"And now you threaten to kill one of the old faith"! "Bah, I've had enough".
"So full of violence and haste". "If you're going to kill me do it now". "I will not stop you". "Think for a second though". "How does this help you to be a better man". "How does this violence help our people".
"Save your venom for those who deserve it... not for your brothers". Stefnir then opens his hands to the side and exposes his neck.
"Buhmbuh's Stuhvuh uz nuht guhttin' uhny cluzzuh. Wuh cuhn kuhll uhch uhthuh hee' uh wuh cuhn wuhk tuhguhthuh luhk wuh duhd buhfuh wuh suht uhshuh. Fuhguht yuh pruhd uhnd ruh; uhf muh pruhd cuhn tuhk duhs..."
Ragnar points to his throat, where the arrowhead cut off his voice.
"... thuh tuh uhf 'oo cuhn ruh up duh cuhst tuhguthuh."
Translation:
"... then the two if you can row up the coast together."
Kurn relaxes a little "Ragnar understands the way of the sea. Honour demands that we bring the ship to shore and personal pride will not allow me to fail, or I will die with this ship. Taggrik and the others have disgraced themselves and us. I will prove their cowardice by reaching Bombur Stuvoy. I suggest you help us all get there and we can kill each other when we get ashore". Kurn lowers his axe, nods with gratitude to Ragnar and concentrates on steering the ship.
Helga exchanges a look with Anya.
"Men," she mutters with a roll of her eyes.
"Why is it that the women on this ship yammer less than tthe supposed men. Posturing and talk is for children still playing with sticks. Act or shut up. We row and follow Kurn's idea until he fails us. If that time comes, we chose another path and kill whatever stands in the way. Until then we all have two choices, stick this true with the people who have survived this hell so far, or go off on your own to die in the cold.
Choose now!"
With that Jorgen sits himself at and oar preparing to row.
Anya, hardly ever adverse to some friendly, or even not-so-friendly violence, watches the brewing contest with interest. As it seems to die down without even a punch being thrown she is only a little disappointed though.
And when her sister makes her comment the barbarian Anya guffaws out load responding with "I guess they wanted to see who had the bigger oar! Bwahahaha!" Still chuckling to herself for sometime and her own clever, at least in her mind, wit. She bends to rowing, as always happy to have her powerful body working hard.
Watching the leadership struggle with interest, Saorise is surprised to see Jorgen wading into the argument.
Shaking her head at the oafish Anya, she moves forward to take up a position at the masthead. Ready to move out, she turns back to see how the situation resolves.
Ragnar takes an oar, now that things have been sorted out.
Rowing check (Str + Con + Endurance feat):
Stefnir makes final eye contact with both Kurn and Jorgen, and spits over the side of the boat before silently making his way to one of the oars. They have one thing right he mumbles to himself...This is not the time or place for this dispute. I only hope we live long enough to settle it...
As the ship gets under way, Kurn tries to lighten the mood and cheer everybody up a bit. "How about a good song Helga, about glory and adventure to cheer us all up?"
Helga thinks a moment, then settles on Lief's Voyage as a suitable song, a tale of a raider who set out with only half a crew, met with terrible storms and misfortune but made new allies, added new crewmen with unique abilities and returned to port with a hold full of gold and silver and a new wife from the south-lands to cap it off. It has a good rhythm she can add to the drumbeat ...
Perform (sing):
"... sing hey to the sky, and then haul on the oars,
the sun is a-shining the morn's blue sky!
Strain with your back, as you haul on the oars,
'til the wind fills the sail and the waves we do ride ..."
Oblivious to Saorise's censure, Anya is in a fine mood as the voyage begins anew. Enjoying her sisters tale the strong woman puts her back int rowing. Rowing: :
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The rowing speed suits the lack of crew. The Albatross responds well to Kurn at the tiller and soon the drakkar is back out in open sea, hugging the coastline and heading west.
Looking ahead, anyone can see that the pine woods extend all the way above the cliffs that reach out to the Glaciar Sea. There are several small natural stone beaches with the odd breaker rolling up and down. But nothing too dangerous at the moment.
