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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8955362" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 18: THE BOW BREAKSPC Roster:Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 6             Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 6             Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 6             Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 6Game Session Date: 27 February 2023 - - -The Pastlethwaite family was still at Atherton's townhouse when the four adventurers returned.  "Well?" demanded Lord Ambrose.  "Where is Conrad?""He wasn't there--" began Alistair, but he was immediately cut off by his father."How could you fail to bring back Conrad?  I knew it was a foolish idea to entrust you and your group of commoners to a task of this importance!"  He spun to Atherton, the older of the two boys and the one who had received all of the training on running the Pastlethwaite merchant empire.  "You've always been my favorite, Atherton, but I'm afraid this time your judgment was faulty.  Why you left this up to your idiot brother--"But this time it was Lord Ambrose's turn to be cut off.  "I have full faith in Alistair and his team," Atherton replied.  "Furthermore, Conrad's not being there was not at all unexpected.  I have suspected for some time he has been working contrary to the family interests.  In fact, I've had people keeping an eye on him for some time now.  The fact that Conrad was suspiciously not even present at his supposed 'kidnapping' is even further evidence that this whole charade was simply an attempt to have me slain in an ambush - an ambush to which Alistair and his team were quite willing to expose themselves, I might add!"  Lord Ambrose harrumphed loudly and turned away, the closest he ever got to conceding a point or offering up an apology."Here are the diamonds," Alistair said quietly, handing over the bag of gems with which Conrad's ransom was to have been paid.  Wordlessly, Lord Ambrose grabbed up the bag and returned it to an inner pocket.  Alistair then quickly explained about the babau demon and the six corpses on display, each with a different body part missing.  Lady Druzelda's face crinkled in discomfort at the unpleasant topic of discussion.The awkwardness was broken by a knock at the door.  Atherton opened it and was relieved at who he saw standing on his porch.  "Come in, come in," he beamed, ushering a young man into his home.  "Everyone, this is Konstantine, an associate of mine who has been shadowing Conrad's movements of late.  What can you tell us, lad?""Well," began Konstantine, a bit nervous under the glare of Lord Ambrose, "I'm afraid, sir, we've - me and my lads, that is - we've been able to trace the recent piracy of the ship containing the two frost barbarians in statue form, to Conrad.  It was his ship, the Silver Moon, that was used to sink the merchant vessel that was carrying them while they were in statue form.  But they lost a lot of men in the attack, and before they could manage to dive down to try to fetch the treasure in the ship's hold for themselves, these four" - here he indicated Harlan and his band of Trained Professional Adventurers - "had managed to rescue Larson and Gundrun already."  Lady Druzelda's face had whitened at hearing how her brother was implicated in these underhanded dealings, her face screwing up into a scowl."And where is Conrad now?" demanded Atherton."He's on the Silver Moon, sir.  Taking on new crewmates, it seems like, sir.  I'd reckon he'll likely be there the next two, three days at the very least.""Very well.  Good job, Konstantine!""There's more, sir," Konstantine said, looking worriedly over at Lady Druzelda.  "It seems he's, well, he's been seen in the company of, like, well, fiends, sir.""Fiends?" repeated Atherton."Yes, sir.  A red-skinned woman with devil horns and a tail, for one, sir.  And a six-year-old lad with shiny eyes as black as, well, my boots, sir.  Scary looking, they are, sir, too - like a shark's eyes.""Are you implying this devil-woman's boy is Conrad's?" demanded Lord Ambrose, finding his voice once again.  Lady Druzelda looked positively aghast at the mere notion."As to that, I couldn't say, sir, begging your pardon," Konstantine stuttered.  "She's only but recently been accompanying Conrad, sir, so very likely not - but it definitely seems like she's the lad's mother.  It's unsure what all...uh, duties...she performs on the ship, but she's been berthed on the Silver Moon for almost a week, now, sir, her and her boy."Atherton turned to his younger brother.  "Your next mission, if you're willing: I'd like you to fetch Conrad from his ship and bring him here to me.  Alive if possible, but if not...." he left the sentence dangling on purpose, and Lady Druzelda hid her face behind her lace handkerchief.  Julianna did her best to comfort her."But of course, Atherton," Alistair readily agreed, and only after committing the group to the task at hand thinking to look over to Harlan for confirmation.  