Till Death Do us Part

Players: Mel, Ashlynn, Zalara, Eliathitae, Fiona Title: Till Death Do Us Part Summary:The Adventurers of the Explorer's Guild are called upon to solve an unusual marital dispute.

Log: You've all answered a posting at the Explorer's Guild calling for a small group of adventurers, instructing interested parties to assemble in one of the guild's meeting rooms for further instructions. The group's client, an older woman of obvious Veyshanti ancestry, sits by the meeting room's large table. She's dressed head to toe in black clothing, and appears rather distraught. She keeps dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief as she awaits the adventurers.

Mel files into the room, looks up to see the distraught woman, and bows his head respectfully before taking one of the open seats. "Hello, ma'am," he says quietly, settling himself.

Fiona makes her way into the room at the appointed time and gives a look around. Refusing to give up her cloak in these chilly days, she pulls it tight to herself as she looks over the woman in the dark clothing. Saying nothing she sinks down into the seat, and then as if an after thought to not be rude she mutters a greeting similar to Mels. “Hello...” Her lower lip is bitten as she takes in the woman’s attire and then looks over to the man she knows little about and shrugs and then nods to the woman. Confusion maybe, or maybe the nonverbal question of, is this who we are supposed to meet?

Zalara comes in to the room as she signed up for it this morning. She gives a nod to the woman, "Hello there." She gives a smile before she goes tos it down and she nods to Fiona, "Hello I'm Zalara Copperbottom, artificer."

Eliathitae enters the room quietly. Her blue robe does prevent a lot of the metal from clinking against other metal, but the creaking of leather makes her anything but silent. She pauses at the black dressing of the Veyshanti woman, but does nothing beyond nod courteously and offer a small, "Good day, m'lady," after seating herself. The blue eyes of the coppery-blond llyranesi do not leave the Veyshanti's face for longer than a few moments.

Cluthing the slip of paper advertising the job in one hand, Ashlynn marches more than walks into the room with that determined frown she always tends to wear. Not her usual style of accepted application, for sure, but there she is nonetheless. Her head is bowed and eyes downcast as gesture of respect to the employer upon notice of the way the Veyshanti is dressed - a guess made at the reasons, considering what the Guild paperwork mentioned. She does not seat herself quite yet.

The Veyshanti woman sniffles, dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief once more before looking up at the adventurers who have filed into the room. "Ah, hello. Thank you all for coming." Her accent is an immediate giveaway that she is probably a somewhat recent arrival to the city. "My name is Ferah Rashidin. I have a task I need handled, and I am told that your Guild has experience with matters of this nature." She seems uncertain exactly how to phrase what she says, hesitating for a moment. "There is a ship which plans to leave for Tashraan later this evening. Men have taken my husband on board. I need you to stop this."

Zalara frowns, "Why did they take your husband? What does the ship look like? Does it have a name?" She asks as she starts to check to make sure she has all her contraptions.

Blinking that she is addressed, Fiona offers a nod. “Fiona Eaglehart.” She offers an introduction back. “Ah I ...don’t really have a profession to speak of.” At least not one that is formal. When the woman starts to speak, Fiona gives her all of her attention. Blinking slowly the woman tilts her head. “Very good questions, I didn’t think men got kidnapped though.” the Tsuran continues quietly. “How have they taken your husband? Does he consent to going with them?”

Mel runs a hand through his short hair as he listens to the mission. "I have to ask this, ma'am, because of some confusion before," he begins, his tone hesitant. "Is your husband going along willingly and you want him brought back whether he wants to or not? Or has he actually been kidnapped?" As the names go around, he introduces himself, "Er, just Mel."

Eliathitae is suddenly taken in by the Veyshanti woman's story, not really noticing that the group is taking the time to introduce one another. She reaches her blue gloved hand across the table towards the woman in black's. Elly makes no attempt to take the hand or even touch the woman, just a silent offering of simple tactile comfort and reassurance. The look on the elf's face is one of rather genuine concern.

Ferah looks uncertain how to answer some of the questions being asked, especially the ones about her husband's willingness to be on the ship. "My husband, he... that is to say... he passed away last week." She says, with a very sad expression, reaching for her handkerchief again. "He was a trader. Very successful, sold Veyshanti spices here. The men who took him, they are from his tribe. They want to inherit his profits. I think they plan to do... unwise things to achieve that. They are on a ship called the Marid's Dance. All I wish is for you to return my husband."

Glancing amongst her companions for a moment, Ashlynn settles into a chair in somewhat awkward fashion, where she proceeds to sit in a manner that suggests her spine may not be entirely mobile. Well, either that, or that she's trying to stand at attention while seated.

Her words aren't exactly needed - the relevant questions are being asked by her companions - and so she simply sits there, tight-lipped, listening and churning the information over. The frown remains. It's a fixture.