Above the clouds part and morning sunlight streams down in swathes that make the sea bright in patches and dark in others. Soon the Marked Albatross is bathed in fresh warmth.
Cheered by the sun, Helga's singing and the easy going so far, Kurn prays to Krakis for a safe journey.
"We'll show those doubters that a true hearted crew and bring this ship to port" announces Kurn with meaning. "Then Stefnir can guide you once we are ashore" he says nodding at Stefnir, inwardly acknowledging Stefnir's obvious talents.
Perception:
Initiative:
Perception:
Initiative:
Kurn is far to caught up in the voyage and heric singing to care about anything else!
Perception:
Initiative:
Initiative:
Perception:
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Kurn is at the tiller, concentrating on the waves ahead, looking for the tell-tale signs of sudden rocks.
In front of him sit Freki and Anya, Ari and Jorgen then there is the mast and the far pair of oars are rowed by Stefnir and Kanud, Olaf and Ragnar.
Beyond them is Helga at the drum and the young man, Thorsten of Urgen.
Now that the pace is much slower, the rowing proves easy.
Perception
Initiative
Perception
Initiative
Ari senses something and shouts, "Kurn, I heard something, it was coming from the hold"
Helga stops drumming and singing at once!
Ragnar heads to the hatch, pulling it up to investigate (assuming it's
safe to abandon his oar).
"Jorgen, please help Ragnar and Saorise. The rest of you keep rowing or we will drift into those rocks over there" shouts Kurn to everybody.
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Ragnar pulls open the trapdoor and is hit by a growing wall of squeaking and chittering. Now that the sounds aren't muffled by thick wood, the volume of black rats and their noise is loud enough for everyone to hear.
Dozens of the rats swarm up and onto the deck looking around, their eyes shine red and feral. All of them seem to be dripping strange black saliva from their mouths.
Round One
Saorise moves away as fast as she can, until she reaches Kurn.
Then the rats spill out onto the deck swarming over Helga, Ragnar and Thorsten. Hundreds upon hundreds climb out and spread out around the trapdoor, covering legs and scurrying upwards.
1st Fort Save:
2nd Fort Save:
Nauseated and overwhelmed Helga strives to flee the rush of rats, moving toward the other end of the boat.
Fort 1:
Fort 2:
Jorgen charges down the deck eyes crackling white, his voice carrying the faintest hint of thunder as he speaks words of the old runespeak.
Stopping between the rats and the rest of the crew he kneels, his hand quickly tracing a runic sigil in the deck aheaad of him, a sigil glowing with the energy of a storm.
Stefnir turns at the sound, and is overwhealmed by the odor and sight of all these un-natural Rats pouring from the hold of the cursed ship.
He quickly takes a look at Kurn to see if he is somehow controlling these rats, then the odor overcomes him as he tries to stow his oar.
Roaring at the insult of this new threat and the injury to her sister, Anya drops her oar, not caring or thinking about storing it at the moment, and moves to guard her sister drawing her club as she goes. Once there she begins smashing at every rat she can see.
Ari seeing the squeeking hoard bursting from the hold, shivvers. He hates rats, ever since he was bitten as a child. He quickly stores his oar and stands up, drawing his mace and shield in one fluid motion.
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The feral rats hiss and spit at each other, at Anya as she charges up to the drum and one large black has torn a gash in the drum's skin and sits waiting for Anya's blow.
The young man coughs and splutters under the weight of several rats, one biting deep into his neck, he convulses flinging some off, but slips and falls to the ground.
Kurn concentrates on steering the ship, but prays for the help of Krakis!
Stefnir rises from the bench and steps up on it. Calling forth the power of the storm he casts Produce Flame, and hurls it at a group of rats
Ranged touch or touch (1d20=11)
He also tries to determine if there is anything unusual about the rats.
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Stefnir
Stefnir's ball of fire leaves his hand and sails over Jorgen landing among the swarm of rats. Charred bodies bounce off the siderails and over into the sea as the mass explodes.
Stefnir
** spoiler omitted **Stefnir's ball of fire leaves his hand and sails over Jorgen landing among the swarm of rats. Charred bodies bounce off the siderails and over into the sea as the mass explodes.
DM