Brask leaves the silver sword embedded in the Kyton's heart for the moment, just to be sure. He'll scramble to help his allies, unsure if he's got the skill to save their lives.
"Elias! Can you help Kalem?" he exclaims. "I'll help Femi here."
He takes Femi's potion of Cure light wounds and pours it down the unconscious man's throat.
Muttering a series of particularly vile imprecations as he inspects the worst of Kalem's wounds, Elias touches the Tiefling's abused flesh, and the healing power of Calistria sinks into him.
Without waiting to observe the results, Elias draws a wand from it's sheath and turns to cast another heal on Femi, before finally touching it to the tortured prisoner. "Brask, Myradil, make sure that door stays shut until we are all fully healed. We don't know how, or if, they will react to the death of this fiend."
For Femi
For Kalem
For Myradil
For Brask
"Now that we are in it up to our necks, do we attempt to free the rest of the unfortunates that were under that vile thing's care?
"Thank you Brask, Elias. That was rough." Femi gets to his feet, brushes off his clothes, and collects his staff.
"It is good this thing is dead, but now we must make haste. I suspect they'll not disturb us for fear of they kyton, but let's be quick."
He turns to Elias, "I don't think we can free any but those we have on our writ. Not without raising suspicion and maybe getting them to ask permission of this thing." he kicks the kyton with his boot.
"We must take only those we came to find, but know in our hearts that the remainder will be better off than they were a moment ago." he's pleased by what they did.
Casting Detect Magic, he quickly searches the body and the room for anything of value while Elias heals the others.
Brask retrieves the silver sword and puts it back in Kalem's sheath where he got it.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Myradil pushes his weight against the door, desperately trying to catch his breath as Elias heals people.
Kalem pushes himself so he's sitting up on the floor.
"You know, waking up to find you guys have solved the problem isn't the worst, but I'm going to be working off these aches for a long while."
Kalem pulls off the silver blade and holds it out to Elias.
"Just realized with my new gauntlets I don't have much need of silver when I got my own. And with my addiction to falling unconscious, while bleeding...."
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As the Ravens rise up from the floor and inspect their surroundings, Femi finds, in the corner a fair pile of loot. Seemingly prizes taken from previous subjects of the torturer.
Roughly four hundred gold worth of coins, a masterwork light mace, and two scrolls .
After one charge from Elias' healing wand, Hortense eyes shoot awake and she begins fighting against her bindings until she sees that it's not the usual company.
"Gods, who the hell are you? Was Ghenemahl not rough enough? Needed more of you bloody Thrunes to strip my skin! Do your worst!"
Despite the defiant words, the young woman sounds exhausted and near the breaking point.
Elias turns back to glance at the others, "Oh I like this one."
He turns back to Hortense and speaks quickly, in a low voice, "Keep arguing please. And keep acting wounded, if you are any good at such things. We are Silver Ravens, and we have come to get you back to your order, but if it appears you are too willing to go with us, it might arouse suspicion."
Elias continues to pour healing energy into Hortense as he talks, until she is as healthy as the magic can make her, before cutting her free. Then he loops one end of rope around her wrists loosely enough that she could easily use her hands if need be.
"We should make tracks, and fast. Everyone ready?"
Kalem doesn't think that the guards will let em pass if they seem unharmed, so he does his best to scoop up the blood from his closed gashes and make it look like they had a tussle.
"So, we either tell them she took some chunks from me in exchange, or that the sadistic she beat attacked and we had to defend ourselves?"
"My money's on just leaving the room and saying she's still busy with the other guys." Brask replies. "They're all to wuss to check anyways."
He will sigh. "Sorry for not getting her down sooner, Kalem. I tried."
Femi casts Prestidigitation to clean the party up and remove the signs of combat from the party as best he can.
"I agree with Brask. We say she's busy, and make tracks. We just got lucky... They might not buy it, but they probably won't check right away either."
He shudders thinking of the kyton.
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Hortense narrows her eyes as Elias reveals his allegiance but she looks around the room and sees the results of the fight.
