The Queen moves past Rosie, provoking an AOO.
But Rosie misses.
The Queen casts a spell, a wave of water gushing forward from her hands, pushing Rosie in the face.
But Rosie resists the fire-hose like suppression and stays put.
The Grindylow by Sandara attacks Threnody(s).
And Grindylow 3 attacks Lee(s).
While Grindylow 2 struggles to free himself.
All around the bad guys appear to be losing their mojo after the loss of the whale.
Lee decides that there's one too many grindylows in the world and with that girds his loins and starts casting Shocking Grasp. Reaching out...
...he manages to lay a hand on Grindylow #3.
Muffin tries to free himself...
...and just isn't as effective as he'd like to be.
Muffin continues to try to free Sandara...
...and is effective despite being entagled.
Burning one hero point for extra standard action!
It seems Thren's accuracy improves the more of her there is, as her blade drives home in the next grindylow, exiting with another slurping sound and glowing red.
The tiefling then takes a deep breath and plunges down to help Sandara escape her bonds. As she reaches the Besmaran, the bard takes in her situation...then winks and blows her a kiss before setting to work.
Between Muffin's clawing and biting and Thren's efforts, the tough sinew begins to fray. Sandara attempts to break out.
But she is too weakened by her ordeal to be effective. She is almost there, though...
Cog tries very slowly and carefully to hop/mermaid tail swim along the bottom of the Cauldron to get to the shallows.
And then contends again with the entangling seaweed.
He gets stuck in the seaweed, but that's okay because he got to the shallows and can breathe. Fortunately the grindylow was swimming near the surface and gets no chance to strike back as he passes. Everyone sees Cog's head break the surface, breathing raggedly.
Lark's life force continues to ebb away.
Rosie tries to raise her ax and strike the Queen, but it catches in the seaweed and she can't even finish the motion.
It looks odd that Lark has not emerged from The Whale. Lee will try to extricate his friend.
Can Lee look in The Whale's mouth and maybe see a foot sticking out of it's gullet?
If Lee sees any part of Lark poking out, he will climb into The Whale's mouth and will cut away the flesh holding Lark in place.
If he see's nothing (or is unable to look because of environmental issues, Lee will cut Lark out of The Whale by going from the outside (basically cutting The Whale's throat).
Muffin grasps whatever part of Sandara's holy symbol he can reach in his teeth and swims back toward The Whale, tugging and pulling for her to follow.
As the Whale is sinking into the water, Lee realizes trying to open his mouth would both be awkward and would let water rush in making it impossible for him to see anything. He instead tries to cut the defenseless Whale open. ()
All of Lee's cooking experience gutting fish and chickens comes in handy, as he manages to easily carve the Whale stem to stern, quenching any flailing life force within the creature, whilst not damaging Lark.
Lark tumbles out of the sliced belly. The good news is he is free. The bad news is he is clearly unconscious, bleeding, and underwater.
Muffin tries to drag the not quite still free Sandara toward Lark.
Grindylow 3, flying into a frenzy as he sees his giant brother sliced apart and who is not dead yet, attacks Lee.
But he misses.
Seeing the others struggle to rescue the priestess, grindylow 2 presumes she is important and decides to help her stay under water, moving toward her and striking at her with his spear.
He strikes the still-bound woman easily,
Carving a large gash in her thigh.
The Brinebrood Queen stabs at Rosie with her harpoon.
Slicing a mean cut into Rosie's arm.
The Queen then moves backwards, in spite of it provoking Rosie's retaliation.
But Rosie, doggedly providing an example of an unlucky halfling, can't roll above a four to save her life.
Using hero point for extra standard action
Thren growls something unintelligible, possibly in Infernal, when she sees Sandara get stabbed while helpless. There's no finesse to her attack; she draws her rapier back, charges it, and rams it into the monster's chest, kicking it off with contempt.
The grindylow dealt with, then she turns back to helping Sandara free herself, pulling at her bindings.
At long last, the sinew breaks, and the chains start to slide off Sandara's body. She gives Thren a grateful smile and tries to swim to the surface (first).
But hindered by the entanglement she doesn't quite make it.
Fortunately what she is otherwise about to do doesn't require needing to breathe--yet--although she is running out of air. She clutches her holy symbol and a burst of cool blue light surges through the area. Every living creature--which very fortunately does not include the Whale and most of the grindylows and equally fortunately does include Lark--finds their wounds closing and pain easing. Lark remains unconscious, but the bleeding stops and his breath grows even.
