No Pirate: Boarding Axe's 50 Challenges (Inactive)

Game Master Storm Dragon

I was thinking he's somewhere at the fort and can take a back door into the kitchen if necessary. He's fairly sanitary or at least can control his unsanitaryness.

He's very clean and fastidious, and can pass for human to most eyes (and I gave him a Feat that lets him suppress his Stench ability). Certain people in the crowd, however, have more-than-human senses.

Gonna go with "Arron's the backdoor man" is the plan.

Arron can confirm that this is some kind of lure for rats. It appears you have...a saboteur!

"Harrigan." Krom clenches his fists. Gurram growls softly.

"We've gotta tell the commodore."

"Likely Harrigan," Daliya corrected. "If I believed for a moment he was our only enemy, I would sleep better at night and be able to share a blanket."

"I'll grant you that Jrahk's legacy is not one filled with friendship and steady alliances. But he also didn't go out of his way to antagonize a lot of powerful pirates, except for Harrigan."

"I see your point, though. We should keep an eye out for any more shenanigans."

Krom heads out to the main hall and looks for Ixrul.

I'll say Ixrul's story is ending around this time, so you come in just as it finishes.

Ixrul notices Krom approaching.

"Yes, Krom?"

Krom waits until Ixrul is alone before approaching his table and sitting down.

"We've been sabotaged, sir." he begins, speaking quietly but trying not to look alarmed. "Someone placed a lure in the cellar to draw a swarm of rats into the kitchen. We took care of it, but I'm certain the culprit has some more tricks in store. Naturally, Harrigan is the prime suspect, but we don't have anything pointing to him in particular."

"Do you think you could track down whoever placed the lure, if you had a sample of it? Or maybe just send out Isitoqs all over the fort to act as sentries?"

Without dropping his smile, Ixrul says, "Not until I have had my chance to rest."

Ixrul directs his Isitoq to perform a close scan of the area, briefly watching through their eyes during the flyby.

Nothing seems amiss in the fort, though you do catch a glimpse of Harrigan smirking at the back of your head when he thinks you aren't looking.

"Harrigan's smug about something. If he makes overt trouble here, it'd be suicide. We need Aaron to check the food for poison."

"In the meanwhile... I'm bored."

Ixrul weaves his way through the festivities towards Harrigan. "How are you finding the feast?"

"Oh, I have a very bad feeling about this" Ace muttered

Arron can find no poison in either the food or alcohol, by neither taste testing nor magical means. It appears safe.

"Feast?" Harrigan scoffs.

"This is barely a night at the tavern! Your wenches are ugly and the food's not even here yet. Guess that's to be expected from someone who needed a real man to get disqualified to win a race."

OOOHHHH, PIRATE BURN!

Ixrul smiles, a perfect mask of friendliness.

"Win a race? We played to win, Harrigan - there was no need to beat you in the race and risk you damaging our ship when we could let you get yourself disqualified."

Harrigan sneers.

"And you couldn't even get that right! Your blasted tub very nearly sank on its way into the port even without my help." he laughs.

Ixrul laughs, still friendly as can be.

"Nobody can plan for everything, Harrigan."

Harrigan opens his mouth to speak again, but before he can is suddenly and unexpectedly bowled over by a large, furry creature. It stands on Harrigan's chest and growls at him every time he moves or looks as though he's about to speak. Harrigan, for his part, looks more puzzled and frustrated than intimidated, as if he doesn't know how to react.

The werewolf turns to look at Ixrul and reverts back to a humanoid shape, revealing a very drunk Avimar Sorrinash. Sorrinash gives Harrigan a quick side-eye, as though daring him to say something.

"Ignore the damned windbag, I have something more important to discuss." he says with a slight slur, wrapping his arm around your shoulder and trying to steer you away from the mess.

Up to you whether you let him or otherwise how you react.

"Very well, Mr. Sorrinash."

Ixrul gestures to a serving girl as he lets himself be led away.

"Bring my friend here a drink."

"That wench over there," he says, pointing at Audessa "Where'd you get that one? Swear I've seen her somewhere before. Sh'beautiful."

"Ah, we just recently hired her on as a host-cook-maid sort of deal. She came to us, actually."

Can I trust a werewolf to have decent impulse control? Probably not.

And a werewolf would doubtless have impressive fortitude. He might not be as drunk as he appears. This question could be digging - Audessa's past is more colorful than one might think? Infiltrator? Fugitive?

"Where do you think you know her from?"

"Brothel in Quent. Somethin's Slip?" he shakes his head.

"Dun matter. Whatser name?"

Digging.

Ixrul smiles and lightly elbows Sorrinash. His tone light as ever, he says, "Come now, man up and ask her yourself, Avimar. I believe in you - I'm sure she won't bite, unless, of course, that's what you're into."

And then what?

And then a thing.

Sorrinash walks off grumbling about unhelpful hosts. You see him hitting on Audessa a few times over the next hour.

