When they arrived they headed back to the Many Paths and had a conversation with Huang Tsu. Huang explained to them that they had to find Mark because he had apparently stolen something worth a lot of money from the many paths. This is a story that Teddy helped Doc spread, which was not entirely untrue, but was also not entirely accurate; Mark stole from Opal, not the Many paths.
Huang explained that he had another of the 'Keys' that the group had described to him and he showed them an almost identical 'key' to the one they found on the mesa, which gave them access to the 'Alien room' as Finn has been calling it. This piqued the groups interest and they decided on the spot that they needed that key.
They asked Huang if he would consent to helping them gain access to the Lion's Roar by giving them a replica of the 'Key' so they could use it to bargain with Kang. Huang was not adverse to this idea and agreed to accompany them to their artisan friend in Splitertown to have a copy made. After some discussion and gear purchasing, they were on their way to go see the Artisan.
The trip there was uneventful. Huang traveled with his retinue on a rickshaw while everyone else made their way on foot. Our adventurers obviously arrived after Huang and promptly introduced Huang to the artisan.
After niceties were exchanged, the artisan examined the 'Key' and refused to touch it. He asked that the adventurers accompany him and aide him in the casting of a cosmetic replica. When they were out of ear shot of Huang, the artisan explained that he thought the 'key' was very evil. After a few hours of hard work, the replica was complete and as long as you were not handling it, it looked almost identical to the real one.
On the way back to the Many Paths compound, a group of disguised Kang pirates attached Huang and his retinue and were quickly killed. Huang was worried that perhaps Mark had already been interrogated and that Kang knew it was the Many Paths that had executed the attack ad looting of the mesa. They all quickly headed back to the compound.
That night, after talking to Teddy and asking him about the comings and going in Huang's home, our Adventurers hatched a plan to steal the real key and replace it with the new replica. They gave Doc too much to drink and then proceeded to stage a rolling fight right into the audience chamber where the key was kept. Finn pretended to be knocked out while Doc and Fang had a fist fight that got a little too real and Opal tired her best to usher them out along with the guards.
With the room clear for a few minutes, Finn stole the key and headed back to their quarters. Earlier that day, Finn had hit the streets to figure out how they could possibly get into Lion's roar legitimately and he had learned there was a merchant vessel that was recruiting for deck hands that was supposedly bound for Lion's Roar. They decided with both keys properly stowed to attempt to get to Lion's roar aboard the merchant vessel.
When they got to the vessel, they were given a sack to carry below deck and then the journey was underway. Part way through the trip they decided things were not quite right, but then figured it was too late to do anything about it.
When they arrived in Lion's Roar, they learned they had been sold into slavery. There was a moment or two where they considered fighting their way out and then determined it was likely suicide to do so and decided instead to wait and see.
As they were leaving the ship, the pirate who seemed to be in charge of the operation for Kang took an interest in Doc as doc proved that he was able to clean water and said he was a cook. The pirate went above for a moment and returned and explained that doc and Opal belonged to him and the other two he couldn't help unless they wanted to pay for themselves. Fang and Finn eventually ponied up the money and the four of them left the boat enslaved to Baiter Nant.
Baiter brought them to his villa and introduced them to Jenny, his head servant. She explained a bit about what they had to do each day and then everyone got some much needed rest. In the middle of the night Fang crept around the house a bit and discovered that all of their belongings were being put in a metal cabinet in the basement and that only Baiter had the key.
The following day everyone was put to work while Jenny sat around a bit and hid to smoke a cigarette but otherwise kind of foisted all the work onto the new servants. That evening, Jenny set Fang and Finn out to get food for the master's dinner. She gave them a grocery list, which though Fang could not read, he still managed to collect everything that was on it. Finn wandered off and began to find out how the island worked.
Finn found out that the salves were identified by the collars they wore and that there was a whole sub society that was run by the slaves on the island. Essentially as long as your work got done and you kept your master happy, you are somewhat free to roam the island.
