The crowd keep cheering despite the obvious break of the rules. Mrs Plugg don't say a word, but he is glaring daggers at Boldwin.
Round 4-
Ordered Initiative-
Owl Init: ⇒ 10
Boldin Init: = 5
Active Effects-
None
Map-
Notes-
Action-
Owlbear trying to land a blow with the club as he says ”Stop dancing monkey!”
But his clumsy blow offers no real danger.
"An' here I thought you liked dancin', Princess," Boldwin taunts, Owlbear's attack zipping past him with little effort on his part. Forming a tight fist, he throws a heavy punch at his opponent.
Round 5-
Ordered Initiative-
Owl Init: ⇒ 10
Boldin Init: = 5
Active Effects-
None
Map-
Notes-
Action-
You hit Owlbear again and you see he is already pretty hurt. Owlbear cries and tries to back away, but is pushed back into combat by Plugg and his mates.
Boldwin grimaces for a moment, unhappy to see the man's fighting spirit die down, and even more so to see him pushed into the fight against his will. That's no fun. He pitied the man, but he had no desire to explore whatever wonders lurked in the "sweatbox."
"Come on, I was jus' kiddin' 'bout the princess bit," he says, swinging another punch halfheartedly and missing. "You gotta 'ave some fight left in ya."
Round 6-
Ordered Initiative-
Owl Init: ⇒ 10
Boldin Init: = 5
Active Effects-
None
Map-
Notes-
Action-
You attack and miss, Owlbear takes this oportunity to attack again.
But he misses again.
"There ya go! Now I don' 'ave to feel so bad 'bout doin' this."
Stepping forward, Boldwin again launches a powerful punch at Owlbear.
Owlbear goes down under Boldwin powerful punches. Mrs Plugg throws the money on his way with a scowl on his face and leaves ordering his mates to drag Owlbear below decks again.
Sailors come forward to congratulate.
The day is at an end, the bloody hour comes and Ambrose is dragged forward at Master Scourge orders ”Ya may thing ya had gotten away from me, you pup. Ya’ll see.” and then he turns to everybody else and says ”This lazy piece of sea junk spend his entire day talkin’ an’ no work was done. For that, three lashes with the cat he got!”
Before being tied you hear him talking to the others I doubt he’ll be able to get up tomorrow…
Master Scourge laughs and walk away, leaving tied to the main mast a dying bloody mess of Ambrose.
As soon they leave, Sandara run to him and you hear her saying some frantic words. . He is not bleeding anymore, but it’s still uncouncious.
Boldwin grunts as he grabs the money, shoving it and his brass knuckles into his pockets.
"It was fun... Owlbear," he says to the unconscious man as he is dragged away. He mingles with the sailors briefly, grinning with satisfaction.
Come the Bloody Hour, Boldwin winces at the punishment that Scourge doles out on Ambrose. Even more so when he is beaten within inches of his life. Once the whipping is done and Sandara works her magic, the dwarf moves forward, intending to help take the tiefling down to somewhere where he could get some rest.
Later that night, Boldwin wanders around for once, looking for someone who doesn't absolutely hate him. He settles for a muscular-looking gnome woman, with whom he only has a passing familiarity (Rosie Cusswell).
"'ey. That big oaf I knocked down earlier, there somethin' wrong with 'is head or somethin'? Kept spoutin' some nonsense durin' our fight. I'm losin' sleep over it."
Rosie looks at you with some interest and at your question she says ”He’s addled on the head you dummy” but she laughs ”That’s was @#$% nicely done. I would have done way better mind you, but you are not %$¨@ so bad after all, and the look on that @#$%¨of a !@#$% face! Man, I’ll treasure this forever!” she laughs more taping you light on the arm.
Dhugal nods at Boldwin, "Well done. You took a big risk there, but I think it will pay off. The crew rank and file will remember this moment."
Dhugal will also help Ambrose down.
You take Ambrose to his bed, he is a mass of injuries and blood, but it not seems he’s getting worse.
Boldwin takes the opportunity to flirt with Rosie, while Dughal go about convincing the quartermaster he is a good friend.
