Kingslayers: Wild Magic of the Seekers

[kariokie]

Cassy's a little surprised when the assassin drops dead of fright. Um. That worked. She wasn't quite sure what she had intended to show the woman, exactly, but whatever it was had done the job.

"Two more, they went out the window," she answers Anthony. Strangely, she doesn't feel that nervous or frightened. Not like she used to.

Casting Fly on herself, Cassy goes out the window after the escaping assassins. "Hey, better surrender now, or I'll keep knocking you off one by one!"

[Eratosthenes]

Taros

Hobgoblins.

The warlike humanoids were generally more organized than orcs, but still weren't typically a threat to a trained band of warriors. If they were lucky, the hobgoblins would've taken prisoners for ransom. If they weren't...well, it was best not to consider that.

Taking the lead of the group, Taros follows a respectable distance from Abbie, letting the elf scout out the dangers ahead. Frequently adjusting his grip on his sword, however, he was on a hair-trigger for danger.

[BlueWizard]

The Jamestown Caves: {James, Cara, Taros, Abbie}
The party goes deep into the cave, the passage-walls turn from old smooth stone to newly hewn rock, showing the difference in modern and old caves. Piles of rubble and rock litter the cave. It appears that you will be approaching an area with passages off the main corridor.

Abbie definitely hears something up ahead, and smells goblin stench.

Trillo will nod in respect to Cara, his librarian days have made his pale skin look green in the light provided by the torches. Trillo grumbles to Deeker. "If you give any help, I'll act for free as your counsel." Deeker only gives Trillo a mean intimidating glare over his muzzle, it perturbs Trillo a bit.

Taros will sense evil lurking down the blocked, dark passages ahead.


Crusty Bucket:{Latigo, Anthony, Cassy}

Latigo fires his magic arrow into the wizard, and pains him. The wizard shakes off the magical sleep-effect, but only barely!

Cassy will have no trouble flying out the mostly broken window. Cassy can still see Elise's kill bobbing in the water by the skiff. The assassin with the paper looks to the wizard and throws his hands up, tossing the papers into the sea as he does so. "You want me Cassy! Come get me! You know who you killed?!?" The infuriated assassin takes no move only to reveal his face. It is a handsome one. Cassy has never seen it, but it looks like so many others. He has black hair, tan skin, and glittering green eyes. His eyes are filled with tears, as his eyes flash red. He draws out a hidden amulet, a red dragon carved ruby emblem, the well-known symbol of the Emperor. {OOC- No-one has enough knowledge to know this younger prince's name. His elder sister is Princess Arrianna.} He says most devastated, "You killed Petunia's sister...."

The wizard has no time for this and almost blasts his companion. However, he targets Cassy with a Resilient Sphere which she deftly avoids. The wizard curses at the assassin-prince, "Heron! You fool! Help me flee!"

Anthony moves outside the ship's broken window, and can see Cassy and Latigo dealing with the two dark figures on the skiff. The crew is now getting bows and rushing to the command deck, where they can look over the ledge to shoot. Elise follows Anthony up, but stays back as she sees the shimmering force almost envelop Cassy outside.

End Round 3------------------------------------------>

Initiatives:
Latigo 20+9 {like he needed any more... }
Cassy 19+6
2 of 4 assassins
Anthony/Elise 5+3

[kariokie]

"So what? Two of her sisters down, how many more to go?" Cassy's hardly concerned with killing more of Tunia's no-good relatives, though there's a slight emptiness in her stomach when she realizes how Tunia might feel about that. Shaking it off, Cassy holds her staff out, pointing it towards the ship. "Let's see how far you get without your stupid boat."

There's a nagging feeling in the back of her mind. An idea that she should be paying a little more care to her safety. Cara would be yelling right about now. Flying backwards as she channels her energy through the staff, Cassy tries to put distance between her and the skiff, so the nastier of the wizard's spells can't catch her. Once she's a fair distance away, a small red bead erupts from the end of the runestaff and flies towards the boat, exploding into a ball of fire.

{Fireball, 9d6 damage, Reflex Save DC 20 for half. The primary goal is to burn their skiff to bits, though, especially the rigging/sails, but trying to avoid our ship. Move backwards 60' before casting.}

[Eratosthenes]

Taros

Peering into the caves, Taros states the obvious: "Be on your guard, men. There is evil afoot."

