"Here,"Litsy shrugged. "You'll need it more than us."
She shared the twenty coins equally between the orphans, and gave five coins to Zellara (four, plus Giorgio's coin):
"I don't know if it will be useful, but if they need food, water, or a doctor... Use them. And thanks," she added, as if she was afraid to forgot it.
Zellara looks at the coins forlornly before fixing a long stare on Litsy. "I thank you for the coins, but the only payment I need is Lamm's death. There is enough to eat and drink here, and the children will not go hungry while I live. Please, return to your friends and finish the task."
Of course. I'm an idiot.
The coins' golden glow disappeared in one of her pockets. She turned Giorgio's between her fingers, unsure of what to do with it.
Either I throw it in the air with all the lights turned off, or I give it back to Giorgio, explaining that I tried to give it to Zellara, and he decides what to do it with it. The second one seeming more reasonable.
"Aye, ma'am. Let's go. We'll return when Gaedren's dead."
Litsy waited for Aerodus, in case he would like to say something to his child.
Gern stood patiently inside the building, waiting to hear a sound that would give away Lamm's position in the warehouse. His inspection of the hole hadn't garnered much, and from what the prisoner had said, Lamm wasn't on the boat outside either.
That meant he probably had another room somewhere below this level, but the dwarf had no idea how to get down there without exposing them all to danger.
He shifted slightly, waiting for his new companions to return, or for someone else to act.
Aerodus carries Imperia up the stairs to one of the rooms, setting her softly on one of the beds. Running a hand through her hair, he frowns at the sore on her face. "I'll be back soon, Imperia. Just rest up."
Standing, he heads down the stairs to Zellara. "If she wakes up, tell her I'll be back shortly to take her home. And boys!" He looks at the two boys present. "If you ever need food or clothes, come by the Bank, I'll cover the costs some. Now, Litsy, let's go get Lamm." He opens the door and heads back into the streets.
Aerodus and Litsy find their way back to #17 Westpier just fine and with the group reunited, their options to get to Lamm are as follows. The hole in the workroom's floor doesn't seem to lead to a boat, as far as anyone can tell. The thug Greven mentioned that there was a way aboard the ship lashed to the building, but said he'd only been on the deck himself.
Turning to his allies, Aerodus shrugs. "Anyone think thet can check for a way in? Or will we need to jump aboard like some foolish Shackles pirates?
Gern looks around the place, then turns to the others. "Let's be sure 'n search this here wee hut fully. Twould be a poor stroke o' luck ter be leavin' enemies behind us noooo wouldn't it. Let's be thorough. The scunner taint run yet, so we make sure he ain't got name place ter run too if'n he's on youn boat."
The remaining rooms in the fishery consist of a filthy office, the desk of which is covered with ledgers concerning the price of mashed fish compared to the amount produced each day, and a small storage closet which has been emptied out and used as a doghouse for one of the two dogs. There doesn't seem to be anything of direct value in either room.
Giorgio decided to put his heritage to good use, and stuck his head out of the window to examine the ship. The wan lights of the city still managed to provide him with enough illumination to pick out fine details of the old collection of boards that the hireling had dubiously named "a ship."
When she returned to the fishery, Litsy nearly tripped on the other tanglefoot bag and, changing her mind as usual, she put it in her bag, and left the three vials of acid behind.
I don't like using acid anyway. It's painful stuff.
She then approached Giorgio, and gave his coin back, feeling a little guilty.
"Here. I'm sorry: as the children already had the thugs' coins, I tried to give yours to Zellara among with some other ones to help her, but she refused to take them. The children will stay at her house for the night, though."
She answered to Laijiri:
"Hmm? Oh! Of course."
She searched wildly for the wand in her bag, and gave it to her.
"Here it is! Also, you can have it, if you want it."
Examining it more closely, Laijiri sees that the wand appears to be a 'Wand of Acid Splash' with 26 charges left on it. It's current value is approximately 100 gold, depending on who it was sold to.
