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Brannart is shocked at the suddenness of the lethal force. We don't know for a fact that there are slavers here and this is the right ship... these others took the first shot, and may have just committed murder. I hope we're right about this.
Fenna notices the large number of crossbows up on the ship. She calls out to the (the... What?) who jumped up onto one of the rowboats in warning. "Crossbows from the ship deck, use the boxes as cover!"
For her own part Fenna doesn't figure she's going to pull anything so dramatic as the (the... Really, what is it?) on the rowboat. She might be able to gum things up though.
Fenna swims to the rowboat currently offloading boxes. She goes for the bow so she will be best blocked from the men on board. She grabs the bow to steady herself. With her other hand she gestures into the boat while she recites "Liukastella!", slathering the interior of the rowboat in a coat of Grease.
The port side of The Silent Asp erupts into action when one of their rowboats is attacked. Sailors working on bringing supplies on board stop their duties, shout and curse in confusion, then reach for weapons. Ten sailors in all reach for and start loading crossbows as they line the railing. Four more sailors are amid ship unfurling sails and using ropes and pullies to raise crates out of the water and lower them into hull storage. The sails and open hatches create a barrier between each side of the ship. On either end there are walkways to circle the ship. Among the sails and rigging amid ship there is a ladder leading to a second deck. Next to the ladder is an unopen hatch presumedly leading below deck.
The boatman slashes his dagger at Malakar. The Undine nature warrior easily deflects it and sets the weapon flying into the water. Redirecting his scimitar back at the sailor, Malakar sends another blood-spraying body into the Andoshen.
Nymbleth pulls a vial from his belt and consumes its foul tasting contents in one smooth movement. His muscles appear to expand and bulge stretching his clothing as he moves up the gangplank.
Yraelzin motions for Brannart to precede him up the gangplank. Once trained, he'll make a satisfactory bodyguard. Now, I had better get on to crafting a victory sermon. To think, just a few hours ago I was merely another would-be colonist, and now I'm the successful leader of an anti-slavery task force!
Brannart moves over the gangplank and onto the ship.
If this requires a double move (his move is 20'), he'll do that.
If it requires only a single move, then he will also use Total Defense, bringing his AC to 24.
"Submit or become the oceans fodder!
Merrek turns in the water before taking aim at one of the men on board of the big ship. He extends one hand above the surface of the water and let's fly a bolt of electricity.
Once that is done he drops below the waves to hamper their aim.
The halfling, acting almost automatically and questioning himself internally as he does so, glides along the walkway carefully and quietly to try to get to the other side of the sail.
Why am I risking my hide like this? Over a rumor of trafficked children? It had better be accurate...
Vexas, you slink along the stern-side walkway avoiding the pool of blood forming from the sentry. Arriving at the other side, there is a line of crewman loading crossbows along the rail. Their backs are to you, but a crewman further back working a rope and pully system sees your movement. He seems shocked at first, but then a wicked grin crosses his face as he uses a lever to lock the pully in place, then draws a dagger.
Brannart and Yraelzin move up the gangplank and find some shadow next to Sho. A small bolt of lightning originating from the port side of the ship brightens the sky momentarily as it disappears into the sky. This brief moment of light accentuates a well-muscled Tiefling companion moving up behind you.
Malakar, with your second kill in as many seconds, the two remaining men in seated positions with oars in hand just stare at you; fear in their eyes. They do have sheaved knives on their belts, but neither make a move for them.
Fenna swims up to the side of the nearest boat unnoticed by its occupants since they are staring at the empty space in the water where a fish-man disappeared, after shooting a bolt of lightning into the sky. She silently chants arcana and mystical runes briefly form on the bottom of the boat before turning into a slick substance. The two standing men working with raising the crate start slipping. One is able to hold onto the raised crate and find his balance. The other boatman’s feet fly out before him. Before he can gain any type of hold, he falls backward into the water and next to Fenna.
If they try and escape get em Razor
Sho's arrow finds it's mark into the thigh of a port side crewman. He falls backward writhing in pain and clutching his leg as blood spurts from his femoral artery.
The halfling sighs and throws up his hands like he can't win today. Mostly though he's ashamed of his miss on going unnoticed. He deeply prides himself in his stealth and as a first impression on these strangers, it hurts a bit.
Vexas draws his rapier, tossing it lightly into the air and then hefting it. He cautiously angles back away from the sails to engage the crew member at the end of their long line.
After Sho’s arrow downs a crewman, several of the crossbowmen along the railing turn around in shock. ”It’s an ambush,” one growls.
Vexas attempts to down one of those crewmen by stabbing with his rapier. He makes a in the man’s leathers, but is unable to break through the armor as the slaver attempts to dodge the blade.
