Island Investigation

[Avianmosquito]

The restaurant is a quiet, polite one. It's clearly expensive, so much so it seems likely a glance at the menu would give you chills, and only two tables have people sitting at them. The room has dark brown velvet drapes, a tan and brown patterned carpet, mahogany furniture and real leather booths. Even the windows are filled with stained glass depicting events of religious significance. It is clear that this restaurant caters to the very rich.

The maitre d' glares at you as you enter, and directs you towards a table in the back where an extremely large man in a fine suit is sitting. He is easily over six feet tall and a solid three hundred and fifty pounds, and looks to be in his late forties at the earliest. Concerns about his health aside, he has a smile on his face mustached, beardless face despite being here at least an hour. Patience of that variety is hard to come by. He is wearing a fine red kaftan and still has his kalpak firmly on his head despite being at a restaurant and in his booth. This is probably the client.

The man next to him is wearing a dress shirt with suspenders and slacks, his double-breasted coat sitting next to him, all seeming to be made of a fine linen. The automatic handgun on his hip stands out as well, especially with its unusually large size. He's currently putting out a cigarette, and seems to be sampling the restaurant's assuredly very expensive liquor. Brandy, by the smell of it.

The client notices you and waits politely for you to arrive, his menu folded in front of him, and gestures to a basket of matzo in front of him. "You must be the team. Good, good. Come, come, sit down. Or up, rather.". His short joke is about as funny said as written. "Feel free to order anything you like, it's on me. Though if I may recommend, the adana kofte here is delightful, and the shiraz is far better than you'll find at any temple.". He is unnervingly friendly for a wealthy employer. "Mister Nordenstein, why don't you introduce yourself?", says the fat man to the PI who is far too busy lighting another cigarette to respond at the moment. His manners seem... Less than optimal.

[WindStruck]

Fiona fluttered into the fancy restaurant with the others, cat discreetly slinking in to follow her. She smiled with a wave to the host but he didn't seem happy at all to see them.

She plops into a chair, not even able to be at eye level with the table, and she gets the short joke with a grin and a very brief, dry laugh before deciding to maybe sit on her knees instead.

"Oh, that sounds good. What is that?" she asks, casually skimming through the menu. A lot of the items looked quite unfamiliar to her. Then again, her vocabulary in the Marakiz language wasn't the best.

She flashes another award-winning smile to the man who must be the investigator, preoccupied as he currently is. As everyone begins to settle in, she compulsively grabs a matzo and starts nibbling on it, while giving her attention to the others, the client, and the menu. Hm. The asparagus sounded good.

[Kish]

Risa, content to let the others do the talking, sits down quietly and doesn't take food yet, though she summons a smile in the unlikely event that the tall man looks at her.

[Avianmosquito]

The man almost loses track of business for a moment. "Oh, it's a spiced kebab.", he says, immediately realizing the little pixie might not know what that is either. "It's this wonderful appetizer with tenderized, spiced meat on a stick. I've always enjoyed spicy food, but not too spicy, and the ones here hit it just right. It's why I always do business here, though I really shouldn't be focusing on the food.", he chuckles a bit, as the waitress arrives and begins taking orders.

It's about this point the investigator clears his throat. "My name's ****. I was a police detective up north in the Gnomtäler, I'm a professional and I have a high success record. I came down here fairly recently to work as a private detective, my reasons are my own, but I need to stress to you I am not a soldier. I have only discharged my weapon in the line of duty on two occasions, and one of them was a mistake. I will be relying on you two if a fight does happen, and in matters concerning safety I will follow your judgement. Just let me do my job, and I'll make yours as easy as I can. And I'll have the falafel and shiraz. Leave the bottle.".

"Oh yes, where are my manners? My name is Ihsan Uzun." The client shakes out of his food trance at this, remembering he has business. Something about him seems more acute than this idiotic personality he's been putting out thus far. "Yes, that is the case. And it would have been if my first instincts had been an option. This trade outpost was important to me, over half my fortune is on the line. I had wished to go personally but my captain, Calder, he wouldn't have it. He told me he thought if I set foot on his deck I would fall through, but I know Calder. He was not willing to allow me to risk my life and his paycheck, and while his motivations were selfish his assessment was accurate. In age and wealth I have certainly let myself go, and the gout has been hitting me rather hard. So as much as it pains me, I feel I must pass this duty on to you.".

**** gives Ihsan a curious look at the fat man continues. "Now, I did give quite a lot of information to your employers, but I don't know what of it got passed on to each of you. Do you have questions for me?".

[WindStruck]

"I'm Fiona Firefingers! Haha, I guess it's not my real name or really that creative. I'm not even that famous yet. But I will be, you'll see!"

She smiles up at the waitress. "I'll take your asparagus dish. Not the chicken one. Do you have anything sweet to drink?"

Once the unrelated food business was sorted out, on to the job. "I can understand, Mr. Nordstein. I'd hope you'd never have to fire that thing. Well, I'd hope there'd be no reason for you needing us anyway..." she shrugged.

Looking at her very large client more seriously, she began, "In your letter, it was mentioned that the ships never returned... there may be some explanations for this. Pirates? A nasty storm? Competitors? Or just sheer negligence? But there's also a possibility that your sahuagin friends were to blame... are you aware of any grievances they may have had? Or for that matter, do you have any enemies that might want to ruin your operations there?"

[Avianmosquito]

The waitress, confused for a moment at the vague request from Fiona, writes "moscato" on her notepad and leaves. The investigator puts out his cigarette and turns to face the little pixie, one eyebrow as cocked as it can get. "How old are you, anyway?".

Dismissing the question from ****, Ihsan goes ahead and begins to answer Fiona. "I was in communication with the sahuagin chieftan at the time. The ships did arrive and had just begun to unload hand tools when I lost contact. I think piracy, storms and negligence can be ruled out. I also don't think the people who just made such a lucrative deal with us would turn on us so quickly, especially since I know the chief personally." He takes a deep breath, and his voice starts to waver. "He was quite old, you know. It's why at first I thought he had simply died. He was starting to become senile, just enough we often needed three or four sending spells for a proper reply when we used to only need the one. He had a hard time remaining cohesive, and hearing his condition worsen..." He pauses for a moment, takes another deep breath, and returns to the subject at hand. "Piracy and hostile action from competitors are my chief concerns. I'm certain there are other possibilities, but those seem most likely to me. Please, find out what happened. And if you can do anything for my sahuagin allies, I will reward you additionally for it.".

[WindStruck]

Fiona gave the investigator a coy smile, though before she could answer - if she was going to answer at all - Ihsan intervened.

"...that sounds sad. How long had you known the chieftain? It sounds like his mind was deteriorating quickly.. which... I don't know. Doesn't sound right." She considered that it wouldn't be so suspicious if maybe they had known each other for decades. Maybe they were actually really good friends? It was hard to tell.

"Anyway, I know the investigation isn't really my job.. I'm just curious though. What was the very last things you two said to each other? Is it very sensitive?"

Just then, for maximum annoyance, the cat infallibly jumps up onto the table and started nosing things, coming dangerously close to knocking a glass over, it seemed.

"Kiwi! ...uh, be careful! ..Please!" Ever since the cat became far more intelligent, it seemed vaguely susceptible to reasoning and pleading. Sometimes. But it seemed the feline all but ignored the Fiona and gazed at the investigator intently....

Commanding Gaze: DC 8 will save or be compelled to pet the cat.

[Avianmosquito]

Ihsan is momentarily distracted by the cat, but snaps out of it. "I met the man for the first time almost thirty years ago. Back when I was in shape, and he was just now the new leader of his tribe. He took a real risk doing business with us, and I respected him for that, but I made sure my people always respected their customs and he made sure his people always honored our agreements. The last thing I said was that I was glad to hear the unloading was going smoothly, and hoped there would be as much ore in the mountain as our prospectors believed. And then... Nothing. That's how I knew something was wrong. Normally, he was very diligent about replying, like he couldn't stand to waste it, even when he had nothing much to say. He was always one to make the most out of every opportunity.".

It's at this point, the waitress comes back with a bottle of shiraz for ****, a glass of moscato for Fiona, and a bowl of water for Kiwi, which she waves in front of the cat and sets on the floor. Of course, she isn't aware that the cat is a familiar. "Your food will be out momentarily.", she says as she departs. "If you could be on your way after that, we'd appreciate it. We have a no-pets policy, and we're making an exception right now.".

[WindStruck]

Disappointed, and quickly becoming disinterested and bored, the cat flicks its tail idly and continues to monitor the conversation. If she could say 'get lost' to the waitress with just a look, she would as well.

Fiona nodded to the waitress morosely. Of course such a fancy restaurant wouldn't like pets. Or maybe they would, if their patron was wealthy enough. Well, thankfully they weren't kicking her out on the spot. Quite frankly, she was surprised they weren't making a stink about her just because of the way she was dressed.

She looked back over to Ishan, thinking for a moment. This wouldn't be something easy to figure out at all, just by talking about it here. "I see... tell me, Mr. Uzun... if you fear it may be pirates or a rival company, will we have adequate defenses to protect against such attacks? I mean.. while we were hired to protect Mr. Nordstein, we can only do so within reason. Taking on a whole fleet of pirates or a company of hostile mercenaries would be unreasonable for just two people."

[Avianmosquito]

Ihsan grins, sensing an opportunity to brag. "Oh yes, I'm sending you on the Weġfarend, a dwarven ironclad frigate I purchased from the privateer Calder, who is still the ship's captain. You will be defended by two inch iron plating and forty 18-pounder long guns. The ship has .94-calibre gatling guns as well, intended for deck sweeping but more than adequate for anti-personnel use if the need arises. And should this ship itself be unable to assist, perhaps Calder or his first mate Asta can assist you instead. Their job is to manage the ship and keep it safe, so they aren't required to help, but perhaps you can convince them if you run into something beyond your ability.".

****, taking an opportunity to live up to his name, mutters under his breath. "Well, that probably won't take much.".

[Avianmosquito]

Continue here, in case this site proves me right:
https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/166162-d-d-3-5e-sahuagin-investigation/ooc

[Kish]

Risa watches, listens, and eats in silence.

[WindStruck]

Fiona blinked at the man. All the armor and weapons the ship had seemed incomprehensible to her. But it sounded very dangerous.

Then, when **** muttered something, she shot a look at him. A smile again, but curious, lips closed, almost in a smirk. "I guess you'll have to thank me later."

She turned back to Mr. Uzun and said, "Just a few more questions, if you don't mind. First, what was the chief's name? I feel like it would be important to know it. Second, let's suppose he died, someone else took over, and they don't like you. Are there any other terms you are willing to offer in order to get your business over there going again? Last, would you like to receive word of what we find immediately via the sending spell?"

[Avianmosquito]

The man tilts his head very slightly. "Yes. Can you cast sending? If not, we have scrolls on the ship. They should be near the potions, ask Asta.". The plate touching down in front of him diverts his attention only briefly. "Suma'Thet was his name, as I knew him. It's a title, replaces their birth name. The new one will be Suma'Thet too, if there is a new one. They don't even number them. Seems awfully oppressive to me, but they take it as an honor.". The plates arriving for everyone else end the conversation entirely. "Unfortunately, we need to hurry. I have another meeting in an hour...", he pulls out his watch to check. "...And 43 minutes. Internal, at my office.".

[WindStruck]

The food came, and the conversation quickly ebbed away. Ishan had to be somewhere soon, and the restaurant staff wanted Fiona and her cat out as soon as possible anyway.

She manages to eat most of her food, seeing as it was meant mainly as only an appetizer anyway, and samples some of the wine the waitress brought her.

"Thanks again, Mr. Uzun. If you think of anything else, please try and catch us before the ship leaves," she says, another warm smile upon her face.

[Avianmosquito]

Ihsan smiles as he climbs into his coach, despite obvious pain from his gout. "Failing that, sending!", he shouts as his coach leaves. "That man was very, very fat.", the PI adds nonchalantly as he puts his coat on. "Nice, though. I didn't expect that. I'm going to go board the ship early, are you two coming with me? We've only got about four hours anyway and it'll take us one to get there.".

[WindStruck]

"Sure, why not. I guess I haven't got anything better to do," Fiona says.

She looks at Risa, who hadn't said a thing the entire time. "Are you coming?"

[Kish]

"Sure." She shrugs at Fiona's look.

[Avianmosquito]

As the party progresses towards the docks, they become aware of an increasing presence of a different variety of people than they've seen so far. Poor, dirty, wearing ragged clothing, and not just the kind you'd normally expect from members of the lower classes. They have a dark complexion, don't seem to speak Marakiziy and are carrying bags with them, suggesting they are homeless. They're frightened, poor and seem vaguely suspicious of passers by. Fiona knows enough to tell these are refugees from the goblin territories, probably from farther east where they had few other places to turn. From here, you can see a boat in the dock with two police officers nearby, where more people are presently unloading, three of them right now. To the party's left can be sees a sign that reads "Refugee camp: One mile".

