Escape From Old Korvosa

Into the Dying City

The party had decided to seek larger accommodation, but early in the morning the spirit of Zellara appeared and performed a Harrowing for them, suggesting that momentous events were once more afoot. Afterwards, as they headed out into the street, the more discerning among them noticed the whole city is abuzz. It appeared that earlier in the morning the Queen Ileosa had given an address to the city where (wearing her fang-adorned crown) she had announced triumphantly that the plague had been defeated, she  expertly shifted the blame to Doctor Davaulus, noting that "loyal agents of the Crown" had ensured he had been executed for his crimes. Yet Korvosa remained wounded. The queen went on to report that the Order of the Nail has shown its true colours and fled like cowards into Citadel Vraid. Worse, both the Korvosan Guard and the Sable Company had suffered terrible losses over the past weeks. Neither group was fully capable of continuing as Korvosa’s protectors, and thus, to shore up this fault, Queen Ileosa named the Grey Maidens as the official new protectors of Korvosa, appointing Sabina Merrin as the city’s new general. As a ripple of concerned whispers had spread, Queen Ileosa turned her attention to the Sable Company. Citing the fact that the care and feeding of the company’s hippogriff mounts placed too great a strain on the city’s coffers; the company’s
relative incompetence in helping to deal with the recent unrest;  and the fact that the company’s commander, Seneschal Neolandus Kalepopolis, had fled the city rather than stay by her side in her time of need, Ileosa had decided to disband the organization and seize its holdings. At this point, she had asked Commandant Endrin to step forth to surrender his badge of office.

As Endrin did so, he reached for his badge, but instead of handing it over, he threw it at the queen, striking her cheek. Everyone was shocked into paralysis for a few moments, long enough for Endrin to bellow out, “Your shameful reign ends now! Korvosa will be free again!” An instant later, his bow was in his hands, aimed at the still-frozen queen. Endrin fired and his aim was true. The arrow struck Queen Ileosa in the right temple, sinking deep into her skull. Yet she did not fall. With incredible speed, she regained her composure and yanked the arrow from her skull. Before blood from the wound had time to run all the way down to her jaw, she was standing before Endrin. Her free hand whipped out and seized him by the throat, lifting him off the ground and holding him up for all to see. An instant later, she stabbed Endrin’s own arrow up under his jaw and
out the side of his face with a spray of blood. As Endrin’s body crumpled to the ground and Ileosa imperiously shook his blood from her hand, she cried out in a strong, clear voice, “This shall be the fate of all enemies of Korvosa! Mark well his punishment! It is only the first!” A moment later, Togomor, her new seneschal stepped forward, taking Ileosa’s hand and teleported her back into the castle. The resulting riot was quelled quickly and brutally by the Gray Maidens.

Later that afternoon, after renting the Pargiter Townhouse, the Party received a summons to meet Cressida, who looked tired and haggard as she led them into a secure and spell-shielded room deep in the vaults of the citadel. After the display earlier in the day, she is now more convinced than ever that the queen is a threat to Korvosa. She goes on to tell them that one of her most trusted contacts, Vencarlo had got word to her that he had discovered something of vital importance regarding the queen. He mentioned  something about dark magic and a pact with a devil, but until the events of the morning, she had found his claims difficult to believe. But even more astounding, she went on,  he hinted he’d found a lead on Seneschal Kalepopolis, and implied the man might still be in hiding in Old Korvosa! She requested that the Party make contact with Vencarlo and find out what he knew.

Leaving the Citadel the Party pondered how to get into the still-quarantined Old Korvosa, eventually deciding trying to reach the island by boat from Trail's End, where the Soldado family lived. Heading out of the city proper they found the Soldados packing up for a new life in Magnimar, however Grau was more than happy to give them his old skiff for their use. After a final meal with the family they set off in the small hours, Behzad and Gawedd rowing  the short distance across to the island. They found the streets strangely deserted, though there were distant sounds of violence and they could see the flare of fires across the rooftops. Making their way to Orsini's Academy, they found it a burned out shell, but fortunately his house nearby seemed to have been spared. Searching through the house they found no sign of Orsini, but were attacked by several Red Mantis assassins, who proved every bit as formidable as their dark reputation suggested, almost killing several members of the Party before being slain or driven off.

