How my Shield Sparkles so (Inactive)

Game Master TheNine

"Amrus, what can I do to help you?"

He yells back out to Boram over the roar of the increasing flames.

I just need one of you near the loom to get the end of the crane's line affixed to the loom! I could use some more water on that rope too so that the flames don't consume it before we can get the loom to shore!

Assuming all of that happens (any more INT checks needed for continued operation?):

The tiefling briskly but carefully moves it up high enough to clear flames and then laterally out over the shore. There is mild celebration when he can start to carefully lower it there.

When the rope is ready, she will take the other end up onto the ship. It was unrealistic with all that was going on to have Amrus pull up buckets of water and she wanted to hit the base of the flames, so once she is up top with the others, she will cast water down into the hold, hoping to hit the base of the fire at least once with a flood of water. She also alternates with the top of the ship to make sure the flames up there do not grow larger.

The rope end she hauled up onto the ship, she will lightly fasten to a railing until the loom is free of the hold and it can be attached to its side to keep it from swinging.

She looks down at the loom. If it is already attached to the winch, she will wait until it rises by Amrus' steady hand. If not, and she can reach it or safely jump down to it without breaking the loom (not sure of its construction), she will do so in between castings. If it is too far down into the hold, she will have to rely upon those within the vessel and will do her best to keep the flames at bay until they can escape.

Watching Amrus with the Crane winch, Boram sees Elann moving towards the little grey gelding with a rope, once she's tied the rope he nods seeing what she's doing. Hearing Amrus call back about nearing the loom and sending more water, he realizes Elann has the rope ready and had started moving towards the boat with the other end. Furrowing his brow, he figures Elann knows what she's doing. he calls back to Amrus, "Elann hooked this rope to my pony, I think she has a plan. Tell me when you want the pony to pull."

The river barge is a large vessel thats basically 2 decks. The captains cabin is in the rear of the vessel below the main deck. the crews things are along the port side. On the top deck of the ship was some lashed down crates that are now burning, the winch along the port side an opening in the deck that leads to the lower cargo area. The loom is in the opening of the cargo hold. It was the last thing loaded. The top edge of the river barge is about 6 feet above the waterline.Elans use of water has kept the fire from spreading too far.

The captains cabin is small but well organized. a shelf to the side has a bunch of curios and knick knacks on the shelfs. Their is a small desk built from the wall and it has what appears to be some detail river charts atop it. Their is a small chest at the base of the bed. It weighs about 12 pounds.

The crates with the metal appear to be trade ingots of iron, mostly useful to smiths. There are 7 of the 2 pound bars left in the broken case with three more no doubt filled with 3 times the bars in the others beside it. The crate with the bottle all appear to be fine elvish wines of various vintage years. There is another case beside the four bottles left behind.

D’witt will take the 20 to search. He’s going to ignore things like the ingots and focus on things that seem more important. Ledgers and papers, small trinkets that won’t survive the fire or water. He’ll check the desk first, then check the chest to see if it’s locked. If not, he’ll open it just to take a quick glance and put any papers he can find into it for safety. If it is locked, he stuff what he can into his shirt and try to protect them, and just shoulder the chest.

Assuming the fire is dwindling to nothing...

As a merchant, Amrus is in fact quite interested in the ingots, wine, and other product on the boat. However, they have yet to find the crew who may still lay claim to all of these. He starts to hope they're alive, but have run off, never to be found again.

He eventually follows D'witt into the captains cabin. First, he scans the cabin with Detect Magic.

GM, 2 decks does not seem that far to go. I wondered in my last post if it was safe to drop down as the distance isn't great; or if it is, is the loom of stable enough build to use its construction to drop down onto; or would dangling from the edge and then dropping (negating 5 feet) be significant enough to not hurt Elann? If so, and if the winch is not connected already, she will connect it. Just need a little more description...

Currently, Elann has the tagline attached from the pony to the railing of the ship. Once the load is on its way up with the crane, she will attach the rope to the loom's load so the pony can keep it from swinging. Just so everyone knows what I'm trying to do.

Thanks for the tagline image, Elann. Hey D'witt, thanks for the OoC telling us what your doing, but put something 'in game' that the characters can respond to.

Finally understanding what Elann had been wanting to do, Boram waits with baited breath for someone to give him the signal to 'pull'.

