Grun scrambles up the side of the larger vessel.
A pair of ruffians look suitably stunned at the sight of people climbing onboard. Darien's commanding presence has them suitably cowed and one of the pair goes into the ship to find Vark.
As short while later, an ill favoured man emerges from the cabin, trailing several other grubby men and women.
"Yer on me boat and over yer heads lads. I'm fer thinkin' ye should be goin'. I'm fer thinkin' I won't be tellin' ye twice."
Darien puts his hand on the hilt of his sword, "You've got this wrong, Vark. You made the wrong enemies, and it's time to pay up. But it's just you we want, we'll forget we saw anybody who leaves now."
Sitting on the rocking dingy Ignius felt his stomach clench. There was far too much water here for his taste. Give him the heat of the sands any day over an ocean breeze. Still, it was best to be prepared. Blocking out the sound of the waves, Ignius called upon his ancestral heritage. As he feels the minor resonating power of the spell overlay him, the suntanned ifirit gave a satisfied smile. Feeling more confident he gripped the side of the larger vessel and climbed over the railing.
Vark just grins viciously, but a couple of his cronies seem a little less sure of themselves.
"We'll I see ye be too stupid to see when the odds be against ye. Have at em boys, we've work yet to do, so clear tha deck of these scum."
Round 1:
26 Ignius
21 Justified
17 Vark
12 Thugs
8 Grun
5 Darien
Well at least I know who to burn first The capricious ifirit thinks to himself as he listen's to Vark refusing to leave the ship. Opening his mouth wide, Ignius gives a soundless scream that only Vark can hear. As the words rush from the mages throat they carry with them the heat from the desert.
You unleash a powerful scream, inaudible to all but a single target. The target is dazed for 1 round and takes 1d6 points of sonic (fire) damage per two caster levels (maximum 5d6). A successful save negates the daze effect and halves the damage.
Darien draws his sword and moves to attack the nearest opponent.
Ignius' spell stuns Vark where he stands and Justified deals him a wicked blow with his guisarme.
Vark: HP 6/21, AC 16/12/14, F+5/R+0/W-1
Thugsx6: Hp 8/8, AC 13/10/13, F+3/R+0/W-1
Vark sways on his feet Dazed.
The other thugs advance and a group of 3 go for Justified.
One manages to duck under the wild defensive swings, but the other 2 are caught by it
and one is skewered and falls to the deck dead.
avoiding the deadly weapon obviously has the thugs off their game and neither are able to mount much of an attack vs Justified.
Taking advantage of the row boat and staying behind cover, Grun snaps off a shot at the nearest enemy, then reloads.
Darien steps forward and drops one of the thugs and Grun fires his x-bow randomly into the air..
Round 2:
26 Ignius
21 Justified
17 Vark
12 Thugs
8 Grun
5 Darien
Seeing Vark sway beneath the combined assault of Justified and himself, Ignus gives a nod of satisfaction. In the great deserts of his homeland there were bandits and thieves as well. They would not respect your kindness or mercy. They were like jackals constantly biting at your heels. Opening his mouth wide, Ignus bellowed another nameless scorching word at the man, that only he could hear.
Ignius' spell washes over Vark, but the man shakes off the worst of it.
Thugs: Hp 8/8, AC 13/10/13, F+3/R+0/W-1
Vark growls in pain and at his man dropping like flies. He stomps down on the deck hard and let's out a yell.
"Burn them. Burn them all!"
With a look of hate for you all, Vark moves to the side of the ship and leaps into the sea. Seeing their boss flee, breaks the resolve of the remaining thugs flee, following him into the drink.
From below comes the frightened shriek of animals begins to rise from the hold. An all to human cry of pain and terror soon follows as a series of loud roars and crashes emerge from below deck..
Grun snaps off another shot from his loaded crossbow...
We have to save the ship! Sounds like a fire... Water, buckets!
Darien follows Justified down into the hold.