Many sounds of desperate people speaking in the goblin language are abundant, but one stands most of all sounds vaguely important: A young man, shouting, and although there's a lot of background noise Risa can make him out. "No, you can't do this! I didn't do anything, leave me alone!", though who he's yelling at is harder to tell, Fiona can hear what sounds to be a police officer chastise the man. "I didn't say you did, moron. Now get back and let me do my job.". Risa spots him in an alley, but can barely make him out at the distance but it's clear he is very large, easily taller than the man and seems quite muscular. There is a bobby next to him, hunched over a large bag. Suddenly the bobby stands up, drawing his pistol and the man move in towards him. A tiny goblin rolls out of the bag and tries to run, while the large man gives the bobby a hard left hook in the kidney. Despite this, the bobby fires his pistol, missing the fleeing child wildly. The large man throws another punch that the officer ducks, and another three that all find their marks on the officer's liver, chest and the side of his head. Fiona can hear the crack of his skull from a block away, and the blood splatter doesn't inspire confidence. It doesn't seem he's going to survive another round of this.

[WindStruck]

Fiona, curious and nosy as ever, was still trying to process events even as she instinctively began flying over to the fighting in the alley.

"Hey, what's going on?!" she yells, even though it was blatantly clear one man was beating the other to a bloody pulp. The real question was why.

Trying to think, the officer just tried to shoot.. what looked like a child. Was he a murderer? An attempted murderer? But what about this other man? Suddenly Fiona felt like she was getting involved in something way over her head, but she didn't think she could stay by and do nothing.

"Please.. please stop this."

[Avianmosquito]

The bobby, startled, tries to step back away from the man and draw his baton, but takes one last straight shot in the chest and finally goes down, coughing and bleeding on the ground. The man, noticing Fiona, turns to her. He steps back from the dying officer and takes a deep breath. The tiny goblin child runs over to him, hugging his leg tightly for comfort. Sighing, the large man answers between heavy breaths. "I... He tried to kill Johari. I thought we'd be safe here long enough to board a ship for the north, but neither of us speaks Boreal, and we were trying to think about where to go next when he came by and heard us talking.".

Now that they're closer and it's calmed down, it's easy to get a look at them. The man stands about 5' 11" and 210lbs, and is built like a heavyweight boxer. The medal on his oversized belt suggests that is exactly what he is, and an at least somewhat successful one, which explains why his punches so easily reduced a man to this state. The child next to him is clearly a goblin, a tiny one of about six years, and she stands at 1' 6" and 11lbs. Both are wearing clothing of plain leather, the man with an overcoat, and neither seem to have much of anything in their posession. The child does have a knife on her hip, but it's a little toothpick appropriate for her size.

The man, calming down, asks the inevitable question. "Can you help us? I just killed a cop and she's undocumented, we need to get out of the country now. We don't have much, but I'll give you my pugilist's belt.". The child, Johari, speaks up. "We'll give you all our money too, but it's less than a pound. Please miss, it's all we have to offer. It's only a regional championship belt, but it's still enchanted and it should sell for a fair price. If you have a ship we can take, or a train, or a coach, something. Anything, please!". The desperation was apparent even before they spoke.

[WindStruck]

Fiona frowned, because nothing tugs at the heartstrings like a child begging.

"I wish I could help. Maybe... I might have an idea..."

She looked down at the bloodied dying bobby. "Why was he trying to kill her??" She flew closer and landed nearby, trying to get a closer look. She doubted he was dead. Yet.

[Kish]

Risa runs after Fiona when she moves toward the fight. "Maybe. Think they've been told to expect exactly three people at the frigate?" she asks Fiona. "Either way, come with us. We'll figure something out, and we can't take your money."

[WindStruck]

Fiona looks up and smiles at Risa. "I was thinking the same thing." She asks the large man, "Do you two want to head south? Way way south, I think..."

[Avianmosquito]

"As long as it isn't to the Holy Empire or back into the Goblin States, that's better than where we are now.", answers the man. The child nods in enthusiastic agreement. "Yeah, just somewhere away from the war, where the humans won't try to kill us.", she adds, hugging him tighter. "I'm Johari, by the way. This punch-drunk oaf is Thimba.". Thimba acts offended by her playful jab, but the grin gives it away as he puts the child back in his duffel bag.

**** takes a look at the officer, examining his injuries. "I know he tried to kill you, but this man is going to die in about two minutes if he doesn't get medical attention. And I can't sit here and let a cop die, I just can't do it." He takes a handkerchief out of the cop's pocket and rips it almost in half, tying it and his own like a bandage around the man's head. He manages to get it tight, under the circumstances, and between that and applying manual pressure manages to stop the bleeding long enough for the bandage to keep it stopped. "I think that'll do it. No sense letting a man die when he's not a threat anymore.". He opens the officer's coat. "I see two healing potions in here and a defensive potion. Are we taking them, giving them to him, or leaving them here? I'd recommend the latter, but I'll let you two make the decision. Other than that, I see ten quid and his weapons. I'll take the note, call it an ******* tax."

[Kish]

Risa levels a flatly disbelieving look at **** before saying, "I'm sure the next child he tries to kill will appreciate your delicacy." She grabs the potions; if Fiona, ****, or either of the two rescuees shows any interest in any of them, she'll readily hand over one healing potion and the defensive potion, keeping one healing potion for herself.

[WindStruck]

Fiona shrugs. "I don't care... I don't want him to die needlessly, but I don't want him killing children either. Well, maybe he'll learn his lesson."

She sighed and said, "We should just get out of here before anyone else comes. Richard, Risa, you take them to the ship. As for me, I'll be right with you, but I do think I'd only attract more unnecessary attention."

Fiona instantly vanishes.

She'll appear again before they board the boat.

[Avianmosquito]

The ship, thankfully, is only a couple blocks away. The trip is quick, though likely quite uncomfortable for the little girl, and is uneventful. When they finally arrive, they are greeted by a young human woman in plate, with a rapier and a dagger on her hips. She's a brunette, with a short, braided ponytail and hazel eyes, her steel plate and her weapons seem to be of very high quality and draped with blue linen embroidered with silver. On her left side, a decorative-looking asymmetric silver pauldron bears an eagle crest, and another sits upon her chest, suggesting she is of noble lineage. What a noblewoman is doing as a privateer remains to be seen, but she bows politely to the party as they approach and greets them in a thick Dwarven accent, making her place of origin unambiguous. "Hello. I am Asta, first mate of this ship. You must be Ihsan's... Three guards? I was under the impression we were only expecting two.". Thimba, smartly, keeps his mouth shut. So does the baby in his bag. **** goes a step further, bows slightly to the woman and walks directly past her onto the ship. It's clear he's sailed on this vessel before. "Well, his manners certainly haven't improved. And you three are?".

[WindStruck]

Fiona smiles with a laugh. "Three guards? Yup! Of course there's three of us, not including the investigator Mr. Nordstein. They must have gotten confused and said three total or something..."

"I'm Fiona." Then the Siamese cat meows loudly staring at the noble woman intently. "And my cat won't really count, right? But she's more of a ... familiar, not a pet..."

[Kish]

"Risa. And this is Thimba. Pleased to meet you," Risa says.

[Avianmosquito]

"Yeah, uh-huh.", she says, not buying it for a second. Asta starts up the plank while waving for everyone to follow. Asta leads you to the captain's cabin and opens the door. "Go on inside, the captain wanted to speak with you. I believe it's about the pecking order.". She steps back, pulling Thimba aside and letting the two of you walk right in. She starts talking to him, quietly, and it doesn't seem to be hostile.

Inside the cabin sits a gruff-looking dwarf with piercing blue eyes and a bushy white beard. He's tall and thin for a dwarf, a solid 4' 5" and 170lbs, but that's still 13 inches shorter and 30lbs heavier than his female subordinate. He's wearing a light green robe that seems water-resistant is clearly covering a byrnie, likely to slow corrosion. He has a sword, a dagger and a revolver on him, and in front of him sits a very large bottle of rum, likely 2/5ths, shot glasses arranged for both of you and one for himself, already poured. "Come in, sit down. Each of you have a drink, and listen to me very carefully.".

[WindStruck]

This whole thing looked real serious now. Seemed Asta completely knew she was lying about Thimba as well. Was she already in trouble for this?

She sits down quickly, her tiny stature only faring slightly better for furniture sized for dwarves, quietly murmuring a "Yessir.." Kiwi jumps up and lays in her lap, staring down the captain like a new competitor.

Fiona doesn't touch a shot glass just yet.

[Kish]

Risa sits down, takes one of the glasses but doesn't drink from it, and looks at the dwarf expectantly.

[Avianmosquito]

Calder takes his shot, glaring at both of you. "Alright, the first thing you need to understand is that I am the captain. This is my ship. If you don't want to follow my rules, you can get off and I don't care if there's land in sight when you do.". His glare is pretty strong. "You are my passengers, so I don't expect you to work, but I do expect you to follow orders and stay out of the crew's way. And if we come under attack, I expect you to pull up your panties and get out there. And that's important, because heading the way we are, we WILL be attacked at least once. Maybe by some halflings who found out how the civilized folks treat the slaves they sold them; maybe by some lizard savages who think our metal fish is an affront to their religion; maybe it'll even be by some sahuagin, because not all of them are so fond of Mr. Uzun's little trading scheme. Whatever it is, you drop what you're doing and you get out there right away, got it? If it takes you more than one minute to get into the fight, I'm going to take you by the legs and use your face to mop the bird **** off my deck.". Calder pours himself another shot. "Are we clear?".

[WindStruck]

Fiona nods. "Yes captain. Though I reckon when we actually have to fight, you'll never see me. So be aware of that."

[Kish]

"Of course, Captain," Risa says blandly.

[Avianmosquito]

Calder doesn't smile. "Now listen, little girl. I don't care if you're visible or not, if we get attacked you are fighting. The only one I don't want fighting is your stupid cat, and I want that cat eating a rat within the day. Now all of you, take the damn shots and get out of my office.". He seems genuinely insulted nobody had drank any of the liquor. It is probably a dwarven thing. "We're leaving the dock in three min...", Calder trails off as he notices the ship has already taken off. "I need to fix that clock.".

Asta is waiting outside, with Thimba, Johari and two sailors. They seem to be trying on uniforms.

[Kish]

Risa drinks the liquor and turns to leave the room. She waves to Thimba.

[WindStruck]

"Wha, is that one of your rules??" Fiona asks. "I just had something to drink a little while ago and I don't want to--"

*clinkink*

The cat had made a quick leap to the table and, it appears, intentionally knocked over the shot glass.

Invokes ability, Lesser Annoyance!

"Kiwi! Oh no, I'm sorry Captain Calder! She doesn't like it when people call her stupid!"

Fiona tries to clean up the mess as quickly as possible using Prestidigitation before the captain tries to rip her or the cat's head off. Meanwhile the cat itself is staring the captain in the eyes, with zero respect for his authority.

[Avianmosquito]

The captain scowls as the mess is cleaned. "Fine. I won't waste any more rum on you. Now get OUT.". He takes another shot for himself and goes back to reading the unfortunately large stack of documents in front of him.

On the outside, it's pretty clear Thimba and Johari are being fitted with uniforms now. Asta turns to speak to you. "Well, good to see you made a better first impression than our last set of passengers. **** still avoids Calder like the plague. Still, I took your stowaways and they explained to me what was going on. We don't do unpaid passenger jobs, but we could use more crewmen. Thimba will be a boiler-room worker, and the other boxers on the ship will be sure to beat him senseless.". Thimba grins hearing that, relieved that he gets to return to his calling, at least on the side. "Johari will be a cabin girl, and I'm sure our current cabin boy will like her even if she is a quarter of his size.". Johari, meanwhile, seems slightly apprehensive, and voices his concerns. "But... I left my boyfriend back home, I don't know if I'm ready to move on!". This earns her a bemused headrub from Thimba, mussing up her hair.

The ship seems to be slowly crawling its way out of the harbor, right now coming up on a massive screw-propelled ironclad nearly twice her length. Asta's eyes light up as she sees it. "People, I present to you the pride of the UNM fleet, the Colossal. She's a brand new, state of the art ironclad battleship, 300ft long with a displacement of over 9,000 tonnes with five inch thick iron plating. She's packing twelve massive turret-mounted 8-inch long guns and sixteen 68-pound guns on each side. She has yet to serve in battle, but there are only four other ships in her class today, one of which is my homelands' DNS Mjölnir, which is even larger and more powerful. And yet, BOTH of these ships are faster than the Weġfarend, and she was fast for her day.". She sighs a little when the obvious hits. "As strong as our little Weġfarend is, she is only a frigate, and she's pushing 30. Even in the realm of piracy, we couldn't compete any longer. It'll happen to them too, someday, and I don't think it'll take as long for them as it did for us.".

[WindStruck]

Fiona does indeed try to get out of the captain's hair as soon as possible, all but hefing the stubborn cat away and out of the office. She eventually sets her back down on the deck once sure she won't mess with the grumpy dwarf anymore.

"Hey, sorry Asta.." Fiona said morosely. "Well I guess since they told you what was happening, you know why I lied. It's pretty terrible when a guard tries to kill a child on sight..."

Her mood picks up a bit though. "Anyway, I feel kind of responsible for you two, so... if there's anything I can do to help, let me know, alright? I'm sure since I'm not obligated to do any actual work, I'll have plenty of spare time."

She comments on the ship. "Hm. Mr. Uzun sure did seem proud of this boat... but you don't make it sound so great. Is he really sure to think we're all that safe from pirates?"

