Mata who would have been down helping pumps the bilges commands to the other pumpers "Stay here and pump, I'll go deal with the problem." Drawing his sword he climbs back to the deck.
Xantrius rushed to the deck, sabre and whip in hand!
Sevien creates a duplicate of himself and follows the others up onto the deck.
Half a dozen creatures have swarmed over the railings onto the leaning deck of the Devil Shark. Each has the lower body of a six tentacled octopus and the upper body of a goblin sized humanoid. Their scaled skin appears bluish, their mouths are lined with needle sharp teeth and fins protrude from their muscular arms which grip pointy little spears.
Mata Initiative:
Nakon Initiative:
Sevien Initiative:
Xantrius Initiative:
Critters Initiative:
A Storm and a Slithering Host by Night
Round 1
Mata moves up carefully around the main mast to F14 and swings at the nearest creature. "This is our ship, go away!
[ooc](Not using prescience roll) Included flag bonus, remove if I can't see it and add anything happens before my action.
Knowledge Religion
Assuming he doesn't identify them as undead, Sevien sends out a wave of negative energy towards all of them.
Negative Energy atk dam Willpower Save DC 18
Nakon gives up his useless grip on the wheel as the ship grounds.
He moves immediately to confront the attackers, wading into their midst moments after Sevien's channel.
Shieldless, he sweeps a mighty two-handed cut at the closest flat-footed creature. Yet a strike that would have taken its head from its shoulders is stolen at the last second by the storm.
Xantrius dropped his sabre and switched it out for his flag as he called out with magically-infused oratory-
Note that on a crit the demoralise is a different effect due to Enforcer-
"If your attack was a critical hit, your target is frightened for 1 round with a successful Intimidate check, as well as being shaken for a number of rounds equal to the damage dealt".
I had overlooked that myself until just now.
The creatures cry out in pain as the dark energy sweeps from Sevien through the storm and tears at their very life essence. The couple nearest him snarl and heft their spears. The others barely have time to recover before Nakon and Mata are among them. Nakon's blow cleaves at the neck of the thing in front of him, but the lightning stops for a brief second, plunging the area into pitch darkness, and the subsequent flashes of blue reveal the miserable creature still intact. Mata meets with more success and his blow slashes across the creature dropping it straight to the deck in a limp tangle of its own tentacles.
The creatures swarm over Nakon as he moves among them, 2 of them managing to flank the great human. A third tries to move round him and Xantrius picks it off with a slash of his whip, and it goes down in a tangle of tentacles.
The first creature jabs with its spear, then tries to take a chunk out of Nakon with its needle-like teeth. Its tentacles writhe back and forth under it as if of their own accord, and as they wrap round Nakon's feet, they try and pull him down to the deck.
Nakon easily moves under its spear and avoids its bite, the creature to slow for the shark shaman.
The other one flanking Nakon attempts to mirror the first.
Its spear stabs Nakon from behind, and as he shifts to avoid its nasty bite the tentacles end up around his feet. Another wave of the spear and Nakon tumbles to the deck.
The third has no real plan and just lashes out as best it can.
Nakon twists and avoids the worst of its slashing.
The last one swishes at Mata, jabbing with the spear and burbling as it does so.
Wary of the spear, Mata smashes it aside with his falchion, but this brings him into contact with the biter and he loses a chunk of flesh from his thigh.
Sevien refreshes the duplicate on himself and sends out another wave of death amongst the creatures.
The wave of death blasts through the creatures, causing skin to peel and go black and their life force to start ebbing...
The lightning crashes across the sky and the thunder roars while salt spray and heavy buckets of water sweep the tilted deck. Shrieks and crys of the blue creatures cut through the wind's howl as they try and drag their opponents overboard.
A Storm and a Slithering Host by Night
Round 2
The remaining creatures shudder as Sevien's energy wave sucks the very life from them. One by one, they all collapse to the deck, twitching and shaking, then falling still.
Apart from their primitive spears, driftwood adorned with sharp chunks of coral, the creatures have nothing else of value. A few wear necklaces of seaweed and shells, but these look more like the efforts of a child than any form of art or craft.
We should look overboard to make sure there are not any others around! Do you think they live on this reef?
