"How, by booking passage on a regular ship? I found you, did I not? It's why I suggested hiring an independent captain...it wouldn't sail under our mark, but the crew would be under our employ...which may at least raise the price they ask to sell us out", Janus jokes about it, "but seriously, not my decision to make, maybe we should first see what Lucius turns up...if nothing else, we could consider taking it to Varisia to sell there and make the passage cheaper and easier."
"We actually didn't book passage on a regular ship. The person you were following did. Regardless, you make a point." she says, shaking her head. "I'm neutral about the mark thing, but I don't really care about whether we keep or sell it... or where we go."
"There is always going to be ways to find us but if it's discovered we have a ship under our employee suddenly we have a huge target telling everyone where we are. I'm not saying normal ships are invisible, I'm saying we will be harder to find if we use variety."
You head to the inn and rest for a while and Lucius rejoins you.
"I did some inquiring and found that it was some pirates who took Andrianna and your friend. Seems they found who she really was and plan to bring her back home to claim the bounty for her return. No idea why they took your friend I'd guess so he didn't talk" he says
"So... pirates took her home? Thus cutting Janus out of his job, I guess?" she says, raising a brow. "That's sort of convenient. But that still asks the question of what they did with our friend."
"Yes, well Andrianna doesn't want to go home. All that awaits her there is an arranged marriage to a man she has never met. Still at least she should be safe."
"Wait, wait, wait." Flare looks from Lucious to Janus. "And you knew about this?" she says, sounding dubious.
"About the arranged marriage? Yes I did...What of it?" replies lucious
"Aye, I knew about the arranged marriage planned for her. BUT...there's 2 reasons I took the job on regardless. First, because the girl's in danger. Nobility gets to enjoy significantly less freedom in life, and is a lot less used to the life of a commoner, and I knew if I am able to find her, so would be others...with less benevolent motives. Consider what happens if the pirates find that a ransom would pay significantly more than the bounty? Secondly, and more importantly, when her parents contacted me, I expressed my expectations that bringing her back would only cause her to run away again as soon as she'd be able to do so. They explained to me that while Andretta verbally opposed the marriage, they did not think she would go so far as to run away. They assured me that they WOULD talk it over with Andretta, and not blindly force her into this. Which is why they hired ME to bring Andretta back to THEM. As far as I know, that bounty the pirates intend to collect was placed by her husband-to-be. And I dare-say, he has little reason to pay for her return unless he intends to force her to go through with this."
Janus circles around Lucius, continuing to talk to the others:"I knew why she run away, yes. And I apologize for unconsciously withholding that information...honestly, I had thought that she would have confided in you after running away with your group. But I assure you that I intend to bring her back for the right reasons. To protect her, and to give her a chance to make up with her parents. I can promise that if her parents lied to me regarding that marriage, I'll gladly take on another job for a single copper piece, to break her out of there and help her start a new life. But if we let those pirates have their way, well..."...letting his voice trail off as he looks at the others scanning for reactions.
"No, not you." she says, looking back to Lucius, "Him." she nods back at Janus. "Did they offer to rescind on the forced marriage?" Flare asked, tilting her head. "Because if the problem isn't addressed, then the effects will persist. A loveless marriage is the exact opposite of what my goddess asks for."
Cynthia watched - quite thoughtfully - as Flare spoke up, and her personal evaluation of Janus was rising. But then, she'd always liked people who were able to make good points, and he had PLENTY of those at the moment.
Riven glares Janus when he admits to lying to the group. "Can we leave him now?"
Riven glares Janus when he admits to lying to the group. "Can we leave him now?"
Victor turns the issue over in his mind before speaking, his words carefully considered. "On religious grounds I have no issue with an arranged marriage, loveless or otherwise, primarily because I'm not really the religious sort. Morally however, I would want to avoid bringing a girl back into a situation she wants to escape from. She will only attempt to escape again, and maybe she might run into a situation beyond her control, with no-one around her this time to protect her. Nor can we realistically be her bounty hunting team chasing her around the world to return her back to her spouse every time she runs away. I'm not opposed to us breaking in and taking her out from the pirates reach, but I would prefer that we find a solution that addresses the root cause of the problem, rather than the result".
Ignoring Riven, Janus turns first to Flare, then to Victor: "Flare, Victor, I think I addressed both of your worries already...as said, when her parents contacted me, I expressed my opinion that she would simply run away again, as soon as she'd be able to. They DID agree to talk it over with her, which, to me, suggests they will not force her to go through with this, allowing them to make up as a family and find a path together. I do believe they are honest about planning to speak with her, as otherwise they could have pooled their resources with the planned husbands bounty, instead of hiring me as an independent agent. That course of action suggests they may not want her returned in a way that announces she's back. People in my line of work tend to be...discreete."