Gripping his sword, he invokes a brief prayer to Heironeous for strength.

Spoiler

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Invoke Divine Vigor: +18 temp HPs for 3 minutes

[Idiotbox90]

"Hey, Latigo, do we want them taken alive? Yay or nay?"

If Silvas answers nay, the glow in Anthony's eyes will increase in intensity as the warlock unleashes his full power on one of the assassins.

((OOC: AB: +9, Dmg: 9d6, Range: 250, Target must make a DC 16 Reflex Save or take 2d6 dmg the following round.))

[dauphinous]

Although she cannot possibly hear or see exactly what is going on in the front of the group, what with all the horses and people in the way, she senses through her spell that Taros has bolstered himself. She briefly considers what sorts of effects might be best suited to the unknown situation, then just settles on providing a generic sort of blessing over everyone as they walk.

{
Cast Bless, which will last 9 minutes, and should affect the whole group except Abbie, who is presumably too far away.
}

[tgva8889]

Abigail would not have spent the requisite time to find the other hidden cave exits from the mountain. The knowledge of the goblin attack on the camp and the inevitably weakened cave structure do not make her much happier to have been here today. Nonetheless, she steels herself as she moves into the cave, quiet and unnaturally still.

Her elven senses recognizing the semi-familiar smell of goblin forces Abbie's instincts into drive. She draws her hands together in a familiar fluid motion, her arrow in a position where it can be easily fired. She whispers to Seraph, "We are getting closer." Seraph moves its head in a sort of nod-like motion, merely an acknowledgment of the words and not a suggestion of action.

Moving still quietly, Abbie draws a bit closer to the body of the group, still watching the ground for signs of the lost soldiers. When she reaches the others, she says at a low whisper, "We've found goblins. I can't necessarily tell you exactly how many, but I'm not fainting, so there can't be a warhost in there." The elf makes no other comments as she moves back to the head of the group, though Seraph makes a head motion which could be incomprehensible at best.

Spoiler

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(+19 on any necessary tracking checks, +17 on Move Silently checks.
(1d20+17)[35])

[Vazzaroth]

James almost has to struggle to keep from getting over excited at the thought of a forth coming battle. This is what he lived for, and it had seemed like eons since his last real one. He kept calm, however, by remembering what was at stake, and the cause of the battle. Before Abbie takes off again to scout, James whispers back:
Keep an eye out for my men...
An outright attack and they could very likely kill the captives.
James feels the grip on his Bastard Sword, rubbing his thumb on it, and reminds himself of some kind of gladiator before a match.

[Roland St. Jude]

Latigo

Latigo, seeing the assassins together on the skiff, makes a diving run, peppering them with arrows as he goes. At the end of his run, he flies up and away from the skiff hoping to get out of range.

Hearing Anthony's call he sweeps a free hand across his throat. Of course, he'd like them alive, he had questions aplenty. But dead would be fine, too. Yes, better they were dead than more of us.

Spoiler

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Great Flyby Attack (up to 9 targets, does not trigger AoOs)
Pixie Sleep Arrows
Flight 90' perfect

atk - (1d20+15)[18]
dmg - (2d6)[6]
DC 17 Fort or sleep

AC: 27 + invisiblilty
HP: 28

[BlueWizard]

Crusty Bucket:
Latigo fires another sleep arrow at the defiant wizard as he shoots a flurry of arrows in an invisible fly-by. {wiz: crit save fail!} The wizard falls asleep immediately on the deck of the ship, snoozing with the small fairy arrow in him. Heron the Prince ignores the effect, and simply looks annoyed at the arrow, that wounds him slightly.

Cassy launches her fireball at the water-craft {d:38}, which makes it explode in a fury of flame and splinters. The sleeping wizard disappears into the fire and sea, though the prince somehow survived, despite taking the full force of it as well. Cassy placed the fireball perfectly so that the explosion only just singed the ship's aft. This burn mark will later be a source of pride for the witnessing night-crew.

When the smoke and fire clears, a burnt up Prince is floating in the water among smoldering skiff-wreckage. He throws his hands up in disgusted surrender.

