Having been listening into the conversation, Ohmen see’s his time to step in, somewhat gracefully. “For now, I have little to prove in hunting these so-called ‘Crimson Orcs’ Other than simple retribution and the faint promise of payment by some other means if such is ever to arise… But I for one hold the skills sought… Skills I wish to hone. So yes… Yes we do.” A slight smile of mixed, hard to define intention fits its way into the travellers’ expression as they speak.
Nodding to Garutis with a smile the traveller responds slowly and calmly, hoping it would help their words get across to him. ‘Very well, I am glad you could find a use for much of the beast… So it may find its way back into the cycle of things, every last part of it to be put to use and valued… So how much of it do you have remaining? And are you willing to part with a portion of it?
Shiro pushes to his feet. "Well, I will try to do something useful and find out from Eugene if he has any information about the Orcs that could help us work out what is happening or where they are." With that he exits the tavern and heads back to the ship to find him.
Izema. Finishing up your fish, you wander over to the docks and examine the ships in dock. There are actually two sets of docks. One on land, and one set in the water. You... don't really know why this is. At the moment, Moonsister and Spinrifter are at the water docks, along with another wooden-hulled ship that is larger than Moonsister. A Galleon, perhaps? Another dock has a strange, fish-like ship, and the farthest water-dock has... well, it looks like an enormous turtle. There is also some activity at the land-docks. Two ships that look like stylized wasps are on either side of one dock. The next dock over has one that looks like a dragonfly. Meanwhile, Drakk and Ohmen pair up and prepare to try asking around town. As Shiro heads towards Spinrifter, he notices Izema standing near the base of the docks. Eugene is not hard to find. The illithid is currently standing at the base of the dock holding Spinrifter, talking to the kobold port authority. Several large crates have been moved onto the docks, and the authority is inspecting the contents. As you approach, the illithid smiles at you. <Hello, Shiro. I do not think your services will be required at the moment. Do you need anything?> As you ask him about the red-orcs, the illithid flinches! <Oh. Yes. I am guessing you have not run into the scro before?> When you say no, Eugene thinks for a moment, but the tentacles surrounding his "mouth" are twitching wildly. <Hmm. I am a little busy right now. I will meet you in the inn for lunch, and can tell you about them then?> Ohmen, the harbormaster's office is a smaller building. It has five rooms, three of which you can see from the entrance. Most of the entry room is taken up by the main office and waiting room. At the moment, there is only one kobold present. Stepping over to that kobold's desk, you clear your throat. Glancing up from a large book, the kobold smiles nervously at you, but grows much happier upon seeing Drakk. It exchanges a quick word in Draconic with Drakk, before switching to Trader's Tongue. "Good morning. What can I do for you?" It only takes you a moment to lay out your query. Bringing one hand up, the kobold scratches her chin with one claw and frowns. "Red orcs? Sker-row? Hmm. Yes, we know a little about them. They were leading the raid that took all of our sheep and burned down one of the warehouses. We do not know a lot about them, only that they claim to be the ultimate leaders of the humanoid races. They hate elves and think that non-humans who are not helping them are against them. Not much help, I know, but that is what we know."
Shiro thanks Eugene and agrees to meet him for lunch in the tavern. As he walks away he mentally notes the anxiety shown when Eugene mentioned them and resolves to get to the heart of the matter at lunchtime. He remembers seeing Izema and, smiling, walks up to him. Ever since the exchange the first night while purchasing goods, Shiro feels at ease with Izema. He briefs Izema about what is happening with the rest of the party members and asks him if he has any information himself.
Garutis, bored with the lack of combat decides to use some of the inedible parts of the bisonic. Sharpening some of the longer bones garutis makes deadly points, then he ties them with a bit of fiver he has collected. Finally for bait, the horn of a bisonic. The tension of when the horn is touched will cause the two points to swing down onto the unsuspecting prey. Garutis sets this trap in an between two trees near the residential area of town. Hopefully he will catch a caay-t or child-ewren, whatever those things are
After telling Izema what is happening, Shiro decides to go and ask the crew of one of the wasp vessels if they know anything. He sets off for the land docks to do this.
