The four of you -- whether it is through Arvastan's warnings or the path you have taken -- seem to avoid the caustic slime in the first chamber and walk into the inner chamber.
Inside you see a few piles of of the bolts of fine silks and fabrics that you had also seen elsewhere in the smugglers' hideout. Sacked out across the piles are three dwarfs snoring so loudly, it actually surprises you that they hadn't woken one another up. They are about ten feet apart each tossing and turning in their own pile of fabrics. The room smells very strongly of alcohol, and you get the sense of nothing short of a full-scale assault would wake these bandits up.
It is pitch black in here at the moment, so only those with dark vision are able to see. Hugh, anything you do will be at disadvantage -- what are you each doing?
Tul, seeing how soundly the bandits are sleeping, moves over to a bolt of silk and quickly, using her ninja-ken shortsword, cuts several lengths of silk off.
She whispers to the others “I think we could gag and tie them up one at a time and tell the town guard to come pick them up.”
She then moves to stand over one of the bandits, waiting to see if the others agree with her or not.
Gib -- the dwarves have their armor strewn about the floor in front of the fabrics -- as though they stripped out of them sloppily to go to sleep. Their shortbows are with the armor, as are shortswords. It looks like at least two do have daggers on them, but if they were to wake, they could also likely grab the bow or the sword.
(If you want to tie them up -- whoever is binding them can give me a DEX check with advantage -- or a straight roll for Hugh.)
"Arvastan, you're a sailor so I'm sure you're good with knots. Why don't you see if you and Tul can manage to get at least one of these drunken fools bound and gagged before they wake up. The rest of us will back you both up if things go south." Gibson smirks and takes several steps back.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Gibson -- Arvastan stares at you intensely as he uses his shortsword to follow Tul's example and cut some strips of fabric long enough to bind one of the dwarfs. Whispering to Tul, he says "Cut an extra gag for Gibson. I swear to Deep Sashelas if he gives me one more order I'm going to gag him, tie him up and drop him in the Azure Sea."
He will approach the dwarf on the farthest side of the room and attempt to gag him, then hog-tie his arms and feet together.
DEX: 21
The knots appear to be fairly secure -- and though the dwarf awakens it is a little too late. He tries to yell to warn his colleagues, but the gag seems to be effective in preventing him from alerting the others.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Tul nods and whispers back, “I’ll even put the gag in myself if he does.” Then she moves to the next bandit and mimics the quick work she saw Arvastan do. She may not have spent as long at sea as he has but hopefully it was still long enough for her knot tying skills to be ingrained.
Hugh stands dubiously, unsure of what is happening as he can barely make out the forms of Arvastan and Tul moving around. He prepares his axe, but waits for a specific order to use it.
Tul's knots look to be even tighter than Arvastan's as she ties up the second dwarf expertly -- the dwarf doesn't even seem to awaken during the process. Instead, he lets out a small breath, smacks his lips and turns over.
(And since that roll was so high...)
Without even waiting for the others, she moves to the final dwarf and binds him with the remnants of the cords she had cut, and the three of them are secured. Only one of them seems to be aware of what's happening. And with that -- all the Sea Princes, or mercenaries, or smugglers...whatever they were, they all seem to be dead or incapacitated.
Gibson rifles through the pockets of the bound dwarves and removes all weapons and anything else that seems interesting.
Investigation: 17
"Does anyone have a torch or any kind of light source? Since everyone's a bit tied up at the moment, it doesn't make much sense for us to continue fumbling around in the dark."
Splashing a bit of wine on the dwarves' faces (since he doesn't have water at the moment), Gibson rouses their captives for the perp walk back to the Council Hall. "Wakey wakey! Time to go to school and answer for your crimes against humanity or whatever!"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Tul lets out the breath she didn't realize she was holding. She would not have hesitated to fight if these three bandits had resisted and threatened the others, but she's inwardly happy that they didn't have to kill them.
