Dantes goes about making preparations for an encounter with the other ship. He makes sure crossbow cases are full, that sailors are armed, etc.
"When it is dark, our plan will be to send one or two to cut the rudder rope. Those who do so will need to swim back to us as we pass the ship. We will attack their sails and the enemy crew who are trying to shoot arrows at us. We will pass them, and get to open sea."
He looks to the others to see if there are any recommendations or amendments to this plan.
Dantes strokes his beard as he thinks, and then says "I could cast spells to make you invisible and swim faster, but they would only last a matter of minutes. I'm not sure that would be enough time for you to realize their benefits during the operation."
"An' I can smash something or someone with rocks, just lemme know what."
"I can do that, Captain. With ease."
"Furl the sails! Man the oars!" Chumtooth calls out to the crew. "We want to destroy their sails, they will want to destroy ours, so we will keep them closed until we have passed them."
He turns to each of the officers.
"We will move as the sun falls behind the sea."
"Faengrim, you will swim to their ship and cut the steering rope. Stay hidden until we pass, then swim back to us."
"Vic, you will command your cat-ah-pults. Have the crews smash and burn their sails and any on deck shooting arrows at us."
"Satinder, command our bowmen. Have them target the crew on deck."
"Dantes, use what magic you can to make us stronger or to light their ship. Once you have done this, stay hidden so that you are not injured."
"Sandara will steer and Kroop will assist her. If any officer is badly wounded, Sandara will help them and Kroop will steer."
"If the plans goes badly and they board us, Satinder and I will lead the fight."
Faengrim gathers some tools with which to perform his sabotage and dives into the river.
Satinder listens and obeys.
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You climb inside and are just about to cut the rope when the door swings open and two men dressed as marines and one wearing the garb of an officer enter. The officer snarls to his men, "I'll handle this." Hefting his battle axe, he turns his attention on you. "Defend yourself!"
The marines seem about to close in, but a steely glare from the officer keeps them at bay. He turns his attention to the matter at hand and swings his axe in a downward strike. The agile shark-kin dodges the swing easily.
INITIATIVE
Marines
Officer
Faengrim
Chumtooth patiently waits for the sun to start dipping below the horizon. He occasionally glances back to see that all the preparations are underway.
I don't know what this would be, but Faengrim will try to move so that the officer actually cuts the rope. Even if Faengrim has to take the hit himself.In case a roll is needed.
Dantes checks, rechecks and triple checks all of the preparations, covering his nervous pacing with moving across decks to inspect this and that.
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Faengrim lashes out at the damaged heavy rope, hopefully cutting it the rest of the way through.
Claw:
Claw:
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"You'll pay for that, fishman!" the officer snarls and moves to attack again. And once again, he misses the agile Faengrim.
"Time to move! Weigh anchor and man the oars!" Chumtooth calls out. "You know what to do," he says to the officers.
"Right! What's my target, then?"
"Smash their cah-at-pohlts and burn their sails," he reminds Vic in a growling tone.
Faengrim's quick reflexes save him from a vicious cut, but he knows its only a matter of time before he's overwhelmed. Now is the time to make his escape. Rather than retaliating, Faengrim does his best to defend himself as he leaves the room (fight defensive, withdraw) and makes for the railing and the open water.
Vic closes her eyes for around 20 seconds, then, with a shout (and eyes still closed) fires the catapult straight at the largest siege weapon on the other ship's deck.
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The Kiss of Vengeance pauses only briefly to pluck a badly-wounded Faengrim from the water. Sandara is able to heal him easily enough.
[dice=Siege weapon]
"Hahahaha! Owww! Hahahaha! Owww!
Unfurl sails! Stow the oars!"
He moves from down from the aft deck to where Faengrim lies gasping.
"Well done!" he says, giving the man a sharp-toothed smile. "You have earned a boon from Chumtooth!" he says in a tone of near reverence.
"When we are away...rum for ALL!" he shouts, followed by a deep guttural howl.
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More than a day has passed since your encounter with the Dominator and there is no sign of pursuit. Still, to ensure that you are not spotted, you take the ship out away from the shore into deeper waters. For three days, there is little to do but sail and fish. Then, on the evening of the third day, a ship suddenly comes into view, sailing across the setting sun.
The glaring light behind it makes the details of the ship difficult to make out, but its lines suggest a whaler riding low in the water. As the last light of day disappears below the horizon, the distant ship also drops from sight in the gloom of twilight.
"Cap'n!" Satinder, Faegrim, and Dantes shout almost in unison. Chumtooth merely nods, "I saw," he says. "She moved against the wind."
"I sailed on a whale ship," Chumtooth adds. "Whalers do not have a wee-zahd as part of the crew unless the wee-zahd is the captain. Most wee-zahds have more important things to do than hunt whales."
"I do not think we should hunt this ship." He makes a wiping gesture of his palms, one across the other.
"Maybe it's a sea-monster?" Vic suggests helpfully.