The half-elf merely nodded his acquiescence to the plan.  "Do you want us to head out directly?" the paladin asked Atherton.  "If he's likely to still be there in the morning, I think we'd be better served getting up early and making a first-light raid upon his ship.  That way we can go in will full spell complements and such.""As you think best," Atherton told the paladin, then escorted Konstantine back to the front door.  Lord and Lady Pastlethwaite made their farewells immediately after, Lady Druzelda refusing to make eye contact with her youngest son, for she felt an overwhelming guilt: it had been her haranguing about the evils of trafficking with demons that had spurred Lord Ambrose to kick Alistair out of the family when he had suspected the nascent sorcerer of having made a deal with a demon or devil to learn spellcraft.  And now, come to find out, it was her own brother who had apparently been hanging out with demons and devils!  The shame of it burned her cheeks a bright crimson."We'll need a plan," Alistair pointed out once it was just Atherton and the four adventurers alone in the drawing room again; Julianna had gone to tend to one of the twins, who had started crying in the babies' room down the hall.  "How about this: we show up at the ship and tell Uncle Conrad that his sister is ill and wishes him to come visit her at once.""Supposing he doesn't take the bait," asked Ageratum.  "Then what?""Is he close to his sister?" asked Harlan of Atherton and Alistair."Not particularly," Atherton admitted."He's hiring on new crew," Ageratum pointed out.  "We could show up as new sailors, recently hired on.  That'll get us on the ship, at least.  Then we can look around and find Conrad.""He'll certainly see through any attempt at me trying to disguise myself as a sailor," Alistair objected."So we pick up a hat of disguise for you," the little halfling countered."Best pick up two," Harlan wisely pointed out.  "Most pirate vessels - and this indeed sounds like a pirate vessel - tend not to hire women as crewmembers.  Not even striking-looking young halfling women such as yourself," he hastily added."Well, that's just stupid," Ageratum sulked.  Only then did Harlan realize he had unconsciously excluded Chaevaris from having the need for a hypothetical hat of disguise; not surprising, for she had gone over half of her adventuring career thus far with her three companions all assuming she was a male elf.  The archer just rolled her eyes and shook her head as the half-elf paladin realized his error."I believe you're all overthinking this," Atherton observed.  "Why don't you just show up at his ship, as yourselves, so you can inform him of my death?  I presume he was involved in setting the assassination attempt in motion, and if the - babau, you said? - demon was the only one involved in the attack, and you killed it, he can't have very well have reported his failure to Conrad, can he have?  With any luck, Conrad will assume the demon just failed to report back his success, if that had even been part of their plan.""I like it," Harlan agreed.  "Showing up as ourselves allows me to be in full armor aboard the ship, which will be handy if we're going there to fight your uncle.""Have you thought about how we're going to get him off the ship when he's dead or unconscious?" asked Chaevaris."He should just be unconscious - we'll have the Blood Mirror at hand," pointed out Harlan."Hat of disguise," replied Ageratum, answering the archer's original question."The wearer determines what the disguise looks like," countered Chaevaris.  "If Conrad's out cold, he can't very well alter his appearance.  Nor would he even want to.""Okay, then dust of illusion," countered the stubborn halfling.  "We kill him - or knock him out, whatever - then sprinkle some dust on him and make him look like a sailor passed out from too much hooch.  And then two of you carry his body back off the ship, under the guise of taking him to a healer or whatever."  Seeing Alistair's look of incomprehension, she added, "'Hooch' is booze, Alistair.  Alcohol.""Ah, yes - quite."It was as good a plan as any.  Atherton promised to see to the purchase of a bag of dust of illusion - and two potions of spider climbing, at the halfling's insistence - and then sent them off to the kitchen to grab what they could of the leftover dinner party food (Lord and Lady Pastlethwaite had insisted on dining without "Alistair and his new friends" during their ambush at the warehouse) and then get some sleep.The next morning, the group was refreshed and on their way to the pier before the sun rose in the morning sky, Ageratum holding onto her two new potions and the bag of magical dust.  They approached the Silver Moon, Alistair recognizing it at once as his uncle's boat.  "He's made some modifications to it," the sorcerer noted, observing the rows of ballistae at the ship's fore section, "but this is his ship, all right."  The gangway was down, so they walked boldly up it and up to the ship.  Alistair's grackle familiar Ambrose flew off to alight in the crow's nest, looking down at the morning bustle on the deck below him.  "Permission to come aboard?" Alistair asked, recalling that was proper protocol.The ship's first mate, a gruff-looking man named Talhomen, and one of the members of the crew turned to see who had approached.  Their frowns indicated they were not particularly impressed with what they saw, although the crewmember's gaze soon found its way to Ageratum's ample chest and his attitude improved significantly.  "What's your business?" demanded Talhomen."We wish to speak with my uncle, Conrad Mandelberen.  I'm told he's aboard this vessel.  It's a family matter of some urgency."  Talhomen grunted and indicated with a nod of his head they were to follow him.  he led them to the back of the vessel, through a short, doglegging hallway and into an expansive executive area.  Two men were already there, standing in the back: Captain Muddletrot, the ship's captain, and Conrad Mandelberen, the latter wearing a dressing gown.  Harlan instinctively scanned their auras and detected evil emanating not only from both of them, but also from a brown rat scurrying along the back of the room."Alistair!" said Conrad.  "What brings you here at this ungodly hour?""Some rather sad news, I'm afraid.  Um, it's a personal, family matter," Alistair explained to the captain and first mate.  "Would it be possible for us to speak with my uncle alone for a few minutes?"  Conrad nodded his agreement and the two men left, closing the door to the suite behind them.  Chaevaris immediately stepped in front of the door, blocking it with her body."So what's this all about?" Conrad asked, although he suspected he already knew.  But before answering, Alistair looked over at the rat scampering away.  "Harlan?" he asked, and the paladin knew exactly what the sorcerer was asking.  "Yes," he replied.  "Both."Conrad frowned at this quick exchange and started wringing his fingers in front of his gown.  "Whatever this is about," he said, "I think you should come back in."Alistair realized at once that his uncle was casting some sort of message spell, likely summoning the captain and first mate back to his side - it looked like the jig was up already, although Alistair was admittedly surprised at his uncle's abilities to cast spells, for he'd never known him to be a wizard or sorcerer, but perhaps that's where Alistair himself got his own spellcasting abilities, from his mother's side of the family?  "I'm afraid there's no good way to put this," Alistair began, "but Atherton--look at the size of that rat!"  As if just now noticing the brown rat, Alistair whipped out his wand of magic missile and sent a barrage striking the rodent unerringly in its back.  It gave a startled squeak and rolled over, quite obviously dead - or, at the very least, well on its way to death but stabilized by the properties of the Blood Mirror Harlan carried in his pocket."What the Hell did you do that for?" screamed Conrad."There was a rat--" Alistair began."Of course there was a rat!  This is a ship!  Ships have rats on them!""Atherton is dead!" Alistair countered, trying to get the topic back on track."So what?  I cared a lot more about that rat than your stupid brother!" roared Conrad."I say!  Well, if that's true, then I'll be sure to replace him with another rat of equal value..." began Alistair, but that was when the door to the stateroom started opening back up.  Chaevaris grabbed the knob and tried to hold it closed, but Captain Muddletrot was much stronger than the lithe archer and the contest was as short as it was one-sided: he forced the door open, causing the elf to fall back a few steps to retain her balance.  But in one fluid motion, her composite longbow was off her shoulder and an arrow was put in place, aimed at the captain.  At the same time, Harlan rushed forward, pulling out his flaming burst longsword from the scabbard at his hip and bringing it swinging into Conrad's side.  He channeled holy energy through the blade, consecrated by Pelor Himself, and then swung the blade back out before thrusting it deep into Conrad's belly.  The evil sorcerer never got a chance to cast any spells beyond the message spell that brought Captain Muddletrot and First Mate Talhomen back to his quarters; sliding down the back of his stateroom wall (and leaving a bloody trail on the wall behind him), he joined his rat familiar in near-death as his life force hung in the balance, protected from instant obliteration solely by the power of the paladin's Blood Mirror.Alistair felt a disturbance in the empathic link he shared with his familiar.  "Ambrose is worried about something on deck!" he informed the others.  He was yet to realize it, but the commotion upsetting his grackle was a group of four wererat pirates bursting out of the fore section of the ship and running across the deck to the aft section.  The bird wasn't the only one concerned about the quartet's sudden appearance, for the rest of the crew had been unaware that these particular crewmembers were able to transform into half-rat, half-human hybrids."I'm worried about what's already in here!" Ageratum replied, sending a pebble from her sling crashing into the side of Captain Muddletrot's temple.  