The ship
Bia Mah nods and begins to fall back towards the small intersection in the crate system. His hands are a blur as they weve the wepons in a defensive matrix designed to baffle Schorls attacks.
As they reach the intersection, Emallion steps left allowing her right hand enough room to swing her sabre. Milhar steps right and Bia Mah is left in teh centre, standing over the torn body of Sieu Dien.
Schorls twisted and raging form smashes through adn over teh crates in front of him, rushing towards the three people he can see in the glowing light of Milhars sword.
"Greeeattt Gooooods it hurrrrtsss soooo much!" he screams again as his clawed fists try to smash Bia-Mah into the ground. . The attack comes very close to the Tien's face but is deflected at the last moment by the cottor pin in his right hand.
A spasm of pain seems to writhe across Schorls body again and his body sems to swell some more, bulging in odd places.
The Beach
Bo Dan's renewed attacks are met with great success on the creature. Her wepon strikes repeatedly ito the hardened carapace and the creatures body falls apart where Vik's axe had started its deadly work. Even in death though, the evil thing lashes out in a thrashing display as its nerves fire in a death spasm.
The second creature bursts from the water and scrabbles along the coarse grained beach towards Algret. The distance is too great for it reach the priest and attack though. In response to this,Paera leaps from the rocks and drives her dagger into the creatures side. The smell of pungent meat and ichor washes over the half elf woman as the blade bites into flesh.
Vik shakes the last of the creatures gore from his body and turns ready to engage again.
DM
So how many attacks do I get to roll?
After the first beast falls, Vik turns his attention to Algret, the kids, and the second beast. Upon seeing this he rushes to the second beast and takes a big swing to hit 12+3=15 damage 2+3=5
Fort save (1d20+3=8) The venom from the dying creature enters Bo-dan's system quickly as she feels her arms and legs suddenly become heavier and harder to move, almost as if she were trying to fight underwater.
Bo-dan dashes to aid her companions in the fight against the final crab creature, attempting to flank it as she again thrusts with two rapid attacks (1d20+4=5, 1d20+4=13) (+2 flank not included) hoping to damage (1d4+4=6, 1d4+4=8) it enough to end the battle.
Algret takes a viscious swing at the flanked creature, her hammer smashing into it's bony carapace with a satisfying crunch.
Milhar cries out for the aid of the Source as he attacks. "Lady of Veils bless these swords with righteous strength."
Then both swords blur into action striking out for weak spots in the changing hide. One aims for under the arm and the other snakes out at a wrist.
Milhar
Hey Milhar, can I get you to check your attack modifiers for me again. I think you forgot to take into account the -2 for dual wielding in that attack run you just posted. I'm happy if they're right, I just couldn't get the numbers to work. Cheers
Edit : Just so you know, if the numbers are a little out, the crit confirm misses. If they're correct, the crit confirm is a hit and puts the big guy out of the fight :). Nice rolls hehe
Result of at least 15
Result of at least 22
The beach
Vik rushes across the sandy shoreline and brings his axe down into the clawed creature. The meaty thwak is followed by Bo Dans blistering attacks. The first swing misses but the follow up strike is hard and lethal. This one also spasms wildly in its death throws, lashing out at those nearby but missing everyone before finally settling down in death.
Behind the group, the children can be heard cheering wildly and chanting encouragment for everyone involved. As the beast dies, Kahir, the young boy shouts "That was amazing! You guys are great!". His enthusiasm is infectious and even little Sahba is laughing at the success of the fight.
The grins of the party are suddenly stilled as all of them catch sight of the totem sticking out of the sand near the jungles edge. It hadn't been there before the fight started.
The ship
Bia Mah swings wildly at the enraged thing that was Schorl, but both of his weapons are innefectual. .
Milhars blades whirl in a deadly dance of steel. Both wepons strike deeply into the mans body, slicing his forearm in a gout of blood and bone, and piercing the neck just above the meaty shoulder. The neck wound was clearly a killing blow but still Schorl stood and fought. Great arcs of blood spurted from the severed carrotid artery in his neck, but his movements seemed to be not affected at all.
