When they pass through, he will go above deck again. "Talos is angry, Bindle. I pray he is not angry at you: I would like to make it to my destination intact, and preferable not smelling like wet garbage. Grellik grins underneath the hood of his cloak. Ah, home: so close I can taste it!
"Adrien... Catch!" She tosses Adrien Burke's uniform.
"If we can't find more you'll have to help me stow some stuff from the barracks."
She then motions for Ozz to drop Burke off in a corner.
Cavell grins as he catches the uniform. "Seduced right out of his clothes, well done Triss. Find me my sabres while I get dressed."
He strips the prison uniform off shamelessly and starts putting on the guard's uniform.
She motions toward Ozz to do what Adrien's told, since he's got much keener eyes than she does for this sort of thing.
"By all rights, it was Ozz's skills which layed the man on his back for me." she shoots a wicked grin over at Ozz
"After this if we don't find any more uniforms in here we'll have to check the barracks and armory. With luck though we'll find something here. Then it's just a hop skip and a jump up to check for the paperwork and then make for the balcony." she looks around for confirmation of the plan.
Searching through the shelves, you all manage to find several things, some in addition to what you WERE looking for.
-ALL of your old gear in a box labeled "Bogsharks, obtained items". This is the gear for the three of you, none for any of the other captured sharks.
-Several spare uniforms of different sizes for different races.
-The room seems to double as an armory as well, as there are several closed crates for spare spears, swords, daggers, and shields.
-Packed rations.
-Horse saddles and other accompanying gear.
There are more crates still unchecked.
Tease finds a reflective surface on a polished kettle, and scurries away with it near a torch with a dagger from an opened crate.
Ozz gives Triss a tusky grin back, but then his face grows stern as you search the room, preparing himself for what's to come.
Upon having his gear returned to him, Ozz strips out of his white prisoner's linens and begins to dress in his Bogshark clothes and armor.
As Cavell buckles on his sabres' sheathes around his waist, he gestures at Ozz. "Shouldn't Ozz be dressing as a guard too? And is one of you going to fix up our faces a bit so they don't recognize us?" He nods his head towards Tease.
Despite his many questions, Cavell looks to be his old relaxed self now that he has his sabres, maybe even eager for the plan to go bad and a fight to break out. He slings his longbow and quiver over his shoulder, tightening the choke on the quiver so the arrows don't fly out in a tussle.
With some grudging reverence he puts his dragon-claw necklace over his head. A bit of a mystery that, he's never said a word about it.
He saunters over to the makeshift armory section and picks out three of the better-made daggers, hiding one in a boot-sheath then two in belt sheathes.
Almost ceremonially, he adds their improvised manacle pick into his Thieves' Tools kit.
Ozz begins putting on his scale armor despite it being difficult to sneak as easily in, seeing no other armors in the armory to wear. He speaks. He speaks probably more than he had since he put on the prisoners outfit.
"No. I will not wear that." He starts, tightening the straps to part of his armor. He reaches into his bag and pulls out some more of his things, including the two very worn Neverwinter toy soldiers. "I will not wear the uniform of men." He shakes the soldiers. "I will not dress as them, as these... f+@%ers. I will not pretend to their laws, I will not be bound by their colors, not even as a feint." he finishes fighting his armor, and throws his tattered, brown travelers cloak over his scale.
Grabbing the offered tabard, he takes it and pins it to a crate with the woodaxe he got from outside with a Thunk!
"There is only ONE uniform I will willingly wear." his voice growing angry as he looks at the tabard of the Shields of Yartar with an axe through the chest. He reaches into his pack and removes the last item, besides strapping his weapons on. Over his grimacing sneer, he dons his Bogsharks mask, covering the lower half of his face in a wicked, clenched, sharp toothed snarl. He glares out at the two of you above it, challenging you to challenge him on this.
"Oh for f#&~s' sakes Ozz... What about we put the wrist manacles on you, and if anyone notices us we'll say we're taking a prisoner up to see Wen? You can still fight in the wrist manacles."
