DM Frogfoot's Shapeshifter Apocalypse (Inactive)

Game Master Dalton the Thirsty

Do I see the elemental boat? If so, can I control my fall enough to at least land where they should be able to find me?

Athena, you reach for the green bauble, but as you touch it you feel a sudden surge of energy. Your fingers twitch and you feel completely unwilling to part with the bauble for any reason. You fall silent.

Thinking quickly, Chaney steps in and offers the mermaids a third option. The two mermaids share an inscrutable glance between each other, and smile up at the wizard. "The King has given us many riches, precious stones pulled from the earth far from our homes..." the blonde mermaid, who is speaking, pushes her body out of the water somewhat further, revealing a necklace with a finely cut diamond affixed to the center. The diamond is half the size of your fist and resting between her exposed breasts. She smiles, leaning on the elemental with one elbow.

"But disrespect goes a long way to sour a gift." her voice hardens as the smile vanishes from her lips.

Her redheaded friend approaches her and turns to you, Chaney. "For now, we will not advise the king of your presence, two-legger. Keep your night watchman." her voice lowers. "He will drown with the rest - if you provide us the means to break his hulls."

Aifric, you glance over at the Monarch and see everything that happened to Feustus!

Feustus is about to be captured by the sailors on the ship!

Be on the lookout - that magical ray fired from the crow's nest looks nasty!

You glance at the others, ready to warn them, and see the blonde mermaid exposing herself. You felt wary before, but as you glance away from where the diamond rests, you see the blonde one's face...and a flash of fear crosses it before her normal cunning expression resumes. Ultimus must have some sort of power hanging over the heads of these mermaids.

Feustus: You struggle, but the cat-faced sailor has you in his clutches. He laughs evilly as he lifts you up to his face, his fangs exposed, but your zombie collapses against him from behind! Without your mental guidance able to direct him since you're momentarily stunned, the zombie merely acts as a zombie normally does...it seeks to consume the flesh of the living.

Snarling, the sailor drops you to the deck and struggles with the zombie! What do you do?

"Hey, everybody!" says Aifric excitedly, leaning in toward the center of their "boat," his voice low as not to let the mermaids hear him. "I just saw some magic ray shoot Feustus out of the sky. He's on the deck of that ship he was scouting out, and he's in big trouble. We've got to go now!" Lowering his voice even more, he says, "I don't think those mermaids are telling us the truth. I think they're afraid, like that guy who says he's the king has something over on them."

At Aifric's suggestion that not all was as it seemed, Mazatl raised her glowing green eyes to look directly at the Merrill. "If you are in some sort of danger, I will help you, but we must know how. Help us to help you. And please, hurry. Another friend is in danger."

The blonde glances at you, along with the redhead. "Our fates seem to have aligned...the very magic focus that prevents our attacks is responsible for that ray from the crow's nest. Remove or disable the focus, and we will attack."

"Again, I do not speak for my allies... but I will do whatever is within my power to free you."

Her eyes lowered back to the elemental again as she continued, "I don't believe that any should be forced to do another's bidding. As I said when I summoned you, it is your choice to stay or to go. If you feel endangered, leave as you deem fit, we will find another path, if necessary."

Aifric nods. "I'll help, too," he says. As he hears what Mazatl is saying to her magical creature, he get ready in case he has to jump back on the hull of the ship. He doesn't know what he would do after that, though. One step at a time.

"What do you know about this focus? Is it in the nest or elsewhere? How does it stop you from ripping the hull of this ship open if the focus is on that ship?"

Chamey speaks quickly as he assimilates the new information.

Tell me about Magical Foci (spout lore): 1d6 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + (6) + 2 = 14

You know.

The elemental doesn't acnkowledge Mazatl's offer, and begins lumbering off in the direction of the Monarch. Swimming alongside, the mermaids keep up easily. "The focus is held in the nest itself, operated by a...beast." The redhead shudders when the blonde mentions him.

"He is am abominable monkey, the captain's pet, but he wields magic like any wizard, somehow. Like that guard," she hisses, her voice dripping acid, "That monkey should be taught some respect."

