"A truly interesting specimen. May I have a closer look? I promise not to do anything destructive." Quentin observes the Jester, maybe also checking his pulse and palpating the most interesting parts, looking, in particular, at:
1. Face to confirm it's the same guy Quentin fought.
2. Burnt (and maybe still wet) clothing to confirm it's consistent with the events so far.
3. Burnt hair, if any.
4. Degree of flesh burns and whether they are present at all.
5. Mechanical arms and other unusual parts.
6. Surviving possessions.
7. Overall health and level of exhaustion.
8. Whether he is truly incapacitated, faking incapacitated or something.
9. Anything else noticeable or unusual.

09:41, Today: Secret Roll: Quentin Fox rolled 5,4 using 1d8,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5,4.  Diagnosis.
09:40, Today: Secret Roll: Quentin Fox rolled 11,5 using 1d6+1,1d6+1, rerolling max with rolls of (6+4)10,4.  Persuation.
09:40, Today: Secret Roll: Quentin Fox rolled 4,5 using 1d6,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4,5.  Notice.

Everything leads you to believe this is the same Jester that you saw from before. Part of his back and neck are burned but don't seem as bad as you might have thought. While not dead he is awake and seems to be blinking. He makes no real attempts to talk other than a devilish smile that he does not break even when you get close. You can tell his wounds are pretty bad and while he face doesn't display it, the man has taken serious damage from the fight. He seems have a strong will to fight the level of pain he is experiencing which is why he is barely moving.

His features bounce in and out of torch light as Roland studies the man himself with you.

Piper stayed towards the back of things.

She hadn't been at the library when things happened.  Therefore she had no idea where this person had come from, or what he had done.

So, Piper reasoned someone who did would probably have the right questions to ask, if there were answers to be had at least.

Lirian looked at the poor creature. “This is not like the other cultists we fought. This is willing to die for his beliefs, or knows something we don’t…” she thought.

Nonetheless, she felt uneasy about seeing it so bad. She was afraid they were going to torture it if needed, and the idea made her quite uneasy. She tried to trick it to slip some detail by taunting it (after all, it had worked with the other prisoners).

“I doubt he will be useful she said. “He already knows he has failed and seems ready to die for his masters, though he must be less important to them than he thinks if they sent him to this suicide mission of marginal importance.

19:24, Today: Lirian rolled 2,7 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 2,(6+1)7.  Performance (as taunt). – 2,7. Success, I guess. The GM will tell if any effect...

“What about the other prisoners we handed yesterday to the guards” she asked to Roland. “Are they more cooperative?”

Roland looked at Lirian, "Less so than this one. I am afraid to say. They are in a separate prison, we only put the dangerous ones in here. HE was talking much earlier but has since silenced himself. I am guessing it will just take time. Without torturing him, I doubt we will get much information from him."

Next to the cage by the Jester you hear a rattle of chains. "I'll tell you what he said...." says a voice that comes from the dark.

Roland puts the torch near the cage and reveals a man, in chains wearing what looks like most sun-kissed leather. His long black hair hides his face pretty well but you can see his body is worn by the sea and tanned.

"Oh don't mind this one.", Roland says. "He was a failure of the Golden Horizon Marauders. We found him on a rock stranded at sea when the men approached, he exhibited magical prowess. Normally we would leave him to do die but the king demanded he be brought back and learn why someone of his skills would be on the open sea."

[Private to Olyx Mintarios: The Jester has mainly been talking in his sleep. A lot of what he mentioned was some lord. He didn't say who but he specifically mentioned time was not on the cities side and in a number of days, the plague would be released. The word sewers, sewers all over again. You aren't sure what to make if it.

I'll let you decide you negotiation. ;)]
This message was last edited by the player at 21:18, Fri 12 Jan.

"Hello!" Hunter said cheerily, moving over to the cell. "What did he say then? You look thirsty" he added, passing a waterskin into the cage.

The man's hands grasp the waterskin, their shaking barely contained to avoid spilling. He uncorks it and starts gulping down thirstily, audible glugs punctuated by the odd near-drown gurgling of a throat that was parched for too long.

He licks his lips and pulls back strands of hair and unruly tufts, revealing a young but worn face. Someone who's seen a lot of sun, and felt a lot of salt.

"I wouldn't go far as to call myself a failure. I did survive on those rocks, eh? Though I don't reckon why someone of my, as you said, skills, is treated in such a manner."

He eyed the strange company- adventurers? Mercenaries? A way out, maybe. He fidgeted inside his tiny cage, trying to find a way to approach this predicament. After a small pause, he opened up with a smile as he proffered the empty waterskin. "So, eh, m'lords, I'll tell you what he said. Though, shiver me timbers, I have no idea why it's so important for your high and mighty ears."

"Well, I've no idea either, could be he just said he needed to go to the jakes, which my high and mighty ears might also struggle to find much importance" Hunter said easily, accepting the skin back and slinging it over his shoulder. "But what did he say, and what are these vaunted skills you possess? Perhaps we have a use for them."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:22, Sat 13 Jan.

Content until now to let the others talk, Kai's interest perks up as soon as the word 'magic' is mentioned.  He looks the caged man up and down.  "We don't need a wizard," he says.  "Especially some pirate cast-off.  You should have left him for the sharks.  Probably not too late to fix that though."

