Initiative Order - Round 1
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Marla and Brak
Odo
Tresca
Dietrich
Tanselle
Gaius
Enemies
Selter and Sithiss
Dietrich nearly makes the hatch before his companions fumbling attempts at stealth alert those below to their approach. They shout to one another in orcish and prepare to greet their intruders.
"Orcs? Orcs?!" Brak exclaims, his eyes scrunching up in consternation. "To battle, my brothers and sisters!" He advances towards the hatch, his axe at the ready.
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Tanselle drops down behind the others and moves into position 20 feet away from the closest orc. She then gives the hold a good look and listen.
Initiative Order - Round 1
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Marla and Brak - moves, can't make it down this round unless using double move.
Odo - moves into position, can still make an attack
Tresca -
Dietrich - moves, misses badly, takes 7 damage but shakes off stunning effects
Tanselle - double moves to take up position
Gaius - Hits with bolt for 1 damage
Enemies:
M1 - Hits Dietrich for 7 damage
M2 - Misses Odo
Selter and Sithiss
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Marla and Brak
Odo
Tresca
Dietrich
Tanselle
Gaius
The half-orcs look somewhat bewildered as the onslaught of Pathfinders come through the hatch one right after another. They stand unarmed, sinking into fighting stances. Odo and Tanselle make it past them without drawing any attacks upon themselves and take up their positions.
Tanselle notes only the two combatants, the rest of the people here are gagged and shackled like slaves. In the quick glance she can afford, she notices no interesting crates.
Dietrich drops down and hacks off a substantial chunk of wood from the floor of the hold and then receives a jarring blow from the half-orc monk as he takes a fist to the temple. Fortunately, he shakes off the secondary effects of the punch.
Sithiss follows her master to protect him.
Sss...
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As the orc pugilist fails to find his target, Odo slips laterally to allow more space for his companions. He shifts from his lower attack to follow-up with a slash at the orc's upper torso.
"Your ambush has failed. Your cause is lost. Surrender is the only option that will save your lives. Do not waste the chance!" Odo exhorts his opponent.
Odo's scimitar flashes in the dim light, wounding his opponents legs so that he can barely support his weight on them.
Selter descends from the hatch attracting a wayward blow from the first half-orc, but it only stirs the air as he dodges sinuously out of the way.
Brack follows after, taking one of the few spots left near the drop-down and hacking with his axe at the half-orc engaged with Odo. The blow is ill-timed, but still catches him him the side, carving through the flesh and straight into the monk's heart. Blood gushes forth, pooling quickly and his body crumbles to the hold floor, dead before he stills.
Dietrich scores a much cleaner hit with his axe on the other half-orc, heavily wounding his shoulder, but he still stands.
Tanselle barely misses her shot, the cartridge scoring and blackening the wall near his head.
But Gaius is unerring, as always, with his magic missile and strikes his mark right between the eye. The half-orc goes cross-eyed and sinks to his knees. Tresca arrives just in time to see the final blows.
There are more than a dozen captives here, gagged and shackled like slaves. Among the half-orc's gear, you find 4 potions of cure light wounds; key ring, 50 gp, and a cloak of resistance +1.
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Dietrich take a healing potion and then moves over to the prisoners, drawing his dagger.
"I hope it's alright if I take one of these potions. I was wounded a bit in the fighting."
He begins cutting away the gags on the captives' mouths, speaking to them in a low voice.
"Try to stay calm. You're safe now."
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Tresca lowers herself through the hatch and surveys the scene. She gives Deitrich a look of apology for not arriving in time to help. "I'd be more than happy for you to take one of those potions." she says, "But I believe Gaius has the right idea of it. Perhaps you should hold on to it for an emergency, since we have a bit more time for healing right now."
Tresca takes a moment to look over the half-orcs, and retrieves the key ring. "I bet one of these might fit some of the captives' shackles" she remarks. Walking over to a captive, she begins testing keys to see if she can find one that works.
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"Stay your wand yet, Gaius. I have another way if Dietrich will consent. The Dawnflower has blessed me with some healing arts and this seems as good a time to use them as any other. This way, both the potion and wand may be saved against future calamity."
Odo follows Dietrich into the crowd of prisoners and places a hand on his arm. He makes eye contact. "Do I have your permission, friend Dietrich?"
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Tanselle places her pistol back into its holster and crouches to examine the goods on the two fallen orcs.
"This is - or once was - a fine cloak," she says. Tresca, perhaps it would suit you?"
