The triton awakes with a restart, spitting out blood and coughing violently. He struggles with all his might for a moment, but resigns and glances around, then narrows his eyes. "You shall not get away with this servants of evil."
"Oh but I think we will. You see, all your allies are dead but one, whom you attacked yourself in the end. He swam away calling you deranged and crazy. You are surely alone here. What I want to know is how did you find us? Answer me or you shall start losing body parts. Starting with what is most precious to most men." Eryan has a wicked smile as he points the Tritons own trident at him.
Argan never gets tired of trying to fool the enemy. Everytime he does it he gets better at it.
"You're wrong about it, sir. We are not evil. We defended ourselves from the attack you made. You didn't ask any questions before doing so, and would not give us a proper trial if we were who you were looking for."
Suddenly the rogue burst in laughter, controlling himself in a few moments, his whole plan turned to dust. Eryan gets in the conversation too, Ninjin' the rogue. "This thing of 'you will not get away with this' is getting pretty lame, you know. If I were you I would do as he says man. I mean, these people are sick! What's your name, by the way?"
"I am not afraid of you, nor will I be tricked! My name is Nerianus and I have foreseen your coming in my dreams and know that I am destined to stop you!"
Detect Magic on Trident.
"Big mistake triton. How exactly do you intend to stop us now? No offense but you are tied up. Your own weapon is about to start dismembering you. You. Are. Beaten." Eryan looks to the others to see if they want to ask anything or just heave him overboard.
Nerianus sits back, suddenly calm. His hair begins blowing in a sudden, unexplainable gust of wind and you begin hearing dozens of faint noises all around the boat. "The shining sun has seen the wickedness you hide in your hearts. And thus it will be the son who brings your doom."
Argan punches the man in the face, hoping to stop whatever he was doing.
"Who said wickedness hid in our hearths? It's pretty much in the open, stupid."
If the triton haven't passed out he will continue. Otherwise he looks around to see if the wind has stopped.
Whatever he's doing is not of his own power. Being an oracle himself, Eryan can guess there is some sort of curse going on here.
Calm yourself Argan. This man is a cursed oracle. It is nothing that will harm us. Shall we be done with him?"
Argan strikes him once, but if anything the movement only intensifies. He remains completely calm, spitting out blood and looking at you all with an air of finality.
Kharn sighs as Argan punches the Triton.
"You realize he's not there right? He's currently prophesying about how some son, either his own or another will be the end of us. Maybe we should give this triton oracle to our 'friends' as a sign of good faith."
Argan makes a cute innocent face, like a child who had his Ice Cream stolen. "What about all the dismembering you mentioned?" He turns to the man and, dropping the act, continues. "Here's the deal fishy. You don't want your own kind to die, right? And we want them out of our way. You have the advantage in the sea but we are too powerful for you to take. So, Why don't you tell us what would be a safe route north not to meet any of your kind, and we call it a day? You go back to your home, pray for your god for some more hundred of years for him to give you enough power to defeat us, and come back later. No one else have to die this week. What do you say?"
He continues to meet your gaze with an unwavering stare. "Release me and I shall kill you with my bare hands."
"As if you could. I mean, seriously, have you landed a hit on anyone like, ever?" He turns to his wicked companions. "Whatever folks, let's try our luck next encounter."
Seeing nothing else useful can be gleamed from the zealous triton, Vladimir steps up to him and in a horrifying display of brutality sucks the blood out of him. The crews reaction is pure horror, one of the sailors even puking over the side of the boat. Kargeld swears, shaking his head. "Freaking psycho. You're cleaning that up."
"Just look away folks. Yeah it's disgusting... Captain, do you think we should set sail not or wait until the morning?"
"I see no reason to get blood all over this fine vessel." He looks at the Captain. "And I see no reason for you to keep your ugly head." he turns back to the Triton. Eryan stands him up and walks him over to the side of the boat with the help of someone else. Holding him leaning over the boat he says, "Any last words? Off with his head if you please Argan."
