Fluffy Fluffy spends the night in deep contemplation of the animals in the barn. She finds an elephant and a hippopotamus, both in separate cages, and eagerly studies their essence. The rest of the party, meanwhile, sleeps peacefully outside.
They are awakened just before dawn however to a policeman standing over them, and a nasally voice yelling "That's them! That's the squatters!" The policeman looks tired and says "Listen, fellas. You've gotta clear off their property. It's not even my shift right now. I wasn't particularly happy to be called in early for this." Dave the Average, Halt, and stol oblige, pack up their things, and head out the gate. Halt, however, continues around back of the barn. Dave and Stol follow from a distance.
Halt, a solid plan forming in his mind, hops the fence in the back and enters through the rear door, closing it carefully behind him. Dave and Stol watch as he enters, but do not follow. Inside, Halt sees three farmhands hard at work. One is finishing up mucking out the elephant's cage, one is in the loft pitching down hay, and one is taking a brief break. Halt approaches the one on break as if to talk to him, and then surprise slugs him in the face. The blow knocks him out, but not before a quick defensive placement of his pitchfork lightly pokes Halt's ribs. Neither of the two other farmhands notice the brief scuffle, so Halt moves on to the one mucking out the cage, elbowing his head from behind and knocking him bleeding badly into the dung. Halt moves the body partially out of the muck, grabs his lasso, and then approaches the loft where the remaining farmhand is working. He throws the robe up, looping around her and pulling her down into the hay below. Halt then quickly delivers a downward punch to knock her out. Fluffy watches from the rafters in owl form as the farmhands are dispatched one by one.
At this point, Dave and Stol enter the barn. Halt has taken the keys off one of the hands and is using them to systematically free each animal. The animals begin roaming the interior of the barn, unsure what to do with their newfound freedom. Halt opens the front doors of the barn and sneaks back to escape through the rear door, Dave with a moose in tow. scath stirs up the animals into a frenzy.
Out front, the soap artisans are just beginning to set up their shops. The sound of creaking wood comes from the barn, and they turn to see the doors swing slowly open. No one seems to be behind them. Inside the animals are roaming around uncaged. The artisans all turn to look, curious expressions on their faces. Then comes the sound of an elephant's trumpet and all the animals come stampeding out.
The party winds their way down to the docks. The going is slow, as many streets are blocked by stampeding animals or fleeing citizens. Eventually, though, they put the chaos and destruction of the market district behind them and arrive at the docks. Piers and ships stretch as far as the eye can see. Further north along the shore are the nicest boats, in good repair and with all the luxuries a sea voyage can offer. Further south are older, less sturdy looking ships, better suited for transporting cargo than passengers.
The party decides to try their luck at a decently fancy looking place up the shore. A single ship sits in the water outside a small cozy shack. They tie up the moose, Fluffy transforms into an elf, and she, Halt, and Stol head inside.
They first attempt to see if they can charter the ship for free. Halt starts off by explaining the danger of the blight, and how them chartering this ship may be necessary to save the town itself. The owner, theon, isn't buying it, however. "Listen," he says. "I've heard this same story three times already today. You seem like decent enough folks, but if you're not paying I'm not chartering. It's 600 gold, plus extra for the luxury suites, unlimited beverages, and so on. We can bargain about it from there."
The party's commission of 500 gold would not quite cover it, so they keep trying. Dave sticks his arm in the door holding the purple dagger, and explains how it's specially enchanted to defeat the Blight. Theon, however, is still unmoved. "Honestly," he says, "I'm still a bit skeptical about this whole 'Blight' thing. I hold out the possibility it really is a danger, but I think it's mostly just hype." Fluffy tries a slightly different tack. "Think about it though," she says. "If we're right, and chartering this ship will save everyone, you'll be a hero!"
Theon had had enough, however. "You know what!" he says. "Enough of this nonsense! I thought I had time for this today, but I don't. Out! Out, all of you!" They walk out, Stol apologizing profusely.
