Durova again fires an fiery elemental ray at the triton.
Ranged Touch attack
Damage
Content with his work thus far, the ogre walks away from the gory mess that was once the triton and moves across the deck towards the last triton.
The crew prepare to engage the triton leader, swords at the ready. Captain Odenkirk calls out an order in his foreign tongue and the crew relent. Odenkirk watches the battle with interest, his arms folded.
Badly injured from multiple attacks, the triton is clearly being worn down.
The trition is troubled that his magic had failed to protect him. He ignores Anton's illusion and casts a spell at Dane, identifying him as the most prominent threat.
Seeing the remain dolphin swim away, instead of chasing Sion swims down to the drowning sailor and hauls him back up toward the ship.
Sion dives under the water and grabs the drowning sailor. With some effort, he pulls the man to the water's surface.
Dane's face flickers with confusion beneath his helmet for a moment, before his face freezes entirely in an expression of rage as his muscles seize and clench while he fights the spell with all his might, yet fails. As his legs cease compensating for the constant flow and sway of the boat beneath him, Dane tips over and lands upon the deck with a crash.
Mordesel attacks the creature again, trying to strike with his staff.
Mordesel's staff virtually shatters the triton's shell armour, the blow forcing the creature backwards. Holding himself up weakly on the side of the ship and coughing up blood, he has little fight left in him.
Pointing a finger at Mordesel, he speaks these words in gurgled common.
"The shining sun has seen the wickedness you hide in hearts. And thus it will be the son who brings your doom.”
Consciousness abandons him and he falls forward, impaling himself on his own trident. He is dead.
The last of your foes has been vanquished.
After making sure the sailor he tried to 'help' is dead Sion climbs back on board with the body. His armour was full of sea water, he would have to get that clean soon. The water was cold too. "Tried to save him from drowning but he was too far gone." He lays the man on the deck, obviously his lungs are full of water and his heart has stopped. "We killed them all. Except for one dolphin. I don't think we have to worry about these things anymore."
Captain Odenkirk, panting from the exertion of battle and bleeding from several wounds, gives you all an approving nod and a satisfied grin. Sion's arrival hardens him for a moment though, seeing the dead sailor.
With nothing more than a glance, the crew quickly realise that there is nothing to be done. They fall silent, grim at the sight of their dead comrade. After a moment Odenkirk breaks the silence.
"Ya did your best, drow. Yalik will be missed, but vengeance is ours nevertheless."
He turns to his crew and yells something in Skald. The crew lose almost all of their sadness as they begin eagerly looting the body. Several gold pieces and a few minor items are shared out amongst themselves.
Odenkirk grins at you again.
"Waste not."
The bodies of the tritons are quickly looted as well. Odenkirk mutters that the leader's possessions are yours by right. He claims the equipment of two of the normal tritons (one for himself, the other for his crews efforts) but the remaining two tritons he hands over to you.
The lesser tritons had a masterwork trident, a non-magical heavy crossbow and 10 bolts each
Soon afterwards the body is 'ceremoniously' dumped into the ocean. The crew do little aside from sing a sea shanty as they do so.
Dane scrabbles to his feet quickly as soon as the spell breaks, and looks about the deck for any sign of further conflict. Once he finds none, he relaxes and sneers at the body. "Wretched fool, should have stayed in your pond."
Durova peeks his head out of the hold, still not daring to venture forth. "Nice job, group. Wonder what that triton's problem was? And what did he mean by "the son will bring your doom?" Any of you have young'uns running around we need to know about?"
Dane shakes his head as he still seems to be trying to clear the fog from his head, and begins heading below deck. "Not that I'm aware of, at least."
Mordesel suddenly looks frail and lame again, leaning on his staff. His lips turn down in disgust. No, something to bear in mind, but I suspect he's just trying to scare us.
Anton waves away his image, "Was it son or sun? In any case, methinks he was a seer of sorts. There was something about how we, the deveivers, bring lies and darkness to the 'pure' ocean. He said it was as he had seen and that they needed to destroy us before we bring darkness to the world... So he got that part right I suppose. Can't hurt to keep our eyes open for a 'son' down the road."
The day and night pass uneventfully after the triton's failed assault. The next day you are approach the land-mass known as 'Seal Island'.
Heavy cloud cover block out most of the discomforting sunlight.
It is mid-afternoon when Captain Odenkirk rouses you. He looks in better shape, but still has a few wounds from the previous battle. He pays them no mind, however.
“We are a little light on fresh water I think. We are passing Seal Isle and there is a stream that feeds into the bay there. We’ll take on water there. I’ll send a party to the shore. Of course, that means we’ll spend a day in some of the richest fur seal hunting grounds all along this coast. I’m thinking of organizing a hunting expedition.
Interested?”
