Sigrid double moves behind Dimas.
Your last chance to yield She addresses the guard.
Pytheas furrows his brow as the guard chooses to attack instead of either laying down his arms or attempting to flee. So be it, then.
Hermes, forgive me.
The less-burly dwarf steps forward and thrusts his spear into the guard's calf.
Gheorix opens the door rapidly, rushing into the chamber, again attempting to overwhelm whomever may be inside before they can respond.
Alejandro draws his sap and charges in after Gheorix.
The hall/infirmary...
Gheorix rushes into a large room with with six beds in the center and two doors on either wall. A number of bookshelves line the walls and two large tables on the right and left hold various unusual instruments and jars. There are two men near the door where Gheorix bursts in and two others near the tables.
(map is to the far east on the player maps. Far, far east, sorry about the distance.)
The brig...
Pytheas' strike for the calf ends up skewering the man's inner thigh and hitting the femoral artery. The guard passes out immediately from the pain and quickly bleeds out.
Having passed on many a spear, Agripos decides to finally claim one for now--it was more effective than fighting with body strikes alone. Snagging the spear, and also gripping a shield, he starts heading north to lay eyes on what might be around the corner.
Agripos rounds the north corner seeing it turns west and ends at a door he suspects opens onto the guardroom. The cells on this side are empty.
The southeast cell has gear in it, looks like they were using it as a storage closet.
I see loot in the southeast Cell, lets joink it and steal this place! Sigrid announces, Rans symbol on he left shoulder, which looks like Shining brightly as she does so.
Pytheas removes the gory spear from the guard's leg, sighs, and moves his hands over his once-enemies' eyes to close them. So it was.
"Joink? Steal?" Pytheas furrows his brow, not quite understanding the blonde woman. But he turns his head to the southeast and nods. "Perhaps what we came with is here, or at least something better than what we have."
The dwarf moves into the room . With any luck, there will be some dwarf-sized armor in there, and better yet: his axe.
Expropriate, take possession of, steal, rob, claim, loot, Take?
The blonde woman answers
These fiends tried to steal our freedom, our goods, and our lives as well, in my case without provocation or declaration of war, we are well within our rights to steal back what they took and then some!
Sigrid states with some fury.
Just as Lady Ran stole both of Surtr's balls in retaliation for him trying to steal her and make her is bride!
She adds if this reference should be immidiatly obvious to anyone.
Pytheas arches an eyebrow at Sigrid's list of synonyms, but his face comes to rest as she explains her point. He doesn't quite understand her religious reference, but accepts that they follow different gods and have different stories. He wonders, briefly, if Ran is an aspect or face of a god that he knows, the same way that the Romans had Mercury and the Egyptians had Thoth. But there is little time to spare for thoughts of syncretism.
"I'd rather focus on surviving and getting out than determining who is owed what, but I think we're on the same side." He shifts the spear to his left hand and reaches out his right in an offer of friendship. "I'm Pytheas of Massalia, a huntsmaster of Hermes. Who are you, follower of Ran?"
Sigrid κόρη του Leif, ιέρεια, εξερευνήτρια, περιστασιακή αρχηγός απεργίας. She answers in accented but correct greek.
Όπως καταλαβαίνω το πάνθεό σας, ο Ραν είναι εν μέρει Ποσειδώνας, εν μέρει Πάνας, εν μέρει Παλλάδα Αθηνά, αλλά ας ανακτήσουμε πρώτα τη δική σας και τη δική μας
As I understand your pantheon, Ran is part Poseidon, part Pan, part Pallas Athena, but let us regain your and our first!
Gheorix, seeing the two men in front of him again attempts to repeat their success with the guards in the hallway, stepping into the man directly in front of him, and attempting to plant him on the ground with his shield. Aiii!
Pytheas grins. "I elefthería akoúgetai oraía. Stin apelefthérosi!"
In the infirmary...
The younger man goes careening to the ground as Gheorix whacks him with his shield. The other man says, "Whoa, big man. We are healers of the sick, not this." he says waving generally in Gheorix's direction. "Why the sudden attack upon our persons?"
In the brig...
Pytheas finds the door locked. Dimas looking past him says while gesturing down the hall, "T'will be good if we can arm the men."
Down the hall, a rather charismatic man seems to be gathering quite the crowd around himself.
Pytheas frowns. "Well it makes sense that it's locked." Looking at the spear in his hand and considering the lessons of Archimedes of Syracuse. Oh to be considered in the same league! But the spear was no lever long enough to move the world, much less a locked door. But Nichodemus might have the right tools.
The dwarf moves back down the hallway towards where he last saw Nichodemus, but finds his pathway blocked by the growing crowd. He stops to listen.
Unable to understand what they're saying, Alejandro glares at the doctors menacingly to backup whoever is talking to them.
Agripos heads into the guard room to check on the status there. "So, everything still secure?" he asks the folks there in his native Greek.
