Sanita can see one of the pirates trying to light a latern, unfortunately he is surrounded by a circle of his fellow ruffians, and its difficult to find a path to him without culling the herd a bit. While they are distracted by Munin flying away with the lantern and speculating 'what the hell that was' Sanita comes up behind one of them and skewers him without a sound. He fellows never even notice that he is missing. Her nest victim also is completely oblivious, but her rapier stroke glances off his leather coat. He yells out. "Something's out there. It tried to gut me" At this point all the pirates except for the one trying to light the lantern draw blades. "Jack, Hurry up!"they extort. It then becomes a race between Jack getting the lantern lit and Sanita taking them down. They realize the importance of the light and are not leaving a clear path to Jack, but are swinging blindly in the dark. Two of the pirates actually get a chance to attack back.
None come close. Sanita has just taken out pirate #4 when Jack finally gets his latern lit. At this point Sanita is 15' away from the nearest pirate, the body of one of their companions sliding off her blade. They are clustered symmetrically around Jack, facing outwards with swords drawn. "Hey, its just a girl." one of them says. The pirate next to him hisses. "Look at the bodies, mate. She's a demon."
Sanita gives a malevolent grin at the men. "Oh yes, a Demon! I promised you fire, but I'm afraid I'm out of fire, so you'll have to settle for acid." She gives a girlish laugh, and with one hand removes a flask of Acid from her hip and tosses it at the one with the lantern (ensuring that everyone around him will get hit).
Table: Damage from Falling Objects
Object Size Damage
Small 2d6
Medium 3d6
Large 4d6
Huge 6d6
Gargantuan 8d6
Colossal 10d6
Just as characters take damage when they fall more than 10 feet, so too do they take damage when they are hit by falling objects.
Objects that fall upon characters deal damage based on their size and the distance they have fallen. Table: Damage from Falling Objects determines the amount of damage dealt by an object based on its size. Note that this assumes that the object is made of dense, heavy material, such as stone. Objects made of lighter materials might deal as little as half the listed damage, subject to GM discretion. For example, a Huge boulder that hits a character deals 6d6 points of damage, whereas a Huge wooden wagon might deal only 3d6 damage. In addition, if an object falls less than 30 feet, it deals half the listed damage. If an object falls more than 150 feet, it deals double the listed damage. Note that a falling object takes the same amount of damage as it deals.
Dropping an object on a creature requires a ranged touch attack. Such attacks generally have a range increment of 20 feet. If an object falls on a creature (instead of being thrown), that creature can make a DC 15 Reflex save to halve the damage if he is aware of the object. Falling objects that are part of a trap use the trap rules instead of these general guidelines.
Munin, noticing the new source of lighting flies over it to help his comrade. I have some fire to loan *CAW*! he smugly remarked as he took aim and dropped the dull but hot lantern.
Sanita tosses her flask of acid at the pirate. He tries to duck but she hits him square and he begins to scream as the reagents combine to melt his flesh. The caustic smoke and debris engulf his companions.
They are so skittish, they quickly backpedal away from their friend and avoid the splashing acid. The lantern bearer whoever is so preoccupied with his agony he doesn't see the lantern droping for his head. With a thump the latern smashes in the side of his head and douses him with hot flaming oil. Afraid to run but also afraid of the she demon they face the three remaining pirates leap to attack Sanita defensively.
One of the flanking pirates actually hits.
Sanita steps to side 5 ft, to avoid the flank, and then attacks one with her rapier.
Sanita will try to move so that trees make it hard to get a flank on her.
Munin nods in satisfaction as the lantern bearer drops. He swoops down to collect one of the lanterns again, favouring the one already coloured by his magic should it be available and not on fire.
There is a flash of sworplay and footwork. Sanita thinks she has maneuvered them into a point where they can't all get at her, but one of the bastards manages to leap over a root and she is still being hard pressed.
They still look terrified and attack defensively.
The sneaky one that leaped over the root manages a slice along her back.
Munin lands. Unfortunately the tinted lantern is currently covered in burning oil. However the other lantern that was in the pirate's hands has landed on the ground mostly intact.
'Sneaky' notices Munin landing. "Get her familiar!" he yells.
Sanita uses her swift action to self heal.