The Artist

Searching Vencarlo's home hurriedly in case the Red Mantis returned with reinforcements,  the Party found a mysterious iron bound chest hidden in a secret compartment but the lock proved too difficult for Halleth to open and she and Dellosia carried it downstairs. Gawedd led the way cautiously out into the street only to be called out to by a voice  from the shadows of a ruined building across the street. The voice turned out to belong to Amin Jalento, the young nobleman they had rescued from the mob what seemed like a lifetime ago. Amin led them into the ruined house where it was clear he had been taking refuge for some time. Over a hastily brewed pot of tea, Amin told the Party his story. He was attending classes at Vencarlo’s academy when the quarantine hit, and when he was unable to escape back to the mainland and his home, Vencarlo graciously allowed Amin to stay at the academy as a guest. That stay ended not long after, when several Red Mantis assassins invaded the building. Vencarlo confronted them and took one of them down, but there were too many. Vencarlo was forced to flee, and Amin assumed the assassins burned down the academy as a warning as much as anything else. He didn't know where Vencarlo has gone, but he does suspect who might, going on to tell them that  in the days after the quarantine, while he was Vencarlo’s houseguest, he noticed his teacher seemed restless and distracted. Vencarlo regularly left his house at odd hours in the night, sometimes not returning until morning. After one such return, Vencarlo’s clothes were bloody, and he said he had to fight off a thief, but he was  sure there was more to it than that. Furthermore, in the days before the Red Mantis assassins attacked, Vencarlo had a singularly strange houseguest visit several times—a man with paint-stained hands, wild hair, and a jittery habit of looking about. Vencarlo introduced him simply as "a friend", but Amin had recognized him as a somewhat notorious local artist named Salvator Scream.

After spending the night, and leaving Vencarlo's mysterious chest in Amin's care, the Party set out in search of Salvatore Scream, eventually tracking down his home in the Old Dock area. The house was deserted save for some briefly troublesome otyughs, some yellow mould and a mysterious, though friendly, cleric who was also looking for Scream, who introduced herself as Laori Vaus. She told them that according to her recent use of speak with dead, Salvatore with with someone called The Emperor", whom Halleth vaguely remembered being mentioned by Cressida in their mission briefing. They returned to Amin's squat to rest arranging to meet up wit Laori the next day.

Next day they set out once more, this time in search of "The Emperor" discovering self-styled "Emperor of Old Korvosa" ruled Old Dock from his palace on Silk Street. He had seized control of several tenements there, and rarely leaves the place. Mobs of his fanatics scour the streets of Old Dock, seeking more conscripts for his cause. Those who resist are instead captured for other purposes. The emperor apparently saw Old Korvosa as his stage. He forces some of his prisoners to take part in violent, deadly games or gruesome performances, pitting them against his most ferocious pets and followers. Others he simply beheads with his favourite toy, an extravagant guillotine called the “Tall Knife.” Those who sought to speak with the emperor must first earn his respect by providing him with entertainment. Of late, it is said that the emperor’s favourite entertainment is a brutal game he invented called blood pig. He’s converted a large rooftop inside of his palace into a playing field for this game, and the howls and screams of those playing and watching can be heard throughout Old Dock every evening. The met up with Laori in the Sticky mermaid, which was still managing to operate with home brewed beer and determined on a plan of attack, deciding to infiltrate the emperor's "palace" by stealth.

The Emperor of Old Korvosa’s palace was located at 11 Silk Street in Old Dock, a collection of tenements and abandoned stores that barely escaped destruction during a recent fire that consumed much of the city block to the west. The palace consisted of six buildings, the lower floors of which had been gutted and destroyed by mob violence. Only the upper floors of the northern buildings remained intact; to the south, the roofs alone remain, leaving hollow shells of buildings below. The only visible entrance seemed unguarded and Behzad led the way making his way upwards though the building, Halleth and Dellosia followed at a distance, while those in the Party less suited to stealth lounged about in the street trying to look inconspicuous.

Behzad managed to make his way unseen to a the first guard-post where upon engaging one of the guards in conversation about the upcoming Blood Pig tournament suddenly stabbed him in the stomach. The remaining guards rallied round, but Behzad, though wounded,  held them off long enough for the rest of the Party to arrive and help him finish them off.

