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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 1292978" data-attributes="member: 15470">Issue #5: The Smugglers, Episode 3 of 5Paks begins to interrogate Delonia. She is surprisingly gentle and compassionate, for a mercenary sword. “Delonia, what’s going on?” she asks. “What do you want to know?” asks Delonia, kneeling with her hands manacled behind her back.Paks asks, “What's the smuggling plan?”To Paks’ surprise, Delonia begins to tell all. “I was hired by Virilius Asuras,” Delonia tells her. “We trade slaves to the ratmen at the swamp. They give us poisons, which Virilius sells at a high profit.”“Do you know his contact in the north?” Paks asks. The rest of us gather around, each listening intently, and quietly, even the halfling.“No, I don’t know,” the sorceress says, “But these were very rare poisons. I hope you sold them; they were worth a ton of money!” Paks smiles, gently. “Yes, we know. Who’s your contact with the ratmen? Where and when?”“SySy,” Delonia says. “She runs an outpost at the swamp, we trade with her there. I don’t want any more contact than that with the ratmen. They’re pretty gross.”Goldpetal, who still has his bow out, though now pointed at the ground, asks quietly, “Does she trade with anyone else?”“I don’t know the details,” Delonia explains, “But she’s the only rat person who will trade with humans, and she’s got a pretty good business going. She’s neutral and has contacts with all the various tribes.”Paks continues her questioning. “What’s her outpost like?”“Well, I know there’s a cave complex underneath it, but I haven’t been under there and don’t want to.”“How many guards do you travel with?”“Just a few,” Delonia answers. “No one wants to go in the swamp; we travel light and go in and out as quickly as possible. The ratmen are dangerous, but the money is good, and Virilius is very powerful.”“What was the going rate?”“Three hundred gold per delivery, but I had to pay the others.”Paks studies Delonia for a long moment, and then asks her, “Would you be available for hire?”Delonia looks absolutely incredulous. “To you guys?”Paks grins. “Well, we keep running into each other,” she says with a shrug.“I’m sure Grilliam could test her loyalty,” suggests the halfling helpfully.Delonia pales at the mention of Grilliam. “I’d be happy to work with you, if you don’t take me to Grilliam,” she says.Chuck suggests, “Why don’t we let the slave beat her up? He was the only one of us who was harmed by her actions.” Nobody pays him much attention.The halfling asks Delonia, “When and where is the next meeting with SySy?”Before she can respond, Paks says, “You don’t have to answer him. He’s not with us.” She glares at the halfling.Miriel interjects, to Paks, “We can’t not take her to Grilliam. We agreed with him to take her back.” She turns and looks at Chuck. “What happened with the boat?” Chuck coughs, and looks a little embarrassed. “They got away,” he says. “The sorcerer was too powerful. They threw a slave out to distract us. We saved him, and left him in the tower.” “Let’s go back to the tower,” Paks suggests, “And continue this indoors.” She helps Delonia to her feet, and we begin walking that direction. As we walk back towards the tower, the halfling, Milo, takes Miriel by the elbow, and tries to draw her away. She refuses, shrugging off his attentions. “I need to talk with you,” he tells her.She shakes her head. “If you have anything to say to me, all my friends may hear.”  “I must speak with you alone,” the halfling says insistently.“Why don’t you go to the top of the tower?” suggests Goldpetal.Jim looks suspiciously at the halfling, and tells the elf, “Not without Chuck.”“What about somewhere outside,” Paks suggests, “Within bow range?”“No,” Chuck says.“Okay,” Milo says. “I’ll agree to Chuck watching, as long as he stays out of hearing range.”We reach the tower, where the slave has a nice fire going. Jim, who is soaking wet, goes over to the fire to warm up. Chuck gets his flint and steel back.  While Miriel, Chuck, and Milo go up the tower, Paks and Goldpetal stand guard outside, and discuss Delonia. “So, how can I rescue this woman?” Paks asks him.“I don't know if I’m interested in rescuing her,” Goldpetal says. “If we can use her, that’s great, but…” He looks away from her, staring out into the darkness for a long moment before continuing his sentence. “She’s selling people to these unnatural creatures. She deserves no mercy.”“I do not sense evil in her,” Paks says. “Perhaps we can save her from herself.”Goldpetal is thinking about something, and again they sit in silence for a minute before he speaks. “All the smugglers are going to do is find another smuggling point. If we shut down this one, they’ll go somewhere else. If we can use her to get at the ratmen...” “Or the smugglers...” suggests Paks.