There's Vark and two prone followers still.
There's Vark and two prone followers still. The prone guys are terrified of Uro; they fumble to reload their crossbows, hoping to shoot him before he comes back and kills them both:
He's hit!
Vark carefully steps out of the grease, positioning himself so he can charge next round. He shows a smug flash of teeth. "I know a thing or two about you wizard-types," he sneers, "And once you've blown your load, you can't use the spell again for another day!"
"And I know how you scoundrels work. Take away your ability to move, and my friend turns you into flotsam for the sharks in the bay." Tombrose says, casting stingray (daze) on Vark.
dc14
If Uro can reach on of the downed thugs without crossing the grease, he lashes out at the one who hit him with the bolt. Turning his axe a bit to just knock him out.
With some annoyance that these outmatched fools won't just leave, Uro shouts out to the prone thugs. "Flee and keep your lives, stay and die!!"
Vark clutches his head, and his speech trails off into a choking, drooling noise.
Uro strolls over to the prone would-be sniper and clobbers him upside the head with the flat of his axe. The thug sags into unconsciousness.
Meanwhile, the last of Vark's gang, still prone in the grease, attempts to slide on his belly, penguin-like to the railing, with the obvious intent of jumping overboard.
With Vark drooling and the last scallywag sliding toward the ship's side, Korynne quickly darts toward the stairs to the lower deck, trying to surreptitiously peep in and see if there are any other threats lurking in ambush.
A bedraggled-looking tropical bird flies out as Korynne peeks down into the hold, startling her. As her eyes adjust to the dim light, it's clear the need for stealth is past. There is a large wicker cage, suitable to hold the bug-thing; the door to this cage sags ajar with a broken latch. There are dozens of other, smaller cages in the hold -- some with frightened, shrieking wildlife, some broken open and containing the remnants of their former contents, evidently torn apart by the bug's palps and jaws.
Letting his fiddle fall silent, Jym states, "Let the thugs go. If we can secure, Vark, I can convince him to see the error of his ways! Well, the error of one of his ways. The 'error of his way?'
"Anyway, singular.
"Anyways, singular?"
If Korynne is as "well-read" as she claims, perhaps you can prevail upon her to resolve your grammatical confusion?
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Jym slays Stuffy Grammarian. One foot on her corpse's head, he raises his fiddle into the air and roars.
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Remembering his cue, Uro roars in anger in the direction of Jym, plods over to Vark, and wacks him in the back of the head with the haft of his axe.
Vark and the remaining thug are now unconscious, thanks to Uro.
Uro leans heavily against a mast, breath heaving. "I'm... going to need.. a moment.."
"Sure, sure, take a moment. Back in Greenfields, we used to take moments all the time! Why, my dear old Auntie Uncleroy was known for her moments! She would take a moment and keep them in a special pocket in her apron. Pass them around to the children during the holidays. Those moments will rot your teeth, if you let them. Make sure to brush your teeth, Uro. When this grease clears, we need to tie Vark up. Preferably out of sight from the shore."
Can Uro "Take a breather" or is that just in combat? [/ooc]
Yes, he can, but only once until the next combat.
Tombrose smiles as Vark goes down. With a look of concentration, he wills the oily substance on the deck to boil and evaporate away (dismissing spell).
Can Uro "Take a breather" or is that just in combat? [/ooc]Yes, he can, but only once until the next combat.
Once he's caught his breath and the grease is cleared, Uro nods to his companions, pulls a bundle of rope from his bag and uses an end to tie up the unconscious Vark. While effortlessly slinging the criminal over one shoulder, the orc starts down below deck.
"So, you know of this one Tombrose?"
"Uh, who, me?" the librarian asks in response to Uro, still trying to recover her stomach from the sight of the blood and unsure who the orc is talking about. "Well, I talked to Jym there at the library, finding some maritime law sorts of things...and I just kind of figured something was up. Kind of an intuition thing. Read how to do it in an old novel. Anyway, I'm Korynne. Whatcha looking for? Exotic pets?"
"Ah, he was referring to me, miss. The name's Tomas Bernard Rose. Tombrose, to those who insist upon calling a fellow by nick instead of proper names. And, yes, Uro, I know this Vark bastard. He's blacklisted at sea, and has a nasty reputation. Most likely he was given the job of impounding the Blue Nixie and decided to move in- and help himself to lady Vanderborn's payment while he was at it. He probably even used some of her money to hire some of these lowlife scum to help him keep the Nixie - the only way he'd ever be allowed on a ship is if he stole one for himself- or if the captain was as black-hearted as he." Tombrose scowls down at the unconscious fiend as he tells what he knows about the man's molestation of a cabin boy.
