Tales from the First World: The Great War

[Gnomes2169]

At the Port of Origin
The port city of Mantrezin was three days north of Empire territory, and a day west of the Circle Continent. Close as the free port was, elements of Shaline society had begun to leak into aspects of its society. The roads were named and well paved, districts were somewhat clearly marked, and some of the buildings in wealthier districts were made of well-fitted mortar and stone. But the influence if the League was still present in the way buildings were cramped, wooden structures practically built on top of each other formed local houses, and an imperial engineer that looked at them would have weeped for all the safety violations clearly present in how they were practically stacked and leaned against one another. But they were shockingly stable despite that, and many of the multi-level tenements were even large enough to house a business or school in their ground floor.

Thickly packed as the buildings were together, the streets of the port town were bustling with sailors and businessmen. It wasn’t a major port by any means, but Mantrezin was still large enough to attract merchants of all stripes, and the narrow roads struggled to contain all the stalls and foot traffic that had been set up outside of its water front.

But even the business going on as usual wasn’t much of a distraction from the tension clinging in the air. Four months ago, League Ambassador Ufkorua had returned from the Imperial Jisr holdings. He’d stopped in the port for a week, not explaining what had happened, but a few of his wide-eyed guards had proven loose after a few drinks, and by the time he’d written all of his letters and hired all of his paiges to deliver them the island knew about Shaline’s ultimatum. When the ambassador left, rumors of what the Empire demanded exactly had been theorized, warped, exaggerated and began slipping to other ports throughout neutral zone territory. There had been two riots in the last few months, the first caused by League and Empire sympathizers butting heads, and the second by a particularly disreputable bar running out of a vintage of Shaline wine. Crews stuck more together than they had before, Shaline and League sympathizers wore sigils of their alliance on their shoulders, pure while strips of cloth for Imperials and multi-color handkerchiefs for League. White outnumbered rainbow in this town, though unmarked people outnumbered both, and this fact was likely all that kept each faction to their sides of the road… during the day.

And as he walked down the street, Captain Sevlin Selvalio Hekktars, the old gnoll watched a town proctor yell at contractors who had built the wall to his house with an up-hill slope, but over-compensated and now had a sagging lump of brick and mortar tottering at the eds of collapse. The rune-marked wood and stone patch he wore on the left side of his face whirred with a mechanical whine as he focused the prosthetic on the scene, and while he heard his first mate chuckle the scowl on his muzzle became a full grimace. Noting his captain’s changed expression, the gold-scaled man muttered, “Oh come on, you can’t seriously be feeling bad for the tax man.”

“Not him, no.” Hekktars confirmed. “Those aren’t masons, stone shapers or even apprentices for either. They’re house hands.” When his first mate gave him a blank look, the captain clarified, “So, Davian, that means a rich low-level bureaucrat can’t hire anyone with the skills to do so, and since he’s not wearing anything to affiliate him with the league or empire, that means he’s not able to find one to hire. Which, in turn, means all the masons and empire maji have either been bullied out, left like rats fleeing a burning building, or been recalled to friendly territory.”

The implications of how poorly things were going in this town sank in, and the dragonborn’s smirk slipped a bit as he looked over his shoulder at the shoddy building, remarking, “... Never thought I’d have a prayer for a blood sucker before. The man won’t last until the end of the month.” Looking back at the dock lodging they were walking towards, he added, “I’ll be glad to set sail and leave this place, cap’n.”

“Aye, I’ll drink to that. Gotta pick up a few more people first, though.” And with that, he pushed the door open and stepped inside of the sailor tenement.

Our Heroes
Yoloti, Nahree and Sister-wayfinder Akilejnah had, for one reason or another, found their way down to the docks, and from the docks to this out-of-the-way tavern and longhouse. Designed as a place for sailors who were to broke, or too cheap, to pay for housing further in town, it also served as a place for sailors looking to be hired on to ships to gather, and was frequented by captains who needed to fill a few gaps in their ships. The common room lead directly into an open bunkhouse cramped with hammocks and beds that were serviceable but nothing approaching luxurious.

With the recent instability, there sure seemed to be a lot of “sailors'' hanging around that had never served on a ship a day in their lives. Some of them were bearing League or Empire colors, others were clustered into groups, one was a notable individual decked in scale armor, an elf with basalt-hewed skin, russet hair and eyes of gold who sat at a gambling table with a damned polearm leaned against him, and he nattered on about this and that, being hired aboard a ship called the Ragamender just that morning. With the increased business, and perhaps in a bid to keep her bar from being torn up by another fight, the owner of this establishment had decided that any sailor waiting to sign onto a ship could drink for free for the rest of the evening.

Regardless of where they were and who they might have been talking with (if anyone,) this means that our three heroes would see a well-dressed gnoll enter the building. There were streaks of white and grey throughout his fur, but despite his obvious age he still had a lean, wiry fitness to himself. The left side of his face was covered by a patch of iron wood sculpted to perfectly match his skull, and inlaid into the socket of his eye was a large marble of stone with a hole that could contract and expand much like an organic pupil. His right arm ended in a wooden prosthetic as well, highly detailed and articulated, and while it remains still it would give the impression of being fully functional. Glowing runes covered these items in inconspicuous places, but were still easily visible to anyone who cared to really look for them. He had no left ear, but his right was pierced by three painted stone loops. The last of his jewelry consisted of fetishes looped into the somewhat scruffy fur of his neck and chin, and a pair of stone rings on his left hand, one with a ruby square embedded within it, and one with an amethyst. The gnoll carried no obvious weapons besides a basic knife on his belt.

Just behind him stood a gold-scaled dragonborn, the being looking far younger and less scarred. At first glance the draconic male could have passed for a bodyguard or soldier, wearing the boiled leather cuirass, shield and spear that he was, and he stood head and shoulder over anyone else within the bar, including the two orcs in the back.

The two stop in the doorway for a second, looking over the various patrons and would-be sailors, but then whatever mystery and silence they brought with them was broken by the black-skinned elf sticking his arm up and calling, “Oh, hey, captain, hello. It's me captain! See? Told you he would come back in just a few-“

“Yes, yes, Caldasier, I see you there, thank you for the introduction.” With a sigh, he loops his organic thumb into his belt and announces, “Right. I’ll keep this quick. My name is Sevlin Selvalio Hekktars, and this is my second, Davian.” The dragonborn grunted in greeting. “I’m the captain of the Ragamender. We’re hiring a few new hands, and are especially looking for specialists to fill a few necessary roles. Anyone who qualifies and wants off this tinderbox, meet me at my table.”

With his announcement out of the way, and a flawless mana crystal flicked from Davian to the bartender for the trouble, Hekktars laid claim to a table beside one of the longhouse windows, sat down, and waited for Davian to pull a ledger and quill pot from a satchel at the dragonborn’s side. A small line of hopefuls almost immediately formed.

[Kinro]

It was not usually difficult for a kobold with wanderlust to find passage on a ship. It was often considered to be a sort of a lucky charm to have one or two on board, sometimes even a badge of honour. Of course, it did help that even the least sea-knowledgeable kobold always could point the way to their homeland, could see at night, was quick to learn generally any task they were required to, were often enthusiastic about just about everything and generally possessed at least some skills that, while not crucial, made sea voyages that much nicer. These well compensated for the fact that they were also chatterboxes who always seemed to be underfoot and didn't seem to be able to even be able to understand the concept of keeping anything secret.

The problem for Nahree, of course, was that he wasn't just any kobold, as was clearly evident by the large magitek automaton that always accompanied him. That and a few specific devices he carried upon his person. Kobolds were considered lucky, but rune magic... not quite so much. It helped little that it was, for no small reason associated with insanity. This, despite Nahree's best efforts to explain that the magitek process stabilized the mind-magic interface enough to overcome the chaos flaws inherent in the... And by this point, they were usually nodding and backing away very carefully, as if he really was mad.

And so, there Nahree was, in this bar, hoping, but not much, that someone would be willing to take him on another journey. That was, until he saw the captain of the ship he was supposedly trying to get to. His eyes were immediately drawn to the gnoll's prosthetic. Most were, certainly, but likely for different reasons. His were to admire the quality of the runes seen here and there. And the wood itself, ironwood, the best of woods, strong and light and found only on the wild lands of Saur'Ryu. This, certainly, was a man, surely, who had proper appreciation for the wonders magitek could bring. At least, so Nahree hoped when he joined the line of hopefuls.

[Feathersnow]

This kind of thing didn't happen when IDIX was alive...

Sister Wayfinder Akilej'nah hadn't slept in weeks. Not since she had first boarded the Imperial ship that took her here then decided it would be politically inconvenient to fly under the kite of the Sisterhood anymore, given their alliance to the League.

She had cobbled together enough of her pay to contact the Situation Room, but the Sisters Analyst and Monitor on duty couldn't help. That was a good chunk of my mana wasted...

She might well die here, her body left to rot, her souls left fragmented and unistantiated. What was worse, she couldn't be sure her body wouldn't turn into a Revenant to terrorize the mob that turned on her when things turned ugly. She wouldn't wish that even on her murderers, after the centuries of terror the things brought up in muted Other Memory.

And so the offer of employment from a Gnoll, much like the Gnolls she remembered from her long-ago childhood in the Institute, struck her as a great blessing. It was unseemly for a Sister to actively solicit employment. But... the Sisterhood had bigger problems right now. She was doing them a favor by saving them the trouble of spending a Xenic Skyship to rescue her.

And that would be the spark to set this tinderbox off.

The Xenics, long lost cousins, were only a rumor and strange, vaguely menacing lights in the sky right now. To see them up close, rescuing a Ghul... the Ghuls themselves were only slightly less mysterious to most people. It would create panic.

And fear led to violence...

She cut to the front of the line.

"Greetings, I, Sister Wayfinder Akilej'nah, will be happy to work with you in my professional capacity"

[zzzzzzzz414]

HP: 18/18
SP: 14/14
HD: 3/3 (D8)
BI: 4/4
Conditions: None
Ongoing Spell Effects: None

Most of the other patrons in the damp, seedy tavern were in varying states of drunkenness, taking full advantage of the innkeeper's generosity. Yolotli was not. Yolotli had, with trembling fingers and a false smile, ordered a single mug of water, and honestly she didn't think she'd even be able to get that down without vomiting.

Not that she couldn't hold her alcohol on a good day; the tiefling's nausea had less to do with unsteadiness of constitution than it did with an unsteadiness of mind. It had been 2 days now since she'd been stranded on this island, and she'd so far been unsuccessful in securing passage on a boat headed...away. Literally anywhere elsewhere. She'd hoped to catch passage on a boat headed west (very, very far west), but all the captains she'd met so far seemed to be headed back toward the Continent (nope, bad), or weren't willing to let her work her passage (not a lot of call for ship's entertainers, it seemed).

So Yolotl sat at a table, alone, fingers drumming a catchy beat on the table, eyes darting across the tavern, expecting some agent of Yaquica's to dart from the shadows and knife her in the back at any moment, nerves bound so tight she felt as though she might snap at any moment. And so, she was quite well-prepared to react when the grizzled gnoll made his announcement to the tavern.

Looking for "specialists"...so...maybe...!!

