His adamantine rapier sure looks good. This guy must be either really tough or he has an escape route planned.
"Arrg Book your a old salt no doubt, the son of a sea hag whore. But it clear to me you need our help as much as we need yours, if we wish to continue livin as breathin creatures anyways. We can banter and toss about this sea all night or we can pull it altogether man and see a shining shores once more."
"Haven't made much of a plan, have ye octopus-head..."
Book keeps his left hand on his rapier, he's rubbing a gemstone set in the pommel.
"Shut up, Book. I don't care what you think of yourself. Stick to the issue at hand."
"That would be havin' you all off me ship, Cordoba.... Without my scourin' the hold with fire."
"You make me laugh, Book. You think you're talking with fools. You're dumber than you look if you think that we'd even consider that."
"You won't appease the gods with our blood, you know?"
"They want yours." The Deceiver says those last words as if he is sinking a knife though Book's gut and twisting it.
Bleedin' eck, Smiley, ya freak. This is gonna go well.
Syd stoically stands by as his comrades try to intimidate Book. Thoughts turn over in his mind.
Bleedin' eck, Smiley, ya freak. This is gonna go well.
Syd stoically stands by as his comrades try to intimidate Book. Thoughts turn over in his mind.
He's at the bottom of the ladder. It's a small ship: no stairs.
"Ennnn. Well Cordoba, congratulatins', yev heard the lads talkin' about the curse. That feller I ran through broke the code an' cursed me when I killed 'im. But curses can be got rid."
"So what does ye want. What's this parlay fer?"
Anyone who can show me a natural 20 on a Deception roll to detect motive let me know; Book was born to play poker.
You can be within engagement distance if you wish; you are after all conversing with him. If someone so much as twitches however, I'm sure that he will be rolling initiative. I certainly wouldn't be giving him a surprise round against you.
Afraid that he'll slip up and say something that might make Book end the parlay, Bohdan instead stands protectively in front of the other prisoners (the women, girls and boys). Arms crossed in front of him, he tries to make himself seem as wide as possible, clearly indicating that he's the threat, not the people behind him.
"Ennnn. Well Cordoba, congratulatins', yev heard the lads talkin' about the curse. That feller I ran through broke the code an' cursed me when I killed 'im. But curses can be got rid."
"So what does ye want. What's this parlay fer?"
Anyone who can show me a natural 20 on a Deception roll to detect motive let me know; Book was born to play poker.
Locks gazes with Book, "What would any person in our position would want? Freedom, of course, and passage to the nearest port of call."
"But enough of us... Book, what do you want in here that is so important that you'd be willing to parlay with us, the Code notwithstanding?"
"Port of call? Gozreh 'iself is tryin' teh sink out boat. Gettin' to Katheer may be a problem."
"As for what we want down here: virgins, Cordoba. Virgins. Blonde, blue eyed, pale skinned northern girls."
"Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of loot down here, but nothing like the girls."
"Why am I not surprised, Book? Worth their weight in gold, are they?" Flashes Book a smile filled with malice.
"Those jaded gentlemen of the Southern markets would really be pissed if you'd failed to deliver on time, eh?"
"You will not deliver the girls. You will return them to their homes."
Rackham doesn't appear to be in any position to enforce his statement, though.
"Aye, 's'right. Int no-one going anywhere but 'ome. I fort you might tell us to take a long walk off a short pier. I int misjudged ya. Her's the parley terms; we keep the boat, you keep yer lives. If not.. reckon ya can take all of us, Book?"
If not.. reckon ya can take all of us, Book?"
"I knows we can take ye. Here I was thinking you weren't fools an would take yer opportunity..."
"Ah meen in feery; I seen what Smiley 'ere can do. It hain't pretty. Les not get 'asty 'ere, Cap'n. " Syd says, playing the game with him.
"The fellers upstairs ain't sleepin' beautiful. Killin' you is right inconvenient at the moment is all."
"We shall let the gods decide who is the worthier. I shall pray that it is not the likes of you, Captain."
"The fellers upstairs ain't sleepin' beautiful. Killin' you is right inconvenient at the moment is all."
"We'll be more than inconvenient for you and your lot, Book. We'll be downright unhealthy for you."
"Yarr Books gotta himself a deal goin with some natives worshipping a giant ape god, on some tropical island." "Gold for golden haired lasses, with blue jeweled eyes."
"Sure, joker."
Book sneers at Ryor.
"I liked ye the least, elf. When the time comes I'll kill ye first."
Looks up through the ladder hatch.
"I thanks ye then fer not killing the last two of me men down here. For the sake o’ yer consciences, which ye seem to have all too much o’, I hope they’re not the ones who’ll slit yer throats in the end. Now I’ve got some business to attend to, if ye doesn’t cause any trouble we may well show ye some quarter when me ship is out o’ danger. Til then."
Book makes his way up the ladder very quickly for a man of his years. You see Righty peering through as Book clears the hatch. It closes and shuts out the sound of the storm again and you hear someone barring and nailing it above. A hush passes over the hold.
