"What should we do, jump ahead and see if we can grab the captain before they arrive?" Vanyra hears in her head.

Vanyra 'thinks' "Yes, lets hope we get to him first."

Zelpuz nods at Vanyra. "I'll see you at those crates over there" he replies and phases from high ground to high ground forward eventually positioning himself as far ahead of the search party as possible without missing a boat. He waits at the indicated crates for Vanyra to show up.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:22, Thu 29 Jan 2015.

Vanyra and Zelpuz move into their respective positions.  The Shen Zue contingent moves a little ways down the harbor-side before stopping at stairway that descends down to the docks. The main group continues on while two stay back to apparently guard the exit way.

Continuing their observation the pair watches the main host pause at the bottom of the stairs, obviously engaged in impromptu strategy session for how to commence their search. Utilising the distraction the pair slink between crates and shore tackle to gain a better observation position. Listening intently Vanyra is able to make out the name of the vessel they are looking for, The Corsair's Gamble; an apt name if any.

The Shen Zue split into two squads of 4 at that point; one moving East away from Zelpuz and Vanyra, and the other searching West and towards the interlocutors. They seem to know what they are looking for, but are unsure of exactly where it is.

In the dim light of the evening the mismatched pair easily remain unseen, from both the Shen Zue, who are earnestly looking at ships, and general by standards.  The piers and wharfs are lit only enough to prevent the average drunk from falling, thus providing adequate shadows for move about. Unfortunately from their immediate vantage points the illusive ship, The Corsair's Gamble, is not to be found.  Nor can Vanyra find a familiar scent from here.

"What do you think we should do next? Run ahead? Or watch one of the groups?" Zelpuz whispers to Vanyra. "I could try to see what they are up to, but it may alert them to our presence."

"I can ascend a mast to stay appraised of what all the guards are up to and to look around.  Can you look around but stay in contact?"

I guess as long as I can see you, yes. But that may be tricky in the dark.
This message was undeleted by the GM at 05:16, Fri 24 July 2015.

The pair move out quickly down the dock, outpacing the ShenZue guards, and after 5 minutes of searching find the Corsair's Gamble. From behind a overturned row boat they spy quite a bit of activity on the deck of the vessel, especially for such a late hour. Crew members are hurrying about seemingly preparing to set sail. Looking down the length of the pier a sole lookout stands at the bottom of the gangplank.

Knowing the ShenZue will be here shortly the decision is made to infiltrate the ship and grab Captain Westling quickly. Zelpuz teleports to the lookout perch on the main mast while Vanyra nimbly walks up a taught mooring line and slips over the guard rail at the stern. From his perch Zelpuz does not see the Captain on board and relays as much to Vanyra, who concurs. Zelpuz notes a staircase leading to the lower deck below the pilot's station and suggests entering their to look for the Captains quarters.

Using the chaotic movements of the crew to their advantage, along with their own unique stealth powers, the two manage to descend to the lower deck which is apparently devoid of crew. Listening carefully the sound of rummaging papers can be heard towards the rear. In little time the Captain's Quarters are found, with the door ever so slightly ajar. While unable to see much through the narrow opening Zelpuz produces a small mirror out of his trusy survival kit and has a quick look around the room. As they suspected the Captain is rapidly looking at various maps, charts and documents on his desk, and seems quite engrossed by it all.

"Can you teleport in behind him and knock him down?" Vanyra asks in her head to the listening Zelpuz.

"Probably, a bit tricky at this angle, using this mirror. But there will be noise, we can't afford to be heard," Zelpuz replies in silence.

"Right, I'll move in quickly after you and secure the door; should prevent him from escaping easily as well," Vanyra responds with a door closing motion.

