Rougar puts his face in his hand, shaking his head and chuckling to himself.
At least Percy is always in good spirits
He then slips down behind Percy.
Gill grins as the two jump down and puts his hands on his hips looking over at Soru, "Perhaps now is a good time to look over this merchants wares."
Gill walks around the room for a few minutes looking over at the various goods and utensils to see if anything of value catches his eye, even the food.
While 'shopping' he sneakily pockets any morsel he can find.
Gill casually looks around at the various goods, picking some up to inspect and replacing them. Rougar climbs down into the room below.
"Wha, who are you?! Whomever you are, help me with this stinking crabs!"
His voice can be heard upstairs and below.
Gill casually walks to the hatch and smiles at Soru before heading in after them himself.
I miss the sea. The endless blue, the foamy peaks, the tireless lapping of the waves on the hull of a ship. There I could really lose myself, become someone else and forget that I ever had a forgotten life. Being on land brings back the need to search for my former self.
Sóru draws his longbow with a languid yet practiced motion and peers into the hatch.
Perhaps some target practice will help take my mind off things.
Percy turns and watches Gill riffle through Braddock's wares.
Lemme know if you find any more Salt Pork, small, scaly one. That stuff's TO DIE for.
Percy turns back to the hatch in the floor and sees Rougar's tail dip down out of sight, through the opening.
Oh, Crabs again, Braddock? I thought we agreed on no more dock women, my friend?
Percy crouches above the opening and peers down in.
Shaking off the shock of seeing a man attacked by large crabs, Rougar slips his sharp kama out of his pocket and begins to move towards the nearest crab.
Sóru and Percy see Rougar draw his kama and move forward towards a crab beneath them and they see another crab to Rougar and Gill's right. Gill drops down and sees Braddock swatting with his broom and the six crabs scattered about.
Everyone, come down! I need help!
Rougar strikes at the crab next to him. He first swings his kama, but follows up with a quick stomp from his foot, in an attempt to pierce then crack the creatures carapace.
As Gill enters he gasps at the size of the crabs and spins out his crossbow from his back aiming it at the large crab across from the ladder in the upper left corner of the room.
"Holy shi!!
He nervously pulls the trigger.
Hearing Percy's jest, Sóru grins as he nocks and releases an arrow toward the crab that is not yet being attacked.
Good dear! Those are a lot larger than the crabs I thought you were dealing with! Very well then, looks like a fine meal for the lot of us!
Percy stands, clears his throat, and begins speaking in a very deep and graceful tone.
A crab is a simple thing. Not to be trifled with but truffle stuffed: delicious. A crab...
Percy continues on in this manner, talking basic nonsense and poetry on the discourse of crabs.
Sóru's arrow flies wide of the crab to the right of them, sticking into the wooden floor before it.
With such a small target, Rougar is unable to touch his kama with the crab, but his foot comes down and crushes the crab beneath it, the shell letting out a slight crunch. The crab is left dead.
Nearly two and a half feet tall, three crabs swarm at Rougar, over the corpse of their dead friend, snapping their sharp pincers. They clammer helplessly as Rougar steps deftly away from them, but one manages to move faster than Rougar anticipated, clipping his shin.
A fourth scuttles sideways to Gill, but he bats it away as he draws his crossbow and fires. The crab snaps at the opening in Gill's defenses, but both it's claw and Gill's bolt miss their targets.
Percy's words begin to inspire the party.
miss
miss, hit
Braddock swats with his broom but fails miserably, clearly untrained in broom combat. The crab responds by clamping down on his leg and hanging mercilessly.
Gill squeals loudly and is clearly terrified he looks around himself in panic and yells, "Wha! Uh someone help me!!!"
He performs an acrobatic lunge over the crab and runs to the far bottom left corner of the room.
Rougar winces as the crab's attack lands, but notices the crab slash towards Gill. As Gill calls out for aid, Rougar reaches over to lend a hand. As Gill leaps, Rougar grabs the kobold's clothing and helps throw him.
Help Mr. Braddock!
Sóru nocks another arrow and closes his eyes. When he opens them they glow a faint blue. From the center of his chest a blue glow originates. It seems to trace his veins as it travels over his chest to his shoulders, down his arms and to his hands. From his hands the blue glow highlights the bow and arrow and ends in a single blue spark at the tip of the arrow.
Easy to miss if one is not looking, the whole process takes the time of a heartbeat, and the magical blue glow travels as if it were pumped from Sóru's heart.
As the spark shines at the tip of the arrow point, Sóru lets it loose.
Carnivorous crustaceans can convene crazy carnage if not dealt with properly...
