Take what you can. Give nothing back. (Inactive)

Game Master Aku Warashi

Boldwin lets out another grunt. "Whatever works. Worse comes to worse, I can jus' slug someone."

Ambrose nods, confirming the plan. Asmodeus, lend me strength. Taking a breath to steel himself for whatever may happen after this, he stands from his seat and strides to an open area at the aft of the hold. With a voice raised to carry over the din, he announces, "Ruffians and blackguards, may I have your attention?" He raises his arms dramatically, careful not to make any sudden movements. "There are those among us who have lost some flesh on their backs tonight, and a few of us who should have lost more. In celebration of my own good fortune, as well as those others, I have a special treat for you all this evening." Lowering his arms, he lets a smile spread across his face. "I'm sure by now you all know the tiefling's got a few tricks up his sleeves. With full confidence, I can assure you that you'll enjoy the one I have to share with you tonight. I call her... Esmerelda. If any of you plays music, she would welcome the accompaniment. To the rest of you black-hearted knaves, sit back, raise your cups, and enjoy my little show. Just remember - no touching!" He nods to Sh'torek to begin putting out the torches and begins.

Taking another breath, Ambrose slowly gestures with his arms and hands, invoking the words to his spell. A woman fades into existence beside him, appearing to be Varisian. She is dressed sensually, but is fully clothed, leaving much to the imagination for the time being. Her brightly colored kapenia holds back her lustrous black hair. Her full lips smile coyly as she begins her dance, gracefully sashaying around the small space that was to be her stage. Ambrose slinks out of the way to take up a position to the side where he can observe and control the illusion.

At first, the other pirates seems suspicious, even more when you begin to put out the lights, some protest can be heard, but then the woman appears and immediately the complaints turn into cheers . A little bit after, you began to hear some sounds, mostly improvised percussion, and a strong female voice singing a pirate song. Surprisingly the one singing is a Halfling.
You see Quinn returning to somewhat taken aback with the situation. She flash a wide smile in your direction and move about to do what she wants to do.

==/==
@Dughal
The last thing you remember as begging beat up tied to the mast. You are still beat, and still tied. But a beautiful woman is in front of you, her hands in your chest as the chant some sort of prayer.
CMW: 2d8 + 3 ⇒ (2, 7) + 3 = 12
She smiles when you wake. You can hear a lot of noise about, some cheering and music.
The woman looks at the ceiling then at you again ”I don’t have much time. I’ve brought you food and a friend company for some time. I advise you not to escape; it will only worsen your punishment. I’ll try to convince one of the officials that this punishment is too much.”

Dhugal raises his head and squints at the woman. Then, through a parched throat he speaks, "Why would I possibly want to escape? Here I don't have to pump bilges and I'm visited by beautiful women bringing food. Really, I should try to be punished more often. The others just don't know what they're missing."

Dhugal gratefully accepts the curing and food.

"I won't forget that you helped me."

”Don’t you worry ‘bout that!” she smiles ”When I’m a cap of my own ship, I’ll make sure to punish you every day!” she says with a wicked smile.
”Now I gotta go. Be back later with water and more food.” says the woman leaving.

Things continues for some time, the pirates really in the mood and the cheering is almost insupportable, when all the noise dies away, and you see Master Scourge, a face as if he has just saw his dead mother.
”So ye be saying to me that, not only you did not worked proper manner during the day, that you still have enough energy to spend yelling like little whore?” he pull his whip and with dangerous eyes ask ”How is the responsible for this?”

Ambroze freezes immediately. His concentration interrupted by Scourge's intrusion, the Varisian dancer disappears. His breath catches in his throat and his heart begins to beat a little faster. A thin stream of smoke trails out of his nose as he sizes up the situation, deciding to hold his tongue to see if the others will out him. How deep does their loyalty run, and to whom? This will be a telling moment to be sure.

Is Sandara still in the bilges, or has she made it out?

Finding a seat as the other pirates are engaged with the illusion, Sh'torek is relieved it seems to be working.

Well... until Master Scourge showed up.

As the place gets deathly quiet, Sh'torek remains still within his seat, his eyes glance around awaiting to see if anybody responds.