Yolotl was one of the very first in the line of would-be recruits, stepping up with a movement as quick and snappy as a rubber band when her turn came. The gnoll likely had to crane his neck to look at her. She was lanky and tall, about six feet in fact, which together with the rest of her appearance had already attracted quite a few stares and whispers; tieflings were not exactly a common sight, especially not this far south. Her skin was a grey-coppery color, with bright red marbled patterns on her left arm and the left side of her face. She had messy, wavy black hair going down to her mid-back, and two fairly short, straight horns protruding from the top of her forehead. The left was around 5 inches long, and decorated with a few bangles, but the right was broken off about halfway down. She was dressed in a loose, puffy white shirt (hole in the back for her wings, of course) and scarlet pants, and a concertina hung from a long string around her neck. A red bandana also covered the lower half of her face, so Sevlin couldn't see the wide smile she was giving, but her eyes were expressive enough; orange, with yellow sclera, brimming with excitement and...something else. Relief? Desperation?

"Hello hello hello! Incredible pleasure to meet you sir! Yolotli, sailor and journeywoman entertainer at your service sir!" she said, loudly enough to overcome the bandana's muffling and then some. She spoke in an unfamiliar accent; part Wadi, part something else. "I've got ample experience on, in, and around a ship, I can hold my own in a fight, I've got a bit of magic and I'm a very experienced musician and entertainer sir! Sandsong-trained, sir, been up and down the whole Continent, I have, sir! The Feats of Zariel, The Rugerka Cycles, 21 Loves in Al-Vashar, even The Days of Red Death, songs from the City of Crystal to Cape Mundir, I can do them all, sir! I can even give a demonstration if you'd like! Sir!" Yolotl gripped the edges of her concertina, eyes wide and sparkling.

[Gnomes2169]

Objective: Get hired

Akilej'nah's rudeness gets a sharp look from the gnoll, but with a grunt he says, "A ghul, huh? Windweaver talent and ship board experience in that case." These things were assumed because, like all gnolls from the Kalarian League, his experience has been almost exclusively with their potion makers and the Sisterhood. "There have been enough situations where one of you would have been useful, and a navigator would not go amiss. You're hired, but try to be more considerate to your potential crewmates in the future." Pointing at the night elf, likely the first member of that race that any Ghul had ever met since their race was so new and so very, extremely, isolated, he said, "New hires will be gathering over at that table. Feel free to go there and introduce yourself."

Because of her eagerness, Yolotli would be the third person interviewed, and to look at her the captain did, in fact, tilt his head back. As a good sign, the two sailors that had managed to beat the bard to his table had been hired, and one of them was barely old enough to have ever served on a ship, so it seemed the hiring process wasn't as stringent as she might have feared. The looks the gnoll and dragonborn gave her, one looking at her horn while the other looks at her dagger, would be a scarlet flag, however, especially once Davian leaned down to whisper into Hekktar's ear and the old gnoll frowns thoughtfully. "A performer, then? Sandsong trained... rare to see one of those outside of the troupes and play houses." Looking back down at his scrolls, quill in hand, he writes down her name and casually says, "In times as stressful as we are in, a captain would be a fool to ignore the benefit of a trained bard on board." One of the captains that had turned Yolotli's offers down looked up and gave Hekktar a sharp glance, but the gnoll either didn't notice or ignored it. Instead he ordered the bard, "Perform the Rising Wagon set, and give us a rendition of The Fang and Ghuls while I finish up the other interviews, any one of the acts not all of it, and if you do well enough you're hired." The Rising Wagon was an old Sandsong warmup that demonstrated and practiced a performer's vocal range, while The Fang and Ghuls was the story of a dashing gnoll rogue who accidentally kept sleeping with the wife of the same ghul along many of that ghul's lifetimes (and their multiple species, since they were a member of the Sisterhood) and the hijinks that ensued.

Nahree was the seventh to talk to the captain, mostly because his construct would get other people in line and general patrons in the tavern to back away to give him room so they could keep away from the infernal thing. By now, there were three sailors that had been hired, a bard proving their worth, and two rejects, both of which were clearly too young to be out of their parent's households, let alone aboard a ship, and who had been serving drinks just a little bit ago. The kobold's construct was what drew the attention of the captain and his first mate when the kobold finally made his way to the table. After getting Nahree's name and any titles the tinker wished to declare, Hekktar would state, "So. If you want on my ship, any of your inventions will need to be properly sealed and their negative effects contained." The gnoll likely had made sure his own runic items followed the same rules, hence him not being deposed by his crew. "But I could use a new boatswain, and your people have always been industrious and worked wonders with wood. Being a tinker as you clearly are, I assume repairs and maintenance of a ship should come as second nature, yes?" Without waiting for an answer, as if treating it as a foregone conclusion, he looks up at his first mate and says, "Anything you feel you need to ask?"

Davian rubbed at his chin, the dragonborn asks, "What exactly does that construct behind you... do?"

[Feathersnow]

Akilej'nah tried not to look abashed. Frankly, she agreed with the sentiment that she shouldn't be rude. But as a Sister, she had an image to protect. She nodded and sat down by the strange elf-like creature.

Flustered, her Shaline reverted to broken grammar. She needed real sleep, not the micronaps her body was set to.

"You, meet to nice! Sister Wayfinder Akilej'nah am I. You greet I! Hello!"

She blushed under her fur when she realized her error. Fortunately, that, at least wasn't obvious.

The... Tiefling? never met one of those before, either started that stupid ballad.

Clearly the Sister in question was born a Lizardfolk to be so jealous. Jealousy made more sense when you weren't immortal. Her sisters from other cultures still maintained cultural expectations that were opaque to Ghuls, even with sharing their memories.
And, more, to the point she really died a lot, given that gnolls, despite their many virtues, weren't long lived.

[zzzzzzzz414]

HP: 18/18
SP: 14/14
HD: 3/3 (D8)
BI: 4/4
Conditions: None
Ongoing Spell Effects: None

"Yessir! No problem at all sir! Wait just one moment and I'll provide a performance guaranteed to impress, sir!"

After checking quickly with the barkeep and finding an appropriate place in the tavern common room, Yolotl prepared to live up to her promise. With only a moment's hesitation, she removed the bandana - talking through it was fine enough for casual conversation, but not for an actual performance - revealing a set of jagged, discolored scars running down her right cheek. Gripping her concertina and taking a deep breath, she began to play.

The opening went as beautifully and smoothly as could be hoped for - she'd done it a hundred times before, and this time was no different, moving through the pitch ranges with practiced fluidity and ease. The second half went...less so. She knew the tale, yes, but had only heard it a few times - and had never performed it publicly. It was an old Jisr song with a rather unusual structure; not the sort of thing an apprentice (or rather, a recently "graduated" apprentice such as herself) was often called on to perform. Her performance of the tale's final act (the one she was most familiar with) wasn't terrible, but her unfamiliarity with it was clear enough from the occasional flubbed word and wavering verse. The heated argument that erupted from a nearby table in the middle of one of the trickier stanzas didn't help.

Panic rose in the back of Yolotl's throat; this wasn't going very well. She needed to do something here. She poured a little bit of magic into her fingers as she sang, through the concertina, and as she continued into the final verse, something sparkled into existence in front of her - an image of the story's characters, rendered in colorful illustration. That image soon faded and was replaced by another, and then another, a sequence of images depicting the final, ridiculous fight between the suave gnoll, the jilted ghul, and the exasperated wife. A more seasoned performer might have considered it a bit gauche, but it was a demonstration of magical aptitude at least. That was worth something. She really, really, really really hoped that was worth something.

Used "Minor Illusion" several times in succession [Cantrip, -0SP]

[Kinro]

Nahree smiled brightly. This was just as he had hoped. This gnoll captain understood magitek. Well, perhaps not understood in the ways of making it, but at least understood that it had ways and protections.

"Of course, of course," Nahree said as he pulled a chair away from the table to stand on it. He undid, then, a contraption he had strapped to his arm, quickly flipping it over and pointing to specific points as he spoke. "This is an example of my work, you see? The active runes, following some interesting modification of the Myrlee principle, are carved here and here. But only after I established three of the four points of the revised Gahlee containment, like this. The fourth was..."

"Yes, of course!" Nahree said, switching tracks immediately once the captain, apparently used to kobold ways interrupted him, the device, of course, returning to his arm. "I can tinker, I can carpent, of course," he said, with a knock back at his automaton. "I can read and make maps. I've even been taught the strange techniques of smithing. Oh, and I can cook, too!" That last would, perhaps, draw mixed reaction from the surrounding patrons. Kobold traditional meals were whatever they happened to find in their swamps, no matter how slimy or wriggly or plain unappetizing it might seem to be. But those whose learned the centaur arts of cookery somehow always managed to find ways combine those ingredients into one of the most disturbing looking and delicious meals one might hope to find.

"Oh, this?" Nahree asked when asked about his automaton. He made a gesture and wooden contraption moved forward to stand next to him. "It's my personal assistant. I made it using the highest principles of magitek expertise. It's great for holding things for me and grabbing things from high shelves. Aren't you?" The automaton paused for a moment, then inclined its head slightly. "See? It can even understand what you say. Somewhat. It's something I'm working on."

[Gnomes2169]

The strange elf-creature flashes Akilej'nah a grin when she sits down, and when she introduces herself he nods in understanding and reaches out to pat one of her arms understandingly. "Ah, I see. You are being new to the language too." He says, in fluent-enough Shaline to be passable, but not flawless. "It is a difficult tongue, one I learn only..." Counting on his fingers, he states, "Thirty of what you call days ago? Wonderous thing, days are. Sky illuminates, and the colors shift and change. So very strange your world, but good when isn't so bright. Brother dark taught us about that, but he did not tell us about this burning water you people have, so is he good teacher, really?" He chuckles and shakes his jug at her, before finally saying, "Oh. I am being called Companion Caldasier. We are on the same crew, yes?"

Nahree would get a grunt at his various answers from the dragonborn, and Davian looked the construct over again. "Right. Don't worry about the cooking, we still have a pair of chefs on the crew. Nothing happened to them..." There's a bit of a yet implied in that as Davian looks over at a pair of goblins who were leaning over their table in a conspiratorial huddle. "But beyond that. So your wooden friend can reach up to higher places for you and...?" Apparently he's not impressed by the creation of a semi-sentient machine with fine enough motor control to pick delicate reagents and tools up.

Yolotli's warmup would get attention from a wide group of patrons, almost everyone who wasn't fixated on their drinks or conversations looking at the tiefling expectantly. Once she began her actual story, though, and it became somewhat obvious that she was making a good chunk of the story up as she went along, much of that interest fades and many patrons just went back to their drinks or dice and card games. The addition of illusions to the story would draw the eyes of a few of the inebriated individuals and causes the captain to sit up just a bit, but it doesn't recapture anywhere near the interest of her warmup. After her performance ends, Yolotli would lose the attention of even the few drunks who had been watching the lightshow, and a troupe of performers came onto stage to shoo her off and take over from there. Despite the somewhat disastrous turn of events, Captain Hekktar would gesture the tiefling over to his table and tell her, "Well, you have a voice on you, that's for sure. Perhaps a little inexperienced with the ways of the world and the songs that are in it... but you do have a talent that's rare even for a member of the Sandsong. A talent for Recitation magic makes you even more of a necessity for my crew, though... do try to steal a book of sea chanties or at least learn a few songs from the crew, aye?"

As all three of you are talking to your respective crewmates, the door bangs open and a human runs in, before pulling the door behind her shut with a slam. Panting heavily, the woman practically runs to the bar to order a drink.

