|
Ariward moved inside small cabin, opening a possibility for others to attack the enemy. He pulled his sap in a mighty blow against enemy's head.
As he saw, his blow reached target, he dropped his sap on cabin floor, and touched Adrianna. Feint glow came between his fingers and she felt warm and heard a thin song of nightingale.
"Stay behind my shield", he said to Adrianna.
Ariward knocks the captain over the head once more. When Adrianna starts another round of kicking and punching, things start looking bad for the captain. Cornered in the cabin, a bolt pierces the air. This proves to be the final blow, and the slave captain falls to the ground.
|
Marra makes sure the papers she saved are no longer smoldering, storing them carefully until we have finished clearing the ship.
-Posted with Wayfinder
The captain is knocked out, and won't be moving for quite some time. The fire hazard is put out, and Marra is holding a pile of half-burnt papers. The least burnt of the stack lists a few names of high-up nobles, the words Make sure they end up there. and a signature "Muhlia".
Another paper is far more burnt, the message no longer legible, but the same signature scribbled at the bottom. "Muhlia"
The slaves are freed easily from their manacles, and the pilot Zigil is still dutifully waiting.
Adrianna thoroughly searches the ship with the help of Orophin. The captain has some interesting items on her: healing potions, alchemist's fire, masterwork kukris, but otherwise no further evidence is here. All that is left from any incriminating records is the half-burnt papers Marra managed to salvage, and not much else.
|
|
"Muhlia? Never heard of 'er," Cacumattus says, looking briefly at the remaining papers. "Oh well, I guess the Society higher-ups will look into that further, the rest of us will probably be sent out on some other mission."
Back on deck, he gazes out over the water. "Think we could get away with taking this thing for a joyride before we report back?" he asks with a grin.
|
|
Marra thinks backs "Muhlia sounds familiar, there was a Pasha Muhlian al-jakri who murdered Barron Jacquo Dalsine because her younger sister was killed in a raid on a cult of the Dawnflower by the Daisines. Muhlia a Qadiran noblewoman and faction leader for the Qadiran loyalists within the Pathfinder Society was angry with rage when we founder her she told us 'You can have your shadow war for Absalom. A curse on you! You can keep souring the world for all its useless treasures, risk your lives for trivial trinkets delusions and your fame. You can have it all, I hope you choke on it!' It could be her handily work. She used Kukris too. It's really sad since it was a devious plan by Chalfon Dalsine to pit Muhlia against his cousin the Baron Jacquo."
Marra indeed recalls the name 'Muhlia' from her own experience. Muhlia used to be the leader of the Qadirans, but left the society in bitterness. Would it be her that is behind these attempts?
|
"Let us free what slaves remain, and search the ship for other clues."
Suggests Orophin, who quietly murmurs under his breath, looking around the cabin (and captain) for signs of magic.
"Given the slave has now been both paid for and refunded, I would like to try and free her - give her a chance to be something other than a slave. I may not be able to free every slave, but I can make a difference to Atlag."
|
|
"Oh, Orophin, that is a great deed and I will help you to accomplish it", said Ariward. He helped gnome slave to stand up and lead him out of the cargo hold.
"How you get into this, my dear friend?" he asked, trying to understand, why and where Pathfinder could be captured.
Probably, he was doing some assignment, when Muhlia found him and their paths crossed because of some ancient relic. We need to find out, where to head next to unwrap that knot of intrigues, paladin was thinking to himself.
|
"We should inform the Lady Darchana of this discovery, and then report back to Venture Captain Valsin. The threads of this tapestry are unwinding quickly now..." Adrianna helps the release and return of the prisoners, even volunteering to stay on the ship while the freed slaves, and then the prisoners, are taken back to shore.
Returning to Lady Darchana, she is pleased with adventurer's success, and authorises the bounty payment on Captain Wardak.
“Pathfinders, you have done a great service to Absalom today. The full extent, understandably, may never be widely known or recognized by the sleeping masses, but know that the Pathfinder Society can count on me as a friend and ally, and I hope that I may call upon you again in the future should the need arise.”
