The captain rises from his seat, as does First Mate Alton. They both raise their tankards, and the other sailors end their continuous shanty to cheer. "For a great day and a great meal!"
The cheer grows louder...
The crashing waves of the sea hammer an ache into your head. The sun is burning above your head, and you feel a pain on your arm. Eyeball's unconscious body is laying in the remnants of a broken barrel that's mere inches away from your head; as you raise your head, you see some strange creature is pinching your arm with a big pincer, curiously so. As you rise ever so slightly, you see various other survivors unconscious in the golden dunes. The prisoner, Jask, is groaning next to you. Stranger still, a great heap of various gear, yours included, lays only fifteen feet away.
As you stir, you realise something is wrong - you feel groggy and weak...
DM
Lilly scuttles backwards from the creatures, her hands sifting through the sand seeking small stones to throw.
initiative
Knowledge: nature (What are these things)
Perception
If there is still time in the round, Lilly Casts "Magic Stone" on any pebbles she finds.
Eyeball!!! Eyeball, Wake up !!!
Avarthiel wakes up with a stinging pain in her head and belly; she awakes to the sight of the gnome Gelik, and the dwarf Dantes being nipped by these strange... lobster-scorpions?
Kythas wakes to find two of them pinching his leg and arm...
The one that woke Lilly up attempts to pinch again - it doesn't seem to want to use its stinger - but you dodge it in time. You find no rocks in the smooth, golden sand, and Eyeball doesn't seem to respond to your cries.
Gelik is groaning loudly, and the groan turns into a scream as he tries to scuffle away from the creature.
"Get it away, get it off!"
These creatures are known as Ochre euryperids. Their stingers are venomous, and their venom is known to dull a creature's reflexes until it can no longer run away.
Belly down in the soft golden sand of some unknown shore under the blistering heat of the hot tropical sun, the wild elf barely had time to regret his words to Avarthiel earlier...
"How much earlier," he thought, taking a quick measurement of time and trying to still the tremendous, oddly unfamiliar pounding in his head.
He then noticed the pair of small crustaceans snapping furiously at his now mobile and relatively awkward state. Ignoring the pain in his bleeding forearm and calf, Kythas felt the reliable weight of his dagger still in his boot as he scanned the rest of the beach to see if he was alone with these opportunistic scavengers.
Seeing the pile of gear and at least 3 other passengers laying close by, the elf gritted his teeth and turned his attentions back to the strange beasts trying to make a meal of him.
Regarding the blade in his boot as likely ineffective against the hard-shelled creatures, especially given his current situation of sprawled out to the fours, the elf decided to leap to his feet and make a dash to recover his family blade that he could see gleaming under the afternoon sun.
Ugh. Never again. Never again, no more curry, never. Avarthiel slowly and unwillingly comes round, and almost tries to remain unconscious. But the bright light and the pain is too much and eventually the elf is forced to crack an eyelid open.
What in the name of the ninety-nine wards... Giant bugs are eating my companions! Then a moment of near-panic, my staff, can't cast without it!
With a groan and a sickened, whirling feeling, Avarthiel rises and stumbles in place. Hand to pounding head, looking around, and finally... there, in that pile of junk ... the beautifully carved slender staff, unharmed and close to hand.
Avarthiel staggers closer to it, reaching out.
DM, Avarthiel, Lilly and Kythas:
Strikes at the creature in G0, using elemental fist.
To hit
Damage plus electrical damage.
Well, that's certainly not going to do it!
Avarthiel groans, nearly retching again, "Urgh, Dantes, good to see you back on your feet. Lilly, Kythas. Now what's going on and where are we. And why does it all hurt so much?"
Dantes, Avarthiel, Lilly & Kythas
"Don't let them sting you"! "They have poison in their tails".
Lilly begins to cast Summon Natures Ally I. Giant Centipede
Kystra stirs with a groan, the pain in her stomach and ache in her head amplified by the scorching sun... and the sound of battle. The soft moans of Ichirou can be heard, and the Tian man has awakened. One of the creatures rushes forward, and pinches Jask, who also stirs.
"What...urgh... my head..." Ichirou mumbles, clutching his stomach. Jask only widens his eyes in horror as the small monster is next to his face.
The creatures attack; one tries to pinch Dantes, another one rushes at Kythas, and the third one tries to pinch Avarthiel's foot...
