Lost Journal of the Sea King

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“Your friends need not bother, elf filth. There is no escaping the Children of Sekolah.” the thin tall fish-like humanoid says before motioning to two of the warriors. They immediately walk towards the edge of the clearing where Amadeus, Leothyc, and Vesper are hidden. Meanwhile the other slender “Fishkind” points at Serres, her other hand grasping the symbol hanging loosely around her neck, and begins muttering words in a strange language.


White glowing glyphs appear in the air around the creatures hand. Serres just barely begins to feel her body seize up before it subsides. The creature snarls as it looks around for some unknown source of agitation. Their spell casting seemingly and unexpectedly interrupted.


Jungle battle 1.jpg​
 
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“Well, we can’t say we didn’t try.” She took a moment to come up with a plan deciding to attack the fishman holding the captives. Her duties to guard the survivors to safety took priority over any other action plan.

She drew out her rapiers out and ran towards the fishman unleashing a torrent of attacks aimed at the fishman holding the chains of the captives. With one final swing and stab at the now corpse she yelled at the captives to start running and started heading back the way they came through with Longclaw.

"Follow me if you want to get out of here alive!"

 
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Amadeus turned in surprise as he watched Leothyc cut down the thrall, his headache beginning to subside once the body crumpled to the ground. With a slightly confused smirk he muttered, "Well well ... I'm legitimately surprised you did that..."

Glancing back toward the clearing he heard one of the 'Fishkind' speak as a few of the ones wielding spears began to approach where he and Leothyc were hiding, Vesper he assumed somewhere near. Looking beyond them, he saw one of the 'Fishkind' begin to mutter and point towards Serres -- feeling concerned that his suggestion had placed Serres in her current position, he grabbed the small necklace that hung from his neck as his eyes flashed a brighter golden for a moment, attempting to deny what ever casting the creature was attempting. Seeing the creature look around in agitation as Serres suddenly darted off to attack the one leading the prisoners, Amadeus gave a brief sigh of relief in that his casting had worked.

As Serres hacked at the one leading prisoners, he focused again on the two 'Fiskind' without weapons -- he assumed they were both spellcasters, and attempted to paralyze them with his own spell, only to focus and find the energy fizzle out as it neared them. Frustrated, and watching the two spear-wielding creatures approach, Amadeus motioned for Leothyc to back up as well as he pulled out his handaxe, trying to prepare for potential melee.

Cast Counterspell -- 3rd level (reaction)
Cast Hold Person -- 3rd level (Action) -- both targets made save
Move to F14, draw handaxe
 
Lovely. He, sacrificing safety for science, terminates 1373 so that they may either run or talk without a corpse slowing them, and his companions instead decide that mysterious yet possibly very powerful anthromorphic fish are precisely the sort of opponent that one is allowed to underestimate in combat. Unfortunately, he couldn't well leave them as his own chance of survival depended on them, regardless of how it irked him.

Survival first. Standing around huffing in annoyance would only make him an easier target. Gazing out from their vantage in the treeline, he observes the female Sahuagin, priestesses he assumes, very clearly imply they were aware of the presence of hidden trio ('They speak Common. Intriguing.'). This implication became explicit when two of the spear-wielding warriors began stalking towards them. The priestesses meanwhile began casting what he could approximate to be a paralysis spell judging by what glyphs and chants he could identify among the mostly foreign mess. The spell was promptly dispelled by the holy man, which earned a mote of respect from him, however the follow-up counter's failure then lost that mote.

Deciding that the female, Serres, whom had already dispatched the guard and was now attempting to rescue the captives, was more competent to suit his needs, he calls out in elvish, hoping that her lineage had at least taught her the civilized tongue. "Target the casters. Take out the foci on their neck." Disabling a caster's focus would not guarantee victory, but it does help in the way that detaching a zombie's legs would not destroy it but would still lessen the threat.

Noticing Amadeus motioning for him to either step backwards or face him in combat, for the hand gesture could be taken as one or the other depending on what region you're in, he edges back slowly, putting away his knife and shifting his staff to a two handed grip. He trickles power to the staff, eyes maintaining a dual focus of the advancing warriors and the battle behind them, preparing himself to cast a debilitating spell if (or rather, when) required.