Then she moves 5ft adjusting so she's standing next to 'Sneaky'. "Oh, you should know, I lied about being out of alchemist fire..." As she moves, she pulls an alchemist flask off her belt with her free hand, and smashes it on the pirate next to her with a high pitched laugh.
As the fire erupts on her skin, she makes a will save not to scream as 'sneaky' goes up in a pillar of flames that sends him stumbling to the ground.
"OW! Son of a witch that's HOT!" Even as she grimaces in pain, she looks at the last two, her skin still healing over even as it burns. "Who's next?"
"Mind your own businesses! *Caw!* Munin calls back at the pirate and takes flight, hurriedly flapping his wings to reach his strike altitude again.
'Sneaky goes up in flames and one pirate takes the splash damage in addition to Sanita. All thought of trying to stop the raven is driven from their minds as they concentrate on trying to kill Sanita.
Dancing nimbly around them, Sanita doesn't give them an opening this time. But now driven by sheer terror they are abandoning their defensive postures and going all out to kill her.
One of the blows comes perilously close to hitting her but she steps back at the last second.
Munin aims and drops the second lantern towards one of the remaining pirates, careful to avoid hitting Sanita.
Sanita begins to fight defensively. Now it's down to just her and two others, and it's more advantageous for her to do so, especially with Munin dropping things on their head.
Sanit stabs at them with her rapier.
The lantern drops towards the melee but the pirate easily sees it coming (it is lit after all) and just manages to avoid it, although everyone jumps back from the flaming oil, Sanita stumbling slightly and her swing going wild. "Not so cocky, now that we can see you." one of the pirate quips.
his face falls as he realizes that she is now using the bonfire to prevent him and his buddy from surrounding her.
Both miss, Sanita being to agile to let them get a serious blow in.
Sanita laughs. "Good point, thanks for reminding me about the bonfire, you're nice and back lit now. I have a bow, and you can't see me in the forest..." With that, Sanita withdraws into the dark.
She does a double move, using stealth as soon as she can.
She'll pull her bow along the way with her free hand.
Munin sighs as his projectile fails to connect this time. He notices that Sanita is withdrawing and does the same to avoid being the centre of attention when the pirates can no longer see her.
Sanita's Acrobatics catch the two bandits off guard and she quickly fades into the night.
One of the pirates starts to run off into the woods, but the other grabs his hand. "Not so fast. She'll gut you just like she did the others. Cover me. Shoot her or her familiar if'n you see it." He picks up a stick on the ground and puts it into the fire to light, while the other readies his crossbow, looking fearfully out into the darkness.
Sanita puts her rapier away as a move action, and then fires an arrow at the idiot with the firey stick.
An arrow wings out of the darkness and slams into the fire stick wielder, slamming into his stomach.
The pirate with the stick collapses with a gasp. And with that the sole remaining pirate goes fleeing off into the dark.
Sanita lets the last pirate flee away with his burn scarred hide in tact. She moves around slitting throats and removing valuables. She waves Munin down. "So, we let the last one leave, because I promise you he soiled his pants. And he'll tell the tale of the demoness who tracked him down when he was stupid enough to attack one of Rickert's family ships." She tells Munin with a grin, apparently not bothered by the grisly work of ensuring the pirates are dead and naked before she tosses them onto the growing bonfire. "Don't want to leave all the bodies out to rot. I know some animals would like to eat them, but it's a disease pit. If you want to take a few eyes before they burn though..." She remembers her promise to the raven, letting him have his fill of his favorite forbidden food. "I think we absolutely beat Fharn on the kill count." She winks. "Actually, I think you beat him all on your own. Let's make sure he doesn't forget it."
Once all the pirates are dead dead, naked, and burning, she begins repacking all the loot into a giant pile, all tied together and designed to hang from her pack and drag the ground. "Now, a little aunt haul extract, and back home we go." She stops and mixes up an Ant Haul, her last extract of the day, and then with a jaunty whistle (and presumably a very full Munin on her pack) she saunters off back to the river.
Munin gladly gorges himself on this second feast for the day. As a sign of appreciation, he even 'volunteers' to help Sanita carry the haul back. He gathers various shiny objects into a little pouch which he happily carries in his talons back to the ship. "I thought we were going to say we stole it? *Caw*!" The raven glances at Sanitas enormous pile and laughs.
