This is the pbp for the game 'The Prison Island.'

It has been 3 days since the prison barge left the main land, heading to island where the most vile of criminals are sent. The smell of sea does not mix well with the smell of unwashed prisoners, and more than one person has been unable to keep down their food as the ship is rocked by waves. Your hands are encased in metal gloves, and your feet are chained together tightly. You are otherwise free to move about as you wish. More than once in the past few days a prisoner has attempted to kill another, usually over something meaningless, only to fall to the ground and writhe in pain. More than few have heard the stories of the island that will be your new home, and those who do not wish to live and die there have chosen instead to end their lives, and some are quite inventive in their death of choice. Suddenly, with a scraping noise, the ship stops and people fall over each other. The chains and gloves disappear as a doorway of sorts opens up in the front of the ship, revealing a beautiful beach and the darkness of night. Several people run for the forest immediately while others move cautiously onto the beach.

A voice booms from the the ship's deck, far above you, dripping with sarcasm. You look up into the face of the ship's captain, a man who takes joy from transporting villains to and fro and his ship, The Prison Cruise.
“Well my cheery cruise guests, welcome to your promised island getaway. Now play nice, you'll be living here for the rest of your lives. I'd stay longer,” he stops talking as faraway screams pierce the night air, “but my crew are not as delighted to be on Isla Sorna as you are. Goodbye and good luck... you'll need it.”

The ship pulls away from the shore, seemingly of it's own free will, and disappears into the night. One man, an elf, tries desperately to swim after the ship. With the aid of sparxe moonlight, you can see he makes it out of the cove and is only a few dozen feet away from the ship when something pulls him under. He does not surface...

Several people are still on the beach, jumping at every little sound coming from the forest over staring nervously at the water. What are you doing?

"Ah, they didn't leave the gloves. I got attached to those gloves." The small halfing with the odd smile shakes his head sadly, then turns and looks at the island with interest. "Look at all the trees! Do you think they burn well? One way to find out!" He begins to walk purposefully toward the treeline, oooing and ahing as he goes.

Barrak grabs his flask, quickly downs the last of his liquor. Frowning as he looks in the empty flask, he shakes his head. Putting the flask away he begins stretching.

"Good to be off that damn boat! Maybe now I can eat something... Wait a minute..."

Barrak begins to look around his environs. Quickly becoming extremely frustrated.

"Where's the tavern? How can they expect people to live here without a tavern? Also, what is up with the shorty? He's not really going to try to catch those trees on fire is he?"

Before Jimpy can enter the forest, one of the other convicts grabs his shoulder to stop him.

"You don't know much about this place do you? Almost all the rumors I've heard people say night is even more dangerous on this island than the first layer of the Nine Hells. It doesn't matter what we do in the morning, but we should at least stay alive the first night here. We should be safe here for atleast the night."

Another prisoner speaks up.

"Do you honestly believe that? The elf barely made it out of the cove, and whatever caused those idiots to scream earlier is still in the forest. It seems to me we only have two choices: die on land or die in the water."

You notice a half-elf women is leaning against one of the trees, watching the others argue. You remember here from the ship. She easily became used to the swaying ship, and you can't remember her ever complaining when a wave splashed through a porthole.

If the others don't show soon, should I see if we can get some new players or do you want to try this on your own?

"Oh, I don't think this place is SOOO bad! I mean, I'm sure the swimming guy has just met some new friend that he'll be happy he found and I'm sure they only say this place is bad to keep all the ruffians away. I mean, they're gonna love us!" Jimpy begins walking toward the trees, confidently smiling because the world is a lovely place that just needs a little more attention, is all.

Let's continue and see if anyone find us. If not let's recruit, but let's not lose the momentum.

Shaking his head at the halfling Barrak begins muttering dwarven curses under his breath. "This ain't no vacation spot you daft halfling!" Barrak walks over to the half-elf woman. "You seem awfully calm. Gotta plan?"

I too am up for waiting a bit to see if the others pop up before we go looking for others.