Above Cassy there is a cheer of about ten men with bows, crowded on the command deck. They are all looking over the back-end of the ship and cheer heartily when the small catamaran goes up in explosive flames.


Combat Over------------------------------->

Anthony sees nothing else around, the crew will work together to reign the prince in, and bind him up as a prisoner.


Sunhaven:

Searph has to walk like a horse in the cave. The celestial eagle looks miserable as she mopes along on her talons.

The same moment that Abbie sees the red eyes coming, is the same time that all of you can act. A great rumbling of rocks is heard, and Abbie jumps back toward the party. {reflex 10+14!} The front way is blocked, but openings all around her show hobgoblins pouring out.

Behind Cara she can hear hooting of more, perhaps 2 or 3 rounds away.

Initiatives:
Abbie 11+6
Soldiers
Cara 15+1
Taros 12+1
James 8+3
hobgoblins

[kariokie]

A few months ago it sickened her to cast killing magic, but here she was. She'd struck Tunia's sister down with just a thought, blown a ship to bits, and probably killed that wizard, too. All in a few seconds. Cassy wasn't quite sure how she felt about all of it. A little proud. Happy she was powerful. People would really have to try to hurt her now.

But also guilty. What had the last thoughts of that woman been? She was probably more frightened than in her entire life. And then she was dead, and off to where bad people go, burnt up and poked and whatever demons do to sinners. She's probably done worse to others. No less than she deserves. Still, it was... well, it was what it was.

Cassy swoops down, trying to gather any of the papers the assassin took and later dumped in the water. "Guess I wasn't thinkin' 'bout that. Eh, oh well." While she's down there, she dips her feet in the water, trying to wash off the blood.

[dauphinous]

Cara idly wonders what sort of witty remark Cassy would offer at this turn of events. She would certainly say something sarcastic or derisive in some manner. She grins a little as she begins casting what is likely to be the first of many spells and turns to face whatever seems to be coming up behind them.

{
Cast Magic Circle vs. Evil, lasts 100 minutes
}

[Roland St. Jude]

Latigo

Latigo returns to his cabin window and returns to both visibility and his merchant form. He calls out to Cassy and Anthony, "nice shooting," before tucking away his own bow and rushing to the captain's quarters.

[Eratosthenes]

Taros

Taros shouts, "Ambush! Defensive position!" He tries to indicate that they form a semi-circle against one of the rock walls, preferably with no bolt-holes, or to use the new caved-in section as a means to keep themselves from being surrounded.

That done, he prepares for the onslaught of hobgoblins.

{
If necessary, move to a more favorable position near the front, or to block off a bolt-hole.
Otherwise, ready-action, full-attack on the first hobgoblins to meet him:
Attack 1: (1d20+15)[16] Damage: (1d8+6)[7]
Attack 2: (1d20+10)[17] Damage: (1d8+6)[10]

100/82 HP, AC 29
}

[tgva8889]

Abigail mumbles something incomprehensible under her breath as arrows seem to fly from her bow, hailing upon the hobgoblins as they come. She seems to enjoy herself a bit more than she used to. Though she doesn't let on about it, Abbie seems a lot more in tune with her bow than the last time she used it.

Seraph screeches and claws over to Abbie, but otherwise does nothing to contribute, as Abigail warns her to stay down with a look, more afraid that she'll be hurt in the fight than anything.

Spoiler

Show

(+15/+15/+15/+10 on the full-attack, abusing Manyshot and Improved Rapid Shot. 1d8+3 damage. Point Blank Shot if applicable, though at this point I do doubt it. Attack the ones most threatening to Abbie, probably the closest, but if she can slow down the onslaught, she'll do that instead.

47/47 HP, 23 AC)

[Vazzaroth]

James will move to enact Taros' defensive plan if it seems possible, otherwise he will simply try to cut down the first enemy that comes in range, or threatens his soldiers.

((Edit:
Full: +17/+12(W/ +1 from bless), 1d10+9 ))

[BlueWizard]

Hobgoblin Caves:
Abbie {3 hit d:6, 11, 11} spins and fires her arrows at the many hobgoblins attacking her. 3 drop immediately. Her fourth shot missed badly, and the arrow busted on the rock-wall. She won't be able to fire her arrow that well soon, as she is being swarmed.

