Torn between wanting to see what the problem was belowdecks and help with it, and leaving her post, Azen chooses to stay and keep watch, but does ask the captain through the message spell if he would prefer her to help deal with the problem.
The Beast Unleashed - Round 2 - concluded
21 Nakoma
18 Acacius (8hp dmg)
18 Grauk (unaware)
15 Girallon (9hp dmg)
7 Azen
3 Zeke
Azen remains at her post, magically querying the captain if she should get involved. "No!" cries Bloodtusk in response. "We are entering the main channel now. We have need of a lookout and those below and on the deck will have to deal with whatever is occuring down there." So saying, the Captain rallies the sailors near him to investigate what is happening below.
Shocked by the intrusion into her rowing berth, Coxswain Halrex recovers with as blue a streak of language as any sailor ever uttered. Most of her curses are for the folly of Bloodtusk transporting the great beast on a ship, but she does not spare the girallon any of her wrath as well, unlimbering her whip and advancing on the melee.
Zeke causes his spiritual weapon to attack, but it fails to hurt the girallon this time. Meanwhile he channels the healing power of his god, which heals some of the wounds of Acacius (and some of Zeke's own wounds).
End of Round 2
The Beast Unleashed - Round 3
21 Nakoma
18 Acacius (10hp dmg)
18 Grauk (unaware)
15 Girallon (9hp dmg; 6NL)
7 Azen
6 Crew
3 Zeke
Acacius pummels the great ape-monster once again with Agrimmosh, striking a blow that resounds a great thunk that might fell an ordinary foe.
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An onion falls down between some barrels and Grauk finds it very challenging to retrieve it... truly no one on this ships struggles like he does.
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Azen remains at her post, making sure the ship is safe.
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Nakoma hurries over to the stairs, then hesitates. She takes a quick detour to the kitchen, whips open the door, and finds Graunk bent over a barrel looking for an onion. "Trouble!" she shouts REALLY LOUD at her hard-of-hearing companion. Then she turns, ready to continue rushing to the fight.
The Beast Unleashed - Round 3 - continued
Back on the deck, Azen commits to staying at her post as directed, even though she really wants to help her people belowdecks.
Nakoma stops at the stairs, then rushes to the galley, alerting the hyper-focused Grauk that something bad is happening in the hold. Grauk wonders why she is shouting, but starts to react anyway.
The 4-armed girallon roars its anger at being fought against moments after freeing itself. It continues to attack the nearest target, which is Acacius. Unarmored, Acacius is hit by 3 of the 4 claws, but the bite misses. Still the brave warrior is bloodied again.
Zeke's spiritual weapon continues to attack.
Then he moves up right behind Acacius and casts a healing spell on him.
The Beast Unleashed - Round 3 - concluded
Captain Bloodtusk gives the helm over to one of the crew and heads towards the hold himself sprinting across the deck.
In the hold, Halrex moves around the fight, trying to get close enough to use her whip to full advantage.
Zeke commands his weapon of force to continue to attack the girallon, hitting it once again. He, meanwhile, casts another healing spell in support of Acacius who is bearing the brunt of the fighting.
End of Round 3
The Beast Unleashed - Round 4
21 Nakoma
18 Acacius
18 Grauk
15 Girallon (14hp dmg; 16NL)
7 Azen
6 Crew
3 Zeke
Acacius continues to swap blows with the ape-beast, eager to see it downed.
Grauk starts heading below decks and once he sees the beast he starts shouting "Devil ape! To arms, to arms!"
Nakoma hurries down into the hold, drawing her star knife as she goes.
Azen continues to do her job to the best of her ability, checking below every once in a while to make sure there isn't trouble to address on the deck.
The Beast Unleashed - Round 4 - continued
Nakoma finally rushes down the stairs, finally getting an eye on what is happening.
Grauk keeps pace with the war-priestess, spying the 4-armed ape loose in the hold and wondering if he left the kettle on back in the galley.