"THis better not be some f%$$ing game the Thrunes are playing. You killed the b*@~&, so I'll play nice for now."
Exiting the room, the group sees the guard who pointed out the torture chamber on the other end of the room. As you exit and close the door, he walks forward cautiously with his keys.
"Don't tell me what happened, I don't want to know, neither do the rest of the guards, I already gave them a heads up. I doubt even Sabo was willing to enter that cursed room." He says, eyeing the bloodstains and bruises that were not there before. He looks over Hortense as well, and you catch a glimpse of pity in his eyes, for just a moment. Taking out his keys he unlocks the gates for the cells containing Ilsani, and Kasston. The two men look similar to Forvian's crew after the Saltworks incident, and they eye your party warily. When told that they're being transferred they glare but say nothing.
THe guard provides you with keys to the manacles and ropes the prisoners together, after replacing Hortenses rope with a set as well, he looks at the party. "Not so good at knots, yeah? She'd have run off before you could blink." He smiles wryly.
The guard escorts you back to the front of the building where the two guardsman still play cards to pass the time.
"Boys better get a move on. Curfews not so long from now, and no one is excepted from the law here in Kintargo. No one." It's mostly a half-hearted threat but the other guards nod in agreement.
Once outside and a little away from the building, Kasston, a dark skinned man with a thick mane of hair matted to his face starts pulling on the rope. He digs his feet into the ground and stares defiantly at the party.
"Where the hell did you get that sword?" He says, pointing to the silver blade Kalem gave to Elias. Hortense and Ilsani look where he's pointing and their eyes widen in alarm.
"Keep walking!" Brask hisses, pulling on the rope. If anyone from the building was watching, he was doing his job. The next part he whispers. "We're here to rescue you. Your commander cares a great deal for you, you know."
Femi nods at Brask's statement vehemently. He pushes the group along as best he can until they're safety ensconced in their safe house.
"Trust us." he suggests, hoping they will just follow along without trouble.
Kalem sighs and steeps to speak quietly.
"Octavio's mother would be very unhappy to see the comrades of her son arrested a second time."
He bobs his head in the direction of the mithral sword, alluding to the fact that it once belonged to Octavio's mother.
"Also, I got cut open today and really feel like taking a nap. Can we get moving?"
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At Kalems words the three seem to relax considerably.
"Damn, you might actually be the Silver Ravens!" Hortense says quietly, but the shock in her voice is evident. The other two armigers looks at her, eyebrows raised.
"Well I'll be damned. I knew Octavio would figure something out. Certainly didn't expect a bunch of outlaws though." Ilsani says through his bushy greying beard.
"We're outlaws too old man, but, alright, yes we'll get a move on. Where are we going though? I hope it's not far." Kasston says as he eyes the dimming skyline, silently repeating what the guards said about curfew.
"We're glad your satisfied, now please pick up the pace if you can, we've a little ways to go yet."
Femi is glad they've agreed to come along - and somewhat surprised by their defiance. Strong lot. he thinks. They'll be good in a scrape.
Myradil feels light headed for a moment before he finally remembers to breathe, glad to be leaving this place.
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The trip back to the Longroad Coffee House is not a short one, and before the Ravens even reach the bridge, the sun has set and the streets are all but empty. The party can hear the dottari beginning to march in the streets.
"Do you really think we'll be able to cross the bridge without notice?" Ilsani asks in a hushed tone as you just narrowly miss a patrol.
His words are not without merit, the closer you get to the river separating the two sides of Kintargo, the more obvious it will be that a large group is out passed curfew.
"Shhh." Hortense hisses at the older man. "I'm sure if they had somewhere in Old Kintargo, we'd have gone there."
Brask watches the last patrol pass and does the headcount. Not good...
"I have a plan. I will bribe the bridge guards to turn the other way, to let us "escort" our prisoners through. My disguise self should still be up, so it's not like seeing my face would help them recognize me later, and our documentation lends credence to the story."
