"Feck me, you're an ugly one." The Taldan quickly sheathes his dagger. In a continuation of the same motion he draws his rapier and tries to lever the sickle out of the strange croc-man's hands .
Taking a few moments to make sure that the structure isn't going to turn turtle and drown the inhabitants, Dibbets puts eyes to his freshly drenched boomstick and deadpans "Ah feckit"
Bereft of a means to influence the action from afar, Dibbets instead focuses on dragging his fractured body through the muck and water t'wards Anatoly and the skeletal one.
Dibbets follows Jim around the edge of the watery pit staying out of reach of the remaining unfriendly sharkman. Jim blade moves as fast as the sped up undead horror. The rapier twists and the sickle splashes into the water.
Securing himself to the Anchoring rod for security, Dingus sends a couple more friendly Vapor Vipers towards Croc Dandy...
VV
"I gottem tied off up here. Don't think I have enough horsepower to lift them completely out of the water though".
Round 5
As Anatoly gets deathsickled, the somewhat shocked thug aims a somewhat absent minded hack in passing at his foe as he plans to move toward the ghoulogator...
"Ahhh feck! Its sucking the poor basterd's soul!"
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With the need to save those in the falling timber deathtrap faded due to Dingus' intervention, Dibbets turns his indifferent focus upon the skeletal figure. Hoping that his hunch is right, he stumps over to the bastard and attempts to draw upon his patron's lack of interest...
...though the muck he's trailing through spoils his focus.
Kaul is somewhat distracted by the melee across the pit and his glancing blow is turned by the lycan-fish's scaly hide. From his high perch, Dingus unleashes more hissing missiles that unerringly hit the robed revenant. Dibbets drafts around Jim and with a handful of indifference tags the ghoulish gatorman. The touch leaves a burn mark shaped like small hand and the undead cultist gives a sound quite like a bleat despite its rumbling fiendish voice. It steps away throwing back its hood and revealing its rotting reptilian skull marked with a rune that resembles a ring of pointy teeth.
"Fools! Dajobas has not left me unguarded. Now you shall feed The Beast!" There is a bellow that echoes though the ruined temple and a wave that rolls forward from the pit as a monstrous creature breaks the surface next to the hanging basket of captives.
The thing that emerges looks like a giant gator, but with tentacles writhing upon its back and two weird crab like claws emerging from its shoulders. It also bears a glowing ring of teeth rune upon its head.
It lunges at Jim biting into his leg and tearing pant leg away with flesh as it narrowly misses catching him up in its jaws. The wereshark servitors renew their assault and both Jim and Kaul suffer from their cutlasses. Anatoly, though still shaken from the enervating slash of the thing's sickle, keeps fighting. He strikes a blow on the loathsome villian, but the wound instantly closes as the dad flesh knits together.
Round 6
Clearly reaching the end of his short fuse with the were shark foe, Kaul lashes wildy at his foe after recieving another cutlass slice;
"Enough! Yer chum... Chum! I got a big lizard to open from crown tae gizzard!"
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Seeing the destruction writ large by his charged touch, Dibbets sets a grim sneer to his face and re-news his indifference. "Get tae feck ye piece o' sh1te!"...
Kaul manages another hit on his opponent, but though the adamantine axe cuts easily, it doesn't have the bite that silver does against the were.
The Taldan fails his attempt to block the new arrival's jaws, then focuses his attention on the leader. "You won't live to see the victory!"
Jim sidesteps a flank and haves at the gator ghoul. His rapier hits again and again, but proves as useless as Anatoly's cutlass. Fortunately, the undead thing has no defense against the raw positive energy Dibbets calls up. There is a blinding flash as another fistful of power and the ancient cultist screams before crumbling into bits of dry bone and burned robes!
Dingus holds onto his rod upon the basket which rocks wildly from the panicked movement of the captives within. A moment later however, the threatening summoned abomination spins and swirls as it is pulled back into the pit and disappears.
The remaining weresharks hunch over in the slimy water for a moment and then rise in their normal humanoid form- Xotani, the elven look out, and another mate looked dazed now that they are released from the enforced transformative rage.
Jim relaxes slightly from the fight, but doesn't let his guard down. "You folks back to yourselves?"
Seeing the skeletal bugger go down Dibbets feels the tension flood from his body, and the ache in his leg grows from it's usual dull ache to a searing pain. Grunting he is forced to a knee as a grimace spreads across his face. Mustering some humour he turns to Anatoly and forces a wink adding "Ye didnae think I'd let ye skive off drinkin wi' me that easy eh?" before the pain drives him to groan and a coughing fit ensues.