Prepare to cast Frostbite if Warrior A or B comes within 10 feet.
Move to D13.
 
Jungle battle 2.jpg​

Vesper lays in wait for the fish people to come within striking distance. The warriors come towards the treeline with spears in hand searching for their prey. One of them sees the avian monk and raises its spear,but it is too late! Vesper moves forward to meet the creature and strikes with her own spear, piercing the fishkind twice before closing the distance with a leap striking twice with her talons. For a moment you can imagine what it is like for the Aarakocra to fly. The final strike sends the warrior’s head upwards in an unnatural angle before its whole body slumps to the floor. Then, seeing the two prisoners making their escape, Vesper moves forward to guard them.

As the other fish warrior walks into the jungle he is hit by a sudden blast of biting cold but is seemingly unaffected by it. Spying the elven source of the spell he throws his spear, but it flies right past the wizard embedding itself into a tree behind him. The Sahuagin wastes no time in closing the distance, baring his teeth from which emits a foul stench of rotten fish.

The priestesses smile as they watch the human double back. “Silly elf whelp...” the one priestess says calmly. In unison both priestesses touch their emblems and two ethereal tridents apparate before Serres and strike. The trained fighter deftly avoids both attacks and stand ready. The fish women narrow their eyes at her and looking past the half-elf they stretch out their hands, a foul sounding curse emanates from their lips. In the distance the two prisoners pause for a second before continuing their escape across the clearing.

Finally, Longclaw seeing his masters under attack rises from the ground and grabs Serres from behind. His grasp doesn’t hold for long, in his frenzy he forgets about the fighter’s blades and cuts his arms. Hissing he takes a step back, preparing for another attack.
 
Freed from being stuck under Longclaw, Hestia hissed towards the lizardfolk, leaping into the air and moving behind his back she struck at him with her stinger, enjoying the wince of pain he gave as the poison moved through his system. Still with her mental connection tied to Serres, she roared mentally, "I dragon! No squish!"

Meanwhile, Amadeus watched Vesper do her attacks, striking quickly and swiftly before running off to guard the prisoners. Watching Leothyc look uncomfortable as the fish person ran up on him, he put the handaxe in his offhand while with his mainhand Amadeus reached to his necklace, pulling his hand away had two more golden feather-like darts that quickly shot into the fishperson's side, the force of the blows knocking the wind out of it for a moment.

With a smirk towards Leothyc, "Plans just love to fall apart, don't they? See if you can finish that one -- I'll try to help guide the escapees!" Moving further in the brush towards the opening, but still not entirely keen to lose his cover, Amadeus attempted to catch the eye of the two people fleeing, hoping to keep them near so as not to lose them on the island.

Hestia:
Move to J6 -- Flanking Longclaw with Serres
Attack with stinger -- rolled 16, 4 piercing damage, DC11 con save for poison -- Longclaw FAILED -- poisoned for next hour

Amadeus:
Eldritch Blast towards Fishperson A
Rolled two 19s to hit, first both blasts did 10 damage for 20 force damage total.
Moved to J14
 
“Rude!”

Serres ignored the sharp pain in her side from LC’s direction and focused her energy on the priestesses. She dodged the etherial apparitions of weapons floating in the air and took a running leap of the nearby cave wall swinging her rapiers at the fishwoman on her right.

She slashed her weapons on the priestess’ neck trying to rip the foci hanging there. “It didn’t have to be this way. We just wanted to talk!”

Move to I3. Three successful attacks on PRIESTESS B with 21 total damage.
 
"Scheiße." The word slides out of Leothyc's mouth with muffled annoyance, as the Sahuagin bears upon him. Shifting his posture to one more suited to close quarters combat, he steels himself to attempt to block a hardened warrior's strike with his own meager training.

Fortunately, he is saved from any vigorous and ironic skewering by two golden darts rushing in and impacting the creature with the force of a rampaging rothé, the priest's handiwork, loathe he is to be indebted to him. Though not one to pass an advantage, Leothyc switches his hands on the staff, bringing it above his right should before swinging it violently towards the Sahuagin cranium. Having taken considerable damage from the arcane attack and thrown off balance, the fish-person could do naught but crumple from the attack.
Abrahms said:
With a smirk towards Leothyc, "Plans just love to fall apart, don't they? See if you can finish that one -- I'll try to help guide the escapees!" Moving further in the brush towards the opening, but still not entirely keen to lose his cover, Amadeus attempted to catch the eye of the two people fleeing, hoping to keep them near so as not to lose them on the island.
Click to expand...

