"Certainly: Kelly, Holgur, Cieran, and... Sandara," Balsooma replies, pausing only to consider the last on the list. "Salt water on day-old stripes. I'm sure they'll be pleased," he says by way of explanation, forcing what he imagines as a cruel smile to his face. Let him think I am causing them a bit of suffering: might make him lay off for a time.
He turns to Holgur, who is standing nearby: "You want to get the buckets and spears? I'll find the others. Catching crabs might suit them better than ship vermin, it seems."
So saying, he'll head off to locate the rest, informing them of the task with a friendly: "Fancy a swim?"
Kelly's morning preparations are interrupted by Balsooma's query. "A swim? What purpose is there for such an excursion?" After getting the details, Kelly seems a bit hesitant. "If I might have a few minutes to finish my preparations."
Kelly will grab his studded leather jerkin and knife. Also he will spend a couple minutes to remake his extracts for the day, but this time instead of his normal pair, he will make up two light blue vials (Touch of the Sea). Once they are securely in their place, the stress visibly drains from Kelly's face. He heads up on deck to join his companions to set out.
Ciera smiles nervously up at Balsooma, "Well a swim'd be good fer me muscles i suppose." pausing to make sure her shirt is well done-up and that her breast wraps are in place, and to remove her boots, she moves over to join the others.
At first Sandara eyes Balsooma questioningly, wondering if by 'swim' he might be threatening her. After hearing what the job is, she is more interested, "It'll be nice to take a refreshing dip."
The swim out to the reef is calm and relaxing, if not a little tiring, but the chance to really stretch your muscles out in the open water is a relief. The reef itself is about a hundred yards square, and rests just under the surface anywhere from five to thirty feet deep. Glancing down through the water you catch sight of a crab crawling along the reef now and again, and it is merely a matter of spotting them, before diving down and grabbing it. If necessary you can spear them, but often the weapon is used to get them to grab on, where you can pull them from it an tuck them into the mesh crab pots. Each pot looks like it could hold about four crabs.
Sandara seems pleased to be in the water, looking down through the clear water, she spots one and eagerly dives down through the water toward it. Her dive is perfect and she cuts through the water with skill, snatching the creature and pushing it through the small opening of the crab pot before rising once again to the surface. She does this twice more, but by the third attempt she had winded herself enough that she didn't get enough air to make it down to get the last crab.
Balsooma enjoys his time on the reef, his keen eyes picking out crabs clinging amongst the bright coral, and his strong muscles propelling him through the water to snatch them up with ease. The work engrosses him: a refreshing change of pace from the rum-addled banter of the last two days.
Round 1:
Perception:
Swim:
Round 2:
Perception:
Swim:
Round 3:
Perception:
Swim:
Ciera's still-raw cuts sting as she swims, searching for crabs. Although she did manage to spot a few, she had less luck actually catching them.
Perception:
The pleasure of the swim is lessened by the sting of salt water on unhealed wounds but it is still a welcome respite from the sails of the Wormwood. Holgur paces himself out toward the reef and does is best to ignore the pain that the salt causes in his back. For a moment he wonders if they are to be stranded on the reef as some form of joke but he dismisses it right away. The crew is too short-handed at this point for that and this thought relaxes his mind and he indulges himself by turning over from chest to back as he swims toward the reef.
Here's lunch
And Dinner
Where has desert gone? There have to be more crabs around here. With that Holgur dives a bit deeper into the clear water and hopes that that a crawling entree will present itself.
Kelly, though spending most of his adult life at sea, has never spent too much time in the water. In fact he is a bit phobic at the thought of spending most of the day in the water. The vials on his belt do give him some ease of mind however. The outing starts casually enough, and he begins his search for the elusive crustaceans.
