Illes works his way out to the edge of the boat drawing a wand and firing a thin beam of black energy at the abomination. The beam hits the frog-thing's slimy hide and is absorbed by it.
"F@+~! F@@* and double f~~*!! I can't swim wearing all this metal s#%@. So close, and yet so far away..." Pacing frustratedly, Alwyn casts another spell. "Illes, Elisile! Can any of you get me to fly out to that thing? And where the hell is Vethran? If that little pipsqueak has fled, I swear I'll find a way to come back from the dead and wring his scrawny neck, even if I'm reborn as a garden slug."
"F!%@! F!@$ and double f!$!!! I can't swim wearing all this metal s&$%. So close, and yet so far away..." Pacing frustratedly, Alwyn casts another spell. "Illes, Elisile! Can any of you get me to fly out to that thing? And where the hell is Vethran? If that little pipsqueak has fled, I swear I'll find a way to come back from the dead and wring his scrawny neck, even if I'm reborn as a garden slug."
KILL!!! KILL!!! DEATH TO ALL BATRACHIANS!!!
Attacking again; hoping for heinous criticules......
damage
attack 2
damage
haste attack
damage
owell. I think I used up my crit's last month.
Hudak has mangled the creature's face and mouth quite comprehensively, opening deep wounds and shattering stubby teeth, but the creature still doggedly tries to swallow him down to end its torment.
Finally, with a huge gulp, the Shoanti disappears down into its gullet. It swivels its eyestalk to consider the other creatures attacking it.
Camlo shoots another bolt.
I didn't add the -4 for shooting into melee; didn't know if it's melee if the bastich swallered me.
damage
Camlo weeps, for he believes the mighty Hudak, his idol, his big human brother,.....bravest and most heinously righteous of all Shoanti, much less all humans,.....has now met his doom.......aye, Camlo's tears come readily.....it is indeed a sad, sad, day, for all of Golarion, much less one little hobbit.
"You.....you will be avenged, o brave and mighty Hudak...." but his tears are tinged with anger, and bloodlust for the wicked batrachian.
(woah. I'm a big ass ham by proxy!)
As the tears blur his vision, Camlo can barely see to shoot straight and narrowly misses Alwyn.
Elisile pulls out a scroll, five foot steps over towards Alwyn and casts fly on him.
Illes!!!
"Hudak! Oh hell..." As Alwyn lifts off the deck Illes remotely slathers him with grease. "Hopefully that isn't something flavorful like bacon grease... I should test it someday."
Alwin:
spiritual weapon
damage
again;
damage
then, Alwyn flies to
f10 and attacks with his greatsword;
damage
THEN,
Hudak pulls his dagger and starts the laborious process of hacking his way out....
damage
I'm gonna give this bastich a laparoscopic cholecystectomy!!!
Alwyn's floating greatsword of force stabs ineffectually. The real thing, on the other hand, is much more effective. But first, the Gorumite suffers an irritated slap from a tentacle as he closes.
As Alwyn's sword carve more frog flesh, the creature unleashes its fury upon him.
Meanwhile: thoughts of Hudak: "Dark in here, innit?"
"Hah! I have you exactly where I want you, you dumb frog!"
]
As Camlo's vision clears, carefully reloads his crossbow bolt, and fires.
The mighty cleaving blows of Hudak could not fell it. The wrath of Gorum could not stop it. But the deadly dart of the halfling assassin finally managed to penetrate some sort of vital organ, somewhere, within the lumbering body of the froghemoth. With a bubbling groan it keels over to lie, belly up, in the river.
As Alwyn struggles free of the now-limp tentacles, there is a with a wet tearing sound. A blade emerges from a roughly cut gash in the creature's pale underside, followed by an arm, and then the head and shoulders of Hudak, covered in gore and half-digested bits of boggard. He flops out and tumbles into the water.
With a clank and swirl of water, the Otter suddenly drops back into the river and rights herself. Vethran returns a moment later.
"Well done! That went better than expected. Regrettably, the capstan for the control device was somewhat stubborn, else I would have freed us sooner. Still, we are all alive and that's good enough."
The Varisian smiles.
"AWW MAN!!! THAT WAS NASTY!!!"
Do....I find Nualia's Tongue?....
“Oh well done Camlo!” says Elisile, giving the halfling a hug (it’s not that hot, she’s currently in the form of a boggard). “And you too Vethran. Hudak, how do you fare?”
"I'm burning all over! That thing's guts burn!!! Owwww!!!
Where's my sword! I hate frogs!!! I will kill all frogs, with their burning guts!!!"
