Grinning savagely as he feels his blade ripping through his surprised foe, Godfrey wastes no time on gloating as he presses his vicious assault on the still stunned guards. No sense in letting those above have any knowledge of what's to come. He barks a command word in Draconic and a blazing brand outlines his wickedly curved blade as he slashes viciously at the nearby guards.
Godfrey goes after one, so Ella goes after the other. Stumbling at bit though as she dodges his spear. The space is too small and the floor moves back and forth too much for the large land bound woman to fight effectively it seems.
"And like that, this part is done." Ileosa said. Looking to the group she then asked "Now, their ship must be taken care of. Any ideas on just how to do that?" She questioned as she crossed her arms.
Coloua turn to the group and eyes the blood spatters covering Godfrey and Ella. "If you head upstairs looking like that, the other Mitran sailors will assume what happened and attack, or even worse leave to report to the their authorities and come back with friends."
She quickly coughs up her familiar, foregoing any theatrics in the interest of speed, and uses her circlet to reassume her disguise as Ileosa's servant. "If it is okay with you, I'll head up and see what I can do to get them to come down here to you, or at least onto our ship," She smiles sweetly "and also soften them up a bit for you."
She heads towards the hatch to the deck and pauses, waiting to see if there is any objection before she goes up. While she waits, she quickly mutters something to her arthropod friend.
Two opening fients and two careful blows from our valiant villains and the combat comes to a rest. The soft groaning of an unconscious man on the ground is all that remains as the group begins to discuss how to move forwards.
Ella nods to the smallest member of their party. A nod saying that she does not mind her attempting to bring them here.
While the large woman waits, she'll step over to the groaning sailor. Casually reaching down, she'll grasp his throat in her claws, ripping and pulling, being sure to get his windpipe to silence his screams.
Having heard no objection to her proposal, Coloua heads above deck. Dhe sends her familiar to climb along the railing of the ship, and approaches the boarding ramp to hail the remaining Mitran soldiers.
"Help! When we went belowdeck we found that there was a nest of poisonous centipedes under one of the crates! Your Captain and two of his men have been bitten and need help. Bring as many as you can, we'll need help containing or killing the creatures as well." She looks down the railing towards her familiar and calls out "Look, there's one now! They're coming abovedeck! I'll kill this one, your Captain needs you downstairs."
She draws a dagger and heads behind the safety of the railing where she can't be seen, hoping that one of them saw her pet. It quickly climbs down the inner side of the railing in order to be out of danger and returns to her.
As the Soldiers pass by her hiding place on their way downstairs, she cuts herself with her dagger while concentrating on the last three aboard.
The men become wary at the young woman's words. However they are surprised when she suddenly disappears behind a crate. They look to each other, grab their spears and head over "The Captain wouldn't be taken down by some simple bugs...something is fishy and it ain't your smell Michael." one of the sailors says.
The men start to fan out as they search for the small gnome but they seem to not be able to find someone so small. However, five men look around in alarm when suddenly three other men start bleeding aggressively from their eyes and ears. They scream "SHE'S A WITCH, A SEA DEVIL. BACK TO THE SHIP! SAVE YOURSELVES!" they scream as they run back. The three men bleeding try to make it back but make it to the planks before they lose so much blood they keel over and splash into the water.
At the sailors screams, Ella charges out. A huge woman in a blackened blood splattered breast plate with gore dripping off her claws, running straight at them.
Ileosa sighed as she heard the yelling from above. "And like that this all falls apart." She stated before she came up drawing her repeating cross bow and taking aim. "Ella I would ensure they don't get to the plank if I were you."
The bolt lands extremely close to one of the soldiers causing him to squeal like a stuck pig and run screaming in another direction. Two of the men turn and hurl their spears in retaliation at the only person with a ranged weapon. Perhaps showing a moment of brilliance or perhaps their comrades were just incompetent, the spears fly through the air and bury themselves into Ileosa's right shoulder and left foot.
Perhaps to prove the point that these men were not the greatest at their jobs, one of the men in the back attempts to throw his own spear at Ileosa only to bury it into his comrade's back.
However, one of the men overhears Ileosa's words about the plank and rushes to side of his ship and begins to fumble desperately with cutting the ropes holding the plank in place free.
Worried that if they separate the plank they might get away, Coloua stands up and fired off a crossbow bolt at the soldier cutting the ropes.
Ella spares Ileosa a glance that screams "I AM TRYING" before it narrows in fury at those men hurting her companion. She roars and charges (jumps if she needs to).
