"Sizara, if you prefer you could try to hunt some game in the jungle. Though that might be more dangerous."
An Evening Stroll
With plans made for the next day, the four of you set out to explore the portion of the island west of Camp Beach. A trail winds through the jungle, and the low sun sends shafts of light streaming into your eyes as it sinks in the western sky. The ground is slippery underfoot from the earlier rain, and the air is thick with the smell of vegetation.
Emerging briefly from the jungle at the top of a ridge, the group spots another shipwreck on the north shore. Either the ship hit the shore at great speed, or is has been washed further up the beach by subsequent storms, as the smashed bow of the vessel almost reaches the jungle line.
Overhead, another of the strange winged lizards of Archibald's species can be spotted circling, although it seems more interested in plucking fish from the waves. It is obvious that there are multiple colonies of the things nesting along the cliffs all along this section of the Shiv.
Almost immediately the path plunges back into the jungle, however, and it is clear that the animals that make these paths rarely travel here, as the undergrowth is thick on each side, and the foliage heavy - the group has to push aside thick vines hanging down from the trees to make way.
Suddenly Corin stops dead. Ahead on the narrow path, barely 15' away, one of the vines stirred when there was no breeze. Peering closer through the gloom, he sees that the 'vine' is in fact a great, emerald serpent, dangling from a tree branch, and obviously hoping to drop on an unsuspecting victim below.
Corin holds up his hand to bring the party to a halt and silently points to the snake. He attempts to identify it.
Corliss spies the sneaky serpent an instant after Corin does.
"Shall I hit it with one o' my storm bursts or do we back away?" To Karia and Sizara he adds, "How bad do you ladies want some pretty green snakeskin boots?"
It's a type of large tree cobra - very venomous, but edible. Some jungle tribes make a cocktail from dwarven whisky, its venom, and its still beating heart.
Karia agrees that we should take it out from range.
She has her crossbow ready.
Sizara nodded and readied her longsword, getting ready to let her inner beast out.
Sizara laughed a bit before replying, "It is perfectly alright Corin. I can fish and hunt, although I think if any of us goes hunting we should go in pairs or threes as this will likely increase the hunters' chances of being successful, both in gathering food and coming back alive. We still need to be careful."
for , plus snake takes a -2 penalty on attacks for 1 round.
The snake knows you are there, so is not surprised, but will be flat-footed until it acts, which will immediately after the first one of you moves or attacks (it has a readied action).
Those of you wanting to make ranged attacks - unless you're Corin at the front, the snake will have cover from the bodies in front of you.
Note that the path is narrow. Normally you can move through squares occupied by allies without penalty. Here, it will cost you 2 squares of movement. The jungle off the path is difficult terrain, and blocks line of sight pretty much anywhere.
Please make initiative rolls, and give me 2 rounds worth of actions. Note, that you can specify that you want to delay until after someone else has acted.
Karia.
First round she will aim carefully and attack with crossbow.
Second round, if no one is in melee she tries again. If someone has engaged it she holds her fire.
You must have a clear path toward the opponent, and nothing can hinder your movement (such as difficult terrain or obstacles).
You can't run or charge through any square that would hamper your movement.
Sizara lets the animal in her out of its cage, raging as she grips her sword tightly.
Corin hurls a javelin at the snake.
Then moves forward, careful not to get in Sizara's way, drawing his cold iron longsword as he goes.
Next round if he is able to engage the snake in melee combat he does so. Otherwise he readies an action to treat poison if somebody is bit by the snake.
Karia takes careful aim at the dangling snake, pulls the trigger on her crossbow... and watches in dismay as the bolt vanishes into the jungle, nowhere near hitting the creature.
The attack certainly does provoke it as with a hiss it pulls itself up into the tree, moving with bliding speed, before launching itself through the air at the group. It lands in a mess of coils at Corin's feet, rears up and strikes with its fanged mouth. The fangs sink deep into the man's shoulder, and he feels the burning of the serpent's poison.
Corin pulls away before the creature can pump too much venom into his blood. He thrusts the steel-tipped javelin at the creature, but the weapon is not weighted for melee combat, and it skitters off the reptile's tough scales.