You enter the smoky cargo hold listening to the frightened shrieking of monkeys and exotic birds. Though still smouldering in places, you see no flames among the rough wooden cages. Oposite the door, a large pony sized spider looms over a severely wounded woman.
Round 1
24 Ignius
21 Grun
14 Spider
10 Darien
9 Moira
8 Justified
Rushing down the steps behind Darien and Justified, Ignius stops short at the looming sight of the pony size spider. Taking a half step away, the man reflexively shivers. I hate spiders. The older man mutters to himself before giving another inaudible scream laced with the heat of the desert.
You unleash a powerful scream, inaudible to all but a single target. The target is dazed for 1 round and takes 1d6 points of sonic (fire) damage per two caster levels (maximum 5d6). A successful save negates the daze effect and halves the damage.
Fangs! I hate spiders... that big! Grun steps clear of the big folk and snaps off a shot.
The giant insect shudders as the heat of Ignius spell washes over it and it turns just in time to catch a quarrel in the side from Grun's bow.
With a hiss it charges Justified:
but misses.
AC 14, touch 11, flat-footed 13 (+1 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 10 (4 HD) Immune vermin traits Fort+5,Ref+2,Will+3
Moira taking the opportunity that the spider is distracted with newcomers, she lunges at the spider.
"Take that you disgusting creature."
Darien charges in, swinging his greatsword at the spider!
"It's a rhagodessa - ware it's embrace!"
The wounded creature's charge leaves it open to attack and it quickly falls beneath your furious counter blows.
Darien lowers his sword and looks at the woman, "Darien Coldwater, and this is Grun, Ignius, and Justified. Who are you, and what was going on down here? Trying to burn the ship down?"
The young woman is panting from the fight with the spider. She stares at Darien for a couple of seconds and seem to be a little in shock. She sheathes her rapier and beings to dust herself off, but does not do a good job because dirt still remains on her face and her hands.
She then moves up at Darien and hugs him really tight, somewhat pinning his arms to his side. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you. I didn't mean to come down here. I was just curious. No harm in that, is there? You don't have to tell Vark do you?"
Before anyone answers she lets go of her embrace and says, "Wait a minute.....you don't look like Vark's thugs." She puts her hands on her hips and start tapping her right foot on the floor. Seconds later her eyes get droopy and she faints from all of the excitement.
Take her to dinner, get to know her... marry her, have offsprings. Grun reloads his crossbow.
Walking over to the girl, he touches her forehead. Then continues to walk around making certain the ship is stable as best he can.
The young half-elf begins to stir. Her eyes open up to see Justified then she looks at the small frog like creature. She then looks back at Justified and says "You have another one of those?" The girl points to the frog like humanoid. "If you have another I would most definitely like to have one. What tricks does it do? Is it hungry? I have some old food I can share. Why is it walking away? Come back!" The girl start making whistling sounds like the way one calls a pet.
Grun slowly approaches the girl and looks her in the eyes... knowing his spell will wear off any second.
Miss? Ignius asks, staring at the young elven woman. What can you tell us about this ship? It seemed that Vark was interested in it. Turning back to the rest of his new companions, Ignius gives a short bow. I think we should search the ship before we report back.
Darien actually laughs, "Take her food, Grun."
"I agree Ignius, searching the ship is a priority, but we still have an issue that needs resolving first."
Darien looks at the woman again, "No, we're not with Vark. We're the people that ran him and his gang off this ship. But you still haven't answered our questions. Who are you, and what are you really doing here? We're not the watch either, so just tell us what we want to know and we can finish our business and get back to shore."
"And Grun isn't a pet, he's a grippli, they live in the jungles around Sassarine. He helped save your life, so whistling at him like a dog probably isn't the best way to show your gratitude."
Grun makes his way back to the girl. Double lidded eyes blink in consideration. Hmmm... big ears, impressive and useful. What's between them, we'll have to see.
"Aahhhhhh. It speaks. Moira looks over the frog creature with awe, much like an inocent child discovering something new."You are quite fascinating. Are there many more like you?"
