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"Scylla?!" Even though the rest of you could tell that Arion was trying to throw the merchant captain off, the fact that a Scyallan had so recently closed off Light's End brought alarm to Ridger's portly face. "Y– you c– can keep the body. We were just supposed to give him a ride, nothing more. We don't want any trouble with Scylla, honest!" Rolls:
Captain Ridger blinked twice, as he tipped his teacup towards his waiting lips only to miss and spill its contents in his lap. Paling visibly, mouth agape, he turned to look at his crew and the older Setenbori man who just rubbed her forehead and grumbled something unintelligible. "B– whu–" Shoulders slumping, he groaned, "Bugger me, he read my mind?!"
"Well, no offense to the crimson corsair," Captain Ridger began, "but the man knew the passphrase and disguise magic isn't such an uncommon thing. My employer said 'no questions' so I didn't ask any. It's as simple as that really." As he began sipping his tea again, Coley began humming a short tune to himself. Sense Motive DC 25 (Amelia, Arion):
You have the feeling that the captain is being honest, although there is perhaps another reason why he didn't care about it. Arion:
You get the feeling that the captain is being honest, and furthermore that he was more than a bit uncomfortable with the request and really didn't want to know the story behind it — if only for his own sake.
At mention of the passphrase, the captain began humming as an annoying rhyme kept repeating over and over in his thoughts. "Have you, sir, a bed not smelly? Why right this was into my belly!" Rolls: Sense Motive Checks:
There was further protest from the older Setenbori man, but Ridger simply rolled his eyes and slid his hand closer to pat Lureene's. "Suffice it to say, my men are a bit apprehensive about upsetting our employer, but being as his company is stamped on every last barrel in our hold, I'm sure a smart, beautiful, enchanting..." He paused for a moment, one fist propping up his chin while the other caressed Lureene's slender fingers. When at last she reminded him about the rice barrels, he snapped out of it and said, "Oh right, well the young lord himself sent a messenger with the request. Made sure I committed it to memory and then burned it even. 'Toni Catone' was the name we were given, just supposed to give him a lift to Freetown with no questions asked, and no royal entanglements." Ahmranai:
Yet as the man went on, recollecting the physical description he'd been given, Amhranai had the unsettling feeling that she'd seen such a fellow before. Just this morning in fact. After taking a long sip from his teacup, Captain Ridger tried to make chit-chat, asking brightly, "So, what interest do the Freebooters have in that lad anyway? Desserter? Runaway slave? Scorned lover?"
"Ourson..." the Captain said with a contented sigh, "Well, Miss Ourson the Sprite doesn't generally take on passengers, being as we don't have room and all, but 'Toni' was sort of a courtesy — to a long-time customer, you might say. Not that said customer didn't exactly make it worth our while, mind you." Further back in the room, one of the other crewmen started griping suddenly in a foreign tongue, and Ridger nodded in agreement. "True, true, it would have been nice if he had actually made it on time and matched the description we were given, but he still knew the pass-phrase. Why, if he'd been on time, we might not have met this lovely miss!" A groan of disappointment followed from the Setenbori man who had complained earlier, but Coley only smiled and laughed, helpless in the face of Lureene's charms. Rolls: Sense Motive Checks:
"G– g– bblpt!" There was a loud sputter followed by the sound of choking as Captain Ridger very nearly drowned in his teacup. After one of his slack-jawed crewmen got him to clean himself up with a handkerchief, he stammered, "Oh, why ah– *cough* please, call me Coley, Miss...?" Even as Arion stood by, scanning the Captain's thoughts, he noted (with perhaps some amusement) that Lureene's ploy was so disarming, the captain offered no resistance to his mental probes whatsoever. Little surprise then that he also D-scerned that there was only one thing on Ridger's mind... well, a pair of somethings to be more precise. Rolls: success
"Acid?!" the captain exclaimed. "Now hold on just a minute! I know the Freebooter's Code, and disfigurement and destruction of property, when no attempt has been made to shirk tribute, is strictly against Confederation charter. I call upon your captain for parlay!" Rolls:
"Do I know who he is?" The Captain hesitated, glancing past the grim elf to where the dwarf was hauling his prisoner back to the pirate ship. Behind him followed the succubus, her hands full of gear she had stripped from the man. Shaking his head emphatically, he said, "Never seen him before until today. Said his name was Toni Catone and that he was bound for Freetown." Amhranai:
While you don't think he's lying outright, you get the sense that Captain Ridger isn't telling you the whole story. For one thing, there's still that discrepancy on the passenger manifest that had originally listed 'Toni Catone' as being white, and the fact that the vessel delayed departure for almost 2 hours waiting on him. Rolls:
As Lureene began to strip the as-yet unknown prisoner of any magic items, Amhranai addressed the man she presumed to be Captain Ridger, who now knelt trembling before her. "Explain what's going on?" He protested, voice cracking. His fat fingers were white-knuckled, clutched the brim the hat he held to his chest, having removed it as a sign of respect. "I have no idea what's going on! We were just hauling rice and farm equipment to Freetown when you attacked us! Look, if it's tribute you're after there's a lockbox in the cabin, we'll pay whatever we've got!" |
