Karthan waves to Onura glad that he hadn't embarrassed himself getting across the boarding planks, but disappointed that he had already lost two of his hands on deck, at least one of them was still alive though hovering about on the launch.
Returning Croaker's nod he cleared his throat to begin giving direction starting with his sister, but stopped when he saw her with her eyes closed and hands pressed to the ship. Thor stood panting and touching his tongue to special glands at the roof of his mouth getting the scent of the place. Reconsidering he turned to his cousin.
"Fir'amil I am sure you are already doing this but can I get you to detect for magic aft and fore before we go down below? I don't want to leave anything on top of us."
"Mr Croaker, we will be checking aft first, send two men up top to see if we still have rudder control. You and the other man see if we have a useable launch or lifeboat up here. Meanwhile, Sacredos, Mal and I will clear the aft cabins, then the forecastle. Any objections?"
Assuming there are none . . .
"Okay let's step lively then we need to see if we can save this listing lady of the sea or get what we can and get out."
Perception
"Fir'umil I am sure you are already doing this but can I get you to detect for magic aft and fore before we go down below? I don't want to leave anything on top of us."
"That I can do..." Fir'umil stands amid ships and places his staff upon the deck. "I'm sensing two emanations directly below us, maybe two decks down?"
Finding nothing else in the first area, he heads to the stern section and casts once more... "Nothing of prominence."
He gets ready to head forward when Croaker steps forward from where he and the two remaining crewmen were searching the aft castle.
There are a few bloodstains here and there, mostly caked or embedded in the wood of the deck. There is a pair of crossbow bolts pinned to the main mast, dried blood all along the shafts as though they'd been fired at close range and had passed through who or whatever had been shot.
The elven druid's hand caresses the railing of the ship, seeking to learn more of what may have happened. The wood beneath her hands is alive, the nature of the material when constantly upon the sea...but there is something more. Something just past the veil of what she can perceive. Something aches and growns, feeling trapped and scared and unable to move...
The scent of blood, humanoid mostly is in the air. There is some fresh blood, but it is only a hint, as though it had just departed on the wind. For the most part, the blood he scents is dried and weeks old. Lastly, there is a heady scent of fungus with subtle undertones of earthy rot.
Croaker finishes his search of the aft deck, heading back to the stairs down to the main deck and signaling Karthan to come up.
The poop deck above the stern castle is relatively clear of debris. The ship’s wheel looks to be intact and undamaged. Aside from a few spent crossbow quarrels embedded in and lying scattered about the deck, there a few impressions to suggest the Lydia’s Wake was once a battleground. The mizzenmast is still intact, its sails tied down and secure. Two arbalests stand atop the deck here. Oiled leather tarps secured with sturdy rope cover them. Between the arbalests is a wooden crate covered by an oiled leather tarp.
Lastly, there are some spots of dried blood here and there, but wedged into the lower rotational gear of the port arbalest is a crushed human hand.
Zandra placed her hands on the planking and rail of the ship. She closed her eyes for a few seconds then blinked revealing pitch black orbs swirling with green for a few hundredths of a second.
The Druid reached out to the mana, psychic and bioresonance present in the ship. Having learned from her previous experience with the Inn she slowly lowered her guard and reached out more shallowly into the unknown.
This ship was home to many souls and I have no idea how long it has sailed the seas. If land creature died on it they may have become tied to it for their living fear of drowning. Plus the gods only know what happened to the crew.
Karthan's eyes and intuition were forming a plot as to what had happened here. The deck arbalests were still tarped. The fighting must have begun quickly with little time to prepare, but was it a mutiny amongst the crew? A cell of cultists perhaps or a corrupting influence that spread amongst the men? Or were the signs of battle from salvage borders that stumbled upon someone or something that still lived in the derelict ship? The thought had crossed through his mind more than once that the soulless clerics might be animated dead or incubating something far more sinister.
He plucked the magic bolt from the wood.
Whomever had been shooting had been well outfitted.
Karthan didn't get out his bow, he knew he could pull, draw and loose in a blur, but he prepared his mind for it.