Thanks for the tagline image, Elann. Hey D'witt, thanks for the OoC telling us what your doing, but put something 'in game' that the characters can respond to.

He’s alone in the room and I wasn’t sure what he would find, so I wasn’t sure what to put. I was gonna wait for our GM to let me know if I need to roll anything or if he found anything of note to react to. So far it was a ‘there’s a desk, a chest, and ingots’.

Edit: just realize the ingots are part of what Anduriel found. :p

With the temperatures of a wood fire, even with an entire boat burning, the iron ingots would likely be fine, though the wines would soon be ruined once the heat got to them.

Appraise: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

Taking a quick glance at the unpacked bottles to see if anything of their likely value jumped out at her, she quickly heads back to ensure that the loom is gotten off the ship safely, as the main priority.

Running back to the deck to make sure the loom gets safely off the ship. Will mention to Amrus and D'witt what I found in the rest of the cargo area.

Exactly how big is the loom?

sorry about the delays will pick up the pace.

The loom sat on a wooden pallet easily about six feet tall by an almost equal distance long. It was easy enough to attach the winch to the netting about the loom. Looking at the loom and the assorted things that she might quickly be able to salvage the magus quickly tossed a few of the wine crates onto the pallet the loom sat on,

Anduriel Give me a dc 16 strength check to see if you can salvage the much heavier metal

Its not too far a drop to hurt yourself if you hop down. Elann

Amrus begins the process of lifting the loom up and out of hte burnind ship the process relatively slow (what with the burning) When it clears enough of the deck the process is sped up by the pony helping pull the loom clear of the ship.

D'witt
The chest is indeed locked, but you find an obvious key in the desk along with a belt pouch that holds 22 gold coins, 14 silver coins, and a dozen coppers. It also holds a decent sized peice of jet. (worth 10 gold if you can find someone who deals in stones) The charts appear to be maps of particular difficult parts of the river, certainly worth coin to the right riverboat captain. There is also a strange carving out of some sort of green stone that almost looks like an eye. it tingles when you touch it. You can see the rest of your party hurrying back up to the top of the deck the loom free from the hold.

While down below, she looks to the hull for weak spots where the fire has almost burnt through. She tries to find a spot that she can kick through or find a maul up on top for hammering down pins for ropes that they can take with them. The young woman would make her way off the load as it raises, attach the rope to the load and then would set about knocking a hole in the side of the ship. If nothing else, it will get water in there and keep it all from burning up. Perhaps the bottom half of the ship still is off the mud bank and can sink further? She isn't sure.

At the side of the ship, she will take whatever bludgeoning-like sailing tool she can manage, her silent piton, and will begin bashing the piton into the side of the ship to wedge it open where the fire had touched, just below the water line. By the time the loom is off and onto the ground, she hopes to have made some progress. Every once in a while, she again will case up above in an effort to keep the fires down from spreading on the upper decks.

A series of rolls while the loom is being loaded off.

Seeing the loom begin to clear the deck, Boram clicked his tongue at the little grey pony "Come on Bill, we need to guide that loom out over the gunwale." Slowly leading the little pony away, Boram watched the loom to make sure they didn't run it into any of the rigging on the ship or any of the trees on the ground.

As they moved he heard a series of noises, almost like someone whacking at something with a hammer. Turning back towards Amrus he calls out, "Amrus, what was that? Everything ok?"

He eventually follows D'witt into the captains cabin. First, he scans the cabin with Detect Magic.

Amrus would still do this after the loom is secure.

As they moved he heard a series of noises, almost like someone whacking at something with a hammer. Turning back towards Amrus he calls out, "Amrus, what was that? Everything ok?"

GM would Amrus see Elann's efforts from where he is?

Str check: 1d20 ⇒ 3

As was quite evident from looking at her, Anduriel was build for speed and agility, not strength. After tossing a few of the wine crates onto the pallet to be salvaged, she doesn't manage to even budge one of those filled with iron, letting out a tired sigh as she gives up, and hopes that the dense metal survives the fire of the boat, something that shouldn't generate anywhere near the heat of a forge. They would just have to have those collected as salvage afterward.

She calls out, giving the signal to hoist the loom up, stepping onto the pallet as it begins its journey up.

