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The elf takes a moment to wait for Dante's magic to give him the boost he wants, speaking out to the others and giving them some sound tactical advice from the relative safety of the pier. "Careful of it wrapping your up in its body! Don't let it get off any spells!" Alwen shouts to them He takes aim and lets loose with an arrow right at the naga's eye, taking advantage of its distraction from Chumtooth.
Alwen was all for having himself a nice beer, but he looked a little apprehensive when he'd learned it had been cooling in the river. That seemed like it could cause problems - and it seemed that it did. He slips forward, pulling his bow and nocking an arrow, peering down at the waters looking for a target. "Might be too late for him Captain," He tells Satinder.
Sean S. should be my name there.
Alwen was amused by the gnome and his captain discussing terms, but he focused more on the potatoes of the crew finding - some talented people were good, but they needed some able bodied sailors all the more. A ship without sailors was no better than driftwood floating in the sea.
"Oh, let me deal with the recruiting, captain. I have a good eye for the people that we'll need to support our little ship. Plus I can help to weed out the useless ones and find a few gems in the process. Though I would like some permission to take a little bit of coin we have left to, say, loosen their inhibitions?" Once he's situated, Alwen will grab Rosie Cusswell and Ayaki and head to the local tavern. "Now, all you two need to do is smile, play your instruments and look very, very pretty," He tells them, turning to those deep into their mugs. "Avast, sailors! Perhaps there's some of you who are tired of trudging on the dirt, making barely enough coin to enough a rubbish bit of stale bread or watered down ale at the end of the day. Or perhaps you're bored with the tedium of the same labor, day in and day out? Are you looking for adventure, lads and lasses?" The elf scans the crowd, looking for interested faces. "Then you should sign onto the crew of Captain Satinder Morne! We promise that with her, you'll experience the excitement of the sea like none other! When you return to port, you'll have enough coin to afford the finest liquors, richest cakes, and the prettiest companionship! There is excitement to be had here - and a crew full of beauties like these two makes the work easier on the eyes," he adds with a laugh.
Dunno if that means there is one or isn't one here. I'm hoping the former.
"Well, you're speaking to me, Chummy," Alwen says with a grin. "Let's go then. I have to find a jar of honey anyways. Hmm, the Honeyed Hive?"
I'd say we should gamble on it. It'll be fun!
By the way, if anyone didn't get Alwen's first naming suggestion for the ship, shame on you. :P
"I was thinking the Serene Firefly perhaps. Or the Sultry Sea Witch. Or maybe Storm Eater, if you're looking for something a little fiercer," Alwen pitches.
"Neither a borrower or lender be. Let's try not to owe anyone money right off the bat. We'll certainly make more than enough to get more magical items later on in our careers," Alwen says, the elf grinning. "Ah, but there's one more thing that I think we ought to discuss here. Renaming this boat. Can't go around calling it by its original name or else we'll draw the wrong attention."
Alwen is very accomodating to the men who've come along with Rickety, though he keeps a watchful eye on anything suspicious they might be doing. He also asks a couple questions of them. "I suppose we'll find a supply depot for rations and any other essentials we'll need to load onto our ship, yes? I don't suppose there are a few sailors around here looking to sign on to a vessel either?" It didn't hurt to have a few more hands for grunt work than they needed - especially considering potential crew losses from the many, many forms of death the sea could inflict upon unwary men.
Alwen takes a closer look at the approaching longboat as well as the men on the pier. He takes a moment to recall the etiquette involved in a place like this one.
I'm sorry to hear about your cat, WhtKnt. :( It always sucks to lose a beloved fuzzy buddy.
Alwen actually seemed slightly surprised at this outcome - he'd certainly expected the duel to go longer than all that. He glanced around at the crew and really hoped that those who were making side bets on the outcome wouldn't feel cheated by the quick result. "Satinder is the winner - and if any of you want to contest that, feel free to step into the ring with her!" Alwen barks mirthfully.
Satinder:
"Well, officially speaking I think that it'll be up to me to act as the judge in this event. Someone has to make sure that all parties are playing fair for this. However, you and I still happen to have a deal for my three wishes and I certainly expect you to uphold it when you do make captain," The elf grins in a cheeky expression. "So I suppose there's no harm in giving you a few pointers in form."
The elf takes her aside, grasping onto her and showing her a dueling form that he was familiar with from long ago. He adjusts her posture by pulling her thigh or pressing her hip and adjusting her torso, before then showing her how best to come out of it attacking. "My last captain, before being conscripted to this vessel, was a master duelist herself. Three times I saw fools challenge her to take her place, and three times I saw her strike them dead in a matter of seconds." He pauses to glance at Satinder. "Ah, though don't worry. First blood is one of those fancy honorable forms where you don't murder each other. But you do need to make a clean hit that implies you could have killed them if you'd followed through."
"Excellent! Glad to see that we can be reasonable about this." Alwen grins at the group. "In the meantime I'll see to it that the ship will be running smoothly." Really, Alwen was secretly pleased with everything - he had no aspiration to captaincy, but that both of them sought him as their first mate really secured his position on the ship. He'd certainly enjoy it while it lasted.