Fiona blinks at this and then looks at the others, “I would say that is stealing then.” She offers as she blinks lightly. “well I do believe its safe to say his consent won’t be required.” Fiona offers to the others in the group with a weary smile. “ A nervous chuckle is given out. “What..um...What does his casket look like?” Fiona offers, “It might not be the only one on the ship, if they are partial to stealing bodies of persons...”

Eliathitae straightens her already fairly straight posture when the truth of the husband's status comes out. "I-I am so sorry for your loss, Lady Rashidin," offers the sildanyar finally. Elly, being new, leaves it to the others to ask questions and agree to anything. The jurisdiction of the Explorer's Guild is still foreign to her.

Mel ahhhhs, nods slowly, smirking at Fiona's remark. "You want us to bring back his body?" he asks the client, his tone businesslike. "You should have said. That's different." He nods as we're given the ship name, and says, "I'll help. It's not right, taking a man's body to do ... whatever it is they want to do. Bodysnatching's never good. Do you know much about the people besides the name of the ship?" he wonders.

Blinking in slight confusion, Ashlynn's frown grows just a little deeper as Ferah unfolds the story. "Do they have legal right to claim the body?" she speaks finally - doing so after a pause, as if meticulously picking words. A glance is given to the others here for the job, but that is all, for the moment.

Zalara bows her head, "I'm sorry for your lose. Why do they need his body? Shouldn't his inheritance go to his son or something like that?" She asks as she's not sure about the legal ramifications.

"Thank you." Ferah replies quietly to Eliathitae, with genuine gratitude breaking through her grief for a moment. "... The keepers of your city graves said they found the vessel he was to be buried in empty. I had my suspicions immediately, and I spoke to those he sailed with. There is no doubt that they've taken him to their ship and plan to depart in hours." She hesitates again before speaking to Ashlynn. "I... this is difficult to explain. I believe those of his tribe would feel they are justified in doing what they are doing. But he was my husband. I believe your city's laws would not allow this." She retrieves a small slip of paper which she holds out. "I have here the number of the dock where they are berthed. Is there... anything else I need to tell you?" She gives Zalara a long look, nervous again. "... Our customs are very different from yours. If they intend what I believe they intend... nevermind. All that is important is that he is retrieved."

A head tilt, bringing a small crack of the neck from Fiona and then looking from the others in her group for this task to the employer again. “How...” she starts to ask but drifts off as her question is asked and answered. Its obvious that was meant more as an internal question, but its out there now. But now, without a casket to carry the body in Fiona actually grimaces slightly. “OH..” Her lips her pursed, eyes lightly wide as she looks to the others in the group. “The number of the dock would be good..”She says attempting to regain her composure.

"Then I shall help detain them until the matter is sorted." Ashlynn decides after receiving her answer, standing up from the chair and straightening out. That's good enough for her, it seems. Weapons are settled back into place expeditiously.

Mel nods gravely about departing in hours, and says, "I suppose we'd better get a move on, then. We don't want to get there only to see them pulling away." He looks around to the other adventurers, rises from his seat as well.

Eliathitae, given that her first and only excursion on behalf of the Guild of Explorers involved entering into a house in which the house and its normally inanimate furniture and accroutements decided to attack the group, is a bit wary of what precisely the men in question aboard the Marid's Dance intend to do with such a body. It could be anything. Elly looks thoughtful and then sorrowful as she sighs, "In Alexandria, the body of a husband or wife should be the jurisdiction of the next of kin, the widow or widower, as far as I know. But, Lady Rashidin, you are not from here. And you say you know his tribe feels justified. I understand how you feel, and truly feel for your loss of your husband." Her hand is still across the table should Ferah feel a need for it.

       "I know it is hard, but can you tell me what these men intend to do?"

Ferah sniffles a little, hesitating to answer Eliathitae. She does so in a quiet voice. "They have brought a wizard with them. My husband was kin to their chief. In the past, they have sometimes... used magic to prolong life unnaturally, when it is to their benefit. I do not wish to see that happen." She dabs her eyes again. "Now please, if there is nothing else... I wish to be alone."

Zalara frowns a bit as she hears this and she nods a little bit, "Thanks for the information. We'll do our best to get your husbands remains back.

Eliathitae has her brow deeply creased, giving the Veyshanti woman a small if sad smile. "Thank you, Lady Rashidin. I am sorry I had to ask such a difficult question. My name is Eliathitae, or just Elly, by the way." She pauses for a moment and, should the woman in black do nothing and say nothing as she has already suggested she would prefer loneliness, the llyranesi will stand and begin to leave the woman to her solitude.

And so, after making whatever preparations the group wanted to make, they make their way to the docks. It's just a little before sundown by now, and most of the dockhands have finished their duties for the day and have wandered off to the nearest tavern. However, the dock they've been directed to remains abuzz with activity. The Marid's Dance is an impressively sized merchant vessel, with three masts and a large frame which can hold quite a bit of cargo. Dockhands are loading crates up a gangplank while sailors, most of whom look to be Veyshanti, make preparations to cast off. Two large Veyshanti men stand near the gangplank, watching the workers as they load up the ship.

