Round 12__________
BRYSON_____
The ants frighten the pirates no end, but end up missing wildly as the pirates shy away from engaging them.
Bryson prepares to use a Shape Wood spell to help pull Annie and Jon aboard (difficult to use on the complex structure of the ship’s hull). Fortunately he doesn’t need to as a number of hands no longer in combat sieze hold of the rope and rapidly haul the two back aboard.
PHILLIP________________________________________
In the eerie green light of his conjured globe, Phillip followed Ghirrak’s directions as he rapidly dove down the ladderway to the hold. Quickly jumping down the hatch into the bilge he spots the device.
It is worse than he thought.
The acrid stench assaulting his eyes is a sure indication that the fifty gallon barrel is filled with acid.
The trigger device is the most complex you've ever encountered.
Clearly this is the work of a criminal genius.
There are three triggers on this thing, one trigger is on a balance and will trip when the angle of the barrel changes by 15 degrees. Typical in a sharp turn, or even just rough weather. Another trigger will fire after a set time has passed, you can hear the rapid ticking of the unwinding spring; and naturally there is no visible time readout to tell you how much time you have left. And the third… yep, the third is connected to the rest and will fire of one of the other two is disabled.
What will you do?
[npc]GHIRRAK ________________________________________
Ghirrak attacks the pirates in front of him.
hit! for crush damage.
hit! for crush damage.
hit! for crush damage.
Ghirrak absolutely destroys the last two pirates facing him aboard the pirate ship. There remains only the dozen pirates fighting aboard the Savage Kraken and their Captain.
(NPC) DGRIM
hit! for slashing damage.
Dgrim lashes out and puts a good hit on the pirate Captain.
The pirate captain waives his men way from Dgrim and attacks him himself. His orcish tusked grin suggests that he intends to break the line of battle himself.
Miss.
Miss.
Miss.
C25
D10
E5
F4
H10
J10
Y10
Z10
Round 13_____
The ants continue to bite at the pirates. The ants will take 5' steps to get better angles for attacks.
Ant 1 Bite:
to hit hurt
Ant 2 Bite:
to hit hurt
With Annie returned to the ship, Bryson puts his attention back on the fight. He Summons more giant ants.
Summon Monster III
Realizing he is the only person aboard the pirate ship, and the need for a backup, should Phillip fail, Ghirrak dashes to the wheel hoping to take control.
Annie gasps out a thanks to the men who pulled Jon up, and calls upon Cayden Cailean to lend his aid to the men desperately fighting for their ship. She excludes those pirates that seem most injured within 30' of her from his blessing.
"I'm going to see if I can help Phillip!" she says, then moves below deck, patting Bryson on his shoulder as she slips past him.
You didn't lose the Wood Shape spell. You were thinking of how best to do it when help arrived.
Shaping a single hull strake as a handhold is a gimme; you wouldn't need to roll. Same with larger single pieces of wood, like the keel, small masts, spars and gunwales; or the hulls of small boats.
The hull of a large ship is complex and difficult to shape with this spell; requiring more difficult spellcraft rolls the more you want to do with it.
Shaping a series of handholds along the hull from the water to the deck, you would need to roll Spellcraft DC10 + 1 per foot of handholds.
Shaping the hull to open and swallow Annie and Jon into the Hold would have meant a Spellcraft DC40+.
Shaping the deck to be more difficult terrain (a ships deck starts at difficult) is free for one 5 foot square, and Spellcraft DC10+1 per extra 5 foot square (you can do one 5' square per cubic foot you can affect.)
Running up to the wheel, you realize you cannot control the ship from here until you cut the two remaining grapples and two remaining assault gangplanks holding the two ships together. Even then you'll have to make a Profession:Sailor to separate the ships with their rigginge entangled.
Annie's wave of healing rolls over the battered crew of the Savage Kraken, reviving some thought dead and revitalizing some wounded to fully active again.
Plunging down below,
A soft whistle escapes Phillip's lips as he examines the device. "Whoever, built this didn't want to make my job easy."
