Act 1: Let's get out of here

"Hey, cool! There's a sword floating inside! Check it out." He holds it up for Mina and Konrad to see. "I've never seen a Bag of Holding before! Wow! I wish Zelk was here. She's going to be so jealous."

"...I can help you find her?" Mina phrases it as a question, not sure of what she should be doing now.

"Oh, don't worry about them. She's probably checking out that ship or looking for food. Speaking of which, where are your showers? And food?" He indicates she should lead the way.

The yellow mage informs Steve guides him to the communal showers right next to the office. Her adjunct is also keeping their food in a corner of the armory for now, but she doesn’t know if this base has any sort of stockpile of food. On their way there, they notice that the rest of the party has gone  through the doors at the south end of the hallway where the battle took place.

Amber is in a large cavern, on a personal mission to explore this place. There’s a small dock built in the rock, and a 60 meters long brigantine ship moored to it. The brig bears two square-rigged masts, is armed with 46 broadside canons and is fitted with a naval ram. Furthermore, it looks completely new and hasn’t even been named. With a small crew, it’d be possible to take it out through the large vertical crevice present at the end of the cavern; the only source of sunlight present here.

Mihai exhales deep breath once he sees her, and judging by the way he walks over to her, it's all he could do not to break into a run.

"Hey..." - he looks like he wants to say a lot more, but can't bring himself to, for some reason - "...you scared me."

"Mina, I'm sorry to have to ask you this, since we just met and all, but do you know a good way to get lantern oil out of clothes and bracer's of armor? This can't be good for it, right?"

Konrad is momentarily caught off guard by the mere majesty of the vessel before him, his eyes twinkling as he counts the cannons, admires the ram. "He kicked up a lot of dirt looking for you, idiot. Next time be smart and don't go running off alone."

"Look at that!" Amber points out, so impressed by the ship that she barely registers what Mihai just said. "We can use it to find the others, right?"

She then hears Konrad and without missing a beat she replies, "Sure thing Smolder."

Amber steps on the plank leading on board the ship and sets out to explore the deck. Both Konrad and Mihai can hear her speak under her breath. "Where's the gun powder...?"
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Mina looks down at Steve's clothes.

"...Laundry might help?" she suggests. "I'm not sure it'll get rid of the smell though."

She sniffs and winces.

Mihai looks back at Konrad - "I'll look after her. There were runes on the armor over at the Armory. Was gonna ask you to get on that. Will you?"

"Yeah, I was worried about that. Maybe Weaving?" He sniffs himself and winces.

"Weaving?" She raises an eyebrow, puzzled by the way Steve goes about solving his problems. "Well, that's one way to do it... I've never tried myself."

She seems like she's going to offer her help, but remembers she's technically a prisoner.

"Uh..."

"Hmm, I guess I can..." He wilts at the idea of leaving the area for now. "I didn't see anyone on the way here. Let me know what you find on the ship. See if she has a name."

"Oh, before I go, and I'm going to tell Steve when I get there. That 'Edward' guy we met? Yeah, he's the Grandmaster of the Coins. So, y'know, he's got more clout than Blackcliff and Sonlake. By bounds."

He'll return to the armory to read runes and find out what exactly is stored there.

"If you wouldn't mind? I would appreciate it. I'm sorry about all this. I hope you don't think ill of us. This is certainly the last situation I thought I'd be in. I just got engaged. This was supposed to be my last mission."

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During the time skip Steve will get his clothes Weaved clean, shower, make sure everyone eats, check on the 43rd (Steve pats down the rogue for weapons and the like and secures them), if they are awake tell them what's up and get them food and water, and discuss plans with the our group.

Mihai digests that bit of information, then nods, and proceeds to go accompany Amber. He'll explore the ship with her, then go back to the armory and see what Konrad got on those runes. He'll then call in the mages to ask a few questions, then explore the rest of the base with Amber.

Mihai

The ship, which again doesn't have a name, has all the basic equipment required to sail as well as a few barrels of gunpowder and piles of cannonballs. The cabins are even fitted with small beds with bedsheets sealed in bags. The only thing missing is food and a capable crew.

When Mihai suggests to Amber that they explore the rest of the base, she immediately agrees to it and grabs a nearby torch to use as a source of light. An exhaustive exploration of the base reveals many more dormitories, armories, a cafeteria, a warehouse full of basic gear (flint and steel, ropes, lanterns, tools, candles, backpacks, etc.) an apparent distribution center of clothes, and even a stockroom full of toys and board games. It goes on and on. All built underground, with no sources of light except for the teenager's torch.

"Eh, there's a Lord of Firepool box," Amber points out. "...Plushies too? Wait, even baby toys. What the hell?"