[Feathersnow]

Ah! This must be a Night Elf! She had heard rumors a few of them came from some mysterious other world, but, as far as she knew, no Ghul had ever met one before.
"Glad to meet you! Funny story, where my mother came from, a day lasted six months, or it used to. So we count things by hours, traditionally. How do your people measure time?"

The human rushed in. Mother's Bones!... that isn't good.

"I wonder what that was about?"

[Kinro]

"Yes, it can!" Nahree replied excitedly, not realizing that the captain wasn't as impressed about him having what what, from his perspective, a giant at his command. One he'd made himself. "And it's at least ten percent more intelligent and more efficient than equivalent models thanks to the new, recursing runes-carving process." He raised both hands to the first-mate, which, of course, happened to total eight fingers. "That means that it can obey much more complex commands. Even verbals ones. And, of course, it understands what other people are saying too, thanks to the dechaotic speech interpreter, as described in my..." He was interrupted by the human suddenly barging in. "Hey, do you think she'd alright?" he asked.

[zzzzzzzz414]

HP: 18/18
SP: 14/14
HD: 3/3 (D8)
BI: 4/4
Conditions: None
Ongoing Spell Effects: None



Yolotli's warmup would get attention from a wide group of patrons, almost everyone who wasn't fixated on their drinks or conversations looking at the tiefling expectantly. Once she began her actual story, though, and it became somewhat obvious that she was making a good chunk of the story up as she went along, much of that interest fades and many patrons just went back to their drinks or dice and card games. The addition of illusions to the story would draw the eyes of a few of the inebriated individuals and causes the captain to sit up just a bit, but it doesn't recapture anywhere near the interest of her warmup. After her performance ends, Yolotli would lose the attention of even the few drunks who had been watching the lightshow, and a troupe of performers came onto stage to shoo her off and take over from there. Despite the somewhat disastrous turn of events, Captain Hekktar would gesture the tiefling over to his table and tell her, "Well, you have a voice on you, that's for sure. Perhaps a little inexperienced with the ways of the world and the songs that are in it... but you do have a talent that's rare even for a member of the Sandsong. A talent for Recitation magic makes you even more of a necessity for my crew, though... do try to steal a book of sea chanties or at least learn a few songs from the crew, aye?"


"Y-yessir! No problem sir! Thank you so so so much sir, won't regret it for a moment sir! I'll start learning right this moment sir!

However, as Yolotl made to move towards the table where the dark elf and the ghul were sitting, in hopes of getting acquainted with what were sure to be some fantastic new friends, she heard the door suddenly slam open and shut, and a human barged in looking like she'd seen a revenant. Yolotl instinctively turned to glance towards the windows, wondering if something had happened outside.

[Gnomes2169]

Caldasier tilted his head at Akilej'nah's question, and he answered, "We do not. Nocturnai is... dream in which you walk, even while you wake. Brother Dark comes upon us for visit, and he tells us it is once each decade, but we have no measure of this time. No sky, no change of weather, no periods of rest or shifting of tides. It is a long, unbroken, ephemeral life." He grins widely again and says, "Rain is so very fun, and the solidity of knowing a here and a now, that certainty, is so very new to me. It make life so much more... interesting. Even when it overwhelms some time." When the human came in, Caldasier shrugs at the Sister Wayfinder's question and he says, "I do not know why any of you people here rush so. Perhaps she forgot to pay the... tab thing?"

Nahree and Yolotli were both close enough to Davian to hear the first mate let out a frustrated sigh before pinching at the bridge of his snout and muttering, "No, that's not what I... I meant is there anything el-" And then the door slammed and the human was slamming crystals and silver in handfuls onto the table. Eyes opening so that he could squint, Davian growled, "By Arkhos' flaming sack that's not good..."

The party aren't the only people who notice the woman's dramatic entrance, and the noise of conversation and the warming up entertainers die down as she downs two drinks with barely any chance to breathe. As she went to lift up the third mug, the bartender grabs her wrist and tells her, "Slow down, lass. Take a breath. Why don't you tell us what happened out there?" As if seeing him for the first time, the woman, a merchant by her garb, blinks at him and then looks throughout the bar at all the people that are just watching her.

The silence stretches for a handful of breaths, and then she says, "Someone jus' tried to assassinate the mayor, din' they?" And then her third drink began to go down.

[Feathersnow]

Rot! I should have just asked the Xenics to rescue me, at this rate. I hope they can at least recover my khet after the mob kills us.

"Well, Companion-Caldasier, in a general sense, I agree. Patience is a virtue, even if many people live only finite lifespans, and so need to budget their time. But, in the specific, we need to move. This is about to be a place a Ghul and a Gnoll won't be safe."

She heads over to the Captain. "Sir, it might be best we head to the ship. Before a race riot breaks out." She whispers and talks in Gnoll.

[Kinro]

"What happened?" Nahree asked, his interest no longer on Davian as he moved over to the bar, his automation using its hands as stairs to help him onto the stool without any further instructions. "Is the mayor alright?" he asked, worried. "Who tried to kill them, why were they trying to kill them?" He paused for a moment, thinking. "Are you alright? Were you near when it happened?"

[zzzzzzzz414]

Yolotli hadn't been in town for very long, and had spent most of her time in town trying desperately to find a ship headed far away. But she wasn't inattentive; she knew enough about the political situation here to know that the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. And she knew enough about crowds - especially drunk crowds - to know that this could start going very very downhill very very quickly.

So, during the initial uproar sure to erupt after the woman's announcement, Yolotl quietly slipped back into the bunkhouse, retrieving the rest of her belongings from beneath the cheap bed she'd rented, before returning to the common room, hanging on to the woman's next words and looking around the bar and towards the windows again.

Hopefully nothing bad (well, more bad) would happen! But, you know. Nothing wrong with being prepared for a quick departure if something did.

[Gnomes2169]

Yolotli: 21 Success
Akilej'nah: 21 Success
Nahree: 19 Success
Caldasier: 7 Failure

While Nahree was able to speak up before most others, and able to get closer than most because of the area that still remained clear thanks to his automaton, but even that didn't help the little kobold all that much when the rest of the bar became a mass of chaos and energy. While not all of the bar patrons moved to gather around the dock hand, enough of them did that the area had a feeling of hot claustrophobia that accompanied many tightly-packed people who were shouting. Most of them simply repeated the questions that Nahree asked, though some of them asked, "Where?"

The cluster of five Empire sympathizers, one of them being held up by another to keep his drunken self from falling and embarrassing the others, would cluster behind Nahree's automaton and a spokesperson loudly demanded, "It was those bloody pirates, wasn't it?" Setting a hand on the hilt of his rapier, he glared in the direction of the three league sympathizers who were either looking in shock at the mass of people at the bar, or they were studiously looking into their drinks to try to not draw attention to themselves. "The mayor starts to see reason, and they killed him for it!"

The woman started to curl in around her mug, holding it to her core, as the multitudes of voices clearly begin to overwhelm her. The barkeep kept attempting to push patrons back and shouting over them to give her space, but it would take time for order to restore itself, and during that time Nahree's questions wouldn't be answered, even if those last few words get the kobold a grateful glance from the clearly terrified human.

It would seem that Yolotli wasn't the only one who had the bright idea that now would be a good time to get out of town, and a few crewmen and captain were in the bunkhouse, grabbing their gear before opening a window or running out a back door to avoid the common room entirely. A few of the sailors that had turned in early or typically worked night shifts wake up as the commotion picks up, one of them deliriously asking the tiefling, "What's... what's going on? Why's all the shouting and the... the...?" But everyone seems concerned with their own gear or waking up their crew and crewmates, so no one stops her or even much delays her in gathering her worldly possessions up.

Akilej'nah's statement gets a grunt from the old gnoll, who's wisely decided to stay out of the commotion around the bar despite half of his new crew abandoning him to interrogate the poor messenger woman. Davian moves over to join the Hekkar and nods at the ghul's words. Caldasier joins them as well as the dragonborn says, "I agree with the sister-wayfinder, cap'n. Should be safer spendin' the night on the ship than it will be here, ev'n if the mayor is alive."

He grunts in response to both of you, agreeing by saying, "You're right, but our holds are almost empty. We had to limp here on less than a skeleton crew, and just barely have enough hands to man the stations and get out of port, with too many mouths to feed off fishing alone." A thoughtful look crossed his face, and he leaned back to mutter, "What we need to do is-"

Everyone in the party except for the night elf, who was preoccupied with listening to the captain speak, would notice something off. One of the people crowding the bar, an elf wearing League colors, was weaving and moving through the crowd in a way that could at first be confused for a drunken stumble, but on further reflection was a carefully crafted and practiced way to maneuver through masses of people without drawing much attention. The elf was making her way to the Empire sympathizer spokesperson, staying just at the edge of his peripheral vision, and all three of you catch the flash of a bloodsteel blade tucked in against her wrist as she suddenly begins to move in closer.

[Feathersnow]

With more than a little apprehension, Akilej'nah runs at the skulking figure. "knife a has she!"

She channels untold years of borrowed martial prowess into a series of blindingly fast slaps of her mitten-like hands.

[Gnomes2169]

Akilej'nah moves into melee, takes the Attack action and uses Flurry of Blows with her unarmed strikes.
Attack 1: 21 Hit![b] Damage: 7
Attack 2: 11 [b]Miss
Attack 3: 22 Hit! Damage: 6
Opportunity attack: 23 Hit! Damage: 5

While the sister-wayfinder's words drew a little attention, mostly around the back of the crowded huddle, the sleep-deprived broken common wouldn't give enough warning to make anyone react or to draw the attention of the Imperial sympathizer. Akilej'nah's flippers of fury, however, almost manage to turn the assassin from her mark. The ghul's small body able to weave throw the mass of humanoids in order for her to reach her target, the monk manages to strike one blow before the elf truly register's the danger she's put herself in. After that first smack of flesh on flesh, some of the bystanders nearby would realize something was going on and back away from the two combatants, especially when they caught sight of the elf's blade, and that gave the league sympathizer the room she needed to slip the ghul's second strike.

Having dropped all pretense now while defending herself, the assassin moved in a way that Akilej'nah's memories would recognize as ki training, as if the woman were sparring with an unarmed opponent, and instinctively the ghul would move in a way to plant her third strike firmly in the meat of the assassin's thigh. The elf clenched her jaws at that blow, but kept from crying out as she turned away and darted along the now-clear path between her and her target. Which opened her up to one more attack, allowing the ghul to strike at her ankle and stagger her before her attacks land.

The solari imperial sympathizer had his rapier half-drawn when the elf reached him, but he still hadn't figured out how to react when one blade slipped into the lower-right hand side of his chest, and a second flicked from the woman's wrist to slice along his chest up to the base of his neck. Her blood steel blades burst through the links of the bronze chain shirt he's been wearing beneath his tunic without much visible difficulty, gouging deep into his flesh, and with a gurgle and twisting convulsions from powerful toxins eating at his nerves he fell to the ground beside Nahree's automaton, dying if not already dead.

Assassin moves and attacks the Solari knight, provoking an attack of opportunity from Sister-Wayfinder Akelij'nah.
Attack 1 (made with advantage): 16 Hit! Sneak attack! Damage: 22
+Poisoned blade: Save roll 17 Saved against 16 damage after save
Attack 2 (made with advantage): 20 Hit! Damage: 6
+Poisoned blade: Save roll 4 Failed save 28 damage

Solari knight is killed.