Gelik runs around Avarthiel and starts to sift through the pile of gears and goods; as he scoots aside several weapons and broken chairs, the tip of Avarthiel's staff is revealed. The gnome pulls out a short sword from the heap. Angrily, he turns to the strange creature that pinched him.
"Bloody bastards, I'll carve myself a necklace from your bloody pincers!"
Upon Lilly's incantation, the giant centipede emerges from the sand, its pincers clicking. It draws its attention to the nearby enemy, and poises to attack.
These creatures are known as Ochre euryperids. Their stingers are venomous, and their venom is known to dull a creature's reflexes until it can no longer run away.
Round 2.
Dantes will stand (which I believe incurs an AoO) and try to smash the creature with his foot.
To hit
Damage
Still dizzy from some unkown, but potent effect, Kythas dodged the feeble attempts of the vicious eurypterid as it lashed out at his movement.
"It won't be that easy." he mocked the pesky vermin as he tried to steady himself on the shifting sand.
Hearing the sounds of additional survivors on the other side of the junk heap, the wild elf chanced a quick backwards tumble towards the pile to avoid any further attacks from his hungry foe and make a grab for his blade.
Acrobatics to avoid AoO from movement
Assuming he doesn't fall flat on his face, Kythas will move to H8 and grab his curve blade.
Kystra blinks a few times. The blinding bright light of sun feels real, but surely this is a dream? The aweful feeling in her stomache churns angrily, letting her know this is all very real. Instinctively Kystra will slowly rise to her feet and draw her dagger.
"Aiie! That stings!" Avarthiel jerks a foot away from the attacking pincer, scattering a spray of crimson droplets into the bright sunlight. Keeping a determined focus, the wizard grabs the ornately carven staff out of the pile.
"Now. Now I can make a difference." The elf steps away from the attacking scorpion thing, trying to create space for spell casting.
First the centipede attacks, then Lilly lurches unsteadily to her feet, and grabs her Scimitar from the pile of stuff.
Bite - Flanking
Damage (+Poison: DC 13 or 1d3 Dex damage (1/6 rnds, 1 to save)
She passes Eyeball on the way, and looks for any sign of life.
Perception +9, Heal +7
As Dantes scrambles on his feet, the creature attempts to pinch his foot; but he pulls away in time. When you attempts to stomp it, it skitters away and you leave only a footprint in the sand.
(miss)
When Avarthiel pulls out the staff from the pile, the creature tries to pinch him, but it fails to hit.
(miss)
As Kythas slips away from the grasp of the creatures, the centipede Lilly called forth delivers a fierce bite! Shortly afterwards, it melts into the sand.
The hilt of the curve blade is sticking out underneath some wet blankets and a broken barrel, and he pulls it out with some difficulty. Lilly finds her scimitar underneath Eyeball, the dimorphodon laying on the flat side - he is unscathed, and he stirs when touched by Lilly.
Gelik lets out a howl - a loud, pitchy screech - as he attacks the creature that almost pinched Avarthiel. Before he can even send his blade swinging, he retches, the contents of the dinner you ate coating the area around the creature.
Jask doesn't make a sound as he curls his fist, attempting to crush the creature; he sways and the fist crashes into the sand.
Ichirou glances around, and his confused expression turns into pained determination...and then some panic as he reaches for his blade, which isn't nearby. He gets up on his feet, and rushes over to the heap - clearly holding back the urge to retch.
Both Sasha and Aerys stir in the sand...
Two of the creatures attack Jask, and the manacled prisoner lets out two sharp grunts of pain.
One creature attacks Kystra as she gets on her feet, but she manages to step away in time.
Dantes is attacked, but he nimble dodges the pincer; Gelik is attacked too, but he also dodges.
Enraged, but feeling to sick to do anything about it, Lilly skirts the edge of the water to attack the creature injured by the centipede.
Scimitar Attack
And nearly spews her dinner at the fast movement, missing the scuttling creature entirely.
While still trying to get her bearings and figure out what happened, Kystra will circle around to flank the creature that Kythas is attacking, taking care not to provoke any attacks as she does so.
Pulling his treasured blade from a pile of soaked blankets, Kythas turned back to the battle, seeing the Convict being mauled by a pair of the bold sea-scorpions and the half-elf Oracle engaged in a fight with another of the chitinous beasts.
Gritting his teeth and trying the best he could to clear the painful fog in his head, he steps up to the right of Kystra, wobbling slightly as he does so and attempts to splatter the dull-colored creature attacking her.
Attack!
