Lucius Cypher

Keratia: Tales of the Arisen One

Pylia, Shortfang, Syfr, and Dinah partook in the soup. Shortfang would accept the offer to let you guy pay for the next meal as Pylia mulled on your question. "Initially, I figured it was just the ramblings of a mad man... But it did get me thinking of an old axiom. 'The road to hells is paved with good intentions'." Pylia was quiet as she said this, knowing how much it applied to herself. "If I had to guess, Erendal figured out something that he thought would help himself, or maybe actually help the others in town, but had to do terrible things like hire goons to damage shops and ultimately even kill himself." Stirring around what's left of her soup, Dinah went over to Pylia's bowl and lapped up the soup. "As you can imagine, noble families rise and fall. Sometime a peasant manages to rise above their station by starting a business or becoming great at something, earning them fame, fortune, and enough clout to earn the title of nobility. But than his descendants grow fat and lazy off their excess, become a shadow of their former glory, and fall from grace. Hearing Erendal's last words made me think that his family isn't nearly doing as good as they should for nobles and in his desperation, he found a way to fix it."

Pylia picked up Dinah and began to pet it, causing the cat to paw at her fingers and try to wrap her furry tendrils around Pylia's hand. "The first clue was that dagger. You saw it too right? A red blade with a gemstone hilt, like that skeleton from the waterfall cave where we found Buddy." Pylia looked to the silent knight. "Do you have any memories about it?" Buddy was still for a moment before he approached and wrote something into his notebook. He spent quite a bit of time writing. "I remember chasing someone into that cave and fighting enemies. The creature we fought was an ogre I had slain long ago. I was defeated in that cave. But somehow I am still alive thanks to what you all did." Pylia nods and looks over to you. "This is just a theory. But I think Erendal might've discovered something from an ancient ruins similar to that waterfall cave, a powerful magic item. Whatever it is, he needed to clear out the merchants in the market district. I think... If we're going to continue to investigate this, we'll need to look into what exactly Erendal did, and what he's trying to build up. I..." Pylia sighed as she rubbed her face.

"I suspect it might have to do with necromancy. Saying how his legend won't die here... That he was so willing to kill himself in a suicide attack, it makes me think that he knows a way to come back from the dead. Magic and necromancy... That's just what I think."

Keratia: Tales of the Arisen One

The group grumbles a bit more about the interrogation, but ultimately concede to head back to the Silver Stag. As the group traveled back there was already whispers of gossip about the attacks. A lot of people wonder if it was a mad mage who tried something in the alleyway, but some blame kobolds trying to cause a ruckus. There's even rumors of cults trying to sabotage the festival. You notice a lot of guards on patrol around here doing damage control as eventually the team returns to the Silver Stag. Shortfang orders some stew while Pylia and Buddy return to the rooms. Pylia sits back on her bed as she doffs her armor while Buddy stands by the door as he often did. You could feel the presence of Dinah in your mind, almost as if it's asking you to let it free since it's safe now. Shortfang would also soon arrive with stew. "Shortfang, didn't you say that you needed to save money?" Pylia looks at the kobold. He bashfully put the soup on the table. It was a large bowl as he spread some cups. "Yes. Well... Shortfang figure we eat a lil, yeah?"

Keratia: Story of the Surf, Tales of the Deep

About fifty feet long, twenty feet wide. A monster cannon will be heavy enough to start capsizing your ship.

Keratia: Story of the Surf, Tales of the Deep

A small cannon will cost you 2000, and a single ball and shot (aka the powder needed to propel it) is 10 GP together. A small cannon does 2d8+dex damage and does double damage to objects and structures, has a range of 200/600, and requires an action to load and an action to shoot (effectively a two-man crew). It weighs about 100lbs and it five feet long.

A regular cannon is 4000, same cost for ammo, but thanks to a more advance design and larger bore it does 4d8 damage and has a range of 500/1500. Those weigh 400 lbs and requires an action to load, shoot, and aim if the cannon isn't aligned to the target (This is usually irreverent for ship-to-ship combat, but important against sea monsters). They are usually ten feet long.

Monster Cannons are 10000 and have their own ammo which is 50GP a pop. These massive monsters are generally not even on ships, but part of a wall, and most ships that do have them are pretty much just the cannon and it's crew. They can do up to 10d8 points of damage with an effective range of 1000/2000, and are a little under a ton (specifically 1800 lbs). Action to load, action to shoot, action to aim.