Acacius, magically reinforced by Zeke, stands toe to toe with the girallon, but his time his hammer blow fails to connect.
The ape, instead of lashing out at Acacius with all its claws, instead tries to bear-hug the fighter, moving to grapple him with its many arms. While Acacius tries to avoid the grapple, it is just too many arms too quickly and he is soon in the grasp of the fierce beast.
Azen keeps the best look out she can with one ear towards the commotion below decks.
Acacius does his best to keep the beast away from him!
Nakoma hurries forward and hurls her star knife at the beast grappling Acacius!
But, she totally misses. The starknife spins through the air, magically on its way back to her.
Zeke's spiritual weapon continues to attack.
Zeke strides forward and swings his morningstar at the girallon. "Let him go!"
The Beast Unleashed - Round 4 - concluded
As the girallon wraps its many arms around Acacius, grappling him, the warrior lands one solid blow with Agrimmosh first.
The spiritual weapon of Zeke also scores a stabbing hit on the large foe, and Zeke's own morningstar crowns the great beast, offering a minor wound.
End of Round 4
The Beast Unleashed - Round 5
21 Nakoma
18 Acacius (grappled)
18 Grauk
15 Girallon (25hp dmg; 16NL; grappled)
7 Azen
6 Crew
3 Zeke
Nakoma, now in the hold, throws her starknife at the ape-monster, but it misses and magically returns to her hand.
Acacius mightily struggles to free himself of the beasts' many arms!
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Grauk gestures and a cloud of shining, glittering particles explodes behind the creature which at the least makes the scene even more bizarre. Grauk heroically dives behind some nearby cover. "You'll not have our souls!"
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The Beast Unleashed - Round 5 - continued
Acacius flexes and pulls and tries his darnedest to get free, but the girallon is strong and has many hands and holds the warrior fast.
Ducking into the room finally, Grauk casts a spell that brings a cloud of silvery sparkles falling down on the head of the ape-beast. The creature looks about bewildered by the glitter and that only causes the blinding effect to be worse. Clearly the girallon is sticken by the magical dust.
Freeing Acacius, the now-blinded and sickened, beast staggers back a step trying to regain its addled bearings. It does not attack while disoriented.
Azen continues her work in the crow's nest, trying to keep her focus ahead of the moving keelboat, instead of concentrating on the melee in the hold.
Bloodtusk arrives in the hold and cries out at the scene. "How did that beast get free? Get it back in the cage!" he roars advancing with just his massive fists to do his own dirty work.
The whip of Coxswain Halrex snaps driving the blinded beast back even more. It now stands within about 5' of a large iron cage which stands in the hold next to the rowing galley. The metal door of the cage stands wide open.
Zeke's spiritual weapon vanishes as he raises his shield and slams into the beast, attempting to drive it back into the cage.
The Beast Unleashed - Round 5 - concluded
Using his shield like a battering ram, Zeke drives into the blinded monster. While the creature is unable to see, it still lashes out at the force pushing it. The ape-creature stands its ground, but its swipe at Zeke misses.
End of Round 5
The Beast Unleashed - Round 6
21 Nakoma
18 Acacius
18 Grauk
15 Girallon (25hp dmg; 16NL; blinded)
7 Azen
6 Crew
3 Zeke
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Nakoma gives the captain a glare, clearly unimpressed he had this beast in the hold this whole time and never thought to mention it. She catches her starknife, takes a few steps forward, and hurls it at the girallon again.
Acacius charges at the beast, aiming to shove it into the cage!
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"I'm going to make you big in a second Acacius to help you wrestle him!" Grauk calls out but doesn't dare advance before adding a little magical protection for himself...
The Beast Unleashed - Round 6 - continued
Nakoma flings her whirling blade again, hitting the girallon with it, grimacing at the whole situation.
