There is rumored to be slavers at work in the waters around compact. Stories reached the ears of Alexis though the gold order when a woman from the lower boroughs showed up to tell her that someone had captured her oldest son. She was hysterical and described the kidnappers as slavers who threatened to sell him. The storys reached Joslyn as she spoke with the people of her house, some who follow them are prodigals and some spend time in the lowers. A young man said that someone took his girlfriend while she was working on the docks. Domonico heard about such as well when he was prepping for his journey and near the ships when, he ran into a old man crying about his missing granddaughter. The three all went to look into this further and ended up on the banks in the lower boroughs.

Alexis is naturally aghast to hear about slavers, and quick to promise the aid of he sword-arm. So now she's slightly out of place, perhaps, with her steel armour accented with alaricite and her sword hefted over her shoulder. "Lady Joslyn. My lord." She bobs her head. "Dame Alexis Wyrmfang, Sword of Blancbier, Fourth Paragon of the Gold Order. I... Presume we're here with similar purpose?"

No longer an Admiral, Domonico finds himself with extra time on his hands and after hearing the old sailor's plight he promised that he would look into such matters and so he does. Alexis gets a respectful nod and Joslyn gets a bow. "Dame Alexis. Countess Joslyn. Good to see you again. I wish it were in better circumstances however."

Though Joslyn is a general, today she arrives merely as a concerned citizen. Steelsilk dress flowing behind her as she steps forward she joins the other pair. "I would presume so," Joslyn dips her head to each of them. "Good to see you, Lord Domonico. Dame Alexis. As you say, despite the circumstances." Joslyn as usual looks more ready to attend a ball than fight a battle, but that seems to be her preferred style in the end.

It is early in the morning and the docks are busy with people loading and unloading ships. Most are going about the their business, but some do stop to give the two nobles and the knight curious glances.

Sitting on a rock and holding a stick filled with roasted rats is a ragged man. They look like decent rats, skinned and well cooked. The man looks toward the three of them and squints. "Roasted Rats!" He says, but doesn't seem to expect people of their level of esteem to purchase any. A boy comes running up, handing him more rats, these ones uncooked. The boy looks pretty ragged herself. He his sniffling though and looking distressed."Dad...." He starts to say, lifting his voice and getting the man's attention. "Aunt Maddie's place is empty, I think they got her."

"I'll buy a rat," Alexis offers, taking a step closer. "What's this about your aunt's place being empty?" She adds, as an aside. "We've come here to look into some disappearances. Perhaps we can help." Simple, straightforward, and to the point. Alexis is terrible at being subtle.

"I... already had a big breakfast," Joslyn says, eyeing the rats as she strides alongside Alexis. "But please tell us about your aunt's place. Maybe you can show us?" she asks, bending to look the boy in the eye. "You can show us where your Aunt Maddie lives and maybe we can try to get her back?"

Domonico wrinkles his nose at the offered rat before he nods in agreement with the others as well, slotting in behind the two women.

The man looks to Alexis, giving her a yellow-toothed smile. "That will be one silver." He says and is probably upcharging her. His eyes are friendly, but they are sharp and concerned when he turns to the boy. "What...?" He says still processing and getting ready to rise. The boy then looks to Alexis. "I think they got her the slavers..."He says, pleadingly, pointing off to an old looking ratty house boat on the river. "She lives there, roasts the rats." He adds looking to Joslyn now. The man seems to have mostly forgot about the silver he was trying to get how. "She probably just went to gather seaweed or something, she will be back." He says, but still is getting ready to head toward the house boat.

Alexis happily pays the silver, the Knight being exactly the kind of customer a lowers merchant might regale in dealing with if only for the profits. She accepts the fried-rat-on-a-stick, but immediately offers it to the boy instead. "We'll go have a look, see if she's alright. See if we can find any clue of where she went, mm? And of course, if you want to come along and point out anything out of place, I shall be glad for your assistnace."

"I'm sure it will all be fine," Joslyn says smoothly, giving the boy what she hopes is a reassuring smile. "Please if you could come with us, as she says you'd be able to tell us if there were anything out of place..."