"I see no reason to get blood all over this fine vessel." He looks at the Captain. "And I see no reason for you to keep your ugly head." he turns back to the Triton. Eryan stands him up and walks him over to the side of the boat with the help of someone else. Lifting him up with his drow magics, the Oracle floats a few feet overboard. "Any last words? Off with his head if you please Argan."
Eryan leaves Vlad to clean up the mess. He checks on his servant, who had cowered down between the battles and remained unscathed. He then goes to finish his watch.
The rest of the night passes without incident. Vladimir spend some time scrubbing the deck (or more likely scaring a sailor to do it for him) but that's the most eventful part of the next morning. The sailors generally seem quieter this morning, speaking less often and in whispers when they dare. During their work they glance at the party members, more often Vlad than not.
As the sun is nearing its peak, Kargeld approaches the party. "We are a little light on fresh water I think. We are passing Seal Isle and there is a stream that feeds into the bay there. We’ll take on water there. I’ll send a party to the shore. Of course, that means we’ll spend a day in some of the richest fur seal hunting grounds all along this coast. I’m thinking of organizing a hunting expedition. Interested?”
"Nah, not really, captain, seals are not a worthy target to me, but thanks. Unless there's something else for us to hunt. I'm more worried about the sailors and I'll use the time to have a nice talk with them about the attack we suffered and about Vlad. It seems we could use some encouragement, since the trip haven't been the same after that incident." To his companions, he adds. "Go ahead if you want folks, I'll take care of the boat while you are gone."
Kharn shrugs.
"Well if it's on the way why not make a stop to try and get some more fresh water. I would enjoy helping in the hunt of these seals."
Vlad is not overly interested in cleaning up the mess he made.. Being noble blood he has never cleaned up after himself.. He'll stick with the intimidation factor and allow the crew to clean up what mess he made..
"Why don't you just spit it out captain.. I don't think the Cardinal would appreciate you making us late for seal furs.. Can you not fulfill your hunting needs on the trip back?"
He eyes Vladimir. "And what do you intend to do about the water situation? Feel free to drink from the sea if you prefer that."
"We won't be 'late'. We have to stop to get fresh water to drink if we don't then we die. Not something the cardinal would wish, and if we have to stop there to get water anyways then why don't we also have a little seal hunting while we wait? It is simply making the best use of the time we have."
"To be honest i can get all the water i need from blood, but by all means then.. Lets go seal hunting.."
Kargeld grins, showing yellow teeth in a rare display of him being in a good mood. "See? Making the best use of the time, exactly!"
Goodie is uninterested in seals, but is also uninterested in rocking the boat. She detects magic on the dead triton's remains, and ten returns to her knitting.
"Yes. There is nothing wrong with a bit of profit. Stock up on as many seal skins as you can manage."
Kargeld nods, then turns and shouts some orders to his men in norspik. Your heading changes, and six hours later you dock at Seal Isle. He orders a few men to start working on retrieving fresh water, then turns to you all. "We got two small boats we can take to go seal hunting. Yer all welcome to take one and go out on yer own, but I'm taking charge of the other one. We should be able to get a few good days of hunting in before they get too spooked."
For every day spent hunting near Seal Isle, your boat can make a Survival skill check. One character must lead the hunt and that individual makes the roll. Every other person in the boat may attempt to aid the lead hunter (a DC 10 Survival check to give the leader a +2 bonus). If an aid roll fails, that individual only gets in the way imparting a -2 penalty. Perhaps their clumsy efforts spook the seals. To catch a seal the leader hunter must beat a DC 15. That catches one seal. For every three better than that,the hunting party catches one additional seal in a day. Each seal has a luxurious fur pelt worth 50 gp (according to Kargeld).
Hunting does have its dangers. If the lead hunter ever rolls a natural 1 then the boat has capsized (probably in the excitement of bringing in a struggling seal). The water here is calm but very cold and so everyone in it must make a DC 10 Fortitude save. Failure means the character is stunned by the shock for 1d6 rounds and likely begins to drown. After that, the character remains staggered until they get out of the numbingly cold water. Successful or not, it takes a Swim skill check (DC 10) to right the boat and get back into it.
