“This place is deader than leather jackets with corduroy elbow patches. Let’s get topside.”
EDIT: "Oh, hang about, I hear something ... want me to take a sneaky sneaky look-see?"
...murmurings in at least one unknown language......one definitely sounds Vudran; one sounds brutish and choppy...
There seem to be one or two borrowed words of the giant tongue.
Recognize giantish for "rope" "tie" "anchor."
(edit) these words are in the conversation of the gutteral speakers, not the Vudran speaker.
Beldan sneaks forward …
Beldan is able to lowcrawl up to the end of the hallway where stone gives way to beach sand.
A small beach, about 30 by 20 or so give or take, leads down to a sea cave lagoon (woah; I've noticed I favor those)....
Pulled up to the beach is a 65 foot flat bargelike longboat; looks good for inshore or river, not too sturdy a seafaring vessel. There's a 15 by 15 aft galley, upon the topdeck of which is a slim Vudran man in silken finery barking out orders. On the deck, there's eight men...or almost men. They look halforcish, though the fact that they seem to bear a uniform resemblance to one another unlike the variant, muttlike gamut of halforcish features, leaves one with a feeling that they're not exactly halforcs. They all seem to be 5 feet or so tall, almost built as sturdy as sleek, barrelchested dwarves; with heavy browridges and a mouth full of prognathous dentition; these men are baked as dark by the sun as Oso, and their hair grows in wild dreads.
All decked in mail, and with hefty morningstars.
Two of these nearmen are on the beach, tugging on ropes to the ship.
Sneak back and whisper-tell the others.
righton.....gotta go acquire victuals...
Oh, forgot; the tent is on the beach; it's not pitched though. Just lieing there in a pile of poles and canvas.
"What the hell? And all the goons are identical? This I have to see."
"What the hell? And all the goons are identical? This I have to see."
I didn't mean to infer that.....sorry. I just meant that they seemed more like a standard "race" of individuals than say, a gaggle of halforcs, one with a nose like a chimpanzee and no underbite, the next one with beady pigeyes and pointy ears and a human nose, yadda yadda...
heh heh....
“I don’t know, all that lot look kinda the same to me …”
Here's a layout;
a-L top 1-19 side.
The hall to the seacave is a12-a19, and at a20 the hall ends, with a door on the west side that goes to the previous room. You guys are either in that hall or the previous room; up to you at this point; Beldan snuck to a12 and then back...
the sea cave is b-l, 1-19; it continues south a way's; the opening to the harbor is a-l rank 1.
Usable beach is b c 7, b-d 8, b-e 9, b-e 10, b-d 11, and b c 12.
There's a gangplank to the barge at f9.
The barge is g-i 5-16 with a pointed prow out to h17 triangular.
the poop is g-i 5-7, stair at i8; there were two of the ?men on the beach, 8 on the main deck milling about and grunting their language; there was a vudran up on the poopdeck.
There's a rail, wooden, about 3 feet tall around all the decks. The poopdeck is about 8 foot tall; the deck is about 3 feet above the water line. There wouldn't be much more than crawlspace under this barge.
Anything that's not beach, hall, or barge is water. Unworked cave; approximately 25 feet high.
Any questions, sock it to me.
Beldan suggests the group buff up as necessary, then the quieter folk come into the passage, while the noisier ones stay in the room for now. He’ll then sneak back to A12, try to pop one of the orcy guys with a sneak attack crossbow shot, then its all on – sound like a plan? We’ll have to try to rush out of the passage and secure the beach asap, or risk getting bottled up in the passage.
Elgan points out that forcing them to come into the passage severely limits how many of them can attack at the same time. Of course it also limits how many of the group can engage them as well, but as there are more of them than us, the druid thinks the odds would better favor us in the narrow space. But he nods his agreement to whatever strategy the group decides,... (And he has no objection to popping off a few shots at them, and then retreating to the tunnel and hold them off as they come after us!) ;)
“Yeah, we could do that I suppose … shoot a few of them, then retreat into the tunnel – put Stiggy at the front to mow them down one by one. I think its too narrow for you to go all big bear though Elgan.”
