"Alain came and found me. Let's finish all the rats and I will heal all of you." . His eyes fall on Kenya, looking for wounds, concern obvious in his eyes.
With that he pulls his dagger and gives a coup de grace to a rat.
Aldous arrives and cuddles breathes a sigh of relief. His friends won't die. Now, time to settle a score. Those rats nearly killed River AND Tao.
Cuddles descends the ladder again. The bilge water is tainted red with blood. He goes to the nearest rat and takes it by the shoulders. He places a meaty hand just behind the skull and gives a sharp twist. A wet crack announces the spine's shattering. He then bashes the beast against the ladder to break open the skin and rips upen the back of the rat's neck. Blood flows freely across his hands and arms as he works one hand into a good grip around the back of the skull and the other into a good grip on the spine. With a grunt and a disgustingly wet, cracking rip he seperates the rats head from its body.
A grin spreads across his face. Vengeance had been satisfied, for this one. He tosses the head up the ladder into the deck above and moves on to the next closest rat.
Any interested parties are able to Coup de Grace the rats without any difficulty. You then have a few minutes to recuperate before getting back to work.
One by one cuddles repeats his grizley decapitation of the rats. By the end his entire front is covered in blood and he has 6 skulls on deck. He climbs the ladder and gathers them up in his hands. He starts to walk away, but stops short. He turns to those there and says, WHERE GET HAT? CUDDLES NEEDS HAT. OR STRING FOR NECKLACE. BUT HAT BETTER.
"Cuddles...Perhaps you would allow me to clean you off. You are covered with blood, my friend."
After those words, he begins to channel, knowing full well that his friends will need a good deal of healing.
Aldous pauses after two and then seeing that his friends are still injured, he does it a pair more of times.
Having nearly spent his healing energies, he looks about the group and decides that the wounds appear to mostly be cleaned up. "Please don't scare me like that again," his voice is soft and his breathing ragged as he is still working to catch his breath after sprinting here. "Thank Calistria Alain came to get me."
CUDDLES TRY BEST, BUT TOO MANY. CUDDLES NEED PRACTISE HUG FAST. The big half ORC hangs his head a little. He has had his vengeance on the rats, but still feels bad that his friends were hurt.
"It's ok, Cuddles, we are at our strongest when we are together. And we were not. Everyone is fine now."
Smiling, he places his hands on Cuddles and says a little prayer, creating water as he lets it pour over his friend, washing the blood and grime away, then he goes from person to person, cleaning them of the filth, leaving Enya last, but making sure she is fully cleaned of the grime of the bilges. Whispering to her.
Enya smiles as Aldous helps her clean off. When he whispers in her ear, she gets chills, smiling. Then her smile turns playful. She whispers
She smiles and, after he cast water on her, she takes his hand and cups it to her face. She mouths: "Thank you, my hero." Nuzzling into his hand.
Mica runs up his arm and nuzzles his face, giving him otter kisses, the kisses Enya is too afraid to give. Mica can feel the emotions of her mistress and isnt quite as shy.
I come to, a little wobbly at first but manage to stand up. I look around to see what happened, the last thing I remember was Tao going down ... I quickly look at Tao to make sure he is alive and healthy, I let out a sigh of relief once I see that he is breathing and his wounds mostly gone.
I nod in thanks to everyone for their help and then rush off to get on with my work before we are all caught, even though I am working hard I still feel nervous about catching the rats, but luckily none are quite as big as previous rats and I am able to complete my duties on time.
Cuddles wanders off to find himself a hat, but can't seem to locate one in time to get back to work. Instead, he grabs some thin rope and forces it through the rat's cheeks using a small iron spike as a piercing needle. When he arives back at his job he has a gruesome necklace of six large fresh rat heads hanging by a rope passed through their cheeks around his neck.
He resumes swabbing, but the ordeal in the bilges and the decapitations have left his arms tired. He does average work. The second glances and questions his trophies get don't help his productivity either.
Tao snaps awake sitting bolt upright grabbing for his weapon that isn't there. He looks around blinking trying to recall the last thing he remembered.
A rat. Taking me out with a bit to the neck...
As the memory floods back he remembers prying the rat off as a gout of blood sprung away following the rat followed by his sword dropping out of his numbing fingers. Then, everything went black. He looks around now watching as all the others are now darting back to their positions on the ship. He shakes his head hard. He had passed out so many times this week, it was beginning to feel like a bad joke. Wordlessly, he stands and before he can thank Aldous, he pauses watching him and Enya exchanging their whispers as he busies himself cleaning her wounds. Wordlessly, he turns and moves back to his post, head hanging a bit. Shame and sadness begin to creep through his mind. He was the first to fall. How useless a friend he is. He returns to his work mind filled with dark thoughts, mindlessly working on his tasks distracted by the last few days' events.
