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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 3562204" data-attributes="member: 11">Session #7 – “Negotiations & Love Songs” (part 3 of 3)Markos and Telémahkos returned with the cask of ale, and Tim signaled to them to be quiet.  Telie made to creep along the perimeter of the main chamber, as to not be seen, while Markos made a show of rolling the cask to the middle of the cavern and loudly asking if anyone wanted any.  “And who are you?” Markos asked, coming closer to the chamber entrance where Bleys spoke with Harliss, but still hanging back.  “Would you like some ale?  Why are you sulking back in the shadows?  There is no need to hide… Unless you are scared we might find out something about you…”“I already don’t like your friend,” Harliss said, never taking her eyes off of Bleys.“That makes two of us,” Telémahkos called from the shadows.“How many of you are there?” Harliss asked.“We are seven,” Bleys replied.  “What happened here?”“All froggy hell broke loose because of a damn weasel I should have known better to ever trust,” Harliss spat. “What are you all doing here?”“We are looking the brother of a friend of ours,” Telémahkos said, stepping forward, and giving up an pretense of hiding.  “Vanthus Vanderboren…”“Vanderboren! Ha! It’s because of that pretending bastard that all this happened,” she said with an angry laugh. “But that’s okay… His comeuppance is on its way…”“What do you mean by that?” Telémahkos asked nervously.“Before escape became impossible I sent my first mate to retrieve some unlikely allies to go to the Vanderboren manor near Quillton that Vanthus has been using as a base, and kill that little bastard and his sister, and anyone else unlucky enough to be there…”“What!” Telémahkos cried.“Unlikely allies?” Bleys asked still placid.  “In fact, it may just be easier if you tell us your whole story…” The watch-mage’s monotone had the slightest flecks of skepticism coming off of it.“Vanthus Vanderboren contacted me through means of his girlfriend, Brissa Santos. That little bitch has been trolling ports for a merchant’s son for years, and slitting the throats of others on the side, and I figured he was just another of her pigeon’s, but then seemed to be genuinely interested in acquiring… special goods from exotic locations… Let’s say… And then all of a sudden, the two of them are up on the deck of The Eastward Brother spilling whale oil everywhere and setting fires.  By the time I got there, they had fought their way onto my ship, The Fast Facet, and made straight for a chest where I kept an item I was transporting… a black pearl bigger than your fist…”She paused and took another half a step forward, craning her head a bit to get a look in the room.“Come in… Have some ale,” Markos said, tapping the cask.  Bleys and Telémahkos stepped back to give the woman some room.  Harliss took another couple of steps into the trade chamber, and then noticed Victoria moving to see her.  Every step the militant of Anhur took was a pained one.“Militant of Anhur! What is your name?” Harliss asked.“I am Victoria Ostrander,” Victoria replied with suspicion.“Do I have your word that my open parley will not be used to lull me into an attack?” Harliss asked, curbing her churlish tone. “That is, as long as I make no attack on you, you shall keep your companions from doing so as well?”“Aye… We observe the laws of parley,” Victoria replied. “Though, as you can see from my state, if my friends were to choose to attack you my defense of you would be short-lived…”“Your word alone should be sufficient to shield me,” Harliss replied.  “Even if you do look about three steps away from a zombie…”“More like four steps,” Timotheus said with a friendly smile. Tim’s eyes shone as he took in her lithe athletic form.“So, the story… I caught him and his bitch on the deck of the Fast Facet and when I thought it would come to swordplay, he showed his yellow back and ran.  I caught him on the arm with me blade and he dropped the pearl, and some of his blood landed on it.  The next thing I knew, some kind of mist was rising out of cracks in it.  Now, I didn’t know exactly what it is this thing did, but I knew that didn’t look good, so I kicked it overboard.  Suddenly there was a flash, and everybody started changing… Exploding into horrible bullywug forms… Well, not everybody, about half the people, and the other half… Those that didn’t change?  They started getting eaten by those that did! Brissa changed, too… But by that time, The Fast Facet was burning faster than she ever sailed, and Vanderboren had leapt right overboard, and swam away like a porpoise!  He must have had a boat waiting for him somewhere, because no one can swim anywhere safe from here unless they’re a lizardfolk, I guess… Anyway, I made my way to the beach, where pure hell had broken loose.  The battle was terrible, and I could tell right away we were losing…”“You must be deft of blade or deft of stealth to survive so long…” Bleys interrupted in a natural pause in the tale.