Triss smiles almost fiendishly to herself before quickly stowing away the pin again. Hoping her song hasn't altered anyone. She glances over at Ozz with a smile.
"I've figured it out... and it might very well play an integral part in securing our escape, I'm already forming ideas!" she cackles to herself before drinking more tea and then bundling up and resting a bit.
"Shock on... Huh?" The cleric answers you while gesturing to Wen, having finally pacified his patient. Wen guides the woman with you to follow the cleric as he carries the drifter looking man bodily away, out of sight. The four guards and Tease are left alone with you for a moment as the sick in the room zone out.
After a few seconds pass, the fussy patient moves again, this time without anyone to restrain him. He starts walking towards your group at the door, and moments later another couple of sick people start moving slowly in that same direction.
Three sick people stand dazedly in front of Spearwoman Trissea who looks back at them uncomfortably, looking as though she'll try to restrain them if needed.
Some time passes as you rest before you start hearing sounds in the passageway. The door opening several times as more guards pass through, probably a dozen of them total, saying things like:
"... more sick people, they're asking that we set up..."
"... the north wall first and then start doing the same at the east..."
"... want it from The Happy Hall, to the Cointoss, and then the nearest walls..."
... As they go. Shortly after this, Rast comes in with more soup and tea and ask how you both are.
With another single blow, the second skeleton is pulverized. You pick up Frug with one arm, and grip the straps to all of his bags with your other, easily hefting their weight. Another groan escapes from the crowd as they realize that the show is over.
About this time you notice a small group of people standing near you. A tense breath passes before you realize that they aren't there to give you grief. One person, an employee, sweeps the bones casually away against the bar along with all the broken glass while the others seat themselves in the now vacated table.
As you walk the creaking, wooden plank floor of the middle tier of Skullport on your way back to the halfling and his boat, you spot several people watching something. Following their gaze through the supports of the city, you see something high above, floating silently through the air some distance away, a black spot moving over the city.
"By the gods Rast, what is going on in this city?" Triss says alarmed by the commotion out side.
"Maybe you should stay in here? It sounds like you might catch something out there." She takes the tea and sips on it. Though not feeling great Triss is in good enough spirits that could probably fake not being sick.
"Thanks for sharing a drink with me by the way Rast." She gives him a smile, before returning her attention to the soup.
You shout after Wen, but having walked off with the cleric and the two sick you found on the streets out of sight, he apparently didn't hear you.
The front sick person tries to walk around Torea, brow furrowed in confusion and concentration. "No no, stay here please." She says, trying to get in front of them and keep them from moving towards the door.
She looks back toward the door to check if it is secured by the rear guard and is satisfied that it is. A second of the trio of dazed people walks around her the other way and is gently intercepted by the guard on your right.
The third of the trio hasn't yet moved, and is looking around in a very strange manner, almost as if peering through the walls of the building and everything in it. The first one begins to grow frustrated and makes slight whimpering sounds of irritation as Torea blocks him.
"They're setting of some barricades in case things, uhh... Get worse", he answers. "No worries there, while our healer is out, I'm the resident physician."
A moment later another set of guards passes through outside of your cell. "... says that if things get much worse we might have to quarantine the..."
Grellik peers at the moving spot of darkness as it passes out of sight into a high tunnel connected to the Skullport cavern, unable to make out what it was.
Triss's eyebrow raises giving him a look.
"If things get worse?" emphasis on the 'if' as she looks over to Ozz.
"How you feeling you big lug?" she crawls over and gives Ozz a hug and runs her fingers through his hair to help him relax a bit.
"Can you hear me, friend? You're in a temple because you're sick..."
His voice is flat and stern, feet set shoulder-width apart, clearly defensive.
Pushing the man away to interpose yourself between him and Torea you can feel the fever heat of him. He's burning up.
Wen comes back through the corner with the cleric and sees you all.
"Oh no. This is getting ridiculous!" The cleric says. "Captain, could you have some of your men positioned here to keep the sick from wandering out? I noticed a couple of empty beds just now, and I'm afraid they'll get themselves hurt out there!"
"Of course, I'll stop by the Tower before looking for more and let them know." He says, almost respectfully.
"Tymora Bless you." He says, and does, making a hand sign at the Captain. "If you happen to see Grinnich out there, please bring him back in. He was one of the first afflicted, and I'm afraid he's in the worst state of the lot."
"Grinnich?"
"Yes, round bellied dwarf, long red beard, bald. He also has a hook tattoo on his neck about here. He's a fisher." he continues, tapping the right side of his neck. "May have a bad limp. Came in hear a week or so ago with a leg injury."
"Yeah, I'll keep an eye out." Captain Wen says, and have bows to the cleric before helping the cleric pull the trio of sick people away from the door and leading the group out, including you and Tease.
