Daseems fun comes to a quick end as the creature falls like a tree, burying Ivan under the body.
Meanwhile Raag appears besides Bupkis at the hatch. "Oh no! Why is Bakkara out!"
As the creature falls, Menrozzar ends his rage, breathing heavily as he stows his hammer. "Bakkara? Is that what this creature is?"
"Bakkara four-armed ape?", Bupkis asks. "Where it come from?"
"I wanted to sell that to Urgir’s gladiatorial arena. He should be locked away and sleeping in his cage!" Raag fumes.
Bupkis jumps down to the rowing deck. "Cage in there?", he asks, pointing to the gaping hole in the wall.
Menrozzar fixes the Raag a glare. "Any other exotic creatures in there you were looking to sell? We're lucky this one got out while we were awake. Imagine if he ravaged the boat while we were all sleeping."
Looking inside the armory through the hole in the wall Bupkis finds the cage open but undamaged.
Bupkis goes in and looks to see if the cage has a lock of some sort.
The creature falls on top of Ivan causing him to let out a small wheeze.
oh ye got ta' be jokin' he wheezes out as he gathers his strength and starts pushing the creature off of him.
As raag enters, Ivan finishes pushing the mass over enough that he can crawl out from it.
what part O keepin' one O these things on a damnable boat did you think was a good idea? I've got half a mind ta' think walkin' may 'ave been safer. Ye got anythin' else ye want ta' tell us? Maybe ye haulin sabatuers? Got a giant pushin' the boat underneath us? Now, I ain't one to normally pry, but just what are ye haulin'? What be yer business an', how did ye come by yer crew? Now I gotta clean me armor on this cursed boat.
Ivan starts ranting as he huffs and stands up.
Covered in blood and in what appears to be some kind of religious ecstasy, Daseem mutters "G-glorious! Gorum be praised..." Although he casts a wary eye at Raag, wondering what was going on in side that head.
Scrabbler didn't think he opened the cage. That seemed like something he'd remember doing. Still, he felt like now probably wasn't the best time to say anything about his earlier excursion. He kept his mouth shut and his head low.
Daseem shruggs, he didn't care about Raggs' loss. He noticed Ivan grumbling about cleaning up. He had a point, blood could cause metal to rust. He started cleaning himself off when he noticed some of the blood was his.
He used the wand to heal the deep scratches and contusions he'd received and then looked around to see if anyone else needed healing.
Raag is pissed. His four armed ape dead, the boat heavily damaged and this crazy bunch he took aboard throws either a fit or a party for that. "That is not right." he mutters before he disappears from view.
He shortly thereafter comes down the stairs and walks down the aisle to the iron door. He unlocks it and checks on the armory. "What idiot unlocked the cage!?!" he shouts. "Gashnakh! Come here you idiot!"
Gashnak comes to the hatch. "I didn't touch that cage! And I fed it as you told!" the half orc defends himself.
"Did one of you break into the armory?" Raag more accuses than asks his passengers.
Gashnakh is lying.
Bupkis looks at the cage and comments, "Bakkara in here all time? Bupkis not hear it — very quiet ape, until breaks through wall!"
He comes back out of the armory and confers with his friends in a low voice, "Gashnakh says something not true, Bupkis thinks."
Menrozzar meets Raag stare for stare, then says, ”I know I have not, and I highly doubt any of the others did either. Bupkis is correct, however - Gashnakh is lying about something. Perhaps he forgot to lock the cage after feeding him, or didn’t remember to feed him?”
Gashnakh swears and curses calling Menrozzar a liar and retreats from the hatch, out of sight.
Raag sighs "Remove the ape from the rowing banks. I have to talk to some half-orc."
Daseem frowns at Raag and then positively glowers at Gashnakh as he mutters "L-liar."
Bupkis examines the cage to determine how the ape got out so easily.
Obviously someone unlocked the cage. The lock is in pristine condition and also the cage is undamaged.
"Cage not locked; someone let's ape out!", Bupkis announces to everyone present. He wonders if it was Gashnakh, or if Gashnakh knows who did it.
Raag goes back up and grabs Gashnakh "Now talk! What did you do? And why? Have you taken leave from your senses?"
Gashnakh tries to defend himself. "I forgot to feed the ape. But I didn't unlock the cage. I don't have a key, and I didn't touch that lock!"
