With the officer prone on the deck before him Kragor whirls the pike around and places the point above her throat "Stay down and you just might live through this" he growls at her.
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Bleepos misses twice, and as the officer hops around dodging his attacks, he sinks his teeth into her arm. "GET OFF!" She shrieks as she flails about, but the damage is done and Bleepos tears out a huge chunk of flesh. Lucien can't seem to catch a break with his aim, but Sasha takes advantage of the departed fog and launches a force missile, which blasts the officer in the face. Jaska goes the non-lethal route and pummels the officer with the side of her club, which is enough to knock the officer unconscious. She slumps down on her knees and falls face forward into the railing.
As the officer falls, the scene falls silent, and the sight of a dozen dead and surrendered Rahadoumi sailors decorates the main deck in pools of flesh, blood, and broken equipment. The Wormwood crew cheers wildly as Master Scourge slays one last pirate. "Yer ship is ours, ya morons! Hahaha! Tie up the survivors!"
Back on the Wormwood, a line of prisoners from the Man's Promise is paraded before Captain Harrigan and the cheering crew. A party breaks out with Kroop bringing up all matter of pork, stew, and generous amounts of rum on deck. Gathering on deck in the evening, Harrigan addresses everyone, "You've done a good job, ya scurvy tars. And to the victors, the spoils!" He drops a sack of gold in front of the team. "Here's yer share."
Master Gunner Riaris Krine wipes a swath of sweat from her forehead and brings another bag to the team. "You're a resourceful bunch. Can't believe you let that one scumbag live, though. You call yourselves pirates? Hah. No matter, he'll come in handy." She grins wickedly. "Here," she says as she hands you three potions of cure moderate wounds and a potion of invisibility.
Krine walks off to join in the festivities, and Captain Harrigan addresses Kragor, grabbing him by the shoulder. "You. Good looking out back there, although that moron didn't stand a chance either way!" As he turns away, he tosses Kragor an amulet.
With that, the party is only beginning on the Wormwood, and the evening stretches on with drunken debauchery and indiscriminate eating.
Once the crew of the Man's Promise official surrender, Jaska walks over to Bleepos. "Not sure how you survive all those years with how you carelessly charge into battle, but I'm glad we are on the same side." With that she uses the last of her divine energy for the day to heal some of his wounds.
When everyone is back on the Wormwood, Jaska approaches the quartermaster before she starts celebrating. "Hi there, Quartermistress? Grok. It is my understanding that whatever gear I had before joining this crew ended up in your care. Some of that gear could have been very useful earlier. Especially this weapon here." She points to her tattoo on your forearm. "Lovely isn't it. That weapon was blessed with the sacred water of Gozreh. Passed down from one member of the church to another. It would be a shame if it ended up rusting in the back of a storage cabin. Might upset the one that blessed it, you know, the one's water we are sailing on." Given the Quartermaster a second or two to realise who Jaska is talking about, she continued before Grok as a chance to talk. "And to be honest, with all the loot we just got from the prize here." Jaska points to the other ship. "I don't think anyone would notice a few missing mundane items. What do you say?"
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Jaska finds Grok seated at a table and throwing back cup after cup rum. "'Ey, the hell you talkin' about? Gear? Ya want gear? Pffff" She nearly spills her cup as she pounds her fist on the table and laughs heartily. "Listen, don't bullshit me with the holier-than-thou deity shit. If ya want yer gear, come 'n find me in the stores tomorrow!" She takes another swig and laughs along with Krine and Patch.
Kragor spends a few hours above deck making sure the celebration is in full swing before grabbing a bottle of whatever's handy and heading below. Once in the darkened hold he takes a swig from the bottle and pours some of it's contents over himself. Satisfied he lurches "drunkenly" over to the Quartermaster's store. He stops outside the door and looks around to see if he's observed before he tries the handle.
Bleepos smiles friendly to Jaska as she heals him, and exaggeratedly bows to thank her.
It's Bleepos pleasure to fight by yar side! Besmara shall look over us all, and if it's her will me sleeps with the sharks.