Kelly begins his day, he starts out and spots a crab and dives down and barely manages to grab it before it escapes. He spots another easily and tries a new technique, but breaths at the wrong time and ends up short of breath and flailing around and scares off the prey before even getting close. The third he spots however, he works out his breathing and slices through the water with easy as he snags and bags the creature in one quick motion. His dive was so good he spends a bit of time gliding about in the water before surfacing. While down there however he catches a glimpse of something foul looking...he immediately recognizes the creatures as reefclaws. He races for the surface.
"Mates, look sharp, we have reefclaws drawing near, they are vicious little creature with jagged claws and a nasty sting. Use the full length of your spears, the death throes will venom you just as easily as its pinch." At that Kelly readies both his spear and one of the vials he had prepared this morning.
Rov'gug's Scat! Get to the reef if you can. We can fight them better if we can stand on it so they can't come from below.
Kelly spots the creatures on his last dive as they scuttle out from their gaps under part of the reef. One of them rushes through the water toward Balsooma. While the other hesitates just long enough that Kelly is able to act.
Holgur -
Kelly -
Ciera -
Balsooma -
Sandara -
Reefclaw W -
Reefclaw B - Swims up from J9 and toward Balsooma
Holgur looks about wildly for the creatures in the clear blue water but does not see any immediate threat to himself, nor can he see anything more than harmless fish nearby. But the fish suddenly dart away from the reef so he knows that Kelly was not mistaken in claiming that dangerous predators are approaching. He decides to remain in place on the reef where he has firm footing and let the sea-beast come to him. There is no doubt that it would have the advantage if he were to swim toward it or tread water.
Kelly kicks up out of the water a bit higher for just a second as he unstoppers and consumes the contents of the vial he readied.
Kelly lifts up out of the water and downs a vial of liquid, before growing webbing between his fingers. The second reefclaw comes up from the crevasse and swims rapidly toward Holgur.
The first reefclaw, now within range of its prey, snaps its pincers eagerly in an attempt to grab hold of Balsooma. The first pincer finds a solid hold on the man's leg, digging into flesh. Balsooma can feel the poison burning, but he didn't get a big enough dose to have hit him it seems. He is, however, firmly in the grasp of that large claw. It snaps the other claw at Balsooma, but he's able to twist away from it just in time, but it was a close call with the grip it has on him.
Kelly - Drank Touch of the Sea extract
Ciera -
Balsooma - Grappled
Sandara -
Reefclaw W - Swam up to Holgur
Reefclaw B - Hit and grabbed Balsooma
Ciera glances up at Kelly's shout, searching the clear water for signs of a threat, she is, however, unable to see any sign of danger until Balsooma writhes in the water away from a clawed shape.
Hesitating for only a moment he moves forward, next to the tall man. Taking a deep gulp of air, she slips her head below the water and stabs at the clawed creature.
Attack:
Damage:
When Balsooma yells at the creature's attack Holgur turns and nearly forgets that there are at least two of these things in the water. Only when he notices an odd ripple in the water does he give his full attention to his immediate surroundings. What he discovers is a venomous clawed thing reaching out for his leg. Holgur stabs at the reefclaw almost out of instinct.
Attack
Kelly wastes no time in making for the far side of the creature attacking Balsooma. Kelly uses the newfound ease of movement to get to the opposite side of the creature, trying to divide its attention. Once in place Kelly harrasses it with the spear.
Balsooma snarls at the reefclaw that has him in its grasp, eyes flashing fiercely: "Besmara grant me the resilience to shrug off pests like you."
He then throws himself into the reefclaw, trying to reverse the hold it has on him and turn it against the creature.
Damage roll just in case I hit with a 14.
Holgur jumps with a start as he realizes one of the creatures is rushing toward him as well. He strikes out in reaction to the rushing creature, uncertain of his action as more than a defensive strike. He is rewarded when the tip of the spear punches through the soft flesh just behind the creature's claw.