She pulls out her tinderbox and strikes the flint, the spark igniting the oiled torch she also retrieved.
With more light available, she looks around the room to see if there's anything else they missed.
(Perception: 12 )
As she searches, she looks back over her shoulders at the others.
"Before we leave and head back to town, I would like to just go down to the water's edge and see if we missed anything there. They must have some sort of dock that they used to bring all of these smuggled goods in on."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
The dwarves all look at each other in alarm as Gib wakes them and they struggle.
11133
None of them manage to free themselves by muscling their way out of their bonds, so they all sit there, mumbling through their gags in what you all are sure is a mix of curses in Dwarvish and Common.
Arvastan goes to the entrance of the cavern and will call out "Dimma, darling! All clear in here. We'll be right out. Just making sure our friends are secure."
Gib -- in one of the dwarves's pockets, you find a set of loaded die and a pack of marked cards, but nothing else of interest.
Tul -- looking around the room, nothing strikes you as particularly odd. It seems rather disused other than the makeshift beds the dwarves have made themselves.
Hugh looks at the bandits and notices they test their bonds before settling back down.
”It would be in your best interest not to try to escape. It is not in my nature to harm you while you are tied up. However,” she gestures to Hugh, “I think my friend here would lose no sleep if he needed to take his axe to you.”
She moves closer to the first one.
”What is down by the water’s edge in the next cave?”
The dwarf whose gag you pull down has a face that's fire red from anger, and, as you pull the gag down, you see the flecks of spittle in his beard from his rage. Looking at Hugh and his big greataxe -- even if the barbarian can't see him -- seems to be a sobering experience for him though. His gray eyes go wide and he looks to Tul. He tries to put up a brave front, but you can see his eyes continually flickering to Hugh and the dwarf seemingly shrinking into himself.
"It's where we keep the jolly boat to make our runs out to the ships -- we take stuff acquired here and put it on Princes' ships, and then we bring back other cargo that are going to buyers throughout Keoland."
The other dwarfs look at him angrily and make muffled mumbling noises. The one you're speaking to glares back at them. "Ain't like we got a choice, do we? They didn't set off Sanbalet's magic spells, so he's likely dead. And if Lord Anders don't kill us for being Princes, the Princes will for screwing up again."
He looks back at you. "I've been helpful, I have. You can let me go -- I won't say anything. Sanbalet is my cousin, everyone hated his guts, even his mum. That's no skin off my nose." He looks at Tul, Gib, and Arvastan hopefully, pointedly avoiding eye contact with Hugh.
Dimma's ears perk up at Arvastan's call and she walks calmly into the final chamber of the caverns. With the threat gone, she begins to peruse some of the crates surrounding the room, picking out four bolts of fabric of varying colors and nesting them part-way into her rucksack. She keeps an ear out, paying attention to the interrogation before coming back around to stand with the others.
Gibson reaches forward and shoves the gag back in the dwarves' mouth before pulling the others back a pace and whispering, "Listen, if there were no other factors at play, I'd say he has a good point and offering mercy might gain us a favor with someone somewhere sometime. But as it is, he'll be killed if he shows his face on either shore and I don't think this drunken lout has the wherewithal to stay out of trouble and not get caught. Then, who knows, word may get around that a ragtag group of local buffoons got in the way of justice being served and then we have to deal with the town guard as well! Also, he's seen our faces so he knows who to look for it he gets drunk later tonight and goes stumbling after revenge. Or worse yet, there could be other powers involved that we don't yet know and he could very well go back to tell them of our meddling! No, I think our best bet is to stay the course and let the law deal with them all."
Tul is momentarily stunned to hear a fairly intelligible and prudent recommendation come out of Gibson’s mouth. She nods her agreement.
“Yes, we should bring them back with us. Depending on the size of the jolly boat, we could take it back to Saltmarsh and maybe bring some of the goods they have here as further proof of what has been happening.”