"The focus is a forbiddence - when we try to approach the hulls of the ships, our minds are effected by the spell, and our will to proceed falters. I know no more of it than that."

Chaney: F&%*in' sweet, double-sixes. Knowledge bomb incoming, prepare for a nosebleed's worth of info:

1st: Magical foci. They played heavily into your studies when you were first learning magic. Acting as a portable Place of Power locked inside an object, magical foci are as varied as the wizards who make them. Moreover, the physical attributes of the object used to make the Foci affects the effectiveness of the foci when used to create various magical effects. Given that the focus is obviously designed with defensive, abjuration spells in mind - the forbiddence, the stun ray - you'd bet your spellbook that the focus is a hard object with a crystalline cell structure - either a significant frozen magical object, or, more likely, a crystal of some variety. Such a crystal, once transformed into a magical focus, would be highly prized by any ritual spellcaster. That's the what.

2nd: The how. The spells that are tied to the magical effects you've already seen so far are pretty strong. You'd wager that the ritual would need to be re-cast on the foci to refresh the effects, especially over a long sea voyage. You think it's safe to assume that there's at least one wizard on retainer on the ship.

3rd: Since the spells you've seen are so potent, you doubt that one focus could maintain both spells' efficiency at the same time. If there is just one focus in the crow's nest, which your view from the spyglass seemed to imply, it would only be able to ward off mermaids OR fire the stun ray, not both.

{Verifing: "focus in the crow's nest" so the focus would have to be directly used. It would produce the effect directly rather than say endowing someone to cast kill bolts until they had to recharge their mojo. More magic wand than lantern battery. }

Precisely. According to the mermaids, the captain's monkey wields the focus, the focus doesn't give the monkey the power to fire stun rays himself.

Did I die at the hands of drunk sailors?

Damn, I didn't think about sending the cannonball that way

"Just a friend, heard the party and wanted to join, I saw that ball and grabbed it, and then found this guy and attacked me, who says I'm a spy? I just wanted to sing and dance, convince the guys to go get some ladies" Svog smiles, he is starting to sweat and he can't think a way to get out of this situation...he doesn't want to feel fear...if he feels fear, things get ugly and he will only look for the red...sweet smell of blood.

Is there a way I can try to push that cannonball to the sailors, so they go into rage?

The captain's boot is resting on the cannonball, so pushing it is unlikely to get it anywhere. It's very heavy, remember.

The captain lets out a sudden belly laugh. "Heard about the party, did you? You heard us singing and carrying on, and drinking and laughing," his voice, formerly jovial, harshens to an iron edge, "and thought you'd bring along a cannonball loaded with Banestuff?"

His hand flies to his waist and he yanks out his cutlass. His voice calms again. "Now. Boys. Since we've been taken under the wing of Good King Ultimus," more sniggering from the back, "the method of execution has been formally changed to a hanging. And hangings, they're all well and good. But seeing as tonight's a party..." an evil smile crosses his face, and he shifts suddenly to his were form, a rough looking mastiff with impressive jaws. He turns to his crew, adjusting his feet off the cannonball. "What say we do things the OLD way, just for tonight!? What say you all?"

Shouting immediately fills the room from all corners.

"Cut his throat and let 'im bleed!"

"The plank! The plank!"

"KEELHAUL HIM!"

"We can't keelhaul him stupid, we ain't moving!"

"ENOUGH!" the captain barks. He turns back to you, Svog Kos. "You're walking the plank, party boy." the p's of his sentence cause spittle to fly in your face, he's so close. "You can feed the mermaids." the entire crew laughs menacingly behind him.

It takes a special kind of stupid to take a guy who's obviously been swimming recently, and drop him in the water near a set of docks. I guess they're really leaning on the mer being hungry :p

The wizard speaks to the mer-folk

"Thank you. You have told us more than you know."

"Ms. Green, Onward if you please."

Mazatl simply allowed the elemental's gait to provide Chaney his response.

