Sasha furrows her brow and shifts from one foot to the other, green eyes taking in the sparkling blue and violet eyes of the two beauties before her. "Sooo, does that mean that you're not really married to Andr– uh... the big guy, and that you're not really El's momma?"
When Alis and Lureene nod in unison, a slight smile spreads across the redhead's face and she takes a single long step forward to give El an overly long hug, resting her cheek atop her brown-steaked blonde hair. Before she finally lets her go, Sasha dips her head down and whispers something very quietly into Lureene's ear.
Perception Checks
With that, she gives Lureene's tush a squeeze and lets her go, a good bit of her normal spring back in her step.
Even as Gelik's teeth clamp down on his thumb at the display of affection between Sasha and Lureene, Jask's eyes never leave the princess.
"Governor...?" he asks at last, "Your highness, did you say that you will be the new governor? Sar– the Surya-ka-Vahaak, she has already convey to you my testimony then, yes?"
When Alis affirms the white-haired scribe's questions, he falls to his knees on the sand, not far from her, his hands clasped together, watery eyes pleading. "Please, you must believe me, princess. If... no when we get off this island, in Port Eldarion, in the archives... unless they have all been destroyed, I can show to you and document the truth of what I have said. It would be as much for your highness' benefit as my own... as for that of the Dafari!"
Her expression calm yet serene, Alis nods graciously. "You have been away from court for a long time Mr. Derindi, so I shall take into account that you may need some time to bring together the necessary documents. Dafar and Ilmarond would be in your debt if you are able to provide solid proof of this conspiracy between my predecessor's office and that of the Freebooters. It is my intention that you have the time and resources made available to conduct this investigation personally."
Lureene giggles as Sasha shows her affection for her, and she pulls Sasha back to her and whispers back:
Her good mood restored, she looks off to the wreckage of the Pearl and feels more confident and ready to face the dangers ahead. Or she will, once she has recovered her spellbooks.
As you draw near to what's left of the White Pearl, Alis manages a laugh at the fun Priyya and Mal are having at Aerys' expense. "Alright I think you two have shaken Ms. Mavato's faith enough for one day. Brace yourself Aerys, nothing I can say will prepare you..."
With that, she speaks a few words in a language none of the rest of you understand. Instantly, Sarah and the grey-haired little girl Alis is holding shift back to their normal forms. Even as Aerys laughs and playfully punches the grinning cleric in the arm, the princess quips, "See I warned you, scary business, huh?"
Glancing at the jagged hole torn thru the forward hold and the missing prow which seems to have broken off, she comments with feigned absent-mindedness, "Still, being flat as a board could be useful. Might be able to patch up the hull... Oopsie! Love you, Priyya!"
As they close on the broken ship, Mal tunes out the light banter, his senses all straining towards any sign of danger as his large bow comes out, arrow held at the ready.
Priyya follows Mal's lead, drawing her bow even as she looks at Aerys, amused. "It's true; I'm not buck-tooth, hair-lipped, or fat-assed... I'm an inveterate liar. It makes being a Paladin fairly interesting."
She turns a flinty almond eye to Alis at the 'board' comment, saying breezily, "Calumny! I shall smote you later at my convenience, your royal hind-ness."
Priyya starts eyeing the boat for an easy way up or in and any clues for what happened.
Lureene sidles closer to Alis, and comments mirthlessly, "I am no sailor, but looking at the Pearl, I think it needs to have all the pieces put together before it can sail, right? I suspect Priyya's boards will not be sufficient to patch that." Her eyes twinke in amusement.
Once they have reached the wreckage of the White Pearl, Lureene studies the wreckage, her hand straying to finger her wrist sheath where her wand is secured. Did the captain poison us? Was it Ieana? What happened to Alton? She picks up on the mood of both Priyya and Mal and she scans the area for any hidden threats.
"I suspect Priyya's boards will not be sufficient to patch that."
Priyya's look is venomous yet her tone is mild. "Not to worry. I'm certain your corpse will more than fill that hole."
Priyya's look is venomous yet her tone is mild. "Not to worry. I'm certain your corpse will more than fill that hole."