Regular and Monster cannons can also use unique rounds such as grapeshot (does a weaker cone), Chain shot (effectively a line), or even other exotic types of ammo, though obviously these are more expensive than regular shot. Small cannons don't have the sheer bore to support these exotic types of ammo.

Not to mention, there are practically no pirate cannons smiths. Learning how to craft and maintain such weapons are often a government or at least guild secret, and the only times pirates even get cannons is if they plunder them off military vessels, which can happen from time-to-time. At the moment the only nations that employ and manufacture cannons is Doros, Xiadan, and the Empire of Ferric. Only Doros has cannons manufactured and sold by official guilds, allowing nonmilitary to buy them. Ferric has the best cannons in terms of damage and range, Xiadan's are the only nation thus far to be able to reliably use magic with their cannons, but Doros ships often have small cannons on any vessel worth protecting (Incidentally they are also the most common type of ships plundered for their cannons).

Keratia: Blade Maiden’s Exploits

Othie seems excited. "That would be wonderful Caeda! I don't know where my hope is on a map, but I'm sure once I have my magic back, I'll be able to sense where I need to go. Ever since I was taken I felt lost, but I'm sure once I'm back in nature my powers will return to me, and with it my way home." But just as Othie says this, you hear a loud crashing above deck, so violent it nearly knocks you over. You start hearing whistles throughout the ship, the signal that you were under attack. Footsteps could be heard rapidly running around the ship as men and women were called to arms. Sticky opened your door, his axe in hand. "Caeda! Sahuagins, dey here! They just nabbed a couple of da othas trying ta take prisoners, da bosses are trying ta kill dere beasties but we need every sword up top now!"

Keratia: Story of the Surf, Tales of the Deep

You two crew members nod. Oliver even had an idea. "Oh! That does remind me, maybe we could see if there are any bounties. Been lots of pirates and raiders in these waters. If we don't head back to Red Shard but go for another port town like Jatahi or even Seiyomi, I'm sure we can find a broker who'll pay us good money for any rival bounties we capture." Kulee just shook his head as he downed his drink. "You've only had one mug Oliver, don't start talking drunk already. You know the captain already has a bounty on his head, right? If he goes into any big town with a bounty, the guards will eat us alive!" Oliver just rolled his eyes as he sipped his drink. "Not like I'm saying we ought to parade through the streets. You know there's places for people like us to dock safely. I'm just saying that in bigger towns, there are ransom brokers who'll have the money to pay bounties for the captains and crew we might run into. Hells, if we fight em in open water we might even be able to liberate em of any of their ill-gotten gains." Kulee just snorts at the idea as he beckons a serving wrench to come over and refill his mug.

"It's that sort of talk that makes me wonder how you've survived this long. The captain just said we need more men, and now you're suggesting that we go fight other pirate bands? I ain't saying I'm a coward, but picking fights with people we know who'll shoot first and parley never is just dumb. And any bounty worth chasing after will probably have big crews or cannons. Any that don't is just a waste of time and bread buckets." It doesn't seem like Kulee or Oliver would come to an agreement, so they both stop talking about it. That being said, nearby your table was a notice board with a few bounties on it. Most of them were petty bounties, things like thieves or bail bondsmen, hardly worth more than 10 gold to capture. But one stood out, hidden underneath the other bounties. Notable for having 5000G written on it. "Say captain, you want any of us to tag along with you when you're meeting with the thieves guild? I know we got them to thank for keeping this port friendly for us, but I frankly don't trust em." Oliver says between sips. "I respect Ms. Silvermane for all she's done for us, but last time I met with some thieves guild punks, they putting on airs. Like somehow picking locks and cutting purses makes em better than a hard working sailor like me."

Keratia: Tales of the Arisen One

Atisha silently took down notes about what you told her. Atisha would keep you all here for about three hours just questioning you before finally she'd allow the four of you to go. She stays very professional and tells you that you'll be under continual investigation. She recommends not leaving the city anytime soon, or else the law might be after your group for trying to evade justice. Despite how long your team was there, Shor and the others did not return. Atisha would not reveal what's happened to them, and Yorik himself wouldn't know. Once the four were ushered out, Shortfang let out a sigh. "Ugh. Shortfang thought he be there forever! Atisha is mean when she not friendly..." Pylia seems rather annoyed too. "The whole thing's one huge farce. She knows we're not guilty, so why waste our time? I thought she hated this sort of thing." Buddy looked at you, having written a small note for you. During the interrogation he did nothing but write notes, and subtly revealed to Atisha that he was not human. She seemed keep it quiet though. "How are you feeling?"

