Atapax's Serpent's Skull

Game Master Aluvian

As Majest places the maps in her case, she half-listens, if even that, to the guy that always seems to be such a downer. Going off subject she asks, "Did you find the snake?! Does it happen to be what the food is?! I love snake!" Her stomache starts making all sorts of noises, which prompts her to also question, "Can we eat some snake now?"

Ilarian looks at the gnome as though she were covered in something foul. "Ah, no. We did not find the snake, thankfully. And as far as eating," he reaches into his bag and pulls out one of the rations. "Here you go. Make it stretch."

Abshail turns to Kabur "I'll take a look at those potions, maybe this chemistry set I've been lugging around will come in handy yet. First, though, we have a certain set of manacles to find a key for," he says before sitting down and examining the keys. While he does, he looks at Carys and Shadak and adds "Excellent work with the camp so far. Thank you both."

Ilarian drops to a knee and swings another bag around, and pulls the canvas, block and tackle, rope and other gear out. "This should help continue that streak. I have an idea for our camp perimeter. We could cut some branches about three foot long, and sharpen them. then we dig a trench about the perimeter and force the branches into the ground inside. We would need to build a bridge that we can easily remove and put back so we can leave to, oh I don't know, forage or something. The point is, we would be a little more secure. What do you think?" He looks around at everyone, measuring their reactions.

Oh, nevermind. I have rations in here," Majest says, patting her backpack. "I was just all for snake if we had any," she smiles a little disappointedly.

Pulls at his beard and shakes his head "Are we planning on staying here that long? I was hoping for a couple of tents and a firepit to cook over. Unless we are staying here and hoping that a ship will come by and pluck us off this beach we should really consider setting up for travel. Possibly use this as a base for a day or so but if nothing else we will have to move when the water gets low." Takes a swig from his flask. "How about it Majest can you figure out where we are and what direction to head in for civilization? Oh and a quick read of the log book as long as we are looking at things?" Turns toward her and waits for a response or for her to pull out the maps and log book

Shadak gives a grunt of thanks and begins taking items and organizing them into how they will be used. "Dwarf is right. We need to know how long we stay here. Makes difference in camp."

Carys eyes Ilarian quizzically, "Do you know something we don't? An impending attack perhaps?" She moves around toward the dwarf and gnome, obviously curious about the log book. "I agree with moving on. But water should not be too much of an issue. I am more concerned about how and why we ended up here."

Ilarian just looks at Carys'n and shrugs. "Honestly, I'm just trying my best to keep an open dialogue, offer any ideas that I can. Dunno why you're on everyone's cases, but if you wish, I will stop offering ideas. Prob'ly bad ideas anyway since I know about as much about survival as you know about me." He looks around for a clearing to set up his tent.

Majest reopens the backpack and reaches in for the logbook and map case. She takes each out, handing the items to Kabur one by one. Then, she takes out one of her rations to stuff her face with. Once Ilarian gets to Carys'n being on everyone's case, Majest laughs through her full mouth. After she swallows some of the food in her mouth, she looks at Ilarian funny with a scrunched up nose paired with a wide smile, "She only seems to be on your case." She resumes chewing the rest of the food in her mouth.

Ilarian turns to look at the gnome, and narrows his eyes, but says nothing. He holds the gaze for a moment, and goes to set up his tent.

Sarai looks back and forth between Ilarian, Majest, and Carys. "I think we're just all a bit out of our element here." She glances again at Majest. "Well... Almost all of us. I'm sure everyone appreciates any suggestions being put on the table."

She sits down in the sand next to where Majest has her things spread out, waiting for any news from the maps and log book.

Tugs a couple times on his beard "Not much good with maps if someone is feel free to go over them and try to find out where we are. I'll start reading the logbook, if anything looks interesting I can read it out loud. Anyone is certainly free to read it for themselves later as well." Putting actions to words he opens the logbook and thumbs through until he gets to the last page and starts reading from the last entry. If anything is interesting (IE. anything gm writes) he stops to read it to whoever is listening.

Aerys looks over the maps for several moments, then out and around the beach, the sun, and then back at the map.

