Ship-side, Mona laughs as Xarius gives him a pinch. "And yes, Xarius is *quite* helpful when it comes to streamlining one's digestion. I imagine he'd be just as pleasant to digest himself, but that would be a waste of a precious natural resource." Giving the feline a wink, she may well have pushed her rear into the pinch a smidge harder than necessary. "Pretty town, though. Lots of nice dry wood, lots of nice, tasty people," she muses to herself, eyes alight. "Plenty of room to have some fun, especially with new friends... but I'm in favor of just letting the ship go. Don't much care for the ocean. This is an island, but at least it's dry land." She stifles a burp, and pats her shrunken belly. "Sorry. He shifted in there, thought he was done but I suppose not. Not too much of him left... I'd say I can feel my clothes getting tighter, but these damned robes are too baggy for me to show off my catches. I'll fix that when we get some gold in- get something nice and tight, see how much strain my meals can put on a humble bodice... you in for that Delia, Chira? We could compete to see who pops a string the fastest-" The centaur snorts. "I do not wear... lingerie," she says haughtily as Mona stifles a giggle.<br/><br/>Chira then *also* gives Xarius a very fishy look. "You wanted to watch me...?" After a pause, she just... shakes her head. "I do not hold complete meals inside me for long. It is bad for one's health." She still seems to have some issues with understanding Xarius's sense of humor. "...but thank you. And yes, if I were to fight you for some reason, you probably would experience what those Imperials did, though I would try to be considerably more gentle with you." the large centaur says simply. "I was happy enough to contribute to the fight, but others did as much-" she snorts, not elaborating, and adds, "And your hands were quite talented. But I've had to stand watch several nights in a row since I was a filly, so I will be fine until we can go to sleep in some proper place tonight-"<br/><br/>"-don't be so sure," Aron breaks in. "We'll be selling goods to make money, and we will *have* money, and even in a quite good inn someone will have to watch out for ambitious thieves. But, dear Delia, in my experience?" Aron says smoothly, "Pirates are pirates' kind of people, and anyone who isn't a pirate- well, it depends if you're stronger than them, of course, but often times you become a pirate's... kind of person. Namely, another pirate, or at least part of one. They can be prickly people, and always out for money. And they don't just steal on the seas, so- be careful." The drow gives Delia's sloshing belly a firm pat once more. Listening to her dictate to the party, he also twitches his ears as Xarius also offers the crew a deal. "Mmm. Well, I imagine with Chira here, they won't dare to renege on any deals, for fear of being disposed of over the deck. I still think it might be wiser to send the crew away and steal the ship for ourselves, but I understand that not everyone has the nautical urge. I'll go with you to shop," he says firmly. "And after that, who knows?" Aron turns to look behind them at the crew. "As for this lot, if they don't like your deal..."<br/><br/>The crew seems mostly just happy to see the back of the escaped prisoners more than anything, and so when Delia turns and addresses them, "Four fifths! Sure! Just leave us the ship and we'll leave!" This seems to meet with general loud agreement, at least from the crew that's still looking up over the railings and not hiding below-decks or already frantically trying to get the cargo up on deck so that they can get it GONE and run- or at least, sail- like hell.<br/><br/>Inside Delia, the mage's last effort had been exhausted in her attempt to bargain her secrets away for her life. It hadn't been enough- or rather, she'd waited too long to do so. Instead, another hungry stomach contraction squeezed her together, and she felt her throat soften and give under the force of the constricting muscular strength and her own melting wrist in its way.Her next call for mercy turned into a wet gurgling sound no different than the hundreds of others that filled the stomach as the mage's body began to succumb in earnest to its fate. Still, and acting more out of instinct than any remaining conscious fought, the mage's body squirmed and weakly pawed at Delia's walls for a reprieve that would have been too late to matter, as her body soaked up more and more acid, and the soup around her got thicker and higher with.. herself. When the ooze finally covered her entire body, she was still barely aware of the hot, squeezing walls around her, and could still hear the horrible succubus taunting her failure. Only then, with her body more off of her bones than on it, did she succumb to the regular rhythm of Delia's walks throughout the city and slip into merciful unconsciousness before her body began to slough deeper into Delia's body to be absorbed as the day goes on, each little slide through the succubus's intestines filling her with the diffuse, warm pleasure of a meal becoming truly part of her. She is growing a little, though the soul's catch still doesn't come. The physical sensations of enlarging her curves is enough, though, for now after so long a layoff.