In the meantime, Mase Derimar approaches Gremory.

"You are the captain of the other ship your group controls, yes?"

Someone we, or specifically Gremory would be familiar with?

He is one of the three Pirate Council reps (along with Sorrinash and Lady Bloodmourn) who are her to, essentially, evaluate you as candidates. He's the half-aquatic-elf one who seems the most normal.

Gremory turns to greet Mase with a formal bow. "Why yes indeed, Lord Derimar. With many to follow I hope."

Mase shakes his head and waves a hand.

"No no no, I claim no noble title like Cerise. Mase or Captain Derimar will do."

"I just wished to talk with you about a subject near to my heart. I've been trying to map the Shackles, particularly small, unknown grottos and waterways that are hard to find by more than chance. I was wondering if you'd found any, or any interesting aquatic creatures, Sentient or not, they usually make their home at such places and could be a hint to a location. I would ask your captain, but he seems a bit busy right now."

"Ah yes the Commodore is quite occupied. Let me see, there were sharks of a truly massive size we encountered a couple months ago. Right by our very island actually. They turned out to be very territorial creatures, succumbing to the wounds our team inflicted in their defense. An unfortunate turn of events."

Krom suddenly appears next to Gremory.

"As for sentient creatures, we found a Nereid in a lake nearby. She seems quite fond of us. In fact, I believe the Commodore invited her to the feast."

"Ah yes. I forgot about her. Captain Derimar, this is my helmsman Krom Manirah."

Mase listens with polite disinterest at mention of the giant sharks, but at the word Nereid he perks up considerably.

"A Nereid? Seriously? Could you introduce us? They're incredibly rare and secretive. I've always wanted to meet one."

"I'm sure she'll turn up soon. She strikes me as one of those 'fashionably late' types."

Actually, you remember her showing up before most of the other guests had arrived. Oddly, you haven't seen here in a while though. Before the Pirate Council reps arrived, certainly.

Since a Nereid didn't seem like something most people would miss, Daliya went to see if she could be found.

Perception: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (11) + 19 = 30

Sefina does not appear to be present anywhere at the party.

---------------------

Meanwhile, Sorrinash roars loudly.

"You've crossed the line, woman!" he shouts at Audessa, holding a hand to a swiftly reddening cheek.

Audessa addresses him calmly.

"I warned you, sir. I appreciated your interest, but as I told you I don't do that kind of work any more. Even when I did I would not stand to be pawed and groped like a cheap floozy. Keep your hands to yourself."

Sorrinash looks stunned for a moment, and FURIOUS. Fur begins to cover his body again...

Ixrul shifts between the werewolf and Audessa, ready to raise an emergency shield if Sorrinash attacks.

"Mr Sorrinash, please. We're all just trying to have a good time."

Is the nereid thing happening in a separate scene from the "no means no" scene?

Separate "scene" but it's the same room at the same time. I was just separating them for clarity.

"Maybe she left early? She's been on her own on this island for a while, so maybe she felt overwhelmed by-"

Krom interrupts himself when he sees Sorrinash becoming furious and furry.

<Gurram, get over there. Now.>

Gurram rushes to Ixrul's side, forcing Sorrinash and Audessa even further apart. Krom keeps an eye on the situation from afar, while maintaining a calm attitude.

"My, my. That Sorrinash is quite a lively fellow, isn't he? I'm sure Jrahk would have liked him."

"Yes, yes he is. For now. How did he get this drunk already? It's simply unsafe." Gremory keeps an ear out for the commotion, more than ready to remind the guests that she is still armed.

If Ixrul sees Gurram approaching, he will hold up a hand for the eidolon to halt.

Don't want to escalate.

Gurram looks conflicted for a moment, then sits with her hind legs folded, again like a huge cat. Both she and her master continue watching the conflict.

Hope you know what you're doing, Commodore.

As the rest of the crew confronts Sorrinash, who seems unwilling to back down, one of the serving boys tugs at Gremory's sleeve.

"Umm, miss. I think I know why..."

"Do you now? What may it be, hmm?" Gremory looks down at the boy with a vaguely gentle lilt in her voice.

Someone could have tainted his beverage. That would be concerning. Perhaps Sorrinash simply needs to speak to a qualified expert about something personal. Where would one find someone with those skills in the shackles? Would there be an extra fee for dealing with a werewolf? Its a good thing I'm focusing on these questions instead of the fact that the help just called me "miss".

Sorrinash growls at everyone, almost feral at the moment. As long as they make no move to attack he does not either, but tenses as if ready to pounce at any provocateur.

"Um, well, I was throwing the scraps from the kitchen out the back, and I met a blue lady there. She told me to give Mr. Sorrinash a drink. It was kinda suspicious thinking back but for some reason it just seemed like a great idea at the time."

Ace looks mildly uncomfortable with so many things going on at once, but still tries to stick close to the team.

Blue lady, huh?

"Enchantment. Did she say anything else at the time? We're going to need to speak with her."