The Emperor of Old Korvosa

Charging deeper into the "palace" the Party were attacked by waves and waves of thugs and one gnome barbarian, Dellosia and Halleth made  clambered up on to the canvas cover over the balcony that overlooked the Blood Pig court and took out another bunch of thugs heading across to join the fray. While Behzhad, Tordale and Gawedd carved their way through their opponents, Garrid struggled at times keeping them standing with his healing magic. At the back of the battle the Emperor himself capered about using a rod of wonder with glee while his men started to fall. Eventually, only two of his men left standing,  The Emperor fled using dimension door. 

The two surviving thugs immediately surrendered, which enabled the Party to begin searching the palace. Halleth, while searching a storeroom was attacked by some choker brutes, but with the help of her friends managed to destroy them.

The Hidden Garden

The Party found Salvator Scream locked in a small cell. He was completely hysterical and none of the Party seemed to be able to calm him as they tried to get information. Eventually leaving, him in the care of Laori they searched the rest of the complex, Behzad eventually locating Pilts hiding in the rubble outside where he swiftly dispatched him. Taking Scream back to the hideout, the artist eventually calmed down now he had been removed from the building he had been imprisoned in.

Scream eventually told them that Salvator had been helping him shelter his friend  Neolandus Kalepopolis who had  shown up at his home, desperate, bloodied, and poisoned, early on the morning Eodred II died. Neolandus was delirious, but managed to convey to Salvator that he needed a place to hide. Salvator nursed him back to health, whereupon Neolandus confided in him that Queen Ileosa had murdered her husband, and that she’d entered into an alliance with the Red Mantis. They were the ones who tried to assassinate Neolandus, and his escape was as much luck as anything. Worse, Neolandus said there was something about Queen Ileosa that wasn’t quite right— that she’d changed recently. Grown “worse”... whatever that meant. Neolandus refused to divulge more to Salvator, saying that “the less he knew, the safer he’d be.” Salvator had connections with the Arkonas (they were among his greatest patrons), and when he suggested that Neolandus seek them out for asylum, the seneschal grudgingly agreed. Salvator escorted his friend up to Arkona Palace late one night, just a few days before the quarantine occurred, and hasn’t seen his friend since. He confided in his  other friend Vencarlo, who convinced him that the Arkonas were more criminal-minded than he suspected, and he had come to believe he might have just traded his friend’s danger for a different one. He suspectedVencarlo might have tried to infiltrate Arkona Palace to find out more, and when told that Vencarlo has gone missing too, the artist grew pale and begged the Party to find them both. Resting overnight, after Dellosia identified the magic items,  the Party discussed the best way to approach the Arkonas, eventually deciding to go and scope their mansion as it was nearby.

Arkona Palace was perched at the highest point atop Endrin Isle in Old Korvosa. The grounds were mostly open, decorated here and there with tiny copses of trees, exotic topiary animals, beautiful flower gardens, and exquisite fountains. The palace was a breathtaking structure built in the Vudrani style, with golden pillars; high windows that rise to tapered points; minarets; and domes decorated with slender spires.  There were six guards patrolling the outside, though the surrounding area seemed peaceful compared to most of Old Korvosa. Eventually, Garrid secured an interview simply by walking up to the guards and asking. The guard knocked on the door and summoned the major-domo to whom Garrid explained they needed to speak to Glorio Arkona on a matter of "extreme urgency".

Arkona turned out to be a charming man who listened patiently to their tale. To outward appearances, he had nothing but kind words and support to offer when asked about the queen, ruminating that quarantine really was her only choice and hoping that she’ll be able to lift it soon. Throughout his discussion, though, he drops hints that he thinks the queen is driving Korvosa into the ground. Eventually he suggests that he may be able to help them if they could assist him in return. The Party agreed only to discover that he wished them to remove The Emperor!  On being told they had already accomplished this, Glorio gave a hearty laugh. He told them eventually that retrieving Vencarlo and Neolandus may be a “trifle complicated,” as they are in Vivified Labyrinth which had been built below the Manor by an ancestor and an are he unfortunately did not control. He did however tell them how to enter the Labyrinth and told them the password to bypass the guardians of the entrance.

The entrance was under a huge elephant statue in the manor's walled garden. Beneath the statue was a spiral stairway winding down into darkness. Behzad and Gawedd led the way down vast grotto. A ledge wound down along the cavern’s inner wall to a series of rope bridges that descend even lower from ledge to ledge. The upper ledge was breathtaking and strangely beautiful—a tableau of all manner of odd-colored fungi, lichens, and moulds. The fungi have been cultivated, shaped into symmetrical patterns normally not seen in nature, transforming the ledge into a sort of underground fungal garden. Somewhere in the darkness below came the soft splash of water against an unseen shore. Moving through the fungal garden they were attacked by strange guardians.

