Jacques stands and then stabs.
"Get yer slimy tentacles off me!" Torgal howls, stabbing back at the wounded sea-goblin.
Emboldened, he clambers unsteadily to his feet.
Tobias stabs the half-squid, half-goblin looking monster behind him.
Torgal kills one of the creatures surrounding him. The rest of you miss.
When he stands up, Torgal takes another wound, and then another from the second creature next to him.
Near the wheel, Rosanne is attacked just before she is about to get up.
Jacques is also attacked savagely as he gets up and again from the creature near the balista.
Jacques glares at the tentacled creature that is attacking him. He steps backwards and draws a strange-smelling bag from his pouch. He throws it at the grindylow with a sneer.
“Go get yer own rum!” Torgal howls, grabbing his tankard preemptively and stabbing at some mass of shrieking tentacles.
Round 3 Desperate to help Rosanne, Tobias is stymied by the persistent attack from the nearby grundylow.
Deciding fighting prone on the deck is a losing battle Rosanne risks standing up to attack.
Jacques throws a tanglefoot bag which missed the creature and hits the ballista instead. The creature screams and jumps at him again.
Rosanne stands up under attack but is able to defend herself though not successfully attack the creature back.
Tobias defends himself also, fighting back to back with Rosanne as they protect each others flanks for now.
Torgal, though still wounded, is able to keep their spears away from his skin for a few moments.
Jacques, disgusted with their first battle on their new ship, continues fighting the creature but with less reckless thrusts.
Torgal is a furious whirlwind of blade and tankard and insults that would curl the hair on a dragon's snout.
Forgoing her claws and weapon Rosanne simply reaches out and touches the creature she is fighting. Her touch causing his skin to dry out painfully.
Dehydrating Touch (Sp): Starting at 1st level, you can make a melee touch attack as a standard action that inflicts 1d6 points of nonlethal damage + 1 for every two sorcerer levels you possess and sickens the target for 1 round. Oozes, plants, and creatures with the aquatic or water subtypes suffer lethal damage instead. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.
Round 3
Tobias continues his defense against the grindylows with a solid hit.
Jacques and the creature on the sterncastle continue their struggle, neither able to wound the other for now.
Fighting Rosanne, the creature recoils in pain as its skin dries where she touched it, sickening it.
Tobias strikes with his rapier, wounding the creature attacking him. It withdraws, leaping over the side of the ship back into the sea.
Torgal stabs deep at one of the creatures, almost killing it. It too withdraws, leaping over the side back into the sea. These things are only hunting for food, not willing to die it seems.
Round 6
Tobias tumbles over the railing to land behind the caydenite. The godling then helps Torgal defend against the grindylow, startling it and leaving itself open for a deep stab from the young sailor.
Over confident Rosanne tries to repeat her successful attack but the flinching Grindylow avoids it.
She then takes a 5' step back onto the steps.
“Aye, that’s th’ spirit!” Torgal stumbles a bit, but swings nonetheless!
Tobias leaps dramatically over the rail to aid Torgal and skewers the creature attacking him. The wound doesn't quite kill it but does make it decide to flee back to the ocean.
Torgal is free to aid Rosanne and his rapier does kill the already wounded creature beside her.
Jacques is still fighting one of the creatures in the sterncastle but it senses that it is alone and also flees. Of the 6 creatures that attacked you, 2 are dying and 4 have retreated with their wounds. Your section of the ship is clear, no telling how the rest of the ship has fared as visibility is very low and you are unable to see the rigging of the other side of the ship right now.
Jacques pants, trying to catch his breath. "If those by-our-lady grindylows have come aboard other places on our by-our-lady ship, we may lose enough crew that we can no longer sail! We must assess the damage." He begins heading to the other side quickly.
Tobias follows Jacques and the others across the ship, hoping to duck his head under deck to check on the rest of the crew.
There is evidence of a greater attack by the grindylows. Shivikah lies on the deck holding a spear wound and others have gashes. It seems the assault has been pushed off though.
Ambrose Kroop, the ship's cook, comes over to you, also wounded. "They didn't care about killing us or taking down the ship. They knocked out Sandara and Fipps, then dragged them overboard and retreated. We killed one of them but they got 2 of us and left the rest of us to the storm."