Zalara whistles a little bit as she sees the big ship. "This might be harder than we thought." She eyes the two large men standing near the gangplank. "Hmmm, so how do we find the body?"

� Eliathitae murmurs, "There's something wrong about this. Yes, the husband's body is hers by Alexandrian law. Yes, I feel for the Lady Rashidin. But . . ." The llyranesi does not offer any further insight into her thoughts, furrowing her brow as she too notes the two guards, looking thoughtful.

Mel shrugs to Zalara, and says quietly to the group as we approach the ship, "So how does this work, do we just go up and demand him back? Tell them we've got a writ from the Explorers' Guild? We -could- ask, I think. Or ...?" he trails off uncertainly.

Fiona matches the whistle Zalara lets out. “I think we might have to search.” She offers in reply not so helpfully. “We could always ask them if they have seen any dead bodies lately. Maybe they don’t like them and are willing to help. I can’t imagine he is going to smell all that wonderful...I don’t know if I would want to be trapped on a ship with that.” Looking to Eliathitae, “Well when have you ever known someone to agree to allowing you to have the body of a loved one.” She shrugs. “Um...we can...” She shrugs. “Rum?” She offers and looks at the group.

Having introduced herself to those of her companions she is not familiar with (which, in this case, is most) as Ashlynn, of Gilead's Order of the Silver Arrow, the aforementioned has remained silent during their trek and come to carry an even deeper frown at Elly's sharing of the widow's confession. She's quite displeased about that particular prospect.

"Perhaps they will cooperate." Ashlynn says. There's a certain flatness to her tone, but even she doesn't believe that'll be how things go when individuals willing to employ a necromancer are involved.

Eliathitae looks at the others assembled. "I can try speaking to them, saying that we've heard word that a body has been reported somewhere upon these docks and that the Mourners seek it, but such would alert them?"

Zalara hmms as she looks around, "Maybe we can sneak on when they load up the cargo and sneak in that way."

The two standing guard continue to observe the workers load crates. They wear chainmail and have cutlasses sheathed at their belts, so it's probably safe to say they're there to keep people from boarding without permission.

"The law is on our side, and we must gain access." Ashlynn says, frowning (ain't that new!) at the two guards. Clearly, subtlety is something that does not generally cross her mind. "They may see reason in letting us past." Or they may have to be beaten to a pulp. One or the other!

Fiona motions for Ashlynn to take point them. “Well lets attempt reason them.” She offers and looks at the others, “Who wants to talk to them?I am not very good at people really liking what I say sometimes.”

Eliathitae takes a breath and steps forward. "I may attempt. But, the question is, what not to say?"

Eliathitaesighs, the coppery-blond braid of hers over her right shoulder and falling in front of her. "I can do as I said previously, if no other have any ideas."

“Well I would assume the question of “hey have you seen any dead bodies walking around.” Might cause them to look at us oddly.” Fiona points out. “Maybe.also don't mention we will be looting their boat. That might cause a bit of anger.”

Mel looks around to the others, nodding to Ashlyn and Fiona about trying reason. "I might have some luck at this," he says, and steps forward towards the two guards. "Good evening, gentlemen," he begins. "If I can speak to you a moment, we need to talk to whoever's in charge of cargo."

Eliathitae blinks her blue eyes repeatedly at Fiona. "I . . . will do my best to endeavour to avo --" and then Mel is walking up to the guards. "Oh."

The two men exchange looks with each other before looking at Mel and the rest of the adventurers behind him. One of them steps a little closer. "The captain is making ready to cast off. If you have a message for him, I can bring it to him." He says simply.

Ashlynn follows in step with the more... socially-inclined members of the party, simply looming over the group and falling back to the role of a bodyguard, a role she's familiar enough with. She - blessedly - keeps her mouth shut for the moment, allowing those with more glib tongues to do the talking.

Eliathitae steps forward without discussing things, "I understand that the captain is prepared to cast off. There has been sightings of illegal cargo on these docks and we are doing routine checks before any ship may cast off. I am sure your Captain received such information from the dockmaster?"

Zalara hmms a little bit as she watches Mel go up to talk to the guards. She follows along behind as the others go although she looks all over for a way to get in without the two guards noticing.

Mel looks back to the others when the guards deny us access, then turns back to the guards. "One piece of your cargo ..." He cuts off when Elly speaks up, then follows up, "Sorry this comes at the last minute, you know how these things go. We'll be as fast as we can," he offers helpfully.

The guard looks back over his shoulder at the other one, who shrugs. The first guard looks back at the adventurers. "... Let me go get the Captain. Maybe he'll speak with you." He turns to head back up the gangplank alongside one of the dockhands. The remaining guard stays where he is, now watching the group with a touch of curiosity. "You are... inspectors?" He looks rather dubious about this.

Eliathitae nods, straightening her posture as if she's been doing this a million times. "Yes, from the Guild of Explorers. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for the reports of the cargo. We just want to get this over with so we can all go home."

