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"I doubt they are all who are responsible. The prisoners below thought there may be a warehouse somewhere in the area, and we have yet to find Pathfinder Cestis, our main prize. This woman is almost certainly our best connection to any other conspirators. She's probably the 'Luscilia' the prisoners heard about. Perhaps using her name when we interrogate her will put her off her game by making us seem better informed than we are," Odo proposes.
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Ssself be letting you quessstion thisss female. Ssself be watching other not essscape.
Selter heads down to the hold to reasure the victims and watch the other prisoner.
To the former captives, Releassse you sssoon. Friendsss make sssure way isss sssafe and unobssserved to return your livesss.
He then walks over to stand with spear leveled at the prisoner (there is just one correct?) and Sithiss slithering around behind the prisoner where he can't see her.
To the other prisoner he says in a completely disinterested tone, Belike ssshould have known, crosss pathfindersss isss risssky busssinesss. Have one bosss we do. Bosss will not protect little ssskum you. Bosss talksss, no have need you. Sithiss getsss large meal. Anything you have to sssay ssshould be now while sstill ussseful.
Odo finds and removes the woman's holy symbol, a string of beads with the largest of moonstone and shaped into the image of a skull shadow on the moon.
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As Tanselle feels the healing effects of Gaius's wand course through her, the spiderwebs disappear from her mind. Figuring the more loquacious members of their party could handle questioning their captive, the half-elf tends to the hostages, helping them from their bindings and assessing their conditions.
"Have any of you seen crates marked with a red 'x'?," she asks them as she tends to them. "Any idea of where the others might be?"
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Odo sighs. "I would try to convince her to listen to reason, but I fear her hostility will make that all but impossible. Who here among us is good at coming down heavy on someone with threats and fear? I believe that is our best chance of getting information from her. I can render assistance in that endeavor."
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"Fair enough, Dietrich. Honey won't work after the vinegar, that's for certain."
Odo kneels next to the unconscious form of the priestess and starts to gently shake her awake. "Luscilia? Luscilia. Wake up. We need to have words with you."
Giving her a chance to regain her wits, he will then press on...
"You are alive at our mercy and I hope you would reflect on that and listen to reason. We know there is another location where prisoners are being kept and we need to find it. If you do nothing to aid us in this, surely the full responsibility for the kidnappings will fall on your shoulders. Aid us and the authorities will almost certainly consider that in deciding your fate. You have nothing to gain from protecting anyone there nor from protecting your superiors and much to gain by giving us the information we seek. What say you?"
Brak stands by, glowering down at the woman, waiting for the results of Odo's efforts.
Marla stands further back, peering curiously at the interrogation.
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With her extract prepared, Tresca joins her comrades on the lowest deck. Somewhat scrawny, and not a big people person, Tresca was perhaps the last choice for intimidation or coercion. At least she could check in on the prisoners though.
Joining Tanselle, she helps to tend to the captives still not released from their bonds. When they are all released, she addresses the question Tanselle put towards the captives. "Marked with a red x, you say? I can give you a hand searching this ship, if you want." the alchemist gives a brief smile before moving methodically around the lowest deck, tilting a crate here and there to look for the marking.
Soon the woman 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!" She sneers disdainfully at the halfling paladin, ignoring his questions entirely.
Tresca and Tanselle search the ship and find several crates, but none that bear a red X.
The woman's eyes go wide and frantic as the horde of Pathfinders surround her threateningly. She begins to shake as Dietrich's axe 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 far!" She gives directions to a coopers warehouse on the south side of the Imperial Naval Shipyard and describes the location of a secret trap door in the floor to access a secret lower level.
"The only guard posted is a sewer-rat druid who stands watch with his pets."
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Odo has been watching the follow-up interrogation and tries to assess the woman's response for deception.
Odo readily agrees to Dietrich's question. "Aye, we should lead their captives to the watch as well so the authorities can take their testimony. I expect these kidnappers and slavers will probably meet an unhappy execution in due time, but that's less cruel a fate than those planned for their victims."
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Tresca nods her agreement with Selter. "I concur. Time may be of the essence if people are expecting this priestess any time soon. If the former captives are well enough to see themselves to safety and their captors to justice, we should head to the warehouse now while we have the element of surprise."
