"Ah chance ta go where they worship sex?! Ah be a goin' o' couree. Mayhap we kin see a ritual or two. Er...um...Ah mean Ah would be interested in seein' how worshippers o' other Gods go about their business." Donomsail tries to hide her eagerness behind a scholarly facade.
so, she is interested in being my lover...
She holds eye contact with the scared woman the whole time she's unfastening her dress, not looking down until it falls open. Once it does, she lets her eyes wander downwards, where they immediately settle on the bulge in her smallclothes.
by the gods, she does have a d!ck... she's a man... that can't be the whole secret though, she must know by now that I enjoy men too... oh, there's a tail too, I was right about that...
Val unconsciously bites her lower lip as her mind wanders through thoughts about what that bulge might look like uncovered, and what they could be doing with it. As Meiying slides her dress open farther, the buxom brunette's eyes gradually move upwards again. When they reach the three pairs of breasts, they widen a bit in surprise.
six... definitely not a man, not completely anyways... I wonder if all six of them are sensitive... what if I just touch... no, better not push it... that's so strange, but it opens so many possibilities...
She can't help but stare for a moment, but looks back up just in time to make eye contact before Meiying turns away. She doesn't try to stop the frightened woman. Instead she fixes her eyes on where hers will be when she turns back around, and begins unfastening her bodice. Once its completely open she lets it fall to the floor and softly says, "there's a scar right here, on my side... I can get a candle if you can't see in the dark, though I believe you can since you didn't bring one to check on me. The wound is completely healed, but you can feel the scar if you run your finger across it gently..."
Val can't help but chuckle at Donomsail's enthusiasm. As they walk towards the temple she mentions, "I learned several interesting things about their practices on our last visit... if you'd like, I could explain one that Polli might appreciate, on an 'academic' level, of course..."
Marisan takes in the sights of the Calistrian temple with appreciation, though her thoughts are far away, with Pierce Jerrell.
"Er...um...Ah mean Ah would be interested in seein' how worshippers o' other Gods go about their business." Donomsail tries to hide her eagerness behind a scholarly facade.
Before they arrive, Tessa prods Polli "Is there time for reading, Polli? I think there is still a lot of damage to my ship that needs addressing. Do you need some encouragement to get it corrected?" She offers a wink and backs away before things get ugly. "Just teasing, just teasing. Have a splendid afternoon now, mmkay?"
Later once tasks are being handed out, Tessa responds "Go see the Calistrians? Why, I'd love to tackle that task, Captain. Consider it done. Val, will you come with me?"
"Now please, tell me of the vengeance that you inflicted on those that thought to rob our mistress."
"Do you want the long or short version? How about how there were so few parts of their bodies left that we were unable to find all of them to properly burn them?"
~~~~
"Oh, the long version, please," the priestess replies, lifting one foot to top the cushion next to her with a painted toe. "Tell me of their suffering."
~~~~~
Once Tessa finishes her tale of suffering(?), with Dindreann seemingly enjoying it in a quite physical fashion, the priestess arranges her robes back in order. "So, regarding spys in the Shackles," she says returning to business (or at least a different kind of business). "A patron of ours, Jaymiss Keft, claimed to have knowledge of a spy operating in the Shackles. He's a half-elf scrimshander who lives in Drenchport. Talk to him."
When questioned about the Brine Banshee she nods. "I remember the ship. We'd heard that it vanished. However, there's a retired doctor in Ollo named Haneilius Fitch. He claims to have a means to locate her, but needs someone to fund his search."
~~~~~
Spending some time on it, Polli manages to decode the knots in the rope and translate the message contained therein.
"Go to nagas, collect poison and information. Deliver both to the captain of the Diamond Star."
She's aware that the Diamond Star was captured by the Rahadoumi navy 6 months ago. Several months before that, however, the Diamond Star’s captain, Elliece Farhaven, retired — an unusual occurrence, considering her relatively young age. With a few questions in the right ears she finds that Captain Farhaven’s current place of residence is a small fishing boat moored right here in the harbor of Quent.