"Haarruumph." Femi mutters annoyed. "We should try the Tooth and Nail. We're not going to make it back to our safe house with this lot this late..."
"Let's head back, and quickly before we're spotted."
He carries the wand of illusions ready just in case. If he sees a coming patrol, he tries to shuffle he group to an alley, or at least against the wall, and will make an illusion of an empty street just in front of them.
"Okay then let's go. No point wasting time." Brask replies.
If it looks like we're going to have to pass near a patrol Myradil will shush the group and show them how to walk in step.
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The path to the Tooth and Nail is fraught with danger, but the Raven officers are smart, and don't take unnecessary risks. As they near the pub the party is almost discovered, but Femi's wand offers them a reprieve and soon after they make it to the Tooth and Nail.
A few knocks on the door bring a familiar but cautious face to the window. Recognizing most of you, Setrona motions for you to go around back.
She meets you behind the pub and holds a finger to her lips as she ushers all of you into the kitchen and towards the stairs to the basement. You can hear very little coming from the main room, but there's quite a bit of muted conversation going on.
Once in the basement, Setrona, still occasionally looking up the steps whispers to you.
"Mostly Dottari in here right not, happens a couple nights a week. Try to make yourselves comfortable. I'll get you when they leave."
With that she turns back and heads up the stairs whispering something to one of her cooks.
It's a tense hour or so, in the pub cellar. Every footfall above seems like it must be headed toward the basement. The armigers try to make the best of it. Kasston paces back and forth, Hortense lays on the ground and inspects the hand with her missing finger, Ilsani crouches low as near the stairs as he dares and tries to listen for anything that suggests deceit or discovery.
Finally there seems to be some sort of mass exodus and Setrona appears again, so silently she almost seems to come from nowhere.
"Talk about bad timing! Come on boys, we've got beds upstairs. The dottari are gone for now."
Leading you up to the available rooms, Setrona herds you all in to the largest one she had and closes the door behind her. Already set up on the table in the center are a number of food plates and drinks.
"Are you three Octavio's men?" She says, looking mostly at Ilsani who nods quietly, scowling. She turns to the Ravens. "Did you really do it? You really rescued them!? I knew I was right to come find you! What's next? You should probably let Octavio know you succeded."
"Yes. We'll need to get word to him that we got them." Brask says, "But first they need rest. Hells, we all need rest."
Myradil nods, not sure his nerves have calmed down enough to sleep but knowing that he needs it.
Femi frets the whole while the Dottari are above. He's not worried about being discovered himself so much as he's worried about exposing their host. He doesn't breath easy until Setrona returns and gives the all clear.
"You're too kind. Thank you for this." he almost whispers, still worried about being overheard.
Before heading upstairs, he suggests, "We should still set a watch, in case the Dottari return." once watch is decided, unless he's got first watch, he settles into bed and sleeps deeply.
Kalem drags himself to the chair, and tries to eat. He makes a pained expression, phantom pains of being almost completely sliced open not even a few hours ago.
"What Brask said, but right now, rest."
He does help himself to the alcohol, hoping the fog over his mind will help him sleep more deeply.
"Thank you for your hospitality," he says, heading up as well.
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"Don't you worry about that. I've got a few of my employees staying here overnight too. They can keep an eye out. We're all on your side. Now, you all get some rest." Setrona says to all of you before leaving and closing the door behind her so there can't be any arguing about it.
With or without a watch, the rest of the night remains uneventful. When the Ravens wake up they find all three armigers still deeply asleep. It's likely the first real rest any of them have had in a while and they seem to be enjoying it.
Setrona greets you all with a smile whenever you make your way downstairs. "I sent word to Benjen, that young man you saved from doghousing. Figured he'd want to know he had some friends in town now. Not sure what you plan to do with that lot up there, but if they need some time to recoup you can leave them here without worry."
"Thanks Setrona, you've been too kind. I don't know how we can repay you."