Emallion tries to bring the beastial man down but his spraying blood catches her in the face, pushing her aim wide
Schorls own attacks on Bia Mah are also innefectual. His almost severed arm flails wildly about and again smashes a nearby crate. He tries to mouth more words at the group, but only a bloody froth bubbles from his lips.
Milhar exhorts Bia-ma to aim lower and take the creature down. "Come on Emallion, I have its attention. Bring it down."
He tries to weave and dance out of reach of that clawed hand.
Paera grinned back at the children, cheerfully replying, "We know!" and almost planting a foot victoriously upon the dead creature before she saw Bo's wound.
"Gods, Bo! It got you pretty good. You too," she nodded at Vik. She fished around in her belt for anything to cover their wounds, glancing at Algret in the hopes that she could provide healing for her ves'tacha and the barbarian. "How bad is i..." she began to ask before she noticed the strange totem.
"That wasn't there before." she stated, the wariness back in her voice.
Algret focuses relasing a burst of healing energy that travels up the sand and into those injured, the now familiar sparks and clanging of the forge slowly fading into the background.
"How bad are you hurt?", she looks at Vik, then at Bo Dan
The Ship
With Milhar calling for extra effort and trying to direct the mans attacks, Biah Mah finally lands two telling blows. The club swings in hard to crack against Schorl's raging face, cracking bone and splattering his nose messily against the rest of his face. It is the hunting knife that finishes the job though, coming up in a reverse thrust that drives it deep into the mans chest.
Schorl sucks in a last breath and screams terribly, clutching at the hilt of knife sticking from his chest. He drops to the floor, his chest heaving with desperate attempts to suck in breath through the ruinous wounds inflicted upon him. As his eyes start to glaze in death, his body shrinks in on itself, losing size and the twisted form it had taken on during his rage. Almost he is back to himself as death finally takes him, only the great tufts of hair are all that remain, sticking from his arms and shoulders in great spiky swathes.
Emallion suddenly sobs on the other side of the dead man, mostly in shock rather than fear as far as Milhar can tell. Bia Mah drops his cottor pin to the ground and finally drops to his knees next to the ruined body of Sieu Dien. He gently cradles her head in his hand and tears run freely down his face, though no sound escapes him.
From above decks, the cry of Captain Venn can clearly be heard. "Milhar, what news? Gods damnit man, are you alive down there?!"
Bo-dan smiles at her lovers antics in front of the children and answers her concerned question with "Do not worry dear heart,I am well.". As the Monk speaks she also nods her gratitude to the cleric for the healing energy.
When the group notices the totem, Bo-dan tells the children in a firm voice "Stay back young ones! Keep behind Algret." Looking to make sure they obey, the half-elf, senses (1d20+8=17) alert and weapons drawn, slowly begins to approach the carving, motioning for Paera to do so from the other side of it. She is careful also to look for any sort of tracks and half turning her head speaks mainly to the Vik as she says "Are either of you skilled at marking tracks or have any idea what this may be? If so, will you come up here and help us look?"
(+2 for sight & sound on perception checks)
Paera followed Bo's lead up to the totem, taking the other side and trying to keep her eyes open for trouble. Still, the strange appearance of the thing was enough to distract her from paying full attention.
"Don't look at me..." Paera said, quick to pass the responsibility of tracking to someone with actual experience. "Wonder if it just walked up to the beach to watch the fight?"
Milhar shares a moment of silence with the other two then speaks, "the creature is dead. You may want to see this, Captain."
Then quietly he adds to the Griffon rider and Tien, "my thanks for saving everyone. Do you know what happened to Schorl? Could it be something like an infection or is it part of his blood? Some kind of dark magic maybe..."
The healer checks Sien just to be sure she is dead and begins to cover her delicate corpse.
"Can you both check around for any clues to what happened here."
----
As and when the Captain arrives, Milhar shows him the two corpses, making no comment.
DM
The beach
The totem seems to be constructed from various animal bones. Small scraps of fur hang from a weathered piece of driftwood, the skulls of small sauropods and various aquatic species are also evident. No words or painting can be seen from it
Knowledge religion DC15
At the base of the totem, B0-Dan picks up a partial track of some small footed creature. The shape of the foot puts it as humanoid, but the soft sand at this level of the beach leaves an indistinct track. Whatever left the totem got in and planted it, then disapeared completely into teh jungle in under the 18 seconds or so it took for the group to kill the clawed creatures at the rock pools.