She dug through a belt pouch, as they moved, readying a small vial.

"I only have two of these, one disappeared long ago.. I had them made in case of emergency. If our winged friend can't fly away... with luck, he'll need this."

a healing potion is the thing Athena stole from Mazatl.

Feustus: You struggle, but the cat-faced sailor has you in his clutches. He laughs evilly as he lifts you up to his face, his fangs exposed, but your zombie collapses against him from behind! Without your mental guidance able to direct him since you're momentarily stunned, the zombie merely acts as a zombie normally does...it seeks to consume the flesh of the living.

Snarling, the sailor drops you to the deck and struggles with the zombie! What do you do?

I summon all of my strength for a mental command, KILL!!!

Command: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (3, 5) + 2 = 10

The zombie overpowers the last of the sailor's strength at last. With a despairing cry that is quickly silenced by crunching sounds, your zombie, who was alive and well only yesterday, begins its first meal upon a living creature. The sailor's fingers twitch helplessly and his eyes are rolled fully back into his head as the zombie hungrily tears out his esophagus from his throat with his rotting teeth. Blood begins to stain the ship's deck in the light of the waxing moon.

Svog Kos, you're held fast by four sailors as they begin wrapping your body tightly in chains, securing them with hooks that slip through the individual links of the chains. The crowd is excitedly cheering and they handle you extremely roughly, sneaking a punch to your face or kidneys every so often just out of spite and because they can. Take 1d8 damage from the sailors' harsh treatment of their prisoners as they carry you up the stairs.

The laughing captain throws open the doors leading to the main deck just in time to witness Feustus stumbling to his feet, watching his zombie devour one of his men. In the water, the elemental is only 30 seconds from touching the hull of the Monarch - it would be trivial to climb up to the deck from the elemental's back.

For a moment, there's a stunned silence from the entire crew. What do you all do?

"Hey! More guests to the party! wow, that guy must be really hungry" Svog gives a funny look at the sailors grabbing him and after seeing the confused face on both of them,
"This is awkward..."

dmg: 1d8 ⇒ 1

Aifric makes Mazatl his Fulcrum, giving her Confidence (+1 damage when she attacks). As soon as he is in range, he throws his primary spear at any enemy closest to Svog Kos, preferably the captain, if it is obvious who the captain is.

Skirmisher Spear Throw Move: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (5, 1) + 1 = 7

Deal Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1

The spear is lodged and won't be easy to recover.

Aifric pulls his secondary spear from its secured location on his back and readies himself for hand-to-hand combat.

Assuming that I can speak, Try not to damage the brain.

Assuming Feustus did speak, Aifric shudders at the reason behind what he just said. Aifric doesn't want to think about... "Oh my gods, that's Kazuya!" he says as he recognizes the rotting features of the onboard zombie.

Skirmishers aren't the eagle-eyed range combatants that rangers are, so Aifric doesn't have Called Shot in his repertoire. But Feustus's comment will have its effect on Aifric in the fiction. :D

Mazatl simply stayed crouched down for now, unable to risk using her magic and possibly hurting herself. The team needed her elemental more than they needed her to hurt someone.

Once the elemental reaches the ship, how hard would it be to get to 'near' range with the crow's nest, to try to pull the monkey... And whatever else is in the nest out with

Although Aifric's first instinct is to save his friends, he is also aware that he might be the best person to climb the rigging or the mast itself to the crow's nest. He's a bit concerned about climbing the rigging, as it seems like going up the mast from directly below the crow's nest might be safer from the ray. But it might be harder to get to the mast than to take rigging all the way up to the crow's nest.

What, who, how many are between Aifric and the crow's nest mast? What would he have to accomplish to get there? Likewise, how about the rigging that could get him up there? Can he climb/swing from nearby rigging over the assembled group and get to the mast so he can climb up? What kind of options does he have?

I love having lots to catch up on! Keep it up guys!