[zzzzzzzz414]

HP: 18/18
SP: 11/14
HD: 3/3 (D8)
BI: 3/4
Conditions: None
Ongoing Spell Effects: None

"Wh-ah! AHH!"

Yolotli stumbled back in shock as the knight went down and a fight suddenly erupted. She'd seen the knife just moments before it happened, but...too slow. Even from here, she could tell there was almost certainly no saving the man.

Fumbling for a moment with her belongings, she acted on instinct, putting her flute to her lips and playing a small ditty, weaving the first bit of magic that came to mind, but to no effect. She berated herself almost as soon as she'd played it: She's an elf, stupid!!

Thinking quickly, however, she followed it up with another little tune. It was a simple melody, but catchy; so much so, in fact, that it immediately stuck in Akilej'nah's head, specifically. Rather than being distracting, however, the tune somehow focused their mind even more.


Move Action: Position herself roughly 20 feet from Akilej'nah and the assassin.

Standard Action: Attempt to cast Sleep as a 2nd-level spell (-4SP). Spell fails, cuz my dumbass morning brain forgot elves are immune to magic sleep.

Bonus Action: Use Bardic Inspiration on Akilej'nah. They now have 1d6 to add to any ability check/attack roll/saving throw that they wish.

[Kinro]

"Watch out!", Nahree called as he reached into his bag and threw onto the ground behind behind the assassin something foul-smelling and slippery that splashed everywhere, including under her feet. Unfortunately, the elf seemed quite good at keeping her balance despite this strange attack. But Nahree had no intention of stopping there. "Attack protocol Delta!" he called out to his automaton, which quickly rolled over to the assassin, hand spinning around for a clumsy-looking, but powerful strike. He was quick to follow, standing behind it with his crossbow at the ready. "Please give up now," he pleaded. "It doesn't have to go like this."

[Gnomes2169]

Yolotli casts Sleep, but this doesn't affect the elf, and gives Akilej'nah a d6 inspiration die

Nahree casts Grease, but the assassin makes her saving throw (just barely, on a 14). The automaton then attacks.
Attack roll: 16 Hit! Damage 8

The thud of a body hitting the ground and rasp of metal being loosed from its sheaths was enough to draw the attention of everyone still in the bar, and the sailors who were already out the door booked it only all the faster. The assassin's eyes darted from Nahree's automaton to the kobold himself, and she practically spits while responding, "The empire and god that conquered your people will not take mine."

At a table near the bar door, having stayed out of the way up until this point, a lizardfolk wearing the Empire's white jumped up from his table, already beginning to draw the longsword at his side as he shouts, "Murder! The league's making a move to take the island for themselves!" At his words the three League sympathizers, wide-eyed and shocked as everyone else, take to their feet and hold out their hands, protesting as the sailors of the murdered solari look from the assassin to them and finish drawing their blades. The room grows deathly quiet as the sailor who had been supporting his drunken companion lets the inebriated man drop to the floor with a dull thunk, and then everyone is moving again.

The other bar patrons at this point, and the bar tender himself, are just trying to stay out of everyone's way.

[Feathersnow]

"The Great Badger said this war is not our war. But IDIX taught to always stick together! If the League have come for this island, you had better accept it is theirs now! I give you this chance to back down, before you witness that which no enemy has ever reported back from!"

She was lucky this was cribbed together from prepared speeches in Other Memory, because the Sister could barely string a sentence together...


Move- put myself between the fighting parties.
Action- use intimidation untrained
Bonus action- patient defense
Free action- draw my sword

[Gnomes2169]

Akilej'nah attempts to intimidate the sailors, using bardic inspiration to boost the roll: 11+2= 13 Failure

Nahree's automaton makes an opportunity attack against the assassin: 16 Hit! Damage: 5

As hastily as she'd made her announcement, one of the gnolls bearing League colors squeaked out, "But we aren't! We aren't claiming it! She's not with-" And while everyone was distracted by that exchange, the assassin made her move. Severely outnumbered, even with the ghul monk on her side, the clearly skilled elf decided that she wasn't going to take her chances with a fight here. Planting a hand on the floor, she ducked down and pushed at the same time, sending herself sliding to the edge of the slick magical grease that Nahree had conjured. While the kobold's construct manages to strike her once more, and the assassin now looks almost unsteady from her mounting injuries, she still moves with an elven grace through the clustered people between her and the door. Slipping under a surprised jab from Caldasier's halberd and around a swing from the knight's longsword, the assassin tumbles acrobatically out the tavern's front door, blowing a kiss to Akilej'nah before she disappears into the night. The lizardfolk seems intent on pursuing her.

One of the gnolls looks out the front door with a dropped jaw, asking, "We're sure we don't wanna-" before one of his companions clouts him on the back of the head, and he joins the others in drawing his cutlass. The gnoll who had been speaking before looked to Akilej'nah and the empire sailors and reaffirms, "She ain't with us. We don't wanna fight. Just let us take our things and go."

The imperialists look from the door, to the league members, and then to Akilej'nah, barring their path, and none of them so much as lower their cutlasses or dueling knives.

The Assassin uses her action to dash and cunning action to make a bonus action dash, granting her 105 foot movement this turn and allowing her to move 20 feet outside of the front door.

Caldasier makes an opportunity attack: 10 Miss

Empire Knight makes an opportunity attack: 10 Miss

All three League scouts all take a readied action to attack anyone that enters their reach with hostile intent.

[zzzzzzzz414]

HP: 18/18
SP: 9/14
HD: 3/3 (D8)
BI: 3/4
Conditions: None
Ongoing Spell Effects: Hideous Laughter (Concentration, Duration 1 Minute) (DC14 Will Save)

Yolotli spent a second paralyzed, looking back and forth between the assassin rushing for the door and the barfight on the verge of breaking out before rushing towards the exit, weaving around several chairs, tables and patrons and pushing through the wooden swinging door, a loose plan forming. Not the most conventional technique, but if it works...

Skidding to a halt right outside the bar's double doors, Yolotli gripped her accordion, focused on the fleeing elf, and sang. A witty little rhyming couplet, from the song she'd just finished performing, actually, punctuated with a little musical sting from her concertina. The delivery was (obviously) rushed, breathless, and a bit hoarse. But the assassin still seemed to find it outrageously funny.

Move Action: Move to the entrance of the bar.

Standard Action: Cast "Hideous Laughter" on the assassin. [Success]

Effect: A creature of your choice that you can see within range perceives everything as hilariously funny and falls into fits of laughter if this spell affects it. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or fall prone, becoming incapacitated and unable to stand up for the duration. A creature with an Intelligence score of 4 or less isn’t affected.
At the end of each of its turns, and each time it takes damage, the target can make another Wisdom saving throw. The target has advantage on the saving throw if it’s triggered by damage. On a success, the spell ends.

[Gnomes2169]

While the assassin just outside the tavern begins to double over laughing, all of that amazing speed and potential simply vanishing and the tone gaining notes of horror as she realizes she can't stop, Akilej'nah would find herself accompanied by both Davian and Caldasier, who took up flanking positions on either side of her. The dragonborn was casually tightening the straps of his shield down, spear held loosely in his other hand, while the Night elf held his polearm at half-mast, his stance defensive, ready to strike if forced. The first mate stared solely at the empire group, while Caldasier stared down both league and empire equally.

The sailors that had seemed ready to attack the monk seem a bit less certain than they were before, even the courage born of their outrage beginning to falter as they realized that the odds were stacking rather heavily against them. Especially since the only fully friendly face, the lizardfolk wearing Empire white, looked to be getting ready to rush out the door in order to attack the manic assassin there.

Caldasier moves to stand to the left side of Akilej'nah and takes the dodge action.

Davian equips his shield as his action, draws his spear, and moves to stand on the right side of Aklej'nah

[Kinro]

With the assassin unfortunately gone, and faster than even his automaton could go, Nahree, turned to what was still happening in the room. "Uhm... excuse me?" he said, going to the sailor that had spoken up as he put his crossbow away. "No one actually killed the mayor, as for as we know. You only said someonr tried to do it, right?" he asked the woman who had come earlier. "And this one who did..." he looked at the corpse and shook his head. "She was wearing league colours, sure, but can't anyone do that? It's not something that hard to do right? And do you think these men would have just... sat here, outnumbered and ready to be killed if they knew this was going to happen? Maybe it would be best to calm down a bit for now, try to understand what happened more?"

[Gnomes2169]

Nahree attempts to use Persuasion to diffuse the situation: 16 Partial success! The sailors stand down, but the knight goes after the assassin.

The kobold spoke, and the empire sailors jumped on Nahree's words like a drowning men to a liferope. Able to save face and still not need to fight against all these very scary looking warrior types, the one up front would tuck his weapons away (though not secure them) and gestured for his companions to pick up their murdered solari crewmate. Like a long-held breath had been released, the bystanders of the fight would begin to move again, and the league sympathizers also sheathed their weapons before heading towards the crew quarters to retrieve their things, as they said they wanted to. Davian and Caldasier both stood more at ease, though neither of them put their weapons away. The former because he was too busy glaring at the empire sympathizers and leaving them a visible reminder, the later because one does not simply stow a friggen halberd.

The imperial lizardfolk, meanwhile, just snorted at the kobold's words and pushed his way out into the street, presumably to deal with the assassin out there. Anyone watching him would be able to see him lean down for a moment, and then stand back up, moving with one arm dragging a heavy burden behind him. Nahree and Caldasier would specifically note that the unending laughter of the assassin was fading and going north, towards a windowless alley created by the tavern longhouse and a half-finished dividing wall between the dock and the rest of the port town.

The solari had actually been the spokesperson of the group before, which was likely why he was such a prime target for the assassin in the first place, but the new sailor that had stepped up to take his place seemed to have a somewhat calmer head... or to at least not want to fight anyone in the room at that particular moment. Leaning around Nahree's automaton, he looked at the human that had brought them the news and cleared his throat. "Ah... hey. So. No one's going to stab each other. What happened?"

The rest of the crowd that hadn't left was nodding at this point, and the bearer of bad news slowly pushed the stool she had been crouched behind away so she could stand up. Clearing her throat and sitting down again, her hands still trembling a bit, she looked about before settling her gaze on Nahree and mumbling, "W-Well, see, I woz there. Well, no, I woz down the street I woz, but I could see it clear 'nuff because I woz hangin' from a clothesline- uh. A-anyway. So I sees the mayor walkin' from the harbor master, as he do every couple 'a days, an' I watch them for a few cuz I'm hopin' they don' look up an' all, an' then... well..." Clearing her throat, she wiggles in her seat and says, "Well up a few blocks from where I woz, I saw a lot 'a people just... movin' in quick like, right? An' then I saw his guards goin' down, and the big boss hisself, well, he jerks to the side in the crowd and then he's castin' about him and waves of water are being thrown, clearin' the streets while everyone is screamin' an' runnin' and I'm fallin' an'-"

From the table behind Akelij'nah, captain Hekktars asked, "Stay on topic, lass, focus. Water, you said? From where?"

"Oh. Well, from the mayor, ya' know? On account 'a him bein' a waveborn an' all. Awakened too, seems like, though how 'e kept that out 'a common knowledge is anyone's guess." Clearing her throat, she sits a little straighter and, now that she's told most of her story, looks about a bit more comfortably as she says, "An' anyway, I landed a bit hard, got splashed some by a wave that threw one 'a the assassins through a window I'd been hangin' next to, an' I figure it's high time I found meself a stiff drink an' a ship to get on, yeah? So I run all the way here, an' then... y'know. This happened."

