Dibbs stumps up to the edge of the stern cabin with crossbow in hand and peers over the edge.
Perception:
The Groom feels the numbing pain in his leg. Its not that I have the reflexes of a drowned man. Damned coat!
The Groom draws his rapier and points it at the forecastle. "That bell rings your doom!" A viscous fluid flies from the tip of the sword toward the bell ringer.
Gonna be in and out today...so I'll go ahead and post Dingus action. He will move as needed (If threatened, or taking cover), and cast Mage Armor on himself.
Kaul squints at the bell-boy, one beady eye bulging... and shouts his thoughts to his crew:
"Summit ain't right boys! Bell-ringin wog is either b'guiled or another feckin deader... Either way best moxy up lads!!!"
A glob of acid flies from the Groom's rapier striking the sailor's face and melting through an eye and cheek. Amazingly this elicits no response from the man or slows the ringing. Jim backs up Kaul on the main deck with a wary eye on the hatches and doors surrounding them.
Round 2
Kaul
Bell ringer
the Groom
*Dibbets
*Dingus
Jim
*action declared
Jim pushes past Kaul, heads up the ladder to the foredeck, and attempts to bull rush the bell ringer over the side.
Right after Kaul shouts his warning, the fore and aft cabin doors swing open. From the aft a quick moving wiry man in a heavy leather apron and an oversized cleaver bursts through the door. He rushes forward with a hungry red light in his eyes and hacks Jim open with the cooking implement.
Meanwhile a dazed looking sailor steps in front of Kaul and awkwardly thrusts his saber missing his target.
Twang: for at the cook/butcher
Jim curses, spins and attacks Cleaver Man.
Kaul brings Bess to bear on the dozey sabre wielder;
:
:
"Hur. Hud at yer glassly eyed gimp ye!"
The Grooms sees the 'deadication' of the bell ringer, and instead turns his attention to the probable deader fighting Kaul. He steps over to the wheel where he can get a clear shot, points his rapier again, and a sea green ray shoots out at the deader by the fore cabin.
Bess cleaves the dull eyed sailor from collar to gut. Fresh blood spouts from the wound, but only a faint gargle emerges from his throat as he falls. The reason becomes apparent as the dying man’s mouth stretches open in a silent scream and Kaul sees only the stub of a tongue remaining. He barely hits the ground before another shambling sailor appears at the door and attacks Kaul. This time the saber grazes Kaul‘s arm. Strangely, the Groom’s bolt of disruptive energy has no effect. The weird sailors only act like reanimated dead.
Meanwhile the hungry cook receives a bolt in the back and Jim’s rapier in his throat. That would have killed a mortal man, but the scrawny fiend though very damaged only grins as lumpy black blood pours down his chin. It yells, ”MEAT!”, and its fangs narrowly miss Jim’s throat only to tear a chunk from his cuirass. It’s free claw however, scratches across Jim’s face.
The bell continues to ring and an invisible force envelopes Dingus as he completes his spell.
Round 3
Kaul
Voodoo crew
the Groom
Dibbets
Dingus
Jim
//
//
//
"Jim's leakin a bit o blood - see iffin ye can't get that cook off him" as he lets the crossbow hang at his side once more.
Round 3 Action:
Shaking his head slightly as though admonishing himself, Dibbets drops down from the upper deck.
Acrobatics: Luckily finding his footing despite his mangled leg. He moves up to Jim and lays a hand on his side "Keep yer chin up, there's more blood tae spill"
"These things aren't deaders," the Groom calls out as he moves down the steps to come up behind the Cook. "You're feeding the fishes tonight! He whispers in its ear as his rapier slices in deep.
Kaul grits his toothy maw and spins on a penny, launching another chopping blow at his new dance partner;
Gaaaaarrrrrhhhhh!
:
Kaul goes for a massive beheading swing slow enough that even a zombified sailor can duck it and the Groom slips behind the frenzied cook reducing it back to inanimate fleash with a telling thrust. As soon as the ghoul falls, Dibbets drops down to assist Jim.
Dingus steps to where he can get clear sight, and engages the thing dancing with Kaul with his trusty Magic missile.
Magic Missile
Dingus sends a blast of arcane force into the sailor as he presses his attack against Kaul with a slash of his blade skittering off Kaul’s chain shirt. Another sailor exits the cabin moving in a wooden jerking manner to take a swing at Dibbets as he tends Jim.
As Dibbets lays healing hands on Jim, he can feel Jim’s muscles and skin stiffen in rigor mortis from the ghoul’s vile touch.
The bell continues to ring, but clearly audible to the Groom over the clamor a low voice beckons from down the stairs. A voice not heard since the night the fat man hired you and started this whole chain of events. ”Yo boy, Groom is it? Come down here I have another job for you…” With a chill you recognize the voice of the red-faced fat man, Haskins, even though you saw his headless corpse just the day before.
the Groom hears the voice and pivots. Deadenly (not a word but should be), he walks down the steps below deck. His hand reaching into his satchel.
HaHa! For almost being a dead man he puts on a horrible act! He has the empty box, and wants to show a glimpse of it as he pulls out the holy booze.
Kaul senses another shambler threatening Dibbs & Lazybones Jim, and fires a 2-handed stab into the mook:
"Hur. Let sleepin Jim's lie yeh feckin stumbler!"
:
:
:
Grinning like a hungry mako Kaul chops again at his old dance partner whose attempting to dent his shiny, shiny mail shirt;
:
:
"Hur. Deader again deader. Hur" Said grin noticably drops when Kaul get's wind o' the fatman's voice again...
