Nerak studies the creature quickly but thoroughly. Seemed his suspicions were well founded but that was not important now, he was not one to push his luck. Whispering through the spell to Lys.
"I know what it is, lock up and lets go. I rather tell everyone at once."
"Woah! That's a big beastie!", she whispers excitedly as she sees the animal. "Alright, then, General.", she says, locking the door after her, and departing.
"Well I suppose it is kind of like a gorilla.", she says after arriving back with the others. "But Nerak seems to know a bit more about it. And it has 4 arms.", she says excitedly.
Once the others are gathered and no one is around to overhear. Lorn keeps watch as he whispers what he knows of the beast to the others.
"Very much not a gorilla. Far more dangerous and fully capable of killing anyone on board with little effort. Now that we know, we should stay on guard and stay away should it get loose. Only as a group can it be handled."
It did not take much for him to imagine the beast getting free and some of his more headstrong comrades running right for it without any reinforcements. The girallon would no doubt rip said comrade to pieces in moments.
River Journey – Day 1
Bloodtusk’s keelboat weighs anchor and sets off on the river journey first thing in the morning. Captain Bloodtusk makes it abundantly clear on the first day that you are not idle tourists; Halgra negotiated working passage for you, and you must make yourselves useful while aboard. Bloodtusk expects everyone to help row the riverboat as well as perform other duties.
Rowing: You spend 5 hours rowing the keelboat in the rowing banks.
Cooking: You can assist the boat’s cook, Gashnakh, in preparing meals and cleaning, stocking, and maintaining the galley.
Fishing: You can help haul in the day’s catch to feed the crew.
Lookout: You can watch for hazards from the crow’s nest atop the mast.
Sounding: Helping the keelboat’s pilot avoid the shallows along the riverbeds
Stable Mucking: Maintaining the horses and stable
Arlan tries to contribute with his rowing but he doesn't want to exert himself, trying to not expend all of his energy.
After his shift he climbs up into the crow's nest to look for danger.
Wulfrum didn't see much of a point in really helping out on the ship. He wasn't too eager to help out and so he took a chair and chose the job that would have him doing what he would likely have already been doing. He angled the chair so that he could see and just put his hands behind head and stared off into the lapping water.
Varin arose with the crew and took a step out on deck, stretching slowly, arching his aching back and looseing his muscles with a loud pop. He quivered in his boots every time he glanced towards the sides of the ship, but his stomach had stopped flipping, so that was good. When it came time to decide jobs, Varin took a seat at the oars between Arlan and Wulfrum.
"Let's get this b%+%+ moving shall we?
Lys decides to go to the stables and take care of the horses. On the way there, she looks at Arlan climbing the mast with questionable success, and sits there looking at him. Is he showing off, or is he just that bad?, she thinks, before grinning as his mug appears from the crow's nest.
"HEY! ARLAN!", she shouts, making sure the half-elf has heard her. "PUT AN APPLE ON YOUR HEAD!" The massive crossbow is starting to raise as the tiny human's grin widens. "C'MON, IT'D BE FUN!"
Seeing the orcs around her share questionable looks at her, she grins. "Би тоглож байна , гэхдээ тэр нь мэдэх хэрэгтэй байна."
"I'm joking, but he doesn't need to know that."
Venturing into the stables, she pats her horse on the head. "Hey, Bum. I'm appointing you as Acting High Equine Councillor of this here stables. Your job will be to give judgemental looks at other horses and animals, while doing few to no actual work. At ease.", she informs the horse, picking up a broom.
Making short job of the work, she sits on an turned over bucket and bites into an apple, thumping a happy tune with her boots.
Nerak despised rowing, simply because he was ulfen did not mean he was strong. Perhaps if he melted his paddle they would figure out he was a mage not some northern barbarian if everything else about him did not make that apparent. He thought his lack of large muscles and slender frame were a dead give away.
Apparently where his more physical inclined comrades failed he did not as expected. He wondered if their was some sort of magic at work, then again he reminded himself the ship was far from advanced and bad luck did happen no matter how well one planned.
When his shift was done he thought he would head to his claimed sleeping location. Casting a spell to make sure he did not break his neck in the attempt he began to climb.
After nearly tripping on solid ground in the first attempt he made it in the second. But failed to progress only to make it more then half way when his muscles failed him, after a few moments of trial and keeping from plunging to a very painful fall he finally made it to the top. Where Lorn waited and waved his rocky arms in the air in celebration at his arrival.
Catching his breath he scanned the area for any danger with Lorn on his shoulder. He was tempted to tell the captain to have the girallon do some of the rowing, but good sense and judgement kept that a pure fantasy.
Lys goes down to row after finishing with the stables, and starts to work. She flashes a smile to the half-orc next to her as she all but lets him do the work. "Heh. Sorry!"
"HEY! ARLAN!", she shouts, making sure the half-elf has heard her. "PUT AN APPLE ON YOUR HEAD!" The massive crossbow is starting to raise as the tiny human's grin widens. "C'MON, IT'D BE FUN!"
Arlan reaches a hand down to haul Nerak up into the crow's nest with him. Good to see you're still alive. I guess the captain hasn't found out yet that you were spying on his ape. Good to know. Hey, mind if I borrow Lorn for a second?
Without waiting for an answer, he grabs the rock-creature and balances it on his head, shouting back down to Lys.
Hey Lys, will this do? He smiles his stained grin, laughing while trying to keep his balance, but the cramped quarters and unsteady height of the crow's nest throws him off.
Lorn suddenly tenses up and a large cloud of dust now covers Arlan's head. The familiar already flying out of reach. Nerak looks down at Lys.
