Brezik looks at the others and fiddles with his beard.
Whelp... I think the first thing we need to do is figure out what we actually know about these Hag things. That way we can start planning....
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Allister wakes from his rest feeling strong and well, unaware that it was Vivian who healed him.
He leaps down from the bunk, then springs out onto the deck. The sun burns his eyes, and he realizes he must have slept longer than expected. With no knowledge of the foretold Hags, he takes time to eat and drink, then to check all sides of the boat for his water horse friend.
Once he is fully up and ready, he reports to Captain Vivian for orders.
"Good day, Captain. How can I help?"
Brezik recalls some rumors of hag sisters in these parts, Agatha and Morgan Toestealer. Their names imply much of their techniques, but most who have been attacked by them have not survived to tell more than tales of the terror they sewed among merchant ships.
Vivian recalls that hags are not particularly devout to deities, though some worship Gyronna, goddess of angry, despised, and marginalized women. Not much more is really known about how they would practice worship.
For the first time in a long time, Qina dreamed not of snow and dragons but of water and horses. Galloping along on the back of a horse made of water as the spray of the waves splashed in her face made Qina laugh like there was no tomorrow. She's couldn't remember ever being so happy and free and she awoke in the morning feeling fresher then ever.
She bounded out of her sleep sack whistling a tune that she had picked up somewhere. She set about cooking some sausage and dried fruits as the others were on deck, talking about something that did not yet concern her. She trusted her friends and they made her feel safe so she concerned herself with making sure their bellies were full.
Eventually she wandered out onto the deck and announced "soup's on, 'cept it's not soup. Although I could make soup, but that just didn't seem right after seeing the water horse. Anyway, come eat while it's hot."
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Awake and with a full belly, Allister asks Captain Vivian's help to don his armor.
Once he is caught up on the Hags, he shudders. Just a look from one hag sapped the strength from his bones. Three hags? That worried him. He begins pacing around the ship deck, expecting the sisters to arrive at any time.
Allister takes to practicing swordplay while he waits, working on his sea legs while the boat heaves and rolls. The movement of the ship and weight of his armor toss him around and send him stumbling, but after a couple hours he is more steady.
As monstrous Humanoids I'm pretty sure if we want to know particulars like strengths and weaknesses it's a Knowledge Nature check.
Not much we can do against sight based attacks. From a rules point of view blindfolding isn't as bad as one would think since we're all calling out to each other our characters wouldn't being attacking friendlies. No matter what we do the enemies will gain an advantage against us based on how we choose to deal with them.
Averting Eyes: The opponent avoids looking at the creature’s face, instead looking at its body, watching its shadow, tracking it in a reflective surface, etc. Each round, the opponent has a 50% chance to avoid having to make a saving throw against the gaze attack. The creature with the gaze attack, however, gains concealment against that opponent.
Wearing a Blindfold: The foe cannot see the creature at all (also possible to achieve by turning one’s back on the creature or shutting one’s eyes). The creature with the gaze attack gains total concealment against the opponent.
Captain Walran leaves you to your planning but sends Mabom the Destroyer forward while he takes the wheel. The old pirate packs some tobacco in a pipe and lights it with a tindertwig while listening. "The most dangerous part is that there will be two of 'em. Luckily I've fought a sea hag or two in my time, even managed to con one out of her treasure with my silver tongue." He lifts his eye patch to throw a wink with his perfectly good eye towards Vivian and Qina. "Point being, sea hags are some of the lesser evils of woman out on the sea. Very little magic to speak of, and only dangerous when they're in a coven. More often than not they join with a green hag on the land, but we're too far away from shore for these two to have done that.
I'd wager they'll try to strike slowly, one leading a distraction and the other attacking from elsewhere to sew confusion. My blade will surely slake her thirst then," he says while fondly patting the pommel of his bejeweled cutlass. He then goes into the tale of how he found the blade, a completely unrelated story that sounds fantastic in nature and will continue as long as you're willing to listen.
Brezik comes running when Breakfast is mentioned and starts grabbing whatever he can get his hands on.
Whelp I was thinking... Agatha and Morgan, That's there names, are prolly allot better at moving through the water than we are. That means they'll be able to choose when and where we fight, and then run away just by jumping into the water and diving.
Brezik takes a few bites of of his non-soup...
I don't think we have allot that we can do to control the fight. Just do our best to be ready and focus our shots on one of the sisters to drop her fast. Pull no stops and all that...