He gives Mica a very tender nuzzle and smiles softly, "I like you, too, little one," he whispers. "Don't you go getting hurt, either," he says as he gives the otter a wink.
He gives Enya's face a gentle stroke after she cupped her cheek within his touch. "I don't expect you to not rush into danger...but maybe next come get me first. Now, if you need nothing else of me, I have to finish dinner and relive Alain."
Mica mimics Aldous' movements, playfully trying to nip his finger.
Enya nods into his palm, and lets go. "I should probably get above decks, too. So much death here. Thanks for the bath." She laughs a warm laugh and heads up the latter.
"See you at The Bloody Hour...," he says as he heads up to the galley again.
"Alain, thank you so much for the head's up. I don't know how bad it would have been if I hadn't arrived when I did. Tao and River were both unconscious from the rats...Everyone is alright now," he walks over and pats the wizard on the arm. "You really saved the day."
"Really? Wow. I didn't know the rats on this shit bucket where so dangerous!"
"Well, Cuddles made a necklace out of their skulls, so you can see how big they were. It wasn't pretty and the wounds did not look...healthy...if you follow. Also, thanks for watching my stew," he says as he moves over to the stew and takes the spoon to give the giant pot another stir.
The remainder of the morning/afternoon proves uneventful although Enya is starting to feel rather sick. Not enough to impede her performance yet, but it's definitely getting worse.
When it's time for the Bloody Hour, Alain is given two lashes for entering the galley without permission. Aldous is given two lashes for leaving the galley without permission.
Alain: DC 5
Aldous: DC 7
Cuddles: DC 7
Enya: DC 5
River: DC 7
Tao Sheng: DC 5
dumping rum seripticiously
entertain the crew
Enya quietly pours out her raton into another sailors drink who is too preoccupied with Alain to see what happened.
Cuddles is feeling high and lucky. He wanders onto the deck to see if he can't put his strength to good use and get some coin.
Without saying a word or asking permission, knowing it may end up going badly for him, Aldous channels his last one of the day after he is whipped, his eyes starting to fog, he is mostly going on auto-pilot to make sure he doesn't fall.
[spoiler=If no punishment comes from that] When it comes time to drink his rum, Aldous looks at it as if he is troubled. Then he sees how confident Cuddles look and he downs it. Hard and fast, hoping his luck will carry him through.
Tao decides he didn't want to watch tonight's bloody hour. As was becoming the norm, it was once again his friends being put up for lashes and no one else. The proceedings were wearing thin on Tao and he doubted he could hold his temper if he watched them whooped. The time was drawing closer that they would have to deal with the situation whether or not they made it to shore. He remained in the far back, gritting his teeth and clutching his fists, cringing with each snap of the whip. His whole body felt on fire and his mind felt hazy. He constantly reminded himself to keep calm.
When it was time for the rum rations, Tao had thought of drowning his thoughts in the liquor. He pushed the thought from his mind though. He had to remain focused. I couldn't afford to fill himself with poison. Not now. He took a quick look around and dumped the contents over the edge once more.
He sipped at his empty tankard the rest of the night trying to get in good with the some of the crew by joining them in their drunken gambling.
Enya holds her yell back as she watches Aldous get lashed. When its over, she runs over to him, stumbling a bit. "Are you okay? Can I do anything?" Her eyes are full of tears. She coughs into her shoulder and reaches out to him. "Oh that was uncalled for... You saved our lives!" She starts to cry and collapses against a wall, holding her stomach and coughing. "What can I do, Aldous? Just say the word, and I'll make it so." She sinks to the deck, the combination of coughing and crying not helping her stand. She lets out a grunt and tries to stand, only to begin coughing again.
A number of discarded crates and boxes packed with straw lie in the bilges, among which can be found a suit of leather armor, three heavy maces, and 12 sp. In addition, you find a buckler, a masterwork handaxe, a vial of holy water, a tanglefoot bag, two tindertwigs, and 21 gp scattered randomly in the dank puddles on the floor.
@Everyone:
Cuddles walks over to the arm wrestling barrel and smiles pleasantly at the pirates there (This may or may not come off as extremely menacing). He waits for his turn and sits down. He doesn't remember there being sharp things on the barral in Port Peril, but he shrugs, slams his elbow down and says, WANNA PLAY?
