A Push of the Fates.... Zakhara... You Jewel!

Game Master Insnare

Per Zaheed's request the Bard pulls out his zither and asks, "Would you like a ballad or a toe-tapper?" as he takes the time to make sure it is in perfect tune.

I expect Liath's pops would wait until after he has the information before killing him. Also, as a corsair both you and Nura had difficulties understanding the map. You could give him 750 gp which might also be more than you find on the adventure.

"Whatever a fair price is- a share seems like to be less, but it is fair."

"Be at ease, my friend. It is not good to look a gift camel in the mouth, for you may be spit upon! He has done nothing to decry my trust, and to most of us, the map may as well be written in outlander's tongue! Let us include him for an equal share. If it should make you feel more secure, let us ask him to take the bond of salt."

Or it could be more....

"Oh. Yes, well, that seems fine.

As it is your idea, peradventure I should not steal the honor in execution of such. Go ahead and see if such 'twould is meat to him."

The Bard plays a very arousing tune about romance and efreeti and the desert home of the Grand Caliph's ancestor and it almost makes Liath cry with joy at his skill.

As you weigh anchor, and leave the port he says, "We must sail north, northeast towards the city of Muluk. From Qudra, it should take a day and a half to Liham another another day to Umara and then a day and a half to Muluk."

Feel free to look at a Zakhara map online, basically, there is a city about Northern Zakhara

Can I have direction sense and seamenship rolls please

Zaheed dutifully puts his back into the work on board the small ship.

Seamanship: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20
Direction Sense: 1d20 ⇒ 14

Direction Sense (trained) 15: 1d20 ⇒ 2
Seamanship (untrained) WIS 14: 1d20 ⇒ 8

"I know little about the sea and traveling as such, but I am relatively certain of the direction. North is that way."

Uthman worried a bit how his camel was doing in the ship's hold, I hope she does not get seasick., "I hope I do not get seasick!" he added half aloud.

Nura offers the bard some coffee, making certain that he sees her salting it slightly. "To the company," she offers, taking a cup for herself. She also pours a cup for everyone.

Seamanship: 1d20 ⇒ 5
Direction Sense: 1d20 ⇒ 20

He sees Nura's gesture and drinks the coffee as she does and says, "To the company, here, here!"

GM rolls

Through teamwork, your group is able to follow the coastland of Zakhara and half of you go to bed while the other half mans the ship.

The seas are calm and kind, but through the darkness, a soft glow illuminates the side of the ship. Looking over, the characters and their crew see a school of fish, each as large as a dolphin, swimming alongside them. The fish give off bioluminescence that shifts colors. They would be an easy source of food, feeding the crew for multiple days if they were to be caught.

"Look! Are they not breathtaking?" says Fadilah when the bioluminescent fish shadow the ship. She leans against the railing. "Oh, what a magnificent sight."

No stranger to the sea, Zaheed immediately spots the school of fish and looks across the deck for a suitable net to cast.

Seamanship (Fishing): 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15

Liath puts a gentle yet restraining hand on Zaheed's arm. "Have a care, love. I have read many stories, and in each a beast of a wondrous nature always brings doom to those who treat them harshly.

Leave them be."

Zaheed, when you roll a Proficiency check you should not add 1. Lower is better.

Zaheed is able to net him one of the large fish and brings it aboard.

Ok, thank you. I reread the rule on ability checks. So in this case, the +1 is applied to my Dex score for an adjusted ability score, and I roll vs that. So my roll of 14 is equal to or less than the net 15, and I succeed. I got it now.

After a mighty struggle, Zaheed nets one of the glowing fish and manages to wrangled it on deck. At the captain's direction, he takes it to where it can be properly cleaned, filleted, salted, and stowed.

Nura tells Zaheed where he can stow the fish. You continue sailing northeasterly towards Muluk throughout the night. The next day in the morning the sun seems nice and bright.

GM Rolls

Off the starboard bow you about 20 feet from your ship you spot a group of 11 animals that look to have the body of a seal and the head of a wolf. This group seems to be swimming towards you ship.

"What are these strange beasts? Are they dangerous?" Uthman looks to his companions, perplexed by the creatures of the sea.

Following Uthman's gaze, Zaheed identifies the creatures. "No beast of lycanthropy should be trusted. Get off the rails and prepare yourselves for a fight!" The warrior draws his new blade and holds his action, ready to attack should one of the sea wolves jump aboard.

Nura stays at the helm but draws her new scimitar.

"Oh, my! Please, hear me Great Najm! We on this boat seeking your favor!"

Nabila will cast bless fearing the worst.

Everybody do not forget to level up and make sure you roll your hit points in the discussion thread. Ok, it seems you guys want to fight, I was allowing the opportunity with a couple of seamanship rolls to avoid it... cool. Everyone can make a surprise round attack.

"Don't say I didn't warn you..." Liath murmurs as she spies the fantastical creatures bearing down on them.

"Fortunately, it doesn't look like those creatures are born purely of the water. Perhaps if we display some initiative we shall be able to outrun them!

Unfurl all sails and bank the rudder hard right," she calls, heading amidships. "Anything with the head of a wolf can not be all fish."

She tacks the mainsail hard astern, trying to steal the wind and get some speed before the onrushing foe.