With no way of knowing what has happened to Sandara or Fipps, the crew is forced to continue fighting the storm with the ship and their lives at stake. There is no chance of getting free of the storm, just the hope of riding it out and not sinking.
The storm continues all through the afternoon and the night. Eventually you feel the entire ship shudder as it hits some rocks and starts taking on water. Crew are sent to the bilges to keep the pump manned. Luckily the rock hold the ship up from sinking and finally just before morning the storm moves on.
The waterline is below where the rock hit and most of the water can now be pumped out. Unfortunately it will take a day or two to repair the hole to sail again. What's worse, the water barrel has been split, spilling all of the fresh water. Despair shows on the faces of some of the crew, believing they are stuck here to die. Some utter prayers to Besmara or other gods.
"There's an island to the south Captain." Cogward mentions, offering some hope. "There's got to be a source of water." The Man's Promise lay stuck on a reef about a mile from the island shore.
"Belay that!" Rosanne snaps at the mutterers. "Torgal can make water. The ship is still afloat and can be repaired."
She turns to the new Captain. "Best bet is to haul the ship off the reef and moor close to shore while we patch her. We can hunt down those things and get our friends back along with some revenge!"
Jacques smiles grimly at the hope of revenge, and glares at the mutterers beside Rosanne. "It is in our interest, all of our interests, to work together now. You see what has happened to the foul men who helped to take us prisoner and enslave us? No longer will that be the state of things with our new captain, I am thinking."
Torgal raises his mug proudly, though he wavers a bit on the now-still deck. “Cheersh! I’ll drink t’ that…” he yells sloppily, having already gotten himself deep in his cups.
Fishguts frowns. "Best not to rely on magic too much. If something happened to him, we would be without. If those creatures have a lair on the island, Sandara and Fipps may be there. I will offer prayers that they still live."
Without repairs, the ship is stuck on the reef. It will take the very reduced crew several days to effect repairs.
Tobias sighs. "Well, damn. I guess we shall forage on the island for resources to get The Promise ship-shape, and find our wayward friends."
Able to create water for the crew so no one dehydrates, Torgal opts to stay on the ship with the rest of the crew while the three of you investigate the island, also to help Ambrose and the others most loyal towards you keep order on the ship.
One of the longboats is untied and set into the sea for you. The island is only a mile or so beyond the reef and the smaller boat can easily avoid the shallow rocks. A towering fist of granite rises above the jungle at the eastern edge of the island. At the western edge of what you can see are more mountains that rise in the distance. Between the two seems like the easiest place to come ashore. A beach and clearing where the trees are sparse look like the best place to land.
---
Amuro and Earthsong have just regained consciousness after their exhaustion of the previous struggle to survive the storm and find themselves on a long beach. Not far off from you is what looks like a village of mud huts in disrepair.
---
The mud huts are also visible to those in the boat as they get closer to the beach. Soon you are also able to make out the form of two living humanoids. Could it be this easy to find your lost friends?
Earthsong pulls herself up out of the sand with a groan and dusts off what grains she can. A quick scan of the area comes next, including helping up Amuro if needed. Her eyes look around for anything of use or other survivors foremost.
"It seems we have survived the storm," she notes. "And we may not be stranded here alone. Are you well?" The druidess asks simply. She points towards the huts.
Stirring from his slumber, Amuro would feel the hot sun at his back, clothing dried. The opposite with his front, laying out on the sand wet and soggy. He'd turn over, looking up at the sun disoriented and tired. Next to him he could see a form of a woman, the druid perhaps? He wasn't sure, for the moment simply laying there, thinking about the evening before. The ship was wrecked and very likely they were the only survivors.
"それはまだ私の時間ではありません。私の最愛の海子は、もう少し待ってください。"
He would attempt to will himself up, requiring some notable effort before he could. He'd remove his boots, letting his soaked feet some fresh air and knocking out any water that could be in them before looking to the woman that as far as he knew was the only other survivor. She was already standing, looking out around them towards the empty looking huts.
"I am fine," he speaks in common tongue, just sitting there for a moment as he grabbed the sheathed sword, his sword beside him, pulling it out slightly to inspect it for damage before putting it away, "The ship... it is gone... I doubt there is anyone else alive. I did not see a single other soul than us get on the life boat. Shameful we could not do more."