D’witt quickly scanned the captain’s room, his eyes noting the shelf of knickknacks and piles of papers. A small chest by the bed.

Grabbing it, he hails it onto the desk only to find it locked. A quick search of the desk revealed a small key that looked like it would fit. The lid popped and the tiefling glanced over the contents. He felt the urge to touch the green stone, only to pull back at the tingling feeling. This was no tone to mess with unknown magic. The chest itself looked to have plenty of room so D’witt started hastily folding papers and maps and stashing them in the chest.

Amrus steps into the room as D’witt grabbing various bits from the shelf of curios to finish filling the chest to save what he thinks he can. He notices the other tiefling obviously using magic to scan the room and hesitates. He watches Amrus to see if the man indicates anything important.

Behind the wizard he can make out some of the others heading back up to deck. The loom slowly beginning its ascent.

It was clear to everyone as Anduriel rode the pallet with the loom up and out of the ship that Elann had some plan to scuttle the boat while it was half stuck along the banks. Weakened by the fire it was easy enough for you to find a few spots in the hull weak enough to punch holes in Elann if you wish.

Your scans of magic find nother of a magical aura (besides whats already been noticed. (the weird eye). there are a couple of minor magical auras from the a couple of the crews footlockers but as Elann finally punched a hole in the hull you realize there isnt a whole lot of time to dally with them.

time: 3d4 ⇒ (1, 2, 4) = 7

You all estimate you have maybe 7 minutes before this portion of hte boat is filled with water.

Amrus looks about the ship with an assessing eye, finally remarking

Well, it looks like the boat will soon be a total loss. What do you all say we go get a reward for saving this loom!

He smiles and gives the rest of the crew an expectant look.

"Not a total loss at all. You'll see, Amrus. And isn't the crew being taken a worry here? Where are they? I...I expected to see some bodies, but there were none. Not one. Not even adrift anywhere. No blood...anything. They had to go somewhere. The loom is important, and we can ride back very quickly and fetch our caravan leader to bring his wagon for it out here, and with help of that winch--if I can save this boat from burning up--he can get it on top of a wagon, but we need to go after them, don't we?"

When the hole in the side begins to gush in water, she nods.

"That should sink it down in elevation enough to get the base of the fire. Then if we can find the crew, they can repair it and sail again. I'll keep watering the ship from above while someone returns to town to get the caravan leader and maybe fetch some of his crew to help out?"

Nodding his head when Amrus answered that he boat would be a total loss, Boram raises an eyebrow at the comment of fetching the reward. He wasn't sure if there was a reward or if it was just part of their job description. Hearing Elann say the boat might not be a total loss, he nods as she comments about the crew.

As the boat began to sink down into the water, he answered his Tiefling friend. "I don't know if there is a reward for the loom, but I'll bet there's one for finding the crew."

Gesturing towards the tracks he'd found earlier. "Should we go look for the crew first, or take the loom to town?"

Moving Bill so the pony was pulling the loom out over the gunwale, he continues. "Either way, we should get the loom off of the boat."

Hmm... yes people do tend to fetch a higher reward.

The merchant scratches his chin and smiles.

But now the question of where they went... Do any of you see signs of what direction they may have gone?

He begins looking in the mud for useful footprints.

Survival (untrained): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12

Borum's perception check based on this post prompted him to ask:

Realizing the others were talking about the ship and what to do, Boram points at the tracks and asks, "Should we take the boat up river, or should we follow the tracks and try and rescue the crew from the large creatures that have taken them prisoner?"

Giving Amrus a funny look, Boram points to the tracks heading through the forest. "I would assume that's the direction the bandits went with their captives."

Oh yes! I'd lost track of them in all of this mud. You have a good eye there!

whoops :)

"Well we'll have to choose between returning the loom, or following the tracks. I doubt we'll get far following them while trying to carry this, and leaving it here...we might as well have let it sink." Anduriel points out.

"Well we'll have to choose between returning the loom, or following the tracks. I doubt we'll get far following them while trying to carry this, and leaving it here...we might as well have let it sink." Anduriel points out.

It took a crane to move it, and we'll more likely have to arrange for some manner of wagon to help transport it back to town. I suspect we can leave it for a short time while we search!

It feels like we have the loom winched up and is hanging there, are we moving it off the boat?