The ship
As Milhar checks over the body Sieu Dien he does notice something unusual about her wounds
Heal check
DC 10
The gashes in her legs and arms are from a sharp object trying to give the impression of tearing
DC 15
DC20
The amount of blood around teh area is purely from teh fact teh chest cavity is opened. The wounds in teh arms and legs show littel signs of blood, and the lividity of teh face indicates she was dead before the wounds were given to her.
DC25
A small puncture wound at the base of her neck is probably how she died. A small and sharp blade slipped between the upper verterbrae killed her almost immediately.
No matter what else though, the girl is very dead.
Neither Bia Mah nor Emallion know much about Schorl at all. Emallion suggests talking to the crew, after she composes herself.
"Besmardas tits, what a mess! Ah, hells be damned, did it get Schorl as well?" Captain Venn asks, moving up on the group and not fully realising what has happened. A small group of others have joined him.
The crowd have prevented Milhar from moving at the moment, but he feels confident he push his way through if needed.
Milhar shakes his head. "No, Sir. We killed Schorl after he attacked us. I have to tend to the wounded Tien, would you all mind letting me through? Thank you."
Knowledge Religion 1d20+4=21
"It's a warning"
Bo-Dan's inexpert study of the tracks is interrupted by Algret's grave announcement and the half-elf's eyes darken with concern as her brows furrow. She turns toward the dwarf to see if any more information is forthcoming. When none seems to be the monk then turns even more until she can see the ship and the faces made small by distance that wait on the forward group to declare the beach safe to land on. Her look lasts a long time and her face darkens even more.
Finally a long sigh escapes her and she turns back to face the others. A weight of decision and responsibility seems to settle on her shoulders and her face shows a mix or concern and determination as she says "While it seems clear we are not welcome here by...someone. (or 'something' she mutters under her breath) I do not see that we have much choice. If we are to stock up on enough supplies to let us reach the mainland alive we will need a place to prepare them. As well, I know that many on the ship need some time with their feet on dry land."
Pausing for a moment of thought she continues "I see our options as either, follow these tracks if we can and trying to perhaps negotiate some sort of truce with whatever made them. Or staying here to protect the beach while defenses are constructed as quickly as possible. What say the rest of you?" And her gaze passes to each of her companions, her worry and determination only seeming to increase as her look passes over the children.
Algret's eyes follow BoDan's and a thundercloud seems to cross her face.
"I love a good hunt as much as anyone else," she looks at Vik, "But this feels like a trap. Here we can set up a good defense."
She seems to almost zone out for a moment.
"We can defend this beach, if we enter, they have the advantage."
Vik takes his small handaxe out and cuts deep into one of the beasts. He takes small chunk of meat, sniffs it, takes a small bite to see if it is edible. Upon noticing the totem, and hearing Algrets comment of it being a warning, he looks around cautiosly. "I agree with Algret this beach is our territory, and defensable because of open space, and view. We must build some sort of defensive block around the perimiter of landing area. But we must be quick"
If meat is edible
"I will fetch the beasts for cooking. The meat is not bad, and if offers some immeadiate and much needed food. Then let us be quick about defenses"
With the decision made to hold and defend the beach, the group signals the first group of passengers to be ferried across. These are the stronger members of the ship, and have been tasked with helping build whatever defenses or gather whatever materials required.
The meat is certainly edible, and Vik rapidly carves whatever good met is available from the things. He also notes that a large quantity of fish are now trapped in the man made lagoon. Certainly the group would feed well tonight with the boon they had discovered here.
The beach is long and quite wide. The tide won't reach too far up so it is certainly possible to try and build some form of defense here. Building on sand is never easy though, evenstuff as volcanic and gritty in nature as this stuff.
