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The two hadozee body guards stride forward, bare steel hanging from each hand. As they approach, their eyes are trained on the companions as their comrades scurry behind them.
They stop 15 feet away from the companions, and stand shoulder to shoulder. With the riggings and other nautical paraphernalia, it would be impossible to push past them and reach the other crew and downed spell caster without a fight.
They quickly look towards one another, before turning back to the companions.
"Big man." one of the body guards yells to Benaiah. "You versus us. We win, you and your friends go overboard. You win, the ship and crew are yours. We will sail you to the nearest port. Deal?"
The other hadozee squints his eyes and crosses his arms across his chest, cutlasses pointing down at the deck. "You are big enough for the two of us. I'd call that a fair fight. Unless you want that skinny man to Seriously, can he not shut up!" He glares at Arimar.
Behind them, the four of the unaffected hadozees pull their bowstrings back and aim at Arimar, while the others grip their cutlasses in shaky hands. They can see some shuffle towards the ladder which leads to the upper-rigging scaffolding that the original hadozee boarding party used.
"Benaiah," Arimar says more softly, between lines of his stump speech, "This may be our best chance to succeed, but I am willing to fight them all if you would prefer. A few more bursts of negative energy, and we could likely kill most of the crew... if they do not kill me first."
Arimar makes ready to either fight or follow Benaiah's lead.
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Benaiah curls his muzzled face and flexes his ape-like arms. He looks back and grins to his companions.
I wonder if this is what that giant in legend felt like when that puny rat approached him? Bah, no way this works out the same as that story. Besides, neither of these two have slings and stones...
"Hahaha! If you think it is a fair fight, then we will go with that. I will fight for my crew, you fight for yours. Come to your death, and tell the others to start making for Magnimar! This won't take long."
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Yes child! Us versus these pathetic excuses for sailors, and everyone to watch in our glorious battle! Release me again!
The voice inside Benaiah's head shouts with glee at the impending conflict, and the mutagen deformed man cannot help but join in with a snarl of joy of his own. While the conditions for the contest are set he eyes up his two opponents. He grins again when he sees that they stop well away from him, leaving a significant space. They have sorely underestimated his new reach, as well as his reaction time.
"Say your prayers to Gozreh!" He shouts as his mind slips into the haze and fog, and the voice inside his head takes control for a few exquisite moments.
Benaiah slides a clawed foot forward, shifting his weight up as he adjusts his footing. Both of his gangly, clawed hands rise high into the sky, threatening to get caught up in the rigging. He swiftly pulls both arms down, arcing both deadly claws towards the port-side hadozee guard.
He does not pay attention to Mistress Lanvi's opinion of the contest and its potential outcome, nor to any protests of his companions. He loses sight of any treachery that might come once it is clear that he will be the victor. All he sees is the fight.
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Impossibly fast, Benaiah brings one of his claws up and to starboard, slashing across the chest of where he hopes one of his opponents stands.
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The impact of his mutated hands is enough to shake the deck under everyone's feet. He realizes he closed his eyes right before the impact, and opens to see what damage he has wrought.
Striking out with his mutated claws, Benaiah quickly and literally rips the first bodyguard apart. His first blow opens a wide gash from breast to navel. The hadozee's eyes go wide as a plate sized bundle of intestine spills from his gut and lands on the wooden deck. A horrible smell emerges from the wounded hadozee as he drops one cutlass to pick up his entrails and try to stuff them back in. That is when Benaiah lashes out impossible quickly with the other claw, this time ripping out its throat. A bubbly gurgle is all that can be heard as it slumps lifelessly to the deck.
The other hadozee is caught unawares as the Chelaxian opens his friend up, and then impossible slashes him. A clawed hand rips away of chunk of flesh, hair and muscle, from his side. Blood runs in rivers down his side and begins to puddle beneath his feet. Looking terrified, he does his best to stave off death and live one more day.
He steps forward into the ring of death Bringing both cutlasses in a crosswise slash. He first strikes out with his right hand, slashing from Benaiah's left shoulder to his right hip. The hadozee quickly follows with the other cutlass, this time from Benaiah's right shoulder to left hip.
He slips slightly in a small puddle of blood and that throws off both his timing and power. The first slash bangs harmless off Benaiah's armor and the second slash misses short.
Arimar smiles grimly at the grisly sight of a hadozee being ripped to shreds. "The poor dears didn't know what they were asking," he tuts as he moves over to heal Raim.
"I guess it is too late to make a wager on this battle?" he asks the nearest hadozee smugly, already looking around at their new ship, "I guess you can take solace that at least we weren't forced to kill all of you." While Arimar cannot tell beneath the fur, he is certain the hadozee is going very pale as Benaiah literally dismantles the best fighters among them in a matter of seconds.