<br/><br/>As box after box of trade goods get unloaded from the ship onto the docks, Delia and Xarius begin to realize just how much of a sheer *undertaking* it's going to be to sell all this stuff. The ship was laden with over a hundred tons of... well, food, wine, clothes, weapons, armor, and all the miscellaneous dry goods it took to both get a ship across weeks' worth of ocean and also keep a bustling prison mine complex operational for another few months. There was no one person who was going to buy all that for a fair price at one go, so it was going to be a walking tour of a large chunk of the city, dropping in on various wholesalers. The food's almost easiest, as they find a rather portly orc who runs a warehouse full of cases and cases of looted preserved Imperial rations- having some that aren't ancient is practically a banner day, and he readily takes them off the group's hands. Similarly the wine and ale- nothing in the casks on board was of supremely high quality, but it was something new and drinkable here at the ends of the earth and was potable, which made it a hot commodity. General dry goods have to get painstakingly sold here and there, sometimes for gold and platinum pieces, some for drafts on banks, and interspersed with these sales (and the weapons none of the escapees wanted) is some light shopping on their own. Not long after the first sale, Delia and Xarius go to a fine clothing store and emerge in... well, it wasn't quite the regal finery she'd had in the abyss on her throne, but it was very good quality clothing with enough small jewelry to mark her out to anyone who saw her as a Woman of Means (and likewise, Xarius, a Man of Means)- that alone is enough to make them stand out juuust a little on the streets, but traveling with a perpetually disgruntled-looking very large centaur is enough to warn off the common thieves!<br/><br/>The dock is nigh bedlam, with a half dozen merchants taking inventory and inspecting the spoils of their ship's capture even while the crew hastily hauls out more and more boxes of stuff. Some of it probably gets sold for too much, some for not enough in the haste, and the work doesn't even get *done* until well after sundown, by torchlight. It's half to midnight by the time the last box is sold, and Chria's saddlebags (oddly, not tied to a saddle, and Chira gets very short with everyone innocently asking for one- just tied to... each other, across her back) are markedly heavy with gold and bank drafts. Some of their spoils have been shared out, as opportunity presents. Some of the orders for less common magic items will take a few days to make, as there appears to be a run on the enchanters in port. Expedition into the mountain jungle at the heart of the island fitting out and sucking up a lot of the high powered magic available, it seems. Everyone at least looks presentable, and has some of their desired gear; a few special items simply have to be made, which will take days. Everyone, even after splitting the gold up, has more than enough to live on in the city until then even if they do nothing else. By the time they're done, the entire group repairs to a seaside inn for dinner, having worked through the day; those who ate during the escape, largely had disposed of their meals by then (even Delia). Some were even hungry again. One of the merchants recommended a place- Shara's Seaside Dining House, said it was the best in town. Also whispered that well-heeled patrons could not only get a private room, but could get the cook to prepare any... kind... of meat that they brought in the door. But nobody's quite THAT hungry just yet. Plain, normal sushi and wine is more the mood of the group.<br/><br/>They're seated by an extremely professional hostess at a large, round table, in the shallow end- shallow because the dining house was built in and containing a semicircular cove where waves and tide brought in the water, filling a bowl-shaped depression in the rock with water intermittently. Some could sit in the water itself, depending on the time of day, and it was one of the few places that would cheerfully serve mermaids and humans at the same time. The cook, a rather shy faun, was famed for having few prejudices and fewer scruples, as the darkly hinted-at expanded menus indicated. But this was a normal dinner, and so no such 'expanded menu' was going to be needed. Dinner comes out in a sequence of plates, bread, fruits, selections of thinly-sliced seafood, some cooked, some not, in an even patter throughout the night as appetites dictate. Seemingly a large number of people around the bowl are using the noise of the waves coming in and out to conduct business in peace, as everyone can see a fair amount of gold changing hands, but an unspoken rule seems to be to not Bother Other People. Probably the very large, multi-species bouncers/guards near the door would take a dim view of such a thing. After the first course of grouper with what tasted like lemon juice, Chira finally rumbled, "I did some asking. There's some ruins in the volcano's cone," she says. "Guarded by magic, they say. And monsters. People have been leaving it be, but one of the local mob bosses is finally getting ready to loot the place to the ground. They're hiring anyone with combat experience," she says, "Could be a fun trip on the dry land. And-" The centaur glances at Delia. "...they say it's a temple to some demon lord, down in the center of it. But they say that about every ruins in a weird place. And this one's in someplace hot, which... well, of course they would say it's demons."