"I tend to look at things differently than most. I heard a legend once... but that doesn't matter given our current situation. Those fools are going to keep arguing, and when the realize that magic that kept them from fighting is gone, they will just attract more attention. We're safe for now, I don't hear anything big moving towards us. I was never one to push my luck though, I'm going to go see if I can find a cave or even a tree I can sleep in tonight. Your welcome to join if you don't wish to listen to a bunch of idiots all night."

She turns toward Jimpy and yells after him.
"Hey halfling, you wanna explore the island with me?"

I'll post in the Island thread then, see if I can get their attention. The OOC thread is up now.

She turns toward Jimpy and yells after him.
"Hey halfling, you wanna explore the island with me?"

Jimpy stops, looks around and shrugs. "Sure! You look less silly than these others. And you, too, dwarf! Do you need a fire? I'm good with fire!"

Assuming you follow her.
She begins to lead you into the forest, sticking to spacious areas while never far from a tree. After about an hour, she finds a tree with some low branches that goes high above the ground. The tree is next to a field of short grass.

"Hm, feels like we should know each others names at least. But let's get up into the safety of the tree before we get chatty."

She jumps and grabs a tree-limb a few feet above her head, swinging her body up so she is sitting on it.

"Toss me one end of the rope so I can tie it off to help you get up here. Unless you want to climb up yourself."

Barrak follows after the halfling and the half-elf in silence. As the half-elf suggests they head up into the tree, Barrak frowns. Sighing, he looks for a low enough branch for him to leap up to. With some effort he manages to pull himself up.

"The name is Barrak of the clan Foehammer in the city of Caer Morda. I have to say I never thought once in all my years, I'd be sitting in a tree with an elf and a halfling. If I hadn't run out of booze, I'd be sure this was some kind of drunken hallucination."

Barrak quietly rambles on about the loss of any alcohol for the next few minutes before shutting up and trying to find a comfortable spot to sit.

"Well then Barrack, my name is Ayla of the Clan Silvia. Or at least tha's what I'm told. And your only ten or so feet above the ground, it isn't that big a deal."

Jimpy scrambles up the tree after some false starts. "I'm Jimpy, as I said. And I have no idea why I'm here, but I'm sure it's a nice place, since they sent us on a nice vacation, which means it MUST be a nice place, right?"

Jimpy scrambles up the tree after some false starts. "I'm Jimpy, as I said. And I have no idea why I'm here, but I'm sure it's a nice place, since they sent us on a nice vacation, which means it MUST be a nice place, right?"

"Is he serious?"

She turns back to Jimpy without waiting for an answer

"Look, I hate to ruin this for you, but that captain was just being a jerk-he lied. This is not an island retreat, it's an island prison. For those who have been sentenced to death. I don't know what you two did to get sent here, but I atleast know my 'crime' was just."

She looks like she is about to continue, but falls silent. After a moment she leans closer and whispers,
"Did you hear something?"

Listen checks from both of you, and a Spot check from Barrack, since he has darkvision.

Listen 1d20+9 [12,9] = (21), Spot 1d20-1 [18,-1] = (17)

Jimpy just smiles. "I remember they kept saying something about an orphanage burning down. But I didn't do that. It did make a nice warm glow, though..." The halfling's face gets a faraway look as he smiles at some memory.

Listen: 1d20-1=16

Both of you made the Listen check.

As you fall silent, you can hear something breathing... somethingbig. Moments later, the tree limbs above you rustle, and the entire tree moves.

Jimpy makes a sound of obvious awe. "Wow! I've never seen anything that big before! I wonder if it makes a good pet? (Turning to the half-elf) I mean, how can this NOT be a vacation?!? We're sleeping in cozy trees and seeing interesting new animals! How much more fun can we have?"

Jimpy makes a sound of obvious awe. "Wow! I've never seen anything that big before! I wonder if it makes a good pet? (Turning to the half-elf) I mean, how can this NOT be a vacation?!? We're sleeping in cozy trees and seeing interesting new animals! How much more fun can we have?"

