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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carlo-One" data-source="post: 8009231" data-attributes="member: 7015827">To Darrow’s disappointment, the remainder of the day passed without any pirate ship sightings. As the sun started going down on the horizon, land was sighted in the distance, presumably the port of Westgate. Since the party was unsure what kind of reception awaited the slaver ship, the former prisoners along with Barzog were sent to the hold, with Darrow and Kain to watch over and guard them as necessary. Aerikoth, Rahnee, Dermot and Shanni remained on deck with Red Ortho, Pincer and Tomas. Nina, who had been elected by the former slaves as their spokesperson, also stayed.With the sun nearly down and in the dark, rain and fog, Red Ortho dropped anchor outside the harbor, explaining that there was too much traffic to sail in safely and they would need to wait for a pilot boat. He went and fetched two signal flags from the cabins, which he said would be needed to summon the boat in the morning. One was white and triangular with a black border, the other being rectangular and solid black. Red Ortho ran both of them up to the top of the rigging, with the rectangular black one on top. Unsure of their significance, Rahnee quietly asked Tomas if he recognized them. The sailor replied in the negative, noting that most sailing companies had their own private systems. Shanni also clearly distrusted Red Ortho’s motives, but observed that there was nothing they could do except take things at face value.After Red Ortho remarked that they could see the outline of the East Gate promontory in the distance, Aerikoth glanced up at the rigging. His large raven familiar Zeluth, who had been perched there, instantly took wing and headed for the barely visible land mass. As Shanni and Dermot watched the raven fly off, Red Ortho said that he should take a sounding, bending down and lowering a sounding cord off the port side of the ship. The company meanwhile engaged in some idle conversation while watching the shore.Suddenly, Red Ortho dived into the water and began swimming powerfully for land, staying under the surface as much as possible. Shanni immediately cursed and drew her bow for a shot at his swimming figure, getting hers off slightly before Rahnee did the same. Shanni’s shot went wide, while Rahnee’s skimmed the side of the slaver’s head, making him flinch momentarily. Aerikoth, urged on by Dermot, looked intently at the fleeing man to see if he could cast a spell, but Red Ortho was no longer visible above the waves.A patch of turbulence then appeared off the port bow of the ship, in the area where they had last seen Red Ortho. He surfaced briefly and screamed as the adventurers saw something in the water was clinging to him. Shanni took the opportunity to line up another shot and let fly an arrow, but Red Ortho sunk beneath the waves and the arrow was lost in the churning of the sea. Confusion reigned on board the ship as to what had happened, as Shanni mentioned that she had seen something black and flapping around Red Ortho as she took her last shot. (Could this be one of the infamous Ixitxatchitl? It is difficult to verify the existence of these "demon rays" firsthand, for obvious reasons. It would be very unusual for them to inhabit the harbor of a city, however, unless some special arrangements had been made with harbor authorities. --C)Dermot turned to Pincer and asked for an explanation of the signal flags. The former slaver said that he had never been up on deck during docking, so did not know about them. Pincer however could not repress a grin at the turn of events, commenting that it now looked like the party would have no choice but to keep him alive.As Shanni was asking Aerikoth about his “crow’s” return, Zeluth appeared as if summoned by Shanni’s words and alighted in the rigging above Aerikoth. The wizard looked up for a moment and nodded. Turning to the others, he reported that they were indeed off the coast of Westgate, with the ship being northeast of the East Gate promontory. The docks were close past it, but the channel leading to them was narrow.The group decided it would be best to take the ship’s boat and make for land, rather than wait around for morning. Rahnee escorted Pincer down to the hold and explained things to Darrow, who grumbled at having to remain at sea with no ale. The boat was then lowered into the sea and the four adventurers boarded, with Dermot and Shanni going first. Rahnee deftly slid down the rope with a daredevil maneuver and Aerikoth carefully climbed down last. Tomas yelled down directions to clear the promontory five boat lengths to the west, then head south.Rahnee and Shanni manned one of the oars, while Dermot handled the other. With strong, smooth strokes they pushed away from the ship and made for the headland, moving over the swells of the waves. The going became rougher as they neared the promontory and they rested for a moment after they passed it, before turning south. Once round the promontory, the light from Aerikoth's staff revealed a set of docks close by, with other docks further south. There were no identifying marks visible by either docks. Rahnee said they might as well head for the first dock, since they did not know who either belonged to.</blockquote>

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