[Avianmosquito]

Asta chuckles a bit. "Well, Ihsan is right. For what we're doing right now, this ship is overkill. For a security vessel just in general, we're overkill. But as a privateer frigate we're obsolete. And me, I'd hoped to be a privateer since I was a little girl. But Ihsan, he doesn't believe in piracy, and he uses us to protect his cargo ships. And compared to what I used to do, raiding elven naval shipments, supplying slave rebellions, helping locals repel their pointy-eared invaders, this is... Safe. I'm too young for 'safe'. It's boring.". Asta finishes pulling Johari's new outfit on and stands up. "I'm going to go belowdecks. All of you should get comfortable, we'll be travelling for about two weeks". And with that, Asta departs. Johari and Thimba follow, Johari darting off past them to talk to a halfling boy one can only assume is the cabin boy on the ship. He's a couple years older than her, but they seem to be hitting it off. This leaves Risa, Fiona and Kiwi alone.

[Avianmosquito]

The ship moves slowly until it clears the littoral region around Marakiz, making about 6 knots and only slowing down when nearing islands and shallow coastal regions around them, which is a frequent occurrence when passing through the halfling islands. Surprisingly, though, everything seems to go smoothly for quite some time, and in the mean time you gain greater familiarity with the ship.

She's small, that's for certain, only 150ft long and while stout she's not so stout as to make the ship feel much larger. The vessel is constructed almost entirely out of wood, and may at one point have been an all-wooden ship, but today she features 2" iron plating painted with a dull maritime blue-grey. She's not a flashy ship, but dwarves are not flashy people, and her 6 knots cruising speed must be quite a bit slower than her battle speed if she was ever "fast for her day". Asta assures the party she can do 12 knots if she needs to, and while sailing vessels can easily beat that she IS a steam ship and doesn't rely on fickle weather conditions.

The Weġfarend has six main sections: The engine room, the storage rooms, the crew quarters, the passenger's quarters, the captain's quarters and the cannon deck. At the bottom-rear is the engine room, where the boilers are filled with coal and produce the power that turns the ship's propellers, newer technology than the impractical paddle-wheels of the last century but still not especially current. Forward of that is the storage rooms, which store coal, munitions, food and drink, as well as several large crates of potions, which the captain is still scrimping on. Above the engine room the crew quarters, forward of that are the passenger quarters, which are converted from space that once was home to the marines. The expansion of the crew quarters is evident, however, with half of the marine quarters being converted into extra space for the crew, leaving the party in a small region at the front what was supposed to be forty bunks and is now ten larger, more comfortable beds. Surrounding the crew and passenger quarters are the gun deck, separated by a thin wooden wall and connected directly by dumwaiter-style lift shafts and ladders to the storage quarters. Above the crew quarters is the captain's quarters, the front of which is the office where the party met the man.

The top deck, once away from land and birds, is fairly nice and the ocean is at least nicer to look at than the inside of a ship. The smell of the ocean and the constant movement are omnipresent, and at least it beats the smell of burning coal that permeates even the passenger quarters. As passengers, the party is treated to a mead ration on top of a liquor ration and an ale ration, and these, unlike their food, are not adjusted for their size. Care must be taken to avoid building the sort of tolerance one cannot reasonably sustain in ordinary life.

Apparently the ship's crew has a boxing ring, as well. Every night two crew members go up and punch eachother on the deck, and many of them are very good at it. Thimba, as good of a boxer as he is, loses his first fight on the ship in a first round knockout, though perhaps his lack of sea legs may account for that. His second fight goes much better, but even so he is defeated by TKO in the third round. His third fight will likely be on the return trip.

Things continue to go smoothly for eleven days, before the party starts entering sahuagin territory. It's early in the morning, hours before the party is set to awaken, when the party is stirred by an alarm bell and seconds later by the sounding of warhorns in the crew quarters, immediately thereafter in their own quarters. Gunfire follows immediately thereafter. The ship is under attack.

[Kish]

Risa hurries toward the sound of fighting.

[WindStruck]

Fiona wakes, taking some seconds to adjust and realize this was it! This must be what the captain warned them about. His dour threats were nothing in comparison to the realization that anyone could die because of this. Kiwi, Risa, Dikk, Thimba, Johari, Asta... and more.

"Stay here and hide, Kiwi!" she urges her cat, but the feline was already crouching under a bed 20 seconds ago in wait.

Fiona then grabs her bag, turns invisible, and heads for the most direct path outside of the ship. Because the attackers had to have come from some other boat outside or something right..???

[Avianmosquito]

The boat rocks as something big grabs ahold of it. A gigantic suckered tentacle can be seen hanging over the deck as the party reaches the stairs and the cannons discharge on the port side of the ship. The tentacle falls limp onto the deck as a gigantic spray of gore showers onto the deck, signalling the end for whatever that was. The attack does not, however, seem to be over and the sounds of combat continue to rage.

Announced by a glow and the flurry of footsteps, a creature comes running down the stairs, straight at Risa. It's humanoid, standing about six feet tall. It's some kind of glowing fish creature, with bioluminescent patches, finned arms, glowing eyes and an all-too-large toothed mouth. It has a stalk on its head, with a glowing lure on the end. It is completely nude and brandishing a dagger. It has an otherworldly quality to it, like it belongs somewhere else, somewhere far away. Its glow is... Strangely fascinating, but somewhere deep inside you a primal fear is creeping in around the edges, telling you to get away from it, to run away and not look back, and never look upon this creature again.


As far as Risa can tell, this creature is definitely a form of sahuagin, but there's something wrong with it. Sahuagin don't have angler lures, they don't glow and this creature is a hermaphrodite which is definitely not normal for a sahuagin. Its fingers are too long, its mouth is too big, and while sahuagin aren't heavy dresses they generally aren't completely nude. The dagger it is holding is clearly made of obsidian, as well. Given the natural sharpness and brittleness of obsidian, that weapon will be very dangerous despite its small size.

[Kish]

Risa chants and points at the creature; a fiery beam shoots from her finger.

Scorching Ray: [roll0] ranged touch, [roll1] critical threat check, [roll2] damage, [roll3] critical damage.

[Avianmosquito]

The creature doesn't even react as the spell is cast, but when the spell hits it burns a pit into the creature's chest and it goes down right away, falling backwards onto the stairs. The creature is still alive, however, and the wound seems to be healing at an alarming rate. The alarmed shout of a second creature signals that company is incoming.

[WindStruck]

"Ah, it's still healing!" Fiona says.

She didn't have a weapon on hand.. well, she really wasn't the type for it. But she had to do something. Maybe tie up the creature? With some rope? There had to be some rope around here, right? This was a boat!

Where can I get some rope.....
int check for memory: [roll0]
spot check: [roll1]
search check?: [roll2]

[Avianmosquito]

The lack of sails has always meant there's very little rope on the ship, as it's not like there's rigging. There might be some down in storage, but by the time you reached storage and back the wound will have completely healed. There isn't any in view, and a cursory check doesn't reveal any either.

Now, the creature's wound has healed considerably and it seems to be stirring, but still isn't up yet. The opportunity to finish it may have been lost, as now the second one has arrived. This one is carrying a short spear, with two more stowed on its back, and the heads are once more made of obsidian. It seems to be physically stronger than the other one, and a bit heavier.

[Kish]

"Impressive regeneration. Can you do it again?" Risa blasts the regenerating sahaugin-thing.

[Avianmosquito]

It seems the creature has finally died, and its regeneration stops. The second one, however, is still hanging back. It throws a spear at Risa and misses, its spear slamming point-first into the wall opposite and falling to the floor. It takes out another spear, and stays where it is.

[WindStruck]

Fiona incants some arcane syllables, attemping to force the standing fish man into a stupor and do nothing.

So you really don't want rolls here?

Caster check: [roll0]

The creature must make a DC 17 will save or be dazed for 1 round.... unless it doesn't happen to fall under the humanoid category, but hopefully this thing is close enough.

Oh, it also is immune if it has 5 HD or more.

[Avianmosquito]

The creature is unaffected by Fiona's spell, and lets out a high-pitched, painfully loud bark that physically shakes the deck and makes Risa's ears ring. The pain lingers, suggesting some actual damage was dealt. A little bit of blood drops from her nose, but only a bit.

[Kish]

Unable to hear, Risa takes a step back and flicks a drop of water toward the mutant sahuagin, which changes in midair to a blade of ice.

No verbal component for Ice Knife. Ranged attack roll: [roll0] Critical threat check: [roll1] Overcome spell resistance: [roll2] Damage: [roll3] cold damage, plus 2 dexterity damage. Critical damage: [roll4]. If it misses, it does [roll5] cold damage to everyone within a 10 foot radius of where it hits, DC 15 Reflex save for half.

[Avianmosquito]

The blade of ice strikes the creature, dealing no damage but slowing it down a little bit. It seems somewhat resistant to cold. It tries throwing another spear, and once again its aim is horrible and it misses Risa wildly. It draws its last spear, still unable to hit anything to save its life.

[WindStruck]

The creature seemed unaffected by Fiona's spell. Not entirely sure if it just wasn't powerful enough or the creature had a strong will, Fiona tried something else. With another cantrip, she caused a bright burst of light to explode in front of the creatures face.

Then, weary of its sonic attack and the fact that it might have some clue about her presence, she changed position, flying back a bit and to the side.

[Avianmosquito]

The creature squints through the bright light and barks again, shaking the staircase but being too far to have any real effect on Risa or Fiona.

[Kish]

I can hear again. Risa steps back again and gestures, firing three darts of energy at the mutant sahuagin.

[Avianmosquito]

The sahuagin creature takes the missiles with a grasp of its chest and a shake of its head, but it's still stading. It seems hardier than the previous one. It throws its final spear to no ill effect, flying wildly off course yet again. Out of spears, it rushes right in to range with Risa, giving up on ranged attacks entirely.

[WindStruck]

The light spell seemed to work, but even after taking a hit from Risa, it was still standing and looked like it was about to tear Risa's head off.

Well, Fiona doubted one of her fire spells would finish it off. Despite the clout she publicly gave herself, her spells were actually not that strong. And she didn't want to risk accidentally hitting Risa. So in the heat of the moment, she tried to Daze the monster again, hoping it would work.

DC 17 will save again for the stupid monster.

[Kish]

Risa tries to slam her shield into the mutant sahuagin's face, then she takes another step back and blasts it with energy darts again.

[Avianmosquito]

The shield bash misses the creature entirely, and dazed by Fiona's spell. It stops for a moment, just long enough to take another blast from Risa and slump against the railing. It won't be down for long, though, and is already grabbing the railing to try and stand back up.

[WindStruck]

Fiona positions better (if necessary) to not hit Risa, and then hurls an orb of fire at the downed sahuagin thing.

"Can you take it out?"

[Avianmosquito]

The creature takes the blast of fire and shudders, falling off the railing. It's writhing now, and definitely is going to take longer to get up.

[Kish]

Risa steps back again and fires another trio of energy darts.

[Avianmosquito]

And with that, the fight appears to be over. The creature lays dead on the staircase, alone. It's at this moment, conveniently, that Thimba chooses to arrive. "Are you two okay? I had to make sure the children were hidden and... Oh, I see it's over. Good thing there was only one of them. Let's go out onto the deck and see how...", Thimba's suggestion is interrupted by gunfire. "Nevermind, it's still on. Let's go deal with that.".

[Kish]

"Right. Lead on," Risa says crisply.

[WindStruck]

Fiona appears briefly to wave to Thimba and let him know he's here. "Hey, I'm glad you and the kids are ok! How many are there? Where are they coming from, the sea??"

She invisibly follows again, but there might not be enough time for an answer, and they will soon enough see for themselves.

[Avianmosquito]

Thimba's eye twitches slightly at that question. "They manifested into our reality through the elemental plane of water.". The sarcasm drips from every snide syllable. "Also known as the sea, yes.". He starts up the stairs, rubbing his face with both hands. "Hey, any of you ever seen a fish with four arms?", he asks, looking across the ship's deck. "Because I think we have one of them on-deck.".

[WindStruck]

"I guess that means no boat then. Unless they happened to be riding that giant octopus."

She continues following. "I don't think I've even seen a sahuagin until now."

[Avianmosquito]

Up on the deck is a quintet of sahuagin, and several more dead ones on the ground. Discarded spears decorate the deck, suggesting chucking spears around like a lunatic is a standard tactic for them. At the back stands the one with four arms and a fancy necklace, but neither a weapon nor a place to put one.

Asta runs her rapier into the heart of a downed one as Calder steps into engagement range with one near him, knife and cutlass ready to go. Mr Nordenstein, a little further back, reloads his handgun, noticing Thimba and movibg to where he can see Risa. He greets her loudly, his hearing not doing so well at the moment. "GLAD YOU COULD MAKE IT! WE ALREADY KILLED A COUPLE, BUT THE ONE AT THE BACK KEEPS HEALING THEM! I THINK IT'S A CLERIC OR SOMETHING!".

[Kish]

"IS IT GOOD AT DODGING?" Risa asks the captain loudly, watching the four-armed sahuagin as she briefly debates spell choices.

[Avianmosquito]

Calder yells back "I DON'T KNOW! NONE OF THEM HAVE TRIED YET!". Asta moves into melee range with the warrior Calder is engaging and stabs it with her keen rapier. Her aim is true, and the rapier easily passes deep into the creature's chest. The creature chokes and sputters as the blade is drawn out of it with a cut, opening its lung wide. It doesn't seem to be bleeding like it should be, though, as this should definitely be a life-threatening injury.

[WindStruck]

Fiona invokes a bright burst of light to appear on the face of one of the sahuagin that hasn't been wounded yet, and tries to maintain her distance.

caster level check: [roll0]
The sahuagin (not sure which one) must make fortitude save DC 17 or be dazzled for 1 minute.

