LoLCthulhu |
The evening storm is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, in that it drives away the dank heat and pushes the stench of filth and poverty inland. A curse, in that those same winds lash the land with cold, stinging ocean rains.
Anyone with any sense in the seaside city of Kayusong is huddled indoors tonight. That doesn't mean much out here in the slums, where residents just hope their leaking shanties survive the storm. For you though, things are relatively cozy in the Salted Salamander. Despite being built right on the beach, on one of the few pieces of solid ground in the slums, the Salamander is dry thanks to its mortar walls of crushed coral and densely-woven thatch roof. A halfling serving girl turns a six-foot river lizard on a spit over the central fire, collecting coppers in a bucket for the privilege of slicing off a slice of the soft flesh. Elsewhere, patrons huddle by lamp-light, munching on seafood stew or small roasted reptiles on sticks while drinking fermented beastmilk and discussing the events of the week. Most of them are halfling fishers, dressed in rough, worn clothes caked with salt from a long day scurrying among the tidal shoals collecting sea plants and crustaceans.
Everyone except Eijiro is here. Maybe you just ran an errand or helped someone out in the slums; maybe you're out exploring. You probably don't know each other yet, so this might be a good opportunity to make casual acquaintances. There's no call for rolls at the moment unless you specifically want one for something, so just describe what your character is doing and thinking.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Nergui |
Nergui sipped her drink and grimaced. You would think that fermented milk would taste the same, but the rich mare's milk she was used to was nothing like this swill. She sighed and fiddled with the beads dangling from her horns under her hood while glancing around the bar. The blasts of cold air from the door opening and closing did not bother her, used as she was to the cold winters on the grasslands. A barmaid walked by and Nergui raised a finger to check her progress and ordered a bowl of the seafood stew. Seafood was one of the delights she had found in this city, and she relished the chance to fill her belly. She waited, a warmly dressed figure in a long deel over loose pants, which were tucked into fur lined boots, their toes curved up. Her deel was belted with a red colored scarf, with a leather belt on top, with many pouches and bottles hanging from it. Slung over one shoulder was her rifle, worn smooth in spots, but bright from careful burnishing. The waitress dumped the stew in front of Nergui, a bit sloshing over the side. Nergui shrugged, and dug in, her bright golden eyes watching those around her.
Nagamasa |
Bloody cold, he thought, shaking his hat off on the porch of the ramshackle tavern. He sniffed, wrinkling his nose at the fishy smell and the rain pelting his back but composed himself before stepping into the warmth.
He paused, sweeping his hat before him in an elaborate bow, leveling a sardonic look at the clientele. He heard the whispers – “Yokina Yurei!” and gave the crowd a flashing grin, knowing he was a handsome fellow – all modesty aside – and quite striking, white hair and white skin, outlandish barbarian garb of black silk tunic and trousers tucked into leather boots, and let his hand rest on his basket-hilted rapier.
The written plea had led him here and he swept a languid gaze across the denizens again with a mental shrug. A woman in the corner caught his eye, even with her face hidden in a hood, with her unusual boots trimmed in fur – another foreigner, he guessed – and he leaned over to whisper in the Halfling girl’s ear – eliciting a giggle – before finding a comfortable corner to sit and wait.
IsaiasYonatan |
"No, you're right, you can't find a good cup of butter tea anywhere in the whole city. Why, I bet that..."
Whispering to himself in the back of the tavern, the stranger looked up from his deep, although apparently one-sided conversation. Clothed in a hodge-podge of fabrics, styles, and colors, Isaias Yonatan was the known world in microcosm. A threadbare black tunic, cut in the style of the Dhartakli merchant class to his frame, while sickly, brown-yellow trousers, woven from silk from the Draconic Empire flowed into lacquered-red leather boots. Tucked into a wide belt were a rapier and a dagger, and the tip of a crossbow poked out from behind his left shoulder. While his horns were mostly covered by his wide-brimmed straw hat, the white tusks protruding from his lower jaw were much harder to ignore.
Isaias's dark, dark crimson skin crinkled on his forehead as he furrowed his brow. He continued to speak to an empty chair, across the table.
"We've talked about this. The Bone Gardens mess with my gifts too much. It's so hard to concentrate, and you don't want me getting involved with slavers anymore than I do. So we're staying here. I've made some contacts. Besides, my mother's people are from Kayusong."
"What's the worst that could happen?"