He gives Trissae an exasperated look, but turns his attention to getting some rope and tying up Burke's wrists and ankles, gagging him with some cloth, and binding him to something that won't easily move, like a support beam.
"You will Ozz... You will wear this and you will help us do this or so help me I will pray to Lolth that all of Yartar, Sharks and all, end up in her web."
her expression is deadpan, her tone mono, but her grip on the uniform she's holding out in his direction is so tense that a few of the threads have torn.
"We've been doing things your guys' bloody way for almost a week. It put two of us in the hospital, almost put Ozz to the axe before his time. And now that we're succeeding doing it the right way, you want to throw it out? I will go out there and call the guard here right this moment if you want to just up and throw yourself on their swords."
She throws the uniform on the ground infront of Ozz with a look of disgust. She rattles through grabbing her stuff out of a box and sits down in a huff, pulling out her disguise kit.
"For anybody that wants to follow the plan, come over here."
"My way? No. We have not done this my way. I have allowed myself to be chained. I have kept myself from snapping their necks when their backs were turned. I have been... Restrained. I have been a prisoner instead of dying honorably. This has not been my way, but I have kept to your plans, trusted you knew better than I."
Ozz looks at the others, softening slightly. "These bastards put us in this situation. This has not been any of our ways. Now we prepare for the desperate, so none of us may be used against the Sharks, against the Boss. Tease told you, this is not a good plan, we don't have the TIME for a good plan, but we must continue. We must try, but chances are I will not get out of here alive, even wearing this... uniform." He spits the last word. "I will die as a Shark. Manacle me if this helps the plan, but I'll not die in their colors." He adds his spit to the axed uniform.
"Hey, I work with what I've got. Don't come to me smellin' of wet garbage, and you won't leave my ship the same." He quips as he checks his tarps, making sure they are tight and able to withstand the storm somewhat. "F%@$! This is useless. Guess I'm sleeping under deck tonight too. Bah!"
Bindle runs into the hatch with Frug and the skeleton, preparing the wait out the storm is cramped quarters if needed.
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"Alright Ozz...." Trissae sets aside the disguise kit. She gets dressed in her black cat outfit. Afterward she drops the illusion and begins to walk somberly toward the door.
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Ozz's face falls when he notices what Triss is doing. "No!" He rushes her and wraps his arms around her from behind.
The grapple turns into more of a hug, allowing her the ability to easily escape if needed, and Ozz's voice breaks, his head lowered on her shoulders.
The big man sobs, only the once, through his snarling Shark mask and continues softly, emotional but controlled.
"Please tell me I don't have to die in their uniform. That I don't have to die pretending to be them. Paint my face, I'll take the mask off. Make me look like some other half-orc, not Ozz. I can do that. I'll be your prisoner, Triss. Say I was looting or something. Make the dwarf carry my stuff, I don't care, I'll do anything you think will work, but I... I can't die wearing their thrice-cursed uniforms..."
Ozz sounds vulnerable enough right now, that if Triss insists, he'll probably follow along and wear the uniform, but doing so would be breaking something within him.
Cavell turns after securing Burke, hearing the 'No!', he raises an eyebrow at the goings on then shrugs to Tease. He picks up a bit of charcoal from Triss' disguise kit and writes across Burke's bare chest.
Love,
The Bogsharks
He then draws a mustache on Burke.
Triss almost buckles when Ozz grabs her but then steels herself. She turns listening to just enough of Ozz's elvish to make herself angry and she pushes him back.
"It's not about the damned costumes, or the escape, or even the damn Sharks. You are not going to die, not tonight!" YOU!" she points first at Ozz then over at Adrien "AND YOU! You have this weird notion that death is this glorious noble thing - that its gonna happen, and that it's alright to die. IT IS NOT ALRIGHT TO DIE!" her voice quivers as she tries not to shout.
"Life is precious and short, you guys are all that I love in this world and it is not okay that you are alright with dying. The Shark's pride be damned! You guys are my family and I love you too much to let anyone go.."
