Morin is greatly enjoying the moonlit sail, his legs instantly adjusting to the shifing motion of the ship. It feels as alive as a horse, but much less...skittish. Even as mild a beast as Dodi feels more unpredictable and unruly to Morin than the deck of a ship afloat.
His pleasure at being on the water again begins to diminish some as he sees the glowing lights evading them. Curses! We've paid 50 good pieces of gold to board this ol' tub and sail a few yards closer to those lights, rather than gettin' up close where we can see 'em, and our scholarly types can study 'em a bit.
He's about to voice his thoughts on this when Scubber speaks up. Looking around in alarm, Morin says "Where away, Scubber?"
Surprisingly, Chloe manages to stay awake, nearly hyperactive, unaware that the lights are taunting so. She keeps thinking one will show up at any time, and is disturbed when their 'captain' notes something else in the wind.
"No..."
Sarusa whirls toward the aft of the vessel, her eyes blazing.
"BEHIND US! A great fin!
Tekk spins around, trying in vain to locate what has disturbed the captain...
A long, sinuous shape crests out of the waves behind you and takes to the air, pumping wings between a serpentine neck and tail, easily eight feet long from snout to tip. Water trails from its vaguely horse-shaped head, gullet, pinions, and two powerful, claw-tipped legs. It easily gains the sky, blotting out a small expanse of stars and fixes you with baleful eyes as it screams out its hunting cry. In seconds, it is seventy feet above you, wings wide as it rides a thermal from the warm lake waters.
Scubber releases the tiller and scrabbles below the rail for a crossbow. Oh gods, oh gods preserve me! he whispers to himself.
"If it's close and not the smartest--and a beast--I can charm it," says Sarusa.
The creature drops ten feet and catches itself before rearing back it's serpentine neck, silvery scales throwing back the moon's pale glow. A bulge forms under the larger scales of its pale gullet, banded like the underside of a snake, before traveling up its neck and out from its mouth to spray viscous bile down upon the center of the boat.
Initiative
?????
Sarusa
Morin
Tekkis
Scubber
Chloe
Karozekas
Sailors
Morin watches with a heady blend of awe and horror as the swimming giant serpent takes to the air, then approaches the Shoreleave Queen and spits a foul-smelling, thick liquid upon it.
Nimbly stepping outside of the affected area on the deck, Morin looks up at the creature and says "Now who's gonna hafta swab that deck, ye nasty beast?" He draws his bow and fires at the creature, asking his companions as he does so, "Any ideas on how to take this thing down, mates?"
Tekk recoils as the bile washes over him. His stomach clenches and heaves as the stench fills his nostrils. Clenching his jaw and fighting to keep from becoming violently ill himself, Tekk reaches over his shoulder to draw his crossbow. Fumbling with trembling fingers, he manages to load a bolt.
Sarusa grimaces at the acidic spray and loads a dustburst bullet into her sling.
"Nature's law, Morin. Kill it before it kills us."
"Sadly... we've little choice..."
Chloe, face blank from the incomplete but chaotic picture she is receiving, simply puts her hands together and starts to pray, letting invisible, bolstering waves of divine encouragement seep through her party. Hopefully, it would be enough to stave off effects of revulsion and fatigue (at least partially!).
Karo mutters a few arcane words, imbuing his bow with power, draws back his bow and fires an arrow at the beast.
Sarusa hurls her slingstone with deadly accuracy, cracking the flying beast squarely in the chest, although it shrugs off the dust cloud with no ill effect.
Morin's arrow rips through the membrane of the creature's wing while Tekkis fights down nausea and readies his crossbow.
Chloe invokes a blessing on the group, channeling her own strength of will to give strength to your arms and wash away fear.
Karozekas's arcane infusion sends his arrow into the creature's other wing, punching through the thick membrane.
Scubber and his sailors manfully work the cranks of their heavy crossbows, the wily old captain finishing first while his mates still work to pull back the heavy draw.
The beast screams its defiance, hurt and hunger once more, and dives into the group. Its weight sets the boat to rocking, and nearly capsizes the vessle.
It lashes out at Sarusa, biting deeply into her shoulder, although it is unable to connect with its lashing tail.
"I... am ... covered... in ... WORMS!" Tekkis screams out in fury. Throwing his crossbow down, he pulls his mattock and strides toward the monster with murder in his eyes.
Karo draws back and fires another arrow at the creature.
Morin drops his bow and draws his shortswords, while calling out "Chloe, get away from this thing! Move towards the bow, away from Scubber, if you can!"
He then swings one of his swords at the creature, taking advantage of it being encircled by his friends and the grizzled captain of the Shoreleave Queen. His strike is accurate, but not especially powerful.