He greets her and goes walking around, searching for a bottle of rum or some way to "cure" himself more.
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As Kragor lurches over to the room, Ambrose Kroop emerges from the neighboring cabin drunk as all hell. He looks the half-orc up and down, then approaches to within inches of him, the small, burly man's head only reaching as high as Kragor's chest. "The hell hic are ya doing down here? You been showerin' in rum? hic The feast is up on deck, or are ya too good for my cookin'?!" He gets in Kragor's face, covering him in a mist of awful breath. "Yer gettin' awfully close to that door. Better not be thinkin' about breakin' in."
With the distraction of the feast well at hand, Bleepos tiptoes along the main deck and over to the storage compartment, blending in with the boisterous crowd and then slipping out as two swabs cheer their mugs together and nearly topple over the little goblin. He finds himself alone outside the Captain's Storage compartment on the portside of the ship. The compartment is shut with a sturdy brass lock.
As the party goes on, Sasha separates herself from the heavy drinking, at least as much as she can. instead she tries to locate her friend, ratline.
hoping to lure him away from the party she tries to coax him to another part of the deck (away from others)
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Sasha finds the rat-faced halfling enjoying the party, but he quickly agrees to go with her as she coaxes him away below deck. "Whatever you say, madame. Our date last night was lovely. It is too bad it was rudely interrupted by the lowly Rahadoumi scum!"
Bleepos will check first - the last time it was trapped, he almost died!
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Bleepos gets up close to the locking mechanism and inspects it for any sign of traps. He doesn't see any, but as he begins to work on the lock, a bright blast of electrical energy shoots out at him.
Bleepos hops back just in time to avoid any damage, but it gets much worse. A loud sound, not unlike a hand bell, rings out from the lock, and Peppery Longfarthing comes running over with Master Scourge tailing her. "THE F+!@ ARE YOU DOIN'?!?!" Scourge grabs Bleepos by the collar and holds him up high. "F~&@in' goblin shit. Knew I should've left ya for dead a long time ago!" He throws Bleepos down on the deck and whips him across the chest with his cat o' nine tails a total of six times. In his anger, Scourge's aim is off, and Bleepos is only hit once.
Longfarthing checks her lock, then turns and spits on the goblin. "Try that shit again and you'll be shark food," she quips as she turns and walks back with Scourge. "I'm going to f~!+in kill that goblin shit next time."
Lucien swaggers up to a group of pirates and says "So, who's up for a bit o' Heave?"
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Wait, here is not the kitchen? Bleepos was hungry... - says the Goblin when he's dragged, poorly pretending to be confused.
As they arrive at the deck, Bleepos keeps speaking.
Wait, longshanked Scourge! Bleepos won't tell anyone what yarrr were doing with Pepperfarts downstairs!
But the beating continues, with the Goblin swinging his back around to escape the best he can.
Slap.
Noooo please! Bleepos has four wives and seventeen children to support! Little Cleepos, Little Tleepos, Little Gleepos...
Slap.
Ouch! Right on the moneymaker!
Slap.
Three bugbears walk into an inn...
Slap. Slap. Slap.
When finally released, the Goblin runs back to the sleeping quarters holding his back in pain. He peg-legs with his wooden leg the entire time but is quite fast.
Hee hee hee... - and crazy, since he keeps giggling as he disappears in the shadows. His revenge shall be insane and swift.
His nighttime sortie stymied Kragor returns to the deck with the bottle in hand and begins drinking in earnest. Once on deck he finds his way over to the rail and watches the party, nodding to those he's a good terms with. Seeing Sasha and Ratline go below deck he raises ans eyebrow "Any port in a storm, I guess." although seeing the pair go off does make him feel a little melancholy.