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Blood flies up in sprays and spurts, covering Benaiah in hot, sticky, wet gore. Again and again he plunges the ceremonial dagger home. The rush in his veins that obscures his vision, the flood of power in his arms, his chest, is beyond intoxicating. This time, when the exhaustion overwhelms him as he falls out of his hazy stupor, he sees nothing in front of him. An empty sacrificial table. No body. Then the maniacal laugh of his father echoes in the empty stone room.
" You couldn't be... Even hellknights aren't as cruel as you..." He shouts to the nothingness around him as his vision fades to black.
Then, out of the void, a voice. "Why does he bother you so, child? Why do you wait for his approval? Is it the chains of being an adult you truly want? Responsibility, duty, the endless charade of political maneuvering? No child. Let me handle that. I will take care of you. Do not let your mind be troubled..."
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Suddenly the blackness of his mind snaps back to the bright sunlight of the day, with gory highlights of the fresh blood of the doomed hadozee guard smeared across the deck. The ecstasy of ripping the ape-man to shreds causes the voice in his head to practically giggle with glee.
Leaning forward, Benaiah lets out a gutteral howl, fire and death in his eyes as his breath washes over the remaining guard who was foolish enough to get closer to the enraged monstrosity. Benaiah's neck snaps forward suddenly and his powerful maw clamps down towards the guard's exposed neck. The son of a hellknight delights in the fear that washes over the pitiful creature.
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Standing tall, he doesn't release the body from his maw. He stares hard at the remaining crew for a few moments before clamping his jaw down harder with a sickening crunch. The body falls unceremoniously to the deck with a wet thud. Benaiah remains standing and staring at the dumbfounded crew, the blood of his enemies streaming down his face and chest, pooling at his feet. His chest heaves with a steady rhythm as he sucks the air into his lungs. Silence hangs over the scene as the seconds tick by until it is broken suddenly, angrily.
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The tribesman stands back, watching his new companion, Benaiah, fight even more savagely and dangerously than the beasts. Without intending to, he takes a step backward, closer to the handmaiden and spreads his arms out to protect her again. "Please be staying behind Keoki, Miss," he mutters to the woman as a concerned look spreads across his own face. "Until it clear things safe."
It is then that Keoki realizes he is holding his arms wide to protect the handmaiden not from the hadozee, but from Benaiah and his seemingly endless bloodlust.
The tribesman had seen something like this before, when the one known as the Blood Queen came upon a peaceful but displaced people, and gave them a singularly terrible gift. She had given them pure freedom. Whipping nearly an entire civilization into a frenzy, a collective people with an insatiable hunger. The Blood Queen and made them free and wild and beyond good and evil. She had come from beyond, and made her urges manifest in those once peaceful people, and done it all from her sunken temple in the Ghol-Gan ruins of Ganagsau. They had once been the Kuru, but now they were no more than beasts... they were cannibals.
Keoki had not seen anything like the lustful gaze of pure ecstasy and freedom of those Kuru cannibals until now, not until he looked in Benaiah's eyes.
The handmaiden ducks behind Keoki's arm, grateful that this strange man saved her form the violence Benaiah unleashed on the hadozee body guards.
Mistress Lanvi, who watched the entire fight, slowly sauntered over to Benaiah, careful to avoid the puddles of bodily fluids pocketing the deck. She places a hand upon his arm, and gently tugs it.
"You did well, Benaiah. You saved me. You saved us. Come, there is still much to be done." Though she speaks in a steady, soothing voice, if one peered into her eyes one would see the fear there.
One of the hadozee rowers approaches the companions, clearly avoiding Benaiah. "Welcome. I am Garsh called Garsh Nightdream. I and my fellows have served aboard The Dream of the Night for many years. What you want us to do with Grath Nightdream and Groh Nightdream?" The hadozee points to the downed bodyguards as a few hadozee make ready to throw them overboard and some hold buckets of water ready to clean the deck.
"Magnimar the big ... man said. Right? We can do that. Probably in a day or two. Marn, grab someone to get that shallop. Tie a tow rope to it.
"And what do you want us to do with Harth Nightdream the Caster? He is hurt pretty bad, might not make it without magical healing."
All the hadozee scurry about in a nautical fashion, tying lines, grabbing oars, pulling out charts. It is clear that though their warriors are defeated and the shortbow and cutlasses have been stowed away, the hadozee are a professional lot moving about an economic fashion.
"Will your Harth Nightdream the Caster be bound by the same agreement the rest of you are? If so, I will heal him," Arimar says, keeping careful note of the hadozee's reaction and trying to gauge the truth in his words, "Also, you owe us one shallop."