Fiona makes her way behind everyone and looks around. Biting her lower lip she goes up to her toes to see if she can see anything on the ship. Nodding at whatever the others say she looks to the boat to see if anyone is watching them.

Mel looks relieved that they're going to get the captain. If nothing else, we can waylay him and these two and have our run of the ship. To the remaining guard, he attempts to marry up Elly's comment and some sort of official position by saying, "Yes, we're contracted out by the Explorers' Guild. They do a bit of everything there. But yes, we're here as inspectors."

Zalara hmmms as she wanders off a little bit to watch the cargo being loaded. She hmmms softly as she tests a couple of crates to see if they are sturdy or could be open easily.

Ashlynn, for her part, uses her superior height to keep an eye on the cargo-loading process, without offering a single word. She remains at Mel's and Eliathitae's side, as straight-backed and frown-ridden as ever. She'll likely get wrinkles from that at some point, likely sooner than anyone rightly should.

"Huh." The guard replies. He doesn't exactly seem to be one for conversation. After another couple minutes, the guard returns. This time, he's followed by an even larger, more imposing Veyshanti fellow. Judging by his very large hat and beard, as well as his expensive-looking scimitar, it's probably a fair guess that this man is the captain. While he looks mostly human, his eyes are entirely white: no iris, no pupils, probably a hint at some distant nonhuman ancestry. He appears somewhat irritated, stomping right up to the front of the group. "You are inspectors?" He asks, in the same accent Ferah had. "We were inspected just earlier today. All taxes were paid. What is the meaning of this?" He asks, scowling.

Now, the adventurers do seem to have attracted some attention. A few more armed sailors have come to the edge of the ship, watching the captain storm out. With them is a figure in a darkly colored robe, with a hood obscuring his face.

Fiona moves to help Zalara start looking over boxes. There is little she can do to help with the speaking part of this, but at least she can make it look like she is really inspecting cargo. Leaning down she sniffs a few boxes and wrinkles her nose. She looks at the others and then at the Captain before looking back at Zalara. She falls quiet as she can looking around her.

Eliathitae does her best to sigh exasperatingly, tossing her braid over her back with an irritated look to her blue eyes. "Look, captain, we all have places we need to be. The normal inspectors have already been around this morning, that's normal. Do we look like normal inspectors to you? It's a temporary action in place simply because of the reports of some illegal cargo that has been floating around. Fortunately, this is a rare occurence that the Guild of Explorers is called out, but here we are. If you'll just let us have our look, we'll be on our way."

Mel stands up before the captain and suppresses a wince as Elly continues with that bluff. He says, "We're sorry about the confusion, Captain, we're here not here about the taxes, as she says. We're here about one particular piece of cargo. You have a body on board, a Mister Rashidin, who needs to come off before you get underway. If you can help us out, we'll be out of here lickety-split, we don't want to impact your schedule.”

Zalara looks back at the others and she winces as she hears Mel just tell why they are here. She moves her hand towards her death ray and she makes sure she has some over behind the crate.

Ashlynn's eyes flick away from the cargo as an audience begins to build, and thus the tension rises all around. Someone may do the foolish thing and draw a weapon, and if it happens, she'd rather be ready for it. The robed figure gets no more attention than the rest of the sailors, though - articles of clothing, no matter how dark, should not rightly be indication of morality.

The captain scowls at Eliathitae. Well, probably at Eliathitae. The unusual nature of his eyes makes it a little difficult to tell exactly where he's looking. "We have no illegal cargo. All we have are Alexandrian lumber and grain. I would never trade in narcotics or other contraband." When Mel asks the question more directly, his eyebrows rise. "Rashidin is my family name. My brothers and I own this ship. I think you are mistaken, friend."

Fiona blinks at this and then sighs lightly. She makes her way back to the ones speaking. “Do you have a wife? Ferah..” She wonders now. Her head tilts to the side as she looks the captain over a bit closer now. “Or a sister in law..”

Eliathitae is momentarily taken off-guard, blinking, but decides to wait for Captain Rashidin's response to Fiona's sudden question about Ferah's relation before she makes any efforts one way or another.

Mel ahhhs as the captain identifies himself. "I see. If you've only got lumber and grain, then there won't be any bodies on your cargo manifest? You won't mind if we take a quick look, of course? Just so we can all say that we've done so." Although, the guy in the robes does tweak his suspicious streak. Now we have to look for Zombie crewmen also?

Zalara continues to pretend to look at the cargo and she glances over towards the others to see how they are doing talking to the captain.

"Of course. My brothers and I are all married." The captain replies. There is a pause, then a little grin appears on his face, displaying a prominent gold tooth. "Ah. You have been sent here by Ferah, yes? She has grown too used to your decadent Alexandrian lifestyle. How she tried to talk Qitar into delaying the voyage. Please, pay her no mind." He gives Mel a little glare. Maybe. "Again, your city's inspectors already checked our manifest when we paid our taxes. Grain and lumber, nothing else. My brother is quite busy making preparations to cast off. And if there is nothing further, I should join him." He turns as if intending to head back up the gangplank.