“A little of both, man,” Harliss winked. “That’s who I’m supposed to kill,” Telémahkos whispered to his cousin, pulling him away, as Harliss continued.“I want no part in killing anyone without knowing why,” Timotheus hissed back.“No kidding… I don’t want to either, but the easiest way out of this is to simply not give her a ride out of here,” Telie replied.“It’s not polite to talk while someone is telling their story, there lads!” Harlis said with more humor than anger in her voice.”Oh… sorry, we were just discussing the pearl… You could buy a city with a pearl that size,” Timotheus replied, stepping towards here with easy familiarity.“Not anymore you can’t… It was cracking up when I kicked it overboard,” Harliss said. “But as I was explaining, the two or three days before this happened, some bullywugs arrived looking for the pearl… I don’t know how they knew it was here… For that matter I don’t know how Vanthus knew it was here, or knew anything about it… He was here under completely different pretenses… He said he was here representing the <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Vanderboren+Mercantile+Nexus" target="_blank">Vanderboren Mercantile Nexus</a> and that he and his sister, Lavinia, a not-quite high-born bitch, I am sure…”“You will not speak of the Lady like that,” Telémahkos warned.“Oh yes, be careful…Telémahkos is quite the moralist,” Markos smiled.“I agree with Telémahkos,” Victoria said.  “Best to stick with your tale and save the offensive digressions…”“Well, I was saying…” Harliss was annoyed. “These bullywugs wanted the pearl… They said it was sacred to them, had a shaman with them and everything… So when I ran into that ugly son of a pig that is my first mate on the beach, I sent him up the walkway to get out of here and get Vanthus.  I told him to tell them he had it…”Markos started laughing.  The others glared at him and he covered his mouth.“Drevoraz will meet up with them and then make his way to a place where we have a sloop hidden and then sail to the last place we knew Vanthus was working from… The Vanderboren Manse in Quillton,” Harliss continued. “And there those frogs are gonna kill that weasel and his sister and anyone else who is there…”“Oh, you’re evil! That’s not nice,” Timotheus said, shaking his head.Markos burst out laughing again, and then tried to stop himself when his companions glared at him. “What? I mean… I know it’s terrible… But you have to admit, it is clever…”“You sicken me,” Telémahkos said coldly, and then turned to Harliss. “His sister has nothing to do with this…  She is innocent.”“As are any servants or others there who will get killed,” Bleys said.“Well… that is unfortunate, then…” Harliss said with only faint sympathy. “But I guess that kind of thing can happen when you have a lying and thieving bastard for a brother who is too big for his britches…”“Wow, a sacred magic frog pearl…” Timotheus said.  “Now that is adventure material!”“You would make a poor bard,” Victoria said, allowing herself a smile.Tim smirked.“I would like to retrieve it,” Markos said.Telémahkos rolled his eyes.“Also, I just remembered…” Markos walked over to Harliss, pointing over to the crate in the corner of the chamber by the scales.  “There were some books or something there… Drying out, do you know what those were?”“I do not,” Harliss replied.  Markos’ eyes narrowed. “And you were hiding all this time?” Bleys asked.  “Hiding and coming out to build the raft…?”“Aye, but that creature found me, so I could only do a bit at a time… It was one of the bestial lizards from the Hellish Isles, but it became a savage frog, too…” Harliss answered. “But I assume you killed it…?”“Yes,” Timotheus said.  Every time he looked at her he smiled again and raised his eyebrows as if asking a question, even if he was answering one. “Well, now that you are here, I do not need the raft anymore,” Harliss said with a smile. “You can give me a ride on the way to save the Vanderborens.”“But you said your first mate left two days ago…” Tim said.“Yes, but by the time he gathers up the ‘wugs and finds the ship and then sails, and waits for nightfall, there is a chance you can catch up to him, or at least arrive there before everyone is killed,” Harliss said.  “That is, if we leave right away… I will help navigate you there, in return you will drop me off somewhere relatively safe along the way, once we are close enough for you to arrive on your own…”“But what about your first mate?” Markos asked. “If you accompany us, you can tell him to call it off… If we are on time…”“What so you can turn your anger on me if we get there too late? No, thank you… I am giving you your chance to get there and save the woman, Drevoraz is on his own… He knows the dangers of this job…” She said.“Would he not drop off these ‘wugs, if they even exist,” Bleys began to ask with apparent skepticism. “Leaving them to commit the murders?”“Not if he know what is good for him,” Harliss said. “He knows that when he is given a job he has to stick around and make sure it gets done…”“We have to go,” Telémahkos said.