Arimar gathers his companions close and whispers to them, "I do not trust these ape-men as far as I can throw them." He looks to his puny arms to emphasize his point. "We had best sleep together and set up watches. The captains cabin is like to be the most defensible place, but let us be cautious of the windows - they can almost certainly use them for ingress."
"Will your Harth Nightdream the Caster be bound by the same agreement the rest of you are?
"Hmm. Not rightly know. You beat Harth Nightdream the Caster so he will probably surrender rather than fight to the death. That was rightly stupid of Grath Nightdream and Groh Nightdream. We didn't get paid that much to throw away the lives of all the Nightdreams.
"As for that shallop, we can fix it, or row to Magnimar. Not both at the same time. Once we get there will only take a few hours. What shall we call you?"
The hadozee looks to the companions.
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"Me be Keoki," says the tribesman, sheathing the katana at his side and stepping a pace forward from the handmaiden. Bowing to the hadozee, he continues, "Keoki be heir to Kingdom of Enya. Located far miles south."
"Greeting, Garsh Nightdream." Keoki adds, now standing at his full height. "Glad be me that fighting can stop. No more needing killing this day. We make peace. This... good," The tribesman'a dark geometrical tattooes that line his face compress as his mouth twists into a smile.
Turning to Arimiar, he fails to keep his voice down, "Happy time, we all being fast friends now. All good and safe..."
He then laughs and steps back to the handmaiden to make sure she is dealing alright with this odd, and fast, turn of events.
"Keoki .... no surname? What was the name of your mighty ship that brought you here? We Nightdreams haven't traveled that far south before. Maybe once we recruit a new captain we might sail there to seek new lands to explore. Is there profitable trade there?"
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Benaiah seeths, his chest continuing to heave with ragged breaths. The hadozee erupt in a flurry of activity around him, but the man is lost, staring into the distance.
Finally, the soft touch of Mistress Lanvi breaks him from his trance. "Yes. Work." He looks around confused. He swallows hard, as if his throat is dry and he hasn't had a drink of water in weeks.
He blinks a few times, shading his eyes from the sun. The action is comical, as his arms are raised high enough to completely shade his boss next to him. He notices one of the Hadozee struggling with some of the ropes while hanging from some of the rigging. He steps over cautiously, obvlivious to all of the blood, and reaches up without having to climb and shakes the stuck rope free from its tangle.
"I'm... I'm going to go lie down for a bit."
As he walks towards the area they will command for sleeping quarters, he nods to Arimar's suggestion. "I'll go first." is all he offers, then disappears below.
Let them call me what they want...
"First you attack us, and then you casually ask us about trade?" Arimar is completely agog at the audacity shown by this ape-thing, "My name is Arimar, and you can ask at Magnimar about all kinds of sea faring trade. Tow the shallop with us and we can repair it there also."
Arimar heals the spellcaster, but makes sure his companions surround him first. He also makes sure to remove his spell component pouch, if he has one.
"We are the victors, and have commandeered your ship and your crew," Arimar begins casually, "You will consent to being gagged and manacled to prevent your spell casting, or we will make a more permanent solution regarding your silence. When we arrive in Magnimar, you will be freed, we will part ways and never see one another again. Is this understood?"
Malgrim watches with semi-detached calm as Benaiah goes absolutely ballistic. Here is one that knows the path of violence as well as I do. He, too, makes sure that the bloodrage leaves Benaiah before he relaxes his guard, letting his Stone Skin fade away.
During the discussion with the hadozee, Malgrim keeps silent, allowing his more conversant companions to take lead in the "negotiations". During the round of questions, he does inquire. "You mentioned being paid. For whom do you work for? Do you control the mats of green that surround us?"
Almost hesitant to ask, he also adds, "Do you know of a ship a few days from here that was stranded?"
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"Me no know what surname mean," the tribesman confesses honestly, the sincerity in his voice clearly evident. "Me is being Keoki, son of mighty Akikonu. He sit high on Fifty Father's Throne... He am king."
"If you travel on Enya, please being sure tell them our knowing each other," he continues on. "Enya not rich, but have few gold mines and natural found shiny jewels. But it be having not much need trading, only little... Learn sustain itself... It be hard finding men wanting make trade... Men not much like come 'round Enya."
"We are the victors, and have commandeered your ship and your crew," Arimar begins casually, "You will consent to being gagged and manacled to prevent your spell casting, or we will make a more permanent solution regarding your silence. When we arrive in Magnimar, you will be freed, we will part ways and never see one another again. Is this understood?"