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Lucien marches to one of the feasting tables and takes a seat. The table falls silent for a moment as his somewhat odd appearance is noticed, but when he suggests playing Heave, Cogward jumps over to a neighboring seat and throws down a five gold piece bet. Krine looks down the table at Cog and laughs at him. "Five gold?! Come on, ya mangy scrub, surely you think more highly of yerself? What kind of pirate are ya?" She makes her way towards Lucien and grabs a half-full jug of rum. "Twenty gold pieces says I can outdrink ya all night!" Oooohs ring out from several others seated at the table and gold is laid down in the form of side bets all around.
Having been turned down about her gear, Jaska wanders the deck. Seeing Kragor by himself on the side of the ship, she goes and join him. Then, when she sees Bleepos being punished for whatever he did, Jaska raises an eyebrow. "I just healed the little bugger..." She just sigh and turn around to look at the sea.
Digging some gold from his belt pouch, Lucien matches Krine's bet. "We'll just see about that, won't we?"
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Krine picks up the jug with both hands and with her mouth wide, tilts it in, dumping the golden brown liquid down her gullet. Glug, glug, glug The last drop hits her tongue and she throws the jug down and flexes a bicep at Lucien with a bright smile on her face.
The crowd begins to cheer, but Krine suddenly drops her arm and grabs her stomach, a look of anguish washing over her face. "I'm.. I'm fine!" She runs off to the deck railing and throws up violently into sea.
"BAHAHA.. Wut a wuss. Did ya see that? I've seen elves with stronger stomachs!" Cog laughs along with the others as he teases the officer while she's out of earshot. "Looks like ol' Blue can handle his liquor."
Once away from prying ears, I enjoyed the date as well. but this time I was hoping for more of a business talk. Depending on what will happen with this new prize, I am looking to break free of Harrigan and his crooneys. but I will need allies. you interested?
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Ratline rubs his whiskered brow and proudly displays his yellow, tar-stained teeth. "W-what.. The captain?" He says, looking at Sasha sideways. Standing only 3 feet tall, the diminutive Ratline could easily be mistaken for a child if it weren't for his leathery, aged skin and a set of teeth which had seen decades of mistreatment. "He'll kill us all, you know? Keelhauling, I think they call it. Doesn't it scare you? I can surely help you, madame, but the two of us won't cut it."
Bleepos hops out of his cot and makes his way upstairs, where he finds the party still well at hand, only now with the deck decorated with passed out pirates, spilled liquor, and generous amounts of vomit. Even Mr. Plugg seems to care little about the sorry state of the ship, casually sipping on a mug as he watches the sun rise. Rosie and Sandara look up from their card game and nod as they watch Bleepos walk by, and Bleepos notes The Man's Promise is still tethered to the Wormwood.
Bleepos finds the bedraggled one-eyed gnome, Giffer Tibbs, looking somewhat despondent. She sits at the bottom of one of the masts, gazing off across the sea, not even turning her head as Bleepos' peg leg thuds along the deck towards her. "Yeah? What do you want?"
Kragor raises an eyebrow as Jaska joins him at the rail. With a silent nod he hands her the bottle "So what's your story? Everyone's got one." With the commotion caused by Bleepos' nighttime activity Kragor smiles at Jaska's comment "I think a lot of your prayers are going to wasted on that little one."
Bleepos peg-legs close to her, then finally let himself drop by her side. He keeps a tone only she could hear.
Bleepos talks... Bleepos makes friends. Maybe everybody here needs a friend.
The goblin scratches under his ear, finding another drop of his own dry blood.
Bleepos tries hard to survive, but life here isn't easy. Bleepos even smaller than Giffer! - he shows a smile, trying to appear friendly - How shortshanks ended up here?
Ratline rubs his whiskered brow and proudly displays his yellow, tar-stained teeth. "W-what.. The captain?" He says, looking at Sasha sideways. Standing only 3 feet tall, the diminutive Ratline could easily be mistaken for a child if it weren't for his leathery, aged skin and a set of teeth which had seen decades of mistreatment. "He'll kill us all, you know? Keelhauling, I think they call it. Doesn't it scare you? I can surely help you, madame, but the two of us won't cut it."
