Skaar looked from Aurelea to Cyna back to Aurelea and then raised a bushy eyebrow.
"Well that's somethin' else we have in common", the big Orc shot back with a playful growl. "Let me know if ya change yer mind. I'm sure the three of us can work somethin' out."
Cyna shakes her head in amusment her face red but not from the alchohol.
"Oh no. I am not nearly drunk enough for that." she says pushing the last of her drink away.
Aurelea grins at Skarr's implication, taking another sip of her drink before answering Drago's question.
" I first learned the sword from my bodyguard..." her voice catches ever so slightly.
"It was a long time ago...anyway, she was my first weapons master, and I've had 4 others since. I've always been interested in magic and it turned out I had a talent for violent spells. I've picked up things from all over and I try to figure out how to combine it in a fight."
She shrugs
"Anything to give me an edge over the &%@%er trying to kill me right?"
As Cyna reddens and responds Aurelea looks at the other woman with a grin.
"Not drunk enough for which part?"
"Dibs," the Doctor says, grabbing the discarded drink without taking his eyes off his new prize.
Harakhty nods, looking momentarily at the sniffing fellow at the table. "The priests are being held by Kabir in the palace. Their holder seems to be in league with some pirates and means to sell them as slaves." At Cyna's obviation of the tipsy possibility, Harakhty pushed what was left of his drink in front of her in amusement.
Aurelea did have a rather strange fighting style, but it was effective - much moreso than his, apparently. "You could teach us quite a bit, swordslady."
Cyna glances at the new drink in front of her and looks at Harakthy for a moment. "What exactly are you trying to do with that? I thought you to be above such tactics." she says with a small smile before turning her attention to the other female at the table. And with a grin to match she replies "Find a more subtle way to get me drunk and you might find out."
Skaar found himself transfixed by the not-so-subtle flirtation between the to two women. Images of the two women wrapped around each other in carnal bliss and then him, instantly dominated his thoughts. The sensation of his leggings getting uncomfortably tight snapped the big Orc out of his hypnosis.
"Good werk 'Lil 'Nara", Skaar said after clearing his throat and sitting up straighter. "Now we just need to find a way into the palace and fast by the sound of things. If dis pirate gets the priests on da water, we'll never catch 'im. Any ideas?"
Cyna clears her throat puts all sillyness aside "We could hit the pirate instead get the clerics after then we would have a ship when the time comes to leave, otherwise well have to deal with him eventually especially after we aquire his merchandise. Now way he lets us leave with out confrontation after that."
Savage grabs Suntooth's drink as well. "Yoink."
"That's not a bad idea. You think the docks will be less defended than the palace? Any of you know enough to run a ship big enough to ferry a bunch of slaves?"
"Rando and his friends? He might even enjoy a fancy new ship."
With a last sidelong glance at Cyna, Aurelea focuses on the task at hand.
"I've been on plety of ships but I can't sail worth a damn. You really think it would be easier to take the pirate down first if he's tough enough that the temple fears him?"
Slightly amused by the banter between his companions, Drago kept silent.
Then speaking up, "While agree Rando might need a new ship, I think it might be best to acquire a new captain. One who doesn't too many questions."
"Let's check out the palace first - get a feel for security and entrances. I'd rather not have to fight our way out of tha city if we don't have to."
Stephen sniffs the black bottle, the smell of sand and rot filling his nostrils.
Before Harakhty parts from him, Jahawra speaks once more. "You seek passage to Zahvroma, do you not? The harbor is clogged with wrecks. Perhaps this pirate may not be your enemy. If you are freeing the clerics, it means that Ranija is eager to move away and quickly. Taking you to Zahvroma would not be in her best interests. Try the harbor first. It could be that you can turn an obstacle into an advantage against Kabir. You'll look for a man in a red coat. A dandy, as outsiders would say."
"Let's start at the docks then. We can see who dis pirate is and maybe find out what he wants the priests for. I wonder what kinda dandy he is..."
The road to the docks is littered with bodies, cannonballs and ruined cannons. Guards run back and forth, gathering the injured. You see the wall of the foreign quarter before you and a gaping hole where the gate presumably was. Too busy to pay you any mind, you are able to pass without any interference from the guards.
You walk a few hundred feet to a dock that's seen better days. A handsome youth in a red coat and a feathered tricorn is shouting orders to other red clad men in rowboats. In the distance, you see a small ship flying a red flag with a black fleur-de-lis.
