Kaul swings Lopper high threatening the agents around him, but instead of arcing for a neck, the heavy axe dives through the bottom of the boat splitting the sturdy hull like punky wood. Water gushes in quickly flooding the floor and turning dark as it mixes with blood under the moonlight.
Dibbets aims to take out the backstabber for hitting him in the shoulder. Dingus uses his mage hand spell to rescue his anchoring rod, pulling it from the floundering boat back to his hand. Virgil cackles and works into his rant the fact that he grieves being unable to fully prosecute corpses.
Corliss gets a charge out of bringing a bolt right down on the shot swabby who tumbles over into the water and is greeted by several of the ominous triangular fins which have begun to appear in the waters around the battle.
Jim is still having trouble seeing.
The pernicious glittering dust in his eyes continues to bedevil Jim and he can only listen with alarm to the sounds of slaughter around him. Then comes the panicked shouts of surrender from the three surviving Aspis henchmen who, seeing their fate in the belly of a shark, toss their swords in the sea and throw themselves into the boat which is not sinking.
As water comes rushing in, the thug chuckles as his foes abandon ship;
"Ho-ho! Sharkies come fer breakfast! Not 'avin' Ol' Kauly tho!"
The thug attempts to leap back into his own crew's boat;
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Taking the influx of desperate arse-p1sseurs in his stride, Dibbs reloads his pistola and takes a draw on the nearest of them "Roight... keep it quiet an still, less ye make a choice atween a lead injection frae this... or tha tender ministrations o' me mate who made kindlin o' yer jolly." narrowing eyes and baring yellowed teeth.
Kaul leaps back to safety as the sea water rises to his knees. He nearly lands atop one of the Aspis mercenaries in the now crowded boat. The other jolly slips beneath the waves with a flurry of activity as sharks fight over the dead meat left from the battle.
The three captives offer no resistance and attention turns to the Aspis ship a hundred yards out. It moves slowly closer, drifting with the incoming tide. A beam of light cuts through the dark as a bull's eye lantern is employed to reveal the source of the recent noise.
Though his new mates hardly look like shrinking violets, Corliss asks permission rather than forgiveness at a later time. "Still got a few lightnin' bolts in reserve.... Gotta admit, that thar bullseye lantern be livin' up to its name in me mind. Permission to blast 'im?"
"Try and take out their rudder! Then we can avoid them the easier, hey?"
Kaul eyes the crew's passengers with a scarred scowl;
"Hurrrrrr. You lot sit tight, be'ave, and don' be givin' Kauly no cause to turn ye into chopped chum... Savvy?"
The thug grins and hefts Lopper to drive him the warning:
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Kaul diverts himself with further terrifying the captives while the ship drifts closer. The searching light swings back and forth over the water until it finds the smaller boat and stops to illuminate the crew. Corliss can't make out the rudder with the light in his face, but he can target the light and there is a moderate boom from the sky above the ship as a bolt of lightning strikes the sailor holding the lantern. He lets out a shriek and the light falls to the deck and goes out amidst much shouting.
Dibbets-
Keelhaul Kaul-
Madman Jim-
Corliss-
NPCs-
Ship-
Keeping his gun on the wee prostrates in front of him Dibbs queries "If we goan make a play we should be about it... ships awful big compared tae us though... so best be smartlike" not entirely offering how smart like they could be.
Kaul shrugs his no-neck;
"Hur... Me an' Lopps could takes a bite out'o her 'ull?"
"Patch us up, mate, and I bet Kaul and I could take a lot of them."
"Big enough to roll right over us and feed us to the sharks." Virgil whimpers. "All my dealings have been with metaphorical sharks and I'd prefer to keep it that way. Think of something quick!" Dingus casts levitate on himself in preparation.
The ship drifts closer and what appears to be four sickly green spheres of light closely orbiting some unseen point appear in the night between ship and jolly boat. The zoom forward until they hover above the crew, marking their spot like a squad of ill-omened will-o-wisps.