When the first two long boats arrive the passengers quickly set out to collect drift wood and some of the larger rocks from the area. One of Chelaxian passengers was an engineer, returning home from working the wall defenses of Azaghur. By the time light is starting to fail he has directed the digging of a crude trench system held together by salvaged palm leaves and driftwood logging. A rough wall of maybe 4 feet is built on jungle side of the camp, offering further protection. Still, by end of day one your camp site is little more than a roughly defensible postion. Many of the passengers have been ferried across by now and a small area of tents rigged from spare sail canvas springs up almost bymagic. The smell of cooking fish and other sea food quickly fills the evening air as the sun begins to set on the western horizon.
Captain Venn may be many things, but his ability to get this group of people organised into such effcient work groups shows his talent in this area at least.
Back on board the ship, Milhar is allowed to push past the crowd and get to the Tienese woman. Apart from severe shock, she seems to be completely uninjured. He takes her to the infirmary and calms her with a small tisane, noting how this area had started to show signs of Sieu Dien's ways of working. Little things like the arrangement of the cups and chufa. Such a waste. The girls story is a little unclear in her fear addled state. Apprently she tried to get into the hold earlier in the day but it seemd to be blocked or barred from the inside. She was about to call for help when the door suddenly gave and she was able to enter. As she moved in, lookiing for crates of apples that had been asked to shift upstairs to feed the children, she had come across the body of Sieu Dien. As she stood staring in shock, a huge hairy creature had knoked her to the ground in its rush to get past her. She lost sight of it, having fallen into the bloody mess of the girls remains. It had taken her a moment or two to gather enough wits to flee back upstairs.
While his treatment of the girl starts, Milhar notes the ship is starting to empty of passengers as they begin to get ferried to shore. The Captain comes to see the healer "A bad business with Schorl. Some of the passengers are starting to talk about his fight with the big Ulfen and how he seems touched with blood of the Lycan. I've broken up gatherings as much as I can and got people busy.", he sighs suddenly. "I have to get across to shore at some stage to see what this area holds for us. Emallion, the griffon girl is staying. Milhar and two of his girls are below decks cleaning the bodies ready for burial. I've a crew working to bring the water barrels over, and of course the damn gnome won't leave his ship. Apart from that its just you and girl in here now. I have an uneasy feeling about this mess Milhar, take care over here.". With that, the man leaves to ride the last longboat back to shore.
"I agree", Paera nodded at the others' assessment. "This could just be a warning not to go any further...maybe..." She turned towards the jungle, peering into the green but not taking a step further in. She pointed at herself and at the others, then towards the beach emphatically, then towards the jungle and finally waving her hands negatively and shaking her head. She had no idea if anyone was watching, nor whether anyone would understand her meaning, nor if they would care, but she thought it couldn't hurt.
As the other passengers were brought to the beach, she made her way amongst them, warning any who would pay attention to stay on the beach and to keep their children away from the water.
Staring at the jungle line, Vik brings up a point of cutting a few trees down to provide wood for small walls, firewood, and small shelters, to the most knowledgeable prople in the party.
Bo-Dan offers to help guard any individuals that volunteer to enter the forrest to help collect supplies. She also makes sure to speak to the engineer and whoever else necessary to have people make enough torches out of whatever is available so that they can be spaced 10' apart around the defensive 'wall' and with enough replacements to burn all night.
Bo-Dan (Flashback)
Bo was moving nimbly across the yard arm of the mizzen mast, steppping across the mainstay lines and rolled loops of the sail canvas as she made her way to the working platform. Below her, two the passengers were talking intensely in the dimming light of the evening. To human eyes, they would probably be in deep shadow, but the half elf could still pick out some shadowy details. They looked to be both men, either Garundi or Kellish in nature. From this angle and height it was hard t tell. One man eventually chops his hand down into his palm, an agressive move that seems to make the other stop his arguing. The second man hands over a package, a type of wooly planket or fur, dark brown in colour. It looks to be quite large and probably comes from a bear or similar creature. The two men part company there, but not before they check to see if they aren't spotted. The nimble monk smiles at their failure to look up. Obviously they were land folk, probably from the plains. No one looked up for danger unless thay lived in treed areas or in cave systems. This always made teh monk smile.