Garutis, you set your trap and wait. However, the only thing that comes close to your trap is a strange bird with brown-speckled feathers. You think it is a 'chik-kin?' It does not trip your trap and eventually walks away. You consider chasing it, but you really want to see if your trap catches anything. As a side note, it does not. Shiro, meeting up with Izema, you decide to head towards the wasp-ships to ask around. When you approach, you find the ships surrounded by kobolds unloading cargo. Most of it is crates of some sweet-scented fruits and net-bags full of small, red berries. For a moment, as you approach, it looks like the crew of the wasp-ship are especially large kobolds! But as you get closer, it turns out that they are lizardmen of some kind! They have blunter muzzles, larger teeth, and stand about the height of a human. They have an unusual kind of 'hair' on their heads made of some kind of soft spines that tend to droop down, surrounding a narrow 'fin'-like protrusion. The ones around this ship wear an odd scale-mail armor crafted from some kind of shiny laminated wood. They wear jewelry crafted of gold - bracelets, torcs, and unusual head-pieces, all in a strange style you have not seen before. Most of them have multi-colored beads slid onto those 'hair-spines,' and several have feathers, dyed bright hues, adorning their clothing and armor. [DM's note - NO, not Aztec style. Incan or perhaps Olmec might be closer, blended with some sort of Polynesian culture, perhaps? I will leave it to your imagination.] As you come closer, one of these lizardmen look at you and holds up a hand in the universal sign for 'stop.' He - or maybe she, it is hard to tell - makes an odd clicking sound at you. When you do not reply, he/she sighs and switches to Trader's Tongue. "Apologies," he/she says. "Unloading of freight is happening, do not come closer. Should you desire to speak, go back to the wet-docks to the ship shaped like the great sky-turtle. You will find Nazqua there. He will answer your questions." (Yes, I went there. MUAHAHAHAHA... )
Garutis, furious that the trap attracted nothing, attaches a bag full of lucky yellow rocks (out of character, it’s a bag of gold) to the trap. A chick-in is simply not worth the effort, so hopefully something will fall for the bait. Garutis can wait, and in the bishes he begins playing tic tac toe against himself. Shockingly even going as player one he loses.
It does not take long before your bag attracts attention. While you are playing your game, there is a click and a whoosh, but no thud. A moment later, a kobold wearing clothing kind of like Drew's walks past you, carrying your bag of lucky yellow rocks.
Garutis realized he gravely miscalculated his potential foe, and in an act of spite readies a heavy rock and throws at the fool who dared to activate his trap without being impaled....
Shiro and Izema walk towards the docks to find Naqua. There are raised voices from somewhere nearby... with some very childish insults being thrown around... wait... was that Garutis?! Shiro sighs, rolls his eyes and continues on to the docks with Izema.
Two docks from the turtle-ship, you see a kobold standing at the end of the dock standing on a suspiciously familiar bag. He or she is shouting insults back towards the town. From the sound of it, the kobold is in an insult-match with Garutis.... and winning...
Before you can say or do anything, Garutis comes charging out of the town waving his axe. He stomps down the dock, an angry look on his face. For about twenty feet. As the kobold brings his hands up to his ears and taunts the neanderthal, the dock suddenly drops out from under Garutis' feet! He tries to catch himself, but drops, feet-first, into the water under the dock! With a grunting thud, his feet drop, and his arms and chest stay above! As he dangles down through the hole, the kobold walks up to him, tweaks his nose, and jumps over the gap back to shore. "Nice doing business with you!" he shouts as he runs away.
At the end of the dock, the kobold laughs and pauses. "Oh, and big guy? THAT is how you make a TRAP!"
Grumbling and wet, Garutis returns to shore. Heading over to his trap, he notes that it was set off... by what appears to be the head of a sheep...
Shiro gives the dock with the sunken Neanderthal a wide berth and arrives at the Turtle. He tries to get someone's attention. "Hello?"
In the meantime, Shiro and Izema continue on their way to the turtle ship. Walking down the dock, a similar frenzy of activity is taking place around it, but they're unloading the crates into rowboats and not onto the dock. Looking on from the end of the dock are a trio of lizardmen. Two are obviously guards, tall and powerfully built. They have more of that armor you saw, and carry halberds with ornately crafted stone heads! You don't understand how they do not break from use, but a shimmer of magic surrounds the heads. Sitting between them is an older lizardman. He has a scroll in one hand, a quill in the other, and is marking off things every time a crate or box is removed from the hold. As you approach, the guards glare at you. The seated lizard, however, looks to his left and takes stock of the two of you. "Good nooning," he says in accented Trader's Tongue. "Can I help you?"
"Good afternoon merchant, may Law find you a way." Shiro is obviously trying his best to be civil and friendly. "My associates and I are looking to do something about the Red Orc marauders near this settlement. Would you be able to pass on any information about their whereabouts? Or anything about them?"