[Feathersnow]

Akilej'nah listens in. Ghuls were the only known race that had no godborn among them, and, as such, even other memory was patchy about their capabilities.

More to the point, she was anxious to leave, and wanted to indicate her readiness to the captain, so she hovered close.

[Kinro]

Nahree didn't care so much about the assassin. She was an assassin, for one thing. Clearly not the best kind of person. And there wasn't really, anything he could do. He wasn't in kobold lands, he didn't have any authority in these lands or much hope of stopping... whatever it is that was happening. Not if things were now at the point where the mayor was fighting off gangs of assassins openly, in the streets.

"So..." Nahree said as he approached the captain again. "Maybe we should... go? If we don't want to be caught up in all of this. At least more than we've already been. And you're taking me, right? You said you would," he added nervously.

[zzzzzzzz414]

HP: 18/18
SP: 9/14
HD: 3/3 (D8)
BI: 3/4
Conditions: None
Ongoing Spell Effects: Hideous Laughter (Concentration, Duration 1 Minute) (DC14 Will Save)

Yolotli breathed a sigh of relief as the threat was, for the immediate moment, dealt with - and then gave a start as a very serious looking lizardfolk came out of the tavern and began dragging the woman away for, uh. Some kind of serious looking purpose.

Yolotli followed the lizardfolk guard, trotting up behind him and beginning to babble amicably, but somewhat nervously. "Um, hey, hiya! Name's Yolotli! And, as the one who put that spell on this one-" She gestures at the still-laughing elf, "-I should probably tell you that it's actually going to wear off any minute now, so we should, probably certainly knock her out and get some rope if we're going to get her to the town guard without her trying to escape again. Although we don't seem to, uh, be heading in that direction? Oh, ah, unless you are a town guard?"

[Gnomes2169]

Yolotli makes an insight roll! Result: 6

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0129/2092/products/Nothing720.jpg?v=1602621988

In the tavern, after that bit of news had finally relayed, the Empire representative seemed thoughtful. "So you didn't see the mayor die?" When the girl shook her head, a sigh went through the crowd as if a bit of tension had been released, though a note of that returned when she responded, "But there woz a lot of them blokes what wanted him dead, there woz. Godborn or not, 'ed have quite a hard time scarpering from all 'em, or puttin' 'em all down, like he seemed intent on doin'. Knocked down a buildin' with his waves like he did!"

Nahree's question to the captain gets a nod from the old gnoll, who rises to his feet with a groan and informs the kobold, "Aye, would be high time to pull out at least until morning, I'd agree. And I'd say that's just what we should be doing... if I could. But as I was trying to explain to our new navigator and our ship's fist here, we aren't provisioned or crewed enough for that. Tonight will be bad. Very, very bad. There might not be a port to pull back into in the morning, and with only a skeleton crew to service us, a layer of rot and crack through our rudder, and nothing but scraps for supplies in the hold..."

His one eye squints as he sees the tiefling walking out to follow the lizard, and he opens his mouth to call to her before Caldasier, twirling his halberd in hand for a moment to signal that he's reached a decision, is walking out to join her as well. Hekktars growls a curse in gnoll tongue after them, a curse that Akilej'nah would understand as a wish for poxes on the motherless dogs that raised them to be so rash, before telling both of his new officers that were still there, "Most of the sailors in this tavern are spoken for already, either recruited or unqualified or... bah. I can't be picky now. Oi, girl." He said to the human that had sparked all of this with her news. His call got her to peek her head up, and a few sailors to look his way as well. "You were looking for a ship, aye? What's your name?" Her enthusiastic nodding and the name Anesbeth gets a grunt from him, and he turns his head to the bar to ask, "Oi, kids, are you still here?" The two young barhands and the bar tender all poked their heads up from behind the bar counter, and the gnoll sighed before saying, "Aye. I suppose you too. If you still want that job, it's yours. But I'll work you just as hard as I would anyone else, savvy?" The obvious relief on the faces of the kids mixed with their excitement, and they wadded up the aprons they'd been given to throw to the sides, and the bartender seemed tempted to do the same before swallowing heavily and shaking his head.

"Right. That gives us fourteen souls on the ship capable of, if not exactly magnificent at or currently sober, crewing my ship." Hekktar's informs the kobold and ghul. "I'd hoped for a crew of at least thirty that know what they are doing. We could make it work, but sailing would be slow, and there were other places I'd been meaning to try and visit before we departed. Perhaps, if the docks can be secured... Gather your things, and the members of our crew that are scattered in here and still hiding in the bunkhouse. We meet back here in five minutes, and I'll tell you my plan then."

As if his dismissal had been a signal, most of the crowd that was still in the tavern remembered that they had ships to get to as well, and they began to file back into the bunk house to empty it out, or behind the bar to loot a few bottles for the road. The empire sympathizer, motioning for his mates to go on without him, stayed behind beside Anesbeth and squinted, before asking her, "Did... you happen to see if there were any markings on the assassins? Empire or League."

Nursing a bottle of elven brandy all on her own now, being one of the sailors who'd stayed at the bar since she had no belongings in this establishment, the human would nod and say, "Oh right I did. Shaline white and League council colors both. 'Least, I think I did. Coulda swore it were both."

Yolotli was greeted by a glare from the lizard, who still had a naked longsword in one clawed hand and the collar of the elf's leather breastplate firmly held in the other. He looked her up and down for a moment, seeming to weight something, though the tiefling wouldn't know what, and over the sound of the assassin's continued laughter he'd tell her, "Girl, what guards? The ones that won't run away will be dead tonight. Riots and looting and opportunists like this one will see to that." When Caldasier came out behind her, the lizard's eyes narrowed further and he declares to both of them, "This is a murderer. A woman who killed one of my own, likely associated with the assassins who killed the mayor. With no authority to try her likely to last the night, and her sentence likely being death anyway, I mean to deliver justice. Girl. I have heard of your people, and I know your life must have been harsh. I do not mean to make you witness this brutality as well. Just keep your spell going, and I will handle this myself."

One thing that would catch Yolotli's eye is that the assassin no longer has her blades, and in fact, both bloodsteel short swords are laying on the ground just a few feet away from the tiefling. It would seem the woman now squirming somewhat desperately in the lizard's grasp, still laughing without end, had dropped those implements as she was being moved.

[Kinro]

Nahree, luckily enough, didn't have to scurry around, because he always carried everything he owned with him. Or, rather, less thanks to luck than to one of his many ingenious devices. He would have helped to gather the other people, but he didn't quite know exactly who or where they were. So, instead, he got back onto the stool he had been using before. "I still think it's weird," he said. "Don't people only use their colours when they want you to know who they are? Or maybe they're just trying to confuse everyone? But in any case, I'll be glad when we're gone. I've been trying to leave this place for a while.

[Feathersnow]

Akilej'nah sticks to the captain, pointedly ignoring the apparent lynching of the murderer and generally not drawing attention to herself. She has trouble seeing how she could help, and is all through aware she could make things worse...

[zzzzzzzz414]

HP: 18/18
SP: 9/14
HD: 3/3 (D8)
BI: 3/4
Conditions: None
Ongoing Spell Effects: Hideous Laughter (Concentration, Duration 1 Minute) (DC14 Will Save)

"Ah, er, um, wait! I-is that actually necessary, friend?" Yolotli held no particular sympathy for the assassin, and definitely no desire to get involved in whatever was about to happen here, but she wasn't about to watch someone just get helplessly dragged off and murdered in an alley. Was she?

"Look!" she says, scooping up the fallen daggers from the ground, "These are Bloodsteel, yes? A-and I saw the way she moved just before the attack - very deliberate movements. These are not the marks of some random rogue - they're the marks of someone with training and backing. I think maybe you are correct when you say that she could maybe be involved with the ones who tried to kill the mayor, perhaps. So, if that is the case, and she is here, alive, would it not be better to, question her? See what she knows, or if there are others like her who could be stopped?"

Yolotli's hands trembled on the concertina, but she could not bring herself to actually halt the spell. Though she had no idea how much longer it would last.

[Gnomes2169]

Yolotli makes a Persuasion roll to convince the lizard. Roll: 18

At Nahree's question, the sailor's forehead scrunches, and Anesbeth drops the bottle from her face to ask, "Ay, yeah... aren't you lot all so..." She gestured vaguely at his everything, "You know. Possessive 'bout all that?"

He grunts and mutters, "They're strips of cloth, and with the profit that comes from selling them, especially Shaline white that gets stained faster... Well, there's plenty of the bands on market. Though... most people only buy them when they're actually aligned." Tapping his hand against his chin while thinking, the empire sympathizer says, "No reason to buy both unless you're just trying to cause confusion... or maybe... to provoke an outright minor war. Because both sides would see the colors of their opposition on the assassins, or hear about it at least, right? So if the mayor is dead, we'd blame them, they'd blame us... but who does that serve? No one profits from the island turning into a warzone."

"M'bee 'is wife caught 'im cheating on 'er?" Anesbeth suggests, blinking somewhat lazily and slurring her words as the alcohol she's imbibed truly takes effect. The sailor gives her a somewhat pained look.

Akilej'nah would be able to stay next to the captain, who watched his own crew and seemed to be pointedly before he growls to her, "I understand that the Sisterhood has alliances that you are compelled to defend, and aye, I don't blame you. But keep in mind that you're a member of my crew now, windweaver. You have our back, and we are supposed to have yours. So when you declare allegiance, you're doing it for more than just yourself. You don't need to hold back completely and go against the sisterhood in order to be a part of my crew, but try to remember that such strong statements of support can feel... stifling to your crewmates who might not be under the same obligations as you."

Yolotli's words sink into the lizard's consciousness, and he pulls back his lips up in a snarl before dropping the assassin to the ground. Taking his blade in both hands, he smashes the pommel into the elf's temple twice, and with her eyes glazing over her magically-induced laughter dramatically fades. She's still alive, from how her chest continues to rise and fall and how the magic continues to force her to giggle, even in her concussed stupor, but she's laying on the ground completely boneless and there's going to be a nasty welt on the side of her face once she wakes up.

Panting slowly, the knight looks back at the tiefling bard and he hisses, "Fine. Your point makes sense. But me and my people will handle that questioning, since this struggle doesn't really concern you." Glancing at the daggers in Yolotli's hands he adds, "Go ahead and keep those. You were a great help, and they will be worth more than any reward you might get from us tonight. And get back inside. I'm certain your captain wants all hands on deck." With that, he reaches down to pick up the elf again to sling the assassin over one of his shoulders. His sword doesn't become sheathed, though.

Caldasier took a step to look over Yolotli's shoulder, and he lets out a surprised grunt at what he saw. "Those look... like they were made deadly. What the scaled one said is right. Might be dangerous out here, and captain will want to talk to us. Only..." The night elf's eyes narrowed at the lizardfolk, and he mutters to her, "For a moment, I thought he would try to strike you, not the murderer. It must be my newness and imagination." His voice was kept low and it doesn't seem like the lizard heard his observation, though hiw words might also be masked by the dull roar that can be heard coming from the town proper. It seems the riots are officially starting.

