Vilya, Magnus, Felicia and Velrissa scramble up the cramped stairway up to the Green Lady's top deck. Selene is riding full and high now in the star-stuffed tropical sky, shining a bright oceanic blue in the diamond-speckled darkness. The howls of the two tied up crewmembers meet their ears.
"Those two are tainted!" Velrissa cries, pulling a wicked-looking dagger from a calf sheath. She runs over towards them and screams
"Get to the shoreboats! We have to get off this accursed ship!"
Meanwhile downstairs...
The tangle of fallen slime zombies squelch and squick as they struggle to regain their footing. Iz readies his next attack, a splatter of greenish muck stippling his face
His incantation complete Egan squares, and releases an arrow at the nearest of the beasts.
GB Damage
"If we move to the top of these stairs I can grease them," Kessel says, "Possibly giving us the strategic advantage."
Kessel fires an arrow before retreating up the stairs:
Attack:
Damage:
"Well then, What are you waiting for, and engraved invitation? It's in the mail! Come on up the weather's fine!" Magnus calls merrily down the stairs.
"Hey, Velrissa! What are you doing? If they're tainted don't touch them woman!" Magnus shouts after the woman in a decidedly uncheerful voice.
"Stay away from them, I know how to spot the infection! You don't want to catch it!" He hollers. With a glance at the stairway, he curses and turns to chase after Velrissa, trying to stop her before she does what he's afraid she's going to do,...
Velrissa calls back to Magnus as her slender form races across the darkened deck
"These two if they get free will infect us! Get the boat ready!"
She looks intent on cutting their throats
San hesitates a moment, not really wanting to retreat. A thought occurs to him, and he casts web at the middle of the pack of creatures. (He should be able to catch all of them, and not any of the group, in the 20' radius burst.) He'll then back up the stairs, watching to see which are caught fast and which may be able to escape the strands.
"And if you touch them your risking an infection for certain!"
"Shazbot!" He calls, pointing at Velrissa with an elegant gesture.
Felicia moves up to stop the throat slitting
"Well then, What are you waiting for, and engraved invitation? It's in the mail! Come on up the weather's fine!" Magnus calls merrily down the stairs.
"Hey, Velrissa! What are you doing? If they're tainted don't touch them woman!" Magnus shouts after the woman in a decidedly uncheerful voice.
"Stay away from them, I know how to spot the infection! You don't want to catch it!" He hollers. With a glance at the stairway, he curses and turns to chase after Velrissa, trying to stop her before she does what he's afraid she's going to do,...
Seeing the impending clusterf@~~, Vilya heads for the shoreboats.
"Should never have left dry land..."
Izkrael snarls in frustration as San's webs spring up before him, and hesitantly falls back towards the stairs, making sure everyone else is up before himself.
"And if you touch them your risking an infection for certain!"
"Shazbot!" He calls, pointing at Velrissa with an elegant gesture.
Velrissa shakes off Magnus' spell and reaches the first mate Shao. She stabs the Senginese crewman with a practiced jab of her wicked-looking dagger.
Shao howls, and a fountain of blood spurts from his neck
DC 31 Fort:
Shao expires, his juglar cut
San hesitates a moment, not really wanting to retreat. A thought occurs to him, and he casts web at the middle of the pack of creatures. (He should be able to catch all of them, and not any of the group, in the 20' radius burst.) He'll then back up the stairs, watching to see which are caught fast and which may be able to escape the strands.
San's web sprays over the gooey zombies, tying them up for the moment. The one standing is caught as well, arms still outstretched to try and catch San.
Egan's arrow strikes the zombie fighting Iz, and the shot causes the creature to collapse. The slime seems to ebb from the creature's remains, forming a drab greenish patch of slime on the decking
Iz heads up the stairs, San close by.
Kessel runs to the opposite side of the hatch and starts his bard song.
"And if you touch them your risking an infection for certain!"
"Shazbot!" He calls, pointing at Velrissa with an elegant gesture.
1d20+5
Velrissa shakes off Magnus' spell and reaches the first mate Shao. She stabs the Senginese crewman with a practiced jab of her wicked-looking dagger.
1d4+1;1d4+1;4d6
Shao howls, and a fountain of blood spurts from his neck
DC 31 Fort: 1d20+6
Shao expires, his juglar cut
MAgnus curses fluently in ELvish. Which means it still sounds beautiful, but his tone leaves no doubt as to what he is saying. In any language.
"We don't have time to deal with her and these creatures," Kessel says once he realizes what's going on above deck.
"Oh I quite agree!" Magnus shouts back.
"But I'm not entirely willing to bet my life on the fact that the infection is killed with the death of the host! If their death releases them to seek another, we'll have our hands fuller than we do now!"
Velrissa runs away from the tied up orcish mate Kraken.
"Good point! Lets just go!"
Egan let loose with another magically altered arrow.
"Why are we running"? "They're pinned down like farm animals now".
Longbow
Gravity Bow
Magnus takes watches Velrissa run with a petulant frown, takes a look to see if anything comes crawling off of the now-dead crewman,...
,...Sees nothing out of the ordinary, and turns back to the stairwell to deal with the immediate threat.
"Quite right master Egan! Let us see how these 'smart slime' deal with a properly prepared band!" Magnus smirks.
Iz stops at the top of the stairs, waiting on the first of the creatures to make it up.
Readied attack
Damage [1d10+3[/dice]
San takes a moment to sheathe Ghostfetter and draws his composite longbow. "Let's pick off these sons of slimes from here."