Lureene stares askance at Priyya's comment. Well! It's not MY fault Mother was well-endowed! She must really miss Felmor! Still, she resists the urge to respond in kind, knowing her skills would be useful in the coming days ahead. Heck, it's not like she could repair the Pearl by herself.
"Blame 'Lis, she started it." she sulkily replies under her breath.
Theme: Apostle of Sorrow
As you crest a small rise looking out over the wreck, you banter fades away as you spy the bodies of sailors who were hurled to their deaths or drowned in the crash. At the base of the rise, perhaps 30 feet south of the wreck, you see the launch pulled up onto the shore and foot prints leading into the ship thru the missing prow.
There are several bodies on the beach amidst the wreckage. Their bodies appear to have been picked at by scavengers, and you can only assume it was the sea scorpions that lie dead upon the shore, shells split by a sword. With each incoming wave, the White Pearl grinds against several spurs of rock protruding from the surf. Judging by the deep gouge in the sand, and the debris on the cliff-face above you, she must be slowly slipping back into the sea.
While you stand looking at the lost vessel, Aerys turns to Priyya and asks, "What in the world is that scrapin' noise comin' from back in the hold?"
Perception Checks
MAP: Wreck of the White Pearl, (Round 00)
"I'm not sure what it is myself, but I doubt we have more than a day before the wreck is dragged back into the sea."
Standing on the same level as the lower deck, looking into the ship, you can see that much of the cargo has shifted and begun spilling down the hallway. Even furniture that was bolted down such as bunks and tables have torn free. The masts are all broken and the sails dangling from them stir in the breeze. Now that Aerys has pointed it out, the rest of you can hear what sounds like something moving about further in the ship making a scraping sound on the deck or perhaps the bulkheads.
Lureene stares at the scene of death before her. Her senses are heightened by the scraping sounds coming from the wreckage. Sensing danger imminent, she pauses and quickly casts a spell, and a protective field engulfs her body, shimmering in the sunlight. She then draws her rapier, and stays close to Sasha.
"I don't like this at all, Sash." she whispers quietly to her friend.
Sasha nods noting that Derrek, the tattooed punk who had been hitting on Aerys a few weeks earlier, and that Mal had KO'd in their brawl lies dead on the sand in front of them. His right ear and eye both appear to have been pinched out by the eurypterids.
"Hmm..." Sasha looks about at the dead sea scorpions, "Hey ti– uh... princess, you said these were just baby sea scorpions right? Any clue how big they get?"
Ignoring that Sasha almost called her 't1ts' again, Alis replies, "The adult sea scorpions I've seen were larger than these tables floating here. However, I hear that they can grow even larger in more remote regions."
"You've got that right, your prince– I mean Alis. I've heard they can get as big as a whaling launch!"
Lureene mutters an unpleasant oath in her native Abyssal tongue. Switching to Common, she mutters, "Wonderful, I was wondering where Momma Scorpion disappeared to."
"Lovely, so what big strong heroes are going to go in there and sort things out?"
She picks the monkey out of her hair and holds it at arms length, "Certainly not you! Nooo, you already saved me from one of those nasties once today, didn't you? Hmm, I'll have to think of a name for this little fellow if he's going to stick around. We might be here a while..."
Priyya holds her bow and knocked arrow casually, angled at the ground. "Mal, I'm thinking you and I go in there and figure out what's making that noise. Doesn't that sound like fun?"
The tall hunter nods and cuts a grin over at Priyya's words, whispering orders to Little Sister to shadow Darkmane... guarding her flank. He then stalks forward, bow in hand and arrow half-drawn to cheek, senses straining into the broken ship.
As Mal and Priyya edge forward, silently moving thru the water, Talvyra seemingly makes her displeasure known by making a veritable racket behind them. Before Mal can even hiss a warning, the commotion up ahead grows quiet and you instead hear only an intermittent chitterring. Whatever it is knows you are here, unfortunately, there's a pile of crates and tarps in the way that you'll either have to pull out of the way, plow thru, or climb thru to get back to it.
Back on the beach, Alis instructs Jask and Gelik to remain out of harms way and stands in front of them along with Aerys. The gnome seems only too happy to agree while the frail old priest looks over her head to see Sasha and Lureene take up position near the breach to cover the others.