Sanita shakes her head. "Can't. Family obligation." She actually seems serious for a change, to the Raven. "That ship is partially owned by Clan Kalnath. We put money into it. Nobody attacks or steals from us and profits by it. I'll put talk to the proctor's in the capital, and give out the name and description of the surviving officer, that spellcaster who ran, and they'll put a bounty on his head. It is absolutely vital that any river pirate who even thinks about attacking a ship Kalnath has interest in has to change his pants after thinking about it. That's just how we operate." She puts a finger against her nose, and taps it. "There's a reason Kalnath and Malvanna have coins when half the Brevoy clans are broke and living off their serfs. We don't let anyone, anyone, get our profit. Not pirates, not other nobles, not even the King. We pay our debts, but nobody gets a free ride off us. Hopefully, Fharn will handle the kingdom finances the same way. If not, I may have to take him out behind the stag lord's keep and whip his bottom until he can't sit down for a week to teach him a lesson." She gives Munin a wink. "Now, let's get back. We've got some crew to impress. They'll tell the tales of the girl and the raven who went into the forest alone and came back with 7 dead men's stolen loot with them. That'll compliment the tale from the pirate who survived."
Sanita then digs in and drags the stolen loot back to the river. When they get there, she waves at the crewmen. "Hoy! We need another boat, I found a bunch of stuff that pirates didn't need anymore." She drops the giant pile of loot with a crash at their feet.
"Cawhat? B-but you *caw* said you were going to say I stole it!" Munin flies down close to Sanitas head and meets her gaze with his large, black sorrowful eyes.
I’ve seen puppies pull this. Maybe … *caw*…
The raven isn't really bothered at all, merely trying to maneuver to take more credit.
Sanita laughs. "Of course you stole it, that's what distracted the pirates enough so that I could slit their throats..." She laughs.
When the crew asks what happened, that is exactly what she tells them. Munin stole the loot back, and the pirates were so confused, that Sanita slit their throats while they tried to catch Munin. With Munin killing one himself.
Although the crewmen obviously don't completely buy Sanita's story. No one is fool enough to question her version of events. They load the pirate's loot onto the extra rowboats and go back to the Raptor's Revenge. Everyone is exhausted, but Mr Squib sets watches, letting Fharn and Sanita get some sleep. Early in the morning you spot the Talespinner coming down the river. Captain Rickert anchors the Talespinner a short distance away and rows out in her remaining rowboat with 5 crewmen. "Permission to come aboard" she calls out.
Sanita grins. "Permission granted, Captain!" She helps Rickert aboard. "I think this might cover some of the costs of repairs to The Talespinner, don't you think?" She grins, looking around the ship. "I don't think anyone is going to want to be pirating a Rickert Family ship anytime soon, not after this." She smiles at Rickert, and then tilts her head. "So, how would the Rickert family like to open a branch office? We have a lot of rivers, and they connect to the River Kingdoms. Someone is going to make money shipping things up and down those rivers as we grow. And a lot of them are big slow rivers with tall trees around, poor sailing environment. It'll be awhile before the venture shows profit, but starting now positions someone to be the defacto go to shipping agent for an entire kingdom."
When the rowboats finally makes their way back to the Revenge Fhârn greets them with a wave and a raised eyebrow. "Welcome back. I see your 'scouting' has been profitable!" Someone tempted them, no doubt! He listens to the tales of their exploits with half an ear, but it is clear that he has something else on his mind. When they finished stashing the loot back where it belong (probably the hold of the ship!) he motions for Sanita and Munin to follow him inside the Captains quarters.
//Inside
Fhârn beckons them to come inside then carefully closes the door behind them. He puts his bag on the table and starts going trough it until he finds his waterproof bag. "Now, I looked trough the late Captains room - and he had some things stashed away. Some that one would expect -" he unloads the log and flips trough it quickly, letting them see what it is. Then he retrieves the scroll and hands it to Sanita. "- his logbook - surprisingly detailed for a pirate - but perhaps a useful tool for navigation. Or if he left something behind ... And this is a divine scroll. My money is on something to propel the ship should the wind fail. Pretty logical. Now this!" He reaches inside his coat and retrieves the list from a secure pocket and hands it to her. Eagerly he points to the names. "I'm sure you recognize atleast one name here. I've heard of two other - druids too. Now, this might simply be a list of whom they could replenish their scrolls with. Or ... Something else? But what? The Stag-Lords father was a druid to, in service of some mysterious *entity*..."
