"I've seen some folk try that. Go to the pirates willingly, at least you won't starve. You're pretty - might work if you charm someone important enough in their crew to keep you out of the worst work and everyone in the crew deciding to have their way with you. Might not be very fun. They might kill you anyway. No way to tell for sure. But it's an option."

She thinks about it for a moment.

But there are her ears and the fact that someone might recognize her, and getting away at the next place wouldn't be easy...

"Is there any... reasonably small set of people, such that if all of them dropped dead the fighting would stop?"

"...You thinking of trying something like that? ...No bullshit, could you do it?"

"Yes."

She grimaces. 

"Now, you have to understand, it's really not how things are supposed to go, killing folk until things settle down again. If the city weren't on fire right now I wouldn't be encouraging this by answering. And I might be wrong. And... God help my soul if I tell you a name and you kill someone because I said it might help I'd consider myself a murderer all the same."

She pinches the bridge of her nose with two fingers.

That's a lot of confusing concepts.

"Sorry, should I know who God is and why you need him to help your soul? I'm not from here."

"It's an old religion. There's not much to be said about a lot of it, but believers who follow God's commandments make good neighbors. It's wrong to help cause the deaths of others. Especially if you do it without any remorse. Folk these days just don't have the same morals as back in the day."

"I'm not going to require you to help me do that."

"Not the point. If you go kill someone even partially because I said it might sew this whole mess up, that death is at least a little bit on me. It's not something to take lightly. They're never coming back. Does it not make you feel sick and hollow, thinking about it?"

"...I just feel afraid I won't live another week."

"Well. There's lots of that going around too, isn't there just."

Pause.

"A man named Callahan, also goes by Redbeard, is the most bloodthirsty pirate in the area. If you get him and make it clear every pirate that doesn't behave will get the same, the pirates will clear out. Cama Lucille is the bitch who pushed lots of the worst treatment of slaves and the helots want her head. If they get it, they might calm down enough to try and hold some kind of fucked up election. But the nobs will panic if you go for her and they're still in their little fort. Leader of the helots, if anyone is, is Jack Morris. I don't know if he'll be a problem or not. If the slaves get assurance of their freedom, I think they'll settle."

She describes all these people's appearances.

"Thank you. I won't forget that. How would I make my terms clear to the pirates? What would need to happen to let everyone know that these people were dead?"

The proprietor gives a dramatic shrug. "Honey, I'm just a savvy shopkeeping wench. Though, if you want to be gruesome about it, very little beats a severed head for sending a clear message."

"I see. Thank you."

She considers asking about people who might be able to help her, but decides against it. Better to change her clothes and drink some water and then get on with it.

The shop's guards eye her warily. The city awaits. The street is still fairly abandoned, though there's the faint sound of a crowd ninety degrees from the path towards the docks. The faint smell of smoke might be a bit stronger now.

All very concerning. She'd prefer to deal with the pirates first. She starts by looking for a good hidden vantage point from which to watch them for a while.

The place is a maze, but a place with a clearer view of the docks is easy enough if she's willing to vanish a lock or two and bluff or demonstrate her power to a band of aggressive trash-scrounging ten year olds who call her 'Babs' for some reason.

There are eleven ships still there, all of them at least the size of an apartment building. All the easy entrances (on multiple levels, connected by stairs, ramps and catwalks) are guarded by pairs or trios of bored-looking pirates. When a group is relieved there seems to be some arguing. There are also watchtowers of sorts where more people with telescopes watch over everything.

There are lots and lots of people who look morose, downtrodden, meek and dressed in rags - slaves, almost certainly. They are made to carry things here and there. At one point a male slave reaches his breaking point and tries to sieze a pirate's gun - they beat him bloody until a man with an impractically large tricorn hat shouts them down and put him back in the line of slaves.

Pirates all wear bandannas, scarves, hats, or some other head adornment plus various jewelry - though there seem to be particular emblems for particular crews. None of the slaves have any head coverings or earrings or other jewelry. Eventually, the sentries with guns notice her lurking on the overlooking roofs and fire off a pot-shot in her general direction.

This isn't going to work. She needs an illusion mage and ideally a knowledge mage and a force mage...

She doesn't have any of those things.

She's going to die here if she doesn't back off. And if she does, then she'll die of being alone in an unfamiliar city in the middle of a war with no useful magic.

She vanishes the hat that the sentry who shot her is wearing, then looks for something she can put between her and the armed sentries.

(The shot misses, she hears it whiz by somewhere nearby.)

There are bundles of pipes sticking out of the roof and chimneys, plus a few planters. The shape of the building and being higher than the pirates means running back a bit would hide her alright too. Though, they're already scrambling around and shouting and pointing at the building.

She goes for the back of the roof, then, and waits for the pirates to come looking.

There's the sound of pirates arguing. A minute later there's a lull, then a single gunshot, then some kind of victory chant.

Leadership dispute settled, then they start cautiously combing the area for the pointy-eared Lost Tech wielding stranger.

Just ahead of the pirates approaching her, "STOP" is carved into the ground. There's a sound, but it doesn't sound like carving stone generally sounds.

...That implies power much scarier than the boss had said she had. They glance at each other and take cover behind whatever is available and start arguing in heated whispers.

"STOP" is joined, also audibly, by "would you like me to let you live?"

They can't see the message, being behind various bits of cover. They don't try to peek to look at it, either.