"I am Harth Nightdream the Caster. I see that you have dispatched all of my warriors. Where are Grath and Groh Nightdream? I cannot seem to find them.
"As for your terms, I do not see that I have much of a choice, do I? The crew, though skilled, is beholden to the boat more so than me. If these are your terms I will accept them . For life is more important to me than a bit of dignity.". With a resigned sigh he extends both arms straight out, writer upturned.
During the round of questions, he does inquire. "You mentioned being paid. For whom do you work for? Do you control the mats of green that surround us?"
"Do I control the mats? Haha." Harth laughs. "In a manner of speaking I do. Both questions can be answers together.
[b]"If you haven't already guessed it, I have the ability to control a variety of plant life. The mats obey my command and I can tell you that they make our job much easier. I drop a ring of mats, we steer The Dream of Night close, my hadozee warriors glide down and boom, we take over their vessel quite easily. Usually that is.
"We departed Magminar less than a week ago, headed for the oracles cave. We were lucky to find you but I bet other ships were hired to find you too. As to whom paid us. Hard to say. I had never met the couple, was a human man and woman. Kept pretty covered up. I did see a gaged skull. Not sure if that has meaning to you. Didn't to me. The gold was real and that was all I really cared about.
"And another ship you say? You were the only ones we we hired to find."
During the round of questions, he does inquire. "You mentioned being paid. For whom do you work for? Do you control the mats of green that surround us?""Do I control the mats? Haha." Harth laughs. "In a manner of speaking I do. Both questions can be answers together.
"If you haven't already guessed it, I have the ability to control a variety of plant life. The mats obey my command and I can tell you that they make our job much easier. I drop a ring of mats, we steer The Dream of Night close, my hadozee warriors glide down and boom, we take over their vessel quite easily. Usually that is.
"We departed Magminar less than a week ago, headed for the oracles cave. We were lucky to find you but I bet other ships were hired to find you too. As to whom paid us. Hard to say. I had never met the couple, was a human man and woman. Kept pretty covered up. I did see a gaged skull. Not sure if that has meaning to you. Didn't to me. The gold was real and that was all I really cared about.
"And another ship you say? You were the only ones we we hired to find."
During the round of questions, he does inquire. "You mentioned being paid. For whom do you work for? Do you control the mats of green that surround us?""Do I control the mats? Haha." Harth laughs. "In a manner of speaking I do. Both questions can be answers together.
"If you haven't already guessed it, I have the ability to control a variety of plant life. The mats obey my command and I can tell you that they make our job much easier. I drop a ring of mats, we steer The Dream of Night close, my hadozee warriors glide down and boom, we take over their vessel quite easily. Usually that is.
"We departed Magminar less than a week ago, headed for the oracles cave. We were lucky to find you but I bet other ships were hired to find you too. As to whom paid us. Hard to say. I had never met the couple, was a human man and woman. Kept pretty covered up. I did see a gaged skull. Not sure if that has meaning to you. Didn't to me. The gold was real and that was all I really cared about.
"And another ship you say? You were the only ones we we hired to find."
"No choice? You have a choice," Arimar asserts before leaning in close and deepening his voice, "You can choose death." He lets that thought hang there fore a while before standing up to his full but meager height. "Okay, time to get that Shallop back and get moving. Mistress, I believe we will have some things to discuss in private."
Arimar makes for the captain's quarters, expecting his fellows to follow.
"So, we don't trust them... but I don't think they had anything to do with what happened to the Audacious," the necromancer surmises, "The dual use of Sargassum is too much to ignore, and extremely unlikely to be coincidence. Mistress Lanvi, anything relevant that you've been holding back? Ideas on who those two who hired these f@!$ing monkeys are?"
With a loud sign and a glare that only a school mistress could give, Mistress Lanvi gives a loud, "Harrumph!"
Shaking her head, ""We have been over this but, no. Only this mystery of the gaged skull. That is an iconography that I am not familiar with. Once we reach my estates in Magnimar I shall find out.
"Harth Nightdream. Who exactly were you to kill? Me or all of us?"
Not exactly able to read the siamian facial features, Harth does give the companions a sheepish look showing a slight embarrassment. Smiling nervously he stammers at first but finishes In a steady tone. "Well, you see, this is what we do. Hadn't rightly met you all yet .... Seem like fine people ... Gotta eat and all..."
"Contract was for the woman." He thumbs in 'Mistress Lnavi's direction, "And four bodyguards. Chelaxian, aasmiar, hobgoblin and an elf." He looks a Keoki as if seeing him for the first time.
"I wasn't accusing, just asking," Arimar tries to mollify Lanvi. Who can blame her for thinking I was pouting again? Not even sure I know how to talk to her civilly anymore.