"Hunt it? We should flee from it. That ship is pure evil."
"Watch the horizon. It may return," Chumtooth warns the sailors on watch.
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The next night, a thick bank of fog has rolled in with the evening, reducing visibility to only a few yards and navigation to guesswork. From the gloom comes the dull clanking of a rusted ship’s bell somewhere nearby, echoing eerily in the fog. Suddenly, the hulk of a ship looms in the fog off the port bow. Its hull is rotten and stained black with age and rot. Before the mists swallow the ship once more, the ship’s name can momentarily be seen on its worm-eaten bow—-Deathknell.
Chumtooth's eyes and nostrils flare wide at the sudden appearance and disappearance of the ghost ship.
"Death-Ku-nayell," he pronounces the unfamiliar name. "Why does this evil spirit follow us?" He looks to his officers for an answer.
"Guys, we got a party boat on our tail," Vic follows up after Chum. "I heard the songs 'bout this one. Full of ghostses and whale ghosts, or summat. Accordin' to the songs, they'll be back tomorrow night with hooks and ghosts and things, might wanna get some spells and fire ready 'fore next sunset."
"Work with Dantes to ready whatever spells are needed. If we have any fire, either for catapults or oil, make it ready."
"When we hit a sizeable port, I'll need to obtain more spells for my grimoire. For now, my selection is somewhat limited." Dantes will explain to Vic what he has available, and solicit ideas for what would work well with hers and her catapult.
"Yes! Let's make for port right now. All haste." Faengrim's fear trepidation is obvious.
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The next day passes without incident, though not without trepidation. With the coming of evening, a nor’easter off the Eye sweeps across the Fever Sea, bringing a front of high winds and a purplish-black sky. Even before nightfall, the hurricane lamps must be lit to pierce the gloom. As the ship rides up and down with the swells and sporadic rain lashes the deck, the strained clanking of a bell can be heard once again coming over the water. A red ship’s lantern shines in the darkness as the dark bulk of a derelict whaler looms out of the night to your aft, about 100 feet away.
"To bows and cahtapohlts!" Chumtooth calls out.
"The spirit ship approaches. Use fire!"
Chumtooth says to Dantes, "bring up torches from below. Give them to the crew. If we have oil, bring it up also."
Dantes leaps into action, bringing up oil and torches as the captain bid. He enlists the aid of a couple of deckhands to speed the process. As he darts below, he stops by the galley and tells Kroops "Be alert! The whaler is upon us!"
"No good!" Vic shouts back, "That's inside our catapult range!"
And, without waiting for further orders, she immediately rolls a Flaming Sphere across the deck of the whaler, hoping to give the crew a handy light source on the enemy ship by setting some of it on fire.
"Put oil on arrows and light them," Chumtooth calls out. "Burn the death ship! Shoot any thing that moves on its deck!"
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As Vic sets fire to the enemy vessel with her flaming sphere, a rogue wave washes over its decks, extinguishing the flames. The whaler closes quickly and before anyone can react further, it is upon you and hooks and ropes come over the side. As the battle commences, you take the advantage by going over the side to the deck of the enemy vessel. Six bloated, rotten bodies with slimy green flesh stand between you and her captain, a skeletal figure clad in a captain's peacoat and tricorn hat.
INITIATIVE
Whalebone Pilk
Dantes
Chumtooth
Faengrim
Victoriana
Satinder
Brine Zombies
As the others get ready for the fight, Faengrim does his own preparations. He changes into a more ferocious form with claws and teeth and he casts Magic Fang so that his bites are more lethal.
Chumtooth draws his morningstar and kukri and moves to engage the nearest zombie. [b]"Cut them down! Drive them back!"[/color]
Vic draws her shield and runs after the boarding party, waving her fingers menacingly at the nearest seazombie.
Faengrim fights next to his captain, cleaving at the zombies.
Greatsword: mwk
Satinder gets up close to the first REAL threat she faces, and stabsdown the thing in front of Chumtooth with a quick jab in the face!
Dantes casts a spell, rending himself invisible. Then he weaves through the melee, making it closer to his captain.
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The captain of the doomed ship hoists a harpoon and sends it right at Chumtooth, the weapon cutting the kuru's left shoulder to the bone . Pilk then reels it in with a single motion via a rope attached to the mainmast. With his free hand, he is madly ringing the ship's bell. Dantes goes invisible and moves behind Chumtooth. Chumtooth attacks the brine zombie but is so distracted by his wound that his attacks miss the target. Faengrim hits the zombie, but its toughened hide resists his attempt to cut into it. Victoriana fires a scorching ray at a zombie, but misses. Satinder moves up alongside Chumtooth and stabs the zombie right between the eyes, but it does not fall.
The zombies come forward, moving with remarkable speed. Two slash at Satinder with their rusty cutlasses, but neither is able to hit. Chumtooth is hit once, a minor wound. Faengrim's armor saves him from a nasty slice.