Tresca thinks a moment further, "If they aren't able to handle that task, perhaps they head to safety, we lock up those we need to bring to justice, and come back to the ship and take them in ourselves once we have finished up with the warehouse?"
A rough wind gusts in off the harbor, blasting the rope lines on the Prancing Prince into a whip-cracking frenzy. But despite the commotion, you are still able to hear the sound of heavy, stumbling steps crossing the deck.
A throaty male voice from the top of the stairs says, “Well, what have we ’ere, boys? Come for some work, find some sport instead, eh?”
Initiative Order - Round 1
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Marla and Brak
Tanselle
Enemies
Gaius
Dietrich
Tresca
Selter and Sithiss
Odo
Round 1
"More invaders!" Brak mutters, gripping his axe and moving to a position at the bottom of the stairs.
Marla whips out her wand of Shield again, and swipes Brak with it as he passes.
The man in the green coat whirls his quarterstaff before him as he advances on Brak, but the Dwarf buries his axe deep in the man's shoulder, and he drops in one hit.
The fellow in the blue bandana drops down from the ramp, closing on Dietrich and lands a solid blow with his quarterstaff on the big man's temple.
Finally, the man in the brown hat drops down to face Gaius, but overbalances and is forced to use his weapon to brace himself instead.
Initiative Order - Round 1
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Marla and Brak - casts Shield and readies attack
Tanselle - double move and loads
Enemies:
Green Coat-
Blue Bandana-
Brown Hat-
Gaius
Dietrich
Tresca - double move and draws
Selter and Sithiss - casts Shillelagh and moves
Odo
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Marla and Brak
Tanselle
Enemies
Odo slides forward as Gaius moves back, aiming a slash at the enemy in the brown hat. The blow is aimed well, but the scalliwag's own protection prevents the scimitar from doing its worst damage.
crit threat!
aw!
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Tresca can't help but smirk as she notices her opponents clustered together. This is exactly what bombs were made for. Striding forward, she draws a couple of phials from her alchemical pouch, pours one into the other, and gives it a little shake. Winding her arm back, she pitches it at the feet of the clustered enemies.
Dietrich's Greataxe catches the man with the blue bandana at the neck of his leather armor and cuts right on through with a sickening ripping sound. The axe-blade cleaves his clavicle like a hot knife through butter and splits him in twain all the way down to his heart. The organ clenches uselessly in the gaping chasm of his torso, splashing his blood all around.
The man in the brown hat gapes in horror at his fallen fellows as Gaius' crossbow bolt strikes him in the side and Odo lances his leg deeply with his scimitar. He drops his staff quickly, holding up his hands.
The man in the brown hat shakes his head and hands before him, he sees the woman, bound on the floor and points to her.
"She hired us ta sail tha ship, not lookin' ta die o'er it. Westcrown be the port o' sail, with a cargo o' slaves, we was told."
Fortunately a pair of dock guards has heard the excitement and come to your aid. One of them goes to fetch reinforcements while the other stays to guard the prisoners. Between him and Creighton Nish, you feel the situation is well in hand.
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"The odd sensation is only temporary my friend. From a fiend's horde did I pull this thing and it still remembers his touch I believe. But it doesn't miss it, I don't think. It's rare for their kind to pay any mind to mending things. Let us move onward to this warehouse, regardless of their numbers we must get to the bottom of this thing and see it through. It's a sore blow to see the caging and slavery of these simple folk."
"A filthy rat-loving druid and his pets stand guard in the entrance to the underground lair." She spits the words, looking rather sullen about the whole situation but clearly no less fearful of Dietrich, especially after the gruesome dispatch of her hired man right before her eyes.
You follow the woman's directions to a cooper’s warehouse on the south side of the Imperial Naval Shipyard. It appears abandoned and fairly dilapidated. Dietrich directs the party to the northeastern corner and after some searching, they discover the hidden trap-door leading down into the secret room below.
A smell, not unlike wet dog, wafts up through the opening, and though you can see the ladder, it is not yet in place to climb down.
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Odo looks down the trapdoor and then looks over his fellow Pathfinders. "Before we go any further, who among you is still hurt? We should be as ready as possible for any trouble. I have a wand that will heal injuries. Who needs its ministrations?"
He uses one charge on himself.
That should suffice to get him to 18 from 14.