[Kinro]

"That's..." Nahree gulped. "If people are starting a war here, it's even more important that we go. I should have been gone a long time ago, but..." He hesitated, then shook his head. "It doesn't matter now. I'm already ready. I've been ready the whole time. So... please, how much longer?"he asked the captain.

To the captain's words, Nahree nodded. "I'm not on the side of assassins, not matter where they're from," he said. "I understand that you're for the Sisterhood, but... are you really in favour of every single thing they do? Or they might do? You don't even know if they sent this one, so was it really right for you to just... let her go like that?"

The sudden roar made Nahree start. "I think.... I think we might not have much time now," he said.

[Feathersnow]

"In truth, I can say with a high degree of certainty the Sisterhood had nothing to do with anything that happened here today. I only brought them up in the hopeful misapprehension they would put enough fear into those thugs to let us escape.

As for letting her go, I don't like assassins either, but it's hardly my place to help my declared enemies defend themselves "

[zzzzzzzz414]

Yolotli's words sink into the lizard's consciousness, and he pulls back his lips up in a snarl before dropping the assassin to the ground. Taking his blade in both hands, he smashes the pommel into the elf's temple twice, and with her eyes glazing over her magically-induced laughter dramatically fades. She's still alive, from how her chest continues to rise and fall and how the magic continues to force her to giggle, even in her concussed stupor, but she's laying on the ground completely boneless and there's going to be a nasty welt on the side of her face once she wakes up.

Panting slowly, the knight looks back at the tiefling bard and he hisses, "Fine. Your point makes sense. But me and my people will handle that questioning, since this struggle doesn't really concern you." Glancing at the daggers in Yolotli's hands he adds, "Go ahead and keep those. You were a great help, and they will be worth more than any reward you might get from us tonight. And get back inside. I'm certain your captain wants all hands on deck." With that, he reaches down to pick up the elf again to sling the assassin over one of his shoulders. His sword doesn't become sheathed, though.

Caldasier took a step to look over Yolotli's shoulder, and he lets out a surprised grunt at what he saw. "Those look... like they were made deadly. What the scaled one said is right. Might be dangerous out here, and captain will want to talk to us. Only..." The night elf's eyes narrowed at the lizardfolk, and he mutters to her, "For a moment, I thought he would try to strike you, not the murderer. It must be my newness and imagination." His voice was kept low and it doesn't seem like the lizard heard his observation, though hiw words might also be masked by the dull roar that can be heard coming from the town proper. It seems the riots are officially starting.

"Ah, yes, right, that sounds agreeable enough!" Yolotli responded, but the lizardfolk had already turned away. The tiefling let out a small sigh of relief as he did so, tail and wings drooping slightly. That could have ended poorly.

Yolotli gave a small start as the dark elf from before suddenly appeared at her shoulder. "Oh! Hello! It was...Caldasier, yes? Fantastic to meet you! Though I do wish it was under better circumstances, haha. Ah, um, hm." She chewed on his last words for a moment as she watched the lizardfolk go. "Do you think so?" Yolotli replied, similarly lowering her voice. "Ah, you don't think I insulted him in some way, do you? Or do you think he thinks I was siding with the assassin? Or perhaps it was some local custom I violated? I've been south a few times in my wanderings but I have never been here I must admit so all of this is rather new to me. Ahh, you don't suppose I should follow him and clear all this up, do you?"

Yolotli's ramblings were cut off by another sudden rise in the distant roaring. "Or, ah, hm, perhaps it would be better to do as you said and go to the captain. Don't want to keep him waiting, and that noise sounds, ah. Like something I very much would prefer to not be here for." She turned to gingerly place the still poison-wet daggers (...how many people had that woman been planning on assassinating, exactly?) in her bag, but stopped, considering something. "Oh! Would you like these instead? I can hold my own in a fight but, I am not normally one for stabbing, so much. Er, not to imply that you are, necessarily! Well, unless you were hired as a fighter, in which case I am sure that you are as good at stabbing as any other!"

[Gnomes2169]

"Yes, but most call me Companion." Caldasier confirms, before Yolotli's musings on why the lizard might want to attack her drew a raised brow from the night elf, causing him to point out, "You ask me about these things? I have been in your world only a short time. Lizard talks I have not had many."

To the offer of the daggers he shook his head. "No, that is your prize. I failed to help. The spoils go to you. Anyway..." Patting the ironwood haft of his halberd, he gave the tiefling a grin and said, "I am more trained with big sticks than I am small stabbies. And you are a story teller, yes? Fancy knives make more entertaining juggling and dagger tricks." He nodded, as if that settled that, and turned to return to the longhouse.

Inside of the longhouse, the captain grunted and chuckled at Akilej'nah's statement and he points out, "You know, the sisterhood hasn't done too much to cultivate a fierce reputation in this port. Aye, they've defended themselves well, but don't have the brash martial discipline of Shaline paladins, the cruelty of independent pirates or the dark rumors of the League's councils to make invoking their name... well, all that frightening."

The Empire sympathizer cuts in at this point to add, "Yeah, to be honest, if I hadn't seen how you moved when the assassin struck, I would have thought you were joking about the witnessing thing..." This draws a sharp look from Hekktars, and somewhat abashed he added, "Not meaning any offense, of course. It's just that ghuls and the sisterhood tend to be peaceful, yes?" He then looked at the gnoll and asked, "Captain, you'll be leaving this port soon, yes?"

The old gnoll let out a long sigh before saying, "Yes, and no doubt you heard my need for additional hands on the ship." Gesturing at the white ribbon tied to the man's shoulder, Hekktar's asked, " But don't you have prior obligations, mister...?"

As if on cue, the two conscious imperials walled over to the sailor, telling him they'd meet him back at the stronghold, before walking out the back door with their inebriated companion. Waving them off he says, "Hauke, sir. Just Hauke. My casitta required us to wear these, being an old blood from the Meraille free ports. And while she's a good woman, and I believe the imperials have more cause and better standards of living that would benefit more people... She's not good enough and I don't believe strongly enough to stab anyone in the street over it, sir." Standing straight, the sailor adds, "I was born on Trenalt," a neutral island to the west, "I've served as a deckhand and tailor for seven years, sir. I know my way around a ship, and I can work as an assistant to your quartermaster or boatswain should you need it."

The captain nodded slowly, eyes rotating to the front door as Caldasier walked back in, and he said, "Wayfinder Alkej'nah, I'll leave the decision to accept or deny him up to you." She was the one who might object most to him, after all.

After that, with the crew reassembling, Hekktars pulled out a stool and sat himself down. "Right, done with all the side dramas? Good. Because we have some work to do, and little time to get it done. Before we got here, me and the other veterans of the crew had been struck by a sudden onset of Drowner's lung." A fast-acting disease that some said was a concoction of Kassa herself, while others theorized it was what happened when one drank water infected by Crimson Blight. It killed most people that caught it quickly but could be survived, though those who did manage to live were crippled until they could be healed magically. "We managed to limp into port, whereupon local priests of Ilmas cured us, cleansed every inch of the Ragamender, and stranded us in quarantine for a week. Reaching port was difficult, left us limping and out of supplies, and we got tangled in the reefs between the two watch islands just outside of port. So. Here's what we are facing."

Counting off on his fingers, he said, "We need more crew. With our current compliment we could run perhaps one shift comfortably, if we could get three or four more, we could stretch it into a second shift, though that would be a stressful compliment and still be somewhat slow going. A full crew of thirty two would be ideal, and would allow us to sail at speed through three separate shifts without much danger. If we can get a physician, a trained doctor or priest of Ilmas and their apprentices for example, that would be fantastic, as our last was the first one to contract the Drowner's. Most obvious place to find them will be the other longhouses, though those will likely not be the most specialized of sailors."

A second finger, "We need supplies, and I don't much care where or how we get them. Food, water, medicine and patching material for the most part, as we still have plenty of shot for the ten cannons the Ragamender boasts. Some more wouldn't go amiss, but will take some time to load up. Other crews and looters may be plundering warehouses to take what they can already, and the portside warehouses weren't well stocked to begin with, so don't expect to find much outside of the warehouse block. And be warry of people you encounter there, could turn vicious."

Gesturing to Nahree as he holds up a third finger, the captain said, "There's damage to the ship that I'm hoping you'll be able to help us with. Our rudder was cracked on the reefs, leaving it splintered and damaged, and that's our most pressing issue. There are likely replacements we could commandeer from the dockmaster's office, but if we can bypass that then I will be a happy man. So you and I will be going to take a look at that immediately. Less pressingly, we also need a new replacement mainsail, and three of the cannon ports had their covers scraped away by a collision we suffered after drifting into the Sentinel's cliffs."

Holding up a fourth and final finger, the captain states, "And last but certainly not least, we need to secure the dock. It's going to take time to gather everything we need, and while it's light outside and the riots will be smaller and isolated for a time," He hoped, "I still want to make sure we don't get overwhelmed by stowaways, rioters or opportunists, aye? That means securing the dock and making sure it stays secured. So that's what we'll do first, and what we'll do now. After that, we can break into teams. I want to set sail by sunset, before night comes and things get really vicious out there, which gives us a few hours yet." About six hours, given it was a bit after noon and it was late spring in a semi-tropical area. "Now let's go."

[Feathersnow]

"I'm personally happy to work with anyone. That said, short of just finding people and telling them we are leaving, I don't have any bright ideas to help. And that seems to have been your idea, too, captain"

[Kinro]

"Maybe now that war's brewing, people might be more eager to leave by any way they can find. I know I am. So let's hurry and get to the ship? I want to get working on that rudder as fast as I can." He gave his automaton a small knock and it proceeded to pick him up. "I have an idea, too, that would make it easier to gather supplies, but I'd want to get to the ship first." For all that he was eager to leave and eager to help, he still very much preferred not to leave the bag that contained all of his possessions to people he'd barely met. Once on the ship, he could put those away and leave them with just the bag. For the rest, well, he'd have to see where they would be at once he'd finished on repairs.

[zzzzzzzz414]

HP: 18/18
SP: 9/14
HD: 3/3 (D8)
BI: 3/4
Conditions: None
Ongoing Spell Effects: n/a

Yolotli, pocketing the daggers and nodding along to Caldasier's words, walked back into the tavern in time to hear most of the captain's speech on their goals.

"Oh, yes, yes, I can definitely, probably persuade some more people to join us! And maybe negotiate for some supplies! And ah, maybe with fixing the boat as well? Not my usual area of expertise but I will do whatever I can to be useful! Sir!"

She'd already gathered up her things earlier, so she simply bounced on her heels near the door, wings shifting nervously (excitedly?), ready to head towards the ship at a moment's notice.

[Gnomes2169]

Akilej'nah's response seems to be warm enough for Hauke, and the sailor retrieves his own bundle of equipment from the bunks, gesturing for all of you to go on ahead. He knows the name of the ship, after all, so he can catch up once he's gotten everything he and the other Shaline sympathizers have hidden throughout the longhouse. When the captain asked, Hauke informs him that the Imperial presence in the area figured it would be good to hide some useful items in some of the longhouses, and that he had been in the team that made the stashes in the first place, so he could access other stashes of healing potions, antitoxins and other easily stashed caches should he be brought with the recruiting team... at least, if they weren't already looted by other Empire sympathizers who were gearing up for the coming night.

+1 crew member (bringing the total to 16 crew members)

+3 potions of healing, +3 antidotes, +2 jugs of healing sands, +2 level 2 scrolls of Healing Word (Bard class versions) and an unidentified wand made of Concourse metals.

