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Post by DM-Delfon on Jul 14, 2015 14:30:32 GMT -5
Mac takes the scale mail from under the rock, and wraps it carefully in his backpack. "We might need it once inside." He threads his arms through the straps on his backpack, and shifts knots to redistribute the now heavier load. "The upstairs window leads to an attic, and most attics are used for storage. I could be wrong, but there is only one way to find out." Mac smiles down at you while you talk, but his eyes loose focus after you draw attention to your cleavage. You're not sure he heard a word after that, but eventually he shakes his head and looks back up at your face. He smiles dumbly, knowing he's been caught, then he leans down and kisses you soundly, wrapping one arm around your back and pulling you tight. He pinches your bum, and then darts back into the street before you can react.
When you follow, not quite as smoothly as he did you find him in the side yard a rope already hanging from the edge of the roof above. He motions for you to move a little further along, then he gestures for you to approach. Once you're close he whispers, "I'm not going to rely on a rescue, if this goes bad we get out. I'm going to climb up and check the attic, if it's clear we will get you inside and armoured." He scurries up the rope, bracing his feet on the wall and pulling himself up hand over hand. He pauses outside the window, first listening and than checking around the window frame. When he seems satisfied, he pulls up more rope and twirls it around his legs in a fancy eight pattern with a knot in the middle. He then lets go of the rope with both hands, the rig he tied supporting him while he works on unlocking the window. He slides the pane up a few seconds later, puts away his tools and releases the knot holding his rig. Once clear, he darts inside with the grace of a stalking cat. After about a minute he sticks his arm out and waves you up.
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Post by Sugarphix on Jul 14, 2015 15:00:52 GMT -5
Tsunami realizes that he's made some kind of fancy harness with the rope. Given that she's spent her life on ships tying knots, she probably could have copied you easily enough, if she had been paying attention to your feet, and hadn't been staring at less important, yet just as impressive pirate booty.
She wipes her hands off on her clothes to make sure they were dry and wouldn't slip, and starts to shimmy up the rope easily like the well oiled machine that she is. She preferred the easier to climb ratlines that made up the jacob's ladders of the ship, but she was just as good at scurrying up the shrouds right up to the futtocks. Once she rose to the window, she kicked off the wall with both feet and swung neatly inside.
(climb check: 12+3 (str) = 15)
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Post by DM-Delfon on Jul 15, 2015 6:10:25 GMT -5
You land just as softly as a cat in a room dimly lit by the window you just came through. The room is crowded with stacks of boxes and crates, two training dummies dressed in clothing sewn with bells stand in one corner. Mac is by a larger crate, just finishing unwrapping your armour. He nods, and slips through the rooms only door, he walks silently rolling his foot from heel to toe.
Just as you finish getting into your armour, Mac returns He steps in close and whispers softly, his lips almost touching your ear, "I disabled three separate alarm traps, so keep your eyes open for trip lines. The way down is a hatch with a ladder, we have to move quietly as someone is sleeping in the room where the ladder is...." He trails off, then continues, "I can knock him out or kill him silently before he wakes, your call. I don't want anyone coming upon us from behind."
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Post by Sugarphix on Jul 15, 2015 7:06:31 GMT -5
Tsunami looks around for something that can be used to tie the man up. "I'd rather not shed blood if we don't have to. If it comes to that, then so be it. Knock him out if you can."
Tsunami gives you a few minutes head start to get the deed done while she continues unfruitfully to find something that she can use to bind the man. She silently curses when you signal her to come down and she's still empty handed. She follows you to the room and approaches the downed man. She checks for a pulse to see if he's faking or if he's really out...or perhaps dead. If his pulse is racing, she'll draw her dagger. If he's out, she resorts to taking the laces from his boots and uses those to tie him up. She also takes his left sock, which she uses to gag him with. She looks at her handi-work, unsure if the shoelaces will hold him, and asks "do you think he'll be ok? I know he's out, this is just for a little bit of insurance." Then she nods for you to lead the way.