Bursting from below, Godfrey finishes his incantation nonchalantly as a shield of force flickers into existence around him. He tuts as he nonchalantly strides up to the man attempting to detach the plank from the ship. "None of that now. We were just starting to chat. It wouldn't be polite." Grasping his gore-slicked blade in both hands, he doesn't give the sailor any time to answer as he viciously slashes him.
Ileosa lined up a shot on one of the men. "I think I'm going to ask for different power after this. It is becoming annoying how many times we have to resort to this." Ileosa comments.
Ella rushes forwards and flips over the sailor attempting to cut the ship free of theirs. In reflex, he swings his sword upwards to strike at her. He manages to catch some of the leather buckling but otherwise she comes away clean of blemishes.
His eyes widen in panic and he tries to slam his sword down on the ropes. But when he manages to bring his hand down, his sword goes careening off into the waters. Shock, as if confused why his hand failed him, he looks to his hand to see Coloua's bolt buried deep into his wrist.
With incantations done, Godfrey had rushed forwards and slips in while the man's eyes are focused on his hand. His eyes glaze over as the last thing he sees is the black blade sliding in under the arrow before hand and head alike topple over the edge, leaving the decapitated body slumped down upon the plank.
The other men look at each other and look as if they are readying to put the last harrah in and attempt to save their own lives. That was until Ileosa's arrow pins one of the last men's hand to the opposite railing. Nine hands raise up as the sailors attempt to surrender!
"Well now, seems a few of them have come to their senses." Ileosa stated with a grin as she put her weapon away. "Now lets see, what can you sailors tell me?" She asked. "I would make it good."
Coloua stays on their ship, puts her crossbow away, and decides that there's no need to continue the bleed on the dead sailors.
A pool of blood begins to form as Godfrey rests the tip of his blade on the scarred deck of the longship. "I suspect they'll know very little, given the nonsense they were shouting. The finest of the Talingardian intelligentsia, they are not. That'll make it all the more important for them to share everything they know." Godfrey's wicked grin as he surveys the surrendering sailors makes his implied threat clear to even the dimmest.
When you've asked your questions I suggest we see them safely stowed. It wouldn't do to have escaping prisoners."
With the men lined up and overwhelmed, it didn't take much intimidating to get them talking, what with the demon, the sea witch, a white witch with a crossbow, and a wicked man with a blade as black as sin.
The one with his only a single hand raised immediately speaks up, but his babbling and 'information' becomes apparent all to quickly that he knew little more than gossip and tavern talk. Ella's temper quickly gets the better of her and those wicked claws dive into his stomach and clasp around his spine. Blood begins to drip out of his mouth and he quickly goes silent. The others go stark white and Ileosa steps up in an attempt to calm the men and to get them talking about things more...beneficial to their group.
They all begin to nod at once and then look at each other. They begin to try and tell you information about the guards and the trade of their home port. Alas, this information you can quickly tell is useless to you know. It takes a few more minutes of talking before finally Godfrey holds up a hand in annoyance. He motions to Ella and the two of them walk the three back to their ship's hold where once out of site, they are quickly beheaded. The bodies are carried immediately back to the other ship along with a couple of axes. It's at this point that Captain Odenkirk makes his men join you by dragging up all the other bodies left behind. The men show up with bodies over their shoulders and axes on their belts.
The men are weighted down and holes a axed into the walling of the ship. Once uptop, Godfrey quickly assures that the trapdoor to the hold is secured with a bar and Ella bends it to make sure that it wouldn't come free easy to drift more bodies upon the water. While this goes on, Ileosa and Coloua make a quick run over of the ship finding little beyond the gear and a bit of pay for the men.
The threat to their mission sank quickly enough and by the time they were back on their way, it was already half sunk with no anticipation of being seen. They took the night to go ahead and push forwards to catch back up on their schedule. By the next evening though, the crew were irritable and exhausted. Thankfully, their meals had been supplemented by the honorable Captain Sambryle's generous donation to their cause.
Finally, the second morning after the encounter it seemed everything back to normal. While normal wasn't exactly pleasant, the 'cruise' continued along it's way seemingly without any other issue. Hell, the better food seemed to brighten the spirits even of the hardy sailors around them.
However, it seemed as if the group was cursed perhaps as that evening a few hours after they weighed anchor that the weather began to turn sour. The weather seemed to stir up the sea around them and soon a pod of dolphins began to swarm around the ship.