.
Cogward, who is included in the burst, heals enough--his bleeding stump on his arm closing and smoothing over--that he can put in more physical effort, and he works on freeing himself.
But he has a ways to go.
At this point, the tide--no pun intended--has turned, and the Brinebrood Queen pulls away from Rosie and flees, using the jet-like motion of an octopus to retreat extraordinarily quickly. Rosie, who has struggled to maneuver all along, looks on helplessly. The crew easily dispatch the last grindylow and then work to cutting Cogward free.
Sandara lets out two more healing bursts:
Cog finds himself sitting atop a pile of assorted debris that includes a fair amount of valuable goods:
Lobster pot containing two masterwork daggers, a masterwork silver dagger, a rusty masterwork cold iron sickle (needs to be cleaned and mended before you get the masterwork bonus), a decorative scrimshawed flensing knife depicting an octopus (worth 125 gp as an art object), and 12 ordinary knives and daggers.
8 silver ingots (each worth 20 gp)
4 +1 crossbow bolts
a silver spearhead (mounted by an expert onto an appropriate haft, would be a masterwork silver spear, shortspear, or longspear)
a bracelet that clearly resembles the other you found in the squid shrine; once together, Lee can see they are a pair of bracers of archery
11 sp and 156 gp in assorted coinage and trade bars, some of which are quite old, others of which likely came from the Chelish ship.
After three bursts of healing Lark blearily regains consciousness.
"I had the strangest dream. What'd I miss?"
"Oh, nothing much," Thren grins. "Though I'm wondering what possessed you to go exploring the guts of that thing. Was there a magic wand down there or something?"
She then turns to Sandara and passes the Besmaran her scrolls. "I'm sorry, but I did kind of need to use one to heal a few serious injuries we sustained along the way here."
Sandara shakes her head at Thren. "If that helped save you, then it helped save us. I've no argument with that! Keep it, with blessings of the Pirate Queen."
Cog leans against the cave wall blearily. "Lark, don't suppose you found my hand in there, did you?" He looks up at an imagined figure in the air. "Sweet Lady, you dance with me again and spurn me, leaving me with this." He stares at the stump on his wrist.
"Stop being so dramatic, Cog," Sandara chides the sailor, then looks at the group. "We were lucky they didn't eat more than they did." As you all are sorting yourselves out, you realize both Sandara and Cog are covered in bite marks, both normal grindylow sized and Whale sized. "I wish I understood Aquan," Sandara continues. "But I think the only reason why they kept us was hoping to lure the rest of you here for a bigger feast. Figures would be you lot that came. How long have we been gone?"
"Thanks." The tiefling puts the scrolls away. "We've been gone for a day or so. We're supposed to be looking for supplies. Found a few things we can use that are edible. But if we're not back soon, they'll be leaving without us." Thren scratches her shoulder where the ghould bit her. "And I could use something to eat. I've been hungry since that ghoul bit me."
Responding to Cog's asking after his hand Lark says, “I’m afraid not, Cog, but you’ll look right natty with a spike or a hook there.”
Turning to Quinn Lark fishes out her tricorne and offers it up in both hands. “Of course it had to be us, we'd have mutinied if they didn't let us come get you." With a grin the rogue continues, "Plus, we found your hat. I took it as sign from Besmara we were meant to find you. Sure enough she smiled on our efforts, in her own way.”
Looking around the cavern Lark says, "Threnody is right about heading back. Are there any loose ends in these caves? We should get outside before the tide changes. Then we can head for the boat we beached on this side of the island."
To Lark's question, you're certain you've explored every portion of the cove.
Sandara frowns with concern at the news Threnody was bitten by a ghoul. "Let's get to dryer land and take a look at that," She says. "I don't like the way that sounds. I've not the magic to deal with infection, but we can still try to do something for you. As for me, I'm parched, do you have any water?"
As the party gathers up its things and moves out, Sandara and Cog are still clearly weak and wobbly. When it is offered, Sandara pushes the hat back into Lark's hands. "Keep it. You've been through the belly of a sea monster and lived to tell the tale--I'd call that a sign Besmara has accepted your service. If you ever need a quick get away by sea, hold it out and call for 'Besmara's Wind' and you'll get a small vessel to sail you away. It only works for her faithful." She shakes her head. "Long was I tempted to use it aboard the Wormwood, but on my own, Krine would have sunk me with the ballista before I could flee, and Harrigan four-times keelhauled what was left of me to make a point. And it doesn't last that long--and before you ask, certainly not long enough to get us off this island to safer shores. We're at least a week's sail from anywhere, I reckon."