Looking from Auduriel to Amrus, "I know we have an obligation to the priests to get their loom to where their going. But isn't saving the lives of the crew more important than that?" He looks in the general direction of Elan who I assume he can hear if not see. "Or for that matter aren't they more important than saving the ship?"

D’witt secured the chest and followed the others back above deck. The loom had been successfully off loaded which was a relief. He dropped the chest to the dry bank and jumped down.
The others were already debating the next course of action as he retrieved the chest and carried it to his mount. Strapping it down onto the saddle he listened to Boram, Amrus, and Anduriel’s arguments.

”It’s at least safe from the immediate fire or water damage.”
He pointed out.
”This road doesn’t seem frequently traveled. And tracking down the crew shouldn’t take too long. And like Amrus said, it took a crane to lift, so even if someone happens by they can’t just carry it off.”
D’witt pulls himself up into the saddle.
”Boram’s got the right of it, I think. If we can help the crew, we should.”
He shrugged one shoulder.
”And if we see another boat, maybe we can said word back to town.”

Elann is confused as she was the one fighting to go after the crew in her previous suggestion.

"We will need to leave the loom on the winch if our caravan host is to get it on his wagon. To ensure the rope doesn't burn and the load fall before he arrives, I need to put out the fire. So before we can save the crew, we need to first put out the first meanwhile someone riding the short distance back to town to tell him to come. Let's go. Time is of the essence. The sooner he gets here, the sooner we can choose to abandon the ship and/or the load. If it is deposited fully on the ground and the winch burns up, we may never get it onto the wagon. As for the crew, this shouldn't take but a few minutes more if you hurry and bring the caravan's wagon."

She will continue to cast to ensure the top of the boat's flames are out.

sent the info into the discussion board. have you all decided if you are staying or going?

Amrus pats the loom with one hand.

Since we've established it's safely on the ground...

The most important load from this ship isn't going to burn up. I have no idea right now what's happening to the missing crew.

Fifteen or twenty minutes at a gallop is a long time back to town. Elann would feel hesitant to give up D'Witt's aid for that long if they do run into trouble. If only both the dock master or the merchant got curious and sent a scout their way, then they would find the loom safe.

Elann took to writing in the mud that they are going to track down the crew for safety and to secure this loom to the town. The message would be briefly written.

"Let us go after the crew then, and not waste more time here. The ship will have a chance to survive now that the water has killed the base and all of the wood above is wet. Let's hope its enough."

With the ship on the shallowness and not being fully able to submerge, it should be easy to repair the hull and pump out the water, should the fire not consume it. Then it would be right as rain. A few pieces of wood to replace what had burned and they'd be worthy to be on the waters again. Hopefully, they have not died.

If the others are in agreement, she will head off in the direction of the tracks, doing her best to keep them in sight.

Survival: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

"If we return without the crew, only to find the loom stolen or damaged, this may well be out last mission in addition to being out first."n Anduriel says wryly, though she does follow as the group sets out looking for the missing crew.

"Anyone have a talent for tracking?"

Not really having a gift for tracking, Boram shakes his head, "I can find stuff pretty easy, but I'm not really trained in tracking."

survival to follow tracks: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

D’witt gave a grimace when Anduriel asked about experience tracking. He shook his head but looked around anyways. He scratched the back of his head as he did.
”Not much tracking to do around a forge.”
He admitted but figured it couldn’t hurt to try.

Survival to follow tracks: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

Following the tracks was easy leaving the riverbanks... once they got to the open fields south and east of the city it became harder much harder. At least you had a general direction. and size. The boots you followed were bigger thant the average humans, but not overly bigger, and they had a bunch of smaller boots, smaller than the average human. Finally you could see a lot of bare feet, human sized no doubt the sailors feet. Aside from that nothing really stood out to track.

Getting into town to rally help didnt do a lot of good it seemed either, the sheriff said he would get his best trackers out that way, The dockmaster didnt seem to care all that much, but later in the day he would make sure to send a salvage team that way, y our employers didnt seem to care abouy anything but the safe retrival of their loom,

Once they had it loaded on the wagon the caravan master for your trip informed you with the delays in getting the loom loaded they would be leaving in he morning. They has two extra rooms at the local inn.. or you could get your own accomadations (including going back to your keep) as long as you were ready at the first light of dawn to travel north he didnt care...