“Why don’t we come on...we can chat with him while he works. and JUST before you pull the ah..” Fiona motions to the gangplank. “Planky board thing away from the dock, we slip off. Please..listen we were hired to do a job. Just like you, Some of us have card games to get back to.” She beams to the captain. “We can carry on a few boxes.” She motions to the cargo. “Help you out, Help us out, questions get answered, you get under way.”

Mel will follow the captain up the plank as if he were invited aboard. "Indeed, sir, the manifest was checked. But the cargo was not searched. You see, his body is missing, and it may be aboard. The more quickly you let us on, the more quickly we can inspect and determine that he is not on board." He's oh, so helpful.

Eliathitae follows Mel, looking as resolute as she can manage. "I know it is a frustration, Captain, but we do still have to follow our orders and inspect each ship on behalf of the Guild of Explorers for the illegal cargo, as my colleague says. Your men can continue about their work. We will only be a short while. I am sure all you have is lumber and grain."

The captain pauses for a moment, midway up the gangplank. He looks back over his shoulder in Eliathitae's general direction for a moment, then looks at his guards, "... Very well. I shall show you to him. He is below decks. Follow me." He gestures to his guards, who edge to the side to allow the group to pass. The figure in the hooded robe, along with the other sailors on deck, likewise move aside to allow the group to follow the captain.

Ashlynn is growing more suspicious of the situation by the minute. A glance is given to Eliathitae - a questioning one, the woman clearly placing a lot of faith into the priestess' wisdom. She stomps right after the pair going up the gangplank - remaining behind them to guard their backs, as necessary, but not butting in on the conversation. It seems she trusts them with it fully, for the moment.

Fiona moves quickly up the plank behind the others. She narrows her eyes at the captain and sighs. She shakes her head slowly and starts to look around the ship as they go up the plank onto the ship. “Thankyou Captain.” She offers quietly.

Eliathitae follows quietly, keeping her suspicions to herself. She looks over her shoulder to Ashlynn and gives her a bit of a frown without saying a word. "I hope we have not wasted your time. I was really hoping to be done this before sundown, and there are still more ships to do."

Zalara hmms as she's not really good at telling when other's are lying or not. She does keep her death ray handy as she continues to look around.

And so, the adventurers head below decks, following the captain. He wordlessly leads them down past the first deck, where the sailors have their hammocks. Then down through the second deck, packed with crate after crate of the ship's cargo. He leads the crew straight down to the darkest, deepest recesses of the ship, the bottom-most hold. Oddly, it seems to have been converted into a cabin of sorts. There's a bed and a desk, where a hunched figure with white hair scribbles at a ledger. "Qitar? You have visitors." The captain calls, gesturing for the adventurers to descend the stairs.

Mel finds it wildly suspicious that this guy is both alive and locked way down here. With an eye to not getting the door slammed and locked in the bottom of the hold ... why -is- this guy stuck here rather than in a regular cabin, or helping out on deck ... with an eye to not getting locked down, he stands at the top of the stairs and calls out, "Mister Rashidin? Your wife Ferah sent us to bring you home. You can come with us."

Eliathitae does not say a word, still silently dreading the moment her first non-truth in a dangerous situation especially will strike them down or worse. She barely suppresses her own internal grimace. She is keeping her eye out now, leaving it to Mel to field this since he has already started.

Fiona turns to look at the door of the room, attempting to make sure that no one is going to come up behind them any time soon. “Please.” She adds to Mel’s statement.

Nodding slightly at Eliathiatae as if to indicate she's got her back, Ashlynn follows the group down, down into the bowels of the ship. The hunched figure is eyed critically - and so is the captain, for a moment - the woman remaining as tense as the string on her bow. Something funny is going on here. She's not certain what, but something is, and by the Gods she will find out what!

... Eventually. Ashlynn's methods are more reminiscent of an angry bull charging and smashing a wooden gate - and that just leaves a whole lot of gate-bits lying around, as well as an angry gate-owner. It's better, thus, to let the more talkative ones try their, more subtle methods first.

Zalara hmms as she looks down at the person if you can still call it that. She does not like undead and she looks back to the captain, "What did you do to him?"

When the adventurers call out to him, the hunched figure by the desk slowly turns around to face them. It's immediately apparent that something is wrong. While his clothing is of fine quality, his face is nearly skeletal. His mouth hangs open, and his eyes have been replaced with dim glowing red lights. The creature is clearly undead.

In the same moment, the captain draws his scimitar, pointing it at the adventurers. The two guards have followed him at a distance and now file in behind him. The three of them effectively block the stair back up to the deck above. Further back is the shadowy figure in the hooded cloak, who was lurking up on deck earlier. The captain now speaks in a low, grim tone. "Remove your weapons slowly. Live slaves are worth more than dead ones, but you will be struck down if you resist.

Eliathitae tries, again, the peaceful way out of this. "Captain, with all due respect, we are members of the Guild of Explorers. Even were you to take us prisoner, what makes you think you will even get out of this city?"

