The croc is reduced to a splat.
Menrozzar pries the now-dead crocodile's jaws off his leg. "Well, at least we can eat this beast, yes? And I might make myself some new boots out of its hide."
"Excellent choice. Ivan, I think we postpone the sushi." Gashnakh suggests.
Raag hsouts over deck "Halrex, get that railing fixed." Halrex comes up too and looks around. "Anyone of you good with wood and tools?" she asks the group.
Bupkis examines the broken railing.
"Bupkis fixes!", the goblin relies to Halrex. "You have tools on boat?"
"I get you the tools." Halrex tells. While looking what he can reuse and where he needs new parts and how to attach them, Bupkis finds that someone drilled a large hole through the railing from below, making it break exactly at this position.
Two minutes later Halrex reappears with a carpenter's toolbox and some wooden posts.
"Sabotage!", Bupkis cries, showing off his knowledge of big words. He shows the others how the railing was deliberately weakened.
Glad to be freed from the torture of rowing, he gets to work repairing the railing.
After he finishes, he declares, "Railing strong now!"
"What do you mean sabotage? Who does that on my boat!" Raag shouts out in a rage. All shrug .
Intrigued Daseem watched Bupkis' woodwork. It was a useful skill although he mostly thought of the ways of using it to make beautiful pommels. He'd seen some of the things that could be done with a hand lathe and oil. You could really see the structure and grain in the wood which often looked amazing next to a blade made of folded steel.
As the situation is over and nothing can be done about the sabotage for now Raag sends all back to work. "We still have many miles to travel for today. Get to rowing again." he orders and Halrex ushers all who are on rowing duty below deck. Soon the drum giving the rowing wythm is heard again and the boat moves faster.
Ivan nods, Aye, I've heard These things taste similar to chicken, should be good.
He turns to Raag.
Ye know, I think I can improve ya system for fishin' ifn' ye want. Make it easier, quicker work an' not to mention less dangerous. It shouldn't take more n' a day, two at most, an' it'll be a boon fer ye for more than this one trip.
If allowed, Ivan would work on that, if not he shrugs and walks back to the kitchen.
Bupkis' shoulders slump. More rowing? Aaagh!" resigned to his fate, he reluctantly makes his was back to the rowing deck.
"Yeah, later maybe. First you help me make this into steaks." Gashnakh tells pointing to the croc.
Scrabbler sighed and stowed the bomb he'd been trying to light when the crocodile attacked. He really needed to get faster at making fire.
When his shift in the crow's nest ended, he was bored. The boat had been new and interesting at first, but it was a small space and he could only explore the same area about three times before he stopped being excited by it.
Bored goblins are a catastrophe waiting to happen. There were places on the boat Scrabbler hadn't been and he wanted to see them.
He didn't have any malicious intent when he went snooping. He just had to know.
As the evening arrives the boat is anchored, croc on potatoes is served and it tastes like vengeance. The crew stays after the meal to have some fun with games of dice and cards and some drinking.
Some go for the deck to play outdoor games, where they throw horse shoes at a target.
Bupkis follows the crew onto the deck and watches them play horseshoes. When it's his turn, he floats the horseshoe over to the target using telekinesis, and eases into place. It turns out that this is considered cheating.
Later, he watches the dice game, and wonders if he would be able to make the dice roll what he wants. He figures people might get suspicious, however.
Ivan joins the games of chance after the hearty meal, preferring the low ceiling and non open area of the boat. He probably also drinks a fair bit, but keeps from going over the edge.
The half orcs have a very rustic way of telling Bupkis, that they think he is cheating. It's through a game called basketball. A large willowbasket that stands at the wall is used for Bupkis to be thrown over a distance of 15 feet into that basket.
Ghorza is the first to explain Bupkis in this unorthodox way that he is not fond of these kinds of tricks. "Hey scumbag, if you cheat us, you are dumped in the trash." He grabs the goblin at the collar of his vest and throws him in a ballistic arc at the basket.
The other players boo at the horrible throw and some call out "Me next!"
Bukis manages to land without being hurt too badly.
For the next throw, he's ready; he does a somersault in the air and lands gracefully in the basket.
The sailors cheer on the willingness of the goblin to take par tin that game and a new favorite pastime is born. During the evening you get to know the sailors which are Barka, Gashnakh, Ghorza, Krothu, Oorug, Sharg, Taug, and Urul. All half-orcs.
Scrabbler started at the first locked door and snuck his way in to look around.
Behind the locked double door made of steel is the armory of the ship. It contains cargo of six chain shirts, 12 battleaxes, and 20 spears. It also contains a locked iron cage in which sits a large white haired ape with four arms that might be ten feet high and ten feet wide when standing. But at the moment it is slumped into a corner of the cage as if it had too much ale.
Scrabbler's eyes narrowed as he saw the poor beast. He hated cages. The only thing that should be kept in cages were babies, and that was just for everyone else's protection.
He didn't know anything about the white hairy longshank thing, but he wanted to help it. Maybe not right now though. He needed to take to smarter people first.
He spied the floor, and his eyes lit up. Secret stairs were exciting!
There is no trap to find and removing the boards proofs this to be correct. In the compartment below there are shelves along the walls. But these shelves are empty. There is a door that leads out of this compartment.
Scrabbler squeezed up against the door quietly, listening and gently running his fingers across it's surface.
There is a lousily hidden snare trap besides the door handle that will grab anyone trying to open it. Also it will make enough noise for someone to notice.
