Seeing theres a bottleneck Shad thinks if he rushes in there they will get opportunistic attacks, so it might be prudent to first lessen their chance to hit him and he downs the potion he bought that would do that...
Grin finishes casting and an eagle appears next to the queen and the smuggler. It attacks the smuggler!
Then Grin moves in, sidestepping past Heskavar and taking a swing at the queen.
Round 2
Shad drinks the potion.
Barrett misses, but Grin slices the Blood Queen deeply.
Round 3
The Pirate Officer continues inspiring, and steps up to cure the Blood Queen.
The Buccaneer tries to strike Biligup, who easily turns the blade, but fails to riposte.
Turn order:
1. Pirate Officers & Buccaneer
2. Biligup
3. Myrsko
4. Heskavar
5. Cordelia
6. Blood Queen & Smuggler
7. Shad
8. Grin & Barrett
9. Munrir
Barrett: 12/13
Biligup: 6/12
Munrir: 8/11
Shad: 11/12, Bull's Strength 9 rounds, mage armor
Heskavar: 6/10, Bull's Strenth 9 rounds, Hypnotic Stare: -2 penalty on Will Saves and Attack Rolls
Buccaneer: -16
Blood Queen: -5
Without much room to maneuver, Myrsko stands against the Blood Queen and attacks with the wand, but misses.
Cordelia fires yet another missile again
Round 2:
Heskavar grunts as the Blood Queen's sword bites into him, before finding his mind muddied by some kind of fell magic from her. Baring his teeth, he stabs at her with his trident before leaning forward to bite at her. Once he does that, he takes a defensive position as he realizes he has nowhere to retreat to.
Round 3:
Heskavar will once again stab and bite at the Blood Queen, hoping to get as much damage done against her as he can before being downed himself.
Though wounded, Biligup continues to strike and parry against the Blood Queen and bring her down.
Round 2
Heskavar strikes the Blood Queen once, missing with his teeth.
Round 3
Biligup strikes the Blood Queen in the eye!
Myrsko misses with the wand.
Heskavar stabs the Blood Queen again, and when Cordelia's magic missile hits her, she collapses to the ground!
Barrett: 12/13
Biligup: 6/12
Munrir: 8/11
Shad: 11/12
Heskavar: 6/10
Shad grins and says through his bloody teeth...well that gives us some live prey to eat. Unless you think joining us would fair better than either being food or swimming to the mainland.....
Grin sheathes his sword on his back. "Can always use skilled sailors. Especially with a whole new ship to crew."
He rolls the Blood Queen over unceremoniously with his foot and tries to determine if she's still alive.
He grunts noncommittally.
I think you’ll find it more amicable than working for a blood queen, Myrsko adds to Grin’s statement, thinking of their own situation.
Let’s get back out on deck and signal the prince, he says. He will help the other direct their captives out.
You take the surrendered Pirates to the deck with the other few survivors. By now, the Hippogriff's Eye has pulled up alongside the pirate ship, and Prince Cadmael and his guards have stepped over to the deck.
"Good work! Good work all! Now, we can tow this ship back to port and reconsolidate!"
Grin will throw the blood queen over his shoulder and bring her on deck. "Got a high profile prisoner here, yer Highness. Can anyone keep her from bleeding out?"
Slowly sliding his way along with the others, Heskavar will move up closer to Lagrin when he asks if someone can stop the Blood Queen's bleeding. Speaking in his gravely voice, he says "I am capable of keeping her alive. And without waking her as well." Muttering a few magical intonations and gesturing with his other hand. As he finishes, the Blood Queen's wounds cease bleeding at dangerous levels.
Cordelia glances at the unconscious Blood Queen for a brief moment before turning her attention elseware. "We could potentially bind her and then chat to her. She had quite the crew with her, and she might possess some information that could be useful to us. Unlikely, but sometimes you never know until you ask" she offers.
I say we feed her to the sharks. Shes of the pirate leadership. Alive she can be a threat. Dead not at all
Two Days Laster
Back at dock, you return for the next meeting with Prince Cadmael.