"Who killed the thing finally?"
Do....I find Nualia's Tongue?....
The remaining crew crawl out of hiding. The captain cooly orders them to get the Otter's engines running and down river as soon as possible. With a roar the engines begin to fire and the paddles churn the water. The captain turns to the party and says casually, "Nicely done," before setting off to check the damage to the hull.
One of the crew turns to the other. "Told you it was bad luck to have a woman on board."
Sounds right to me. I must've missed some, but Alwyn's sheet says about that many.
The remaining crew crawl out of hiding. The captain cooly orders them to get the Otter's engines running and down river as soon as possible. With a roar the engines begin to fire and the paddles churn the water. The captain turns to the party and says casually, "Nicely done," before setting off to check the damage to the hull.
One of the crew turns to the other. "Told you it was bad luck to have a woman on board."
Elisile rounds on the man. “We have just fought off a tribe of boggards, sent a demon packing and killed a froghemoth; are you sure you want to insult me? That would be bad luck.”
The two sailors find something else to do, in a hurry.
"Thank you for the use of your scroll, Elisile. It turned out to be unnecessary, but I wanted to be unseen in case more boggards or perhaps the demon had decided to guard the winch."
Vethran casts his eye to the froghemoth's corpse and shakes his head. "I was woefully unprepared for such a heated battle today, having prioritized spells to locate our wayward party members and facilitate travel back at the last camp. I shall be sure not to do so in the future."
Hudak's harvesting the teeth for a necklace.
"Are these things edible?"
"They eat frogs, don't they? Not that this really is a frog, but..."
Elisile smiles at Vethan. “Better safe than dead. You can repay me by allowing me to peruse your spellbooks at an opportune time; I am inspired by this battle and feel that I could weave more powerful magic with a little study.”
Elisile smiles at Vethan. “Better safe than dead. You can repay me by allowing me to peruse your spellbooks at an opportune time; I am inspired by this battle and feel that I could weave more powerful magic with a little study.”
"But of course! I've been working on some new spells of my own in the new spellbook I purchased most recently. You may avail yourself of my main book whilst I put the finishing touches on them." The Varisian smiles.
"They eat frogs, don't they? Not that this really is a frog, but..."
Woah. We would've been healing it too, like magic Pepto Bismol.
The Otter heads downriver through the whole night. The crew crowd the decks, keeping watch for attack. But the paddleboat puts the miles between them and the site of the battle, the water churning a white trail behind. The captain comes topside again.
"I guess that explains what happened to those missing boats. Hopefully you managed to put a stop to that. It's a pain - we'll have to report this to the River Patrol when we get to Wartle, and that'll mean delays and paperwork." He sighs. "I'm trying to make a profit here." He stomps off.
The crew begin to relax when the sun finally rises, and a few stagger off red-eyed to their hammocks. This section of the river is wide, muddy and slow, meandering through the northern Mushfens. At least the banks are far enough away that attack from there is unlikely. The captain maintains the pace, not stopping for a moment.
A few tiny hamlets dot the north side of the Yondabakari, little more than collections of huts standing on skinny stilts. The Otter blasts her horn to warn off the few fisherfolk in canoes who try to approach, waving gutted catfish to try and entice the crew to trade. But Murchins doesn't stop, and they are left bobbing in the boat's wake. Another riverboat comes into view around a bend, going the other way, hooting a greeting. Murchins signals briefly with a mirror as it approaches, and someone on the other vessel replies in kind. Then it is past and gone.
As the day drags on, the grey clouds gather and an intermittent drizzle falls, making the deck slippery. But as the sky darkens towards twilight, the first signs of the next substantial settlement on the river can be detected. Wartle is smelt before it is seen: a pungent smell of fish, smoke and sewage. Then, over the trees to the north-west, can be seen the haze coming from the smokeries. As the final meander curves round, Wartle comes into view in all its glory.
The town is a ramshackle collection of wooden dwellings, warehouses and other buildings, suspended precariously on pilings above the river, with elevated walkways running between them. It's spring, so the river is high with meltwater from the distant mountains. It laps at the tops of the supports, and into doorways of a few of the lower-built shanties. The town starts on the shore but sprawls out into the river, the wharves and jetties all in a tumble with inns, boatyards and tenements. To the north the land is forested - the southern extremities of the Sanos Forest. To the south still squats the stink of the Mushfens.
The Otter ties up and the captain heads into town. "I'm going to see the River Patrol. Hopefully, we'll be leaving in the morning."
"Think there's a tattoo parlor?"
Hudak says, trying to make a necklace outta the teeth of da froghemoth.