Mustering his will he forces himself back to his feet, leaning heavily upon his boomstick as he does so. Taking in the sights he shakes his head and raises a hand to Rafe, calling out "Ye right lad? - 'member anythin o' what happened afore we came?"
A skewered Kaul whistles his approval at Dibbs' powerful display...
"Hur... here's me thinkin' Dingus was the heavy hitter!"
The thug ambles over to powered bone and smouldering robes, prodding it with a boot curiously;
"Hurrr. What ye reckon 'e... it... was?"
Dibbets shrugs before spitting on the remnants of the creature "Dinnae Kauly... but 'es fecked now."
The desharkified crew just look confused. One throws up into the waist deep water and the other looks stymied by a headache. Anatoly gives Dibbets a weary smile and sits heavily upon one of the mooring posts that formerly anchored one of the ropes. Rafe speaks up from the cage. "Don't judge them too harshly, Master Jim. They weren't themselves under the moon spell. Master Dibbets! I am so glad to see you, Sir. I thought I was a sure goner."
From his perch on the wicker maw, Dingus can release the cage door and soon the captives are clear of the slow sink of the watery pit below the cage. Dingus releases the cage and it is pulled down the long gullet. The captives turn out to be two middle aged Mwangi women and a young Chelish boy and girl in addition to Rafe. They nervously thank their rescuer and Rafe tells more of what has transpired.
The boy shakes his head. "There's something wrong with this whole island. It's like the Savage Curse lives in its dirt. I can't explain it, but I feel something here. That thing-" he shivers pointing to the floating robe and dried scraps of flesh floating on the thick slimy water. "It went by 'Caller of Crooked Forms' and somehow it called us. Made us fall prey to our curses and come. I managed to shake it off, but the others grabbed me and made me come along. I don't blame them though. I had the jungle elves to teach me to control it."
"The Caller was going to drown us to his god. It was called Da-jo-bus or something. You saved me from a terrible Fate, Master Dibbets."
At Rafe's words, Jim sheathes his sword and grins at the released captives. "Now all we have to do is get everyone back out of the swamp in one piece. Say, Dingus, can you find that sickle? Don't want to just leave it around for anyone to pick up, hey?"
Dibbets is way ahead of Jimmer, already poking through the muck to make sure that the mates don't leave anything sparkly or valuable behind. As he does though he mulls over Rafe's words and his brow furrows and eyes darken "Eh, wait a sec... fall prey... that means the rest o' ye still got tha teethies jus below the surface like?"
Addressing the mwangi and chelish he also asks "So where ye frae?"
"...that means the rest o' ye still got tha teethies jus below the surface like?"
The crew just look pale and nervous. Rafe replies for them, "I think it was those sea devils that attacked us. Every one of the crew here was bitten. And the bites are still red and sore looking. Somehow they must be spreading the curse to sailors."
Dibbets dislodges the sickle, but other than being a very well made antique, it's unremarkable. Dingus' lightning bolt seems to have busted open the the creature's leather armor which looked as if it was fancy enough to have been enhanced before being fried.
One of the women speaks up. "We were stolen from the plantation. Got nowhere to go but there."
Dibbets gives a short nod and a spit "Roight... well feck all fer it till afters we gets gone frae tha swamp like anyhow."
"Aye--out of here first, then we'll worry about getting you folks set right."
It doesn't take too long to eventually wend your way back out of the front of the Broken Temple. Of course, there is a fair bit of open water travel to complete just to get back to the firmer land of the swamp and the flying coracle is quite sunk this time.
Realising that the mwangi from the plantation were likely slaves Dibbs draws close during the short walk and conspiratorially whispers "Ye ain't needin tae be goin back less ye wants tae..."
Dibbs draws close during the short walk and conspiratorially whispers "Ye ain't needin tae be goin back less ye wants tae..."
The Mwangi woman looks down at Dibbets with mixed emotions. Her companion however laughs loudly enjoying an opportunity to tease her companion despite their recent trials. "You hear that, Mili. I think the wee halfling just make you a wedding proposal. Wanna take you away from all the toil and work!"
Kaul lumbers along, bloodied and battered but glowing at the new found edge of Lopper.
The thug pats the axe's pommel lovingly and generally ignores the banter betwixt crew, slaves and the other infected...
At an opportune moment he whispers to Dingus;
"'Ere matey... iffen this lot are still snappers under skin, should we be takin' em back to civilisation like? Better we put 'em down out here where Dibbs can give 'em a watery send off no?"
