"Who needs healing?" Vic shouts out again, preparing another light cure.
Dantes charges forward, stopping next to Pilk. Instead of boosting an ally, however, he crouches down and scoops up the belt, eying Pilk with caution.
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ROUND NINE:
Chumtooth cuts down yet another zombie and wounds the remaining one with his kukri. Dantes hesitates, seeing Faengrim strike the bell and damage it, but not break it. No sooner than Faengrim withdraws his weapon, Dantes scoops up the bell, still invisible. Satinder forces the undead captain's hand from her chest and swings again, managing a hit on the skeletal being. Not being near any other targets, Vic again heals Chumtooth .
The remaining zombie slashes at the cannibal, managing a minor cut across his chest . Pilk laughs again, a hollow ringing sound, and thrusts his hand towards Faengrim. As with Satinder, the shark-kin feels his lungs being squeezed.
incorporal touch
Faengrim's rage allows him to resist the spectre's effect. With an inarticulate scream, he turns that rage upon the spectre.
Greatsword: mwk, bulls str
Bite: magic fang, bulls str
confirm crit Greatsword: mwk, bulls str
The bell rises in the air to about three feet above the deck, before darting away. When the bell reaches the top of the stairs, a voice calls out, shouting "Come to me!"
Dantes moves (shown on the map) and tries to use the bell to control the remaining zombie.
Chumtooth directs his fury towards the remaining zombie smash and slashing in an effort to finally clear the deck.
Satinder hacks and smashes, with all her might, at the undead captain.
"Just die already," she shouts, in a fury not thinking straight.
After her attack, she finds her attack pierced the skull from behind, as Faengrim's expression shows seeing the tip of her blade coming towards him.
Seeing few zombies left—and most of her magic spent—Vic sort of stands in place and taunts one of the remaining enemies.
Chumtooth charges forward to join the rest of the group. As he closes, he swings his morningstar down upon the skeletal captain.
Sheer desperation keeps Faengrim going against their supernatural foe.
Greatsword: mwk, bull str, flank
Bite: bull str, flank, magic fang
"Faengrim, into the hold to find plunder. Be sure not to go down with the ship" Satinder shouts, as she rushes forward and down aswel.
"Get off the ship and back to the Kiss!" Chumtooth cries out to his crew.
"Be wary," he warns Satinder and Faengrim. "Do not let your lust for treasure drown you. Grab only small things and get out!"
He glances down at the deck to see if anything was dropped that appears valuable, if he sees nothing, he immediately runs back to the Kiss of Vengeance.
Dantes casts detect magic, starting to scan for particularly valuable loot.
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Chumtooth looks down, but the bones and equipment dissolve into mist which briefly coalesces into the form of Pilk and then scatters, leaving only a ringing laughter behind.
Dantes estimates about one minute (10 rounds) before the ship sinks. Satinder and Faengrim head below, only to find that the hold of the ship is full of human skulls!
Vic stays behind, not eager to start swimming.
Faengrim hurries to the captain's cabin and hoping to find some choice bits of treasure.
He's not worried over drowning, but the disintegrating hull does give him some concern.
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Nothing of interest in the captain's cabin. The hold also contains a few bits of choice goods taken from other victims. You can rescue the equivalent of 4 points of plunder before the ship sinks beneath the waves.
"What is Cracking the Rock?" Chumtooth asks, unfamiliar with the expression.
When safely back aboard our own vessel, Dantes disappears below deck with the bell. Once secluded, he'll try to examine it again to determine its properties.
Spellcraft
Edit. When the item continues to confound him, he broods much of the day, and then sits down with it again the next day.
Spellcraft
When Satinder comes back on board of their ship, she makes sure everyone goes back to their tasks.. She is stern, but seen smiling regularly...
None can stand before us. Hail Calistria!
After a moment, Chumtooth realizes that this conversation sounds like one he's had before with Mr. Kroop.
"Is that the island you spoke of, the one with the large stone hut that pirates try to claim?"
"We will go and Crack the Rock, then," Chumtooth replies.