It does not take long, you see two of the master scourge cronies, the same one’s that ‘reserved’ the spot near the stair for them go talk to him. They whisper something and the Scourge look directly to Ambrose. ”I see… Nothing more than a game eh? Ye riverfish, go back to sleep, else everyone wins a whipping or two tomorrow.” the two cronies seem happy with themselves, and return to they sleeping place. The others began to disperse.
Intentions? Due you action is this night. If you try anything else you need a fort DC14 to not be fati next day. But now is a really good chance to try to influence some of the other pirates.

Sh'torek slowly relaxes as it appears no one is to be beaten to death. Rising from his seat, he retreats to his quarters, thinking he's had enough excitement for one night.

As he makes it back, he takes his falchion and stows it away in order to keep it hidden. Let us hope I do not need this any time soon. Unfortunately, that probably won't be the case, he thinks to himself as he lies down and attempts to get some rest.

Sleeping through the night.

The plan had certainly seemed to work. Boldwin personally found the entire ordeal amusing, even if he didn't really find illusory women all that titillating. Still, it was the most fun he had since getting pressganged. It was only natural that someone had to ruin it. Not one for words, the dwarf keeps his damned mouth shut when Scourge shows up. He didn't want to get whipped, and he certainly wasn't about to sell out Ambrose.

Thankfully, things seem to settle down, almost suspiciously well. Boldwin did not really want to think about. With a grunt he retires early for the night.

Sleeping early.

Ambrose watches as Scourge's cronies apparently cover for him. My my, what a pleasant surprise. As everyone disperses, Ambrose approaches them to try and cement whatever improvement there may have been in their attitude toward him. "It seems that you've saved me yet another whipping. I owe you my thanks."

Definitely not going to pass this opportunity up. I'll go for that influence attempt.

And so your third day in the Wormwood begins.
Despite of what task you’ll get. Post your daytime and night time action. Also Dughal, you’ll be removed from the Bilges at the Bloody hour. Do you get a nighttime action.

You are ordered around; here are your tasks for the day:

Ambrose: Vile and sweaty work cleaning out the bilges (area A11), requiring a DC 12 Strength check. You must also make a DC 10 Constitution check to avoid being fatigued at the end of the shift. You can also talk to Dughal.

Boldwin: Assisting Ambrose Kroop in preparing the day’s meal. He is sober, so you don’t need any rolls.

Sh'torek: Passing messages to the crew and officers of the Wormwood in all parts of the ship except officers’ cabins (areas A4 and A5), requiring a DC 10 Acrobatics check and DC 10 Constitution check. Failing the Constitution check results in you being fatigued at the end of the shift. A PC with the Run feat automatically succeeds at this task.

Sh'torek nods at his direction for the day and proceeds to the tasks at hand.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 6 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 6 + 4 = 29 Work diligently
Con check: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

Moving quickly from one part of the ship to the next, Sh'torek handles the tasks easily. What he doesn't realize until the end of the day is that he's worn himself out. Leaning up against the nearest railing, Sh'torek wipes the sweat from his brow as he catches a breather. Is this all there is? Is this our lot until we are broken? Or dead? This cannot be it. It just cannot... Sh'torek takes a deep breath and continues on, wondering what is to become of him.

Sleep through the night.

Fort save for the night before: 1d20 ⇒ 4
Fatigued for the day
New spells prepared for the day, listed in my sheet

Daily action will be to work diligently
Str check: 1d20 + 1 - 2 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 1 - 2 + 4 = 7
Con check: 1d20 ⇒ 18

When Ambrose woke, bleary-eyed, he could feel the day looming ahead of him. The slightly sour smell of the wind, the way the world looked drained of color, he knew that it was going to be a bad day. It weighed on his soul, and his situation started to sink in just a little bit more. At the dawn of the third day, something about the Wormwood began to feel more menacing, more... permanent. That day in the bilges, he wondered if this wasn't merely another arduous setback, but if maybe this was instead the sinister beginning of the rest of his miserable life. No matter how hard he worked, the bilges didn't seem any cleaner. As the day wore on, his bones began to feel heavier, and the task of continuing to live became more and more oppressive. "We have to get off this ship, Dhugal. I can feel it beginning to infect me, and I wonder if we shall ever see our fair Korvosa again."

Upon release, Dhugal stumbles from the bilges, hardly conscious. He is delirious with dehydration and exhaustion. Seeing the others, he sits down with them to share the evening's meal. "My friends, I heard about what you did to help me. I owe you a debt of gratitude. I promise I will repay your kindness."

Dhugal nods at Ambrose and whispers, "We're going to get off this ship, one way or another. We need to find out who stands with us. I believe we can consider Sandara an ally."

