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Frindlikh looks at Macro and admits
I haven't - these two came on board before I had the chance. It's a good thing she made such a racket, she could've been trouble if she had caught us by surprise.
With that, Frindlikh starts looking around, as if to suspect further arrivals. His composure remains a nervous one, pacing around in a restless manner - like an animal in a cage.
Marco notes that the armor the woman wears emits an aura of transmutation.
Soon the woman is adequately bound and stirs after a moment of shaking her. She glares and bares her teeth like a cornered animal and utters another stream of obscenities.
"Tell me you didn't kill those worthless half-breeds! I mean to gut them myself!"
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"We saved them, and they barely put a fight," Otiophon adds - not untruthfully - to further infuriate the woman. "I bet they will be just as happy to see you."
"It seems your god - Groetus? - also has failed you, and it isn't the end of the world - for most of us, anyway."
Oti starts to try to force some information out of her, but his floral breath is less intimidating than he would have hoped.
"Well, how about you just tell us where the rest of the captives are and we can ask for leniency?" By now, though, the change in tactics is, despite Oti's normally smooth tongue, not very convincing.
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"Shove over Oti, you do it like this"
Svetlana appears to have another one of her personality snaps as she starts rough handling the prisoner.
"Listen here b@&th, the polite man was talking - you don't get to say anything other than 'yes', 'no' and 'please dont cut any more parts off' unless we say so - Got it? Your little half breed mates have already started spilling their guts in the bilge and singing like birds, and frankly we don't need to keep all of you when just one will be enough to come back and mutilate further if any of the pretty tales turn out to be a lie. You want to test me on this, or is there something you want to say before I get started breaking your body parts? Five... four..." she draws a blade.. "three...hold her face still please... two..."
Intimidate
She sneers disdainfully at the Aasimar, but the woman's eyes go wide and frantic as the fearsome tiefling beauty clutches her throat in threatening caress. She begins to shake as the blade looms near and answers with a tremulous voice.
"No! Wait, I-I'll tell you! Th-they are in a warehouse, i-it's not f-far!"
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Oti looks on in guilty satisfaction at the tiefling's prowess at intimidation. That act must have been a wonder to see in the ring, in front of the crowd. Although perhaps naive, he sees the display as show, believing Svetlana to have a good heart, incapable of actually acting on her threats. I hope.
After getting the directions to the warehouse, "Hellion", Oti says, using her more-intimidating stage name, "Would you strip her of her armor and check her for evidence, weapons, spell materials, and the like, and I'll stand guard with Li Shuo and Frindlikh." Oti hopes his ... reserve does not look too ridiculous. Prudish and vain, he chides himself.
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Trying to find an outlet for his nervousness, Frindlikh tries to strike up a conversation with Li. After taking a spit into the water, he rasps: "any clue on on what that big feller was? Doesn't look natural to me. This job has an awful cultist smell on it, if you ask me.
Yeah, simple job, go in, grab hostage, get out, done. Boy, was I wrong.
Svetlana strips the woman of her armor and finds a scrap of paper tucked into her bodice that smells of sweat and perfume.
A quick perusal reveals it to be a love note accompanying the directions to a cooper’s warehouse on the south side of the Imperial Naval Shipyards, signed by one Dalirio Teppish.
A scribbled rough drawing of the place includes a mark indicating a trap door that leads to a hidden basement and marks two traps to be wary of and where the switch for them is located.
"Another of those sewer-rat druids stands watch with his pets."
Meanwhile, the others give the last room a good looking over.
These finely appointed quarters contain a desk, a chair, a bed, and some chests, all of which have been screwed to the deck. A single lit lamp rests on the deck and illuminates the room completely.
Other than a coded captain's log book that looks to contain info on the ships past voyages, they find little else of interest.
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"Perhaps the victims were mainly from the shipyards both because their lair is nearby and the ease of getting them out by ship."
Oti is glad to see the results of the search. "That may save a few lives, including your own," Oti says to the woman, nodding his head toward Svetlana. "What is your name? We be able to use it to save Dalirio's life, as well."
"Anything more you want to add?"
If there's nothing - beyond curses - Oti gags the woman, as well.
