Truk, even with his drooping pecks, hears Era mention the rooms through the sound of the gurgling the one slaver is making with his foot slowly pressing down into his neck. Removing the axes from the foreheads of the other 2 slavers he says "I have some metal spikes and a hammer. We could nail them in while we see what happening on deck?" Then looking a little ashamed for loosing track of his friend he curses himself under his breath "Damnit Truk, you let the blood go to your head and lost one of the pack"
Shaking his head "Era, I'm sorry, I don't know where Gustov is. I lost myself in my fury to rid us of these fowl slavers." Trying to decide if the threat of more slavers in the rooms is greater than his compulsion to find his friend 2
He grabs Era by the shoulders. "I have to find Gustov! What if he's in trouble!" He runs back the way he came looking for Gustov.
"That's okay, big boy, I'm sure he didn't go too far--" Era steeled up at Truk's sudden touch, her face frozen in a smile when he spoke, still frozen when he pulled away and ran off. After a few seconds, the genasi defrosted herself with an exasperated "okay!", blinked a few times, and went to loot the slavers bodies for anything juicy while she waited for the giant and friends to rejoin her.
Investigation: 6
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Aeydof the Dragons || Wood Elf / Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Demetrios Zalaoras || Protector Aasimar / Paladin of Torm Hawke || Kalashtar / Circle of the Moon Druid Morticia || Half-Aasimar Rogue Yvan || Goliath / Path of the Wild Soul Barbarian | Paladin of Helm /ᐠ。ꞈ。ᐟ\
The Helmsman, Viktor, hand swing the ship wide, intentionally, after his fellow sailor had revealed the upstarts had started a ruckus again, knowing that his fellows had their sea legs. Off in the great distance, the faintest rays of light were beginning to coalesce as sunrise would only be a few hours away, but on the ocean, there's nothing to block the sun's radiance. They had no idea of the slaughter that had happened below. Sure, the Barbarian was intimidating, but surely they wouldn't try anything when they were being watched. Though he also wasn't aware his fellows had eaten so hardily, leading to their exhaustion.
In the cabins, the sleeping slavers slept solemnly, unaware of the fate of their brothers, nor aware that the enemy was so close.
The slaver up top is still very alert, his crossbow trained on the hole, where the stairs led up. A rope tied to his waist, and he was 3/4ths hidden behind the back-mast. And 13 somewhat stealthy.
If someone attempts to break through the trapdoor, they must pass stealth DC 19 to not be detected. If they are detected, the Slaver fires his bolt as a readied action for Attack: 6 Damage: 4, and the player must make another dc 14 +int mod save against the enhanced poison if it hits.
If someone approaches him, he'll cut the ropes anchor, which will lift him 40 feet into the air, initially swinging wildly for a turn.
If someone comes up the hole instead of the trapdoor, he will see you as he's already looking in that direction and you cant technically 'stealth float' since he's already looking in that direction. Then use the above shot to calculate what happens next.
The slavers in the cabin are all asleep.. DC 5 stealth, or the one in that room wakes up. But is prone. Any damage to neck, head, or heart will finish them. If they do wake up, you must hit their AC of 10, to kill them instantly, or they will shout out, rousing those above, and sleeping in their cabins.
(Gotta love it when the 1st roll is worse then the disadvantage one.
(Praise the merciful DM!)
....
After spending most of his life on and around ships Gustav could feel the shift, and only just calls the posse together in time to brace for it. "Hm~ Someone's getting antsy up there." He comments, a tight smile playing on his face as he stared up at the ceiling. Glancing over to the very much chewed up remains of one slaver, the aged tabaxi just barely hides a wince behind a strained smile. "Seeing as you two have things quite under control, Nin will be accompanying me and Wonder dear up stairs. Try...*headshakes* Don't anyone else while we're gonna, understood?" He asks, and receives firm nods from the lizardfolk while the bugbear shifts uneasily in place.
Trusting Nin to follow, Gustav leads the way upstairs with Wonder -- too exhausted to worry more -- clamors her way back into place on the old cat man's back. Nin scoops up Gustav's backpack along the way to follow along with crossbow at the ready. Thus, he nearly shoots Truk when the goliath came barreling around the doorway upstairs.
"Heyheyhey -- easy now, easy."Gustav just barely stops Nin from shooting. Wonder... wonder had less restraint and panics, firing at Truk 4 for 2 piercing damage if it hits. "Oh my! Wonder. Come now child. This is no time for target practice."He chides lightly, hoping to calm things down before they escalate.
"We're running out of time, my son. Get top and sort out the helmsman, won't you? I'll see to matters on this level, then join you all."Gustav says to Truk and approaches, but stops short upon feeling Wonder's ever climbing panic dig deeply into his shoulder with her nails while the other hand violently began to shake so much the wood of the handcrossbow began to rattle.
"Ahem... Please. Be quick."At that, Gustav holds his position, but gives Nin the go ahead to move on to the cabinets to start 'tending' to slavers using his rapier. And by tend, he is going straight and true for the hearts. Of the bloody mess Truk leaves he just spits on the remaining corpses along the way, and kisses the air at Era along the way in a joking matter.
Nin's Stealth: 16.
Nin's Coupe de Rapier: Attack: 13 Damage: 14(damage only applied if unable to full on sneak into the room at 14-UV)
Truk sees Wonder pointing the crossbow, and also sees how badly she's shaking so doesn't bother even trying to dodge the bolt that goes sailing by him. "Gustov! Glad to see you're OK! You're friend is going to need some target practice though" He listens to Gustov and says "Helmsman. Check! Hmmm, I might have an idea for that!"
Truk remembering his scenic view from the back of the boat the Captain sent him to look at thinks that would be a great way to get the drop on the Helmsman. He starts making his way back to the Captains quarters to see if he could get that window open and climb up behind the helmsman on the back of the boat. Or if the window isn't open-able if he could smash it out.
Truk takes a look at the window and realizes that it's more sturdy than he had noticed when he was dangling off the back of the ship. "No matter" he thinks to himself as he removes an iron spike and his hammer from the pack. Looking for a good spot to drive the spike in to the window to break it out without too much noise.
Investigation: 11
Finding what as near as he can figure looks like a good spot he drives the spike in trying to time it to the lapping of the waves against the ship to drown out the noise. Stealth: 8
Thunk, thunk goes the spike as the window breaks free.
He then puts the hammer back in his pack and finds a good spot to anchor his grappling hook and ties off a section of rope to himself long enough to reach the top deck from his memory of his time out back before, but hopefully short enough to keep him from hitting the water should he fall.
Tugging on the rope to make sure it's secure he grins as he climbs out the window "Won't Viktor be surprised! I bet he lets me steer this time if I want to!"
With that he climbs up the back of the ship to pay Viktor a visit.
Athletics: (Dice be good to me on this one, please!) 16
Gustav grateful smile soon turned to worry at the phrase "I might have an idea"from Truk. Not that those always ended poorly, but... he ends up chuckling and shaking his head. "Ready to go, kit?"Her answer is only to lower the crossbow and nuzzle into his neck. Gustav responded in kind as much as possible, then following a steadying breathe proceeded towards the living quarters.
If he sees Era and Burgee along the way, both are patted on the shoulder in passing. "Good work with the pixies. I think. And you two with the water. Couldn't quite see all of it, but--" He shrugs. "I've already sent Truk ahead to deal with any topsiders. But he will need some help getting command of the ship. Think you two can handle things? As I said to him, I will be up shortly."He lingers at least long enough to hear an answer from one before the sight of Nin coming out of a room cleaning a bloodied rapier distracts him.
"See you in a bit."Are his final words as he slips over to the bugbears side. Daring not to speak so close to the quarters at this point, the tabaxi quietly draws his own weapon and gestures back to Burgee and Era. Nin cants his head at first, then looks between Gustav and Wonder before finally pointing to her. While this only adds to the siamese mink tabaxi's confusion, Gustav expression grows solemn. He needed say no more at that point as Nin just nods, and pats Wonder's head in passing on his way Era; ready to fire upon any attacker against her... if Minos didn't beat him to the punch.
