@Yulmiath: This is not the first time you climb up an anchor's chain, and it shows... well, it would show if anyone could see you. Your pulls are strong, your movement is smooth. You reach the deck without trouble. You can hear 3 or 4 different voices talking but you doubt those cover everyone on the ship. While still hanging on the chain, your head pokes above the rail and you spot 3 sailors/pirates. Two humans and one elf.
@Rhogal: You scuttle away and find refuge behind some foliage and an empty basket. You hear the pirate that promised to squish you get nearer, look around, and then curse the seas. "Bugger got way... Never gonna find it in all this mess. Better beat it to the rowboat, then. Let's go, scallywags!"
@Hun: You eyes (passive perception) don't pick up any Jaculi on the trees, though you have learned they have quite good camouflage. Also interestingly, you can see in the distance that the pirates have seemingly left no guard at the south gate. The gate is closed.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Yulmiath waits for a decent moment to haul himself into the deck. Then turns to get a view of whatever is going on at the harbour. If there's a view into the hold of the ship, assuming his route doesn't take him too near to any sailors/pirates, he's going to peek in there too.
Yulmiath makes a silent but wet landing onto the ship's quarterdeck. In his immediate vicinity, the dragonborn can see one of the ship's main masts, the wheel, and one of its weapons: a ballista. Any peeking into the hull would require Yulmiath to descend some steps into main deck, where 3 pirates stand, talk, and move supplies around. He hears one of them expand on the comment about eggs: "Maybe we should save one of'em for ourselves. I hear tortle soup makes you stronger!" The comment is followed by plenty of harsh and loud laughter.
Looking onto the shore, the barbarian sees two rowboats. Each is manned by one sailor. Several others (Yulmiath sees at least four more) are in Ahoyhoy proper, collecting whatever may be left in the town that still has some value. There are also several dying but still smoking fires, more than a few motionless and prone tortles with signs of severe wounds, and plenty of property damage.
Assuming that it's either a huge clutch of eggs or a group of tortles stuck in the hold of the ship, Yumiath decides not to stick any of the alchemist's fire packages on the ship just yet. Spying the ballista, he doubts that he's spent enough time with Hun to have an intrinsic understanding of the machinery such that he could make a minor tweak and leave it useless, but he has used similar things, so looks for something that looks important and makes sure to disconnect it, hoping for the best.
Not quite done in his role as a sabotuer just yet, Yulmaith heads to the rigging, climbing to the mast and starts looking to mess with their ropes to prevent any quick getaways later.
Yulmiath spends a few seconds starring at the ballista, hoping to quickly study and understand the mechanism enough in just a few seconds. He begins to worry that the drops of water dripping from his body onto the deck may get the pirates' attention. In a rush of anxiety, the barbarian decides that the sure-most move here is to simply cut the tensed cord which is ready to launch a pre-loaded bolt. No cord, no tension, no ballista. Yulmiath succeeds in his task with the aid of his also-invisible greataxe, but at the cost of creating a loud noise as the mechanism releases all that stored power. The bolt flies meekly and hits the water below, but the ballista itself spins out of control. All visible pirates suddenly look at the quarterdeck. "What's that? What'appened? Who shot the ballista? Go check!"Yulmiath can see three pirates on their way to him.
Rhogal had quietly reached the closest rowboat and successfully avoided the gaze of the pirate manning it. All eyes suddenly turn to the main ship, even from those at the tortle settlement. In fact, the rest of the Snackers could hear it too. Something is happening on the boat, and it sounded loud and destructive.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Suddenly panicked, Yulmiath vaults the rail around the edge of the ship. Maintaining his grip on the rail, he edges hand over hand away from the ballista and around the edge of the ship towards the hold. Keeping his head above the rail, he keeps an eye out for any more pirates that come out to investigate.
Still leery of the tree, Hun had just finished giving Mrs. Thinn orders to continue keeping an eye on it when the distant disturbance finally reached his ear drums. But seeing none of his flares had been put to use 'just' yet, he fought back the impulse to risk worsening things in favor of just keeping an eye on things as much as possible from his current position. And if need be, he'd urge/remind the others do much the same, but remain prepared now to move at a moment's notice.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
Yulmiath's next maneuver is more successful. The dragonborn leaps over the ship's rail but manages to silently keep a grip on it, reducing the chances a pirate will run into his invisible form as they quickly approach the quarterdeck. From below, Yulmiath hears more commotion: the screams of what can only be kidnapped tortles, the rush of boots on the wooden deck of more pirates ascending the multilevel ship to investigate what happened, and the distant screams of pirates in the shore also trying to figure out if they are under attack.