Hearing someone coming down the hatchway, he gives a quick shout of warning. "Don't get too close! This thing is nasty and who knows what'll happen if I can't disarm it quick enough."
He then turns his full attention back to the device. Reaching into his pocket his pulls out a leather pouch. With a deft hand he opens the pouch and lays out the small set of files, nippers, picks, and other implements useful to one who works with locks and small mechanisms on a regular basis. Taking a deep breath he selects what he needs and begins the delicate procedure of disabling the device.
Round 13_____
Bryson Deepwinter_____
Brysons ants continue to occupy the remaining pirates, Ant 1 taking a big bite of one. And three more ants appear as reinforcements.
[npc] Ghirrak Ironfist_____
Realizing the wheel of the pirate ship is useless at the moment, Ghirrak runs over to the near assault gangplank to pry it up.
Gull Street Annie_____
Annie thanks those who hauled her out of the water and channels positive energy, healing many of the crew. She then goes below to help Phillip.
Phillip Pharlan
Warning Annie off, Phillip concentrates on the mechanism. Jamming one part with a piton and blocking another with a pick, Phillip slips a hand into the interior of it and pulls out a small tube of purplish liquid that fizzes at any motion.
Then the pick snaps and the mechanism puts a spike right through where the tube had been. But nothing else happens. The device is disarmed.
[npc] Dgrim__________
for a possible slashing damage. Hit! for light damage.
ENEMIES__________
for a possible .
for a possible .
for a possible .
for a possible .
for a possible .
for a possible .
for a possible .
for a possible .
for a possible .
for a possible .
for a possible slashing damage. Miss.
for a possible slashing damage. Hit!
for a possible slashing damage. Miss.
Round 14_____
More ant bites
Ant 1 Bite:
to hit to hurt
Ant 2 Bite:
to hit to hurt
Ant 3 Bite:
to hit to hurt
Ant 4 Bite:
to hit to hurt
Ant 5 Bite:
to hit to hurt
Bryson gets into the fight by targeting the pirate captain, hoping that if he can be taken out, the rest will lose heart for this fight.
Icicle: RTouch, fire into melee
to hit damage
Unable to gain a good grip on the gangplank, Ghirrak tries desperately to pull it up to no avail.
Str
Round 14
[npc]Phillip, along with Annie, ascends the ladderway from the bilge to the deck and chucks the detonator mechanism overboard for safety's sake.
Bryson and his army of giant ants take the bulk of the fighting with the pirates; Bryson even lands a minor hit with an icicle on the pirate Captain.
Ghirrak struggles with removing one of the assault gangplanks, but can't quite pull the spikes from the deck this round.
And then..
[npc] Dgrim__________
for a possible slashing damage.
...Dgrim hacks the Pirate Captain down like he was a tree.
For a moment, the battle falls silent.
Then, the pirates break. Between the horrible ants eating their crewmates and their captain falling, they scream in fear and bolt. Half of them drop what they're holding, and all of them run for their own ship. Those who make it across past Ghirrak dive down the hatchways and ladderways, then slam them shut and bar them. One or two who didn't make it down in time pound on the hatchways screaming to be let in before throwing themselves over the side to the nonexistent mercy of the sharks.
Bryson considers the pirate ship, the approaching fleet, and Annie. "It's time to go. Ghirrak! Get back over here. We must take flight. We have little time."
Quickly Ghirrak dashes across the gangplank, getting to the other side he strikes the connecting plank with devastating force.
Giving the ants a wide berth, the surviving crew swarm across the deck, hacking and chopping the grapples and spikes holding the ships together.
With a thrust of pikes, the ships separate with a rending crash.
Making all sail in the freshening wind, the Savage Kraken picks up speed and stays ahead of the enemy fleet until the rapid sunset casts everything into darkness.
By morning, you see your gambit of sailing straight south in the dark (showing no lights) has succeeded, and you are alone, free and clear on the seas. And there is much celebrating!
Ok, but who was that woman that I disintegrated down in the hull? Bryson wants to go through her stuff (she had to be resting somewhere) to try and find out.
