Session 9: Slaver? I don't even know her!

General Summary

Now on Wynne's inherited ship, The Galwind, the party finds themselves nearing their end goal for the mission, sailing along the coastline to stay as safe as possible from the monsters of The Lost. Wynne suggests that they dock nearby but out of sight and walk the rest of the way there, since the slavers would obviously know that they've stolen a ship (The Harlequin) and are likely coming. Thinking on their feet, the party* realizes that they could hang something blue as a way of disguising themselves as a friendly vessel, though no one specifically owns anything of the color. For his own scouting, Ghozun starts considering various animal forms that he could take in order to sneak in more readily unnoticed. 
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As they draw closer to their destination, they see a number of ships similar to The Harlequin in one fashion or another, all of which are decided nonfriendly. Ghozun, with his bear eyes, makes out that one of the ships is clearly of Kingdom origin, though most are unnoteworthy slaver ships, all flying blue flags. After asking Chompsky's opinion, he finds that the true bear would not recommend any sort of frontal assault. While trying to establish a gameplan, they toss around the idea of burn everything down, much to Wynne's disapproval, as well as Emyr's. The new, proper plan forms in its wake, with the notion of waiting for the cover of night to kill the slavers before freeing their captives, in the hopes that their "cutting off the head of the snake" method would offer the slaves a better chance. This leaves Wynne and her three men to focus on getting the slaves out safely. Emyr pipes up with the idea of taking at least one higher up in for interrogation, likely the mage they'd already spotted, to which Duul suggests that they be in and out within an hour's time to minimize unwanted attention and casualties. 
The closer they get to the area, the more details they can make out, including the fact that several of the men guarding are armed with muskets. Slab, with his military experience, realizes that at least one of the guards its close to passing out, and could easily be taken advantage of for the party's purposes. His immediate method of relaying this information is to make a series of complicated hand symbols, of which none of the rest of the party can make out. While the party is busy trying to understand each other, Wynne and her men sneak ahead, kill the guard in question, and prop him up on his shield in a manner such that he appears to have just fallen asleep on it, done such that it will hold up to distant scrutiny. The four of them sneak off to handle their tasks, leaving the party proper to their own job. Before they proceed any further, Duul casts Pass Without a Trace to aid in his companions' stealth. As they make their way through the slaver camp, they noticed a collection of Diggers, or at least Digger races, chained up together; with none of them being recognized as being from the brothers' clan, the group puts no focus on them and proceeds on, saving their rescue for Wynne and company. Sneaking about the camp, they overhear what appears to be one of the higher-ups making rounds, checking to see if any of the guards in the area have seen anything thus far. Finding nothing, he dismisses himself. Lavug gestures to show that the patrolling man is likely more important, and his gestures to the party are translated as being such that he wants the man followed and taken out. Slab takes the opportunity of the patrolling man being out of sight to pursue him with the intention of silently taking him out under cover of a New Moon. Unable to knock him completely out in one go, he makes a second attempt, staying true to the notion of, "ain't no kill like overkill," by caving his face in. They stash the body away in a nearby tent and move on.
Sadly, while the others are hiding the body, Ghozun turns a corner and immediately bumps into a different patrolling guard. With little time to react, the orc-tiefling tests his acting skills in an attempt to flirt with the guard, successfully seducing the man with the words, overheard by the party, "Hey, you ever been impaled by a Green Ox before?" As he leads the guard away, successfully diverting his attention from his companions, Ghozun tricks the man into a makeout session, wrapping his legs around him during the embrace and rendering him dead in seconds. The rest of the party starts moving to follow after him, in order to get him back into Pass Without a Trace's sphere of influence, though Lavug's bag breaks along the way. He is immediately noticed by two guards, who inquire as to what he's doing, though they don't fully believe his attempts at claiming he's just gathering his things and returning to where he belongs. One is somewhat convinced but the other inquires further, asking just where he is supposed to be. Duul, moving to help with his cover, sneaks into the bushes and calls out, "Hey, where's that goblin with our shit?" Between the two of them, they manage to successfully lie their way around the guards, though not without wounding Lavug's ego. Left alone, he gathers his things and rejoins the group. Walking into the tent they saw Ghozun enter, they ask no questions, offering him a water skin to clean the blood off his face and clothes, covering the body with a blanket, and proceeding onward with a half hour passed by this point.
Locating the slaver's camp proper, they notice an officer's tent in sight. With only have their projected time to spare, they eagerly move forward, noting the two stationary guards, a selection of patrolling guards, and the brighter lighting. Anticipating a fight against at least four guards, half of which appear to be almost like soldiers, and what appears to be two people talking within, they plan their next moves. After a series of successful stealth checks, Eldin makes his way around, snuffing lights as he goes. Under cover of darkness, they move about trying to stealthily kill the standing guards in tandem. One goes turns to soup and then dust, while the other bleeds out slowly. Using him to trick the patrolling guards into thinking that the station is still manned, Duul makes it seem as though someone is calling for help due to someone being in the water. With one of the patrols dismissed to check out the incident, the other one carries on, drawn back by the sound of Ghozun's attempt at silencing the man. Paralyzing the man before he can alert others through Hold Person, Slab manages to help keep them unnoticed. Eldin and Emyr attempt to kill the patrolman while Duul and Lavug attempt to silence the man's fall, failing miserably. Just in time, Ghozun makes his way over to successfully keep the man's clanking armor from getting them caught.

Report Date

20 Jan 2021