(Search check for something to tie the man with: 4+0=4) (Use rope check to tie him up well: 7+4 (prof sailor)=11)
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Post by DM-Delfon on Jul 15, 2015 7:30:33 GMT -5
The man has a goosebump forming near his temple, and is going to be out cold for at least an hour. He wasn't wearing boots, and when you find them on the floor they buckle up. You sigh, but then bind him with the bedding itself, twisting it throughly to create a makeshift rope. While you were binding the man Mac slipped out of the room, returning shortly after you've finished with the gag. "Two more targets. One at the front window, the other at the back, both on the main floor. We have a problem, they can see each other if they turn around. If they see our faces they can report who was here. I can take one out, but the other might hear. How do you want to handle this?"
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Post by Sugarphix on Jul 15, 2015 8:23:58 GMT -5
Tsunami thinks it's sweet that Mac's taking the lead, almost like you think you're in charge. It's also cute the way you keep asking for her opinion, when the answers are aleady as clear as the waves lapping up on the shore. She hopes you won't have a problem taking orders on her ship. She slips out of the scale mail and balls it up, handing it to Mac to stow as he had done before. Then she loosens the top couple of eyelets on her stays, and bends to grab the bottom front hem of her petticoats and shift. Straightening, she gathers the layers together and tucks them up under her belt, making her dress very short at the front, which showed off her long legs quite nicely.
"Thar be no problem, they won't be lookin' at our faces. you take the one, and I'll take the other. What I wouldn't give for some rum, I do my best work when i'm inebriated."
She pulls her dagger from her boot, shoves it up her sleeve, then she quietly heads down the stairs.
(Stealth check: 8+1=9 )
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Post by DM-Delfon on Jul 15, 2015 10:07:00 GMT -5
Mac balls up the scale mail again, absentmindedly, his eyes drinking in the sight of your exposed flesh. It takes him two tries to find words, "That might just work." He finally manages. He skulks on silent feet down the stairs, and through the doorway toward the front of the house. You walk quietly, but it's a sorry imitation of the complete silence Mac managed. You cross through a kitchen to a small room at the back, the guard sitting there doesn't bother looking up. As you approach he says, "Is my watch over so soon?" He must assume you are the fellow from upstairs. Just then you hear a solid thunk, followed by another softer thunk. The guard in front of you begins to turn.
(OOC: You have a surprise round to drop this fellow, if you don't then he might get a look at your face, depending on init.)
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Post by Sugarphix on Jul 15, 2015 16:52:17 GMT -5
Tsunami sees the guard in front of her starting to turn, and slams the butt of her gaff into the back of his head/neck to knock him out. Perhaps she shouldn't have shown off quite so much, as there is an audible crack when the bludgeoning instrument hits, followed by another ugly crackle, squish as his nose breaks when his face hits the sill as he goes down.
Tsunami drops to her knee to check the wounds, which are bleeding all over the light carpet. She sighs heavily. Does everything have to be work, work, work? She grabs the bottom of her skirt, ready to tear a strip off to staunch the bleeding, and thinks better of it. She reaches down and tears a length of fabric from the base of the guard's own shirt. She folds it into a passable bandage and sets him on it so the weight of his head will help put pressure on the wound. She also rolls a bit of fabric up to shove up each nostril.
When she's finished, and is satisfied that the man probably won't die, she turns to Mac and asks if he's located the seal yet?
(att roll: 9+3 (str) =12) (dam roll: 6+3=9) (heal check: 17+10=27)
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Post by DM-Delfon on Jul 16, 2015 6:53:36 GMT -5
Mac shakes his head, "Haven't had a moment to search anything. I'll check upstairs, you check down here." With that he darts off, still moving gracefully, and silently. He returns a few minutes later having had as much luck as you did on the main floor. "I found a bit of value in the dresser upstairs, but no seal. I wonder f this place has a basement..." He trails off, then begins to flip up the corners of rugs. He looks beneath, then flips them back. You begin to do the same, an you both work your way across the main floor. Mac joins you in the last room, shaking his head. You flip the last unchecked rug, and smile. There set in the floor is a square outline of a trapdoor. Pulling it open reveals a ladder descending into darkness.