Zelpuz nods his agreement and then focuses his attention on the mirror, a moment later he vanishes only to reappear 2 meters behind the Captain. Expecting to be closer upon rematerializing his strike goes wide; he suddenly something he saw written on a mirror once about objects being closer than they appear or something. Vanyra's stomach drops, but the Captain appears not to notice the sudden appearance of someone behind him, and she seizes the initiative. The Freyan spins in through the open door, leaps up and backflips off of it, shutting it firmly while propelling her forward with a solid jump kick to the Captain's chest.

The surprising blow knocks him off balance, and before he can recover Zelpuz corrects his position and lands a cracking blow with the flat of his sword to the side of the Captain's head. Westling reels from the onslaught and it's all he can do to raise his armoured greaves in defence, which amazingly enough work to deflect the finishing blows from Vanyra and Zelpuz. Regaining his balance and clearing the stars from his vision the Captain makes a bolt for the door, but not before Vanyra manages to catch him with a spinning backhand with her shield. A dull metal clang resonates briefly before the Captain's body collapses in a heap on the ground.

The pair move quickly to secure him the Zelpuz's dimensional pocket bag. A scan of their exit path through the windows of the room reveal the ShenZue are now rapidly approaching down the dock. Biding their time for a few more seconds while the ShenZue pass Zelpuz makes the first move and teleports out behind the same row boat as before. Vanyra contorts herself out of the window, and as she leaps to grab another mooring line, hears the sound of hurried steps down stairs and a man's voice calling out vainly for the Captain.

With their target secured Vanyra and Zelpuz catch their breath for a moment and take in the scene unfolding nearby. The ShenZue are demanding to speak with the Captain and are accusing the ship of holding stolen ShenZue property. The crew try desperately to stall the ShenZue while others run about desperately looking for a man who is no longer there. Eventually the patience of the ShenZue wears out and they force themselves on board. No wishing to push their luck Zelpuz and Vanyra make there way back to the apartment with a new captive.

Vanyra and Zelpuz enter the apartment. "Vanyra, how should we question the captain? I can watch Lasrange, how about you and Yuu take the captain?"

Vanyra grabs a chair from the sparsely furnished apartment.  "Let's bring him up to the roof.  We wouldn't want any interference from Lasrane.  I'll just have to make sure we're not too loud."

The hour or so had ticked by, Yuu spending it in quiet meditation over a deck of cards, playing out runs of Solitary. A game every culture seemed to have independently invented, across the planet. He periodically checked on his patient, but lightly and with due care.

When the door latch flipped and the two entered, the relief on Yuu's face quite visible.  His eyes dart one to the other, as the pair seem in mid-conversation. "'Bring him to...' Oh good, you found him!" he manages to stumble out in a rather non-committal fashion.

"Oh. Hi Yuu. We are back, sorry to startle you." Zelpuz mutters. After a short pause his thoughts return to the situation at hand. "OK so we have the captain held in my bag, but he might wake up any time. Let's get Lasrane to the roof carefully and start the questions. Who should watch Lasrane?"

"Who is going to question the Captain?  If you are there Zelpuz, I might as well be too, since I was introduced as your 'bodyguard' when we met him before."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:48, Mon 17 Aug 2015.

"I think the best way would be for you to question him and for me to scan him. It should work better than last time, I hope." Zelpuz looks at Yuu, "What do you think? And do you think we can move Lasrane or should we question the captain on the roof?" He turns back to Vanyra, "Or do you think that there might be some other 'empty' rooms we could borrow in this building?"

"Let's just get the Captain to the roof before he wakes up."

"Sounds like a plan. Yuu, will Qwe be all right with us questioning the captain or should we send her down? It doesn't look like Lasrane is going to be able to infiltrate her mind much."

Yuu's eyes bounce from one to the other, following the conversation. "Moving Lasrane might be bad, ya. I suggest taking the Captain upstairs instead. And Qwe is still up there, so maybe... send her down is better. I'll ask her to sit just outside the doorway here."