Yamakawa Sen |
Sen could barely contain the spring in her step as she entered the seedy tavern. She'd finally, finally gotten a line on Matsumoto Toshiro's next fur shipment, and a plan was formulating in her mind. She lived for these moments when a plan would coalesce, and it certainly didn't hurt that Matsumoto's younger son had addressed her as if she were merely a useless female two days prior at one of the Family events. Gods, how she dreaded those things. The attendees were dreadfully dull and sported masks that lacked the certain unsubtle beauty of those worn by the denizens of the Salty Salamander. In truth, Sen loved seedy places like this, largely because she remained secure in being undiscovered but also because there was a brutal honesty to the people here, from the madman talking to himself in the corner to the intriguing golden-eyed foreigner. A certain dwarf would be cranky, she realized, but Sen was feeling gregarious.
She pushed back the hood of her cloak that covered a fairly nondescript pair of breeches, blouse, and serviceable jerkin. She brushed her black hair in front of her ears, no point in advertising overmuch and sauntered over to the table with the Tiefling stranger and commented, "I've never developed a taste for that milk, but I can appreciate a well kept weapon. Mind if I join you? There's little seating to be had on a night like this."
LoLCthulhu |
A lanky halfling boy with mussy red-brown hair ducks and weaves through the other patrons to the table where the two women are seated.
"Lizards are serve yarself at the fire, but I can bring ya soup an drink if ya like." he squeaks.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Yamakawa Sen |
Feeling generous, Sen replies to the lad, "Aye, I could do with a bit of soup and tea." She turns to the foreigner and catches the cadence of tradition in her speech. Though Sen does not know the exact reply, she responds as formally as she can, pulling from her own House tradition and half-remembered pleasantries from that gods-awful etiquette class her father forced upon her, "I am. I bid thee gentle summer winds, sweet grass beneath they feet, and a clear river to sing thee on thy way."
Nagamasa |
Yokina smiled idly as he waved to the boy. "Damn the Oni's bones, lad, can a thirsty man get some Sake here?" He looked around and tossed a few hollow-cored silver coins on a nearby table. "For the ladies, of course, and I believe the gentleman with the...eccentric taste in garb could use something stronger than turned yogurt."
IsaiasYonatan |
Isaias slipped through the cramped tavern to the table where the generous stranger was seated. Glancing behind him to make sure that none of the wait staff were within earshot, he leaned in to whisper conspiratorially to the rest of the group.
"Thanks for the drink, friend. I should warn you that throwing money around is a sure way to put a target on your back. Although," he crept in closer, "that might be preferable to drinking the sake in this place. Calling it swill is an insult to swill everywhere," he concluded with a wink.
LoLCthulhu |
The halfling server ducks and weaves through the crowd, carefully balancing a platter with several bowls of stew on it... and sets it down at your table with a thunderous crash. The lamps flicker as a chill, wet wind whips through the tavern. A crash of lightning silhouettes a drenched halfling in the doorway.
"There's a ship driven aground!" he cries. "The waves are tearing her apart on the rocks! Anyone on her is going to be ground crab food if they aren't rescued!" He turns and dashes back down the beach, and several other patrons leap up and make for the swinging door.
-Posted with Wayfinder
IsaiasYonatan |
At hearing the news, Isaias begins to mutter a few silent mantras as his eyes roll back in his head.
Isaias activates his deathwatch spell-like ability.
A couple seconds later, Isaias snaps back and sprints for the door.
"Are you well-armed travelers coming? Last one to rescue a drowning sailor's a rotten oni!"
Nergui |
Nergui scooping the last of her stew into her mouth decided to follow. She did not know how much help she could be (swimming was not a skill much learned on the plains) but it promised to be at least a little entertaining. She had heard of Wreckers, people who lured boats to their doom, dashed apart on the rocks. Picking off those that feasted on bones of the dead did sound like an activity bound to warm the blood.
LoLCthulhu |
As you pile out the door into the lashing rain, you're greeted with an unfolding disaster. Illuminated by the crashing lightning and the flame in its rigging, you see that a large sailing vessel had been driven up onto the jagged rocks and clumps of coral that pepper the beach and shallows along the coast. The waves pound the ship, grinding it against the rocks and breaking it apart further with each moment.
Perception rolls are appropriate.
If you made the DC15 Perception check, feel free to roll a Knowledge Local or Nature.
Either way, everyone can clearly see the tough-looking figure clinging to a mast on the foredeck.
If you want to charge into the surf and try to reach the vessel or a struggling passenger, you'll need to make a Strength check. Swim would also work. You can jump in and try something no matter what, I just need to know your results to tell you how effective your efforts are, and any side effects you encounter.
-Posted with Wayfinder
IsaiasYonatan |
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (20) + (3) + 7 = 30
Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (13) + (4) + 7 = 24
"Reefclaws!" Isaias shouts. He wades into the ocean, up to his thighs. "I'm not much of a swimmer - I'm afraid I'd do more harm than good - but I can see in this darkness. You there! There's a sailor clinging to the underside of those planks. He's barely conscious!"