Sasha smiles then give a little laugh. her tail gently brushing his cheek. She lets a slight moan of pleasure as her tail touches him.
there will be more than just us two. I hope to get as many on my side to crew the new ship. Harrigan will have to divide his officers between the two ships. then, when the time is right we will have the numbers and the strength to seize the ship for aourselves.
Kragor raises an eyebrow as Jaska joins him at the rail. With a silent nod he hands her the bottle "So what's your story? Everyone's got one." With the commotion caused by Bleepos' nighttime activity Kragor smiles at Jaska's comment "I think a lot of your prayers are going to wasted on that little one."
Jaska accepts the offered bottle and takes a long sip. Wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt, she passes it back to Kargor. "Not much of a story I'm afraid. I was raised by a man of the Church, always on the move. Then, when I was old enough, he started training me to serve Gozreh. In my first missing to bring to justice a cult to the rough beast, the leads got cold and then I was grabbed to be part of this crew. What about you?"
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Eventually, Jaska nods to Kragor, and heads to bed. Hoping to find the quartermaster in a better mood the next morning. When she gets up, she uses some of her magic to heal her wounds. She then walks to the galley, hoping to find some food. She then walks up to the main deck to look at who's awake and if she can find Grok.
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Ratline grabs Sasha by the arm and gives her the most serious of stares. "Oh, oh, you have to -- YOU HAVE TO take me with you! Take me wherever you go! Ratline and Sasha, tourin' the great seas, lootin' and pillagin' and killin'... Oh hell yeah. Just thinkin' about it turns me on." He pulls her towards a secluded space on deck.
"Aye, Giffer's me name," the gnome looks up at Bleepos from where she sits and shows him a toothy grin. "How do you think I got here? I was traveling south along the coast from Umok, searching for my brother. Damn fool had left home months ago, searching for some kinda priceless artifact," she says, rolling her eyes. "Just as I was getting close, I decided to take a break in Port Peril. Three drinks later... And here I am." She shakes her head. "What about you? Haven't seen too many other goblins around here."
Jaska finds Grok sitting in her office, still sipping on rum. She looks up at Jaska as she enters and grins courteously. "Ah, I think I remember yer face from last night. You wanted something back? Of course, I have no idea what. Think I lost that with my dinner. Hah!"
Bleepos hears you. - he says - Goblins usually burn ships, right?
He laughs, wondering why he never set fire to a ship. Well, never that he recalls. That would be fun! No, wait. That wouldn't be fun. The ship would sink. No fire.
Bleepos kids! Sorry for shortshanked brother. Bleepos had big family too, but lost them all already. Goblins are... Shortlived. Bleepos would love to help you find Giffer brother.
He pointed to the horizon.
Goblins are shortlived, so we make each day and each night count. But as Goblins are shortlived, so are bad pirate captains. Bleepos was press-ganged too into being here, but Bleepos knows the life in the sea doesn't need to be like that.
Kragor looks at Jaska and taking the bottle begins his tale "Me? Nothing much to tell. My father was Kurgan Bloodskull, a pirate captain of some repute and my mother was some dockside doxie that he had taken a a fancy to. She was his woman for a while, that is until she got pregnant with me. He dropped her off at their next port of call." He takes a long pull at the bottle before continuing.
"When I was little she used to regale me with tales of their time together so it's only natural that I'd gravitate towards the sea. As soon as I was old enough I jumped on the first ship that would take me and have been jumping from ship to ship ever since. That is until my last berth before now. The First Mate made some crack about my parentage so I cracked him. Spent the rest of the sail in the brig until they docked at Port Peril, where they promptly cashiered me. Oh well, it was worth it and they paid me, to boot. I was at that tavern trying to decide my next move when, I guess, it was decided for me." Kragor hoists the bottle to his lips, only to discover that it's empty. Whispering something under his breath he pops the cork back in and tosses it overboard.
Watching Jaska go below deck Kragor grabs another bottle and soon follows.
Lucien will go explore the bilges. Others already have, I guess, but he likes water. Besides, you never know what you might find.
I get to take 10 on one of those, right? Make that a 15 Perception.
