Mugwort will continue to visit the Owlbear at night, secretly, to play jacks with him. In the meantime he watches Plugg closely, hoping to get some sense of his intentions.
Sylvetra keeps an eye on the movements of the hostile crew while on deck, watching when groups gather, seeing who they watch. In the spare moments, she attempts to befriend Tilly, seeing as she's not outright hostile as some of the others are.
Mugwort and Siera find Owlbear an affable idiot and easy to befriend with food and simple games. Mugwort finds it hard to play jacks with him as OWlbear seems to have little to no self control and usually spikes the ball as hard as he can and has come to calling Mugwort "big mouth" and siera "potty mouth".
If Lorn could give me either a Sleight of Hand or Stealth check let's see how bad things get for the bad guys.
Sylvestra finds it, well, hard to do much. The hostile groups avoid her when possible or keep wary eyes on her when not. Her attempts to talk to Tilly fall on deaf ears as she makes it clear she wants no part of whatever the witch has in mind.
Rhialla finds talking to Barefoot Sam easy but not so easy. She's willing to aid Rhialla in whatever she has planned but not so much as she'd willingly throw her life away, a very real possibility should mutiny become reality.
Need a post from Ryzern I think to finish things out and then the storm hits.
eh. SoH could've been better.
Ryzern does Ryzern things.
Lorn finds some success in giving the bad guys hell. Laying out traps, making them look bad. Several members of the crew get the cat before long thanks to Lorn's shenanigans.
And then the storm hits.
Not as ferocious as the one that cost one of your allies their life this one more than makes up for it in endurance. It pushes the ship far off course and within a few hours you can spot a tiny set of islands off in the distance.
Everyone is commanded to rigging duty and at least for a moment the idea of mutinies and rivalries is forgotten as the fight for survival begins. The madness seems under control when one of you spots a small tentacled form hop out of the churning waves on deck and leap upon the face of Tilly Bracket. She struggles briefly before two more forms hop out of the water and drag her into the ocean. Before you can cry out an alarm three more forms pounce out of the waves on Sandara Quinn and drag her kicking screaming and cursing into the ocean as well.
To a laughter heard jsut barely over the storm eight more of the shadowy tentacle creatures flop onto the deck of the Man's Promise and hurry towards you....
GOODGUYS
Ryzern
Mugwort
Lorn
Sylvestra
Rhialla
Siera
BADGUYS
BAD GUYS WIN
As they rush closer the creatures appear to be some weird amalgam of shark, squid, and goblin. With malicious giggling thy rush forward and dance around your group swishing their tentacles at your feet and forcing you to dance on the slippery swaying deck to keep from falling into the ocean. Lorn and Mugwort don't hop fast enough and fall to the deck to the hilarity of all the creatures who reach out to drag you into the deeps...
Ship is under the effects of a powerful storm.
GOOD GUYS UP!!
Map updated above.
”Ooooofff” Blinking the water from her eyes, just in time to see another suckered tentacle whiz above her prone position. ”…………” Her words vanish as the wind steals her breath away, Lorn leverages herself upwards very happy to feel the friction of wood grain beneath her sodden feet.
Them suckers need to be pinned down. With a firm grip on her dagger and a barely conscious thought, an electrical arc encapsulates her arm racing to the dagger. Stabbing at the writhing tentacled gobshark between all of them, ”Sneaky gobshark, ain’t sneaky” but her words are once again whipped away.
Mugwort lets out a shout of alarm as the gob-shark-topus attacks! He rolls away, trying to get to a place where he can stand without provoking! (S-33)
Springing to his feet he draws his axe and calls out in Goblin: "If you is gobbo-kin, I is gobbo! No attack gobbo!"
Seeing her friend get dragged overboard Rhialla takes in the situation briefly before realizing the threat on the ship had to be neutralized immediately. Looking at the nearest two goblin-sharktopi, she locks eyes with one, pointing to the other, her voice dripping with venom.
"KILL!!
Siera lashes out with a savage hook to the cranium of the nearest gobltopus.
Your momma must've git into a really f@#@ed-up orgy, squidface!