Attempting to slow his breathing to a more normal level, Leothyc merely grunts in response before stalking closer to the opening as well, intent on either supporting the melee in the clearing or simply watching, as the other members of his party seem much in tune with combat than he.

Attack Sahuagin A - Two-handed staff attack with 19 to hit for 5 bludgeoning damage.
Move to H13.
 
Jungle battle 3.jpg​


Seeing Amadeus beckon towards the prisoners Vesper peels away to assist Serres. She steps up behind and jabs twice with her spear with lightning like speed at Longclaw before bringing the blunt end around to bear across the lizard’s head with a loud crack. The former captive seems dazed but still standing as he turns to strike back at Vesper. Longclaw swings and bites but merely disturbs the air as the avian monk deftly dodges the attack.

Having the half-elven fighter surrounded, the priestesses and their spiritual weapons strike out in a flurry of attacks. Serres is manages to avoid being struck by the tridents but it opens her up to the webbed claw of the priestess. A slash between her neck and shoulder sends a small spray of crimson in the air. The sahuagin shriek at the sight of the blood. In a frenzy one drives her claw into Serres’ midsection as the other bites into her shoulder.

Another fishman emerges from the cave and runs towards Vesper with his speark. The monk attempts to deflect the attack with her weapon but the sahuagin warrior is too quick and catches her in the shoulder with his spear. He snarls in pleasure as blood pools where he struck.

Serres hit for 7 damage total. Vesper hit for 5 damage
 
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Following Vesper's strikes on Longclaw, Hestia darted forward in the air, her small jaw latching onto Longclaw's neck and pulling back, leading him to crumple from the bloodloss and combined blows, poison still coursing through his veins as it flows out onto the sand. With a triumphant hiss towards the downed lizardman she hopped back into the air, small wings moving her towards the back of Vesper's current foe, ready to strike when she saw an opportunity.

Seeing Serres surrounded by priestesses and strange floating tridents, Amadeus attempted to try and bring down one of them, only for his first golden feather-like dart to swing wide as he saw Serres get struck with blows. The force of the dart smashed into the top of the cave instead, knocking loose some rocks. Frustrated he sent forth the other one, this time landing the blow, with decent strength behind it.

He held his position, hoping the captives had seen him this time, but worried that even more would come out of the cave as well.

Hestia: Attack LC with a bite
16 to hit -- 5 piercing damage -- move to K4 (KO'd LC)

Priestess A
1st blast -- 8 to hit -- 9 force damage if hit (MISS)
2nd blast -- 14 to hit -- 12 force damage if hit
No movement
 
Checking her injuries with a trained detached mind, Serres concluded none were serious enough to warrant immediate attention and kept on the offensive. With a swing and stab aimed at her chest the first priestess went down and with it her ethereal floating trident.

With a smirk, Serres was now able to focus all her energy on the second priestess. These creatures weren’t as threatening as she assumed initially and the attacks she hadn’t blocked or dodged were quite weak. With an almost lazy swing she struck at her opponent’s exposed neck watching the blood gush from the wound. She could easily deal with this one too.

Stay at I3. 15 dmg to Priestess B (X). 6 dmg to Priestess A.
 
As he thought, his current colleagues were faring just fine, albeit with some new decorations. Rather, their wounds may as well be decorations with the regard given to them in their zeal for violence and killing. Speaking of which, the female just slew one of two very important potential sources of information.

"Halbelfe! Ah, Serres!" he calls, hoping he was audible but not drawing unneeded attention. "Incapacitate. Don't kill. We need information."

Now onto what support he could provide to the conflict. Vesper, the party's own 'gefiederter tod' may appreciate the slowed opponent. His staff was not even necessary. A push of arcane energy, an intonement of 'Congelatio', and rime begins to form on the Sahuagin's scales. A cold-blooded creature requires warmth, frost would surely weaken it and help avert possible damage.

This done, Leothyc continues his observance. Mind ever active.

Frostbite on Sahuagin D - 4 cold damage and disadvantage on next weapon attack.
No movement.
 