The captain of the soldiers {5th level fighter} calls out to the men, "Hold! Draw short bows! Hold this position!" He moves to back up the front-line of badasses {James and Taros}. The region the main group is in is still the small 8 foot wide passage; even where Abbie is the passage is this wide, there are tunnels off it up there, and now the main passageway is blocked in the front. Trillo will cast Greater Invisibility on himself.

Cara's circle against evil comforts the men, and they all draw close to Cara.

The best Taros and James can do is brace the front-line of the main group for the onslaught of the rest of the hobgoblins rushing down the passage. You will all lose track of Abbie in the frenzy ahead. Taros' sword batters the first two hobgoblins that come at him into the earth. James {10+17 d:19 9+12 d:16} James simply beheads the next two.

A few others had gotten past Abbie, but now these hobgoblins were demoralized. They instead turned to flee, but merely got caught up in the on-coming masses that were continuing to pour out to the party. These cowardly hobgoblins are quickly slain, but not before causing a delay, more blood, and blockage on the passage floor.
The enemies coming from the rear were closer, and sounded as if they came at a maddening pace.

Anyone who could see the elf battle would be amazed as Abbie avoided all attacks except one lucky spear point that grazed her hip {d:1}. The damage hurt her outfit more than her. She spun, twisted, and used the advantage of her mithral chain to save her more than once!

End Round 1---------------------------->
{Lots of Hobgoblins!}

Initiatives:
Abbie 11+6 {d:1}
Soldiers
Trillo {Greater Invis.}
Cara 15+1
Taros 12+1
James 8+3
hobgoblins



Crusty Bucket:
Cassy will find that most of the papers are destroyed, those Chulyen recovers are merely documents of the ship's storage and crew lists. Any other scrap not found, should not survive long in the salt water of the ocean. Cassy will find the ocean cool here, even though the air is relatively warm at night.

The Captain's Quarters:
Elise wouldn't let Anthony too far out of the room, for already the half-naked Robero in a loincloth, and Jerica Seawell in a slip will come rushing into the bloody mess from his room. Jerica is heart-broken, and Robero stifles her cry with his hands.
Night-crew chief, Buck Longleaf, will bust-in on the scene, his full brown beard frothing in a battle readiness.
"Calm yourself, Buck!" Robero shouts as he looks sadly at Seawell. Jerica is sobbing uncontrollably into Robero's shoulder. The crew is up in no time, and a clamor and noise of crew awake is outside. The sound of the son of Seawell trying to get in is heard nearby.

1st officer Robero has cordoned off the room, with raging Buck's help. Buck will pull himself together and then act as guard into the officer's cabin.
Robero looks confused, "I don't know what to do... technically divinity makes the choice... though it does often fall to the 1st officer when no priest is represented. I think I'm captain. That is if you trust me Miss Cara and if you wish to continue our mission Lord Latigo."

EDIT:
There is soft sobbing coming from the captain's private bed.


The Main Deck:
No-one can hush the explosion of the fireball, all the men talked of it, and there was more than one, "Praise Cassy!", on the deck. The men cheer her until she is not seen, and then they cheer some more.

The filthy son of the Captain, is the last to the deck. He'd been sleeping in the bunk hall as of late. He was usually seen cleaning the latrines, but he was now trying to get by Buck to see his father.

The crew works to together to bind the assassin-prince tightly. Angry Buck keeps his lip sealed as to what happened, and looks to Cassy with a nod. "I keep an eye on this one, until you need him. A good eye." Cassy might get the idea he has other plans for the Prince.

The Prince will expect to be well treated, and will co-operate fully with anything that is respectfully done to him. It is clear, Buck has plans for this man, even if it didn't involve killing him. The rest of the crew still doesn't know of Seawell's fate.

[kariokie]

Cassy picks up the papers she can, and what Chulyen brings her, then flies back to the deck. The showoff in her does make her do a loop for the sailors, though, before landing.

"Oh, stuff the angry 'I'll take real good care of him' routine, Buck. And don't you resist this spell, princeyboy, or I'll go off without you and leave you here to them." Cassy grabs the Prince and Dimension Doors them both away from the crowds, back to the Captain's chamber where Anthony and Latigo are.

