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Whilst the captive is being bound and treated, moving a few boxes around in the storage area uncovers a trap door - opening it reveals a plain wooden ladder down to the underdocks.
A brief interrogation reveals only that these are a few of the Hydras Fang crew, and that Du Moire has only just left minutes ago. The captured brigand spits that even the worst things you might do is far kinder than any fate Du Moire would deliver, so is very short on answers and is of little help – the terror the man seems to instil is highly concerning.
On enquiring whether Du Moire exited via the ladder, the captive remains defiantly silent, which indicates it is almost certainly the case. He is but mere minutes ahead.
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Radnor spends the time of the interrogation chanting under his breath and then slams his hand against thin air, cracking shattering nothing to produce a hole in the air revealing a void of swirling colour. A blue furry dragon leaps through the hole, which vanishes and Radnor grins,
"Everyone this is Nuzzle my eidolon, he does not talk much - its disturbing when he does. Let's get down there!"
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“Darsielle’s that way. Head through the Underdocks to find the Hydra’s Fang. The harbor guards down below know where he moored the ship. He
moves it often, we were supposed to ask them where it was docked when we were finished here.”
Moments before you are about to descend the ladder, you note it is covered in grease, a last little trap left for any followers.
You enter into a gloomy, greenish twilight where scattered beams of light filter down between weathered dock planks, bouncing off seaweed covered stones that jut from the dark harbor waters.
A forest of pylons suspends the docks above where the scurrying feet of merchants, sailors, and longshoremen hammer like a muffled thunderstorm. Between the pylons, you spot small stone bunkers, ruins of older siege forts now crumbling and weathered from centuries of angry waves.
A narrow set of docks traverses the rocks, connecting various locations.
Eventually, all lead out to the shallow bay at the mouth of the maze. Nearby,you notice a fresh trail of muck-limned, wet footprints.
You follow the tracks to a small bunker with its own short dock with two rowboats. A pair of Consortium officials stand nearby the boats, just chatting away casually.
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The pair replies "Consortium officials, just making sure that everyone passing through has a harbour pass"
They seem friendly enough, just going about their 'job'. They inform you that that recently allowed a Captain and his men to return to their ship, but that the pair are under strict orders to detain any strangers without a harbormaster’s pass.
"Look we can see you are out of towners, reckon we can sort you out with a pass here, but it's a bit expensive for all that administration... reckon 100 bits of gold should get us square"
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Looking to Turac, Aran nods. "Allow me..."
Stepping forward, his hands clasped casually in front of him, far from his own hilt, he gives each of the men a nod.
"Gentlemen. I really would be very happy if I could speak with you about this and much more. I understand that one of you must guard, but perhaps I could speak to the other just over there. Still within sight. The things we have seen most recently should not be spread out in public and there are often ears about. Could you do this for me?"
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Aran looks at the gentleman and takes a deep breath before he begins to speak, activating the nature of his curse:
Whenever you break your word (either purposefully or unintentionally), you become sickened for 24 hours or until you meet your obligation, whichever comes first. However, once per day, you can make a vow to yourself that grants a +4 morale bonus on any one roll you make while trying to fulfill a promise made to another individual.
"The men we were following, the very ones that came this way, as we have been following them for a bit, are murderers. We were meeting a contact only to find him murdered and then ourselves being pressed upon by the murderers. We stopped some of them and bound them, leaving them at the scene of the crime. The female is an arcane magic user. I would ask that you allow us to pursue and you and your friend may take the credit with your superiors over finding the murderers and helping in their capture, as you are doing both of those things...through the agents you choose to use. My friends and myself."
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The fellow seems very convinced by your tale, and expresses some appreciation for the situation, though his body language makes it clear that it's really not his brief (or his problem). He continues the dialogue though, and when it starts to come to light it was Lubors Imports, and the dead man a Consortium enforcer and his guards, the tone shifts quickly.
The men hasten you into the bunker.
A wooden box holds keys and a wooden and brass coin about the diameter of an apple and inscribed with the insignia of the Kortos Consortium. The coin serves as a harbormaster’s pass, an extremely valuable item that allows party to freely exit the maze without question.
On the wall of the bunker is a chalkboard with a chart labeled with 20 numbers,each followed by a set of initials. One side of the chart reads mooring, the other side reads ship. Pinned to the adjacent wall hangs a map of the outer harbor marking the locations of the numbered moorings. The initials next to #14 read “HF”. The map shows mooring 14 located
in the northwestern part of the outer harbor.
With the medallion in hand you are free to grab a rowboat and make your way out...
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Pozuket hops into the boat, but declines to take an oar. Given his small size and frailest build, he's more likely to go over the side with the oar than actually move the boat with it. Instead, he moves up to the front ("Bow?" he wonders to himself) of the boat to keep an eye on where they're going.
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Exiting the Underdocks, you enter the Shallows, a wide rocky bay only a few feet deep and closed off by immense seawalls that funnel all traffic into the maze. Strung between them, a host of steep maze walls crusted with seaweed, barnacles, and small shellfish create narrow passages just wide enough for rowboats or rafts. Lashed along the sides are free-floating docks which allow longshoremen to help pull boats through or to the side for quick inspections. Every so often, a series of rusted spikes forms a crude ladder leading to the upper maze, where guards keep watch amidst strange shadows cast by weathered devices such as giant winches and claw-like crane arms. Water splashes softly throughout, creating an eerie echo, and the entire structure groans with ominous creaks and strains as if you were travelling through the belly of a great beast.
Thankfully, navigating out ofthe maze is far easier than navigating in, and the ever-watchful eyes of Enforcers on the walls fall almost entirely on the cargos of incoming merchants.
As you draw closer to the end, the sounds of angry waves slam against the outer walls and echo like hordes of chanting goblins. As you reach the outer locks, a grizzled longshoreman calls down to you from above, telling you to hold tight. The first gate opens with a lazy moan, and he ushers you to move your craft into the small chamber ahead. Once inside, he lowers the gate behind you, then he bids you good luck as he slowly cranks apart the front doors to the open harbor where dozens of galleons and merchant ships bounce softly on their moorings in the water.
A few hundred yards outside the maze the ocean seemingly explodes with a flurry of activity.
Two sea creatures swim in from nowhere, attempting to throw the boat over!
Str
Str
It stays afloat... for now!
Those rowing are seated and with no weapons equipped.
The others are seated, but with an item at hand.
The 'cox' is standing and equipped.
Aranan
Poz
Radnor
Turac
Enemy
MAP UP!
R1
Pozuket
ENEMY
Turac
Aranan
Radnor