Siera tries holding a laugh and fails miserably.
Don't s~!* ya pants Zababa, I won't let them get to'ya skinny butt!
Boarding Party
The sea scorpions were upon them before they could fully comprehend their assault. The first one smashed into N'gawa before he could let his arrow fly.
After N'Gawa withstood that initial string of assaults, he managed to evade further retribution, and lodge an arrow firmly into the creature's side. The second one angled at the man with its long stinger, blocked by its counterpart fort he moment. Just as N'Gawa had expected it to not be able to strike him at that distance, lodged the tip into his side.
The pain was not so bad, but the feeling in the wound turned to liquid pain almost immediately.
Henry managed to strike at the creature despite the cramped conditions, and scored a good hit at the already-wounded sea scorpion. The creature chittered in pain, and cringed - but it did not go down just yet.
[ooc]Alright, here is the initiative:
First Sea Scorpion (wounded severely)
N'Gawa
Second Sea Scorpion (unhurt)
Everyone else
Zababa, galvanized into action at least, tried to roll between the two giant bug things and get behind them.
Dagger in hand, Zababa strikes at the scorpion that hit N'Gawa.
"Uuugh!!" N'gawa screams and the stinger pierces his side. He can feel the poison pulsing through his side.
With a wince, N'gawa takes a step back and fires another arrow at the beast.
If possible, Henry shifts to a position that will provide flanking for Zababa and then attacks the sea scorpion.
Kukri Attack:
Damage:
"Finish it off Zababa! Raflessia, N'gawa has been stung, we may need your arts!" shouts Henry as he presses the attack and tries to keep the beast occupied.
N'gawa, get behind me!
Siera quickly moves into position, taking N'gawa's place as soon as he moves backwards. She takes an defensive stance, trying to viciously kick the creature down as she follows the sting's movement, trying to anticipate its attack.
Oblivious to the stress that was rising in the group, Varg plants his feet and crosses his arms, glaring at Sasha. "I weren't threatning anyone. Not a single one. Right now ye are the next best thing te family, as barmy as that sounds. I swear on Torag's forge that if ye do everything ye can to make sure we all get off this god's forsaken island, me sheild and me axe are yours. Until we get back to the mainland."
Tshilaba relaxed visibly when viewing the reactions of everyone. "Gelick, thanks for your words. Sitting down and eating together is a fine idea." With that he grabbed some of the centipede meat and started handing it out to people.
"Varg, what you said has some good merit. Perhaps we should all say some sort of pledge to each other until we make it back. We should wait for everyone else out there to come back first, but that's really not a bad idea at all.
After he had served everyone, he sat down himself and began to eat. "One thing we can do without them here is talk about our options and our responsibilities. Our responsibilities include things essential to our survival as a group. First of all, we need to avoid backbiting and work out our differences peaceably with each other. The more we can preserve our unity, the more we should be able to defend ourselves against hostility. We also should take care of Alton. It doesn't matter what you think of him, we all owe him a great debt for not being drowned. As long as we do those two things, everything else should be easier."
Seeing Misha off, Rafflesia leaned back in the rowboat, her face to the afternoon sky, soaking in the rays of the sun. Humming a sour ditty, and casually pulling out a flower she found during her jungle meditation ("Eww, gross! Kill it, N'gawa! Kill it!"), all could have been right in the world were it not for silly interr("Uuugh!!")ptions. I wonder if this flower would bloom ba...off Zababa! Raflessia, N'gawa hasOh for the love of....
Rafflesia sits up. "Blessings!" she shouts. "They are blessings!"
She makes a quick and cursory attempt to secure the rowboat and hops onto the deck of the Jenivere, heading in the direction of the shouts.
Shore Party
The rubbery, unpleasant meat of the Centipede left a harsh, bitter aftertaste in everyone's mouth. Still, the shared meal gave at least some semblance of communality and shared burdens to the survivors. Particularly Sasha, who was last to take a bite of the meat, still seemed to harbor some thoughts she kept to herself, some resentment.
"Var", she finally spoke up. "Just to set things straight between us. I don't want to be your enemy. I was just... trained to react to threats. Quickly and decisively. Sometimes that training overtakes my better reasoning." It was about as much of an apology as the dwarf would likely get out of her.
Gelik, on the other hand, joined with Tshilaba and Aerys, who still remained relatively close. "You did well. Inspiring speech really. We'll see that this expedition reaches home."