Two further caches are noted at longhouses 3 and 5.

The Ragamender had been docked just south of the longhouse that the party had been living, so they would be able to reach it without any incident and rather quickly. This part of the port was abuzz with activity, with sailors from the three other ships docked here already hauling supplies from the nearby warehouse to their holds. The handful of port guards in this area mostly just stood back, not sure what they should do about so many sailors straight-up stealing what they could get their hands on while the harbormaster's aid kept sputtering and objecting that these supplies needed to be paid for before they could be removed, and how much paperwork this was going to make for him, and the lost profit margins, oh, the horrible, horrible margins! One of the captains of the other ships seemed to take pity on the poor soul, and brought him aside to begin negotiating the purchase of the commandeered goods his sailors were already taking, but for the most part the lawful authorities were simply ignored in this hectic scene.

Despite the distant echoes of discontent from further within the city, the port wasn't too busy yet over-all. While some of the docks connected to the other longhouses were starting to see activity, with a few sailors actually coming in your direction to enquire what was going on, it seems the news hasn't quite reached this edge of town outside of your bearer of bad news, and the party are among the first group in this area to hear about the coming storm.

Yolotli, being as people-savvy as she was, would spot something odd in the area. A well-dressed middle aged human male, likely an official of the provincial government if she had to guess, an elven woman that must be his wife, three half-elven children of varying ages and a group of six guards wearing the symbols of a noble house were standing at the edge of the bustling activity, trying to draw attention but failing to do so with the sailors who were simply taking what they could before getting off the island. There was a pair of luggage chests and a strongbox that must be used for currency in the center of this group, but while the eyes of various people lingered on it, the armaments of the noble's guards -actual spears, shields and breastplates rather than the cudgels and boiled leather that the port authorities were lugging around- made would-be robbers think twice and turn back to taking the supplies they needed instead.

Nahree would be brought directly to the ship by Davian. Being the head boatswain, the kobold would be given an officer's quarters in the Ragamender's lower decks, closer to where he'd likely put in most of his work, and he was given a quick tour of the ship. The Ragamender was a two-mast ship that had three levels beneath the main deck. The main deck had two areas for rooms stationed beneath the helmsman's platform' one that served as quarters for the captain and one for the first mate, though the captain's room had a second bed that the mate could move into should a particularly important guest rent a room.

The first level was primarily for crew quarters, with many open hammocks, a mess room and three smaller private rooms decorating the area; two at the end of each row of hammocks that were for a navigator and secondary guest quarters, and one attached to the dining area that served as the kitchen. The dining room would also serve as the loading point, should a crane be used to transport supplies into the ship, and as such it had a grate that could be lifted open above it which gave access to the sky and open air, though there was a tarp that could be deployed to cover that metal hatch should a storm come rolling in.

The second level held the ship's cannon banks, six to each side, with three chambers attached as well; one chamber that held barrels of gunpowder along with oils, ropes, cloth and replacement wooden wheels and struts meant to allow for the repair of the guns themselves, a chamber that held nothing but cannonballs, powder barrels and all the equipment necessary to load the guns, and a chamber just across from that powder room that Nahree was informed was the room meant for the ship's head Boatswain, which turned out to be a somewhat spacious place for a creature as small as the kobold. There was a workbench and some stationary woodworking clamps in the space already, along with an actual installed bed meant for a gnoll-sized individual already installed in here, though the mattress wasn't particularly impressive. This second level was still above the waterline, and as such was where the easiest access to the ship's rudder was located, and where the cannon port covers had been scraped away, so it was likely where Nahree would begin making his repairs.

The third level was purely meant for storage, be it supplies for the ship and crew or cargo that might be hauled and sold, and it was disappointingly empty. The third level was the smallest in length, though it had a similar volume to the first level thanks to the somewhat-increased depth, was entirely underwater, but was kept dry by the still-intact pitch and sealants that had been applied to its boards. This hold would hopefully be filled up rather soon.

[Kinro]

The first thing Nahree did, after being given a quick tour of the ship, was to quickly empty the entire contents of his bag onto the floor of his new cabin. The bag was then lent to the first sailor who seemed to be =on the way to gather more material. Unfortunately, there wasn't time to describe in detail the unique and complex mechanisms that had allowed for the creation of a small, portable portal between his bag and a one particular, well hidden storage space he had one dug out, but the general concept, he hoped, was well understood and would allow for quicker transfer of material. And, therefore, a shorter time before they finally left. As for himself, he handed over his tools to his automaton and headed to where the rudder should have been, to assess the damage and, hopefully, undo some of it.

[Feathersnow]

Akilej'nah decides to head out to try to gather supplies. She knows that people from the North have incredibly specific tastes in food and might not be suitably impressed by her Sisterhood ties, but she can at least find things pretty well!

[zzzzzzzz414]

HP: 18/18
SP: 9/14
HD: 3/3 (D8)
BI: 3/4
Conditions: None
Ongoing Spell Effects: n/a


Yolotli, being as people-savvy as she was, would spot something odd in the area. A well-dressed middle aged human male, likely an official of the provincial government if she had to guess, an elven woman that must be his wife, three half-elven children of varying ages and a group of six guards wearing the symbols of a noble house were standing at the edge of the bustling activity, trying to draw attention but failing to do so with the sailors who were simply taking what they could before getting off the island. There was a pair of luggage chests and a strongbox that must be used for currency in the center of this group, but while the eyes of various people lingered on it, the armaments of the noble's guards -actual spears, shields and breastplates rather than the cudgels and boiled leather that the port authorities were lugging around- made would-be robbers think twice and turn back to taking the supplies they needed instead.

Yolotli's eyes swept somewhat nervously across the docks as they made their way towards the ship. Hopefully her debtor would be too distracted by the chaos to, ah, deal with her, but she still wasn't ready to dismiss the possibility of being shanked in the back by one of his thugs. Not until she was safely out of this town. And so, in her scanning, the unusual little party off to the edge of the crowds was pretty hard to miss!

"Hellllllllllo hello hello!" Yolotli weaved and bounded through the bustle and up to the fancy-looking family, stopping well away from those pointy-looking spears with a bow and a slight flutter of her wings. "Yolotli, at your service! Whatever that service might be. It, ah, looked like you needed help with something? And I do consider myself to be rather helpful at many things! Or at least, someone who can be helpful at finding someone who is helpful, hah."

[Gnomes2169]

Nahree received some assistance from Davian in pulling the cracked rudder up. The access point being on the same level as Nahree's room made extraction faster, only about five minutes, and once it's out the problem became rather easy to identify. A long crack ran along the rudder's length, creating a branch six inches past the rudder's blade that ran through almost half of the rudder proper. Damage that severe could not be fixed via cantrips and would easily make it far harder for a helmsman to navigate, especially if fine maneuvers were necessary, so this was something that needed to be replaced or repaired. And since securing a replacement would take hours, repairs would be preferable. But how to go about it in a timely manner...?

Akilej'nah would be accompanied by most of the rest of the crew when the captain realized where she was going, though both of the warehouses nearest their location were currently quite crowded and being stripped clean rather quickly. Still, they were large buildings, surely there would be somewhere that hadn't been raided (or were currently being picked at,) though there would likely be many empty crates and barrels in those untouched areas as well.

The other warehouses would be closer to the sounds of discontent and away from the relative safety of the multiple ships worth of crews, which in turn made them much more risky to go towards without competent armed backup. Given she was currently being accompanied by a very drunk woman, two adolescent children, two cooks, a few deckhands with no combat experience they'd advertised, and Companion Caldasier (who might be competent, but was also the only other fighter there,) the risk was something that she would have a hard time convincing the rest of the crew to take.

Yolotli was accompanied by Captain Hekktars as she approached these noble-looking individuals. The woman can't help but look relieved when the tiefling actually stops and talks to them, though the man continues to look a bit stressed and weary and the guards don't relax their vigil now that their charges aren't being ignored. The older child gives Yolotli a wave while the man clears his throat and says, "Finally, someone with proper manners. You know, I may not have been on a ship for a few years, but-"

Cutting in, the captain says, "By the Serpent's teeth, you're the town proctor."

"Well, yes. That's indeed my-" The low level bureaucrat manages to say, before Hekktars throws his head back and begins laughing at something he doesn't seem keen on explaining. "Look, it's a serious job. And while it hasn't made me popular, it has given me a vital role in the community. Not that anyone will be grateful for the service I've pro- would you stop that?"

Having partially folded in on himself, and wheezing a bit at this point, the middle-aged gnoll manages to recover and keep from laughing even harder, wiping at his organic eye as he says, "Alright, alright, sorry, my first mate won't believe this. I take it you'd be wanting to charter a room off this isle, then?" The proctor's wife and children all look at him as he clamps his jaws down and nods, clear desperation keeping his wounded pride in check. "Right. You'll be paying for your passage, and it will be at a premium. I'm certain you'll be able to afford it what with the 'valuable services' you've rendered. And if you want to come on my ship, your guards will be assisting in its protection while it's still in port."

Gesturing to Yolotli, he says, "For now, though, I need to make sure my crew isn't starting a brawl with the other ships, so we'll leave the fine details for after I have some time. My ship's bard here can handle an interview, take names, any useful skills, and collect trivia that you might find helpful for us in the meantime." Before the man has the chance to recover from basically being dismissed, the captain says, "We'll talk again soon." To Yolotli he makes a small gesture to follow and, once out of easy earshot, tells her, "As proctor he likely knows a number of people and places of wealth, power and influence in this city. Try to find out what you can about that. Wealthy passengers might pay a bit, but exotic or useful goods in our hold would hardly go amiss, and picking up a specialist or two couldn't hurt." Patting her shoulder, he begins to make his way back through the crowds to join Akilej'nah in the warehouse.

[Feathersnow]

Akilej'nah channels untold generations of scavenging and searching the frozen wastes. Her companion, a refugee from a dark and strange realm that evennthe great explorers had not ventured to, helps immensely...

...but this carcass had been picked pretty clean before they got here, and they have only gristle and marrow to carry back to the ship.

[Kinro]

The rudder was cracked badly. Much more so than perhaps the captain realized. The damage ran deep and split off in ways that might have been a good case study for fractals, if there had been any time for that. However, there was not. Nor, for that matter, was there time for any proper repairs, if those were even possible at this point. Certainly not in the time frames that the captain had allowed. The best that Nahree could think of doing at the moment was to slap some basic wood paste into the empty space and sneakily inscribe a small rune of binding, making the whole thing keep together more out of hopes and well-wishes than anything else. But it should keep together for at least long enough for him to have a proper, longer look. Or, at least, until they were out of the current perilous situation. Not that going rudderless wasn't perilous in its own right, but at least it was the kind of peril where people wouldn't be actively trying to harm him specifically. At least, not until they'd allowed him to properly fix the problem.

With his work accomplished. Or, rather, with his options exhausted, Nahree decided to join in with the efforts to bring supplies in. His automaton was more than capable of carrying some large objects, and with surprising speed, but more important was his portal device, which would allow him to carry weight and volume well beyond what a normal person could. As long as the items managed to fit within the opening, at least.