Giorgio sees that the ship is in even worse shape than Greven mentioned. There are several places near the waterline where water flows in and out, and many of the planks on its side seem warped. It's certainly not seaworthy, but could be large enough for someone to live in.
Giorgio pulls his head back in, nearly bumping into Litsy, and starts slightly. He accepts his coin back, somewhat sheepishly, and reports: "Looks tricky either way. Lamm could theoretically be hiding or living in the...ship's corpse...if he's still spry and light-footed. Otherwise, there may be a sturdy foundation he's nested in."
Aerodus, growing impatient some, walks over towards Giorgio. "So, can he be in there or no? Lamm needs to be taken down, and now. The longer we wait, the better the chance now that he suspects something amiss and runs off."
Giorgio shrugs at Aerodus. "He might be. I wouldn't risk it, but he might. Probably worthwhile to be thorough, at least.
"The half orc said he put children in a boat to send them to Lam. We need to find that boat."
Aerodus shakes his head. "Well, someone needs to go search it. There may be other children in danger right at this moment!" He starts for the door. "Is no one willing to press on? The cities very core is being eroded by this man, businesses weakened, children exploited, Imperia... He must pay!"
Outside the door, Aerodus can see a slippery-looking boardwalk working its way around the south side of the building toward the ship. It makes its way around the stern of the old derelict and vanishes from sight. The boardwalk is held up about ten feet above the water by a series of barnacle-encrusted pilings, worn most of the way through by the water.
"Totally agree," Litsy nodded with more zeal than usual."Do you want me to go first, and do some scouting for you?"
Gern nods willingly at the plan to close in and kill Lamm. He hefts his axe and readjusts the shield on his arm as well.
"You light feet might want ter wander a wee bit ahead o' me. I tend ter rattle a tad bit in me armour. It may give ye a chance ter surprise the scunner if'n ye ain't standin' too close ter me ye ken? If'n trouble comes though, ye fall back behind me shield and I'll keep ye safe."
He said the last part looking directly at Litsy. He was worried that we slip of a lass could get hurt in all this. Dwarves were large and robust by nature, even their women folk. Gern was struggling to reconcile such a small lass engaging in combat.
Aerodus nods at Litsy. "As Gern says. Our armor and training isn't what I would call best suited for the job. Shadow ahead some and we'll follow if you call it clear. Sound good?
"Sounds good."
Litsy held her shortbow ready.
"I'll try to see how many men are inside, and what are the entrances," she added. "I'll beckon you over if everything goes fine."
Keeping her eyes peeled, she slowly and carefully proceeded on the slippery boardwalk until she got closer to the ship.
The boards creak and groan under Litsy's feet as she makes her way carefully down the rotten boardwalk. As she rounds the stern, she sees a gap in the side of the ship, not unlike one a gangplank would be used with to access the deck. She also hears something, a bumping, scraping sound from inside the old hulk.
Stealth:
Kazadarin waits for Tiny to begin beer following with his bow held at the ready.
Litsy, who had already stiffened when she heard the noises that she was making, completely froze when she heard sounds from inside the ship. She didn't move for a few seconds, then took cautiously a few steps ahead, trying to know if someone is moving inside the ship.
As Kazaradin approaches Litsy, the boards creak and groan even more alarmingly. It's clear that the boardwalk won't hold much more weight.
Litsy isn't able to discern whether or not whoever, or whatever, is in the hold knows about her, but the sounds continue from inside the ship.
Might not be human, after all.
The creaking sounds alarmed Litsy, who frantically signaled to Kazadarin to stop. She moved forward until the boardwalk got safer, and then beckoned the ranger over.
Kazadarin haltsbas he sees Tiny's signal he looks around before continuing across.