After the Rum has been handed out I leave the crew and about an hour and a half later I return to the sleeping quarters with a large stash of equipment in my arms. I place it all under my hammock until everyone returns for bed, at which point I will pull it all out and see if anyone wants it all.
Upon seeing Tao and Cuddles come back down into the quarters, before pulling out the gear I walk up to them both and give them a big hug, "Thank-you for saving me from the Rats, I owe you both." After the hug I take one of Cuddle's big hands and grasp it with both of mine, then place my fore-head on the back of his hand. This must be a friendship gesture among the pointy eared folk.
I go to Tao and give him a kiss, before collecting all of the salvaged gear. This definitely isn't a sign of friendship among the pointy eared folk.
Cuddles smiles broadly. CUDDLES LIKE LITTLE RIVER GIRL AND OTHER TOOK PEOPLES. WE STUCK TOGETHER. WE NEED STUCK TOGETHER.
...
Cuddles just shrugs at the equipment. WHATEVER PEOPLE NOT WANT, CUDDLES USE.
Tao stands frozen. He was not expecting a kiss. He had not even thought he did anything except fall unconscious during the fight. He took it in stride though. Or so he thought. He stared at her a bit dumb, not knowing what had just happened, if he had imagined it, and if it had, how to respond. A goofy grin then slowly spread over his face as he nodded to her for the thanks. Most of the rest of the night was a jumble. Most of it, until he found himself sitting at the arm wrestling barrel to square off against an opponent. (Hopefully, not Cuddles)
I giggle softly as Tao looks dumb-founded and pat his hand in reassurance. As he sits down at the barrel I sit a few feet away, watching intently.
Out of all of the stuff that I bring out I take 2 of them for myself, a small bag and vial of water.
Enya is stared at. "Do not fret over me, it seems that the harsh realities that we are facing is forcing a malady upon you. I cannot heal sickness, my lady," he pauses as he holds her up. "Lets get you your ration and then get your below deck. You need to get rest.
Enya takes his hand and tries to stifle her coughing. After she disposes of her drink she leans on Aldous.
"Do you know anyone who can cure sickness? I just feel nauseous and have a bad cough... I dont think its anything too bad.. The rat bites probably infected or something..." She coughs and the her face lgihts up. "Hey, wouldn't Sandara be able to help? I need to talk to her anyway."
Rosie Cusswell
"Ratline" Rattsberger
He nods, "It will not hurt to go and find her...and ask if she might be able to help." Holding Enya up takes about all he has in him, but he allows her to lean as heavily as she needs as he looks around for Sandara.
Seeing as how it is turning out to be a battle of the sexes, Tao smiles and accepts the challenge against Rattsberger. Tao takes a seat in front of Ratline cracking his knuckles in preparation.
Alain doesn't need any of the gear but thanks River for the offer!
Tao sets his elbow down on the barrel only to slam it onto a caltrop before the match even started. In the same instant and without hesitation, his hand is grabbed by Ratline and slammed down hard onto the barreltop, his arm now covered with a smattering of caltrops across his arm.
Tao begins to rethink his desire to "entertain" the crew with his joining in these games.
To cuddles mild surprise, Rosie sits down across from him and grabs his hand. There is a suspicious smile on her face.
It is a hard fought match, but Rosie's superior leverage eventually wins out against Cuddles's overall superior strength (and general lack of sobriety). His hand comes down hard on a shard of glass.
Cuddles yelps, but is quickly smiling again (probably due to his aforementioned lack of sobriety). YOU ARM HUG GOOD LITTLE DWARF! CUDDLES PROUD!
His drunkenness won't let him stop, however, and he sits down at the barrel again a short time later, ANYBODY ELSE!?
For good measure, Tao will take Cuddle's Challenge. Might as well lose again and make his friend look good.
I wince as Tao is defeated rather painfully, but don't make any sounds or movements to help him, that could just damage his reputation even more. I am shocked to see Cuddles lose in his arm match too and his loss looked even more painful.
But what surprises me the most is when Cuddles and Tao decide to have a go against each other, looking at them both it is obvious Cuddles will win ... so when Tao wins I don't know what to say or do, but a smile plays across my face.
Just before dropping Cuddles' hand onto the clatrops, Tao releases the hold and sits up.
Well now, It look like dis is dwa. I cannot put his hand down. My awm still hewt fwom last match. Sowee fwiends, I could not finish.