Isaias tries directing anyone going into the water towards bodies that register as "fragile (alive and wounded, with 3 or fewer hit points left) or "fighting off death (alive with 4 or more hit points)" according to his deathwatch ability.
Isaias also takes out his masterwork light crossbow and gets ready to shoot at any reefclaws who come towards the rescuers.
Eijiro |
Eijiro is a towering samurai, his armor gleaming in the wet surf and what can be surmised as the blood of his enemies. At first glance it looks like he's holding a katana in one hand, aloft over his head, but even in the raging storm you can eventually see the sword has an exceptionally long handle wrapped in bright blue. His armor is blue fluting and panels on black lacquered iron, with a powerful banner rising over his shoulders, making the entire ensemble of man and clan stand over twelve feet tall.
Eijiro has somehow lashed himself to the mast's belaying pins with one hand caught up in the rope, using his long-handled sword to keep his opponents at bay.
"A curse on this entire city! I need to get to the aft cabins! Soldiers of the Dragon Clans, where are you!"
LoLCthulhu |
In anticipation of things starting to happen soon, everyone please roll initiative!
-Posted with Wayfinder
IsaiasYonatan |
Isaias does the following:
1. With deathwatch on, identifies the bodies in the water within 30 feet that are still alive - "fragile (alive and wounded, with 3 or fewer hit points left) or "fighting off death (alive with 4 or more hit points)." He shouts at to get people going into the water to rescue the living, and directs them away from already deceased sailors. (free action)
2. Shoots at the nearest reefclaw that is heading toward survivors within 60 feet (darkvision 60). (standard action)
Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
If that is a hit:
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 2
3. Reload crossbow. (move action)
LoLCthulhu |
Heeding Isaias' directions, several rescuers plunge into the crashing surf towards struggling survivors. Two halflings struggle to free a young woman from a tangle of flotsam and waterlogged ropes, when suddenly a reefclaw bursts upward through the sea foam. Just as it prepared to plunge its jagged claws down into the hapless humanoids, Isaias' crossbow bolt whistles through the air and buries itself in the monster's face, cracking chitin and turning the creature's hungry chittering into a death gurgle. Its claws and appendages thrash in a violent death frenzy, ironically severing the thick ropes hindering the woman's rescue, as the shelled horror drops back beneath the waves.
-Posted with Wayfinder
LoLCthulhu |
On the deck of the stricken ship, two reefclaws advance on the stoic warrior, snapping their claws viciously.
The first lunges forward and is parried easily, but the second exploits an opening in his defences to rake him with the edge of a claw.
Eijiro, that's four damage, and you need to make a Fortitude save, DC 13.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Eijiro |
Fortitude: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
Eijiro sighs as he feels the strength ebb from his grip but grips his teeth and sets himself against his assailant. He grips his nagamaki tightly and presses a thrust at the creature that just struck him.
Attack, Nagamaki: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
If that hits;
Damage: 1d10 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
Eijiro grins at the beasts infront of him and growls a challenge. "I shall not be driven from my duty by the likes of you."
LoLCthulhu |
Eijiro stabs at the attacking crustacean, but the tossing deck beneath his feet causes his aim to be off, and his blade to glance off the reefclaw's shell instead of cleaving through it. The monsters chitter with a malice that betrays their above-animal intelligence.
-Posted with Wayfinder
LoLCthulhu |
My apologies, I should have described the setting better. You're all on the shore (except Eijiro), the ship is a little ways out, and there's drowning passengers and predatory reefclaws in between.
Moving through the water is going to require a DC 15 swim check. One round will get you to passengers or a reefclaw, while two will get you to the ship.
Nagamasa, I'll let you keep your d20 roll and apply your swim skill to it instead if you'd like to move, or put it towards another action.
-Posted with Wayfinder
LoLCthulhu |
After looking skeptically at the crashing waves and struggles unfolding in the surf, Nagamasa sees the ruins of a beached wreck on the shore nearby. Running over, he quickly determines that he has two options: to attempt to swing on a rain-slicked rope dangling from the half-rotted mast, or to slash into the tangle of debris at it's base and drop the entire mast into the sea, where it could come crashing down on or close to the bow of the stricken ship he's trying to reach.
DC 12 Use Rope or DC 15 Acrobatics to swing:
DC 12 Engineering or DC 15 Use Rope to drop the mast:
-Posted with Wayfinder
LoLCthulhu |
With unearthly grace, the dashing swashbuckler vaults up the rotting timbers of an old seaside wreck, gives an old rope a couple tugs to ensure its durability, and, with devil-may-care aplomb, swings out across the storm-tossed coast. At precisely the right moment, he releases his grip on the rope and arcs forward towards the hull of the stricken ship, catching himself on the edge of the deck below the embattled Eijiro.
-Posted with Wayfinder