Meanwhile, Gustav "teaches" Wonder through silence the darker side of delivering mercy. The first time she had to look away. But upon turning and seeing Gustav give her stern gesture to look, she does so reluctantly, and is left... shaken. Shaken yet unwilling to part from the comfort blanket that was Grandpa Gus just yet.
Stealth: 19. (Room 11-TU) Stealth: 19. (Room 11-VW) Stealth: 21. (Room 14-VW) Stealth: 23. (Room 11-yz) Stealth: 22. (Room 11-zA) - If not the room Truk went through.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Burgee looks over at Era, "Glad to see you are ok," he says with as mile. "Did you see Kauil? Was he safe?" He looks at the mess Truk left and then watches as Wonder begins checking the rooms. "I'll check rooms on this side," he says as he begins helping Wonder clear the bunk rooms.
[Beginning on row 14 with first room Wonder missed]
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As Gustav and Burgee (though ESPECIALLY Gustav) go silently through the rooms, checking for the remaining slavers, they are all.. rather effectively, assassinated in their sleep. Making their brown and white sheets turn red, then black as the slavers Gurgled their last breaths. This ultimately leaving only the final slaver, and the helmsman above alive.
As Era begins looting the bodies, between them all, she finds a total of 285 Gold Pieces, one of them carrying a Sapphire, worth 50 GP. And one, carrying a Locket with a picture of an older human woman, with a younger male human. The Item was a sketch, and upon looking at the slavers face, you could tell the boy was him.. meaning that the older woman, was very likely his mother. A tiny note crawled on the inner-portion of the outer-casing, was visible.
If Read:
Mum. I'm on my last trip on this ship, I've finally made enough money to afford the tonic you needed to clear out the disease within your body. Once we reach nextport, I will scully away and hide till the captain leaves port.. he's a right stickler for schedules.... From there, I can catch passage back. I'll be sending this through Gurdy, a wee dove I managed to train whenever we were in port. So you'll know I'm coming, and, hopefully, it'll give you the hope you need to hold on until I get back. Should only be another week or two at most. I'm finally coming home Mum. I've only gotta pretend to be a bad bloke for a little longer. And I promise, when I'm back, I'll marry Aura, and we'll make a big family you can be proud of.
Aside from those, the slavers are all carrying two Rapiers each, and a Heavy Crossbow each, each of them having about 3-6 bolts left, for a total of 14 bolts. Their clothing, of course, and a few of them with Gold Teeth, each worth 10 GP, for a total of 7 molars.
1512
Due to the wind, and lack of walls, Truk lucked out, the noise bleeding into the air as the magical glass shattered into the water, Truk Easily Climbing the rope to do whatever he needed in order to get up.
Victor Perception: 1 Vs another stealth roll from Truk.
Even if Detected, Viktor holds onto the wheel regardless, unless pulled off (if grapple occors, or similar: 5) because otherwise the ship will veer off course.. which.. off in the distance, Truk could tell the Island wasn't far off, as it had grown MUCH closer since the night before.
If he is pulled off, everyone will need to make a DC 4 Athletics or Acrobatics check, or be knocked prone into a nearby wall as the ship shakes, Unless Truk grabs the wheel immediately, and passes a DC 15 Athl check to 'hold the wheel'
Regardless of any of this, if Victor is engaged in any way that makes noise, the final slaver will hear it, and engage Truk in combat, shootign his heavy crossbow at Truk after Climbing the stairs enough to have line of sight, for Attack: 14 Damage: 4 (due to everything, Truk will have half cover, providing 2 to his AC, unless he moves closer.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Stealth: 16
After climbing as quietly as he can Truk unties the rope and sneaks up behind Viktor sliding his axe against his neck while whispering in his ear "I'm getting tired of telling you the same thing so here's something new. It's really a shame the crew and captain came down with such a terrible sickness and died on the trip over here. It's just good luck that me and my friends were in our cabins and remained healthy. It's VERY, VERY lucky that you somehow survived but it looks like you could fall ill any moment if you catch my meaning" Keeping himself behind Viktor, Truk sees the other crewmember level the crossbow at him and just glares as he fires. He says to Viktor " Is that a sniffle I hear buddy? Sounds like you may be coming down with something? "
Era had been looting the corpses when Burgee and Gustav (with friends) had came up to her, the genasi pocketing the locket after noticing the little paper she could read after she's done. "Thank you, Gustav, not too hurt now are we, I hope?" She grins over to the tabaxi, then looks to Burgee. "Kauil is safe with Minos," She gives them a nod. "Just be safe okay? I'll join up with you guys soon!" When they walk off, Era returns back to searching, pocketing the gold (and... teeth), along with the sapphire, obviously going to share the spoils with the others when they were done with this whole thing.
She picks up the rapiers and crossbows (don't ask how, two trips are for chumps) and makes her way back over to her minotaur and second birdy buddy. "Look, we have some goodies to help you guys defend yourselves better if need be!" She hands Minos and Kauil each a rapier and sets down a crossbow with 7 bolts down along with her shortbow and a few arrows. "I'm going to keep the other crossbow, but one of you can have the other, and the other can have my bow! I don't use it very often anyways." She smiles at both of them before heading out back to where the bodies were before remembering the locket she pocketed, taking it out to read the note that was left inside.
There was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach after she finished reading, her lips thinning in thought as she looked over their corpses. I don't think I can bring them back at all... She frowns, folding up the paper and putting it back into her pocket. "You should have surrendered once your captain was killed..." She says, pinning the blame on him. "But... I'll see what I can do for your mom. I'm... Sorry." The druid takes a breath before continuing forth.
She wasn't sure if the man had already bought the tonic, but she decided she would try to find it, if not that, the dove he spoke of in his letter.
When the others are done putting the rest of the slavers to sleep permanently, Era will join in on searching the rooms for anything useful.
((Don't know if you want me to roll for all of the rooms, but I'll do it anyways, shes going in the order gustav did))
Aeydof the Dragons || Wood Elf / Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Demetrios Zalaoras || Protector Aasimar / Paladin of Torm Hawke || Kalashtar / Circle of the Moon Druid Morticia || Half-Aasimar Rogue Yvan || Goliath / Path of the Wild Soul Barbarian | Paladin of Helm /ᐠ。ꞈ。ᐟ\
Even as Era searches the rooms, she continues to brood over the single slain slavers note. Random thoughts, flitting about, as she remembered the slavers who surrendered were left to die with her and her friends, and would likely have been killed by the slavers themselves if Era and Co didn't. Then her mind flits back to Truks literal Barbarism, the man likely felt trapped between a rock and a hard place... If he didn't fight you guys, he'd die by their hands.. and if he did and the slavers succeeded in killing you all or.. enslaving you, he could finish his personal quest, this leads you to realize he didn't really have a choice in the matter, unless he'd been left alive. Also thinking back on it, the letter said the Dove was in port.... meaning it was likely in Arandorianis.. somewhere. The only leads you have being the fact a dove exists, and Aura.
(remember to keep things like this in your notes!)
As Era searches around the various rooms, she finds them mostly threadbare. They have their beds, blankets, and occasionally a pair of boots. An oil lamp (radiant) and some gaming sets, including dice, cards, etc. Nothing of any real value is here, except the various weapons on, or near the 'sleeping' slavers. Unfortunately no more gold teeth were found, or gems. On investigation of one of the rooms, Era finds a Compass, Tucked away, far under the bed.