He looked over at Mr Croaker. He wouldn't let him and the others fight something that required magic weapons if he could help it. He wouldn't abuse those under his command like that.
"Mal, lets search the aft cabins. I want to see if we can find the ships log. Mt Croaker check the foredeck, Sacredos and Fir if you can check the forward cabins, then we an start going below. Thor keep your senses up, all of them."
"Indeed."
The cat looked indignant, because he was.
"Okay, Zandra and Thor will stand watch here while the rest of us have our duties. Lets do them as quickly and as safely as possible. You two over there . . . Do you have a launch ready to go in the event we need it?"
The two crewmen nod affirmative. One of them points over the side of the ship to the launch below from the Lucky Slip. "Mayhap they got another down below in the bilge, nuthin' on the sides though."
"Mal, let’s search the aft cabins. I want to see if we can find the ship’s log. Mr Croaker check the foredeck, Sacredos and Fir if you can check the forward cabins, then we can start going below. Thor keep your senses up, all of them."
The two remain on the main deck, searching about for more evidence of what may have happened on the ship. A deeper search find that the main deck bears many bloodstains and scorch marks. A handful of weapons and crossbow bolts lie scattered about or are embedded in the deck and railings. A 10-foot square trap door in the middle of the deck leads down to the cargo hold directly below the main deck. A large oiled leather tarp, pooled with shallow seawater, covers the door, completely sealing it. Once the water is spilled out of the tarp it should be able to be removed.
Above her and Thor the lower part of the mainsail and the mast is slashed in several places. Hanging from the crow's nest 20 feet above, his feet tangled in the rigging, is the body of a halfling sailor. He is pin-cushioned by at least half a dozen crossbow bolts.
The two approach the aft cabins, there are three doors, with the one in the middle looking to be the beginnings of a small companionway - a place where members of the crew can pass by one another easily when moving to and fro within the aft castle. Selecting the door on the right first for exploration, it appears to have been hacked apart and what remains of the axe-scored wooden door hangs open, dangling by a single brass hinge. Beyond the ruined door is what looks like the ship's arms locker. Most of the weapon and armor racks look empty but the following still remain:
2 Suits of Studded Leather Armor
1 Cutlass
2 Daggers
2 Light Crossbows
33 Light Crossbow Bolts
Please Roll a Perception Check for Karthan
The Inquisitor steps to the forecastle cabins, two doors being available and selects the left one, opening the door slowly after drawing one of his daggers. After a cursory look, he waves the wizard inside and the two disappear into the darkness of the doorway.
"There was definitely quite that battle here . . . Plenty of crossbow bolts and scorch marks . . . The hold looks tarped off still and I am not smelling rot. . . . I don't like this Thor. I think something is still here."
Zandra looks up and tries to discern if the pin cushioned halfling was hung and shot from below or if there is something more to it.
Strange that there are so many bolts shot into that poor fellow. . .
Perception
"The water covering the tarp could be covering up some of the scent from below, but I am sure I would smell something from the gangways. The small amount of fresh blood could be from a stowaway. You sensed fear right?"
The tiger tries to discern how long the hanging halfling has been dead.
knowledge nature
Karthan gave the weapons a quick once over as he speaks to the two men on the deck.
"Okay, if the boats are all away then just secure a rope over the side if you can't find a deck ladder."
He the speaks a bit louder so Mr Croaker can hear.
"Mr Croaker if there is nothing of significance up there to report, come over here and load up these crossbows and distribute these weapons as you see fit."
He looks over to Mal
"The ship's master and the executive officers would have had control of the keys for the weapons locker. Is this a sign mutiny or desperation? Or simply the work of looters? . . . I think something happened on board here. If the crew was manning the ship and another vessel came threatening the deck mounted guns would be uncovered right?"