[ooc]Still new to these actions, let me know if I'm doing something wrong[/dice]
Jaska smiles at the quartermaster. "Yes, last night, after the fight, I realised just how poorly equip I was in that type of activity. Had to use a wooden stick instead of a proper weapon amount other things. Also, I had stuff in my pack that could've helped during the fight. I hope to get them back. I mean, it's not like anyone would mind if those would go missing from the store. Not after the big prize the Captain just got himself. Plus, I'd owe you a favor, and a favor from someone who has access to magic is never a bad thing." She moves a bit closer to Grok, extending a hand. "What do you say, do we have a deal?"
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"Yer not so bad, Bleepos," Giffer says as she gets up from her spot. "And yer right. Like I said, I've been sailing for quite some time, I know all of the beauty of the ocean. Of ships, of the wind in my hair," she says as she tosses the bedraggled mess back, "And of exploration. It's the only way us gnomes avoid turning to white, nearly invisible creatures. If ya think I'm ugly now, wait till I'm bleached!" She heartily laughs as she holds Bleepos' shoulder. "If ya ever find a way outta here, you let me know."
Lucien heads down below deck and deep into the bilges, where he finds a dead body tied and floating in the two feet of brackish water. Several crates and boxes also float along. Thick cobwebs line the ceiling, along with ladder leading up to a trap door above. Lucien finds a tanglefoot bag in plain sight from where he stands.
"A wooden STICK?!" Grok slams her cup down. "By all hells, how did you survive? Yer even crazier than I am, lady," the half-orc chuckles and stands up. "Look, yer stuff is now the captain's booty, but I guess I can give you your weapon back. You did help fight off those Rahadoumi," she says as she retrieve's Jaska's weapon and gives it to her. "Here, take it."
Kragor awakens still slightly drunk and still strongly smelling of booze from the night before. What does he do?
"Thank you. Now that's a real weapon." Jaska looks over the weapon, making sure it's all in perfect order. "Now for the rest of the stuff. What would you prefer? Looking over some mundane stuff and a few acid flask that could break during the next battle and spoil some important stuff, or..." Digging into her coin purse, Jaska takes out some gold piece. "Would you rather have some nice and shiny gold that is easy to store and can be spent on some useful stuff... Like, I don't know, really good rum?" She flips the coin back and forth between her finger. "Now what would be the magic number that would make everyone happy?"
Bleepos smiles to the gnome and shakes his head positively, immediately getting distracted again looking at his empty mug. He should probably go get some more rum. He's 100% sure the rum is healing his wounds.
Kragor wake sup to the sound of someone playing the bass drum somewhere in the back of his head. Stumbling back up to the deck he grabs another bottle of...something as he walks "Can't get hungover if you stay drunk" he thinks to himself as he takes a pull from the bottle.
Wandering through the bacchanalia he spies Fipps Chumlett sitting by an empty barrel of rum. Walking over he calls out "Hey, tough guy!" Kragor then smashes the bottle on the barrel spraying shards of glass across it's top. Sitting opposite Fipps, Kragor places his elbow amongst the broken glass "Whadda say, you wanna?"
Kragor take sthe pouch with the gold in it and tosses it back to Fipps "Keep it, there's plenty more where that came from." Looking directly into Fipps eyes he says "There'll come a time when someone will have to decide which side he's on and I hope that on that day he'll remember this day. Otherwise..." Kragor lets the implied threat linger and then holds up his bloody hand and makes a fist to drive home the point "Understand?"
With that he turns and walks away, blood dripping on the deck, looking for more drink.
Pocketing the tanglefoot bag, Lucien grabs the nearest of the boxes and tries to open it.
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Bleepos finds Barefoot Samms Toppin lying in her cot in the fetal position, fresh vomit dripping from the ropes. Her head hangs off one side as she watches Bleepos approach and softly laughs. "Heh heh, look at that, a goblin with peg legs... Now I've seen it all."
