Shipwrecked in Saltmarsh

     ((Fianna wouldn't have crawled under the flipped boat, rather just crouched with her back wherever she felt she had the most cover...))

Quote from Kaemgen >>

     ((Fianna wouldn't have crawled under the flipped boat, rather just crouched with her back wherever she felt she had the most cover...))

 Fianna crouches down next to the jolly boat. She is not prone, and has half-cover.

"Speak! Who do ye' think ye' are, killing a youngin' like that?" bellows the man in black. 

Katernin and Dain may act next.

The four men glower at you from above, as the caped swordsman prepares to retaliate against Dain or Molo or both as he stands over the fallen form of his comrade.

Hearing no response to his challenge, the spokesman in black nods silently to the man with the staff next to him.

Katernin and Dain may act next (although anyone may speak.)

Katernin puts a hand on her handaxe, though she's shaking. She wasn't enjoying the senseless violence. "We... we're here to stop the pirating. So... so please just leave this town alone..."

Kelnan shouts out "Surrender the ship and leave with your hides intact or meet the same fate!"

The man in black looks amused. "Leave... th' town alone? Surrender th' ship? Ye' boarding buggers are barkin' mad! Please explain." He crosses his arms and gives an exaggerated smile, whether with smugness or sarcasm or something else, you can't yet tell.

A door opens near Katernin. (Tthere are seven doors in total - three forward and four aft. This one is forward, on the starboard side.) A reptilian-headed humanoid peers out.

The man in black suppresses mild annoyance. "Not now," he says. "પાછુ મડે."

Only Molo recognizes that last word:

The humanoid retreats and closes the door again.

Although the conversation pauses combat very briefly, the injured, caped swordsman resumes his vengeful attack on Dain and Molo.
But Dain may act first. (Katernin, too, if she still wishes.)

If Dain detects that the swordsman is still fighting, he has no issues with battering the man into the deck.  He's mighty mad now and not listening to some enemy's chatter.  It'll take something more like a direct command from Fianna to snap him out of this...

Action:  Attack Recklessly, to subdue, with Maul:  Attack: 21 Damage: 11

Dain angrily flattens his attacker. The caped swordsman falls unconscious on the deck, next to his dead companion.

(Combat is paused.)

The man in black glowers down from the darkness above. "You have t' leave my ship now. I'll give ye' thirty seconds. What is it ye' want?!" he demands.

Kelnan stares back at the man in black.

"I believe we made ourselves clear. Sanbalet is dead, killed him myself, and your onshore operation is no more. I don't much care where you go, but your ship's voyage ends here. Now take this jolly boat and run along or you're next!"

Dain shifts his maul to his left hand and slowly pulls a small hammer from his belt with his right hand, looking like he is preparing to throw it.  He growls menacingly at the captain and other crew on the aft deck.

((Since combat is paused...?))

     "Pssst...  Hey!" Fianna whisper-hisses to whoever is close to her.  "Was just sending them away an option?  I didn't pay much attention to the council but I thought they wanted the pirates dead?  'The job is to capture that supply ship, kill or arrest everyone aboard, and, if possible, recover any cargo.'  That's the way I remember it..."

Kelnan sends Fianna a Message. "The captain won't give up his ship without a fight, but a disloyal crew that sees a way out might make unlikely allies."

     "Kill the captain and they have nobody to be loyal to? *shrug* I'll follow your lead..." Fianna thinks back, ready to Eldritch Blast any of the pirates who seems to no longer be pausing the combat...

((For the record... yes, Fianna though *shrug* ))

"Sanbalet? Dead?" He looks mildly amused. "That idiot had it comin'. If yer tellin' me th' truth, ye' did me a favor," booms the man in black, who appears to be the captain of this vessel. "That operation weren't nothing o' mine."

The man with the staff silently steps back and walks behind his two comrades. Then he vanishes into the gloom.
The other two sailors just gawk.

"Now ye' got twenty seconds."

((With FinFIn's high up eye in the sky vantage point, can they see if the man with the staff did anything but walk away?  Did he literally vanish or fade into the darkness?))

((Is it Katernin's turn?  We still out of initiative order?))     

(You may act in any order. If it's an attack, combat may begin immediately.)

FinFin saw him literally vanish in a thin silvery mist. He reappears in the Stone.

can Molo get an insight check on this Captain? Am I getting a pirate/smuggler vibe? Is he really looking to begin a convo instead of a fight? Also: his likelihood of surrendering? I know it’s a lot, but he’s been chatty, just looking for a first impression

insight

12 And just in case of disadv 7 

Nevermind... Molo is looking at the others for his cue

     “Hey!” Fianna shouts out in surprise and jumps to her feet.  “That’s our boat!”

     Fianna rushes to the side of the pirate ship and looks down towards the boat they towed in on, sending an immediate Eldritch Blast at the cloaked pirate!

Attack: 18 Damage: 10

((Sorry, life took a sudden left turn into crazytown. Would you mind skipping my turn while i try to figure somethings out?))