Sion spends time after the fight cleaning and drying his armour, making sure that the sea will not damage the metal.
"Count me in. No way I'm staying on this boat if I don't have to."
Dane declines. "I've still got a wound that needs rest. I'll leave the hunting to you boys."
"This isn't exactly our mission, you know. Master Thorn will not tolerate any delays," the cleric whispers to the remainder of his group.
Mordesel frowns. I agree. Is this strictly necessary? Stopping for a full day seems excessive.
Captain Odenkirk smirks at Dane, subtly indicating his own injuries .
"Suit yourself. We'll be weighing anchor near the island anyway so you may as well stretch your legs on land. Wouldn't want you getting sea sick now, would we?"
Odenkirk didn't hear Durova's whisperings so glowers at Mordesel instead, the captain's smirk quickly changes to a grimace.
“This is my boat! I’m the captain! I say we need water so we get it! Now are you coming on the expedition or not?”
Anton frowns, keeps his displeasure to himself. Yes. You are captain... for now... "I'm afraid my skills do not extend to seal hunting. Enjoy yourself, Captain."
Mordesel frowns. Then he nods, slowly. Yes you are. He pauses momentarily, Then I'll go along with. Under the cover of gathering his things he whispers to Dane and Anton, I intend to keep a closer watch on our Captain. I suggest you keep an eye on those who start behind.
Durova waits on the ship, not wanting to be punished when the Master hears about the detour.
It takes half a day to find a good spot to weigh anchor, but at least its a sheltered cove only a stone's throw away from land. Odenkirk seems a little disappointed that so few of you are coming but remains silent.
After lowering one of the row boats, he and three of his men board and prepare to set off. Sion and Mordesel join him.
Upon reaching the shoreline Odenkirk barks orders to two of his men. They set off across the island.
Odenkirk turns to Sion and Mordesel, grinning greedily.
"They can take care of getting the water, now let's focus on grabbing a few nice pelts."
"Let's go. I have some skill in hunting. Usually it's humans." he smiles back at the Captain.
Mordesel looks askance as two of the sailor's wander off, but joins the captain in "Seal hunting" so as to keep a better eye on him.
By the end of the day, the hunting was a modest success. You catch and kill two seals, bringing them back to the island to be skinned.
Once you return, you see that the two crewmen left on the isle had set up a small camp. They quickly begin skinning the dead seals, Odenkirk begrudgingly giving you one of them.
"That'll fetch a fair price at any Talingarde market. I hear the going rate is about 50gp a pelt. Not a bad hunt, but I'm sure we can do better tomorrow."
The captain says with a greedy smile.
"How long do you intend to be out here? You are being paid alot more to take us north. How much can a few pelts be worth compared to that?" Sion rests in the camp, taking his share of the watch.
"Relax. These animals won't hang about forever. In a couple of days they'll abandon the island, then we'll be on our way. Thorn will be none the wiser."
He grins.
"Still, if those friends of yours would get down here to help us out, we could use the second boat and get a better catch."
Mordesel begins to take a drink, but stops, coughing and choking. A couple days! We should not delay. As I said earlier, our job is to ensure the goods get to where they need to be. Mordesel stands, looking down at the captain. His voice softens, I would hate to have to tell Thorn about this delay. However, I believe I have 150gp as well as this pelt to offer. I will give them to you if we continue our journey without delay--payable when we take leave of one-another, to ensure no more delays.
Odenkirk strokes his chin thoughtfully.
"Eager to set off, are we? Oh very well. I suppose two seal pelts is better than nothing."
He takes the money too. He barks orders to the crew and they quickly take down the camp.
Within two hours you are back on board the ship and continuing north.
Slight delay or not, Sion did not care too much. Bad wind or weather could slow them down too. He figured Thorn had left room for slight delays in the schedule. Sion was just glad to spend some time off the ship. Especially now that he didn't have another potion left to keep him afloat. The sooner we are done with this ship the better. Hopefully not too far to go now...
Anton continues his charming of the crew, maintaining the friendships he has created. He mutters a spell and whispers off messages to other members of the Knot at times when they are out of earshot.
"I think I may be making inroads with the crew. When the time comes, let's see if we can't get them to handle the brunt of the work, before trying to cut them all down."
After catching a good wind, the ship continues north making good time. The gloom of morning has passed, making the conditions uncomfortable Just after noon, you see a small group of small boats heading south. Closer inspection reveals this group to be three one-man kayaks and a larger open seal-skin canoe (called an umiak) with four men rowing. They are clearly not Talirean.
"Huh. Yutaks. It's pretty rare for those savages to travel this far south. They're no friends of Talingarde."
Odenkirk mutters.
A figure on one of the boats calls out in broken common. It seems they have items to trade and are (clumsily) requesting to come aboard.