Sh’torek sleeps the entire night.
It’ has been already six days since you all where pressganged into serving on this pirate ship. You’ve made some friends and some enemies. Master Scourge seems determinate to give you a hard time.
Morning comes, you all wake up feeling good, except for Ambrose but he awakes.
You step outside and immediately notice the difference. It’s raining, and raining a lot.
Master Scourge appears to be more friendly than usual, and with a ragged voice he point to Sh’torek ”Ye there, yer filth sandworm. Swab no more, that f+&#ing wooden leg is not for this kind of job. Ye be rigger from now on. ” and then he goes about distributing the day work, ignoring completely Ambrose.
Cooking: Assisting Ambrose Kroop in preparing the day’s meal. Kroop is sober, no check is required.
Man the Bilges: Vile and sweaty work cleaning out the bilges (area A11), requiring a DC 12 Strength check. The PC must also make a DC 10 Constitution check to avoid being fatigued at the end of the shift.
Line Work: Hard work hoisting and lowering sails, requiring a DC 10 Profession (sailor) or Dexterity check. The PC must also make a DC 10 Constitution check to avoid being fatigued at the end of the shift.
Ambrose wakes the next morning feeling considerably worse than the morning before. It seems every day just gets worse and worse aboard this miserable ship. Remembering that he'd managed to secure new duties for himself did little to mitigate the pain and humiliation of being beaten to within an inch of his life. Taking stock of his injuries, he vaguely remembers Sandara helping him. I suppose I would be in worse shape that I am if it were not for her. I must find a way to repay her for her services. Having slept later than usual, he doesn't have time to study his spellbook. He dresses as quickly as he is able in his current state, trying not to wince too much. He elects to forgo his coat; the extra weight on his back and the continual shifting of the material would aggravate the pain too much. As an afterthought, he pulls on his gloves; the small act of defiance would hardly be noticed, but the satisfaction would help soothe his wounded ego.
Abovedecks, Ambrose smiles to himself as Scourge passes him over for the daily tasks. After being dismissed, he reports to Peppery Longfathing for his new assignment, ready to work as hard as he could. I can ill afford any mistakes or underperformance today. My newfound advantage has come at a high price, and my situation is more perilous than I first realized.
He greets his new commanding officer with as much military rigidity as he can muster, stopping just short of giving a sharp salute. "Good morning, Ms. Longfarthing. Ambrose Jeggare, reporting for duty. I am at your command."
Sh'torek nods in acceptance as he goes to work. As he does, his thoughts occupy him as he tries to keep a steady pace. Always nodding. Always working. It doesn't matter. Ambrose did nothing and he was beaten. We do the work mightily or we do the work clumsily, we still pay with our flesh. Gritting his teeth in an effort to keep calm, Sh'torek pulls on the rope harder, trying to keep his anger contained to the rope.
Boldwin tries again to make a bit of small talk with Kroop as they work, but quickly gives up when it becomes apparent that he is not getting anywhere.
Longfarthing look at you with evident surprise on her face ”I had not thought you would come, foolish and yet interesting all the same.” she smiles at you and then continue ”Today, you’ll do nothing. Follow me and observe me. If you have any relevant question, ask it. Tomorrow you are on your own, and I expect a good job done.” and then, the raining day passes, she go on about showing you briefly how to do each of your task, never really explaining, just doing it. At some point, she’ll go meet with the captain he gives you a curious look and then say something to Longfarthing and they both began to laugh.
Day is at an end, no one was called to be punished today, what is, at some degree strange. The rain fell heavy the entire day, and it does not seem to be stopping anytime soon.
Sh'torek will turn in for the night, still recovering from old wounds.
Dhugal and Ambrose went to bed, feeling a bit more tired than usual, but maybe it was because of their hard day, having to work hard in a new type of slavery and after being beaten almost to death is not a really good thing to do.
@Dughal, you feel your body really heavy and stiff, and you know something is wrong.
Dughal wakes up with a fever, and Ambrose does not wake up at all. He is unconscious and in a high fever.
In some minutes, the signal for grouping at main deck for job distribution will sound, leaving him as he is, will certainly result in more punishment, and by the looks of it, that’s something he cannot afford.
