Sitting in The Golden Helm Tavern in the city of Refuge, Kenari and Vedis sip their drinks while camparing notes about the The Tenth Pit with their new acquaintance Aiden. A member of the Pragmatic Order of Thought, he wears a claokpin with the groups symbol- an arm holding a lit torch aloft.

After making arrangements to meet him again the next morning and lend a hand with an “action” against a local slaving operation they stick around for vedis to have another round of Elven Absinthe and then return to the dragonfly ship.

As the evening passes and there is still no sign of Kenari and Ef Utan they begin to worry. When the next morning arrives with no sign of them they head to The Golden Helm to meet Aiden. Vedis has an Elven Absinthe as a pick me up while they wait.

While the aasimar and the maenad wait for Aiden Kenari and Ef Utan begin to regain consciousness elsewhere. As their vision comes back into focus the two discover that they are chained in what seems to be a ship’s hold along with about 25 other humanoids. While the two are stripped of weapons and valuables whoever confiscated their gears missed the catfolk’s lockpicks, hidden in her headband.

Describing in muted tones the room around them, she pulls out her lockpicks and begins to work on her manacles. Her darkvision detects little other than other prisoners, a statue of some kind in one end of the room and a pair of double doors at the other. Within a few moments she manages to free both Ef Utan and herself.

Ef Utan examines the room, a fairly ordinary ship’s hold other than the chained prisoners except for the statue in the back. Close examination in the almost nonexistent light reveals it to be an odd two-headed figure. Upon getting a good view of it Kenari hisses one word, “Demogorgon, The Prince of Demons!” Stepping rapidly away from the unsettling sculpture, Kenari spends the next 20 minutes or so releasing all other prisoners.

Predominantly human commoners, there are a few elves in the mix including an Imperial Elven Fleet serviceman named Alarond. All of them have been beaten and starved, but after a rousing speech by Ef Utan, uttered in hushed tones of course, are willing to make a break for it.

Kenari picks the lock on the main doors and sneaks up the stairs to reconnoiter. A quick peek above decks shows her several human spacehands working in the rigging and on deck as well as four more humans with swords and starwheels.

In addition there is the largest, meanest looking orc she has ever seen. Dressed in red studded leather armor with an ornate broadsword slung over his shoulder and matched dragon pistols at either hip. She manages to duck down just in time as he turns towards the stairwell.

Waiting till the orc has its back turned, Tavist runs up the stairs and across the deck ramming it in the side with his shoulder and tryng to tip it overbard. The armored orc quickly grabs on to the handrail and rounds on Ef Utan and the two begin to trade blows.

Meanwhile the recently freed prisoners surge to the main deck in a semi-panicked rush to escape. kKenari uses the chaos as cover and sneaks through the melee towards the front of what she can now see is a hammership. Entering a hallway she pulls out her picks again and sets to work on a pair of very complex and well trapped locks. No match for the Mulhorrandi catfolk the door swings open revealing a hodge-podge of expensive art and tapestries around a huge four poster bed. Still sleeping, a slender brunette woman occupies it.

Across town Vedis Valentine pours another Elven Absinthe.

Ef Utan and the massive orc continue to pound unmercifully on each other, each one alternately driving the other to his knees with the sheer force of the blows. Casting a quick glance around Ef Utan sees not only Refuge Guards but also a collection of warrior types in grey cloaks led by a man holding aloft a torch. On the hammership crew members dive from the rigging in an attempt to escape.

Landing a solid blow to the orc’s jaw Ef Utan almost knocks him overboard. The orc responds by drawing its greatsword, a brutal blade that slashes across Ef Utan’s ribbs. The orc looks at him then up at the approaching guards, salutes with his sword and bang his bracers together. Upon doing so he disappears from view.

Ef Utan heads towards Kenari’s location to see if she has found their stuff yet. Above, on deck, the local authorities board the ship and begind taking people into custody. Kenari, Ef Utan, and Aladan are taken aside to have their wounds treated and for questioning.

Meanwhile at The Golden Helm Lenata of Celestian and Vedis begin to get concerned when Aidan fails to pear for their meeting. The ladies sit over another round of drinks discussing what they should do. By the time they see someone wearing a cloakpin with the POTs symbol on it [[:vedis | Vedis is tipsy and vivacious.

Getting no info of use from the POT they decide to check out the last place Kenari and Ef Utan were headed – Dabban’s.

They are not there long before Dabban catches [[:lenata | Lenata]] casting a spell in his direction and calls the Guard. While they wait Vedis Valentine notices a very familiar pair of transparent weapons – Ef Utan’s Acheronian Clearsteel daggers. The ladies get a warning from the Guard, spell casting is only legal under very restricted circumstances especially any sort of enchantment or detection magics.

Vedis gets fed up with trying to convince the Guard without any evidence. She grits her teeth and purchases the Clearsteel daggers. The two head out and spend the rest of the day at either The Golden Helm or the ship until nightfall.

Ef Utan and Kenari Sanura get released after several hours of questioning in a small grey room. The angry pair immediately head for Dabban’s only to find it closed. They head for the dragonfly and fill the others in. Bathing and sleep take precedence, followe by breakfast at The Golden Helm.

As they enter the bar they see Tain and a lovely older woman sitting together on the other side of the room. The reigar raises his glass to them and turns back to his companion. Our heroes make short work of the morning meal and are on their second cup of Khaave when the reigar approaches the table. Tain introduces the lady with him as Asreena Chalorna, a lady of substance on Refuge.

The two stop and chat for a bit, Asreena flirting with Ef Utan while Tain invites the ladies back to his estate some time in the near future. They then leave and conversation returns to the current situation.

Kenari heads down to the docks with Ef Utan for backup, intending to try to contact Aladan. She finds the area of the docks used by the Elven Fleet to be humming with activity. Troops guard each pier, allowing only elves into the area.

After checking things over she finds a young looking elf who does not seem otherwise occupied and strikes up a conversation. His name is Tavist, an Oeridian elf, and he’s getting ready to start his shore leave. Being a cook he gets to escape the extra duties the warriors are suffering.

Aladan is nown to TAvist even thogh they are not stationed on the same ship. It seems he has a good reputation among the kitchen staff as he periodically brings them bottles of wine. Tavist agrees to se if he can eith get a message to Aladan or find her a way onto his ship the next day. Seeming very pleased at setting up a date with the curvy catfolk he excuses himself, tmie for the last shift before shore leave.