When Merrek resurfaced he faced the rowboats instead of the larger ship. Failing to hit the people on the big ship he had decided he'd focus on something closer at hand.
Seeing the woman had cast a spell on the closest boat he moved along a bit and once more tried to hit one of the scumbags with a bolt of electricty.
Merrek swims along the rowboats and resurfaces a short distance away. Calling on Gozreh’s power, divine lightning reaches out from his fingertips and surges toward a boatman handling the crate rigging. The man stands in place, rigid for a second, as his hair stands on end and his face turns a sickly black. Then he falls forward, bounces off the gunwales, and splashes to the murky depths of the Andoshen River.
Vexas, the stunned slaver that almost tasted your rapier aims his crossbow point blank at you but you easily avoid the bolt. Then the crewman that first noticed you pounces to the deck dagger in hand and slashes it out at you. You easily deflect the blade and turn back to the crossbowman.
Two crossbowmen move from the railing toward the sails and fire bolts at Brannart and Sho. Brannart easily blocks the bolt with his sword while Sho barely has to duck as the missile shoots over her head.
The remaining three crewmen operating the ropes and pullies, lock their respective pully in place and draw daggers.
Three crossbowmen along the railing fire bolts at Malakar. All three bolts are far from the mark.
The remaining three crossbowmen shoot bolts at Merrek. One bolt misses by a mile but the other two find their mark but deflected by armor.
Seeing the fishman resurface and take out one their companions with a bolt of lightning, the oarsmen start panicking and attempt to row away from chaos that is befalling them. Each rowboat still has one crate. All four of the remaining men standing in the rowboats working the ropes and crates lose their balance and fall into the Andoshen. The men start splashing around. There are four crates swinging on ropes over the water in various stages of being properly tied. You can hear the screams and cries of children inside.
Malakar notices the panic in the oarsman and feels the boat rock as they hastily back paddle. Determined to make it on the ship, the Druid grasps the crate and attempts to climb it. Focused on the crate, Malakar can hear the whimpering of a child inside, then he notices the precarious nature of how the crate is hanging by the rope. He makes the decision to drop back in the waves knowing that too much jostling might just dislodge the crate and send the cargo sinking into the river.
Brannart moves across the open deck, avoiding the sails - he has some skill as a sailor so knows that could be challenging.
He draws his sword as he moves, and strikes at the crewman who shot at him (Crewman #3, has a crossbow).
The veteran's skill is evident, as he deals a solid blow to one of the crew.
Brannart shouts, "Stand down and surrender and I will show mercy! You cannot win, by Cayden, and we will not yield!"
Who is this 'we' anyway? thinks the warrior as he looks at his haphazard band of allies.
In Fenna's view the situation is more a rescue mission than a police action. She's not terribly concerned about catching the culprits compared to recovering the crates intact. So she swims for the departing rowboats. As she passes the man beside her in the water she tells him "better swim for it now if you want to save yourself."
Fenna tries but fails to pull herself up into the closest rowboat. Instead she continues to hang on to the bow and begins shouting a speech about the special place in hell for slavers and kidnappers of children, warning the rowers to stop and surrender or suffer eternal punishment.
Worrying that eternal (and thus more distant) fears won't provide sufficient incentive, Fenna adds that the ship is now taken and those who don't stop rowing will be picked off by crossbows.
Yraelzin stands astride the gangplank, a proud and commanding presence. Crap! That's a lot of slavers! Why didn't they give up when I told them to? And how did I end up involved in this anyway?
Brannart glides across the deck, unsheathing his sword as he moves. His training and experience is still there as he knocks the crossbow away and cuts the slaver down in one graceful swing.
Fenna grabs hold of the bow of the closest boat as the oarsmen start backing away. She is taken for a short ride before the boat starts to drift as the oarsmen stop rowing. ”What do you mean kidnapping and slavery? Don’t shoot; we’re not doing that. We just deliverin’ some goods.”
Nymbleth moves to the other side of the ship and launches an arrow.
Vexas grins at the crewmember at the other end of the crossbow aimed at him, but now empty. He immediately takes the opportunity to lunge in with a sleek stabbing motion.
The left side of his lip curls into a slight frustrated frown, as that piercing of the crewman's armor didn't feel very deep.
Well... why don't you do me a favor and pour lemonjuice on that while I deal with others.
He carefully steps directly in front of the crossbow wielder he just addressed and stabs back at the colleague now between him and the burly man of Cayden.
Nymbleth pounces across the deck, tail swishing back and forth. He knocks an arrow and fires. The Missile finds its mark in a crewman on the far end of the line. The arrow pierces leathers and flesh and now protrudes from the man's torso. His leathers quickly turning a dark, sickly red, as he screams in pain.