Domonico hmms softly, glancing around with the air of someone expecting an ambush at any time as he follows the others, staying silent for now. After all... he has no doubt the others are better at this.

The man is already heading to the old house boat and he seems pretty spry, considering he looks so gaunt and ragged. The boy stays with the trio though, looking to Alexis. "Thank you." He says, taking the rat and seemingly eager to have their help.

Eventually they reach and old house boat that is patched together with various things. It has a deck with some scattered fishing gear around. A door leads further inside the boat. It looks to be empthy. The boy calls around, going "Aunt Maddie" and the older many already slipped further in the boat apparently to search the inside.

Alexis checked perception + survival at difficulty 20, rolling 21 higher.

Joslyn checked perception + investigation at difficulty 20, rolling 20 higher.

Domonico checked perception + survival at difficulty 20, rolling 21 higher.

Alexis notices a bowl of overturned pottage. People in the lowers rarely waste food and it seems that odd that perfectly good dish of food would be abandoned. Joslyn notices the large foot prints, clearly coming from adults wearing boots and Domonico catches a scrap of red felt tie that looks like it fell to the floor of the boat. They all realize that it doesn't seem like anyone is still here. There are even rats waiting to be roasted that are just left sitting out and easily could be taken by someone. In the lowers food is sometimes short enough that rats might be stolen and a home with all this stuff would rarely be unguarded at least by someone.

The man returns from downstairs. "No one here." He says now sounding concerned.

"She left in a hurry, or she was taken." Alexis notes, giving a nod towards the bowl, the food spilling. Dropping to a knee to examine the food. "The pottage is still warm. She didn't leave long ago at all."

Domonico takes the tie and offers it to Alexis, "Looks out of place for a... home like this," is his comment, "Any thoughts?"

"Footprints," Joslyn looks over the floor, her dark jade gaze shifting around, trying to see if she can tell where they've gone. "Looks like boots, possibly a few people. It was recent..." Joslyn squints. "They can't have gone far."

Joslyn checked perception at difficulty 10, rolling 5 higher.

Alexis checked perception at difficulty 10, rolling 0 higher.

Domonico checked perception at difficulty 10, rolling 5 lower.

The man looks to the three here and tries to blink back tears, suggesting to the more empathic that he really cares for his family. Domonico notices a shy copper penny laying on the deck. They would drop money either! Joslyn and Alexis both notice a ship in the distance, a ship that looks a bit more like a war ship than a merchant ship and that seems to be trying to quickly sail away from the docks.

"Might be part of a uniform, or something." Alexis suggests. Giving a nod towards the ship in the distance. "Think we can find anything that can catch up to that thing? If nothing else we can ask if they've seen something..."

Domonico hmms carefully as he looks out to sea at the ship pointed out. "We can take Ospr-. Wait... No we can't." There is an Empyrean cog in dock. If we want to catch them... I think we can but we have to go *now.*

Joslyn bites her lip and than nods to Domonico. "My family has many boats but nothing that we have ready on the docks, it would take too long. Let us go!" she nods to Domonico, beckoning for him to lead the way.

There is an Empyrean cog all tied up and looking ready to use. The party would be able to take such out to sea if they wanted. Domonico might even be able to round up a few sailors from his org who are not far.

Domonico barks out orders in the tone of one that is used to being obeyed, rounding up crew for the ship with a royal purple hull and black sails bearing a moon on a starry background. "Dame Alexis. Lady Joslyn. On board quickly if you mean to come. Prepare to cast off, ready the main sail." He pauses and seems to be listening for a moment, "We should have the wind in our favour."

Alexis is happy to follow for now - and the Gold Order are mostly land-bound, so any squires and knights she could scare up would probably not be too helpful. She hurries on board, and adjusts her armour, just so. She stomps her foot against the deck, creating a rhythm, and quickly begins singing an Oathlands Worker's Song, trying to use that to help the sailors find a rhythm to work with.

Alexis checked command + leadership at difficulty 20, rolling 11 higher.

Joslyn checked command + leadership at difficulty 20, rolling 13 higher.

