Finding Scarbelly
Mezezar and Mera decided that they wanted to prepare for contingencies by creating some spell completion items. Mezezar began crafting magic into a stone while Meras item was a bundled assortment of oddments that she considered to be fitting for the task. They realised that this would take them a day to complete, so Ke-Tant and Obur decided to see if they could find this Captain Scarbelly. The owner of the Scholars Quill, Desi was able to inform them that Scarbelly was the notorious pirate captain of the Bloody Vengeance, but she did not know anything else about him or why Lucius might have been meeting him. She remembered that Lucius had come in to the Scholars Quill on occasion, but nothing in particular about him. The two Mokers decided to go down to the docks to see if they could find out anything more.
When they asked around, they were able to discover that the Bloody Vengeance had docked about a week ago and that its crew were edgy and on alert. They found the berth where she was docked and approached the two sibeccai seamen who were guarding the gangplank. Ke-Tant politely asked for an audience with Captain Scarbelly, but the pair rebuffed him. Despite persisting in his request, the two guards were in no mood to accede to the giants wishes. Indeed, they drew the attention of another lookout in the crows-nest who was armed with a crossbow. This dissuaded the giant and the human from pursuing things further. So they withdrew.
Thinking of another stratagem, they entered the insalubrious Rusty Hook tavern on the dockside near the ship. After a number of failed attempts they managed to discover from one of the patrons that Captain Scarbelly had taken his evening meal in the Hook on a couple of occasions in the last week. Our intrepid pair decided to return later. In the meantime they felt that another search of Luciuss house would not go amiss. When they got there however, they could not gain entrance as it was locked. They got an urchin to send a note over to Brother Egil at the temple asking for his assistance, but after a few hours waiting near the door they had no response and returned to Quill. The preparations of Mera and Mezezar were complete and they were now having a quick drink in the taproom. The four of them decided that their next move should be to see if they could find Captain Scarbelly in the Hook, so they made their preparations and set off.
Night had fallen, so the Mokers picked their way through gloomy streets, lit only by the occasional street lamp and what light filtered from surrounding buildings. As they got close to the docks the lights were fewer and further and farther between. In a particularly dark cut, a group of unsavouries gathered around them. Their leader, a toothless human who had tattooed knuckles congratulated them on their forthcoming life at sea. When it was obvious that the Mokers did not intend to submit to this press-gang easily, the group started employing their saps. Outnumbered two to one the Mokers had to act fast to save themselves from unconsciousness and worse. Their response was brutal and efficient. The press-gang managed to land a few blows with their saps, but before any of the Mokers had suffered serious injury, five of their attackers lay bleeding on the ground and the rest were trying to flee. But the Mokers were irked and did not want any to escape. Two more sailors fell, but one managed to escape, running off down an alley and losing himself in the flow of people. Obur healed one to try and question him, but he fell back to another blow from Mera. Mezezar also healed one and managed to ascertain that the press-gang was not connected to the Bloody Vengeance before knocking the unfortunate out again with his staff.
The Mokers left the wreckage of the press-gang where they fell and moved on towards the Rusty Hook. A small crowd had gathered near the dock and gave them dark looks as they passed. Obur just caught sight of onlookers moving in to help the fallen as they turned north onto the dock shore. In the Hook, it was much busier than it had been earlier. The group strode up to the bar and Mezezar enquired about the whereabouts of Scarbelly. The proprietor denied all knowledge of the captain, leaving the mojh somewhat stumped. Obur tried another tack and moved from table to table looking for a sibeccai with a protruding belly. He was successful in his hunt and directed his colleagues to a table near the bar where the scarred pirate captain sat alone at his table eating. He seemed to be amused by the high manners displayed, but motioned the group to sit while he listened to their query. After taking their coin he said that he had indeed been approached by Lucius, but that he had thought it very strange, because Lucius was asking him to relate events that the human had himself been part of when he paid Scarbelly to take him from port to port those years ago. He had stayed on the Vengeance for about four months and took copious notes while they travelled. Now, a few days ago, he comes back and asks about where he went and what he did very odd. After their chat he hadnt seen Lucius again. Intrigued by this the Mokers returned to the Quill to plan their next move.