Vexas's rapier finds a hole in the crossbowman's defenses. The blade does not sink deep, but the man yelps in pain as it draws blood. Then the Halfling moves and pivots, performs some flashy rapier swooshing and sticks his blade right through the dagger wielder's throat. The man falls to the ground gurgling blood for mere seconds before his eyes go blank.
Fenna bobs up and takes a tighter hold on the bow so she can see the rowers.
"So you're telling me you don't know the cargo in the crates you're ferrying? If that's true and you don't want to spend the rest of your life dead or in prison, open up that crate and let's see what's inside."
Fenna thinks about the situation a moment longer.
"And help me up into the boat."
"I would advise you to stay put or end up dead like the others!" Malakar growls while brandishing his bloody Scimitar
Sho stares down the slaver that shot the bolt at her, takes aim with her bow, and shoots another arrow. Aiming for the legs, the Ranger scores a direct hit of the femoral artery. Unable to maintain his balance, he falls forward and drops into the hull below.
The oarsmen stutter at Fenna, ”If if-if you want the crate, you can have it. We don’t get paid enough for whatever this is.” The man speaking, although referring to the whole situation, uses his foot to show the slick bottom of the boat by easily swishing it back and forth to show he cannot get any traction. ”I Would help you m’Lady, but I can barely row.” He shows his feet slipping out from him as he tries to gain friction to help row and propel the boat. ”Let us to get to shore, then if you want the cargo, you can have it. Too much trouble for us.”
Time seems to stand still for the tiefling as he watches the crewman he shot scream in pain.
Malakar has trouble getting on the rowboat due to the movement of the old dingy and the choppy water. He hangs on to the bow and threatens the oarsman with his blade. ”If you want the cargo, take it, but if we stop rowing, the Andoshen will take us right into the Sea. Let us get to the docks, at least,” the oarsman pleads.
Merrek sees the rowboats pull away with the Undine he followed and the woman he rescued attempt to stop two of them. There are also four men that fell out of the rowboats swimming for the docks.
Oh! Right!
Fenna dismisses the spell so the oarsmen can move normally. She also starts trying to wrestle herself up into the boat again.
"Well help me up now, then row for the docks."
She calls out loudly for all the boats to hear. "If you are truly ignorant of this slave smuggling affair, row for the docks and disembark. If you do not do this we will assume you are guilty and deadly force will be used to bring you to heel!"
"Fine get us to the docks but don't try anything funny!"
again trying to get into the boat
Fenna dismisses her spell with a flick of her wrist. The oarsman look utterly astonished when their feet find traction again. Using her knowledge of tides and currents, she waits for a wave to peak and uses this to propel herself into the boat. She hits the bottom unceremoniously with a thud, but straightens herself along the keel line to appear formidable. Projecting her voice at the rowboats floating around her, she gives her ultimatum.
Malakar works his way onto his boat, brandishing his blade. He hears and sees a woman climbing in another boat. She speaks forceful demands, and the Undine is not sure if his oarsman are listening to him or to her. Glad either way, he sees all ten rowboats head toward the nearest open docks with ladders and available dock lines.
It takes a few minutes, but the boats are secure along the dock.
A crewman standing by his braked rope and pully system while holding a knife yells out, ”Maneuver 7C”.
When he yells this, the crewmen holding knives, including the man that shouted the order, grip their ropes with one hand while threatening their respective ropes with their blades
The remaining seven crossbowmen load their weapons and take aim. You all feel at least one bolt directed at each of you.
”Now this is what we’re gonna do,” the man speaking continues. ”You all are gonna drop those weapons of yours and disembark or me and my friends are gonna cut these ropes and my other buddies are gonna cut you down. Also, would hate to see the CARGO get wet,” he slightly shakes the rope he is holding and shows his blackened teeth with a wicked sneer.
The speaking man and the other two near the ropes seem ready to cut the ropes and send the dangling crates into the Andoshen. The crossbowmen seem ready to fire. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO!
The tiefling eyes dart back and forth between the slavers holding the pulleys and those aiming their crossbows while he runs through several scenarios in his mind. He quickly discards several options a likely to fail or harm the captives. A wicked grin erupts on his face as he announces while he aims his bow at the mouthy scoundrel, ”It is you who should surrender, the guard is on their way and should be here momentarily.”
Yraelzin's commanding baritone echoes forth. "Indeed! As my underling has spoken, you will soon face the local constabulary. But at present, you should tremble before the might of a Priest of the Third Step of the Living God!" He then, subtly, starts moving back down the gangplank.
Brannart has faced far worse than a few sailors with crossbows.
"There is no escape for you. Surrender and I will advocate mercy - exile. Go find a new life in the Shackles or in the Stolen Lands. But harm the captives and you will die."
He looks to the other men holding the ropes.
"If you want to live, all you have to do is not cut the ropes. Or are you loyal to your leader to death?"