Above deck, Viktor freezes (HA!) but doesn't flinch. He holds the wheel steady, heading straight for the Island as the bolt sails past Truk's head. Viktor motions for him to 'put the weapon down' leading the slaver to slowly.. reluctantly give up. If they're up here mate.. everyone down below is gone. They beat us on our home turf, what'r two ov us gonna do? So.. Victor says to Truk Wut nao? Gonna jimmy us below deck into the cages? gonna slit me throat n take the ship? Gonna beat ol stinky there wif me leg? Even if you make it to port... as the Capn' was tryna tell ye before you killt 'im, this towns a slave town. You'll be met with much the same reception as ya did 'ere. Cept there'll be an entire city o' guards, civillians, slaves compelled by curses to fight ya, among other things mate. Hehe.. You need to learn to get with the times.... and make like a man in Rome... no idea where Rome is.. but me mum always used ta say it. Or you won't get past the docks. Or what, ya gonna 'ave me land us roughshod outside the city eh? What's yer plan mate, you got less than eight hours afore we reach it.
Gustav answer had been merely tight grin in return. It's clear he was plenty hurt just by reading the gesture, but the aged Tabaxi wouldn't be persuaded from cleaning house.
Present Time...
Realizing that neither Era or Burgee had joined Truk upon exiting the final room, Gustav turned to wonder again. At the far off look in her eyes he pets her head until she came around again. "Do not let it get to you, little one. Though they may claim otherwise, or have some... ulterior motives for it, they all knew the dangers of their chosen profession. Yet still they accepted the risks... paid for it. The same goes for you."He glances to her handcrossbow, and she does the same. Just as she turns and looks about ready to speak, Gustav boops her on the nose.
"No need to rush to one conclusion. Or worry so much of others. For now, let's keep our feet firmly planted upon one path. There is yet time to walk the others." On that note, Gustav makes his way to the base of the stairway leading up, does some mental math on the number of people left, and started wait until he convo above set his ears to flickering about.
"Come now, Mr. Helmsman. No need for such crass language and limiting your own imagination." Gustav says calmly as he strode up onto deck. While his apparent attention remains on the man at the wheel, Wonder keeps her crossbow trained on the other as much as possible. "There was such a terrible storm along the way, and you have but one storm mage. Even a seasoned one will slip up, leading to some delays as you fine gentlemen worked yourself nearly to the bone to get things back in order." He quickly lifts a hand. "A terrible shame really. So much so, you had to delay things further by doing a wide circle and, you know, try and buy just a wee bit more time to get things sorted. It could be you know of other cities or villages on the islands coast that -- while no experts at shipwright -- could keep quiet?"He phrases it as a question, and indeed waited for an answer. Briefly. But its clear from his expression Gustav wholly believed in the possibility of his story holding truth to it.
"Frankly speaking, Mr. Helmsman. We're not going to the city, or anywhere near it for that matter for at least a full day. You'll see to that by given the island wide berth and circling around to another end. One perhaps patrolled still, sure, but not likely to immediately invite such hostile attention. Or so we all hope. It would be most unfortunate after all if the devils you and most of your crewman have so wantonly been ignoring got their due sooner than later upon your souls."Gustav holds up a hand. "And do not worry about the lack of manpower. We'll see to that within the hour. You and this man here should focus on doing what you can to alter course in the meantime."
On that note, Gustav crouches down by the stairs to call for either Burgee or Era to send up some of the 'guests' who might know a thing or two about sailing, as well as two of the uninjured slavers. Gus and Ka of their own accord remain below deck to guard the rest in shifts. "Oh, and by the way... The "legal" selling of slaves is one thing if appropriated properly. There are always plenty of wars going around, folk eager to sell the kin to keep the rest alive, and similar such things... making slaves of paying patrons who have done nothing more than scowl at the concept? Now that's just bad business and untempered greed at work. Don't you agree?"
As for Nin, he never left Era side by much. And in fact, he had read the note of her shoulder and snorted afterwards. He starts to open his mouth for a comment, but reconsiders seeing her expression. With a roll of his eyes, he picks up one of the heavy crossbows left behind, ultimately trading it for his lighter one. And continued to follow after her, aiding in her investigations.
((Gonna be honest Gustav, I had trouble keeping track of how many slavers your NPC's DIDNT eat.. so you'll have to remind me...))
Viktor can't help but laugh at Gustav's words You seem to be under the impression that there's a huge choice in the matter. There's the port 'erself. A long strand of beach a few miles west, and then there''s an old lighthouse on the northern tip... if you wanna make a deal with the Dragonturtle what guards the north half o th' island... which you better have somehting worth it's time or He'll just eat us all. Every other part of the island is sheer-cliff. It's like a big door-wedge... the side were coming to is the lowest.. everything else goes higher....
And heh, 'bout that. If yer friend had just said you and the birdman were pets and collared, we'd have treated you all like valued customers. But you showed contempt for our way of life, which meant you were a threat. Making the threat to the capn was the final straw what led 'im to poison ya. Should learn to keep your nose out of other folk's business, ifn ya don't want their business in your nose....
((He'll take you all wherever you wish to go. He was just mentioning the easiest options))
Truk will remove the axe from his neck but keep a READY action to hack into his leg should Viktor choose to attack. Smiling at Gustov "You always say stuff much better than me Gustov and now Viktor just came up with a bunch more options." Truk shrugs "The beach sounds nice. With so few crew I'd imagine it would be easy for a ship to go off course a few miles and beach itself. You all know more about ships than I do though so I'll leave it up to you folks. I don't mind keeping an eye on Viktor here and using his leg as a club if need be."
Gustav lofts a bushy brow and scratches his head at the last statement. But after opening and closing his mouth on some half-thought reply Gustav says to Truk. "My boy, there's really no need for such obsessive violence anymore. But, I do appreciate the offer... to keep watch, that is. You can take first shift with Burgee and Nin, and swap after two hours or so to get rest." He says, then glances to Viktor on compliance and see him at least start to make the adjustments.
Afterwards he says, "Oh, I'm under no such impressions. Merely spitballing, or so they say in some places. Thank you for the clarity on the subject. I will have to see about maps from the good captain's quarters 'fore I find rest."He smiles earnestly in thanks, then cants his head. "On that other matter, you're making even less sense. While precaution may have been warranted to some extent following whatever 'threat' he saw, provoking it in the manner he did? That was... frighteningly stupid and needlessly reckless. But! I wish no further ill-will, so won't denounce the good captain further. He trusted more in Tymora than he did in the wisdom of Ohgma, as many are want. Myself past self included." Gustav admits with a shrug.
"And if /I/ am somehow responsible for provoking such a reaction -- as you seem to somewhat imply at the end there -- well, you have my most sincerest apologies. Such was not my intent. But, that is the road to the nine, as they say."He grins sheepishly while Wonder -- who was half-asleep at this point since things calmed -- finally climbs down, and starts tugging her elder by the hand back down to the hold. "In a moment, darling. I still need to have a good look at things in there--" he gestures to the captain's room. "First."Wonder just stares back flatly, then with crossbow in hand started marching to the captains quarter by herself to sleep in his chair. With a chuckle, Gustav calls down again for Burgee to come up, explains the situation, then spends the next hour perusing the captain's desk papers before finding his rest on the floor near Wonder.
Viktor merely shrugs. He had no intention of betraying the wheel, that much was obvious. I aint crashin' this ship against the land. But I will get you close enough that it's not an inconvenience .. much. Beach it is.
Even as he finished saying so, with Truk just behind him, Burgee came swiftly, as he was known for, with the injured slavers in tow, apologizing for being late, but some of them had to be awoken from unconsciousness. The slavers, now effectively disarmed, and surrounded by weak, but armed slaves, and former guests begrudgingly set about their work. The sails spread once more, the anchors already having been up. Burgee calls upon the winds to fill the sail, using enough force the ship was moving along at an incredible pace. The other slaves seemed ... happy at this turn of events, if still bedraggled.
Within the captains quarters (see discord)
If sleeping in the captains char, she simply dreams.