The range of flare for her will be 25 feet. She'll have to move up that close if not close enough already, and I suppose she'll have to stay within 25 feet for a bit more planned mobility.

If possible, I'd like her to distance herself from Dikk and Risa, however, since they may be visible targets and if charged at, I don't want Fiona being caught in the sonic attacks.

[Avianmosquito]

The second sahuagin warrior shrugs off the flare without issue. Calder takes a 5-foot step around to be opposite the first creature from Asta and tears into it with his sword and dagger, ripping it right down with ease. Thimba runs up to the second warrior, the one Fiona failed to flare, and punches it in the stomach, a hit it takes and turns to face him. ****, meanwhile, takes a step to the side and fires a shot past them at one of the creatures in the back line, nearly a hundred feet away, hit bullet striking the creature squarely in the forehead. It staggers for a second, but it's still standing, and notably is not bleeding heavily like a creature shot in the head should be.

[Kish]

"They're regenerating. Don't know if it's magic or something they do naturally; fire doesn't stop it. One that looks nearly dead will be healthy again in seconds unless finished off," Risa says.

[Avianmosquito]

"Yes, we are aware, thank you! If you want to help either start blasting or go grab some sound grenades from the cargo hold!", Asta shouts over at Risa. The sahuagin backline doesn't understand what is being said, but sees the writing on the wall now that so many enemies have arrived. The wounded adept moves first, charging straight at ****, but it takes a sword thrust in the neck on its way and collapses. The second warrior tries to bite Calder and gets its neck slashed for its trouble, but it still isn't bleeding like a cut creature should, not to say no blood is drawn. It tries desperately to claw at Calder but its first attack misses entirely and its second is blocked by Calder's dagger. The cleric at the back decides now is the time to move in, and rushes directly to Calder's flank, where it casts a spell on its wounded subordinate that almost completely heals it.

It's now, with only three of them left, that they speak. The cleric lets out a loud, painful wail that distracts Calder and Asta. The adept right next to **** does likewise, though **** doesn't flinch. The last remaining warrior calls out for help, but nobody came. It does seem to have healed, though the wound on its neck doesn't seem to have healed quite right.

[Kish]

Risa narrows her eyes at the cleric. "Blast with sound, or is any element good?" Risa asks. She briefly considers casting a spell at the cleric, but changes her mind, moving twenty feet away from the enemies instead.

Risa readies a Scorching Ray to interrupt the cleric's next spell. If she's adjacent to an enemy, she'll five-foot step away rather than full movement, to avoid attacks of opportunity.

[WindStruck]

"S-sound grenades? That sounds like a good idea!" Fiona says.

She remembered being shown some stuff on the ship, particularly where to find some emergency supplies, so she flew that way, hoping the others could hold out for a bit till then.

[Avianmosquito]

Asta steps over to the downed warrior, takes aim and runs her sword directly into its heart, and finally the wound seems to be fatal, as glowing blood pours out onto the deck. Blood also seems to be pooling around the first adept, and all the creatures Asta and Calder dealt with before do seem to also have bled out, confirming that these creatures aren't completely immortal.

As soon as Fiona is gone, Calder turns to the warrior, hoping to finish it off. He tears into it with both blades, cutting it twice with his sword and stabbing it once with his knife, his second thrust aiming for its head and missing it entirely as the creature stumbles unsteadily. This does not seem to have been very much damage, certainly nowhere near as much as last time. Thimba renders assistance by stepping around to the opposite side of Calder and striking the creature repeatedly, and finally it goes down. **** takes a quick, defensive step backwards and fires point-blank at the advancing adept, putting a bullet into its abdomen.

[Kish]

Risa sends a beam of fire at the cleric.

[Avianmosquito]

The ray of flames go right over the cleric's head. The adept by ****, seeing that his guards have abandoned him, takes a step in and begins to attack. It starts off with a bite that catches ****'s arm and earns the creature a punch in the face, which doesn't seem to do much. "RISA? FIONA? I NEED A LITTLE HELP HERE!"

The cleric bites Calder, getting a cut across the stomach for its troubles, and then swings wildly at him with all four arms, missing, being blocked or being stopped by the armour every time.

At this point, the adept starts barking at ****, causing him a bit of pain but nothing serious. The cleric, meanwhile, starts calling for help. It grins as wide as a fish-thing can grin, looking expectantly at the bow of the ship. Asta runs in to stab him, trips and misses him completely, almost falling flat on her face. At least she ends up opposite Calder.

[WindStruck]

Fiona quickly flies through doorways, making tight turns and all but completely bypassing a flight of stairs by going over them.

Here, Fiona quickly grabs some things that looked like the grenades, though it quickly became apparent that they were not only awkwardly large for her, but also heavy enough to weigh her down. It wasn't that they were all that big and heavy, however. It was that she was tiny and weak.

She takes as many as she can while still being able to fly, and immediately heads back to the fray.

I'm guessing that's 2 she got. 3 if she left her bag there, but probably a bad idea.

[Avianmosquito]

Calder lays into the creature with his sword and his dagger, cutting it twice with his sword and stabbing it twice with his dagger, easily disabling it. Thimba breathes a sigh of relief and rushes to help ****. Asta raises her sword, but is interrupted mid-thrust by the entire ship shaking. Massive tentacles wrap around the ship, as a giant squid pulls itself up onto the bow, securing itself there. Seeing that, Asta moves to engage it and leaves the cleric unconscious on the deck. ****, meanwhile, backs up and fires another shot, missing wildly in his panic. "ICANNOTFIGHTTHISTHINGALONEWHATAREYOUDOING?", he blurts out as the squid attaches itself to the bow. "OH GREAT! WE JUST NEEDED THAT, TOO!".

[Kish]

"That looks like a problem," Risa comments, firing three more energy darts.

[Avianmosquito]

The trio of darts sail into the cleric, earning a shudder and not much beyond that.

[Avianmosquito]

The squid, latched on with four of its tentacles, attacks Asta with its remaining 6. The first swing pings off Asta's right arm with no effect, the second does the same on the left side, the third strikes her square in the chest, prompting an angered shout of "HEY! I NEED THOSE!", before the tentacle wraps around her and pulls her off the deck and another three tentacles ping off her armour. She plunges her knife into the tentacle, twisting it to sever the member from the creature and release herself. "HEY! A little help here? I know where this is going and I don't like it!". Seeing the odds stacked against it, the remaining adept dives off the ship and into the water.

This is about when Fiona returns to the deck.

Calder sheaths his swords and draws his revolver, being unable to actually reach the creature. Thimba looks around for something he can do to help, and decides to run back to the cleric. **** fires a shot at the creature, confidant he can hit something that big that close to him. He does, but of course a single pistol shot doesn't do much to it.

[Kish]

Deciding the cleric is apparently under control, Risa sends a fiery beam at the squid.

[Avianmosquito]

The squid flinches back from the fire, but can't reach Risa from where it is at so it goes after Asta again. It keeps four tentacles locked onto the ship and swings its five remaining at Asta, striking the woman in the chest again trying once more to pick her up, with two more attacks deflecting off her armour and two more being blocked. Asta, again, takes it in stride. "AGAIN with the tentacles!", and then plunges her knife into the squid's arm once more, rips it off and falls back to the deck. "Why is it ALWAYS tentacles?", she shouts as she stands just a bit unsteady.

[WindStruck]

"I'm back!" Fiona says, flying toward the middle of the deck and higher, but realizing that it seemed all the sahuagin were down, instead noticing a giant squid.

Well, the squid probably wasn't going to get her from that height and distance. So she appeared and asked, "Uh, how do these things work again??" fiddling dangerously with the pin.

[Avianmosquito]

Calder fires two shots at the squid, hits it twice, and predictably two bullets from a revolver did not stop a tonne of squid, but it does seem to have injured it. It certainly does more than the bullet **** fires into the ocean, taking a second to be ashamed of his aim. Meanwhile, Thimba arrives at the cleric and looks around for a way to restrain it. It doesn't seem like he has one ready, unfortunately, and he runs off into Calder's cabin. Meanwhile, Calder yells up at the pixie "You light the fuse, you daft little twit!", and Asta adds on "And don't get too close to the squid, or I'll start calling you the fisherman's wife.". She grins a bit, as it bears down on her again. "It'll be lovely, we can start a sewing circle, and talk about our cephalopod encounters.".

[WindStruck]

Fiona was experimenting tugging on the fuses of the grenades in an attempt to see if that might do anything when Calder yelled at her. "Hey! That's uncalled for! I ... I don't even have a way to light these things. At least, not safely anyway."

She floats down between Risa, ****, and the others and says, "Here..." sullenly, offering the grenades.

[Kish]

Risa considers the grenades, but shakes her head. "Me either." She sends another beam of fire at the squid.

[Avianmosquito]

It's becoming apparent that the creature should have fled by now. Fiona can tell it has gone far above and beyond what an animal would normally be willing to fight through, especially since most animals will flee if injured in any significant way and this creature has been burned and shot quite a bit and lost two limbs but it still remains fighting, this creature is clearly under some form of compulsion. It can't even be desperate for food, it doesn't appear malnourished and Asta is covered in metal. Risa can tell this isn't a typical summoning effect as the creature here is quite physically real, but not much beyond that.

Regardless of why, the creature goes after Asta again with its four free limbs, striking her bruised chest once again for an especially solid hit. It grabs her and once more finds its three remaining limbs deflect off, get parried and deflect off again. And as per usual, Asta jams a dagger into its tentacle, but this time fails to rip it all the way off. "NO! Get OFF me! Dammit Calder, stop being a coward and DO SOMETHING!". Calder responds with "I am doing something, just don't fall in the water!".

[WindStruck]

Fiona realizes something important. "Wait.. this thing is clearly being compelled against its will! Maybe I can..."

The pixie instead casts a different kind of spell, not a fire one or a normal one. Her wings sparkle and she blows pixie dust toward the giant squid, which surrounds it and settles down on it glittering for a brief bit before expiring.

Dispel Magic: No spell resistance, but it requires a caster level check regardless.

[roll0]

[Avianmosquito]

The creature seems unaffected by the spell, almost as if its compulsion is not magical. Calder shrugs, lights a grenade and tosses it at the squid. Thimba comes running back out with... Silk rope? He seems to have got it from Calder's quarters, and he approaches the downed cleric with it. ****, seeing the grenade flying at the squid, fires his last shot, striking a shallow hit right next to its eye. The creature flinches, a grenade sitting near its face about to go off.

[Avianmosquito]

The explosion finishes the squid off and hurts Asta in the process. The creature falls into the water, dropping Asta on the deck, where she groans. She sheathes her dagger and places a hand on her chest to heal herself for all she's worth. "I'll be up in a minute...". Calder starts walking over to her.

Meanwhile, Thimba ties up the sahuagin cleric. There's a slight noise coming from it, which Risa recognizes as the same noises it made when it brought the squid to them, just now far quieter, barely a whisper. It is clearly some sort of language, but not one spoken by Fiona, Risa or Thimba. The fact that its mouth is also not moving is a noteworthy addition, however this sound is being generated it isn't actually vocal.

[Kish]

"That one is doing something--continuing to do what summoned the squid, even now. If no one can silence them magically they need to die," Risa says, pointing to the cleric.

[WindStruck]

Fiona looks at the fish man and her eyes narrow. "****, tell it to stop."

[Avianmosquito]

"You want me to tell the unconscious fishman to stop what, exactly?" He comes over and listens. "Threatening somebody, really badly? Seriously, who tells somebody their parent is going to come kill them?" It's about this point where the cleric wakes up and looks around. It strains briefly against the silk holding it in place, and stops whispering. "Do you want me to talk to it? Or are we going to do the magical silence or throat-slitting thing? I'd really rather not fight another giant squid.".

The sahuagin says something, low and gutteral, to ****. The narrowed eyes and growling voice say enough, but **** translates anyway. "Okay, that's more specific. The word was 'father', it's referring to its god, and it was talking to the squid. So it was threatening the squid that its god would kill it. Maybe it's like that sahuagin thing where they can talk to sharks. These ones do seem different, what exactly can they talk to? I mean, it didn't just talk to it, it called it here in the middle of a battle.". The sahuagin says something different, even more aggressively. "It also surrenders, and is not happy about it at all.". It keeps going, now at a more even tone. "It also swears upon its god that if we throw it back into the water, it will never return. I don't think it realizes we're still a thousand miles from our destination.".

Calder, shouting as he walks by, corrects him. "350 miles, and that was before I went to sleep.". Asta stops by the party, finally removing her helmet, and sits down. "Well, that was painful. Is anyone else hurt?", she says, offering some potions.

[Kish]

"You're alive," Risa says flatly to the sahuagin. "Do you speak the human tongue?"

"Why did you attack us?"

"Can you ask them why they attacked us?"

[Avianmosquito]

The creature ignores you entirely, and scowls at ****'s question. It snarls out a sentence, while **** glares at it. "It says 'After what your people did, how dare you ask why we attacked you?', and now it is refusing to speak. This is not encouraging.".

[WindStruck]

Fiona raises an eyebrow skeptically, but she shifts her focus to Calder and Asta. "I asked Mr. Uzun if he knew of any grievances they might have had before departure... Do you two have any idea what it is talking about? Or might this sahuagin belong to a different tribe that Mr. Uzun was not working with?"