“If she’s just a pawn, they’re far worse than she is,” Goldpetal decides. “But how do we convince Chuck and Miriel? Or do we? Do we try to convince Grilliam?” Paks says, “Convincing Miriel is easy: Madriel is the goddess of mercy and compassion. Have mercy and compassion here. Convincing Chuck, now, that’s a little harder.”Goldpetal looks thoughtful. Paks continues, “And then there’s always the question of, can we really trust her? No matter what she says?”Goldpetal hits on a suggestion. “Do you think we could convince Grilliam to suspend sentence, contingent on her helping us?”Paks says, “For me to trust her, she’d basically have to renounce the whole scheme, and renounce any loyalty to the ratmen or to Virilius. If that’s not enough for Grilliam...”Goldpetal laughs darkly. “Funny, that would make me trust her less. She doesn’t stay bought.”Paks shakes her head, frustrated. “Well, then there’s the whole idea that it would be under duress, anyway.”Miriel and the others come back down from the tower. The priestess looks thoughtful, while Chuck continues to regard the halfling with dark suspicion. Before they can say anything, Paks requests, “Miriel, can I talk to you for a few minutes?” She takes Miriel outside, and outlines her concerns. “You seem very set on bringing this woman to justice,” Paks says. “I don’t feel the need for justice here. Madriel is the goddess of mercy and compassion, and I think this is a time for mercy. Also, if she is to be sentenced to death anyway, it would be better to give Delonia a chance to redeem herself first.” Miriel looks thoughtful. “Well, I certainly think it’s a good idea to let her redeem herself, and if you’re willing to take responsibility for her, I’m willing to do it. But I really don’t think it's a good idea to trust her. Do you have any reason to think that this is a workable idea; that she will actually try to do good?”“I don't sense any evil from her,” says Paks. “Do you think you might be able to convert her?”“That’s something that’s really beyond my experience,” Miriel answers, “But I have great faith in Madriel, and I think that if Delonia’s at all willing to try, she could be converted.”Paks still isn’t convinced, herself. “Convert or die is an old story,” she says, shaking her head.Miriel quickly grasps her concern. “I’m not so sure that a conversion under sentence of death will really mean anything – she might still try to escape.” “I think that there’s a chance,” says Paks.“Well,” says Miriel, “As I say, if there’s a chance, I’m sure Madriel can bring some good out of this. But what do we say to Grilliam? I don’t want to lie to him.” “Nor I. Definitely not,” says Paks fervently, remembering how Grilliam reacted when Delonia lied to him. “I would just like to give this woman a chance to redeem herself before we take her to him, and if she’s successfully been converted, then we ask Grilliam for mercy.”“But again, what do we say to him? Do we tell him this?” asks Miriel.Paks shakes her head. “My plan was to get that all accomplished before we see him again.”“It sounds like that means going to the swamp now,” says Miriel. Paks nods. “It’s either that, or taking her to the temple of Madriel, rather than the temple of Hedrada, first, and having a senior priestess try to convert her.” “That would work for me,” says Miriel. “If we take her to Verenia, since we’re serving the town and council, we haven’t violated our agreement with Grilliam, and we’re doing the right thing by both Delonia and our contract with Grilliam.” Paks and Miriel rejoin the rest of the company by the fire, to find that the rescued slave is speaking. “My name is Thar,” he says, apparently in response to a question.Goldpetal says to him, “The slavers were going to sell you to the rat men.”Thar looks horrified. “They were going to sell me to the Slytherin? Thank Tanil you saved me! That’s a fate worse than death.”Milo asks, “What would they do to you?”“They eat the flesh of slaves,” says Thar. “They have evil breeding programs. They practice all sorts of torture! Haven’t you heard?”Chuck shakes his head. “We’re not from around here.”“Neither am I!” exclaims the former slave, “But I’ve heard!”Thar’s story is that he lived in an area called Durover, which was overrun by Callastians, who sold him into slavery. He’s passed through many hands since then; recently he found himself on an island in a stockade, from which a bunch of slaves were rounded up onto a ship. The next thing he knew, he was being pulled out of the water by Chuck. He finishes his story, and adds, “Thanks again for saving me.”Milo looks at Paks, and asks, “Did you reach an agreement with Delonia for helping us?”Paks shakes her head. “No, there's no agreement yet.”Chuck asks Delonia, “Who have you informed about us besides the wizard, and who stabbed me?”Delonia, though bound, has been left without a gag in her mouth, and she is free to answer. “I have no idea.”