Jungle battle 4.jpg​

Vesper strikes at the fishman warrior again with a double spear strike opening vicious wounds in i’s slimy skin. As she brings the blunt end of the spear around for another head strike the Sahuagin ducks the attack. He remembers the pattern, though it may be to late for him as he stands there barely able to grasp his own spear. He tries to repay Vesper with strikes of his own but it is vain, she survives his advance unscathed.

The priestess grabs her holy symbol and holds her hand out. Familiar white glyphs appear in the air as she speaks in her guttural phlegmy speech. Serres and Vesper feel their muscles begin to seize up. The young half-elf is able to shake off the effect for a second time, but the avian stands there still as a statute her spear still and pointed at the sahuagin warrior. To her left Serres feels the ethereal trident attack, but she is able to easily dodge.

The prisoners continue their manacled escape towards the path leading out of the clearing.
 
Watching the priestess attempt another spell, Amadeus felt frustrated he couldn't attempt to cancel this one -- watching as Vesper's constant motions slowed and stopped as she froze in place. Once again he made his two feather-like darts, the first one slamming into the ground a fair distance away from his target. He felt like the back of his throat was burning slightly as he grew frustrated, growling in Celestial, "Mykiel, I swear if this is your idea of punishment... now is not the time!" as his second feather darted through the air, hitting the priestess solidly, but Vesper still seemed frozen on the field.

Stepping further out of the trees he tried once more to catch the attention of the fleeing captives, "Come here -- I can heal you if you need it!"

Hestia, hearing the frustration in Amadeus' voice, gave her own battlecry of a screech as she spun and used her tail like a whip, the stinger landing solidly into the back of the strange fish person in front of her. The poison seemed to pulse through it before it crumpled to the ground -- glancing towards Serres still dealing with a foe, she moved behind the priestess, ready for an opening to strike.

Amadeus
Eldritch Blast at Priestess A
EB1 -- nat1 to hit, miss
EB2 -- 19 to hit, 13 force damage
Move to K14

Hestia
Stinger on Fish D
Nat20 to hit -- con save DC11 -- FAILED -- poisoned
10 piercing damage -- killed
Move to G3 to give ADV on Priestess A for Serres
 
Feeling her muscles seize up yet again Serres shrugged off the effect exasperated, “Would you stop this weak nonsense! You aren’t posing any challenge. I feel like I am dueling a child!” She dodged a swipe from the trident absentmindedly and slashed her rapier at the priestess killing her in one final swoop.

Hesitating for a moment she decided that she would rather face one zombified priestess than two she hacked the downed priestess’ head off and finally looked up to see Hestia perch on her shoulder.

She looked around to check out the battle and seeing no new threat she started to search the corpses for the key to the chains with the Hestia’s help. It took her some 5 minutes before she found the keys and to her surprise 14 common gold coins. The fishfolk were more connected to the trade system than she thought.

She ran towards Amadeus and the prisoners giving him the key and called out to Leo, “Are these bodies of any use? We should probably get out of here before more show up so revivify who you want ASAP. I don’t quite feel like testing our luck any further.”
 
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Seeing the last priestess fall, Amadeus stepped out of his remaining cover even more, working his way towards the captives. As Serres handed him the key to undo the collars, he placed a hand on the shoulder of one captive as he undid the collar, noting the redened and sore skin from the metal, the sunken features from their exhaustion. While he worked at the lock, through his hand on their shoulder he shifted some of his innate healing energy to them -- watching the skin begin to recover, smaller cuts and scratches disappear. As he turned to the other captive, he briefly touched his holy symbol before undoing their lock as well, a small golden glow transferring from his hand into them while he removed the collar.

Hestia, perched on Serres' shoulders as she moved around, kept her gaze on their surroundings, but often looked towards Amadeus -- as if eager to be wrapped around his shoulders again after everything that happened. Hearing Serres call out to Leothyc, Amadeus pointed towards the corpse of Longclaw, "I won't make any comments if you use that one ..." his tone was colder, not the usual casual and aloof way of speaking he tended to use. Turning back to the captives, "Please -- let me know if you need to be healed more, we have a cave we used as a hideout before, we'll probably make our way there, but we need to move decently quick."

