort of nastiness I wouldn't just ask you to convert out of the blue. As Jules said, that'd just be what we present ourselves as. It's the best way I can think of to disguise our buying of property and being secretive in nature. Shipping has too much official oversight, as do mercenery guilds, black marketeering is something neither Pylos nor I nor probably yourself could ever bee seen working with, and nothing else comes to mind that would work as a front to both recruit the numbers we need and to arm those recruits and buy all the things we'd need to work as a revolution.
"I'm sorry but I'm just not comfortable using some sort of cult as a front for us. Besides you're member of nobility aren't you? And don't sometimes nobles get paranoid and hire mercenaries to protect them? I doubt anyone would suspect a member of one of Kintargo's noble families of hiring mercenaries to protect him and his family especially given your family's...ahem...weaken state...no offense. It might work. And you have to remember having such a cult might draw the attention of the actual devil worshipers! No pretending you hired a bunch of mercenaries to protect your family in my opinion draws the least amount of attention. And besides I don't want people to think the Silver Ravens are in league with Hell. We already have rumors flying about that people think we are some new street gang taking over people's turf. The Silver Ravens brought hope to this city once before, and it needs to do it again. Yes times may be a bit different but still the people of this city are looking at us to show them the path to hope. Yeah call me an idealist if you wish, but feel no shame in being one. In fact I'm proud of it actually."
"As I said. We are in an information war miss. The public will see us however barzillai wants them to until I have my men work on correcting that. Open warfare for the rebellion is only going to get us smothered. We have to work small for now. The devil cult facade would work and posing it as a Hellfire club gives us authority to turn away actual devil worshippers."
"We are not saying to use the silver raven name as the clubs name or even make people think it's part of it. But it would allow some of us to return to the surface without disguises."
Kethaera shook her head.
"It's too risky Jules. All it will take is one actual honest to goodness devil worshiper to go whining to the Asmodean priests and then it'll be all over. No there is too much risk involved in having a cult front. Besides I like my idea that they be mercenaries hired by a paranoid nobleman's son. Such things happen all the time! I doubt anyone will give it a second glance."
Exorcists? We have the imp flap around someone's home and then we come in and 'banish' her for coin. have the dragon help with tricks I can get a big hat and robe and fancy business cards.
Kethaera was about to dismiss Phillip's idea but then she realized that it wasn't that bad of an idea.
"Actually Phillip that's not a bad idea. Well it might not work for Tarnagius's freedom fighters, but it might work for Jules's performers, just not the part about going into people's homes. But everyone loves a good show, so we might be able to hear some good gossip and be able to spy on conversations. So it's a pretty good idea."
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"In all honesty," begins Laria, "I'm afraid that our supporters wouldn't be happy to hear of this devil front, even if we explain it as a front. As for our teams, we already have to convince them that Pylos is on our side, and that Blosodriette isn't a problem. You don't see the day to day process that Rexus and I have to go through to assure loyal supporters, it's a hard job. When our performers finish their mission, we can ask them to keep their ears to the ground about any potential bases, or at least safe houses."
You can't convince people the imp's not a problem because it is one.
I am aware it's not a perfect solution, but the exorcist idea is never going to work. It would net us cash but wouldn't explain why we'd be amassing properties and people the way we will inevitably have to do in order to make this work. No city needs a single unit of 500 exorcists all working together, I doubt even in Nidal. We need something with legitimate interests in many armed people and many properties. I can't afford to hire a large group of mercenaries to protect me personally and my father and brother sure as hells know that so either it has to be something BRINGING IN money or prestige or else we'll have to bring them in on the operation - a bad idea. My family, as you said, is hemhoraging money thanks to dear old dad, so that'll stick out like a sore thumb. So tell me, what serves our needs better than this cult front? If you can't convince chelaxians that sometimes you have to pretend to be Asmodeans so you don't get killed, well, this is all awash as we won't be getting many followers anyway.
How about we go search that ruined building or whatever?