A bushy eyebrow perked up- the left one. He grinned sheepishly. "Well, m'lord. I have a certain aptitude for the arcane. I had me a teacher once, when I was but a boy- but he went and got swallowed by a mighty sea beast. Been adrift ever since, in a metaphorical sense. And in a literal sense but a short while ago, until this overgrown lizard was given custody of meself."

"But what use would you have for me, eh? Pray tell", he asked eagerly. His strange sailor's speech, accented by a few erudite words, was quite memorable, if jarring. And quite more so, now that the p-word was uttered.

"I'm no bloody pirate!", the man growled and glared at Kai. "Didn't you hear what the liza-the esteemed Mr. Roland said? I'm a Golden Marauder through and through. Is it the hat that's got your ears muffled, or were you born like that?"

"What is a Golden Marauder anyway?" Hunter asks. He gives Kai a glance "We do need a wizard."

"But you got interrupted, sir. My high and mighty ears are burning with impatience. What did yonder Fool say?"

"A mighty marine. A warrior of the seas, without equal upon the waves. Stormhaven's finest, m'lord."

"But forgive me. My memory plays tricks. I do be quite ill-treated in here, and thus, my memory suffers. Perhaps you've heard the tales, of how a wizard is weakened by too much metal? Oh, this cage and these chains make me feel weak, so weak. Almost as much as this man's rumblings- something about sewers? Mayhaps I'll remember more once I am less burdened."

Hunter snorted with amused disbelief, but turned to Roland and said "Can we get him out of here please? Not because I believe that tosh about metal, but I would like to talk to him without that overhearing" He nodded towards the Jester. "You can always chop his foot off if he runs away."

He looks back at Olyx "You're not planning on running away, are you?"

"I can chop his foot off!" Jenkins piped in enthusiastically, with a gleam in her eye.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:22, Sat 13 Jan.

"You understand you're responsible for him if you do that right?"  Aeress asked, unbelieving.  She didn't judge the man, she didn't know anything about it.  But she found this extreme action, extreme.

A short, dry laugh, preceded and followed by a few chuckles. "Well, I'd be in your debt if you would just that, m'lord. And a sailor don't go forgetting debts. I give you me word I'm not going anywhere.". His eyes darted from Hunter, to Jenkins, back to Hunter, then to Aeress. What a peculiar creature, and a peculiar company.

Another laugh, more throaty, with a hint of sadness. "Not like I have anywhere to run to, anyway."

Aeress looked at the prisoner.  She had formed no opinion, knowing so little, but she asked her question all the same.

"And do you believe you deserve release?"  There was something of a regal poise to Aeress' character, though at the moment she was disheveled from recent action.

Olyx blinked, once, twice. He licked his lips again, cleaned up some spittle with dirty, chained hands. If Aeress was disheveled, he was positively dreadful. "Be there someone here who believes I deserve this incarceration?", he countered, flippancy laced with a hidden edge.

"A fine rhetorical ploy, but whether the person who believes that is here or not is beside the point.  State your reason.  I've no reason to believe you should or shouldn't be released at this point."  Aeress pointed out.

Hunter scoffed "There is none of us that can say whether or not you should be free. I believe you were trying to say how you could be helpful to us, and aid us in our service to the city and the King. If that's not the case, then lock him up."

"Now don't be so severe.  A man's freedom should not depend on his utility to us, or anyone else.  Though one's utility can certainly be leveraged to obtain freedom, but that's a different matter."  Aeress mused, getting into a useless philosophical ramble.

"Well, he can rest here at the King's leisure for months while you argue that to his advisors. It's amazing how deaf they cam be, and difficult to see, when no benefit is apparent to them" Hunter lazily replied, leaning indolantly against the bars of an empty cage.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:13, Sat 13 Jan.

"Indeed, the point remains as stated,"  Piper announced from behind and below the others where Mosii, having lost interest in the conversation from the beginning, had curled his sizable furry form up on the floor.  This left Piper elevated several times her normal height, but still no more than a man's knee.

"that someone has felt this man deserved to be locked up, and neither us, nor him, are in a position to debate the merits of such deserts.  However, if he would have such skills as might aid us in tracking down a den of filthy evil rat adoring cultists who more than likely have made their home somewhere subterranean and highly unpleasant, perhaps his wise and noble highness the King, could be convinced, or otherwise induced knowingly or not, to toss a little mercy his way.  At least temporarily."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:23, Sat 13 Jan.

Quentin wasn not in the business of freeing the men he's just met from king's cages, so he was just expecting that Roland will sort this out somehow, like by declaring that the man will be held or released or tortured or what not. Right now Quentin was not in a particular hurry, though he does want to eventually end up knowing what the jester has said.

Bemused, he watched the bizarre conversation unfold in front of him. It spoke volumes about who these people were- or at least showed him they have a penchant for pointless philosophical debates. Once he felt the conversation had died down a bit and made an impression, he grasped at the opportunity offered at him.

"You drive a hard bargain, then. For all you've said, it all boils down to whether I am of use. Fine, I cry; fine. I know where these rat-buggers are, and I can take you there. Get me out of here and put a blade in my hand, and I'll take you where they are and fight'em first, no questions asked. I've got a name to clear and a freedom to win."

He chuckled again. "Or let me rot here like a beached whale. Won't have to for long, from what me poor ears picked up."

OOC: As Hunter said to Roland before, he'd like to move this person away from the Jester before going into any specific details.