"I agree with Elias, we need to get them to the shrine and swiftly. The guard will begin searching for them before long, and we should be well away when they do. I know they're tired, but a proper rest is going to have to wait."
"Let's get them up and get them moving, disguising them as much as we can." he suggests.
Kalem, feeling much better than the day before, nods in agreement with the current sentiment in the room.
"I would warn against moving them immediately. While it's important to get them out, moving them so soon after we freed them, we might be moving during the high point of scrutiny in the area..."
Myradil looks a bit better after getting some sleep but not perfect.
"If we're lucky nobody's missing them yet and we can get them out before anybody comes looking for them."
"Bureaucracy is slow to report failures. If we hurry, we can get them out before they even know they never 'arrived' anywhere... that's even if they bother to check." Brask adds.
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Waiting for the armigers to get up, the Ravens inform them of their plans to visit the shrine and all three agree.
"Makes sense that's where he is. Thankfully it wasn't common knowledge or Thrune would have considered it too." Kasston nods. Setrona provides them all with clean clothes, donations from people sympathetic to the Ravens cause, at the party makes their way out of the city for the second time this week.
The trip is much faster now that you all know what you're looking for, and the old couple within greet you like old friends, inspecting each of the Hellknights to make sure they're okay. When you enter the lower room, the armigers breathe on the statue and the rope golem opens the gate.
Octavio is speechless at first. The four Hellknights greet each other like long lost family, and chatter for a bit about the escape, their capture and similar stories. The Ravens are mostly ignored at first, but once the joy of reunion has worn off some, they all turn to the group with respect.
"Here, help me pack my things." Octavio says with a smile. "Now that I know it's only my own life I'll be risky with open rebellion, I don't need to stay holed up in here anymore."
The three prisoners smile broadly, Hortense even slaps him on the back. "Yes! Once Benjen is healthy again, we'll be a real force, won't we?"
Octavio smiles back and even laughs, this is not the tense man you met just days ago. He walks over to your group and extends an arm to each of you, clasping your forearm to his if you offer one in return.
"Consider me signed on to your little rebellion. For the mean time, I think my men and I will head to my cousins establishment. If I remember the Coffeehouse, it doesn't leave much room for large scale gatherings." He frowns a moment and thinks. "But, I might actually have a suggestion on that front. Give me a couple days to settle in to Kintargo and I'll let you know what I have in mind, yes?"
The armigers ask that you leave without them, while they help Octavio pack. Their confident that they'll be able to enter the city again themselves.
"Only reason we got caught is because we didn't know we were on the run!" Ilsani grumbles. Octavio assures you that they'll be alright and sees you out, eager to catch up with his Hell Knights.
For once, the Ravens have a fairly uneventful day, and they arrive back home in time to receive the weekly reports from their teams.
"The open attack on the excruciation had some negative effects." Liara says with a frown. "Had a lot of people trying to wash their hands of us, thought we were being to rash too early. I talked most of them back though, got a couple others recruited too, we haven't really grown too much though."
"Rexus did manage to find a few crafty street urchins though. They've chosen to remains nameless if you don't mind, for now anyway. Offered to hide anything you'd like around the city, they just want to deal with Rexus instead of all of you. Rex wanted to make sure that was okay with you boys first. Sure he'd like to ask himself but he's out at the moment."
"Forvian's men did really well actually. Thrune has been imprisoning petty criminals, pick pockets, food thieves, you know the kind. Planning to rebuild his doghousing platform to better resist attack apparently. The saw the dottari picking on a young girl who was lifting purses, dragged her away in chains. Until the Black Feathers caught them by surprise and set the girl free. Even gave her a little gold because, well you know Forvian, he's a bit of a softy."
She smiles at the good news and brings out a tray of food for you while you decide what to do next with your growing rebellion.
”Thank Rexus for acting as a go-between. We need to grow so we can accomplish even more. We also need another safe house, and I think one way to do that is improve our sneaks a bit, give them some legs. And of course, we’ll always need gold to grease the wheels, so let’s keep the Fushi sisters in the streets gathering what they can.”