Gelik! Disregarding his own safety, Dantes will leap at the creature attacking Gelik and attempt to wrestle it away from him.
So, incurring another AoO from the creature at G0 so he can step to G2 and grapple with the creature at H3.
CMB roll
Avarthiel tries to think through the swirling nausea that makes every action a struggle to stay upright. Calm, calm. What will help my companions the most?
Another pulsing wave of sickness pulses through the wizard and the world spins again. When it stops Avarthiel finds that he has unconsciously drawn protective magics around him. The butt of the rune-carven staff has etched a rough circle in the sand, and a touch of will has called into being an arcane ward against danger.
Blinking back tears of pain the elf stumbles closer to the majority of the group, trying to get as many companions as possible inside the sphere of protection. Sorry Dantes...
Avarthiel squints through the tears and the glaring sunlight, and shouts to be heard over the crashing surf. "Friends, gather close to me. My arcane powers will protect you!"
The sickness takes its toll; as Dantes rushes to aid Gelik, he dodges the creature's pinch, though he fails to grab it.
(miss)
Gelik steps to the side, striking once again, trying to utilise the advantage. He only barely misses the creature.
Jask scoots away and gets up on his feet. Ichirou retrieves his blade from the heap, and unsheathes it. He lets out a soft cough as he glares at the creatures. Sasha stirs and mumbles; Aerys rises to her feet and curls her fists.
"Damn that chef," she grumbles, swaying slightly. She scowls at the creature Dantes fought.
One of the creatures attack Lilly - but she dodges!
(miss)
Two of the creatures turn on Kystra, taking advantage of the distraction - they pinch her twice.
(hit, 1 damage)
(hit, 1 damage)
Upset, the creature pinches Dantes as he failed to grab it!
(miss)
The last one attempts to pinch Aerys, but fails...
Kystra will step to a more tactical position to assist Lilly in combatting the beasts.
As Kystra's eyes and senses have now adjusted to the situation she tries to scan around to take everything in.
Seeing she now has help in distracting the creature, Lilly weakly swings her Scimitar once again.
Flanked attack
And only succeeds in attacking the sand before her. Is this whole beach moving or is it just my head?
The combination of the sweltering heat, the maddening pain in his body and the surprisingly fast reflexes of his scuttling target nearly landed Kythas back on his face in the surf as he took his first swing at the beast.
"Calm yourself" the wild elf told himself in an attempt to force the distractions from his mind.
The voracious vermin he was attacking suddenly turned it's attention to Kystra, drawing blood from the half-elf as it landed a hit. Distracted with its new would-be victim, Kythas slipped in behind the nasty creature and swung down at it's backside with a more carefully measured swing.
Attack! [ooc](+1 BAB, +4 dex, +1 MW, +1 trait, +2 flank, -2 sickened)
Damage: [ooc](+3 str, -2 sickened)
Dantes will try to strike down the one between him and Gelik.
To hit
Damage
Looking past their foe at Gelik, he'll ask Are you hurt?
Avarthiel stumbles a few paces towards Dantes and Gelik, both to include them in his wards and to gain a clear sight of the creature menacing them.
"This was supposed to be for cooling my wine," the wizard mutters. Fingers sketch an arcane sigil in the air and a line of cool blue light extends from the tip of the carven staff to the lobster-thing between Dantes and Gelik.
Dantes's strike lands true. The creature is smashed underneath the weight of his fist, its pincer clenching once and twice...and then it stops.
"Goodness gracious," Gelik says, his face a frown of anger. "Yes, I'm quite alright, thank you, what in the seven bloody hells..."
Lilly, Kythas and Kystra all fail to strike the creatures, elusive as they are. Avarthiel's ray only barely misses, the frost coating the sand.
Gelik spots the creature assaulting Aerys, and he rushes to her aid! His strike does not land true, only cutting the patch of frost from the elf's spell. Aerys strikes as well, burying her fist in the sand as she curses loudly.
Ichirou enters an unusual combat stance. He dashes towards the wounded creature; in a single swipe he cleaves it in half. Ichor and blood is splattered across the sand.
Jask stays still, tugging on his manacles; it is clear he is unable to do anything apart from swatting wildly. Sasha blinks awake and looks at the scene, to which she leaps up from the sand - and promptly retches.
The creatures attack! The one nestled between Lilly and Kystra attempts to pinch Lilly.
(miss)
Kythas is attacked, but he dodges nimbly!