Durova was still in the hold as he heard the commotion. "If they are traders, bring them abroad. If they are tricky, we can deal with them."
"Well let's see what they got."
Mordesel nods, It may be worth our while.
Soon, the boats ties themselves to the side of the Frosthamar and climb aboard. In total, five Yutak hunters stand before you (with two others on the boats).
One of them steps forward, identifying himself as the leader. Fair skinned and dark haired, he wears hide armour and a longspear is strapped to his back. He bows. He speaks broken common.
"I am White Tusk. Hunt leader."
He then indicates the middle-aged man next to him. The more elderly individual is tattooed with curious iconography but is also armoured like his younger companion.
"This Joseph Calls-Fire-From-Water. Medicine man."
Joseph nods silently, his face stern.
"We bring ivory to the Talingards for trade. You have goods for trade?"
Odenkirk grins, seeing White Tusk as an easy mark.
"Of course. I am Captain Odenkirk. We can provide gold for your ivory, but ivory isn't worth much so I can't offer you much."
White Tusk stares at Odenkirk, unimpressed by the greedy captain.
"Not want gold. Gold useless. Need iron and steel for spear heads. Want food and supplies. Want..."
He notices Anton and looks him up and down. He looks mildly impressed.
"Clothes from the south. Great clothes."
Odenkirk suppresses a snarl as White Tusk indicates his followers to retrieve something from their boats. The three lesser followers show off a collection of less-impressive walrus tusks while Joseph takes an impressive looking narwhal horn in hand.
Mordesel inspects the narwhal horn, he holds out a hand indicating the horn, May I? If the man allows, he inspects it further, then hands it back. And how much iron do you want for this? he asks, again indicating the narwhal horn.
Each of you inspect the horn with interest. Mordesel believes the horn is worth 2000gp while Anton is convinced that it can't be worth less than 2200gp. Durova is unsure but finally agrees with Mordesel while Sion doubts it could be worth more than 1750gp. Dane is uncertain.
White Tusk considers Mordesel for a moment.
"Depends on your iron. Iron filled with the power of the magic worth much to my tribe."
He seems to understand that the horn is worth a great deal.
"We do have a few items that may interest you," he begins. "For example we have crossbows that can be used under the surface of the water. They do not shoot nearly as far as through the air, but they remain effective. Of course, they are of wood, so their magic may not be as interesting to you." Anton smiles. "We do, however, have four weapons of iron. Tridents. One of which is indeed filled with the power of magic. What would you offer for such things?"
Sion pulls Anton aside for a second, "I hope you aren't planning on giving them fair value here. They are primitives trying to copy the Talinguardians. I say give them the crossbows and a set of fine clothes for what they have got."
Mordesel follows along with Sion and Anton. Mordesel shakes his head, his face a mask of horror, and starts off softly, his words incongruous with his face, We have already offered, but there is a way to get more for what we've offered. His voice starts to grow loud. Loud enough to be overheard across the ship, But Master! You know as well as I do, that the magical trident alone is worth more than all that they have shown so far! You can't believe that they have that much more on their boats! Mordesel stops for a moment, acting as if he's listening to Anton. Then he nods, and returns to the bargaining table to hear their answer.
Dane, seeing everyone begin to huddle around, joins in. Seeing Mordesel's plan, he grunts in agreement and nods to the exclamation.
Aid another Bluff
Durova tries to follow Dane's lead, hoping that the savages would be lured into a one sided deal without realizing it.
Joseph raises an eyebrow, curious but not convinced. It seems he understands the common tongue also.
White Tusk overhears the conversation, easily fooled. He begins to speak.
"Trident? Magic? We have much! We can pay..."
The young chief then notices Joseph gently raise his hand, a clear indication of caution. White Tusk hesitates for a moment before continuing.
"... We can pay much if weapon is as good as you say."
Assuming you show him the +1 Trident, Joseph casts detect magic ( ) on it, nodding his agreement with White Tusk.
White Tusk indicates the narwhal horn.
"The horn is yours. As well as..."
He says something to one of the lesser hunters, who gently places a few modest pieces of ivory on the deck. After some discussion amongst yourselves, you come to the conclusion that the ivory is worth about 200gp.
For the two standard tridents, he nods politely, not especially impressed. He offers a total of 50gp in ivory for them both. Upon hearing the offer, Odenkirk quickly sells off his two tridents for the same deal.
The crossbows interest White Tusk, but more for the technology and novelty than usage. Joseph seems disdainful about them.
"If not fire as far through air, it not help much. Yutaks do not fight in the icy water."
White Tusk nods his agreement with the elder, but still wants the weapons. He offers 100gp worth of ivory per crossbow (although he's canny enough to insist that the bolts are included). Once again, Odenkirk sells off his two crossbows.
"We have deal?"