Yuu climbs out onto the roof and beckons for Qwe to join him downstairs. Zelpuz and Vanyra then head up with the Captain Westing secured in the dimensional pocket of the Mespah's cloak. The rooftop is a quiet place and dark place, no doubt making it difficult for the Captain to ascertain his whereabouts, but also presenting the risk of eavesdroppers nearby... though anyone up at this hour is likely to be too intoxicated to care.

Zelpuz nods at Vanyra, "I'll leave the questioning to you, i concentrate on probing his mind. If he lies, I'll let you know."

Yuu points his sister to wait in the hallway at the foot of the stairs, and crouches down just inside the apartment. The young mage half shuts the door so he can watch both Lasrane and Qwe, offering a smile or a word of comfort as his sister loses the fight to stay awake.

Zelpuz and Vanyra move to the rooftop. After they get ready, Zelpuz pulls the Captain out of the bag and props him in the corner of a wall, ties him up and prepares to use his powers. He starts scanning the Captain and faints.

After recovering from the mental feedback shock, Zelpuz stands to the side and back from the secured captain while Vanyra begins her interrogation. While the captain is blindfolded Vanyra's probing questions are parried quite adroitly; evidence that this man is accustomed to such questioning. While not aggressive Captain Westing shows no hint of incriminating himself into any sort of narrative, aside from his base assertion that his a merchant trader that is leaving the city on a rumour that their is some serious civil strife afoot.

Vanyra's empathic scanning of the captain during all this supports what he is saying; he is distrustful but there is a underlying sense of fear. He may be lying but he would be a very skilled liar, inserting enough half-truths that you cannot tell from his emotions what is true and what isn't.

The questioning takes a sharp turn when Vanyra and Zelpuz feel that they are not progressing any further and decide to reveal themselves. The Captain instantly recognizes them from the previous evening and it is obvious he is somewhat surprised. A bit of parley between the three of rooftop interlocutors does much to decrease Westing's distrust in the situation, and Vanyra plays on this by distancing herself and Zelpuz from any connection to the Shen Zue. Furthermore, she insinuates that his ship may be under seizure by the Shen Zue right now, for they may have evidence that he has their cargo on board.

Captain Westing laughs at the story and wishes he truly did have their precious cargo, as that would have paid for some of this mess. He then admits to originally having plans to smuggle some Chlornetherium out of the city, supposedly the Shen Zue had smuggled it into the city in the first place, thus it would have been a case of thieves stealing from thieves. But things went south with the explosion several days before, as that was supposed to be his profitable cargo. He has heard a number of rumours since and his conjecture is that there are various forces in the city moving for a power play, and the chlornetherium was to be a part of that. The last thing he needs is to be caught up in a civil war, thus he was making to get out of the city while he could, though now even that plan appears to have gone up in smoke.

Vanyra follows-up with a few more questions to elicit a narrative from the Captain as to how and why the Shen Zue are still after him. The captain for his part only offers conjectures; they must have found someone or something to linking the warehouse incident or Chlornetherium to him, that perhaps they believe some of the goods escaped the warehouse and are on his vessel, and/or they believe tracking him down will lead them to the instigator of the plot or a mole in their organization. He maintains that the only thing he has to show for the endeavour is a seized vessel at this stage.

Feeling as though they've extracted enough information from the Captain on his own Vanyra and Zelpuz decide to move him downstairs to discuss their next move and possibly cross-examine Lasrane and the Captain together. After all, if they know they are together it may open up a whole new set of surface thoughts that Vanyra or Zelpuz may be able to poach.

The pair blindfold and gag the Captain and then throw him into the ever-convenient dimensional pocket of Zelpuz. A short hop and jump later they re-enter Vanyra's quite crowded apartment, where Yuu and Qwe are enjoying a cup of jasmine tea (Vanyra has no idea where the tea came from, but it seems par the course for Yuu).

Lasrane is slouched over in his chair, apparently unconscious. The Captain is removed from his dimensional prison and secured to a chair in a corner opposite Lasrane, with his gag and blindfold still affixed.