"Good question for Harth... and they say they're likely not the only ones sent to find us," Arimar shakes his head, "Going to Magnimar, then. Great. Hopefully this Collector wants us alive more than these freaks - whoever they are - want us dead and he can offer us some protection. Hopefully Lanvi's estates haven't been overrun...
"And when I have this many instances of 'hopefully' in my future, it's time to pack it in, get some sleep and see what the dawn brings," Arimar smirks as he adds, "Hopefully we don't get killed as we slumber. Enjoy the first watch, Benaiah."
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Benaiah listens along with interest, following the discussion. He nods his head at each hopefully uttered by Arimar, then chuckles at the apparent absurdity of it all.
"First the attempt at the docks in Absalom. Then The Audacious. And now with the sargasso mats again. I guess I feel a little better that our leaving The Audacious was probably better for their situation than us staying. If you are right, and there are more assassins coming after us, then we can expect company when we hit the docks in Magnimar. Guess I'll get my brews ready for that."
Benaiah waves in acknowledgement at taking first watch, just as he mentioned he would before he went below decks earlier. The grisly scene is a distant memory already, and he walks about the deck as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Malgrim cracks his knuckles and limbers his limbs, gazing out at the sea ahead of them and the destination that lies beyond even his sharpened sight. He turns to Arimar. "Hope is for those unable to take charge of their lives. Know that we will overcome these setbacks, and bring an end to those that oppose us." To Benaiah: "A brawl on the docks is nothing new for you, I expect. Assassins, perhaps. A brawl, no."
Turning back towards the prow, he keeps an eye out for oncoming danger that looms over... and perhaps under them.
"At least in Maginar, there will be one less direction for trouble to come from.
"Couldn't agree more, Malgrim," Arimar nods, "Hope is for the weak or foolish. It seems our opposition working for Lanvi is greater even than when we were Pathfinders, though. I wonder how many enemies she truly has. It seems that no expense or expanse of sea is too much for them. I wonder why we were also the targets. Is it simply because we guard her, or is there something deeper?
"I can tell you one thing," the skinny man disrobes, unashamed of his bony body, and climbs into bed, "When we get to Magnimar, I'm going to do a lot of research on this Collector... and Mistress Lanvi."
The hadozee crew continues to move efficiently though the Nightdream on their voyage from the Caverns of Neviim to Magnimar. After the fierce storms and the oppressive dead calms, the companions, minus Malgrim, might even have enjoyed their passage if they weren't focused on Mistress' Lanvi's mysterious enemy. Besides a few of the hadozee that conversed with the companions, the crew keep to themselves, and honor their portion of the bargain. When the companions rest along the aft rail the can see the shallop trialing in the azure seas.
After just over a day, The Nightdream slicing through shallow swells, the companions can see Magnimar, the City of Monuments on the horizon.
Checking first with Mistress Lanvi, the crew make for the Dockway area of the Shore neighborhood. The amount of vessels arrive and departing is a rival for any Absalom market. Slipping quietly into the docks, heavily braided hemp ropes are heaved from ship to dock, and crew bustle about securing lines and inflating bladders to prevent The Nightdream from crashing into the docks.
A manacled Harth walks up to the companions, hands extended in front of him, grunting behind his gag.
"Your part of this is done," Arimar nods at the manacled ape-man, unlocking his bonds so he can remove his own gag, "You may go free. While I am impressed at the honor you have shown here, know that should you ever raise either a sword or spell to us again we will not stop until we have wiped out every last member of your crew. I will then pull you back from the dead that your corpse may serve as my slave."
Speaking of that... "Raim, you and Fido stay beneath the surface of the ocean by that tiny abandoned island we passed a while back. I will call to depart Magnimar." Fido grips Raim in his powerful jaws and swims for the island.
"So, what next? Shall we find somewhere to hole up and hide while we figure out who was trying to kill us? I can disguise us to make ourselves less recognizable..." Arimar looks for confirmation from his companions, but still begins to pull his disguise kit from his belongings.
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Benaiah stands behind Arimar with his arms crossed. He scowls as the ape-man is released from his bonds. He won't give us any trouble, that much seems clear from the last few days. he muses to himself smugly.
"We've all done our part, and now you can sail away and be glad to never see us again. We shall do the same." he adds.
"I don't like the thought of hiding, but I like the thought of getting a knife in the back even less. Whether we hide or not, finding who is trying to kill us is the first order of business. I need to know if we were the targets of opportunity because of our association with Mistress Lanvi, or vice versa. It probably won't be as simple as just not working for her anymore," Benaiah shrugs his shoulders, "But it's worth a shot. Finding hot food and a warm bed is my first order of business."
