About 5 feet down.
Daffy is able to lift the bleeding body up with his cool water powers.
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"Can someone give me a hand here? I'm a little out of my depth here..."
Once Searlas is content that the scallywags and the captain are either stable or beyond any help we can give, he'll relieve them all of their weapons, and check their pockets for anything of value. And relieve them of that too...
A quick survey of the rest of the house reveals no other threats.
The smaller door to the east of this room is locked, but easily openable with a key on the captain's person.
On a desk in that room is an open log book...
It contains a detailed but somewhat choppy account of his career in piracy, and the past several months’ entries show that he switched his strategy from opportunistically targeting vessels at random to exclusively targeting Pathfinder shipments.
Two entries in particular stand out
Don’t know why she needs it; she’s even richer than most bloodied.
Fenced supplies are pocket money to her. I’ve heard there’s a Razmiri bounty on Pathfinder boats, and I’m sure that’s where she’s really earning profit here.
Need proof—might be able to use as blackmail if things go sour. Till then, just have to trust my Pirate Queen will continue to bless her Favored Son as he plies her ways upon the river
Heard she was supplying muscle to those messing up Guaril Karela’s business—probably fears retaliation.
I’ll have to keep an eye on her other visitors to see if I can learn about her contact and what he knows for myself
Also inside the locked room are nearly a dozen stacked crates, each one stamped with the Glyph of the Open Road and weighing approximately 100 pounds.
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"Um... so they're working for... a pit fighter? Okaaaay.... so now what? March into the arena and challenge her to a duel or something? This needs to be stopped somehow and it's pretty clear that these pirates are just the hired guns. Of course given the 'blackmail' comment, it's quite possible that the captain over there may have a bone to pick with her. What say we wake him up and see what he has to say about this?"
There's nothing else of note in "Bessie's Bayou."
The captain is happy to sell out his employer for better treatment but doesn't have anything of value to add beyond what you are able to read in his journal.
---
Returning to Tymon is a relatively peaceful affair and takes approximately half a day of travel. Smine meets you at the docks where he chats with your original captain Demeliah a bit who agrees to waive her fee in exchange for the captured skiff.
Smine then invites you back to the lodge where he serves a late supper and listens intently to your report.
Smine comments over a plate of roast hog "Well, I see you recovered some of our crates, how'd things go?"
Smine furrows his brow at the mention of Helkit, and ponders for a few moments before responding.
"Well Done I suppose. 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."
Smine pauses a moment to let out a sigh
"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."
Smine lets his comments sink in before his mood lightens at least slightly.
“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?”
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Zephyr listens to all this talk of bloodied, and arenas, and whatnot, a slow grin spreading on her face.
"...well what are we waitin' for! Let's go have blood on the sands an' show 'em what for, heyo!" She punches her fist into her palm for emphasis.
"We can challenge them, that's what ya gettin' at, right, Smine?"
Smine grins as he outlines his plan...
Under the Law of Grievance, anyone in Tymon can challenge another person to arena combat. Even a “bloodied” citizen must accept the challenge of outsiders. In a way, it’s the fairest possible law available to those with the deck stacked against them.
Smine sends an apprentice to localte Helkit. Within the hour the girl returns "Helkit is overseeing a gladiatorial teaam training at the Arena."
Smine follows up "Alright, just go up to Helkit, state your grievance and challenge her under the law."
Smine responds what he knows "The challenged gets to set the terms, although if she chooses single combat I'd imagine you'd get to choose among you. Whatever the terms it'll likely take a couple of days to get the match on the Arena schedule."
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"She doesn't drag slaves into the ring now does she?"
"Now if we're gonna go do some pit-fighting the look is almost as important as the fight. No offense Itra, but I think the city watch is just going to get a lot of 'boos' from the audiance. Also maybe some pet food to mess with her battle buddy."
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"Well, shall we go throw down the metaphorical gauntlet? Get this ball rolling? It sounds like we may have a few days to prepare while we wait for our turn in the ring. Also," Daffy adds with a wink and wry smile, "do you think our challenge would go over better if we had an actual gauntlet to throw?"
Even empty, the Arena of Aroden is an imposing sight that seems to magnify the sounds of clashing blades and grunts of exertion of a dozen sweaty, muscular men and women sparring on the sandy floor.
The synergy of well-trained teamwork and combat style is apparent, though it falls short of the standards set by a tall, broad, iron-haired woman dressed in rich furs.
“Watch your flanks, you ham-fingered dolts! Felex, if you leave your partner’s back uncovered again just to make a cheap swing, it’s your back I’ll break in two!” she roars at the gladiators.
“Now hold! There’s company.”