“Even if we were to accept this woman’s word at face value, Laarus and Tymon cannot be moved,” Bleys said. “We must wait at least until the morning…”“By the morning it may be too late!” Telémahkos replied.Markos nodded.  “If there were any other way, I would agree with Bleys, but since innocents are at risk, we must take our own risks.”As the others discussed what to do, Timotheus Smith continued chatting with Harliss Javell, while sipping some of the red ale.  “So how does one get involved in the smuggling business, anyway?”“By knowing how to keep your mouth shut,” Harliss replied, curtly.“Well, good thing for us you can smile with your mouth closed, or else we’d all be deprived,” Tim winked.Harliss began to smile beside herself, but quickly turned it into a snarl that had an edge of playfulness. “Well, usually when I open my mouth for a man it is to give an order or bite something off…”“Rowr,” Tim tried to waggle his eyebrows.“There is no time to waste with this,” Harliss pushed Timotheus away hard, as he had stepped in real close, but still with a hint of the playful.  “Are your companions deciding?”“I don’t think we should bring her,” Telémahkos was saying in a low voice to Bleys, Markos and Victoria. “She’s a murderer and a pirate, and can’t Markos get us there?”“I could, but if she knows the way it will be best to have her plot the course,” Markos replied. “If time is of the essence and lives are at stake, such differences should be put aside…”“And if your cousin were to die because we moved him?” Bleys asked Markos.  “Could that be put aside as well?  Are we to risk the lives of two of our companions on the word of a pirate who is obviously using what she knows to manipulate us?”“What other choice do we have?” Markos asked.“We wait,” Bleys replied.“No. If time is of the essence, I fear the risk should be taken,” Victoria said.  “Laarus would not want innocents risked on his account.”“We can use one of the rugs to carry them to the boat and lift them in,” Telémahkos said. “If four of us carry it, each by a corner, and are very careful, there should be little to no chance of disturbing their wounds.”Bleys the Aubergine was outvoted, again.“Harliss… What were you doing with this pearl?” Bleys the Aubergine asked her.“Delivering it,” Harliss said.  “It has been retrieved in the Hellish Isles somewhere, and delivered to me. I was to deliver it to someone else…”“Who?”“It doesn’t matter anymore now, does it?”“We will let you come with us if you let us see those books where were drying on the crate,” Markos said, trying to sound tough in his bluff.“I do not know what you are talking about,” Harliss replied calmly.“If I could make a guess as to what those books were,” Bleys said. “I would say they were ledgers with a record of every ship and perhaps person of import that has come through here… And if so, they are very valuable indeed, and thus her reticence to part with them…”“All the more reason for us to see them…” Markos said.“No. If such ledgers were in my possession they will not only remain in my possession, but you will give me a ride and drop me off as we discussed,” Harliss said with impatience.“And why would we do that?” Markos asked.  “What if we just take them from you?”“Firstly, I have your militant’s word that you will not do me harm, secondly, looking over all of you now, I think I could take you all as you are, so you should reconsidered threatening violence,” Harliss smiled, and let her hand rest casually on the hilt of her sheathed blade.  “And lastly, I have not said a word about you all looting this place and taking whatever you want.  And that includes the sloop itself, which if I remember correctly was stolen from the Vanderboren Mercantile Nexus.  I have what I have and you have what you have, and you should be happy to have it… Is that reason enough?”“Are we really going to let this woman dictate our actions?” Bleys was confounded.“We have no choice,” Telémahkos replied with sagging shoulders.Tymon Lowe was moved onto The Sea Wyvern first with no problems, but as they hoisted Laarus up, Telémahkos noticed fresh blood staining the rug.  “Pull him up! Pull him up! He’s bleeding out!”The priest of Ra was quickly laid on the deck and Bleys got to working on him with Telie’s help.  “I’m sorry… Next time I will listen to you…” Telémahkos said with true concern in his voice.“We shall see…” Bleys replied.  Laarus of Ra had his wounds re-bound and he was carefully carried down into the hold and laid beside Tymon.Harliss Javell produced a huge stuffed pack that she threw onto the boat, and then asked Timotheus’ help bringing two barrels of fresh water on board.  She took up a spot at the stern.“Mistress Ostrander!” She called, as Victoria moved to the front of the boat, soon after the shoved off. “Our agreement still holds…?”“I would be surprised if my companions attacked you while you slept, if that’s what you’re afraid of,” the Militant of Anhur replied.“Who plans to sleep?” Harliss winked.End of Session #7------------------------------------------</blockquote>

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