If sleepign in any other chair in the room... As Wonder falls asleep upon the chair.. her opinion of the late Alderlock improves immensely.... She almost Idolizes him as the enchantment weaves it's way into her dreams. She begins to dream of Truk... having killed such a noble man.... Tearing him limb from limb, and beating his corpse with his own body parts... She stirs, but does not wake within the chair as this scene plays over and over in her head....
As Gustav scours the desk area, he finds many papers involving sold slaves, profits - which were astronomical.. he's been in the business a LONG time. Signage, A wax Seal with Alderlocks personal seal, several blank papers. On the desk itself, was a rolled up map of the Continent of Chult, in immense detail, and a few spots marked off, meaning the captain had likely been there for some reason, at some point. And a map of the Island of Ilianaris, their destination. The map seemed highly incomplete, it showed the lower half of the island in amazing detail, the upper half left barren other than an outline, and a warning of a Dragon Turtle right around... here.... (north-east). Gustav spotted the long stretch of beach they'd be landing on.. the city, a few dozen miles to the east of the beach itself, with plenty of dark, jungle foliage between them. Several mountains lie in their path, including a single, mountain with numbers scrawled along it.. apparently the cartographer couldn't encompass it's size in drawing, so he instead did it by revealing the mountain went thousands of feet into the sky, before you would reach it's peak, like a giant, rocky spike jutting out of the ground, just outside the city. It also revealed a few other things that were unfortunately, not labeled.
Outside, Truk, Era, and Burgee are greeted by the most beautiful sunrise they've ever seen. The crystalline-blue waters reflecting the orange-crimson of the sun, as the world began to grow brighter, filled with light. The sky was clear near the ship, other than a lone, tiny cloud, floating proudly in it's own sea of cerulean. The island grew closer by the minute. Era could see the start of a city, with massive walls, reaching likely, well over 100 feet tall, with a single slit where the point would be, likely allowing passage by sea. Just to the left of it from this vantage point, was a single, spire of a mountain, jutting into the clouds themselves, with it's own cloud Halo, to the left of that, even more mountains, though far smaller. The beginnings of visibility of the jungle that covered most of the island in their lush greens reminded them of Chult itself. Off to the right of the city, more jungle, and slowly rising sheer cliffs with very very thing strands of sand. Beyond this, nothing else could be seen. But the lush vibrancy of the island was awe inspiring. The smaller mountains were capped with snow near their peaks, lush green at their bases, likely fed by the melting snow.
((After everyone has their next posts, I will be landing you all on or near the island))
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Burgee touches Era's shoulder softly as they watch the sunrise, "Maybe we find what you seek," he says in the soft voice of a mother. The island grows larger as they continue to approach.
Kauil wearily peaks his head up above deck from the stairs below and catches Burgee's eyes. Oh ho ho..., Burgee laughs in the jolly voice of an arctic elf. A few faint calls of the sky are exchanged between the two and Kauil is satisfied that all is clear up on deck. He approaches Burgee and Era and passes the borrowed daggers back to Burgee as he explains the gift of the rapier from Era. Burgee smiles and confirms that she is one who can be trusted, especially as Burgee has chosen to take Kauil under his... well, as his assistant on his search for flight.
Burgee nudges Era, "The lad's a wee bit shaky lass, but'll get his sea legs yet." A soft smile comes over the sorcerer's beak as he looks up into her eyes, "Thank you for your kindness, his loss is great. To be banished from the air when the heart wants to soar is difficult."
He looks around as Gus is preparing to go to the Captains quarters, "I'll 'ave a look at dem maps wit ya mate," he announces to Gustav, "I spent a good deal o' me time on the water navigatin' and such, may be able to eye a good place to land this 'ere lady." He walks with Gus to the quarters and looks through charts for anything that looks like the island they are approaching trying to discern a safe place to make landing. (Investigation with Navigator's Tools: 7)
After reviewing the maps he returns top-side to take watch and examines the driftwood staff that the old lady gave him wondering what all of the carvings may mean. (Arcana: 22)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Though not currently a member, seeking admission to the really long and important signature club. Please consider this as a current CV.
Era really tried to get that note out of her mind as she searched the rooms, finding very little, growing a little bit irritated, but she happily pockets the compass, seeing it being the only real useful(?) thing in this place before joining up with everyone else. Get your mind off it for now, Era.
--
The druid had been leaning over the ship railings, watching the water for a time before looking up to view the sunrise, her signature smile returning onto her face, her cloak coloring itself to match said sunrise. She points out the city she sees, and the spire to Truk and Burgee, exclaiming excitedly as they drew nearer to the island. The genasi stops feeling Burgee's touch, her smile softening as her hand covers his, a knot forming at the back of her throat hearing his voice mimic that of a mother, reminding her of her own mom. She fights back the feeling of crying to croak out a: "Thank you, Burgee." Before trying to ultimately contain herself. She gives herself a slap on the cheeks to pep her up a bit too.
Hearing the kenku's laugh, Era had turned to see Kauli emerge from below decks, Minos following behind him just a few steps away. The minotaur moves to lean against the rails and watch the remaining sunrise as well, murmuring something quietly to himself, the genasi too wrapped up in listening to the two birds converse to hear him. Era blinks when Burgee speaks to her again, her smile now falling. "It's no problem at all. We'll get him soaring again... I know we will... Somehow."
Era stays outside while Gustav and Burgee discuss where they were to land, letting the sorcerer know that Era was perfectly fine with wherever they decided. She was definitely a go with the flow kind of person. If Truk had stayed around, she would try and converse with the goliath. "Sooo, whatcha lookin' for on this island, big guy? Finding yourself? Finding a lover? Finding and avenging your lovers death by killing the evil bat God Camazotz and bringing back his heart as a peace offering to the better Gods to bring your lover back from the grave?" She sucks in a breath in a very exaggerated way later laughing at her assumptions. "Sorry, sorry, just the nerves I guess!"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Aeydof the Dragons || Wood Elf / Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Demetrios Zalaoras || Protector Aasimar / Paladin of Torm Hawke || Kalashtar / Circle of the Moon Druid Morticia || Half-Aasimar Rogue Yvan || Goliath / Path of the Wild Soul Barbarian | Paladin of Helm /ᐠ。ꞈ。ᐟ\
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Truk, even with his drooping pecks, hears Era mention the rooms through the sound of the gurgling the one slaver is making with his foot slowly pressing down into his neck. Removing the axes from the foreheads of the other 2 slavers he says "I have some metal spikes and a hammer. We could nail them in while we see what happening on deck?" Then looking a little ashamed for loosing track of his friend he curses himself under his breath "Damnit Truk, you let the blood go to your head and lost one of the pack"
Shaking his head "Era, I'm sorry, I don't know where Gustov is. I lost myself in my fury to rid us of these fowl slavers." Trying to decide if the threat of more slavers in the rooms is greater than his compulsion to find his friend 2
He grabs Era by the shoulders. "I have to find Gustov! What if he's in trouble!" He runs back the way he came looking for Gustov.
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
"That's okay, big boy, I'm sure he didn't go too far--" Era steeled up at Truk's sudden touch, her face frozen in a smile when he spoke, still frozen when he pulled away and ran off. After a few seconds, the genasi defrosted herself with an exasperated "okay!", blinked a few times, and went to loot the slavers bodies for anything juicy while she waited for the giant and friends to rejoin her.
Investigation: 6
Aeyd of the Dragons || Wood Elf / Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk
Demetrios Zalaoras || Protector Aasimar / Paladin of Torm
Hawke || Kalashtar / Circle of the Moon Druid
Morticia || Half-Aasimar Rogue
Yvan || Goliath / Path of the Wild Soul Barbarian | Paladin of Helm
/ᐠ。ꞈ。ᐟ\
Above Deck
The Helmsman, Viktor, hand swing the ship wide, intentionally, after his fellow sailor had revealed the upstarts had started a ruckus again, knowing that his fellows had their sea legs. Off in the great distance, the faintest rays of light were beginning to coalesce as sunrise would only be a few hours away, but on the ocean, there's nothing to block the sun's radiance. They had no idea of the slaughter that had happened below. Sure, the Barbarian was intimidating, but surely they wouldn't try anything when they were being watched. Though he also wasn't aware his fellows had eaten so hardily, leading to their exhaustion.