"The f&!* did you say?" Fipps raises an eyebrow and fist at Kragor. "Arm wrestlin? I oughta f*$@in' kill yew and your bastard friends after what yew did. Bring it on." He drives Kragor's arm hard into the table not once, not twice, but three times, his adrenaline causing him to get more and more reckless and dramatic each time he wins.
When Kragor agrees to up the bet and take him on a fourth time, Fipps spits at him. "Yer as stupid as you look. You don't stand a damn chance!"
Fipps is stunned as Kragor squeezes his hand hard enough to nearly shatter a few bones, then slams it down into the glass shards, cracking the wooden table. He quickly jumps up, ready to brawl. "YOU F&#+IN' CHEAT!" But as Kragor grabs him by the collar and gives him the half-orcish evil eye, he backs down. "F%*~in' green bastard. Yer f@@#in crazy. Get off!" He pulls Kragor's arm away, grabs the pouch of gold and walks off thoroughly intimidated.
Lucien fishes out one of the boxes and discovers it isn't locked or sealed. He pops it open and finds a stash of 12 silver pieces mixed in with some hay.
Grok watches the coin dance across Jaska's knuckles, then laughs at the display. "I see the game you play. I like your style. Tell you what," she says, walking up close to Jaska. "You give me about twenty times that, and I'll give you whatever you came here with."
Bleepos is actually more shocked that he still has one of the legs! - says the Goblin, approaching the woman and offering a bucket.
He pushes the bucket, but then immediately offer a mug of rum to her. He looks towards the horizon of the sea.
'Ya know, best way to recover from the ooze of a food that Kroop puts together is 'ta having a good ole' ton of rum. - he laughs, trying to be friendly - So... Did 'ya see a lot? What's yer' story?
"I knew we could come to an understanding." Jaska smiles at Grok as she places the gold on the nearby table. "As for the favor, let me know what you need, and if it's within my power, I'll be happy to help out a friend." With that, if Grok has nothing more to say, Jaska will pick her stuff out and heads to the main deck to plan her next move.
Thinking back in the event of the fight, Jaska remembers that the big brute got shot a few times by bolts. She tries to find him and sees if he's still injured. Always pays to have the big guy on your side...
After the evening "meal" Kragor will find his way over to Sam Toppins. Approaching her when shes alone he offers her a friendly smile, although the tusks probably spoil the effect. "I've seen you up in the rigging, you seem to be a natural at it. Any Captain would consider himself lucky to have you as one of his riggers, and we're not going to be on the Wormwood forever. Who knows what the future might hold for someone bold enough to take advantage of whatever opportunity might come her way, if you catch my drift?" Leaving the rigger to ponder his words Kragor walks away but calls over his shoulder "By the way, do you ever wear shoes?" he says with a laugh.
Nighttime once again finds Kragor staring morosely out to sea, a bottle of ...something in his hand.
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Samms rolls over and heaves, completely missing the bucket and expelling a plume of vomit onto Bleepos. "Heh heh. I think I improved your face. My story? None of your business. Get out of here. I need rest." She turns and shuts her eyes.
After Bleepos leaves, Kragor finds Samms still sound asleep and smelling of raw sewage. When Kragor rouses her, she rolls in her cot and looks up at him. "Wait a minute, how did a goblin turn into an orc? Aye, by Desna, I've had far too much. Do you ever wear shoes, he says... Who needs 'em. There's no feeling like jumping into a fresh, deep puddle barefoot. You should try it." She sighs and shuts her eyes again, attempting to sleep off her poor decisions.
Jaska finds Mr. Plugg at a table, arm wrestling with Master Scourge and a few other riggers. The group is rowdy and obnoxious as Mr. Plugg loses a round and pulls out his dagger, threatening Ratline at his throat. "You get the f*+# outta right now or I'm tear your arm right off and have you thrown into the bilges!" Ratline scurries off in a hurry. How does Jaska approach?
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Kragor, not finding the answers he was seeking out on the waves, turns and heads for his hammock. Seeing Jaska chatting with Owlbear he raises his bottle in salute and goes below deck to sleep.