** Paera is happily fishing with some of the other womenfolk. Her little handline drags pleasently agains her fingers as she holds it against the pull of the tide ebbing from the fish trap. Beside her, two young kellish boys are trying their hands at angling as well, their eyes are alight with joy as they poke at the fish they've already caught, and then stick its of meat from teh crab creatures onto the hooks they have. One of tehm turns to the young half elf, his face blushing a little as he asks "Excuse me miss, but why are your ears so differnt to ours? My Kieffu (mother) says you might have a touch of the Iffreeati in you, but I don't think the sand devils could be so pretty". He blushes on the last part and his friend nudges him in the ribs.
The young rogue is about to answer him when she catches sight of something at the bottom of the tide pool, now the waters have nearly fully receeded.
** Vik paces back and forwards along the makeshift defenses,looking at their fairly simplistic design and worrying they'll not be enough. He'd asked for some assitance in going to the jungle and cutting some of the trees down to better reinforce the wall, but so far none had responded. He looked up at the shadowy menace that the wall of vegetation presented, seemingly unconcerned with the totemic wrning jutting out of teh sand there. Supersticious fears would serve no one if the walls couldn't help them hold back the ones who had shoved the thing in sand. He snarled and paced again, noticing as he did so a small group of people coming towards him, one fo whom was Captain Venn. Some of them looked decidedly unhappy, Venn looked tired and vexed. The hackles on Viks neck rose, as if i response to danger.
Milhar stays onboard and tries to spend a couple of hours gently coaxing a few of the sailors to let on about the movements into and out of the cargo hold earlier.
Never one to be aggressive, the ex-servant will not press anyone but instead look for willing talkers and try to learn what facts he can.
If anyone of the party does come onboard, Milhar intends to explain in some detail the attack and the dangers it has thrown up. Especially where Vik is concerned.
Looks like Vik will try to chop the trees down himself.
Paera
Wrath
Paera wore a mischievous smirk, ready to play upon the boy's apparent ignorance of her heritage by claiming his mother was more right than she knew. But when something caught her eye the thought completely slipped her mind. She forgot fishing for the moment and stepped closer to get a better look, diving under the water if she had to.
The Ship
Milhar goes quietly about his business, moving about the ship as nobtrusibely as possible. Occasionally he stops to speak to the crew still aboard as they work at their tasks.
Many of them are jumpy, the presence of the two mangled bodies downstairs and the strange warping of Schorl having them constantly make the sign of protection when they pass the hold.
It is only the young boy "spider" who stops to tell Milhar anything of interest. He recalls seeing one fo the darker skinned passengers going into the hold about an hour before the trouble started. He remembered it was unusual because the man was carrying a large bundle of furs downstairs where everyone else seemed to have been taking stuff out of the hold all day. The boy was pretty sure he was a Gharundi.
Bia Mah was sombre and downcast when the sorceror approched him again. He explained that no one had come near the bodies, though he had to turn away one of the large Gharund's earlier. The man wanted something from near the bodies but the three Tienese that were preparing Sieu Dien for the proper burial rights had been adamant he couldn't disturb the place lest he trap the spirits of the dead between the realms.
"He is an angry man that one. The same one as first accused you of cowardly murder back in Azaghur. He was none too happy we turned him away I can tell you."
The Beach
**Paera ducks her head briefly below the waters and her fingers catach around the object she had seen earlier. When she pulls it from teh entrapping sand and seawee, she is quite disgusted to find it is a skull, probably human by the looks of things.
Disturbing the skull has also revealed more of what appears to be a skeleton in the waters near the fish trap.
**Vik stands tall as the delegation of peopl finally reach him. Captain Venn steps forward, looking less than pleased but quite determined. Vik, something quite disturbing has hapened back on teh ship. It involves you somehow and I'd like for you to return to the vessel with these gentlemen behind me so we can sort it out. I'll join you all shortly once I've made sure the camp is secure for the evening. We need to get this sorted quickly, becasue I'm expecting a visit from teh damnabel water breathers once that sun sets fully.". He looks at Vik, fully expecting the big man to just comply with his wishes.
Bo-Dan
While the angle and the lighting was pretty bad, you do think you'd be able to spot the two again if you got close enough. The one who took the furs in particulat had cruious manner about him. Something twitchy in the way he moved.