(miss)
Gelik swears loudly as the creature attempts to pinch him once more - Gnomish profanity fills the air. You think it is profanity, at least.
(miss)
Kythas hissed in anger as his second attack swung harmlessly over the wily creature.
"I've spent too many months reclining in comfort on that cursed ship" he murmered to himself as he tried to recover from his ill-aimed lunge, while avoiding the sea-scorpions return attack at the same time. "Tricksy little bugger." the elf thought as he narrowly avoided the snapping claws and flashing tail.
Seeing Ichirou arrive at his side and quickly make short work of one of the beasts with his unusual blade, Kythas moved to flank the second of the eurypterids in hopes to deliver an equally impressive blow.
Attack!
Damage:
Cursing, and shaking her head to try and clear it, Lilly once again attempts to slice into the wily foe.
Flanked Scimitar attack
Scimitar Damage
Dantes will move with Gelik to attack the nearest one.
Move to H1 and strike.
To hit
Damage
Kystra looks at Lilly and shakes her head, "Nasty little buggers."
Dantes attempts to smash the creature, but it skitters away in time. Avarthiel fires another beam of frost. It strikes true, and it keels over, twitching momentarily as it dies.
Jask rises to his feet, and he folds his fingers. He starts to mumble under his breath.
"I ask of you, the All-Seeing Eye, to bring good favour to this day; sweep upon us the tide of creation, so tomorrow is certain to come."
Ichirou, invigorated by Jask's prayer, delivers a fierce slash! Blood splatters across the sand.
Gelik and Aerys start to make their way over to the others; Sasha staggers over to the heap, scuffling for her blade.
The final creature attempts to pinch Lilly, but she sidesteps before it can even approach.
(miss)
Staring to look a little frustrated, Kystra looks down and exclaims "
Die!"
Kystra sighs.
"Arghhh! why won't this beach stay still"?
Scimitar Attack
and Lilly continues to dig a furrow in the sand. Maybe if she keeps this up, she can use the hole for her own grave.
Avarthiel exclaims, "Ah! A blow for the arcane powers! Time to finish this and regroup." The elf moves into position and another sparkling ray of blue light lances at the single remaining enemy.
Avarthiel's mystic energies successfully cool a small patch of sand.
Dantes will double move to F8.
Summoning as much energy as he can muster, Kythas staggers down to the surf to finish off the last beast.
Attack!
Damage:
The creature skitters away from Lilly and Kystra's continued assault, only to find a swift end at the edge of Kythas's blade. Its body, in two pieces, tumbles across the sand as the immediate threat has finally been taken care of.
Ichirou drops into the sand, clutching his blade as firmly as his fingers allow. Gelik is muttering quietly to himself, wandering around the heap of items. Aerys has walked away a fair distance, though you can see her retching, clutching her stomach. Sasha is struggling to stay on her feet, leaning on a barrel amidst the heap. Jask has taken a sitting position, rubbing his stomach with both hands...
Dantes drops to one knee, struggling to keep from heaving. He nods to Kythas and says Well struck.
Glancing around, he'll ask Who is hurt? Glancing up and down the shore, he'll ask Did anyone see any other... he pauses, not sure how to refer to the lot of them. Survivors? Marooned? Magicked? ...anyone else from the Jenivere?
The wild elf spat on the bisected monster at his feet and casually inspected his blade for any nicks the creature's chitinous carapace might have put in it.
Seeing it was unharmed, he staggered down into the softly lapping surf and dropped to his knees. Retching for all his worth into the foamy tide.
Ignoring his fellow castaways for the moment, his mind raced against the dulling pain, trying to make sense of what had happened.
"Lilly" he thought. She was already on her feet fighting when he awoke, face-down in the sand.
Turning to the strange druid, he half groaned, "Lilly, do you have any idea what happened?"
Unsure at the moment where they were marooned, he inspected the gently churning surf to determine whether the tide was coming in or going out.
Knowledge: Geography
Hearing Dantes' gravelly voice over the sound of the lapping waves and throbbing hurt in his head, Kythas responded to his query without looking.
"I am fine, Dantes." he spoke, just loudly enough for the dwarf to hear.
Inspecting his magically healed forearm he smiled mirthlessly to himself, glancing for a second at the chained human convict who staunched his wounds with words of power.
"It looks like I have misjudged that one as well..."
Still very disoriented, Kystra finds something fairly solid to sit down on so that she can take in a mental inventory on what has happened and what they are going to do.
