Misscliks: Pirate Edition: Chapter 2 Episode 4

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==Recap==
===Day 199, Part 2: Shit Happens===
Nov 28 1570, Town of Barton. Lily brings Brack back to the ship to show off her Rope Trick (EL: Brack may be into bondage. Just sayin). Brack climbs the rope into the extradimensional makeout zone. December seems intent that Brack should join the crew.
Brack has a... bout of nervous bowels as he leans in to kiss Lily, gassing up the space, and quickly excuses himself from the pocket, followed by Lily. He starts to leave the ship.
The group encourages Lily to go after Brack, cause they need him for the note. So she runs after him, and tries to patch things up. He agrees to indirectly see Lily the next day at his shop.
===Day 200: A Pearl In Arms===
Nov 28 1570 Morning comes, and the crew goes to the Mechanic's shop to get their ballista repairs under way. (EL: I.. we lost track of the broken ballista. Roll with it.) He says he can shift his schedule around for more money when the girls ask. They arrange a time to meet on the BanaNARS.
Lily is harbouring feelings for Brack, and doesn't want to use him. She's okay with the others using him though.
Fe goes to speak to a jeweller about Black Pearls. She does eventually find one who's willing to sell a black pearl. Course, he's not looking to part with it for cheap. Some haggling back and forth, they settle on a price - 9000g. Fe pays 8542, December and Lily both giving 229g to help out. (EL: Fe is tapped out, for the moment.). The transaction complete, the jeweller shuts up shop for the day after the ladies leave. (EL: Fe now has 3 of the 5 ingredients for her brother's cure.)
The party splits up. (EL: There's a sentence that never goes wrong, right?) Fe returns to the BanaNARS to meet with the ballista engineer; Lily goes after 'her dwarf', December decides to tail the jeweller and see if he goes anywhere. Avacyn plays bodyguard for the halfling.
December cases out the Jeweller's shop, finding no back entrance, and takes up post in a caFe across the street, relaxing with wine and keeping an eye on the door. She drops a gold on the table and keeps the wine coming with pastries.
Fe meets the ballista engineer aboard the BanaNARS; he estimates a day and a half to complete the work, but there's a 4-day waiting period. He says 80g for parts and labour; to expedite it, 400g. He takes half down payment, and sends on his men.
Meanwhile, back at the goldsmith's, Lily strikes up more smalltalk with Brack, talking about their businesses and happiness. The conversation peters out quickly, and being unable to convince him of the virtues of libraries, Lily leaves without the dwarf, heading to the Library with Avacyn
They study about and Hydras at the library. (EL: I leave it to you, dear reader, to educate yourselves on the properties of these beasties.) Lily mentions they should keep an eye out for acid resistance potions.
Fe is on the ship, being chatted up to by the repairmen. She finds him annoying. Lily and Fe discuss cubes and the repairs. Fe suggests Lily try and find a way to de-petrify Kylia.
December meanwhile sees the jeweller and a lady emerge from the shop, locking it behind them, and walk 3 blocks to a building marked "The Mighty Arm" (EL: Retconned slightly: December can't read). A quick survey of the building reveals 2 other external doors, though only the front seems to be for patrons. She doesn't seem to understand what sort of place this was. (EL: Chat's pretty sure of it though). She observes men coming and going from the building over the next couple of hours and then returns to the ship.
Meanwhile, Lily and Avacyn have made their way to a Wizard's shop. He says they're looking for a Stone to Flesh spell. He suggests that there would be a wizard in Valis who could do that, or Kaa'Rorgh. She brokers for a potion of acid resistance; 300g. They return to the ship to discuss things. Fe seems guilty about Lily spending her money for a potion to help her brother; she says she'll owe Lily for it. Lily and Avacyn go price comparing with an older wizard in town. He offers to sell her several spells rather than a potion, but she elects to not purchase any.
They attempt to return to Enrique (the first wizard) to get the potion, but he's shut for the day. Instead, they turn to the bar. Where they find Brack, and Enrique separately. Lily actually manages to flirt with Enrique enough to get a wink and a drink out of him. The dwarf doesn't notice. Lily's attempts to spend the night with Enrique are politely declined. She then goes to join the dwarf and his friends Punch, Lionel, and John. (EL: Named by Anna.) They hang out for half an hour, pretty much ignoring Lily. She goes back to the ship.
===Day 201: Advanced Recruitment Tactics===
Nov 30 1570 December returns to the ship, and informs them of the movements (or lack thereof) of the jeweller. They decide to case him out while waiting for the repairs to be done and the note to be read. December and Fe go to the alley outside The Mighty Arm to watch for him, December sleeping in the alley while Fe keeps watch.
We officially establish that today is December 1. The workers show up to do the ballista work, Lily heads off to the Wizard's shop and purchases the potion from Enrique. (300 GP, taken from December and Lily's money; Fe owes them both 379g.)
Lily takes the paper to Brack, claiming it was found in a book in the library. He translates it as "They found something under the Iron Rock. Something old. Excavation will take time. My guy inside says he saw a massive crystal or jewel." He seems to think Lily's stumbled across someone's secret, and that she should be careful in case they come back for it, or whoever took it. Lily thanks him, and heads out to relieve Fe and December.