HP 10/10
AC 16 FF14 T16 CMD 13
F/R/W 0/2/4
Spells
0th - Detect Magic, Light, Daze, Mending
1st - Cure Light Wounds, Mage Armor (Cast), Enlarge Person
Effects
Mage Armor
Sylvestra utters a few words to surround herself in an invisible suit of armor, taking a defensive stance against the creatures.
Lorn gets stabbed by spears for her efforts . However as lightning streaks from her fingers and strikes on of the goblin squid creatures she is satisfied by the crunchy popping noise it makes before it flies off the boat in a smoking heap and into the ocean.
The Grindylows accosting him with their spears pause only briefly before continuing forward. "We is not gobbo's we is Grindylows! You is food!"
The two goblin squid look at each other in confusion for a second before shrugging and nodding at Rhialla. That's when they stab at her with their spears laughing.
Siera easily dispatches the first goblin quid but fails to land a blow on the second goblin squid who dives under her shot to deliver one of his own.
Sylvestra armors up and the goblin squids move in with stabbing spears as Ryzern cries out in terror as two of the goblinsquids carry him off the boat.
Seeing his friend fly off the boat the last grindylow next to lorn is joined by another as it stabs her violently in an effort to kill her.
Rhialla manages to sidestep a spear but cannot dodge the sweeping tentacles of the grinfylow as she is knocked flat on the deck while Siera unluckily manages to catch two in her torso. The gobbosquids giggle menacingly as they twist their spears inside the wound.
GROUP IS UP!
MAP UPDATED!
Hmmm unfortunately they'd still trip you since it's a separate action from the attack and you still stay within reach.
"Uuurk...." Those spears hurt, yet Lorn is quite happy with herself as one of the tentacle beasts is dispatched by her hand. She takes great satisfaction as it is washed overboard realizing too late the gobshark has speared her backside. No sound escapes with this last attack as she collapses on the storm-lashed deck, the salt water washing away the blood faster then it pools.
Rolling out of reach of the creature that tripped her, Rhialla summons a burst of Besmara's wild favor to heal her friends.
Mugwort snarls at the not-gobbos, then brandishes his handaxe and lets out a howl of anger as Lorn falls. He moves up behind where she stands (Q35) and lashes out at the grindy-thing in P34!
for damage!
HP 10/10
AC 16 FF14 T16 CMD 13
F/R/W 0/2/4
Spells
0th - Detect Magic, Light, Daze, Mending
1st - Cure Light Wounds, Mage Armor (cast), Enlarge Person
Effects
Mage Armor
Sylvestra takes a step back, pulling out the crossbow while cursing one of the grindylows near Lorn.
Grinding her blood-stained teeth, Siera gives back a crushing right-handed hook to the ribs, probably shattering two or three of them and driving on into his lungs.
I'll bite yer filthy heads off, you s#@$-faced mongrels!
As siera roars like some terrible goddess of war and proceeds to mash one of the Grindylows into paste the other's decide to cut their losses and dive overboard with frightened squeals.
Rhialla stands up sending a wave of healing washing over her friends, followed by another.
With a grin as Siera the drenched cleric chuckles. "Is it wrong that watching you beat the %@$&! out of people makes me all hot and bothered?"
Siera opens a big shark smile.
Ya better get that look'd at, gorgeous. Lucky for ya, I'm a doctor.
She scoops up the fragile shape of Lorn from the ground, approaches the priestess and offers:
Take care of this half-pint and I'll take good care of ya.
Lorn's wounds sealed by Buxom's patron god, when Siera lifts her off the deck, the half-pint reference is given truth. A mere 35...40 lbs max soaking wet; yet her face scrunches up and a brief, weak struggle to escape Siera's cradling before losing the effort. Any evidence of blood loss is already washed away as the storm continues venting its fury without the help of minions of the deep.
Mugwort hovers protectively near the halfling, his axe still ready to whack any sea-gobs that come close. "Them sea-gobs took Crazy Writing Wizard! And red-haired healer woman! Where is they gone and is they coming back?!?"