...at door
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Zandra and Thor look up into the tangle of rigging holding the dead Halfling aloft. The slow, plodding movements of the labored vessel causes the little body to pendulum back and forth like a hypnotist’s pocket watch. The little sailor’s eyes are wide open, staring back at Zandra and her companion, for all the world his dying expression of horror and panic still on his face. It’s apparent to the elf maiden that he must have been in the crows nest during the battle. As the body slips lolls back and forth at the end of a rope, she can see beyond him to the crows nest itself. The small barrel-shaped platform has one side of it torn outward, like it had been rended. Zandra feels a twinge of worry in her stomach, a rolling stone churning up a feeling of dread as she looks back to the dead Halfling. The Lydia’s Wake crests a larger ocean wave, causing the main mast to pitch and the dead body to swing a bit more, creaking at the rope and rigging. Zandra narrows her eyes a bit more as something catches her attention...
...as Thor lending his animal insights to the observation discerns that the Halfling had been dead for no more than a few hours. There is a smell wafting down from the dead body, that musty smell of fungus he’d detected earlier….
...Zandra sees past the obvious wounds from the crossbow bolts and notes a deeper wound under the chin...it looks like something gripped the Halfing’s throat and squeezed and pinched most of it away…and there is a hole in the small of his back about large enough for a hand to pass in and out of...worse still, the leg that is held in the rope leading up to the crows nest is nearly torn away at the hip.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Karthan steps out of the companionway as Mal continues his search there and signals Croaker and the crew, the two with Croaker set about working with the waiting launch from the Lucky Slip to secure a rope ladder for use later. Croaker finishes his search of the forecastle and descends the steps to the main deck.
”"The ship's master and the executive officers would have had control of the keys for the weapons locker. Is this a sign mutiny or desperation? Or simply the work of looters?” Karthan turns back to the half-elf, the possible scenarios floating about in his mind. ”I think something happened on board here. If the crew was manning the ship and another vessel came threatening the deck mounted guns would be uncovered right?"
”That’d be my guess. Mutiny’s a nasty business…” Mal responds. Then turns back to the door at the end of the companionway. ”Hmm, that’s interesting…” Mal says after pressing his ear to the door.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
…Zandra looks from the dead Halfling, that stone of dread turning ever faster in her middle. She looks to her right and sees Croaker descending the stairs, then looks down to the tarp-covered trap door...there, something pushing upwards causing a line beneath the tarp to emerge and a bit of water to pool in a different shape…
...there! Was that a hand slipping out and back in under the edge of the trapdoor?
As Zandra takes an involuntary step back, a mental call about to go to Thor...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Karthan raises a hand of warning that Mal cannot see, something in his gut tells him...
Mal says, ”There’s some sort of…”
But his words are cut off as the door at which he’s listening bursts outwards, sending Mal’undil flying past Mal to crash to the deck.
Out from the darkness left behind by the shattered door emerge a trio of men garbed in the tattered and torn and bloodied apparel of sailors. They hold aloft cutlasses and the last one through wields a trident. But worst of all, they’re faces are rotting, moldy forms of the men they once had been…
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --
Karthan burst into action his blades clearing their scabbards and immediately seeking flesh to carve.
initiative
1st blade
2nd blade
Karthan spins and tries to buy Mal'undil time and space to stand up.
"To your feet and quickly!"
-----------------------------------
...Crit Threat
...Crit Confirmed
Bad Guys
The three rotting crewmen emerge from the darkness with unsettling speed given their decomposed conditions. The first two through the hole engage Karthan, cutlasses swinging in deadly arcs, their rotting stench and appearance too close for comfort. The first cutlass wielding fiend swings at Karthan, his attack going over Karthan’s head as the ranger ducks deftly. But the second enemy’s weapon cuts into the elf’s side.
The third enemy hurls his trident at the prone form of Mal’undil, the wicked looking weapon thwacking into the hard deck just between the rogue’s legs, narrowly missing him.
----------------------------------
Zandra
Zandra quickdraws her longbow, seeing her brother injured and looses a shaft at the one who landed a blow…
Her shot clips the fiend's sword arm.