It’s not long, moments, before The Intractable jerks under your feet, sending some of you sprawling. The sound of slowly rending wood drowns out the groaning hull and crashing hills of water that have been slamming her for almost sixteen hours now. You hear screams above, hear and feel the main mast as it shatters, and are then tossed by a powerful and deafening blow that throws all of you against the starboard side of the ship where the livestock is kept. You can barely tell the crying of the girls from the goats... the pigs squeal like they are being slaughtered. It seems that Pulisfer was right, the gods are speaking.
The rending sound increases and water floods into the hold turning the cargo into lethal bludgeons that spin all around you. You gasp the last of the air as it evacuates the hold. The blackness around you is broken by flashes of phosphorescence in the darkness. Tentacles.
Everyone make a DC 15 swimming, strength, or reflex roll to avoid taking 1d6 damage in the maelstrom.
Once you are out of the ship a DC 15 swimming roll to reach the surface.
Bohdan's first thought when the ship starts to toss and roll is to protect the women, so he tries his best to shield them with his body, taking a beating from the flying loot.
As the dark water breaches the hull it's all Bohdan can do not to get dragged down with the ship as the luminous tentacles come into view. His first thought is again to make sure the women get to the surface instead of his own safety.
"AHAAAA HHAAAAAAA Down she's goes Book, down to old Hob!"screams Ryor as he breaks the surface with a insane look of glee upon his face as lightning flash across the maelstrom torn sea. His laughter drowned by the winds and crashing waves.
Swim checks (1d20+9=13, 1d20+9=16) damage (1d6=2)
Syd feels something slam into him in the torrent. He breaks the surface, and resists the urge to punch the gloating elf.
From the roll bank:
Nerius: Swim 7+1, Swim 15+1
Pulsifer: 9+1, 16+1
Damage: Nerius 6 points, Pulsifer 1 point
Both get to the surface.
Damage from swirling detritus to:
Deceiver 6 points, Ryor 3 points
"Lady preserve us...
Rackham is thrown bodily into the water, the shock of which incites a new wave of hacking coughs. Still another bloody gobbet of flesh passes from the old wizard's lungs to the black waters of the open sea.
The maelstrom sweeps Pulsifer's once powerful frame in a massive arc. However, his wasted body is light enough that he is able to keep his head above water. He offers thanks to Iomedae for her aid.
Morning - Pharast 24th, 4708
Bohdan:
Jon, Nerius, Pulsifer, Syd, Cordoba, Ryor:
For roleplaying, enduring torturous struggle, and killing the weak, 350 XP each.
"Wh-where there was nothing, then th-th-there was Arodan... N-night followed d-d-day, and the Lady followed all, as I follow th-the Lady..."
You crawl up onto the beach, boosted by the waves and finally rest in the peak of the cool surf. In time, an inventory of your comrades finds Nerius, Pulsifer, Ryor, Syd, Cordoba - and near Bohdan: 4 of the young girls, one of the Chelish boys, and the red-haired Chelish woman, Katella.
Bohdan is clinging to a huge ornately carved hardwood locker. Timber, boxes, barrels, and rope scatter the beach.
Scattered along the beach are the bodies of several pigs, two young girls and two pirates.
One other pirate lies gasping for air amongst you. Roll initiative and kill him? Or talk.
Nerius, Bohdan and Pulsifer begin to feel the effects of the drugs wearing off after the adrenaline of the wreck and the vigor of swimming.
Jon:
The old man staggers onto the beach, physically tired, but his mind clearer than it has been in weeks.
The victorious feeling is short-lived. Upon seeing the bodies of the slave girls, as well as a few of the pirates, Rackham's face once again gains its grim countenance.
"May they be judged fairly."
Trudging along the sand, he searches for an implement with which to bury the corpses.
Trudging along the sand, he searches for an implement with which to bury the corpses.
A plank should serve you well. Above the beach the sand is quite soft and fresh, ideal for digging graves and beyond the reach of the sea. From there you gaze inland across a desert of scattered dunes and sparse scrub all coming alive after the rare rainstorm.
Rackham starts digging.
The Deceiver kneels on the beach in prayer. His wounds close until only but a light bruising on the skin could be seen.
The Deceiver draws his rapier and places its point on the neck of the near-conscious pirate, "Don't make any sudden moves."
Ryor jions this grim task.
"Don't make any sudden moves."
"Don't kills me, Cordoba. I knows stuff."
Bohdan: Almost everyone has taken between 1 and 6 points of damage in the group. Maybe it's time to try out your postive-energy channeling (aka Turn Undead) and see how it goes.
"Don't make any sudden moves.""Don't kills me, Cordoba. I knows stuff."
"That is Mister Cordoba to you. And what stuff?"
"I knows a couple of his stashes... also his Qadiran and Nexian contacts. I can find them, I can."
"That is if we can get to them, right?"
"Well, just so. But I reckons Book's still kickin', too, and if I can finds them I can finds Book."