"S%@*," Boldwin mutters, scratching his chin through his beard with some sense of urgency. Ambrose was one of the few people on the boat he could consider an ally. "Scourge'll flay 'is hide without a secon' thought if he stays like this."
Dhugal wipes the sweat from his brow, "Let's carry Ambrose up. Maybe Sandara can cure him before Scourge finds out."
"Yes. Sandara can help him. Let's hurry." Sh'torek will aid in carrying Ambrose to the healer. "I just hope we can find her in time."
Boldwin grunts affirmatively and, seeing that Dhugal looks a little worse for wear himself, assists Sh'torek in carrying Ambrose.
You went searching for Sandara, and it’s not really hard to find her. The red haired woman sparkles among the brutish crew of the wormwood. She smiles when she sees you, genuinely happy, but then she sees Ambrose bring dragged around and Dughal sweeting more than a tea pot. She run into your direction ” Rovagug’ breath! What happened to them?” she asks she first get closer to the unconscious Ambrose and do a fast checkup, then she get take her holy symbol and recites a small prayer, you can all feel an holy energy building up around her and any of your injuries being healed. Ambrose wake up and after that walk directly to Dughal, she gets really close as she put her forehead against his and looking directly into his eyes she ask ”What Asmodeus hells have you been doing lately?”
Poor Dughal don’t know if his fast beating heart is because of his fever of the woman pressing herself against him.
Before he has the chance to answer she walk away and continues ”I can try to help, but not today. Besmara blessings favored me into a whole other direction; I can’t do for now, more than I’ve already done. They have some sort of disease. Later at night, I can try to discover what it is.”
"Disease?" Sh'torek glances around at the others. "Do I have it? How do any of us have it, for that matter."
Dhugal curses, "It's the rats! We were bitten by dire rats in the bilges. They must have been diseased."
Dhugal turns to Ambrose, "We'll have to try to make it through the day. Hopefully Sandara can cure us tonight."
"The rats; yes. Outside of the chunks of flesh they removed from me with every bite, I had not thought that they might be diseased."
"'Least it wasn't the soup," Boldwin mumbles through his beard, "Anyway, better get goin' lest Scourge miss us."
Dhugal wipes away the sweat and attempts to put on a brave face. "Yes, let's get this over with."
Ambrose comes to, his red eyes unfocused. He mumbles and trembles with a chill, but after a moment he seems to have pulled himself together. "Gods, what time is it?" He wipes perspiration from his forehead as he looks around at the others. He seems unsteady on his feet, stumbling for his balance with every roll of the waves. "Cure us?" As Sh'torek mentions the rats, understanding dawns in his eyes. "It's damned filth fever." He shakes his head, but he seems to be regaining his balance and composure. Shielding his eyes with his hand, he marks the position of the sun in anticipation of his duties for the day.
Sandara look at you for some time and then continue ”I wish you luck. Later I can check if the others have it too, but now we must hurry. I don’t think that scourge will forgive me and you for being late.”
All of you are gathered at the main deck. It’s raining hard, more than the day before.
Scourge is more than ever, with a face of very, very few friends, and he doesn’t even look at you when he delivers the work for the day.
Bad news, you get to the kitchen and Kroop is dead drunk! Your tasks for the day are:
Cooking: Assisting Ambrose Kroop in preparing the day’s meal. If Kroop is sober, no check is required. If Kroop is drunk, this requires a DC 10 Profession (cook) or Intelligence check.
And:
Turtle Hunting: Hunting leatherback sea turtles with harpoons, treble hooks, and nets. A DC 10 Profession (fisherman) or Survival check provides enough food.
You must do both, and you take a -4 penalty. You can’t work diligently (To gain +4) and you don’t think that in day time, you can get another ship action.
Runner: 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 the PC being fatigued at the end of the shift. A PC with the Run feat automatically succeeds at this task.
Rigging Repair: The ship’s rigging frequently gets damaged and must be repaired, requiring DC 10 Climb checks to reach the rigging 30 feet up, followed by a DC 10 Profession (sailor) or Dexterity check.