Okay, Aifric first:

The angle of the shot isn't easy, what with you not being on deck with them yet, but your aim is mostly true. Wobbling slightly as it flies through the night air, your spear sticks in a sailor's collarbone just next to the Captain! With a shout of surprise, the sailor is knocked backward into his fellows, and there's a great amount of confusion that jostles Svog Kos mightily.

Feustus, you can speak, and the effects of the stun ray are only momentary. Kazuya slowly climbs to his feet again, bloody gore hanging from his jaws. He looks to you for direction. What do you do?

Mazatl: You command the elemental to rise up when it approaches the hull, but the water is too deep; even your tall elemental is treading water in this depth. Struggling upward, your platform is lifted such that you can take a tall step upward to the deck, but the elemental can go no further. To get within Near range, you'd need to be at least halfway up the main mast.

Aifric: The only ones standing between you and the mast currently are Feustus and Kazuya the zombie, and a corpse with its throat torn out that is currently twitching its fingers. The captain and his crew are shouting and drawing their cutlasses but haven't moved to engage yet. What do you do?

If I transform to a wereshark is there posibility to break the chains? or if I turn into a shark can I escape?

Does the lift eat the last of Mazatl's control? If not:

Defend: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (3, 3) + 2 = 8

As Mazatl and crew rise above the edge of the ship, Mazatl takes the high step, holding the staff in a defensive position to protect herself (if the tether is still active). She will seek to reduce the damage of any blow aimed at her as she moves on deck.

If the tether is no longer active, or on the next 'action'

Defy danger:endure: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (4, 6) + 2 = 12

Mazatl seeks to reach the heavily injured necromancer, to provide him with healing from her vial... creepy or not... letting the ivy and leather armors defend her from the blows of the soldiers.

If she can reach him, he heals for 10. As a chained individual, she figures Svog is in less danger of being targeted further.

She speaks low to him, when she reaches him (if she does), "We need to get everything in the crow's nest into the sea."

If they felt that you could escape their chains by shapeshifting, they wouldn't throw you off of their ship in them. They aren't that silly. Instead, the chains were to keep you restrained and unable to move, so that even if you did become a shark, you'd die from being unable to draw air through your gills. If you were to shapeshift now, you'd be a shark in chains, rather than a human in chains. Still, you might be able to get a surprise bite in, in all the confusion.

Nothing you've done has spent the last of your control, Mazatl, so the elemental is still treading water next to the ship. As you step off of it, you see it experimentally touching the hull of the ship, only to have its wooden fingers repulsed by the magic. I'll allow you to change what that Defy Danger roll is for; since the sailors haven't thrown anything at you yet, there was no need for a defensive roll. You're standing next to the necromancer now and the sailors are rallying!

A group of five sailors are the first to charge, screaming war cries and waving their cutlasses in eager bloodlust! What do you do?

I thought I'd have to push past sailors to reach feustus. Guess he landed on the good side of the ship. :p. I'll let others act before I use the second roll,so I'm not hogging actions. I just wanted to make sure I had my bases covered, as I do not know how available I'll be until noonish.

Advancing with Mazatl, Aifric hates to abandon her, but he trusts that Feustus will fight alongside her. Trying to make his way to the mast, he leaps over the twitching corpse, trying not to look at Kazuya.

To explain the relative positions a bit,, here's a crappy drawing. The star is your elemental, the X is the mast, and the smiley face is the horde of sailors who want to kill you.

the smily face makes it so much better that they're only going to -try- to kill us.

I'm helpless...I'll cheer on you guys, save me :P Oh btw, who is going to fight, I'll give him a bonus.

The chained Svog begins to cheer on his companions,

"Remember the story of Halud The One-Eye Adventurer versus the 100 pirates? It's kind of the same, and the song goes like this..." Svog begans to sing...

One of you guys gets +1d4 dmg bonus

Roll +Cha you crazy bard :P

2d6 + 2 ⇒ (4, 6) + 2 = 12

"...and he stabbed the belly of a pirate,
poke the eye of another one,
a fleeing one got a bite,
and on the back some cried
run for ya' life, mate!