Dhugal's night time action is to sleep through the night and recover.

Fortunately, it does not take a miracle on Boldwin's part to ensure that everyone has a half-decent meal that night. Kroop pulls his weight, leaving little in the way of actual skill or chance in the dwarf's hands. Which was just as well, since he still had no damned clue how he had pulled it off the last time. Ultimately finding himself unneeded by the cook, he takes it upon himself to sneak off, exploring to explore the lower hold if at all possible. No check needed for this, if I am correct.

Later that night Boldwin sits with the others, eating Kroop's handiwork. He seems pleased that Dhugal is free. "I dunno bout that. Still dunno why she decided to help ya in the firs' place," Boldwin puts bluntly, filling his mouth with a forkful of food. "I guess we'll jus' 'ave to wait n' see."

Despite having had little in the way of actual work that day, the dwarf decides to hit the hay early.

Daytime: Sneak
Nighttime: Sleep

Ambrose tries to turn his mind away from the niggling despair that encroaches on his sanity and considers their political standing aboard the ship. "I am unsure about the motives of our dear Ms. Quinn, but she risked herself to aid Dughal. We cannot risk alienating the only person aboard this ship that seems to care about us; we have no choice but to trust her."

I'd like to commune with my familiar tonight, get an update on anything he might have seen. He only speaks Infernal, so I don't expect him to have been able to pick up on any conversation, but I'd like to try to use him to covertly gather information on the habits of the other sailors, especially the officers. If that counts as a night action, that's fine. If not, I'll try to influence Rosie Cusswell.

"I agree. She aided us when we needed it. Without her help, Dhugal gets nothing. Let us hope she is not playing us for fools. I cannot fathom what she would gain from it, but you never know." Sh'torek loses himself in thought on the whole situation for a moment before eventually retiring for the night.

"Regardless of her motivations, there is no doubt that she helped me in my moment of need. I'm going to take a chance and assume she will support us. We will have to accept some risk if we're ever going to get off this ship."

Dhugal will approach Sandara at the next opportunity.

Earlier - Bloody Hour

”Ye hear me scumbags.” says Mr Plugg ”Working here is what everyone need to do. Don’t need to think. Fishshit as you don’t need brains, you need brawn.” he looks at everyone ”There’s has been some’s that are not working proper. Today, of all you. We have four that were unable to complete their tasks. One warning only. If they are not able tomorrow, everyone earn a beating with then. Mark their faces.” he says and the announces the names ” Black Dhugal, Ambrose Jeggare, Sh’torek and Boldwin Stonearm, is you are so kind, I reckon you have a beating to receive.” he says smiling and everyone else looking with murder in their eyes for you.
For this day, each influence attempt has a -2 pen.

I'm giving you some time to talk between yourselfs about events today. You can also post your RP for influence, just say who you want to talk to.

The woman, Quinn approaches you when you are all talking.
”And here was me thinking that yesterday had ended well… Things are getting complicate.”

Dhugal looks around to ensure that Plugg and his minions are not listening and then approaches Quinn, "Thank you again for helping me yesterday. Me and others have had enough of Plugg and his cronies. We're ready for a change of leadership on this ship. Are you willing to help us?"

Diplomacy: 1d20 ⇒ 20

Dhugal will also approach the other half-orc, "Mutton Chops, what's your name? You'll stick with me if you know what's good for you."

Intimidate: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

At dinner
Ambrose tries to ignore the stinging in his back as he finishes his food sullenly. He looks up as Sandara approaches and nods, clenching his jaw. "This is my fault. If I had not made such a show last night, Scourge would have no need to hammer us down like this, and the rest will be punished for my failures. They may be cut-throats and thieves, but they do not deserve this treatment." He lets his shoulders droop with a heavy sigh and takes a long pull at his grog.

I've just noticed that we haven't been rolling for grog. Is that something we should start doing?

After dinner
After dinner, Ambrose retreats to his hammock, spending some time praying to Asmodeus. Before succumbing to his fatigue, a small black bird with startling red plumage alights near him and he appears to speak to it, though their conversation is in a language clearly not meant for this world. The bird flies off again, and Ambrose finally closes his eyes, asleep in moments.

