Turning and scanning the deck, Colvare looks for the most vulnerably crew member, and trows a ball of fire at the nearest enemy to him.
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Andrei has longsword in hand as he moves to A7 and attacks the Sahuagin before him. He figures that the crew needs to see us showing a fearless bravado. "Back, unwholesome thing! Back to the salty depths that spawned you. And let your kraken know, that it's next!"
Andrei swings, connecting with AC 17 for 7 points of damage.
Colvare's missile thuds into a sea devil and it hisses in rage. Andrei hacks brutally at another, slahing its body and causing green-blue blood to spatter on the deck.
Seeing Colvare's missle wound one, Rayne leans over the crow's nest railing and tries to finish the creature off.
Rayne's target staggers but stays on its feet.
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Garton, then the sailors.
Garton calls out, "Stay on deck, men. Don't let 'em take you overboard."
Seeing no useful target for his rapier, Garton steps forward to D8, pulls a throwing dagger and whips it 35 feet towards the Sahuagin at D1. It hits AC 18, for 2 points of damage.
Sailors 1 and 4 ready actions to throw off any Sahuagins they see climbing back aboard.
Sailor 2 readys his action to attack Sahuagins that advance on him. (And Sailor 2 isn't sure he shouldn't take a whack at Benedetto, just for good measure.)
The rest of the crew attacks!
Sailor 3 is shocked to find a Sahuagin at the bottom of the steps he was about to back down. He attacks from A3 to A4. He would hit AC 17 for 5 points of damage.
Sailor 5 attacks from B5 to A5. He would hit AC 16 for 3 points of damage. Is the damned thing dead yet?
Sailor 6 attacks from C7 to D6. He would hit AC 15 for 5 points of damage.
Sailor 7 attacks from B7 to A6. He would hit AC 16 for 3 points of damage. Is that one down?
Sailor 8 moves to B4 and misses.
The sailors batter, stab and gnaw at the invaders, killing one and leaving another barely standing.
The sahuagin seem oddly reluctant to attack Benedetto, but they close around him, tridents to the fore. They stab cautiously, but even so he takes two nasty wounds. One also stabs at a sailor, who yelps in pain and clutches his bleeding arm.
On the maindeck, another stabs a sailor in the leg, making him stagger. Another, the one that took a mhefty pounding, impales Andrei in the belly, who groans and falls to the slick deck unconscious. After Shagraat spectacular but ultimately fruitless leap, he gets pierced in the arm as he recovers.
The sahuagin seem oddly reluctant to attack Benedetto, but they close around him, tridents to the fore. They stab cautiously, but even so he takes two nasty wounds.
(Dunno - what does it do?)
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(Dunno - what does it do?)
The subject ... appears to be about 2 feet away from its true location. The creature benefits from a 50% miss chance as if it had total concealment. However, unlike actual total concealment, displacement does not prevent enemies from targeting the creature normally. True seeing reveals its true location.
--+--
(I see. I meant more like how does it work in the context of your groovy power, especially wrt one or more attacks and how long it lasts. But until we have access to our books, assume for this round those two attacks have a 50 per cent miss chance, which could lead to the hits being eliminated.)
As the tridents close in, Benedetto warps the space around him with a surge of mental energy. One of the sea devils is bamboozled and misses, but the other strikes lucky and its prongs pierce the ardent's flesh.
One of the sahuagin in the fo'c'sle crumples to the the deck, its eyes glazed.
For a couple of seconds, the sounds of a swarm of bees swells over the din of battle, coming from the Sahuagin in B2. Then it comes to a crescendo and he stiffens momentarily.
(Benedetto hits the Sahuagin right next to him in B2 with a 2d10 Mind Thrust (2 power points).)
The sea devil slumps backwards and falls like a log over the rail.
"Ye take care of this one, Ah'll help Ben."
With that Urthona strides up the stairs to the fo'c'stle deck. He steps aside the sleeping sahuagin and tries to hit the one next to him with his longsword.
Urthona's sword bites deep and the sea devil gives a gurgling shriek, clutching its ripped side.
Shagraat grimaces in pain as he launches into a powerful but poorly timed sequence of blows.
The end of the sequence, however, finishes with a flourish and a satisfying thunk.