"We've accomplished a great deal," Cadmael begins, the cool breeze of the sea air blowing through the area cooling, "Now we move onto our next phase of this operation."
You are perhaps a bit distracted by the sight of the Blood Queen, stripped of her weapons and left hanging at the prow in a cage, now left without her fearsome demeanor.
Cadmael goes on to explain that now there are several leads that you can track down in order to work to build combat power.
Leads
"So, if you will decide on your Captain and other officers, and select a mission you desire to undertake. . ."
Biligup's head hung low as he looked down into the deep water nearby the port, a frown on the usually implacable grippli's face. He throws a stone into the water, watching the ripples wash out to sea before he thinks his time upon the Sunny Devil. Never had he put too much thought into the crew that he had fought beside but his skill in combat against the Blood Queen's crew had shown him how outclassed he actually was. With the sudden realization that his combat prowess was not what he had imagined, he looked over his history with a critical eye.
Was it really his croak that scared that pirate captain off of the ship or was it the first mate's steely glare behind him? Were the missions he was sent on as critical as Captain Sandra had made them out to be or were they distractions to keep him safe and out of the way? A sickening feeling began to settle onto the grippli, his head resting in his small palms.
"I was a joke to them."
He wasn't advancing the culture of the Grippli, he was making a mockery of them. He wasn't making a real reputation for himself, he was the jester in their naval court. They didn't seem like bad people, they hunted the worst of the pirates down and had scuffled with the truly brutal time and time again. Biligup realized that they hadn't believed in what he could do. As tears began to come down the grippli's face, stinging over the scar on his cheek left by the pirate who first struck him, he nearly jumped again as he looked into the water.
What stared back was not his reflection but that of his father, the great High Chief Willup. His father stared stoically up at him with those fiercely orange eyes. Biligup's heart began to sink at the thought of failing his father as well, the embarrassment he must have been. Yet the reflection slowly grinned and laughed, the smile of a loving father looking up at the small swashbuckler. Before he could stare any further, a ship sailing into port cast a ripple that crashed against the dock and disturbed the image. It was all the sign that Biligup needed.
The next two days, his comrades would see a change in Biligup. The small frog-like man would become a bit more reserved but he trained ferociously with his rapier in hand. Never would he be a mockery again, never would he let his comrades have to carry his weight. This world would come to know of Deepcroak and that name would come with respect.
Biligup looked up at the broken Queen, studying her forlorn expression for another moment before turning back towards the prince. There were many leads for them to take, opportunities to grow in renown and in power.
"I say we go after the pirates in the Fair Lands. We have a good ship, we have a good crew, we can make the oceans a bit safer for trade to travel through on." The mention of captain and officers makes the grippli's eyes brighten for a moment before they dull again. "There is no way they would want me as a captain. I couldn't even protect Munir."
"I think that Lagrin should be captain...or at the least first mate. I saw him sailing the boat on the raid and he was magnificent. We could do a lot worse with one of his skill." Biligup offers, nodding in support of the tengu.
Munir spends the days after the battle staring into the sun, muttering to himself while communing with Zailor. At night he studies any maps and nautical charts made available to him, to better understand the world beyond the Burning Lands.
Zailor’s domain is vast indeed - but while all lands and seas dwell beneath Him, only my homeland is so favored by His divine majesty it burns!
The gnoll nods enthusiastically at Biligup’s suggestion.
”Yes - it makes sense that those most skilled in boatcraft should command it.”
Ehh I care not as long as theres killing to be had. said the blood thirsty Shad
Preparations are made, and you depart for the Fair Lands. . .
The first several days of the journey go without incident. On the fourth day, as the sun is setting one of the lookouts calls out- "Ahead, over there! I see something!
As you look across, you see the outlines of several sahuagin following your ship.
Between days
Myrsko sits below deck on the ship, cleaning and repairing his broken pistol. That was a bit embarrassing out there, little one. Let’s try not to misfire like that again, he says to his pistol.