[zzzzzzzz414]

HP: 18/18
SP: 9/14
HD: 3/3 (D8)
BI: 3/4
Conditions: None
Ongoing Spell Effects: occasional colorful displays from her Instrument of Illusions

"Yessir!" Yolotli confirmed, before turning and heading back towards the waiting bureaucrat and his entourage. Yolotli wasn't entirely certain what the role of a town proctor was (...something to do with the courts? Her expertise was in culture, not the Imperial legal system, alright?), so if the captain said he had valuable information she was inclined to believe him. And considering what she'd picked up from the conversation just now, she had some idea of how to approach the situation.

"Hello again!" Yolotli said cheerily, once again stopping well short of the pointy spears. "Ah, but, wait, manners! What are all of your names?" she continued, gesturing at the whole group. "I'm rather new here so I don't think we've been introduced yet!"

From there, once the pleasantries were concluded, Yolotli invited them to a somewhat more comfortable spot distanced from the hustle and bustle a bit, and began to talk - careful to keep it feeling like a conversation rather than an interrogation, mixing in enough earnestly eager curiosity and compliments to soothe the proctor's wounded pride, and occasionally stopping to keep the others (especially the children) entertained with a little ditty or display of minor illusion magic from her specially-enchanted violin. By the end of it, she'd asked after all the things the captain had wanted to know about, and (she hoped, anyway!) made a good first impression.

[Gnomes2169]

Akilej'nah and Nahree would work with the crew to load everything they could get their hands on, and surprisingly they got enough to actually provision their (admittedly understaffed) crew for at least three days, and enough supplies and medicines to make repairs and medical situations a little bit easier to handle. In fifty minutes, the last of the warehouse had been cleaned out, and one of the other crews was finishing preparations to leave the island.

Part-way through your hauling, Hauke rejoins your crew and he gives both of you and Companion Caldasier a basic Potion of Healing from the Imperial stash that he'd raided. While he says that he hopes you won't need it, he figures he should probably each take one, since you all seem like the most combat capable and thus the most likely to get into trouble in the first place. He also informs you of the other items from the stash, and that he doesn't rightly recall exactly what the wand is meant to be used for.

Yolotli would conduct her interview in this time, and it quickly became obvious that this man was more than just a little bit involved with the local powers as the captain had assumed. First, though, he introduces himself and his family. The proctor is Thomas Taheem, the elf, who is confirmed to be his wife, is Elmedrid, and their children, the oldest two of which are apparently adopted despite their heritage, are Gabriel, Saul and Tyr.

As for what he's able to tell the bard, he seems to know every detail of the port's founding, many of the activities and leaders of major merchant families, and (perhaps expectedly) he's quite well acquainted with the captain of the guard and port authorities. Apparently he was a younger man, almost thirty years so, when he and the mayor purchased land in this location, back when it was a simple fishing village, and they practically built the town from the ground up. Before that they had been sailors on sister vessels, exploring and trading in the archipelago, and it was loyalty to and friendship with the old mayor that both kept Thomas here and earned him the retirement position of town proctor.

With the mayor dead, killed because of the people here and the unrest that they fomented, there is nothing left to hold Thomas to this place, and he's happy to tell you about everything he knows. While the artisan's district will have many of the best trained specialists and workers in town, most of their finished products are not stored in that location. Like other valuable imports and exports, along with the fully aged wines and vinegars from the vineyard, they are kept in the Artisan's Warehouse just past the western end of the docks. He just happens to possess a spare key to that warehouse that he's used in the past to review records and nothing else. (You don't believe his proclamations of innocence, they're far too strained) That key is currently in his estate, however, and he has no desire to go all the way there in the current climate.

Being a freeport there are shrines to most of the major deities and archons here, though few of them have much in the way of practical use or practitioners of divine power. The temples of Dia are the ones that most often tend to the sick and needy within the upper crust of the city, though the disciples of Ilmas operate a clinic in the north-western sprawl of the city and are called upon when particularly virulent outbreaks occur. Kasa has a temple in the artisan district and directly across from it is a shrine to Abu Dhahab, though no one really works at that later location besides the city sweepers set to keeping it clean.

As for the divisions of the town itself, the League has more power in the somewhat wealthier eastern side of town, while the Imperials hold sway in the western. The League, therefore, actually has more educated and specially trained individuals, such as alchemists and physicians, in this place than its proximity to Shaline territory might suggest. Though to be fair, most of the Imperial artisans already left on boats in the weeks prior.

Near the end of your interview one of the guards, an older man who has the tough skin of someone who has been out at sea much of their life, tilts back the visor of his skullcap and informs you that he and two of the other guards are actually from Thomas' original crew, and they still remember how to run a ship even if they might not be as spry as they once were. He also tells you that the proctor allowed their families to live with them on his estate in the governing district, where they served as house staff or aides, but that said families were left behind when this group came out to inspect the progress on the proctor's new estate. If you are able to get them out, the old sailors are willing to assist you as deck hands until you reach your next destination, and he hints that if you give them a promise that you will rescue their families from the riots, they will be willing to stand guard at the docks to keep your ship safe regardless of what Thomas tells them. This later hint draws a strained look from the proctor, but you quickly smooth it over and get the bureaucrat talking again.

Thomas confirms that the families are there, and promises a bounty for each person you manage to save. He also puts in a request that, should you go to the governing district, you also rescue the mayor's family... if they are still alive. The mayor had a wife, a son that was the heir to his estates and worked as the captain of his house guard, an infant daughter and a nephew who is intolerable, but still family. His wife requests that you retrieve the books from her shelves should you visit her estate, along with the locket on her nightstand, and says that you can have any of her other jewelry should you desire it as compensation.

And with that, you have all the information that you deem relevant that you can get from this group. Thomas and his entourage begin making their way towards the Ragamender, intent on getting their things settled in their cabin.

All of you gather together once your tasks are done, and captain Hekktars gestures for you all to huddle in close so he can talk to you. "Good job everyone, looks like we've got enough for about half the trip to the next port large enough to be worth our time from that warehouse, though I'd still like more of everything to be comfortable so we should prepare for a trip to the eastern warehouse district. We're still going to need more crew as well, and given what was in that Imperial stash, it's going to be worth it to claim every one of those that we can get our hands on. Yolotli, what did our finely-dressed guest have to say that was of any value?"

The current time is 2:50pm. Sunset is at 8pm.

[zzzzzzzz414]

HP: 18/18
SP: 9/14
HD: 3/3 (D8)
BI: 3/4
Conditions: None
Ongoing Spell Effects: colorful, questionably-accurate map display from Instrument of Illusions

Yolotli related everything she'd heard from the proctor; no especial reason to hide any of it, really. She particularly emphasized the parts immediately relevant to their situation: the families trapped in the government district, and the Artisan's Warehouse full of valuable, possibly magical goods.

"I think it'd be a very, very good idea to help those people, and definitely to look in the Artisan's Warehouse too. It'll have some valuable trade goods, and...well, I suppose the magical stuff could be medicine or, um, explosives, but either way it'll probably be helpful? But...hm..."

With a couple sharp notes from her violin, Yolotli summons up a small, colorful illusory map of the city as she understands it.

"...it does seem like a lot of ground to cover in just a few hours...should we split up? Or would that be too dangerous..." Yolotli half-mumbles, still playing the simple violin tune. She looks as though she's thinking through something, but waits momentarily for her captain and crewmates' inputs.

[Kinro]

"If you're sending people to another warehouse, then might I suggest lending one of them my portable portal device?' Nahree suggested. "I think everyone's been witness to its efficacy. As for me, I know some things about locks. I might be able to get us into the Artisan's Warehouse without needing a key or any more... brutal measures. Otherwise, I'd also like to go visit the dockmaster's. They might know of some boat or other that won't be sailing but has some parts that we could use. Though, of course, I might need coin for negotiations." He sighed. This constant need for coin. It was so much easier back in the swamp. "But I do think that the sooner we get the people we need, the more we'll be able to do in the time we have."

[Feathersnow]

"Yolotli, I can go with you to rescue the family of the Mayor. Whatever politics might be between the Sisterhood and the Empire- the one thing, IDIX' first law, we never leave anyone behind!"

This, this was a mission she was both suited for and could get behind. Ghuls were poor longshoremen at best, but even as untested and unbloodied as the Sisterhood was against merely mortal threats, they were the fanatics who hunted the Revenants into near extinction. Escorting a few dozen goblinoids across a few miles in broad daylight should not be beyond a force led by even a junior sister.

"We have enough supplies to get to another port, in my opinion, the most important things now are lives and currency " said the aristocratic heir to a world spanning organization devoted to solidarity who furthermore could live comfortably on literal garbage.

[Gnomes2169]

Nahree takes a look at the wand, but beyond knowing that he would need to attune to it in order to use the magic item he can't identify its exact properties. If he did attune to it, he'd likely know what the item did... though that could cause problems if it was cursed for some reason.

The captain grunts at Akilej'nah's statement and he mumbles, "The mayor wasn't even in support of the Empire... which is why the factions have gotten so out of hand, I suppose." But he shakes his head and scratches his prosthetic hand through the scruff of his undermuzzle. "Still, it makes sense to go to the government district. More high-value passengers, and that key from the proctor to access the Artisan's warehouse... that could solve our money and cargo problem rather easily. Though I will note, the longer we wait to recruit at the longhouses and claim cargo from the eastern warehouse district, the fewer sailors and the less supplies we will have." Smirking at the sister-wayfinder again he says, "Not all of us are used to eating one meal a day, after all."

Davian grunts at that, having come from the ship now that your guests and the supplies you already gathered have been secured, and he says, "Well captain, if I go to a longhouse and gather enough souls who know their ass from their hands and know their way in a scrap, I can handle the warehouse issues. If I take the bard with, and some muscle to keep the more unruly folk back, I'd probably be a bit more successful." He gives Yolotli a nod while Hauke lifts his hand.

"I should also get to the eastern longhouse as quickly as possible so that I can get the Empire cache. The longer we wait the more time imperial sympathizers that are ready to fight have to claim it themselves. Also, the more people I have with me, or the fewer there are in the longhouse, the less chance there is someone will try to take the stuff once I retrieve it." The experienced sailor points out.

"Aye, we shouldn't send you off on your own." The dragonborn responds, though his tone hints that it's not out of concern for Hauke's safety. "But you are an experienced deckhand, so you know how to haul, and you know how to fight, so I'd be bringing you with regardless. Perhaps if our Boatswain's automaton could help as well...? Bah, no, that should go with the kobold if another group is entering the city. But I'm not too concerned with leaving the ship for an hour or two. Those guards might be old, but they're experienced. As long as you're here, Cap, you should be able to hold off a smaller mob."

[Feathersnow]

Akilej'nah gets ready to set out. She definitely thinks she looks fierce in her black wool hoodie, her near-spherical three feet of might daring anyone to question the power of The Sisterhood!

[Kinro]

"Oh, yes, my automaton absolutely needs to stay with my," Nahree said. "The portable portal device only needs adjustments once every day or so to prevent catastrophic randomization events, but this one needs almost constant supervision, so that it doesn't... well..." He hesitated. "Let's say it's just better if it comes with me." Of course, much more than having valuable cargo, he was worried about their ship being in a condition to sail. He was a boatswain, after all. And with their rudder still not in the best condition and their sail missing. But the plan was forged, it seemed. He left his portable portal device with Davian and returned to his room to pick through his possessions, which currently littered the floor, for those tools which would be the most useful and, importantly, the most portable. This done, he returned to the group. "So I understand we three are going on the rescue mission?" he asked.