I guess I'll take that Sense Motive check after all.
Familiar's Sense Motive on Rosie Cusswell: 1d20 ⇒ 19

”Are you out of your mind?!” she whisper in a urgent manner.
”Look where you are, if they hear you, you would wish death and it would not come!” then a little more calm she adds ”but I could not agree more. Just be Careful with that. I would not want to lose my newfound friends.” she says smiling. And boy, she is a hell of a beautiful woman.

When Ambrose state his thoughts she look in his direction and says ”Have you not noticed yet? Plugg and Scourge don’t like you. It’s a competition you are bound to lose soon or later. Later would be good, but I fear we are running out of time.” she then talk in a you-should-already-know-this kind of way ”There some factions here. Scourge and his cronies, the normal crew and now you. What they are trying and doing with a really good success is turning everyone in this boat against you.”

Later, when Dhugal approaches the other half-orc the other one says simply ”Japes.”

Dhugal, you need a fort DC14 to avoid being fatigated for the next day.

==//==

Ambrose familiar spend some hours observing Rosie. During the night, she slips out and go to quartermaster, the half-orc is drunk as ever, but was adamant in one thing; She’ll not return Rosie Fiddler, and Rosie tried, talking for hours, to convince the woman. But in vain.

Fort Save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

At dinner
Weary and slightly drunk, Ambrose lets Sandara's words sink in. Somewhere inside of him, he understands the truth of these words. Something inside his brain comprehends the situation and begins working, assessing, appraising, conniving, scheming, plotting his next move. Even in his cups, his spirit would not be subdued. For a moment, his eyes shine again, the glaze of misery and despair banished by the spirit of rebellion, and a thin trail of smoke leaks out from his inhuman red-on-black orbs. He tosses back the last of his drink, slams the cup on the table, and stands. Leaning in to the others, he says, "Tomorrow is a new day," and retires to his bunk.

The next morning
Waking early, as is his custom, Ambrose retrieves his spellbook from the hidden pocket in his coat. Lovingly, he traces the Asmodean sigil stamped into the black leather and a triumphant smile slowly spreads up his face. Stroking the spine with tender affection, he whispers, "Praise be to Asmodeus," and he cracks it open. He hadn't had time to properly appreciate the blessing of having the tome returned to him, somehow undamaged over the many days of being tossed about in the sea. He thought he'd lost it, and perhaps he had. But here it was, in his hands, a sure sign of Asmodeus's favor. His dreams, fevered and tortured though they had been since the shipwreck, were clear once more. His purpose had been revealed. I understand now. The shipwreck was no accident, and I am here for a reason. These people are lawless, these seas without order. It is time for a change. With purpose renewed, the tiefling performs his morning rites and studies his spellbook, choosing the spells with care. There was much work to do, but little time with which to do it. We must bide our time, build our strength. Today is a new day.

After consulting with Azrael for the morning, Ambrose smiles again, stroking the bird as he incorporates the new information into his plans. Infernal "You have done very well, my servant. Keep watching; soon, we will be home." As the others begin to stir, Ambrose finishes cleaning himself up, ready to put in a hard day's work. He forgoes his coat and gloves; it was high time he abandoned his pretense of authority. On this ship, he was nothing, and to act otherwise would win him no friends, today most of all. But soon...

He tosses back the last of his drink, slams the cup on the table, and stands. Leaning in to the others, he says, "Tomorrow is a new day," and retires to his bunk.

Dinner

Dinner

Dhugal winks at Sandara before he sits down with the others. Cautiously looking around to ensure that no one is listening, he leans in and speaks low, "My friends, thing are looking up. Sandara is with us. Also, that fool Japes shouldn't be a problem in the future. We need to keep converting the rest of the crew to our cause."

Dhugal sleeps the night without action, attempting to recover from his fatigue.

Sh'torek eyes go wide to this new acquired information. That is good! Dhugal is right, if we can get more of them to join our cause... Thinking on it all, Sh'torek wonders what he can do to help as he eventually turns in as well, albeit carefully with the fresh wounds upon his back.

The night goes without any event, morning comes you all get up for one more hard work day.
Each of you get your task according to your own job ,and you were all focusing on doing it, the promise of a beating for the entire crew still haunting you, no matter where you go or what you do, there’s always one observing you seeing if you are working proper.
At about mid-morning on the fourth day, young Jack Scrimshaw rushes onto deck. Ambrose notices his ashen face as well as overhears what he reports to Mr. Plugg. Jack was below on rat-catching duty when something big swam out of the bilge water and bit him.
Mr. Plugg then walks over to Ambrose and says ”You there you lazy son of a fish. Gather the cooking dwarf, the barbarian and the orc and go to the bilges and solve things there. And don’t bother coming out until whatever is down there is dead.” he says.
Meaning: Boldwin, Sh’Torek, Dhugal and you.