Jimpy Ashetongue wrote:

Jimpy makes a sound of obvious awe. "Wow! I've never seen anything that big before! I wonder if it makes a good pet? (Turning to the half-elf) I mean, how can this NOT be a vacation?!? We're sleeping in cozy trees and seeing interesting new animals! How much more fun can we have?"

How are you seeing it? I know it's big and all, but the the moonlight I mentioned earlier was only back at the cove, and you don't even have lowlight.

Jimpy cranes his neck, peering into the darkness. "What's that? Is it big? It sounds big."

Sorry! It's early and I wasn't paying attention to who the spoiler was for... I plead dumb.

Ayla stares up at the creature.

"Yeah, it's big. We're lucky, it eats plants. My question is though, what eats it?"

Barrak grips his halberd tightly staring up at the beast above him.

"What in the nine hells is that? Are you sure it only eats plants? Its not going to suddenly decide to try one of us for a snack is it?"

Barrak's stomach suddenly interrupts his barrage of questions with a loud grumble. He moves one of his hands to his stomach and begins looking around.

"Speaking of eating, what are we going to do about food?"

Barrak grips his halberd tightly staring up at the beast above him.

"What in the nine hells is that? Are you sure it only eats plants? Its not going to suddenly decide to try one of us for a snack is it?"

Barrak's stomach suddenly interrupts his barrage of questions with a loud grumble. He moves one of his hands to his stomach and begins looking around.

"Speaking of eating, what are we going to do about food?"

Ayla's stomach growls too(though not as loudly as Barrack's), and she laughs.

"I know how to hunt, but I don't have my bow or quiver, which means I'll have to hunt with my blade. To bad Fenris died, he could have helped me hunt... What about you two, can you hunt?"

Barrak furrows his brow, as though trying to will his hunger away.

"I've hunted before, though that was underground. I do have some throwing hammers we could use to take down smaller prey. Against something that big," he gestures to the large beast munching on leaves above him, "I don't have any weapons that would probably do much good."

"Oo! I can hunt! I have a sling, and bullets and I'm good at hitting rabbits! Or I can magic them to death! Makes the meat taste a little funny, though. Or I can start a fire, which will make the forest burn and we can pick off the animals as they run... And it'll burn so prettily..."

Barrak furrows his brow, as though trying to will his hunger away.

"I've hunted before, though that was underground. I do have some throwing hammers we could use to take down smaller prey. Against something that big," he gestures to the large beast munching on leaves above him, "I don't have any weapons that would probably do much good."

"Oo! I can hunt! I have a sling, and bullets and I'm good at hitting rabbits! Or I can magic them to death! Makes the meat taste a little funny, though. Or I can start a fire, which will make the forest burn and we can pick off the animals as they run... And it'll burn so prettily..."

She looks up at the night sky and yawns.

"We can look for something to eat in the morning, let's get some sleep."

The night is warm, so you won't need blankets. If you wish to lay out fully, there are some branches higher up that are close enough together you can sleep without worry of falling out. There are even some that will hold Barrack without breaking.

Jimpy's going to climb up to one of the secure branches where he can have a better view of the stars. He'll fall asleep and you'll be able to hear him as he does... "124, 125, 126, 127...128...129..."

Barrak climbs up to the sturdier branches and lies down, muttering in dwarven curses upon prejudice humans, stupid islands and the general lack of alcohol. Slowly his eyes begin to close and sleep finally steals over him. There is silence for a couple of minutes before the snoring begins.

Light filters down through the leaves, waking the group. The creature from last night has moved further down the open area(plains fileed with short grass) and has been joined by a somewhat smaller version.

"Well," Ayla says, stretching, "good to see we haven't been eaten, eh Barrack? I'll do a bit of scouting before we hunt so I'll be able to find the back if we need too."

She climbs down the tree with grace, slipping away into the forest with ease. A minute later she screams.

It will take a full round action to climb out of the tree safely, or a move action to jump(followed by a tumble check to avoid the fall damage, since you moved higher up).

Jimpy hears the scream, sits straight up with a curious look on his face and steps out of the tree, floating gently to the ground as he goes. (Ring of Featherfall, yay!)