Then, smiling at the Prince, she says in her most charming voice, "You want to answer all our of questions truthfully, because I think those men will do bad things to do you if you don't. And we don't want that, right?" She gestures to Anthony and Latigo, indicating that the questions could come from any one of them.

{Suggestion. DC 20 Will Save. She'll keep casting until it works. She can cast 6 times before dipping into metamagic.}

[BlueWizard]

Crusty Bucket:
As a show of good faith, and his willingness to stay alive and safe, the Prince will fail the attempt to resist the save, and allow himself to be suggested by Cassy. He seems to be in quite the somber mood.

The sobbing will be Ramey, Seawell's younger daughter, who is curled up under Seawell's bed.

[dauphinous]

Cara (Don't forget the +1 to hit from Bless!)
HP: 68 AC: 28

With none of her status spell recipients more than marginally wounded as of yet, Cara just pulls her mace and readies to attack whatever comes close. After a moment of consideration, she starts to glow. While it may not make any difference at all, she would prefer if she was the one taking the attacks, not these soldiers.

{
ready full attack
to hit (mace, mace, shield): +9/+3/+8 (Bless included)
damage: 1d8+2 (mace), 1d4+2 (shield)

Active spells:
Bless (everyone but Abbie)
Magic Circle vs. Evil (on Cara)
Greater Status (Taros, Abbie, captain)
Status (James, Reollo, Deeker)
}

[Eratosthenes]

Taros

Seeing James has this area well in hand, but worried Abbie may become swarmed by the pressing bodies, Taros says to James with a wink, "Be right back."

Taros charges past Abbie, diving into the pell-mell of bodies, hoping to afford her the chance to make deadly use of her bow.

{
Charge Attack: (1d20+17)[27] Damage: (1d8+6)[7]
AC 29 (27 Charging) HP 100/82
}

[Vazzaroth]

James
AC:29 HP:105/105 Stance: None

I'll keep your "seat" warm!

James moves himself, and orders and soldiers around him to do so as well, to fill the gap left by Taros, so the defense isn't broken. He will stand and continue to cut down enemys, ready to initiate on of his practiced maneuvers at a moment's notice.

((Full attack: +17/+12, 1d10+9, 17-20, Ready to use Lighting Recovery on any miss to re-roll an attack with a +2 to hit.))

[tgva8889]

Abigail realizes just a bit too late exactly how many hobgoblins there are in this cave. Attempting to pull back into the group, she notices Taros beginning to make a few movements and holds her position for the moment. As he seems to plow through the group of goblins, Abbie moves as far as she possibly can to reach the group of soldiers, hopefully not getting herself into too much trouble. This is really beginning to get just a bit out of hand.

Seraph had taken the time to climb a bit onto Abbie, and ends up hitching a ride when Abbie pulls back towards the soldiers.

Spoiler

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(Delay until right after Taros's initiative, at which point Abbie will take either a full retreat action to reach James's position or a normal move (if she won't provoke more than 2 AoO that way) to James and a single shot at +19. Always 1d8+3 damage, not including Point Blank Shot, which I have the feeling comes into play a little bit here.

46/47 HP, 23 AC)

[kariokie]

Cassy feels the spell take hold on the prince, then nods to the others to let them know it's working. "It'll work for the next nine hours, so no rush." Something occurs to her that makes her grin, despite the grisly scene. "Oh, hey, if he'll answer anything, let's ask him some good stuff. Hey, princey, what's your biggest secret?" She waves her hands, indicating he shouldn't really answer that. "I want to know -- who sent you, what are you doing here? That sort of thing, spill it."

Finally, though, Cassy can't ignore the sobbing any longer, and she gives a guilty glance in Ramey's direction. Cassy has little idea how to help the girl though -- people always seemed a bit of a mystery to her. All her life they'd seemed cruel and capricious and all she could do to control them is lie and promise them things they had no right to. Lie, basically. Or scare them, she'd gotten good at that. But when people weren't bad -- what then?

Well, what would Cara do? Punch this guy, I guess. And then... I don't know. Say something nice to the girl.

