Round 4.
Seeing the one sailor take a crushing blow to the ribs and continue on, Tragershen murmurs "Give that guy a raise!" He directs the flaming sphere into the same elemental with a thought and casts a spell to protect him as he moves around.
Move action to direct the flaming sphere, damage, DC 17 reflex save negates. Then casting Vanish, making Tragershen invisible for three rounds unless he attacks before then.
Tragershen's fire sears through the elemental and it vanishes in a cloud of hissing steam. Cassus' aim is better this time and catches the triton as he is casting causing him to lose concentration on his spell. In front of Marvin water began to flow out of the deck boards but collapses without taking the form of an elemental. The triton leader casts another spell on himself and Marvin fails to breach this new defense.
A crossbowbolt from the triton on the left of the leader hits Carnadine . The sailors and remaining elementals trade blows and Carnadine cuts down one leaving only 1 left on board. The sailors again fire a volley, hurting only one of the tritons.
Carnadine grits his teeth in pain and steps back from melee letting Kargeld finish the last elemental.
He drops his greatsword and readies his sling again.
Round 5
Tragershen sends the swirling ball of fire at one of the remaining elementals that the sailors are battling, even as he slips to the side of the ship to get a view of the triton leader.
Vs. elemental, damage, DC 17 reflex save will negate that completely.
Move action under the cover of Vanish and Mirror Images to the railing of the ship.
With a slight smile of satisfaction gracing his face as the well placed shot hits home, Cassus draws out another arrow and fires at the triton leader again.
Marvin shoots again, at a different triton.
Tragershen's fireball vapourises a part of the remaining elemental as he vanishes and moves out of the crates to the edge of the boat. Cassus' shot goes over it's head and it begins casting a spell . Marvin grazes his target who fires back, bolt whistling past Marvin's ear. Carnadine's side of the boat is cleared of elemetals by work of the sailors.
On the other side of the boat three more elementals are summoned. Kargeld is ready and cleaves through one of them to damage a second, two elementals return attacks, one managing to hurt Kargeld.
The volley of arrows from the sailors hits the two crossbow wielding tritons who look very hurt, the leader still looks relatively unharmed.
Marvin aims at one of the wounded tritons, firing again.
Cassus draws out and fires another arrow at the triton leader in a smooth continuous motion, hoping to disrupt another of it's spells.
Round 6.
Tragershen watches the triton leader closely, looking for him to start casting again. With the syllables of a spell on his lips, he waits eager to inflict pain on the elemental creature.
Ready action to cast magic missiles at the triton leader if he casts a spell. Damage . Will check
Carnadine breathes a quick prayer to Asmodeus. He circles the sling and launches the bullet at the lead triton.
Tragershen targets the Triton leader with their separate attacks and causes his spell to fail. Adding Cassus' arrow making him look quite wounded. He casts another spell and a warm bluish pulse surges through his body . He directs the two tritons near him to fire at Tragershen. They both wizz over his head.
More elementals appear summoned around Kargeld and the fight intensifies. Kargeld proves his ferociousness in battle and they reduce the elemental numbers down to 2 again without suffering any further harm so far.
The sailors volley barely scratches the tritons this round. Carnadine pushes past the protective ward around the leader but his bullet goes wide and skips along the water behind them.
Marvin keeps doing what he's doing, hoping to see a few more sailors fall to elementals.
Carnadine circles the sling again and launches the bullet at the lead triton.
Round 7
Tragershen smiles down at the tritons as their attacks miss. His strange alien eyes glitter as he repeats his last spell. This time he doesn't bother to wait until the leader casts again, hoping to finish him off before he can flee.
Magic Missile, damage . Will check
Cassus draws and fires another arrow at one of the tritons with practiced efficiency.
Tragershen's missiles hit the triton square in the chest and he falters backwards slightly and cries out in much pain and channels another spell into himself and seems to feel a little better. Marvin and Cassus both miss their attacks and the tritons reload their crossbows and fire back at Tragershen and one of the hits him in the arm .