Ooooooh! Halud! The one eye!
took a hundred with his fork!" and the song continues...

Okay, you need to write verses every time you use your Arcane Art. I love it.

Aifric is still trying to get to the mast.

On board the ele-boat Chaney fades from view
Cast invisibility: 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) + (1) = 2 {oh dear, XP marked}

Lets make that tries to fade from view.

With a sigh he stands and climbs lightly aboard the flagship.

Seeing as the others are here to help, Kazuya, guard me.

Control: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (1, 3) + 2 = 6

At least I get to level when we get the chance

If the dice keeps like this, we are all dead :D

Aifric, you're able to begin climbing the mast without difficulty. Being a were-ape you have a natural affinity for climbing, despite the darkness. However, you see the captain draw a gun and level it at you! "GIVE ME SOME MORE LIGHT!" he bellows, and some sailors hasten to light some lanterns around the ship that had been darkened. He fires at you! Defy danger!

Similarly to how I give extra benefits to double-six rolls, I give extra-special bad effects for snake-eyes.

Chaney, as you begin to weave your spell, drawing the arcane energy to cloak yourself, the spell is suddenly yanked away from you. The spinning confluence of magical energy being emitted by the crystal focus in the crow's nest causes your spell to go awry, flying through the air! You look on in horror as one of the bigger sailors vanishes from view; and you hear evil laughter coming from their direction.

Also, Svog, you successfully cast the spell and inspired one of your friends! Which one?

Feustus, the dark command you give to Kazuya is obeyed, but sluggishly. The undead monk has recently gorged itself on sailor, and it has the zombie equivalent of the 'itis. Lose 1 control. If that brings you to 0, Kazuya loses animation. Otherwise, he moves to defend you, at the cost of that control.

Can Mazatl use her verdant uprising to attack the captain and pull him off balance as he's taking the shot? Doing so will lower Mazatl's armor to 1, as barrier will wane. 1d6 damage and jerk him forward, if so.

Damage: 1d6 + 1 + 1d4 ⇒ (6) + 1 + (2) = 9Aifric confidence, Svog song.

If yes...

Mazatl reaches forward, towards the captain, with one hand, clenching it into a fist as she does a forceful pulling motion towards herself and the ground. Her green armor seems to wilt, exposing some of the gaps in her white leather as she does so... but at the same time, thorny vines grow out of the deck, stretching towards the captain!

I'm cheering on Mazatl, roll +1d4 to dmg

"Well that was unfortunate."

{How close does Chaney heve to be to take, or at least contest control of the crystal? What does the ritual mentioned earlier entail?}

"What the...?" the captain shouts, knocked suddenly off-balance by Mazatl's spell. The shot goes wide, and the captain is yanked forward slightly. Some of the thorny vines that emerge from his clothing do so bloody, as they rip past his skin in their eagerness to grow. Aifric: No need for defy danger; as you cringe from the gunshot, you realize that Mazatl knocked him off balance at a crucial time.

"FURBALL! GET THAT DEER!" you hear the captain shout. From the crow's nest fires a stun ray at you, Mazatl! Protection around the hull fades as the energy of the ray is fired, and Mazatl's elemental takes hold of the ship. The deck slides slightly in its direction.

Meanwhile, the other sailors begin to attack! Feustus, one of them begins to hack away at your zombie with a cudgel, and two of them charge you with their cutlasses! A wild-eyed female with a pair of metal hooks charges Mazatl, swinging at her with wide arc-swings of her chained hooks! Finally, a half-orc sailor goes full tiger form and begins to circle menacingly around the melee, its eyes focused on Chaney...

More of the sailors are coming up behind them from belowdecks and a few trip over you on their way, Svog! One of the hooks becomes undone - you can try to get the other one if you squirm.

Chaney: you feel confident you could overpower a mere monkey's will over the focus, no matter how clever the monkey may be, if you were within 5 or so feet of the crystal. You could attempt to Defy Danger: Intellect to do so within Near range, but you'd be exposing yourself to dire counterattack if the attempt went awry.