[Kish]

Knowledge: History, if applicable: [roll0]

"Could be blaming us for anything done by anyone who looks more like us than sahuagin," Risa comments.

[Avianmosquito]

While nothing really comes to mind, Asta seems to be considering it. "The first thing Ihsan told us about the area when we were hired was that the sahuagin had a questionable religion, but they were really important and he'd promised we'd leave them alone. He told us if we interfered with their religious ceremonies we'd be jeopardizing our agreement. I'd say that fits the bill, but it's pretty vague and I can't see our men doing something like that.". It's at this point the two sahuagin you defeated on the stairwell come creeping back up to assess the situation. Realising they've been spotted, they both dive off the ship.

[WindStruck]

Fiona easily notices the two sahuagin from the corner of her eye, abruptly turning to face them, which attracted everyone else's gaze, and they wound up escaping instead.

"Geeze! What the heck, I thought they were dead!" Perhaps it was better they were not? But then again, not really if they were only going to plot to kill everyone again.

After an awkward silence, she shifts her focus back to the others and the captured cleric. "Maybe you could explain that some of us have not even been in this territory before? Except maybe you, I don't know where you learned to speak their language. Like.. explain not all land dwellers and sailors are of the same tribe, species, or ideology even? And we honestly don't know. They could be blaming us for what someone else did for all we know."

[Kish]

"Huh. Did any of them die?" Risa wonders idly, then shrugs. "As long as his word's good."

[Avianmosquito]

**** thinks. "Well, I get the impression it's not very bright, and it's used to being the smart one. Not the best combination, trying to convince it like that might not be something I can do in a sentence.". It's at this point Asta chimes in. "Well, if you want to keep trying, we don't have a proper brig, but we do have a drunk box at the back of the crew quarters. We can tie it up with something stronger than Calder's 'intimate bindings' and put it in there. That'll let you keep speaking to it for the last couple days.".

Asta, in response to Risa's question, answers honestly. "We've only fought these things once before. Ihsan told us sonic works, and it did when we tried it, but I also noticed that if I put a hole in some organs they'll actually bleed, and then die for real. That's why I went around stabbing them in the heart earlier, it kills them pretty reliably. Calder tends to go for the brain, but he's using a cutlass and I'm using a rapier. In any case, I can say with confidence all the ones on the deck except this one are actually dead.".

It's at this point Asta places a hand on ****'s wounded arm and barely manages to heal it at all. She sighs and gets up. "I'll go get more potions.".

[WindStruck]

Fiona thinks for a moment and says, "I get the impression that tying him or her up for days on end still probably won't do much job of convincing it..."

Then she looks up to the others. "Tell us about the other time you were attacked."

[Avianmosquito]

Asta waves at Fiona to follow. "Come with me while I get **** some potions.", she says as she walks down the stairs. **** remains with Thimba and the sahuagin. "Because it's a long story and he's hurt, so I really don't want to waste time.".

[WindStruck]

"Okay," the pixie says as she follows Asta. "And was that fight before or after he told you how sonic energy worked?"

[Avianmosquito]

Asta starts making her way down the stairs, dropping her cannon off on a bunk in the crew quarters on her way by. "It was after. He told us about that before we ever went down here. I had the idea after we ran out of sound grenades. See, we were on our way down for the first time, and the sahuagin didn't know about us yet. We decided to go scout out another village to try and convince them to join in, but when we arrived we found out those buildings on land weren't set up to deal with land-dwellers, they were for something else entirely. I still don't know quite what, the village was destroyed in the fighting. Still, Calder and I stepped out onto the land and immediately we had sahuagin threatening us. Now, I don't speak their language but I really wish I did, because Calder got greedy negotiating with them and they stabbed him, right through his mail. I got involved, and he fell back behind me to hit them with grenades until we ran out, and then they started throwing spears at us from some of the buildings. Calder wasn't willing to risk his life to pick targets properly, so he ordered the ship to level the entire village.".

Asta stops briefly, ostensibly to open the door to the storage room, but the regret is obvious. "The cannons killed, maimed or buried everybody in the buildings. It wasn't a very good day for anybody, and it got worse when the sahuagin swarmed the ship. We got back to the ship as fast as we could and joined in, but our sailors are not very good warriors. If our marines were still with us, we probably wouldn't have lost so many, sixteen members of the crew were killed by the time we got there.". She collects a pair of potions from a crate in the back. "This should heal him at least enough that he'll be fine by morning. They aren't very good potions at all, but you're welcome to restock from here if you need to.". She stands back up and starts walking again. "And don't tell that bastard Calder, he'll make you buy them.".

[Kish]

"Keeping the sahuagin prisoner sounds like a bad idea to me. We should throw them overboard. Tell them we're not responsible for whatever whoever did, if you think they'll listen--but if we keep them prisoner we're likely to be attacked by giant squids the whole way, all ethical issues aside," Risa says to Thimba as Asta and Fiona walk away.

[WindStruck]

It was a tragic sounding story, but it didn't quite make sense... "Wait, down for the first time? Didn't know about you yet?? What does that mean? You, Calder, your ship and crew? Certainly not Mr. Uzun. He said he knew the sahuagin for decades!

...so how long ago did this happen?"

[Avianmosquito]

"Hm. And here I thought perhaps you could silence it. Well, I can kill it or just throw it overboard.". Asta sighs at the comments, and moves on to acknowledge Fiona. "Well, little one, Ihsan had just hired us. So, about three years ago, four years after I joined as a marine. The sahuagin had never seen our ship, and we were sent to meet with new tribes and negotiate with them since Ihsan couldn't anymore.".

[WindStruck]

"Wait a second. Surely the ones who attacked us must be a different tribe? If Ishan had a longstanding trade relationship with those sahuagin, wouldn't they be using bronze spears and the like? These ones are using obsidian..."


Guess we are all back up on deck now?

"Sure, maybe it could bring more giant squids to kill us if we kept it... could do the same if we threw it back in the ocean as well though, right?"

[Avianmosquito]

Asta thinks as she arrives on deck. "No, probably not. We'll just go faster. We could be doing twice our current speed. I doubt the sahuagin can make 12 knots, and if we break its legs first we'll make that even...". The return is met with a headless captive and Calder looking angry. "What? We can't keep it and it won't talk any more.". Asta, angrily, finishes her sentence. "...Easier. But not as easy as beheading a helpless prisoner of war, I guess.". The temperature on the deck seems to drop a couple degrees between Asta and Calder.

[WindStruck]

Fiona's eyes widen. She manages to murmur, "So much for that..."

She sighs and looks to the investigator. "Well, do you think this may be related and that we should use a scroll of sending? Ihsan might want to know that as soon as we entered sahuagin territory, we were attacked in the dead of night."

[Avianmosquito]

Asta thinks. "Probably, yes. Calder has the scrolls. I do this is a thing to talk to Ihsan about, so go ahead. I need to speak to the crew.". She stands up and walks down the stairs. Thimba quickly follows. "I need to go check on the children". And of course, one investigator Nordenstein has finished his potions and is leaning on a wall by Calder's office smoking a cigarette.

[WindStruck]

"Are there many scrolls to spare?" Fiona asks. "I understand they can be very expensive... I still think it may be important. I'll leave that decision up to you two, I guess."

[Kish]

"Yes, we should. Ihsan will want to know what that one said."

[Avianmosquito]

Calder, grudgingly, uses the scrolls to contact Ihsan. In the mean time, a check is done and no members of the crew have died, though there have been some injuries. Thimba's chief concerns turn out favourably, however, as the children are found right where he left them: Curled up tightly under Fiona's bed, right where Fiona had left her cat. Them choosing the bed with the cat under it was likely intentional.

Calder's meeting takes several hours, what with the idiotically long delays associated with sending. A dozen now non-magical pieces of paper are thrown out by the time they're done. Calder comes out and makes a crew address afterwards, letting everybody know that this attack was probably not related to what was going on in the village, but to be on alert in case it was. The glowing sahuagin are their own society, but some of them are born in every sahuagin village. He has his suspicions now as to what may have transpired, but has elected not to inform anybody but the investigators.

At this point, Calder calls you into his cabin.

[WindStruck]

Fiona tried to get some sleep, but couldn't, really. As if she could sleep well on this boat without all the commotion and threat of attacks in the first place.

She left Kiwi with the kids for now, not wanting to wake them, and also because the captain most likely hated that cat, and she floated into the cabin drowsily, wondering what the news was.

[Kish]

Risa frowns at not getting to hear what Calder says to Ihsan, but sleeps somewhat more easily than Fiona. When Calder calls for them, she hurries to his cabin.

[Avianmosquito]

**** is already waiting by the other two, and enters as they arrive. Calder is sitting behind his desk again, and once more has rum poured for the group. This is definitely a dwarven thing at this point. He sits forward, waiting for everybody to sit before he speaks, then gets straight to the point. "I'm sure you noticed the ship is now moving faster. Ihsan is concerned, and wants us moving at full speed, despite the expenses. He is concerned that our people may have violated the most important sahuagin religious rituals: The Release of the Bright Children.". He pauses, grabs his shot glass and quickly downs it. **** follows suit, and lights up a cigarette. He is clearly nervous now.

"Those creatures we fought earlier, the glowing sahuagin, those are called Bright Ones. Some of them are born into every sahuagin tribe, at least one per year. We don't know why they're born that way, but the sahuagin say they belong to their god, and when they're born they take them to a cliff or a high tower one hundred feet above the water and throw the child from it. Since a fall can't actually kill one of them, it only knocks them unconscious and allows the other villagers to strap them to a shark and send it swimming from their village as fast as it can go." It's becoming clear that Calder is nervous too.

"This barbaric ritual is very important, the sahuagin believe if they don't send the child into the deep water their god will destroy their entire village as punishment. If our men interfered with it, and I can imagine why they might if they didn't know better, the sahuagin would have attacked them. We may be walking into hostile territory because of our men. I am going to need all of you to be awake, armed and ready for a fight the moment we arrive. I'll make sure Asta is as well, this could be ugly.". He and **** both down another shot at this point, pausing for a moment as **** starts choking on it. "Wrong pipe... Give me a second...".

[Kish]

Risa takes the rum and drinks it, then says, "I see. Anything else? Does Ihsan have any plans for repairing what we broke? How likely is it that we're now sailing to meet with hostile sahuagin who have heard of the defilers' actions and will attack us on sight?"

[Avianmosquito]

Calder thinks for a second, while **** stops choking and takes a long drag off his cigarette. "None of us is a very good negotiator, this is the sort of thing Ihsan was good at. We should try talking to them if we can, hopefully we can calm them down. This isn't the first time this has happened, as long as the ritual was eventually completed we might have a chance. If it wasn't completed, I don't know. They might not be willing to talk, they might all have fled to avoid whatever vague catastrophe is supposed to have come, that's never happened before. And of course, there could have been something totally different to blame. A volcanic eruption, a tropical storm, maybe the glowing sahuagin led an assault on the village because of their trade relations. For all I know, a dragon could have flown all the way into the wrong damn hemisphere and burned the village for fun.". His face remains humorless. "But we all knew those were options, except that last one of course, before we ever left. Ihsan's just concerned and told me to inform you.".

[WindStruck]

Fiona takes a shot glass.. she only sips half of it and makes a face. She keeps hold of it cause she doesn't want Calder filling it up more.

"I was wondering if maybe these sahuagin who attacked us were a completely different tribe. They were only using obsidian spears, though I believe the ones you were currently trading with would be using bronze of some sort, right? Then again... the way they seem to like to just throw spears, I can see why they wouldn't want to just throw it away."


"Even if it was a different tribe, do you think word would spread around to others, and they'd all hate us for disrupting this ritual? Or whatever... Well, we'll be ready. How much longer until we arrive?"

[Avianmosquito]

Calder gives Fiona a look. "Some time tomorrow. I checked our distance and it should be about twenty hours until we get there.". He says, as he refills his own glass and **** also resumes drinking. "And no, these sahuagin wouldn't have bronze, and they wouldn't use bronze for a throwing spear anyway. Bronze is too valuable, and obsidian weapons deal more damage.". He doesn't answer the last question until he takes another shot. "Probably not. I don't know how these ones knew, but the sahuagin tribes keep their distance from one another. They tend not to be on good terms with their neighbours, if you get my drift. Now go, and be ready for landfall.".

[Kish]

"Well, that's good. Let's be diplomatic and try to treat them as closer to allies than enemies," Risa says a little pointedly. She sets her glass down and turns to leave, having drank the rum immediately this time, but only one glassful (whether Calder considers that better or worse than her behavior in their first meeting).

[WindStruck]

Fiona downs the rest of the rum before thanking the captain and quickly finding some water and something else to eat before that rum upset her stomach. Or got her too drunk. Eventually she manages to get some more sleep, though not quite enough, it felt.

[Avianmosquito]

Heavily intoxicated pixies aside, the next twenty hours pass fairly smoothly. The children finally come out from under the bed and return to their own bed, petting the kitty goodbye. Thimba burns his hand in the boiler room, returns to his bunk and broods. Calder sits in his office and broods. Asta sits by the wheel and broods. The navigator makes clumsy passes at her, gets ignored, and broods. **** sits in the cabin with a cigarette and broods. There is a lot of brooding going on, just in general. After everybody has had some sleep, gotten back up and is ready, the announcement that land is within sight is shouted throughout the ship, and in less than an hour the ship pulls into the harbor.