But the rain is really bad and heavy, and because of that, you take a -2 pen in all the tests.
Ambrose walks and presents himself to his new officer. She looks at you and tells your job, giving no more attention to you.
Perception DC 15 and Linguistic DC 10 or Intelligence DC 10 and Linguistic DC 10
Dhugal will focus on doing his job during the day and sleeping at night.
"Gotta be kiddin' me," Boldwin mumbles, shaking his head. He did not know if he had another miracle in him.
Surely enough, the dwarf's luck seems to run out. He has little trouble hunting the turtles, but the meal comes out as a mess.
Attending his duties, Ambrose is afforded a look into the inner workings of the Wormwood. For a pirate ship, the account books seem particularly tidy, making the job very easy. The officers seem to take looting very seriously, and every prize, expense and payment is neatly signed and dated. He is both disgusted and impressed by the records and, overtaken by a morbid curiosity, checks to see if the Wormwood had ever taken any ships of the Jeggare fleet.
The injury payments hint at some interesting stories about the crew as well. He files away the information, certain that it will come in handy. Finishing early for the day, he has more than enough time to make a round of the ship. He spots Ratline having some trouble with a tricky knot, his three missing fingers making things difficult. Sensing an opportunity, Ambrose approaches to offer his aid. "Ahoy, Mr. Rattsberger! Please, allow me to help you with that." The tiefling mutters a quick spell and the knot magically comes undone. He offers a smile and a sympathetic glance at the halfling's hand. "Nasty business that was. They did not compensate you adequately for the trouble it causes you, did they?"
With the rain making it difficult, Sh'torek manages to finally make the climb and gets to work on the rigging. Blasted rain. Is there not enough working against us? He thinks to himself as he looks upon the sky, observing the rain as it pours heavily down upon him. I do so like the rain, though. This place is making me bitter. Sh'torek returns to the task at hand, trying to catch up for time lost on the climb up.
The rain gets harder and harder, the day passes and you all don’t really remember how is to be warm and dry.
Dughal was not able to cope with his task, and ended up not being able to deliver all the messages he had to.
Boldwin was able to hunt the turtles, but cooking then was another whole thing. As it ended, the meal was one of the worst of you ever eaten, and for the entire day, you could hear loud complains about the bad food.
Sh’torek was able, even with the rain, complete his tasks, but the meal was really bad.
Ambrose, having moved to a less ‘dangerous place’, is able to complete his task quite easily and help Mr. Rattsberger with this task to which he says ”I be telling ya, Ambrose. Nasty place ‘tis is. An’ nasty payment too.” he says looking at your back.
The day ends, and the bloody hour arrives.
Several person are called for punishment, Dughal and Boldin included, but they use just a normal wipe, and don’t put anyone live at risk.
Inside your quarters, Sandara heal you again , with a promise to look after you the next day.
Dhugal's night action will be to sleep and try to recover from the fatigue.
"Thank you, Ms. Quinn. Your friendship is truly the only thing that has kept us alive. This ship does not deserve such a fine hand as yourself." Ambrose bows at the waist, humbling himself in sincere gratitude.
Ambrose sits down to prepare his spells for the next day, but discovers he's low on certain necessary material components. Cursing silently to himself, he closes his spellbook and begins working through his options. Ms. Longfarthing is sure to have plenty in her laboratory, but it is no doubt to be warded, and in any case she would be certain to notice the absence; that woman sees everything! There might be something of use in the quartermaster's store, but that would be too great a risk. I'll not end up like Mr. Magpie. He shudders at the memory. One gets used to blood and violence aboard ship, but nothing desensitizes the sight of a fresh keel-haul. His stomach growths, interrupting his plotting. Suddenly, he gets an idea. The galley! Kroop would hardly notice his own nose missing from his face, much less a few simple ingredients. His plan hatched, Ambrose waits for an opportune moment and sneaks up to the galley.
”Why dear, I know I’m too fine woman for a bunch for cry-babies buddies!” but she is smiling when she says that ”Try take a bit more care about yourself, and for bad or worse, we are together in this now. Scourge already sees as part of your group and truth be told, he already don’t liked me even before you got here.” she looks at you in a wicked way and holding her bobs in a sexy manner she adds ”Makes you think of what he likes, doesn’t?”