Aura faint transmutation; CL 5th
Slot head; Price 2,600 gp; Weight 1 lb.
DESCRIPTION
This black leather tricorne hat is weather-beaten and saltstained.
It grants its wearer a +2 competence bonus on Profession (sailor) and Swim checks.
If Besmara is your patron, once per day you can speak a command word to transform the hat into a small ship’s boat such as a cutter, jolly boat, or longboat (see the Skull & Shackles Player’s Guide). The boat is 20 feet long, has two pairs of oars and a single mast with a square sail, and can carry up to 12 passengers and crew. Upon command, or after 8 hours, the boat returns to hat form, dumping out any occupants.
CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, guidance, shrink item,
creator must have 5 ranks in Profession (sailor); Cost 1,300 gp
"Say, Thren. Unless Sandara (as the real healer in this group) has a better idea, this potion..."
And with that, Lee offers the potion of Remove Disease to Thren
"...could probably alleviate those ghoulish symptoms you've been suffering with."
"Also, we have a boat that will easily carry a group our size for a week. We could sail right away from the Man's Promise."
Lee pauses.
"But we'd be abandoning a few good people on that ship. Like, Kroop, specifically. But neither Owlbear nor Conchobhar deserve to be on that boat either."
"I think we should get out of this cave, dry out, gather up some of the supplies, and get ready to head back. I've had enough swimming for a while." Thren takes the potion from Lee and downs it.
"Tastes like beef broth and garlic. But not so hungry now. A bit, but not voracious." The bard does wink at Quinn though. "You can still check me out though," she banters, setting one foot forward, hands up in her hair, tail twitching...and then laughing so hard she doubles over.
"Now that I'm done being silly, let's get out of here!"
The party has found its way back out to the open air, squinting as their eyes adjust to the bright tropical afternoon sun. You see no sign of any more grindylows or its queen. She must have fled straight into the ocean.
Cog sits down on a rock, looking up at the sky as if he is looking at it for the first time.
Sandara chuckles at Thren. "Lass, if your type is 'slightly gnawed upon' I don't think I'd survive your company," she teases. "But for surgeon's work... if the potion's made you better, then that's the biggest worry taken care of... Cog and I are still in poor shape, and I'm low on energy and prayers, and that hole in Lark's shoulder is only barely closed. I'll follow your lead, my friends, but if there are more grindylows on this island -- or if you say, ghouls? I wouldn't mind some time to recover. Not to mention, we show back up to the Man's Promise this ragged, Slippery Syl and the like might take the opportunity to finish us off on principle." She pauses. "Although, on the other hand, if we've been gone a day already, Plugg's unlikely to be pleased, and being gone any longer is sure to only make him more upset."
"Showing up late will be bad, but do we think we can buy Plugg off with some of the stuff we've found?
If so, I say we wait and heal. We can come back fully provisioned and buy off one person (Plugg) and be safe from everyone else.
If we come back ragged and unprovisioned, the Plugg may just take what he wants and throw us overboard."
Thren chuckles at Sandara's rejoinder. "At least if 'slightly gnawed upon' is my type, I'm just looking for people like me, right?" Then she grows serious. "We're all a bit wounded, low on magic, and worse." She glances to Cog and his missing hand. "And let's face it, Plugg and some of the others aren't known for making smart choices regardless. I'd rather we just recover a bit, come back ready for trouble."
Then the tiefling turns to Lee. "Plugg doesn't strike me as the type to let bygones be bygones. He'd probably just take whatever bribe we gave him, keelhaul us all, and then make a mark on a map saying 'this island's been looted' while leaving our bodies floating in the sea while counting his newly claimed loot."
"It sounds like we're all in agreement about resting before returning to the ship. Can we risk tromping through the maize to get back to the beach? That seems like the safest place to camp, but there's at least one of those plant-things still alive."
Lark feels reasonably confident most notable challenges are gone, and the cover provided by the corn field may be the better route. Even though there's one gourd leshy still out there, it's unlikely to take on a party of six alone.
"Then let's get ourselves tucked away, and in the morning we'll gather up our supplies and head back." Thren's tail twitches as she grins mischievously. "Maybe Lark or Sandara will make sure I'm on the mend. That potion did make me feel better, but a good night's rest and some tender care will put me closer to my best shape."