Acacius slams himself into the blind and sickened beast trying to drive the large monster back into its cage. The girallon flails out, but unable to see, it whiffs and then is knocked off its position and driven back into the open cage by Acacius' superior strength.
Grauk protects himself with a coating of magical armor while the battle rages.
The girallon roars its anger at being man-handled and attemps to destroy the man in its path. Flaililng blindly about, only 1 claw actually catches Acacius, and he takes a scratch, but nothing major.
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Zeke slams the cage door and tries to secure it closed.
"Oof! Nicely done, Acacius!"
The Beast Unleashed - Round 6 - concluded
With a flourish, Zeke slams the gate of the cage closed with a resounding clang, but is surprised to see that the locking mechanism has been jammed open. The gate will not lock right away, so Zeke holds it fast for the time being.
Captain Bloodtusk enters the small hold and mixes some powder into fresh food and tosses it inside the cage. The girallon loses interest i escaping, and blindly searches the cage for the food, consuming it voraciously, and succumbing to the drugs inside, finally falling unconscious. At last the threat is over, for a time.
End of Round 6
"What the? The lock has been jammed open!"
"I was in the galley cooking, it had nothing to do with me! I'm innocent." Grauk emplores to the captain before adding "As are my travelling companions."
Zeke holds the door shut until the lock can be secured.
"That's been here the whole time?" Nakoma asks the Captain. After a few moments she shakes her head, deciding she doesn't really want to talk to him. Instead of waiting for a response she moves to help Zeke secure the door.
Grauk looks around for rope or better yet chains to secure the door of the cage until the lock can be fixed.
Bleeding from several wounds, Acacius moves up to the cage door to secure it until Grauk can find a way to bind it.
As he does so, he asks:
"When was this cage door last checked? Because we may well still have a saboteur on board."
"Thanks, Nakoma. Acacius." Zeke remarks as the others come to help. "Well, I'm happy this one's back in his cage."
Zeke inspects the locking mechanism to see how it was jammed.
When the blinded, drugged and wounded girallon ends up back in the cage, the fight goes out of the many-limbed beast. While the lock is broken, it is easy enough or Acacius and Zeke to hold the door while Grauk gets rope and a heavy length of chain to secure the door more permanently.
Captain Bloodtusk nods at Nakoma's question. "Aye. We have had Baddrack on board since before we picked you up at Trunau. I often trade in exotic animals for the gladiator pits at Freedom Town or Urgit. Usually without incident, as I keep the beasts drugged and caged. But it appears someone has tampered with the lock..."
Closer inspection shows the hasp of the lock has been bent such that it will not longer go into the bolt. Whoever did this has a solid working knowledge of locks and not just a brute force accident.
Bloodtusk shrugs looking at you all. "Perhaps I was hasty in blaming you for the sabatoge before. It is evident that you were surprised by Baddrack's freedom as I was, and it would've been very messy indeed if you hadn't helped get him back secure. You have my thanks and my apologies." He bows low, asking for your forgiveness. "But if you didn't vandalize the boat, then who did?"
To Acacius' question about when the gate was last seen locked, the captain says, "I feed the creature at night. Last night all was locked up here, I think. Today, sabotage!"
With all made secure below, the Captain invites you back to the main deck so he can help guide the boat while you talk.
"I'm glad you're accepting we aren't trying to sabotage things. Has anyone been acting strangely lately?"
"I can accept that. We need to cooperate now, to find this saboteur."
Azen is relieved to see her friends come back up on the deck and that things look like they have been taken care of.
Zeke follows the captain above deck. "Would anyone on board have any motive to do these things? Do you have any enemies that might pay to have you harmed -- or perhaps that would threaten a member of your crew?"
"Do you know who on board might be able to do..." Nakoma gestures at the lock, clearly at a loss and having no idea how the things was actually sabotaged. "...that?" She regards the captain seriously. "Seems like a specialized skill set. Though, if they have always intended to cause trouble, they may have kept their skills hidden until now."