Despite the long yesterday, Fhârn gets up early - feeling decently refreshed. Besides, he wanted to know what secrets the divine scroll held. I bet it's just a random Cure scroll ... He grinned. Nah, something with the weather sounds more resonable. If my life depended on a sailing boat being able to outrun others I would most certainly hedge the bets in my favour, should the need arise!. After one hour of painstaking memorization and perparation, Fhârn was finally ready!
//When Ricket arrives
"You said everything the pirates left behind, didn't you Captain?" he greets Ricket with a hearty laughter. When the Captain steps unto the deck he turns serious. He quickly interjects a question that has been bothering him into Sanitas business proposal. "How did the men from the river bank fare?"
Fharn's read magic reveals that it is a scroll of Awaken.
Captain Rickert is very pleased with the recovery of the Revenge. To Sanita she says "I will certainly broach the subject with my father. I for one am very impressed by the two of you. And I feel certain that once this event becomes common knowledge, pirates will think twice about operating in your kingdom." She is unwilling to commit her family without consulting with them, but Fharn and Sanita think that she finds the idea favorable. She is gratefull that Fharn asks about the men. She had only 4 casulties on her side, but they were 4 too many. She is intrigued by your idea about the East Sellen river, but she is very familiar with the problems inherent in that route. She explains "There is vast swamp called the Hooktongue Slough that the East Sellen flows through. The area is infested with aggressive frog like people called Boggards, that have pretty much shut down all trade on the river." As to the new ship she tries to describe the laws regarding pirated goods. "This would be considered a 'prize vessel'" she explains, gesturing at the Revenge. Brevoy's government will give us full value, tax free for this ship, and the owners it was stolen from will buy it back from the government. I hereby retroactively declare you two to be officers in my crew, so you will be entitled to 3 shares a piece. As captain I will get 5 shares, Mr Squib will get 3, and the rest of my crew will get 1 share apiece, the family's of those slain will get their share." This won't include any of their personal effects. In my opinion, they are yours, you certainly earned it.
//Deciphering the scroll
Huh - not what I thought, not at all! he thinks with a grin and pockets the scroll. Munin will be pleased - he always expressed a desire to retain the higher level of 'sophistication' once the covenant has ran its course ...
//Conversation with Ricket.
Fhârn nods his thanks to the captain. "I'm glad the families of the fallen get something from that dark day. Hopefully you are right - that no-one will dare to attempt piracy on this vessel for a long time. But still, whomever that wanted to pry your secrets is probably still out there. A few guards would probably not be amiss. Or perhaps drill the men while the ship is repaired?"
Fhârn strokes his chin and thinks for a while, on the topic of river trade and complications. Suddenly he realizes something and shines up in a big grin. "So, what you are saying is - our kingdom might contain the closest port from New Stetven capable of shipping south? Honestly, that might be even better ..." I'll have to ask Dante for a look on his maps when I see him again!
Captain Rickert smiles as Fharn brings up the last point. "I will certainly have to remind my father of that fact she says."
Fhârn laughs. "Well - *Might*. We better not get too far ahead of ourselves!"
//
Later, when they dock in Silver Hall, Fhârn decides to take a look around the town. He wasn't sure how long Ricket was planning on remaining anchored, so he asked Mr Squib before he set out - he didn't want to walk all the way 'home', after all! The target for his expedition was the local market for the finer arts - a scroll of Mirror Image or a book to look over wouldn't be out of place. Or perhaps someone interested in jumping really, really high! It is a beautiful ring - but I rather have something to protect me and mine first ...
"Hey Sanita, want to go for a walk ...?"
Sanita nods. "Sure, we need to hit up the magic shops anyway, and the apothecaries." She stretches, rubbing at some healing burns on her arm. "Smashing a bottle of alchemist fire on someone's face is a bit painful." She dimples. "For both parties..." She turns to Rickert. "I'd assume we'll need a day or two for repairs? At least to make sure we're water tight after being rammed? And we'll need to arrange storage for the captured vessel? Do we have a couple of days then to get rid of this junk we got off those idiot pirates?"
