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"Trouble comes on silent wings till Hollicar wakes and Zathis sings." -by Def Lenard.

Once Decor made it back to the ship and gave his report of what had happened, the rest of the team quickly strapped on their armor and went ashore. Captain O'Bryan sent the two elven marines to the Blue Dolphin Inn to get Ahriallen out of there before the retired captain's men had a chance to get there from the estate. Captain O'Bryan gave John, Hollicar, Fen, and Decor orders to meet Ahriallen and the two elven marines outside of town. While waiting for the elven trio the adventurers watched the retired pirate's carriage, accompanied by three guards, rush past their hiding place at top speed toward the estate. So far the retired pirate did not seem to know Ahriallen was involved was only interested in getting home and straightening out this mess as quickly as possible.

After the groups met, Ahriallen went to the estate's front gate to try and distract the guards while the rest of the party went over the back wall again. This time the guards were waiting for them. Two guards had been stationed to watch the back wall while the kennel master kept the dogs quiet and tied in the stable. After the party had come over the wall and had advanced to some cover away from the wall the two bowmen raised the alarm and started firing on the group. The kennel master immediately began releasing the war dogs and sicking them on the intruders.

At this Ahriallen and the marines worked on breaching the front gate. The battle that followed quickly became weighed in the PCs favor when two guards and one of the dogs fell quickly. The rest were quickly defeated by the heavily armed PCs and Ahriallen's group. A quick search of the house turned up no further armed opposition and no retired pirate captain. After rounding up the household servants and securing them in the kitchen the party found the stairs to the cellar where the three missing companions were being held. All three were alive, but just barely. Lenard and Landriss would not have survived the night without John's divine healing.

While John used his abilities to bring his friends back from the brink of death Ahriallen and Fen found the pirate's escape tunnel out of the cellar. Fen nervously belly-crawled through the tight tunnel and discovered that it lead outside of the estate's walls. One set of tracks lead back toward the town. The retired captain was nowhere in sight.

A tense moment followed between Ahriallen and John after the elf had brought the butler upstairs and interrogated him, causing the man to repeatedly scream in terror and pain. Ahriallen's marines prevented John from going upstairs to interfere. The Pawn set sail again for the next port as soon as everyone was back on board. The city guards did not make any effort to detain the party since Ahriallen had already bribed the gate guards on his way out to meet the group. This was reinforced by a small pouch of coins when the party came back into town on their way to the wharf.

The next port, where Ahriallen hoped to finish stocking up their supplies and hiring seamen was another day to the south under full sails and steady winds. Once they docked John and Lenard immediately went ashore in search of divine regeneration for Kelson's ruined eyes. Hollicar and Fen went ashore in search of recreation in the form of large quantities of whiskey and wenches. Hollicar and Fen found what they were looking for.

After a few frustrating hours of inquiries, and a misadventure with a couple of thieves who had robbed a shrine of Artemis the Huntress, John and Lenard discovered that the temple of Kertigan, god of prosperity, merchants, and wealth would be able to regenerate Kelson's eyes for a "reasonable donation" of 8,000 gold pieces. The temple would, of course, accept either items of commensurate value or the completion of a practically impossible quest in place of coins.

The only other prospect they had was from a temple dedicated to a god of healing. A highly placed priest was supposed to be arriving at the temple in the next few days, but it was uncertain whether or not she could help with the regeneration.

The Pawn is set to sail the next morning and will not be making any planned stops for at least a week, hopefully two. This leaves John and Lenard in a quandary. They know they do not have enough coin to buy the regeneration. The party does have some magical items that could possibly be traded but which ones could be given up without weakening the party too badly?

Ahriallen has approached John with a possible way to make a lot of money but the risk could be considerable. There is an island on the way to the Rift that Ahriallen had spent some time exploring some fifty years ago. The island had ruins something like what could be found in the Rift and was quite possibly controlled by the same ancient nation or one like it. Riches could be found within those ruins for those bold and skilled enough to retrieve them. But then, Ahriallen has no idea if there are priests that far east that have the ability to regenerate Kelson's eyes.

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