Chapter 2: Terrors of the Void

Imti touches her own nose and creates an Air Bubble around herself, then hops onto her broom and sweeps forward to pick Quaxiver up and transport him.

Krux seems very displeased, "Working with such an abomination is bad enough, but I will not join his crew under any circumstances," he says firmly.

Grimzod's severed hand strokes his chin while the vampirate thinks, "I suppose I could spare a ship," he says, "Now that my crews have been so reduced. If you agree to join my crew for this journey, you may have one of my flightworthy ships. Probably safer that way. Replenishing a vampirate crew is not cheap, easy, or without risks."

Krux looks to you, "You may join him if you please. I will not be upset with you either way," he says.

Grimzod chuckles at This One, "Of course our ships have atmosphere. How else would we keep captives or maintain any sort of looted beasties?"

Topolah shrugs, "You know I'm in," she says, eyes turning to survey the group, "I suggest you take the offer. A ship of your own would be of great benefit to you I would think."

This One nudges Imti and whispers
Vampires? Those are the one that eat blood, like the mindflayers eat brains, right?
This one is having second thoughts about joining the crew of this blood-eater

Imti shrugs. "My answer remains the same, no. Honestly, I think we'd get more done, much more effectively, if we could all work against the Star Elves."

Here she directs a question to Grimzod. "Why do you believe that joining you is the right way to do this?"

"Because I hold a valuable weapon in the fight against the Xaryxians," he says with a confident smile, "In the end, the choice is yours. But if you want to win, then you'll work with me."

And what weapon might that be Captain?

This One is warming to the idea of them to salvage a ship and work with Grimzod, but not work for.

"And why haven't you used that weapon yet? No offence, but it looks like you lost the last battle. aybe you need our help to use it properly." Quaxiver's suggestion was a bit of a stretch, not knowing what the weapon was, but there was no harm in negotiating.

"Why, I just got the thing!" Grimzod replies, "That's why I took the risk of facing off against so many Xaryxian ships in the first place. How about you come to my ship and I'll show you what I got? Then we can talk more."

Imti appears fine with that proposal. "No harm in checking it out," she says. "Lead the way."

Quaxiver's eyes brightened, and he nodded vigorously both to himself and to the others.

Grimzod begins leading the way, followed by Topolah and then your group. Krux stays behind, stating that he's got no interest on being on a vampirate ship. You cross over and the other pirates stare at you with unblinking eyes, making you all feel like you're a steak on the plate of a starving man.

Going down below, he leads you to the brig. The door to this compartment is barred from the outside and has a tiny shuttered window built into it. Peering in you see that an elf lies unconscious on a cot. She is clad in an ornate black dress accented with silver and gold. A high collar rises behind her head.

Grimzod smiles widely, "Here's the weapon I mentioned. I liberated her from a star moth we destroyed a few days ago."

The elven woman's eyes flutter open as she hears the commotion outside, "Who are you?" she asks, wincing and holding her head as if it's throbbing, "Where have you brought me?"

"Sorry, I appreciate that you have a certain flair," says Imti, "but for those of us in the room that don't speak dramatic, mind explaining what is all this?"

Grimzod's face loses some of its cheer, "Oh yes. I suppose I should introduce you. The woman you see before you is none other than Princess Xedalli of the Xaryxian Empire."

Ziggy lets out a low whistle. "And I suppose you intend to blackmail the Emperor into a surrender. And paying you a princely ransom to boot." Ziggy punctuates this with a victory fanfare on the cittern.

Judging by the woman's relative helplessness, unless she was very good at playing innocence, she was not the perpetrator of the expansionist ambitions of the Xaryxian empire. Was she the daughter of the Emperor, as Ziggy concluded?

Quaxiver added, "Or was the plan to dangle her as bait, for the Xaryxians to come for her? If so, do they already know she's missing and are already actively hunting for her?" For if they were, the situation was now immediately dangerous.

"Blackmail? Bait?" Grimzod asks with a chuckle, "No, you misunderstand. Princess Xedalli here has been banished by her twin brother, from what I understand. Something of a fight over the throne, I hear. We... liberated her from the clutches of her brother's forces."

He turns to this princess, "We want your help bringing your brother down. Can you help?"

The princess studies Grimzod for a few moments and taps her chin before turning to the rest of you to study you, "I think we could be of help to one another," she says finally, "But I refuse to negotiate from the inside of a prison cell."

"Well well," Quaxiver let out a low whistle at the revelation of who this person was, momentarily at a loss of words. "Why have you got her locked up all this time Grimzod? Let's sit her down and make some concrete plans." The hadozee wanted to launch into a tirade of the evils that Xaryxians had inflicted on numerous worlds, but if this Xedalli was banished by her brother, it was likely that she knew if these horrors already.

Imti considered how the 'liberation' of the princess would have required fealty to a vampirate, and also why she was in the cell in the first place. Perhaps to keep her 'safe' during the previous battle? Or was the previous battle her liberation?

Listening to both Grimzod and Princess Xedalli talk, Imti studied their demeanor and inflections to gauge whether either of them were hiding something from the group.

"If you haven't noticed, our fleet here is a bit... damaged. I didn't want what amounts to an unknown quantity having free rein while we work to get ourselves skyworthy," Grimzod explains, "We haven't had her long. A few days, really. If you want to, we can take her to your ship and discuss the future."

Imti doesn't sense anything off about either of the two and it doesn't seem like they've told any lies up to this point.