Flare sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Ultimately, the girl felt strongly enough that they would, else she wouldn't have ran. I don't remember hearing anything about a bounty. Had we been aware of that, we'd have likely known more about the reason she'd been kidnapped, rather than assuming it was her ties to us. Doesn't matter. We couldn't have done anything any sooner, anyway, without giving up our only lead. But that at least lets us know where she would be."
Riven looked between each person in the group not really wanting to ask knowing she'll be out voted. "So what do we do with him?"
"We go save the princess, of course. And at the very least, he's the one with all the know-how... once again... in that regard. He's also tied in to our destiny, if you want to say we have one. It's going to be rough, but it's a lot better than going after a giant invisible group that happens to be the closest thing to a death cult I've heard of." she shrugs a little. "A lot more 'clear direction' at the very least."
"Very well go after Andrianna and your friend. I must return to the elves and oversee other urgent matters. You can contact me using these when you are done or if you need help." says Lucius he tosses you a bag containing 25 sending stone*.
*Small pebbles that you can crush for a single casting of Sending
You being however is closest to him.
"Thanks, Flare...so the only thing that remains is to decide wether we try and get a crew for the ship and depart inmediately, or sell it off and get passage on a fast ship, to intercept them...in that case, we would likely need to go towards the port they are headed...unless we contract OTHER pirates who are likely to try and betray us. With our own ship, we could possibly intercept them on the high sea, or even make them come to us, pretending to be a storm-damaged riches-ladden merchant vessel-"
"While having a ship would be useful... I suspect it would be easier to sell it." Cynthia mused after considering the options. Ships that weren't doing merchant work tended to not be making money, and paying the crew of a ship that wasn't making money would be a serious concern, given the uncertainty of their future course.
"Honestly. It's easier to use it and then sell it, I think. We're going to need passage anyway, and any port in the storm, right?"
The pirate gang that took your friends captive was last seeing sailing south towards cheliax to take the gate of aroden. You could chase after them by sea or you can also take the land route and if you move quickly you could get ahead of them to cut them off at the inner sea.
"We'll have to hire a crew for the trip then."
"Theoretically we could cut them off at the Arch of Aroden on the land route...but thats that, we will have one shot at that. If they manage to evade us, or we fail, they will have a significant headstart before we manage to organize a ship and give chase...maybe enough of an advantage that we can't catch up again, especially if they know we're after them. For that reason, I'd prefer if we use the ship."
Turning to Riven and Flare again:
"We DID manage to sail it into this port, pretty much by ourselves. I agree that we will need proper crewman for our plan, but I think a small skeleton crew will actually suffice...a full crew would not help us go any faster- and I believe boarding will be our job unless we want to bring MORE pirates into this...on the plus side, we may end up with two ships to sell, and tow theirs back to a port...that should well make up for any costs incurred by personnal needed."
"If we're going to try to take the second ship, we'll need a full crew so that both could sail." Flare said, as she followed along with Janus's logic.
"One cannot tow them? Apologies, I'm not much of a sailor, I'm afraid-", Janus smiles apologetically to Flare..."Well, a slightly larger crew then, if that's our intent. We could also try to hit and run, with me and Victor going in invisible and extracting the princess...but once they realize she's gone they would probably give chase...unless we sabotage them. Both is an option, really, but taking their ship seems like the more economic course of action-...", Janus muses, drifting off into planning-
"I guess it's possible... but it depends on where they meet up. If both are at sea... that'd be really dangerous, especially with any storms that might show up. We'd have to pray to Gozreh if that were the case. Might be a good idea to do so anyway, if we want to outpace them."
"Involving any third party is also risky if they decide they want the bounty more than our paycheck."
"That is so, Riven, but unless you want to swim to their ship from the Gate of Aroden, we'll need some transportation anyway..."
Right so your going to get a crew together and follow by ship is my understanding?
You gather a crew for the ship a minimum of ten is needed for the ship to sail efficiently but it can crew as many as 40 as the ship can also use rowers as additional propulsion. The cost for the crew is 25 gold per man. The more crew you hire the faster you will go.
(average speed is 60 feet per round by sail and 180 feet per round rowed)
Not sure were you stand money wise. You should have a few thousand available. The question is simply do you want a full crew to catch them quickly before they arrive or a small crew to chase after them and catch them when they arrive since you will be travelling slower than them.
OK assume a thousand gold for the crew then.
You leave Riddleport and by using teams of rowers you make very good time.
You manage to catch up to the pirates who have taken Andrianna and Thalion near the Arch of Aroden and you are gaining ground on them.
Cynthia watched as they approached the other ship, feeling... look, she'd lived on land all her life, all right? All this sailing was just a bit odd. She quietly held a Dispel ready, just in case anyone on the other ship tossed some magic at them - otherwise, she was simply standing by, waiting for the ships to get closer.
Janus paces forward and back along the reeling nervously: "They may try and use the hostages to pressure us into negotiating. Once battle is joined, I'll try and infiltrate the ship, hopefully getting to her before they think about fetching her..."