Sicarius' eyes widen slightly in surprise before the familiar scowl darkens his face as he strains to look over his shoulder at his own back. "Sea Queen? Pirates and seamonsters? I thought that was just a birthmark." He looks back at Sandara then and shrugs, the gesture no longer causing any discomfort. "I've spent a lot of time at a lot of temples and houses of worship, but never heard of 'Besmara' before now. Interesting." He turns to head back to his hammock, his spellbook discreetly in hand. He offers gruffly over his shoulder as he turns away from the cleric, "Thanks again."
---
Once settled into his hammock, the burly elf mutters quietly to himself, "Who the &%^$ is Besmara?" as he crosses his arms behind his head.
All too soon, morning comes and you drag yourselves to your feet before the bell tolls to summon the crew to the deck.
As you begin to follow the crowd, you find your way blocked by five pirates -- the heavyset man and half-orc from yesterday, as well as the woman with big ears who ratted out Sicarius the previous night, and the big-nosed dwarf and another woman you saw with Scourge and his friends -- a whip-thin brunette with close-cropped hair and a scar down one cheek that begins just below her eye.
“In a hurry?” one says with a mad laugh as she pushes Budos in the chest.
All five have clenched fists, clearly ready for a fight.
Several other of your new crewmates stop on the stairs, watching the goings-on below.
Cargas cracks his knuckles, used to bar fights, but in doing so is caught off guard when the fight starts.
Round 1
“In a hurry?”
"Oh, so you like scars?" Budos lunges forward and chomps down on the lady before she can react.
Even though his giant, green teeth clack loudly in the air well away from the lady, the big, mean, green man backs it with a threat, "Stay back, you scummy swabs, or I'll bite a chunk outta yer flesh and give it to Fishguts for the stew."
Round 1/2, Init 19
AC = 13
HP = 9/9
Weapon Equipped = None
Condition(s) = None
Spells for Today = 2-1
Nim gets ready to clap Bud on the back, but Bud is much faster than he expected for someone that big. Spring-loaded, and ready for a fight. Glad he's in front of me, facing away from me...
The shorter half-orc eyeballs Brood and Cargas, and decides the dwarf is much more in need of a boost than the elf. He leans in and lowers his voice in caution.
"Just remember Jakes..."
Sicarius: 18*
Cargas: 13*
Gezza: 4*
Budos: 24
Nimrod: 19
Antagonist: 19
Budos' jaws snap closed inches from the woman's face as Nimrod resorts to magic, drawing mutters from the pirates nearby.
Despite some looks of concern, they swing wildly, though the big man with the shaved head does manage to make contact with Sicarius, a powerful blow that lands right in the elf's gut and momentarily doubles him over.
Round 1, Init 19
AC = 13
HP = 9/9
Weapon Equipped = None
Condition(s) = None
Spells for the Day = 2-1
Nim gets the picture. New guys always getting hazed as wet behind the ears, green off the stalk. They can stand here and take it, or they can trade blows, to show them to be equals, yeah. At least they don't have cat-o'-nine-tails...
The half-orc steps up alongside the dwarf, and throws a punch at the stumpy-looking one with the beard. "Hey, look's like we're doing this, eh? Nothing personal, least from my end of this fist, alright?"
Brood keeps his cool, a little surprised it took a full day before someone tried to mug him. Shaking off the gut-punch, the elf falls into a focused, disciplined rhythm, not affording any of his assailants an opening. A moment later, he finishes a spell of his own and a small blob of green acid leaps from his palm and whistles past the bald man's ear, hissing as it bites into the wall behind him.
As the man turns to look out of the corner of his eye to see what the elf had thrown, Sicarius quick steps in close, drops one meaty shoulder, and brings his fist up in a rapid, heavy arc, connecting solidly with the man's lower jaw.
He then hops back a step, silently waving the bald man or another challenger in close for another round with a small gesture from his outstretched hand. There's a dark pleasure lit in the elf's pupil-less eyes, as if their would-be assailants were giving him just what he'd hoped for.
HP: 9/9 +4 non-lethal
AC: 13 (13 T / 10 FF)
CMD: 15
F/R/W: +2/+3/+2 (+2 vs enchantment, immune sleep)
Arcane Pool used: 0/4
Besmara's Blessing (1/week): [ ]
Spells Prepared:
Cantrips (2) - acid splash, mage hand
Level 1 (0+1) - magic missile [ ]
Ongoing Effects
Round 2
His teeth clacking uselessly again, Budos resorts to his fists and throws a haymaker at the same bald man that Sicarius struck in the jaw.