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Allister tries to sound confident about their chances in the upcoming fight, but the awful image of the first hag haunts him still.
"Heh..heh.. Yeah, I'm not afraid of them anyway. Not one bit! They're just ugly old hags that steal a bit of your soul when you look at them. No problem. And only two of them. heh...."
Belathorian spends the late hours of the morning making preparations on the ship. He manages to find enough spare rope to set four lassos, slipped loops at one end, the other end tied to sturdy points on the ship. By lunch he feels like they are as prepared as they can be, he holds his wand of bless in one hand and grips his scythe in the other.
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Allister wanders about the ship as ready as he will ever be. Not wanting (or able) to fall asleep, he remains vigilant in wait for the sea hags. The Horn of Fog that is typically buried in his backpack now hangs from a string off his belt.
The confidence that radiates from his friend does well to calm his nerve.
The first dusk passes with no sign of the sisters, the coast continues to roll by, swamps turning to forests and hills. The second dusk continues much the same, though Walran warns you that you've come to the border and will now be turning to the center of the lake. The next day is rough, the skies darken and storm clouds gather on the horizon. The wind begins to pick up and starts throwing the boat back and forth. The oncoming storm messes with your sense of time, which is probably what allowed the first hag onto the ship without being noticed. The first you realize that danger is here is when she cackles and points at Belathorian, "You, my sweet, will be the first to fall! Pray to your gods that we only eat you after you die!"
Gad will hold his action for now, staying hidden and quiet for the moment, if possible, until he hears a go-ahead or signal of some sort from Vivan.
Belathorian stoically ignores the hag. He raises the bone wand he has been holding for days and releases it's power.
Stuffing the wand into his robes he steps towards the hideous creature, readying his beautiful scythe.
Brezik looks the Hag gamely in the face and advances on her...
You picked the wrong boat to mess with Lady!
Hearing the commotion on board the ship start, Gad will finally launch himself from his hiding place and charge the first enemy he sees while using his Dragon Style!
-Includes Dragon Style!
Brezik and Gad'larr both hit the Hag hard. She cries out, "Agatha now!" Her sister breaches the water on the other side of Brezik to savage him with her claw.
-2 Str!
With one hand covering her face, Qina peaked between her fingers as she drew out her wand and sent two force missiles at the nearest hag.
You think your Scary... You ain't seen my Ma when you tromp mud through the kitchen right after she warshed the floor...
Qina's missiles pop out, one heading towards Morgan, taking her down and making her begin bleeding on the floor of the boat. The other missile swings around to hit Agatha, who screams in fury as she watches her sister.
"You'll pay for that! I swear it!"
She rushes around not caring who attacks her in her rage. All she wants is to rend Qina limb from limb.
Catching Agatha's movement out of the corner of his eye as he tries not to look too closely Bel has little time to do anything but stick out the haft of his scythe behind him to try and hamper her access to Qina.
Bell steps araound Viv to face the Hag once more. Calling on Pharasma's grace he swings his scythe once more.
Not So fast... Brezik feels a touch nauseous looking at Agatha but shakes it off and swings as hard as he can at the Sea Hag.
...
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Allister steels himself against the ugly hag, and swings his blade has she tries to move past towards Qina. "Hey!..." Allister tries to think of something clever to say, but stalls as his blade buries into the hag.
Once the hag has passed him by, Allister steps up and puts all his might into a swing, furious that the hag would dare to attack his little friend. "...Dont!"
The hag does not make it past Vivian as everyone takes the opportunity to strike her down, stopping her from reaching Qina at all. The hags are given no opportunity to rise again.
Gad, feeling only a little weak from seeing the Hags, quickly kneels to search the nearest Hag for valuables, then prepares to toss her ugly mug over the side.
However, just before he sends the body back to the deep, he will draw a dagger and cut a claw off one of the Hag's hands and give it to the ex-pirate with a smile.
"Another story for your repertoire?"
Brezik watches as his friends start picking over the courses. He takes his axe and washes it at the boats edge. As he Stowes his weapon he pulls out a small bag of dried fruits he had never seen before heading to the capital. He takes a piece out and puts it in his mouth and starts chewing as he looks over his friends shoulders.
Those were some ugly sisters... almost enough to make you lose your appetite.
Brezik pops another green fruit into his mouth and holds out the bag for anyone else who might want a piece.
Dried Kiwii?