---------------------------------------
On the way into town, she slips a few coppers to a street vendor for some uncooked beef bits, and slips them to Munin. "We need to stop by my father and grandmother's factor's offices, and give them descriptions of the pirates, and that list of names. Plus they can put us up in the company guest house for a day or two while the repairs are ongoing." She smiles. "We don't have to avoid spies on the way back, I just didn't want to give my father's wife any advance warning of our visit if I could help it. That way her only poisoners would be hastily hired last minute additions. Makes it easier to kill them."
"My thoughts exactly." he nods in agreement to the magic shop suggestion, since that was, in fact, were he planned on heading. He flashes a grin and jumps unto the harbour in one long bounding and uncharacteristic leap. But the fact that we might not hold on to this ring for long doesn't mean I can't enjoy it while I can! He looks back and waves, with an infuriatingly smug look on his face.
//Later, on the way into town
Munin gladly eats the threat and Fhârn shoots him a sideways glance. He hadn't bought up the scroll with the raven yet - he was waiting for a private moment. *Sigh* Not very likely until we are on the road again. But it can wait a few days... "That makes sense." He procures a copy of the list from his pocket, but this one has only four names. Rowan isn't present. "I suspect they are listed by their profession and not their affiliation with pirates. However, idle talk or speculation might nevertheless come back to bite us in the behinds." He nods and hands her the list, waiting for her to notice the alteration. "Should your families men find something sinister here, we can take action. But until then, no need to risk dragging him into the dirt."
Sanita rolls her eyes at Fharn's jumping escapades. "Be careful where you jump, someone might set a pitchfork down while you're in midair." She says, walking down the gang plank like a sane individual.
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Sanita looks the paper over, and nods. "True enough. The family spies will try to find out if these are targets or allies. If they all turn out to be allies, then Rowan needs to answer some questions. If they turn out to be targets, we'll have Rowan under watch ourselves and can protect him."
"Ha! I'm more worried if someone left a rake laying about ..."
//
"Indeed. The list was accompanied by a scroll of Druidic nature, so it might simply be a list of viable casters. But it never hurts to be sure."
Gozran 5
Tranferring her entire crew to the Revenge, Captain Rickert soon has the ship of the sandbar. She then splits her crew in two and both ships sail toward Silverhall. It is only about 4 hours later that the gleaming spires of the city come into view. Captain Rickert does not plan on having the ship repaired here at Silverhall, even though it has some of the finest shipyards on the lake. Instead she plans, once her business is done here, on sailing the wounded ship on to her family's docks in New Stetvan. However her best intentions are no match for the attention the pirate attack attracts from the Silverhall authorities. House Lebeda is a merchant house and they take the attack very seriously. Fharn and Sanita find themselves poilitely but rigorously interviewed throughout the rest of the day. The news of the pirate attack quickly spreads throughout the city and all involved soon find themselves minor celebrities. Captain Rickert, however, finds herself buried in red tape for the next few days.
Gozran 6
Sanita and Fharn have the day free and can go shopping.
Silverhall is a large town and is the home to House Lebeda. It is known for its jewelers and shipyards. Any item of 2000gp or less you have a 75% chance of finding.
Items that are definitely available are the following
+1 Buckler
+1 Punching Dagger
Potion of Haste (750gp)
Divine Scroll of Glyph of Warding (575gp)
Potion of Enlarge Person(50gp)
Magnetist's Gloves (6000gp)
Wand of Divine Power (21000gp)
In the two days you are there you only find one spellbook for sale, but its a good one.
Tome of the Transmuter
By the end of the two days you have been able to sell your spoils of war.
Sanita feels a tad bit guilty for leaving Rickert to the paperwork, but after dealing with Lebeda functionaries all day (she can see why their own resident Lebeda ran as far away from home as possible), she's just as happy to take the extra day or two. If it drags on, she'll see if she can pull a few strings.
"What do you think Fharn? These things are pretty hard to come by. And we have several people who do transmutation, don't we? It's not on our list, but it's affordable, especially with the spoils from the pirates added to the coffers. We do get some duplicate spells, but we also get the tome, which any one can prepare spells from. That's an advantage right there, makes it easy to transcribe the spells, plus the special powers it has."
"Hmm. Indeed. And you are right, we did come by some extra means. I'm sure both Dareon and Bej would enjoy it!"
Sanita pulls Fharn aside, counts their coins, and suggests taking the tome's cost off the top as a kingdom treasury item, and splitting the rest of the take with everyone, to be used in the kingdom as needed.