The sailor on watch however, noticed something unusual amidst the sea creatures. He managed to sound the alarm as a wave suddenly hit him in the chest and slammed him into the other side of the deck's railing.
The Villains are quick to the deck and sputtering in the corner practically drowned the sailor yells out "SEA BEASTS OFF THE PORT SIDE, THEY'VE GOT THE WATER ITSELF AS THEIR ALLIES!!!" he bellows.
"The sea beasts?" Ileosa asked. "What is the meaning of this?! Why would common sea creature have any reason to care about this ship?" She wondered.
Stepping up she threw acid into the water to burn one of the creatures.
The concussive thuds of the wave and sailor's impact against the boat startled Godfrey from his sleep. Dragging his sword free of its sheath, he rushes to the deck. "Sea beasts? What do you mean, sea beasts? Be specific." Ignore the futility of his question to an uneducated sailor, Godfrey prepares to defend the ship with a quick chanted incantation. He drops into a fighting crouch as a familiar arc of force springs into being around him.
Ella had been reading. A tome on the essential process of separation of alchemical ingredients. She had already read it twice, but what else was one to do on this leaky tub.
"Sea beasts?" she raised an eyebrow, as the others questioned as well. Shrugging she headed up to the deck and saw...
and then drinks her latest batch of fermented strength.
Coloua hears the commotion and puts down her journal, where she had been painstakingly recording her experiences since leaving her clan. She pulls out a small piece of cured leather and rubs it along her arms while whispering softly to herself, and then follows the others to see what was going on.
As she nears the source of the commotion she tries to identify what the threat is.
Ella 1, Godfrey 2, Ileosa 3, Coloua 4. If two or more target the same one one aids the other.
The party gets to the deck as buffs are applied and a lob of acid is thrown at the first enemy seen. The swirling water seems difficult to hit in the night but the sight of their 'victims' send them swirling into a vortex of action. Two of them immediately slam their bodies into Ella and push her up against the railing. Her quick reflexes allow her to grab the edge and hold on.
Two more spy Ileosa, one of them veering off course as the ship lurches while one slams into her and can't seem to get enough propulsion to bowl her into rails. The last slams into Godfrey hard but he managed to brace himself against his single opponent to prevent being pushed.
Four crossbow bolts come sailing from the waters where four warriors riding dolphins of all things sit. The bolts bury into the side of the boat but a single bolt manages to find it's target burying deep into Ella's thigh.
The large woman snarls at the very large arrow in her thigh, and then at the whirling clouds of something all around her.
"There are riders over here, with crossbows. Be careful!"
"Thank you for the information." Ileosa said with a grin as she raised her own crossbow and taking a shot at a rider.
"These water things are probably controlled by the riders. Be careful, they will be both more accurate and more dangerous with their attacks if they can get us into the water."
Coloua moves close enough to the railing to see the riders and shoots a crossbow bolt at one of them
Godfrey grits his teeth as he barely manages to keep his feet against the vortex of water slamming into him. "Not into the water while I'm wearing armor and trying to swing a sword, understood." Face set in a grimace, he swiftly sets his blade to glowing and sparking with arcane energy. As the smell of ozone begins to overwhelm the scent of the water in the air, he barks in Draconic, "Tseykhn vi meyn hart!" as he slices viciously at the elemental attacking him.
Ella manages to slip up back onto the deck despite being bolted to the side of the boat just a short minute ago. Her strike, fueled by anger and pain, hits true and the claws scatter enough of the elemental's water that it's form attempts to hold for a brief moment longer before it shudders and the water scatters to the deck.
Godfrey steps in to Ella's side and strikes deftly twice, but each blow finds air instead of water as the elemental's form twists and moves in ways that are hard to predict.
Both Ileosa and Coloua ignore those on deck and move to the edge before quickly lining up their shots and firing upon one of the crossbowmen in the water. Both bolts land solidly upon the warrior.
The Elementals seem to stick to their targets, only one of them veering off and joining with another to strike upon Godfrey's back. Two slam ineffectually into Godfrey while a third does the same upon Ileosa's back. However, once again poor Ella's footing is not secure enough as the one from before slams into her again. Her claws reach out and barely grasp hold of the side once more, leaving her dangling dangerously over the sea below.
One of the warriors who were holding back behind the others surges forwards, it's clear to see this is the group's commander. He makes his way to his injured comrade and the two wounds stuck upon him magically heal over.