Mel acks when the zombie fellow looks up. "Ah, I see you don't want to be disturbed," he says flatly, nudging the hatch back closed with his foot, "sorry to have bothered you." When the captain's scimitar comes out, his hands go straight up over his head. No heroics here, no sir. At the command to remove weapons slowly, he complies, and comes forward to hand his sheathed sword to one of the guards. "Ah, I'm good with being alive, sir," he offers helpfully. Though if he can get close enough, he's going try to pop one of them in the face with a sucker punch.

Fiona sighs deeply. “Alive is the way I prefer...” She says as she starts to go for her weapons. She doesn’t take them off of her yet, “And I am not resisting, but perhaps you would like to make a deal...” She offers.

It's only Eliathitae's words that stop Ashlynn from immediatelly howling a warcry and cleansing what is clearly an abomination from the face of Gaea. Instead, with the priestess of Althea speaking, the archer-woman halts herself abruptly - twitching, once, as she battles to quell the urge. One can hear her teeth grinding.

The captain chuckles darkly, the sound echoed by his two minions. "We'll be casting off in minutes. Your slow Alexandrian ships will have no chance to catch us by the time they realize you're missing." He quickly points his blade at Mel. "Stay back. And remove your weapons. I won't ask again." The undead creature lurches as if intending to stand from his seat. The hooded figure raises a hand to it, and it settles back down while making an unsettling moaning sound.

Eliathitae raises her chin as the captain (and his minions) laugh. Anyone who's watching closely enough will note she's shaking. Elly attempts to continue the route of peace all the same, "Clearly you recognise my robes, my armour, and my shield. You know I am a priestess and this . . . abomination does not frighten me, if I am armed or no. There are more of us than you. We said we are envoys of the Guild of Explorers. The Guild will send more. Even if you sell us into slavery, we will be found and you will be punished."

Mel steps back for the moment as the captain points the blade at him. "Sorry, sorry, I'm not doing anything, nosir!" He thinks a moment. "Apart from removing my weapons. That's what I'm doing." Though he's not really doing it very efficiently. He'll play for time to see how Elly's words take them.

Zalara takes out her death ray and she starts to power it up. She aims it right for the captain and his goons, "Now you can either get out of here or I can blast a hole in you and your ship. We'll take the dead guy with us too."

The captain narrows his eerily white eyes when Zalara draws a weapon. "... Very well then. We'll do this the hard way." He then scowls at Eliathitae. "Let's see if your faith will protect you!" The other guards draw their scimitars, the cloaked figure raises his hands, and the undead fellow rises from his seat. Clearly, things are about to get ugly.

Mel groans inwardly as the weapons come out. Of course they were going to be fighting anyhow, but he would have rather it not been quite like this. He has a half-step jump on the situation, though, having been ready for things to work out this way, and he dodges past the captain and the guards, before they can quite change from threatening to fighting. He lashes out at the evil priestly fellow with his shortsword, and wounds him, but fails to bring him down with the surprise attack. "Uhoh," he groans, and prepares for the worst.

Fiona moves quickly, almost as quickly as Mel. Rapier and dagger are drawn as she moves with Mel to get close to the cloaked figure. she swings at the man, missing him wildly as she does. Grumbling she mutters and looks at her rapier.

The captain's milky eyes narrow in anger as he whirls around, slashing Mel with his drawn blade. Fortunately he only scores a shallow cut, but it's painful all the same. The cloaked figure staggers back, his hood falling away. He resembles the captain, with the same oddly white eyes. His head has been shaved, and his beard trimmed to a goatee. The undead figure at the desk lurches forward, reaching out to strike Eliathitae with a curled fist, striking with surprising force.

"DEFILERS!" Ashlynn howls as hell finally breaks loose - the first sign of true, unhindered emotion to her beyond her usual frowning. "Your own kin!" she continues, clearly affronted, as the bow is slung off her shoulder and proverbially flies into hand. An arrow is drawn, the tip pointed without hesitation at the undead menacing the priestess - and unleashed, let to spear through drying, dead flesh, where it sticks with a dull thud.

Eliathitae was not ready for the punch from the zombie, her shield not quite readied as she takes the punch of the undead in the side of the face. Stunned for a moment and not even attempting to pull her longsword, she immediately prays to the Blessed Lady, drawing forth energy through her training specifically to harm the undead, especially that one who just bruised her face. "I said, I do not fear this creature!"

The bald-headed man in the cloak sputters and recoils, the effect of the assault leaving him unable to act for the moment. The scimitar-wielding men seem to have focused on Mel as the greatest threat, surrounding him and swinging wildly. One scores a blow to his chest, adding another deep cut to the unfortunate fellow.

Zalara activates her titan armor and her octagon shaped backpack lights up as the thin metal plates emerge from it and move around her body to protect her. She flips the switch on her death ray to it's frost setting and she fires at the necromancer. The only shot she had was a glancing blow, but it hurts the bald necromancer and the cold energy of the ray manages freeze him almost solid. The death ray starts it's recharge cycle as it lets out a blast of steam.