In the evening, Menrozzar busies himself doing exactly what he said he'd do - turning the crocodile's hide into a new pair of boots. He sits near the others where they are playing the games of chance, although he himself doesn't participate. He notices Bupkis wander on deck with other sailors, and hopes the goblin doesn't cause any trouble. He doesn't see Scrabbler, but assumes the other goblin joined Bupkis on the deck.
The trap at the door is as easily disabled as it is found. Behind the door is This 5-foot-wide corridor stretches for 80 feet between two
doors. Besides the corridor is filled with sludge and muck.
Scrabbler quietly cracked the door and peeked inside.
Daseem spends his evening sharpening his sword and tending to his kit. His greatsword had been dinged up a bit and he needed to deal with a little rust on his chainmail, nothing a hammer and a wirebrush couldn't sort out. He noticed the goblins capering about and thought nothing of it. He watched the games of chance with half an eye, mostly interested in figuring out the pecking order among the sailors.
Scrabbler looked at the muck. He didn't mind muck but his new clothes were new, and it would be hard to pretend he wasn't down here if he came back up on deck covered in smelly muck.
Back when he was a whelp he'd lived in a swamp. He didn't remember much of it, but he remembered a few very important things all goblins were taught. One of them was never to venture into water you couldn't see the bottom of.
He closed the door, re-locked it and made sure the trap was set and ready, then slipped back out past the room with the furry thing in the cage and out into the hallway.
Bupkis asks his new friends to teach him some of their work songs. He's used to goblin songs that teach other goblins how to do things; he thinks the half-orc songs might help him learn about their life on the boat.
The thought of singing during work has never come up to any of the crew. During the row it's only the monotone beating of the drum with a shouted out 'pull' until all are in sync. During work all the half orcs are rather in a brooding mood. But maybe they just need a goblin to come up with a song for them. But for now they only laugh at the silly notion of singing during work.
The pecking order Daseem is looking for is easily told. It's the captain, then Halrex and then the crew who has to do as they say. None of the crew stick out and none is shunned.
Menrozzar finds the the croc fights him even in death, as it denies him the wish to turn into boots. Obviously there is more than one profession involved for turning animal skin into footwear which he hasn't the right tools and materials for.
Finally Halrex tells that the evening is over and everyone has to go to bed. The next morning starts with the same routine. Fast breakfast, and then the anchor is lifted and the rowing is pursued.
after about two hours of rowing all hear a roar from the armory, followed by a large four armed white ape bursting through the wooden wall besides the iron door.
The ape grabs one of the half orcs and slams him into the wall. The other sailors scream and run try to get the hell out of there.
Ivan stands, picks up his shield from its resting spot near him, and moves as close to the white ape he can, putting himself between it and the others, but stays just out of the creatures reach if possible
Well, at least we ain't gotta row anymore, an ifn' we keep fixin' issues like this on the boat, I'm gonna have ta' 'ave a talk to our capn' bout this "safe" passage we are workin' for. Where did this bloody thing even come from though?!
Menrozzar stands up, grabbing his lucerne hammer as he goes, and moves from his rowing bank on the opposite side towards the ape.
Menrozzar deals a very painful blow to the kneecap of the ape as there is not enough room for an overhead blow.
Bupkis is up on the forecastle when the boat slows. Hearing shouts down below, he rushes down to see what is going on.
The rowing was a good work out sure, but it was monotonous. In truth Daseem was getting bored and that was never a good thing. When he was bored he sometimes did things that lead to him being scolded like a child by Tessa. When roused, that woman's tongue could cut deeper than any blade. Daseem needed a distraction and when the giant ape appeared he took it as a sigh of his Lord's favor.
Gleefully like a small boy who has seen his favorite thing, Daseem cried "GORUM BE PRAISED!"
Grinning like a loon he rushed forwards heedless of the danger and swung his oversized sword in a great arc, hoping to hack deeply into this most unexpected and welcome foe!
2nd: Defending Bone, Weapon of Awe
The girallon claws at Daseem as he closes in. But still swaying like drunk the beast misses and eats steel.
Scrabbler was so sick of rowing that he was practically elated when the unexpected fight broke out. He lept into action, then he remembered that this was the creature in the cage that he felt bad for. Still, it was attacking his friends now. It probably should have stayed in the cage.
Scrabbler's introspection didn't stop his wild wall-crawling, leaping over the creature's head. He ended up half hanging onto it, and half clinging to the wall.
It looks like Scrabbler could take down the ape on his own, the way he plays the beast. But the ape isn't helpless either. It claws at all around him.
Menrozzar and Daseem get wounded by the creature, but Scrabbler evades it, and Ivan's iron dress takes the beating instead.
Ivan swings his hammer under the beasts arms. And smashes his dwarven helmet towards its ribcage.
Menrozzar grits his teeth. First the crocodile, now a four-armed ape. This trip was not what he'd expected. With a roar of rage, his hands warp into claws as his eyes turn a burnished gold, with reptilian slits for pupils, as he swings the lucerne hammer horizontally at the ape.
Ivan mercilessly hammers with tool and head at the well-being of the creature. Menrozzar is not so lucky. The beast's life hangs at a thread.
Bupkis opens the hatch and sees a four-armed ape attacking his friends! He draws out a crossbow bolt and tries to shoot the monster without hitting anyone else, but there's too many people in the way. "Where that comes from?", he shouts.
Laughing maniacally, Daseem doesn't seem to notice the cuts and abrasions as he recklessly swings his sword in another great arc sending droplets of blood and viscera flying! Fighting strange and wonderful creatures was reason to exult, GORUM be praised!