As the party heads out through the corn field Lark will pluck a few ears along the way and start thinking out loud. "I've been talking about camping on the beach, but maybe we should head back up the hill." Lark will tell Quinn and Cog about the encampment and fighting the ghouls. "It's got water, that palisade and we were safe there last night. Plus we left some loot up there. If we go there tonight we can bring it all down tomorrow and maybe some water for the ship as well."
"I like the idea of camping up the hill," Lee offers.
"The hill sounds like the best place to camp to me, and we've been all over this island." Thren agrees.
Though weary, the party decides to take the time to head back to the safety of high ground and a walled-in safehouse. It takes a little while to scale the steep switchback path, but all make it safely. They shut the gate firmly and bar it to keep out unwanted hostiles.
Arron Ivey's solid, if very basic, cabin awaits them, a bit less stinky and awful now that the corpses have been removed.
You opt to get a small campfire going, Cog guiding the rest of you in managing it so that not too much smoke draws the attention of the island's occupants. You realize he is relatively skilled in outdoorsmanship, less the mere sailor-thug he first seemed. Cog and Sandara both drink what seems their weight in water from the clear flowing spring and seem in much better shape for it afterward.
Rosie urges Lee to help make them a fortifying lunch/dinner, and helps sort through both the party's own foodstuffs and what salvageable goods there are in Ivey's stash and prepare them.
As they sit over food and drink, Sandara points at the stockade and house, and observes the obvious, "This place clearly has more of a story to it than just being a grindylow sanctuary. What did you find?"
"From what we understand, there were a few Chelish deserters or exiles living here. They came down with ghoul fever and turned into monsters. One turned just when we got here. They're all dead now. Again. Found a diary and a few things of value though." Thren explains. She points off toward the fields where the party recently walked. "Someone even cleared a little space to grow a few crops, likely them. Though a couple of the plants were more lively than the rest and didn't like us traipsing through the fields."
She pokes the fire with a stick for a minute. "Our best guess is that the grindys and the ghouls managed to work around each other. I mean, the ghouls tried to eat the grindylows, but didn't have much luck. Those little buggers knew where the ghouls were and managed to avoid them." Then the bard points back to the beach. "I guess the ghouls avoid the beach. There are some tasty crabs down there, including one that was this big!" The tiefling holds her arms out to give Cog and Sandara an idea how big it was.
Lee gets some dinner together.
While talking to Sandara, Thren tries to help Lee with the cooking. Unfortunately, the tiefling tries to put the wrong items over the fire at the wrong times, nearly burns her tail, and generally manages to help not at all. Finally, she gives up. "Sorry Lee, you're on your own. I'll taste-test though!" Thren adds with a rueful smile. She takes up her spot near Quinn and tries to keep out of the way while he cooks.
Lark fetches the silver picture frame and journal from the hut. ”It says here that this belonged to Arron Ivy of House Ulvauno, Westcrown. Thren, I know it’s not your favorite topic, but do those names ring any bells?” Lark passes the picture around starting with Quinn. ”Ivy talked about someone named Mari - I guess that’s her. I don’t know if she was with them, but he writes like she had already passed when got the ghoul fever. He also referred to something in their cargo hold as ’necromantic filth.’ Seems like these Chelish brought their doom with them to this island.”
Lee manages to assemble a reasonably tasty soup.
Quinn takes the locket and journal. "Not really my area of expertise," she says, "But it's troubling the Chells were scouting around this far in the Shackles. I thought any of their naval ships down this way were far to the north--for the Battle of Port Peril." Sandara is referring to the battle where the Aurora's Kiss got caught in the middle, and subsequently sunk by the Wormwood. "Not surprising, mind, just troubling. As it is, most Chelish ships have trouble making it past the Eye of Abendego--though of course on the other hand, I've heard tell a branch of the Aspis Consortium operates in Bloodcove. Maybe they were trying to head there. This ship got pretty far before the sea took them; shame their captain is probably ghoul food, we could grill him for information."
Sandara holds onto the journal a moment to flip through it, but hands the locket to Cog.
Cog looks at the picture and shakes his head. "If they brought necromancy with them on the ship, I'd say they got what they deserved."
Rosie huffs. "Only good Chell is a dead Chell, but even these motherf%!!ers have to die in ways that mess things up for everyone else too." She crosses her arms. "Anyways, I ain't heard of House Ulvauno; probably a minor house that serves as whipping boys for someone else."