The wizard, while recoiling, manages to cough out a magical phrase. He reaches out to grab Mel's arm, giving Fiona the opportunity to cut him again. An electircal arc pulses out, leaving Mel with another burn.

Mel franticly evades the blades flashing all around. There's a couple close calls where sharp steel skitters across his mail shirt, but he avoids taking a killing blow. He's not happy to be where he is, but he's had worse. He sees the priest trying to cast a spell, and slashes wildly with his blade, but can't connect, and when the man grabs him and jolts him, he screams in pain. But he has enough presence of mind left to hack at the fellow with his blade again, and this time, he strikes the man down. Mel is left crispy and a little dazed.

“MEL!” Fiona screams and quickly moves as he is scorched by the spell. She flips into position with one of the guards and takes a swing with her rapier again. Cursing as she misses. “We have to...” She starts out and starts to cuss at her rapier. “Work darn it.”

The captain sneers, white eyes practically glowing red with rage. "Brother!" He lashes out to cut Mel once again in angry retribution for felling the bald fellow, drawing enough blood to drop the rogue to the floor. He quickly whirls around, teeth gritted with rage. Meanwhile, the undead horror moans with anguish and anger, lashing out to strike again at the priestess. It swings twice, both blows going wide.

Drawing arrow after arrow with practised ease and speed - not to mention the fury of a Gileadite battling an undead - Ashlynn unleashes the projectiles upon the shambling corpse. The sounds of the impacts are unsettling as the arrows embed in its torso, joining the first, and each makes the abomination wobble - but it keeps going, being shot or not.

Zalara takes aim at the captain as the necromancer goes down and so does Mel. She narrows her eyes as the death ray finishes recharging and she fires the icy beam at the captain. It hits and hurts him,b ut he's able to avoid the chilling effects of her ray.

With Mel downed, the guards turn back around to face their nearest foe: Fiona. Both step forward and swing their blades at her, once of them scoring a blow that leaves her with a painful looking gash.

Eliathitae cries out as Mel goes down, and again focuses on bringing more energy from the Healer, this time instead working on trying to heal the living so they can fight longer. "No! Mel! Come back to me, come on . . ." murmurs she as she apparently doesn't have too much energy to draw.

Fiona screams as she is hit. She moves quickly, rapier flickering first, then dagger. The rapier draws about as much blood as the man drew on her and she growls out. “HOLD STILL so I can stab you.”

The captain now joins his minions in the attack on Fiona, although his strike is easily deflected. Meanwhile, the horrible undead Qitar is still trying to grab ahold of Eliathitae, making horrible noises all the while.

"Dishonorable lout! You who would make abominations of your own blood! And with no courage to face an enemy in equal combat, you fall upon the meekest in a swarm like a rat!" Ashlynn bellows at the captain, words punctuated by adding to the arrow collection upon Qitar. The final one pierces deep until only the feathers remain on the side it was shot from - and with a final unnatural moan, the undead collapses upon the floorboards.

While one of the guards seems to be having a great deal of difficulty scoring a blow, the one who Fiona struck has no difficulty striking back. He slashes at her angrily, scoring a much deeper cut across her torso.

Zalara continues to keep her aim trained on the captain as the death ray finishes recharging. She fires a stream of cold energy trying to freeze the captain to the bone, but so far he's proven able to outlast her cold.

When Mel wakes up, Fiona moves quickly, Her rapier and dagger flickering again at her foe. She lets out a scream of challenge hoping they won’t see that her friend is threatening them. She is hit again, it causes her to let out a scream in pain, “I COULD USE A LITTLE GOD TOUCHING RIGHT NOW..” She calls out. “Please!!”

"My brothers!" Shouts the captain, white eyes nearly red with rage. He slashes at Fiona, but his blow goes wide. Very wide. Really, it's almost embarassing.

Mel grunts woozily as he comes around, weak and shaky as conscious returns, just barely, and he finds himself on the bloody deck of the ship. Looking around, he realizes he hasn't been shipped off, that the fight is still ongoing! He quickly takes stock of the situation, shouting to try and get the one guy's attention off Fiona, at least for that critical moment. Buoyed with hope as she tags the fellow, Mel tries to finish him off, but misjudges his attack because of the blood loss and the fact that he's still on the ground. Whoa, the world is spinning! Eyes rolling back, he flops back onto the ground.

"Turn around, slaver! Turn around and face justice!" shouts Ashlynn - and she says it with conviction, in spite of it sounding like it came straight from some religious scripture or a cheap hero novel.

Alas, the arrows she punctuates the challenge with... one embeds into the wood of the hull and vibrates there, and the other just ruffles the tip of the feather upon the captain's hat in its fly-by.

Eliathitae despite her difficulties with healing before, as the combat grows more dire, so does the Blessed Lady's heed to her call. She is standing almost over top of Mel as she again calls forth that positive energy, managing just enough control to have it not affect the damaged living opponents.