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Post by Sugarphix on Jul 16, 2015 8:58:43 GMT -5
Tsunami kneels by the opening as you both peer into the darkness. She motions for you to look for traps or mechanisms that might mean a trap. Then she closes her eyes and the sound of rushing water fills her ears as she whispers the incantation to detect magic in the depths below them. She will continue concentrating as long as necessary to get all the information she can. If no magic is detected, she pulls out the wooden pelorian holy symbol and once again she hears crashing waves as the wooden symbol in her hands begins to sparkle and then glow with a light of it's own. She tosses it down into the darkness and stands.
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Post by DM-Delfon on Jul 16, 2015 19:30:37 GMT -5
Mac examines the area, and shrugs, "Looks clear." Your eyes glow as your deity grants you the ability to see warps in the weave that flows through the world. Your now magically altered sense of the weave tells you that there is no magic located within thirty feet of where you're standing. Calling upon Osprem once again, you cause the Pelorian holy symbol to cast light like the moon reflecting off water on a cloudless night. You cringe as the wooden thunk and clatter of the holy symbol hitting the floor below resounds off the walls. Glancing at Mac, you catch him making a cringing face of his own, but he wipes it clean so fast you're not even sure you saw it in the first place. The room below is roughly the size of the house you've explored so far, and cluttered with piles clothing, boxes of junk and other belongings. If the seal is mixed into that mess, it will take hours to find. Entering the basement Mac calls up softly, "Nobody is here, come on down." Once in the basement, you notice that there are piles all over, but a clear path from the ladder to the corner of the room. The floor near the corner has an arcing scrape in the floor.
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Post by Sugarphix on Jul 16, 2015 21:35:02 GMT -5
Tsunami goes to examine the scrapings on the floor. She looks up to Mac.
There be a secret door here, there be, I'd swear it. What say you? Be there a chance that the seal remains here in plain sight, or is our course to pursue it?"
She looks around at the basement, trying to see if there are certain piles or boxes tht appear less dusty than the rest, as if they've recently been moved or tampered with.
She feels around the corner wall to see if she can locate and open the door that she suspects is there.
(Search check: 10+ 0=10)
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Post by DM-Delfon on Jul 17, 2015 6:35:23 GMT -5
"Good eye Tsunami" Mac takes a deep breath, and lets it out slowly, "That would explain why it was so poorly guarded." While you poke around the boxes you can hear Mac talking to himself as he works in the corner, "If the scrape is the outside edge of the door, than the hinge would be here on this wall, or here on this wall." He presses near the corner with one hand further over along the wall. "Not this side then..." He trails off, adjusting his position so that he's set up on the other wall. He presses near the corner, and smiles, "It's here. Look when I press on the other side of the hinge, the far edge tries to open but it's blocked. Probably a locking mechanism." He starts pushing each brick along the wall, then frowns, his brow furrowing. "There has to be a switch to open the lock somewhere. Try pulling and pushing on the sconces." Following his lead, you grab hold of the sconce closest to you and give a gentle pull. It tilts forward for easy loading, but then it keeps tilting and there is a shunk-clickity-clickity-clickity. Mac pushes on the corner again, and the door swings open, scraping along the markings on the floor. "Looks like we're in. We may have just stumbled on one of the Shadow Hands smuggling runs."
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Post by Sugarphix on Jul 17, 2015 9:52:15 GMT -5
"Good eye Tsunami" Mac takes a deep breath, and lets it out slowly, "That would explain why it was so poorly guarded." Mac informs her. This isn't well guarded? she thinks in dismay. This is getting them in to trouble way deeper than she had bargained for. "How many were you expecting?" she asks as the secret door rolls out from the wall. You mention the Shadow Hand's smuggling run, and she gets a sinking feeling in her stomache. She begins to long for her nice safe ship on the waters, even during a hurricane, it felt safer than this. She missed her family and wondered if this endeavour might reunite them. "Mac," she tells him, walking over to where the door hangs ajar. "This is supposed to be a beginning for us, but I've a forboding that's creepin' up me spine. It's beginnin' to feel like an end. What be our plan from here? What if we be walkin' into another warehouse full of these lubbers? Theivin' is one thing, but I'll not die for a cause that isn't even ours. What say you, do we even have a chance?" She looks up into your eyes and you can see the worry plain on her face.