Polli glares at the berry and mutters to Harmony "She can do without her hair for a week, don't you think? A little humility... Oh don't look at me like that, I won't really do it..."
Later she figures out the knots and explains in detail what they mean. Going along with the captain as Harmony puts questions in the right ears to find out the location of Farhaven. "Young captain retires to a tiny fishing boat?"
"Interesting isn't it?" Harmony replies with a grin. "Let's go visit. We'll take Marisan along in case, but hopefully we can avoid violence."
Marisan nods and falls in behind Harmony.
look at the fire in her eyes, actual fire... she must have have way more demon blood than Donomsail... are we really going to do this... am I really going to do this... I probably would have slept with Mira, if she’d been willing to do it without enchanting me, and she’s fully demonic... Meiying has chosen to serve an angel-goddess, that’s clearly better... plus, as shocking as she is, what are the odds of ever finding another person who could offer the variety of experiences she could...
When the white-haired woman’s look becomes questioning, she softly answers, ”be careful... cold doesn’t bother me as much as it does most people but I’ll burn just as easily if you get too hot.” As she speaks, she steps in a little closer, slowly slides her right hand under the open hanging dress, and gently traces her fingertips up the sides of the three breasts on Meiying’s left side, watching carefully to see if all three seem equally sensitive.
Val smiles as Tessa recounts, and embellishes, the tale of the half-orcs demise, periodically adding comments about how painful a particular wound must have been. Once the priestess has finished her business, the slayer smiles and listens attentively to the information given in payment.
When they leave, she turns to Tessa and asks, ”have you and Cap’n Vi talked at all about that race? I’m sure it’d add to our reputation and if we could find the Banshee and get her fixed in time, or if Polli could figure out how to copy her magic, it seems like we’d be the favorites for sure...”
"One woman on a fishing boat shouldn't be too much of a problem." she frowns anyway, knowing what shouldn't be a problem usually is with them. But she nods and gathers her things.
Tessa turns to Val, shaking her head. "You know, I haven't. To be honest, I sort of forgot about it. I have to you tell you though, I'm quite interested in winning that race."
She throws her arm around Val's shoulder as they walk "So, on another note. Whey did you want to come to the temple with me? You gotta thing for Calistrians or something?"
~~~~~
Harmony, Polli, and Marisan move through the port city to the location of Elliece Fairhaven's boat. It isn't difficult to locate the unnamed craft. It's small with a single tiny cabin. You see no movement aboard and after watching it for a bit and seeing no one coming or going, you decide to investigate.
Inside the cabin is the bludgeoned body of a small winged devil - well and truely beaten to death. The instrument of its demise lies nearby - an ichor-stained anchor.
Marisan picks up the message in a bottle and hands it to Harmony. She is too distracted by the dead devil to notice anything else.
Polli kneels down to inspect the creature "Someone beat this imp to death with an anchor. Who beats someone to death with an anchor?" most of that is obvious of course.
Val laughs and wraps her arm around Tessa's waist in return. "Well, I did thoroughly enjoy my last visit to the temple," she answers the redhead, "several times, actually. And, it never hurts to learn a little more about their customs... especially since I sort of made plans to meet up with one next time we're in Port Peril, although I'm not positive if I'm going to follow through with that at the moment..."
"Mostly though," the slayer concludes with a smirk, "I had to tag along because you're as bad as Polli at knowing when someone is lying to you."
Harmony examines the bottle she's passed, extracts the message and looks at it curiously before sniffing it and tasting it with the tip of her tongue.
"Secret ink." She says with a wince, spitting a couple of times. "One of the oldest tricks in the book too!" Her disgusted face discourages any further questions. "I'll need a flame to read it properly. Otherwise lets get out of here, not much to be learned from this body."
Back on the Siren, with the application of a little heat, the message on the blank parchment is revealed.