Zalara continues to aim at the Captain and this time she manages to hit him where it hurts. The cold injures him badly and he feels the cold all the way down to his bones. She smirks if he's going to ignore her she's gonna keep firing at him.

One of the guards, the one that was doing all the talking earlier, certainly seems to be a more gifted combatant than the other one. Despite his wounds, he lunges forward with increasing rage. He lands a solid cut right at Fiona's neck, a painful and very dangerous injury.

Mel wakes up again, only moments later, still prone, but realizing that he's not much use that way. And once he realizes it, he checks himself for injuries quickly, and when he works out that his entrails aren't dragging across the deck, he crawls away to get clear of the fighting before standing up.

When the captain goes wide, Fiona grins at him. She moves quickly, attempting to finish off the guard that had been attacking her. A warm feeling of good touching comes to her body. Flowing through her and closing the wounds. “OOOh Bless you.” She calls out to the priest. Then she is smacked hard, by one of the guards. She growls and narrows her eyes at him. She is not going to go down without a fight. Lunging forward her rapier goes through the man, Her action having profit as she falls he falls with her.

The captain howls in anguish at the loss of his brothers and his loyal guardsman, lashing out with another strike at Fiona. Or maybe it was meant to be a strike at Eliathitae. The lack of pupils and his generally poor swordsmanship are making it somewhat difficult to tell what his intended target actually was.

Ashlynn decides that words aren't going through the red haze that is the captain's mind. She decides, thus, to focus on making her point a little pointier - with, in fact, two separate points. The ones on the arrowtips. Both the arrows she sights down and lets loose embed themselves in the captain - one in the back, another in the side - and the man's rage subsides only because he falls to his knees, and then the floor in a puddle of crimson, his sword clattering to rest beside him.

Zalara watches Ashlynn take down the captain and she frowns, kill stealer. She takes aim at the last guard and she fires her death ray at it. The icy cold beam freezes the guard in place and he falls over dead. She looks around, "Let's get the corpse and go."

Eliathitae begins going about touching the captain, necromancer, and guards, ensuring that none of them die. She then goes about healing the remainder of her group, quietly but resolutely stating, "They must all see justice. Mel, Fiona, are you two okay?"

As the last of the men drops and silence falls over the hold, Ashlynn packs up her weapons and marches, silently, to the still-living, if mortally wounded, captain and his men and gets to work trying to stop the erratic flow of blood from their wounds, starting with the one wounded the worst. Her hands move in a way that suggests she's had some training with this... though not too much of it. Perhaps she's just trying to say she's tried. There is to be little mercy beyond that for them.

Fiona comes to with a gasp. She was starting down that tunnel with a light at the end and seeing your life flash before her eyes, apparently she didn’t get far past infancy because she was almost sucking her thumb. “I LOVE you...” she offers to Eliathitae, “Not weird love, but more the love of I love the healthy touches you do.” Fiona slowly sits up and grumbles. “That...hurt worse then a dagger to the pinky.”

Mel manages to pick himself up as the others take down the captain and his guards. "Um, are we all okay? Well, alive anyhow?" He cleans off his blade on a rag and sheaths it, nodding to Elly. "I'll live, thanks. Big thanks," he says with a small groan. "This is going to be complicated, though. How are we going to get off the ship? And are we taking this guy? What about the guards? Can we call for the watch? Making undead has to be illegal, right? They should be able to arrest them for real."

Eliathitae nods to Mel, her brow still resolute if sweat-soaked as she likely is stabilising another downed combatant. "Necromancy is certainly illegal in Alexandria. Seems it is not in other places. I will tend to these men. Can someone get to the dock and alert the Watch?" Given Mel and Fiona's injured states, her eyes fall on Ashlynn - assuming the archer can likely hold her own somewhat in combat - or at least be intimidating!

"The ship cannot sail without its captain." Ashlynn says, releasing the cloth she'd wound tightly about the slashed-open leg of one of the unconscious guards to stop the torrential pour of blood from the laceration. A nod of thanks is given to Eliathitae when she arrives to make certain the quartet live. "One must go summon the Watch and the priesthood. Others can remain to stand guard." she suggests.

And so, the adventurers emerge from below decks with the subdued captain and his guards, along with the necromancer and the corpse of the poor widow's reanimated husband. The crew is shocked, but nobody seems to want to stop the adventurers after they already defeated the toughest they had to offer. Needless to say, the City Watch is very interested in what the group has to say. The captain and his officers are locked away in jail, facing charges of necromancy, attempted murder, slaving, and kidnapping, and a whole host of other offenses. It seems unlikely that they will see freedom again.

Ferah, while distraught to hear that her husband was indeed reanimated by his brothers, is relieved that the adventurers were able to put him to rest again. It also makes it much easier for her to claim ownership of the Marid's Dance, which she promptly does. A reward is paid to the group, and they are thanked for making Alexandria a safer place once again.