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Looking at the coded captains log, Jorag stood in silent contemplation for a moment before picking it up. "We should take this with us and have the Pathfinders look at it. If it details previous voyages, it might lead them to previous victims. Just think how many people this book may free."
Giving the chests a glance as Marco tried to open them, Jorag then headed out onto the deck
"Dalirio Teppish you say? Hmm that might ring a bell or two." He said, screwing up his face as he tried to remember.
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Eyeing the stoic Monk, frindlikh decides to strike no further conversation with him
Must have difficulty understanding me. As long as he keeps his arrows straight.
Following Majunbai off the ship absentmindedly, he is pondering the name he just heard.
Dalirio. Name rings a bell, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Some dodgy geezer I dealt with before?
A Teppish once sat in the governor’s seat in Cassomir Prefecture. A Teppish once led thousands in battle against the Qadirans during the Grand Campaign. A Teppish negotiated the Treaty of the Wildwood, guaranteeing Taldor a renewable source of druid-protected blackwood trees that would forever supply the empire with the ships built in Cassomir’s famous Imperial Naval Shipyards.
The Teppish family’s power came to a close nearly 50 years ago when a series of rival houses launched attacks on their holdings and wealth, and even went so far as to assassinate several of the Teppish family patriarchs. In just a few short years the mighty Teppish were reduced to laughingstocks in the Opparan social scene and were left with few possessions, even less gold, and no power at all. So the Teppish family did what any self-respecting Taldan family does when left destitute: they turned to a life of organized crime.
The Pathfinders begin to make ready to leave the Prancing Prince but then they notice three figures moving down the dock toward the ship. They pause, noticing you there and call out "Ismacco? Are you there?"
The bound woman makes a muffled cry and the three figures rush forward, heading for the gangplank of the ship.
Initiative Order - Round 1
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Mujenbai
Jorag
Li Shuo
Otiophon
Enemies
Marco
Frindlikh
Svetlana
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Mujenbai snarls and races off the boat moving up to confront the lead foeman, and calling Unapp. The raptor launches himself effortlessly through the air clearing the water easily and lashes at the man with a talon. His claw bites deep, and only a last second twist manages to save the fellows future prospects of fatherhood.
Initiative Order - Round 1
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Mujenbai and Unapp - move and attacks Crewman 1 for 5 damage
Jorag - javelin comes close, but misses
Li Shuo - drops Crewman 1 with an arrow
Otiophon - waits to greet the crew
Enemies:
Crewman 1 - unconscious and bleeding
Crewman 2
Crewman 3
Marco
Frindlikh
Svetlana
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Mujenbai
Jorag
Li Shuo
Otiophon
Enemies
Unapp gores the lead man with a talon and Li follows up with an arrow to the chest, dropping the man before he can take another step. Jorag's javelin comes near to finding it's mark, but misses. The other two crew raise their quarterstaves and strike at Mujenbai and his raptor, but they seem more concerned with defending themselves now to do any damage.
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Svetlana simply sighs. Her blade finds its way to her captives neck.
"That's enough of that, drop your sticks and come nice or this fish gets gutted and so do you soon after. Whatever you are into aint worth dying over" Svetlana pokes to make a point.
"You are making it hard for me to walk a nice path"
Hold action... they attack anyone the woman is going to have a bad day.
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"Your beast is formidable Mujenbai, let us see how well it fares under the watchful gaze of The Strong Man himself!" Jorag called out in a booming voice far greater than his frame suggested, waving his arms dramatically in Unapps direction. Mere moments later, near invisible silvery strands appeared, connecting to the lizards arms and legs. Back on the ship, Jorag moved towards the gangplank to get on land, continuing to wave his arms about, looking like a puppeteer controlling his puppet.
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Frindlikh hesitates as he sees hellion try to leverage the hostage situation. "better get myself into a position where I can maneuvre" he ponders, as he moves down to the stern of the ship, readying himself for a jump onto the quai
-Posted with Wayfinder
The men hesitate at the Hellion's threat, as if trying to decide if they would come off better or worse if the woman perished, but as they each take damage from the horde of angry Pathfinders, they seem to settle on living another day and drop their weapons and hold up their hands, eyeing the little dinosaur with bloody jowls nervously.
"We jest sail tha ship, not lookin' ta die o'er it."