Perception Checks
MAP: Wreck of the White Pearl, (Round 00b)
Mal stops immediately, not even breathing as he takes in the smells of the room. Then he turns, putting his mouth right up against Priyya's ear and speaking in barely a whisper.
Mal turns a hand up towards Priyya, 'Wait'. Then he ghosts forward, stopping behind a crate and trying to determine what the creature is and of the status of Alton.
When Mal edges forward, he unfortunately learns that eurypterids hunt not only by sight and sound, but a sense even more precise than scent — feeling vibrations in the ground! The moment he steps forward, the crate ahead of him is smashed to bits and he gets jabbed hard in the shoulder by a sharp stinger! Although he jerks free of the spiny appendage quickly, with the rush of adrenaline flooding his system, it's hard to tell if he was fast enough ot evade poisoning or not.
Behind the wall of debris, he and Priyya can both make out a sea scorpion at least as large as the ones Alis described. This beast is larger than a dinner table with a thrashing tail at least 15 feet long! It is silhouetted by a light from behind and you realize that the creature has battered down the door to your aft cabin but was unable to force its bulk inside.
Initiative Rolls
, anyone else; Eurypterid
MAP: Wreck of the White Pearl, (Round 01)
Without a second thought, Priyya fires a pair of arrows at the creature's 'face'. One skitters harmlessly off the hardened carapace.
Full Round Action -
HIT:
DAM:
HIT:
DAM:
With quick thinking, Priyya ducks to the left to acquire line-of-sight and then fires a a pair of shots past Mal, one of which just barely manages to penetrate the oversized crustacean's armored exoskeleton.
, anyone else; Eurypterid, Priyya
MAP: Wreck of the White Pearl, (Round 01b)
Cursing, Mal takes a hasty step back, the strange words of his power issuing from his lips as he grasps the focus at his neck. Hope that works... he thinks as he flings his clawed fingers in an exaggerated manner, a soft Schnikt accompanying his metal claws flicking out.
"Alis! We got a scorpion as big as a horse in here. I should be safe from its poison for the time being, so I'll try to keep it's attention while you all take it down!"
Talvyra, seeing Big Brother in trouble, takes a quick step forward in a guarded stance, trying to keep the monster stinger in the wooden cave.
"Son of a Demon's goat!" Lureene exclaims, as she shifts her left hand slightly, allowing her wand to slide into her left hand. Grasping it firmly, she points it at the Eurypterid while uttering a migical phrase. Several magical bolts fly out, impacting the creature!
"Whaaa?!" At Lureene's curse, Sasha gives her friend a queer look.
The volley of magic missiles Lureene unleashes zig-zag around her friends, over crates and around debris to impact what little of the giant sea scorpion she can see. Next to her Sasha shakes her head and calls out, "Hey, 'Dre? Not all of us can shoot magic out of sticks. Not sure about chasing a badger down its hole either... Can ya lure it out?"
Looking over her shoulder at the rest of you, Sasha continues, "Um, if you guys don't have any weapons, maybe you and– uh... her princess– ness should get some place safer."
; Eurypterid, Priyya, Mal & Tal, Lureene
"r... Can ya lure it out?"
"That is the plan..." Mal mutters under his breath as he tries to avoid becoming a meal.
Priyya admires Mal's self-control as they both try to back out slowly, bringing the XXL crustacean with them. "Come'on, you fat lobster... we've got a nice vat of melted butter outside for ya."
Alis looks up at the lines dangling from the wreck, has a look back at Jask and Gelik and an idea strikes her. Running lightly across the surface of the ground as easily as firm ground, Alis makes a truly stupendous leap and lands on the deck of the ship and quickly locates some rope coiled on the ship's railing.
Grabbing one end and tossing the rest back towards the others she braces herself and shouts, "CLIMB UP! GELIK, YOU FIRST, YOU'RE THE LIGHTEST!"
Giving Jask and Aerys a look, Gelik rubs his palms together and says, "Best not to keep the good princess waiting, right?"
With surprising speed for such a short fellow, the gnome scurries up the rope and hustles behind Alis to add a bit of extra weight to the line for Jask.
"I have your back, your highness!"
Checking out my rear is more like it...
"JASK, YOU'RE NEXT!"