Sorry about the delays folks had a hiccup in life, but lets get this show on the road... also whos doing what?

Amrus gets particularly frustrated as the trail runs cold on the missing boat crew. It was at his urging after all and he didn't want to return to town being thought of as only interested in the loot. It's not even that he was sure they cared about the lives, but he preferred to be seen as invested in a community. Any amount of good will could be useful in business dealings.

Just out of curiosity, does it seem like their tracks disappeared into more general path-traffic?

We're they taken, or did they mean to get lost... the tiefling muses just as they've agreed to give up and head back to town. Eventually he shrugs it off for the time being.

------------

Amrus asks the sheriff to please inform them if his trackers are able to run down the missing crew.

------------

GM question: there was some other cargo the team unloaded at the same time as the loom. Would the dockmaster be resolving claims on that or could Amrus apply his mercantile skills to unload it for profit?

no it just became terrain just masked their tracks better. you got a bonus to the survival check cause of the proximity to the riverbed that rain out as the terrain changed.Dont worry, i doubt any or many in Macridi would fault you for not being able to track them down.
Also, yes the things you found with the loom are yours to do with what you wish. sell them, keep them, give them away... up to you.

From the beginning, Elann could see no tracks. Even as the others pointed them out, she would go wide-eyed trying to see what they saw, but to no avail. Only a couple of times could she see a bare footprint here and there to confirm they were on some sort of track, but when that fell short, she paused, looking expectantly at those tracking them. As the moments passed and no sign was found, she grew increasingly saddened. Tears filled her eyes for the fate of these people as they indeed could not be tracked any longer.

When they had set off on their trail, abandoning their mission of the loom, she felt like a big damn hero, but now...now she feels like a failure. In desperation, she too will spread out and search for the concealed footfalls to no avail.

"That can't be it! No!" she exclaims after a good hour of searching, researching, backtracking, and searching again; in her anger, even picks up a small stick (large for Boram and her) and throws it against a nearby tree (all-in-all a very cute display but with little actual effect to anything). There are some strong Osirian phrases muttered under her breath in saddened frustration as she passionately searches more. The others will have to actively turn her away from doing it, but when that does happen, eventually they will make it back to town to rejoin the loom with the wagon master.

The promises of the sheriff bring her to subtle tears once more, and only his assurances of trackers being sent out seems to brighten her some, but the rest of the day she seeks solitude from the inn. She will go off to a grassy patch of earth and trees, will off her armor and slip on a white dress with golden accents amid some underbrush and bushes. She will take out her braids and seem to almost beautify herself for the ritual.

The rest of that evening she will hold a personal vigil of prayer for those aboard the ship. During this time, one can attribute the singing and dancing prayers of Elann to be something similar to funeral rites, or prayers given for expecting mothers by tribal priests. It is far from the pious clerical actions of priests in temples in the large cities. The words she speaks are indistinguishable by non-native Osirions as it is prayer language in a tribal tongue but is beautiful regardless. One might almost call it theater how if one were to watch her, they could almost tell what she was praying. All about her would be a tangible divine feeling of closeness to the community.

Those invested in her, such as her shieldmates would know she is not her cheery self during this time. By the end of the evening though, she will put away her prayer mat with a final heavy sigh, will cease her singing and dancing prayers, and will be herself once more. She will even rejoin those in the inn and trusts to hope. She will also, if able, encourage others in that as she hopes for their return through divine intervention. That night, she will rest early and will be up early to set off with the wagons in full armor.

Amrus offers to the group to sell the loot and divide the proceeds evenly. He thinks he might be able to meet with enough other merchants this evening to make the requisite transactions and let them be on their way the next day, all the richer. But, he doesn't presume to act on behalf of the others without their weighing in.

would a series of appraise checks be sufficient or would profession (merchant) help gather the right buyers?

As the search for the missing crew turns out to be as fruitful as she expected, though less so than she'd hoped, Anduriel heads back, her mood somewhat subdued.

Nodding in agreement with Amrus' approach to unloading the extra items retrieved from the burning ship, she is both surprised, and touched by Elann's ritualistic vigil for the taken. Sad, yet beautiful and uplifting despite the mournfulness of it, she finds that it helps, and eases some of the sting of their failure in that respect, giving her a vehicle for her wishes for their safety, or at least a quick and painful end to anything unpleasant.