First, Annie checks on Jon.
Annie has a few channels left. She'll patch up the crew as best she can.
Phillip spends the night helping to conduct any repairs on the ship that are needed. When the sun rises the following morning he breathes a sigh of relief as the morning light reveals the lack of any enemy ships in sight. With the threat over, Phillip spends the rest of the day resting and meditating.
Assisting with the ship's repairs, Ghirrak spends a part of the night on watch before going to bed, taking to the deck when he awakens to look for the first signs of the Blue Nixie.
The giddy celebration of surviving the pirate attacks gives way to the sober reminder it was not without cost.
At the midmorning watch, three canvas wrapped bodies weighted by chain lay on planks on the deck of the Savage Kraken. Two crewmen and one of the settlers were beyond Annie's help at the end of the battle. The quiet weeping of the widow of the settler is the only sound as Annie is invited to say a few words before a Hymn is sung, the boards tipped up and the three mortal remains are swallowed by the infinite ocean.
Jon is unable to attend, still unconscious in his bunk from the hit he had taken. Whatever enchantments that ballista bolt were wound about with did serious constitutional damage to him. Annie worries some, but she is confident he will recover, though slowly.
Parrotless Booker is the ranking sailing officer scans the horizon for the Blue Nixie, but there is no sign of her.
Ghirrak volunteers to climb into the crow's nest, his exceptional sight applied to the faintest hint of Livonia's flagship.
Bryson changes shape and flies out to look for the Blue Nixie. He'll ask any avian he sees if they have seen a human ship as well. He'll fly in a circle around the Sea Wyvern and return in about 6 hours.
The bodies of the pirates are systematically looted and their remains dumped overboard unceremoniously. They had a meagre 66 silver crowns and 145 copper bits all told, and their weapons and armor (mostly leather jerkins, cutlasses and daggers) were inferior to what you already have aboard. This speaks volumes as to the conditions they had to live in far from the major towns of the Azure Sea.
Their Captain is a different story. He was clearly paranoid enough so that he carried his personal wealth about in a concealed money belt. It was packed so tight that even with his light armor if he had fallen overboard he would have sunk like a rock.
All told he had 40 platinum Lunas and 70 Gold Sovereigns in coin, and a selection of gemstones:
Gemstones:
10x aquamarine (800 crowns total)
20x citrine (50 crowns each)
1x emerald (600 crowns)
3x white opal (1600 crowns total)
He was armored in a Chain Shirt +1 under his fancy Captains coat (with the gold epaulettes.
He was armed with a beautiful swept hilt Cutlass, Silversheen +2 (engraved with the name and title of an Admiral famous a century ago), and a Dagger +1 almost as an afterthought.
The woman was turned to ash by Bryson's last Bolt, but she had several enchanted items on her that survived when you comb them out of the ashes.
When you appraise them at leasure, you determine that they are:
Magic Armor: +1 Mithral Chain Shirt
Amulet of Barkskin (CL 6) 1/day
Magic Weapon: +1 Small bolas, Rapier +1, Dagger +1
Ring: ring of Protection +1
You find that she had either hidden in a cargo crate ashore and was just loaded aboard with the others, or had burrowed in while underweigh. Either way, she had created an ingeniously hidden lair out of hollowed out cargo crates of provisions. All told, two tons of provisions were displaced and will have to be replenished or the voyage abandoned.
The lair is surprisingly comfortable, with padded bedding, clothing, a pair of Continual Light powered shuttered lamps, a Travelling Alchemists chest and a library of research and technical books.
Titles such as:
Secrets of the Element of Steam, by Fader, the Loyal Alchemist
Analyzing the Mystical Unusual Secret Distillate of Hermetics Magic, by Dunsiah, the Beatific Transmuter
Analysis of Ether of Night, by Dexzel, Conjurer of the Fifth Circle
Alchemy for Dunces: A primer, by Professor Antimonius Humm
And a personal stash of gemstones:
• Gems: 10x alexandrite (200 crowns total)
• electrum comb with rose quartz(600 crowns)
• Potion/Oil:
potion of purify food and drink (CL 1),
potion of obscuring mist (CL 1),
potion of expeditious retreat (CL 1),
Acid Flask x6,
Alchemists Fire x3,
potion of Cure light Wounds x4,
potion of Cure Moderate Wounds x1
Scroll: Sorcerer-Wizard scroll (CL 5; clairaudience/clarivoyance)
Wands: wand of Charm Person (CL 4, 6 charges)
And a Journal.