----------------------------------
Karthan’s blades go into action, his body a fluid motion of whirling death as he follows through with his sister’s shot. His first strike sails wide as he gets up to speed, but his second bites into the fiend in front of him.
"Thor! By the cargo hold cover! The hand!"
Perception
"I see it!
The tiger prepares to pounce, but checks to see what his nose senses before he makes a blind leap.
The mighty cat puts his nose to the wind, the sea air mixing with the violence on the main deck. Thor expects what his mistress feels based on her elven senses...but that's not what he smells. The smell wafting from below the tarp and the cargo door below it is alive, not the twisted form of unlife...no, the smells were very much alive. As were those bleeding from the fiends assaulting Karthan and Mal'undil. There was a powerful life at work here.
Thor action?
"Whomever it is, it is very much alive---I will handle the zombie, you handle the mystery person. Most would not welcome a tigers maw under these circumstances."
Thor tenses then leaps landing amongst the zombies. His magical nature causing him to discount the fact the flesh he was about to tear into was rotten, but oh how his pride ached. However, being stranded on a sinking ship and with at least two of the companions bloodied was more than enough motivation for the big cat.
claw
claw
claw
claw
bite on injured zombie Wiff
Retcon as needed.
Sacerdos 24 2 rounds out
Thor 19
Baddie Crew (x3) 18
Good Crew (x2) 15 2 rounds out
Zandra 14
Croaker 14 acting next out
Mal'undil 14
Karthan 13
Fir'umil 13 2 rounds out
------------------------
Thor's senses reveal a horrible truth, the creatures he sees attacking Karthan and Mal'undil are not zombies, but in fact they are very much alive. The earthy, musty smell of fungus permeates his nostrils as he launches himself bodily at enemy who'd just hurled his trident at Mal'undil. His vicious claws rip and tear apart the foul opponent, ending it to the deck in a heap. As the great beast rends the first one, he attempts a biting attack on the already wounded foe but misses.
...fails
------------------------
...on Thor
...on Karthan
The wounded enemy turns its attentions to Thor, swinging his cutlass in a sweeping arc aimed to take out the tiger at the forelimbs. The blade comes within inches but clangs off the tiger's barding.
The last remaining and uninjured enemy swings at Karthan but only manages to cleave the air in front of the elf.
---------------------------
Thor flicks his ears and waggled his head. Something . . . Isn't right. The big cat roared in fury. "Zandra, there's something wrong with this. The fungus . . ."
Yes, quite so.
"Quomo thadaxia dominos pradaxia! Green Man show me what ails them."
Zandra casts Discearn Health
1st round: A creature’s total and remaining hit points.
Where have I heard of this before? It's something about the smell!
Knowledge nature.
Zandra's mind opens to memory and the wilds of nature, her magic infusing her deductions with a measure of clarity. Thor still retains his health, but there is something on him something that feels the same as what infects the fiendish crewmen attacking the party.Could be some exotic virus?
Mal shakes his head, hair falling in his eyes as he attempts to square his senses. "What in the hells hit...?" His words cut off as he looks up in time to crab-walk backwards to avoid getting skewered by a trident. The weapon embeds itself right were his lower midsection had been a moment before.
"Hey! I just put on clean breech cloth!" He rolls to his left and gets to his feet, a pair of his flight daggers filling his hands as he searches for targets. His brown eyes bulge slightly as he spots the first of the three creatures being downed by Thor. Then he spots two more.
He swings his right arm in a smooth arc and lets his dagger fly.
...crud, critical fumble...
The dagger goes sailing over the head of the target, arcing upwards as it catches a strong ocean wind and careens over the side of the deck and into the sea.
"Aww, c'mon!"
-----
Karthan focuses on trying to take down one of the foes rather than spreading the damage around.
He comes in with his twin blades. One tracing the path of the other as he worked his dance.
Thor tore into the crewmen making sure that they all would feel his wrath if they had infected him with something.
Karthan's blades whirl as he closes the distance with the foe before him.
...did not confirm
His changed tactic of staying focused on a single enemy pays off as his first attempt barely misses the fiend, but his second bites the artery.