"You wanna tell me it was the ape who let himself out!" Raag shakes the guy.
"Who does have key?", Bupkis asks. He remembers Scrabbler saying there is a secret way down below from the armory, but thinks it's better not to talk about that in front of Raag.
"Only me." Raag replies and pauses shortly. He pats down his own pockets and finds the key there. "This one."
"Maybe someone makes copy, or maybe someone picks lock without key," Bupkis suggests. He doesn't add that he can pick locks.
Daseem wondered, 'I don't think he's lying about the key but I don't think he's being entirely forthright about not feeding it...' Of course he was too tongue tied to get something nuanced like that over gracefully.
Daseem jabbed a finger towards the half orc, "L-lying about the f-food!"
"What would Gashnakh want with that? Kill himself? All that makes no sense." Raag tells and trows Gashnakh into a corner.
"As Daseem said, he may be lying about feeding the ape. Do you think he's telling the truth about not unlocking the cage?" Menrozzar asks Daseem, knowing the warpriest could just nod yes or no in response.
Once they finish getting the truth out of Gashnakh, Menrozzar says, "Captain, after the sabotage of the railing yesterday, and now this, I think we should look over the boat for a possible stowaway. If you will permit, we'd like to check the off-limits areas for any hidden compartments or the like. Either you or a designated representative should accompany us to oversee our search. Will you agree to this?"
"Well, better safe than sorry." Raag agrees.
Menrozzar stows his lucerne hammer, and loosens his falchion in its scabbard - the confined spaces below decks would be difficult. He motions the group into the room the ape had come from, and says, "Look for any hidden areas."
Ivan spends most of the time grumbling, loud enough to be heard, but eventually sighs and lets it go.
how long ye had yer crew Raag, an where did ye hire 'em?
Ivan asks as they make their way to the armory.
Bupkis goes back into the armory and looks around. He's pretty sure Scrabber knows where the secret passage is, so he looks for any other clues.
The secret door is pretty obvious to all that are as perceptive as Menrozzar, Ivan and Bupkis are.
"Here is the entrance into the lowest deck of the ship." Raag tells and opens the trapdoor. A flight of stairs leads down to a storage room with empty shelves. Leading all down he moves directly to the door.
"What the hell. Who put a trap on that door!" he calls out as he notices this barely concealed snare trap.
Bupkis comes down to look at the trap. "Stand back, Bupkis disarms trap!", he advises everyone.
He also stands back, and works on the snare from a distance with his telekinetic powers.
"As Daseem said, he may be lying about feeding the ape. Do you think he's telling the truth about not unlocking the cage?"
Daseem nodded emphatically, at least in that respect, he was sure the half-orc was telling the truth.
"What the hell. Who put a trap on that door!"
Daseem frowned and took a deep breath, and spoke slowly to try and get the words out properly, "C-captain, ye didn't answer Ivan's question. Got any n-new crew?"
"I'm with them for ages and they are all loyal." Raag answers.
The trap looks easy enough, but to Bupkis surprise it does go off making a loud noise. He is not caught in it though as he was aware of the dangerous parts.
"Captain, I suspect there may be a stowaway down here." Drawing his falchion, Menrozzar takes a deep breath, then looks at Bupkis and says, "Do you think it safe to pass through the door?"
Bupkis agrees and Menrozzar opens the door. A 5-foot-wide corridor stretches for 80 feet between two doors. Besides this plank this room is filled with sludge and muck.
"Someone knows we here; we be careful!", Bupkis says. He moves cautiously along the plank, checking for more traps as he goes. Although goblins don't worry too much about getting dirty, he stays out of the muck; who knows what might be in that!
As Bupkis moves along he misses the trap on the floor and steps right into it. It doesn't wound him, but holds him in place.
The door on the opposite end of the plank opens and and arrows come flying at Bupkis.
Bupkis cries, "Aagh, stuck!", and tries to wriggle free.
He escapes, and moves forward, preparing to return fire.
Scrabbler bolted forward, scampering along the wall to avoid the mucky water. He came to rest with his back to the wall on the side of the door with the hinges.
In the dim light of the lowest deck you can vaguely percieve the outlines of a human woman.
Falchion in hand, Menrozzar moves forward towards the unknown archer, past Bupkis, planning to cut them down and prevent them from continuing their attack.
Menrozzar runs into the second snare trap, being hold in place mid charge.