Taking Lorn belowdecks to recover from her ordeal, Siera suggests:
I dunno, cabbagepatch. Maybe ya can extract the information out of one of your relatives?
Rhialla lays her hands at the sides og Lorn's head allowing healing power to flow into her, the taste of rum dancing across the halfling's tongue.
"Mmmmmmm, Rum... from the top shelf." Blinking and rubbing the saltwater away, Lorn gets an upclose explanation for Rhialla's well-endowed nickname. "Rhi, tell me true, did the Lady of the Sea bless you to produce life-nurturing rum hidden underneath that bodice? I am in awe and curiously thirsty." Despite her teasing words, she rolls a bit away to see her surroundings and current predicament. Hands patting down her side and fingering the newly puckered scars, that will in a few weeks time be lost amongst all the others populating her torso.
Seeing that Lorn is cared for, Sylvestra moves over to the grindylow's, checking to see if any of them survived the ordeal. "Mugwort, help me see if any of these are still alive. Maybe Siera's right and we can find out where they took Tilly, Sandara and Ryzern. Of course that's hoping they even took them alive."
"Rhi, tell me true, did the Lady of the Sea bless you to produce life-nurturing rum hidden underneath that bodice? I am in awe and curiously thirsty."
Siera smiles to see the halfling up and talking, and smiles even more at her words.
Aye, life-nurturing rum indeed she produces beneath these skirts. But they're naught for the likes of you, halfpint!
Putting the halfling down, Siera looks around to measure the morale of the crew.
If that cockfaced s&!!eater mista Plugg cracked the whip down on us before, what's he gunna do now that the crew is on half-strength? Dya think he plans to mount a rescue mission? If so, I should find mah way into it and out of this hellhole of a ship.
Big post coming probably tomorrow morning. But I can summarize quickly enough in two words..
Ship wrecked.
This 4 to midnight schedule is killing me. Ima go to bed. When I wake up we'll hurl your pathetic little boat against the rocks.
Rhialla chuckles at Lorn's question and grins at Siera's flashing the colorful brawler a knowing wink.
"Rescue mission's not a bad idea."
AS dawn approaches the little speck of an island is much bigger now and while the storm's stinging rain has subsided it's wind has lost none of it's hatred. As the sun peaks over the waves a thunderous crash shakes the entirety of the ship and with the groans of a dying whale it shifts and turns.
From below the rigging on deck you hear the call that every sailor dreads. "We've been holed! Cap'n! We're takin on water!"
After a few tense moments where there's a genuine fear of being capsized the boat rights itself and the helmsman regains control. As the storm finally subsides the true toll becomes clear.
Three crewmen are missing, including Ryzern, Sandara and JAck Scrimshaw, all three of them allies to you. All three more valuable than their weight in gold in this place with these officers.
Mr. Plugg has the bilges run constantly to keep the water level manageable. In the storm your fresh water barrels are damaged and much of it spilled into the bilges where it may as well have evaporated into nothing.
With no choice but to make repairs now or sink to the bottom Mr. Plugg orders the ship run aground on the island. On the dryness of the beach at least the hole can be properly patched and supplies renewed.
It's a credit to the helmsman and to Mr. PLuggs experience that you manage to get on the soft sandy beach without more damage. However as you look at the grim fetishes of skeletons impaled on sharp bamboo poles and left at the tideline you start to question whether or not you were better off heading for the nearest small boat and taking your chances with the unforgiving sea.
After a few more moments of bellowed orders and mad scrabbling the five of you are called before the Captain. You are presented with two empty fresh water barrels.
"We spotted a river before runnin aground. River's mean fresh water and yer the sods who are going to get it for us."
Mugwort scowls and considers chopping Plugg's hands off, then suppresses the urge and takes one of the barrels.
Mirroring the goblin's scowl, Lorn's says nothing and departs also. She, however, clambers back into the beached vessel to retrieve a handful of daggers. Back on the beach, she takes time to knock over several staked remains, if there aren't any boneless stakes; salvaging the bamboo as makeshift spears.