However, upon impact, it resumed its original size before Alistair had cast a shrink item spell upon it days ago, and crashed to the wooden floor at the captain's feet.  Chaevaris then released her arrow, sending it flying across the room and unfortunately doing little more than ripping through the fabric of the captain's coat at top of his left shoulder.Talhomen was there at the captain's side, his own blade in hand, but Alistair figured it was three against two in the adventurers' favor and calling out, "I trust you can handle them - I'll see about safe passage from the ship!" ducked to a door in the back of the stateroom, which - if his memory of how the ship was laid out was accurate - should not only be Uncle Conrad's bedroom but also the room in the very back of the left side of the ship.  That would put it the closest accessible room to the docks, and the young sorcerer was pretty sure he could open a hole in the wall large enough for them all to jump through.  Conrad was already out cold, so as soon as they could get the captain and first mate dealt with, they should be able to take their leave of the ship.Unfortunately, this plan came to an immediate halt when Alistair entered his uncle's bedroom and saw a young lad of about 15 years standing beside the bed, after having just tucked the bedding back into shape.  The cabin boy looked up at Alistair in surprise.  "Stand aside, son!" Alistair warned, placing his hand upon the side wall and casting forth a shrink item spell that reduced a 10-foot-by-10-foot section of the wall to a mere sixteenth of its original size.  Giving it a push, it fell down to the waters below - and upon impact was restored to its original size, now a virtual raft floating on the waters between the Silver Moon and the harbor pier.  The cabin boy, however, had seen the frost barbarian amulet Alistair wore about his neck and called out, "Get me off this ship!""Off you go, then!" Alistair gestured, indicating the hole in the wall.  "Leap to safety!""But--but there are ten more of us, taken as slaves from the frost barbarian tribes!" declared the boy, Ingmar.Alistair's mouth opened and closed reflexively, as if he were some sort of fish giving air breathing a try for the first time.  "Okay, then, new plan!" he declared.  "You take the nearly-dead man over there - that's my Uncle Conrad, and he should be fine - take him, throw him over your shoulder, and leap down to safety.  I'll send a black bird over to you; you follow him to my brother Atherton's house.  Take the body to Atherton, and he'll be able to reunite you with your leader, Larson.  In the meantime I give you my word we will go rescue your other ten friends.  Do you know where they are?"  Ingmar said five were in the front of the ship and five were held in the back, both on the lowest deck.  Alistair hollered for Ambrose through the hole he'd made in the ship's side and, once the grackle appeared in a fluttering of wings, his master explained the new plan to him.  Ambrose cawed his understanding and landed over on the bottom edge of the newly-made "window" in the Silver Moon, awaiting Ingmar to fetch Conrad's unmoving form.Back in the stateroom, Harlan charged Captain Muddletrot, did a little bit of sword-on-sword thrust and parry, and made it past the pirate's defenses to stab him with the point of his flaming blade.  Hissing in anger and pain, Muddletrot tried retaliating against the half-elf paladin, but Harlan was too quick for him, dodging back away from the point of the captain's cutlass.  There was a short flight of stairs leading up to the upper deck, and Ageratum climbed about halfway up to give her a height advantage over the pirate captain, something she didn't usually get to enjoy during a combat against humans.  Her short swords stabbed out at him, striking him in his unprotected left shoulder as he had foolishly decided the little halfling woman posed nowhere near the threat of the paladin of Pelor.  That was a mistake he realized at once, as he was forced to wrest his wounded shoulder away from the halfling's blades, looking much the worse for wear.  And then, as if he didn't already have enough to worry about, Chaevaris sent an arrow racing across the stateroom to catch the captain in the upper chest, causing him to tumble to the floor in a loose tangle of limbs.  Blood started pooling from his wounds, but the flow stopped almost immediately, courtesy of the proximity of the Blood Mirror.But by now the wererats had moved up to the doorway to the stateroom, and the assembled heroes got their first good look at what they were dealing with: lycanthropes!  The closest in formation stabbed out at Harlan with a rapier held in a disturbingly rodent-looking hand.  The hit struck true, getting past the paladin's defenses.  The first mate also went for Harlan, hoping to take him down quickly so they wouldn't have to deal with any of his unknown paladin powers: those holy men were said to be able to do all sorts of odd things to those of a more flexible bent when it came to ethics and morality.  