Round 1, Init 13
Cargas ducks the first blow against him, annoyed that he's been caught unawares.
"You think you're tough, halfsie?" Cargas asks the half-orc in front of him, slipping his brass knuckles out from their hiding spot.
Sleight of Hand (guidance)
He swings at the half-orc, putting a double measure of hatred behind it.
to hit; (fav enemy humans, hatred vs. orcs)
lethal damage.
Gezza steps five feet to the SW, casting defensively. vs DC 17 He casts a color spray, Will DC 15, trying to catch as many opponents in the blast as he can!
Sicarius: 18*
Cargas: 13*
Budos: 24
Gezza: 4*
Nimrod: 19
Antagonist: 19
The elf distracts the big man with the blob of acid, giving him an opening to slam his fist into his face, the eye immediately starten to blacken. A moment later, Budos swings at him, but he raises an arm at the last minute, deflecting the half-orc's blow.
A few feet away, Cargas slips out his brass knuckles and slams his fist into the closest half-orc's jaw, snapping his head back and nearly breaking bone with the thunderous blow.
Gezza steps forward, and the three nearest pirates crumple to the ground, knocked senseless by the spray of color from the unassuming swab.
The remaining two opponents' eyes widen, and they back away, clearly not having expected to face such resistance. Stunned at the quick turn of events, the few pirates on the stairs watch to see what you'll do next.
AB: zz
SS: zz
F: 6N, zz
JJ: 9
N:
As a number of their assailants crumple under Redfingers' magic, Sicarius dashes forward at the nearest one not affected, his hand moving like lightning to take the opponent by the throat and slam them back into the wall. He follows close behind, using his own bulk in addition to his angry grip to hold his attacker in place.
HP: 9/9 +4 non-lethal
AC: 13 (13 T / 10 FF)
CMD: 15
F/R/W: +2/+3/+2 (+2 vs enchantment, immune sleep)
Arcane Pool used: 0/4
Besmara's Blessing (1/week): [ ]
Spells Prepared:
Cantrips (2) - acid splash, mage hand
Level 1 (0+1) - magic missile [ ]
Ongoing Effects
Cargas begins laughing, pointing his fingers at the halforc.
"And I thought we were going to have fun this morning!! But one punch! ONE PUNCH!! HAW HAW!!!"
Cargas removes his brass knuckles going over to the sleepies, certain the fight is over. Cargas does a quick search of the sleepies for things of interest.
Perception
Cargas pats Gezza on the back.
"Nice work there. I might have hurt all of them...all it took was ONE PUNCH!!" Cargas yells the last two words at the halforc.
Budos growls as he advances on the remaining pirate that's not sleeping or being grappled. "Who put you up to this, or was it yer idea?" Without waiting for an answer, he throws another haymaker.
Nim waits long enough for Brood and Bud to engage the remaining hazers. He turns to address Gezza. "Bright lights really do the trick! Well done, master blaster!!"
Nim looks over at Bud. "Hey friend, remember these five hang with master Scourge, but Scourge isn't here, so it's likely he prodded without the balls to show up himself." Nim doesn't lower his voice, making sure the lingering pirates about the steps can hear him plain enough. He stops, and checks for signs of Scourge, in case he's wrong.
If the coast is clear, the halfer-orc decides he's done lingering, so takes to the steps, tumbling through the half-orc at the bottom of the stairs, if necessary.
Gezza nearly falls as the dwarf claps him on the back. "I thought it best to end this without more bloodshed. Best not to give Scourge an excuse to punish us. We should head on deck and pretend nothing at all happened."
Gezza proceeds to do this, marching nonchalantly up the ladder and onto deck, ready to be assigned his day's work.
Brood leans in, his hand tightening around his attacker's throat, and threatens as their back is pressed flat against the wall, "Leave me alone and I leave you alone. Try anything again, look at me in a way I don't like, and I'll leave you begging to be keelhauled. Understand?"
The elf then slams a parting fist into the thug's stomach before pushing away and letting the troublemaker slump to the floor. As he stalks to the stairs, he offers the last of their attackers a withering stare as he passes but otherwise doesn't say a word.
Nimrod doesn't hesitate when Gezza encourages all to depart the scene of the scuffle. While passing the pirates on the steps watching on, he points at them, then back to the slumped hazers.