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Post by DM-Delfon on Jul 17, 2015 19:57:31 GMT -5
Mac shrugs, "Honestly, I had no expectations." He looks at the ceiling, right through the walls to where the three guards are laying, "But three guards? One of which was sleeping? From what I know of the smuggling runs, they go from a flophouse like this to one of four places: outside the walls, another flophouse, to a fence, or to a sponser owned location."
When you say his name, Mac stops to listen. Once you've finished he takes hold of your shoulders, and looks deeply into your eyes, "I have very recently learned my limits. I overreached by trying for the Light Shrine by myself, and I paid. No, we paid for that mistake." His eyes change, showing regret, "But I'm good at this, and I've been playing against the Shadow Hand for a few years now. I think we can do this, and if I see my limit I will bail. I will not put you through the same lesson I so recently faced."
He releases your shoulder and looks through the secret door, "It heads North, toward the warehouses. If you want out, now is your chance. I have to continue, I have a couple debts to pay. Something about a man giving up something of value to save my life, and a beautiful woman's blue ship."
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Post by Sugarphix on Jul 17, 2015 20:33:51 GMT -5
Tsunami thinks about Mac's words, about te debts to pay. Well I don't owe a thing to anyone, she thinks to herself. But her crew were not filled with cowards, they never ran from a fight they might not win. Just as she had done with Mac on their first night, only night, together, she thought of her fathers and how they raised her. She'd have been sent to walk the plank if she ever suggested they turn tail and run. "Thar's no runnin' on this here ship," they'd say, "so if te want to run, you'll just have to swim." She's seen it done once before to a boy that had been press ganged into service. He had elected to stay. She didn't see whether he ha faught, but they had lived.
She thought back over the last two days. Danger had been imminent since she met this man, but the worst part had been the suspense, the not-knowing. She didn't want to live through that again. She's see this through and make her fathers proud.
"I'll ride out the wave with ye," she tells you, and grabbing the light source, enters the tunnel.
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Post by DM-Delfon on Jul 18, 2015 11:33:18 GMT -5
Mac nods, smiling. He gives you a quick peck on the cheek, and winks before slipping into the darkness beyond. You follow more slowly, allowing Mac a little headstart before your light illuminates him. The tunnel is crude, an egg shaped tunnel five feet by three feet wide. Barely enough room to move while hunched over. The tunnel goes on for what seems like forever, with nothing to help you denote the time. A bit of that creeping not-knowing sneaks up the back of your neck since you haven't seen Mac in a while, but just when you're about to call out to see if he's there your light falls upon him, he's leaned on a wall in a ten by ten room that this tunnel leads into. Unlike the rough tunnel walls, this room is masonry, perhaps another basement? A ladder leads up from where he is leaning, and Mac is looking up the ladder, you can tell he is straining to hear the slightest sound above. "There's nothing happening up there, but that doesn't make me feel any better." When you arrive he points up a few rungs of the ladder, a note is attached there that reads, "Better luck next time. The seal isn't here either."
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Post by Sugarphix on Jul 18, 2015 13:06:06 GMT -5
"They've got us trapped down here like a fish in a barrel" Tsunami says in a low voice. She was suddenly feeling very claustrophobic. "There's no way out. If we go back, they'll be waiting for us, if we go up, they'll be expecting us." Tsunami leaned back against the wall as she felt her knees grow weak. This isn't how she was supposed to go. She was supposed to live out her life under the wide open sky, the rolling waves beneath her. One day, she would join Davey Jones at the bottom of his locker, but until then she was meant to be free. An underground burial had never been in the picture.
Would she ever see the sky again? Would she ever step aboard the wide planks of the Sea's Song? The Lightbringer had said she had to retrieve the seal for the information. Now she would never know the fate of her ship and her family.
She stared at Mac. Was he a part of this too? Was this a test? Would her death take place at his hands? He had been conveniently taken when they had wanted something from her, and easily given back. Why would they do that? Why wouldn't they just have kept him...killed him? He'd seen their faces. Was he working for the shadow hand all along? Or the Lightbringer? He certainly had time to attach the note to the rung himself before she had caught up with him.
She had been half crazy in love with the man, the only one that had begun to gain her trust...but now mistrust began to cloud her vision.