Seamanship: 1d20 ⇒ 5

I am going to need seamanship successes from most of you to get it right. If you have a creative use of a NWP to help please describe it to me.

Seamanship (14, untrained) or Direction Sense (15): 1d20 ⇒ 20

Uthman attempts to help, but trips over the ropes and finds himself in the way.

Seamanship: 1d20 ⇒ 18

Zaheed realizes they might yet outmaneuver the seawolves, but with his sword already drawn he is clumsy and cannot make the ship do what he wants.

I am having the Bard roll his NWP to see if it is still doable.

The bards seamenship 1d20 ⇒ 11.

I still need one more to get you to pull away, so Nura or someone else could get it to work.

Seamanship: 1d20 ⇒ 14

Nura plots a course head on to the pack, but at the last minute, she spins the wheel to starboard.

You mean port, don't you? The seawolves are off the starboard bow.

Ehr, yes, Port.

Nura steers the ship as if she is oblivious to the seawolves and you see that they are about to jump onto the ship as they transform in mid air to their humanoid form you cut the sheet and the majority of them hit the back in the water because of the 20 rolled by Uthman, I cannot let you get off scott free... 1d6 ⇒ 1 leaving 10 of them behind you.

Initiative Party 1d10 ⇒ 5, Seawolf 1d10 ⇒ 2

Round 1

Party

Uthman curses beneath his breath, "This is my fault, I must make amends!" then charges the sea wolf.

Long Sword: 19 - 1d20 ⇒ 19 - (5) = 14
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

Dagger: 19 - 1d20 ⇒ 19 - (17) = 2
Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4

Zaheed stands beside Uthman and swings his greatsword, but the footing on the boat is not ideal.

Attack: 19 - 1d20 - 2 ⇒ 19 - (8) - 2 = 9
Damage: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

"I too share the responsibility. I was rash with my aggression."

Don't forget I cast bless! +1 to hit and +1 vs fear.

"You both did more than I could do!" Nabila shouts over the sounds of the combat raging onboard the ship. She backs away from the rail and finds a seawolf not yet engaged to target.

Shortbow w/bless: 18 - 1d20 - 3 - 1 ⇒ 18 - (13) - 3 - 1 = 1
Damage if hit: 1d6 ⇒ 5
Shortbow w/bless: 18 - 1d20 - 3 - 1 ⇒ 18 - (2) - 3 - 1 = 12
Damage if hit: 1d6 ⇒ 6

I think there is only 1 on the boat.

"I'm not one to say I told you so, but," Liath breathes out as she adds to the melee with her steel-shod fists.

Attack1: 19 - 1d20 - 4 - 1 ⇒ 19 - (9) - 4 - 1 = 5
Damage1: 1d4 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
Attack2: 19 - 1d20 - 4 - 1 ⇒ 19 - (3) - 4 - 1 = 11
Damage2: 1d4 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
Attack3: 19 - 1d20 - 4 - 1 ⇒ 19 - (10) - 4 - 1 = 4
Damage3: 1d4 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12

The bard takes out his sword and attacks as well, 18 - 1d20 - 1 - 1 ⇒ 18 - (20) - 1 - 1 = -4 crit 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (3, 4) + 1 = 8

Through the combined effort of the entire group you are able to bring down the seawolf before it has an opportunity to cause your group any undo trouble.

COmbat Over

Any post fight commentary, or should I move it forward?

I'm good with moving on.

You throw the dead Seawolf overboard and you continue sailing noreasterly towards your home city of Muluk.

I am assuming that you are sailing directly to Muluk and not stopping at the other cities along the way. Since there are only seven of you on this journey, your stores should last for two weeks as is.I imagine that Nabila, Fadi and Nura will probably want to stop in Muluk because their family and friends probably are worried sick not knowing where you disappeared to. I am going to need 3 Herbalism checks from everyone who is trained in it.

Yeah, sending a letter sounds like a good idea.

Can I get some Herbalism checks please?

Not proficient in that skill!

Same. I'd be happy to try it untrained.

I also am not trained

Also not trained.

Nabila 3d20 - 2 ⇒ (8, 8, 13) - 2 = 27

Nabila looks through the food stores on the ship and is able to discern that some of the smoked fish is tainted.

To differentiate between what is tainted and not I will need either a herbalism check or a survival check.

Survival INT 8: 1d20 ⇒ 8

"Oh, we should avoid the tainted fish, if we can."

Uthman is able to separate the tainted fish from the rest.

GM rolls

You spend the next few days passing by desert terrain and on the last day about 3 hours before you are set to land in Muluk. Your group catches sight of what they believe to be dolphins as they travel. A collection of shadows swim alongside the boat, before leaping from the surface in a beautiful display. The creatures resemble horses, with their hindquarters replaced by a fish’s tail. They appear harmless, curiously investigating the party’s vessel. Some get even closer, sniffing up at the side of the ship.

Hello

Zaheed marvels at the strange creatures around the boat. Such a fascinating array of life in these seas. As much as he has enjoyed the journey, he looks forward to landfall and the adventure ahead.

Nura tries to keep her mind on keeping the vessel on course, but cannot resist tying off the rudder long enough to enjoy the show from the exotic animals.

Sorry, RL has me super distracted, as per usual for me this year. Slowly getting back to normal and caught up, still here.