The troop of soldiers heads away back inland, apparently resuming their normal patrol of the island. There's probably 2 or 3 such troops on patrol because otherwise, they'd almost never be where there was a problem.

The Commander doesn't seem to be concerned with what you do with the prisoner, such as which way you head. It's not only not his problem any more, but your little guild of Bounty Hunters has a certain reputation of trustworthiness and dependability.

As soon as the soldiers are out of sight, the sullen prisoner seems to perk up.

"That didn't go the way I thought it would," he says as he somehow shakes off the manacles and offers them to Fafhrd.

"I couldn't really trust anyone. Can't be sure that one of the soldiers wasn't a mutineer. He certainly wasn't going to tell Zohr that I wasn't one... not without revealing he knew that because he WAS one!"

"I know you weren't going straight back to Absalom, so it doesn't bother me. I'll just head back there myself and figure out what I'm going to do on the way."

"So I take it some of the mutineers have a talent for disguise?" Arthur says, trying not to be flustered by how easily the prisoner freed himself. "More importantly, could you tell us more about the mutiny, and the situation that lead to it? Everything we've learned so far gives us the impression that the official story is not as reliable as we'd like."

The Gray Mouser was about to put a sword to the man's throat until he was bound properly but Arthur began to engage him and she did not wish to interrupt.  She quietly drew her sword from its sheath on her belt and took up her shield that had been over her shoulder.  She gave Jerinvar a look that he would recognize as "be ready".  She took up a position opposite her feline companion forcing Arthur to stand to either side covering the man's avenues for escape should he attempted to run.

"Huh?" the prisoner says, apparently confused by Arthur's comments and questions.

"Are you saying you really think I'm one of the mutineers? Ha-ha-ha! That's rich. My real name is Telva Kaluga. I'm an agent for the Taldorian government. I was using the guise of a mutineer to get thrown into the Absalom prison to find out if any of them were mutineers."

"I didn't see any difference between you bounty hunters and the army, so I didn't say anything."

OOC: Sense Motive: 25 (take 10 + 15)

+4 if he is an arcane spell caster

Fafhrd would also be sensing Motive.  Result = 30 with taking 10.

Sorry for the lack of post.  By 8am on Friday morning I will have worked 96 hours in 5 days.  I just haven't found the time.  That said, come Friday morning I only work  one 24 hour shift over the following 7 days...so will have ample time to catch up.

The prisoner (?) isn't a spellcaster, and he seems to be sincere. Then again, if he's some sort of 'agent', you'd expect him to be able to fool people. His claim seems to be inconsistent with him having been a mutineer, though.

In reply to Jak Woodshock (msg # 27):

The falcon nods at first to Jak, then at his last questions, looks outward, then flies up.  Carisaa is looking to see if she can indeed see offshore or now.

"You'll have to forgive me for doubting you, but you're telling me you distrust our country so much, that you felt the need to get yourself thrown in jail to search for mutineers." Arthur points out. "To go so far, even with your talents as an escape artist, tells me whoever sent you must be really desperate to find those former soldiers. Why is that?"

Fafhrd didn't trust the man as there was no way to confirm or deny his story about who he says he is.  The best kind of story a mutineer could have.  He looked to the Mouser with a look he had shared with his elven friend many a time in the past.  It was a look that said follow my lead and be ready for anything.

To the man, who at this point he still viewed as a prisoner, he said:

"If you are who you say you are...you won't mind if I perform a 'test' of magic in an attempt to determine the truth of your words?"

"Not your government so much as some of the corrupt officials," Telva responds. "I'm not saying they are all corrupt, but I don't have the time to root those out."

"It's a deep political game. Qadira is a satrap country under the thumb of Casmaron farther to the east. If they don't fix this mess, their semi-autonomy would be at stake. Certainly its ruler could lose his head."

"We're pretty sure his solution is it to blame Taldor so he can declare war on them. That gives him a reason to invade and conquer. If he does that, 50 countries could be drawn into the war."

"Taldor prefers if the mutineers stand trial in a neutral court as it'll expose Qadira's incompetence and therefore defuse the war before it even starts."

"Qadira wants them dead so that they can't stand trial and also so that they don't become martyrs."

"sigh. Very well, cast your magicks."
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:23, Wed 08 Dec 2021.