Domonico checked command + sailing at difficulty 20, rolling 32 higher.

Joslyn is not a woman that's ever done more than be a passive member of a ship's crew, and that's not likely to change much today. Instead she helps spur the crew on, following Domonico's lead, Joslyn begins whipping them into shape, pointing people in the right direction to make those preparations that she is absolutely clueless about. (All while acting like she knows what she's talking about too!)

The trio gets the cog going and are drawing closer and closer to the ship that seems to be trying to get further and further way from them. Still it looks like they can encourage the sailors to work really hard and they can likely overtake this ship. The winds seem to change in direction in their favor and it is like the sea itself wants them to catch this ship. Domonico especially seems to know just when to turn the ship and how to catch the water best.

They can see that the ship has blank red sails and there seems to be men in leather armor onboard. It is hard to make out much else from here.

Domonico is in his natural environment here it seems, directing the sailors and doing no small amount of work l

Domonico is in his natural environment here it seems, directing the sailors and doing no small amount of work himself, leading by example to get the ship off from dock and cutting through the waters swiftly. "Dame Alexis. Are you prepared for battle?" he calls from his position at the wheel, focusing on his quarry intently.l

Alexis wields The Dragon's Daughter, an Alaricite Greatsword.

Joslyn wields Ruby and Rose, a pair of alaricite hairpins.

Domonico wields Warspite, an alaricite xiphos.

Alexis hefts her sword properly, giving a nod. "As ready as I'll ever be," She offers. "Especially given we're on the water." She moves closer to the side, ready to... Well, how she'll get onto the pirate ship is a problem for the next five minutes...

As they get closer, Joslyn finds herself readying herself, plucking her hairpins from her hair, the braid coming lose around her shoulders, Joslyn makes a little face. "It's all just different terrain. This one just happens to be moving around beneath your feet..."

Domonico checked command + sailing at difficulty 15, rolling 37 higher.

Alexis checked command + war at difficulty 15, rolling 55 higher.

Joslyn checked command + war at difficulty 15, rolling 21 higher.

Domonico checked command + war at difficulty 15, rolling 44 higher.

Alexis, Joslyn and Domonico are doing pretty good at overtaking the other ship. They rely on their understanding of war to help them get the boat in the best position for boarding and they manage to get really close to the ship, close enough where they can have the sailors throw hooks over and close enough where they can probably travel from ship to ship. The men on board look to be human males in red armor. They have small flags that can only be seen up close which show pictures of people in chains. One of the flags even says /thralldom forever/. There looks to be about ten men on deck and three of them are getting bows ready to fire at nearby ship.

"More slaves!" one of the man, a man with long blonde hair calls. "Get them!"

Joslyn checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 16 higher.

Joslyn checked dexterity + athletics at difficulty 20, rolling 14 higher.

Domonico checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 32 higher.

Alexis checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 60 higher.

Domonico checked dexterity + athletics at difficulty 30, rolling 47 higher.

Alexis checked dexterity + athletics at difficulty 20, rolling 45 higher.

Upon hearing the shout from one of the men on the other ship, Joslyn can't help but burst into laughter. "Slaves are we? You have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?" She sprints as the boat gets into position, hairpins held in each hand, the long points sticking dangerously out at the ends. "My friend is far too modest to boast, but you just caught by the finest Knight in all the oathlands! Surrender now, and she may be able to convince me to spare your lives!"

Domonico brings the cog up alongside the enemy ship and hands control of the wheel over to a sailor, "Hold us steady." At that he dons his helm and leaps into motion, using his position at the raised stern castle of the cog to his advantage. A rope is employed and the Malvici Raptor is swinging through the air between the ships, Warspite ready in his hand as he boards the other ship, letting the others 'negotiate'.

Alexis bats an arrow out of the way with an alaricite-gauntleted hand. Hefting the hilt of the dragon's daughter, she runs away from the edge - and then comes charging back in, letting out an inarticulate yell, jumping onto the railing for more momentum, and sending herself barreling across the divide as the sunlight gleams against her plate armour, ready to crash into her foes!

