As time resumed, our heroes spent a bit of time in town the next day. Zesh and Seraphina visited the armorer but the sweaty man told her the shield wouldn’t be ready until the afternoon. Zesh had the idea of using her Clairvoyance spell, but once again lacked a focus. She and Tao went to the Waterbaron Tavern and drank while strategizing what to do next.
Seraphina meanwhile asked Kida to act as her bodyguard. She then went back to the jewelry store she had been at previously, where using Disguise Self made herself look like part of the rich class. She walked in and was greeted with the utmost respect this time. She bought a jeweled horn from them before leaving with Kida. Kida then did some shopping and found a place that served a frozen good they called ice cream. Excited she tasted a little bit and fell in love, quickly buying a serving for both her and Seraphina.
As the afternoon came, Zesh excitedly went to pick up her shield. Upon receiving it, she saw that it had a cog on it, the symbol of Gond. She was ecstatic and fell in love with her new shield. Regrouping with her party they cast Scry to spy on Drylund. Unfortunately all they saw was the man sleeping in his cabin and the octopus in its tank.
Our heroes decided they would try and sneak on board the ship and question Drylund directly. They pretended to be part of the crew and carried boxes onboard the ship. Once on board they snuck to Drylund’s room, only to discover it was locked. Zesh decided to use her fabricate spell to try and make some lock pics, so she snuck into the bathroom to do so. After having made them, the group tried to unlock the door. Tao was unsuccessful, but Seraphina managed to get in. Although they were attempting to be quiet, and Seraphina made it up to Drylund without waking him, even having a knife at his neck, Tao was also able to get in easily enough, Zesh was rather unsuccessful and knock some items over trying to stealth around.
Drylund woke up and held his tongue upon seeing the dagger at his throat. When questioned, he quickly gave up that while he wasn’t involved in Hekaton’s disappearance, the king was being kept prisoner by the Kraken Society, of which he was a member. The king was kept prisoner aboard the Morkoth, a ship sailing around the northern islands of the Trackless Sea. No sooner had he said that that his eyes shot wide as his head hit his bed with blood coming out of his nose. Unsure of what to do, Tao grabbed the octopus and put him on Drylund, but nothing happened. Our heroes determined he had died. Zesh brought him back through the use of a Revivify spell, but all he had time to do was cry out no and a name, Lord Slarkrethel. He then died once more.
Tao decided to put the body in their bag of holding. He wanted to put the octopus in the bag as well, but Seraphina argued that she wanted the octopus back in the tank. The two fought until Tao ripped the octopus in half and threw half at Seraphia. Seraphina then tossed it into the tank. Zesh cast mending on the poor dead octopus, but it remained dead, with some of it still floating randomly in the water. Seraphina, angry, stormed off the boat. Kida followed her.
Zesh and Tao tried to pass as workers, but Zesh was questioned why she looked so flustered. She made up a lie about having dropped a box and cast fast friends to have him agree to let her go.
She and Tao went to the Waterbaron’s Tavern to try and relax, while Seraphina went to the Reflecting Moon with Kida. After spending a bit of time relaxing and getting her wits about her, Seraphina began looking to see if she could identify where the northern islands were. After a while, both Seraphina and Zesh were approached by guards and asked to come in for questioning. Both agreed, but Seraphina was not happy about it. Kida followed Seraphina and waited outside the guard house.
Once in, they lead Seraphina to the cells while they sat down and talked with Zesh. They mentioned they had heard she had been noticed at the docks and on the Grand Dame even though she hadn’t been hired. Captain Storn confirmed that she wasn’t hired by him, and therefore shouldn’t have been on the ship. Zesh said her friend George, or Frederic had asked her to help. Sometimes it was one, sometimes the other. When questioned about being flustered and having charmed the person questioning her, she explained that she had dropped a box and was worried George o’Frederic would get in trouble as a result. She had described George o’Frederic as a tiger like tabaxi.
The guards didn’t believe Zesh and took her to her cell, wanting to speak with Seraphina now. Some of the guards also left at this time to find “George o’Frederic”, wondering if it had been the tabaxi that had been with Zesh. Seraphina had overheard some of Zesh’s conversation and tried to use the line that George had hired her too. She however was as open and insisted on a lawyer, and then on speaking with the Waterbaron herself.
During this time Tao made some forged documents about having worked on the ship for herself and Zesh and brought them to the station, meeting the guards that were looking for her on the way. The guards found it weird that “George” was a girl, and Tao said this was one of the names she used. Upon entering the station, Kida felt left out, and not wanting to be alone threw a rock at the guards. Alas, the door closed and the rock hit it rather than a guard. Kida started pounding on the door yelling obscenities and insulting the guards. When they opened the door she punched one right in the jaw, knocking them down. The guards immediately gathered around to arrest her and she put her hands up and became very civil, apologizing for her behavior. They arrested her and took her to a separate section.
Questioning Tao, she showed her forged documents, which Storn immediately blew aside as being false. He’s the one that hired the crew members, not Drylund. Although Tao did manage to convince him it could be a possibility, they did ask Tao to remain until morning when they could bring in the Waterbaron Nestra and someone to cast a Zone of Truth spell. Tao agreed.
In the morning, Nestra appeared and spoke with Seraphina first. Seraphina agreed to go into a Zone of Truth under condition that it was only the priestess and Nestra was there. She agreed and brought Seraphina, Tao, and Zesh to the city hall and began by questioning Seraphina alone with the Priestess. Seraphina was still a bit hesitant to be straight forward, but eventually told Nestra about their goal to stop the giant attacks and what happened with Lord Drylund. After confirming that none of the 3 had actually killed Lord Drylund, she agreed to let them go, as ending the issue with the giants was of great importance. Upon being asked about Kida, Tao mentioned she had been arrested the night before. Hence the world came to a standstill, waiting to see what would happen next.