Part the One-Hundred Ninety-Eighth
In which: I don’t know what happened. I was dead.
—Um... Fajitas?
—Ahem, yes. Let’s try that again, shall we?
Part the One-Hundred Ninety-Eighth
In which: Lady Tempeste returns! Well… not quite.
(as recorded by Fajitas)
Anvil flexes his arms as Thatch helps him tighten the last strap.
Excellent. A fine fit, Anvil thinks, as he walks about the barge in his newly acquired armor. The fallen member of the County Guard no longer has need of it, whereas Anvil’s need has just become somewhat more pressing. Fortunately, that Guardsman was almost the same size as Anvil.
“That armor might as well have been made for you,” Thatch comments.
Anvil shakes his head, sadly. “Were it made for me, it would not bear the Count’s sigil,” he says. “I wonder if there is some way of inscribing the symbol of Kettenek upon it.”
Eva, meanwhile, is not quite as lucky. She has donned the captured woman’s chain shirt. It is heavier than the armor she is used to, and it is awfully tight. “I can barely move in this thing,” Eva complains, trying to raise her arms.
“Will it not be better to be… constricted, but alive than to be the alternative?” Reyu asks.
Eva grumbles, but with Lira’s corpse covered on one corner of the deck, it’s hard to argue.
Lira’s body has been wrapped in spare sail canvas, which, given the state of the corpse, was a delicate bit of work. Anvil intends to pray for
gentle repose in the morning, so that the body may be preserved until it can be returned to Dar Pykos. Euro sits on top of his fallen mistress, a wild look in his eyes. No one will get near Lira without facing his fury.
Lira’s remaining magic items have been, for the moment, divvied up among her comrades. Reyu takes Sheesak’s horn, Eva takes the
hat of disguise, and Anvil claims the two remaining glass balls that Professor Alexandra gave them
oh-so-long ago.
The party has extensively questioned their captive as to the nature of the Count’s defenses. Any thoughts she may have had of not cooperating have been quelled by Thatch’s threats to drop her over the side again. She has given them much information regarding the Count’s distribution of guards, specifically on the Count’s “guest” islands.
Now that there is little they can do for Lira, the party’s thoughts are focused on Annika and Kiara. They had been left with the Count to study with “Barnabus.”
What has happened to them in the wake of the Count’s treachery is anyone’s guess.
After carefully considering their options and studying their map, the party decides that their best hope lies with Barnabus. If they can find him, they may be able to persuade him to help them rescue their comrades and escape the Count. Otherwise, they’ll have to take the Count on themselves, and none of them relish that idea.
Now, all they have to do is find Barnabus.
The two islands that stand out as the most likely homes for an archmage are the yellow island that none of the Count’s ships go to (referred to as Exile Island by their prisoner) or the small orange island near the Count’s Main island. There are regular supply runs there, but neither the captive nor the captain knows what inhabits it.
“Tell us more of this Exile Island, then,” Anvil demands.
“It’s where prisoners are sent,” the captive says. “Criminals. Murderers, thieves.”
“How are they supplied if no ships go to the island?” Reyu asks.
The captive fixes her with a disdainful look. “They aren’t.”
The captain nods. “You couldn’t take a ship there if you wanted to. You’d be overrun in a second by those poor bastards, trying to escape.”
“How do you deliver them if you can’t get there?” Thatch asks.
“Never been on a prisoner run myself, but from what I understand, you get within sight, toss ‘em overboard, and make them swim.”
Reyu thinks it sounds barbaric, but Anvil nods sagely. “It seems a fitting punishment, provided those who are sentenced there are sentenced Justly. Now that we see more fully the Count’s nature, I am not as assured of that as I might be.”
“Whatever,” Eva says. “It doesn’t sound like we’ll find Barnabus there. I think we should try this other one. The orange one.”
The party quickly agrees.
Since Lady Tempeste teleported away, it is fair to assume that the Count is now aware of what happened and will have patrols out looking for them. The safest course of travel would be a route that keeps them out of sight. The captain, under duress, suggests that they should head south, out of the ring of islands. They can cut up north later, making a straight run for the orange island.
“What do we do with
her,” Eva asks, nodding towards their captive as they make preparations to leave.
“Well, she was planning to maroon us here on this island. I say we return the favor,” Thatch says.