He wants to make sure the door barricade is holding and that nobody is trying to bust through it. If it seems solid and not under threat, his next step will be to try and strip the armor off the unconscious fellow in that room and put it on himself.
Armor is an excellent idea Sigrid says as she moves to strip the armor of the soldier she killed.
I got too much blood on myself to seduce people.
Oh Ran, gib diesem, deinem Feind ein Asyl in deinen Hallen, wenn ihn seine eigenen Götter verweisen, denn er wusste nicht was er tat.
She invokes a surprisingly soft spoken prayer in Germanic as she quite gently closes his eyes before removing his armor and putting it on.
Gheorix glares at the man who spoke up, and shrugs, keeping his spear trained on the orderly he knocked down. Okay, fair then, Every one of you imperials we've tried talking to has attempted to murder us. I'll give you the benefit. We're trying to reach the brig and we'll be out of your hair. But we can't have you raising an alarm behind us, see?
In the infirmary...
"Well, you don't have to be that way. Obviously you are unfamiliar with the layout of the fortress. There are three main tunnels with one running between them. You are in the aft tunnel. You merely need to take the connecting hall, it will be to your right from here, and make your way to the central tunnel. From there, turn right and it will lead you straight to the brig where your sort belongs." the man says with a shake of his head at the end.
In the brig...
Agripos finds the front door barricaded and barred. The prisoners there report no one has checked with the door yet. One of the men is stripping the armor off the downed guard.
Pytheas tracks down Nichodemus who hands over the keys now that he has opened the occupied cells. They get the southern door open and find various belongings to include regular gear, weapons, and armor.
Gheorix looks to Alejandro and Perblentious, Okay we've maybe got some directions, should we tie this lot up? he asks in Atlantean. Not wanting to waste too much time, he begins looking for a way to secure the medical staff. Right then, we'll be going, just lie down and we're going to secure you and leave you breathing today... and begins to do just that before following the man's instructions toward the brig.
In the brig...
Everyone begins to file over to the now open storage cell. The charismatic man sweeps a bow and says, "I am Captain Christoff of the Ageless Seahawk. I thank you all for your efforts and for springing me and my crew. To everyone here not of my crew, I swear on the air above that I will give you free passage to a location of your choosing should be we make it back to my ship. Now, let's see if they left me my hat and jacket."
For weapons and armor there is very little beyond leather in the storage cell. It seems Captain Christoff's men all had leather jerkins they wish to have back. The Captain swoops up is impressively large hat and long jacket. There are some prisoners who have been here for a while and there stuff does not seem to be present. All Atlanteans find that metal weapons and armor have been taken elsewhere. Bows and staves are about the only thing left behind for weapons. Leather, hide and bone/horn armor are left as well. The guards each had a wooden knife, though it is sharpened to a degree it is primarily a piercing weapon. They each had a short spear as well and were wearing a lacquered wooden armor similar to horn lamellar armor (AC +5 Dex +3 ACP -4 Wgt 30). The pirates are happy with their leather jerkins as is Dimas. The Captain favors his coat. Most of the Atlanteans and the other prisoners are not warrior skilled and defer to the Atlanteans who are when it comes to arms and armor.
In the infirmary...
"Hmm, you're smart for a brigand." the lead surgeon says before sitting as ordered. He waves the other two assistants on over and the one on the ground sits up. One of the assistants asks, "What about the assistants in the other rooms?" To which the surgeon closes his eyes and shakes his head.
Perblentious helps to secure them.
Gheorix smiles at the assistant and winks back at the surgeon with an exaggerated smile, Oh yes, the others, we should go get them as well, right? Do lead on! he moves the assistant that direction as well. Assuming all goes as planned, he'll secure the assistants before addressing the surgeon, See we're smart for brigands because we're not brigands - just some honest traders and ambassadors whom your Imperial troops keep showing their true colors to, and we're just on our way home - but to do that, we need to get through 'you' apparently, so now here we are... with that he shrugs and departs the chamber following instructions to the brig.
While the medicos are being tied up, Alejandro will briefly search the room for communication creatures or anything suspicious, before following the others out of the room.
Captain Christoff: pirate or privateer? It matters little to Pytheas at the moment. He bows his head as well. "Well met, Captain Christoff of the Ageless Seahawk and crew. I am Pytheas of Massalia. Thank you for the offer of free passage. We will as like take you up on that when we escape."
Frowning at the loss of his forged items (as any good dwarf worth the salt in his beard would be upset), Pytheas gets to work donning a set of lacquered wooden armor that looks like it might fit reasonably. Made for a human, it's larger in some places than it needs to be and smaller than others, chafing uncomfortably. But it will do the trick. The dwarf also retrieves his shield.
Once he feels more well-protected (and sufficiently well-armed), he moves towards a door ajar towards the central area. "Shall we attempt to clear in here first?"
In the infirmary...