He was also successful in his attack, but Harlan wasn't overly concerned just yet, for he'd taken much more damage than this in fights before and he wasn't even considering taking time out of this one to heal himself.Alistair and Ingmar stepped back into the stateroom, the barbarian lad to fetch Conrad's body and the sorcerer to cast a scorching ray spell at the first mate.  Unfortunately, Alistair's shot went wide, no doubt due to his fear of accidentally hitting the paladin while he traded sword-blows with both the pirate mate and a wererat in combat.  (That was the reason he was planning on giving should anyone ask, in any case.)  But Harlan was successful where Alistair was not, striking the wererat in the side with his flaming blade and singing the beast's fur; the burning stench quickly filled the room.Ageratum leaned over the stair railing and stabbed down at the wererat with her silver short sword, smiling when the blade seemed to deal the beast extra pain (her blade wasn't ablaze like Harlan's was, but she was fairly sure she had heard it sizzle when impaled inside the wererat's flesh).  And Chaevaris, seeing the lycanthropes eager to join the battle, grabbed up one of her silver-tipped arrows and sent it flying into the lead wererat's shoulder, dropping him unconscious to the stateroom floor to join the captain, where floor space was starting to be at a minimum.Another wererat stepped up to take the place of his fallen brother, standing side-by-side with Talhomen, both of them focusing their blades against Harlan.  Not surprisingly, they were able to overcome the half's defenses by teaming up on him in that fashion, and the elf started thinking that the first break he got he'd probably drop back and apply some self-healing.  But then a second scorching ray from Alistair's fingertips hit the first mate straight in the face, causing his swordsmanship to suffer for a moment of distraction; Harlan quickly took advantage of the situation by striking forward with the point of his flaming burst longsword, dropping Talhomen to join his leader and one of the wererats into blessed unconsciousness.  But the half-elf wasn't quite done yet: cleaving his blade to the side, he managed to clip off the whiskers on the left side of the wererat's face which carving a burning gash down his muzzle.Ageratum continued pressing the attacks with her silver blade against the wererat, enjoying the burning sounds her blade made when striking lycanthropic flesh.  And then that wererat was taken out by another silver arrow from Chaevaris's composite longbow.  The last remaining wererats moved up to take the place of those taken out before them, but it was obvious by the worried looks on their faces and their twitching whiskers that neither was particularly pleased to have found themselves in this situation, fighting for their lives against foes who clearly outmatched their own fighting prowess.  Their nervousness was evident in the first clumsy attack against Harlan, which the paladin easily deflected on his shield.  Alistair cast another scorching ray spell at the other wererat and the beast's nervousness actually saved it, for in its fear it crouched before the sorcerer had even finished casting the spell, and the gout of flame went blasting harmlessly over his head.Harlan, realizing these wererats weren't all that much of a threat, moved past one to set himself up in a flanking position against the other, who now had to worry about a stab-happy halfling on the stairs on one side and a wretched paladin with a flaming sword on the other.  The other wererat tried preventing Harlan from getting into position with a feeble attack from his own rapier, to no effect: the blade was swatted away by Harlan's shield.  And then the paladin brought his flaming blade crashing down upon the pinned wererat, dropping him from behind as the poor foe was concentrating on avoiding Ageratum's silver blade.  The half-elf pivoted in place and brought his blade swinging the cowardly wererat's way and caught him by surprise as well.  He followed up with a second swing but by then he had the beast's full attention and he managed to avoid the flaming sword that had already proven to be so deadly to his lycanthropic mates.  However, Ageratum leaped down from the steps and stabbed the last remaining wererat with her silver weapon on the way down, staggering him to the point he almost dropped his own blade.  It was simplicity itself for Chaevaris to take him out with another silver arrow.While Alistair informed the team about the other barbarian slaves in the lower holds, the little halfling took the opportunity of Harlan's focus being upon what the sorcerer was saying and a chance to free more members of the frost barbarians to steadily move from body to body of their downed foes and provide a nice, clean sword-slit along each and every available throat.  Blood Mirror or no, she was making sure none of these vile slaver-pirates ever worked their evil again!  