The hags carry very little on them, though Agatha has a small pouch with a few diamonds in it. Mabom the Destroyer smiles, spits, and lifts his eyepatch off his eye to look at the bodies. "That'll show 'em." Lightning flashes and thunder cracks across the skies as the wind picks up more. The waves begin crashing hard across the small barge and Mabom takes on a serious look he hasn't had in the past. "Unless you're an experienced sea dog you'd best get yourself in the cabin and strap yourselves to a bulkhead or beam, it's going to get rough."
Darkness falls completely and the storm only gets worse as the Black Mist trundles along. The barge rides high on one wave only to crash into the valley of the next. All of the crew are working around the clock the entirety of the night and into the next day. Anyone that ventures out finds the day darker than the previous night, without even the periodic flash of lightning as each bolt has turned dark and brittle.
Once Gad'larr sees the others to safety, he will work with the rest of the crew to help maintain the ship!
Helping Gad with the bodies Bel pauses for a moment when he notices the halforc is struggling more than he would have expected. Reaching out a pale hand he places it on his friend's shoulder
"There is no bravery without fear."
As he heaves the second body off the boat his words carry over the water backed by the thunder approaching
"ນ້ໍາຂອງທ່ານມີຄວາມປອດໄພກ່ວາພວກເຂົາເຈົ້າເຄີຍໄດ້ຢູ່, ພວກເຮົາກັບຄືນເນື້ອຫນັງກັບຄື້ນຟອງທີ່ວ່າມັນອາດຈະບໍາລຸງລ້ຽງທີ່ຂ້າງລຸ່ມນີ້. ການດຸ່ນດ່ຽງແມ່ນການຟື້ນຟູ. ດໍາລົງຊີວິດຍາວ."
Arms raised in defense, Qina shirked away from the lunging hag. In the last instant she glimpsed flashing steel as sword, axe, and scythe carved swatches through air and flesh.
As the two hags laid unmoving on the deck of the ship, Qina almost felt bad for them. "Why did they attack us" she wondered aloud?
As she was reminded of the storm and the rough waters, she hurried back under cover. She looked around for something to secure herself to when her eyes stopped on Brezik.
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The sight of the storm makes Vivian's stomach drop. This is her worst nightmare, so much water... She makes sure everything is removed from the deck and stowed then heads into the cabin in hope to hide her discomfort from the others. 'I'd be more comfortable if we were on a boat of Iron, if that would ever be possible..'
When told to go inside Brezik dutifully listens adnd finds a corner to sit in. He pulls out his Anvil and sits it between his legs and takes out a couple of his smallest hammers. He then begins to monotonously work on the production Of hundreds of small studs to later be attached to the silken armor he has planned to make for all of his friends. After a little while he has forgotten all about the hags or the bad weather and can be heard humming a little tune, off key, that his father taught him when he was just a lad.
Gad works as diligently as he can to help the Mist fight through the storm!
The lashing waves and howling storm lasts an entire 24 hours, though it is difficult to tell time in the dark, before the Black Mist reaches the southern cliffs of the Isle of Terror. The crew has been working nonstop to keep the ship afloat, changing rigging, bailing water, and keeping everything lashed in place. This last stretch is no better for them, though Gad'larr's experience on ships does relieve some of the stress and pain they would otherwise have gone through. The barge pulls into the deceptively calm waters of a half-moon bay while the storm continues to rage and waves lash outside of sheltered water. "Aroden's Landing!" Walran calls out from the wheel. "Just one small row away from Fort Landing and where you start your journey!" Despite his prodigious use of voice the captain is only barely heard over the clash of thunder and the continuous drum of rain.
You are led to one of the Black Mist's few rowboats, the most seaworthy one, though it certainly doesn't look it. The anchor is cast, rowboat lowered and you all pile in with Mabon and Captain Walran himself. The Captain takes the oars as Mabon mans a bucket. Mabon spends the journey bailing water out of the boat and grumbling to himself about poor seamanship while Captain Walren calmly smiles and whistles as he rows. As the tiny vessel reaches the white sand beach at the ruins of Fort Landing, Captain Walren tells you that he’ll wait with the Black Mist just off the coast for 10 days. When you wish to be picked up again, you must build two fires far enough apart for the captain to tell they are a signal, and not a fire belonging to the Razmiri cultists. He will not wait longer than 10 days—if he hasn’t seen the twin signal fires by the eleventh morning, he has to assume the worst. Once everyone is ashore, Captain Walren wishes you all the luck on Golarion and rows back out to his barge.