Chloe barely avoids tumbling over, but nods to Morin, but is painfully aware of the fact Tekkis is without his protective shell. She can't leave him like that in good conscience.
She loses her spell in all the rocking of the boat and groans, stepping back reluctantly.
[ooc]Failed spell cast, 5 ft step back.
Sarusa falls back, bleeding. "Let me summon some eagles...if I am close, the thing will just attack me and spoil the spell. We need to keep it from taking to the sky again."
She uses an action to get up.
As Sarusa struggles to regain her feet on the wildly rocking craft, the man-sized wyrm snakes out its head towards her again, hoping for another taste of her flesh.
Its pointed teeth close swiftly on the arm she holds up defensively, tearing through skin and muscle to scrape the very bones within. She manages to stand and extract herself from its maw as her blood flows freely to the hull of the ship, mixing with lake water and the sticky, worm-infested bile so recently spewed by the creature.
By waiting for Tekkis to advance, Morin is able to slide under the creature's guard and and thrust his blade deep into the creature's haunch while the the half-orc's mattock crashes down onto its shoulder.
25 damage (20/56)
Chloe attempts to shield Tekkis, but the rocking of the boat and the screams of the beast are too much for her, and the energy of her spell collapses on itself before it can gird the unarmored warrior. She is able to extricate herself thereafter, none the worse for wear.
By standing on one of the benches, Karozekas is able to get a clear shot, and sinks an arrow into the belly of this flying sea lizard.
The twang of his bow is followed by the deeper thrum of the crossbows of Scubber and his mates. The distant splashes of their wayward bolts do not seem to phase the creature overmuch, but dark blood flows freely down its scaly hide from the wounds you have inflicted, and its breathing is labored and ragged.
Wounded to the point of frenzy, the beast lashes out once more with bite and tail, focusing its attacks on Tekkis.
With sharp teeth and the heavy club of its tail, the beast vents the rage of its wounds on the unprotected flesh of the stalwart fighter.
"A-ah! Sarusa! Tekkis!" Chloe puts her hands together and channels for all she's worth, mentally praying a mantra to make the battle end faster.
Tekk barely notices the wounds he suffers as he continues to attack the creature!
As Tekkis drives the point of his mattock into the creature with an incredibly powerful swing, the beast recoils, bending its body away from the towering half-orc and exposing the soft spot beneath its wing to Morin's blade. He swings at it twice. Only the first strike connects, but it sinks deeply into the vulnerable spot, causing Morin to have to yank the blade hard to free it.
Between the raw power behind the chiseled point of Tekkis' mattock, and the precision of Morin's blade, the beast does not stand a chance. It falls to the deck, dark blood spewing from its mutilated body.
All is quiet for a moment, except for the sounds of your excited breathing and the winding hand cranks of Scubber and his sailors. A thick cloud passes before the moon, but the light does not diminish, though it has taken on a decidedly more orange glow. All around your boat, indistinct orange lights rise to the surface, revealing men with the fins and heads of iridescent lake trout as they break the surface all around your boat. Here and there, you spy byrnies and helms made of overlapping shells. Hands grip long, stone spears, or nets of woven plant matter. The orange lights emanate from these pisceans, or rather the strange, slug-like creatures that inch a course all over their bodies, leaving firey, luminescent trails in strange geometric patterns on the scaly hides of these strange humanoids.
Fore and aft, port and starboard, whichever way you look, there they are, staring at you blankly while nictitating membranes open and close over their eyes. Their mouths open and close in the night air as they bob up and down on the gentle waves of the lake.
One in particular, with the firey markings giving its face a fierce aspect swims close and calls out in a strange, burbling language. When none of you respond in kind, it tries again in a harsh dialect, including almost unreplicable glottal stops and high pitched droning.
Merlings! Scubber lets out a low moan with his pronouncement and cranks his crossbow all the faster. They've come to put crabs twixt our nethers, an' feed us to th'Queen o' Catfish!
Morin is momentarily stunned by the bizarre appearance of the fish-men who have surfaced all around them. Hearing the crank of crossbows, however, he realizes the danger and calls out to Scubber and his crew, "Avast windin' them crossbows! If they meant to kill us, we'd be dead now, as many as they are! And if even one of ye fires, it'll be the end of us fer sure!"
"Weapons down." Sarusa rises shakily, pale from loss of blood, her sling tucked away. "Not that I was worth it in that fight. Ahem. Merlings. We cannot understand you, but we mean you no harm. If we have trespassed, we will leave at once."
She bows slightly, wincing. "...is anyone here decent at parley?"
Och! I'm captian o'this ship! Scubber hisses at you. I give th'orders here, an if'n y'don't like't, you can get off my boat! His eyes are white rimmed, furious and fearful. Veins pulse along his forehead and neck.