Meet me at 4 Creaky Street, Hell Harbor.
Polli looks over Harmony's shoulder at the note, "So are we headed to the lovely Hell Harbor?"
"It seems more likely to be urgent than any other leads." Harmony replies, an opinion that is confirmed when the temple party reports back with what they know.
"Hell Harbor first, then Drenchport based on the charts. It'll be a long trip to Ollo but I'm sure we can find things to do."
Tessa pulls away from Val and throws her a shocked expression on her face "What? I am not. I can easily tell when people are lying to me! It's a sixth sense I have when reading people!" she lies to herself, clearly believing her own words. "I always know what's going on."
"Oh, of course, Cap'n," Val teases, "obviously I was only giving you a hard time..."
- Day 138
Two days in port for repairs and then ten days at sea finds you at Hell Harbor. This is the largest settlement on the island of Devil's Arches. It is ruled by the pirate lord Arronax Endymion, a member of the Pirate Council.
Endymion is a fan of traditional Chelish opera, and the town boasts the Shackles' only opera house, the Three-Horned Hall. It is not clear whether the other residents share his passion for the arts, but those seeking the pirate lord's favour make a point of sitting through performances.
The city takes its name from the numerous imps which live in the area. Pirates established the port town of Hell Harbor in the early years of the Shackles, as the natural harbor is deep and easy to defend. They used limestone from ancient quarries and Ghol-Gan ruins to build tall watchtowers flanking its narrow harbor entrance.
You arrive late in the morning and it doesn't take much effort to find 4 Creaky Street. The building at that address is a warehouse. An empty warehouse, you discover after a bit of exploration, with no indication that anyone's been here in a little while.
"I hate opera." Polli says as she looks about the town. "It's singing with the beauty bellowed out of it." Polli's experiences with it are quite limited and all bad.
"So dead imp on a fishing boat, leads up to the Shackles' own city of Imps. How do we find out more about our lost retired captain?" Polli assumes they didn't sail all the way here to just give up. Not like the Sirens, not one bit.
She'll cast about for magic in the warehouse, just in case.
Polli doesn't detect any magical auras in the warehouse.
”Well, we can start by searching more thoroughly... maybe there’s a clue somewhere in here of what happened?” Val answers, ”or we could try asking around and see if anyone in the area knows anything... that would be work for our captains, I think, since they’re the best at that sort of thing.” As they talk about option, The slayer begins searching the space.
Polli helps with the searching...
...
Unfortunately, even with everyone pitching in, you find nothing in the warehouse itself that could be interpreted as a clue.
"What do you think, Cap'ns," Val asks, "you feel like asking around to see if we can find someone who saw or heard something, maybe have Polli sell some loot while you're at it, or do you want to keep moving towards that doctor and the Banshee?"
Harmony and Tessa spend an hour or so asking around about the warehouse and if anyone has seen anything unusual regarding it, but gain no leads. They do discover that the wareouse is one of many that are owned by Lord Endymion and up until recently it had been managed by a woman by the name of Roweena Kellet, a harbor master. Strangely enough, she's gone missing recently as well. It takes very little effort to gain the location of her residence.
Arriving at the small townhouse, you find that front door has been broken open, and the place has been ransacked. Searching through the chaos produces nothing of note.
followers overthrow them. Of these names, one stands out: Arronax Endymion, whose entry has only a dash, rather than a number, after to his name.
Scribbled at the bottom of the last page is a single line: "Send with Corlan."
Harmony goes straight to the woman's office and sifts carefully through her paperwork. Unlike many of her officers she knows just how many clues can be found in a paper trail.
Her persistence is rewarded when she finds a very interesting ledger... humming softly to herself as she does so.
"Someone is trying to bribe the pirate lords..." She says slowly, "Or get them overthrown... it appears Endymion isn't for sale though. And who is Corlan?"
Val aids Harmony in searching the office. She waits relatively patiently while the captain reviews the ledger, keeping her bow in hand in case they are interrupted.