Still floating a few inches off the ground to prevent herself from stepping in the blood again, she heads towards the captain's bed. Floating on her side, she lowers herself so she looks under the bed, basically laying a few inches off the ground. "Hi, Ramey. Um. Everything will be okay. Well, not everything, but you know. It's safe to come out, though."

[Roland St. Jude]

Latigo

Latigo grabs up a nearby blanket or two to cover the fallen captain. Seeing that the prisoner and the door are both secured, he orders everyone out of the room, save for Cassy and Anthony.

"Robero, you're in command, for now, we'll talk about rank and the rest of the expedition later. For now, let's clear this room so we can get some answers."

"And Buck," he says a bit louder, "get back on deck and have your men keep watch for additional skiffs. Assign someone to guard this door, but you don't need to do it yourself."

He turns then toward the sobbing, his voice now as soft as it was stern a moment ago, "Ramey, please come out now," he extends a hand to her.

Spoiler

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Diplomacy - (1d20+19)[35]
Diplomacy - (1d20+19)[23]
Diplomacy - (1d20+19)[21]

[BlueWizard]

Hobgob Swarm:
To move at all, Abbie will have to cut through hobgoblins. She can hold until Taros' action...

The soldiers aim in both directions and fire above the tight space above James and Taros at the wall of hobgoblins beyond them. There was a few near allied misses, but these men were trained, and all arrows sailed over allied heads. About four hobgoblins are dropped from this volley, softening up this rank lf goblinoids.

Trillo still sees no rear enemies and casts sleep on four more hobgoblins, 3 of them drop, clearing the way to Abbie.

Cara holds, the men try to give her confident smiles, as she stands with her mace.

Taros stabs a hobgoblin on his way to Abbie's side, which collapses dying to the ground. The way is cleared, via the assistance of the soldiers and wizard. {Dex check success} Taros nimbly bounds over the rubble as he dashes to the elven ranger.

Abbie then retreats behind Taros beside James. Now nothing divides the party, as Taros is front-guard. He is still in a region that he can fight side by side with James if needed with all the collapsed walls, perhaps an even larger area. Rubble is everywhere.

James will have to step up to the first opening in the walls between Taros. The Captain will step alongside James and wave Abbie back with the men. James{20+17 crit 12+17 d:36 ; 14+12 d:12} In the darkness he can see more red eyes snarling. His first swipe beheads TWO goblinoids, and he crushes the skull of a third with his back-swing.

James' deadly action frightens off even more hobgoblins and they go hooting off into the darkness.
Only Taros will find himself in danger as a mean-looking hobgob with two short swords and a fine suit of shiny mithral chain, waves his blades about as an expert ranger. {Mithral is probably from some elven prince.} The hobgob ranger is viscious and draws some blood from the paladin, on two of his many swipes! {d: 7 and 8}

Cara finally sees the source of the noise behind her, a great fiery bull at first stuns her, but is too fantastical to be real, and she sees through the illusion. She is able to convince some of the men of its nature, but even Trillo cannot get out of the way of what really is happening.

What Cara's wise eyes reveal to her is this.
A horribly ugly red robed man with a grey beard is flying behind this major illusionary image of the fiery bull. When the bull breathes fire, Cara sees he is casting a spell and can charge to strike him ten feet away. She times it perfectly to get her charged attack right as he summoned up his magical words. {9+11 hit d:4} It was only a glancing blow, but it was enough to disrupt the wizard's powerful spell and engage him in melee! Trillo will later say it was Cone of Fire, the empress' specialty spell.

End Round 2------------------------------->

Initiatives:
Soldiers
Trillo {Greater Invis.}
Taros 12+1 {hp 95 of 82}
Abbie {d:1}
James 8+3
hobgoblins
Cara
Fire Wizard

OOC- Worked on Big Shots late, sorry about the delayed battle round. Possibly the same tomorrow. Can't talk about what I did though, nothing much, but fun.


Crusty Bucket:
Robero will accept his unofficial position, and act on it with the enthusiasm of a young twenty year old. He will have trouble clearing the room of the two daughters. Robero's solution is to shut the girls in the Captain's private bedroom, after the bloody mess was cleaned up at its doorway.

Buck Longleaf, the night-watch leader, will leave the strongest man competition winner as officer's cabins guard. Buck will report that he and a few others had to clean up the specialist's bunk-rooms below, for much blood seeped down there.