Nakon gets back to his feet, dabbing his own blood between thumb and forefinger as he heals himself.
He shrugs at Sevien's question, kicking the fallen bodies overboard.
Sevien sweeps the bodies with detect magic before Nakon can kick them overboard and says, Make sure to run them through before sending them to the deep. They may not all be completely dead. as he slits one of their throats...
Sevien collects the primitive weapons and checks to make sure none of them are worth anything.
Mata has a quick look around and sees the others dealing with the bodys he runs back downstairs to help with the pumps.
Sevien check the spears and necklaces, but none are magical or even very sturdy, and together Sevien and Nakon dump the small bodies back into the churning ocean.
Mata and the crew return to work pumping out the bilges and trying to salvage what they can from the lower hold. Wedged against the reef, the ship doesn't sink any further, but any attempts to refloat the Devil Shark would not be easy.
The storm finally begins to abate as the grey of dawn approaches and by the time the sun peeks over the edge of the sea, the sky is deceptively clear apart from a distant smudge retreating into the horizon.
With the light of the new day also comes the realisation that you're down a couple of crew members. Indeed, both Sandara Quinn and Barefoot Samms have vanished from the ship, with no trace of either of them to be found.
The Devil Shark is on the edges of a coral reef surrounding a small tropical island. A huge ridge towers over the island’s western portion, a rocky cliff that looms over the island to the north west. It is some 500 feet high and covered by trees in many places, particularly the more shaded north west slopes.
A glowering fist of rough granite rises from the jungle on the eastern end of the island, approximately 50 feet high. The single raised tor glowers across the isle at the imposing ridge, with miles of jungle lying between the two.
Perhaps we should check the shore to see if the missing crewmembers are there?
Can we leave the ship with the crew or will it sink?
I will look.
Nakon seems more interested in stretching his legs than hunting for the missing crew but the shaman bundles his hide armour quickly enough and glides easily enough to shore to look for any signs.
Ambrose Kroop assures you that the ship will not sink just yet and that by dismantling the ship's deck they may even be able to make some rudimentary repairs.
The ship is still about a mile from the shore, but despite the distance and some strong and unexpected undertows, Nakon makes the swim with few difficulties.
Directly to the south, there are no safe landings for the ship's cutter, but swimming further west Nakon makes out a small beach.
Before reaching the beach, in the shallows Nakon discovers a small, twisted “statue” made of sinew-twined, scrimshaw covered skeletons. The bones show signs of trauma and gnawing.
A small gathering of collapsed mud huts sits on the island’s northern beach. The village has not been inhabited for decades. A path leads away from shore into the nearby swamp. While most of the beach has been smoothed by the previous night's storm, under a tree near the start of the path into the swamp Nakon does find some human shaped footprints.
Nakon takes a few moments to inhale the smells of the shore and squeeze the sand between the toes of his one good foot before making the swim back.
Something walked into the swamp, he confirms to Xantrius.
We should follow...but be cautious. Odd that they would leave the ship and wonder around the island. To be honest it doesn't make much sense. It may not belong to one of our crew members, we should be cautious.
Sevien suggests that Nakon be in the front, followed by Xantrius, Sevien, then Mata for the marching order...any thoughts?
Unsurprisingly, everyone is fatigued after fighting the storm all night. However, water is still coming into the hold and both bilge pumps will need to be operated constantly to counter and reduce the flow. The crew look around wearily, waiting for orders.
"Captain, is it possible to float the boat and sail it round to the beach?"
Focus on the repairs, men. We'll make land and see where we've ended up. You have all done well; to survive a night like that with no losses is a credit to you all.
The crew sigh and get to work at Xantrius' command. You are informed it will take a couple of days to make enough repairs to the boat to attempt to refloat it. Sailing it round to the beach, or indeed any closer to the island would be almost impossible given the many reefs lurking under and around the waters. While the crystal clear water makes it easy to see the coral reefs for hundreds of feet in every direction, the paths between them are small and few.
"Right captain, whose going to take the lead on the repairs? I have some magic that'll help a little." Grasping his sword in one hand he reaches out to who ever is doing the repairs saying "Eloheh T'dnem"
Mata will lower the 'jolly' boat into the water and step in readying to row the other to shore.
