Ok, in the AM ill give you a basic read on each room.
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"Oh yes! OHHHH YESSSS!" Rogar rejoices, climbing up from the hold of the captured ship, carrying a bottle of rum in each hand. "Time fer sum' celebratin', now!" he declares, passes the other bottle around while emptying the other. And from that on, the day turns into drunken revelry. Doc has only very blurry memories on what went on during that time, but most likely he managed to have some very deep conversations with other members of the crew.
[dice=Diplomacy, "Caulky" Taroon]1d20 +9[/dice]
Next morning is far from pleasant. Vast amounts of booze takes its toll, even on dwarves, and it takes all Rogar's willpower to stay standing. As a result, he barely listens to Captain's speech. Doc does hear something about warning him not to burn any ships, which gets him worried. Did he burn a ship yesterday? Rogar tries to count the ships they have now, but counting past one proves to be far too difficult for him. When the captain passes him the amulet, he tries to say something smart and respectful, but what comes out sounds more like: "Frgnnnngth...grk". The dwarf fumbles the amulet onto his neck, and returns to hug the main mast, and hoping this feeling would stop.
Ok, so Mr. Plugg selects the crew to come with him on the Man's Promise. He was going to be a bit short, so he was forced to select a couple members of her old crew and some prisoners (including Malevor) to round out his crew. At the last minute before the two ships went to separate, Captain Harrigan barked out pointing at Chaenath, "Oh no, I'm not keeping that waif, she's useless, you take her."
Ok, I'll get a fuller description of the ship out, hopefully today.
Here's the short version:
Room B6 is used as quarters for Scourge, and all pirates listed as "hostile" AS WELL AS Shaeda and Diego.
Room B7 is the Captain's cabin which Plugg uses, and he keeps Owlbear there.
Room B9 is where the 4 PCs are assigned, as well as everyone listed as Helpful or Friendly.
Thus, you guys can feel free to get to know one another now.
The Man's Promise has pulled away from the Wormwood.
I'll get more out later.
As Chaenath gets unceremoniously bundled back onto Man's Promise she slumps onto a corner of the deck and peers around suspiciously from under the tangle of her black hair Not useless. she mutters. Know things about the sea that you would not dream of. Finally free of her bonds she stretches her arms and feels in her mind for her friend... ah.. there he is.
Come out Swum, the bad people have been killed other people. She holds out her hand and a small animal runs out of a hatch in a brown flash and snuggles up to her for a moment before running up her arm and settling on her shoulders.
Chaenath glares around. If anyone takes Swum from me again. I will kill you with my mind. she says to no one in particular. It's just a general sort of warning to everyone.
Alessandra does her best with the two Rahadoumi sailors, but it's quickly clear that Plugg has chosen well - she'll get nothing from them. She doesn't even find out their names.
The half-orc girl feels a pang of sympathy as she watches the elf bundled back on board. Sidling up to her, she does her best to flash a comforting smile (not easy, with tusks - even small ones like Alessandra has). "Don't worry about it - I threw up my first day on board, spent the whole of the next day in the bilges clearing up. So you're doing better than me! Name's Alessandra - and you?"
Alessandra is tall, by human standards, but she realises that she is having to look up to catch the elf lady's eye. It's a pleasant novelty. She nods at Swum the otter, but her heart's not really in it: as a street urchin she spent too much time around small furry creatures to be comfortable with them. The ratcatching duties aboard the Wormwood were her absolute least favourite.
Chaenath inclines her head at an odd angle as a nod I am Chaenath, once of the Wood and now of the Sea. Are you slavers?
"Bastards" Malevor mutters under his breath. He looks around hoping to find out what he's supposed to be doing.
"Slavers?! Not if I have any say in it," Alessandra says with a fierceness that surprises even her: she never used to have a problem with slavers, their money spends as well as anyone's. Being around Shaeda the halfling ex-slave must've had more effect than she'd realised.