If there is room , Percy draws his dagger and jumps down the hatch. If there is not room to jump down, Percy still draws his dagger but hovers over the hatch, watching the crab battle below.
The crabs snap fiercely at Rougar and one manages to hang onto his arm, the other merely drawing blood.
Gill kicks off the wall and spins safely over the crab, just barely dodging it's claws.
Braddock Yelps in pain and flings the crab free from his leg, steps awkwardly, but safely behind it and produces a scroll from the pocket of his tattered coat.
Wow! I am rusty today!
Sóru laughs and draws another arrow, nocks it and pulls back the string. He closes one eye and bares his teeth in concentration. He fires the arrow at the crab to the left of Percy.
Baring his fangs, Rougar growls as the crabs land their blows.
Damn these creatures!
Rougar bashes the creature on his arm with a fist, while delivering a swift kick to adjacent assailant.
As Rougar finishes his attack, he slides away from the remaining crabs.
The crab attached to Rougar's arm is crushed beneath the momentum of his fist. His kick collides with the floor just beside the second crab, as it frantically scuttles about, feet clattering.
As Percy descends the ladder, a crab grabs viciously onto his thigh. Pain lances up his body.
The other crabs clatter about, their claws flailing noisily, but erroneously.
Gill collects himself and steadies his breath. He pulls out a bolt from his sack and loads it into his crossbow aiming at te crab between himself and Braddock.
The bolt strikes the crab, but ricochets off of it's shell.
Gill lowers his crossbow and stands there with his mouth gaping.
"IIEEEEEE! We are done for!!"
As Percy lands on the bottom of the ground, he looks angrily at the stupid crab that has decided to crab grab his leg.
Chill, Crab, Chill!!!
Percy drops his dagger and throws a handful of rose petals into the air, simultaneously speaking a repetitive soothing line in some foreign language.
The crab attached to Percy's leg keeps it's beady little black eyes open, and it keeps it's claw clamped on Percy's leg. The other two crabs collapse on the ground.
Braddock swats at the crab before him with his broom, but the bristles just brush harmlessly on the crab's shell.
"Dear Lathander! These crabs are vicious!"
Alack! I fear this crab may do me in if he's not taken out first!
Percy grimaces and holds his thigh above where the crab has him grappled.
"Hang on there, Percy."
Sóru draws another arrow across his longbow. A blue radiance blinks down the shaft of the arrow and ends at a spark at its point. He looses the arrow at the crab grappling Percy.
"Oh, good heavens."
Not liking his shooting, Sóru drops his longbow to the floor and draws his rapier. The stylish basket hilt covers his hand and the elegant lines of the blade shine in the light of the brazier.
Sóru calls down through the various sounds of melee, "If you'll excuse me I'd like to join you fellows."
It's time to end these beasts
Rougar slinks back to his previous position, delivering a strike to the wriggling creature latched to Percy's thigh. Quicker than the eye, his other hand attacks the sleeping crab adjacent to it.
Rougar handily crushes both crabs with his attacks. The leg of the crab previously attacked the Percy twitches on the floor after falling off pathetically and then lays still as dead.
The last crab mindlessly snaps at Braddock, unaware of it's dwindling companions.
Gill notices Rougar's skillful strikes and musters up the courage to load his crossbow and aim at the same crab once again.
Well now, that's enough about crabs, wouldn't you agree, Rougar?
Percy picks up his dagger and runs to the square just south of the north western corner of the map.
How ya holdin' up, Braddock, old buddy?
The bolt leaps from Gill's crossbow and skewers the crab, salty crab juices leaking out onto the wooden floor.
The last crab sleeps restlessly on the floor.
"Holding up? Barely! I just had a whole damn brood of coconut crabs swarm in through a hole in my floor and one of them gave me quite the pinching. I almost had to torch them all. To think I almost used a precious Flamsterd scroll on lunch! They aren't cheap, you know?"
Braddock sighs and looks at his wound. Frustrated, he throws the broom onto the ground.
Percy sits on the ground, his dagger clangs to the floor as he drops it. He has been grabbing his thigh with his other hand this whole time.
Yeah one of those bastards gave me a right good pinch as well. Got anything to tie this up with, pal?
Grimacing, Percy takes his hand away from his thigh and a good deal of blood is visible.
Rougar slips his kama back into his robe. He grimaces as he touches the spot where his wound is.
Those little demons were quicker than I thought.
As he approaches the sleeping crab, he sees it lying on the wood floor helplessly and his anger towards the creature fades. His adrenaline subsides and his slow breaths return his heart rate to normal. He cannot bring himself to kill it. He looks around for an opening in the room, where they might have come in.