Standing beside Mugwort, taking in the imposing view of the ship, she turns around to scan the island interior edging the beach. "I'd bet my ship wages we are being watched right now. Any clues as to where the river might be?"
Rhialla takes hold of the end of one of the barrels and looks at Siera with an arched eyebrow. "Looks like Besmara was listening when you said you wanted a way off the ship."
Mugwort's beady eyes begin searching the edge of the forest, looking for the likeliest spot for a river.
Siera bites her tongue as the order is given, her first instinctive response running along the lines of "Ya want fresh water, kneel down and I'll give you a steaming jet of it".
Ya want fresh water, you'll get it, cap'n.
She takes a moment to spread her toes and feel the hot sand running through them before setting her eyes on the task. Turning back to make sure the boat and curious ears are far enough, she confides:
I'd rather take my chances with whatever's down in this pisspot island than spending 'nother day on that boat. Don't know if y'all noted, but the chance for a proper mutiny has properly gone down with Ryzern and the redhead. Anybody got any clue to where the f&%~ we are? Might be we can just outrun them in the green.
Yes. Lets get in the green soonest. Roll these empty barrels on the surf zone as it is the easiest and gets us out of sight of Plugg while doing his bidding. The surf will wash our trail. Then once we find the river, follow it inland. Stash and hide these above the high tide mark. I just want away from this cursed vessel. It is an eyesore and there is plenty of room for more staked crew on the beach. This last part is emphasized as she scrubs the last bit of gristle from her salvaged bamboo stakes in the sand and surf.
Lorn will lead the pack away. "Capt'n Plugg will take pleasure in correcting us if we go in the wrong direction. Embrace the freedom, such as it is." As the beach curves and bends out of sight, Lorn points to the island interior. "Slavery Survival Rule#12: Work smart not hard. Find a shortcut, milk the job difficulty. Stash these barrels in the forest until we find the river. But I am thinking..." And she pointedly waves the stained still-covered-in-gristle bamboo stake. "... we'll soon have other priorities. These barrels are gonna slow us down."
With the beached ship out of sight, she heads into the forest humming a little Chelaxian halfling tune.
One other thing: Ship repairs will take a day and a half giving you 48 hours to get supplies and explore the island.
For lorn the stakes would serve as improvised longspears seeing as they're not really made for combat but to prop up the gruesome skeletons.
You are currently at the northeastern part of the island.
To the east you see a massive column of volcanic stone punching into the air like a great fist.
South is the acrid stench of a great big swamp you know the river in question is about half a mile inland this way.
To the west you can see a shortish mountain from your vantage point on the island (rather than the shallow water about 1/2 mile where the mans promise lies beached) you think you can make out some kind of man made structure atop it.
Lorn is quite happy with her two improvised long spears. She can still stab while keeping away from the violent folk. She proposes once the barrels are stashed or not, they take a roundabout way to the structure on the way to the river. She'd rather meet the natives on her own terms, letting them pass to discuss trespassing violations directly with Mr.Plugg.
Poke, prod. Where we goin what we doin?
Mugwort agrees with Lorn: water then structure.
"We should definitely head to the water first."
"Sounds like a plan then."
Seek a pathway into the swamp proper you come upon an abandoned fishing village, in several places within the village are scarecrows topped with rotting human heads. Along the edge of the jungle are a number of statues made from scrimshaw, wood, and stone, twisted effigies of man and monster perhaps put up as wards or warning against those who would traverse the island.
Stepping through the path you find yourself in a stinking marsh complete with it's own welcome wagon of swarming blood sucking mosquitoes eagerly taking out the toll of blood from your flesh.
You manage to make it to a fresh river fast flowing and clear. Later Rhialla will have to purify it through BAsmara's blessings. But for now the barrel fills and you head to the fortification to the northwest.
As you near the stockade your hearts sink as you see the gate ajar and the simple hut within overgrown and ramshackle. A dessicated corpse sways gently in the wind from a chelaxian hanging collar (something all of you recognize) on a tall branch. The small barrel turned on its side tells you everything about the man's fate. He did this to himself.
Mugwort growls. "Wastes of good meat." He pokes the dead body to check how aged it is.