Kali whispers to Shi "You go in, I have your back and will be right behind you."
Vera rounds the bend with Kali, but avoids staying too close, worried that excessive weight will cause the structure to collapse. She hides the dancing lights beneath the water level for now, but keeps the magics active.
Krovax continues following the others towards where he hopes his ultimate quarry lies in hiding. Cautiously, of course.
Shi shrugs "We wait for the others. They have no where else to run and already know we are coming. No need to be hasty."
Shi will wait for the others to arrive continuing to watch to door ready to strike if someone tries to escape.
Kali thinks about Shi's comment and shakes her head as she pushes the kitsune aside. She says "You can stay here and comb your tail or whatever the hell you're doing, but I'm going in and finish it.."
Kali opens the door and moves in, bow ready.
The air in this room is thick and musty. Thick sheets of cobwebs hang from the walls and mounds of blankets, cushions, and straw clutter the floor. To the south, a narrow flight of stairs leads down into the ship’s hold.
A fist sized brown spider lunges from the darkness to bite Kali’s hand. This brown spider’s body is fist-sized, yet its long, spindly legs and oversized fangs make it appear quite fearsome.
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Kali manages to shake off the poison.
This is a drain spider.
Already a tiny creature, the drain spider has the ability to compress its legs and body even further, allowing it to lurk in pipes, niches, and (its favorite hideout) sink or tub drains with ease. The sewers below Korvosa are infested with drain spiders in certain places. In the wild, drain spiders prefer to hunt in swamps or along river banks, but they have adapted readily to urban life in Korvosa and now infest numerous nooks and crannies in the city’s lowerclass quarters, particularly along the waterfronts.
Kali curses as the spider bites her hand. She flings off her body and screams "OUCH! DAMMIT! Something just bit me and I can't see shit!"
Hearing screaming coming from the derelict ship Magpie decides to move REALLY slowly to make sure what ever is screaming is dead before... sigh
Picking the pace she books it as fast as her orcish legs will carry her. It might be a kid in danger and all.
Or that was the plan, but turning the corner she nearly runs into the big SLOW tower of steel. "Um... hey, can you hurry a bit?" she mentions to Krovax… politely.
When Magda stops next to Krovax, the wood starts to creak and groan alarmingly.
With her enhanced vision and the small amount of light filtering into the room Shi can see the spider. She moves toward it to attack.
Kali hisses "Shi! Where is it! What's going on! I don't see anything!"
Shi effectively stabs the tiny spider, but the wriggling creature apparently had a redundant organ or two, and stays up.
As the spider comes into view, Kali thrusts her fist down towards the floor with her spiked gauntlet and says Die you piece of shit spider!"
The tiny spider becomes a smudge against the ground as Kali's gauntlet squashes it flat.
Vera moves onto the ship and into the door. Lights follow her inside, allowing her to see, but undoubtedly giving away any element of surprise. "Looks like you got the spider!" she says excitedly, seeing the squashed spider on the ground.
She mutters a few more arcane words. When she's done, she's able to see magic. She looks around.
”Space out unless you want this whole thing to collapse, child!” Krovax says as he continues. But, hearing more fighting ahead, he does dare to pick up the pace...
Kali looks over to Vera and offers her a silent nod of thanks, glad that the light was able to guide her hand correctly.
Magda carefully makes her way along the boardwalk, avoiding the slippery parts.
Krovax advances until he catches up to the others inside the ship, seemingly the only remaining place Lamm could be. He joins them at the top of the stairs down into the belly, waiting on the others to catch up. He then looks to Marcus and says ”Ready when you are.”
"Did you kill Lamm?" the half orc asks hopeful, when she finally makes it from behind the iron giant. "No... Yargin? just a spider... well that is something."" as they hesitate at the top of the stairs she adds "They already know we're here, so no worry about being quiet. But be careful, they might have had time to set traps, don't know how long they've been bunked up in here." Magpie realizes she's babbling a bit. Nerves and shuts it. Waiting for the adults to do their thing.
"Maybe we didn't find Lamm yet, but we already set those kids free. Did you see how happy they looked to be free?" She looks at Magpie and smiles. While the others gather, she continues to look around.
Once the party is together, Vera sees that Marcus is a little worse for the wear. "Mister, you really did a number on that giggling half-orc! I know some magic to heal your bruises so that you'll be in the best shape to fight again. It's . . . not exactly the holy magic that a priest might use." Vera glances at the armored Krovax as she says this. "But it gets the job done. Just stand still for a moment."
If Marcus agrees, Vera begins to speak in a smooth, silky tongue, as if she were whispering rumors or sharing dark secrets. Several seconds pass before she touches Marcus. When she removes her finger, a single drop of blood dissipates into his skin, and he feels his injuries beginning to heal. "Your wounds will heal quickly for the next minute," she says.
Kali is secretly happy for the reinforcements that all pile onto the ship. While she wants Lamm dead, she recognizes she's not as equipped to handle herself as some of these others. Better yet, together they seemed to be a formidable force in busting down that ring and those lackeys moments ago.