The Pathfinder Rilla recounts what she can upon returning to the Grand Lodge. At the Okeno slave markets, there was a veiled woman. She kept visiting the slaves, and she took blood from me, forcibly, not once but twice.
The pathfinders in my team, she finally gathers the courage to ask what happened to them?. Ambrus Valsin closes his eyes and says No contact.
Majordomo Milana is somewhat at unease discussing matters of property. I see what you're getting at, but when it comes to these matters, I suggest you speak to Salbus.
Io! The diverse echelon of intrepid representatives has ingressed these premises in confirmation of their precedent. I expect your dealings with Mahdi have been satisfactory?
|
|
Cacumattus had approached the lawyer.
"Indeed, we require further conversance on the matter of Atlag. I feel obliged to disclose to you that we were successful in apprehending the merchant that delivered her to Absalom, however we discovered evidentiary assets which are revelatory of a further conspiracy, with the resultant factor that Atlag may still be compromised and potentially pose a complicating factor in the business dealings of your client. Since we have previously discussed the possibility of nullification of the transaction to acquire Atlag's services, we wish offer instead to acquire her for the Society, with the intention to dispense with the debt she has incurred as recompense for the hardship suffered in this ordeal; as such we request that she be released on her on recognizance."
|
"Pending the annulment of the contract, speculation would indicate, supported by predominant conduct in these occurences - however infrequent such are - that reclamation would be the prelude to a secondary transaction with a third party, typically under a limited warranty construction and corresponding haircut to face value. "
"The colloquiallism used for such transfer types would be 'refurbished wares'" the lawyer helpfully adds.
"While we must evade any semblance of orchestration in this case - quod non - said third party is not limited to the prospectives on the nether side of these administrative premises. An interested party is at liberty to leverage the experience of the addressed, an offer as to the required closing of account can be readily produced."
-Posted with Wayfinder
|
"I'm taking it that you are handing the woman over then? It would be appreciated" Svetlana interjects in a friendly tone, whilst absentmindedly adjusting her Hellknight insignia "As in Cheliax, a slave has rights and protections and is entitled to fit and proper care - I am concerned her wellbeing might be neglected whilst she awaited a new outcome...The Measure and the Chain was real specific."
Diplomacy (Chelish style)!
|
|
Marra stands back and observers the others dealing with the lawyer. She ponders the idea that if they run into more of these types she may have to get a lawful bane enchantment on her scimitar.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Admittedly, your riposte is most convincing. Refreshing, too, to see domestic qualities displayed in this bastion suitable for development. I must protest, though, that the treatment of our conversation's subject is well beyond my jurisdiction. I will offer though, in the spirit of goodwill and to the letter of the law, to perform the necessary procurement procedure, thus allowing the parties present to ensure proper treatment of the person named Atlas, according to the rules and regulations set out in the seminal work of law The Measure and the Chain. To what level of funding does your mandate extend?
|
|
It's like a song, I can feel the rhythm, but don't understand those words, thought Ariward, Talking like this is a bit of art and a bit of performance. If I had enough time, I think I might combine some movements into dance around that
"Sorry for interruption, but are you taking a part-time students?", he asked, "I think, I'd like to get basics of your profession, while I'm staying in Absalom. I believe we can agree on reasonable pricing for that: I might do some paperwork, since I have some calligraphic skills"
We are in agreement regarding the objective quantifiability of goodwill, standard accounting practices generally lead to diverging result. What you have not weighed into your equation is that I currently do not possess ownership documents of your object of desire. These reside with the retailer named Mahjub. My interest is limited to that of an intermediary.
Now, as your companion suggests, an apprenticeship is entirely within reason, and I would not be adverse to taking on mister Falconsflight, as present today, under my tutelage and forego the payment of compensation in return for procuring and liberating the servant called Atlag.
Salbus prepares the paperwork for the release of Atlag, and manages a good price. Ariward spends some time as apprentice to the procurer, buried in an avalanche of mundane paperwork and legal writing, enough to scratch the legalistic itch.
And so, one more soul redeemed, one more paladin on his way to strengthen his knowledge of law. What a day.