Seeing what looks like the leader, and even worse that he is healing the other riders, Coloua immediately pulls out her little bone fetish and starts to manipulate it while glaring at him and snarling "Get that one. If he falls the rest may follow"
Ella growls, her attempts to not embracing her rage lost completely, and she tears into the THING that keep trying to push her over. She doesn't care about the leader or the riders or anything other than destroying the elemental.
Godfrey curses viciously as the rocking of the boat throws his carefully synchronized swings into wild chaos. Dismissing his held spell with a dismissive flick of his hand, he starts his attack flow again with teeth set in a grimace.
Ileosa turned her attention to the one Coloua pointed out. "Yes, that looks like a leader to me." She grinned. Aiming at the new target, Ileosa let's out a calming breath before taking the shot.
1 Ileosa 2 Coloua
Ella climbs back over the side of the rails once more and this time her claws manage to dissipate an Elemental completely with her swipe. Godfrey adjusts his posture and footing and slings a good portion of the fluids of another Elemental but it's form holds.
Coloua gives leader a delightfully dirty look while tweaking her little fetish doll. Meanwhile, Ileosa getting the hint to who leads this group, lines up a bolt and fires upon him. The bolt hits solidly against coral armor and glances off.
The warriors surrounding him turn their newly refitted Heavy Crossbows upon the two enemies they can see and let bolts fly. Two bolts hit the sidewalls with a single bolt a piece bury into the stomach of both Ileosa and Coloua.
The leader scowls as he stares down the group. He begins whirling his Trident about but nothing happens for the moment.
Pain leeched into Ileosa's body and she did her best to not let it show upon her face. "Oh you'll pay for that." She hissed.
Though her pain makes the shot go wide.
"I can't tell what water is from the elementals and what is just from over the side. Damnable creatures can't bleed properly." Godfrey continues his assault, hands flickering through the necessary arcane forms. "Tseykhn vi meyn hart!"
Ella stays where she is, weaving her claws in time with Godfrey's attacks. Even enraged, after months of training, the two warriors set up the enemy perfectly and End them forever (unless elementals never truly die and just return to their plains of existence, the mostly ingnored while raging analytical part of Ella's brain wonders)
Coloua continues to play with her little bone fetish figure while watching the leader carefully, and then ducks behind the railing to get our of line of sight to the crossbows.
The two villains whirl into action, Godfrey's black blade finding it's mark once again upon the little outsider. It's outline shimmering a bit before it collapsed. The blade gleamed slightly in the night. Ella's claw made short work of the remaining one upon them, the force of it spraying the elemental across the boat as if a wave had crashed against the railing.
Coloua's spell goes off and the Leader of the warriors suddenly jerks a bit before splashing into the water. The warriors around him exchange looks as they make eready their crossbows once more while Ileosa's bolt splashes into the waters nearby.
Ella will charge the remaining elemental attack Ileosa and Coloua. (if she can reach it)
Smiling as the leader falls off his dolphin, Coloua backs away from the railing, continuing to use it and any boxes to hide, or at least stay out of line of sight of the crossbows. While hiding herself, she pulls out a small vial and drips some of it onto her wound.
As the rest of the elementals assault the crew on deck fall under Ella's vicious onslaught, Godfrey finds himself foeless. Not willing to take the fight into the water, he sheaths his glittering blade and draws his sling as he seeks cover from the troublingly accurate crossbow fire. "My magics are not so useful at this kind of range. Can we draw them closer?"
1 is Ileosa, 2 is Ella
Ella quickly removes the final elemental from the deck while Ileosa fires again at the leader as he surfaces. It sadly falls short. With Coloua retreating from view to lick her wounds and Godfrey preparing to draw them in, the warriors look at each other before figuring out their Targets.
Four more bolts are sent flying through the air. Two find the deck by Ella's feet while one manages to nick her ankle. However one sails true and strikes Ileosa just below the joint of her shoulder.
The leader climbs back up upon his steed and a wave of healing light washes over him, healing a good portion of the damage from Coloua's nasty spell. Meanwhile, Triss waves at Ileosa to come close out of the line of fire, her own hand shining with magical healing energies.
Coloua sneaks her way over to where the others are and speaks to them softly "If we stay out of sight, they'll have to come in close or leave."
She then ensures that she is out of sight of the crossbowmen and coughs up her centipede, stroking it gently and whispering to it, then keeping it close to her.
Blazing multicolored eyes stare down at the little witch, claws clenching and unclenching, but the large woman settles and sags a bit. She nods and gets behind something to hide.