Boarding party
The severly wounded scorpion could not stand against the sudden, harsh strike the halfling placed under its chitinous plates. It collapsed in wild spasms. Its companion, still possessed by wild bloodlust, seemed to shrug off the normally-telling wounds the attacks of Siera and N'gawa were able to place on it, even though it nearly toppled under Siera's strikes. It slashed out, or maybe it was tripping over its own feet already, and just barely hit Siera with one of its claws as it tried to barrel past her to reach its first target again.
"Haha! Die, bug!" gloated Zababa at the first scorpion's death. Turning on the remaining one that had just attacked Siera, "Aye, and you're next!"
Landing a solid hit, Zababa laughs, caught up in the heat of combat.
"You're right, Rafflesia! These stupid bug things are blessings... to my trophy collection!"
Misha dashes forward, approaching the shouting as fast as she can, considering the slippery deck and debris everywhere. "Hey, I merely have arts, but one of those arts is actually healing. 'Cause Raff is with the..." She hears Rafflesia disembarking and approaching. "Never mind."
"I... I can go back to the su... boat?, a slight twirl of the jungle flower still in hand.
Caught in the familiar excitement of a winning battle, Siera throws herself in the battle.
This one's mine, Zababa!
N'gawa takes another step back and fires another arrow.
Varg grunted at Sasha. "S'alright. Were probably foolish o' me to go flingin' me axe like that." he ate the last of his centipede meat with a grimace and followed it with several mouthfuls of water. "Ug. Anyways, ye were mighty impressive with those daggers. Ne'er saw them come out."
"Up to you, but I got this one. I know you spent a lot on shore."
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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Shore Party
Sasha snorted, and nodded with some measure of appreciation. "Got some serious education with these. Not much good in a fair fight, mind you - but leave the fair part out, and we're talking business." She took another bite of the centipede-meat, and made a disgusted face. "Ugh, Its even worse the second time over."
Gelik had taken to organizing the night watches for the day - leaving out the boarding party for the time being. He reasoned they'd need a rest worse than the others could even imagine.
Boarding party
The second sea scorpion crumbled like its brethren under Zababa and Siera's strikes. The door the two aquatic insects had been pounding at turned out the be almost forced upen. Thick gashes already ran through the wood, and the individual beams had almost given way. Still, it was simpler to lift the war that had held the door fast, than to continue to batter it down.
Beyond, they found another sad scene. The ship's cook lay there, his face black and his tongue hanging out from his mouth. He had thick red stranglemarks on his neck, and his hands still clutched an unseen assailant.
Zababa stood still behind the dead scorpion things, panting as the sudden burst of effort caught up with him. Now that the disgusting things were safely dead (or at least appeared to be so), he took in the scene in the room. Grimacing at the condition of the corpse, he tried to take a closer look to see what had done for the poor cook - hands, rope, tenacles...?
Leaving the task of determining the cook's cause and time of death to someone with healing skills, Henry focuses on trying to find something the stranded party can use from these rooms.
"Let's not waste any extra time on this wreck, grab what we can from these rooms and then we'll check the captain's cabin for something to help Alton."
"Huh, yeah, I think you're right, Henry, but it seems awful strange for the cook to be strangled. If it was deliberate, there might be something to the idea that our course was sabotaged to bring us down here."
Shouting out the hatch, "Misha! Rafflesia! We found something you should probably take a look at! Be careful though, it's kinda gross!"
N'gawa enter's the room with a pitied look at the cook's body. He stands behind Zababa to look at the body. Using his swordsword, N'gawa tries to turn the body over to inspect it.
"This is nasty work, Zab. Poor fellow."
After Misha sees to N'Gawa's wounds, she steps her way carefully into the next chamber. She winces and swallows, hard, trying not to get sick at the sight of the dead cook. "Did one of the scorpion things get him, or... no. I guess not unless it wrapped its tail around his neck. God, his soup was awful but he didn't deserve this."
Misha casts her mind back, trying to think if anyone on the crew or passenger was strong enough to strangle the cook like that.
She also looks around to see what other unusual things might be in the room--objects out of place, stuff that doesn't look broken by the force of the ship wrecking, etc.
Choking down a mouthful of centipede, Tshilaba grimaced and mentioned to the group. "I think I have just decided to learn to fish. They like worms, right?
His name is... was... Melros. He was a sour old fool but he didn't deserve that. Some f$&&er purposely killed him, but for what?
Siera walks into the kitchen, trying to take a look at whatever was cooking.
Well, if there's nothing else here we should get moving and see what we can get out of the hold... not that I'm expecting much, since we could see into it on the way back over here.
Shore Party
Ishirou nodded wordlessly towards Tshilaba, confirming that to his knowledge, fish liked worms. The taciturn Tian returned his attention to the cut of centipede, taking small, measured bites, swallowing swiftly.