Corliss looks at the hull of the looming ship, then up at the eldritch lights marking their position, then at the wounds of his would-be rescuers. Garn! Too many things to do an' not 'nuff time! Hope I don't choose wrong...AGAIN!
"Glowin' lights up in yon sky, be extinguished lest we die!"
Corliss calls on Besmara's power to try to dispel the beacon lights hovering over their jolly boat.
"Feck, let's get back to the Dragon. We can go hunting for them later, hey?"
The lights flick out with a verse and a wave from Corliss. Jim warns that a retreat, if possible, might be the better way to go at this point.
Kaul grunts in agreement then turns his attention to the aspis(s) mercs.
"These three comin' or should we cut 'em loose hur-hur-hur?"
Jim shakes his head with a smile. "I'm sure they'll see reason."
One of the mercenaries replies in a low voice. He adresses Jim though they all keep a wary eye on the ruthless half-orc. "You won't get any trouble from us, chief. Looks like our contract has ended, eh?" He points his chin at the sharks circling where the other jolly went down. "Last post was rubbish anyway. Hope you can still move fast as before 'cause the White Moon is about to be on us."
"Corliss, mate, got any more of that lightning?"
Dibbets nods and takes his pistol off the marks a' prostrate and rolls some phlegm around his mouth "Hard an oar an gets tae movin what we can... likely fog an such ken keep us out o' straight ways... part frae that we ken make fer a few tricks eh?"
Kaul sets to rowing as required...
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The ship looms ever nearer until even by starlight, the sailors gathered on the bow are clearly seen. Corliss calls another bolt down into their midst as a distraction and Kaul and Jim pull hard at the oars to clear the dingy out of the ship's path. Dibbets lays down a decoy fog puff with barely a moment to toss a lit bit of flotsam at it before Dingus casts another haste spell to accelerate their escape.
The lookout isn't thrown off by the myriad distractions, but it matters not for the ship doesn't have the agility to pursue the smaller and magically sped jollyboat as it powers away and back out of the narrow bay.
"I think we know where to be heading, hey?" The Taldan then addresses the captive trio. "So what can you tell us about what your previous employers are up to?"
"And where be me stuff?" Corliss demands rather grumpily. "Our stuff," he amends when Virgil pipes up with a bunch of words low in meaning to the priest's ear but high in volume and umbrage.
Before he forgets, he also channels healing energy for his new mates.
Actually, the crew doesn't have a clear idea on where the Black Dragon waits other than it was up one of the inlets nearby. It will probably be difficult to find them in the dark.
The more talkative merc answers Jim. "I'm Mylor. This is Leif and Kellin. Can't say I'll miss that job. We were mainly keeping an eye out on Moak. Not much to do except shoot monkeys and gut Karikanti. And try and catch that one-armed spook. 'bout once a month, White Moon would show up with a shipment of no-rust arms to drop off or pick-up. One of the sailors let slip they were meant for the Sea Devils. Thought it odd, but hey, I'm not paid to think, right?"
Jim nods. "Aye, if the coin's good, you don't ask too many questions. Who's this one-armed spook you mentioned?"
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" Who's this one-armed spook you mentioned?"
"And where be me stuff?" Corliss demands rather grumpily.
"You didn't have anything when Lura had us throw you in the cages. I imagine Captain Markessa kept anything worth a penny."
"An White Moony were tha one tradin straight wi' tha sea devils eh? Dya know much bout that hookup?"
At the mention of shooting monkeys Kaul feel's a forgotten ire stir, but manages to suppress it with a cough-hoot.
When talk turns to the one-armed spook, the thug adds to his sound effects with a hacking chuckle;
"Hur-hur-hurrrr... Took me the head o' a one-armed madman when we came ashore. Me and Lopps that is."
"Anythin' more ye can tell us aboot this Markessa lass, Mylor?" Corliss asks the most talkative captive. "Her weapon o' choice, an affinity fer magic, a susceptibility to flattery, mayhaps?" After a well-timed pause, the pirate priest flashes a crooked grin and deadpans, "'er measurements?"