In the cabins, the sleeping slavers slept solemnly, unaware of the fate of their brothers, nor aware that the enemy was so close.
The slaver up top is still very alert, his crossbow trained on the hole, where the stairs led up. A rope tied to his waist, and he was 3/4ths hidden behind the back-mast. And 13 somewhat stealthy.
If someone attempts to break through the trapdoor, they must pass stealth DC 19 to not be detected. If they are detected, the Slaver fires his bolt as a readied action for Attack: 6 Damage: 4, and the player must make another dc 14 +int mod save against the enhanced poison if it hits.
If someone approaches him, he'll cut the ropes anchor, which will lift him 40 feet into the air, initially swinging wildly for a turn.
If someone comes up the hole instead of the trapdoor, he will see you as he's already looking in that direction and you cant technically 'stealth float' since he's already looking in that direction. Then use the above shot to calculate what happens next.
The slavers in the cabin are all asleep.. DC 5 stealth, or the one in that room wakes up. But is prone. Any damage to neck, head, or heart will finish them. If they do wake up, you must hit their AC of 10, to kill them instantly, or they will shout out, rousing those above, and sleeping in their cabins.
What do you all do?
Occassional Dungeon Master.
Gustav's Acrobatics[DC 13]: 11 (DA roll if helping affects things: 17)Wonder's Acrobatics[DC 13]: 11. (Exhausted, help canceling Disadvantage)Nin Acrobatics[DC 13]: 4. (Exhausted 1)Gus Acrobatics[DC 13]: 3. (Exhausted 1)Ka Acrobatics[DC 13]: 6.(Exhausted 1)(Gotta love it when the 1st roll is worse then the disadvantage one.
(Praise the merciful DM!)
....
After spending most of his life on and around ships Gustav could feel the shift, and only just calls the posse together in time to brace for it. "Hm~ Someone's getting antsy up there." He comments, a tight smile playing on his face as he stared up at the ceiling. Glancing over to the very much chewed up remains of one slaver, the aged tabaxi just barely hides a wince behind a strained smile. "Seeing as you two have things quite under control, Nin will be accompanying me and Wonder dear up stairs. Try...*headshakes* Don't anyone else while we're gonna, understood?" He asks, and receives firm nods from the lizardfolk while the bugbear shifts uneasily in place.
Trusting Nin to follow, Gustav leads the way upstairs with Wonder -- too exhausted to worry more -- clamors her way back into place on the old cat man's back. Nin scoops up Gustav's backpack along the way to follow along with crossbow at the ready. Thus, he nearly shoots Truk when the goliath came barreling around the doorway upstairs.
"Heyheyhey -- easy now, easy." Gustav just barely stops Nin from shooting. Wonder... wonder had less restraint and panics, firing at Truk 4 for 2 piercing damage if it hits. "Oh my! Wonder. Come now child. This is no time for target practice." He chides lightly, hoping to calm things down before they escalate.
"We're running out of time, my son. Get top and sort out the helmsman, won't you? I'll see to matters on this level, then join you all." Gustav says to Truk and approaches, but stops short upon feeling Wonder's ever climbing panic dig deeply into his shoulder with her nails while the other hand violently began to shake so much the wood of the handcrossbow began to rattle.
"Ahem... Please. Be quick." At that, Gustav holds his position, but gives Nin the go ahead to move on to the cabinets to start 'tending' to slavers using his rapier. And by tend, he is going straight and true for the hearts. Of the bloody mess Truk leaves he just spits on the remaining corpses along the way, and kisses the air at Era along the way in a joking matter.
Nin's Stealth: 16.
Nin's Coupe de Rapier: Attack: 13 Damage: 14 (damage only applied if unable to full on sneak into the room at 14-UV)
Yog - [Tortle]Druid/Warlock - Circle of Stars/Celestial (Libretalia)
Nobody - [Feral-Tiefling]Wizard/Sorcerer - War/Draconic (HoTDQ)
Jack Vicvan - [Eladrin]Druid/Warlock - Circle of Dreams/Archfey
-
Hiatus:
Xanrazan - [Earth Genasi]Bard - College of Swords(Shadowthorn's Princess of the Apocalypse)
3 slavers remain mid deck. Make an additional check for each room. Not all rooms will have a slaver.
Occassional Dungeon Master.
Truk sees Wonder pointing the crossbow, and also sees how badly she's shaking so doesn't bother even trying to dodge the bolt that goes sailing by him. "Gustov! Glad to see you're OK! You're friend is going to need some target practice though" He listens to Gustov and says "Helmsman. Check! Hmmm, I might have an idea for that!"
Truk remembering his scenic view from the back of the boat the Captain sent him to look at thinks that would be a great way to get the drop on the Helmsman. He starts making his way back to the Captains quarters to see if he could get that window open and climb up behind the helmsman on the back of the boat. Or if the window isn't open-able if he could smash it out.
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
Truk takes a look at the window and realizes that it's more sturdy than he had noticed when he was dangling off the back of the ship. "No matter" he thinks to himself as he removes an iron spike and his hammer from the pack. Looking for a good spot to drive the spike in to the window to break it out without too much noise.
Investigation: 11
Finding what as near as he can figure looks like a good spot he drives the spike in trying to time it to the lapping of the waves against the ship to drown out the noise. Stealth: 8
Thunk, thunk goes the spike as the window breaks free.
He then puts the hammer back in his pack and finds a good spot to anchor his grappling hook and ties off a section of rope to himself long enough to reach the top deck from his memory of his time out back before, but hopefully short enough to keep him from hitting the water should he fall.
Tugging on the rope to make sure it's secure he grins as he climbs out the window "Won't Viktor be surprised! I bet he lets me steer this time if I want to!"
With that he climbs up the back of the ship to pay Viktor a visit.
Athletics: (Dice be good to me on this one, please!) 16
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
Gustav grateful smile soon turned to worry at the phrase "I might have an idea" from Truk. Not that those always ended poorly, but... he ends up chuckling and shaking his head. "Ready to go, kit?" Her answer is only to lower the crossbow and nuzzle into his neck. Gustav responded in kind as much as possible, then following a steadying breathe proceeded towards the living quarters.
If he sees Era and Burgee along the way, both are patted on the shoulder in passing. "Good work with the pixies. I think. And you two with the water. Couldn't quite see all of it, but--" He shrugs. "I've already sent Truk ahead to deal with any topsiders. But he will need some help getting command of the ship. Think you two can handle things? As I said to him, I will be up shortly." He lingers at least long enough to hear an answer from one before the sight of Nin coming out of a room cleaning a bloodied rapier distracts him.
"See you in a bit." Are his final words as he slips over to the bugbears side. Daring not to speak so close to the quarters at this point, the tabaxi quietly draws his own weapon and gestures back to Burgee and Era. Nin cants his head at first, then looks between Gustav and Wonder before finally pointing to her. While this only adds to the siamese mink tabaxi's confusion, Gustav expression grows solemn. He needed say no more at that point as Nin just nods, and pats Wonder's head in passing on his way Era; ready to fire upon any attacker against her... if Minos didn't beat him to the punch.
Meanwhile, Gustav "teaches" Wonder through silence the darker side of delivering mercy. The first time she had to look away. But upon turning and seeing Gustav give her stern gesture to look, she does so reluctantly, and is left... shaken. Shaken yet unwilling to part from the comfort blanket that was Grandpa Gus just yet.
Stealth: 19. (Room 11-TU)
Stealth: 19. (Room 11-VW)
Stealth: 21. (Room 14-VW)
Stealth: 23. (Room 11-yz)
Stealth: 22. (Room 11-zA) - If not the room Truk went through.