Gelik had found his volunteers for the night watch (himself, Aerys and Jask), and sat down besides Tshilaba. "Well, that was a piece of work. I did a share of travelling for the Pathfinders, but a shipwreck is something else." He looked Tshilaba over. "Aerys is right, you know. Tempers will flare again, even under the best of circumstances. We got a volatile little group here, and I am not excepting me, either. Can you be this level-headed in the future?"
Boarding Party
A somewhat closer examination of the room yielded some useful results after all. Other than the unfortunate Melros, there was a goodly amount of supplies that would soon become essential in expanding their basic lean-to into a proper campsite: a block and tackle, three large canvas sheets, two fishing nets, a grappling hook, two bullseye lanterns, a dozen flasks of lantern oil, a full coil of hemp rope, and a half-dozen of shovels.
After they finished their search of the supply room, only the larder and the captain's cabin remained as relativly undisturbed parts of the Jennivere.
N'gawa lifts up a shovel and fishing net, grinning. "These will be worth their weight in gold for us!"
"Gold? Where?!"
Tshilaba smiled at Ishirou, wordlessly acknowledging his input.
To Gelick he sighed, "My level-headedness is inspired by intense personal interest. I want to live, have fun, and procreate. Doesn't everyone? If you can't do the first, you can't do the rest. If we are getting out of here, we need each other, whether we like it or not."
The Varisian smiled tiredly at the gnome. "It just bothers me when people can't, or won't, act in their own self-interest. It always leads to tyranny, control and oppression. Choice is the most important thing, without it, all you are is a slave. I have no desire to be a slave, and I really don't want anyone else to be either. The best thing then is to choose to accept what you can't change, like the past, and go with the flow until your opportunity strikes to change everything. And then, you get to determine your fate. The key is figuring out when those moments are."
Henry quickly hauls all the gear he can handle back to the rowboat. He then turns his attentions to the larder and captain's cabin.
"A good haul so far gang, let's see what else we can acquire from this wreck."
Unable to tell anything more about what happened to the cook, Zababa heads back out and up to the Captain's cabin.
"Henry, we should check the Captain's cabin for a healing kit for Alton."
Siera gathers the fishing nets, folding them with swift practiced movements. She helps Henry in moving the contents of the larder to the boat, happy to have hard work to occupy her mind and body. Returning to the boat, she responds to the halfling:
You're right, Zababa. We could maybe find a hammock in there, could be useful to move any wounded people.
"I've got a hammock already, if we need it. But let's still grab what we can." Misha pulls out rolls of canvas and sailcloth, casting mending on occasion to restore bits damaged by the disaster.
"Once we get what we need, Captain's cabin is a good bet, yeah."
"Agreed. Captain's Quarters next." N'gawa helps load the canvas into the boat.
Boarding party
The captain's quarters are a mess. The side wall that once separated it from the outside world has been torn half off, allowing some of its contents to spill out into the open sea, making any attempt at retrieval a suicidal endeavor. Yet one of the most valuable prices remained, stuck against the wall - the captain's desk. The top drawer contains the navigational instruments - and while the valuable spyglass is cracked and its lens ruined beyond repair, its maps might be of high value for any attempt to build a seaworthy craft and escape the shiv.
Two maps were in good condition, packed tightly and protected from humidity. One was a general map of the southern waterways - from Sargova all the way past the Eye of Abendengo. The shiv, a local threat, was not marked on this one, but the more local one that outlined Desperation Bay not only contained the shiv, but had several red marks - a jagged line denoting reef warnings, an upturned U-shape marking a shallows warning, a warning of strong currents in the form of tight wave-marks and finally a skull symbolizing hostile natives.
The lower part of the desk was locked, a small lock with a silvery face.
Shore Party
The gnome pondered his counterparts thoughts for a while. "For such encouraging words, this still feels quite fatalistic. You can't change the past, sure. But you make life sound like an uphill battle, where you need to wait for the turning point. I for one think we all make mistakes. Some quite asine in retrospect, let me tell you about that. But what is done is done. I can't very well change everything, turn around everything. That's just a ship come and gone. But I can enjoy the time I have as best I can."
He pondered some more. "In effect this is not so different from what you said, I suppose. Why do you think I expend the effort to look presentable even in this bog? If you can’t take the time to dress properly, no one will take what you have to say seriously — and they’d be right not to! So in effect, we both use what we hold in our hands, and make the best of it."
At the sight of the Captain's charts, Zababa's eyes lit in excitement."Ooooh, maps!"