Hearing her companions acceptance of Dietrich taking a potion, Tanselle takes one of her own, placing it gingerly into her pack. She then joins the rogue in tending to the captives.
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Odo nods to Dietrich, places his other hand on the man's shoulder and closes his eyes in concentration. "Let the healing light of the sun shine upon you," he mutters. The site of the injury feels warm and the pain decreases.
"Hmm... That doesn't seem to have completely healed the wound though it has reduced its severity. Would you like me to minister to it some more?"
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"Looks like you guys have things well in hand." Gaius says, stowing his wand away and walking over to the prisoners.
"Let's get you lot out of here. I expect the fireside at an inn and a nice cup of tea might wash away the memories of this dreadful ship." he finishes, helping to untie this new lot of captives.
Selter finds that one of the half-orcs is beyond his help, but he binds and stabilizes the other one. As he does so, he notices a wayfinder on the monks belt. After a quick inspection, he concludes it must belong to the missing Cestis as it bears his mark.
Tresca begins opening the captives shackles as Gaius and Dietrich remove their gags ahead of her, speaking words of comfort to the poor, frightened folk. Several of them appear to be prominent Cassomirian citizens. They all appear to be suffering from varying degrees of exhaustion and dehydration, though little else is wrong with them beyond bruised egos.
A man dressed as a Cassomirian merchant, but who still holds himself with the dignity of an Eagle Knight addresses the party.
"I am Creighton Nish. And who are you, so that I may know to whom I offer my sincere thanks?" He extends his hand to each of them in turn in gratitude.
Unfortunately, the Pathfinder Cestis is not among these captives either.
Creighton Nish smiles broadly at the Pathfinders. "Indeed, thank you, my Pathfinder friends! I hoped we might see your like when I noticed the wayfinder on that fool half-orc. They took us to a dilapidated Inn off the harbor and judging by the large load of supplies they've brought today, I suspect they have a warehouse nearby, but I'm sorry to say I don't know where. This lot has been speaking in Orcish and I'm afraid I've barely caught a word here and there."
A mousy looking woman in a clerks garb interjects when Nish has finished speaking.
"I think I picked a name out of what they've been saying. 'Luscilia'... Sounds like a woman's name."
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"I would try to question the half-orc but I feel that my stature would work against me. Brutal thugs tend to disrespect anything not obviously bigger and stronger than themselves. Besides, I'm more of a persuader than a threatener."
Odo helps to distribute water to the freed prisoners, asking questions as he does so. "Have any of you seen other prisoners? We have rescued a handful at the inn, and now yourselves, but we believe there are still more to be liberated. Any help you can offer would be much appreciated."
"And have you seen or heard more crewmen on this ship. I find it odd that just a pair of brutes were left watching the place and prisoners. Do you know of more enemies on board?"
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Once her work with freeing the captives is complete, Tresca takes a moment to examine the cloak that Tanselle offered. "I'll take it if nobody else needs it more," she says, sincerely hoping for a little more luck than the cloak's previous owner, "The ripped and tattered look is in now, isn't it?
Sweeping the cloak around her shoulders, she quickly checks to make sure there's nothing else to be done for the captives, then addresses Odo. "It wouldn't hurt to be cautious. I'll stand lookout just in case."
With a nod at the others, Tresca walks over to the stairway and waits halfway up, ears peeled for any additional foes.
The captives remain silent, shaking their heads at Selter's question.
The half-orc sneers at the Pathfinders, shooting furious glances at the bloody mess his fellow was reduced to.
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"We have company," Tanselle says softly, pointing upward with the barrel of her pistol. "Sounds like two people. Knew about the orcs. We ought to investigate."
The half-elf plugs another cartridge into her pistol and snaps it into place, ready - as always - for anything.
"Someone better shut him up before he shouts out," she says to her comrades beside the sneering half-orc.
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Tresca nods approvingly at Tanselle's suggestion. She had just been thinking herself that things could be problematic if the half-orc were to shout out. "We should make our way to higher decks" Tresca suggests, "If there's to be more fighting, I wouldn't want bystanders who could get hurt" she gestures to the captives.
Loading her crossbow, Tresca creeps upstairs, and hides behind one of the ballistae, preparing to shoot if the woman or the second set of footsteps arrives on the middle deck.
Sithiss follows her master.
Sss...
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Odo draws forth his scimitar and tries to keep his armor silent as he makes his way forward toward the stair to the next deck. That appears to be easier said than done in the clutter of the lowest deck, however, as his nearby companions can easily detect. But will the distance and muffling effect of two decks over his head make the difference?