Deciding they need to recruit some crew still, Lily and Avacyn head out, and take over watch over The Mighty Arm.
Fe stays on the ship with the ballista mechanic. December goes to the bar to find recruits. First thing in the morning isn't the -best- time in the world to go looking for people in the bar. One potential is drunk out of his mind on the floor, and another is drunk, but sitting at least.
December manages to flirt her way into the second guy's good graces at possibly getting lucky, and convinces him to drag his buddy, Frank, along with him (EL: Quite literally, head bouncing off every board on the dock.) On the way back, she notices someone watching the ship, and them in particular.
Frank's friend compliments December on her ship, and she plays along with the naive flirting. He grabs her ass, for which he receives a squared punch that doesn't quite knock him out. So she fakes innocence again and gets Avacyn's Triple Strength rum, pours some down his throat. She then bundles him into a bunk, and tells him the most drawn out story she can, until he passes out. She stores Frank away too.
Fe has Drax keep an eye on the guy watching the ladies, while December goes to fetch Lily and Avacyn, explaining about the guy. As the group returns to the ship, the man approaches Lily, identifying her as Captain Anemoi. He says he's looking for safe passage home where eyes wont follow.
December asks him where home is. He seems suspicious that Captain Anemoi doesn't know about Beggar's Cove. He agrees to chart a path there. They interrogate him a little bit, haggling for money, but he insists that the location of Beggar's Cove is more than sufficient payment. He also is in a bit of trouble locally, so needs to disappear. He identifies himself as Jefferson. (EL: Appearance 17, causing the appropriate reactions)
Establishing protocol with Matt, the ladies head out to steal their money back from the jeweller's shop.
Lily explains her spell selection: Wall of Fog, Sleep, Whispering Wind, Rope Trick (EL: AKA the Fart Box), Unseen Servant
The group passes the jeweller's shop and takes up their spot at the cafe, December dropping another gold piece for drinks.
A few hours pass, the jeweller closes up for the night. Another hour, and the cafe is closing also, and the group has to find a new vantage point. Lily, Fe and Avacyn go to The Mighty Arm. They are greeted there by a man in plate mail. He asks the ladies if they're there to hire a mercenary. Apparently this is a mercenary camp; The Mighty Arm takes a 20% cut on top of any deals struck. They ask to see who might be available for prolonged sea duties. He returns momentarily with a big strong human male and an orc.
The human is holding a spear and net, carrying no armor; the orc has a bronze chestplate and double handed axe. Fe's more interested in the bar (EL: Developing alcoholic...). Avacyn moves to the door, leaving Lily to conduct business. (EL: Cause that's always a good idea..) The Human charges 100g a month; the orc 150g. After a discussion about morals, they decide to get the Orc for 6 months. (EL: 900g for the orc, 180 for the store; 230g spent immediately from the Ship's fund.)
Returning to December to discuss what happened, she seems a bit disconcerted at the orc's cost, but she's more focused on getting their money back from the jeweller's. They need more information about what's going on inside the shop, and eventually come up with the Human Ladder Plan.
===Day 202: Breaking And Entering===
Dec 1 1570 Waiting until late at night, Fe, December, and Lily form the ladder, with Avacyn standing guard. Lily spies two people sleeping in the bed through the upstairs window. Just as they do so, Avacyn starts walking away down the street. The ladies are sort of busy at the moment however, so they can't deal with the situation.
Lily puts the people in the room to even deeper sleep. Lily is handed a dagger, to smash the glass pane of the window, and climbs inside (EL: Add Breaking and Entering to the crimes list). December struggles a bit to get purchase with the window ledge, but eventually the assassin manages a simple pullup to get herself inside also. To ensure that they don't wake up, December slits the throat of the jeweller and his wife (EL: or mistress, whatever. I don't judge). They make their way down into the storefront, which is emptied out; the jeweller apparently takes security seriously.
They let Fe in through the front door, and then start snooping around the room, investigating closely for where the jewellery or the money may have been hidden. December manages to locate a wall segment that doesn't seem to be in the right place, and with her dagger manages to pry it open, revealing a wall safe. Fe goes upstairs to loot the bodies but... they were in bed. They're naked, so it's a quick loot. They find a sack of coins containing 60g, and some small personal jewellery.
Lily keeps a lookout while Fe and December sweep the storefront with a fine tooth comb. December finds another hidden panel in the ground behind the counter. Inside she finds a small ornamental wooden box, but doesn't seem to find a lock on it. Fe smashes the box with her brass knuckles but it just skids across the floor.
December spends a fair amount of time trying to pick the lock (1 hr 45 minutes), but can't seem to get it open. As the sky begins to lighten, the ladies gather their spoils and make for the ship before people start to stir.
Back at the ship, they find a note. "I cannot go to Beggar's Cove. It is time for me to make my way back to the Royal Court. Trust your instincts, they have not been wrong. You will always have a trusted friend in me when you return to Valis. I will help you however I can. Seek out Joshua at the Innkeeper's Tavern, he will help you find me. -Avacyn"
* Recap from EtoileLion on reddit. Editorial notes are theirs.
Category:Misscliks Pirate Edition Episodes