Two weeks pass at sea before you arrive at Port Peril. The crew acts eager for shore leave.
messenger to Fort Hazard, the Hurricane King’s seat, along
with a bribe of at least 4 points of plunder.
Sassarra arranges delivery of some of the silks and spices they acquired from the sahaguin along with the note. Along with a cleaned skull of one of the sea-pests. After all, everybody on the sea hates sahaguin.
She thinks she's hit a decent level of politeness in the note without sucking up too obviously.
Then she goes to join Skrelznit at the bar with the flaming drinks.
Zaaka was already drinking flaming drinks, of course. And dancing on tables.
A human man dressed in all purple and a cane walks up to Sassarra.
So, you are the little leader, who thinks she can swim the big sea. He say with a side smile.
He turns to the rest of the bar and speaks loudly.
"This is a rare sight! The small scaled one sitting here, without sponsorship a Free Captain, has asked for a letter of marque!"
A round of murmurs goes goes thru the crowed.
"Anyone know what that means?"
A hand goes up and a drunk shouts out. "More Bear!"
"No" The purple man reply's,"But give that man a round for trying."
"I, Tsadok, as a formal representative for the Hurricane King, have been sent to enact the Pirate Code. The ship’s captain and officers must be tested. Their trials will show that those playing at pirates, should not waste real pirates time... Well not wholly a waste; we will have entertainment."
While a few laugh, most scowl or remain silent; waiting to see how the new comers do in their trials.
"A challenge? We're definitely up for that. Though I'll still try to be entertaining as well. After all, a true Free Captain should have a sense of style."
"The 1st test is one of you must climb to the top of a nearby ship’s foremast and unfurl and set the sail from the top
yard without assistance, before one of my crew does the same on the mizzenmast. Flight magic is illegal, and you must unfurl the sails yourself."
She smiles and pats him on the back. "Nobody I'd rather have helping." To the crowd, she calls out, "Prepare to be amazed, Skrelznit was raised in the rigging. He was rocked to sleep by the wind. And if certain rumors are true, he lost his innocence while forty feet in the air, hanging by one ankle." Hopefully, putting on a good show will help sway the crowd.
She and Zaaka will also be on the lookout for problems that might arise.
|
If it's not considered cheating, or he thinks he can get away with it, Skrelznit prepares by casting Monkey Fish (10ft Climb speed is probably not fast enough compared to skill checks, but if he falls this should hopefully help him catch himself quickly) and enabling Animal Focus (Monkey) .
He also has a little bit of Derring-Do in his back pocket for when it's needed.
Skrelznit has got this.
Coming to the ship, everything looks set. Tsadok's man stands ready to climb.
|
|
Skrelznit channels his inner monkey and attempts to discreetly cast Monkey Fish on himself.
Skrelznit knows sails-k-k-k!
As the signal is given, he scrambles up the rigging like a frenetic monkey .
Perhaps a little too frenetic as he gets higher and higher, but he turns his momentary slip of the foot into a dashing tumble which uses the rope's natural sway to bounce him even higher than he would have been otherwise.
No one looks to note Skrelznit's spell.
Skrelznit knows that he needs to untie the sail at four places (each a profession sailor check) 15ft a part from each other. But if you untie one side of the yard fully, then it will be harder to do the other side.
Haines Boyne keeps up with Skrelznit on the other rigging.
Sassarra and Zaaka keep watch for any funny business.
Haine seeing krelznit keep up, becomes more riskily with his climbing, and gets ahead of Skrelznit by a little bit.
Sassarra sees a bald sailor acting odd near a forestay boom securing line.
Through their link, she'll warn Skrenznit to be on guard for sabotage.
But openly, she laughs and points,
Zaaka joins in on the fun,
The bald man backs away.
Skrlznit is having trouble freeing the sail.
Haines heads to the mid left tie. Like Skrelznit, he is having trouble.
Skrelznit had some trouble, but finally freed the far right of the sail. Then moves to the next closest.
Haines also gets his sail undone.
Skrelznit is having trouble with his sail tie, while Haine gets half of his sail free.
The now half free sail waves back and forth.
Skrelznit frees it and can move on.
While it looks that the movement of the freed sail part is making it harder, Haine frees his 3rd tie.
Haine Finishes freeing his sail, and smiles at Skrelznit.
Tsadok, himself, looks to Sassarra. At I know. Your crew is sub-par.Ready for the next test?
"Eh, bad luck. But it lets us have a dramatic recovery. We're ready for anything." she says with a flourish.
He smiles. "For the next test you will need better luck then. The next test will be of your talent and luck. One of you will play Bastard’s Fool against me. You have to hold your own stacks; so hope you have 100 platinum.
The rules are simple. Each hand, gamblers receive a starting hand and place their initial bets. They may then discard some of their cards and draw more to improve their hand, and bet again. Once all bets are matched, the gamblers reveal their cards and the best hand wins.
You win the pot, and you have to take a drink of rum."
A table and chairs are sit on the deck. Tsadok sits with his back to the sea.
She smiles. "Well, then, let's begin."
Nonverbally, she tells the others to move to places that they can see the other player's cards.
She puts up her money and waits for the deal.
|
|
Skrelznit quietly tries peering through Looseal's eyes to see if that works.
He presumes that Looseal would be able to shift position to get the best view of the cards without arousing the suspicion that a kobold would. He purchases the largest tankard of beer available, drinking from it as needed to hide his temporarily blinded eyes.
Tsadok puts up his ante, and the dealer deals.
Tsadok puts down a single PP as his bet.
Pot: 3 PP
She'll call and risk it on the draw.
14+ =18
After the draw, Tsadok just puts down 1 pp.
Sassarra matches. A close hand will look to be a good start to the game.
Sassarra wins the 1st hand (19 vs 18); taking the pot and must take a shot of rum.'
sadok puts up his ante, and the dealer deals.
"Well, time to make the game interesting." She'll slide ten coins forward and take her card.
Tsadok folds. Sassarra gain 1 pp, and has to down a 2nd shot of rum.
Tsadok puts up his ante again, and the dealer deals.
She'll look at her cards, slide forward five and take her draw.