Sizara, the fury rising within her, muscles her way past the others to stand at Corin's side. The branches of the jungle wrap around her, obscuring her vision and movement. She swings her sword with her enrages strength
but the branches obstruct her, and she cannot land a telling blow.
Corliss summons the fury of the storm, attempting to catch a clear glimpse through the struggle of bodies The pirate's aim is off, and his stormcloud manifests harmlessly in the trees.
Karia reloads and fires her crossbow, but cannot get a clear shot.
The serpent, enraged at the intrusion into its territory, coils back and strikes again against Corin. Again, its fangs sink deep into the man's flesh.
and this time he cannot pull away before its venom glands begin to pump fire into his blood. . The ranger fights the pain, dropping his javelin and drawing his longsword, before hacking at the serpent. Finally, the blade connects, drawing a bright spray of blood as it scores the creature's flesh.
Sizara too swings her blade
and almost cuts the creature in two with her blow - it hisses in pain, and tries to slither away into the undergrowth, giving both Corin and Sizara a chance to finish it off.
Corin, fighting the agony as the poison courses through his veins, decapitates the creature with a backswing.
Corin drops to the ground, cradling his wound.
"Somebody help me get the poison out!"
If somebody can make a DC 12 Heal check then I'll succeed on that saving throw.
From some nearly-forgotten memory, Corliss recalls what to do. He sucks on the fang marks left by the great snake's bite, drawing the poison from the wound and spitting it out on the ground nearby. When he's finished, he gives Corin a crooked smile and quips, "Mayhaps I can teach that trick to one o' the ladies--make the process less awkward an' more enjoyable, eh Cap'n?"
Looking at the snake carcass, he says, "It's got decent meat on it--might make for good eatin'. Probably a good thing we killed it now while we kinda got the drop on it--the thing might've crept into camp an' done some serious damage."
Dead snakes weigh quite a lot. Fortunately they can be persuaded to loop up like rope, and carried over the shoulder - as long as you don't mind getting a gory mess on your clothing.
With the light fading, and the scent of fresh blood from their kill wafting through the jungle, the group beat a retreat back to the beach, arriving in semi-gloom after the sun has disappeared behind the western ridge. Jask and Ishirou have spent the time collecting more shattered planks that have washed up from the disintegrated wreck of the Jenivere, thinking that they might help with the construction of the raft. Even Gelik is half-heartedly digging into the sand, making a pit that can have planks laid over it for a shelter, so as to free up some of the rope.
The five look somewhat squeamish at the prospect of grilled snake for dinner, but once it is sizzling on skewers over the fire, their bellies begin to rumble, and hunger overcomes hesitation. Aerys doesn't eat much - lifting small morsels to her mouth with shaking hands.
The stars come out, and the moon rises. The soft white surf at the edge of the water seems to glow with a soft light. Occasionally, when you glance, you think you catch sight of a face, or a half-formed body in the foam, but it must be a trick of the moonlight, as it almost instantly disappears.
The night passes without incident - not even dreams, as your exhausted bodies take their rest.
Karia will avoid Gelik, before the urge to kick him in the teeth gets too strong.
She will try talking to Jask, just being friendly without pushing him. Asking him about how he ended up in chains, and how she could help?
Jask talks openly about his past, his life in Corentyn as a temple scribe, and his hopes for the future. He felt himself torn between his wild youth in the Mwangi, and the civilized life he was introduced to as a boy in Eleder, where he learned to read, and was apprenticed as a scribe to the colonial government. That dual aspect attracted him to the worship of Nethys.
"Now fate has trapped us in the middle of nowhere. An' if we do escape - what then? It's a chain gang waitin' for me in Sargava. Only man who could clear me name was that Shackles pirate on the Brine Dragon - it was him as was doin' the smugglin' into Eleder. But me hear that ship vanish years ago, and no-one be seein' it since. Not much hope for me, lady."
Karia grins at Jask. "Cheer up, if there's a best place to find a lost ship it's here!"
She spends the rest of the conversation just talking about harmless subjects.