Reading it, you discover the woman was Rowyn Kellani, the leader of the Lotus Dragons gang!
Well, at least she was up until you beat her gang and forced her to abandon her wealth and flee for her life. You could swear you had killed her, but she had apparently feigned death with a potion. When her noble family disowned her, she seethed with a need for revenge. With her remaining wealth she had herself concealed in a cargo crate and smuggled aboard with what alchemical materiels she could lay her hands on to sabotage your voyage.
Ghirrak sees no sign of the Blue Nixie, or any ship for that matter. It seems as if the blockade has swept the seas clear of any normal shipping.
Bryson turns into a gull and flies out to search. Asking other gulls, he is told over and over that they haven't seen anything but dugout canoes close to shore.
Consulting with Booker, you recall that it was always possible you wouldn't be able to make contact with the other ship after the run through the blockade. The plan was that if you couldn't find each other, you were to make for the next stop on the voyage, Fort Greenrock. It is only 330 miles from your estimated position.
He looks up at you for your decision. Stay and search or make for Fort Greenrock?
Phillip shrugs at Booker's question. "If we haven't spotted them by now, then trying to find them out here, will be like trying to find a needle in a haystack." He flicks his hand in the general direction of the rendezvous. "If it was the plan, then it's likely they are already making for Fort Greenrock. We should do the same."
"You're not the captain. Don't tell him what to do." Snaps Bryson who still doesn't like Phillip. "We should follow the plan, though. They're probably going there right now themselves."
"Take it easy Bryson," Ghirrak says quietly, having climbed down to the deck. [b]"If not for Phillip this ship would be at the bottom of the sea right now."
Looking to Booker, he nods gravely. "We follow the plan, full sails for Fort Greenrock."
Phillip's eyes narrow slightly and his jaw clenches as Bryson snaps at him, but he masks his anger with a thin smile. "I believe the man asked for opinion's. I gave him mine. Nothing more, nothing less."
Turning away his voice carries a light-hearted manner as he adds with a chuckle, "Besides. I have no desire to be captain. Although, I do believe my years of experience at sea would make me eminently more qualified to the job than a landlubber like yourself."
"Years of experience being a castaway, you mean. All you could do as captain is get us stranded." He continues to mumble as Phillip goes away, "And you would do well, sailor, to remember that ahm devoted to the Wind and the Waves. The god that is master of ocean and sky. You are in his domain and he has chosen to give me power over it. You call me landlubber again and we'll see how long you can survive without this hear ship."
Phillip shakes his head and chuckles lightly at Bryson's parting shot about his experience. With a simple wave, he slips his palm frond hat back onto his head and gets back to his duties repairing the ship, not hearing the shape shifters final muttered words.
Booker looks back and forth between you.
"Yes. Well. I'll... make sail then." He said cautiously while stepping away.
With no threats on the horizon repairs to the rigging only take a day or so. With all sails rigged to catch the light breezes, Booker turns West to find the coast again.
The next week finds the ship becalmed, with no progress made on anything but the repairs to the hull and deck. Hot weather encourages the sailors to sleep out on deck or in the rigging, and the stars at night are incredibly bright, with constellations seen in the southern skies that only people with ranks in Knowledge:Planes have ever even heard of.
Every afternoon the heat is relieved by a tropical downpour, and freshwater is not such a concern any more.
After a week, the winds freshen and the Savage Kraken finally starts cutting through the waves again. You find the coast and the endless jungle of the Amedio and turn south. Three weeks since passing the Brotherhood blockade, you reach Fort Greenrock.