From outside the walls of Ahoyhoy, Kairus, Krodhen, Hun, and Mrs. Thinn all hear the commotion, albeit it at lower volumes and with some delay. It is clear to all that something is happening.
With a rough head count in his mind, Yulmiath pulls the hood of his cloak up and releases his grip from the side of the ship. Keeping his feet together and arms by his sides, he drops into the water as silently as he can and keeping himself as far underwater as he can, begins to swim back to the rest of the group.
@Yulmiath: You feel like you must go! Your numeric estimate will have to rely on your hearing. You hear enough to assume a minimum of three other pirates will soon join the original three on the deck and quarterdeck. You then find your way back to the water and swim as swiftly as you can before they come looking over the rail.
@Rhogal: It doesn't look like the pirates were on the verge of leaving. If they were to attempt to depart now, they would surely have to dedicate a considerable amount of time to collecting everything they have been moving around, row the smaller boats back to the ship, and then set sail. That said, you don't doubt they are willing to leave either loot or some companions behind if needed. They all look ready for a scrap too, now that something notable has happened.
@Hun & @Kairus: More then a few additional minutes pass but, eventually, Yulmiath makes his way back to you. He is still invisible, but Kairus knows his invisibility spell must be at least halfway done by now. You can tell he is near you by the drops of ocean water hitting the ground from seemingly nowhere.
Raising a hand in greeting, Yulmiath pauses for a moment to take in the wonder of Kairus' magic. Aside from the shimmer caused by the water, if you didn't know he was there, you'd never know he was there.
"Has Rhogal made it back yet?"
Pausing to allow the others to update him, he then fills them in on his discoveries.
"So they are currently loading the ship with whatever they've taken from Ahoyhoy. To hear them talk I suspect it is tortle eggs and likely some tortles as well, if that's true, your dad is into some shady stuff, Krodhen. There were three watching the deck and at least three more below decks, although possibly more than that now since I sabotaged one of their ballistas. Given that there were likely tortles and their eggs on the ship, I didn't leave any of your alchemist's fire behind, Hun."
Yulmiath returns the two parcels back to Hun, "Maybe we can use them to start a fire elsewhere to draw attention, I don't know. Krodhen, what weapons does your daddy's ship have? They're down one ballista, but I assume there might be more below decks we need to watch out for?"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Rhogal, feeling his part of the scouting is done, scuttles his way back out of Ahoyhoy and rejoins with the party.
Stealth(if needed): 5
Once he's back with the rest of the Pack, he returns to his dwarven form and gives his report, "Seems like it'll be a while a'fore they start leaving. But, the sooner we strike, the better."
He takes out his bagpipes and starts inflating them to prepare for his part of the distraction plan.
Rhogal soon rejoins the group, making the Snack Pack whole again. Yulmiath and him then deliver their debriefs, reporting on the pirates' lack of urgency, their prized loot of eggs and possibly tortles too, their loss of one ballista, and their estimated numbers (Rhogal and Yulmiath jointly saw/heard some 12-14 pirates, excluding the captain.)
Hun receives his vials of alchemist fire back.
Krodhen answers: "Yes, my father won't shy away from immoral acts... As for weapons, it is good to hear you sabotaged one out of four. The ship has another ballista on the forecastle, and two mangonels on the main deck. There are no cannons. The ship is also capable of ramming other ships, but I am not sure how that would be relevant here."Yul would have seen the large mangonels as well, at least with his peripheral vision.
Wishing he had forced himself to be a little bit braver back on deck of the ship, Yulmiath quickly silences those thoughts with the fact that he'll have plenty of time to rectify hs mistakes later.
"Ah, you aren't your dad, Krodhen. His black deeds don't mark your own name. Right, so best we get on with bashing some pirate skulls then? What's the plan?"