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Post by DM-Delfon on Jul 18, 2015 13:33:17 GMT -5
Mac shrugs, "Like I said, I haven't heard a sound above." He climbs the ladder, and pushes open the hatch. He scurries out, and looks around, "Looks clear Tsunami. It's a warehouse, but smaller than the one I was held in." When you follow, you see that his words are true. It's a large open room with skids of crates set in neat rows. There doesn't seem to be anybody around. Mac sighs, "This looks like a dead end. We don't have time to search through all this." He gestures to take in all the skids in the whole warehouse. "Maybe we should go back to the Lightbringer, see if he can't use his magic to find it again."
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Post by Sugarphix on Jul 18, 2015 14:10:01 GMT -5
Tsunami didn't know if they'd make it back to the lightbringer or not, she suspected that if the coast was clear in here, perhaps there was an ambush waiting outside.
"I think getting out of here, no matter where we go will be a good idea." She told him. This was so stressful. Osprem, she wanted some rum.
She took a glance around again calling on her magical ability to search for anything magical. The sound of waves crashed over her, and for a few brief moments, she felt at home.
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Post by DM-Delfon on Jul 18, 2015 16:31:21 GMT -5
Your enhanced vision detects no magic within thirty feet of you. Mac moves over to one of the large doors used to load and unload wagons. There are three other large doors along the same wall, and two smaller doors set in another wall. One clearly leads to an office, you can see the large desk through a window overlooking the warehouse. The other is set in the outside wall, it most likely leads outside. Mac scales the wall to look out one of the barred windows above the door. "I don't see anyone out here. Maybe they think they've pulled it off, and that we can't succeed? So they don't care that we're even trying?" Mac climbs down and heads to the small door in the outside wall, "Shall we?" He listens carefully for a full minute before he opens the door just enough to look out. "Clear, lets go."
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Post by Sugarphix on Jul 18, 2015 16:43:41 GMT -5
Instead of leaving, Tsunami walks to the door that leads to the office. If there is a window, she peers inside. If not, she listens carefully at the door before going in to search it for the seal.
(spot check 17+4=21, listen 1+4=5, search 18+0=18)
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Post by DM-Delfon on Jul 18, 2015 17:31:55 GMT -5
You listen at the door, hearing nothing inside. Looking through the window, you see standard office dressing. A desk, and a cabinet, three chairs, two smaller chairs in front of the desk, and one larger behind the desk. Searching the office you find that the cabinet and the two side drawers of the desk are locked, while the central desk drawer holds standard office supplies, paper, ink, a sanding bottle, and a quill.
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Post by Sugarphix on Jul 18, 2015 17:56:38 GMT -5
"Be ye any good at pickin' a lock?" She asks Mac. There be a few locks here that may be of some interest to us.
Tsunami snoops around in the top drawer to see if there is a key for the locked ones. The passage of time starts to pull at her, but she doesn't want to come back here if it turns out that they missed it.
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Post by DM-Delfon on Jul 18, 2015 19:36:58 GMT -5
Mac pulls out his thieves tools, and sets to work. The desk drawers take a few seconds each, and the cabinet takes about twenty seconds or so. "There you go." Mac says, standing and rolling up his kit. You search through the drawers and cabinet, the bottom drawer contains standard employee files. The top drawer contains a really good bottle of rum, even better than the one you bought earlier. There is also a pouch containing 20gp. The cabinet contains a gray hooded cloak, and a brace of well balanced daggers. There is also a coded ledger in the cabinet.
(Daggers: Throwing range +10ft over normal daggers)
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Post by Sugarphix on Jul 18, 2015 20:09:25 GMT -5
Tsunami takes the pouch of coins, the throwing daggers, and of course the rum. She also takes the ledger. She thinks about leaving the glowing holy symbol behind as a tip of the hat, but decides that it might not be the wisest decision if she expects Aaron Miller to hand over the information he has. She closes everything back up and finally follows Mac out of the warehouse.
Looking around outside, Tsunami sees no one, and relief washes over her. They begin their trek back to the Lightbringer. She doesn't want to have the ledger in her possession any longer than she has to. She feels as though she's been sent on a wild goose chase, and she can't figure out if Mac is in on it. Every time she begins to think that way, she feels a pang in her chest. She tries to steal glances at him, trying to figure him out, and she feels like she's on the cusp of falling over the edge of a precipice.