"You all saw it. They started something, we stopped them from seeing it through. It doesn't benefit any of us to have injured crew, with all the work there is to do. We may not have come aboard willfully, but our will is strong, and we'll see to it that we contribute our strength, same as the next." Nim tries to avoid sounding preachy, and mostly succeeds. If his words need focus, he'll pick someone particular out of the crowd, someone who doesn't appear overtly hostile, and make eye contact.
Cargas doesn't see the need to fight with those who are already giving up. He's not interested in killing, but he'd happily brawl until he was bleeding on the floor.
Cargas, after going through the pockets of the stunned, will rise up and give the halforc a 'one-punch' sign and follow Gezza up the stairs.
"HAW HAW!! Did you see them back off? HAW HAW!! I hit that one so hard I think he thought he was a gnome!!"
He will re-secret the brass knuckles when out of sight.
Sleight of Hand
"I hit that one so hard..."
Nim observes casually where the brass knuckles go, the dwarf obviously not wanting to get caught with an unfair advantage. Helps to hit with some metal in between, sure...
The half-orc muses to himself as he looks Gezza and Cargas over. More than meets the eye... Looking Brood and Bud over, his muse shifts. You get what you see from those two, so the unfortunates that chose to scuffle should have seen that coming...
He numbers three more in the defending group as likely not to stab him in the back, but he takes note of the dwarf, for his love of sucker punching.
Budos snaps his teeth at the man in front of him, then smirks and walks away with the rest of the party.
I hit that one so hard I think he thought he was a gnome!!
"You hit him so hard I thought he was a gnome!" The half orc guffaws at the defeated pirates and flashes them a toothy grin as he walks up the stairs.
The fight ends almost as quickly as it began, thanks in large part to Gezza's spell. Cargas quickly searches their opponents, realizing each has some weapons -- a throwing axe, cutlass, dagger and sap, as well as a few seemingly value-less personal effects: The big-eared woman has a pair of cheap earrings, while the large man has a lucky rabbit's foot, among other items of little to no value.
You arrive on deck in decent order, well before Plugg takes the roll. He snarls at the obvious absences, sending Scourge down to find "the layabouts."
"Three lashes for each of them for laziness," he calls out, "and let that be a lesson to you. I expect you here on time, ready to work."
With that admonishment, he sends Cargas below and doles out work to the rest of you:
Budos, you're assigned rope work today.
Gezza, you're assigned to catching rats and other vermin belowdecks .
Nimrod, you're on repairs, sewing some sails that took some damage from Budos' attempt to work in the rigging the day before. .
And Sicarius, you're also on ropework today, Tying and untying knots in the ship’s ropes and moving heavy coils of rope from one part of the ship to another .
Cargas, you arrive downstairs to find the half-orc woman, Cut-Throat Grok, manning the quartermaster's stores, but Fishguts is nowhere to be seen.
"He's under the weather, you might say," she informs you, "so I guess dinner's on you. Try not to screw up, cuz a boat full of hungry, angry pirates ain't no fun."
Budos: Rigger
Cargas: Cook's mate
Gezza: Swab
Nimrod: Swab
Sicarius: Swab
Sicarius works hard throughout the day, if for no other reason than to have some place to channel his anger. Though he works with a perpetual frown, he answers all of Budos' incidental questions without sign of irritation or frustration.
Gezza, in an effort to cover for their morning activities, works diligently at catching rats and beetles.
However, he does keep an eye out for any sailors that might be more inclined to friendship than murder.
Cargas palms one of the daggers from the fallen, secreting it on his body before he follows the rest up top.
Sleight of Hand
When the half-orc (duly dubbed "OnePunch") is dragged up, Cargas gives him a look and a hoot. "Hey, OnePunch, how many lashes before you fall down? My guess...ONE!! HAWHAW!!" Cargas will offer a few more choice comments at OnePunch as he goes below to cook dinner.
* * *
"He's under the weather, you might say," she informs you, "so I guess dinner's on you. Try not to screw...
Cargas makes nice with the Quartermaster as she seems to have power in the ship, but doesn't seem as whippy and jerky about things.
"Aye, Cutthroat...is there anything I can do for him?" Cargas asks, feeling some measure of good will for the man who shared his booze with him. "Or is there anything you need?
Diplomacy to Influence Cutthroat, the Quartermistress
Cargas will make a sincere effort to cook a good dinner.