She looks at these shelves full of toys for a moment and then takes the board game with her. She stops, notices a pile of deck of cards, and takes one as well. Mihai takes a look at the exit Amber got in; it's an hallway that slowly goes up and leads to an underground stable. There is a carriage here and two horses. A little farther out and he comes to a set of large doors, hidden by foliage. It's sunny outside. Must be a little before noon.
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Konrad

The red mage explores the armory and finds many types of weapons and armors here; longswords, lances, crossbows, bows, leather armors, chain shirts and scale mails. Konrad notices different symbols engraved on the sides of the stands of weapons. He realizes that the stands are all categorized by Elements and each weapon is enchanted to deal +4 of of one specific type of elemental damage. All 8 Elements are present in the armory.

As for the armors, they're all enchanted to reduce magical damage by 4 while allowing white magic to heal the wearer.
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Steve

Mina is understandably bewildered by the black mage's request, but she sees no reason to refuse.

"Yeah, sure... I'll get right on that."

She offers Steve and the rest of the party some of her adjunct's provisions; that's what the party members were going to eat as prisoners anyway. Once the black mage has finished cleaning himself in the communal shower reserved for men (20 people could do it at the same time), Mina gives him back his clothes, completely free of oil. It turns out that the yellow mage is an experienced weaver.

Hanns and Brett are the first to wake up, and after checking on their wounds once again, Mina explains the situation to them. They're not happy to shackled but are quite surprised that 1) they're alive, 2) they haven't been thrown in the cells, and 3) that Edwin Reeves might actually have lied to them. They're not sure what to make of this whole situation, but they know that whatever happens, they're now out of a job. If Edwin did lie to them, there's no way in hell they'd keep working for mercenary company whose leader imprisoned one of their own adjuncts. If Edwin was telling the truth, which seems very unlikely at this moment considering Mina and her colleagues are still alive, then they've failed their mission and returning to the Coins would guarantee them a demotion.

Adrius Patel wakes up soon after that. Once he's been caught up to speed, the 43th adjunct has a long conversation about their next move. They discuss their options for half an hour, and although they don't make a final decision, they agree it's in their best interest to leave the Coins and find work elsewhere.

They realize they can't move without the 113th adjunct's permission. They ask the party members what they're planning to do with their prisoners.

Adrius Patel's weapons:

Konrad takes a longsword of +4 Life, and hefts a set of scale mail onto a nearby bench, and swaps Gallantry out for the Life sword.

He then walks up to the prisoners and starts to uncuff them. "Your only option in the face of utter failure or continuing to work for the person who duped you, per your words, is to leave to find other work. Well gentlemen, an opportunity has just opened up. We've come across some fresh lemons to squeeze in the form of an international conspiracy, by clandestine members who are not above assassination, and what is at the very least mind control, to get their way. We are in need of manpower to stop them and crew a ship."

"Come with us when we are ready to sail on the brigantine, and we'll discuss payment in gold or loot as you prefer, or stay and figure out your own way from here if you decline. We may be dubbed pirates for going rogue, according to the liar who brought us together, but worry not, you won't have to steel yourselves for acts of that explicit nature."

Diplomacy 16

Mihai feels whatever he could say honestly would most likely just drive them away.

"Yeah, you guys are pretty cool. Did you want to come work for us for a bit? Help us rescue our friends and possibly clear our names?"

Aid Another on Konrad's Diplomacy check 27

The mercenaries are pleased to have their shackles removed, but what Konrad says next have them perplexed.

Mina is visibly reticent, but her companions raise an eyebrow at the offer. They share a few looks between themselves, and the three men turn to their leader. The yellow mage seems to understand the message and tells the 113th adjunct, "Can we talk about this between ourselves for a few minutes?"

"And get our weapons back?" Hanns the barbarian adds.

"Of course. But please hurry." Steve gives each of them their weapons back.

Konrad steps aside for the squad to go and retrieve their things. "Give the offer some serious thought, will you?"

The 43th adjunct closes the door to the dormitory and for the next fifteen minutes or so, they discuss between themselves what to do with the party's offer. Amber uses this occasion to sit on the ground and play a game of Solitaire with the deck of cards she found in the stockroom. Florolf stays close to the teenager and observes her, almost entranced by her hand movements.

Finally, Mina and the rest of her colleagues come out of the dormitory. With their weapons sheathed, it is unlikely they'll pick a fight. The yellow mage steps forward.

"Thank you for what you've done," Mina says. "You had every opportunity to kill us, and ample reason to do so, but you didn't."She bows slightly to show genuine gratitude. Her companions nod at the party. "We've considered your offer, and while we now believe that you aren't pirates, we'd rather not get ourselves embroiled in a fight with Edwin Reeves. We have families to support you see, and that's not something we can risk. However... after learning what this man has done to you, as crazy as this whole mess sounds, we think we should at least help you a little."

She searches her bag and takes out a short wand.

"Take this. It's not much, but you don't seem to have a healer on your side. I've just used it on my colleagues, but there are 8 charges left."

Wand of Healing:

"We'll also help you get to Narrowfist with the ship." Her eyes gauge the whole party. "Assuming you have enough sailing experience to tell us what to do."

"If you feel like changing airs, our handler in Highwind has always done right by us. Much better than Reeves, at any rate."

Steve is clearly disappointed. "I understand. And thanks for the help getting the ship to town. What are your plans then?"