Once back out in the rain, Wen directs you and Tease to pick back up the cart's handles. "Alright, let's keep a look out for more, including this 'Grinnich'. We'll swing by the tower first, and then head further north."
Then you feel the breeze of something pass right by your neck, fast. Your hair moves in the wake of it. There is an immediate crack afterward, and a stunned silence.
Spearwoman Torea stands there, with an arrow sticking out of her shoulder. She looks down at it in confusion, her expression very similar to those dazed & sick in this moment of shock.
"Uhhh.... yeah... 'If'." Rast clearly doesn't believe that it is a matter of IF.
"What!? no!! That's the wrong guy!" The halfling says, hopping off of his boat and looking at you with a face pale in panic. "By the gods! You're going to get us murdered!" He quickly says in a hushed seethe.
He watches your reaction, and with a grin his demeanor straitens up instantly casual again. He waves you onto his boat with a wink.
"Just lay him underneath there for now." he points to a hatch that leads into the covered area of the boat.
The boat is 20 feet long, and 10 feet at its widest, tapering out at the middle, and coming to a rounded tip on both end. It is a single floor vessel, more like a overly large personal fishing boat than anything else, except for the large covered area in the center. The floor appears thick enough that you can tell there is some space below the floor besides the water, but not enough to count for much. There are benches stretching from port to starboard in the narrow ends of the craft, and a hatch on each side of the covered area. There are poles at each tip wing rings at the top, maybe a way to stretch tarp over the boat in case of storms, or maybe to hang lanterns from.
"I'm Bindle, ugly. Let's get going up the Dessarin. But first, I'll have that pay!"
He pulls her behind the cart, wishing Ozz was there to up-end the thing. It wasn't the best cover like this.
Putting his hand over the wound--the shaft between his fingers--he tries to stop any bleeding.
"You're alright," he says quietly, trying to peer over the edge of the cart to spot the shooter.
Captain Wen, who had gotten on his horse just before the arrow hit, moves himself while on it infront of you and Torea. "Form up! Keep a look out, get Tease down!" He shouts as he does so.
Torea's wound is bad, but she is still conscious and not bleeding out any. She doesn't seem to be in any danger of dying from the wound. As you look back over the cart at where the arrow came from, you notice wen already doing the same. You don't see anything, the shooter must have already moved by the time you were able to look around.
Wen squints in the distance through the rain. "Someone... on a roof probably. There abouts." He points. "Gart, with me. The rest of you get back the Tower, get Torea to Rast, and get some men out here to look after the Hall."
He takes off on his mount as soon as he finishes saying this. The elf guard peels off of the group and runs after him, not keeping up by far, but providing eventual reinforcements to the Captain.
"I'll be alright..." Torea says, smiling wanly. "Let me u-", her words cut out, as her face grows pale. Her eyes flutter as her head drops back, limply.
"Whaat? What ever do you mean? Make sure that hatch is shut tight when you're dropped Frug off. Oh! Bring his bags here. I need to get his pay as well." He says this last bit with a snap of his fingers, remembering the important detail.
Inside the cover is a clear space with begging. It is small, dark, and cozy. Not very damp at all. There are several water barrels and a few closed crates, probably rations.
"Yeah, don't do anything stupid and listen to anything I say. Well Coin-Bringer Grellik, Let... Us... Depart!" He says, and lets out a navel whistle, the kind officers would use to get the attention of the ship mates.
As he does so, shimmering figures appear on the benches by the sides of the ship, translucent looking sailors of vague detail. They begin to silently pantomime out rowing movements and the ship pulls away from the pier.
oh, I just added a line at the end of my post, btw, probably should have posted another post :P
"Someone help me get her in the cart," Cavell says, taking another peek over the edge of the cart before readying to lift her into it with help from another.
Once she's in, Cavell hurries to the front of the cart, ready to pull with whoever is willing to help.
He says through gritted teeth, "Come on, come on. Let's move," glancing nervously at the alleys and rooftops, feeling very exposed.
Okay, Grellik. I updated my post, you ninja, you.
Tease helps you haul her into the cart and takes the other handle, signing as he goes.
Haven't yet given my messages (urgent, worried). My folk haven't yet shown up for orders.
"What's wrong with her? She was just talking!" Says a remaining guard, spear readied as they escort you back toward the tower.
"She'll live. Just keep up, and yell if you see someone shooting at us," he says to the guard, trying to force some cheer into voice, hoping he doesn't take an arrow in the neck as he pulls the cart.
Tease: None (frustrated).
Moving the cart as fast as the leg manacles allow, you get to the tower quickly even considering its close proximity to The Happy Hall. One of the guards shouts for the gates to be opened, which they are. You are let into the tower's yard without incident. Once inside, one of the guards lets you into your dungeon cell and the other two carefully lift Torea from the cart and toward the back entrance to the tower.