Shagraat kicks the nearest sea devil behind the knee, hard. It hisses in pain but fights on.
Shagraat kicks the nearest sea devil behind the knee, hard. It hisses in pain but fights on.
Seeing his last target taken down by the combined actions of more magic, and a salor's sword, he moves to the next in line, a small ball of fire flying unerringly to the next fiend
Colvare's missile strrikes unerringly. The sahuagin sways on its webbed feet but still doesn't fall - he's one hard fish.
Seeing Colvare's next target, Rayne lines up another shot, but this one goes wide.
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Captain Garton delays until after his men's move.
The sailors look around and almost convince themselves they can win this fight.
Sailor 1 readies an attack on any boarding Sahuagin.
Sailor 2, Bordo, would love to coup de gras the sleeping Sea Devil next to him, but he's afraid that doing so will open him up to the one that's still on its feet and shrieking, so with an astonishing streak of foul language, he'll attack the Sahuagin at C2.
Sailor 3 shouts to Sailor 5, "Scubbers, get behind 'im!" Scubbers shouts back that he has no intention of getting that close to the rails. Sailor 3 lets out with an astonishing streak of foul language, and attacks the Sahuagin at A4.
Sailor 4, old Mardy, readies an attack on any boarding Sahuagin.
Sailor 5 replies to Sailor 3, who he affectionately refers to as "Chumbucket," with an astonishing streak of foul language, and attacks the Sahuagin at A4.
Sailor 6, nervous and not much for words, attacks the Sahuagin at D6.
Sailor 7 laughs, asks "Captain, is this a good time t' be askin' for a raise?" and attacks the Sahuagin at A6.
Sailor 8 makes an astonishingly graphic reference to Scubber's mother, moves to A5 himself, and attacks the Sahuagin at A4.
Captain Garton moves across the top deck and then into A7, with one foot on either side of Andrei's body. He says to Sailor 7, "Keep up like that, and we'll bundle you off with these guards. Once you sell your share back, you should be able t' afford a sword of your own, maybe a scabbard, even."
If the creature at A6 is still up, he attacks the Sahuagin in A6, and misses.
If the creature at A6 is down, he'll try to stablize Andrei, but fail.
The sailors pound the sahuagin some more, and another slumps to the deck in a pool of its own foul, watery blood. Garton squats by Andrei, busy trying to stem his blood loss.
The sahuagin, their piscine faces inscrutable, fight on. One stabs at benedetto but misses narrowly, but Urthona's foe, in a desparate lunge, fixes the shifter on the tines of his trident. The one sandwiched between Jum and Shagraat attacks the monk again, inflicting a light flesh wound.
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Mirra steps to C8, and fires her magical hand crossbow at the Sahuagin straight ahead of her in C2. As the weapon releases the bolt, it whistles a high note, but she misses her target and the bolt continues on, falling into the sea some hundred yards away.
"She's attacking the kraken!" one of the crewmen shouts.
--+--
Jum whacks the Sahuagin at d6. He hits, confirming a critical, for 39 points of damage. "Back inta the sea wit' you," he says. He glances over the railing, to see if there's another wave coming.
Benedetto turns towards the sea devil at A1, and again the buzing of bees surrounds his head. (Concentration roll to unleash mind thrust defensively: 17.) (Damage of 12, if it muffs its Will save of 14.)
Jum reduces his foe to shark chum, and blood dribbles from the mouth of Benedetto's as he pulverises its brain from the inside. The remaining sahuagin take the hint, and jump over the side back into the sea.
The crew give a ragged cheer. Cleg, who leans by the rail in post-battle exhaustion with his back to the water, raises his head, nods at the party and grins, "See, I told you it was a good idea having them here."
As he speaks, a huge barbed tentacle rises above the side of the boat behind him, slowly questing like an eyeless serpent before suddenly striking and wrapping itself around the hapless sailor. It hoists Cleg above the deck, his scream truncated as it delicately squeezes the breath from him, spines digging into his flesh. Little of Cleg can be seen except his face, an arm, his feet. His eyes roll back in their sockets to show only the whites, and his mouth gapes. Suddenly he speaks, his voice hollow.