Chloe shambles over and presses her lips together and places her hands against one of Sarusa's more startling wounds to stop the bleeding, though she doesn't dare cast a spell at this point. Weapons aren't really an issue for her, as she'd never drawn any to begin with. She does bow, however.
Karo stands still, bow drawn, watching the merlings.
As he watches, recognition dawns on Karo. They're are locathah, they may be just trying to trade with us.
"You don't think we accidentally... just killed their g-guardian, do you? If so... that's.. probably less likely..." Chloe asks, eyes unfocused as ever.
"Right ye are, Karo. I should have recognized them right away. But what makes you say they might want to trade with us? Do they trade with air-breathers? Can we offer them something in trade, so they see we don't want to fight with them?"
"Scubber--you have an unprecedented business opportunity. No one else is out here to trade with these fine folk. Take it and trade fairly and you could do well." Sarusa stands firm in the face of the sputtering captain.
Tekk lowers his mattock and bows toward the fish people. Turning back to the Captain, he nods toward Sarusa. "I'd listen to the lady, Captain. It's your ship, right enough, but we just saved it and you. I figure best way to repay us is to avoid starting another fight when we're surrounded and outnumbered. So I think you should avast your crossbows, or whatever Morin said."
Thinking of something, he looks at the fish people again, then points at one of them, then points at the thing they just killed, then pantomimes putting it back into the water.
Karo shrugs at Morin. Something I read somewhere, I guess. They would trade more, but encounter communication difficulties. They usually trade goods made from local materials for metals, ceramics, and eh...root vegetables.. Karo removes one of his daggers and holds it out toward the locathah, handle first.
Once Sarusa mentions the prospect of coin, Scubber's eyes light up and he rapidly lowers his crossbow while making hasty motions for his men to do the same, and even going so far as to throw an oily rag at them when they do not act quickly enough for his liking.
The fish-men do not seem to understand Tekkis's pointing, although they stay well clear of the gory remains of the creature. The fierce one gladly accepts Karozekas' dagger and tucks it into his woven belt.
He looks at all of you, points at each of you, and then pulls five pieces of oily, dark weed out of the pouch that hangs off his scaly shoulder. He attempts to hand the plant matter to each of you, and once the five of you have accepted, pantomimes raising his hand to his mouth, chewing and swallowing. Afterwards, he pantomimes diving into the lake itself, and an overhand swimming motion.
The locathah seem friendly but wary. They seem to want you to eat whatever this plant is, and then follow them into the lake.
This weed looks like Mergill, a plant that grows fully submersed underwater, usually at depths far too great for humans to reach. It is said to allow surface dwellers to survive underwater without drowning, although the length of time that it works tends to vary from person to person.
Mergill has the unfortunate side effect of rendering air-breathing creatures unable to breath air while under its effects. Those who choose to ingest it must remain underwater for the duration, or risk drowning on dry land like a fish out of water.
Tekk takes the oily plant and looks at his friends.
With a lop-sided grin, he says, "I'm in, anybody else?"
Morin watches the little pantomime show with great interest, then says, "Well, he's near as nervous about us as we are about him, but I'm sure he doesn't mean us any harm. He wants us to eat this weed and go with him...under the lake. I've spent my life on the water, and never once been invited to visit underneath it."
Smiling along with Tekkis, he continues, "I'm in for sure!"
"Well... that settles it for me, of course... but now that they're a bit more friendly...," Chloe murmurs a spell and tries to mend Sarusa's wounds.
She then takes her share of the oily plant.
Karo glances at the other part members, shrugs, and throws the plant in his mouth. He tries not to grimace as he chews.
Chloe, used to a prison diet until recently and hardly a connoisseur, gobbles up the plant like one would a tasty snack, hardly the wiser.
Sarusa shrugs. "Ach, I can't tell this plant from a duckweed or a duck's arse. It seems safe, Morin? Fair enough."
She chews up the weed.
Gellig clambers out from under some tarps and snaps up the proffered weeds.
"And where were you when I was getting eaten by that water serpent, 'faithful frog'?" Sarusa, unsurprisingly, scowls, but there is a twinkle in her eye.
There is enough weed to share with wayward frogs. As you all choke down the plant, which has a taste and consistency somewhat akin to putrescent, castor-oil flavored, salt-water taffy, your throats begin to feel dry. You swallow, almost reflexively, but it brings no relief. The dryness turns to discomfort, then panic, as breath no longer reaches your lungs.
Scubber and his sailors seem oblivious, while the fish-men look on impassively the fierce one beckoning you once more into the water.
Meanwhile, you begin to suffocate.
Tekk slings his mattock over his back with one hand, glances at the fishman, them jumps into the water.
Morin sheathes his swords, takes a deep breath, and follow the large half-orc.