Shrugging at the Mwangi Dibbets coldly answers "Suit yersel... ye wants tae go backs tae Mugg and Clayne 's up to ye."
To Kaul he shakes his head "Nei lad... it's jus our crew that's come doon wi' tha nibblies... an... well... they our crew now savvy?"
Eyeing the water where the wee green feckers were afore he purses lips "Right... ye up tae wadin thru agin Kauly? - or dae we needs a better way tae get this lot across like?"
Mili gives her companion a harsh look. "Hold your wicked tongue, Ula. He is trying to help us." She turns back to Dibbets. "There is a halfling named Tuck on the plantation who tell of some blue flower net that save all the halfling slaves. I did not think that they save human folk, too. We appreciate your thoughts, but don't know how we going to get out of town without the Baron knowing."
-Posted with Wayfinder
While the others scheme and chat, Jim focuses his attention on getting away from this accursed place. Unfortunately, the cage disappeared down the long gullet, but the riotous vegetation smothering the Ruined Temple should provide plenty of thick branches and tough vines as construction materials for a raft with a light application of Kaul's deadly ax.
assuming we can't take 10
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Kaul winks at Dibbs;
"Hur... ours hur-hur-hur..."
The thug nods his no-neck noggin at the option of carrying Dibbs again, afore mucking in to make the flotsam raft;
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Short of leg and arm, Dibbets makes the most of his obvious deficiencies by taking the role of supervisor "No ye idjet... bunny goes round da hole nei under it!"
Profession (Sailoring):
To the mwangi he lays a small possibility "It'd help like iffin ye gots any sea legs... but iffin ye willin tae work, likely be able tae get ye passage offa here on the ship. Nkechi be able tae see ye right inna later port."
Jim's compulsion to micromanage is more of a hindrance than a help, but Kaul just ignores his 'leadership' and Dibbets' rather obvious guidance and gets lost in the task. Lopper proves as effective on wooden limbs as flesh and blood and a pile of stout logs is quickly assembled. Mili and Ula join Dibbets in lashing everything together while the young ones watch.
"Never been on a ship," Ula reports.
"Nkechi?" Mili asks.
"Mwangi shaman who's travellin wi' us. Nei a bad sort."
Mili nods and the women fall silent as they work seemingly considering Dibbets' counsel. A large sturdy raft is constructed quite quickly with everyone's help. The sun has sunk low to the west and ruddy rays are filtered through the lichen festooned trees. At least the work was completed quickly enough that you won't have to pole in darkness.
Ula frowns at the setting sun. "Better we get out before dark. The Mire got plenty dark tales about it."
Sporting a sheen of sweat from his labours Kaul grins at Ula's comment;
"Darlin' ye want dark tales? Hur...We've crafted our fair share o' them ourselves... Hur-hur-hur!"
Dingus helps with outfitting the raft, and is eager to get underway before dark.
Ula just frowns and gives Mili and meaningful look. Everyone boards the raft making it quite crowded despite its expansiveconstruction and the recovered crew and Jim begin poling over the flat and darkening stretch of soupy water.
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As the raft shifts along, Kaul spots potential trouble jabbing his hook paw toward the dank waters;
"Hur. Company lads... more o' them weird babbling an' bubbling whirlpools... time tae get bloody again eh?"
Kaul's the first to spot the little burbling water babies in the gathering gloom. Ula and Mili exchange nervous looks and quickly grab hands looking quite frightened. Mili pulls the younger boy close and Ula tells Rafe to sit nearer.
"Stay close, children. The Crying Woman is near. Those are her drowned babies circling round." This explanation does nothing to reassure the young boy who begins crying.
"Aw, feck. Not these again. Dingus, got anything left to throw at them?" Jim keeps the raft moving.
Standing in their makeshift raft, Dibbets hefts his boomstick and takes lazy aim at the whirling whippet pools. In blustery voice he threatens the emptiness around them "Oi, ye feckers... iffin ye wants ye babies tae eat another lead breakfast then by all means pop them bastards up an I'll treat em same... I gots all feckin day."
Intimidate?:
Dibbets' loud threats seem to keep the little bubblers at bay for the moment as the raft continues closing on the shore. Dead ahead, the shadows among the cypress and willows congeal into a tall dark figure.
Dibbets-
Keelhaul Kaul-
Madman Jim-
Dingus-
wee wet ones
"Kaul, put your night eyes to work--what's that ahead of us?"
Dibbs takes steady aim upon the center of the shadowed mass, waiting for the raft to drift into range before squeezing the trigger...
Kaboom: for