"Don't think Markessa's one for flattery. She's all business and wears her cutlass with ease. I've no doubt she'd cut you down straight away if you said the wrong thing. Never seen her cast a spell, but she doesn't need to with that creepy little gnome backing her. Pale creature rarely left his cabin. Heard he was a Bronze Badge at least."
"I was never aboard for the drop, but scuttlebutt was that the Whitemoon was giving those shiny arms to the Sea Devils to disrupt business in the Shackles. I suppose the Consortium would just sail in to "restore order" and take control once things got bad enough around here."
Kaul's scarred brow arches in surprise;
"Pale wee gnome ye say? Creepy..? Sound's like an old sparring partner o' ours..."
In the dark, Jim has a hard time identifying a likely cove where the Black Dragon might be anchored so the crew paddle around discussing Aspis plots.
"Bessie, would ye be a sweetheart an' point me toward these lads' ship?" Corliss prays aloud to his goddess, casting guidance.
"I'm guessin' yer ship be thataway," Corliss tells the rowers, pointing. "Emphasis on guessin', unless this be one o' them rare instances where Bessi's actually payin' heed to me."
"An might ye indulge me again so's we can get a second opinion o' someone who ain't got a scrambled brain an' actually knows north from south?" he again asks the sky.
"It's worth a try...I've got faith in the Captain. And if Dragon's not there, then She's having us on, hey?"
Jim can barely make out the near coast so why not trust in Besmara and this odd young priest. Sure enough, their new mate seems truly blessed as they head off towards a new cove and a menacing voice from a hulking black ship dead ahead calls out low, "Hail to the boat. Who goes there?"
Dibbets calls on some light to set faces visible and calls back "Have a look an find out.. s' Madman Jim and 'is cuddly friends."
Kaul looks at the contents of the jollyboat with a chuckle;
"Cuddly... Hur-hur-hur..."
"Ah," comes the sound of recognition from the ship. "Get the captain. They're back." A rope ladder is lowered for the away team and guests to come aboard and afterwards, the jolly is hoisted. Captain Kent Drake greets you with all your old crew aboard. "Seems there are more of you here then when you left. How did it go?"
"Aspis is definitely here, and definitely selling arms to the sea devils. We left them lacking an agent--one we'd encountered in Bloodcove--but haven't dented their operation overmuch. These three are swords for hire who have parted ways, let's say, with their former employers. They might have more to say of what's happening here."
He adds, "Their ship is White Moon, captained by a woman named Markessa. Have you heard the names before?"
Mylor and Kellin seem to be taking their new circumstances with aplomb. Leif looks visibly impressed with the ship. "Reckon a ship this big could always use a few new hands," Mylor notes. "As Jim says, we're very definitely available for employ."
Perhaps surprisingly, Capt. Drake has heard of Capt. Markessa. "There was a merchant ship called the Mermaid's Mistress that was captained by a woman named Markessa. She occasionally stopped in Freeport, but I heard she'd fallen prey to Shackles Pirates a couple years back. The White Moon is a new ship, Chelish smuggler. Roberts had mentioned the name to me before as possibly having connections with an Aspis Consortium plot. Could be that Markessa survived the loss of the Mermaid and works for the Consortium now."
Dibbs unceremoniously sets arse to wood and massages his stump while ruminating over Drake's words "Roight... well ye ken get off tha might and make it actual like... cos 'tis. These ex-arse p1ssers are fer ye iffin ye wants em... they made a decent enough choice tae stop afore we gutted em."
Cracking his neck the halfling further muses "Ye up fer a chase Drake? - be some plunder out fer takin?"
"I'm thinking we've got a duty to take Markessa in for some questioning... any incidental plundering is a hazard, I suppose."
At Drake's words Kaul chuckles and nods to himself and his axe;
"Hur... Hazard fer them that meets us eh Lopps?"