It becomes obvious as soon as you round the last coastal bend before this remote colony of monks and druids that something terrible has happened. The wooden palisade surrounding the fort has been torn apart, and the fort itself has burned to the ground. It appears that whatever grim fate visited the place occurred several months ago, for no sign of life or activity can be seen from a mile offshore where you are.
There is no sign of the Blue Nixie.
Spinnaker Jon, still wobbly from his bedrest, took his eye from his telescope turned to you all.
"Well now. Anyone want to go ashore and have a look at what happened?"
Ghirrak is already up front ready to disembark.
"Ah'll go ahead and scout. In mah animal shapes ah kin git in real close and they won't be none the wiser." He turns to look Ghirrak in the eye. "Don't do nothing rash 'til ah git back. Ah know what she means to you," he glances over to Annie, "and ah kin only guess how hard it is for you to be apart from her now. Trust that ah'll keep a sharp eye out and come back with what we need to know."
Bryson changes into a bird local to the area and flies off.
Perception Take 20 for 39 total
Knowledge (Nature)
Survival
Locking eyes with Bryson, Ghirrak nods silently.
Phillip gathers his gear and then helps ready the launch to go ashore.
Professor Forol is eager to go ashore in the launch along with the rest of you, dragging his reluctant friend Skald along for the ride.
When you fly in from the sea, you note the basic pier had been burned, and there are other signs of fire near the shore, mostly overgrown now.
The triple canopy is very dense and very dangerous for your avian form due to giant spiders and other predators. The closest you can get is directly overhead, where the canopy hasn't quite regrown yet.
You see the last part of the burned fort is still visible. You THINK you see some only partly burned building structures, but it's just too dangerous to approach from the air.
Survival
You judge that you could possibly make an approach on land better. Still risky, but you can take a more formidable form then.
Still...
There is something off about the wildlife in the area here. Too many, too aggressive. There is some... unnatural influence around here. Malign.
[spoiler=Dm Camris]What about along the shore? Any evidence of the Blue Nixie?[spoiler]
Phillip steps over and takes the tiller to guide the launch to shore.
Looking around along the shore, you see some markings that might be a boat having been drawn ashore. Maybe more than one. No idea how long ago.
Phillip easily sails the launch to the surf.
He has a rough time conning through the surf to the shore, but the waves are not particularly rough and he only gets his passengers splashed a little.
Those in the Launch: You see Bryson on shore waiving you off.
Of course at this point, Professor Forol splashed out of the Launch and scuttled ashore, peering and sampling everything before dashing off again. He is pursued futily by Skald, always a few paces behind.
The other crewmen look between Bryson and Phillip, baffled at what they are supposed to do.
Seeing Bryson's warning, Phillip starts to turn the launch back out to sea, only to watch as the Professor jumps ashore with his typical careless abandon. Uttering a flurry of curses, he orders the rest of the men to stay alert and ready to shove off. He then dashes off after the professor.
Bryson turns back to his half-elf shape and begins to wave off the group. "What has Phillip done now? I told them not to come until I got back." He runs to intercept Forol, "Turn back! There's only death here. Don't let Phillip get you killed."
You see Professor Forol dart within the treeline and disappear from view, closely followed by Skald. You hear a "oof".
When you catch up, you see Skald wrestling with a constrictor snake while Professor Forol gazes with a puzzled expression at a complex looking wayfinder; its spinning needles and swinging loops seem very excited in motion.
"That is fascinating!" He said excitedly.
"Yes, yes; look at this Skald! There is a wide scale enchantment in effect here!" He swings his wayfinder around as if looking for a source.
"Sir, a little help here..." Rasped Skald, wrestling with an angry snake.
Looking at the reaction of the wayfinder, you look up; and you see it.
Almost lost among the dangling vines and flowers, an ugly little shrunken monkey head, its mouth open in an eternal scream.
At least you hope it was a monkey.
Perception
Wild Empathy
Bryson takes Forol by the hand and begins to pull him back. "Professor, you will get us killed if you continue. We are returning to the ship right now."