Cutthroating:
Heart Attack: 12 Damage: 18.
Heart Attack: 27 Damage: 40.
Heart Attack: 26 Damage: 14.
Yog - [Tortle]Druid/Warlock - Circle of Stars/Celestial (Libretalia)
Nobody - [Feral-Tiefling]Wizard/Sorcerer - War/Draconic (HoTDQ)
Jack Vicvan - [Eladrin]Druid/Warlock - Circle of Dreams/Archfey
-
Hiatus:
Xanrazan - [Earth Genasi]Bard - College of Swords(Shadowthorn's Princess of the Apocalypse)
Burgee looks over at Era, "Glad to see you are ok," he says with as mile. "Did you see Kauil? Was he safe?" He looks at the mess Truk left and then watches as Wonder begins checking the rooms. "I'll check rooms on this side," he says as he begins helping Wonder clear the bunk rooms.
[Beginning on row 14 with first room Wonder missed]
Stealth: 24
Burgee quickly whacks the slaver that may be there in the head. (Attack: 15 Damage: 5)
Though not currently a member, seeking admission to the really long and important signature club. Please consider this as a current CV.
Other personalities... Burgee , The Colorless Knight, Fiorello, RW Goodbarrel, Dred, Evrik - Out of the Abyss & Dungeon of the Mad Mage
Site Rules & Guidelines || Tooltips || Homebrew FAQ || Snippet Codes || Syllvva's Guides
As Gustav and Burgee (though ESPECIALLY Gustav) go silently through the rooms, checking for the remaining slavers, they are all.. rather effectively, assassinated in their sleep. Making their brown and white sheets turn red, then black as the slavers Gurgled their last breaths. This ultimately leaving only the final slaver, and the helmsman above alive.
As Era begins looting the bodies, between them all, she finds a total of 285 Gold Pieces, one of them carrying a Sapphire, worth 50 GP. And one, carrying a Locket with a picture of an older human woman, with a younger male human. The Item was a sketch, and upon looking at the slavers face, you could tell the boy was him.. meaning that the older woman, was very likely his mother. A tiny note crawled on the inner-portion of the outer-casing, was visible.
If Read:
Mum. I'm on my last trip on this ship, I've finally made enough money to afford the tonic you needed to clear out the disease within your body. Once we reach nextport, I will scully away and hide till the captain leaves port.. he's a right stickler for schedules.... From there, I can catch passage back. I'll be sending this through Gurdy, a wee dove I managed to train whenever we were in port. So you'll know I'm coming, and, hopefully, it'll give you the hope you need to hold on until I get back. Should only be another week or two at most. I'm finally coming home Mum. I've only gotta pretend to be a bad bloke for a little longer. And I promise, when I'm back, I'll marry Aura, and we'll make a big family you can be proud of.
Aside from those, the slavers are all carrying two Rapiers each, and a Heavy Crossbow each, each of them having about 3-6 bolts left, for a total of 14 bolts. Their clothing, of course, and a few of them with Gold Teeth, each worth 10 GP, for a total of 7 molars.
15 12
Due to the wind, and lack of walls, Truk lucked out, the noise bleeding into the air as the magical glass shattered into the water, Truk Easily Climbing the rope to do whatever he needed in order to get up.
Victor Perception: 1 Vs another stealth roll from Truk.
Even if Detected, Viktor holds onto the wheel regardless, unless pulled off (if grapple occors, or similar: 5) because otherwise the ship will veer off course.. which.. off in the distance, Truk could tell the Island wasn't far off, as it had grown MUCH closer since the night before.
If he is pulled off, everyone will need to make a DC 4 Athletics or Acrobatics check, or be knocked prone into a nearby wall as the ship shakes, Unless Truk grabs the wheel immediately, and passes a DC 15 Athl check to 'hold the wheel'
Regardless of any of this, if Victor is engaged in any way that makes noise, the final slaver will hear it, and engage Truk in combat, shootign his heavy crossbow at Truk after Climbing the stairs enough to have line of sight, for Attack: 14 Damage: 4 (due to everything, Truk will have half cover, providing 2 to his AC, unless he moves closer.
Occassional Dungeon Master.
Stealth: 16
After climbing as quietly as he can Truk unties the rope and sneaks up behind Viktor sliding his axe against his neck while whispering in his ear "I'm getting tired of telling you the same thing so here's something new. It's really a shame the crew and captain came down with such a terrible sickness and died on the trip over here. It's just good luck that me and my friends were in our cabins and remained healthy. It's VERY, VERY lucky that you somehow survived but it looks like you could fall ill any moment if you catch my meaning" Keeping himself behind Viktor, Truk sees the other crewmember level the crossbow at him and just glares as he fires. He says to Viktor " Is that a sniffle I hear buddy? Sounds like you may be coming down with something? "
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
Era had been looting the corpses when Burgee and Gustav (with friends) had came up to her, the genasi pocketing the locket after noticing the little paper she could read after she's done. "Thank you, Gustav, not too hurt now are we, I hope?" She grins over to the tabaxi, then looks to Burgee. "Kauil is safe with Minos," She gives them a nod. "Just be safe okay? I'll join up with you guys soon!" When they walk off, Era returns back to searching, pocketing the gold (and... teeth), along with the sapphire, obviously going to share the spoils with the others when they were done with this whole thing.
She picks up the rapiers and crossbows (don't ask how, two trips are for chumps) and makes her way back over to her minotaur and second birdy buddy. "Look, we have some goodies to help you guys defend yourselves better if need be!" She hands Minos and Kauil each a rapier and sets down a crossbow with 7 bolts down along with her shortbow and a few arrows. "I'm going to keep the other crossbow, but one of you can have the other, and the other can have my bow! I don't use it very often anyways." She smiles at both of them before heading out back to where the bodies were before remembering the locket she pocketed, taking it out to read the note that was left inside.
There was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach after she finished reading, her lips thinning in thought as she looked over their corpses. I don't think I can bring them back at all... She frowns, folding up the paper and putting it back into her pocket. "You should have surrendered once your captain was killed..." She says, pinning the blame on him. "But... I'll see what I can do for your mom. I'm... Sorry." The druid takes a breath before continuing forth.
She wasn't sure if the man had already bought the tonic, but she decided she would try to find it, if not that, the dove he spoke of in his letter.
When the others are done putting the rest of the slavers to sleep permanently, Era will join in on searching the rooms for anything useful.
((Don't know if you want me to roll for all of the rooms, but I'll do it anyways, shes going in the order gustav did))
Investigation: 10
Investigation: 14
Investigation: 4
Investigation: 7
Investigation: 8
Aeyd of the Dragons || Wood Elf / Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk
Demetrios Zalaoras || Protector Aasimar / Paladin of Torm
Hawke || Kalashtar / Circle of the Moon Druid
Morticia || Half-Aasimar Rogue
Yvan || Goliath / Path of the Wild Soul Barbarian | Paladin of Helm
/ᐠ。ꞈ。ᐟ\
Even as Era searches the rooms, she continues to brood over the single slain slavers note. Random thoughts, flitting about, as she remembered the slavers who surrendered were left to die with her and her friends, and would likely have been killed by the slavers themselves if Era and Co didn't. Then her mind flits back to Truks literal Barbarism, the man likely felt trapped between a rock and a hard place... If he didn't fight you guys, he'd die by their hands.. and if he did and the slavers succeeded in killing you all or.. enslaving you, he could finish his personal quest, this leads you to realize he didn't really have a choice in the matter, unless he'd been left alive. Also thinking back on it, the letter said the Dove was in port.... meaning it was likely in Arandorianis.. somewhere. The only leads you have being the fact a dove exists, and Aura.
(remember to keep things like this in your notes!)