"It would be our island and our great stone hut. We could make a village there, and build more ships."
"Do you agree?" he asks his officers.
When the officers meet to discuss cracking the rock, Dantes brings the bell with him.
"I do agree. The advantages, both tangible and not, seem to outweigh the risks. And I believe we are at a point where we can work together well enough to pull it off."
A little later in the conversation, he'll show the bell and speak of it. "I have examined this bell and the arcane forces that it harbors. Alas, I fear it holds no real value for us. It would appear its only purpose is the regeneration of the undead vessel and crew, and not in a way that can be bent to our will. And when they do return from the depths, they are certain to come after it. I can see two possibilities for it. First, we can destroy it, putting an end to that particular nautical menace. Second, we could sneak it aboard a rival's vessel and make them content with the ghost ship, perhaps time and time again if the bell goes undiscovered."
Faengrim Pat's his great sword. "I can take care of it"
"I say we get rid of it.. If we can, it will save us and possible allies, and of course possible loot, a lot of trouble. But the choice is up to Chumtooth of course!"
Satinder clearly has a distaste for those that do not remain dead.
"As for the stone hut, I believe it would be a smart thing to do. Not counting the riches we might encounter, but having a solid and defensible base where we could lick our wounds would be an awe-inspiring feat, furthering our reputation..."
Chumtooth looks at the bell with revulsion.
"Break it. Smash it. Do what must be done to keep the foul spirits from coming back."
He turns the subject back to The Rock. "We have chosen to Crack the Rock, then. Let us make our way there."
Dantes sets the bell down somewhere that Faengrim can destroy it without damaging the part of the ship it rests on. When the vicious skinwalker has done his worst to it, Dantes will confirm that the enchantment upon it is indeed ruined with his detect magic spell. Once that is done, Dantes will drop the pieces over the side, bit by bit, over a couple of hours so that the remains are well scattered below the sea.
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The deed is done, the bell destroyed and dispersed to the depths. The next morning, you awake to find Pilk's harpoon and hat impaled on the mainmast.
Dantes expands upon the history of the Rock from what he can recall hearing from sailor's stories.
"When a Free Captain named Magna Stormeyes discovered the natural harbor on Windward Isle over 2 centuries ago, she immediately recognized that it would make the perfect haven from which to launch a pirate fleet. Starting with just one ship and small encampment on Windward’s harbor, she began to ply the trade of piracy. With the plunder from her initial hauls, she set about building a keep, which she called Tidewater Rock.
"From the vantage point atop the Rock, she found she could pick out particularly ripe targets while receiving ample of warning of hostile ships approaching. Over time, Stormeyes’ successes enabled her to build a sizeable fleet, as well as more strongholds on several different islands. She became the scourge of the southern sea lanes and eventually claimed the Hurricane Crown as her own.
"Shortly after becoming the Hurricane King and relocating to Port Peril, she was assassinated by rival Free Captains. Stormeyes’ burgeoning fleet fell apart among its squabbling captains. Gerta Frome, first mate of Stormeyes’ flagship, the Cocksure, seized control of the Rock. Within only a few years, Frome became a powerful Free Captain herself, and the legend of Tidewater Rock as both a powerful good luck talisman and an impregnable bastion was born.
"Over the many years since, control of Tidewater Rock has passed from hand to hand, and its strategic location and practical defensibility have enabled its owners to enrich themselves substantially. With the rebellion of Sargava and its ostensible alliance with the Free Captains, Tidewater Rock became of less strategic importance, and its owners came to be of less prominence, but the age-old axiom of “Good fortune and sure sail await what one can crack the Tidewater Rock” has stood the test of time among the pirates of the Shackles and is oft-quoted—if seldom heeded—even today.
"The most recent lord of Tidewater Rock was Bertram Smythee, captain of the Vale and three other brigs. Like his predecessors, he held Tidewater Rock as his seat but controlled a few other small castles on surrounding islands as well.