Finally, one by one, the Garden Guardians were destroyed, though it was a close thing with Garrid and Halleth struggling at times to keep Gawedd and Behzad healthy and in the fight. When the last guardian fell the party began a moderately perilous descent down interconnected rope-bridges. As there were no hand-rails, Garrid and Dellosia in particular were being ultra cautious wary of falling to the water they could hear far below. Eventually, after pausing to search a room filled with interesting looking artworks, they reached the ground level.

At the bottom of the vast cavern, a wooden pier extended out into a gently sloshing pool of blue seawater. A shallow draft barge was docked at the pier, an unlit lantern hanging from its bow. Supporting timbers and brickwork lined parts of the lower edge of the immense cavern to both the west and south, showing where the original sea cave had been artificially expanded. To the north, a twenty-five-foot-wide waterway provided an aquatic exit from the cavern—the distant, muted sounds of the surf and sloshing water echoed down from that direction. Behzad dropped down onto the pier from the walkway, unfortunately this attracted the attention of an enormous reeflclaw which attacked and grabbed him. Fortunately the spellcasters managed to drive the great beast off before it could drag him under.

There was a set of double doors nearby which Halleth opened to reveal a vast chamber, a cathedral-like space made all the more immense by its lack of benches or other concessions to comfort. The floor was polished tan marble, with the walls rising up to form a domed ceiling sixty feet above. Alcoves lined the walls, six in all, inside of which stood human-sized statues of a tiger-headed man.To the south, a few steps lead up to a pulpit-like area with three more statues of the same figure—the central one being twice as tall and holding out before him two lances from which hang flags. The left is the flag of Korvosa, while the right bears the Arkona coat of arms. Standing in front of these was a living representative of the figures depicted in the statues who ,as Halleth entered, called out something in infernal. Instantly two large cobras slithered out of the darkness whether they had been twined round the base of the statues and attacked. 

The two serpents were quickly disposed of though the rakshasa proved much more resistant both to the Party's magic and blades as after casting a lightning bolt, he closed to combat

The Arkona Temple

The Party swarmed in and attacked the rakshasa who defended the temple valiantly. Eventually the overwhelming numbers of the Party prevailed, overcoming the protections the rakshasa enjoyed with a "death of a thousand cuts".  Garrid was busy healing the wounded while Dellosia and Halleth searched the temple, finding little of interest. Behzad, Tordale and Gawedd dragged the rakshasa's body and the remains of the snakes outside and dropped them into the sea for the reefclaw. badly mauled by their first encounters in the dungeon, they decided to rest , fortunately without incident.

Next morning they began searching the area, Halleth eventually discovering a secret door nearby. She called the others across to her, but this unfortunately drew to the attention of the reefclaw and it launched itself out of the water grabbing Garrid and dragging him down. Swallowing potions of water breathing the rest of the Party dived in, eventually managing to drive off the beast  forcing it to let Garrid go.

After dragging themselves out of the water and catching their breath, Halleth opened the secret door, revealing a long  passageway winding down.

The Revolving Dungeon

The tunnel curved sharply to the north, ending at a set of large bronze doors, each carved with images of tigers chasing other tigers in four adjacent circles. At the centre of each circle of tigers, a snarling tiger head looked out. Halleth cautiously opened the door and went through. Two statues, each depicting a tiger-headed man, stood in alcoves to either side of the doors. Their arms were wide, as if to usher visitors forward into the room beyond, where two alcoves open on either side of the otherwise empty dead-end room. In one alcove, a long lever with an ebony handle protrudes from the wall.

As Dellosia Gawedd came up to her Halleth cautiously turned the lever and a loud grinding sound echoed through the walls as the entire room they were in rotated round revealing an exit and also incidentally trapping  Behzad and the others behind stone walls. Halleth tried moving the lever back , but it would only move one direction, rotating the room past several exits until eventually returning to its original starting point and the  relieved looking members of the rest of the Party. This time ensuring everyone was in the room, Halleth rotated the lever again.