"Lorn seems to disagree with both of you."
Beltzer rows as much as he can though doesn't help all that much and tires himself out by the end of it.
Otheewise Beltzer isn't able to do much for the crew outside but he could deal with animals. That he understood. Beltzer never really helped out on boats just payed for their service so this is a new one on him. He spent the first day tending to the horses.
River Journey – Day 1 afternoon
The only full-blooded orc on Bloodtusk’s crew, Coxswain Halrex directs the crew in its day-to-day duties, particularly the rowers propelling the boat. Halrex is strict and gets every last ounce of effort out of those she directs. The Coxswain wants a good start for the trip so assigns you all to row in the afternoon.
Therefore, you are all not fatigued when this happened and are going about your second job assignments before lunch.
When the day’s first catch gets hoisted up on the deck, the deck rail breaks plunging Oorug, one of the boat’s crew members, into the river.
hoping to find an easy meal of discarded fish parts. They head straight for Oorug.
I'll try to get a map up
Lys jumps to her feet and sprints outside swiftly, grabbing a rope from the stables.
Once on deck, she quickly sees the broken railing, and starts making her way towards it. "Bel, get The Messenger! We're croc hunting!", she says, starting to coil the rope in preparation to throw it.
"Where have you kept it?" Beltzer asks before he begins to run to go pick it up. While he does he links up with Elize. "There's crocs in the water? That might be an issue. Hopefully they aren't that aggressive."
"Two crocodiles in the water after Oorug!"
He yells as he see's the reptiles close, calling a spell to mind he sends a pair of glowing darts to land on each of the animals.
Drawing his crossbow afterwards. Hopefully the pain would startle the beast away from their intended prey.
Wulfrum ran towards one of the spare nets and began to gather it up. "Oi, boys...Get ready, we're having croc for dinner. I know a good recipe!!!"
Varin, dressed in his on-deck attire (a shirt and pants, with no armor), grits his teeth and steels himself, as he follows Wulfrum towards the Nets, intending to aid the man.
Round 1
After being pelted with magic missiles, the crocs submerge.
Turn 1
Arlan jumps off the crow's nest and lands surprisingly light on his feet.
He runs to rail and draws his spear as he moves.
Turn 2
Arlan holds the spear out to the endangered crew member. Grab hold and I'll pull you in!
Beltzer having over shot jogs back into the stables and picks up the crossbow which is likely resting on a wall somewhere. Picks it up and continues back out to where Lys can see him if she wants to grab it off him.
Wulfrum swings the next and attempts to cast it out where the crocs were surrounding the poor sod.
Lys nods, grabbing the crossbow in her left hand. "Hold on, we're getting you out of here! Arlan, get the beasties!"
The rope lands next to the sailor as she starts tugging, passing an end to Wulfrum. "Gimme a hand, would you?"
Lys starts straining as she puts her back into pulling the rope, with the assistance of others. She starts shouting at the scaled menace. "You better f~@! off, or I'm getting a new pair of boots!"
Nerak takes aim and prepares to fire upon the crocodiles should they resurface.
"I'll cover you guys. The reptiles may show up so watch out."
Varin bellowed loudly and began to beat on the side of the ship, trying to draw the crocodiles in closer as he drew his longsword from his belt and readied himself to slash out at one of the beasts when they came in close.
Round 2
Oorug starts swimming to the ship. Then, he stops fending off the crocodiles that are biting his legs. One croc latches on a leg. Oorug eyes grow as big as plates.
miss
hit
Wulfrum curses a bit and sets up another net "Oi, Lass you gotta be better at this then me, wrangle me up a croc, a half-orc, or all of em if yah can." he said setting up the net for her to toss.
"Don't think that'll help, Wulfy, just get him out of the damn reptile!", Lys shouts, raising her crossbow at the grappling crocodile.
The two bolts dig deep into the crocodile's hide, blood starting to pour into the water.
Oorung is thrashing about trying to tread water and to kick the crocs off him.
Beltzer walks closer towards the group and does a life link with Oorung. Taking some of the pain off him while the others come up with something to deal with the crocodiles.
Varin grits his teeth and begins to swear viciously in every language he knows, before stripping out of his shirt and grabbing his hopeknife from its sheath."Besmara be kind and Pharasma avert your gaze. Oi, Cailean you old wine soaked rogue, some of your luck would be greatly appreciated right now!" With a last roared expletive, Varin took a running leap and propelled himself over the side of the ship and in to the water.
Taking a deep breath to fill his lungs, Varin plunged down to the level with the Croc holding the mans legs and lashed out with his dagger, stabbing towards the Croc with all his might.
Nerak thinks quickly of the cost, but then again his friends would never let him hear the end of it.
"Damn it!"
Is all he says before taking out a scroll and starting to cast.
Now it's a party! Arlan smiles at Varin's fear of the water, pausing for just a moment before diving in after him and driving his knee towards the croc, but the thrashing half-orc throws off his aim.
Round 3
Oorug fails to break free but keeps his head above water.
The croc on Oorug continues to chow down.
The other croc looks for another morsel. If it grabs Varin, he is death-rolled.
Arlan screams, launching a hidden dagger into his hand and submerging, stabbing furiously at the already injured beast.
The croc releases Oorug and starts to float away.
Varin grits his teeth against the pain and twists to get a better view of his attacker. With all of his might, he stabs down in to the beast.
Beltzer absorbs some more damage from Oorung who is at least a bit safer now. "Someone grab Oorung before he floats away."
Beltzer attempts to find a net to fling at Oorung or an oar to stop him from floating far.