The man with the long blonde hair looks over Joslyn even as he draws his weapon an dwell he mostly seems amused. "Those weapons will be worth quite a bit too.." He says before looking to Alexis. "Finest Knight..in my experience the knights of Compact are weak and petty." He says and he speaks well with the accent of a Thrax noble. They get ready to fight, the ten men, drawing bladed weapons made from steel that range from axes to swords to daggers. Three of them have bows.

Joslyn checked dexterity + small wpn at difficulty 30, rolling 12 higher.

Joslyn checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 30 higher.

Domonico checked dexterity + medium wpn at difficulty 30, rolling 21 higher.

Domonico checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 30 higher.

Alexis checked dexterity + huge wpn at difficulty 30, rolling 41 higher.

Alexis checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 30 higher.

Two of the men go toward Domonico. Two start toward Joslyn, including the blonde leader and three start toward Alexis. The three archers keep their bows ready, but don't fire into the melee, maybe not wanting to hit their men. Instead they go guard near a wooden door leading further into the ship's cabin. Joslyn, Alexis and Domonico are all able to dodge the first swing at them and well the men are looking a bit nervous now. They also all hit one of the men on them, but nobody is now and out of the fight yet and now they are being surrenderd and out numbered.

Alexis lashes out with her sword in a wide sweep, more to clear the deck than to actually hurt anyone. "I will say now! Lay down your arms and surrender, and I will see you delivreed to the courts of the Realm to face a fair trial!" She demands. "If you do not, I cannot guarantee that you will live to see your loved ones again!"

Alexis checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 24 higher.

Alexis checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 34 higher.

Alexis checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 40 higher.

Domonico checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 32 higher.

Domonico checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 23 higher.

Joslyn checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 24 higher.

Joslyn checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 40, rolling 8 higher.

"They're imbiciles," Joslyn mutters as she hears the boasting from the captain. "They have no loved ones to go home to, and they'll never listen to sense. Leave the last one alive, make sure they're not hiding anything," she decides then and there, forcing her way in, she lashes out with those pins, they may be small but their long thin alaricite points cut deep and she growls as she lunges forward.

Domonico doesn't speak, focused as he is on parrying the attacks coming in at him, steel ringing against alaricite as the Malvici defends himself and gifts once opponent with a nasty cut along his arm

One of the men on Alexis' seems influenced by her words and takes a step back. He looks be in his mid twenties, but the heroes level of gear and how they were little effected by the first blows, has him startled and frightened. "Please...I surrender...." He says. One of the men near him glares at him. "You will regret that." He say sand goes to try and attack Alexis.

Domonico checked dexterity + medium wpn at difficulty 30, rolling 35 higher.

Joslyn checked dexterity + small wpn at difficulty 40, rolling 1 higher.

Alexis checked dexterity + huge wpn at difficulty 30, rolling 45 higher.

Alexis grunts, and upon seeing a man step forward, brings the Daughter down in an overhead blow, cutting the man down with a single stroke. "Think of it. If you are put to hard labour or the stocks, you'll live. Even with the threat of execution you can still plead before the judges. But an alaricite blade will send you straight to the Queen..."

Domonico fights with crisp, precise movements, not bothered in the slightest by the shifting deck beneath his feet as he parries a blow then launches a supremely well practiced double strike on his injured opponent, slicing at his belly before reversing the swing to cut at the neck of the slaver. The man is disemboweled by the first strike but before he can react to it his head is struck from his shoulders by Domonico's brutally efficient attack.

There is nothing elegant about the way Joslyn brawls with the leader of the slavers, her eyes are filled with hatred, a glimmer of the emerald in her eyes is given as she stabs anywhere she can find skin. "You've taken your last slave, Captain," Joslyn growls, until the alaricite finds home in the tender flesh along his throat while she snarls out visciously.

The man near Alexis who surrendered, drops his blade and falls to his knees. He clearly wants to live. The other men continue to fight though, those of them left. They are down to three men left in melee combat. The three men with bows drop their weapon and start trying to get on the life boat, likely with the hope of escaping.