"From what I can tell from these, I don't think the news is good. It looks as though we've run aground on Smuggler's Shiv... Here." She points to an island out in Desperation Bay, quite a bit off course from Eleder. "Smuggler’s Shiv is a notorious island north of Eleder. It’s not shown on most maps, but it's rightfully feared by those who sail around Desperation Bay. It's named not only for its knife-like shape, but also for its uncanny habit of wrecking ships that draw too near."

Anyone can make a Knowledge: Geography, History, or Local, or a Profession: Sailor check to remember anything else about the island.

As she pauses, Kabur finds something of interest in the log.

The Jenivere’s captain seemed to be suffering from some sort of madness that grew over the course of the ship’s final voyage. Earlier entries from previous voyages are precise in recording progress and events along the way, as are entries from the first two-thirds of this last trip. Yet as he reads further, the more recent the entries get, the less common they become—in some cases, several days are missing entries. What entries do appear are strangely short, focusing more and more on one of the passengers—the Varisian scholar Ieana, with whom the captain seems to have become obsessed. Several entries are nothing more than poorly written love poems to Ieana, while others bemoan Captain Kovack’s inability to please her or catch her attention. Near the end, the entries begin to take on a more ominous tone with the captain starting to complain that other members of the crew are eyeing “his Ieana.” In particular, he suspects his first mate is in love with her, and writes several times about how he wishes Alton would just “have an accident.” The final entry is perhaps the most disturbing, for in it the captain writes of how he’s changed course for Smuggler’s Shiv at Ieana’s request. He hopes that the two of them can make a home on the remote island, but also notes that the crew are growing increasingly agitated at the ship’s new course. The captain muses that “something may need to be done about the crew” if their suspicions get any worse.

Takes a long swig from a flask and shakes proving it is empty and with a sigh puts it back into whatever pocket it came from. "So we are looking at a possibly insane captain who may or may not be alive and probably placed those holes in the first mate. Possibly a very large snake of some kind. Finally we are on an island that is 'notorious for wrecking ships' anyone have any other information to add?"

knowledge history check to see if i know anything about island

Know history: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Knowledge Local: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Nooooo! Bad Roll! lol

Abshail, having stopped looking at keys when Ilarian and Carys exchanged words, says "It seems to me that knowing how or why we're here is mostly academic. We should be figuring out if we have our best chance of getting back to something resembling civilization from where we are or from some other part of the island. Do the maps show any common routes and where they pass closest to us?"

A smile spreads across Carys' face and she shrugs,"Honestly I was only asking a question. No need to be so sensitive. When did curiosity become a crime?" Her smile fades, however, upon hearing Kabur's words. Her brow furrows and she seems to be frowning as she moves toward her gear. Items are rechecked and she starts to test the edges of her weapons as though she were preparing for a fight.

Dang Kabur, just had to max out the knowledge roll didn't you. Well there go all my secrets. :) Well... not ALL of them. :)

The mention of Smugglers Shiv sets a buzzing in the back of Kabur's head. A memory that he forgot he even knew. After a few minutes of squinting though, it all comes back in a flash of brilliance.

He remembers sitting in a tavern talking to a man, some brainy scholar type, and mentioning that he was heading out to Eleder. The man then launched into a long and mostly boring discourse on all of the hazards of such a trip. As Kabur now recalls, some of those hazards had to do with a place called Smuggler's Shiv. And none of it was good, even putting aside what Aerys already said.

For instance... It’s commonly believed that the shores of Smuggler’s Shiv are haunted by the ghosts and ghouls of the sailors who have died on the jagged rocks and reefs surrounding the island. These rumors are supported by reports of several failed attempts to establish long-lasting colonies on the remote island.

Not only that... When Sargava was first settled, Chelish engineers erected a lighthouse on the Shiv’s southwest shore. The light was intended to warn approaching ships of the dangerous waters and, eventually, was to have been the first building in a small colony. The light and all plans for colonization were abandoned just before completion amid rumors of curses, haunts, and cannibalism.

And if that wasn't bad enough... Rumors hold that a group of shipwrecked Chelish soldiers, survivors of an attempted Thrune invasion of Sargava some 70 years ago, were stranded on the island. The rumors claim that they degenerated into a cannibalistic society, and that their descendants scour the isle’s shores for shipwreck victims to add to their meals.