Harlan didn't notice at all; he had been laying hands upon his numerous wounds and allowing Pelor's healing energy to restore him to close to his full strength (even though it took the additional casting of a cure light wounds spell to get him back to that state)."Where's the nearest set of stairs leading down to the lower decks?" Harlan asked."Too far away, at the front of the ship," Alistair replied, recalling the times Uncle Conrad had had the family over to join him on a joy ride over an evening meal (mostly to show off his vessel).  "But never mind that: I'll make us a nearer entrance!"  He bent down on his knees, placed both hands on the floor in the corner of the stateroom, and cast another shrink item spell.  A 10-foot-by-10-foot section of the wooden floor shrunk down, and gravity tipped it off the top of the wall separating two different bunkrooms directly below, to land upon a poor crewman lounging in his hammock.  "Bloody Hell!" he cried as the miniaturized chunk of floor bonked him on the head and then resumed its normal size, bring him and his hammock crashing down on the sleeping crewman below him.  The two bunkrooms cleared out almost immediately, each of the occupants deciding there was somewhere else they'd rather be at that moment.  Alistair was glad to see they weren't grabbing up weapons and moving to the attack, merely fleeing to save their own skins from whatever weird magical attack was under effect.  Chaevaris activated her immovable rod over the hole and dropped down her rope, still tied to the rod's center, and led the others to the floor below.  "Now that we're below decks, there's a set of stairs closer at hand!" Alistair told the others, stepping out of the bunkroom where the aforementioned stairs were already visible.Once they got down to the second sub-level deck, they ran into five of the barbarian slaves they had been looking for.  The fact that the adventurers were all still wearing the amulets Larson Clearspike had given them allowed them to instantly believe the heroes' tale, and they agreed to head to the main deck and desert the ship - from what the heroes had heard, it sounded like most of the ship's crew had been unaware there were wererats among them and were in somewhat of a panic.  Alistair told them to hang around the area and await their own departure after they found the other five barbarian slaves, which this group said would be found at the forward hold on the bottom level; they themselves had been berthed in the aft hold.  Now knowing exactly where to go to find the last of the slaves, Harlan led the team down to the lowest deck and from there, across an open section in the middle of the ship with crates and barrels lashed to the side walls in a somewhat haphazard fashion.The first things the adventurers noted about the lowest deck were the stench - a miasma managing to be reminiscent of sulphur, rot, and decay - and the lullaby being sung by someone in the aft section of the ship.  It was a feminine voice, but the words were unknown: at a guess, Alistair supposed it was one of the baser tongues used by those of the Lower Planes: Abyssal, perhaps, or Infernal.  But the tune was one the sorcerer recalled Nanny Rogers singing to Atherton and himself when they were very young lads.Ageratum ignored both distractions and tossed an activated sunrod toward the front of the ship; unlike the main deck, there was no way for sunlight to reach down here and Harlan's flaming blade was the only illumination they otherwise had on hand, and the flickering flames made the shadows seem like they were moving about - a rather disturbing notion.  The sunrod landed before a closed door barred from the outside; following her source of illumination and straining her halfling ears, Ageratum heard a few ragged coughs coming from the other side of the barred door.  "I think it's this one," she told her friends.Harlan wasted no time; boldly stepping to the door, he lifted the heavy metal bar from its support hooks and set it aside, opening the door to see five bedraggled barbarians looking back at him in fear.  The paladin held up his amulet and said simply, "Larson sent us to free you."  It wasn't the exact truth, but it was close enough for the paladin's needs and it got the five slaves up and out of their wretched excuse for a bunkroom and heading up the stairs to the main deck and freedom, where the group promised to meet them and lead them back to Larson.Chaevaris, however, was fairly certain the four of them wouldn't be following immediately; instead, they'd be checking out the lullaby woman, who was likely behind a closed door in the back of the ship.  She stepped up onto a crate for a better vantage point, then nocked an arrow to her bow and took aim at the door; anyone who came out the door would be stepping right into her target space.  Alistair, seeing the archer's preparations, took out his magic missile wand and followed suit.  