As they approach the man Cyna silently scolds herself, she had assumed the worst the pirate without first having the full story. Who knows what this mans motives were? and here she was thinking of robbing him of everything. "Don't lose yourself Cyna ... you can't afford to. Know what your in-for before taking action, somethings can't be undone."
Clean. Flashy. This pirate liked to keep his neck out of things, but this was one piece of the puzzle they couldn't pass up. Without a way to dispose of the priests, Kabir would be pressed into a corner. Hopefully, the young man and them could come to some sort of accord.
Staying within the group, Harakhty approached him, holding his tongue for now.
Skaar surveyed the area for men that may be at the red-coated pirate's command briefly before making his move.
"Hail", Skaar offered in greeting as the group approached.
"Quelle bande de mendiants!" the young man exclaims as he turns to face the group. "You are not guards nor Kabir's men. What do you want?"
Stephen drinks from the bottle like it was his mama's teat.
The sand goes down about as well as the half-decayed rat with a note tied to it.
"Godsdammed note ruined a perfectly good sandrat cocktail!" He reads it begrudgingly while throwing down Cena's and Suntooth's drinks quickly.
"We're newcomers to the area but are planning to leave soon. We heard yur's is a passenger ship. Is dat true?"
The big Orc grunted as he leaned in.
"You interested in receiving?"
"I sail for Horace the Red not for itinérants sales," the pirate replies.
"Oh, well, huh. That's weird. I always heard Horace the Red liked money. You know, the stuff you buy things with. I heard he liked money and that he really hated not getting money he could have had."
Young indeed. While Harakhty was no elder, his years of alienation from his own people - and then from his surrogate community - made him mature faster. He saw people and their interactions in a more clinical sense when needed; in this case, the pirate's free give of his employer signaled he either knew not enough to keep the information deeper than a greeting and request or he wasn't interesting in working for him much longer.
Considering Horace the Red was on Rando's bad side, Harakhty had a bit of a desire to set him back a notch or two. Removing this underling of his could be one way to do so. Savage's angle was his more favored approach as opposed to Skaar's, but their new acquaintance was yet ungiving on which was his favorite thus far. His tail twitched a bit as Harakhty waited.
"Unless you have five thousand gold burning a hole in your collective pockets," the pirate says derisively. "You are not more important than the reason why I am here."
"You really think the palace will fork over 5000 gold? Hell do you really believe the HAVE 5000 gold? In the middle of a war? I didn't know Horace hired idiots."
Aurelea gives the man a sneer of disdain.
Skaar narrowed his gaze and growled at the foppish pirate.
"Maybe you should talk with a little more respect to armed strangers, lookin' to make a deal."
"Quit fishing for information, Mademoiselle," the youth says with a sigh. "Unless you have something to offer me, you'd best leave before I decide that my men stabbing you would be better than hearing your voices."
"Look out there, orc. I have a hundred men who work for me. I think you should reconsider your threat," the pirate says, without a hint of malice. "I was not born yesterday. I have had fiercer men than you try to break my resolve. I have an open ear, but you have yet to say anything that vaguely interests me."
Skaar growled in frustration. This well-dressed fool was asking for a beating, but he restrained himself.
"What about Captain Saltspray? You interested in information about him?"
"At some other time, I would be. Rather Horace would be, but Rando is dead," the pirate says with a derisive sniff.
"Did ya know him?"
"In a way. My brother sailed with him."
Harakhty waited for the response to Skaar's question, then pushed back his hood. "We do not mean to keep you. Like us, you are a businessman; we believe there is business between us - related to the late captain. Do you know how Saltspray died? It was a ... rather unusual affair."
After Harakhty finished speaking, the big Orc followed up his previous question.
"Dat so? What was his name?" Skaar asked with feigned disinterest.
"Jean-Paul LeVoux," he says, concealing some sorrow.
Skaar's eyes got a little wider at the mention of the name.
"That's a shame. I didn't know him, but I heard he was a good man."
The big Orc cleared his throat and looked around for anyone paying too much attention.
"Maybe we should talk somewhere more intimate about the man responsible for your brother's death."
Drago quietly observes the exchange, get a better understanding of the captain.
The pirate's hand descends to his rapier. "You say you didn't know him, but you know who is responsible for his death. Perhaps you should explain yourselves rapidement before we have a misunderstanding."
Cyna holds her hands up in a non-theatening manner. "We spent time on Rando's ship before coming here, we met Jean-Paul but didn't really get to know him in the short time we were there. As for the man who sank the ship the name is Jitty or Jarlrem. Do ya know of him?"