On the other side of the ship Kargeld is hit by a crossbow bolt from out of the darkness as he and the sailors clear their side of elementals again. "There are still tritons out this side. We need more lights!" he calls. The sailors with Carnadine drop their shortswords and equip their bows, firing along with their shipmates a bigger volley, wounding them with mortal hits and the two sink below the water. Carnadine's second bullet hits the leader this time and he too is mortally wounded dropping below the water.
With no elementals aboard and no tritons visible portside but several expected starboard Kargeld hears the mens cheers and guessing that some enemies must have fallen calls out, "Is that all you've got!?" holding his axe up high.
Carnadine moves to the starboard side and slings another bullet at a triton. He fires blindly into the night.
Round 8
Tragershen winces in pain when the bolt strikes him in the arm. He lets the limb fall limp so he doesn't graze the wound while he acts. Tragershen switches tactics, hoping to disrupt the triton's ability to coordinate efforts.
Casting glitterdust, centering it near the triton lead so that it will catch him and as many of his minions on that side of the ship as possible. DC 17 save vs. Will to avoid being blinded. They will also have a -40 to stealth for the next three rounds.
Marvin casts Light on a new bolt. "Your crossbows are pathetic!" he calls out at the unseen tritons. "If you want to hurt someone, come up on deck and fight us with a real weapon!"
Joining Carnadine over on the starboard side of the ship, Cassus nocks up an arrow to his bow and fires a shot at the shadowy figure of one of the remaining tritons still harassing the ship "Alright men! Let's send the rest of these bastards back to the depths of the sea where they belong."
As he falls beneath the water the Lead Triton calls out, "The shining sun has seen the wickedness you hide in hearts. And thus it will be the son who brings your doom."
The remaining tritons call out in their language but no more elementals are summoned or crossbows shot this round. Cassus and Carnadine's attacks go flying into the dark unknown if they hit anything.
As light is cast over the water it reveals no tritons to be seen. Any dancing lights or light enchanted arrows shot around the water reveal no other creatures but some fish underwater. The floating crossbows and likely wooden hafted tridents are the only things visible. The dead tritons sinking out of sight. The others fled or hiding.
"Right. That's it then." Carnadine concludes.
He secures his gear and goes to tend his warhorse.
Tragershen will scan the debris left behind and floating for any magical auras. His range is only 60', and he won't leave the ship to extend that unless he detects something.
The sailors cheer as they see the enemy vanquished and Kargeld goes about setting a watch and checking on his men.
"No losses this time. We fought well. I killed six of those things on my own, they never stood a chance against us. What do you think he meant about the shining sun?"
Tragershen does detect a lone magical aura 60ft. away coming from the trident the leader dropped as he died.
The rest of the night passes without event and everyone manages around 4hrs of sleep, some of the sailors are fatigued the next day. The tritons do not bother you any more, though Kargeld sets more careful watches.
----------
Three days later as you progress up the coast Capt. Kargeld comes to you, "We are a little light on fresh water I think. We are passing Seal Isle and there is a stream that feeds into the bay there. We’ll take on water there. I’ll send a party to the shore. Of course, that means we’ll spend a day in some of the richest fur seal hunting grounds all along this coast. I’m thinking of organizing a hunting expedition. Interested?"
Tragershen will gather the other three together and ask "Does anyone have a grappling hook, and a good arm to go with it? We should pull in those crossbows; they can be quite valuable if they are designed to work underwater. Also, I think the trident left behind by the leader may have magical properties, making it quite valuable indeed."
Speaking with the three, "Can any of you swim? It might be easier fishing with a net than a grappling hook. We could tie a rope to the swimmer, in case they run into problems." Carnadine suggests.
With the three of the Nessian Knot silently staring at him, he grabs a rope and gives the other end to Marvin. Then, he ties the rope around his waist and jumps in the water. He then swims to collect the weapons of the tritons.
"Tridents huh. Rare weapons. Masterful craftsmanship. They'll fetch some good coin."