As the manacles fall to the floor, Harth turns and grunts in his native language. "Oooooh oh oh, ahhhh ah." Another hadozee hustles forward and extends a boda filled with water. Harth takes a long pull, swishing the water in his mouth before turning and spewing the water on the dock. He take another pull and all can see rivulets of water streaming from the corner of his mouth as he chugs the contents.
"Yes. The Dream of Night will no long pursue you. I fear that we also much quickly depart before the hooded man and woman return. I do not look forward to seeing them, or you again."
With that, the hadozee begin to make preparation to depart Magminar.
"Gentlemen." Mistress Lanvi begins, "You have successfully returned me to Magminar. You have earned your money and then some. I am truly grateful for all you have done.
"Please, let me offer you the hospitality of my estate for the night. Actually, you can stay as long as you like there. I will have a coach within the hour to take us there. What say you?"
"Stay at your house when there are madmen trying to kill you and us along with the bargain?" Arimar looks agog at his employer, "Shall I paint a target on your back also to make us even easier to find?"
The necromancer looks around at his friends for agreement.
"Still," he adds, "Might be a good way to 'spring the trap' so to speak and get the jump on whoever is after us... assuming we can reverse the ambush."
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"That's a good call Arimar. The sooner we figure out who this hooded man and woman are, the sooner we can remove the targets from our backs and figure out what in the nine hells we did to earn it in the first place." Benaiah shuffles on his feet, finally drawing out his scythe.
"I don't like waiting for the assassins to come to me, but maybe we can make them come on our own terms. Mistress Lanvi, show us the way please." he says with a smile.
Besides, once we get there, we will no longer be employed by the mistress, which means no more rules about fraternizing with the help.
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Malgrim walks off the ship, eying the stone and earth of the shore with the longing a different man might reserve for a woman after being at sea for so long. On the wooden dock he plants his bare feet to feel the tiny motes of earth that have been caught by the woodgrain and stretches his sore muscles to regain his shorelegs.
Feeling the tension from rolling with the waves drain away like the tide, he gives a sigh of satisfaction and turns to his companions, then Lavni. "While yours has proven to be dangerous company to keep, I do not think we can refuse your hospitality until we have found where our next journey will lead us. Thank you for your generous offer." He looks around. "Besides, between the need to search for assassins or the need to dislodge Benaiah from a bar brawl, at least your company we can anticipate more what to expect."
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The tribesman exits the ship and follows the others, half listening to their conversation and half observing the bustling workers and crews scurrying about, loading and unloading the bobbing vessels. He inhales the familiar, salty-sea air and looks toward the imposing, towering buildings and walls of the city. There was nothing such as this sight where he was from, and he made sure to take a moment and absorb the gathering feelings of awe.
His own tasks and offers of aid were over now, having helped the others reach their destinations, but realizing with a growing sense of sadness that he largely had no further reason to continue with this friends. Hearing their discussions about mysterious folks and ambushes, the tribesman wished to know more and even hoped to be of some help.
Rushing ahead, he moved before the group as they started to walk away.
"Be you needing the requirement of Keoki's services any longer, my lady?" the tattoed man asks at length, looking to mistress Lanvi. "This one may be of uses, should need be arising..."
If it came to it, he knew he could walk away and find his own path, continuing his travels wherever his feet might carry him. But there was that unmistakable feeling of wanting to belong, even if these new friends were strange to him.
"I see you staring at it," Arimar says quietly to Keoki, a rare gentle smile on his face, "No need to be self conscious, it's quite the sight, isn't it? That's the Irespan. It's a remnant of a millennia bygone era - ten of them, I believe - it was part of a bustling trade route between here and the Thassilonian capital, Bakrakhan or something like that. After Earthfall, it crumbled into disuse. It was used in the old days for building materials, but that practice was stopped after several incidents showed the displeasure of the gods."
Arimar surprises himself with his own history lesson and pats Keoki on the shoulder. "Magnimar is full of that, you know: bits of the old, mingled with the new. It's quite breathtaking. I used to come here as often as I could when I was based out of Riddleport. Not to mention, of course, that this is where I first met Benaiah..."
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Turning now, the tribesman observes Arimar, following along with the explanations and tracing the arc of his friend's outstretched, pointing finger to behold the towering structures so ancient and mysterious. He had seen much on his own on his travels across the yawning seas, and there were even scattered ruins and bygone temples that dotted the small island nation of Enya, but nothing to this scope or grandeur. Staring on, he could not place nearly any of the strange words of which is companion spoke. There was so much history he did not know.
"What be Earthfall?" he asked honestly, looking back to the aasimar. "Keoki not know men, dwarves, and elves be capable of building such wonders of size and vastness."