He would shortly stand, walking over to what looked to be his small backpack and a wooden shield, pulling it from the brushing waves after he put back on his now slightly drier boots.
"We all have limits. We did what we could. Sometimes nature is harsh, other times forgiving, and we are in a region known for storms." Earthsong shrugs.
The elf woman now picks up her gear and begins going through it, making sure nothing was damaged or broken. "The prospect of not being alone is appealing. Some of my gear was lost at sea. I can survive in the wild, but some things are still hard to replace. And I prefer to have at least some access to civilization for those supplies."
As she speaks, the druidess points towards the huts. "Unless you've a better idea, perhaps we should head towards the huts and see if there are others here who can help us." Earthsong eyes the skies.
Then she begins walking wearily towards the huts, keeping an eye open for tracks.
Spotting the figures on the shore Rosanne points them out to the others.
"Two on shore?" Rosanne whispers to the others, "They don't look like our missing friends though. Shall we give them a call?"
"Yes. But let's approach carefully." Tobias warns.
The young sailor quietly parks the longboat on the beach and get out. His hands off to his sides and away from his weapons, the godling says loudly, "Ahoy! Hello, there! We mean you no harm. Are you alright?"
Putting a hand to his sword, Amuro hears the voice of someone calling to them, "Do you hear that?" he says to Earthsong. He does not move from her side however, instead waiting to see whom or what came forward to them. Could there have been survivors?
Jacques grins broadly and manfully refrains from trying to intimidate the figures on the beach. "Lucky for them, for us to find them instead of the grindylows, non?"
The elf woman looks about until she tracks the source of the call. "While it's possible there were other survivors, I don't think that is the case. Perhaps they are from another ship that was also caught in the storm?"
Earthsong acknowledges Tobias' call. "Waterlogged and shipwrecked," she calls back. "What about you?" She takes her staff off of her back and leans on it as a walking stick.
"Only half of each." The young sailor carefully approaches. "I and my two crewmates are with me. I have more on The Man's Promise. We came to this island looking for materials for repairs and lost crewmates. Unless you did anything to them, we mean you no harm."
"You are the first we've seen since we came ashore. I'm afraid I know nothing about your lost crew." She shakes her head.
"Is that your ship? If so, would you be willing to take myself and my companion aboard if we help you find your crew? I have some skills as a healer and knowledge of maps, I can work for my keep." The elf asks hesitantly.
"Assuming all goes well on the island, sure." The young man agreed. "My name Captain..Acting Captain Tobias Wraithborn. My mates, Jacques and Rosanne."
"My companion speaks for himself. I am Earthsong." The elf woman puts one hand over her heart and bows formally.
Jacques nods brusquely, regarding the elves with a suspicious eye, though he does not appear hostile.
"Watashi wa yuzuru tsumori desu."
"My name is Endo Amuro, former Samurai to the Wanshi," he says letting his hands fall away from his scabbard and bowing in a polite fashion. Gone were the days of suspecting others to bow to him and now the humbling of bowing to others, "My faith now resides in that of Besmara and much like my compatriot I can render limited medical aide. However my skill is in sailing."
Rosanne is a pale skinned woman with untamed black hair and mismatched eyes. She flexes her hands idly as she watches the introductions.
Raising an eyebrow when the new man gives his formal response. "Ah well. we were jumped by Grindylow last night in the storm. They grabbed some of our crewmates. Including the Captains squeeze and ran back here. We're off the repay the favor if'n you want to tag along? Any one with healing is always useful"
As you investigate the mud huts you find them mostly collapsed and uninhabited. It is clear there have been no inhabitants for a very long time.
There is a path that leads deeper into the jungle. Or you could try to scale the granite outcropping to the east to get a better vantage point of the island.
Jacques squints at the outcropping. "You are a very good climber, mon sire, are you not? I am thinking if we scaled that rock, we would have a good vantage of the island below, non?"
The druidess eyes the cliff. "I might be able to scale that myself. Let me give it a try. The tactical advantage has merit."
"Are you alright, do you see anything up there?! he'd shout up to her, patiently waiting from down below.
"A gold piece something tries to eat her." Rosanne wagers helpfully.