"My opinion did not change. 18 bandits who keep hostages is not something we can tackle head-on. Even if we lure some of the pirates away or wait until night and begin to cut them down one by one, at the first sign of danger they will begin to break the eggs and kill turtles. Glad you finally proved to yourself we can not burn down the ship either. We want the attention to be taken off the village. Challenging the captain is the only safe option here. And Krodhen is the only one who has the right to do it. I would assume claiming an untimely inheritance is not something unique among pirates. Krodhen got his crew - us - and now wants a ship. There is also always someone unhappy with the current leadership, they might join. The father would be forced to demonstrate his strength and prove his rights to the ship. Then we fight. And even if someone betrays us afterwards, it will be about Krodhen and his rights not about turtles and their eggs. So, they will be safe."
"The problem is if his father is as much of a bastard as he sounds, and given how he fell out of favor, they ain't as safe as you might think young blue." Hun chimes in, having spent the past few moments so deep in thought, that even the acceptance of his flask had been a more absent-minded venture. "Unfortunately... I can't think of any other assurances. It'a be one thing if the alarm wasn't somewhat sounded. But as things stand, they'd be too on alert. And hindsight is 20-20 on the whole passing along the shell for some prisoner shenanigans there."He confesses, then after a moment of looking pensive, he stares sternly up at Krodhen.
"You're gonna have to really sell it, you know. Really show that pop of yours and his crew how hard you are in spirit. 'cause if he even gets a hint that you're trying to free folk, and not merely trying to claim leadership, things are gonna go tits up! REAL. FAST. So, think you can do it? 'cause otherwise we'd be better off trying to go the knife in the dark way and hope for the bloody frick'n best." He says, eyeing the half-orc sternly.
Kairus's preference for a direct and formal challenge does not waver with the delivery of the scouts' debriefs. Hun, on the other hand, adjusts his way of thinking to the new information.
Krodhen chimes in: "Ay, I know how to get under his skin. He would love nothing more than to bash me down again." the half-orc thinks for a moment and asks: "Is the plan to walk in as a group and defy the captain or is Rhogal still going to try to lure a few of them away? Or both approaches simultaneously?"
DM's Screen:
4
@Yulmiath: This is not the first time you climb up an anchor's chain, and it shows... well, it would show if anyone could see you. Your pulls are strong, your movement is smooth. You reach the deck without trouble. You can hear 3 or 4 different voices talking but you doubt those cover everyone on the ship. While still hanging on the chain, your head pokes above the rail and you spot 3 sailors/pirates. Two humans and one elf.
@Rhogal: You scuttle away and find refuge behind some foliage and an empty basket. You hear the pirate that promised to squish you get nearer, look around, and then curse the seas. "Bugger got way... Never gonna find it in all this mess. Better beat it to the rowboat, then. Let's go, scallywags!"
@Hun: You eyes (passive perception) don't pick up any Jaculi on the trees, though you have learned they have quite good camouflage. Also interestingly, you can see in the distance that the pirates have seemingly left no guard at the south gate. The gate is closed.
Yulmiath waits for a decent moment to haul himself into the deck. Then turns to get a view of whatever is going on at the harbour. If there's a view into the hold of the ship, assuming his route doesn't take him too near to any sailors/pirates, he's going to peek in there too.
Perception - 17
Stealth - 21
Yulmiath makes a silent but wet landing onto the ship's quarterdeck. In his immediate vicinity, the dragonborn can see one of the ship's main masts, the wheel, and one of its weapons: a ballista. Any peeking into the hull would require Yulmiath to descend some steps into main deck, where 3 pirates stand, talk, and move supplies around. He hears one of them expand on the comment about eggs: "Maybe we should save one of'em for ourselves. I hear tortle soup makes you stronger!" The comment is followed by plenty of harsh and loud laughter.
Looking onto the shore, the barbarian sees two rowboats. Each is manned by one sailor. Several others (Yulmiath sees at least four more) are in Ahoyhoy proper, collecting whatever may be left in the town that still has some value. There are also several dying but still smoking fires, more than a few motionless and prone tortles with signs of severe wounds, and plenty of property damage.
Assuming that it's either a huge clutch of eggs or a group of tortles stuck in the hold of the ship, Yumiath decides not to stick any of the alchemist's fire packages on the ship just yet. Spying the ballista, he doubts that he's spent enough time with Hun to have an intrinsic understanding of the machinery such that he could make a minor tweak and leave it useless, but he has used similar things, so looks for something that looks important and makes sure to disconnect it, hoping for the best.