”It feels a little like we’re doing too much too fast and need to build our infrastructure a little more perhaps. It’s almost like we’re strapped to a galloping horse, and we need to walk it a bit before we become overextended. I dunno.”
He turns to the group, ”What do you think?”
"The galloping horse metaphor is apt, in more ways than one. Remember, Euphemia, we are being chased. We move quickly because to do otherwise would mean getting run down. But...as to infrastructure, I agree. We cannot run the horse to death if we are to win this race. I Hope Octavio has a good plan for a secure headquarters for us. We cannot continue to abuse the coffee shop for much longer."
Kalem nods along, doing as he had and relying on Femi's expertise in management to chart their organization on course.
"Alright, let's focus on stability for now, but the longer we operate, the more our presence will become known and the more enemies will be at our throats.
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Liara nods when given the orders for your men. "I'll have your teams working on it. In the mean time, you have a visitor. Waiting for you in the common room. She asked for the Silver Ravens, but I wasn't about to let her down her into the Wasp's Nest. She's wearing a naval uniform for crying out loud!" Liara shuffles awkwardly, clearly worried.
"She doesn't seem like she's looking for a fight, but...well you never know, right? You'd better go meet with her quick."
Heading up through the secret door, you make your way quietly into dining area, having long since discovered how best to do it unnoticed, most of the regulars don't even see you slip in.
It's not heard to find the Chelish sailor among the diners, he uniform stands out with its blood reds and silver, but you all relax a little when you realize it's Lieutenant Elia, who you met on your visit to Captain Sargaeta when trying to secure an alliance with him.
She waves you over to her table and nods respectfully at you when you've all been seated. "The Captain keeps his ears to the ground and recently celebrated this rumored rescue of wrongfully detained Hellknights." She allows herself a rare smile. "It seems he's also in need of some help from those very same heros."
"It is nothing I can mention here, but if you are willing and capable to assist him, please, return to the docks where we first met, and the Captain can discuss the details."
Elias silently plots his own activities for the coming week, specifically finding the names of those that guarded the doghouse and... dealing with them. Some quiet, careful information gathering at the taphouses around the doghouse, carefully spreading some silver around, should be just the thing. Once He has the names, he can find where they sleep. Once he knows where they sleep, he can plan how and when to end them.
Femi greets the naval officer warmly, ”Of course, I’m sure we would be quite willing to meet with your captain. Thank you for carrying his message.” he smiles happy that things seem to be coming together.
When she has left, he turns to the others, ”We should go quickly, perhaps first thing tomorrow if everyone is agreeable. Does anyone need help with any pet projects this week? I’ve no cash to write scrolls, so I’m happy to help someone else with their work.”
”After we meet with the captain of course. Who’s with me?”
Glancing at Femi, Elias weighs the mages offer, and decides to find out sooner, rather than later, if they will come to further discord over his faith in the Lady of Vengeance.
"I would be happy to join you in greeting the good captain. Afterwards, I would welcome your assistance for a project. I seek a few specific men that I might perform one of the sacraments of my faith. I could use your assistance locating them."
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"Excellent, I'll let him know to expect you!" Elia smiles again. "Enjoy the rest of you day gentlemen, we look forward to working with you." She leaves coin enough for her meal and a generous tip on the table and leaves the way she came.
Laria eventually asks what she was looking for and disapproves of your meeting in a Chelish battleship until you mention that you've already visited once before. "Oh, alright then, I suppose you boys know how to handle yourselves by now!"
As she says this you hear a crashing of plates in the kitchen somewhere and Laria frowns and goes rushing off. "That damned faerie dragon! Or maybe it was the demon this time." She mutters as she rushes off. The regulars in the room all give knowing smiles to one another, this being a regular occurrence these days.
