Regaining her composure, Karri tries her best to smile for the children. For a moment it is the old her, vibrant, beautiful. Then she watches Marissel kick the helpless man at his feet. You let him do that! Oh, you can just watch him! Or you can help him... hand him your knife! Karri frowns and approaches Marissel. She whispers to him, "Please, be gentle. We don't want the children to think this is normal." As she chides the gunslinger, her Legion rebels, loudly, painfully. Karri smiles gently, almost sadly, and pushes the voices down into oblivion. I told you this is my flesh.
To no one in particular she asks, "Any sign of Lamm?"
Hannah & Nadia nod at Demitri.
"No sweat!" Hannah says. She turns to the crowd of children behind her. "C'mon! Ya heard my brother! We gotta go!"
Nadia lets herself down from Demitri's hug, moving to each of you in turn & giving you a gentle hug. She pauses when she reaches Karri, looking into her eyes.
She looks down, and hugs her.
She says the same thing to each of you: "Thank you."
The rest of the children, led by Hannah, run past Jakob out the front doors of the fishery. A few pause to cheer & jeer at Yargin's & Giggles' fallen forms.
Nadia follows, pausing at Yargin. She glares at him, and spits in his eye before catching up with the rest of the children.
The two guards are starting to come around. "Oww..."
Marissel turns to Lyla and Karri chiding him, and he whispers See those marks on her face? Their acid burns. he stops letting it sink in for a moment, She seems particularly terrified of this man, even unconscious. I think he might have done it to her. She needed to see that he's truly beaten.
He turns to the girl giving her an encouraging smile, then continues his work. He sets all the lot to the side for now, keeping only the keys. He hands one to somebody else--whoever will take it--and says, I found these on two of the guards. Their identical. We should keep them around a bit.
Finally he returns to the half-orc, and retrieves his ace from the mans side. He pulls out his gun, axe still in the other hand. No idea where he is. Let's goo find him.
As Marissel turns, Karri clutches his sleeve, "I know something of innocence lost. Trust that kicking an unconscious man will not help the girl's heart."
Karri returns the girl's hug without a word. As the child goes, the scarred woman's eyes hold all of the sadness in the world. But not a tear. The flesh is yours! The soul is ours!!!!
By now, the children have disappeared down the street.
The two guards have also finally awakened.
"Wha... what the hell just happened? Wh--YOU!"
The guard close to the bunkroom winces in pain.
"What the hell are you all doing here?! What the hell did WE ever do to you?!" The door guard says. He's blinking rapidly; apparently, the Color Spray hasn't fully left him yet.
"You work for Lamm." Demitri replies with much venom.
"So?! I didn't do nothing! Didn't snatch a single kid! I don't even know him that well!--" The door guard starts going on and on about how it was just a job, it was nothing personal, etc. etc.
The bunkroom guard, on the other hand, appears to have more common sense than his buddy and remains quiet.
"Quit making excuses. You know who he is and what he does. You're as guilty as he is."
Karri turns away from Marissel towards the jabbering guard. Ignoring his protestations of innocence she leans in close, slipping a dagger into her hand as she does. She touches the steel to the bound man's throat. "Yes, or no. Direct answers. When we are done with the questions you will be as free as we can make you, though some parents may want your blood for helping Lamm. Unless you help us first." Her eyes flare bright for a split second and she says in a voice not quite her own, "Answer the man's questions!"
Oh, what is the gunslinger thinking now? 'Don't kick 'em, but hold a knife to their throats... Karri laughs inside at the absurdity of the morning.
"You kept my sister and all those other children as slaves in this foul place," Jakob says softly, and turns to Demitri, speaking in a low voice, but not so low that the guards can't hear. "Should we drop them in that vat and watch them drown, or do you think they know anything worth sparing their lives for?"
EDIT: I guess that would be aiding Karri's intimidate.
The door guard promptly quiets his blabbering. His face pales, and he visibly strains away from Karri's knife.
"Ian, just give the spellslinger what she wants." The bunkroom guard says. He's doing his best to remain calm, but Karri's presence is unnerving him.
Looking over at Hookshanks' headless corpse, the bunkroom guard adds "I've no interest in going blind or on the ferryman's boat."
"Not in the vat! Please!" Ian the door guard whimpers. "What do you want to know?"
"Where in this place is Lamm? What room? Does he have anyone with him?"
"H-he's under the fishery. There's a hidden dock below the fishyard. You could take the hauling bay down there, but he'll see you coming for sure." Ian stammers.