Kelly's newly formed hand webbing allows him to glide gracefully around to the other side of the reefclaw digging into Balsooma's thigh. Since the creature had to swim over the edge of the coral Balsooma stands on, kelly is able to attack effectively while still keeping his head above water. He drives his fishing spear into the fleshy tail of the thing, as it weaves itself under the surface.
Ciera takes a gulp of air before ducking under the surface to get a clear view of what is attacking Holgur. With a push of his thin yet decievingly muscled legs, he pushes forward through the water, leading with his spear. The push drives him through the short gap between him and the reefclaw, and gives a healthy force behind the spear. It punctures the hard carapace of the creature's front, punching into the soft innards beneath.
Balsooma prays for Besmara's aid against his threat, and his skin takes on the slightly pinkish tone of the coral he stands upon. Feeling empowered by the Goddess' will, he attempts to twist away from the piercing grip of the large claw. It seems, however, that the Goddess of sea monsters may be helping the reefclaw as well.
Sandara adopts a combination o excitement and anger in her features, a wicked delight in her eyes as the fury comes over her. She also says a prayer to Besmara, and soon after her body is covered in a semi-translucent suit of what looks like armor, composed of heavy carapace. She moves forward, drawing her rapier instead of the spear you each have.
With two dangerous targets nearby, the reefclaw near Holgur and Ciera attacks each of them. It snaps at each of them, but with the two spear wounds it suffered, it moves slower than it expected. The claws snap loudly, indicating the pain they could have caused had they closed on either of its targets. Using its tail, it pushes itself backward and down, further under the waves, luring the two to follow it.
Round 2:
The second reefclaw, also threatened by two enemies snaps at the new one while maintaining its grip on the other. For as weak as the other reefclaw's attacks were, this one makes up for in spades. First, its grip tightens on Balsooma's leg, oozing it venom deeper into the wound, as Balsooma can feel it start to eat away at the muscle in his leg. While it holds Balsooma, it snaps out at Kelly, and manages to close on part of his arm and chest despite the disadvantages it suffers from holding the other man. The claw digs into his skin, and he soon feels the tell-tale burn of its poison as the pincer tightens slowly around his ribs.
Kelly - Grappled, Swam behind reefclaw B, hit it
Ciera - Moved to reefclaw W, hit it
Balsooma - Grappled, used judgement, failed to return grapple
Sandara - Cast Instant Armor, moved toward the fight
Reefclaw W - 13 damage total, Misses Holgur and Ciera, 5' step back.
Reefclaw B - 6 damage total; Grappled, Maintains hold on Balsooma, attacks and grabs Kelly, poisons both.
If the reefclaw quits the fight that would be fine with Holgur. But it only backed up and he suspects that it wants to draw him toward it. A staring match ensues as Holgur waits for it to come back to him or flee. But after a moment he realizes that the thing might join its mate in attacking Balsooma and Kelly and that would leave Holgur and Ciera trying to catch up with something that lives in the sea.
"[Expletive] It!" Holgur says as he steps forward and stabs at it again.
Attack
Damage
Kelly lets our a shout of pain as the Reefclaw's pincer tears into him. The salt water seeping in between the claw and the open wound adds more pain to the injury. The pain leaves little recourse but to pull back and thrust with the spear once more.
Ciera grins as the creature backs away, briefly rising back above the water's surface to snatch a quick breath and look around. Seeing Kelly and Balsooma's plight, she hesitates but, seeing the deep channel that separates them, she turns her attention back to the injured reefclaw, moving around Holgur and stabbing foward with her spear.
Attack:
Damage:
Balsooma grimaces as the reefclaw's heavy pimcer bites into him, the creature's poison burning into his muscles and causing them to ache. Struggling with the beast, he once again tries to lever off its grip on him, and wrap a beefy arm around its head.
Reverse grapple:
Holgur strides forward in the water, spearpoint first, as he drives it once again into the attacking creature. Despite its size, and the wounds it has taken, it continues to fight on.
Kelly use his position of advantage to poke at the creature gripping Balsooma, just managing to punch through its shell.