"Does anyone have any idea of what happened or of where we are?"
Wiping his lips with the back of his hand, Kythas looked briefly at the oracle and muttered as steadily as he could, "As to what happened, I am clueless, Lady Silverstar."
Looking up and down the length of the beach, trying to pick out any landmarks he might recognize to help identify their present location, or better yet, the Jenivere herself, Kythas continued,"As to where we are..." the elf left that mystery unanswered as he pondered the same question himself.
"Well, we are on the shore by the sea. I see no sign of our fine ship, though we seem to have more of our equipment than seems likely after a shipwreck. Very curious."
Taken by a sudden fear, the wizard hurriedly starts searching through the pile of equipment. Tension visibly drains from tight-clenched shoulders as a prized book comes to light, dray and unharmed. My spellbook.
"Kystra, are you alright?"
You're fairly certain the high tide has just begun to shift into the ebb tide.
Based on the course of the ship, and some of the signs you see around the vicinity, you think you may have wrecked upon Smuggler's Shiv, one of the many island around the vicinity...
"Well. Now." Gelik finds his scabbard from the heap of items; sheating his blade, he starts to brush sand off of his clothes. His expression is one of irritation. Aerys returns shortly, wiping her mouth.
"Ain't it obvious?" Aerys frowns. "Last I can remember, we were eating dinner. Now we wake up wet in the sand. Ship got wrecked, that's what happened."
Ichirou stays quiet and still, as does Jask. Sasha seems to finally recover from whatever ailment she was suffering from - and so do you. The nauseating feeling is fading away rapidly. She takes a deep breath and looks around; her expression is strange. "I dreamt of panic and fear, that I was drowning... are you saying it wasn't a dream? We're shipwrecked? In the middle of nowhere!?"
"Well!? What in the nine hells do we do now?" Gelik throws his arms into the air in frustration, starting to circle the heap once more. More Gnomish profanity fills the air.
Noting that the surf was slowly retreating, Kythas breathed a short sigh of relief.
"Thank Gozreh for that at least." he said to himself, at least they'd have time to sort through the haphazard pile in their midst and move the carcasses of the eurypterids up to the high-tide line for possible eating.
His reprieve was short lived as he started to recognize some of the rocky formations and distinctive, jagged coast of the beach.
"This isn't good."
As the strength started coursing back through his body, the wild elf returned to the pile of miscellaneous gear and began withdrawing any items that were his.
His bow... undamaged, but in need of restringing.
A pouch of shuriken... Nope.
His quiver of arrows... mostly there and intact.
A handful of loose shuriken... Hmmmm...
A familiar dagger.
"Why does that dwarf need so many of these damn things?" he mused with a smile as he recovered some more shuriken.
"Ah!" he smiled as he tugged his well-crafted backpack from near the bottom of the ill-assembled heap, feeling the pair of bottles clinking together as he gave it a gentle shake.
Opening the soft leather flap, Kythas pulled out one of the bottles of Port Peril's finest and gave the waxen seal around the cork a good inspection before verifying that it was, indeed, unbroken.
Pulling the wooden stopper out with a light "pop" he took a healthy swig of the sweet rum before returning the bottle to the pack and slinging it over his shoulder.
"The Shiv..." he thought to himself as his mind worked to remember anything he heard about the island while aboard the Jenivere.
As he gave the subject his full mental attention, he wordlessly started to move to gather the dead crustaceans and relocate them further up the beach.
Knowledge: Geography (If it helps him remember anything about the Shiv)
Knowledge: Nature
Smuggler’s Shiv is a notorious island north of Eleder. It’s not shown on most maps, but is rightfully feared by those who ply the waters of Desperation Bay. The island is named not only for the knife-like shape of its coastline, but for its uncanny habit of wrecking ships that draw too near — mostly smugglers eager to avoid detection by Sargava’s navy.
The Eurypterid's poison gland is not found in the tail, but near the root; removing the tail normally exposes the small lump of venom. You are certain that after removing the gland, a boiled Eurypterid shouldn't be dangerous to consume.
"These things will make fine eating." Kythas spoke loudly to everyone in earshot, inviting them to help him move the bodies to a safer location. "It looks like we might be here for awhile, so we'd better salvage what we can."
Not remembering anything too specific about Smuggler's Shiv other than it being the destination of choice for shipwrecks and general misfortune, the elf moved close to Dantes as he carried one of the intact corpses up the beach and whispered to him, as softly as he could,