Narwhal is the least inexperienced where repairs are concerned, and while his knowledge is limited, he has some ideas where to start. He suspiciously accepts Mata's spell, before organising some crew to help dismantle the now damaged door to the hold, with the intention of using the pieces to shore up the hold. Mata's spell doesn't appear to help as such, but things seem to run smoothly and little time is wasted. Conchobhar gets some of the stronger crew not operating the bilge pumps to hammer away at the coral protruding into the hold, difficult at best with improvised tools, tedious and even harder mostly under water.
The four of you eventually climb into the jolly-boat and sail over the clear waters to the beach. The sand is brown and coarse and gives way to thick mud and wet dirt at the edge of the swamp.
To the left of you, the tor rises at the eastern end of the island and would be easy to climb if you could reach it through the swamp and jungle that separate it from the beach.
To your right, the dense jungle reaches back to the distant tree covered cliffs that seem to create most of this island.
Ahead of you, Nakon points out the pathway that leads away from the collapsed mud huts and in towards the mire.
"Any idea who or what made the tracks?" Mata says as he wanders up to the huts and peers in.
Nakon, you have any idea? Let's follow, we can't afford to lose any other crew members at this point.
There's too little left of any tracks for Nakon to make out much more than the fact that they are human sized. The mud huts look to be human sized too but contain only debris. Whereas the huts have been crumbling for years the prints, despite surviving the morning storm, can't be more than a few days old.
At Sevien's suggestion, you make your way along the path into the swamp.
Immediately, the warm sun vanishes and dappled light struggles feebly between the thick canopy above you. A foul smell surrounds you and the gentle sound of the ocean gives way to the high pitched whine of millions of insects. The occasional bird calls out from above you, and others answer back. The going is slow as the pathway winds between pools of water and around beds of mud, ducking and weaving through apparently impenetrable trees. Sometimes the pathway is just a few inches wide between what appears to be solid sand and shallow water, and occasionally you step over a fallen log, or through inches of mud that clings to your ankles.
The pathway slips suddenly into a large green bog. Remnants of an old wooden bridge cross the bog, but only short timber platforms on either side remain, leaving just the pilings jutting from the mud. A salt river oozes through the swamp here, forming a solid barrier of quicksand and marsh.
Do the tracks end here or is there a way around? If not I will help you as I can.
Cast Guidance as well as Resistance on each person crossing...
Mata will take a look each way for another way across ( ) then assuming he sees nothing he will start crossing saying "I'll go first, might be wise to wait 'til I get to the other side."
Apart from the prints in the more solid ground at the start of the path, there have been no other signs among the mud of the swamp.
Mata shimmers briefly with his mage armour then looks around. He can find no other way past the soup, apart from swimming or stepping gingerly from piling to piling. But only 20' above, the canopy hangs thick with large twisted branches.
Mata will take a careful look at the piles to check they look structurally sound ( ) and if the first few look good he'll start across pausing to check them as he goes.
Sevien looks up and sighs, If we had rope we could have used it to possibly swing across.
Nakon has no answers for Sevien, gesturing at the path and shrugging. They are down there or they are not.
The shaman takes the lead as the group starts up the path, although the big man has one last almost plaintive look for the sea before it vanishes from sight.
Curiously, the vegetation seems to almost shift out of his way as he treads through it, the man leaving no visible trail sign despite his bulk and wooden foot.
At the fallen bridge he studies the canopy and marsh, content enough for Mata to encounter any hazards if he wishes.
The pilings appear quite sturdy and take Mata's weight without shifting at all. He hops gingerly from piling to piling, taking his time and carefully maintaining his balance.
As he reaches the middle, the flat surface of the murk ripples sluggishly nearby and two pairs of beady eyes fix upon him - two giant frogs.
"There are two huge frogs here, I think they have the impression that I would make a good giant fly."
Round 1
Nakon starts to sway from side to side as he begins a gutteril chant.
The first giant frog slides through the murk towards the teetering Mata and shoots out a sticky tongue.
The tongue half sticks and half wraps round Mata's leg and he gets pulled towards the giant frog and splashes into the muck.
The giant frog's companion does the same thing , but goes for the tasty morsel that is the devil worshiper on the shore.
Sevien is ready for the creature however and it sucks up a small bush beside him.