She then starts getting the bandits on to there feet and runs a length of silk between each one to make a sort of chain hang out of them and once everyone is ready will follow Arvastan past the acidic slime again and then to the cavern by the water to check on the jolly boat.
As you all walk carefully back through the tunnels, you enter the final cavern you had not seen yet, and as predicted it is the inlet to the Azure Sea.
The tide is currently out so there is little water inside the cave itself but there is an obvious high-water mark about three feet above the floor. Pulled up the sloping cave floor is a small boat that could perhaps fit ten people and a few crates of supplies. It is equipped with oars, a step-down mast and a neatly furled sail. A rope tied to the bow is weighted down by a large boulder that acts as an anchor.
Arvastan circles the ship excitedly. "This will do nicely. I can pilot this if the rest of you pitch in and use the oars." He looks pointedly at Gib. "We'd need all of you, but we could do it. If we sail close to the coast, and as long as I know what I'm doing -- which I do -- we could be back in Saltmarsh in ten minutes time." He looks at the others. "Whatever you all prefer." You can all clearly see his excitement to get back on the sea though, even if for only a bit.
Tul smiles and nods. She turns quickly and runs back up into the chamber that Gibson has been playing cards with the bandits in and picks out a couple of boxes of the contraband the pirates were smuggling and brings it back down to the waters edge and the jolly boat.
"I'm sure Gibson will be happy to lend his weight to an oar," she says then looks over at Gib. "You have been very anxious to get back to town every since we got here. The harder you row the faster we'll be back."
She then helps stow the gear and the three captives in the center of the boat, and checks the oar locks to make sure nothing is going to pop out on them once they hit the waves. Old habits coming back to her quickly.
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The four of you -- whether it is through Arvastan's warnings or the path you have taken -- seem to avoid the caustic slime in the first chamber and walk into the inner chamber.
Inside you see a few piles of of the bolts of fine silks and fabrics that you had also seen elsewhere in the smugglers' hideout. Sacked out across the piles are three dwarfs snoring so loudly, it actually surprises you that they hadn't woken one another up. They are about ten feet apart each tossing and turning in their own pile of fabrics. The room smells very strongly of alcohol, and you get the sense of nothing short of a full-scale assault would wake these bandits up.
It is pitch black in here at the moment, so only those with dark vision are able to see. Hugh, anything you do will be at disadvantage -- what are you each doing?
Tul, seeing how soundly the bandits are sleeping, moves over to a bolt of silk and quickly, using her ninja-ken shortsword, cuts several lengths of silk off.
She whispers to the others “I think we could gag and tie them up one at a time and tell the town guard to come pick them up.”
She then moves to stand over one of the bandits, waiting to see if the others agree with her or not.
"That's fine but, but are you not worried the first one will wake up mid-hogtie and squeal for the others to wake up?" Gibson whispers back.
Gibson takes a closer look to see if the dwarves have weapons on them or if they're stashed nearby.
Investigation: 18
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Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
Gib -- the dwarves have their armor strewn about the floor in front of the fabrics -- as though they stripped out of them sloppily to go to sleep. Their shortbows are with the armor, as are shortswords. It looks like at least two do have daggers on them, but if they were to wake, they could also likely grab the bow or the sword.
(If you want to tie them up -- whoever is binding them can give me a DEX check with advantage -- or a straight roll for Hugh.)
"Arvastan, you're a sailor so I'm sure you're good with knots. Why don't you see if you and Tul can manage to get at least one of these drunken fools bound and gagged before they wake up. The rest of us will back you both up if things go south." Gibson smirks and takes several steps back.
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
Gibson -- Arvastan stares at you intensely as he uses his shortsword to follow Tul's example and cut some strips of fabric long enough to bind one of the dwarfs. Whispering to Tul, he says "Cut an extra gag for Gibson. I swear to Deep Sashelas if he gives me one more order I'm going to gag him, tie him up and drop him in the Azure Sea."
He will approach the dwarf on the farthest side of the room and attempt to gag him, then hog-tie his arms and feet together.