Heading back to the inn with her companions, she shares a meal in relative silence before heading to the room to fall into an exhausted sleep, arising early to prepare for their journey.

Sorry TN, feeling disjointed on the posts, I'll try and be more involved from here on out.

Disapointed that they were not able to find the captured crew, Boram is even more suprised at the disinterest of the priests and the dockmaster. Reminding himself it wasn't their job to find the kidnapped crew, Boram headed back to the keep for the night, asking to be woken before dawn, so he could be on his way.

Mounted on the little pony, Boram meets his fellow 'silver shields' at dawn near the caravan.

D’witt blew stray hair from his eyes and the group was forced to return to town. Any clue to the ultimate fate of the ship’s crew left for some other unfortunate soul to discover.
His mother would tell him these things happen and that it wasn’t their fault. They had tried. But had they tried hard enough? Had their inexperience and hesitation cost those sailors their lives?
It weighed heavily on the tiefling as he rode. The seeming lack of care from everyone from the sheriff to the dock master did nothing to lift his spirits.

Riding back with the teamsters to retrieve the loom only disheartened him further and once the curse thing was on it way back to town he was happy to hang back and glare at it.

Splitting from the caravan with the others he gives Amrus a sharp look, but lets it go a moment later. He was in no position to judge the man’s motives. People dealt with events differently and focusing on the present was a valid way.
Still, D’witt felt the bitter bite of guilt as he hauled the chest he had saved down from Jool’s saddle. Opening it he used a cloth to withdraw the eye-shaped carving of green stone.
”There’s magic in this, I’m sure.”
He warns the other tiefling.
”No clue what kind though.”
He regards Amrus and offers.
”If you need someone to go with you, I can.”

****

That night, D’witt drank to honor the missing crew. He didn’t drink to a fault, but the next morning it was clear he was feeling his poor decision as he rode.

Amrus frowns as he observes the ways his different companions dealt with the missing crew. It's not that he was incapable of compassion, but with no recourse it just didn't feel productive to him. There's always more coin to be exchanged.

Who knows, if we can gather enough coin from this cargo perhaps we can help their families a little... he offers to those in mourning.

D'witt's offering to look at the eye-shaped green stone is a welcome distraction.

Back to work!

He turns his arcane eye on it.

Detect magic
Identify properties (spellcraft): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

To D'witt, he replies Yes, I'd be happy to have you along! Strength in numbers!

Looks like after common, dwarven is the official team language.

Also of note, this is a very high Dex party! No wonder we're so quick on the draw.

So it turns out I will not have much internet (just minutes), so I’m leaving this message to let you know it may be more spotty than expected. Feel free to bot me or have my character just shrink into the background

Meanwhile I dropped off a bit in posting because my internet was not what I thought it would be over the weekend. Back, and catching up now.

all good the both of you no worries or stress

sorry crazy busy weekend post tomorrow after work

Staying near Elann as she introduced herself and asked for a couple particulars, Boram watches as Amrus dismounts and reiterates they are from the silver shields. As he introduces them, Boram tips his cap, nodding "A pleasure."

He would have introduced himself eventually, but Amrus had the forsight to get the pleasantries out of the way and get down to business. He waited to see if Amrus, after mentioning his little side business, would inquire about more important matters. Like what they were serving for lunch.

Haha, he will be the last to ask about food, probably.

Sorry for not posting sooner. Weekend was busier then expected.

Mom's day is over time to post.... when I get off work

Just a heads up, In the morning I'm taking a friend to the nearest 'City' (Columbus Ohio) for an out-patient procedure. So I will not be posting at my regular time. I'll be up later tomorrow than normal and should be able to get any posting done before I head to bed.

Hello! This is an FYI that I'll be away in nature (and away from internet and computers) starting Friday (5/26) evening, until I return late Monday (5/30). I will catch up on posts that evening.

Posts will resume Tuesday sorry for the late headsup

Post moving us along in the morning. sorry for any delays

Elann also frowns when Boram doesn't take the rope and tie it to his pony. He perhaps doesn't understand, so she will try to grab an end of the rope and fasten it to the horn of his pony's

Why are you messing with Boram's pony? Amrus hasn't answered his question, the GM has given us no direction about using the rope to unload anything from the ground.