Ciera circles around Holgur, moving toward the last step of highest coral, and prods the reefclaw. It is looking like it shouldn't be able to continue, yet it does.
Balsooma manages to pry open the tip of the claw holding him, and spin his leg from out of it, twisting into a hold that allows him to take the creature around its base.
Sandara sees Holgur and Ciera handling the beast quite effectively, but Kelly and Balsooma having more difficulty. She decides that the best course of action would be to try and get to Balsooma before he drops. The problem arises, though, when she steps off the reef to swim over to him, and misjudges the bulk of the armor she just conjured as it pulls her underwater. She is forced to push hard against the depths to get back to the surface and beside Balsooma.
The reefclaw facing Holgur has many holes in its sides, signs of internal fluids oozing from them to float as little clouds beside it under the waves. It weakly lashes out at Holgur, determined to find a meal of the meaty flesh. It's claws continue to find nothing, and it once again tries to ease it self into an environment that puts its targets at a disadvantage. As it moves, more of its life oozes outward.
Round 3:
Disturbed by being beaten at its own game, the reefclaw now held by Balsooma tries to get at him with its free claw. It reaches underneath itself to get at its opposite side where Balsooma stands. Successfully it grabs onto the only thing it can reach, the man's ankle, and snaps into it hard, hitting the bony portion. Despite the pain, Balsooma is lucky there's less meat there as the reefclaw is unable to inject it poison very deep, and with its claw removed from his thigh what he suffered earlier oozes out with his blood.
Kelly - Hit reefclaw B again
Ciera - Moved to reefclaw W, hit it again
Balsooma - Grappled, reversed grapple
Sandara - Moved toward Balsooma
Reefclaw W - 24 damage total Missed Holgur, 5' step back and down again.
Reefclaw B - 8 damage total; Grappled attacked Balsooma with free claw. Poison was resisted.
'Better dead than fled' when it comes to letting an enemy live Holgur thinks to himself. But this thing lives in the water and I don't. I would have to swim to it to spear it again and if I miss I have to turn my back on it to swim back to the reef. Besmara's wet bits! This is a s#1t fix we are in
"Let it come to us, I say" Holgur yells to Ciera before he realizes how close the two are to each other. "Step back a bit and see if it closes on us."
Pushing up from the reef to get her head above water, Ciera nods at Holgur's words and steps back to H14 and readies her spear to strike at the reefclaw if it approaches.
Balsooma's head feels light. He can feel his strength draining from him, along with a lot of his blood. Releasing his grip on the Reefclaw, he places both hands on his spear and tries to drive it into the creature in one last-ditch effort before he slips beneath the waves.
Kelly continues his assault on the creature.
Keeping his grip on the spear, Kelly gives it a jerk and a twist, adding more damage to the creature assaulting his friend.
Holgur and Ciera refuse to follow the creature into the depths, instead backing up and setting their spears before them in case it comes back at them.
Kelly once again successfully prods the reefclaw, jabbing and poking at its fleshy tail, and drawing another cloud of blood to float around the injury.
Balsooma releases the thing and draws his spear in both hands and lifts it over his head to drive downward with great force into the reefclaw's back. The weapon digs in deep before Balsooma's hands go limp, floating slowly to the surface of the coral as he passes out from the pain.
Sandara says a prayer to Besmara as Balsooma falls, angry at herself for failing to stay afloat at such a basic level to cross a small gap in the coral. She casts her spell, and then promptly sinks, touching Balsooma as she sinks past him.
The luring reefclaw sees his ploy fail, and decides to come back at the two, but to the side so it only has to worry about the little one. It rushes in snapping at Ciera.
Round 4:
With the big man done thrashing, the reefclaw turns to address the other pesky meal that has been jabbing at it. It turns from the big man lying on the coral and soon to be dead, facing the swimmer with the spear. It reaches out with a claw to snap at him. The damage it suffered at Balsooma's final thrust was more than it had realized, and its movements were slow and jerky.