------------------------------
Sacerdos 24 1 round out
Thor 19
Baddie Crew (x2) 18
Good Crew (x2) 15 1 round out
Zandra 14
Croaker 14
Mal'undil 14
Karthan 13
Fir'umil 13 1 round out
Thor leaps at his opponent, tooth and nail digging into the fiend's flesh. But his normally devastating attacks do not put the enemy down. There is something crawling at the big cat's mind, like tendrils of black ink seeking purchase on mountain.
...Thor resists!
But the tiger shakes his mighty head, piercing the attempt with his powerful will!
----------------------------
The two remaining crewmen bare rotting teeth and slash out at Karthan and Thor respectively. But Thor (and Zandra) note that the second enemy seemed prepared to leave the Tiger alone. But when the cat shook his head, it renewed its attack.
...on Karthan
...on Thor
The first strike misses Karthan, but the second crewman strikes home on the tiger delivering 7 points of damage.
-------------------------------
"Zandra . . . It's something . . . Crawling at my mind. . . Resisting, but you must."
"If you can just hold on I have anti venom and anti plague I can fix this."
"No! You know what I am capable of! Can you afford for me to become like one of these? Do what you must and do it now!"
Thor rose rampant swinging his head side to side before whipping around and biting at the base of his tail. His ears were flat against his head and his eyes saucers tinged with red. Spinning back he prepared to launch himself back I into the fray and then disappeared.
In his place a small jade tiger figurine sat on the deck the artist had captured Thor in amazing detail. The tiger frozen in mid flight.
The nimbus of light quickly disapated from her hands and a tear rolled down her cheek. At least he was safe now, but she felt cut off. Her hearing sight and smell were blunted and her constant companion and mentor was missing.
"Don't let them touch you! They are infected with some sort of hive mind fungus!"
At 14
Croaker signals the two remaining crewmen behind him to arm themselves, then moves as close as he can before hurling his boarding pike at the nearest fiend.
...miss!!
...
Croaker rasps a curse, hand going to the boarding axe at his belt as the pike misses the mark.
At 14
Mal steadies himself, seeing Thor disappear is troubling considering the cat's usefulness in a scrap. But the half-elf flips his remaining dagger in his hand and hurls it at the nearest foe, electing not to close the distance hearing Zandra's warning.
His dagger buries itself to the hilt in the sailor's neck, the enemy goes down clutching at the blade.
Karthan continues to slice and dice.
"What the! Hey where did Thor go!?"
-------------------------
At 24
Sacerdos emerges from the fore castle cabin and seeing the mayhem, pulls his crossbow and readies to fire.
---------------------------
At 18
The rotting sailor, knowing its end is near steps towards Karthan and once again attempts a fatal blow...
...on Kwrthan
--------------------------------
At 15
The two crewmen under Karthan's command descend the forecastle stairs, crossbows at the ready.
---------------------------------
At 14
Zandra readies to move, but both her and Croaker are nearly thrown from their feet as the deck beneath them rocks upwards then settles. To their right, the cargo door under the tarp heaves upwards, a deep gutteral rumbling coming from beneath as something strains to lift the doors.
Zandra casts cure light wounds on her brother.
"Should I go down, you all must retrieve my bag. There are things inside that can remedy most things and potions to boot."
CLW
At 14
Croaker draws his boarding axe and takes a step back from the cargo door, eyes searching for movement.
...nothing.
The crewman is a bit shaken at the upheaval on the deck, still setting his feet and preparing for what might be coming. But his attention is too divided with the current combat between the remaining enemy and Karthan.
He signals the two approaching crewmen to train their newly acquired crossbows on the cargo doors.
At 14...
Mal'undil makes a brief gesture in the air and his dagger wriggles itself free from the downed foe and returns to his hand. In the same motion with which he grasped the weapon, the half-elf hurls it back and into the remaining fiend.
...the weapon strikes the opponent just below the arm...
...but the enemy's armor takes some of the damage.
Karthan transitions to his bow and fires twice if something presents itself.