Cool your jets, no one else is in a hurry, let the RP happen.

"What can I do to help you"

So that sort of depends on how the boat is arranged (which I asked about a little in my post). I was trying to not assume too much. It's not clear where the loom is or whether it's location is clear from the winch. So I imagined Amrus *might* need help spotting it (but certainly help affixing the end of the crane's line to it, so I suppose I can post that as the answer).

What we know so far:

Those in the hold can indeed direct the hook to lift up the loom, its easy enought to direct it from the deck to the shore. Elann. if you can make a dc 15 spellcrafting check you can easily manage to cast your cantrip and help from the shore on that end.

So we know the loom is in the hold and anyone in the hold can direct the hook to the loom. We also know that it's easy to maneuver with Elann's cantrip, so I assume Amrus, who made the Crane winch DC, could direct it himself.

my assumption is with a DC 16 intelligence that the winch is pretty mechanical and not just a pulley with two ends. So, I'm not sure what Elann's doing with Boram's pony and a non existing rope and why she just didn't use her spellcraft check like the GM inferred.

Also, Boram is not on the boat he's back with the animals.

It would have been nice if our GM had given us a little more information about the winch and what was expected or if one of the two people who are in the hold had offered to help.

I'm not sure having Boram move from the land, back up the side of the boat and down into the hold is the best way to do this.

TheNine, any helpful information here?

Fair enough. I'm not sure why I imagined Boram on the boat, but I can retcon that to Amrus just asking whoever *is* there to hook it up for him and I think the rest is fine.

Fair enough. I'm not sure why I imagined Boram on the boat, but I can retcon that to Amrus just asking whoever *is* there to hook it up for him and I think the rest is fine.

Sorry if I didn't make the posts clear enough. I'm just having difficulty with the venue, so waiting for more description.

It would have been nice if our GM had given us a little more information about the winch and what was expected or if one of the two people who are in the hold had offered to help.

Once we have an idea of what we're seeing below in terms of the areas we're checking out, that would be the next step. This has all been basically a couple of minutes.

On a side note Elann's casting (if non-stop) would yield 20 gallons per minute, for a better idea of how much we're able to affect the fire.

Anduriel Give me a dc 16 strength check to see if you can salvage the much heavier metal

So he rope attached to Borum's pony is for guiding it down, not pulling it, right?

well there is a very light pull on the pony, buts its mostly guidance yes

Question: If we were to punch a hole in the hull and mostly sink the ship down into the shallows, would it sink? Is it too much into the mud to go down at all? I think if we could sink it, the fire could go out, then as long as it's shallow, it can be repaired and water emptied out of it with a pump and buckets. We might be able to save the ship, but it depends on how capable it would be to be sunk.

You know, thats a sound idea. it would probably setting on the bottom though its not deep enough to fully emerge to fully save it. maybe?

Given the cross-posting and backtracking due to missing details, let's just assume Amrus helps the team as best he can with the winch (hoisting additional boxes/cargo as requested), and keep his post about joining D'witt and Detecting Magic, but assume that happens after all of the hoisiting.

D’witt was taking 20 in his search so he would have been in there long enough.

post on the morrow

To make this plain: Elann is requesting someone ride back to town while they lower the load from the boat to the height so that a wagon can pull up and they load it into the back. The fire is still active (for the moment) and she doesn't want it to burn down the crane primarily, but also wants it to completely go out, so while waiting for the person to get back from town, she will try putting out the fire, because it is still needed. If someone from the team can ride quickly and bring the wagon intended for the loom, that's the quicker they can head off and/or choose to abandon the fire at that moment or completely put it out (which for how much water she's put on the ship at this point, I'd be surprised any fire wouldn't go out).

That's what I thought you were recommending Elann.

Boram is recommending we dump the loom on the ground, and go rescue the prisoners as quickly as possible.

GM how long would it take to go to town, bring back a wagon, and load the loom onto a wagon?

Yes, I'd leave it up to the GM to explain the situation better. Is the crane in any danger of burning up now? Is the fire mostly subdued? How far would the town be? If it is a short gallop to where at most the group is waiting a few extra minutes, it might be worth it. If not, then we might just go after the crew. It all depends on what he "sees" of the progression of events here.