She turns away quickly, not wanting them to see her lost composure. She slams her fist on the stonework beside the door hoping to push the tears away with the pain.
Under her breath "You can't hang deadmen..."
After Trissae's outburst, you all notice a dwarf Shield standing in the room with you, apparently having gone unnoticed this entire time, a few paces away from Ozz. He has a shaved head, a tousled and unadorned black beard, and is armed with a spear and holding a spool of silken rope.
His eyes dart between the drow and half-orc, and in a very crisp, authoritative voice says, "What. Is going. On. Here?"
Taken so off guard by Trissae' reaction, Ozz only has time to whirl in place, to face this new threat.
Triss turns her head from the door to look over at the dwarf, reacting to his voice.
"Oh hey there, how are yah?" her voice shaky from emotion.
Adrien pretends not to notice the drama going on, admiring his handiwork on Burke.
Hearing the voice he whirls, surprised, then relaxes.
"Hah! For a second I thought you'd left us."
Cavell crosses his arms, grinning at the soldier.
In a style of speech completely foreign to that of your cellmate's, the dwarf talks in a hissing whisper. "Are we having a problem? Can we not make this situation any worse by arguing right by the gods damned f~@+ing cursed gods damned door?!"
The rotten teeth, gone. The pock scars, gone. He even seems to smell better, but that might be because of the heavy rain from earlier. Tease is nearly indistinguishable from any other Shield. The vagrant from the cellars has disappeared.
"well I don't have to yell at you.... you're not trying to get yourself killed every time we go outside. Her tone normalizes a bit realizing it is Tease.
"Okay well, change of plan... but only slightly. she sighs and walks over to Ozz putting a hand on his cheek and looking him in the face. The looking over at the rest of the crew.
"Gather up our gear, all of it and prep yourselves. Grab one more Shield uniform for me for later, phase two and such."
"Tease you're our fallback guy now, so lay low and do what you do best. Adrien, you're with me. We're going into the infirmary and have a chat with the healer and any other Shields that are in there. We're putting an end to this one way or another. I want you ready for a fight, but don't have the swords out." She turns to Ozz.
"I need you to watch the hallway after we enter, we can't let them corner us in there. That said, no glorious last stands.... you hear me? you come in and warn us and we adjust, no hero business."
"Adrien, make sure Tease has the keys. If we do get caught he'll be our only reset chance. That said Tease don't put yourself in harms way. This is a Bogshark mess and nobody but a Bogshark should have to pay if we screw up." She walks over and kneels before him and whispers into his ear.
"Yeah, sure. Deal me in. Low stakes, so... Only platinum antes?" Bindle says straight faced, and he gets comfortable near a tied down crate, intending to use it as a table as the ship rocks in the turbulent river.
Frug shrugs. "We're in." he says, and laboriously hauls a sack of something near the crate to sit on it, Jasper taking a seat nearby. "Despite someone already taking money out of my pouches without my permission, I have some left..." Twitch, twitch
Cavell perks up as Trissae starts giving orders. "Yes ma'am, ready and willing as always," he winks, then tosses Tease the keys.
The sound of a door in the room outside opening, and shutting can be heard, followed by footsteps toward the door to the storage room.
Cavell quickly and silently moves to the left of the door, hands resting casually on the hilts of his sabres. He looks to Trissae for orders.
He smiles at Bindle's joke as he deals them all in and antes up. "well, Mr Frug, I doubt you shall need many coins. This extortionist all but wiped out my cash already."he grins widely.
Trissae quickly stands and gestures for Tease to lay low and then she hustles to in front of the door and stands in a neutral pose, signalling with her hands to Adrien that when the door opens he's to grab the person and pull them in. She motions for Ozz to do the same on the other side of the door. From there she waits to see what happens next.
Cavell readies to grab the person when the door opens, clamping a hand over their mouth and pulling them inside.
Ozz does the same.