Karthan wished to switch to is bow, but the foe in front of him needed to be dealt with first. He hoped that the fore castle was clear of the infected and that Sacredos and his sword would arrive soon.
His right blade flicked up and between the ribs seeking his enemies heart. The second blade was not far behind seeking to open another bleeding wound.
crit threat
to confirm
damage
to hit
At 13
Karthan steps back and lets fly an arrow at the remaining fiend.
1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20
1d8 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
With that, the last enemy falls.
-----------------
At 13
Fir'umil heads down to stand alongside Sacerdos, staff at the ready as he focuses his mind on the situation.
-----------------
At 3
...sets DC to 15
...miss
...miss
...Save!!
...miss
...miss
From beneath the cargo doors still covered by the water-logged tarp, another guttural growning and an upheaval shakes the deck nearby. Zandra sees the hand again, but this time it's accompanied by a second, much larger set of hands. The deck heaves upwards, the doors nearly coming off their hinges, then comes crashing downwards! The sudden violence of the shifting deck sends all of the following prone:
- Zandra
- Croaker
- Sarcedos
- Fir'umil
But the two crewmen hold their feet, taking involuntary steps backwards and keeping their crosswbows trained on the cargo hold doors.
-------------------------
-------------------------
At 24
Sarcedos regains his feet, letting his crossbow relax against the shoulder sling and drawing his bastard sword, Knighteye. "What in the name of Ragathiel lies in wait beneath this deck?"
The inquisitor readies himself for combat, standing with sword in the High Falcon position.
--------------------------
At 15
The two crewman, take an additional set of steps back as they keep their crossbows at the ready.
--------------------------
Zandra crawls back from the opening and stands up.
"Karthan! The figurine!"
---------------------
At 14
Croaker grabs up his boarding axe and gets to his feet, stumbling backwards a few steps, eyes wide and staring at the cargo hold doors as they heave and raise and thump downwards again.
Mal'undil, not sure what was going on and fighting the eager feeling in his guts that they should be off the ship, gestures once more and his dagger returns to his grasp. He then moves to Zandra's side, unslinging his crossbow along the way.
---------------------
Karthan snatches up the jade tiger then stands ready to strike at whatever shows itself.
Stand fast men.
Spells Prepared
Level 2 - 2/2
Summon Monster II
Burning Gaze
Level 1 - 4/4
Air Bubble
Mage Armor
Floating Disk
Air Bubble
Level 0 - 4/*
Detect Magic
Detect Poison
Flare
Open Close
Arcane Bond:
Can cast any one spell the wizard knows, even if it’s not prepared.
Force Missile:
1d4+2
4/4
At 13
Fir'umil stands up and readies himself, calling upon the mystical energies all around him to clad his frail form in magical armor.
"The captain of this vessel," the wizard calls out. "...he left behind a journal we can view should we survive. Perhaps there are clues therein to explain what is happening."
The wizard holds his staff at the ready, feet as firm as they can get on the deck of the ship.
At 3
The deck heaves beneath the party's feet once more, this time the cargo doors can no longer hold. The tarp flies away along with the heavy timber beams that had apparently been nailed in place over the doors, shattered and exploding outwards as the doors burst forth to reveal a creature of immense proportions.
A terrible roar, deep and unknowable tears into the hearts of those on deck, but before fear can take hold, they party is forced to dodge the explosion of wooden shrapnel coming from the shattered timbers and cargo door. Croaker and the two crewmembers take the brunt of the impact, wood and nail and other substances penetrating their skin and sending them flying. All are thrown prone and receive .
All the rest are nimble enough, having worked with one another before and manage to avoid the worst of the beast's entrance.
The roaring and writhing form before the party is more a mound, but from its dark, olive green form sprouts a dozen or more sets of eyes and limbs, some of the latter ending in hands (which Zandra surmises she and Thor saw trying to climb out earlier), others end in wicked looking petrified protrusions like claws. As its full form shambles onto deck it lets out a terrifying roar and sets itself upon the group.