Alwen takes his time to watch the two women quarrel for a bit about who would lead the ship as captain now. He's more concerned about those who are left loyal to Plugg having surrendered. The elf wipes the blood off of his ax and picks up his bow, heading down to speak to the rest of the crew. He does pause long enough to look at the grisly trophy that Chumtooth hands to him, grinning at the kuru and taking it. "Why, thank you friend," He says to him, before walking over to the surrendered pirates and giving them a look. Honestly, they couldn't trust them. And he was sure a couple of them tried to kill him as well. He strings an arrow on his bow and smiles at them. "I'm a sporting fellow, so rather than execute the lot of you, I'll give you all a chance. If you can swim all the way back to the island from here, you'll probably survive for a bit longer." He looks to the rest of the crew who were his allies. "Toss this lot overboard, and if anyone of them stops swimming to the island, feel free to practice your marksmanship skills," He tells the others before turning away and heading to the captain's quarters. Once inside, the elf's smile drops as he looks at both Satinder and Ayaki. "You know, there's a time and a place to decide ranks, and it is not immediately after a successful mutiny," He states to both women. "The last thing we need is the rest of the crew second-guessing their choices today. After all, we can't exactly pilot this ship on our own." He walks over to the captain's desk and sits on its edge, looking at the nominees. "So, seeing as both of you have made claims to captaincy in front of the whole crew, I can see two options here. One, you can both duel for the position. First blood, loser accepts whatever position the winner and captain deems it. It will strengthen the winner's position as captain to the rest of the crew as well. Or two, and I really don't think you should, you can try co-captaining. That is a terrible idea, and the only time I've ever seen it happen and work was when the captains were twin brothers. Also lovers, but that's entirely beside the point. Simply abdicating the position to one or the other opens up grievances from those of the crew who favor one or the other. The captain must show strength to their crew, to make hard choices for the good of the ship. I trust that both of you understand this?"
I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Take what time is necessary to get through this difficult time.
Alwen keeps up his bravado despite being wounded twice, dropping his bow now that it had become too crowded to step back, and pulling his boarding axe out. He takes a swing at Plugg while grinning broadly. "Hey now, you seem a little upset here - maybe you should think about retiring from the sea life?"
The elf takes another step back away from Plugg, still grinning despite his shoulder wound, as he fires another two arrows point blank at him. "You know, you shouldn't favor your left side like that. It makes you a little more vulnerable on the right," He comments, getting his allies' attention to his weak point.
The elf doesn't waste any further time once he gets up on the deck - drawing his bow and nocking an arrow, he lets it fly at Plugg.
"If that wasn't clear, let it be known that I reject your authority," He quips.
"Oh, b%$&%&#s, she didn't just jump into the fight..." Alwen mutters, moving to climb up onto the deck. At least now they had their distraction to get them up there, but he was fearful for Ayaki's life.
"Douse the lanterns and come in around the opposite side," Alwen suggests, checking his bow and counting his arrows. "If we take Plugg by surprise, we might fare better than if we just come in announcing ourselves. Heck, they might consider just peppering us with arrows or otherwise sink us."
"Oh, I have no doubt once we get there we'll be in for a fight. So let's prepare ourselves on the way, shall we?" Alwen says as they head out of the caverns. "Hopefully not everyone on the ship will want to kill us."
Alwen is concerned when Rosie starts turning blue when he brings her to the surface instead of starting to breathe. He's seen this before, but he doesn't have the training to deal with it - lucky for him that Sandara was conscious enough to deal a couple of healing bursts of magic from her. "Well, as much as I'd love to enjoy this teary eyed reunion and catch our friends up with how things are currently on the ship, I think that we should get out of here as quickly as we can - after we see what treasures we can salvage to perhaps bribe some of the people who will side with our bosun when we go back and start a mutiny."
The giant sized elf looks in the waters, seeing the women and the lacedons, rushing down to get to them. Right now the priority wasn't killing the ghouls but bringing them out where they could breathe, and his increased size and strength should help with that. He grabbed onto the unconscious Rosie first, attempting to pull her away from the lacedons.
Finding that the kuru was ripping into the Whale rather well and seeing both Rosie and Sandara fall into the water, Alwen made his choice as he withdrew from the melee to go after them, diving under the water and hoping his larger body would allow him to reach them quickly.
The elf hissed as he was struck, looking at the massive creature - at least he was the same size. "Go for the big one!" He says, attacking.
Alwen is more than surprised when his body suddenly enlarges and he's taller than everyone. "Okay, so this is both new and very disorientating!" He states, before pulling out a handaxe to see about cutting the hostages down, starting with Sandara first. "Hold still, I'll have you down in a jiffy," He tells her. Taht was right before things suddenly took a turn for the worse, the biggest grindylow he'd ever seen popping out the water along with a rather ugly female one. He took a moment for a threat assessment, before shouting to the group. "Go for the ugly one! The really, really ugly one!" He shouted, moving to engage the larger grindylow himself.