Having repaired his primary weapon, he heads into town to shop for crafting supplies. The bustle of the crowd bothers him. I guess I’ve gotten used to life at sea. I can’t stand all this noise and these people. He make his way through to the shop, gets his supplies quickly, and heads back to the ship, relishing the relative peace.
He spends the next day crafting more ammunition for himself.
Before setting sail
Myrsko nudges Grin with his elbow. Quite a promotion from the Blue Hellion, eh? He smirks. I’ll follow you, but don’t expect me to call you ‘Captain’.
Now
Eh, Shad! What do you think? He yells over to the sahuagin.
Shad goes to the rear of the ship and peers at them trying to identify any imperial badging. Remember most of my kind serve the King. So we must be prepared for a fight.
Shad: Counting the forms above and below the surface, you think there are 9 Sahuagin out there, and you'd guess that one of those would be a leader at that large a group. Watching for a while as you go- it seems that the Sahuagin don't mean to attack right away but are definitely following you.
Looks like 9 of em. following at a distance. Id say they are going to either report our goings or going to assault after dark.
You continue at your present course, the sun dipping below the horizon and the four moons rising above the sky. The Sahuagin stay on pace behind you- their heads popping up and watching as they go.
Another hour and the sun will be fully set, leaving some of you without sight should the sahuagin attack in the night.
Standing near the rail to watch the following Sahuagin, Heskavar will have told Fang to keep ahead of the ship so as to not potentially trigger a preemptive attack by them. Turning to look at the others, he will say "I think that we should turn and face them soon, those of us that are able to in the water. If they turn out to be friends, that will be good. If not, then the light will be good for those of you that can't see without the light of day or moon."
"What do you think, Shad, any chance they'd talk to us? Otherwise, yeah, let's get this over with."
I doubt it. Knowing my kindred. We are more interested in blood letting than peace.
Round 1
As you near the Sahuagin school, the one in the center fires an underwater crossbow at Shad!
narrowly hitting him!
1. Sahuagin Leader
2. Biligup
3. Cordelia
4. Grin
5. Myrsko
6. Shad
7. Heskavar
8. Sahuagin
9. Munrir
Shad: 14/20
Round 1
Biligup goes full defense to protect himself.
Cordelia delays waiting till she is in range.
Myrskso and Munrir operate the boat to speed it forward.
1. Sahuagin Leader
2. Biligup
3. Cordelia
4. Grin
5. Myrsko
6. Shad
7. Heskavar
8. Sahuagin
9. Munrir
Shad: 14/20
Knowing his underwater crossbow only had a range of 20' effectively, he kept the crossbow loaded hanging at the ready from its kelp harness as he swam out to the left, looking to spread the assault a little. moving half his speed he came to a halt and readied the crossbow for firing if one got within 20' of him.
Round 1
The saguagin surge forward, many of them bumping up against the launch to stop its forward progress, while others move towards shad, one of them being hit by his bolt as they move in.
Round 2
The Sahuagin leader moves forward, shouting in his sharklike tongue to direct his troop.
1. Sahuagin Leader
2. Biligup
3. Cordelia
4. Grin
5. Myrsko
6. Shad
7. Heskavar
8. Sahuagin
9. Munrir
Shad: 14/20
Red sahuagin: -2
Myrsko continues rowing the boat forward.
Shad let the crossbow dangle from its kelp rope and tore into the Sahuagin right to his front.
As the sahuagin begin to surround the boat, Biligup draws his rapier and steps in to strike. He looks for an ample opportunity to sink his blade into one of the sahuagin.
The enemy ducks under the waves just as the grippli strikes, earning an irritated ribbit from the small frog man.
Cordelia aims at a Sahuagin and attacks with Snowball
Seeing Biligup enter melee, the gnoll drops his oar and grabs his spear. ”For Zailor! *YIP!YIP!*” his call to action emboldening his allies regardless of their personal faiths.