"This city am biggest in world?" he looked away again, spinning as his eyes consumed every inch of Magminar and its looming structures.
"Erastil's last remaining eye, man, do you not know about Earthfall?" Arimar stares at Keoki, incredulous, for a good long while before continuing, "An enormous meteorite was brought down upon Golarion by the former masters of the Azlanti, the aboleths. They drew it down to punish them for believing themselves to be superior to the aboleths. It seems the Azlanti forgot their barbaric origins, from which the aboleths created their race. The aboleths neglected to observe what happened when humans were subjected to slavery.
"In any case," Arimar continues, as fascinated with Keoki's wrapt attention as the strange man was with his apparently new-to-him tales, "Both the Azlanti and Thassilonian empires fell, and following an Age of Darkness that lasted over one thousand years, only Aroden remained of either race. At least tell me you've heard of the Last Azlanti!"
"This city am biggest in world?"
Arimar has to suppress a scoff, as he tries not to offend the man. "Erm, no. Not even close. It's only about the same size as Riddleport, not even as big as Korvosa from whence most of Magnimar's founders hail - refugees, you know. Varisia had more nomadic beginnings, and its cities are small to reflect that. Egorian in nearby Cheliax is at least five times the size of Magnimar - and that's half the size of some of the Qadiran and Osiriani cities like Katheer and Sothis. Absalom is, I believe, the biggest on the known face of Golarion, at over three hundred thousand people and growing: over twenty times the size of Magnimar!
"You really don't know any of this, do you? Where do you hail from?"
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Benaiah stands by, arcing his back to look up at the monumental buildings. He nods knowingly as the aasimar speaks of the different cities, and a part of him smiles with pride when the Chelaxian city is mentioned, though he wonders why something like that would matter to him.
"It's pretty clear you don't get out much." the big man says, clapping the native on his shoulder. "Benaiah be thinking we need take you with us and give you propery world education." he says, mimicing Keoki's strange dialect, and doing it rather poorly.
Heh, hope that doesn't offend him...
"Hey Arimar. Dock 21 over there. You can still see the scorch marks from my bomb. Heh. I wonder if they ever got all the bits of zombie flesh out of the cracks when your minion exploded in their face. Ahhh, brings back memories."
Benaiah moves down the docks, fighting the urge to mill about in favor of scanning the crowds and buildings for would-be-assassins.
"This is the second time I have showed up in this city, and both times someone has been trying to kill me. Of all the coincidences..." he muses, thinking back to a time not to long ago with Asmodean inquisitors and Hellknight lawbringers hot on his tail, brandishing papers declaring his heresy and death sentence.
Running into Arimar was such a random chance of fate. Had the ship he had stowed away on arrived even minutes before, he might not have been in the alley at the same time as the aasimar. Both men had come careening in with shouts of anger and promises of 'death to the outcast' following them. Both somehow knew instinctively that they were running from the same thing, people who feared them because they didn't understand them. Singled out and alone, they were both doomed. But together...
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"Together we made quite the formidable pair on the streets of Magnimar, did we not?" Arimar says, unknowingly finishing Benaiah's thought, "That reminds me, though, you still owe me the obsidian for wantonly destroying Ballipho the Braindead. You know some alchemists are able to direct their fiery blasts away from their allies."
As an afterthought, Arimar turns to their employer, "You know, while we're here it might be a good time for you to commission that rescue ship to seek out the Audacious."
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Nodding to Arimar's words, the tattoed man looks on in awe at the vast stores of knowledge and intellect of his strange new friends. As the aasimar continues, Keoki smiles warmly and welcomes the lessons. Being sure not to interrupt and lose any focus on what is said, he rallies his concentration, even still it is difficult for the tribesman to fully grasp what is being talked about. There was still so much history he did not know.
"...At least tell me you've heard of the Last Azlanti!"
"Azlanti..." Keoki begins, prouncing words awkwardly as if the words were almost alien to him. "Me thinks so. Though not know about them in past. How they was. Maybe they was great, once," he adds honestly, seeming not to notice, or perhaps acknowledge, Benaiah's endearing replication of his manner of speaking. "But in Enya, we not dealing with them as they was... but deal with them as they be now... Mighty tumble from grace..."
"Is it be your people call them gillman?" he asks, wondering if they are speaking of the same race.
"You really don't know any of this, do you? Where do you hail from?"
Taking a moment to think, the tribesman contemplated as his eyes drift away from contact and toward thoughts of his home. "Keoki be coming from the Aeyio sea," he begins, saying the odd name in some form of a native, tribal language, then turning and pointing south-west, as if his finger traced an arcing path over many miles, kingdoms, and landmarks, somewhere off beyond the distant horizon to some unfathomably far flung vista. "It be the Womb of the World. A source of life. Teeming is with creatures, men, and gods. Flowing over with possibilities and dangers."