Turning in your direction, she snaps, “Who in Abaddon are you? The Silver Slayers have the training ground today.”
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~~~
Searlas looks over at Itra and Daffy and mutters. "Look menacing... and back me up. Coz sure as Cayden's tanked I don't got the muscles to back this one up."
He turns to Helkit and adopts a pose of confidence. Confidence that if the midden hits the windmill, he's probably faster than his heavily armored companions.
"We are here on behalf of the Pathfinder Society. For hiring pirates to assault their supply ships, you have invoked their ire, and for that we invoke the Law of Grievance!"
Getting the formalities out of the way, a sheepish grin crosses Searlas's face. "So you say the training ground belongs to the Silver Slayers today eh? Is that who you'll be hiding behind?"
Her surprised expression curls into a sneer. “Very well, I accept. Some fights are already scheduled for two days from now. We’ll settle this then. As challenged, I set the terms: Group battle—you lot against me and my Slayers. No limits on weapons or magic. Public arena fight, on the shifting sands—and you should know I’ve never lost on those.”
She glances at her trainees for a moment before reluctantly adding, “No need for a death match. The challenge may be decided by yielding. Anyone losing their nerve can call it off for their team.”
She smirks. “Mind you, that won’t be anyone on my side. I don’t train cowards.”
The next morning one of Smine's apprentices reports that you're on the docket for the next day.
He shoves a bill into your hand.
The Pathfinders are mentioned in much smaller print, as are a large variety of other fights. It's clearly going to be a big day at the arena.
Meanwhile you've got a whole day to prepare. What's the plan?
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Searlas looks over at Itra and Daffy and mutters. "Look menacing..."
----
Daffy first tries to remember if he's heard anything about the arena, and in particular the 'shifting sands'.
Coming up empty, he will then head to some bars that seem likely to have fans of the arena and ask around.
"So, I hear there's a big match coming up tomorrow! Helkit and the Slayers, the flyer said. Personally, I can't wait to see it. First time seein' her in action, y'know. Do you think it bein' on the shifting sands will make it too easy? All I know is I'm hopin' for a good show."
Daffy learns all sorts of interesting things by asking around.
"Ahh ya, did ya know their full name is da Silver Slayers. They's quick, work well as a team and always have some crazy new exotic weapon. That's sure to be a fun match."
"Hey billy, do you remember what the last piece Helkit added to her armor was? Ya I know it was like three years ago, wasn't it some elven chain from that Elf, callin' himself 'the unhittable', that went about as well as you might imagine. Man you gotta check out her armor!"
"Whada think, maybe an elephant this time? Helkit's best moment, her truely best moment is when she rode a rhino into the grand melee. She won that year too. She maintained a surprising amount of grace while riding that rhino and bashing heads with her axe.
[b]"The shifting sands are great, there are sandpits all over the arena, of course the top is filled with sand so it don't matter much, cept during shifting sands when they fill a few with water before covering the tops again, always a fun surprise when somebody steps in one. Helkit's never lost a shifting sands match ya know."
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The following morning, Searlas will use his Rebirth Domain ability to learn Negative Reaction for his Bard spell.
Searlas wakes up the next morning, well rested and not hungover for a change. "Morning Hariwini... Sleep well?"
The bird, which somehow appeared just as he awoke, chirps a happy response.
"So... wanna see if we can get those fools hungover?"
Hariwini chirps her discontent.
"Pfft... I'll bet we could go drink for drink with em... especially if Daffy is messing with the drinks. Hey Daff, does that song of yours work on mud?"
He pauses. "For that matter... does it work on quicksand?"
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Zephyr is mildly outraged at the "press coverage" as it were. "Hey, can we counter this? Daffy, can ya sing somethin' to slap back at 'em? On a street corner maybe! Somewhere public! Or if not, pay some other musicians to sing a song praisin' US!"
She listens intently to Daffy relaying what he knows. "Pits, eh? Sneaky! Ya should all make sure you have a rope and hook in case ya fall down one, rest of us might be too busy to get ya out. ...come ta think of it, I need a hook myself, heh."
"As for the animals.... guess I could pray for a different kinda wisdom than my normal," Zephyr muses. "Somethin' to calm a riled beast. But I ain't much of a spell-slinger, really."
Tymon is not exactly well known for its strong guard culture but there's at least a token city guard. Itra isn't able to learn anything that hasn't already been earned though.
Finding out the Arena of Aroden's rules is a trivial matter.
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Searlas will approach one of the guards at the arena. "This looks like an amazing arena and I've gotta say... you've got quite an interesting way of handling disputes. I've been through lots of areas that resolve disputes with violence but this... this is much more well thought out. Mind if I take a seat in the grandstands and watch the warmups?"