Suddenly Kabur jumps up and does a quick but careful 360 scan.

perception 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

If nothing is immediately visible

Clears his throat "I hate to tell you all but I just remembered a conversation I had with a scholarly man before I started this trip. Not sure how much is truth and how much is legend but here's what he said.."

!!insert gm information here!!

Pulls out the brandy and his flask. Fills the flask and drinks a health slug from the brandy bottle.

"O thats good! So we have a number of possible enemies and not much hope for rescue. As I see it either the abandon colony or wherever these supposed cannibals are give us the best chance of finding some way out of here."

Ilarian shakes his head when he hears "cannibals." "This damned island..." he whispers.

"That old lighthouse, if it still exists, is probably our best bet for getting a signal seen. Of course, we'd need to get there first. Then we'd need a signal that would compel a ship to stop and investigate this gods-forsaken rock," Abshail says with a sigh.

Pulling on his beard "I agree with Abshail. I say we camp here for the night set a good watch and head out to find the south west coastline and the remains of the lighthouse. If nothing else we have a goal to work towards. What say the rest of you?"

O Mighty GM! lol Abshail was checking the keys for the key to the manacles did we get the key and was the gear in the footlocker for the prisoner?

Abshail can you make some rolls and see if you can id the potions we might just need them!

I haven't forgotten them, I assure you. I'll get to identifying them soon.

"Sounds good to me! Who'll be the 'good watch?'" Majest asks while playing with the sand.

Ilarian stands up and rejoins the group. "I'll take first watch if need be. I should at least do something since I have nothing else to contribute."

"I will do what I can to help," Carys says. Her mood seems to have improved despite the additional bad news. To Ilarian she tries to be polite,"I highly doubt you have nothing to contribute. I could teach you a few things, though, if you'd like."

Ilarian takes a deep breath as he swallows his pride. "I would be most grateful." He looks down at the short sword on the ground, and picks it up. "The first thing you could teach me is how to use this. I mean, I get the general idea, hold the handle, hit with the blade, but I would like to be better at it. Could you show me some basics?"

Pulls the beard with a grim smile "Looks around the camp. with the numbers we have we can set up a five watch rotation and everyone can get a full nights sleep. It's not like we are time pressed to get somewhere. I'll take the mid watch as I can see well in darkness. Any other volunteers"

Waits for a bit hoping all the watch slots get filled and sits down in the general vicinity of Aelys. Smiles and nods at her making sure he has her attention before saying "Hey Aelys, think fast. Tosses a flask in her general direction. "As a fellow lover of the fermented grape and grain thought this might warm ya up a bit. The captain was holding out on us!" The flask is the one filled with the captains brandy. "Nothing is going to make these hardtack and jerky taste good but a couple swigs of that might help!" Starts eating his evening meal from the supplies recovered from the ship

Assuming that the supplies are probably from the lowest of the food offered on ships hardatck and salted meat jerky?? or some variation on that type.

Diplo with Aelys.... untrained.... do i get any bonus for including the brandy in my diplo attempt cause this is gonna be an ugly roll.... just a thought O great GM. forgot to include roll in previous post

diplo 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (12) - 1 = 11

I've already made all of the diplomacy rolls for this IC day. But yes, I factored in your mutual love of alcohol. :)

And incidentally, it's Aerys. :)

Sarai takes the news of the severity of the current predicament with a look of firming determination, but the other passengers are not so stoic.

Aerys only nods slightly with a vacant expression, accepting the offered drink from Kabur with an obvious gratitude.

Sasha just stares blankly at the dwarf for a few moments then shakes her head, and is about to say something when Gelik interrupts her, his face white as a sheet.

"Canibals? Seriously?! You really expect whatever makeshift camp we can piece together out of washed up garbage to protect us from an island full of cannibals and undead? And just how are we supposed to get to this lighthouse? We don't even know where it is... Or if it's even still there! And even if we get to it, what captain in his right mind is going to change course to pick us up?!"

Jask, meanwhile, just wanders over towards Abshail as best he can, waiting to see if one of the keys fit. "Ahh... I see you also found my belongings. Excelent, assuming you intend to give them back to me I suppose..." After a short search through the possibilities, the proper key is indeed found.