The exit from the room now led to a wide rectangular room with a door to the south. Gawedd strode forward, leading the way unfortunately triggering a symbol of pain inscribed in the floor, while he and Dellosia managed to shake off the spell's effects,  Halleth and Behzad writhed in agony (and complained incessantly). Shrugging this off, Gawedd went through the door.  Three large wooden chests, their lids decorated with carvings of cavorting tigers, sat against one wall of the room beyond. Some sort of message seemed to be carved on each lid, but Gawedd was unable to read them. Colourful frescoes on the wall opposite the chests depicted hundreds of tigers marching in widening circles around  a 
single green gem the size of a fist, set in the wall and carved to resemble a tiger’s head. Gawedd attempted to open the first box, which surface felt strangely slick, and felt strangely ill as he was unable to open it. Moving to the second box, it opened easily, only to reveal an extremely irritated cobra inside. Gawedd swiftly stepped back, and drawing his blade hacked the snake in two! As Dellosia came up he opened the third box - and released a cloud of poisonous mist into the room causing them to flee the room coughing and reeling from its befuddling effects, whereupon Behzad slammed the door shut. Once the mist dispersed Halleth, still complaining and wracked with pain, managed to disable the traps on the chest and  they recovered several potions from the first and third. They decided to rest until a hour or so later Behzad and Halleth's pain faded. At which point  the lever was rotated one more.

The exit this revealed led to an  oddly shaped hallway decorated in a complex mural depicting a hot, steaming jungle brimming with hungry life. Predators of every sort stalked and maim and feed on dozens of hapless people. In the canopy above, monkeys, snakes, and birds seemed to chatter and mock the victims below. Moving forward Behzad and a still befuddled Gawedd were drawn into this illusionary jungle and played with the great tigers for a bit, before an exasperated Dellosia pulled them bodily out! Halleth meanwhile had managed to trip a trap in the room beyond, causing thousands of 6-inch-long needles stabbed out of the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room, jabbing in and out of tiny holes. Halleth retreated and at Dellosia's urging found a bypass switch in the doorway, disabling the trap.

The room had two door to the north and south. Gawedd led the way to the southern door which Halleth opened to reveal long, narrow hallway lined with alcoves. Inside each alcove stood a human-sized, upright iron casket, the image of a sobbing woman decorating its lid. The hallway’s floor gleamed bright red, a mosaic of tiny red stones giving the appearance that the hall was awash in blood. Gawedd and Behzad led the way down only for Gawedd, as he passed the first set of caskets, to trip a magical trap flipping him back into Behzad casing them both to fall prone next to the caskets. An instant later, the western iron maiden began shrieking and wailing, searing their ears with its cacophony, the eastern maiden opened to reveal an interior lined with spikes. These spikes shot out on long shafts, nearly reaching the opposing iron maiden and impaling anything in the way. Scrabbling backwards until the spikes ceased, they called forward Halleth as the area was filled with an ominous clicking and grinding as the mechanical aspect of the trap reset.

As Halleth began a painfully slow search for the traps and attempted to disable them, Gawedd decided to explore the northern door, which opened onto a short corridor with a door at the far end. Opening tis door proved a costly mistake as he was instantly attacked by a fox-headed woman who swung a kukri crackling with electrical discharges with deadly effect! Behzad was first to fall before her assault, swiftly followed by Gawedd and Halleth! Dellosia, her magic proving ineffective against t he creature's spell resistance, desperately dragged Gawedd's body away, but the fox-rakshasa followed menacing, before suddenly stopping over Halleth's prone form. Searching the rogue she laughed and  held aloft the strange magic-infused dagger they had found but had been unable to identify. The bejewelled blade shimmered and writhed, transforming into a hideous, red-eyed serpent which wound its way around her arm.

The Biting Tigers

As Dellosia surveyed the scene, the bodies of her comrades scatters about bleeding and broken, the fox-headed woman looked, the red serpent twining around her body, and invited Dellosia to "give it her best shot"! Instead,  Dellosia tried to remonstrate, at which point her adversary laughed loudly and making some comment once again about her brother, abruptly vanished. Somewhat belatedly Garrid and Tordale then arrived, the cleric immediately springing into action healing the fallen.

The Party pondered their next actions briefly before deciding to continue exploring the dungeon, turning various levels and rotating the rooms through various configurations, tripping several nasty traps as they went. The nastiest of these traps  was a twenty-foot-long corridor decorated with row upon row of tiger heads. Each head appeared to be that of an actual, once-living tiger. The heads were remarkably well preserved—their gaping mouths and glaring eyes even appeared to be moist. As Garrid entered the room it quickly became apparent that this whole room was a giant trap as the tiger heads lining the walls animated and attacked, writhing out of the walls on long serpentine necks in a horrific storm of scales, fangs, and fur. Unfortunately, Halleth was unable to disable this trap and Garrid eventually fled, badly wounded through a secret door, finding himself separated from the rest of the Party.