"He sounds like a rich and fully-developed character.
"Let's tie him up!"
Since, Jym doesn't have any rope, he'll start searching around for some on the deck. If anyone else produces some rope, he'll yell "Hooray!", and help tie Vark up.
Uro elicits a "Hooray" from Jym by tying up Vark.
"Hooray! Ok, when he wakes up, go over by the !"
Jym takes out his water skin and starts to splash water on Vark's face.
"Come on, come on... wake up!"
Vark sputters and chokes a bit, but Uro hit him pretty hard, and you're thinking it make take a couple minutes longer before he regains full consciousness.
You're on a ship, so there's rope all over the place. Tombrose cautions you not to cut off any rope that seems to be attached to sails or anchors or whatever, but aside from that there are coils of rope just sitting on the deck. A lot of them are coated in tar -- for reasons that to Tombrose are second nature, and that to Jym are inscrutable.
Uro nods to Korynne, "I am Uro. Your intuition is good. I thank you for the assistance."
The orc spits on the deck when hearing Tombroses accounting of Vark's misdeeds. "We must see to it that proper justice is served. I would execute him here, but I am unsure of this city's laws."
Looking to Jym "I don't think he will wake for some time. Let's check out below deck, make sure this is all of Vark's gang?"
"Actually, we need to let him go!" Jym chirps, as he tries to drag Vark to the stairs that Korynne was just checking out.
"After I convince him to tell the harbormaster that his ship is paid off, of course. That's what Lady Vanderboren asked us to do, if you recall.
"Ooh! Maybe we can let her know that we've completed her task over dinner! Or a nice brunch! Maybe she'll pick up the tab!"
Uro grunts in disapproval but doesn't argue. He then repeats this action, only forrealz this time.
Once he's caught his breath and the grease is cleared, Uro nods to his companions, pulls a bundle of rope from his bag and uses an end to tie up the unconscious Vark. While effortlessly slinging the criminal over one shoulder, the orc starts down below deck.
Uro sees what Korynne did:
There is a large wicker cage, suitable to hold the bug-thing; the door to this cage sags ajar with a broken latch. There are dozens of other, smaller cages in the hold -- some with frightened, shrieking wildlife, some broken open and containing the remnants of their former contents, evidently torn apart by the bug's palps and jaws.
There's also the remnants of a dead thug, minus one arm of course.
Uro walks by the cages and attempts to calm a few of the riled animals. Cooing softly and letting them catch his scent, he is a stark contrast to the raging beast on display above deck.
The smell of blood -- and the still-settling dust, fur, and feathers in the air -- are making Uro's efforts futile. It's clear to him that the critters need some time to settle down before he'll be able to influence them any further.
The orc shrugs his massive shoulders and turns away. "They need more time. Now, I suppose we should look for this ring."
It's not hard to find, in Vark's pocket.
Vark carefully steps out of the grease, positioning himself so he can charge next round. He shows a smug flash of teeth. "I know a thing or two about you wizard-types," he sneers, "And once you've blown your load, you can't use the spell again for another day!"
"Nice sleuthing, team!" Jym praises as he admires the ring. "Should we search the ship? Maybe there's some evidence lying around that Lady Vanderboren did pay the fines to get her ship back. It will give me, er, us something to do while we wait for lazy Vark to wake up. Unless somebody knows how to wake him up in a hurry?
"I don't have a Greenfields story about waking up in a hurry. There's never been any need to do that."
By now, Vark starts moaning weakly, so he's coming to. Another bucket of nice bracing sea water ought to do the trick.
If he did take the payment, it looks like he spent it already. Vark is down to a couple of coppers. There aren't a whole lot of empty rum bottles lying around, but that's not to say they haven't been throwing them over the side.
By now, Vark starts moaning weakly, so he's coming to. Another bucket of nice bracing sea water ought to do the trick.
While Uro is going through Vark's wallet, Jym finds a bucket of seawater and splashes it into Vark's face. If that does the trick, he'll ask Uro, Tombrose, and Korynne to move out of spell range, ineffectually pushing them, if necessary.
Vark sputters, opens his eyes to a squint, and glares at you as he realizes his position.
Uro stand silently behind Jym, Tombrose and Korynne, looking imposing.
Uro takes the hint and stands 25 feet behind Jym. Then goes back to being imposing.