Kelly - Hit reefclaw B again
Balsooma - Hit and fell unconscious
Sandara - Healed Balsooma for 6, sank
Ciera - Stepped back and readied, attacking as it charged
Reefclaw W - 25 damage total (or dead, based on Ciera's damage) charged Ciera, and hit
Reefclaw B - 22 damage total missed Kelly
Attack:
Damage:
Ciera stabs forward with her spear as the reefclaw closes, however, buffeted by a small wave, the strike misses. Instead, the creature's claw closes about her wrist and she feels its poison enter her system, causing a wave of dizziness to pass through her.
The reefclaw's speed surprised Holgur and he is slow to react as it rushed forward at Ciera and clamped down on the small man's leg. Ciera's reaction surprised him also: his yelp of pain was so high as to be shocking. The poison must be excruciating and there is little time so Holgur closes on the shelled threat and thrusts his spear as hard as he can. But his haste throws his balance off and the attack is poorly aimed and goes wide of the mark.
Attack
Kelly see's the wounds the big man has endured, he tries to caution the him that he should withdraw, but he sees the man rear back and strike mightily down on the reefclaw. It seems that the blow should have put the creature down, but it continues its assault. Kelly is prepared to swim to him to keep his mouth and nose from the water, but he sees and exchanges a small nod with Sandara as she closes to heal him. Apparently swimming, healing, and nodding are too much, and Sandara succumbs to the waves. Kelly relieved to see Balsooma functioning once again, resumes his diving posture to aid Sandara now, instead of Balsooma.
Balsooma's eyes flick open as he feels a cooling wave seep through him, knitting together his flesh torn by the reefclaw's savage mauling. Seeing Kelly brush past him to aid the sinking Sandara, Balsooma turns to help, then begins to feel the burning of salt water in his lungs, and swims for the surface instead, trying to put some distance between him and the reefclaw, to draw it off.
Breaking the surface, he draws in a huge lungful of air, coughing out what feels like half the sea. Slapping a hand to the tattoo on his chest he mutters: "Besmara, let your waters seal my wounds, that I may prove myself a worthy pirate."
Ciera pulls back, away from the beast's claws, her blood seeping out into the water around her as a crimson cloud. Gritting her teeth she once again thrusts her spear forward at the reefclaw. However, still unstable from the animal's attack, her spear misses, stabbing ineffectually at the water.
Attack:
Damage:
Holgur steps back up to the returned reefclaw, prodding with his spear, but the creature is more careful in its heavily injured state. It simply knocks away the strike with one of its claws.
Kelly ignores the beast and swims past it to help pull Sandara from under the waves. As he passes by the reefclaw, it seems almost surprised that the man is passing and not attacking. Almost as an afterthought it snaps out at him with its nearest claw, but was too late to act.
Balsooma, revived by Sandara's spell, manages to hold his breath before taking in a lungful of water. He pushes himself off the coral to slip away from the snapping claws of the creature before switching his goddesses blessing to one of rejuvenation.
Sandara accepts the aid from Kelly, but brushes him off as soon as her feet touch the solid coral, "Hands off! I was doing just fine, just let me drop this barnacled bugger." She swings wildly at the reefclaw, still a little unbalanced from her recently acquired footing and her rush to wave off Kelly's help.
Ciera stabs at the creature, but her injury causes her to miss her mark.
The reefclaw responds to the petite man's thrust with its own attack, grabbing once again at the proferred limb. This time the reefclaw strikes higher on the arm, snapping hard into it, and Holgur can almost hear the bones snapping. The claw is string, and the jagged edges grind into the flesh and bone of the young man's arm, blood pooling quickly around it. The thing is then able to pull the now unconscious youth closer, crushing the already splintered bones in its grip, and keeping a hold on the man.