The village, at least what can be seen of it, is gone. So are the ships. The pier and the building right next to it have been erased from existence, and the buildings further back have been flattened. There is no life to be seen. It is now time to disembark.

[WindStruck]

"Uh.. captain? Where is the village? Is this the destination??"

[Avianmosquito]

Calder glares at the carnage and groans. "Ahhhhhhhh... ****! Get out there and see what you can find, I'll notify Ihsan.". He immediately rushes inside to notify the employer as the longboat is readied.

[WindStruck]

Fiona looks quite anxious. "What do you think? A tidal wave? This is going to be dangerous..." she says to Nordstein. Then she sighs, "But I guess we'll never know what happened for sure unless we go over there."

She beckons Kiwi toward the long boat. That cat was her familiar, after all, and had some interesting magic benefits. Though presently she looks very reluctant to get on the small boat.

[Kish]

"Well, this isn't promising," Risa comments. She boards the longboat.

[Avianmosquito]

**** comes up from belowdecks at last, stepping up to the longboat and nudging the cat into it. "Kiwi, quit stalling.". He steps in and sits down next to the navigator as the boat is finally lowered, and directs him way off opposite where the pier should be, to a fallen tower that seems to have been broken in half. "Now, if I've got this right, that should be the tower they throw the glowing babies off of. It's the tallest structure, and it doesn't look like there's a tall enough cliff anywhere.".

As the boat arrives, he steps out and approaches it, taking a look around and studying the damage to the beams. "Yeah, this is bad. This tower wasn't crushed or blown over. Look at how the wood's broken in multiple places on the right-side supports, and so much higher than the left where it's broken right off. This was torn down from below and to the left, by something gripping it right above where the wood is broken on the right side.". He looks down at the fallen part of it, crushed flat, studying it. "And then something really big ran that right over, you can still see the trail leading off from here. Whatever it was, it was really heavy. A hundred tonnes, maybe more.". He shudders a bit as he stands up. "If anybody wants to take an extra look around, go ahead. I'm going to follow the trail.".

[Kish]

"Some kind of attack, not a disaster, then?" Not expecting to find anything **** missed if she looked around, Risa goes with him.

[WindStruck]

"Wait. We're supposed to be protecting you," Fiona says.

"We'll finish looking around here together... or we're coming with you now."

[Avianmosquito]

"Yeah, whatever. Don't step on the rubble with your bare feet.", he says dismissively as he follows the trail. "Lots of kindling out here, scattered all over. I thought it was from the tower at first, but it's all over the place. Looks like stained wood, sealed to prevent it from rotting in the water. Probably from the ships. So, at least we know what happened there. These are some tiny splinters...", He says as he approaches a storage building. "This building looks to be crushed too, of course. But look, bronze tools, bent. Some of them are even snapped. I think that seals my 'hundred tonnes or more' assesment. And look, splinters of treated wood, on top of the crushed wreckage. So, the buildings were crushed before the ships got scattered all over the island. Ihsan mentioned mining supplies, and those cargo ships were HUGE. So, how much dynamite do you think they had? A hundred tonnes? Two hundred? More?.".

He keeps following the trail right up to the ocean. "The next building was deliberately smashed on this side, one of the corners gave out, but the ocean side shows a lot of damage from the explosion. And the trail... Well, I'm not swimming, but it's going right past the pier. Huh. That's where the ships would be. So, it goes out there and the ships exploded. I'd be less worried if I saw a body. Or pieces of it. Something that big, there should be some left. It had to be the size of a whale, so where is it? Is it still ALIVE?".

[Avianmosquito]

Fiona's examination shows nothing she would recognize. The tracks are one giant drag mark and a lot of long, spindly depressions and two sets of clawed digits raked into the sand. Notably, the broken corner of the last building has clawmarks, and the cornerpost is broken outwards.

[WindStruck]

Fiona rolled her eyes at ****, as she was flying right next to him and above Kiwi the whole time. "Yeah yeah, if I land I'll look out for nails..."

Eventually during his surveilance of the scene, she does land in an area relatively clear of debris to try to examine the trail or tracks. "I.. have no idea what this could be... a giant, I mean giant creature with many legs like a centipede and two huge claws up front? Could it even be a war machine?"

She floats over to the ocean, looking for clues. She can either carefully wade to the water up to her thighs or start flying above the water trying to get a better look for anything in there.

[Kish]

"Either a giant creature, or a giant machine of some kind. Either way, it looks like whoever or whatever destroyed the village left in victory."

[Avianmosquito]

He bends down to look into the water. "Yeah... I see the craters where the ships would have been. Definitely blew up. And I mean blew up a LOT. I'm going to go take a better look, see if I missed anything. You two... Okay, WHAT is that noise? I hear humming... Do you hear humming?". He stops to look around, seeming confused.

[Avianmosquito]

In the distance, Fiona can also hear humming. And under the water, a glow can be seen. How any of them can hear underwater humming is a question that needs answering. Shortly thereafter, a glowing sahuagin emerges from the water, humming with its mouth hanging open, walking in some form of trance into the woods.

[WindStruck]

Fiona gawks at the sahuagin, seemingly oblivious to everyone, and flies back to shore with the others. She quietly says, "So that happened. Are we following it?"

[Avianmosquito]

The man nods, reluctantly and with a sigh. "Yeah, I think so. Unless Risa has any objections.". He starts walking after it himself, not waiting for Risa. The creature progresses into the forest, continuing to hum obliviously as it goes. Keeping distance, there is no way it can detect the party.

[Kish]

"Sound-based magic, again. Unfortunately, I lack silencing powers that don't involve killing," Risa muses under her breath as they go after the sahuagin.

[Avianmosquito]

As the creature progresses, you begin to hear more humming, and seeing more of a glow deep in the forest. While the creature's hum sounded nonsensical alone, together they form a tune. "Hmm hmmm hmm hmmm hmm hmmmm...", fairly simple, but the creature's timing doesn't change at all and its voice fills its place perfectly, like it could hear them from all the way in the ocean. Notably, each note is hummed by a different voice. There are five more of these things up ahead. This one here is unarmed, has four arms and a necklace somewhat like the cleric's (though far less ornate). As you approach, it becomes clear all six are unarmed, have four arms and are wearing these seemingly identical necklaces.

[WindStruck]

"Just had a thought... one of those guys was doing something like that before, and it summoned a giant squid. So what do you think six could do? You think they are trying to bring something to attack the boat? Like what destroyed everything?"

[Avianmosquito]

The creature joins the others pacing in circles in front of a mine entrance, humming loudly. "No, that was less rythmic, but... Wait... Something's off. They can't hear us, can they?", **** says as he produces his handgun and does something extremely stupid. The shot in the air scatters birds for miles, but the creatures still don't notice. "Huh. The ones on the ship weren't deaf... weird. Shiny bit of metal to the best theory.", he says as he holds up a one pound coin. One of the sahuagin stops humming and begins walking the way the other one just came, where the party is right now. It no longer seems to be deaf, and in fact seems extremely on-edge and in a rush.

[WindStruck]

Fiona hides, but also turns invisible as well.

Kiwi, who is almost always stalking anyway crouches under a low shrub as well. [roll0]

[Kish]

"I'm not much at hiding," Risa says in a low voice. "Unless you have an idea, ****, I guess we're trying to talk to that one."

If **** doesn't suggest something, verbally or physically (if he tries to hide despite her words, she'll try to hide as well, despite not expecting it to work) before the sahuagin comes close enough that hiding isn't an option, she'll say, "Hello. We seek no quarrel with you; we only want to understand what happened here."

Hide, if applicable: [roll0]
Diplomacy, if applicable: [roll1]

[WindStruck]

Apparently, the sahuagin had passed without noticing any of them. So when she felt it was safe to talk she said, "Alright. We really need to know what's going on here. ****.. are you willing to talk to it? We'll back you up."

[Avianmosquito]

The investigator, reluctantly, steps out in front of it, but it seems in too much of a rush to heed him. It seems to be frantically repeating one word over and over again. "Thet... Thet... Thet...", and trying to run past him.

[WindStruck]

"What's it saying?!" Fiona asks, exasperated. She follows the sahuagin if need be and there are no answers. If it keeps going, she may try something before it reaches the end of the forest.

[Kish]

"Do you understand the language?" Risa asks ****, then, to the sahuagin, "Can we help you somehow? Is there a danger?"

[Avianmosquito]

**** is trying to communicate with it, but keeps losing what he's saying and staring blankly at the creature. The creature stops, takes a step back, and raises its hands defensively as it looks for an alternate route out, then quickly runs past him when it realises he's out of it. He shakes it off the moment the creature is past him, and steps quickly back into the bushes. "I... Think I lost my train of thought. I don't know what happened there. It just kept saying 'Deep' over and over again, and now it's running off towards the water. It seems scared, somehow. I don't get it." He looks at the other five, and wonders why their tune hasn't changed when one dropped out. "I think there's another one coming. This looks like a rotation to me.".

[WindStruck]

"Deep..? Hm. It could be talking about water? But then again, they're all right next to the mine. Do you think something is related to that??"

[Avianmosquito]

**** thinks. "Yeah, probably. They seem to be deaf while they're humming, so if you go invisible and sneak past them, you might be able to find out what's going on in there. I don't think we can take them all, so if anything bad happens just come back as fast as you can.". He pauses for a second, then adds a hasty afterthought. "If you're willing, that is. And if neither of you has a better idea.".

[WindStruck]

"We could maybe look elsewhere. Maybe for different sahuagin? Or wait until another one comes and just club him or something." Fiona shrugs, not really thinking too badly of brutalizing one of these creatures, seeing as they recover from just about anything.

[Kish]

"Unless we're sure they're our enemies--which they might be, something happened to the village--we shouldn't attack them, and I'm not much good at sneaking. Can you investigate the mine, Fiona?" Risa says dubiously.

[WindStruck]

"Sure, I guess... You coming, Kiwi?"

The cat meowed and brushed up against her invisible form. She leaned down a bit to scratch the cat's head.

"Ok. I hope this place isn't too big... or. You know, 'deep'. I don't know how long it will take. Where are you two going to be?"

[Kish]

"Out here, hiding as best we can, I think."

[Avianmosquito]

"We'll be out here. If you hear me shooting, get out in a hurry.", says the nervous-looking man, taking the magazine from his pistol to load extra rounds. "Come back safely.".

The sahuagin nearby remain oblivious.

[WindStruck]

Fiona flies into the mine, giving the sahuagin as wide a berth as possible. She flies slowly so that Kiwi slinks in as well, like a stealthy miniature leopard about to pounce on... a mouse. Or something.

Once inside, they go a ways and are able to see in detail for much further than normal using the daylight pouring in from the entrance. But eventually when it gets a bit too dark for her liking, Fiona uses the Light spell to illuminate some stones along the ground, making a path of sorts.

[Avianmosquito]

The mine continues for a fairly short distance, maybe two or three hundred feet, before ending with a complete wall built around a support, with a locked door. The door feels a little out of place, but not too unusual. The door has a barred window, and on the other side of it strange chirping noises can be heard loud and clear.

[WindStruck]

Fiona peers into the window long and carefully, and also tries to listen to see if she recognizes the noise.

spot: [roll0]
listen: [roll1]

Also taking 20 on these checks if possible, considering it seems I have as much time as I want to continue observing.

Finally a knowledge roll: [roll2]
+6 nature trained
+4 untrained.

[Avianmosquito]

The chirping noises don't seem to be any sort of speech, but are definitely the vocalizations of a creature of some form. It seems to be coming from right below the window. Far across from that, though, there is a human sailor laying back against the wall. At the first glance, this is all Fiona can see.

[WindStruck]

Fiona sees the sailor and thinks maybe people were being imprisoned here? The chirping may even be a pet bird or something. Either way, the human looked relatively unharmed, so whatever it was, it probably wasn't dangerous. She set on opening the lock...

attempt 1: [roll0]

attempt 2 if applicable: [roll1]

[Avianmosquito]

A closer inspection reveals a few extra things. The man against the wall is hunched over unnaturally with a pistol in his hand and there's a red pattern across the wall. An even closer look reveals this to be blood and brain matter. There also looks to be a windowless door on the other side. The chirping noises below the window seem to intensify as Fiona opens the lock, and a bright glow begins emanating from right where it's coming from. The chirping continues to get louder, and multiple voices are joining in, adding excited yips and growls to the mix. Something, multiple somethings by the sound of it, begin scratching at the door.

[WindStruck]

Actually, considering the sailor was quite clearly dead and murdered with head split open when looking in the room, Fiona did not think unlocking the door was a good idea. Still, she tried rapping on the window and fiddling with the lock to make some noise just to be sure. The chirping and sounds intensified, followed by glowing.

Nope. Not doing that.

Seeing as that was all there really was to the mine, she headed back out of the mine beckoning Kiwi to follow before something happened.

[Avianmosquito]

As you're sneaking out, a glowing sahuagin walks in. They go right up to the door, gesture and feel at the window, then try to break it down. The chirping is really excited now, but it soon dies down. It's a pretty solid metal door, so nothing happens. It can't break it down, it can't claw it open, the doorframe is load-bearing and the wall around it is solid. It gives up and slinks off back towards the entrance. The chirping stops completely as it leaves.

[WindStruck]

This must be a different sahuagin from the other ones humming.. right? Hopefully, Fiona thought.

She followed it a ways a safe distance behind, up to a certain point. She needed to know where Nordstein and Risa were in frame of reference. If he hadn't already talked to it, maybe he should try.