If he tries to touch her, she feels herself beginning to break. She reclaims her hand to pull the cork on the stolen rum and begins to drink it back. Her tipsy thoughts keep circling like a ship at the mouth of a whirlpool. She wants him, wants to be with him. But she can't explain in any other way how the note got there save for him putting it there himself. She can't let herself get caught up with him again until she truly knows where his intentions lie. One thing is for sure though, she won't be letting him out of her sight again.
The only thing Mac might notice is that this time she doesn't sing while she drinks.
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Post by DM-Delfon on Jul 19, 2015 5:13:34 GMT -5
Mac does try to take your hand, and when you pull away he just looks confused and thoughtful. He keeps a wary eye on you as you walk, and the silence between you weighs heavy. When you pull the bottle out, and start to work the cork free, he finally speaks, "You can't be doing that here, the guard will put you in the drunk tank." He doesn't try to stop you if you drink anyway.
When you finally arrive at the Light Shrine, you're escorted to the Lightbringer. When you enter his office, you can see him visibly relax, "By the light of Pelor, you're alright. After you left I got word that the man I had watching the flophouse was taken. I was worried that he told them you were coming."
A frantic knock at the door draws every eye. The door opens and a pair of guards drag in a third man into the room. He has the look of a beggar, but somehow seems to clean, the filth too fresh. A bit too much meat on his bones. "This is the man I set to watch the house." Aaron says as he circles the table, his hands alight with the healing flames of Pelor. The man regains consciousness and looks around, then he smiles, "I live, I guess Pelor isn't done with me after all." His head snaps up, The seal! They moved the seal into the high quarter. I didn't have time to loose the disguise, and drew attention to myself trying to get through the gates."
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Post by Sugarphix on Jul 19, 2015 5:56:08 GMT -5
Tsunami hears the man's report and has a feeling in her gut that she's going to be sent on another "mission". No matter what he says, her only plans for the rest of the night involve getting lost in the bottom of a particular bottle. Once the man has excused himself, Tsunami tells Aaron what they found. She explains about the empty house, the tunnel, the note, and the ledger they found in the drawers in the warehouse and about the cloak that was with it. She hands over the ledger and adds:
"I know it's not the seal you were expecting, but I hope it's worth something to you, I hope it helps. I also hope that you will see fit to tell me what you know about the Sea's Song."
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Post by DM-Delfon on Jul 19, 2015 8:58:47 GMT -5
Aaron seems genuinely happy at the mention that the seal came into High District., "We've finally got them!" He takes in your expressions and smiles, "Whomever has the seal brought it to their guild house, shop or whatever. I can use the guards in High District, they can't react fast enough to get away in such a secure location."
Aaron opens his desk and hands you a report. The report looks very official, the kind of thing one bureaucratic office might send another. It lists the details of a navel battle and it's aftermath in the most drab and boring way possible. Shot counts, wounded, and dead numbers on both sides, a full list of everything seized. There is a note that mentions jettisoned cargo.
Apparently the Sea's Song was captured and brought to the nearest Somerset port. While the crew awaited the noose, there was an uprising, and all but three of the Sea Song's crew escaped, two died in the attempt, and a third is set to be hanged as soon as a new judge can be brought in. The previous judge was slain during the uprising. The Sea's Song and all its cargo are still held, but a Somerset cruiser was taken.
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Post by Sugarphix on Jul 19, 2015 9:55:29 GMT -5
The news was more than Tsunami had hoped for. At least some of her family was still alive. She needed to get her hands on a sloop or caravel and get out on the open water. She wanted to track down the Somerset cruiser and find out the fate of her mother,Blue-eyed Pete, and some of the others who had escaped, but may be greiviously injured. Maybe it wasn't too late to help them. The lightbringer's reaction seemed to be legitamate. Perhaps she had been jumping at shadows. She looked over at Mac, wondering again. The lightbringer had told her they'd be out on the sea before she knew it if they returned with the seal. Perhaps she would have to wait a while longer.
"Well, if there's nothing else, we'll be takin' our leave," Tsunami told the Lightbringer. "I be in need of a much earned rest."
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