DEX: 21
The knots appear to be fairly secure -- and though the dwarf awakens it is a little too late. He tries to yell to warn his colleagues, but the gag seems to be effective in preventing him from alerting the others.
Gibson smiles from ear to ear and gives an exaggerated shrug.
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Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
Tul nods and whispers back, “I’ll even put the gag in myself if he does.” Then she moves to the next bandit and mimics the quick work she saw Arvastan do. She may not have spent as long at sea as he has but hopefully it was still long enough for her knot tying skills to be ingrained.
Dexterity: 22
Hugh stands dubiously, unsure of what is happening as he can barely make out the forms of Arvastan and Tul moving around. He prepares his axe, but waits for a specific order to use it.
Alton Thorngage- (Klein’s One Shot String Adventure)
Holden Stonefist-(A Tale of Mercenaries)
Fenrick Wolfsbane- (Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden)
DMing-Ctleath13’s Lost Mines of Phandelver and Ctleath13’s Out of the Abyss
Tul's knots look to be even tighter than Arvastan's as she ties up the second dwarf expertly -- the dwarf doesn't even seem to awaken during the process. Instead, he lets out a small breath, smacks his lips and turns over.
(And since that roll was so high...)
Without even waiting for the others, she moves to the final dwarf and binds him with the remnants of the cords she had cut, and the three of them are secured. Only one of them seems to be aware of what's happening. And with that -- all the Sea Princes, or mercenaries, or smugglers...whatever they were, they all seem to be dead or incapacitated.
What are you all doing?
Gibson rifles through the pockets of the bound dwarves and removes all weapons and anything else that seems interesting.
Investigation: 17
"Does anyone have a torch or any kind of light source? Since everyone's a bit tied up at the moment, it doesn't make much sense for us to continue fumbling around in the dark."
Splashing a bit of wine on the dwarves' faces (since he doesn't have water at the moment), Gibson rouses their captives for the perp walk back to the Council Hall. "Wakey wakey! Time to go to school and answer for your crimes against humanity or whatever!"
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
Tul lets out the breath she didn't realize she was holding. She would not have hesitated to fight if these three bandits had resisted and threatened the others, but she's inwardly happy that they didn't have to kill them.
She pulls out her tinderbox and strikes the flint, the spark igniting the oiled torch she also retrieved.
With more light available, she looks around the room to see if there's anything else they missed.
(Perception: 12 )
As she searches, she looks back over her shoulders at the others.
"Before we leave and head back to town, I would like to just go down to the water's edge and see if we missed anything there. They must have some sort of dock that they used to bring all of these smuggled goods in on."
The dwarves all look at each other in alarm as Gib wakes them and they struggle.
11 13 3
None of them manage to free themselves by muscling their way out of their bonds, so they all sit there, mumbling through their gags in what you all are sure is a mix of curses in Dwarvish and Common.
Arvastan goes to the entrance of the cavern and will call out "Dimma, darling! All clear in here. We'll be right out. Just making sure our friends are secure."
Gib -- in one of the dwarves's pockets, you find a set of loaded die and a pack of marked cards, but nothing else of interest.
Tul -- looking around the room, nothing strikes you as particularly odd. It seems rather disused other than the makeshift beds the dwarves have made themselves.
Hugh looks at the bandits and notices they test their bonds before settling back down.
”It would be in your best interest not to try to escape. It is not in my nature to harm you while you are tied up. However,” she gestures to Hugh, “I think my friend here would lose no sleep if he needed to take his axe to you.”
She moves closer to the first one.
”What is down by the water’s edge in the next cave?”
She pulls down his gag so he can respond.
DM Screen
17
The dwarf whose gag you pull down has a face that's fire red from anger, and, as you pull the gag down, you see the flecks of spittle in his beard from his rage. Looking at Hugh and his big greataxe -- even if the barbarian can't see him -- seems to be a sobering experience for him though. His gray eyes go wide and he looks to Tul. He tries to put up a brave front, but you can see his eyes continually flickering to Hugh and the dwarf seemingly shrinking into himself.