[Avianmosquito]

**** and Risa are right across from the mine entrance, past the sahuagin, as they were before. The sahuagin, sighing, comes out and joins the others, picking up the last one's place in the melody. **** seems to have lit up a cigarette, a bit odd if he's trying to stay inconspicuous. The sahuagin don't seem to be bothering him, though.

[WindStruck]

Fiona flies up to the others.

"Hey! So there's a locked door in there. That sahuagin, the one that just left, it tried to open the door... But there's something behind it. I thought at first it was something really dangerous! Maybe it's just.. um.. sahuagin babies?? I have no idea why they would be there. But I do know there's a dead sailor with his head smashed open just beyond the door too, so..."

She looked at the others. "Maybe we had just better interrupt their ritual thing? Perhaps if they really want to get past that door, you can bargain to help them? That is, if they bother to snap out of their trance, stop, and listen..."

[Kish]

"Hm. Tried to open the door? But couldn't? I wonder who made the door. I guess we'd better talk to them, if we can. Which means you, since we don't speak the language," she adds to ****.

[WindStruck]

Fiona asks him, "Would you rather that I at least try to grab their attention first?"

[Avianmosquito]

**** glares at the tiny pixie. "Uh, no. I'd rather not get the attention of all of them at once. In fact, if this goes poorly, does either of you have a spell that'll make us run faster?". He says, finishing off his cigarette. "They don't seem to mind us out here, but I don't think they'll be happy with us getting closer. And they're kinda deaf right now, so that's an issue too. I'll try, but I make no promises and I definitely want an escape plan.".

[Kish]

"That kind of magic isn't what I do, I'm afraid," Risa says. "I'd do the talking, if I spoke the language."

[WindStruck]

"Nope! No magic like that!" Fiona says. "Maybe you should just get a bit further back and ready to run? If they get mad at me, I'll probably be ok..."

"I may also be able to slow them down if they begin chasing you, but that's it."

[Avianmosquito]

He thinks. "Can you slow them enough that we can all escape them?", he says to little Fiona. "I just want to be sure. In case this goes poorly." He says, pressing on his not being a diplomat. "Well... If you're sure...". He gets up and nervously steps forward, working up the nerve to approach the sahuagin.

[WindStruck]

"As long as they're in the forest or near other plants. Perhaps. Sometimes the plants grab them and they can't move at all. They should at least be slowed down a little no matter what..."

As he moves forward, she reaches out to touch him and says, "Wait. You were concerned about them being hostile. I think they should see me first. Wouldn't that be better? That way if they get mad, they're focused on me, and you two can make your escape. I should have no problem getting away, I think."

[Avianmosquito]

He thinks. "Sure, you try. You have exactly as much experience as I do. Plus you're cute. I'll just be way back here. Okay?". He steps further back, ducking behind a tree. "Risa, you might want to get back here too.".

[WindStruck]

Fiona slowly (and visibly) walks over to the sahuagin in Nordstein's stead leaving her bag and Kiwi with Risa. She smiles timidly but not so much to show her teeth and her hands are also visibly empty.

She really hopes a nearly naked and unarmed creature such as herself wouldn't be considered a threat at all. But her real concern is if they get horribly offended. She uses any gestures and words D*ck showed her.

combat wise I think inching up in 5 foot steps and taking total defense every round would be fair?

Perhaps until Fiona makes an active attempt at communication if you are real picky

[Kish]

Risa steps behind the tree with ****, watching Risa.

[Avianmosquito]

While Fiona inches towards them and Risa watches herself, **** hides. The sahuagin only take notice of Fiona when she enters their clearing, and they all stop and stare at her at once. The one closest to Fiona speaks, but it's in a language she of course can't understand. The others all chime in, and they begin advancing towards her, waving their arms in a "shoo" motion, but still not speaking even one word she recognizes.

[WindStruck]

Fiona looks quite confused, though it's likely the sahuagin don't process her facial expressions, sadly. Still, as long as they were only waving their arms, she backed up minimally, trying to hold her ground.

In her own attempt at communication, she spoke Sylvan (or however you want to call the Fey language): "Wait! Can you understand me?" she asked in melodic flowing syllables.

[Avianmosquito]

The complete and obvious lack of understanding continues, underscored with a firm kick to the genitals, followed by much pointing and shouting in incomprehensible languages. It's at this point **** steps forward to intervene, and unlike Fiona he can actually talk to them. They momentarily stop what they're doing and proceed to argue with him, and he quickly backs off. "Hey Fiona, now would be a good time to be leaving.".

[WindStruck]

Fiona grunts, and scrambles up and backwards. "Argh.. yeah.. what did they say??" she asks as makes her way back.

[Avianmosquito]

"They told me to do something physically impossible. At least, I think it's impossible. Admittedly, anatomy is not my area of expertise, but I just don't think words can do that.". He backs away, and returns slowly to the bushes where Risa is waiting, muttering to himself. "Hey Risa, you got any ideas? Because the pixie and I just ran out.". He stops and looks over at Fiona, thinking. "Hey Fiona, want to take this up with the captain?".

[WindStruck]

"Yeah, I can tell the captain! I guess these guys aren't going to help. You'll keep looking around in the meantime?"

[Kish]

"I thought you were going to try to talk to them, not just step in after--never mind. They're not attacking on sight. We should look for one who's willing to talk, and this time offer to help and ask them what's going on--in that order," Risa says.

[WindStruck]

"It's pretty hard to help someone when they don't want it. Or at least, don't want it from you..." Fiona says, pouting.

[Avianmosquito]

**** rolls his eyes. "I tried. They didn't take it. And I am not eager to get kicked in the me, thanks.". He sighs and looks around. He tries vainly to look around the hill, as if moving his head a couple feet is going to let him see around something nearly a mile across. "Hey Risa, you think there's a back entrance?". He produces another cancer and lights up. "What? I smoke when I'm nervous.".

[WindStruck]

"Back entrance to the mine?? Hm. I dunno... that place gave me the creeps honestly. I also have an idea. Maaaybe I could let whatever was past that door out? Could be baby sahuagin. Could also be insane glowing spider demons. But if I get away, it'll be those guyses problem, not ours."

[Avianmosquito]

**** asks the obvious question (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psqobLlK6EE) very loudly to the girl who said she was going to talk to the captain. "And why would we release something if we don't know what it is? And why... Oh, whatever. Go ahead. I guess we can talk to the captain later.". He takes a long drag and sighs. "If it's anything dangerous, you all know I'm going to be the first one running.".

[WindStruck]

"Well we're still talking right?? Ugh.." Fiona says, fed up with his attitude. "I'll see what happens, be ready to run or.. whatever. Stay with them alright Kiwi?"

Fiona grabs her bag back, turns invisible, and goes back into the mine, if anything fueled by a mixture of morbid curiosity, frustration, and also not wanting to report back to the captain with more questions than answers. She picks the lock this time (for real) cringing as the yipping and glowing starts up again. Then when the door is finally unlocked, she turns the handle, gives the door a tug, and flies out of the mine to see what happens.

[Avianmosquito]

As predicted, right by the door are two glowing sahuagin infants. They seem to be having trouble standing, and more than that they seem confused by the magical self-opening door. One, cautiously, creeps out ahead of the other and begins barking. The other one follows suit.

On the outside, **** and Risa can hear the odd barking noises coming from inside. So can the sahuagin, suddenly, and they all run into the cavern at once.

[WindStruck]

Fiona stays back and watches for a bit. Oh thank Aphrodite they were only babies...

It made her feel better inside. She could imagine it as the number one priority of any sentient being with a shred of decency. Would it be worth it if things went really bad from here? ...well, she hoped that wouldn't be the case.

From the clearing she calls out, "****! It was young sahuagin! Maybe this is our chance! Just tell them we opened the door?"

[Avianmosquito]

The sahuagin have already charged in, but they don't come out for quite some time. Soon, they come walking out with both of the little ones in their arms, and proceed directly back towards the ocean. They still seem very agitated, for some reason. As if this isn't what they wanted, or rather this isn't the only thing they wanted. The room in the mine is now clear.

**** seems to be using a sending scroll at the moment, but it hasn't cast yet. "Just wait a bit, I'm talking to the captain. If it's safe in there, you can go ahead of me, I'll be there in... About ten minutes. This spell really sucks.". His thinly-veiled author avatar hatred of the casting time on the stupid sending spell notwithstanding, he is serious.

[WindStruck]

"Hey! I could have gone and gave a message to the captain!" Fiona says. Not like she really wanted to, but it was what she thought would happen later, and they probably did not have a huge supply of scrolls like that. "And besides, you could have said something to them! That was, like, the whole point! Aside from rescuing their babies, I guess."

[Kish]

"I think talking to the sahuagin is more important than talking to the idiot who killed a prisoner," Risa sighs, recognizing that **** apparently does not see it her way.

[WindStruck]

"Well, we are supposed to be protecting you. And I'd really rather go in there with all three of us. Besides, you're the investigator, after all, so you should look in there too."

Fiona waits for Nordstein to do whatever, then she'll go with the others into the cave, providing light when necessary.

[Avianmosquito]

**** gives her a look. "Fine, I'll go get kicked in the ****. If you want to take over here, go ahead. My arms are getting tired.". He hands off the scroll to Risa and walks after the sahuagin. "Not like they're going to listen to me anyway...", says defeatist ****. "I'm sure a healing potion can fix it. Or a spell. But do we have somebody who can cast healing spells? No, of course not, that'd be too easy...", he complains aloud as he goes towards the sahuagin and attempts to speak to them. He manages to avoid having a foot immediately collide with his genitals, but only because he is ignored entirely. His failure does not deter him, and he tries again. This earns him mild irritation. And he tries one third and final time, and this time he finally manages to get their attention. By means of aggression. By means of the promised kick in a sensitive area. **** buckles over, and comes hobbling back to the party. "They weren't interested.".

[WindStruck]

Fiona sighs. "Sorry. Well at least you tried, now. Seems if this continues, we'll just have to tell Mr. Uzun that all the sahuagin are either aggressive or try to ignore us, no matter what we do."

"But hopefully we could find some that will talk. Maybe you could even teach me a few words? Or phrases to help introduce you?"

[Avianmosquito]

He groans and stumbles towards the gave. "Sure... You got a few days for some simple words and phrases? Another couple weeks for basic grammer... Months to actually speak it... Ow... Year to be fluent...". And then he decides to stop standing up for a little while. With a thump. "I did it in less, but I learned from a native speaker..." He tries to stand back up, and fails. "Give me a minute, I'll be fine... I didn't grab any potions on the ship before I left... Did either of you?" He produces a flask from inside his coat and takes a drink. "If not, I'm just going to sit here and drink jäger until Risa's done casting, okay? How's that scroll coming, anyway?".

[WindStruck]

Fiona offers the man a potion. It's the least she could do. And a heal check probably wouldn't be appropriate.

[Kish]

"I can't reliably use a Sending scroll, you know. I would guess that he'll either say we should kill all the sahuagin, or that we should go back in failure, neither of which sounds appealing to me. You have any ideas that aren't trying to talk to a sahuagin or asking the captain's advice?"

[Avianmosquito]

He drinks the potion. "Thanks... The taste of these is always kinda weird. Sweet, but not in a good way. In the future, I should wear a cup. Big target, you know. Sisyphus used to push one up a hill." He says, trying to spare his pride. "Let me try, I guess. I've got another in case it gets screwed." He takes the scroll back. "I wouldn't say it's reliable for me either, but I figured you're a spellcaster, and I'm just a dude who took a class.". He offers his flask to Fiona and starts trying to cast the spell. "Want a sip of orphan tears? Actually, probably better if you don't.".

[Kish]

"I have the power to destroy, only. No communication spells."

[WindStruck]

"No thanks. And I could fly over to the captain now if you'd really want. But I'd rather you not go in there till I get back, just in case..."

[Avianmosquito]

"Right, you talk to the captain. I'll talk to Ihsan. One of them will have something, I'm sure.". He starts casting, sighing a bit. "I wish we had some better scrolls or something. Times like this, I miss the Gnomtäller. You know the telegram? We had something better, called a 'radio'. I don't know how they work, but you could talk to people without any of this stupid crap, and it didn't even have wires!". He takes another sip. "Though there were some drawbacks. Like the landmine that just about took my leg off when I was escaping.". And another sip. "I'll be here a while. You may as well get going, I'm sure I'll be fine with just Risa.".

[WindStruck]

Fiona nods and tells Kiwi to stay with them. Then she turns invisible and flies over to the ship.. only appearing once she gets within a few feet of it, and hopefully not too close to anyone so as to scare them.

She finds the captain as soon as she can to report in and see what he found out.

[Avianmosquito]

The captain is in his cabin at the moment, doing paperwork. He seems profoundly displeased when he hears the door open, but reaches for the rum on his shelf anyway. "Yes, come on...", he looks up. "Oh. You. What do you want?". He puts the rum back. "And where are the others?", he asks pointedly, as if expecting an unpleasant answer. "Because Ihsan is already angry, and whatever it is I'm sure I'm going to have to tell him.".

[WindStruck]

Fiona anxiously creeps up to a chair to sit down, but doesn't go for any rum. "Just here to check in with you, Captain Sir. The others are fine, and wanted to report some things to you.. but I volunteered to fly over here to save a scroll..."

"So what did he say? And why is he angry? We messed up already?"