The woman pales, but says nothing.
“We should leave her on the dock,” Reyu says, “behind the stockade wall. That way there will be at least a… chance that she will be rescued before whatever is on that island finds her.”
Thatch snorts. “It’s more kindness than she would have shown us.”
“Exactly,” Reyu says. “Perhaps it will serve as a… lesson to her.”
The party agrees, and leaves her on the dock. They do not bother to remove the necklace that kills spellcasters when they try to cast. They figure she can take it off herself after they leave.
###
Though it was early morning when Lady Tempeste turned on them, it takes the party most of the day to sail around the islands. The water gets choppier as they leave the shallower water and find themselves out on the open Halmae. The barge heaves dangerously. The captain looks displeased, but he and his crew focus and keep the ship afloat.
Anvil’s stomach, on the other hand, is not quite so professional. Not for the first time, he curses the sea for its malleability, and focuses on keeping his innards as stable as a rock.
Kettenek’s Justice is not with him in this endeavor. Nor, after a while, is his lunch.
Finally, the barge returns to shallower waters. The captain, with a nervous swallow, rigs the ship for fast running (or as fast as the barge can manage), and begins the quick dash to what the party hopes is Barnabus’s Island.
They are not long on their way when they are spotted.
The ship they see is a skiff, a smaller and faster vessel than their barge. It bears towards them, an armed man standing up and waving at them to heave to.
“Um. Now what?” Thatch asks.
“Do we fight?” Eva asks, cracking her knuckles. Ever since Lira’s death, she’s looked like she’s just waiting to kill something.
But Reyu is thinking. “Perhaps we could… dissuade them from stopping us.”
“How?” Anvil asks.
“Yeah. I doubt they’ll back off just because we ask them to,” Eva adds.
“They would not back off if
we asked them to,” Reyu replies. “But I suspect they would back off if Lady Tempeste asked them to.”
Everyone stares at Reyu. “Do we not have Lira’s
hat of disguise?” the elf asks.
Thatch, Anvil, and Reyu all quickly disappear into the barge’s cargo hold. Eva dons the
hat of disguise and concentrates on Lady Tempeste’s appearance. The air around her seems to shimmer, and she hears a sudden gasp from the captain of the barge.
Eva looks down. She cannot see her own face, but the hands, the clothes, the body she sees… they are not hers. When she concentrates, she can see her own form beneath them, as if she was wearing a second skin. But otherwise…
She hopes the effect is as convincing to those on the skiff.
The skiff draws nearer, pulling alongside the barge. Eva can see a pair of sailors, along with eight armed members of the County Guard. One of them, the standing one, is better adorned than the others. He calls out to the barge. “Avast. What’s your business here?”
Eva is on. Swallowing, she steps forward. “What’s
your business here?” she asks, trying to match Lady Tempeste’s impatient tones.
“I’ll ask the questions—" he suddenly cuts off and his eyes get wide. “M’lady? What are you doing out here? I thought you were with the other searchers, further west.”
“Yes, well, obviously I’m not,” Eva says. “Have you found anything?”
“Um, little, m’lady,” the soldier says, somewhat perplexed. “We haven’t seen any sign of the interlopers, nor anything else unusual, except for your barge… I didn’t think there were supposed to be any barges out here now.”
“Probably just this one,” Eva says, “which I took. To search for the interlopers.” Eva’s sweating. She knows she’s not handling this well, and the chain mail is
so uncomfortable. “How is the search going?” she asks, trying to take a page from Anvil’s playbook and make it a demand.
“I haven’t heard much out here,” the guard says, his eyes slowly narrowing. “I’d have thought you’d be better informed than I.”
“Oh, I would be, but I’ve been out searching,” Eva responds, now desperately trying to end this. “You can go about your business now.”
“Very well, m’lady,” the guard says, slowly. “Will I see you back at the barracks on Crag Island?” There’s something funny about the way he says that last part. Something very careful.
Crap, Eva thinks.
He’s testing me. She tries to shrug it off. “I told you to go about your business,” she says.
The guard’s eyes flash. “There are no barracks on Crag Island,” he says. And then, to his men, “It’s them! Get them!” And, as one, the guardsmen rise and jump across to the barge.
Crap, Eva thinks.
DM’s Note: And that, my friends, is what happens with a natural 1 on a Bluff check.