Dave, meanwhile, had been doing his own investigations. He approaches the guard at the start of the gangplank and asks if he can look around. The guard says he will be happy to give him a tour, but that he must leave his weapons in a trunk bolted to the pier. "It's for security, you understand," the guard explains. After some arguing back and forth over whether Dave can take the purple dagger on board, he concedes and leaves it in the trunk with the rest of his weapons. The guard locks it and leads Dave up the gangplank and onto the deck of the ship. A second guard joins them, and the tour begins.
Dave gets a fairly good idea of the layout of the ship. He is shown both the standard and luxury sleeping accommodations, the latrines, and the storage areas. There is more than enough room for his moose. The guards don't mention what's behind some doors, and point out some such as the captain's quarters without allowing him to enter. Dave learns that in addition to the two guards showing him around, there is only one more guard on the ship.
After exiting the chartering office, Halt walks up to the locked chest on the pier and picks the lock. He opens it and removes the purple dagger. Theon, however, hears him pick the lock and exits the shop, calling "Hey, what are you doing?" Halt sheaths the dagger and begins walking towards him. Theon looks very nervous. "It's OK," Halt says. "I just want to grab this dagger. It's ours. It seems reasonable for me to have it, right?"
Theon is not convinced. "That chest protects the belongings of people touring the ship," he says. "Kindly put that back!" Halt does not put the dagger back, however, and keeps approaching Theon. Finally, he's had enough. "Guards!" Theon calls. Dave had just finished his tour and is with his two escorts on the deck. One of them runs to the railing to see what's going on while the other stays by Dave and says "Don't move!" Dave, however, runs to the gangplank to block the guards' exit. One tries to push past him, but he holds out his arm and bars his movement. The other guard pulls out a sword.
Dave thinks fast. "Listen," he says. "If you stay put and don't help him, I can make it worth your while." The guards' eyebrows raise, but they don't relax their stances. "What do you mean?" asks the one with the drawn sword. "We'd be able to pay you better than that guy does," Dave says. He pulls out some coins and tosses 15 each to the guards to prove his point. "And we've got 500 more we can split among you."
"Guards!?" Theon yells as they confer about the offer. "Sounds good to us," they say, "but let's keep it between just us two. garan down below doesn't need to know."
Worried that Theon might now run and tell the authorities, Halt charges him and punches at his face. He ducks with surprising quickness, however, and shoves a shoulder into Halt's chest, sending him sprawling backward into the water. "I'm a blackbelt, motherfucker!" Theon yells after him. Stol looks horrified over how this business transaction has turned out.
Fluffy runs at Theon next, jumping into the air for a dropkick. Theon matches with a dropkick right back at her, however, and they both collide and fall injured to the ground. Dave tells the guards to wait on the ship, and then charges down the gangplank to join in the fray. Halt swims to the anchor line and begins climbing up.
Fluffy and Theon both scramble to their feet and eye each other, waiting to see who makes the first move. Fluffy then bolts off to try and get up the gangplank, but Theon is too quick. He trips her and she tumbles headfirst off the pier and into the water. Dave grabs his sword from the chest as he runs and dashes the extra distance to Theon. He swings the flat of his blade at him, but Theon is again too quick. He delivers a rapid series of punches to Dave's gut and then bolts out away from the dock and towards the town proper. Dave gives chase.
By this point Halt has reached the deck of the ship. He draws his bow, takes aim, and fires. The shot is true. It strikes Theon in the shoulder as Scáth clamps on to his ankles, injuring him and slowing him enough for Dave to catch up and deliver a blow with the flat of his blade, knocking him out cold. With the commotion caused by the stampede, Theon was unlikely to reach an unoccupied police officer in time.
The party ships out with their two bribed, and one oblivious, guard. The unconscious Theon is tied up and brought aboard as well. The luxury suites are opened up, and our heroes lift anchor and set out for their destination!