You went to sleep some trying to get as much rest as possible, others plotting some thiefwork, but none of that matter. The rain is falling really hard, and the Woorwood is rocking back and forth in a way that even the most experienced sailor is unable to sleep.
Some moments later, Plugg and Scourge burst into the crew area, and Scourge begins
”Get up! ya sea dogs! Get up!” he start to hit some metal container he brought with himself, making an awful lot of noise ”There’s a storm upon us, all hand to the deck! Move if ya don’t want to end in a shipwreck in the middle of nothing in the middle of a storm!”
He gives you no time to complain, the first one to open his mouth, is showed the right way under the lashes of the whip
Rigger Tasks
1 Rigging Repair: The ship’s rigging frequently gets damaged and must be repaired, requiring DC 10 Climb checks to reach the rigging 30 feet up, followed by a DC 10 Profession (sailor) or Dexterity check.
2 Line Work: Hard work hoisting and lowering sails, requiring a DC 10 Profession (sailor) or Dexterity check. The PC must also make a DC 10 Constitution check to avoid being fatigued at the end of the shift.
3 Upper Rigging Work: Work in the upper rigging, 50 feet up, requiring DC 10 Climb checks, followed by a DC 10 Profession (sailor) or Dexterity check.
4 Rope Work: Handling the ship’s ropes, including coiling them, stowing them, and securing them to cleats and single and double bollards, requiring a DC 10 Profession (sailor) or Dexterity check.
5 Lookout: A climb to the crow’s nest 60 feet up, requiring DC 10 Climb checks followed by a DC 10 Perception check.
6 Mainsail Duties: Tough work raising and lowering the mainsail, requiring a DC 10 Profession (sailor) or Strength check. The PC must also make a DC 10 Constitution check to avoid being fatigued at the end of the shift.
The night passes and even though some of you may have not be able to complete your task, no punishment was done to any of you, the rain don’t seem to be relenting and it’s getting harder and harder.
Without letting you sleep or catch a breath, the officers, now all of them in the main deck, deliver more work.
Rigger Tasks
1 Rigging Repair: The ship’s rigging frequently gets damaged and must be repaired, requiring DC 10 Climb checks to reach the rigging 30 feet up, followed by a DC 10 Profession (sailor) or Dexterity check.
2 Line Work: Hard work hoisting and lowering sails, requiring a DC 10 Profession (sailor) or Dexterity check. The PC must also make a DC 10 Constitution check to avoid being fatigued at the end of the shift.
3 Upper Rigging Work: Work in the upper rigging, 50 feet up, requiring DC 10 Climb checks, followed by a DC 10 Profession (sailor) or Dexterity check.
4 Rope Work: Handling the ship’s ropes, including coiling them, stowing them, and securing them to cleats and single and double bollards, requiring a DC 10 Profession (sailor) or Dexterity check.
5 Lookout: A climb to the crow’s nest 60 feet up, requiring DC 10 Climb checks followed by a DC 10 Perception check.
6 Mainsail Duties: Tough work raising and lowering the mainsail, requiring a DC 10 Profession (sailor) or Strength check. The PC must also make a DC 10 Constitution check to avoid being fatigued at the end of the shift.
The food was ship’s biscuit only.
At some point after your second shift, you hear screams after a really violent wave hit the ship.
You run to see what the commotion is about when you see Rosie Cusswell struggling against the furious water.
Dhugal will attempt to throw a rope to Rosie.
Sh'torek watches, hoping the rope makes it near enough to her so Ambrose can work his magic.
Dughal in a fast action, grab the nearest rope and throw it on the sea but he misses her by a small margin.
x DC 20
From the sea you hear desperate calls for help.
Round two:
Dhugal hands the rope to Boldwin and then moves to grap another rope to throw at Rosie.
Sh'torek grows more concerned as things are starting to look bleak. "Dhugal! Find a rope and give me one end of it!" He yells after the half-orc as he moves to find another rope.