Keratia: Story of the Surf, Tales of the Deep

The northern seas have the Majadan and the Xiadan nations controlling it, and likely the main two nations about to go to war. Because of their constant warfare there isn’t much of a sea population there, but plenty of sea monsters and sunken ships awaiting plunder. It’s not unusual for scavenger crews to operate in those waters, and they’re well known for their abilities in amphibious combat.

Pirates turning in bounties in other pirates isn’t unusual, just impracticality difficult for those with any bounty to their names. A criminal taking another criminal to a fortified guard facility to collect on a bounty is just asking for two bounties being captured. Regular Bounty hunters aren’t really considered raiders either, since people putting a bounty on your head for your pirate activities is just part of the job, and thus dealing with bounty hunters is the same as dealing with a guard escort. Mind you, betraying your fellow pirates to collect their bounty is still a dick move. I’d say, Tayang KO’s you and turns you into the guard for your 2k bounty, Tayang will need to make sure he never goes into the sea again or else anyone who heard about how he betrayed you will do terrible, Terrible things to him.

Incidentally, the Ransom Brokers who buy slaves can also be used to turn in pirate bounties, at a price or course. They’re the middleman who’ll effective give you a cut of the advance pay on the bounty, and then they’ll later go and formally collect the bounty themselves. This is the “normal” way for pirates to turn in bounties in each other, what with their own criminal nature making conversing with honest guards difficult.

Theresa can act as your go-to thieves guild rep. She can help facilitate the hiring of an official thieves guild member, who depending on what you’re willing to pay could be anything from just a bandit with thieves tool prof or someone of greater skill like a spy. Alternatively if you’re looking for someone with actual class levels, that will require you to actually go out of your way to find the right person. Still, Theresa could point you in the right direction.

Keratia: Tales of the Arisen One

“Is dat so? Damn. Wot a crazy bastard.” Yorik muses as Aisha directs you and the team to sit at a table. Yorik notably looks concerned as he sits next to Atisha who looks at the four of you. “We are now going to begin the interrogation. Do not resist this spell.” Atisha took out a small runestone that made you and everyone else at the table feel like something just went through your mind. Some sort of compulsion (charisma save DC 13). “You are now in a zone of truth. I will know if you are trying to resist the spell and lie to me. Now than... Let us begin.”

Atisha has various documents before her, each written in common with each of your names on it. Sylvia, Pylia, Shortfang, and evening Buddy. Atisha looks at Pylia first. “I will ask each of you questions and I only want one person to awnser. My first question to you, Pylia, is how did your group come to be involved in these series of events?” Pylia looked sternly at Atisha, not believing the situation they’re in right now. Every part of her wanted to fight but when she glances at you, Pylia simply lets out a frustrated sigh and speaks.

“It started when we visited a friendly merchant in town, Ferric. He asked us to help around town to get into the merchant guilds good graces.” Yorik had the duty to write this down, a task he was notably struggling with. Atisha looks over to Shortfang next. “What exactly did you all do as you were ‘helping’ Ferric?” Shortfang scratches his chin and seems rather reserved for some reason. “We go into market. Shop got hit by bad guys, so we talk to shop owner people’s they tell us what happen, than we talked to person who know what really happen, than we go to you guys and we work together, take out all sorts bad guys!”

Ultimately the questions Atisha were asking were about what exactly the party has been doing these last few days, mostly involved with the dealing with this gang. Atisha doesn’t seem to care about any details outside of that investigation. Eventually Atisha looks to you. “Would you ha e still NBC intinued ti pursue Erendal and his knights even without permission from the guard to be involved?”

Keratia: Tales of the Arisen One

"Yorik had arrested her and the fishermen, which was how I even learned that something had happened. As you may or may not know, the guards cannot simply arrest you without due cause in Gransys. This why corrupt guardsmen cannot simply arrest someone for no reason and than demand bribes in order to release you. However Yorik decided to skip due justice and accuse everyone on that ship of colluding with Erendal, which by the way we still don't have full proof against. They complied with the arrest but naturally, it turns out the woman is a maid of House Redoran, of whom Erendal is the third son of." The dark elf sighed quietly as the group arrived to the garrison. The woman as well as three sailors were already behind bars, and soon they were joined by the four knights. Atisha had the guardsmen she had taken with her resume patrol. Yorik was sitting at the desk with a big grin and a black hand-shaped mark on his face. "Aye lassie, how'd it go? Ya give dat bogot a beatin?"