"I'm ready when you all are. Let's finish this." she whispers, ready to fire her arrow into something but not volunteering to go first this time.
Marcus eventually returns to the others, a few new bruises on him. "Children are out." When Vera offers healing he nods. He's not versed at all in magic, but this woman has had plenty of opportunity to backstab him during that fight if she saw fit, and casting a hostile spell now would seem a convoluted plan.
He does raise an eyebrow in curiosity, but doesn't seem to mind (or perhaps understand) the magic used on him. He turns and checks the door to see if it will open without needing the persuasion of a boot.
Shi scouts ahead, checking for traps, followed by Marcus and Krovax.
Dark and dank, the ship’s hold smells of mildew. Several barrels, crates, and other containers lie stacked here and there. Dust and grime cover the floor, except where river water has collected in puddles.
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-
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Four of the previously found drain spiders lunge out of the dusky cobwebs nearby from their expert hiding spots and bite at Shi and Marcus. Three manage to connect, but the party shakes off the poison.
"Eww! Spiders!"
Vera sends her lights downstairs but is clearly not interested in going down herself.
Kali moves down the steps to a "good spot" and pulls tension on the bow while she aims at one of the spiders. In responses to Vera she speaks out of the corner of her mouth "On it." before letting the projectile fly.
Kali badly injures one of the spiders, which scurries off away from everyone. Kali takes a swipe as it as it leaves.
The fleeing spider is turned into a fine mist of chitin and legs as Kali swings out and obliterates it.
The other spiders lunge at the closest targets and attempt to attack the foes near them.
Krovax thrusts his spear perfectly through one of the spiders nearest Kali.
The spider that bit Kaliyah is completely obliterated.
Oh good, they're nearly gone. This is my chance to not look like a scaredy cat!
Vera, who has just been peering down for quite some time, decides to charge in and attempt to squash the last spider!
"I've got you now, little pest!" She closes her eyes as she tries to stomp on it.
;
"Eep!" After her foot strikes feet away from the spider, she opens her eyes again, looking for the pest. "Did I get it? Did I get it?"
Shi strikes out at the nearest spider doing her best to help the others deal with the vermin so they can continue their search for Lamm.
Magda steps up to stab the nearest one with her spear
Kali tries to take aim at another spider after dispatching one moment ago, but there are now too many people involved in these close quarters and lining up a shot that doesn't hit an ally is near impossible. She groans and pulls her shot low, twanging an arrow into the wooden floor.
Marcus does not bother raising his weapon against such tiny foes, instead, raising his boot and stomping down on them.
The party stomps, stabs, and furiously smooshes the last two spiders, leaving the dank hold of the ship to be examined.
Marcus scrapes off the spider guts from his boot, scanning the area.
Krovax also joins in the search but his hate is blinding him to pretty much everything.
Vera observes the area in search of magic.
Susan peeks out to see what the fuss is about.
Deciding there was no food, she disappears once more.
Shi joins the others looking around for where the alchemist had fled to.
After a little bit of searching, Marcus finds a secret door set in the port wall, cleverly hidden to conceal the spring-loaded trigger under a knot, which he is able to check for traps.
Marcus and Shi search the secret door, but there do not appear to be any traps. Whoever fashioned this likely thought that the clever concealment would serve as sufficiently detrimental. Opening the door, Marcus and the rest of the party see a dimly lit pier leading back to the building
A narrow space exists under the fishery, with about three feet of room between the floor of the eastern side of the building and the languid, foamy river water below. Wooden pilings support the building, and thick mats of moss and cobwebs hang from ropes and rusted chains between them. A wooden walkway floats on the river’s surface, winding along the inner wall of pilings that supports the building’s frame above. The walkway leads from the sodden ship to the east all the way west to a small two-and-a-half-foot-square door that leads into an understructure below the fishery’s land-bound half. The pilings below this understructure are densely arrayed, leaving only narrow gaps into the water below that area.
Vera extends her lights into the area, brightening it considerably.
Krovax and Magda notice the fin briefly emerge from the water, about fifty feet to the south, heading away from the dock.
Marcus slowly makes his way on the dock, scanning the area around him. Traps, ambushes, rotting wood on the dock, anything that could threaten him.
"Hey, um... you at the door. I don't know much about fish, but there is a big one coming your way." pointing out at the water where a fin it closing in.
Shi follows behind Marcus but gives him some room, remembering how the boardwalk above complained about too much weight.
Kali follows in the rear, bow up and ready for trouble. When a fin appears she mutters "Uhhh. There is something moving away from us under the water."
Turning to Shi she asks "Do cats swim fast?"
Krovax follows Marcus along the walkway, keeping an eye on the shark in the water.
"Don't stand too close to each other!" warns Vera, remembering how creaky the other floorboards are.
She steps out and admires the hidden area. "So there was something under here."
Magda will wait with Vera, waiting until the big ones get through the door before getting across the walkway.