Abshail unlocks the manacles binding Jask before turning to Gelik. "And what would you have us do? Teleport back to Kintargo, or maybe even Restov? Unless you have that capability, we're pretty well stuck here. If you have better ideas for survival, we're all ears. Otherwise you probably should look for ways to help rather than complaining about how hopeless the situation is." That said, he picks up the bag of potions found on the ship and begins sorting through them.

Carys chuckles and shakes her head. "Combat is not exactly my specialty if you haven't noticed. It is only recently that I have had to start taking matters into my own hands." As she is speaking she tries to make her way towards Gelik. "I was thinking more along the lines of hunting or making camp." She shrugs and tries to put a hand on Gelik's shoulder (Calming Touch if applicable). "So long as we stick together there isn't anything we can't do. Besides this is how legendary stories begin right? Imagine the tales that will come out of this."

Ilarian nods at Carys'n's words and a broad grin crosses his face. "Just think Gelik! After this, annoying gnomes the world over will be telling your tale!" With that he settles into a bent position like an old man and snaps his fingers, and a pair of glasses appear in his fingers. Prestedigitation He puts them on and says in a raspy voice remenicient of ancient elders teling of their great deeds that may or may not be true, "Gather 'round young'ns and hear the tale of Gelik the Great, who drove off the Cannibals of Smuggler's Shiv with his never-ending tales!" With a shake of his hand, the glasses fall off his face, shatter, and fade into nothingness. "That keeps happening... ah well. The point is that you yourself will be a tale comparable to that nonsense with the demons and a blot on the sky and such. A hero if I may say!"
Diplomacy 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (7) + 13 = 20

Laughs while shaking out his bedroll "Quite honestly when the choice is give up and die or fight for even a chance on living I'll take the fight every day! If ya want to die there are plenty of knives around here that you can cut your own throat with and save us all some rations!" Stretches out on the bedroll near the fire and rests his head on his pack "Wake me for the mid watch."

"What watch am I doing? I can see pretty good in the dark too!" Majest squeals for attention, arms waving in the air.

Jask gratefully rubs his wrists and begins going through his things, draping the holy symbol reverently over his neck.

There are a variety of potions. It takes Abshail some time to work through them all, but eventually he gets a good idea of what he's got. Four potions of cure light wounds, a potion of cure moderate wounds, four potions of lesser restoration, a potion of remove disease, a potion of water breathing, and a potion of water walking.

Galek seems to calm dramatically at Carys' touch, or perhaps it's the responses he's getting. Either way he huffs softly and stalks off to take care of his own things followed shortly by Aerys who also seems to be taking the news rather badly.

That leaves Shadak, Sasha, and Jask standing there looking at everyone else. "Well I would be happy to help in any way I can," Jask comments. "Though I'm not much of a fighter, I can certainly help to keep everyone healthy or perhaps look for food. Not to mention I can help with ensuring we have enough water."

Sasha nods. "I could help look for food too, or... Or I could help defend the camp, setting up traps and whatnot."

Shadak shrugs. "I hunt. Also good with traps, and camp."

All three of them look to the others left, obviously none of them willing to take any kind of leadership position in this crises. Sarai just chuckles softly and shakes her head, looking to the others, seemingly also content to stay in the background for now.

You all can work out a camp watch and plan in an OOC manner. Basicly the NPC have little to contribute at this point and the three listed above will do pretty much whatever you ask them, within reason.

I'll be posting the rules for camp on the ooc side today.

Posted. Everyone please read and ask any questions you have on the OOC thread.

Rolls over and sits up on the bedroll "Well if Shadak and Sasha can keep us in food and if Jask would keep an eye on the water situation and the general health of us all that would be great" rubs both eyes one with thumb one with finger and then lets his had fall to his beard where he tugs on it a couple times. "I have some suggestions for watch and a travel schedule if no one else has any ideas, of course am open to any changes or ideas someone else might have."gives suggestions and then turns back to his bed "If I am to be up at 1am I need some sleep so unless there are changes that puts Ilarian on duty... goodnight."