"Aye aye, Mister Plugg." Ambrose has to suppress the urge to give a mock salute, but he gives Jack a wink before heading off to find the others.

"It seems young master Scrimshaw was bitten by a large something-or-other in the bilges. Plugg wants us to see to it."

Dhugal nods at Ambrose, "Are we be to be given any weapons, or are we expected to use our hands to stop this menace?"

"Yes, Dhugal speaks wisely, a weapon would be good."

"If you care to ask Plugg for one yourself, be my guest."

Dhugal sighs, "I have a dagger in my boot that I can use. Also, I found several maces below deck that the rest of you can use."

"Got everythin' I need right 'ere," Boldwin says, patting on one of his pockets. He makes a point out of showing off his callused, scarred, hairless knuckles. "Ready whenever you all are."

At Ambrose's suggestion, Sh'torek looks to him impassively until Dhugal makes a suggestion of his own. "I will use a mace," he quickly decides.

Ambrose nods sharply. "Then let us be off. The sooner we can take care of this the better."

The group descend into the Bilges, and since no one really need lights to see, you did not bother to bring one.
Once in the bilges, Dhugal points where he last saw the maces.
As soon you spread, to pick up the weapons, rats rush to attack you all. Very big and ugly rats. You count six of then!

Rats Init: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11
Ambrose: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Boldwin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14
Dughal: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
Sh’torek: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11

Bilges Cleaning.

Round 1-

Ordered Initiative-

Dughal: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
Ambrose: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Boldwin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14
Rats Init: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11
Sh’torek: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11

Active Effects-

-

Map-

Link

Notes-

You can post in any order.

Action-

Actions?

Sh'torek swings at the rat nearest him.

Mace: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

I'm guessing heavy mace?

AC 15; Hp's 16

The map link says I'm not authorized. Do you need to invite us?

Dhugal will pick up a mace and attack the nearest rat.

Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

You just need to log in.

"This was no trick! We seem to have quite the rat problem."

Attack roll: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

Ambrose grabs a mace and swings it clumsily at a rat but only hits water.

AC 16

Quickly slipping on his brass knuckles, Boldwin takes a jab at the rat closest to him.

Power Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

Wow... Really?

You all swing against the rats but no one hits.

Two of the rats attack Dhugal, trying to bit his legs.
Atk: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10
dmg: 1d4 ⇒ 2
Atk: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14
dmg: 1d4 ⇒ 4

But only one hit, biting him for 4 dmg. Do a Fort Save for me

Other Two tryed to bit Ambrose
Atk: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11
dmg: 1d4 ⇒ 2
Atk: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
dmg: 1d4 ⇒ 3

But unlike the Half-Orc, Ambrose was fast enough to avoid the rats.

the last remaining rats attack Boldin and Sh'torek
Atk: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19
dmg: 1d4 ⇒ 3

Atk: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19
dmg: 1d4 ⇒ 4

And they both hit, biting Boldin for 3 dmg and the Barbarian for 4 dmg. Both do a fort save for me.

Bilges Cleaning.

Round 2-

Ordered Initiative-

Dughal: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
Ambrose: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Boldwin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14
Rats Init: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11
Sh’torek: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11

Active Effects-

-

Map-

Link

Notes-

You can post in any order.

Ambrose: 7/7
Boldwin: 13/16
Dhugal: 5/12
Sh'torek: 12/16

Action-

Actions?

Fortitude Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

Grunting in discomfort, the dwarf attempts to retaliate on the rat that attacked him.

Power Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
Damage: 1d3 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
Critical Confirmation: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4 Awww...

Attack roll: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12

Ambrose slams the mace down again, narrowly missing one of the furry monsters. "Curse these foul beasts!" And curse me for not preparing more offensive spells! He dances to the side, jumping away from an antagonizing rodent.

Fort Save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Round 1

Dhugal attacks the same rat.

Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

Fort: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

Getting bit pretty good by the filthy creature, Sh'torek tries again to pound it into the ground.

Attack same rat(The one that's below him. That's southwest of him)

Mace: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19
Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

AC 12; Hp's 12/16

Totally forgot I have no armor! My AC is actually 12.