Pre-Dawn
It is the hour before dawn, and Karia and Ishirou are on watch, huddled round the campfire as the dew falls and the air grows almost chilly as the heat leaves the air and before the tormenting sun begins its inexorable rise into the sky. Ishirou hacks at some piece of scrimshaw he is carving out of driftwood, although what it might be, Karia can't tell in the firelight. The pre-dawn breeze blows gently from the sea, causing the flames of the campfire to flicker gently.
"PEEP! PEEP! PEEP!" the quiet is broken by Archibald, who is making a terrible racket. Turning, the two sentries see a gaunt loping figure sprinting from the back of the shelter, carrying a smaller figure, than can only be Gelik, unmoving in it arms.
Karia
Karia will tell Ishirou to doube move around the figure to get between it and the treeline (E7) while she moves to (x11).
Once there she will cast Grease on Gelik making him very slippery, and hopefully hard to hold while moving fast.
If she can't see Gelik well enough to cast on him she casts the spell centered on (B7). Making sure she doesn't catch Ishirou in the spell.
Sizara quickly hears the alarm. She's not wearing her armor but she decides to grab her sword.
She quickly moves out of the shelter as fast as she can, telling the others to wake up for they have come under attack!
As Archibald's squawking awakens the camp (and maybe everything else on the cursed island), Corliss groggily hops to attention, bumping hard into Aerys. He grabs his rapier and buckler when he catches a glimpse of the man-thing running off with Gelik.
"Arm yourself and guard the camp!" he tells Aerys. "This may just be a diversion to lure us all away from our supplies!"
You don't really believe that for an instant, his mind chided him. No--he didn't. The thing absconding with Gelik seemed vaguely familiar and sent a shiver of fear racing down the sea-priest's spine, but his tired and damaged brain couldn't put a name on the dark figure.
As Ishirou races off to try to intercept the creature, Karia moves around, summoning her magic to mind. Her elven heritage lets her see through the gloom, and she casts a spell on the unmoving form of Gelik.
The creature falters in its step, seeming suddenly to have difficulty carrying the gnome, who slips out of its arms and lays still on the sand.
Corliss - may post
Sizara - may post
Beastie
Karia
Corin
Corliss emerges from the top left corner of the shelter, moves up behind the dark abductor , and stabs at it with his rapier.
for
As Corliss charges towards the creature, he catches a whiff of the sickly sweet scent of dead flesh, and all sorts of warning flashes go off in his mind. The creature hears his approach and spins round - it is humanoid, but its flesh appears withered and stretched tight over its frame. It hisses through a mouth of sharp teeth, and a long pointed tongue lolls forth.
"More meat on you than the small one" it cackles, dodging nimbly, so that Corliss's powerful thrust merely scores its shoulder.
Sizara quickly follows Corliss, going into a rage at the sight of the enemy.
She charges headlong into the fray, roaring like a wild lioness! Or cheetah whichever you prefer.
The elven woman comes charging in, sword held high, and delivers a mighty thrust that goes straight through the creature. It screams in fury at the assault, and thrashes at her in a wild frenzy, clawing and biting.
Sizara is in trouble - having put everything into the attack, she has left her defenses down, and the creature takes full advantage, raking her with its claws and biting deep into her arm with its filthy pointed teeth. Only her boiling rage keeps her going.
Corliss
Sizara
Beastie
Karia - may post
Corin - may post
Karia moves to (w7) and casts Cure Light wounds on Sizara.
"Jask, Sizara is hurt see if you can heal her!"
Corin moves up, taking up a flanking position with Sizara. However, the raging elf and the creature are involved in an intricate dance of fury, and Corin can't get a good opportunity to strike.
Jask, two steps behind, clutches at his holy symbol. "Let the power o' creation flow through ya!" he shouts, and you all feel a wave of healing energy flow over you.
-
The creature, in its bestial fury, continues to lash out, even as it is surrounded.
Corliss - may post
Sizara - may post
Beastie
Karia
Corin
Update - Corliss doesn't get flanking.
Update2 - As Corin is standing in the same square as Gelik is lying, I've removed G from the map. He isn't doing much.
Seeing Jask pitching in with healing in a timely manner, Corliss opts to press the attack against the monster, trying to end the fight before its claws and teeth can cause more damage.
for
Again, the writhing creature just manages to skip away before Corliss could strike a blow. It is fighting with bestial savagery, its features contorted in hate and rage.