[Avianmosquito]

Calder looks angry, and sounds it too. "Why is he... Girl, LOOK OUTSIDE! I don't know how you'd miss a great big rubble-filled CRATER where a village used to be. This place was half the company's bank, and it's GONE. Erased, scattered all over the ****ing island, you daft little...", he takes a deep breath as Asta peaks in to check. The temperature in the room drops a couple degrees. "What was it you needed to tell me, exactly?", he says. Asta gives him a death glare and leaves. "And be bloody quick about it. I've got enough issues with insubordination, I'm about out of patience.".

[WindStruck]

"I know that!" Fiona argues. "But it's not our fault!"

She sighs quite aggravated and decides to get on with it very quickly. "I came to give you an update. And don't bother telling Ihsan, because the detective is already informing him of this new information. First, we looked around the village. It appears a very .. very large creature of some sort tore through the area. It seems to have some large claws and many legs, but we have no idea what it is. We also ran into some other sahuagin in the forest right outside the mines, but they refuse to talk to us, borederline hostile. There were even some baby sahuagin trapped behind a locked door in the mines. We rescued them, and they still won't talk to us. I guess that's it. Any questions?"

[Avianmosquito]

"****.", Calder swears. "They really did it, they messed with the wacky fish**** religion, tried to stop them from throwing them into the ocean. The babies are FINE, but do they listen? No, of course not.", he carries on as Asta rushes in. "Wait, did you say they...", she briefly pauses. "Fiona, now might be a good time to leave.". She looks back to Calder. "Calder, WHAT was it you told me about the new recruits? What was my ONE CONCERN?", she shouts way entirely too loudly, leaving Fiona's ears ringing, but not as badly as Calder's response. "I spoke to EVERY ONE OF THEM, and I mean PERSONALLY, Asta, and they ALL assured me they'd leave the local religion alone.", he says, almost being cut off. "DID YOU MENTION THE BABIES TO THEM, CALDER?", she replies at a scream that shakes the windows. One thing is for sure, now might be a good time to leave. Before your ears start bleeding.

[WindStruck]

Fiona half covers her ears. "Wait! Guys, guys! Are you really sure it was that?? We're talking about an actual monster here, not their fish god or whatever!"

[Avianmosquito]

Fiona's voice is drowned out completely by the shouting. "No, I DIDN'T mention the ****ING BABIES, Asta, or they wouldn't WORK FOR US.", to which Asta shouts back "THAT'S THE PROBLEM RIGHT THERE, you STUPID PIG!", and he shouts back with a "IT WAS A CALCULATED RISK, STOP SHOUTING!". The shouting, of course, continues, with Asta starting to degenerate it into vulgar insults of increasing crudeness and ear-bursting volume. This does not bode well for the crew's cohesion. Eventually it ends with "STAND DOWN.", a direct order to which Asta reluctantly complies. "Fiona, make sure **** tells Ihsan that the new crewmen stole a couple of bright infants. I interviewed them, I'll take the blame.". He grabs the rum from the shelf and pours a full-sized glass of it. "Now both of you, get out of my office.".

[WindStruck]

Fiona just shrugs and leaves. When they're at least away from Calder, she asks Asta. "We got some of the baby sahuagin out of the mines... and I saw a dead man in there as well. Is that who we're talking about? They took the babies and locked themselves in there, you think??"

[Avianmosquito]

Asta takes a second to reply, shaking her head and bit and working her jaw like she's trying to pop her ears. "Oh... Yeah. I'd need a better description than 'dead man', but probably. How'd he die?", she asks out of curiosity. "Our commanding ****head got him killed, I want to tell him how.", she says with vitriol, ready to restart the screaming match on the drop of a hat.

Meanwhile, back at camp. "Hey Risa, I'm about ready to cast. You got anything you want to say to him as well, or is this all me?".

[WindStruck]

Fiona thinks. "Well, he was in that room with the infants... alone I think. I didn't quite get a good look, as I didn't know it was infants behind the door at first. But at least there was a window. He had a gun, apparently, and his head was... well, smashed open. Blood all over the walls..."

[Avianmosquito]

She looks even more concerned now. "So, a suicide? Why would he do that?", she asks as she heads towards the stairs. "Well, I'm going to go get some tea. You get back to work, and come see me once you're done for the day.".

[WindStruck]

"S-suicide?? I don't know about that. And I never said it!"

Fiona looks down for a second. "Right.. well, I suppose I should get back. Please be careful and make sure a giant monster doesn't get you out here. Whatever it was, it went into the sea..."

Fiona turns invisible and flies back in the same manner to meet up with the others.

[Avianmosquito]

"All me it is, then.", **** sighs as he finishes the spell. "This is Detective Nordenstein. Found glowing sahuagin infants in cave. Human dead of head wound, likely culprit. Sahuagin all hostile or dismissive. Requesting further orders.". He waits for what feels like entirely too long, but receives a response. "Disturbed by your findings. South sea sector likely to collapse. If possible, retrieve one sahuagin infant, alive and unharmed. Must know why they are important.". ****'s face drains of all colour at this request.

[WindStruck]

"Hey guys!" Fiona says appearing out of nowhere. Everyone but the cat was probably startled. "How did it go?"

[Avianmosquito]

**** is speechless, and it takes him a while to shake it off. "He... Wants us to kidnap one. One of the glowing babies, he says to 'retrieve one', 'if possible'. He says he wants to know why they're important.". The man takes out another death stick and lights it, clearly nervous again.

[Kish]

"That sounds both moronic and immoral," Risa says flatly. "Any other ideas? Or you feel like trying looking for a sahuagin who wants to talk now?"

[WindStruck]

Fiona looks at him with a mixture of concern and a blank stare. "Yeah..." she says, looking at Risa.

"Immoral, stupid, near impossible and would probably get us killed... and I still don't think it would teach us anything! Like, what are we supposed to do after? It'll never be able to tell us how it's so special!"

She thinks about other ideas Risa brought up. "I still think there's a whole lot of other places to look around, aren't there? Plus, there might be more stuff in that mine... if you're willing to go. Just saying. We're right here!"

[Avianmosquito]

He calms down after smoking for a second. "Yeah, I don't much like the idea either, but I also don't want to lose my job. Let's just continue the investigation, I'm not going to go looking for babies to kidnap. Let's get in that mine. If he wants something like that done, he can have Calder do it. I don't think that guy has a conscience.". **** puts his flask away and starts walking, cigarette still firmly in hand.

[WindStruck]

Fiona just shrugs. "I dunno. But I guess in the mean time we can learn more about this place. Scout the area, important things..."

"Maybe find a lucky opportunity to kidnap a baby fish person..." she mutters.

[Avianmosquito]

The mine is as Fiona left it. The door is still open, the man inside is still dead. **** walks up and checks the body. "Let's see. Pistol in hand, large calibre. I see an entry wound under the chin, and an exit wound at the top. Suicide. The question is, though, why?". He looks around a bit more. "There's another door there. Fiona, can you take a look while I try and figure out what else happened here. You know, besides the obvious.". He keeps looking the man over, as if checking for additional injuries.

[WindStruck]

"I dunno. They think some crewman wanted to interfere with their religion, 'protecting' the babies. Maybe he locked himself in here with them then shot himself cause he knew he'd slowly starve to death? But then that means the infants would starve too... hmm..."

of course, we could be dealing with another 4 int schmuck, but what would I know...

Fiona checks out the other door. There probably wasn't anything dangerous behind it, but just to be safe, Fiona peers through the window, if any, at length trying to see what lies beyond. Then she tries to open the door if it appears safe.

Just so we are clear... I will take 20+10 on the spot check through the door, if there is a window on it. She may also be able to create a light source if it helps. If there's not a window, there's no real point and it doesn't make sense.

If she notices any other living/moving creatures, she'll stop here for now.

If there doesn't appear to be anything of note, she'll try opening the door. If it's locked... well, I'll just roll a few times.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

If these keep failing, take 20.

[Avianmosquito]

"Well, he doesn't have any injuries other than the head wound, but he's awfully thin and bloated... That and the open crate does seem to support the starvation idea. Especially since the crate is empty. Let me find the label...", he checks around it. "Yeah. It says 'canned meals, pork and beans, 300 count'. Does anybody see a giant pile of cans?". There's a well, odd for an underground mine, in the corner. "Hm. I don't see any water, but this is definitely a well. Perhaps they're doing a really wackadoo kind of goldpanning or something? I don't know, I'm not a miner. Speaking of minors, Fiona, can what do you see over there? And can we get a light down this? It'd confirm how long they were in here.".

As for what Fiona sees, she sees a long tunnel and daylight on the other end. It looks like the mine goes all the way through the hill, and beyond it can be seen a couple of carts and a dead horse. The door isn't even locked.

[WindStruck]

"There's a dead horse!" Fiona blurts out. She opens the other door. "And the door isn't even locked! Were the sahuagin just so unfamiliar with this place that they didn't realize there was another entrance?"

Maybe. After all, the first entrance faced the sea. She flies over to the well.

"Let's see here..." She lights up a small portion of it to make some light, then she slowly floats down, making more light when needed.

[Avianmosquito]

There is indeed no water in this well. There is also, notably, a giant pile of cans at the very, very bottom and that is a solid sixty feet down, just to the top of the cans. What's also of note is that this isn't a well, it opens wide at the bottom before it reaches the can pile. There's an entire lower level to this mine, and immediately veins of silver ore are visible throughout the room. Where the entrance is to here, you can't say, but that bucket likely isn't for water or anything of that nature, it's for passing supplies between the upper and lower levels without having to take the long way.

[WindStruck]

Fiona calls from down below. "Yup! Lots of cans down here! And a whole mine with.. silver! I think I see silver veins..."

Thinking about the situation, she carefully picks up some cans, making them light up, and throws them a way down each tunnel. Then she calls out. "Hellooooo! Anyone down heree?!"

Of course, anyone probably died of dehydration or something. But you never know...

[Avianmosquito]

The mine, at least at first, seems fairly small for what Ihsan told you and it seems rather empty, too. The lack of an obvious working entrance is also worrying. What's worse is all the rust and rotten wood around, the carts seem to have been sitting here a very long time, too long for this to have been set up as recently as Ihsan said his men arrived. The path furthest off seems to be leading down further, and the path directly behind seems to lead up less than a hundred feet and terminate in a pile of rubble. Something else, ever so faint, can be heard at the end of the tunnel, but to make it out Fiona would have to either get closer or really strain her ears.

[WindStruck]

Fiona decides to fly closer in the direction of the noise. Perhaps about 50 feet down the tunnel tops, then she tries to listen again.

[roll0]

[Avianmosquito]

It's still not close enough, all that can be told is that the sound is not repetitive enough to be natural, like dripping water or rushing wind, and it doesn't seem like 50 feet is really all that much closer to it, either. It could be, easily, hundreds of feet away.

[WindStruck]

Fiona decides that after having gone this far and not having learned that much else, to go back. So she flies to the entrance and back up the well to talk more naturally with **** and Risa, sitting on the edge of the well.

"You know, it's really weird. Ihsan made this mine out to be something very profitable. But this area doesn't seem very.. productive. Also, it sounded like a more recent endeavor, but some of the stuff down there looks decades old!"


"Also.. I think I hear something down one of the tunnels. Don't think it's water, and it could be miles away for all I know. I'm curious, but it doesn't feel safe. Want to check it out?"

[Avianmosquito]

****, having been outside, comes back in when he hears Fiona. "Yeah, that'd be a good idea. I took a look out there, these were Ihsan's carts outside, and they were digging away at a collapsed tunnel of some sort, trying to open it back up. Probably the same place you found. The question is, how do we get down there?", he asks, looking over to Risa. "Either of you got an idea? Maybe some magic that can create a hundred feet of rope?".

[WindStruck]

"Hm. Guess there wasn't any rope out there by the horse and cart?"

Fiona looks to the halfling. "Risa, you want to go down? I think this rope and crank thing could at least hold you, and Mr. Nordstein could lower you down..."

[Kish]

Risa gives **** an annoyed look, before saying, "Exploring is as good as anything else we can do, eh? You should go first, though, Fiona. If there's a giant monster down there or something, you can fly away."

[WindStruck]

Fiona frowns. "So you wouldn't want to come until after I tell you what's down there? And then what if it is a monster? Like a giant spider." She shudders. "I guess you still wouldn't want to deal with it then?"

[Kish]

"I don't fancy being lowered onto a giant spider, no. If the way is clear, come back and tell me and I can follow."

[Avianmosquito]

"Hm. Yeah, probably, be careful though. Looks like a quarter inch flax cord, it could support at least but it's probably attached to a teeny metal handle. You put all your weight on that bucket, the handle will break off. Try and keep your weight on the rope.", she says as he starts working the crank before Risa speaks. "At least this thing is... Okay then. Risa, what avenue of investigation would you suggest at this juncture?", he asks. "Besides the older, bigger mine Ihsan didn't tell us about, which may be another factor of why or maybe even how the destruction out there occured?". He keeps cranking. "Though yeah, it is a shot in the dark. Hey, maybe we'll find a subterranean plane of dinosaurs and ancient civilizations.".

Finally, the bucket arrives. "I don't know about giant spiders, but this place could use a lot more real spiders. The mosquitos are eating me alive. Good thing it's not very hot this far south, but the summer bugs are a real threat. Last time I was in the region I had to get a disease cured like four times. Malaria was the worst, by the way.".