"Far as I can tell, we're pirates. Not much better, I s'pose, but there's something. This was my first ship fight - spent my whole life up to now in Port Peril. Where you from?"
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"Slavers? Nah... 'less ye call volunteerin' hapless drunks t' crew as slavery. Me thinks Cap'n Harrigan is jus' good ol' fashion'd pirate." grumbles a wrinkled, weather beaten dwarf of indeterminate age. The dwarf, unusually small and lithe for his kind, is breathing heavily and leaning on the walls with obvious difficulties in standing.
"T' name's Doc. Assistant cook in t' ship. Nice t' meetcha!"
Oh good. I have decided I don't like slavers. Or Slavery. Chaenath scratches Swum under his chin I am from the forests of Kyonin. Far away. I was travellng to find a map to a Cyclopean ruin that I discovered in my reading. The ship I was on was attacked and I was chained and enslaved. she gets a thoughtful expression on her face Still better than Kyonin
It's my intent to NOT bore Chaenath and Malevor with the drudgery of playing through several more days of backbreaking ship stuff, and I'm pretty sure Doc and Alessandra are a bit done with it as well.
The opening of this AP is just rough to get through, and we're pretty much through it.
Ok, so here's the alternate plan. Rather than introduce the newcomers to daily tasks and such, let's wave our hands at the next couple days as such, especially since opinions are pretty much set at this point.
Each of you ends up pumping the bilges at some point, for some minor infraction. All of you are regularly berated and given more reasons to hate Plugg and Scourge than you already had, and each of Malevor and Chaenath are given lashes for minor offenses that the rest of the "loyal" crew gets a pass for.
The end result is you're just more fed up than you were, and that the two newcomers have become a part of your core trusted group. You only catch glimpses of Shaeda and Diego, usually when they are being worked like dogs and maltreated.
You have no trouble getting your hands on very basic gear (weapons and light armor, but not a chain shirt), for any of you that want them. To include the spell components we discussed.
Some details:
On your second day away from The Wormwood some of your friendly crewmates start whispering things like:
This becomes more interesting when Alessandra determines the ship has changed course, and is headed east towards Bloodcove, a notorious port on the edges of the Mwangi expanse.
Some of the sailors start suggesting a mutiny, as they are not interested in being killed off, or sold into slavery.
On your third day you get a bit more of the same, only on this day, Kroop suggests that he might know where the Man's Promise might be heading, to a seedy, isolated dry dock on the Slithering Coast west of Bloodcove called Rickety's Squibs. for a price, old rickety Hake completely refits ships into "squibs," providing new identities by changing ships’ lines, silhouettes, and general appearance to be unrecognizable to their former owners or anyone else familiar with them.
On your fourth day A storm hits the Man’s Promise in the early hours of the fourth day. The wind blows with incredible force, driving
the Man’s Promise far off course. The ship is tossed about on the high seas, and all hands are called on deck to work, including the cook’s mate. All of the crew is required in the rigging, and you are assigned random tasks. Towards dawn the next day, as the sky begins to brighten almost imperceptibly, the storm redoubles its ferocity, and dark shapes loom out of the sea all around the ship—small islets and coral reefs that dot this area. A little while later, the four of you are working near the aft of the ship, and you spy 6 creatures that have just climbed aboard, and you're into a fight.
Your opponents appear like bluish aquatic goblins, with gills, and an octopus body. They are small sized. I'll post up a picture in a second.
Doc -
Alessandra -
Evil -
Malevor -
Chaenath -
Doc and Alessandra you're up. Knowledge (dungeoneering)?
Chaenath tries to figure out what these strange creatures are
You are not yet in melee, but can move to it if desired.
@Chaenath - It is Knowledge (dungeoneering), but using your roll you get a 12, thus only learning their name. These are Grindylows.
Edit: Link added to grindylow picture.