Gheorix, with the assistant in tow, gathers up the other assistants in the adjoining rooms as well as another surgeon but this one is not as sardonic as the other. Alejandro for his part does find a covered bird cage. A quick peek underneath and he confirms it has a rock fairy. He also finds a jar of slugs, several vials of various liquids labeled in Marolingian (Greek), and two sets of surgeons tools made out of fine steel.
In the brig...
Pytheas looks in the ajar door. The room beyond has a table and chairs and a few cabinets. Across the room is a closed door.
Grumbling quite a bit at not finding her scale armor, bardiche, spiked gauntlets or throwing axes, Sigrid does done a lacquered armor, and now wield a wooden shield, a lacquered armor, and a short spear.
Agripos is grateful to find his Darkwood Shield, leather armor, and most of his supplies, including his holy symbol of Athena. Only his lucerne hammer, cold-iron spear, flint and steel, and iron pot appear to be missing. He arms himself with a short spear and the lacquered armor. The overall outfit was familiar to him, and starting to approach his preferred spear and shield fighting style.
"Captain--we'll gladly fight to escape this place with you on your ship. Are you sure it's still here? Do you know the way back to it?
"They dragged us straight back here about an hour or so ago." The captain answers, "We were hauled down a single large hall. Shouldn't be too hard to find our way back. It may however be difficult to make it there. When do you think you may be ready to head out?"
"Soon," Pytheas says before he enters the room and walks across to the door. There he presses his ear close and listens.
If he doesn't hear anything concerning, he will open the door. If he does hear something beyond, he will go back out and call for backup. If he finds the door locked, he will call for Nichodemus.
Before leaving Alejandro hides the birdcage in one of the cupboards away from where the doctors are tied up.
"Even if the healers do break free, it'll give us some extra time before they alert the whole ship. Their tools were metal, but I reckon they can keep them. I will take these potions though - can you read what they say?"
Ready when you are. Sigrid states with confidence.
I can channel more positive energy to heal if any of your allies are wounded, it seems only Agripos and myself are currently injured? I am not able to exclude enemies from my channels, so they are best used out of combat.
She continues, wearing armor, shield and spear.
Captain, Dumas, Agripos, and 2 more She speaks. If you permit me to lead you in a short prayer to all of our gods, I can grant you greatly increased luck, or the ability to ignore difficult terrain, without needing to touch you to do so. You incurr no debt to me or my deity if you choose to do so, my abilities are mine to use as I see fit, as long as I myself do not violate her edicts.
Please state the god you feel the strongest connection to if you wish to accede.
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"Save your magics--it's only a scratch," says Agripos of his wound. "I pray to the goddess Athena first and foremost," he confirms. And seems prepared to join in the prayers that Sigrid was offering.
In the Infirmary...
The medical staff is bound and the rock fairy hidden. Then you head out down the hall. After reaching the cross hall you come upon the chow hall again. This time you quickly pass the open door and no one seems to pay attention. You even come across a couple of off duty soldiers unexpectedly but they just greet you which Leir responds to and then they keep going. The next cross hall is huge like the previous one. You turn to the right. This part of the main tunnel has something unique, a pair of stairwells leading down. Between the two entrances to the stairwells is a single door that has been left ajar. Muffled talking can be heard coming from the open door.
In the brig...
Pytheas notes that there is a sliding peephole in the door. He can hear movement on the far side of the door and muffled talking. Not muffled due to them trying to be quiet but due to distance.
Dimas and Captain Christoff step up and declare Calitha Starbrow as their patron.
Pytheas returns to Sigrid, Agripos, and the others. "There is someone beyond that door--fairly far beyond. When you are ready, we should proceed there cautiously." When asked about the prayer, he nods. "As I mentioned before, Hermes guides my feet. By your accent...perhaps, he is not too unlike your Odin." The dwarf accedes to the ritual as he thinks on Calitha Starbrow.
Calitha who? Sigrid thinks
"We'll need all the gods and goddesses we can get!" says Agripos in all seriousness.
"Everyone ready? We may need to charge forward as soon as we open these doors." He gives everyone about a half-minute to prepare, and absent any objection will open the door.
In the brig...
Agripos opens the door onto a rectangular room with two doors on either side and one on the far side of the room. This room has a pair of tables as well as a pair of chairs with straps.
To all Gods known and unknown, bless us on this venture, give us strength, speed and endurance to prevail in the flesh, and wisdom, intelligence and charisma to prevail in the spirit, fex our foes with bad luck!
and may Ran ever be amused by our antics.
Perhaps Captain, you may tell me of your goddes and I shall tell of mine? Where we come from, the deities of different peoples are different, but some are quite similar.
Sigrid then moves behind Agripos.
Agripos heads into what looks like an interrogation room. "Charming place. Let's check the doors quickly--looks like storage closets that might have something useful."
He goes for the farthest-away door and opens it.
Alejandro tries to make out the talking, repeating the words to the others for a translation if necessary.
The prayer completed, Pytheas nods and joins Agripos in examining the room further. He likewise attempts to open a door .