As Era searches around the various rooms, she finds them mostly threadbare. They have their beds, blankets, and occasionally a pair of boots. An oil lamp (radiant) and some gaming sets, including dice, cards, etc. Nothing of any real value is here, except the various weapons on, or near the 'sleeping' slavers. Unfortunately no more gold teeth were found, or gems. On investigation of one of the rooms, Era finds a Compass, Tucked away, far under the bed.
Above deck, Viktor freezes (HA!) but doesn't flinch. He holds the wheel steady, heading straight for the Island as the bolt sails past Truk's head. Viktor motions for him to 'put the weapon down' leading the slaver to slowly.. reluctantly give up. If they're up here mate.. everyone down below is gone. They beat us on our home turf, what'r two ov us gonna do? So.. Victor says to Truk Wut nao? Gonna jimmy us below deck into the cages? gonna slit me throat n take the ship? Gonna beat ol stinky there wif me leg? Even if you make it to port... as the Capn' was tryna tell ye before you killt 'im, this towns a slave town. You'll be met with much the same reception as ya did 'ere. Cept there'll be an entire city o' guards, civillians, slaves compelled by curses to fight ya, among other things mate. Hehe.. You need to learn to get with the times.... and make like a man in Rome... no idea where Rome is.. but me mum always used ta say it. Or you won't get past the docks. Or what, ya gonna 'ave me land us roughshod outside the city eh? What's yer plan mate, you got less than eight hours afore we reach it.
Occassional Dungeon Master.
Before time...
Gustav answer had been merely tight grin in return. It's clear he was plenty hurt just by reading the gesture, but the aged Tabaxi wouldn't be persuaded from cleaning house.
Present Time...
Realizing that neither Era or Burgee had joined Truk upon exiting the final room, Gustav turned to wonder again. At the far off look in her eyes he pets her head until she came around again. "Do not let it get to you, little one. Though they may claim otherwise, or have some... ulterior motives for it, they all knew the dangers of their chosen profession. Yet still they accepted the risks... paid for it. The same goes for you." He glances to her handcrossbow, and she does the same. Just as she turns and looks about ready to speak, Gustav boops her on the nose.
"No need to rush to one conclusion. Or worry so much of others. For now, let's keep our feet firmly planted upon one path. There is yet time to walk the others." On that note, Gustav makes his way to the base of the stairway leading up, does some mental math on the number of people left, and started wait until he convo above set his ears to flickering about.
"Come now, Mr. Helmsman. No need for such crass language and limiting your own imagination." Gustav says calmly as he strode up onto deck. While his apparent attention remains on the man at the wheel, Wonder keeps her crossbow trained on the other as much as possible. "There was such a terrible storm along the way, and you have but one storm mage. Even a seasoned one will slip up, leading to some delays as you fine gentlemen worked yourself nearly to the bone to get things back in order." He quickly lifts a hand. "A terrible shame really. So much so, you had to delay things further by doing a wide circle and, you know, try and buy just a wee bit more time to get things sorted. It could be you know of other cities or villages on the islands coast that -- while no experts at shipwright -- could keep quiet?" He phrases it as a question, and indeed waited for an answer. Briefly. But its clear from his expression Gustav wholly believed in the possibility of his story holding truth to it.
"Frankly speaking, Mr. Helmsman. We're not going to the city, or anywhere near it for that matter for at least a full day. You'll see to that by given the island wide berth and circling around to another end. One perhaps patrolled still, sure, but not likely to immediately invite such hostile attention. Or so we all hope. It would be most unfortunate after all if the devils you and most of your crewman have so wantonly been ignoring got their due sooner than later upon your souls." Gustav holds up a hand. "And do not worry about the lack of manpower. We'll see to that within the hour. You and this man here should focus on doing what you can to alter course in the meantime."
On that note, Gustav crouches down by the stairs to call for either Burgee or Era to send up some of the 'guests' who might know a thing or two about sailing, as well as two of the uninjured slavers. Gus and Ka of their own accord remain below deck to guard the rest in shifts. "Oh, and by the way... The "legal" selling of slaves is one thing if appropriated properly. There are always plenty of wars going around, folk eager to sell the kin to keep the rest alive, and similar such things... making slaves of paying patrons who have done nothing more than scowl at the concept? Now that's just bad business and untempered greed at work. Don't you agree?"
As for Nin, he never left Era side by much. And in fact, he had read the note of her shoulder and snorted afterwards. He starts to open his mouth for a comment, but reconsiders seeing her expression. With a roll of his eyes, he picks up one of the heavy crossbows left behind, ultimately trading it for his lighter one. And continued to follow after her, aiding in her investigations.
Yog - [Tortle]Druid/Warlock - Circle of Stars/Celestial (Libretalia)
Nobody - [Feral-Tiefling]Wizard/Sorcerer - War/Draconic (HoTDQ)
Jack Vicvan - [Eladrin]Druid/Warlock - Circle of Dreams/Archfey
-
Hiatus:
Xanrazan - [Earth Genasi]Bard - College of Swords(Shadowthorn's Princess of the Apocalypse)
((Gonna be honest Gustav, I had trouble keeping track of how many slavers your NPC's DIDNT eat.. so you'll have to remind me...))
Viktor can't help but laugh at Gustav's words You seem to be under the impression that there's a huge choice in the matter. There's the port 'erself. A long strand of beach a few miles west, and then there''s an old lighthouse on the northern tip... if you wanna make a deal with the Dragonturtle what guards the north half o th' island... which you better have somehting worth it's time or He'll just eat us all. Every other part of the island is sheer-cliff. It's like a big door-wedge... the side were coming to is the lowest.. everything else goes higher....
And heh, 'bout that. If yer friend had just said you and the birdman were pets and collared, we'd have treated you all like valued customers. But you showed contempt for our way of life, which meant you were a threat. Making the threat to the capn was the final straw what led 'im to poison ya. Should learn to keep your nose out of other folk's business, ifn ya don't want their business in your nose....
((He'll take you all wherever you wish to go. He was just mentioning the easiest options))
Occassional Dungeon Master.
Truk will remove the axe from his neck but keep a READY action to hack into his leg should Viktor choose to attack. Smiling at Gustov "You always say stuff much better than me Gustov and now Viktor just came up with a bunch more options." Truk shrugs "The beach sounds nice. With so few crew I'd imagine it would be easy for a ship to go off course a few miles and beach itself. You all know more about ships than I do though so I'll leave it up to you folks. I don't mind keeping an eye on Viktor here and using his leg as a club if need be."
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
Gustav lofts a bushy brow and scratches his head at the last statement. But after opening and closing his mouth on some half-thought reply Gustav says to Truk. "My boy, there's really no need for such obsessive violence anymore. But, I do appreciate the offer... to keep watch, that is. You can take first shift with Burgee and Nin, and swap after two hours or so to get rest." He says, then glances to Viktor on compliance and see him at least start to make the adjustments.
Afterwards he says, "Oh, I'm under no such impressions. Merely spitballing, or so they say in some places. Thank you for the clarity on the subject. I will have to see about maps from the good captain's quarters 'fore I find rest." He smiles earnestly in thanks, then cants his head. "On that other matter, you're making even less sense. While precaution may have been warranted to some extent following whatever 'threat' he saw, provoking it in the manner he did? That was... frighteningly stupid and needlessly reckless. But! I wish no further ill-will, so won't denounce the good captain further. He trusted more in Tymora than he did in the wisdom of Ohgma, as many are want. Myself past self included." Gustav admits with a shrug.
"And if /I/ am somehow responsible for provoking such a reaction -- as you seem to somewhat imply at the end there -- well, you have my most sincerest apologies. Such was not my intent. But, that is the road to the nine, as they say." He grins sheepishly while Wonder -- who was half-asleep at this point since things calmed -- finally climbs down, and starts tugging her elder by the hand back down to the hold. "In a moment, darling. I still need to have a good look at things in there--" he gestures to the captain's room. "First." Wonder just stares back flatly, then with crossbow in hand started marching to the captains quarter by herself to sleep in his chair. With a chuckle, Gustav calls down again for Burgee to come up, explains the situation, then spends the next hour perusing the captain's desk papers before finding his rest on the floor near Wonder.