Fafhrd acknowledge the man's acceptance of his 'test' and further explained, "This spell will take about a minute for me to cast.  I am only able to cast it once a day and if by chance your will resists its casting, you will be detained for as many days as is necessary for me to get the results that I need.  Unfortunately I need a sample of your blood for each casting...on the upside, I don't need very much." With that said, she gave the Mouser a nod.  This wasn't the first time the two had extracted information by way of this spell. She would know what needed to be done.

---

OOC:

Blood Biography https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic...ls/b/blood-biography

Will save vs DC 22

Telva cautiously lets you draw some blood of his, and he doesn't resist the spell (as far as you can tell).

The answers that appear on whatever surface Fafhrd designates are: Telva Kaluga, male, human, spy.

Arthur nods. "That makes more sense. Of course, that brings the question of what court would be considered 'neutral' in this situation, but I believe that question can wait for now. We still need to find solid clues as to where the bulk of the mutineers are.

I assume you've not found any solid leads on what port they may have tried to reach, correct?"

"Oh, ships have been sent out to other ports, under the auspices of trade," Telva replies.

"We have yet to receive any indication of what ports they may have put into. It's kind of hard to put ourselves in the minds of the mutineers. As near as we can tell, this wasn't planned. It was spontaneous, so there were no plans on where to go."

"The only lead we have to go on is that it wasn't done in panic. At least some of them have a good head on their shoulders."

"We can't even assess the probability of them becoming pirates; we just don't know that much about them as individuals. If they did turn to piracy, then they could reasonably be expected to sail to the Shackles."

"Our main concern is if they decided to sail as far away as possible to parts unknown."

After the completion of his spell and the acquisition of its results, Fafhrd instructed the Mouser to stand down.

"He is who he says he is."

The rogue then turned to Telva, "I hope you can forgive our lack of trust in your word, but one can never be too careful when dealing with the likes of mutineers."

When Fafhrd instructed her to stand down she took a step back, wiped the blood from her sword tip with a rag from one of her belt pouches then sheathed her sword.  She calms Jerinvar who was still standing "ready".  She moved to her feline companion and placed a calm hand upon his neck and gave him the stand down command.  Then climbed back up into his saddle.  She wondered how the others were making out aboard the ship bound for Diobel.

"I suspect that Qadira has some means of locating them, but knowing where they are and getting to them first are two different things," Telva says.

"Keep in mind that there are only three options: they are all still on the ship, they have all left the ship and scattered to the four winds, or else it's half and half."

"You might try focusing on the ship."

"Now, am I free to go?"

He was hardly the leader-type to begin with, and certainly didn't speak for the whole group, though he wonder if anyone was actually filling that role.

Fafhrd? Gray Mouser? Arthur?

This Telva guy was strange, and he told a good story... even if it was a strange story.

"So, anyone got another idea of where to look? Our ship is checking the mutineer's ship in Diobel... that is, if it was ever there," Jak said.

"Don't we have any spells that track them down?"

"Got another question: are we being used as pawns here?"

"Unfortunately, a decent scrying spell would require a token belonging to the mutineers." Arthur points out. "Our best bet for now is to check the new farm worker we heard about. Then... well, we may need to find a Qadiran ship to 'borrow' whatever tracking item they may have, if sir Telva's speculation is correct."

Turning to Fafhrd, he adds "I doubt we'd get much in keeping him longer. We may as well leave him to his own investigation."

Fafhrd nods in agreement to Arthur's words regarding Telva.

"I too, do not possess magics that would descry their location.  It may be as Arthur suggests...that we check out this farm worker to see what we might learn...from there...?"

He turns to Mouser to see if she has anything of import to add to the current discussion.

Without any input from Gray Mouser or anyone else, the group heads off to the farm where the 'stranger' was reported.

Since they were taking the road to Diobel at first, which was kind of a coastal road even though it wasn't really near the coast, the road that headed inland was spotted from the air--it was only a few miles ahead.

It's going to take at least two days to reach the indicated farm.

"Don't about the rest of you, but I'm getting pretty tired from all this walking," Jak says when they pause for a short break. "Are we planning on marching through the night? Or are we going to make camp for the night and continue on tomorrow?"

"I vote for making camp... if it matters."

"We'll rest. There's no point exhausting ourselves on such a thin lead. Though, if we get close enough to Diobel for you to reach it Carissa, perhaps you should fly there tomorrow to tell them what we've discovered so far?"

Carissa lands, forming back into her normal form.  She nods at Jak's words. "I agree.  Let us camp and make better time tomorrow. Better to arrive rested and ready, yes?"