"That is true," Alwen comments, his easy smile on. It's more for show to keep people thinking positive, though losing a member of their party was a big blow. Hopefully the half-orc would survive. Perhaps once they rescued the crew they'd have some more healing available to offer to him. "Let's get going, then - longer we tarry, the more likely we'll end up stranded here," The elf tells the others, before forging ahead, hoping that they didn't have to go much further to reach their crew.
"Or I could do this," Alwen says, taking a stoppered vial out and uncorking it. He pours it into the half-orc's throat, letting the healing magic in the potion work on him - though he's quite certain that his leg is a lost cause, at least he won't bleed out anymore. "Unfortunately, that was my only potion. It'll keep him from dying, sure, but I doubt it'll give him his leg back." He gives Satinder a look. "We still need to find our missing crew. Bring him out of the cave with someone, and the rest of us will continue on. Remember we're on a time limit right now before we're stranded here. And we still need to deal with problems of loyalty on the ship."
Sorry about that absence. I've had a trying couple of weeks lately and haven't checked in lately. Also, Bangkha is probably not dead because Alwen should have some CLW potions to give him. At least one, I think.
Alwen turns, noticing that Bangkha has been caught. "You might want to use something with a blade here!" He says, drawing his bow and firing a shot, taking care to avoid Bangkha.
"That way then. Don't worry, Chummy, we'll get it back for you," Alwen promises as he follows the current.
Now this was a bit of a choice for the group. The elf strokes his chin, considering their options, before taking a moment to check the currents of the water. No doubt they wanted the deeper parts of the caves, where water flowed towards most rapidly. "First, lets skirt around the edge here. I don't know about the rest of you, but considering the traps we've already seen swimming across the open may be a death sentence. Second, anyone have anything that will float on the surface?" He asks. "A piece of cork from a bottle, perhaps?"
Alwen guides the way forward, trying not to splash louder than the waters lapping up against the cavern walls. "If we're quiet, maybe we'll take them unawares," He states.
The elf holds up his hand to everyone to stop, before pointing at the waters. "The floor's not going to hold us up much here. It's nothing but bars. We'd be lucky not to twist our ankles stepping into that mess. Best for us to paddle across - well, those of us who aren't hammers," He adds, before doing a breaststroke across the surface of the water.
"Well, that went rather well," Alwen speaks up from the back with their dwarven wizard. "We should move swiftly now - I haven't the faintest about the senses of these grindylows, but I know chumming the waters can bring all sorts of marine predators I'd rather not fight unless I have to do so."
Seeing as the others are completely blocking his shots, Alwen simply shouts words of encouragement from the back. "Try going for the eyes on that one!" He shouts, pointing to the grindylow in the middle with an arrow.
"Try that one first!" Alwen directs, firing off a arrow ahead of them to hit the closest of the grindylows.
"Good eye," Alwen says, figuring there had to be something devious - this certainly qualified. "Let's swim over these, shall we?" After circumnavigating the obstacle, the elf continues to act as the forward scout for the group, keeping a low profile.
"Well, my first instinct says that these squiddies will want to base themselves in the largest caverns here, with the most retained seawater," Alwen comments, careful to be quiet and not splash around too much. "My second considers that they'll probably have an ugly as sin leader and perhaps some tough as nails second we'll have to fight. That and whatever traps or other surprises they have in store for us." The elf looks between left and right, taking a few moments before going to the right for now, keeping an eye out for anything dangerous to the group.
"Well that's a terrible nickname - all elves have ears," Alwen quips as he looks down at the waters, pondering a moment before leaping off in a dive.
Once safely in the water, he takes a moment to look around for any surprises possibly waiting for them here - these squiddies could have some devious traps in store for them.
Alwen's already plotted the swiftest trail to take to the caverns, but makes a point to determine when high tide is likely to occur first. "You know, like I've said before, we'll have the best advantage going in when we're not forced to tread water while fighting natural swimmers. Just saying."
"For the record, I called dibs on the spyglass," Alwen points out, grinning at Satinder as he plots out the trip down to those caves. "Also, one other thing. We ought to get there during low tide - while I do fancy a swim every now and again, it makes things especially difficult to fight while treading water, don't you agree?" When everyone's ready to proceed, Alwen will start trailblazing the way towards the grindylows, humming softly as he goes.
"Well, that's unfortunate," Alwen comments as people run out of the hut screaming. He'll wait until the last one has run out before closing the door, looking at the others. "I suggest we abandon any further treasures inside and burn it down - and I do hope those insects weren't carrying any horrible diseases, or else you'll really need Sandara's help if you want to make it through the week."
Alwen peeks inside, taking a look at the hanging corpse there. He gives the hanged man a keen look over, thinking to himself before notching two arrows and aiming. "Hey, Freefall, you know we've encountered undead on the island, right? Know how to tell when a corpse isn't a corpse?"
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