Upon further examinaion, their nautical nature proved of less interest in their lack of relevance to his map collection of the Mwangi Expanse. "Misha, you'd probably find this more interesting than me. I'd like to make copies for myself, later, though!"
Finding the lower drawer locked, he pulled out his special set of lock-picking tools.
"Ah-ha! This should do the trick...."
Siera seems somewhat distracted at the sight of the captain's cabin. Numerous memories spring to her mind, and a faint voice in the back of her head keeps saying "maybe he is alive".
Well, can sumbody open that?
Not looking up from the delicate task of picking the lock, Zababa absentmindedly replied to Siera, "Working on it...."
While Zababa works on the lock, Henry searches about the mess in the quarters, hoping to find anything useful for the shelter, even something as simple as a pillow for Alton.
"I think we will get along just fine, you and me", said the Varisian to the gnome.
Tshilaba stood up and motioned to Aerys to come with him. "Well, I've definitely had enough to eat. Why don't we help Ishirou with our palace? We should keep idle hands busy right?"
Misha's eyes indeed widen at the maps, and after giving them a good look, she carefully rolls them up and puts them back in their cases, slinging them over her shoulder by the cases' straps.
Seeing the fine quality of what's around them, she squints and mutters a simple chant, looking for the possibility of magical auras in the room.
Boarding party
Zababa had to work long and hard on the lock, nearly considering it beyond his ability, but finally he managed to slowly, shakingly turn the cylinder of the lock. Inside, he found a small satchel stamped with the seal of the Sargavan government (likely something related to Jask), a small model of the Jenivere in a heavy glass bottle, a fine bottle of brandy and another satchel stamped with Pharasma's spiral. Scattered throughout the drawer, there were 35 platinum coins.
The model is fine craftsmanship, something quite personal and likely time consuming in its construction. It looked unharmed, a small miracle in the surrounding chaos.
The government-stamped bag contained a holy symbol of Nethys, a set of keys and what looked like a set of exotica materials for use in spellcasting.
The pharismin bag, finally, was what they had been hoping for - medical supplies. A leather potion belt with stoppered, narrow flutes. They all looked dull brown, but small runes burnt into the stoppers made their use abundantly clear.
Henry could, at first, find very little of futher value in the cabin, safe some comforts for Alton. Yet just as he was about to give up, he found something crumbled in the corner, half beneath the desk. The Logbook of the Jenivere. Even cursory reading would probably take the better part of the evening, but it was a valuable source on just why the voyage had taken so ill a turn.
Misha's arcane sight confirmed the potions to be magical, and in decent enough shape. Other than them, there was nothing particularly notable she became aware of.
Shore Party
Aerys looked Tshilaba up and down, before backing down. "Your call..." she grumbled as she made her way back to work, where the Tian exchanged a glance with her. It was getting late, and the sun had more than half-set. Most of the castaways not exploring the ship had begun to slack off in one way or another, with Sasha being the most open about it (leaning against a tree and just staring out at sea), but even ever-gruff and industrious Ishirou taking longer and longer with each movement.
"Fine work Zababa!" proclaims Henry, genuinely impressed. "This has been a better haul than we could have hoped for, let's get back to the rowboat with this gear and make our way back to shore with haste, the fever has already gripped Alton and time is slipping away." Grabbing the few comfort items he found and stashing the journal in a safe pocket, Henry heads back to the rowboat for the return trip to shore.
"Yes! Let's get going!" Misha helps carry things to the boat, packing things carefully and ready to help row their now heavier-laden boat back to shore.
"Wait, we still haven't seen the larder! Unless you want that centipede meat to be our only food for the next couple days."
You have some mity nimble hands, Zababa!, the sailor exclaims while tapping the halfling in the back. Bet the halfling lasses slap each other for a round on those!
She smiles, complimenting the halfling the only way she knows. The muscular woman helps the group carry the cargo down to the downtrodden boat, happy to gaze into the wooden model of the Jenivere.
"Uh, not that more food is a bad idea, but I think you must've been gathering wood when we found the crates of fruit and dried fish on shore. I just thought Tshilaba was wanting to store the centipede meat because he's weird."
Misha kept layering stuff into the rowboat. "I'm more concerned about getting these magic potions to Alton as soon as possible. Every second we're out is a second he might enter Pharasma's embrace. If we had absolutely no food at all, I'd be with you, but as it is, I'm more concerned about saving the life that's immediately in danger.
"Maybe make a second trip?"
Sighing in satisfaction, Zababa hands out the goodies from the Captain's desk.
Smiling at the imagery of Siera's comment, he replied in kind, "Yes, well, I'm sure none of them would be a match for you if it came down to it!"