Once on the ground he'll take off at full speed toward the scream.

Barrak leaps out of the tree and curses as his stubby legs are unable to absorb any of the shock of his landing. Shaking off the pain he rushes to where the scream came from, drawing his halberd as he moves.

"Blasted elf... Should've known she'd get in trouble..."

I'll jump from the tree. Jump 1d20+3 14. I take full damage from jumping out of that tree.

Rushing in the direction of the scream, you find Ayla fighting off another convict with a curved blade. Her left arm is bleeding from a wound on the shoulder, and the convict has blood running from his mouth to drip on his leather armor. He smiles as he continues to attack with what looks like meat cleavers.

Initiative.

Barrak looks at the scene with some confusion, the pain from earlier obviously slowing his reaction speed.

Initiative 1d20+2=5. How much damage did I take jumping out of the tree?

Barrak looks at the scene with some confusion, the pain from earlier obviously slowing his reaction speed.

Initiative 1d20+2=5. How much damage did I take jumping out of the tree?

Initiative: 1d20+5=6

Jimpy wanders toward the battle, stopping for a moment here and there to admire something interesting...

Once arriving at the battle, Jimpy will hold up a hand and yell, "Hey! She's my friend! Leave her alone, you lumpy piece of dogsnot!" and cast Scorching Ray: Attack and Damage, 2 rays: 1d20+5=6, 4d6=15, 1d20+5=18, 4d6=11

First one is a definite miss and the second a probable hit.

Ayla ducks and weaves, barely dodges at best the crazed man's cleavers. She manages to cut him severly, but he doesn't even seem fazed. He slices at her again before Jimpy's ray of fire strike him. He glances over as his flesh burns, an acrid scent fill the air.

"Ah, a snack for later. I'll deal with you once I'm done with this delictable elf."

Barrack, your turn.

Init order: Ayla, Convict, Jimpy, Barrack.

Barrak's body begins to shake and convulse and he seems to grow another inch or two as his muscles swell. His eyes become clouded as his rage fully consumes him. In a flash his legs have closed the distance and his halberd is brought down upon the criminal attacking the half-elf. As the halberd completes its arc a deep primal roar escapes Barrak's mouth.

Entering rage, move to melee, and assuming I'm close enough, an attack upon the assailant. Attack 1d20+13=21, Damage 1d10+8=17. Invisible Castle is down for some reason right now, so I had to roll the dice at home. I hope that is okay.

Barrak's body begins to shake and convulse and he seems to grow another inch or two as his muscles swell. His eyes become clouded as his rage fully consumes him. In a flash his legs have closed the distance and his halberd is brought down upon the criminal attacking the half-elf. As the halberd completes its arc a deep primal roar escapes Barrak's mouth.

Entering rage, move to melee, and assuming I'm close enough, an attack upon the assailant. Attack 1d20+13=21, Damage 1d10+8=17. Invisible Castle is down for some reason right now, so I had to roll the dice at home. I hope that is okay.

He did not hit either of you.

Seeing the man nearly cut in half and not falling, Jimpy looks curious and a bit worried. "Clearly the natives of this island are insane. Oh well."

He shrugs and casts another Scorching Ray: 1d20+5=23, 4d6=13, 1d20+5=25, 4d6=12

Second is a possible critical, Confirmation and damage: 1d20+5=21, 4d6=11

36 points of fiery damage! Whoo hoo! Jimpy pauses a moment to admire his flaming handiwork.

Jimpy's fire flies through the air to slam into the convict, burning large holes in his side. He stops fighting to look at the burns, then collapses. Ayla leans against tree and inspects her wounds, stopping to look closely at the one on her shoulder.

"Guess I know why he was sent here. Look," she says as she leans forward and reveals what looks like a large bite mark, "he bit me. He was a cannibal, and stealthy enough to set up ambushes. If the other convicts are anything like this one was, we may be in trouble."

She pulls a dagger from within her boot and begins to make scratches on the ground.