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"What these buggers are, me got no idea... Not lookin' too friendly," Rogar mutters, and picks up a dirty-looking bottle from his pockets. The dwarf drinks the contents with one big gulp, and starts spasming rigorously. The seizure is over soon, but the dwarf looks hairier, lither, and ...more simian than before.
Alessandra grins, savagely. About time for a fight. She's been on edge ever since it became clear that the ship wasn't going where they thought it was. Thoughts of mutiny temporarily banished, she draws her bow and sends a round of arrows speeding toward the monstrosities.
Unfortunately she isn't as familiar with her new longbow as she might wish - the extra weight required to draw it increases its hitting power, but the accuracy is off. She snarls with annoyance.
Doc slugs down his foul smelling swill and is prepared to let slip some havoc.
Alessandra fires two arrows, one of which strikes into a grindylow and drops it to the deck.
The five remaining make their attack.
Three of them hurl their spears at...
Doc, Malevor, Malevor
Hit?
Hit?
Hit?
The other two move forward into melee against...
Chaenath, Alessandra
Miss?
Miss?
And then they both also attempt to trip Chaenath and Alessandra with their tentacles.
Failure?
Success?
Ok, so we're at the bottom of the order, so effectively the whole party is up. Chaenath and Alessandra are in melee, but can 5', hmm, Alessandra may be prone. (note to self: try and trip before making the attack, the +4 can be helpful). Likewise two grindylows are in melee.
g1: 9, down
g2:
g3:
g4:
g5:
g6:
Rogar hurls his concoction at g2, which catches g3 and g4 also. g2 takes 9 damage and falls to the ground
success
failure
failure
failure
Both g3 and g4 took damage and are entangled, with no ranged weapons.
@Doc - Grindylows ARE subtype aquatic, so adjust accordingly.
g1: 9, down
g2: 9, down, spear thrown
g3: 2, entangled, spear thrown
g4: 5, entangled, disabled, spear thrown
g5: in melee
g6: in melee
Chaenath hisses They are Grindylows. I know nothing about them and backs away and unleases an Ear Piercing Scream on the one that attacked her.
Alessandra sidesteps neatly out of the way of the spear, but is caught unaware by the tentacles until they're wrapped around her legs and she crashes to the floor. Furious, she stands up and draws her longsword, doing her best to chop off the thing's tentacles.
Rapier, dagger, leather, shield? Those good?
Success
Chaenath casts her spell on G5, but it shrugs off some of the effects
Alessandra rises.
The grindylow Attacks...
... And is cut down by Alessandra!
G3 is entangled and unarmed
G4 is also, and is disabled
G5 is damaged and right near Chaenath
g1: 9, down
g2: 9, down, spear thrown
g3: 2, entangled, spear thrown
g4: 5, entangled, disabled, spear thrown
g5: 1, in melee
g6: 10, down
After being stabbed by the first Grindylow Malevor attempts to parry the second attack.
If the Parry is successful and the attacking Grindylow is within reach Malevor will attempt to reposte.
Malevor's parry was unsuccessful, so no need for the riposte.
Alessandra looks grimly satisfied as she cuts the thing apart. Stepping over the still-twitching remains, she sees Malevor is in some difficulties and moves to gut the grindylow attacking him.
Malevor attacks g5 and hits
G3 and g4 recognizing they are entangled, dive overboard.
Alessandra then cuts down the last grindylow.
Fight Over
Doc – Buffed himself
Alessandra – Killed a grindylow with her bow
Evil - Attacked
I used Malevor’s riposte attack numbers as his round 2 attack.
Malevor – Hits g5
Chaenath – Cast ear piercing scream
Doc – Bombed the bad guys
Alessandra – Stood and Killed a grindylow with her sword
Evil - Attacked
g1: 9, down
g2: 9, down, spear thrown
g3: 2, entangled, spear thrown
g4: 5, entangled, disabled, spear thrown
g5: 2, in melee
g6: 10, down
Diego comes forward, having heard the calls through the ship saying there had been a fight. "What happened here?"