The bunkroom guard snorts. "Sure, if you feel like getting eaten. Lamm's got two more men down there with him, as well as Gobblegut."
"Rickard, you idiot! Don't tell them that!" Ian snaps, his sandy hair matted with a cold sweat.
"Oh, and give them an excuse to carve us up when they inevitably come back?" Rickard retorts, his blue eyes burning into Ian's gray ones. His hair is starting to return to its natural brown color.
That's the name of Lamm's pet alligator. Lamm used to feed him children who really screwed up on his watch. He's mean, usually hungry, and almost always mistreated.
"So four total including Lamm. Gobblegut, is that a pet?"
Ian nervously nods.
Rickard speaks up. "If you'd rather not drop down through the floor, you could take a different route, through the ship hulk out back. Careful on those docks, though--haven't had a chance to fix 'em. Just go one at a time, and you should be alright."
"A-and the keys you have! The keys are to the cabinet in the room with all the fish piles! They have cash! See? More reasons not to hurt us, right? We've been perfectly cooperative!" Ian babbles, eying one of the keys in Marissel's hands.
Rickard rolls his eyes at Ian. "Might want to have more care going through the ship. Lots of spiders in there, last I checked. Might not be especially friendly... but there is a secret hatch in the hold of the ship. Leads right out onto Gaedren's dock. If I know him, he won't be expecting you to attack from there."
Karri puts her knife away. She asks Ian, "What would you do with two men that stood by and watched children enslaved, tortured, and killed? What if one of those children was yours, or your baby brother?" Disdainful of their fate and not really interested in any answer they may give the scarred woman turns away. "Lock them away for now, when we come back we will deal with them. If we don't, Lamm will. They would do well to pray for our return."
As the idea formulates in her head the voices chime in. Burn the ship! Force him out! Burn the building! Send him to drown!
"Yea, we'll leave them here and take them to the guard when we're done with Lamm."
Lyla pales and drops everything she is carrying when the guard mentions Gobblegut. The memory of horrific stories about the alligator, the threats of being fed to the beast and the general anguish among the kids whenever someone was taken away hits her like a punch in the stomach.
Lyla shudders as she answers Demitri's question. "Yeah, it's a pet. But not just pet. It's a freaking huge with a taste for children."
She starts walking around the room holding her hair back with both hands, arms raised as she walks, clearly frightened by the news "Boy oh boy. Damn." She then walks to the vat room like a zombie and drops to the floor trying to peek through the holes.
At the mention of an alligator, Jakob uses the collar of Ian's shirt to wipe the blood off of his scimitar, and then sheathes it, unslinging the massive hammer from his back.
He gives Lyla a reassuring smile and takes a practice swing, as at something low to the ground.
Peeking through the floor, you can see that there is a drop of about 20 feet into the harbor below. Off to the side of the hole, you can see a tied off length of rope.
Off to the south , you can see a sturdy walkway leading to a solid-looking door to the west, and to the side of the ship hulk to the east.
You can also see the fin of a shark, swimming around to the north.
"An alligator. Well it'll find, the only thing it'll taste will be steel."
Lyla watches Jakob swing the hammer, pretending to hit Gobblegut. Even with Demitri and Jakob trying to calm her down, she remains tense. "Nice try, folks, but you'd have to have the thing to get where I'm coming from. If there's chance we can get around it, it will be for the best, trust me. Heck, I'll take a bunch of spiders over Gobblegut any day." She starts walking to the docks outside the fishery. "C'mon, let's take the route through the ship. I'll bet those spiders are flammable."
"Well we may have to deal with the beast anyway. But lead on."
"Let's just hope it's swimming outside rather than napping at Lamm's feet", she rants. "Remember, one at a time, or we'll all plunge in the water below. We don't want that—looks like Gobblegut's got a shark buddy splashing around down there."
Lyla steps into the docks and quickly moves to the ship, checking the vessel's deck before boarding.
As you approach the ship, you can make out its nameplate on its stern: the Kraken's Folly. It appears to be a decommissioned merchant vessel, no longer puddle-worthy, much less seaworthy. The rotten deck of the this ancient ship seems to be barely intact, its hull worn and thick with seaweed and barnacles. The ship is held together primarily by the layers of old rope that lash it securely to the pilings that support the fishery and the nearby boardwalk. A single wooden door leading into the aft cabin bears a crude painting of a red fish on its surface.
The dock *creaks* as Lyla crosses, but it doesn't give out under her weight. Looking around on the ship's deck, though, she can tell that with the exception of a 10-foot area around the ship's stern, the rest of the deck appears to be weakened enough that it couldn't support a human.