Kharn will lead the hunt. He also keeps an eye out for any baby seals that he could catch.
Eryan stays in the main boat keeping watch.
Argan will help the men on retrieving the fresh water. Ridiculous as it may be, he will work the same amount the other folks do. He won't take part on the hunting. "Good luck guys, make us rich! I'll learn to hunt animals later, but for now I would only get in your way. You see, "
The rogue will stay with Kargeld's men, first to keep an eye on what they're doing, and second to get their trust, passing as their equal. As the time passes and the men start having conversation he will manipulate them to think he cares little about his companions, since they are freaks. "I mean, the freak is half-vampire! That's disgusting!" He hopes to hear what is wrong with them and if they dare, some secrets about the captain's plans. A little bit of their adventures will also be good, so he could understand why Thorn wants them dead.
Vlad will go seal hunting, armorless, but will not attempt to help with the survival being he more likely to do more harm than good.. It will be a learning experience for him..
Kharn goes out with nobody for company but Vladimir, who helps with the rowing but sits back from the actual hunting. Kharn proves himself a competent hunter, bringing in two seals completely by himself! He returns to the ship and throws both bodies down on the boat to many cheers from the crew, but Kargeld just looks grumpy, approaching you. "Where the hell did you go to find those? We couldn't find a damn one all day!"
The sailors act a little scared around Argan, but after a few minutes of work they begin to trust him a little. They listen to his words, nodding a lot and sometimes asking what a word means, but mostly agreeing with whatever he happens to say. Who are they to question him? One of them finally speaks up, although visibly shaking when he does. "Not-dead man bad omen. Not..." He struggles to come up with the word. "...natural." The other men nod along with him, and finally begin talking. In fact, the only person they do seem to care for at all is Kharn. And Argan of course, although would you expect them to say anything else in your presence?
Kharn shrugs.
"Tracking the beasts isn't as hard as tracking someone on foot after a raid. I just had to make sure to look for the air bubbles and everything was good. How many more days of hunting do you think we have left?"
Kargeld bristles, as if you have insulted his hunting abilities. "One, maybe two at best."
Kharn nods happy that he will have one more day to hunt. He spends the rest of the night with the sailors helping out as he can.
Kargeld shows up the next night with a smile, throwing a seal on the deck. Then a few moments later Kharn shows up, bearing four seals. Kargeld stares at the bounty silently for a time, then walks off.
The next morning Kargeld announces they're going to stay one more day, but they're going to switch hunting spots. He stares down Kharn, daring the barbarian to challenge him.
Vlad keeps busy lifting dead seals into the boat for the majority of the day.. Every once in a awhile Vlad will bear a fang at one of the crew just to keep em jumpy..
Argan questions them if there is anything beyond the unnaturally, like a prophecy or something. He explains to them that Vlad is not an undead. He is alive as all of us, but he is just weird, having fangs and drinking blood. He is not a vampire, by the way. "You all know Vampires burn in the sun, don't you? Garlic and holy water also make nothing on him. And he helps us, although he pretends to play the tough." Argan tells the men that not everything is natural, as they saw the tritons! Since they probably did not understand what they said, he translated to them, saying that the Triton leader had visions that showed him that the ones in the boat were the evil to be cursed, but hey, "we're just make a living, right?" The sea creature was also unnatural, and it was good they had Vlad on board to help them. The rogue points out the flames that erupted from the Triton's shoulder when Vlad shot him, pointing out he's pretty good at killing unnatural things. "And look at the drow!" He reminds them that one of their group almost got killed, but the drow saved him, with his magic, so "it cannot be a bad thing, right?"
Hoping to put their hearths at ease so they would not incur in any problems regarding schedule, he keeps calming them down and earning their trust.
He also approaches Kharn after they returned from the first day of hunting, when he is far from the others. "It would be wise to let the man win your little competition, you know." Then he walks away.