“Who else have you told?” he continues, “And who did you talk to when you escaped?”Delonia says, “I just ran out to the woods. I was waiting for Virilius to come so I could restart operations. I didn’t expect you guys, but when I saw you, I hid out to warn my benefactor, and it looks like it’s going to be my death.”“Maybe not just yet,” answers Paks. “I’d like to talk to you about that. There’s...” She pauses, takes a deep breath, and starts over. “I’d like to save you if I can, but I’m operating under a commission from Grilliam to break the slave ring and bring the perpetrators to justice. The only way I see to save you is a religious conversion.” Delonia laughs bleakly. “Are you serious? A religious conversion? You know those Hedrada worshippers, if it's not on paper, they don’t believe in it.” Paks shakes her head. “No, I was thinking of a conversation with a priestess of Madriel.”Delonia rolls her eyes. “Oh, even worse! They just talk and talk and talk. Couldn’t you just put me out of my misery?” “Well, if you’d rather die...” Paks looks very sad.Delonia stares into the fire for a while. “I guess it’s better than death... Yeah, I’ll talk to her.” She looks up earnestly. “It’s not so easy to convert, though. I’m a follower of Enkili, and he’ll be pretty mad if I convert.”Paks nods. “I can certainly understand your concern.”“Enkili’s been very good to me,” continues Delonia. “My luck seems to have run out, but, you know, that’s bound to happen... I can talk to your priestess. If it’s a choice between Grilliam or Verenia, I’ll take the latter.”“I was hoping you’d say that,” Paks says with a smile.Delonia chuckles to herself. “A choice between death or boredom. I guess I’ll take boredom.”Paks smiles wryly. “Unfortunately, our group has several factions. One wants to let the slave Thar beat you up; others don’t trust you. But talk to the priestess.”“Well, we’ll let things take their course,” says Delonia.“If you’ll help us against SySy, maybe Grilliam will let you live,” suggests Milo.Paks looks at Delonia’s face. “I’m hoping if you can swear off of the slave trade...”Delonia nods. “I see where this is leading. If you want me to help you go to the swamp to help talk to the ratman trader, I can do that. If it’s my life at stake, sure,” she says. “Slaving is just a way of making a living, you know.”“If I can get that to be your sentence, would you honor it?”“Sure,” Delonia agrees sincerely.Milo asks her, “When is the next meeting with SySy?”“Usually we head out the next morning in that cart... that you guys stole... and then take the horses... that you stole... and then get down there in a couple of days.” At Delonia’s response, Paks is biting back laughter, which she sees reflected in Chuck’s eyes. Milo continues with his questions, now that Paks is letting him ask them. “You only meet Virilius once a month?”“Yeah, it’s a cushy job,” she says. “We sit around the rest of the month. You broke up the best gig ever!” “So,” Miriel asks, “How do we manage this mission to the swamp?” “You don’t have to be in much of a hurry,” Delonia answers. “We never rushed to get there, and Virilius’ ship probably won’t send messages.”“Why not?” asks Chuck.“They won’t send anyone near the swamp, because they don’t want to mess with the Foamers, the ratman pirates.”Jim nods knowingly. “They’re ratmen that ply the seas around the swamp.”“How do we get there?” asks Goldpetal. “Surely they will have guards posted.”“I was thinking,” answers Miriel, “That we could take the cart – we have the right one, even – and disguise some of us as ‘slaves’ while the rest of us are the ‘guards’.”“If Delonia agrees to help us, that could work,” Paks says.Chuck glances dubiously at Thar. “Not if they’re all as emaciated as this fellow.”“That’s hard to see, under a blanket,” Jim answers. “This is great!” Milo enthuses. “Let’s go now!”“We have a lot of things to do in town,” says Paks. “Let’s go there first.”“Yeah,” says Miriel. “We have to take Thar to the healers, and pick up the cart. Maybe we can hire some men at arms, as well.”“Should we rest here a little while?” asks Chuck.Miriel shakes her head. “No longer than it takes Thar to dry out.” Chuck nods once, and says, “Okay, I’m going to go get my bow.” He heads back down to the beach.Within an hour, we are mounted and ready. Goldpetal rides in front. Paks rides with Delonia, with Chuck on the next horse, keeping a close eye on the manacled prisoner. Miriel takes Milo, while Jim goes last and carries Thar.</blockquote>

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