"I think that arrow was meant for me," Cavell says, almost smug.
He goes to the cell door, holding the bars and looking up the steps a moment before going back to Tease.
"I've seen sicknesses that make you puke blood, make you s%@& yourself to death, make you cough yourself inside-out. But I've never seen anything like that. You? It seems like it's getting worse in the city."
"Not much better... Not much worse..." Ozz says and downs his stew with uncharacteristic patience.
"Then it should have f+%@ing hit you!" A guard says through the slots of the bars, before hustling up the stairs and into the rain.
"Ney, not me. They seem more... bewitched than ill. Ill too, mind." He says, while he signs frantically with all the grace of a poet's pen, his words being gestured without the usual delay required to pass messages clearly.
If we lose another day to this, the plan might be f~!%ed (frustrated, urgent). We've got to get back outside so I can contact my people.
"Why do ye think thuh arrow were meant fer ye?"
The passage door bangs open after a knock once more, but this time it is the door from outside. Voices emanate sharply through the small hall as several bodies can be heard moving to the inner door, breathing heavy.
"... to The Happy Hall! ...Careful... Get them there quickly, they'll need extra hands. Wen's orders. RAST! WE'VE GOT WOUNDED! GET OUT HERE! I know people are busy setting up the..." The voices fade as they pass through the inner door, and your door opens for Rast.
"What?!" Rast says, shooting to his feet.
Cavell nods, listening to Tease, then actually stares in surprise as Tease signs. He had seen how good he was, but as far as Cavell was concerned this was bordering on magic now. He tries his best Thieves' Cant, a sad shadow in comparison. Teach me that someday.
"The people that threw bricks at us were angry already--and we almost killed one of them. I doubt they've forgotten."
He signs Thieves' Cant again, Best I can think of: we look healthy and ready to work (impatient).
"Great! Right where I want you." he says and spits into the Sargauth. He stands near the bow and watches out, maybe directing the boat wordlessly, as it rights itself in the water and points down a tunnel.
"Let's see.. The Dessarin... Is... There", he says after traveling for a few minutes. The boat aims itself at a section of the cavern wall, (no surprise there) and you can see the portal's edges scratched there. This portal appears to be much smaller than the one the Regret used to get in and out of Skullport.
As the boat nears critical proximity to the wall, Bindle spits again, his blackish saliva passing through the stone entirely. A half breath later, so does the rest of the ship. Actually, it doesn't pass through the wall so much as make contact and then appear somewhere else entirely.
You find yourself in a pooling, overgrown area that appears to be a dead end off-shoot of a river. A forest grows all around this area, concealing it from view. The sun isn't visible, and the sky is growing dark and red.
"Here we are, the Dessarin. Dang, it's later than I thought. I can never count the bells right. Well, we've got only about an hour in us before we should stop traveling. Best to move during the day, for the most part."
Triss nudges Ozz as the door flings open. This is as much out of surprise as intent. she leans down close and whispers "This choas will be the end of us if we're not told what's going on. Keep on your guard, we may have to move."
She then slips over to her bed and keeps an eye on what's going on with Rast and the new arrivals.
Thieves' cant: You'll probably not live long enough. Probably (amused).
"Could be, could be." He answers your suspicions on the shooter.
TC: We need to convince scar to let us go back out (urgent). No accepting refusal. He'll never believe it from me, I've cultivated a lazy demeanor.
Rast looks at you two briefly, and nods. "You'll be set for a bit yet", he says and rushes out of the room after the procession of noise, your cell door shutting after him by the passage guard.
"You've got quite a mouth. Trying to one up your size with your vocabulary?"
Bindle nods at you as his ship moves out of the pooling area and into the river proper. "You might want to go inside for now."
A little bit of time passes and he knocks on the hatch that you can come back out. The Dessarin is a wide river, clearly used for much trade. There are few ships currently moving up and down it, most have anchored already. None of them are close enough as to make much of anyone on board. The vague sailors of Bindle's boat continue their movements as the ship coats up stream in the setting sun.
"Help yourself to any of the rations inside the crates if you need it", he says automatically before considering you again. "Eerr... Maybe hold yourself a bit back."
He reaches into his vest, a baggy brown thing covered in many drooping pockets, and pulls out a pipe. He begins to smoke it as he picks up Frug's bags with some difficulty and puts them inside near the unconscious gnome.
Thieves' Cant: I'll think of something
Cavell crosses his arms and paces impatiently, occasionally glancing out the cell door up the stairs, hoping to see Trissae and Ozz coming down.
Triss follows up after Rast and moves to the door, speaking through the bars
"Be careful Rast."