The leader is slayed by Joslyn, his blood gushing from his throat and the man falling while trying to grasp at his own neck.

Joslyn checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 13 higher.

Alexis checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 20 higher.

Domonico checked dexterity + dodge at difficulty 30, rolling 42 higher.

Alexis checked dexterity + huge wpn at difficulty 15, rolling 50 higher.

Domonico checked dexterity + medium wpn at difficulty 15, rolling 62 higher.

Joslyn checked dexterity + small wpn at difficulty 30, rolling 181 higher. Joslyn rolled a critical!

Alexis is able to get a really strong blow against the last man on her and the other man is still on his knees and surrendered. This man is now seriously wounded and drops his own blade, so she has two surrendered by her one injured and one not. The last man on Domonico is gravely hurt as well, but tries to fight on. It is pretty much a hopeless attempt. The last man on Joslyn is trying to get the life boat himself, running in the other direction. Mean Joslyn charges at the three going to that boat.

It's almost as if everything is moving in slow motion, the movement in the corner of her eyes of the retreating archers and Joslyn gives in to her pursuit, a wordless prowl as she swiftly catches up to the first one, a blow to his shoulder knocking him off balance, giving her that ample opportunity to slide the hairpin into the bared flesh at the base of his neck. Crying out, the man tries to grapple with her, but to no avail, her momentum pulling her forward, she pulls him with her, pulling downwards to gain that bit of leverage to lift her legs from the deck, clamping the other man's head between her thighs, pulling the hairpin with her to stab violently at the next man's throat while she rides on his shoulders. He doesn't stay on his feet for long, collapsing in a heap beneath her while she gracefully leaps off, the other man's head hitting the deck in sync with her feet, she doesn't waste any time admiring the clean kills, she's quickly trying to resume her pursuit, chasing down that final archer.

Domonico batters the defenses down of his opponent, knocking his weapon out wide and slashing back across his arm, Warspite's alaricite blade cutting deep and causing him to drop it. The Malvici follows it up by stepping forward and launching the injured slaver overboard with a powerful kick.

There are two injured men. One near Alexis and one near Domonico. One injured man near Alexis is surrendering and one near Domonico is fighting. There are three uninjured men. One is near Alexis surrendering and two are trying to escape. One is close to Joslyn who just cut down the other two archers and looking terrified. He event tries to jump off the ship to escape her as soon as he can!

Alexis sets the tip of her sword down to the deck. "This ship is now under the control of the Gold Order, the Empyrean, and the Rivenshari." She demands. "Anyone in the crew will be given the option to surrender, and the ship will be taken to Arx. We will free those captured, and..." She hesitates. "...What do we do with the ship later?"

Well jumping over the side with no boat of his own and no land in sight? Joslyn seems to finally calm enough to just let him pass over the side, letting out a grunt under her breath. "It's a long way back up if you jump," Joslyn says casually. "But I'm not about to pluck you from the sea, now why don't you be smart and listen to the smart Dame?"

Domonico hmmms as he looks over the edge of the ship at his opponent who is struggling and failing to stay afloat with his badly injured arm before he looks at Alexis, "I was going to transfer some sailors over to it to bring back to dock and maybe see if I can get it for the Empyrean." He hmms before he gestures back towards the shore, "I'll prepare up.here for the return. You recover any prisoners."

The trio has things pretty much well under controll now with the surrenders bleeding to death, not breathing or surrendering. There is a door leading down and maybe the captives are kept there?

"That sounds good to me, my Lord." Alexis bobs her head to domonico, even as she tosses a rope out to the man struggling. "Let's do that, set sail back, and see to it that these men face justice and their victims are cared for."

The men are taken prisoner, the few slavers who lived anyways. Joslyn and Alexis are able to learn that they were thrall owners who are not happy about the change and went rogue and went Abandoned. Eventually the trio makes their way into the holding area, finding the caputured denizens, including Aunt Maddie with three children. None of them are harmed, but all were kept in chains. They are able to get the chains off them as well. Aunt Maddie's apron is red. They are thankful for the rescue, but pretty shook up.