With nothing pressing, most of the Ravens spend their day laying low, keeping out of sight of the patrols that have strengthened in the city since their jailbreak. The fact that a bunch of Torrent Helknights were rescued doesn't seem to be common knowledge at first, but as the Kintargan rumor mill turns, the information spreads like wildfire. By the end of the day people are whispering about how the Ravens arrived in shining armor that smote any guardsman who didn't immediately turn and run.
Elias on the other hand looks for revenge, seeking out the agents that guard the doghouses. The names of the guards are not easy to find, since they are just members of the Dottari, assigned to the duty as simply as they are assigned patrols or any other job the city guard are expected to fulfill. The names of the excruciators however comes easily, few people are depraved enough to be granted the honorable position of crafting new and drawn out tortures for the Thrunes. However all of them came to the city with Mayor Barzillai and they take rest in the Opera House along with the bulk of the mayors armed forces.
By the time the sun rises the next day, Elias has his information, and the rest of the Ravens have had something of a day off. They start the trek towards the docks, giving the holding house a wide berth as they do, lest they be recognized.
The Scourge of Belial is moored just off the docks like before, this time there is a small crew of the Captains men waiting for the Ravens to take them over. Once aboard Captain Sargaeta greets them like old friends and welcomes them back into the rooms to discuss his need of them.
"My friends, you are most productive, yes?" He smiles broadly. "A daring rescue mission right under Thrunes nose! Wonderful!"
As he waits for you each to sit, his halfling slaves continue to work around you, the chef brings you each a plate of eggs and sausage with something to wash it down while the captain takes a seat at his desk and seems to lose some of his earlier enthusiasm.
"Thrune’s proclamations have, shall I say, impacted my interests in the city. I cannot venture onto land to take care of... well, let’s call it a ‘personal matter.’ I could send my crew to attend this, but I would much prefer sending someone with whom I have plausible deniability, should they fail in their task. Would you be interested in providing me with aid? I daresay that people in your position could stand to benefit from having a captain in the Chelish navy owe you a few favors, hmmm?”
"I need a letter escorted to my friend Marquel Aulorian in the greens, hand delivered and preferably without any interference from the grasping little prig he calls his father."
The Captain sits anxiously, waiting for any questions or concerns you may have about his proposed mission.
"I would be happy to join you in greeting the good captain. Afterwards, I would welcome your assistance for a project. I seek a few specific men that I might perform one of the sacraments of my faith. I could use your assistance locating them."
Femi, not really clear on what he intends, agrees readily. ”Of course, anything I can do to help. I’m not a very religious man myself, but I respect the gods, and the power they bestow. Sacraments are nothing to be trifled with!” he grins.
Femi munches on his breakfast and thinks a moment about what he knows of the Aurorean family.
"His father is quite the Thrune supporter. You hope to have better relations with this Marquel Aurorean? The task seems simple enough, wait for a time when the son is without the father. But as you say, you want plausible deniability, so I must ask, what exactly are we carrying to him?"
He wipes his mouth and sips some coffee, "I don't mean to read your personal correspondence of course, but I would know, roughly, what it contains to be so secretive."
Not knowing anything about the people of nobility, Kalem doesn't even try to scrounge for any bit of gossip he may have heard.
"So you want messengers...does the lad in question expect a letter from you? And what you suggest does not present much...apparent difficulty. What's the catch?"
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"Not much difficulty the Tiefling says!" The Captain laughs enthusiastically. "Well, I didn't realize your kind were welcome in the Greens with open arms. The nobility have changed quite a bit since I've been stuck on this ship!" He smiles at Kalem to show he's just teasing before he elaborates on both his and Femi's questions.
"Marquel and I are...good friends, and much of my time in Kintargo over the years has been spent with him. I know he disproves of his fathers actions, and I worry that he is in trouble. My letter is of a personal and private nature, one I wish to remain between me and Marquel, but it contains a question that I very much need the answer to. I would have you deliver me this answer directly from him, so I know it is not forged."
"The only catch is that you must go at night. You would be too obvious during the day, none of you are nobility, anyone can see that. I have a map of the estate, should you agree and perhaps some more information besides, but first I need to know if you are willing."