Ageratum stayed over on the far side of the stairwell leading back up to the upper decks, but placed one of Alistair's pebble-boulders into her sling and readied it for potential action.Harlan approached the aft end of the ship and cast forth his senses - sure enough, there was a palpable sense of evil emanating from the other side of the wooden door from where the lullaby was coming.  He channeled Pelor's smiting energy into his sword, ready to bring it slicing into whatever devil-woman might be hiding back there.  But before he could open the door himself, it swung open, pulled inward by the red-skinned tiefling woman who was even now continuing the lullaby she'd been singing to her half-fiend son.  Harlan was struck by Jacinda's curving horns, sweeping back from her forehead in the manner of a ram, and the pointed tail poking out from underneath her dress.  He wasn't sure what had caused her to open the door - perhaps her fiendish hearing had picked up the stray sounds the heroes had made while they got into position? - but there was no ignoring the wave of evil emanating from her unseen aura.  The black-eyed child in the bunk at the side of the room was a good indicator that these were the two fiends with which Conrad Mandelberen had been seen hanging about, and if Harlan had had any doubts about their evil nature, the fact that a flesh golem stood hunkered over in the back of the room, its obscene form crafted from the stitched-together parts of several different victims, was the final, conclusive indicator.But before the paladin could strike the tiefling woman, Ageratum took any concerns he might have had of striking the first blow out of his consideration, for swinging her sling around her head a few times (an act she had started when she saw the door first open), she released the pebble and sent it flying across the hold to strike Jacinda in the middle of her forehead.  The pebble returned to boulder size upon impact, falling at the woman's feet just as she herself lost consciousness and crashed to the ship's deck.  "You killed Mummy!" cried the boy from his bed, part of it the cry of a little boy worried about his mother but another seemingly excited by the spilling of blood, no matter whose it might be.  Harlan focused his attention on the lad and got an immediate indication from his aura that he was equally as evil, if not even more so, than his mother's aura had shown her to be.Seeing the flesh golem stir and make its way forward, Chaevaris lowered her arrow and cast it aside, reaching into her quiver for one with an adamantine tip.  She drew back the bowstring and waited for the perfect shot.  When the golem's form suddenly filled up most of the open doorway, she released the arrow, to fly over Harlan's shoulder and bury itself into the construct's upper arm.Recalling what he'd learned recently about flesh golems once they'd learned there was likely one being crafted from the remains in Balstrode's Warehouse - specifically, that they were immune to most spells but could be slowed by fire-based spells and healed by those wielding electricity - Alistair lowered his wand and cast a scorching ray spell across the open deck to strike the flesh golem in the stomach.  It had the desired effect, for the construct started moving noticeably slower immediately.  Harlan was able to squeeze past the massive brute and bring his blade crashing down onto the half-fiend child's form, dropping him to unconsciousness with one blow.  Harlan opted to give him a second blow with his sword immediately and prevented him from rising again, having damaged his body beyond the Blood Mirror's ability to stabilize.  The half-elf's grim and determined expression showed he was not allowing the fact that this demon wore the form of a little boy to prevent the paladin from doing what needed to be done.The flesh golem turned and advanced, slowly, upon Harlan, hands raised as if to throttle the life from the paladin.  Almost immediately, two more adamantine-tipped arrows sprouted from its back, shot there by Chaevaris's keen targeting in the dim light.  Alistair, knowing his scorching ray spell had already done all he was able to do against the flesh golem, called out, "Ogilvy, if you please!" and summoned his faithful unseen servant to his side.  Passing over one of the remaining pouches of four "pebble-boulders," he figured having Ogilvy drop them on the golem's head was the best way he could participate in beating down the stitched-together construct - it was either that or approach him with his masterwork rapier, and that particular stratagem held no particular appeal for the sorcerer, especially in these cramped quarters.Ageratum moved up to the doorway and sent another of her own pebble-boulders crashing into the flesh golem's broad back.  Harlan scooted past the golem and back out of the cramped bunkroom, where there was slightly more room to maneuver in the open deck.  He took the opportunity to cast a bless spell upon himself and his three companions.Spinning about in a lumbering manner, the flesh golem clomped its way to the doorway, where Ageratum stood.  Chaevaris took the opportunity to pump two more adamantine-tipped arrows over the halfling's head at the flesh golem, hitting it in the stomach and neck.  