Deception in the Labyrinth

The Party rotated the levers a few more times, eventually revealing an exit that Dellosia informed them they had not seen before. Gawedd led the way forward, immediately triggering a Symbol of Sleep which, most of the Party being elves, had little effect - except for Behzad who crashed to the ground in slumber.   Their main opponent in this area was a darksphinx, who proved a formidable foe indeed. The Party was sorely pressed, as she attacked with twin kukris, even after Behzad roused from  his slumber and joined the fray. By the time she was dealt with, most of the Party were carrying serious wounds, some having yet another close brush with death.

In the room the darksphynx was guarding they found Vencarlo, chained up, bruised and obviously maltreated. Halleth freed the sword master and after handing him a healing potion, the Party led him out of the labyrinth, following his advice there was another level to the dungeon below.

The entrance below was hidden beneath an illusory wall, and led to a set of double doors which Halleth immediately checked for traps. Finding none, she opened the door to reveal a large room lit by a heartily burning firepit in the room’s centre. Cages hung on chains dangling from hooks in the ceiling, while racks, strappados, gibbets, and other implements of torture filled the floor space. A set of immense wooden doors stood in the wall to the north, while to the south several narrow cells were set into the rock. The main occupant of the room was a strange three-headed, six armed figure, an upasunda asura standing near a pitiful figure on a rack.

The asura proved a formidable foe indeed. Initially she targeted Dellosia who quickly crumpled, near dying, under her multi-armed assault. Even the fighters in the Party,  doughty Behzad, nimble Tordale and the mighty Gawedd fell one by one before her onslaught, while Halleth struggled to keep people alive. Eventually however the Party somehow prevailed, but as the asura lay defeated, Tordale suddenly noticed what looked uncannily  like another Vencarlo peering at them anxiously out of the cell next to him.

Looking across to the other Vencarlo, that they had apparently rescued earlier, he called out a warning, only for that person's form to glimmer and shift revealing that she was in fact the fox-headed woman who grinned and said "Did you  miss me?", stepping forward and drawing a kukri, flashing with electrical energy from its sheath at her side!

As the fox-headed rakshasa, Vimanda,  closed to battle, a badly wounded Bahzad wearily stepped forward, accepting her challenge, Gawedd also badly injured moved to support him. Halleth used her wand of cure light wounds on Behzad, while Dellosia dropped back casting lightning bolt, which seemed to have little effect. With a flurry of her kukri Vimandia focused her initial attacks on Behzad, swiping at Gawedd almost casually with her off-hand. Garrid taking a sold swipe from her as he tried to dodge past, channelled energy healing his friends as best he could before casting align weapon on Behzad's blades. Seeing this Vimandia immediately targeted Garrid, taking the cleric out with a flurry of attacks. Shrugging off Gawedd's attacks, even though he managed to get a couple of good blows in! Dellosia meanwhile found her magic missile spells were having more effect and cast several in a row at the rakshasa. Halleth seeing this, after pausing to stabilise the fallen cleric, also began casting magic missiles. Behzad, now his attacks were getting through drew Vimandia's attention once more and after a series of vicious attacks he fell, slain, to the floor. Vimandia then turned her attention to Gawedd, but suddenly as if their cumulative attacks on her had finally taken their toll, she leaped acrobatically up onto a rack, and bowing said "perhaps you were worthy after all!" and vanishe

Halleth quickly freed the real Vencarlo from his cell, who, ignoring his own wounds, immediately rushed to his friend Neolandus, saying, "We need to get him to safety, what is you plan of escape? Can we get him to my friends at Harse? The Party looked blankly at each other for a moment, realising they didn't really have an exit plan and that Arkona may not be trustworthy enough to let them leave unhindered.

Eventually someone remembered the barge they had seen moored in the smuggler's cave above that must have an exit out to sea. Dragging Behzad's corpse and the almost catatonic Neolandus they made their way to the barge ad somehow managed to steer the heavily laden craft to  the coast just north of the  Jeggare Light. From their they began the overland trek to Harse, none of them willing to trust the barge on the open sea for very long!