Yog - [Tortle]Druid/Warlock - Circle of Stars/Celestial (Libretalia)
Nobody - [Feral-Tiefling]Wizard/Sorcerer - War/Draconic (HoTDQ)
Jack Vicvan - [Eladrin]Druid/Warlock - Circle of Dreams/Archfey
-
Hiatus:
Xanrazan - [Earth Genasi]Bard - College of Swords(Shadowthorn's Princess of the Apocalypse)
Viktor merely shrugs. He had no intention of betraying the wheel, that much was obvious. I aint crashin' this ship against the land. But I will get you close enough that it's not an inconvenience .. much. Beach it is.
Even as he finished saying so, with Truk just behind him, Burgee came swiftly, as he was known for, with the injured slavers in tow, apologizing for being late, but some of them had to be awoken from unconsciousness. The slavers, now effectively disarmed, and surrounded by weak, but armed slaves, and former guests begrudgingly set about their work. The sails spread once more, the anchors already having been up. Burgee calls upon the winds to fill the sail, using enough force the ship was moving along at an incredible pace. The other slaves seemed ... happy at this turn of events, if still bedraggled.
Within the captains quarters (see discord)
If sleeping in the captains char, she simply dreams.
If sleepign in any other chair in the room... As Wonder falls asleep upon the chair.. her opinion of the late Alderlock improves immensely.... She almost Idolizes him as the enchantment weaves it's way into her dreams. She begins to dream of Truk... having killed such a noble man.... Tearing him limb from limb, and beating his corpse with his own body parts... She stirs, but does not wake within the chair as this scene plays over and over in her head....
As Gustav scours the desk area, he finds many papers involving sold slaves, profits - which were astronomical.. he's been in the business a LONG time. Signage, A wax Seal with Alderlocks personal seal, several blank papers. On the desk itself, was a rolled up map of the Continent of Chult, in immense detail, and a few spots marked off, meaning the captain had likely been there for some reason, at some point. And a map of the Island of Ilianaris, their destination. The map seemed highly incomplete, it showed the lower half of the island in amazing detail, the upper half left barren other than an outline, and a warning of a Dragon Turtle right around... here.... (north-east). Gustav spotted the long stretch of beach they'd be landing on.. the city, a few dozen miles to the east of the beach itself, with plenty of dark, jungle foliage between them. Several mountains lie in their path, including a single, mountain with numbers scrawled along it.. apparently the cartographer couldn't encompass it's size in drawing, so he instead did it by revealing the mountain went thousands of feet into the sky, before you would reach it's peak, like a giant, rocky spike jutting out of the ground, just outside the city. It also revealed a few other things that were unfortunately, not labeled.
Outside, Truk, Era, and Burgee are greeted by the most beautiful sunrise they've ever seen. The crystalline-blue waters reflecting the orange-crimson of the sun, as the world began to grow brighter, filled with light. The sky was clear near the ship, other than a lone, tiny cloud, floating proudly in it's own sea of cerulean. The island grew closer by the minute. Era could see the start of a city, with massive walls, reaching likely, well over 100 feet tall, with a single slit where the point would be, likely allowing passage by sea. Just to the left of it from this vantage point, was a single, spire of a mountain, jutting into the clouds themselves, with it's own cloud Halo, to the left of that, even more mountains, though far smaller. The beginnings of visibility of the jungle that covered most of the island in their lush greens reminded them of Chult itself. Off to the right of the city, more jungle, and slowly rising sheer cliffs with very very thing strands of sand. Beyond this, nothing else could be seen. But the lush vibrancy of the island was awe inspiring. The smaller mountains were capped with snow near their peaks, lush green at their bases, likely fed by the melting snow.
((After everyone has their next posts, I will be landing you all on or near the island))
Occassional Dungeon Master.
Burgee touches Era's shoulder softly as they watch the sunrise, "Maybe we find what you seek," he says in the soft voice of a mother. The island grows larger as they continue to approach.
Kauil wearily peaks his head up above deck from the stairs below and catches Burgee's eyes. Oh ho ho..., Burgee laughs in the jolly voice of an arctic elf. A few faint calls of the sky are exchanged between the two and Kauil is satisfied that all is clear up on deck. He approaches Burgee and Era and passes the borrowed daggers back to Burgee as he explains the gift of the rapier from Era. Burgee smiles and confirms that she is one who can be trusted, especially as Burgee has chosen to take Kauil under his... well, as his assistant on his search for flight.
Burgee nudges Era, "The lad's a wee bit shaky lass, but'll get his sea legs yet." A soft smile comes over the sorcerer's beak as he looks up into her eyes, "Thank you for your kindness, his loss is great. To be banished from the air when the heart wants to soar is difficult."
He looks around as Gus is preparing to go to the Captains quarters, "I'll 'ave a look at dem maps wit ya mate," he announces to Gustav, "I spent a good deal o' me time on the water navigatin' and such, may be able to eye a good place to land this 'ere lady." He walks with Gus to the quarters and looks through charts for anything that looks like the island they are approaching trying to discern a safe place to make landing. (Investigation with Navigator's Tools: 7)
After reviewing the maps he returns top-side to take watch and examines the driftwood staff that the old lady gave him wondering what all of the carvings may mean. (Arcana: 22)
Though not currently a member, seeking admission to the really long and important signature club. Please consider this as a current CV.
Other personalities... Burgee , The Colorless Knight, Fiorello, RW Goodbarrel, Dred, Evrik - Out of the Abyss & Dungeon of the Mad Mage
Site Rules & Guidelines || Tooltips || Homebrew FAQ || Snippet Codes || Syllvva's Guides
Era really tried to get that note out of her mind as she searched the rooms, finding very little, growing a little bit irritated, but she happily pockets the compass, seeing it being the only real useful(?) thing in this place before joining up with everyone else. Get your mind off it for now, Era.
--
The druid had been leaning over the ship railings, watching the water for a time before looking up to view the sunrise, her signature smile returning onto her face, her cloak coloring itself to match said sunrise. She points out the city she sees, and the spire to Truk and Burgee, exclaiming excitedly as they drew nearer to the island. The genasi stops feeling Burgee's touch, her smile softening as her hand covers his, a knot forming at the back of her throat hearing his voice mimic that of a mother, reminding her of her own mom. She fights back the feeling of crying to croak out a: "Thank you, Burgee." Before trying to ultimately contain herself. She gives herself a slap on the cheeks to pep her up a bit too.
Hearing the kenku's laugh, Era had turned to see Kauli emerge from below decks, Minos following behind him just a few steps away. The minotaur moves to lean against the rails and watch the remaining sunrise as well, murmuring something quietly to himself, the genasi too wrapped up in listening to the two birds converse to hear him. Era blinks when Burgee speaks to her again, her smile now falling. "It's no problem at all. We'll get him soaring again... I know we will... Somehow."
Era stays outside while Gustav and Burgee discuss where they were to land, letting the sorcerer know that Era was perfectly fine with wherever they decided. She was definitely a go with the flow kind of person. If Truk had stayed around, she would try and converse with the goliath. "Sooo, whatcha lookin' for on this island, big guy? Finding yourself? Finding a lover? Finding and avenging your lovers death by killing the evil bat God Camazotz and bringing back his heart as a peace offering to the better Gods to bring your lover back from the grave?" She sucks in a breath in a very exaggerated way later laughing at her assumptions. "Sorry, sorry, just the nerves I guess!"
Aeyd of the Dragons || Wood Elf / Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk
Demetrios Zalaoras || Protector Aasimar / Paladin of Torm
Hawke || Kalashtar / Circle of the Moon Druid
Morticia || Half-Aasimar Rogue
Yvan || Goliath / Path of the Wild Soul Barbarian | Paladin of Helm
/ᐠ。ꞈ。ᐟ\