"An excellent suggestion." Magnus agrees, sheathing his rapier in a fluid flash and drawing his own longbow from his back.
DM Dice:
Egan's arrow penetrates the struggling webbed mass with a squishy *thock*. Iz's does the same
Egan is at the bottom of the stars, San and Iz are just above him. Kessel and Magnus are at the top of the stairs, peering down, but unable to find space on the stairway. Felicia halts, uncertain as to what to do now that Velrissa has run to the shoreboats.
Vilya reaches the boat Velrissa is busy untying. It is the one Velrissa and her crew mates took over. She turns to Vilya
"At least one of you lot has some sense! I'm off this deathtrap, are you with me?"
Vilya reaches the boat Velrissa is busy untying. It is the one Velrissa and her crew mates took over. She turns to Vilya[/i]
"At least one of you lot has some sense! I'm off this deathtrap, are you with me?"
"Yes, yes I am."
Vilya grits her teeth and curses under her breath.
Velrissa gestures to the front rope tying the shore boat to the main deck, her dark long shell-braided locks swinging violently in the blue selenelight.
"Undog that rope! I seen that stuff at work, we gotta get off this hulk!"
The rope is in an easy slipknot, and Vilya gets it free. They both clamber down a rope ladder into the rocking shore boat. Bioluminescent jellyfish glide under the calm sea, mirroring the starry sky. A wavery blue Selene shivers across the torpid water
Velrissa grabs one of the oars and looks at Vilya, dark eyes flashing
"Your mates have two boats. I ain't waiting for them to figure out how bad this thing is. I'm rowing for the Laugh right now. "
She gestures at another oar
"The smart ones will be right behind us"
Velrissa begins to row away from the Green Lady.
"Wait! Stop! What are you doing?!" Magnus shouts over his shoulder as he notices what the ladies are doing.
"Did you even check the boat to see if it was clear first?!?"
Velrissa: [I'm saailing away]
San: 25 [pending]
Iz: 23 [atk-hit]
Felicia:23 [pending
Egan: 23 [gravity bow-hit]
Magnus: 23 [pending]
Vilya 22 [with Velrissa]
Kessel: 20[pending]
Citali: 20 [pending]
Slime zombies: 6 [stuck]
Felicia heads back for the stairs to help the othets
San fires an arrow at one of the held creatures. He uses a swift action for arcane strike.
bow
damage
Magnus sings something under his breath, and his right hand glows with a cold blue light. Which transfers to the arrow as he knocks it, draws, and fires.
And Magnus growls something nasty in draconic as he draws and fires another arrow rapidly.
"You have GOT to be kidding me! I normally split my own arrows when I'm focusing! It must be the rocking of the ship. yes, that's it,..."
Damage
Felicia turns towards the stairs to help the others. The blue selenelight washes everything in dark bruised-colored shadows as she reaches the hole in the deck leading downwards.
Vilya and Verissa row away from The Green Lady, their boat dwindling to the sound of oar splashes echoing off the calm seas.
Magnus' arcanely-boosted arrows find no purchase in the green slime zombies. San's arrow is also unable to find a target.
"Well. That's not good." Magnus drawls calmly.
Whether he's referring to his arrows lack of effectiveness, or the swiftly dwindling skiff is unclear.
"We need to stop these creeps, AND the skiff! I didn't think they would actually leave! If this slobbering beast snuck aboard on a rat as the wiz believed, it could be on the skiff right now!"
He adds as he reaches for another arrow.
Kessel readies his bow and waits at the top of the stairs shooting at anything within range:
Kessel's arrow strikes one of the moaning slime men
Citali's stone flies true, striking one of the bewebbed slimeoids square midsection. The stone disappears like a rock tossed in an algae-choked pond, the greenish slime flesh staining the retraining webbing a nauseous green
Edit:
Magnus swiftly draws and fires two more arrows in swift succession, the second glows a pale blue as it flies,...
The heroes on the stairs stare in horror as the slimy creatures ...ooze out from the webbing, ripping it and leaving chunks of green fleshy slime in spots
"Oh,... That's not good,..."
"Pretty much what I suspected," Kessel quips, "But then I'm a pessimist at heart."
"Ok, maybe it's time to exercise the better part of valor," San exclaims as he begins to withdraw.
San waits for some of the others to back up the stairs as well, then says, "I say we abandon ship and then torch the damn thing. We can't let it go free." He'll high-tail it with the rest; if no one wants to go, then he'll stay and fight.
"I like the idea, but I would like to ensure that the slippery, slimy things do not escape to wash up and wreak havoc on an unsuspecting seaside. These things have to have a weakness we can exploit. We just need to find it. Quickly." Magnus says confidently.
"Judging by the creatures lack of reaction to my Chill spell, it's not an undead. We found marks like they were infected. Perhaps we can separate the outside influence? Does anyone have a protection charm?" Magnus calls out as he readies his bow again.
"These things do have a weakness," Kessel says, "Sunlight remember? Which is why I suggested retreating till morning before we explored the hold. That's hours away though and these things are up and active now."
"Maybe bar the hold door somehow?"
Velrissa: [I'm saailing away]
San: 25 [pending]
Iz: 23 [pending]
Felicia:23 [pending
Egan: 23 [pending]
Magnus: 23 [pending]
Vilya 22 [pending]
Kessel: 20[pending]
Citali: 20 [pending]
Slime zombies: 6 [moving]
The slimy creatures move towards the stairway, moaning..
Kessel uses his last arcane spell to grease the stairs.