"Say, Cutthroat, do you burn the potatoes first before you boil the water or the reverse!? And how many garlics go in porridge?"
vs. DC 10 to cook
For the fatigue of yesterday's Bilge work, Nim welcomes the chance to make a-mends for Bud's sail slashes. It comes easily enough to him, as working with large lengths of material is nothing new. Just like the circus tents. I can deal with this, sure. If the sun disappears behind the clouds for most of the day, I'll have this done in no time, and with no tiredness at all.
The half-orc gestures briefly in the ape's direction, but the ape is sound asleep, likely from the boredom.
For the time he spends working the sails, he watches every once and awhile, trying to place names with faces.
The rope work is easier to handle than yesterday's task and Budos does a slightly better job.
As he works, Bud finds a little time for chatting with Badger. "Did they cut yer hair like that? Was it a punishment? Don't look bad, almost like you meant to have them stripes."
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Gezza, Nimrod and Sicarius work diligently, the latter finding Sandara occasionally stopping by to correct a knot or point out where a rope belongs, though he needs little help. It's clear she's looking out for the elf, though .
Below decks, Grok smiles at Cargas' gesture. "If you find any more liquor, neither of us'd find that amiss. You're not a bad dwarf, I suppose, though if you cook up those kidneys, you're gonna have some unhappy pirates. We don't need no offal on this ship. Get an unfortunate nickname like that."
Budos has less success in his efforts to make friends, Badgar apparently not taking to his form of compliments about her hair.
"يس من شأنك، شعري. كيف عنك مجرد عصا إلى الأعمال الخاصة بك ويتركني وحيدا," she mutters in Elven, either unaware or uncaring that Budos doesn't speak the language.
"You said your name was 'Bud'? You ever been on a boat before?" The elf doesn't look up when he asks the question, and his tone is gruff, but he seems genuine in his curiosity nonetheless.
"Budos is me name, but you can call me 'Bud'. Been on a boat, sure, but never as forced labor. Grew up by the docks and worked odd jobs on ships at anchor to make a few extra coins for me and ma. How's 'bout yerself?"
"Been lots of places before, but never on a boat." He shrugs then hauls a thick length of rope over and begins coiling it, ready to haul it to another part of the ship. "Was born in Port Peril but didn't stay long. Don't really know why I even came back when I did." He grunts as he slams the heavy coil down to the deck then begins coiling another length. "You know anything about that 'Besmara' goddess that red-head mentioned?"
Sometime in the afternoon, Grok leaves the quartermaster's store, closing and locking the door, as she heads back to the quarters she shares with Fishguts, a bottle of liquor in her hands.
"Good luck th'rest of the day, there, Offal," she says good-naturedly, a grin on her face as she takes a pull from the bottle.
Shortly before dinner, a slender, attractive dark-haired woman enters, whom Cargas has seen with Capt. Barnabas. She collects plates "for the officers," tasting everything as she puts them on plates.
"This is the best you can do?" she complains, "it's barely fit for the fishes."
Eventually, the clock rings the end of the work day and you reassemble on the deck for the Bloody Hour, which sees Plugg's delivering a pair of lashes to each of the three pirates who were late that morning after your confrontation.
Shortly thereafter, Grok emerges, with a bucket of rum.
"You know the drill," she calls as she hands out the strong drink again. "Come, git yer rum on!"
Sicarius' scowl returns in full force as the rum appears once more. He almost openly refuses the alcohol a second time, but Redfingers' and Sandara's words echo in his mind. Mostly out of curiosity regarding this Besmara the redhead invoked the evening prior, Brood does his best to avoid provocation with Scourge, even though it rankles him inwardly to do so, wondering who this Queen of Pirates is and whether this behavior will attract her attention or not.
He dips his mug into the barrel when his turn comes, and rather than give it to Redfingers like the man had suggested, the elf discreetly tosses it.
"You know anything about that 'Besmara' goddess that red-head mentioned?"
"God o' the Sea, sailor's toast to her and curse her on the same day. Not a follower myself, but I'll drink to her if you're pouring something good."
The rum, however, is not something good and Budos dumps it when he thinks no one is looking.
"G'day, Cutthroat," Cargas salutes Grok with a chicken wing as she leaves. Cargas continues his work happily until...
Shortly before dinner, a slender, attractive dark-haired woman enters, whom Cargas has seen with Capt. Barnabas.... "This is the best you can do?" she complains, "it's barely fit for the fishes."
Cargas takes an immediate dislike to the woman.
"I suppose you'd like to do better?" Cargas carps back. "Looking at you, I don't think you'd be much good for anything save being a lap and fetch dog for someone else. But I suppose if you think you can cook, the skillet is yours."