The ship deck *groans* as Lyla puts one foot onto it. She can tell that the deck is barely supporting her weight; if anyone else had tried to step onto the deck, it'd likely collapse.
Marissel follows, taking up the rear. I don't know how useful I'll be against spiders, he says, raising his gun. I'll watch our rear, make sure we don't get surrounded.
The halfling holds tight to the ship's rim and gently pulls one of the wooden boards, testing the floor to see if it would be possible to remove it without making too much noise. Lyla takes a look around, trying to figure out a way of getting everyone to the ship, and analyzes the stairs to check if they are as rotten as the rest of the ship.
"I might be able to speak with the spiders," Ortik says as they weigh their options. "Or, at least, convince them that we're just passing through their webs, and don't mean them any harm. Assuming we can get belowdecks without crashing in there." He watches Lyla as she creeps across the Kraken's Folly's deck.
Jakob draws his bow, standing by the hole in the floor in the vat room and taking aim at the shark's fin.
The piece of the deck of the Kraken's Folly that you're toying with snaps off in your hand after only a few tugs.
The area nearest the door to the stern of the ship appears to be much sturdier than the rest of the ship, if only because it doesn't appear to have been as exposed to the elements.
You can hear a *chittering* noise through the small hole you just made in the deck, but it's too dark to see anything within.
The shark doesn't appear to have noticed you... it's just lazily swimming about, not bothering anybody.
Yet.
Lyla tiptoes to the stern and tries to open the door; she holds a tanglefoot bag in her hand in case any spiders come out to get her.
Surprisingly, the door into the ship does not appear to be locked. It swings open with a small *creak*.
Inside, the air in this room is thick and musty. Thick sheets of cobwebs
hang from the walls and mounds of blankets, cushions, and straw clutter the floor. A narrow flight of stairs leads down to the south into the ship’s hold.
You can see a spider the size of a dwarf emerge from under the cobwebs as the door opens. It hisses, but makes no move to attack you. It appears to be quite angry.
Lyla steps away from the spider and shuts the door slowly, avoiding any sudden movements an minding her step. She goes back to the ship's rim and wave to the group, calling them to the vessel. While waiting, she keeps watching the door over her shoulders to make sure the door is still closed. As the group board the ship, she leads them to the safe part of the deck.
"This part is not as bad as the rest, we should be able to get to the lower deck from here. Just so you know, behind that door there's a spider the size of a, well, ", she says staring at Ortik. "Anyone care to lead?"
"I'll head first," Ortik says, stepping forward. "If we're lucky, I'll be able to convince the spider to let us pass by. If not, well, we dwarves are a hardy lot. If it bites me, I should be alright. I've had worse." He steps behind Lyla, watching where the lithe girl places her feet upon the rickety deck and boat. "Just show me the way. I'll take it from there."
"Well, in case you can't convince the spider to leave us be, I'll back you up." Demitri draws his blade and will follow Ortik.
Abandoning the plan of shooting the shark from above, Jakob grabs his hammer and joins the others on the old ship.
Karri takes her place in the line, near the end, just before Marissel. "Quicker is better than slower" she whispers to no one in particular.
The door to the ship's stern is closed.
You all can still hear agitated chittering coming from inside.
As Ortik opens the door to the stern, the spider's chittering stops.
It glares at him, it's mandibles *clicking*.
Ortik chitters back, meeting the spider in a pair of its multiple sets of eyes. Speaking with the nearly mindless creatures was mostly about body language and subvocalizations. The Old Man had taught him to read the signs of creatures much like this massive arachnid. About all they understand is 'predator' and 'prey'. If you're not one, then you're the other. If you're good, you can convince them there's a third option: 'passer-by'.
Here was where Ortik found out if he learned anything from the Old Man's teachings.
You're not sure if you said something to anger it or if it's just not in a listening mood to begin with.
What you are sure of, however, is that you just made yourself a target.
The spider hisses and leaps to the attack!
Demitri sensing that the spider is now hostile, he walks up and tries to defend Ortik.
Ortik's eyes go wide as the spider comes at him, its maw wide, its fangs bared. "What, was it something I said?!?"
Lyla makes a small sprint towards the stern's door and pauses throwing a bomb over Ortik's head, aimed at the spider. As the grenade flies, she crouches down and covers her ears, watching the ballistic trajectory with anxiety. When the bomb is about to fall, she yells "Incoming!"