"Could be all half-orcs of same blood even the same devils blood maybe."
Oso listens to the planning and then adds in, "Gittik can fly and my God will allow us to move from here to the back of the boat in one fell swoop if there is a fight for him to watch over. I can take three people, so some could hit the beach at the same time?"
So how you guys want to roll like with this thing?
No hurry or nothing; this daylight savings time crap has left me jacked hard, and I'm zoinky right now anyway's.
Beldan thinks of Altai as the man with the plan, so he’ll go with whatever he (or one of the others decides). Personally, he doesn’t want to overplan too much, preferring to play it a little fast and loose. He just wants to ranged sneak attack someone before all hell breaks loose.
Pip tightens Lucille's strings and readies for the fight
No hurry or nothing; this daylight savings time crap has left me jacked hard, and I'm zoinky right now anyway's.
No hurry or nothing; this daylight savings time crap has left me jacked hard, and I'm zoinky right now anyway's.
Elgan nods his agreement with Altai's plan, and casts a charm that brings the smell of pine needles wafting through the group as his skin darkens and roughens.
The druid then shimmers into his smaller normal-wolf sized form and takes up position, ready to dash forward,...
;)
Right on. Anybody trying to get in on them sneaky, gimme some rolls, call your position, and we'll get this foofaraw underway.
The vudran is at h6, on the poop deck.
Two of the ?men on e9 and d11 on the beach.
Eight of the ?men on the main deck of the barge, at g8, g10, g12, g14, and i8, i10, i12 and i14.
Pip tries to sneak into position after casting his (final) Haste.
:
He gets ready and when the action explodes begins a stirring tune.
:
Anybody what beats a 17 with their stealth can act in a surprise round. Apparently they're all busy aboard the ship and whatnot i.e. I rolled pretty crappy over there.
I'll let somebody call position for Pip if they want to....
Pip can do something; he's sneaky today.
Pip can do something; he's sneaky today.
Pip scopes out the Vudran and his weird minions from his vantage point. He throws a Glitterdust ondeck so as to maximize the folks caught.
"Lights out!
Uh huh!
Blast blast blast!"
Once everybody's ready, Altai jogs around the corner. A small ember flies from his hand and lands in the middle of the boat, where it blossoms into a massive explosion.
The vudran is dusted like the girl in Goldfinger, as are the two ?men in g8 and h8. Those two seem to be blinded, though the Vudran is not.
Once everybody's ready, Altai jogs around the corner. A small ember flies from his hand and lands in the middle of the boat, where it blossoms into a massive explosion.
The hall only goes up to a12; do you want to be b10 on the beach?
Onnyhoo, none fall. The ?men all look really really bad off though; burnt to a crisp and wailing in pain.
The Vudran still looks golden.
Something feline, something big screamroars when the fireball pops off.
or a13 would be "shooting around the corner" if you will...
The hall only goes up to a12; do you want to be b10 on the beach?
gotcha down...
No hurry or nothing; this daylight savings time crap has left me jacked hard, and I'm zoinky right now anyway's.
Actually.....
last week, I did five days-three 8 hour and two 15 hours.THEN, Monday I took the kids to Six Flags.
FINALLY, I'm on call from Wed to Sunday.
The DLST hour of sleep thievery is a bit like playing ruggby when you allready have the damn flu.
Gittik's kukri shatters the ?man's helmet and splits his head open like a watermelon; brains and gore spray the beach as he falls and slides into the water.
Nope; the back section has a 15 by 15 foot galley though, on top of which is the "poop deck."
Plenty of room in there, I reckon.
I guess, by process of elimification.
Also, has Altai seen or heard about anything like our half-somethings before? Knowledge (nature) 11+14=25.[/ooc]From the Isle of Dread.....
And to counter the bodacious Frazetta depiction.....
a halcyon politically correct envisioning of the neanderthal Waltons.
Looks like Elgan, Oso, Stiggy, and Beldan to roll to do stealthy stuff and try to get in on the ambush;
then it's initiative.