Perception:
Gern watched silently from the entrance to the warehouse. His dwarven vision allowed him to see clearly in the night, but even he lost sight of Litsy when she slid onto the boat. The little one was like a shadow given breath. He grinned to himself. With companions like these, Lamm was a man as good as dead.
He merely waited for the signal to cross, but did note the unstable nature of the planks as Kazadarin had crossed.
"Might be best if we cross one at a time, methinks. Those planks yonder dinnae loooook like they could support a handful of pixies, let alone a mass of armoured folk like us."
Giorgio nods at Gern, and prepares his best silent walk, noting where planks previously had creaked and groaned.
Sighing at how slowly they'll have to move across to the boat, he waits to see how well the planks will hold him up based on those going ahead.
Kazaradin and Litsy make their way to a safer-looking bit of pier on the eastern side of the ship and signal the others to cross. Although the boardwalk groans even more ominously as Gern crosses, it holds together, and the whole party finds their way to the other side safely.
While they wait, Litsy and Kaz can see onto the deck of the ship, and as the others arrive, they see it as well. The rotten deck of the this ancient barge seems to be barely intact, its hull worn and thick with seaweed and barnacles. The barge 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.
"Aye," Litsy whispered. "Which could make it an excellent hideout for a gang. Nobody would ever search people here. Except us."
Litsy's gaze was focused on the ship.
It's quiet. I don't like it. You never know what is going on, if there aren't any noises.
"So? Have you got a plan? We could go through this gap other here, or I could examine the door."
Gern looked at the deck of the ship with some distrust. "I be thinkin' I'd go through yon timber like a hot knife through butter lass. The wood fare sags at the weight o' tha night air!"
He looked to where she had shown the gap in the side of the ship. It looked as if a gangplank could be slid into that location, and he was all for using that method of entrance rather than traipse across rotten wood.
"Do we have a handy piece o' timber we can use? Aye, movin' along a ganglplank 'd be much preferrrrable than runnin' o'er rotten wood."
Gern had seen rotten timbers collapse under the weight of armoured men before in the mines of home. The reults were rarely fun.
The hole for the gangplank leads into the murky darkness of the lower decks. It's wide enough that two could easily fit through it, and it's only a couple of feet from the boardwalk you now stand on. Cracks in the deck above let in a small amount of moonlight, but not enough for most of you to see well by. The bumpind and scraping from inside the hull continues
"Gern, what do your Dwarf eyes see?" Aerodus tries to move very slowly on the walkway, easing onto each board as he moves forward.
Litsy whispered to Laijiri:
"Have you got a spell to light our way? It's too dark to fight properly."
Gern spoke in his gruff whisper, which wasn't much different to his normal speaking voice unfortunately.
"There's many a crate, some as looks like they're bein' used fer a table. There's also some critters with many legs runnin' aboot. Big as rats and not trryin' ter hide at all. IF we go that way, twould be best fer me to lead aye."
He hefted his shield, ready to move in through the hole in a defensive manner in order to take whatever shots where waiting for the party.
"There's a good chance they knows we're here already. Best get that light up so we all can see. I dinnae think we'll be losin' any advantage fer it now."
Kazadarin frowns, not that anyone can see the expression under the hood of his cloak. "I do not think a light would hurt, we need to see what we are shooting at."
Litsy joined the dwarf.
"I'll assist you, Gern, if you don't mind. The whole thing is rotting, and there might be traps waiting for us. If Laijiri could give me some light, I'll go ahead a bit, just to make sure everything is safe," she suggested, her shortbow ready.
As the lights flare into existence above Gern's head and move into the ship's hold, the spiders scatter, moving into corners and behind boxes. One scurries toward the bow of the vessel, where it turns to look at you with its many eyes.
Perception:
Gern looked around the room once they had entered it. "Bah, another dead end. This scunner's as slippery as a cave wrasse."
He eyed the curious spider that was staring at them. His axe shifted slightly into a more comfortable grip in case the damnable thing came at them.