"It's where we keep the jolly boat to make our runs out to the ships -- we take stuff acquired here and put it on Princes' ships, and then we bring back other cargo that are going to buyers throughout Keoland."
The other dwarfs look at him angrily and make muffled mumbling noises. The one you're speaking to glares back at them. "Ain't like we got a choice, do we? They didn't set off Sanbalet's magic spells, so he's likely dead. And if Lord Anders don't kill us for being Princes, the Princes will for screwing up again."
He looks back at you. "I've been helpful, I have. You can let me go -- I won't say anything. Sanbalet is my cousin, everyone hated his guts, even his mum. That's no skin off my nose." He looks at Tul, Gib, and Arvastan hopefully, pointedly avoiding eye contact with Hugh.
Dimma's ears perk up at Arvastan's call and she walks calmly into the final chamber of the caverns. With the threat gone, she begins to peruse some of the crates surrounding the room, picking out four bolts of fabric of varying colors and nesting them part-way into her rucksack. She keeps an ear out, paying attention to the interrogation before coming back around to stand with the others.
Gibson reaches forward and shoves the gag back in the dwarves' mouth before pulling the others back a pace and whispering, "Listen, if there were no other factors at play, I'd say he has a good point and offering mercy might gain us a favor with someone somewhere sometime. But as it is, he'll be killed if he shows his face on either shore and I don't think this drunken lout has the wherewithal to stay out of trouble and not get caught. Then, who knows, word may get around that a ragtag group of local buffoons got in the way of justice being served and then we have to deal with the town guard as well! Also, he's seen our faces so he knows who to look for it he gets drunk later tonight and goes stumbling after revenge. Or worse yet, there could be other powers involved that we don't yet know and he could very well go back to tell them of our meddling! No, I think our best bet is to stay the course and let the law deal with them all."
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
Tul is momentarily stunned to hear a fairly intelligible and prudent recommendation come out of Gibson’s mouth. She nods her agreement.
“Yes, we should bring them back with us. Depending on the size of the jolly boat, we could take it back to Saltmarsh and maybe bring some of the goods they have here as further proof of what has been happening.”
She then starts getting the bandits on to there feet and runs a length of silk between each one to make a sort of chain hang out of them and once everyone is ready will follow Arvastan past the acidic slime again and then to the cavern by the water to check on the jolly boat.
As you all walk carefully back through the tunnels, you enter the final cavern you had not seen yet, and as predicted it is the inlet to the Azure Sea.
The tide is currently out so there is little water inside the cave itself but there is an obvious high-water mark about three feet above the floor. Pulled up the sloping cave floor is a small boat that could perhaps fit ten people and a few crates of supplies. It is equipped with oars, a step-down mast and a neatly furled sail. A rope tied to the bow is weighted down by a large boulder that acts as an anchor.
Arvastan circles the ship excitedly. "This will do nicely. I can pilot this if the rest of you pitch in and use the oars." He looks pointedly at Gib. "We'd need all of you, but we could do it. If we sail close to the coast, and as long as I know what I'm doing -- which I do -- we could be back in Saltmarsh in ten minutes time." He looks at the others. "Whatever you all prefer." You can all clearly see his excitement to get back on the sea though, even if for only a bit.
Tul smiles and nods. She turns quickly and runs back up into the chamber that Gibson has been playing cards with the bandits in and picks out a couple of boxes of the contraband the pirates were smuggling and brings it back down to the waters edge and the jolly boat.
"I'm sure Gibson will be happy to lend his weight to an oar," she says then looks over at Gib. "You have been very anxious to get back to town every since we got here. The harder you row the faster we'll be back."
She then helps stow the gear and the three captives in the center of the boat, and checks the oar locks to make sure nothing is going to pop out on them once they hit the waves. Old habits coming back to her quickly.