"Let's consider our share of them your tip for delivering us to our destination safely."
Three days later as you progress up the coast Capt. Kargeld comes to you, "We are a little light on fresh water I think. We are passing Seal Isle and there is a stream that feeds into the bay there. We’ll take on water there. I’ll send a party to the shore. Of course, that means we’ll spend a day in some of the richest fur seal hunting grounds all along this coast. I’m thinking of organizing a hunting expedition. Interested?"
"I don't see the point in killing something as pathetic as a seal," Marvin replies, "Without money involved. But hunting sounds like the sort of detour I thought we were paying to avoid."
"Ye'll get ya fair share of the Seal's fur pelts if ya join me. They'll fetch a nice price later." he replies to Marvin.
Tragershen watches on. "The delay would be unwelcome, but more capital for our cause is always useful."
"Useful yes, however the most valuable commodity that can be gained from our voyage is the speedy delivery of our cargo." Looking over towards Kargeld, he primarily directs his next words to the captain as he continues "Do not worry over the water stores captain, my god has granted me magics that can assist us there. And I'm sure that the seals will be here for our return voyage to obtain a collection of pelts to sell is that important to you."
"I agree. Let's make all haste to complete our delivery." Carnadine supports. He will aid Cassus on the Create Water if necessary.
Marvin shakes his head. "We're not that kind of merchants. It could be a while before we had a chance to sell any seal pelts, and I don't want to haul bags of the stuff around for weeks. If Cassus can refill our water with magic, that would certainly be a more expedient option."
"Then it sounds like the problem is solved. A modest time below decks for one or two of us will allow us to continue on. Our mission is most urgent, and the fewer delays the better."
"I don't want your magic water. This is my boat! I’m the captain! I say we need water so we get it!" Kargeld insists and doesn't back down and the boat heads towards the isle. "You can stay here while I do all the hunting then."
Captain Kargeld is greedy for as much wealth as he can get, just like Thorn told you. The water isn't even that low if you check.
Sense Motive
Puzzled by the captain's outburst, Tragershen looks to the others in his Knot for direction.
Marvin shakes his head. The oaf dies soon, he reminds himself.
The next day the boat is anchored several hundred metres off the isle and Kargeld prepares one of the boats for a day's hunting with three of his men.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Carnadine tends to his warhorse and his patience. He looks forward to killing Kargeld like a seal.
Tragershen will go on the hunts.
Day one, aid another
Day two, aid another
He'll make good use of Color Spray and Magic Missile on the hunt. But mostly, he's keeping an eye on Kargeld. Tragershen is making sure that he doesn't have another reason to be so insistent on coming here. Is he adding to a hidden treasure store? Is he meeting allies to betray us? Tragershen will watch to make sure. And if he can make some gold in the process, so much the better.
For three days Kargeld goes out to hunt, pleased that at least one of the mercenaries saw the value of a little extra gold in their pockets. On the first day they managed to bring back 6 seals. On the second while they hunted other members of the crew skinned the caught seals and Kargeld brought back only 4 this time. On the third day they brought back 5 before calling off the hunt. "Most of them have fled the isle now. Wouldn't be worth another day." Kargeld promised Tragershen 2 of the pelts for himself when they part ways (worth 50gp each to the right buyer) for his help.
The next day roughly around noon the sailors spot some boats near the coastline heading towards them. Upon closer inspection they are revealed to be three one-man kayaks and a larger open seal-skin canoe called an Umiak with four men rowing. The vessels close towards the Frosthamar and hail you within shouting range in broken common.
"Hey!... We are peace!... We want trade!..."
"Yutak savages," Kargeld says, "Be careful men."
These men are a Yutak hunting party and after a successful season they are headed south hoping to find a Talirean settlement to trade with. The relationship between the native Yutak and the Talireans has never been cordial. Yutak are famous for their family loyalty and their vendettas. They are bold for trying to go south and trade with Talinguarde. They do not worship Mitra or Asmodeus but their own pagan gods.