Tease disappears behind a dark shelf just before the door opens. Triss, standing front and center in her Cat costume looks upon a non-plussed Lieutenant Rast. Before he can utter a single word of surprise, Adrien and Ozz grab the dwarf and heave him bodily into the room, his mouth covered. Rast makes noises impotently under Adrien's hand.
Jasper, the skeleton who Frug insisted on being dealt a hand, was a difficult opponent to read. Bindle seemed to read Jasper to read Frug, but Jasper itself was a source of confusion to the both of you about its own hand.
Despite your excellent hands, the cocky bravado of Bindle intimidated you into folding early, and the impassive Jasper stayed in the game until it inevitably took two hands. Switching tactics, you ignore Bindle's feints and manage to win your money back from Jasper, Frug is less fortunate.
"By the dark depths of hell, how are you getting these hands?" Frug seethes after another reveal, but if at you or Jasper, you are unsure.
"Surely, the one eyed gnome has no delusion about his own luck?" Bindle taunts.
Jasper silently pounds the crate with an angry fist, shaking it at Bindle.
"You're one to talk, you cursed son-of-a... What? Don't ignore me!"
Bindle's head is cocked to the side, as if he were listening to something. "That's... Strange... I thought I heard..."
"Yes, yes!" Frug mocks. "Losing the fight so instead he uses clever misdirection to sneak out of it!"
Cavell whispers, right by Rast's ear. "Yell, and I slip a blade between your ribs. Keep quiet, and you'll probably live through this. The Drow has a soft heart."
He glances to Ozz, smirking. "We try to keep her happy, don't we Ozz? But sometimes it can't be helped."
Ozz's snarled mask is close to Rast's worried face. He nods in agreement. He glances at Triss, and then nods his head at the opened door.
Trissae breathes a sigh of relief and nimbly closes the door as fast and silent as possible. She turns and smiles at the crew.
"Good practice guys, but let up, it's just Rast. Rast I'm gonna have them let you up but you gotta promise me you won't make this worse. Can you do that for me Rast?" she motions her hand in wait to see if he'll comply or not.
As Rast recognizes Trissae, his muffled shouts die, and he squirms to see to his sides, at who is holding him down.
Rast seems too confused and startled to understand the question, but he isn't struggling or making noise any longer.
There is a pause for silence after your words.
You can hear the sounds of the lantern chain creaking as it sways with the boat. You can hear the waters rush around it, and the rain patter on the storage area around you. Thunder booms from time to time, and the ship creaks softly. You can hear the sound of... feet moving quietly on the ship outside the hatch, growing nearer. Several pairs.
A thump above you, something is on top of the storage area.
The handle of the hatch begins to turn.
Jasper is shaking violently, and Bindle has started to slowly and quietly rise, looking at the hatch handle moving.
Cavell draws a dagger from his belt and sets the point against Rast's ribs, then uncovers his mouth.
He narrows his eyes, coiled to attack if those above are hostile, as is most likely the case.. He growls quietly to Bindle, "I don't suppose there's any chance these are friends of yours..."(and of course the usual policy of "shield" on hit applies.)
Rast's mouth now uncovered, he seems to calm down and take stock of the situation, but is apparently waiting for someone else to speak first.
With you near one hatch, Frug and Jasper near the other, and Bindle in the center, you watch as the hatch handle turns and is pulled open.
In the hatchway stands a creature short and stout, like a dwarf, but its skin is a glossy wet green. Two yellow eyes blink at you , the light from inside reflecting off of them brightly. The creature is froglike in appearance, large-mouthed, its neck covered in quivering folds of rubbery flesh, and web toed. It wears simple animal hides as clothing and armor, is otherwise unclothed except by fang and stone jewelry, and wields a crude spear in its four fingered hands. You see two more creatures on the boat not far behind it.
Bullywugs. You are experienced with Bullywugs (let me know if you don't have access to the Monster Manual to read about them, their info is open to you) as they have shared the Evermoors with the Bogsharks, along with all of the other creatures, great and small, that thrive and fight each other there.