**Algret
During the day, the young priestess was busy helping with teh defenses. Khair was like a shadow to the dwarf wherever she went. The little girl had now changed teh doll she carried almost completely. TO all intents and purposes the thing resembled a dwarven woman, though the proprtions were all wrong. The girl often found a way to hold onto Algrets leg, or sneak her fingers into her hand as teh day went, and she made sure to sit next to the priestess when the workgroup broke for lunch. She hadn't spoken much after the fight with teh clawed things, but she didn't seem as scared as when she was on teh ship.
Khair in the mean time had formed a group of friends adn they were busily building sand effigies fo teh clawed creatures and re enacting teh groups slaughter of the things. To Algrets amusement, the young boy had tried to dress himself up like Vik, rubbing dark earth onto his face and arms to mimik viks hair patterns. All of them were wielding bits of sticks as weapons. As Algret watches them play, she notices teh group of people walking up to her big friend. They wren't looking happy.
Suddenly little Sahba's hand was in hers again. "What do the grey skinned people from the jungle want?" she asks, looking into the foliage nearby. With a chill, the dwarf looks in that direction but all she can see is a few broad leaves moving restlessly, as if recently disturbed.
"They don't like us being here sweetie. They are cruel, and want to hurt anyone who goes into the jungle. "
As she speaks, Algret holds her hand walking in a direction to get subtly closer to where the men approach Vik.
She pauses for a second as the words register."Wait, grey skinned? Not the shell monsters from before? Where do you see them little one?"
Algret tries to maintain a calm conversational tone as she looks around.
When Milhar finds that Venn has left the ship and matters are coming to a head, he stops acting gently.
Milhar tells Spider to find and keep a distant eye on the Garund. Under no circumstances is he to be noticed. Then when he speaks to Bia-Mah, he fills in the Tien on what the Captain is doing and how wrong he is, even showing the evidence on Sien.
Then the sorcerer finds Emallion and gets her to come to the bodies, as an extra guard. Again explaining the damning evidence. Then the plan is hatched.
Milhar passes word out to Spider and one or two others that there is a rumour that Sien was murdered with a sword, not a beast. The evidence is on the body and the body is in the infirmary. And Milhar is going to show it to the Captain when he arrives back. Finally Spider must bring the Captain to the infirmary as soon as he embarks. If Spider is a divvie then Milhar speaks to one of the sensible crew members instead.
Both of the guardians, Bia-Mah and Emallion, must hide near to the infirmary and wait. Near enough to hear Milhar's shout.
After Milhar waits for Vik and the Captain to return.
Bo-dan continues to try and keep a sharp look-out (1d20+8=10) on the jungle and all those is the camp.
Paera surfaced and drew a deep breath after nearly losing what little she had left underwater. She was still holding the skull in her hands, but kept it away from her body. "Gods!" she coughed. "There's a skeleton down there!" She pushed the skull into the hands of the boy that had been talking to her, and without making certain that it stayed in his hands she dived back beneath the water to examine the rest of the skeleton, wiping the sand away as much as she could.
How long has this fellow been here? she wondered. It was sheer curiosity that had her looking more closely more than anything else, though she told herself that it was to find out the cause of this person's death, for the sake of the refugees, and she kept an eye out for any valuables on the side.
The next time she surfaced to catch her breath, she told both of the boys, "Hey, can you go get someone for me?! There's another "half-Iffreeati" like me with white hair, a dwarven priestess, and a big hairy Ulfen guy! Tell 'em what we found!" She then dove under again.
Listening to the captain's words and noticing the group behind them Vik just shakes his head. What is this about? Fine, I will do as you wish, just make sure the defenses are in place. Vik stands up fully stretching out, making his large form look even larger, and heads back to the ship.
The Ship
Milhar stands quietly in the infirmary, awaiting the arrival of a man who has hated him since the day they first embarked upon this ship. His hands are swating, though he feels calm internally.
The door to the room opens and Bia-Mah enters quickly, moving up to the healer with something in his hands. When he gets closer, Milhar recognises it as the same hair that was growing over Schorls body, only this seemd different somehow.It had come off in entire pathces rather than pulled out in strands. The Tien spoke "When we were preparing the bodies, the ladies found that Schorls hair just came off as they scrubbed him for the passing. It has been glued to him. I also checked the hold after you spoke to me and found this." He holds out an empty vial, the same one that they had found on the Goblin chief that had raided the ship. It smelt strongly of alchemical substances, the reek of strong magic. Milhar remembered then the enraged power the goblin captain seemed to have, and remembered too Schorls seemingly uncontrolled anger.