Ramey will be comforted, but mostly needs her sister's company in her room now. She does look to Latigo and Cassy, as one might their parent, but she is frightened, and still in the moment of the tragedy. She says nothing.

Once there is only the approved in the room... {Likely, Robero will send Elise to keep order on the crew, and to help clean up the mess below decks. She'll keep a tight lip on the rumors.}
The prince speaks softly, "I was hired by Queen Kalima. Regent of the Bahn Seas. I am merely a big game hunter... so to speak. I am unfortunately not going to inherit the wealth of my mother, so I've had to find a business. I hunt Northern Pirates. If I had known this was one of your ship's Lady Cassy... I would have never accepted this job. Kalima described your Captain's sailing patterns. It was odd, but I could tell he was wise, and crafty, and trying to avoid us. We have been trailing you with spies for some time, after you snuck off from the fleet. They never knew what you were, until I found the crew manifest. Your captain is... was a horrible cipher. Any thief could decode his dated terminology. My wife... she happened to be one of the best assassin's in the world... we made a great team... I believe Lady Cassy, you are familiar with their whole family. I am told you slew another sister of... of your girlfriend, Petunia." That name is slightly bitter to him. "I have anklets that hide me from divination, so my mother cannot even find me. I definitely suggest you don't remove that. She is always trying to track me down. I suggest you hold me hostage until this 'mission' is over, and then perhaps we can arrange some sort of anonymous ransom. I can claim I forgot the whole thing. It's the least I can do for a friend of MY benefactor. Vito the Third, of course." He looks long at Anthony, "I know of you... no-one likes you in the guild. They see you as a traitor. I think, Third's grandson may be planning something for you. He thinks you've fallen for her, and have succeeded, in... uhm 'landing' the lady. I have no problem either way. In my culture, we share our wives to consummate diplomatic relations. Other than this, which I'm embarrassed about admitting... What do you want to know?"
The Prince's eyes glow fiery red as he talks, Cassy can sense that he might be a minor sorcerer. He also turns red in embarrassment.

[dauphinous]

Cara
HP 68/68 AC 28

With a bit of a grin, Cara waits for the wizard to cast again, hoping to disrupt whatever he does next. She briefly considers calling some of the other men up to help with this task, but they have enough to do, and she would rather they weren't subjected to whatever he might manage to actually cast.

{
Ready action: attack as soon as he casts.
to hit (mace, mace, shield): +9/+3/+8
damage: 1d8+2 (mace), 1d4+2 (shield)
If he moves and she can, she'll follow and only take the first mace attack at +11 instead.

Active spells:
Bless (everyone but Abbie)
Magic Circle vs. Evil (on Cara)
Greater Status (Taros, Abbie, captain)
Status (James, Reollo, Deeker)
}

[Idiotbox90]

Anthony snickers.

"Vito the Fifth, my old boss, thinks that I'm with Cassy? By Thoth, that guy really needs to think these things through before he jumps to conclusions. I left the Guild because Vito's dad was asking me to betray my friends in a way that would result in violence."

The warlock rolls his eyes.

"I say we throw him in the brig. That's the word, right? Brig?"

[kariokie]

"I think 'overboard' is the word you're looking for, Anthony, not 'brig'. And, also: ew." Cassy makes a face at the idea that she's sleeping with the warlock. "No offense, of course. But you're not my type -- far too unlikely to try and kill me in my sleep."

"Oh, and extra ew: Tunia's not my girlfriend. She's all 'whine, whine, whine, take me back, whine, whine' -- I could probably kick her ass nine ways to Tuesday now. She can get back to me when she grows a spine and half a brain. She's so pathetic she'd probably be crap in the sack now, too."

She ticks off the topics of conversation she's covered on her fingers: sex, more sex, throwing the guy overboard, and murderous intentions of potential and past mates. Cassy looks like she's just about gotten all the information she needs when she says, "Wait, you come here, your wife kills the captain in front of his kids, and you're expecting us to just ransom you back? That's gross. You're going to jail or something. Or overboard. No way I'm letting you free to hurt someone else's dad. And let's pitch his wife's body in the sea so it'll cost them a ton to bring her back to life."