"Over a decade ago, “Iron Bert” Smythee went to sea with his small fleet in a feud with Free Captain Carola Antiochus and was never seen again. Word came back that Antiochus had lured Smythee into the edges of the Eye of Abendego and ambushed him with the help of a previously unknown ally—one Barnabas Harrigan—and that Smythee’s fleet was cut to pieces between the enemy fleets.
"Though Captain Smythe managed to sink Antiochus’s Pergador, he was last seen on the deck of the crippled and sinking Vale at the mercy of the Eye’s hurricane winds.
"Captain Harrigan claimed the remainder of Antiochus’s fleet and took control of several of Smythee’s undefended castles. He made an attempt to take the Tidewater Rock as well, only to discover that Smythee’s able widow had taken charge of its defenses. She managed to fend off his attack with such alacrity that Harrigan decided to leave the widow to rot in her tower.
"The Rock is Windward Isle, the westernmost island in a small
archipelago south of Motaku Isle. About a week's sail."
----------ONE WEEK LATER----------
Windward Isle is 2 miles long by 1 mile wide and is almost entirely surrounded by rough shingle and gravel beaches. Its central elevation never rises above 100 feet, so the tower of Tidewater Rock commands a good view of almost the entire island. Its soil is rocky and barren, with thin salt grasses, scrub trees, and a few boggy areas where peat is collected.
The harbor of Windward Isle is a quarter-mile-wide channel that runs just south of Tidewater Rock and ends in a lagoon large and deep enough to safely hold three seagoing ships. Ships in the anchorage would be protected from the worst of the storm surges when monsoons blow in off the Fever Sea.
Tidewater Rock is a fortified tower house over 70 feet tall, built upon the same stone shingle that makes up the western shore of Windward Isle. The tower house is composed of reinforced masonry walls atop a 10-foot-high stone base filled with packed dirt. A stone stair rises 10 feet to the heavy front door.
The tower rises like a solid block from the sea at the edge of this island. The pounding surf rolls around its base and partially covers the steps that lead up to its front gate. A few arrow slits pierce its walls here and there, and a single shuttered window opens high upon the face of the fortress. A roof of metal shingles rises from its battlements where sentries keep lookout and siege weapons stand ready on corner turrets.
It is 2 PM when you arrive at the Windward Isle. The waves lap at the very lip of the door stoop, making assailing the castle virtually impossible.
Kroop confers with Chumtooth and the other officers. "As I see it, Cap'n, there are three ways that we can play this. The most forward method is ta go in with weapons bared and take the Rock by force. 'Gonna be difficult, given the tide situation, an' if this is the way we choose, we might want ta wait until low tide.
"Another option is ta sneak our way in. A small force might be able ta get in undetected an' take a look-see ta determine the size of the enemy forces. An' of course, there's always the polite way. We knock on the front door an' ask ta parlay."
Dantes suppresses a chuckle when Kroop mentions parley as an option, but quietly looks to their captain for his decision.
Chumtooth claims the enchanted harpoon, placing his own well-worn mundane one in the weapons locker.
As he is presented with the choices of how to attack the Rock, Chumtooth mulls over the scenarios.
"If the sto..forr-tuh is simple to defend with small numbers against large numbers, then attacking is foolish. We must then choose if we are to sneak in when it is darkest and kill them as they sleep, or do we speak with them and per-sway-d them to join us. The people in the fort may wish to have a strong crew to bring plunder, and they may wish to have a strong leader."
"DIplomacy doesn't sound like a bad idea here, honest," Vic replies. "Whadda we know? Excellent vantage point for pirates. No pirates there but a buncha old widows who don't wanna leave their homes and are gonna defend that. Maybe we could offer to pay them rent, or be the first ship in 'their' fleet, since it sounds like the current owners don't have ships of their own. Work out some profit sharing, that sorta thing—we don't exactly have a lotta boats or crew right now."
"If we go in and propose a treaty, they might be inclined to listen. They sound like strong women in a strong position, but their hearts will listen to a priestess of Calistria. I can feel their rage and vengeance seeping through the cracks of the story. They have been robbed of their husbands and lovers, and left behind to die a miserable death. They seek revenge, and I say the Kiss is the perfect ally to give them exactly that... And then some!"