Healing Hands on male captive = 5HP healed
Healing Light on female captive = 5HP healed
 

The captives have been very silent. It's unclear whether it is shock or exhaustion, but the wood elf female speaks up finally. “No, we can’t leave!” she says as though only now remembering something vital. “My name is Nela, quartermaster and second officer of the Sea Blazer, and my crew are still down there... along with other prisoners. You, you all seem capable. We just can’t leave them there.” she finishes as she absently rubs her neck where the collar once was.

The human nods in agreement, “We tried... we tried a few times to fight them or to run away. The fishfolk know the island too well and they’re strong. If you do manage to get some distance, the island isn’t very large and they’ll send their pets after you. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but I’m surprised you lot bested them...How did you get here anyways?”
 
There is always an apprehensive quiet after a battle, as if the world was waiting to see if anything else happened. Or maybe that was just him. Either way, he has let his guard down on far too many occasions thinking that danger has passed only to be proven very wrong. And so it was with rational caution that Leothyc crept forward to inspect the aftermath of the battle closer.

Lamenting the missed opportunity to gain valuable information from a higher ranked member of this strange culture, he inspects the (mostly intact and certainly not headless) body of one of the priestesses. His previous observation appears to be correct, as a coat of slime covers the creature's thick skin. Combine this information with the gills and fish-like nature, and it is not too far-fetched to assume (or theorize, as Leothyc would insist on saying) that the creatures are predominantly water-dwellers and cannot live on air for long. Which would mean they have underwater dwellings, which could also be where the cave leads.

Throwing an uneasy glance down the aforementioned cave mouth, he pilfers the holy symbol around the creature's neck as well as it's mask, tucking them into his bag. 'One never knows when something may be of use.'

DevilishEgg said:
She ran towards Amadeus and the prisoners giving him the key and called out to Leo, “Are these bodies of any use? We should probably get out of here before more show up so revivify who you want ASAP. I don’t quite feel like testing our luck any further.”
Click to expand...

"Of course. I shall be procuring two of the warriors to "revivify" as specimens. The poisoned one and the one I... bludgeoned, should do adequately." he replies, walking towards the tree cover.
Abrahms said:
Hearing Serres call out to Leothyc, Amadeus pointed towards the corpse of Longclaw, "I won't make any comments if you use that one ..." his tone was colder, not the usual casual and aloof way of speaking he tended to use.
Click to expand...

"As amusing as it is to note the irony in your lofty morals, I shall have to decline. I have already gathered data on the reptiles, and the warriors would be of better use for our current needs."he remarks. Pointing to the corpse of the Sahuagin last dueling Vesper before being poisoned, by the looks of it, he asks Serres, "If you would be so kind as to move that one closer to the other, that would be helpful." He himself moves to the other corpse.

-------------------------------------------------

The preparation does not take as long as Specimen 1372's did, having selected cadavers that were not mutilated or beheaded. Making notes of pre-resurrection conditions, Leothyc proceeds with the resurrection itself. Intoning "Surge ex gravis et pareo. Servus meus es tu" as he moves his staff over both corpses, he grimaces briefly as the strain of applying magic to two corpses simultaneously is made apparent. Though the time required is still the same as to cast twice, he may save on repetition by 'merely' channeling more than double the normal flow of magic, which is evident by the brightness of the pulsing green energy.

Two minutes later, he stands, leaning on his staff for support, as the two fishkind warriors stand once more, green glow in their eyes and a faint hissing growl emanating as the body reverts to its baser instincts on how breathing is done. After a pause of consideration, weighing intimidation versus practicality, practicality won out in noting that though the undead do not need to breathe, it may still be harmful to the body and thus could invalidate his data. Thus, the former corpses stood, mostly silent and not quite alive.
 
Amadeus rubbed his head as he saw the two new thralls trailing behind Leothyc, sighing internally before turning back towards the two now freed captives. "Yeah ... I saw the island isn't that large, and I think we've already run into some of their pets. We're a bit of a ragtag group, but we seem to be holding our own decently ... we probably got here the same way you did -- rough storm at sea and a sunken ship."