They returned with dinner and Opal managed to whip something up with the ingredients that Fang collected. Baiter had a guest for dinner and Finn played the waiter. They dinner went very well and Jenny asked Baiter if they could eat. He told her to go ahead and off they went back to the market.
The next day was more of the same, however Jenny went out at one point to 'run errands' and didn't come back until around 3:30 with food stuff to make dinner. Baiter had dinner with a friend again and Jenny asked if they could eat again and they were off to the market once more.
This time Finn and Fang ran into a friend of Fang's and they prodded until they found out that there was a dead pirate who's stuff they went and looted. When they arrived back at the villa, Opal again made a great meal while Finn attempted to hide the fact that he had loot from Jenny.
The night ended and the next day they decided they wanted to really question Jenny on some stuff. When they asked her she explained that they shouldn't rock the boat. She had been enslaved for the past 13 years and she has things down to science.
That afternoon when Baiter came home he slapped Opals ass in the most awkward way possible and appeared to be putting on a show. Finn followed Jenny down into the wing where her quarters, the study and Baiter's room was. Jenny explained he was never to go down there and slowly Jenny realized that Doc and Finn could read and write. Jenny acted a bit more shady and that night when Finn was out getting dinner, he asked specifically about Jenny and found that she was known to be a bit of a prized possession and was implicated in more than one mysterious death on the island.
After all the dinner was done and everyone had gone to bed, Finn made his way down to the basement to investigate whole the whole house slept; or so he thought. After he examined the metal cabinet and the hiding place where Jenny had a gun and some cigarettes he headed back to bed. IN the kitchen on the way up though he encountered a visibly intoxicated Baiter.
The next couple hours were drinking and talking by Finn and Baiter in which Finn learned that Baiter was some kind of weird scientist who made locks, clocks and other precision mechanisms. Baiter explained that he found his way here because he knew about the ruins below the prison that were what the adventurers were after also. Baiter eventually fell asleep and Finn helped him to bed.
The next day was very interesting. It started with Jenny in a bit of a panic because Baiter was not awake when she woke the others which Doc explained he could fix. They administered a potion or three that woke him up and got him pepped. The rest of the day Jenny was off and would not let anything be out of place or dirty for when Baiter arrived home again.
That afternoon when Baiter arrived home, everyone greeted him. He appeared to make a show of hugging and kind of groping? Opal. In any event Opal noticed he seemed to be doing this because there were guys watching from the street.
That night dinner was not normal. Finn was invited to eat with Baiter and then Finn went to the back patio with Baiter to talk while everyone including Jenny was left to do the chores. Jenny again explained that they should not rock the boat after Doc asked why they didn't just make enough dinner for everyone to eat.
Finn brought up the finances and the fact that Jenny may be skimming money, to which Baiter said that he would ask her to examine the books and that he had no reason not to trust her. He talked it off and when Finn again brought up the ruins, Baiter mentioned that he wanted Finn to go see a man in a building near by who wore black robes about them the next day.
The night went on as usual and the following morning, Jenny woke everyone and told Doc that she needed what he gave Baiter yesterday. Doc insisted that he would be the one to deliver the potion and so he did. Baiter proceeded to be annoyed for not having his order followed to the T and he essentially condescended to doc while saying he was in charge and he expected everyone to do exactly as he said.
This did not sit well with Doc and as Doc left the room he said something about Baiter being a fucker which apparently twitched a nerve. Baiter followed the elderly man down the hall and asked him to turn around. As Doc turned around, Baiter proceeded to shoot him in the leg with his revolver faster than Doc could react. They had a brief conversation about who was in charge and then they both went their separate ways. Doc healed himself up and then went on with his day.
Finn eventually found some time to leave without Jenny noticing even though again she was super agitated and keeping up on everyone.
We leave our 'Heroes' in a situation where they are about to maybe learn something but also on the brink of being killed in their sleep.