See ooc thread for suggestions

I didn't realize it was bed time already, I guess it's easy to lose track of time when you're yelling at gnomes. And the whole middle of the night watch thing too.

After he finishes with the pile of potions, Abshail sets up his little alchemy lab and brews up a replacement for the vial of mutagen he used earlier on the ship. With that complete, he helps out as best he can around the camp (or talks with the others if there's no work to be done).

Might just be me pushing time, bad habit of mine. Just didn't see anything else to do except rp in camp which all can still do as kabur starts to nap if ya want to. Like said have bad habit of anticipating or pushing the next action on these play by post games, kick me if I do it too much.

Ilarian walks off with Carys'n to hopefully learn some survival skills.
"So how did you come to know about the wild and surviving in an inhospitable place?"

It wasn't quite evening, but we can get there. :)

The rest of the day is spent in organizing and allocating goods, supplies, and responsibilities. The camp turns out fairly well, all things considered, and just in time for the late afternoon heat, followed by some rather heavy rain.

Shadak and Sasha even come back with some decent food to cook up, so the need for rations is limited. Still... even with the fire burning bright, the thought of who might be watching weighs on everyone's mind.

Soon enough, night is falling and everyone is trying their best to put the day's events and their own predicament out of their head as they get some much needed sleep.

For those destined to stand watch, there is an added element beside the night jungle noises to keep them awake. As the sun sets, the sea becomes infused with an eerie greenish radiance, almost as if the surf were glowing.

I'll need to see what Carys does before we move on.

Bow and arrow are readied when it appears something odd is occurring. Carys tries to focus her eyes to get a better look at whatever it is that's glowing. She moves slightly closer to help, but remains close enough to alert the camp if something should happen. Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25.

Ok.. continue as normal. Thank you for waiting patiently.

Shaking her head, Carys goes back to camp and gets Majest for her shift. "There are some strange things out there," she whispers. With that she settles down to sleep, keeping her bow near just in case.

Majests whispers excitedly,"Really? Like what?" When Carys walks away to go to sleep, Majest keeps a lookout for strange things. What did she mean by strange things? What would be considered "strange"? Like supernatural strange? Did she see a ghost!? That would be pretty...

Her thoughts are interrupted by her own eyes catching a glimpse of what might've been a dragon! Her mouth gapes at the idea. What else could it possibly be? That was one crazy big shadow to not be a dragon! Her first reaction would be to run off, wake the others, and tell them what she thinks she saw. However, she realized that it wasn't much to brag about because she didn't see the dragon itself. She'll just let Kabur know when it's his shift.

Man, I didn't know that being on watch can be soooo borring... "Oooooo," Majests follows one of the flying reptiles.

Sarai spends her watch pacing about, one of her scimitars held lightly in one hand as she occasionally spins it through a sweep in front of her. Anything to give her a feeling of a bit more security. When it's done, she stays up, helping with the morning meal and with packing up the camp. The latter takes a good bit of time and when its finally done, everyone's pack is full to the brim.

Btw, I'm assuming that while traveling everyone is carrying a medium load. Unless Ilarian wants to spend a lot of charges to give us a horse at 2 hrs a shot.

Please note that everyone is awake and watches are over. Now might be a good time to decide where you're going and how.

Wakes up up with a jerk and jumps to his feet, then moans holding his head. He reaches into his shirt and pulls out the bottle of brandy and sets it beside the fire. "I hate to say it but I have found an alcohol that does not agree with me even in small quantities. Anyone that may want to have some very strange dreams feel free to partake." He grabs just some hard bread for breakfast and helps pack up the camp. Looking a bit steadier at that point he asks "So should we follow the coast looking for the south west point where the lighthouse should be?"

Ilarian nods. "I believe the coast to be our best bet as well, less likely to get lost that way." He looks around, and walks back to his tent. "Excuse me, I need to be alone for a little bit, I'll be back in a bit." He smiles, and steps in his tent. Perparing spells

"Following the coast as much as we can sounds like a good idea. It may not be as direct but Ilarian is right, we're less likely to get lost," Abshail says before getting his alchemy lab out. He spends some time mixing up various chemicals and arranging vials for easy access.

I'm only preparing one extract right away this morning, we'll see what I need in the other spot when we stop for the afternoon.