Making Friends

General Summary

As dawn broke over the burgeoning foundations of Port Sanctuary, the remainder of the crew Rehele had assembled for the trade delegation steered their sloop into the one dock. Rehele looked at the crew with shocked eyes and simply gestured at what was very clearly not an elven trimaran. The crew told her the trimaran had already been scrapped, and whatever crew and cargo had been on board were no where to be found in Point Pleasant. Rehele sighed, and began directing for the remainder of the cargo and supplies she had gathered to be carried aboard. She asked the name of this lesser vessel, and the crew turned to Patches, who had ventured the name Paradise Lost. Rehele sighed and commented about how optimistic the name was to accompany the voyage's auspicious start.   Rehele stated that she was not comfortable leaving the success of the mission to the group given how things had progressed thus far, and she had contracted Captain O'Mordha, a Stormlander and former pirate, to govern the ship. Speaking aside to Kazim, she told him that O'Mordha was in charge of the ship but Kazim should take the lead on any business ventures. She told the crew that they should seek out Dominic Tully upon reaching Far Harbor. She indicated they had a history of working well together and he was as honest and reliable a man as they were likely to find in Far Harbor.   Prior to leaving Rehele announced she had one last "gift". She was supplementing the loss of the former crew with three prisoners of New Sanctuary. Pollet, an elven archer, Kelbor, a dwarf rogue turned cook, and Bess Locke, a mage of some sort that was addicted to using her magic to alter her own consciousness. All three had stolen from New Sanctuary, and in lieu of execution or the expense of jailing them, Rehele had them fitted with Lochland slave collars and sentenced them to joining the trade delegation as a form of "work release". Coryn took control of their collar. Rehele objected to any characterization of their situation as slave labor, stating this was their punishment, and when their debt was repaid they could be released.   After wrapping up personal loose ends the crew boarded and set sail. As the voyage progressed, Coryn gathered the group to discuss the fate of the prisoners. Patches was deeply offended at the idea of using slave labor, and resisted any semantic chicanery to the opposite. Fuckpile was aggressively disinterested in the moral complications and only barely more interested in their physical wellness. Figwit and Dodd were willing to accept that these people were prisoners, and if nothing else, releasing them immediately in the middle of an ocean going voyage was also risky considering there was no telling what mischief they might get up to. Patches countered that the sea is full of tales of slaves leading mutinies, so they were no safer with those collars attached. Kazim brokered a compromise whereby the collars would stay on, and the three would be released upon reaching Far Harbor.   This seemed to be at least acceptable, if not satisfactory, to everyone, though Coryn and Patches both expressed displeasure at hearing Bess's screaming at night as she fought through withdrawal. Fuckpile volunteered to speak with her and see if he could medicate her in some way that would alleviate her symptoms. During his conversation with her Bess was insistent and desperate that if the collar could just be removed for a few minutes she could simply sedate herself properly. Despite her pleading Fuckpile refused and instead offered her an array of alchemical treatments, from drugged wine to a large quantity of mayonnaise. Bess ultimately accepted some wine and promised to be quiet if Fuckpile would promise to never pour out a gallon of mayonnaise onto a surface near her ever again.   Upon reaching Far Harbor the party split up, with Fuckpile and Coryn going off to search for manacite and medical supplies. The remainder of the group went to find Dominic Tully.   [CORYN & FUCKPILE]   Logistically Lacking   As the remainder of the party reached Tully Logistics, the found the door locked. Finding this odd in mid-day, and having no other leads, the party peeked in the windows to see if they could at least contact some menial clerk and make their presence known. Kazim and Dodd noticed a body on the floor in a pool of blood, and Kazim ordered the door open. Not wanting to waste time picking the lock, Patches unloaded her blunderbuss and blasted a breach into the office. At this point the crew noticed an additional body, both pierced by crossbow bolts. They then heard a noise from the rear offices and moved to intercept. A hooded assailant fired crossbow bolts at them, and Figwit hit her with an Ice Knife that caused her to instantly surrender.   After disarming the mysterious figure, they party began to interrogate her. She revealed her name as Casia Tully the daughter of Dominic. Her father had disappeared, and men had attempted to attack her that morning. She thought the party was part of the same crew that was after her, or might have hurt her father. Patches and Kazim shifted into a conciliatory tone, and promised to help her find her father, and while Patches kept an eye on her, the rest of the group spread out to search the business for any signs of what had happened. Kazim was able to discover that the bodies of the clerks had been killed by bolts too large to have been fired by Casia's hand crossbows, and furthermore contained hidden compartments for injecting poison. Figwit searched through what cargo was still available in the building's warehouse, but found nothing particularly valuable or dangerous. Dodd found evidence of possible illness in the form of blood and phlegm stained rags in the waste bin, along with a note to "pay debt to the Emerald Lady".   Green Horns   As the investigators rallied they were joined by Coryn and Fuckpile. Kazim and Dodd started to ask Casia who the Emerald Lady was, when Coryn revealed they had already met her and negotiated a deal with her. At this point a group of goons burst into the offices, still seeking to capture Casia. The crew quickly killed all but one of the goons, and Kazim set to interrogating him while Coryn kept him intimidated at the point of his flaming sword. The man revealed that they worked for Captain Rusof, and he had indeed captured Dominic Tully, and wanted Casia as leverage over him in negotiations. Rusof had discovered that the Port Sanctuary expedition presented a new market for narcotics, but Tully was trying to keep the narcotics from reaching across the waves (having battled with his own addiction). At this point Casia killed the man and said she was heading to rescue her father. Coryn indicated his willingness to let her go, as Dominic was probably dead already, and they had an appointment with the much more powerful Gaylia, "The Emerald Lady", in the morning. The remainder of the crew however decided to assist Casia, and Coryn reluctantly agreed to come along.   First the crew went to speak with Gaylia. She admitted that Rusof worked for her, but was not specifically instructed or expected to kidnap Dominic. Rusof had proven useful in the past, but if the crew was willing to work for her she had no intention of mediating disputes between her underlings. She provided the crew with tickets onto her pleasure yacht: the Glory Box, where Rusof had quarters. The crew took a small dinghy out to the Glory Box, and were granted admittance. The entire ship was full of gamblers, prostitutes, and dealers and users of every known (and some unknown) intoxicants. The party quickly inquired about Rusof's whereabouts and were directed to his private quarters.   The party was granted admittance, where Rusof was entertaining various guests and accompanied by numerous armed guards. In one corner a zombie on a golden chain was devouring an unidentified prisoner tied to a chair. Kazim took the lead in attempting to negotiate the release of Dominic Tully. The negotiations proved remarkably short when Rusof gestured towards the chair bound corpse and indicated that Dominic's time had already passed. Kazim responded by turning his burning hands spell upon Rusof, the zombie, and the corpse of Dominic. The room erupted into pandemonium as the guards were briefly overwhelmed by fleeing guests. Rusof survived Kazim's assault and sought to kill him as his guards engaged the rest of the party. Several rounds of combat ensued, with Coryn coming to Kazim's rescue and dueling Rusof into surrendering once he saw that the party had dispatched his guards. Once disarmed, the majority of the party settled on handing Rusof over to Casia to deal with as she pleased. Unsurprisingly, her vengeance was swift and final.   In the aftermath, Casia indicated uncertainty regarding her future fate. The party suggested she take over her father's business. The thought seemed overwhelming to her, but she saw little other choice. The party, meanwhile, faced a quandary regarding their future regarding Gaylia and her interest in opening a market for her narcotics in New Sanctuary.