"You be calling it, the shack-les," he then pronounces the name with exceedingly hard consonants, now replicating his impression of their, strange to him, speech.
Keoki then relays to his friends a brief history of his people, the kuru, that had originally come from a massive island, which was named the spine of the world mother, a place from which all life native to this world had originally crawled. North from here was another unimaginably massive island, this named the mantle of the world father. After a few minutes of speaking it was clear the tribesman was simply referring to the very continents of Garund and Avistan, only by the names of his people.
Continuing along further, the tribesman described how his people, the kuru had spread far and wide across the sea, what the invaders and conquerors would later name the shackles. The kuru were a peaceful people, and over the years as sargava was colonized, and the shackles inhabited, these simple, tribal-peoples were forced further and further west.
There was a fear amongst this group of an ancient being from beyond this world, hailing from a place outside. It was what their people called a horla, and it inhabited the westernmost island of the shackles. A place they dared not tread. In the end though, these kuru were forced to this place by those flocking to the shackles, and once there, the kuru were never the same.
The kuru became cannibals, driven by the orgiastic frenzies to consume everything, but especially the flesh of intelligent races. This horla, the damned thing that hailed from outside all known spheres within the universe, became known as the blood queen. And this queen gifted upon her unwilling, but powerless subjects, the malign indifference of utter freedom. The kuru were made to be like their queen in their lustful urges; free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and reveling in joy.
But how had Keoki escaped this fate? He mused the question to them. It was not through the clashing of mighty armies or battles of good versus evil, he explained. His home was simply small enough to be overlooked by those that conquered the shackles. And, he further explained with an eerily hungry sparkle in his eyes, the call of the blood queen was not totally lost on him and his people. The people of Enya grappled with the same urges, wanting all of Golarion to flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom. He and his people were simply born far enough from the source so as to not to receive all of the horla's devouring will, and so, most of the time, could manage to restrain their cravings.
"Stay at your house when there are madmen trying to kill you and us along with the bargain?" Arimar looks agog at his employer, "Shall I paint a target on your back also to make us even easier to find?"
"Are you really so naive to think this is the first time that someone has tried to kill me? My house is familiar to me, and posesses certain safeguards. That will give me, and you, an advantage should they be so bold as to attack me in the manor.
"One must remember that besides my employees, my reputation is my greatest asset. What would the public perception be if I was cowering in some ale house like a frightened girl.
"No, a show of resolve is what we need. And to connect with my information gatherers so find this mysterious couple. Benaiah has the right of it there."
Though she delivers her speech with confidence, the companions can see worry crease her face.
"Be you needing the requirement of Keoki's services any longer, my lady?" the tattoed man asks at length, looking to mistress Lanvi. "This one may be of uses, should need be arising..."
"Only a fool turns down the offer of one so skilled. Keoki you are welcome to join us for as long as you need. Now that Professor Arimar has caught you up to speed, shall we depart?
The trip from the harbor to Mistress Lanvi's estates in The Summit passes uneventfully. This house, much like her Absalom manor, seem to mirror each other. There is a quietness that is overpowering in the daytime as the group only sees a few mousy servants uncovering pieces of furniture, opening windows, and generally returning it to a livable state.
Mistress Lanvi turns to the group, "Well, you have all earned your money, and then some. Stay the week here, try to shake off those sea legs, and let us converse later on. I may have more information for you. Currently I have some pressing matter to attend to." She attempts to stifle a cough unsuccessfully and exits with her handmaiden in tow.
"Forgive me for being cautious, Mistress," Arimar says with a false tone of admonishment, "By all means, let us follow your lead. It worked so well for us last time. I hope your other pressing business involves freeing The Audacious."
Arimar turns to Keoki, uninterested in further rebukes from the woman, "I know a little of the Shackles, but never have I heard such a perspective as yours. You will have to tell me more of it later. For now, though, I need a f#%$ing drink. Come if you like. I think I may even pick up a game of cards or two. Interested, Benaiah?"
The Aasimar retrieves a gambler's kit from Lanvi's stores and heads off to the Trotting Unicorn. He grouses that the establishments in Lanvi's neighborhood are too high class, but realizes that if he wants to make a decent killing at cards, he'll need those who have more money than sense anyway.
He slips an outrageous 10gp to the bartender in order to be allowed to set up a card table, buys himself a pint, lays out a card cloth (marvels that it doesn't stick to the surface) and waits for the players to roll in.