He watched as the elven woman rubbed her neck, though it seemed the sores were gone, they still probably felt the weight of the collars. "How long have you both even been here? And how many prisoners are even down there ...?" Glancing back towards the cave entrance he gestured away from the cave, "Look, ultimately we still can't leave the island -- unless you know of a ship somewhere, but this really isn't a conversation to have right in front of the cave entrance."
 

“How long?” the elven woman thinks for a moment holding her hand to her head as if she were going to massage the days from her brow. “I don’t know... a week? Two?” She looks to her companion looking for an answer, but he has none. “There are five down there, three from my own ship. They took Captain Sarven as well, but they must keep him somewhere else. I haven’t seen him since we were captured.” She looks down at her feet and shakes her head slightly after these last words.

“Please, sir” the human chimes in “you lot handled these fish men right quick like! They don’t know anything about what happened here, but if we leave it’ll give ‘em time to figure it out. Then they’re gonna turn the whole island against us!” Just as the human finishes pleading he glances over his shoulder back at the cave and catches sight of Leothyc’s thralls. “Oh! My gods! They’re back!” He stumbles over his feet slightly as he runs behind Amadeus. Nela turns to see what has her friend frightened and is also taken aback by the sight.
 
Looking thoughtful Serres chimed in, “so there is more than one shipwreck. We were sailing on the Red Valient when a sudden storm hit us and wrecked us on this island. I feel we have much more to discuss but we need to get to a safe place for now. We have set up camp in a cave by the beach so follow quickly.”

Serres turned to Hestia and Amadeus, “How do you feel about leaving Hestia to watch over this entrance meanwhile and warn us if they were headed towards our camp. Its location might have been compromised by Longclaw, I couldn’t quite catch everything that passed between them but I fear we don’t have time to find another shelter. Then we will come back and finish the job once we have rested some.”
 
Amadeus nods as he listens, "Hm ... if you've been here a week or two, and there's a fair amount of you, then pretty obviously there's some sort of fresh water and food supply." His train of thought is disrupted as the man runs behind Amadeus, "Ah, wait--" he steps forward to keep the man from touching his back, adjusting his small cloak.

Rubbing his brow he sighed, "Please ... don't panic. I can't believe I'm saying this," he winced as his headache rose in pain, "but those are undead thralls. They're on our side ... please tolerate them."

At Serres' words he nods, "At the very least, let us guide you to where we camped last night, my ... energy is a bit expended, and if we could rest for a little bit, I think we'd be in better shape to try and rescue your fellow captives."

Hestia lept from Serres' shoulders and wrapped around Amadeus for a moment, giving soft chirps and trills, rubbing her head against his jaw. The mental connection remade, "Stay with Amaadaayuss ... but if need scout, can."

He rubbed her chin with a finger, glad for the returned telepathic chatter. "Though neither of us are happy about it ... I can ask Hestia to keep an eye out." Glancing around he tried to think of a good place for her to hide, looking at the rocks above the entrance he had hit a few times with his wayward blasts. With another headrub and chirp, Hestia lept off his shoulders, attempting to find a nook in the rocks for her small form to hide in. "There's no point starting a battle against these 'fishkind' and such while we're worn out if we have a chance to recover beforehand. Plus," he held up a finger before gesturing to the two captives with a smile, "you two can give us some idea of what to expect down there so we're not blindly running in, and hopefully save the most lives."
 

Nela looks to her companion and then back to the cave, “I understand,” she says with a sigh, “I just fear what these creatures will do to my shipmates.” Shaking her head a bit she stands upright trying to muster what strength she has. “Well, if we are to leave for your camp, let us go quickly. We’ve chatted enough I believe.”

Vesper, who has been silently surveying the battlefield, comes up to the gathering group and nods her head. “T’chka! Let us go.” She points her hand towards the path.
 
"As I said, we'll try to do what we can to rescue them, but if we're going to make the attempt, we need to be at our best if possible. That also means we need to be as informed as we can be -- though I doubt they're memories you wish to revisit, it'd be much appreciated if you could tell us anything about the cave network in there. Rough numbers for the enemy, if you can remember the layout towards your shipmates, things like that." Realizing he was perhaps digging a little too much and too quickly, Amadeus gently clapped his hands infront of himself, bowing his head slightly towards the two. "Sorry, I realize it's a lot, but the more we know the better the outcome, specially in my experience."