"There were thirty convicts total onboard the ship(including us), eight ran into the forest and most likely died, Fenrir died swimming after the ship, we just killed one, and since it might be us against them, we aren't included in the total. That means at least seventeen more convicts are on this island with us, not counting any that may still be alive since before we arrived."

She stands up and scans the forest quickly.

"Add that to the fact some very big and possible dangerous creatures live here, and we are on one of the most dangerous places we could possible be, short of the Nine Hells."

"Add that to the fact some very big and possible dangerous creatures live here, and we are on one of the most dangerous places we could possible be, short of the Nine Hells."

Barrak shakes his head.

"Daft halfling..."

Looking at the marks on the ground he shrugs.

"There has to be some way off of this island..."

"There has to be some way off of this island..."

"He won't need tham anymore. Come on, we need to move him far away from hear so he doesn't attract any scavengers. Then we can look for something a bit more substantial than berries for breakfast."

She begins to drag the corpse away from the tree you stayed in last night, and after a while you can hear the sound of running water. After a few more minutes, you come to a large lake that has a small river at each end. Ayla begins to push the body into the river when she leaps back quickly, narrowly avoided the massive alligator-like creature that explodes out of the water and grabs the dead man, dragging it back into the water.

"That was... exciting if you look at it in a good light. Looks like we're not the only ones wanting to eat. Jimpy, no swimming."

A chirping sounds from behind you causes you to turn, and you see a group of small lizard-like creatures looking at you. One hops over to Ayla, who kneels down as if to pet it. Her arm blurs as she draws her boot dagger and beheads the small creaturs before throwing the dagger at the biggest one. Before the dead even hit the ground, the others have scattered back into the forest. Ayla picks up the two she felled and stands.

"Breakfast anyone? Jimpy, we'll need a fire once we get away from the lake.

Barrak nods approvingly at the quick kills of the lizards and licks his lips.

"Ah, those shall make a good breakfast. Nice clean kills. Its only too bad we don't have any beer. Beer battered, deep fried lizard tails are a true treat."

Barrak nods approvingly at the quick kills of the lizards and licks his lips.

"Ah, those shall make a good breakfast. Nice clean kills. Its only too bad we don't have any beer. Beer battered, deep fried lizard tails are a true treat."

"I guess we could try to leave, but swimming looks like a bad idea. Maybe if we made a boat? Or a dirigible!"

Sorry for the delay, but I am on vacation and may not be able to post until Monday.

Sorry for the delay, but I am on vacation and may not be able to post until Monday.

"Thanks for the compliment Barrack, I try to avoid causing suffering if I can and usually stick to plants. It will take a while before I find out which plants are safe to eat."

She begins to skin the lizards with her knife, inspecting a strange pouch she found within the neck of the one she trew her dagger at

"Jimpy, if you can catch one later, I'l help you raise it. But be careful, this is a poison sack, and judging from the muscles around it, I'd say they can spit it. Would you mind making a fire when we find a safer place?"

She looks at the water, where the crocidilian creature lurks.

"I do not think this is the best place to consider breakfast, and I doubt would could kill that creature as easily as these lizards."

"Ooh, a spitting lizard? That would be really keen! And I'd love to set fire to whatever needs burning. I do so like the fires. When they dance..."

"Think we should head back for the beach then? Or do you have a better idea on where we can roast our breakfast at?"

"I really don't know much about this island. The beach is as good a place as any I guess. We know theres freshwater, and I doubt anything living here drinks sea water, so the beach may be the best place for us for us to eat. We should be alert though, the smell of cooking meat might attract carnivores, and the smoke might tell more convicts to our presence. Now, let us go and get some food in our bellies!"

She begins to walk through the forest, bringing you past the tree you slept in, and to the beach. You can see spots of blood-covered sand up and down the cove, though no bodies can be seen. Large three-toed clawed footprints lead down to the water's edge. Despite these strange sign of battle and local wildlife, Ayla sits down and begins to stack the bits of dry wood she found on the way into a pile for the breakfast fire. Soon(with help from Jimpy), she has a fire going and the sounds and smells of cooking meat surrond you. Breakfast is good that day.

A percentile roll please.