They shouldn't be here, they are very territorial and the Dessarin is NOT their territory. You would have expected a high chance to run into them in a couple of days, their swamp-home near to your destination on the edge of the Moors near the barbarian tribe to which you traveled (Tenuous friends of the Sharks), but not here on the well traveled and rushing waters of the Dessarin.
It croaks at you angrily, and begins to lower its spear toward you to attack.
"Hey Rast, I'm sure it's obvious what's going on here so I'll skip ahead. I'm not gonna ask you to help us, but I am going to ask you to help yourself and the Shields."
"We are going to be getting stuff upstairs to help us save the other Sharks and I need you to run interference and deflect any of your comrades from coming up."
"Tartar is in trouble and it needs every Shield its got. You know firsthand how good Ozz and Adrien are. We don't want to hurt anyone, we just want to go home, but we'll do what we have to. I hope you understand."
She offers up her hand to help him to his feet.
"I want you to know I still consider you a friend, regardless of what happens."
"He'll sound the alarm as soon as he's not at knife-point." Cavell emphasizes with a little nudge of the dagger, frowning to Trissae, but sighs with exasperation. "Fine, fine, don't look at me like that."
He sheathes the dagger. "Happy?"
Rast's face darkens as he struggles internally with Trissae's request. Eventually he speaks. "I... Cannot commit treason... But I find I cannot yell either. Damn it! You're right, if you are left without help you'll be forced to fight and maybe kill some of us, so just sitting and tending to our injured would be just as treasonous as not shouting right now and being killed for it..."
He lets out a long sigh, and continues. "Moradin forgive me. I don't have much influence, and I cannot leave this area as I'm still the resident healer with Hilshind busy at the Happy Hall, but I can try to prevent anyone coming through THIS way, and buy you time. I believe you won't intentionally kill us if you can help it, but please... Don't make my choice right here cost the lives of my brothers."
Grellik's lunge forward catches the Bullwug deep in its shoulder, and the wet, green thing slumps to the floor and begins to bleed. One of the Bullywugs that could see you hollers a croaking bellow and equips its shield, as does the second near it. In front of it comes another bullywug, already shielded, into your sight, once more blocking your exit from the hatch and attacks you with its spear.
You deflect the blow easily, but then comes its wide-mouthed bite. You notice the blunt-toothed attack slipping through your guard, so with a grin you gesture and speak a powerful word taught by your mentor and an oversized, ethereal, armored arm appears, forming from the pauldron down to the closed gauntlet. It gleams with translucent white light, the joints outlined in gold, and the Bullywug bounces off of it, face first.
You can see two more bullywugs pull themselves onto the ship from the water, and ready their spears and shields.
There is one bullywug blocking your way out of the hatch, two more 10 feet behind it, and two more a bit further away.
The other hatch swings open, and a bullywug attack Jasper the Skeleton. The bullywug's spear gets past Jasper's guard, cracking some bones and breaking off one arm (the cards it was holding going flying), and then the wide mouthed head leans forward and nearly swallows the skeleton head first up to it's shoulders, and with a blunt-toothed CRUUNCH!, snaps the top of the skeleton away. The bones below fall to the ground, and the bullywug spits the destroyed bones out onto the floor.
Bindle moves to a barrel, opening the top of it easily and from it pulls a dagger. He tosses it toward the Bullywug facing you, but it goes wide, and sticks into the wood of the ship near the hatch.
Frug cries out when Jasper falls, and swears in tongue black and vile. He gestures near the bullywug, and a cloud of spinning daggers appears around the beast, who then grows an expression horror as they close in around him.
Screw it: Action Surge! he Swings wide, missing the Bullywug, but springs back too quick for the bullywug to counter attack, trying to catch its chin(?) in an underhand swing.
If he was able to use the greatsword, he will grab the edge of the hatch hole after he fells it, and vault up to the deck , glaring and growling at the remaining Bullywugs.