He nodded towards Vesper, "If time really is of the essence, I'm thinking after we get some information, which we can hopefully do on our way, Vesper can guide the both of you the rest of the way to the cave and help guard you. She's pretty tough -- you saw what she can do earlier. That way at least three of us don't have to go all the way back and forth, so less time lost before our rescue attempt. We'll still need to rest for a bit, but still better than a couple hour journey back and forth."
 

Nela takes a deep breath, “No, it’s alright. I understand. I’ll tell you what I know... though it may not be much.” She points back towards the cave, “Inside there is a pool of water. It goes about 30 feet down and then there is a passage there that leads to another cavern with air. They would have us collect boxes and debris and move them to that cavern.”

“Yeah... and they have this sticky gel stuff what keeps the boxes dry” Trevard adds.


Amadeus nods as he listens, "Does that mean that in order to get to the rest of the cave system, you have to pass through the water first?"

Trevard nods, “Yeah, is like Nela said. This here is just an entrance. You gotta swim some 30 or 40 feet.”

Adjusting his small cloak again Amadeus continues, "Good to know ... No doubt they move through the water better than any of us can. The gel and the items -- what were they doing with the items collected? Merely storing them? Or delivering them to something or someone?"


“I am not certain.” Nela picks up again, “The cells we were kept in are in the same cavern but do not face the boxes directly. The Sea Blazer itself I know was carrying spices, fabrics, and books bound for Callita.”

Amadeus glances between Vesper and Serres, "These two would have a better idea what was on board our ship -- I do know I found some hidden wines at least." He thinks for a moment, "And rough numbers, between the fish-like people and the lizardfolk? Did most of them seem typical fighters, not spell casters?"

Trevard shrugs, “I seen ‘em separating out the books and conversing.... course couldn’t make out what their screeching was about. I never saw more than half a dozen of em at a time. Couldn’t tell you the number of em... all looked the same to me.”

"Oh? There any titles that you could make out seemed to catch their attention most?" Amadeus replies.

“I couldn’t tell ya... not much of a reader myself. More a man of action...” the human holds his fists up jokingly.

Smiling Amadeus nods towards the man, "I can see that -- it was merely to see if perhaps they were interested in something specific." He moved his gaze towards the woman, "The cells you were kept in, how were they locked? If we can be quiet about it, we may be able to get some of the other prisoners out before attention is brought to us."

Nela answers “With a key. The fe...males, well they seemed female, they would come and release us.”

"Same key we used on your manacles?"

“I am... I am not sure.”

"Hm ... well, let me ask a different way perhaps: did it seem like one key was used for multiple things?"

“it is possible.... I am sorry, I know that is not very helpful.”

“We ought to be gettin’, no?” Trevard interjects.

Placing a hand on each of their shoulders, Amadeus shakes his head, "No, truly you've both been helpful. We know far more now than we did before, and can try to plan our best. We'll probably split for now -- Vesper can lead you both back to the cave we spent the night while the rest of us get ready to go in." Reaching into his pouch he pulls out the small shiv he took from Longclaw, holding it out for one to take. "I know this isn't much, but it can help you defend yourselves at least. If one gets close and you have this hidden, you can potentially strike first."

Serres smiles confidently at the captives, “We will take care of this problem and be back next to you with the rest of the captives and will start planning our way back soon enough.”

"Before I forget -- were there any of the fishfolk or lizardfolk you saw that you think might be a leader? Maybe dressed more ornately, issuing commands to the others?"

“Not that I could tell. Perhaps beyond the doors at the far end of the cavern.” Nela answers.

Amadeus pauses in his steps for a moment, "Doors? I didn't realize there were doors under there too. Did either of you get a glimpse of what was beyond? Or overhear from other captives?"


“Nope, we was only to fetch stuffs from the shore and bring em to the cavern.” Trevard says while scratching his head in thought. “Only one of us go beyond the doors was the Cap’t and he never come back.”

~~~

Vesper leads the captives back to the safety of the group’s cave near the beach and stays to protect them. Hestia keeps guard over the Sahuagin cave entrance while Amadeaus, Leothyc, and Serres rest in security a good distance away from the clearing. An hour or so has passed and not a single fishfolk has emerged from the cave. Having made the best of the moment of peace, the group now prepares to venture forth.
 
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