The shark-like pressganger enters a near feeding frenzy with Bess sinking into both the slow moving sailors. The newcomer falls to the ground with a mortal wound before he reaches Dibbets and Kaul’s foe collapses in a bloody heap.
Before any can stop him, the Groom moves into the ship with deadened steps.
Dibbets sets his jaw, uncommonly silent for the moment and follows the Groom into the hold with staff in hand.
Dingus hurries to the others.
"Wait". "Let me use this wand on your weapons to give them an arcane boost".
"If it was up to me, I'd cut this boat loose into the harbor, and just burn it to the waterlines, along with everything inside".
Kaul finishs wiping Bess clean on one of the zombmatized sailor's raglike shirts and presents her for Dingus to enchant...
Down the stairs, the hold is lit by an eerie flickering light. No cargo is currently evident although chains along the floor hint at a history of slave traffic. The entire hold is covered in filth and vile symbols written in blood cover the walls. Open doors at either end reveal the captain’s quarters aft and another chamber in the bow. Waiting for the Groom in the center of the hold is a short but strikingly dressed Garundi man in yellow robes and a stylish cane topped with a golden cobra. Beside him the horribly mutilated corpse of a Mwangi man hobbles on the bloody stumps of its knees. The man’s eyes flick to the box the Groom is holding and he smiles in anticipation. "Ha! Sssso you've ssspared uss the trouble of hunting you down again."
The corpse ogles the Groom through rotting yellow eyes that have swollen in their sockets and in the Fat Man's voice warns, "Havin' a little joke, are you boy? Well, you won't live long enough to enjoy it!".
Up on the main deck, three more sleepwalking sailors stagger out of the forward cabin and press Kaul into the corner with their attacks. Kaul defends himself as best he can from the onslaught, but two saber slashes breach his guard.
Kaul roars at the three glassey eyed sailors facing him, tusks all flecked with the red stuff;
"C'MON yeh buggers - knocked boots with whores who hit harder than you shamblers!"
In the press he struggles to bring Bess to bear effectively:
:
:
'Ping-pong' Dibbets reverses course and moves to help Kaul. "Ye gotta pony up more'n a penny iffin ye're wantin a good'un Kaul" swinging his quarterstaff more optimistically than with solid conviction.
Staff: for
"No game at all, I bring my Queen's judgement against your abomination." the Groom's rapier takes on an eerie sea green flickering glow. His hand drops the box back into his bag and instead comes out with the rum bottle.
He takes a swig of the rum. He then shifts the point of the rapier to the man in yellow. "And behold what she has in store for you." The Groom opens a conduit to try to show the monsters that await the Garundi's soul.
Dingus stops his approach as he see's the new enemy approach.
If he can cast Grease and take a couple out of the action he will. If not he will keep his distance and cast Magic Missile on the most threatening of the bunch.
He also begins to scream at the top of his lungs.
Bess spins and whirls as Kaul is hard pressed to defend against three new assailants and can only make an ineffective slash in return. Dingus pauses at the top of the stairs and begins casting a spell as Dibbets rushes back up and whacks the closest sailor in the kneecap with his wee staff. The blow is hard enough to break the joint and the pale sailor falls against the railing as his leg gives out beneath him.
With two more thuds the other sailors suddenly drop as the deck beneath them is covered with a sheen of oil from Dingus’ spell. The sailor with the broken leg doggedly attempts to stab Kaul to no effect and the others clumsily try to regain their feet on the slippery deck.
In the hold the Man in Yellow laughs maniacally at the Groom’s frightful vision secure in the knowledge that his soul is already promised to the Abyss. Instead he smiles and with a small gesture and eldritch word he asks the Groom, “SSSertainly you wouldn’t rather just give uss that box and lay off your ssspell cassting?”
[ooc]Will Save vs DC13 -> "Sure, why not.."
The Groom sets the bottle of rum down and pulls out the box. And tosses it over to Stumpy.
"Hee hee, get yer licks ye blaggards"
AoO: for
Then another whack: for
Kaul mugs a grin as he sees an opportunity for payback as the greased shamblers rise, chopping down with his heavy blade:
"RAAAAAWWWWRRRR!"
:
:
Kaul turns his attention to borken leg, attempting to make him pay with more fractures;
"Stay down ye bilge rats!"
:
:
:
Bess arcs right and left in a spray of gore destroying two more sailors and further slicking the deck in blood. The remaining sailor, unmoved by the carnage around him, swings his saber at the halfling who is poking at him with his toothpick and leaves a nasty gash across Dibbets' arm.
Dingus uses his last Magic Missile of the day
Magic Missile
A serpentine force missile from Dingus on the poop deck injures the remaining sailor . Lying in the blood and rain, Jim is finally able to first blink his eyes and start moving his fingers after what seems an eternity as a stiff. The bell ringer continues creating a racket.
Below, the dead thing is caught flat palmed and fumbles the box that the Groom tosses to him. The Man in Yellow curses, ”I’ll get the box, damn you. Now kill the fool!” The Tuyewera’s jaw unhinges as it crawls forward and a tentacle-like tongue whips out narrowly missing the Groom’s throat.
the Groom ducks and slashes at the tongue, more to fend it away than try to actually cut it.
Instead he shuffles backward. His feet nudge the rum bottle setting it to rocking as he carefully backs up the stairs.
EDIT: Dingus should be at C2. I forgot he started down the stairs.