Cargas finishes his cooking and heads upstairs for the grogging.
Cargas drinks his rum.
Fort Save
Gezza happily accepts the rum and downs it, already feeling the shakes begin to calm...
Now happily warm in the gut, he sings a jaunty tune to himself and heads below.
"Oh-ho," Scourge shouts in glee as Budos proves to be unlucky at his attempt to dump the rum. "Looks like someone is wasting his rum. That'll be lashes for you, greenskin."
He gestures for a couple sailors to grab the half-orc and haul him to the whipping post, where Scourge cracks his whip, doing little to hide his glee at the moment.
Gezza groans as Scourge cracks his whip. "This is not helpful."
Nim lines up, same as the rest, and grabs his cup of rum, downing it on the spot, and hesitates a moment before handing back the cup.
Not unpleasant, but they didn't splurge for better...
He considers remaining on deck for the evening's activities, but decides to head down into the cargo hold, and pay respects to the ape instead. He inspects the caged beast for signs of abuse in his absence.
...
The halfer-orc keeps his eyes out for the other half-orc when he descends the steps for sleep. "Those lashes... you should take some lessons from the dwarf. He's really good at stashing things without folks noticing. You might benefit, if you decide to keep chucking that rum." Nim keeps his voice down, and moves a hand to Bud's shoulder, while he chants a word or two to the Wind and the Waves.
"Just don't let 'em wear you down. Gotta keep your strength up."
When the others have returned in their own time, Nim gathers them up briefly. "Bud, aaaaand... sorry, I not as good with names as I thought. My name's Nim, and for our run-in this morning, I thought it might benefit us all if we took turns at night watching each others' backs, considering there might be some backlash for making fools of them in front of the others. I'd be able to stay awake for a spell, take the first watch but once I sleep, I sleep deep. What do you think, then?"
Sicarius grunts in agreement at Redfingers remark, "Nope." He then glances to the mug in the man's hand, indicating with a thrust of his chin that he's referring to the grog and not the whipping. "It's not at all."
The elf then rolls his shoulders, his face darkening dangerously and it seems for a moment he might be ready to charge Scourge. But his stance and posture loosen a long breath later, and he instead looks to be ready to haul the half-orc back down to the bunks when his lashing is done.
Gezza seems to waver between helping the half-orc and simply waiting out the lashing. But a glance at the vast expanse of water around the ship reminds him that they're stuck here... He sighs deeply and makes ready to help the half-orc back below decks after the whipping is over.
"What, I was just pouring a dollop to Besmara for my friends lost at sea, that's not allowed?"
Certain that resistance will just make things worse, Bud approaches the mast and takes his lashings. I'll pay you back, Scourge, with an axe chop for each lash
Budos's plea falls on deaf ears and he's quickly tied to the whipping post, where his punishment -- three lashes "but it'll be more next time if you bastards can't follow simple rules!" -- renders him unconscious.
Gezza, Nim and Sicarius haul him downstairs, where the conscious half-orc is able to heal the worst of his wounds .
Upstairs, the pirates again gather for nightly entertainment as the ship bobs in the ocean waves. Soon laughter penetrates down to the lower holds as they swap tall tales of their times at sea.
Budos barely remembers the worst of it, the pain overtaking him on the second strike. He wakes a short time later with a healing energy knitting his flesh and his new shipmates standing around him.
"Oye, thanks lads, guess I'll be drinking me rum tomorrow night." The big man tries to grin, but grimaces instead as the wounds ache. "I think I'll rest this evening. The watch idea sounds good to me, I'll squeeze in some shut eye now and be fresh for the middle shift." With a hearty clap on the back for each of his comrades, the partial orc staggers off to his hammock.
After lashings, Cargas comes up to see how Budos is doing with his usual charm.
"Well, you lasted three lashes, half-human. Not bad at all...much better than " Cargas says, emphasizing the last two words and looking at OnePunch if he's around, giving Scourge's half-orc an I own you look.
"I'm not sure why you guys are tossing out perfectly good grog," Cargas charms, walking away.
He goes to find Nimrod, leaning in close to talk to him without being overheard.
"Hey Nim. I note that you didn't fight so good. Maybe you want one of these?" Cargas asks, palming the looted dagger out of his jerkin and offering it freely.
Sleight of Hand
* * *
With the rest of his night, he'll wander for a bit, trying to figure out how to best influence Grok.
Sense Motive