With seeming ease, the tall, thin man reaches far up the rope, nearly able to reach the slanted deck of the ship, and pulls himself up and onto the deck with little effort. Beneath him, the unsupported deck groans ominously.
"WOMAN, LOOK OUT!"
Jask runs forward even as he shouts a warning, the deck giving way beneath him.
"EL!" With a shout, Sasha shoves her friend out of the way and the two just narrowly avoid getting clobbered by the falling deck as it crashes down atop the bodies and debris already in the surf.
Unable to get clear in time, Jask falls with the deck landing hard, the rope still dangling nearby. Wincing from the impact, he grabs hold of the rope intent to try again as soon as he is able.
, Priyya, Mal & Tal, Lureene, Alis, Gelik, Jask, Sasha
Lureene mutters another curse as Sasha’s body slams into her, knocking her into the wet sand which works its way under her sleeping robe, and next to her skin. This is why I HATE the outdoors! When she notices the wreckage of the Pearl which had just missed her, she nods gratefully to her friend, ”Thanks, Sash! Looks like I owe you for that!”
"Oof..." Sasha comments, having landed atop her friend as they tripped over one of the dead sea scorpions. "You had a bit more padding before, but I think we'll live. Well, until that thing gets to us anyway..."
Stifling a curse, Aerys hurries over and hoists Jask back to his feet. "Keep it together, old timer, watch your footing!"
Looking up she calls out, "Alis, there's a bulkhead below you, but I'd back up some more anyway. Hittin' that crag probably didn't do it any favors..."
With a rattling hiss, the giant sea scorpion moves forward smashing the remaining crates before it with its over-sized pincers as it approaches. Ignoring the dangling tarp, it lashes out at Mal, pursuing him with a single-minded focus. However the loose fabric fouls its attack even though it gets ripped to shreds by the creature's spiny tail fins.
Now having a clear view of the creature, Mal can plainly see that the beast already suffered a few wounds earlier before you engaged it. One of its small legs appears to have been hewed off, and there are a few chips in its carapace from where something hacked at it. Priyya can also now see that the door into the aft cabin has been smashed to bits but that the creature was unable to wedge itself thru.
, Alis, Gelik, Jask, Sasha, Aerys; Eurypterid
MAP: Wreck of the White Pearl, (Round 02)
Priyya steps back diagonally to give Mal a clear avenue of retreat and fires two more arrows. She curses the thick carapace that continues to deflect shots.
"Alton, or anyone else, if you're in that back room, give us a sign so we know how you are doing!"
Full Round Act -
HIT:
DAM:
HIT:
DAM:
Priyya manages to put an arrow into one the monstrous lobster's many joints, but it scarcely seems to be phased by the hit.
Her query to whomever might be in the aft cabin goes unanswered.
, Alis, Gelik, Jask, Sasha, Aerys; Eurypterid, Priyya
"Gelik, move back about 20 feet or so, I want to get past the breach in the hull."
Once the two are in position, she calls out, "Thanks Aerys, the deck feels a bit surer further back. Jask, go ahead and climb back up again..."
With a helping hand from Aerys, this time the aging priest is able to get atop the deck without incident. He quickly hurries to the princess' side nodding in gratitude.
, Sasha, Aerys; Eurypterid, Priyya, Alis, Gelik, Jask
Alley OOP!" Sasha vaults back to her feet in one smooth motion, pulling Lureene up with her. Looking back at the ship, she comments quietly to Lureene...
[spoiler="Rolls"]Acrobatics Checks
Perception DC 15
Aerys rolls her eyes at Sasha and says, "You better watch your mouth Sash, pretty sure you-know-who could shut it if she wanted to..."
With that, she steps off the unsteady debris and picks up a broken spar that looks like it should be able to make a suitable quarterstaff.
, Aerys; Eurypterid, Priyya, Alis, Gelik, Jask, Sasha
MAP: Wreck of the White Pearl, (Round 02b)
Lureene shakes the sand out of her hair, and on hearing Sasha’s comment blushes noticeably, while muttering quietly to herself, ”You have NOOO idea…”
Turning her attention to the matter at hand, she steps around Sasha to get a closer look at the Eurypterid. Brandishing her wand again, she lets fly her missiles again. On hearing Mal's plan, she motions to Sasha, "We need to nail it, once they draw it out!"