Bia-Mah turns, as if to return to his hiding spot when the door is again opened. Spider walks through the door, his movements seemingly strange and a little jerky. He staggers suddenly, and both men can see the dagger sticking from his back. "I...I...I can't reach it" he says before falling face fist onto the floor. Just beyond the doorway a shadowy figure stands, a large sword in his hands.
The Beach
**Bo-Dan is walking towards his beloved as she fishes in the man made lagoon not far from the campsite. The small platter of food she carries is sill warm from the cook fires one of the Khellish women had started. As she moves, it seems as if an entire series fo events happens at once.
**Paera brushes silt and sand from the body. She finds it to be mostly intact, despite the deprivations of time. While no medic, it is clear the man died when some of his vertebrae near the neck were crushed. The bones there seem crcked and damaged while the rest is in order.
As she looks at these, she sees something shiny in the sand. Pulling it from the ground she surfaces again. Clutched in her hand seems to be a torc manufactured from gold. Crudely carved symbols and designs are carved onto it, but not like magic. They are more like some form of language. Next to symbols, a little map has also been carved. Her eyes are drawn away from the glint of gold when she sees two of the men who've been helping her fish approaching her. They have knives drawn and look grim faced.
*** Algret stares into the forests, her dwarven eyesight slowly picking out detail in the darkening light. At first they can't be seen, but then the shapes of maybe a dozen humanoids can be seen just beyond the edge of the forest. They almost blend completely with the surrounding foliage. They all seem armed with spears and bone clubs but are'nt looking threatening at this stage.
She turns to call a warning to the others when she catches the glint of coloured light coming from the ship. Two red lanterns have been lit midway along the decks of the ship. They swing lazily as the ship rides the bobbing waters of the lagon. For some reason the dwarven cleric gets a chill of foreboding at this sign.
****As Vik moves towards teh beached longboats, he notices how tense many of the men near him are. They're a mixture of Kellish and Gharundi mostly, and many of them seem to be on the heavier side. The trained warrior in him also notices the weapons they're all carrying. Captain Venn speaks suddenly "Who in the nine hells lit those lanterns. I left instructions to keep the ship dark in case any Varisian reavers came by. I'll flay the man responsible for that!"
Even as he finishes his statemnt, the sound of wepons being drawn fills the air. Vik sighs, he knew this was coming.
Initiative 1d20=17
Algret explodes into action her left hand whipping forth to unleash a dart of acid that streaks towards one of the three men approaching Vik.
She draws her hammer from her belt in a fluid motion, preparing her body to charge.
"Behind me little ones! Stay next to each other and get to the shleters!"
Seeing two men with weapons threatening her beloved, Bo-dan drops her plate and begins to run towards them. She spares a moment to look towards the confrontation surrounding Vic and as Algret is already backing him up and she's assuming the Captain is on her allies side as well she rapidly concludes that they should be able to hold their own for now.
And she runs Bo-Dan loads a bullet in her sling and fires (1d20+3=22, 1d4+4=6) it at one of the men threatening Paera, aiming at his head and trying to knock the attacker unconscious.
Vik sees the attackers and snarls as he goes for his axe.
Vik is furious at the attempted ambush and swings at the nearest foe
Paera clutched the torc as she surfaced again. She was troubled by the implications of the skeleton's state, but this threw her mind off track for a moment. Until she looked up at least.
"Uh...guys?" Oh hell! What's going on? Something I said? Mutiny after all, what?! She was about to dive underneath the waves again when she saw the stone Bo-Dan threw strike one of her attackers. Oh thank Desna for you, Ves'tacha! She lunged forward as quickly as she could in the water, drawing her rapier and attempting to strike the other man's face with the hilt with the same motion.
Subdual Melee Attack: 18 (with the -4 penalty added in already)
Damage: 3
edit-I forgot Initiative too: 24