Soru, could you come help me? We should return this creature from where it came.
"Er, sure. It's the least I can do after missing all those shots. I find I'm much better with a blade."
Sóru hefts his rapier as he looks at it, then abruptly sheaths it. He picks up his longbow, affixes it on his back, and climbs down into the basement. He unsheathes his rapier again and delivers a coup de grace to the sleeping crab, driving the point straight into its shell.
Sóru looks to Rougar with a hint of regret in his eyes.
"Sorry, my friend, but I recognized the spell our unfortunate Percy used on that crab. It would have woken up almost at once
Though saddened it had to die, Rougar understands.
I suppose that it could not be helped.
Wha? You feel bad for giant bug? That thing tried to lop my 'ead off but me not worry heh Gill make a tasty kebab to eat see?"
Gill points at the one crab he got lucky with but is still squeezing his crossbow nervously in combat stance, shaking.
What in the nine hells were those? Gill almost ruin trousers back there, keep it together Gill.
Clutching his crossbow for dear life he says, Well what about why we came here then?"
"Here try this. I never was one for bandages." Braddock pulls a potion out of his pocket and tosses it to Percy. "Dare I consider that part of your payment for helping me there? You're coming here couldn't have been more fortuitous. I'd be pinched and dragged into the tide if not for you."
Percy spots a hole in the north western corner of the room where the wood has rotted away.
"Yes, I suppose you aren't here to kill crabs, hm?"
Still clutching his wound, Rougar walks up to Gill.
They were dangerous, yes. Rougar shows the wound to Gill
However, I did not want to kill it if it was not necessary. It had as much right to exist as we did.
Rougar looks back to the final crab's corpse, juices oozing out of the hole where Soru pierced it's shell.
Sometimes death cannot be avoided though
Rougar stands silently for a moment looking down at the floor before turning to Braddock. He unties the sack still attached to his belt and slips the shortsword out, showing it to Braddock.
I recently came into possession of this weapon and my friend Percy here informs me you are a man who could help me. I was wondering if you could tell me anything about the sword. It's maker or a possible owner. I'll happily use it in trade in any case. I could certainly use one of those potions.
The pain returning after a few moments respite, Rougar clutches his thigh again.
"Ah!" Braddock's stubby face lights up. Takes the sword carefully from Rougar's hands and begins examining it carefully. "Hmm. Yes. Why did you bring this to me, may I ask?" he says without looking up from the sword "And you may have the potion, free of charge. You saved my life after all. And with such a noble heart, it's encouraging. There are few like you these days. It's a sad thing and as such prompts me to be less, eh, virtuous than I admit my parents would like. But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate kindness when I see it." He draws another potion from his pocket and hands it to Rougar with one hand, while holding and continuing to look up and down the length of the weapon with his other.
Gill saunters forward with his hands on his hip, "Well Gill thinks Gill deserves to live more, anyway that sword there is well made, Gill used to sell items like it and Gill knows it is worth a pretty coin and in Waterdeep your average guard doesn't use a blade like that often. Gill seen many guards in his time."
Gill smiles and looks pleased with himself, "Of course I knows nothing about it's markings but me thinks if you want to buy it you could turn a profit on it, that's if kitty here wants to sell it."
Gill smiles and looks at Rougar.
You are very kind, my friend.
Rougar pops open the bottle and drinks its contents.
As for the sword, it was used in the murder of a merchant. I am hoping it will yield some clue towards the identity of the attacker.
He looks down at Gill and chuckles.
And sell it if you are interested.
Percy uncorks his vial and swigs the entire contents.
Ah, thanks for that, Braddock. These are my new found companions, Rougar, Gill, and Soru. Percy nods at each of his friends as his says their names.
Now how in Faerun did you come to be in this mess?
"Hmmm." Braddock concentrates on the sword for a few moments longer then looks up as Percy addresses him. "Mess? You mean the crabs or being involved with a group of mostly strangers attempting to sell a murder weapon?" He looks sternly for a long moment, then cracks a smile and chuckles. "Don't worry, Percy. I remember what I promised you. I specialize in discretion. Do you think I make my living by selling food?"
Braddock turns and leans down to a box beside his bed. From it, he takes a cloth with which he wraps the sword. He also withdraws another potion, this one a deep blackish-blue, and a small sack, which jingles as he tests it's weight before putting it in his pocket. He stands back up.
"Let's take this upstairs, shall we? The smell of dead crab is sickening."
He waddles over to the ladder and begins to climb up.
Percy looks at the sack and the strange potion with a raised eyebrow and follows Braddock up the ladder.
He says to Rougar quietly as he passes him: See? I told you I knew where you lot could sell that thing.