Round 5:
Eager to get at the new prey, the reefclaw proving dangerous to Balsooma, snaps a pincer at Sandara. It hits the newly conjured armor that was previously dragging her under the water, and does not prove fruitful.
Kelly - Swam past Reefclaw B and helped Sandara to land
Balsooma - Withdrew, switched to Fast Healing 1 judgement
Sandara - Attacked Reefclaw B, missed
Ciera - Unconscious, Grappled Attacked Reefclaw W, missed
Reefclaw W - 26 damage total, Staggered, Grappled crit and grabbed Ciera.
Reefclaw B - 23 damage total, Staggered missed Sandara
Holgur roars an obscene epithet when Ciera is pulled under the water. He focuses for a brief moment and throws himself as hard as he can into a spear thrust at the reefclaw.
Kelly pulls Sandara up from the water, as she shrugs him off, he can't help but smile at her pride and smugness. His smile is quickly vacated however as he hears the horrifying crunch of the reefclaw's pincer gnashing into bone. As the creature tries to rend the boy's arm clean off, Kelly is unsure how to help. When Holgur steps up and stabs at the best, Kelly shakes his reflection and snaps to action.
Having gained the surface, Balsooma will glance around and try to locate the spear he'd been fighting with.
Holgur strikes hard at the reefclaw, driving in the spear, and stopping the thing from dragging Cieran to the depths. As the creature is dealt the killing blow it begins to thrash and spasm violently, claws snapping, tail thrashing, spines jerking spasmodically. Holgur, and the unconscious Cieran, are in the midst of it, and both of them suffer the sting of its claws.
Kelly rushes over, his webbed hands offering steady benefit at the reef, grabbing Cieran and keeping the lad's head just above the water to keep from drowning.
Looking around for his spear, Balsooma finds it still lodged in the back of the other reefclaw, most likely where it ended up when he succumbed to his injuries. Getting his footing, he moves forward, knife drawn, and brings it up underneath the thing's head. The strike is enough to finally finish the thing off. It too thrashes like its predecessor, but this time it is Balsooma and Sandara that are at risk. Sandara gets a nasty gash on her hip from its thrashing, before it stops moving altogether.
Sandara prods the thing once to make sure it's dead, then begs a prayer from Besmara, one to reward her followers who fought so effectively in the goddesses watery home.
Once the excitement begins to fade, it is worth it to note that each one of the ugly creatures is not only edible, but big enough to fill a crab pot all by itself. With what you had caught previously, two more crabs and you can return with full buckets each.
When the crustacean stabs Holgur with its spines he explodes in a litany of vulgarities and stabs at it again twice before he realizes that it is dead. Once he realizes that there is no more threat he frantically looks about to check on his crew-mates and is relieved to see that Kelly holding Ciera's head above the waves. But is the lad alive? He nearly panics until he notes the slight heavy signs of breath from the young man.
Kelly himself and Balsooma look quite rough as does Sandara. But since all are alive right now that much is right. The salt water burns his own wounds as well as the skin of his recently lashed back and this moves him to a full sermon of muttered profanities. Suddenly he stops and stands with his mouth agape.
"Poison! These things are poisonous. Can you do something about that?" he asks of the others.
As the creature's claws close about her arm, Ceira feels the bones of her arm begin to crack and then break. Her vision swims as she feels the blood flow from the vicious wound as she sinks into blackness.
Con:
HP=0
Sandara, seeing that the healing wasn't quite enough to bring back Cieran, says the same prayer again.
With everyone looking better off, she suggests "Kelly, can you still swim like a native? See about grabbing the last two crab and we can bring back enough to piss off Plugg with our success."
Kelly nods and quickly ducks under the water and begins his search.
Kelly glides down quickly and spots 3 more creatures coming out to investigate the lull after the recent activity. He quickly snags the two that look the best and tosses them in the pots. As he's dispensing the last one, the effects of his formula wares off and the impact is immediate as his moves go from natural to barley proficient almost instantly.