By then, Ogilvy had climbed up onto a stack of crates by the door and dropped the first pebble-boulder onto the golem's head, the boulder restoring to its full size upon impact.  Ageratum, by that time, had retreated back over by the stairs, well out of the golems reach.  She fired off her last of the shrunken boulders, hitting the golem smack-dab in the side of the head.Harlan was standing in an attack stance, waiting for the golem to approach.  Once he did, the half-elf let swing with all of his strength behind the blow, cutting not very deep into the creature's hardened flesh but leaving behind an impressive burn mark where the blade's flames had singed the dead flesh. Then he backed up out of the golem's immediate reach before it had a chance, in its slowed-down state, to counterattack.  Chaevaris shot another pair of adamantine arrows at it, safely out of range on a large crate closer to the fore section of the ship than the aft, while Ogilvy stepped over to another crate and dropped another pebble-boulder on the golem's head.Ageratum had no desire to engage the flesh golem with her short swords and thus started up the stairs, reaching the deck directly above while Harlan continued his wait-for-the-golem-to-get-within-striking-range-and-then-attack-and-retreat tactic that was proving to be so successful.  Chaevaris continued shooting her adamantine arrows at it, and a third pebble-boulder from Ogilvy finally caused the golem to stagger, almost at the end of its unnatural endurance.  Harlan finally took it out with a blow from his flaming burst longsword, and the golem crashed in a lifeless heap upon the ship's lower deck, having failed to land a single blow against the heroes who had slain the two fiend-blooded people it had been commanded to protect."That's it - let's go!" cried Harlan, leading the others back up the stairs, taking only a moment to return to the tiefling's cabin and ensure she was permanently dead - a task made unambiguous by the parting of her head from her neck.  Alistair retrieved the small sack from Ogilvy before dismissing his unseen servant, noting there was still one pebble-boulder still to be used.  But Ageratum, waiting for the paladin to catch up, had heard his call for retreat from the vessel and reminded him there was plenty of loot to be gathered from the cabins of the captain, first mate, and of course Conrad's own stateroom and cabin.  "Very well - quickly, then!" the paladin conceded; he'd had an opportunity to rid the world of a considerable amount of evil this morning and couldn't begrudge the other three heroes their material rewards.  Ageratum led the group back up the way they'd come, clambering up Chaevaris's rope and the archer deactivating and pocketing her immovable rod on the way back to the "good cabins" where the higher-ranking members slept.  Under her expert eye for hiding places for loot, she managed to grab up several hundred coins, a nice diamond ring, a silver-and-pearl talisman of some intricate design, plus some decent armor and weapons from Captain Muddletrot and his first mate, Talhomen."Okay, enough - let's go!" finally decided Harlan Starblade, after he'd noted his greedy friends had emptied out the largest crate they could find from downstairs and were filling it to the top with the stuff they wanted to take with them; once he'd deemed it time to go, Alistair cast another shrink item spell on the now-full crate, bringing it down to a much more manageable size (to the point where the slightly-built sorcerer, no great heavyweight in the muscles department, was able to carry it by himself).  Then they followed the remaining crew in evacuating the Silver Moon.  They found the group of ten barbarians - the first group of five had seen the second group emerge from the ship and gathered them together into one group - and then all 14 headed their way back on foot to Atherton's townhouse.It was a bit of a walk, but there was not a single complaint among the group the whole way there. - - -Ageratum ended up wearing the pirate captain's +3 studded leather armor (fortunately, in 3.5 magic armor resizes to fit the wearer, so the fact that Ageratum was half the pirate's size - and was a woman - made no difference, as it re-formed to fit her perfectly).  Alistair ended up with his uncle's +1 rapier, as the rapier is his weapon of choice and his previous one was only of masterwork quality.  Chaevaris got a pair of boots of speed and Harlan ended up with a scroll of remove curse, as he's the only one capable of using it (although Ageratum could certainly give it a try with a successful Use Magic Device check, but said success wouldn't be automatic).  And we all earned enough XP that we're anticipating it to be very likely we advance to 7th level at the end of the next adventure.Oh, and we made sure to kill the rat in the stateroom while it was still knocked out and stable - it was Conrad's familiar and there was no good reason to allow it to (eventually) heal.  It got its head removed and tossed into the water before we left the ship.</blockquote>

Verification