"At last, a true believer allows me to speak to the air-breathers. Marqua-Quaash, I feel you on the driftwood you use to float above my realm. Soon you will know what it is I seek, and soon you will return to me, and there we will fight, and the seas will tremble and froth, and I will defeat you, and devour you, and I shall be transformed. But you are not ready yet, I feel it. You must grow strong, and then we will fight. You will come, I know it, it is revealed to me. You see your death before you. But not yet, Marqua-Quaash."
Cleg hangs above the deck for a few seconds more. Then, with sudden shocking speed, the tentacle, together with Cleg, is dragged below the side of the ship and vanishes.
The absent wind abruptly returns, filling the sails. Garton looks over at Mirra. "Bloody hell," he whispers, face drained of colour.
What do I need to roll to see if I've heard of "Marqua-Quaash" before?
Colvare walks slowly to the edge of the boat, and empties his stomach into the sea. As he breaths deeply, Lenore comes down to land on his shoulder, watching in case anyone comes too close.
Rayne stares wide-eyed at the deck for a moment. Then, when all is calm, he calls out from the crow's nest.
"Someone want to tell me what the f$%~ that was all about?!?"
Shagraat watches Ben for signs that he knows what the squid was 'talking' about. He retreats from the railing to one of the ship's boats and sits on its upturned bow to catch his breath and look over his wounds.
Shagraat watches Ben for signs that he knows what the squid was 'talking' about.
Does Benedetto? (He'll spend an Action Point on the Knowledge roll, if that helps.)
"T'least it's gone now"
Urthona shrugs, puts away his sword and resumes the same waiting position on deck he had previously.
Jum relaeases a long pent-up breat and murmurs, "Maker Quash, or Marqua-Quaash in the language of the seas, is a sailor's legend of a child begat by the Devourer on a mortal woman. When such a child sails on the oceans the Devourer is said to rise up and claim their spawn."
Benedetto's skin has turned grayish-purple and, from the bottom of his ears down, hairless.
"Huhn. I fancy that must be you, Raine."
After about a week, the Morgata comes in sight of the city of Stormreach.
Following the sahuagin attack, Andrei is patched up and gradually heals from his wounds. He seems slightly changed, more like his old self - less passive, and more confident in his abilities. His brave showing against the sahuagin doubtless helped boost his confidence.
For the final part of the journey, the mood of the crew is subdued. While they are clearly happy to be alive, and the bizarre and disturbing death of Cleg, and his message, has clearly unnerved them. They spen most of the last week of the voyage avoiding the party. Garton is certainly much chillier, though Jum is unfazed.
"I see it like this," says the pragmatic half-orc. "It doesn't want to eat you yet, so that's one thing I don't have to worry about. But the sailors will talk - I'll be very surprised if too many ships will want to take you away from Stormreach now in case that thing wants to come back for a second bite - not without a hefty premium and danger money, anyway. I know Garton won't let you back on board once we hit land - he's as superstitious as the rest."
So, one quite afternoon, as the sun shines from a sky spattered with fluffy white clouds, the ship finally slips into Stormreach harbour. The scene is dominated by a huge golden staue to one side, of a humanoid or giant in the attitude of prayer. Strange chunks of earth and rock float overhead, some whith tiny patches of jungle on their upper sides, some with odd-looking ruins, and some with building clearly inhabited.
The city itself is an odd amalgam of massive giant ruins and huge cyclopean blocks, upon or between which perch more modest sized houses in various styles from Khorvaire and beyond. And at the fringes glowers the forbidding green vastness of the infamous jungles of Xendrik.
The ship is weighs anchor a few hundred yards from the dockside. A boat from the "Port Authority" - though the officials seem more like pirates and huckster than customs men - heaves to and demands to know the Morgata's business. Garton shouts down that he is here to sell his cargo and drop off his passengers.
"Oh, right," says the chief of the boat, a deeply-tanned, dried-out sort of human who seems to be in charge by virtue of his cockines rather than through any obvious insignia of rank. "Then you'll need to pay the entry fee to Lord Wylkes - that's 100 gold each." The rest of his crew grin, casually inspecting their blades.
Rayne narrows his gaze at the "customs officer" and then glances to his companions.
"He's full of shit," he states flatly.