"Didn't you say this woman was working for Endymion?" she asks after Harmony's report. "Is he not for sale because he's against whatever this is, or because there's no need to buy someone involved in it?"
Polli gives Harmony grudging respect at her linguistic skill. And considers the question, who was Corlan.
With the majority of the investigation going over the brawler's head, Marisan simply follows along quietly.
With a little more asking around, you find that Corlan is the name of a local tengu smuggler as well as his place of residence. The small dwelling in the middle of the docks district is easily located.
A knock at the door is eventually answered by a skinny, black-feathered tengu - Corlan, you assume.
"What do you ...? crwwkkk ..." His question is cut short as a crossbow bolt appears as if by magic in his chest. He coughs a bit of blood and then crumples to the floor.
Combat Begins!
Round 1
Tengu are interesting. Bird people, some capable of flight, she's heard whispers. Polli has never really had the opportunity to study their anatomy, only read a book on the matter. Her scientific mind is whirling while her pragmatic one is frowning with a How the Hell are you going to ask 'Hey, can I study your body for a few minutes?' without pissing off it and a pretty little crimson cleric she adores.
And then as if wishes were actually answered, a crossbow bolt appears in its chest. Yes there is a little guilt mixed in with the wide-eyed interest, but it isn't like she fired that thing...
"Go faster" she waves her hand and snaps out arcane words to infuse her crewmembers with greater speed, then rushes over to kneel at her subject/the victim.
”There!” Val shouts as she quickly sizes up the enemy to the west and begins firing arrows to demonstrate its position.
[Dice=Perception]1d20+4[/]
Donomsail looks about trying to figure out where the bolt came from but is quite happy when it is pointed out by Val. She notes the distance and understand that Valeria is the only one able to threaten him right now, therefore her job is to keep the Slayer alive.
"Gozreh, Ah vra dat julle Valeria teen die boute van daardie moordenaar moet beskerm!"
Casting Shield of Fortification:
"Tessa, Marisan, get in close and cut off his retreat!" Harmony orders, casting a spell as she does so. Tessa winks out of visibility, as does everyone near her. "Get to it and stay close together!" Harmony commands, before moving through the front door and slamming it behind her and Polli.
Inside, and out of arrow-shot, she kneels.
"Does this need magic Polli?"
Polli was bending quizically over the prone tengu, examining the wound, when she notices Harmony, "Oh! yes, I'd imagine that will help him significantly." leaning further and checking under him quickly "I'll push it through and then you heal as quickly as you can."
Two of Valeria's arrows find their mark with grunts of pain as the slayer's reward. Polli places a spell of speed on her companions. Donomsail blesses Valeria and Harmony causes Tessa and those around her vanish before pulling some of the others inside.
Based on the position of the crossbow bolt and the immense amount of blood that is soaking the tengu's feathers, Polli surmises that the bolt hit him right in the heart. He's dead. She also notes a sticky substance on the missile. Poison perhaps?
As she's readying to draw again, Valeria feels a stabbing pain as another crossbow bolt sinks into her shoulder.
"s$%& f&+~" Polli looks over the body at Harmony, her frown a sad one mixed with anger "We should take the shooter alive... if we can." she says softly.
"This is beyond ridiculous." Harmony replies. "An assassin, that can shoot him in the heart, does so just as we arrive to ask questions. This is not a coincidence."
"Take him alive!" She roars, opening the door a crack.
As the door is cracked, Polli looks out, waves her fingers, speaks her words and casts ablative barrier on Marison. "Go get that a#+&+$*, warrior queen of the Sirens."
Donomsail sees another bolt pierce Val's skin and casts another spell to help protect her from the mini-missiles of death. "Gozreh, gebruik die geloof om Valeria te beskerm."
Val winces and grits her teeth angrily as the bolt bites into her flesh and a burning sting radiates out from it.
As Tessa and Marisan's footsteps echo off towards the assassin's position, Val continues to loose arrows at the poisoner.