<br/><br/>"Yeah," Mona says, a bit of sauce on her chin- the pyromaniac seemed to be an instinctively messy eater. "A few people were giving you more looks than normal, Delia, and that may be why. Or it may just be admiring your ass in those pants," she says without a trace of modesty. "Thing is, folks look at you, probably think you're in town to fuck around with the expedition. Might be getting a Visit from some people in the night about it. Or might not." She reaches over Delia and plucks some bread off of Garth's plate, sopping up some red sauce from her own and scarfing it down enthusiastically. From her seat between Delia and Xarius, she adds, "I just wanna get out and get to let loose, you know? There's that. Of course, I wouldn't mind playing pirate. Y'know, sign on as crew for one of the privateers, then eat the officers and take over for ourselves. But I guess we had our chance with that." Mona shrugs. "Oh well."<br/><br/>Aron, sprawled out with his back to the wall and keeping a watchful eye on the rest of the eatery, adds, "This is a lawless town. My own expertise is in... well, not so much providing law, as providing justice to those who can pay, let's say. There's always bounty hunter work to be done in a place like this, and I daresay some of us might make a startlingly efficient team. Would be a source of ready cash. While you were arguing with the armor seller, Xarius," he nods to the feline, referring to a prolonged debate over whether he actually wanted a chain shirt or a breastplate of mithral, "I happened to see some signs of my guild in an alley, and found... well, some of them were pleased to see me alive. News does travel, and I had some status before my arrest. There are a few bounties we could probably pick up as soon as tonight, if you like, for extra money- but there isn't any rush, of course." The drow leans back and sips his wine, smiling faintly. "Of course, until we know what the response of the Empire is likely to be, I'll stick close to the rest of you almost no matter what. Safer that way."<br/><br/>Garth speaks up next, still a little sullen after his manifest poor luck and shaky combat abilities displayed on the boat that nearly had him making some lowly sailor's day a very pleasant one. "I... kind of agree with Aron. Something short and easy, but..." The half-orc looks around. "...it strikes me that nobody here really understand us yet. We can do what we want before anyone knows any better. We could pick a rich merchant, or mafia boss, or something, rob them, eat them and their guards, whatever- keep some of the money for ourselves and spread the rest around to the poor bastards who can't do anything on their own. Strike a bit of a blow against the people who run the place, shake things up..." he trails off. "This place- it *feels* unsteady, do you understand what I mean? Like there's a lot of... resentment sloshing around. We could make some big changes if we start out by pushing it down the hill, and be the first on the scene to pick up the pieces. Some of those manor houses we passed looked- vulnerable." And then, the next course comes out, carried on a large tray by a heavyset human woman. Ah. Roast boar, with some sort of sweet, fruity sauce. And more wine, of course, as the hour gets later...<br/><br/><br/>[[Whew! I went through a whole bunch of math, but your share of the cargo looked to be a shade less than 11k gold each. Not quite the 24k a fully kitted out level 7 character is supposed to be, let alone level 8, but it gets you some of the basics and is a good place to start from. I then, ah Interpreted your gear requests-<br/><br/>Delia's buys:<br/>+1 Merciful Whip - 8305 [Will require 3 days to make]<br/>MW Composite (STR+1) Shortbow- 450<br/>MW Mithral Chain Shirt - 1100<br/>2 nets - 40<br/>Basic MW whip - 401<br/>140 arrows - 14<br/>Pathfinder's Kit - 20<br/>Nice Clothes And Some Modest Jewelry - 80<br/>Spent 10410, 390 gold remains<br/><br/>+1 Composite (STR+3) Longbow - 2700 [On order- available in 2 days]<br/>+1 Mithral Breastplate - 5200 (Note: Could also do a +1 Mithral Breastplate and +1 ring of protection- it'd be 1 worse AC, but would take the net armor check penalty from -1 to 0 and cost 1100 less. If there's something around 1000 you want, might be an idea.<br/>Cloak of Elvenkind - 2500 [Available tomorrow]<br/>Like 200 Arrows - 20<br/>Adventurer's Kit - 20<br/>Fine Clothes + Simple Jewelry, Like Delia - 80<br/>10,520 gold spent - 280 gold remains.<br/><br/>The NPCs will be spending their gear when I get to them, and I'll update the first post accordingly hopefully tomorrow, but I wanted to post this now. I can explain in exhaustive detail how I got to the gold figure if either of you are ACTUALLY interested... but I doubt you are!<img alt=":D" src="./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif" title="Very Happy"/><br/><br/>You're all sitting in Freeport's "best" restaurant being served a multi-course seafood meal; some directions to go have been mooted (An expedition into some abandoned ruins that may be a decayed demon temple, robbing some rich merchants or mob bosses, looking for legitimate bounties to hunt down and collect, setting sail back onto the high seas as pirates- if you have other ideas I will roll with them, but this is a mix of short and long term stuff to do!]]