He commences applying curing spells to the PCs, getting you all healed up between what Diego and Doc can do for you.
Grindylows came up from below and attacked. Malevor, Doc, and Alessandra killed them. I gave one of them an earache.
"Nasty little buggers." Alessandra is annoyed with herself for being tripped: in different circumstances that would have been the fight over there and then. She does her best to clean the slime off her leggings. "Ugh."
The half-orc girl looks around.
"Is that it? What'd they want? Everyone OK?"
Unhurt. Thank you.
For more than a day the stormy seas have wracked the Man's Promise and following the attack by the grindylows, it got no better. The skies stayed dark, and the wind and rain were relentless.
The crew struggled all night to keep the ship afloat, as dawn approached, the storm finally began to abate, but not before the entire ship shuddered. It was obvious to everyone what had happened, the Man's Promise had run aground.
Looking over the side, Plugg announces "we're stuck on a coral reef, and it looks like our side is stove in. You there, take a group below and check out the damage," he orders, pointing at Malevor.
Malevor rounds up the PCs who go below to check out the damage.
Hmm, both Alessandra and Doc can take 10 and get this result, so presumably they tell Malevor, who relates it to Plugg.
Plugg immediately orders several crewman to start tearing up the deck to provide raw materials to repair the hull.
Additionally, he directs that the ship's roll be called, and shortly afterward he gets a report that two members of the crew are missing, Sandara, and Bellara.
"Overboard during the storm no doubt," he determines, "put a scratch through their names, no time for nothing else."
While repairs are happening why not look for the missing? Chaenath whispers to Maelvor, Alessandra, and Doc. If we do not look for them then we will be sure not to find them.
Alessandra's mind goes up in flames at Plugg's complete disregard for the safety of her friends - and at the thought that they have been lost.
Before the words are barely even out of Chaenath's mouth, the half-orc has flagrantly abandoned whatever task she was assigned and is searching for any sign of where Bellara and Sandra might have gone overboard. She aggressively questions whoever was working with them, to see what they have to say.
There are very few with the courage to mess with Alessandra when the mood takes her.
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"F'ckers... Dared t' hit me wi' t' spear.. Paid fer it, he did." Rogar mutters, his bestial appearance made only worse by the gashing wound. "Now, healin'... Horns, ye hurt?", he asks, looking at Malevor.
Rogar frowns when he hears his friends gone missing during the night."Yeah, we could look fer 'em, I s'pose" he says, looking around if there's anything but open sea. "Anyone see 'em last night? Maybe there was more o' the grindylow bastards b'sides those we fought. 'tho that lass wouldn't give up without a fight..."
"This Rapier's horribly unbalanced." Malevor says with disdain. He gladly accepts the healing and thanks whoever's healing him.
Malevor is concerned with Plugg's lack of respect for the lives of his crew members. He keeps his mouth shut but tries to find time to talk to Alessandra, Doc and Chaenath later. During the meantime he helps with the repairs.
Alessandra has no trouble (DC 15) at finding evidence of another location aboardship where grindylows seem to have climbed aboard. Located there, alongside the footprints and such, is also Sandara's holy symbol of Besmara.
Asking around, you can determine that Bellara and Sandara were last seen working together in that area last night around the time of the grindylow attack.
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"Right," Alessandra mutters to herself, her knuckles clenched white around Sandra's holy symbol. "Right, right, right."
No point taking the evidence to Plugg - the bastard could care less about either of them. No, if this is to be done, it will be done by her - but not alone.
As night falls, she shows the others what she has found. "Those slimy little buggers came from somewhere - I'm guessing that bit of land we just ran aground on. Once it's dark, I'm leaving here and I'm going to find them. Anyone with me, grab your things, we're off. Anyone thinking to stop me -" she draws her two swords and rasps the blades together, creating a spine-chilling sound - "don't."
Her tusks - normally carefully hidden - are fully bared. By no means could it be construed as a smile.