About ten minutes pass before you see Captain Wen coming down the staircase to your cell. With the rain still sliding off of him, he looks at you through to bars. "It's getting f$+~ing weird out there. Get comfy, you'll be in here for a while. Food will be brought down shortly."
As a small amount of traffic continues to filter through the passageway outside of your cell, you catch more bits of conversation.
It sounds like while Tease and Adrien were out doing work in the city (Taking sick people to the Happy Hall), Spearwoman Torea was shot by an arrow. Wen went after them but found nothing.
You immediately dismiss the idea of sitting on a crap within the cargo hold. Maybe Frug or Bindle could sit like that and not hit the short ceiling, but Grellik's height makes for slightly awkward sitting even while on the ground.
Some time passes and the sun sets. Bindle pulls up near the river's edge and releases an anchor, stopping his boat for the night. Eventually, he pulls up some deck boards and reveals a kind of sunken bed. He pulls out a tarp and hangs it above this area, creating an open-air shelter.
"It's been a while since I've gotten a voyage up the Dessarin. I like it." he muses as he sits back in his bed and puffs on his pipe.
"Let us help," Cavell says simply, though is used to being shot down by Wen.
Flustered by inactivity and feeling impotent she stamps her foot and walks back over and sits preparing to trance, having nothing better to do.
"Nudge me if something happens Ozz."
Adrien walks up to the cell door, speaking low and serious as he meets Wen's eyes.
"You have the only people in the world that matter to me. Think what you will of my crimes, but I would never leave them to die. Your men are already spread thin, you can't afford to lose any more--but you can afford to lose me. Do you want a chewing-out from Frostheight, or having to tell wives and children their husbands and fathers aren't coming home. I. Can. Help."
Captain Wen watches you for a long moment before getting the door unlocked. He walks into the cell and bends over to undo your leg manages.
"You want to help, fine." he says. "Rope!" he calls out of the room, gets some, and ties you to himself in the usual manner.
"Yer a stupid f&+*, Cavell." Tease says to get your attention while Wen works.
TC: Two (sort of) contacts. One, a halfling that looks like a child. Named Creep. The other can be several, they wear a ruby studded long-sword. Anyone who has this could be a contact. Give password Star-Son. Tell them what you need and when. Much luck.
TC: If I die, get them out (pleading)
Tease nods at you as Wen leads you out of the cell and into the rain. He finally grabs a cloak for himself, and walks up to a group of 8 other guards, already ready, two mounted and four near carts. Wen walks up to one of these carts and dismisses the two, directing you to take the other handle opposite of him.
With you and Wen at one cart, two guards at another, and a perimeter of six guards total (two mounted), you head out into the stormy afternoon city.
A little bit of time passes before Rast comes back in with more soup and tea. There is also a fresh loaf of bread, in case you're ready for denser food. He looks a bit emotionally frayed around the edges, and you notice a couple of spots of blood on his sleeve.
He offers the food and takes a seat on the stool, just a bit out of it.
"Of my kind?! If halflings allude your notice, I'd suggest looking down more! I shudder to think of how many have been crushed beneath your oblivious bulk!"
He waves a hand dismissively toward the hold. "Ehh, he's drunk. Let's not hurry the inevitable horror of his waking. Enjoy the peace while we've got it."
Triss walks over and puts a hand on Rast's shoulder.
"Rast, what's going on.."
wiping away a splash of something on his cheek with her thumb.
"Poison..." Rast says, sighing heavily. "Someone shot Torea with a poisoned bolt. Your friend thinks it was meant for him, and I'd agree if it weren't for the poison. I don't see an angry mob going that far. But why Torea?! S+~%, none of this makes any sense!" He says this while offering you and Ozz wedges of the warm bread, absent-mindedly.
"Poisen!?" by the gods, is she alright?"
She takes the bread and gives some to Ozz. As she chew on a bit she thinks.
"At this point, who the arrow was for is unimportant. Only that the culprit is found. Rast, if our quarry is Man or Elf, Ozz is one of the best man finders you could ask for. He once tracked a set of human smugglers through the bog to their base camp. They'd been using us as a cover for their operations, as you can imagine that didn't last very long."
She beams a little with pride at Ozz while telling the tale. She then turns back to Rast with a stern but concerned look.
"look Rast you're our friend. You can't expect us to sit idly by and wait for good news to arrive. Let us help." She puts both hands on both his shoulders and looks him eye to eye as she says this.
"yeah... shes okay. Just needs rest now, it was a close thing though. Adrien helped."
"I'm... I'm sure Ozz can. Maybe, but I'll have to check with Captain Wen." His expression shows that even though there isnt much he can do for your request, Lieutenant Rast has been won over by your empathy. He very much appreciates your compassion.
(A half truth.)