Ah, I thought the loom had been set on the ground and the crane burning was no longer an issue. One of my posts discussed him lowering it on shore and I didn't see any corrections to that.

It feels like we have the loom winched up and is hanging there, are we moving it off the boat?

Here:

The tiefling briskly but carefully moves it up high enough to clear flames and then laterally out over the shore. There is mild celebration when he can start to carefully lower it there.

I rememberd reading that post.

Assuming all of that happens (any more INT checks needed for continued operation?):

The tiefling briskly but carefully moves it up high enough to clear flames and then laterally out over the shore. There is mild celebration when he can start to carefully lower it there.

But I got the impression from the way the gm and the other characters were narrating that it hadn't been safe to assume all of that happened and the narration was slowed down to include other stuff.

Honestly, I'm not at all sure what's going on....

edit:He did narrate:

Amrus begins the process of lifting the loom up and out of hte burnind ship the process relatively slow (what with the burning) When it clears enough of the deck the process is sped up by the pony helping pull the loom clear of the ship.

But he never really did say if it was set on the ground or if it's dangling there so we can get a wagon under it. I'd assume if we wanted to get the wagon, and we kept the ship from burning, that we could lift it off the ground and put it on a wagon.

Ah, I had also assumed the loom was already on the ground too.

If no one else wants to, D’witt will volunteer to ride back.

Splitting the party to go after an unknown number of enemies, capable of taking out a ship's crew does not sound like a great idea. Aside from the fact that it leaves on player sitting on their hands for however long.

I think Elann's idea is we to send one person to fetch the priests and their wagon, while the rest of us make sure the fire doesn't spread. Once the wagon was loaded and the priests were headed back to town, then we go after the bandits.

Boram's idea is to leave the loom here and go immediately to rescue the sailors.

I didn't get the impression that either of us wanted to 'split the party' well, other than one person quickly riding to fetch the priests and their wagon. But if that's what we're doing, we could practically hand waive that and just say they were back x amount of time later.

my apologies... I maybe should have chosen a different start intro. You are are doing fine by the way.

The loom while heavy could be managed to be picked up by you guys, though its is heavy (275 pounds) a team life would be able to get it into a wagon. It is already on the ground. You could leave the loom and try to track down the crew if you wish I will say, they become more difficult to follow away from the softer riverbank are.

That being said, follow the crew if you wish. Your contract is with the merchants in town however.

You could reach macridi from your current location in about 10 to 15 minutes by horse running, 25-30 at a slower pace. The boat is not a lost cause yet... but it is certainly becoming a more expensive one.

Just got back from Vegas. It was fun but exhausting. :p

So Thursday I got word that my little sister was diagnosed with a stage two invasive breast cancer. Its essentially the same one that took our grandmother and great aunt. Im seeking a 2nd job to help with upcoming medical bills and will do my best to keep up with my commitments here becuase i'll need something to distract my mind. If i seem distant or vacant feel free to give me a nudge i wont hold it against you.

that being said i'll try to have a post tonight or tomorrow morning for you all sorry for the delays.

Dude, so sorry to hear about your sister. You take care of family, we'll be here for when you need the distraction.

Sorry to hear man. Take your time, and yeah the distraction will be here when you need it.

Hope she gets better soon!

This is an FYI that I'll be away in nature this weekend, Sat 8/19 and Sun 8/20. I'll return very late Sunday and likely won't post again until Monday 8/21.

Amrus whistles in the dark.

FYI: I'll be away this coming weekend starting Friday evening 9/8 through Sunday 9/10 (US/Pacific time). I will have limited access to post from my phone, so I may be able to keep up over the weekend but can't guarantee a post. As it is the weekend, I suspect this won't be very disruptive to the game.

I know the GM had some stuff come up, but he also mentioned he might post more. That is not the case. It's been a long time and I think I'm going to step back from this one in favor of my busy work life. Hope you all have fun on the boards and that the GM comes back and runs for you all.

Hey TheNine, I hope things are going well for you and yours, especially your sister.

Thanks for attempting to run the game, we appreciate it. I'm going to move the game from my que, if you decide to start again let me know.

Good luck and good gaming everyone.