The young lass looks at the older man and says "I came to the boat 2 nights ago. I was low on funds and needed a place to stay. I saw this ship and I swam towards it. Then I noticed Vark and his boys come onboard so I hid. I know he has a bad reputation. I'm pretty good at hiding. So when he and his men would leave I would get out of hiding and start doing some exploring. I saw the spider guarding something but never had the nerve to go past it, until now. The spider was tougher than I thought. I tried to be quiet but the spider heard me. Then I met you folks. By the way, you don't look like Vark's men, and you certainly don't look like law enforcement. So....?
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I didn't know what he was when I first met him either. Justified confesses quietly to the girl. He is pretty handy to have around. I'd be very nice to him.
Helping her to her feet he reinforces the question to the girl. So tell us all about yourself, but do it quickly. We must know about you before we get on with our mission.
"You guys took care of Vark?" The girl turns and claps "Yay"
"Well, who are you guys?" The girl then stares at the grippli and offers a wave and a smile.
Not as many as you, but enough.
Turning to Justified, She's a child who can't decide boy or girl. If she's not quiet when she's told or doesn't say "please" and "thank you" then toss her into the water, she'll be fine...
...probably.
Moira glares at the grippli with her hands on her hips saying "What?.. You're a bad, bad, bad....er...er..whatever you are...you are bad. You must be either deaf or blind or both, deaf and blind. I just gave the big one here a big hug and thanked him 3 times." The girl points to Justified.
"But I forgive you little ...er....whoever you are. Life is too short to get angry."
Moira begin to accentuate her hips and tap on her chest."By the way, I am not a having trouble with what I am. Look at my hips and my boobs....well they may not be that big but I have them anyways."
"Now, let me introduce myself. I am Moira Greyshadow from....err... everywhere. I never settle down in one spot. I'm on an adventure in seeing the world. And, like I said before, who is who, unless you guys prefer that I refer to you as 'Big Guy', 'Frogman' or 'Old Guy'."
A pleasure to meet you miss. So let me come to understand what you just said. You saw a ship out in the harbor, you needed a place to stay so rather then sleep under a dock or an abandoned warehouse you swam out to this boat? And then you when we found you said "I didn't mean to come down here. I was just curious. No harm in that, is there? You don't have to tell Vark do you?". Forgive me miss, but I feel that your story is questionable. Turning back to the others Ignius gives a shrug. Does anyone else think her story doesn't add up?
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Moira glares at the grippli with her hands on her hips saying "What?.. You're a bad, bad, bad....er...er..whatever you are...you are bad. You must be either deaf or blind or both, deaf and blind. I just gave the big one here a big hug and thanked him 3 times." The girl points to Justified.
"But I forgive you little ...er....whoever you are. Life is too short to get angry."
Moira begin to accentuate her hips and tap on her chest."By the way, I am not a having trouble with what I am. Look at my hips and my boobs....well they may not be that big but I have them anyways."
"Now, let me introduce myself. I am Moira Greyshadow from....err... everywhere. I never settle down in one spot. I'm on an adventure in seeing the world. And, like I said before, who is who, unless you guys prefer that I refer to you as 'Big Guy', 'Frogman' or 'Old Guy'."
Darien has already introduced us. Perhaps that spider had you so scared that you missed it though. I am Justified.
"Pleasure to meet you Mr Justified and Mr. Darien" the girl offers a slight curtsey.
"Ahhh...I thought the boat would be a great place to hide. A lady like me should not be in the streets. I could get robbed or worse. Anyway, I'm here. Curious how the Fates has brought us together. Andyou....should I continue to call you Mr. Old Scary Man?"
"He is Justified, and that is what you should call him, if you please."
"And yes, Ignius, she is lying, but I'm not sure if it's because she is scared of us, or if it's out of habit. Maybe both. But either way, she doesn't seem to pose an immediate threat, so we should be about our business."
"Let's find the cabins of this ship and see if we can find what we came for - I'm leery about staying here too long since Vark may come back with more men."
"Moira, why don't you come with us. We have a boat and can get you back to shore."