Satinder seems to lose herself in the explanation, but then looks up and her head scans the crowd of the inner circle.
"...And of course it doesn't hurt that we have allies and a perfect vantage and staging point to begin our conquest and rise to infamy!"
She drinks up her portion of the liquor and waits for Chumtooth to make a decision.
"We will speak first. If they do not listen, we will take the rock from them," Chumtooth states resolutely. "We make our way to The Rock!"
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Windward Isle is 2 miles long by 1 mile wide and is almost entirely surrounded by rough shingle and gravel beaches. Its central elevation never rises above 100 feet, so the tower of Tidewater Rock commands a good view of almost the entire island. Its soil is rocky and barren, with thin salt grasses, scrub trees, and a few boggy areas where peat is collected.
The harbor of Windward Isle is a quarter-mile-wide channel that runs just south of Tidewater Rock and ends in a lagoon large and deep enough to safely hold three seagoing ships. Ships in the anchorage would be protected from the worst of the storm surges when monsoons blow in off the Fever Sea.
Tidewater Rock is a fortified tower house over 70 feet tall, built upon the same stone shingle that makes up the western shore of Windward Isle. The tower house is composed of reinforced masonry walls atop a 10-foot-high stone base filled with packed dirt. A stone stair rises 10 feet to the heavy front door.
The tower rises like a solid block from the sea at the edge of this island. The pounding surf rolls around its base and partially covers the steps that lead up to its front gate. A few arrow slits pierce its walls here and there, and a single shuttered window opens high upon the face of the fortress. A roof of metal shingles rises from its battlements where sentries keep lookout and siege weapons stand ready on corner turrets.
It is 2 PM when you arrive at the Windward Isle. The waves lap at the very lip of the door stoop, making assailing the castle virtually impossible.
"I'm looking forward to meeting with the grieving widow, captain. Let me lead the team that opens negotiations. "
Chumtooth considers the matter for a moment.
"These things are different here than on the island where I was a boy. Talking was a time to show strength, to make others fear you if they did not join you. These people have little to fear, hiding in their fort-tuh, but they have no way to go outside of it. We have a ship. We need to talk of how we each will gain from the alliance. Fear will not do this."
He turns to the ranger. "Faengrim, you may go with our messenger to serve as protector, should they seek to attack."
He turns to Vic, and says "You have a clever tongue, and you do not look dangerous to those who do not know you. You will invite their leader to meet with me, so that we can reach agreement."
When we meet with them, Satinder and Vic will do the most talking. I will speak in Kuru, and they will give my words in the Common tongue to them."
"Dantes, you will stand ready to use your magic, should our meeting turn to bloodshed. If that happens, we kill them, and take the for-tuh."
"Wise decision, to let the women talk to the women..." Satinder says, smilingly, while nodding at Victoriana.
"We'll make them see reason if they decide to come here, but I'm betting that they will not leave their island. I reckon they'll make us come to them, where they are strong and we are weak."
"A wise and well reasoned plan, Captain. I will work with Kroops to make sure our finest refreshments are available should they accept the invitation."
"Ya, sounds good. I can gab, at least."
"The captain of the Kiss of Vengeance would like a parley with you." Satinder simply states, waiting for the women's response in order to gauge their temper and initial attitude towards this proposal.
First the toe, then the foot, in the cold water..
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The guard turns around and shouts something down into the tower. There is a long delay and then the sound of the door being unlocked. It opens to reveal this woman and two guardsmen. The woman says, "Please, do come in."
Chumtooth watches from the deck of the Kiss as Vic, Faengrim and Satinder arrive at the front door of the keep. He is heartened when the figures at the top of the tower do not immediately fire on, or drop munitions onto his officers.
"Perhaps they will talk," he muses.
Faengrim gets out of the water and approaches the woman. He sizes up her and the guards before stepping to the side so that Satinder can be more diplomatic.