Investigation - 11
Sleight of hand - 10
Not quite done in his role as a sabotuer just yet, Yulmaith heads to the rigging, climbing to the mast and starts looking to mess with their ropes to prevent any quick getaways later.
Rhogal tries to scuttle his way to the rowboats in order to see the situation there.
Stealth: 15
Extended Signature
Yulmiath spends a few seconds starring at the ballista, hoping to quickly study and understand the mechanism enough in just a few seconds. He begins to worry that the drops of water dripping from his body onto the deck may get the pirates' attention. In a rush of anxiety, the barbarian decides that the sure-most move here is to simply cut the tensed cord which is ready to launch a pre-loaded bolt. No cord, no tension, no ballista. Yulmiath succeeds in his task with the aid of his also-invisible greataxe, but at the cost of creating a loud noise as the mechanism releases all that stored power. The bolt flies meekly and hits the water below, but the ballista itself spins out of control. All visible pirates suddenly look at the quarterdeck. "What's that? What'appened? Who shot the ballista? Go check!" Yulmiath can see three pirates on their way to him.
Rhogal had quietly reached the closest rowboat and successfully avoided the gaze of the pirate manning it. All eyes suddenly turn to the main ship, even from those at the tortle settlement. In fact, the rest of the Snackers could hear it too. Something is happening on the boat, and it sounded loud and destructive.
Suddenly panicked, Yulmiath vaults the rail around the edge of the ship. Maintaining his grip on the rail, he edges hand over hand away from the ballista and around the edge of the ship towards the hold. Keeping his head above the rail, he keeps an eye out for any more pirates that come out to investigate.
Athletics - 20
Stealth - 15
Still leery of the tree, Hun had just finished giving Mrs. Thinn orders to continue keeping an eye on it when the distant disturbance finally reached his ear drums. But seeing none of his flares had been put to use 'just' yet, he fought back the impulse to risk worsening things in favor of just keeping an eye on things as much as possible from his current position. And if need be, he'd urge/remind the others do much the same, but remain prepared now to move at a moment's notice.
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
Yulmiath's next maneuver is more successful. The dragonborn leaps over the ship's rail but manages to silently keep a grip on it, reducing the chances a pirate will run into his invisible form as they quickly approach the quarterdeck. From below, Yulmiath hears more commotion: the screams of what can only be kidnapped tortles, the rush of boots on the wooden deck of more pirates ascending the multilevel ship to investigate what happened, and the distant screams of pirates in the shore also trying to figure out if they are under attack.
From outside the walls of Ahoyhoy, Kairus, Krodhen, Hun, and Mrs. Thinn all hear the commotion, albeit it at lower volumes and with some delay. It is clear to all that something is happening.
Yulmiath holds on long enough to take a head count, then decides that making his way back to the rest of the Packers might be his best bet.
Perception - 11
With a rough head count in his mind, Yulmiath pulls the hood of his cloak up and releases his grip from the side of the ship. Keeping his feet together and arms by his sides, he drops into the water as silently as he can and keeping himself as far underwater as he can, begins to swim back to the rest of the group.
Rhogal tries to see how soon the pirates are ready to depart from where they left the boat.
Perception: 14
Extended Signature
@Yulmiath: You feel like you must go! Your numeric estimate will have to rely on your hearing. You hear enough to assume a minimum of three other pirates will soon join the original three on the deck and quarterdeck. You then find your way back to the water and swim as swiftly as you can before they come looking over the rail.
@Rhogal: It doesn't look like the pirates were on the verge of leaving. If they were to attempt to depart now, they would surely have to dedicate a considerable amount of time to collecting everything they have been moving around, row the smaller boats back to the ship, and then set sail. That said, you don't doubt they are willing to leave either loot or some companions behind if needed. They all look ready for a scrap too, now that something notable has happened.
@Hun & @Kairus: More then a few additional minutes pass but, eventually, Yulmiath makes his way back to you. He is still invisible, but Kairus knows his invisibility spell must be at least halfway done by now. You can tell he is near you by the drops of ocean water hitting the ground from seemingly nowhere.
Raising a hand in greeting, Yulmiath pauses for a moment to take in the wonder of Kairus' magic. Aside from the shimmer caused by the water, if you didn't know he was there, you'd never know he was there.
"Has Rhogal made it back yet?"
Pausing to allow the others to update him, he then fills them in on his discoveries.
"So they are currently loading the ship with whatever they've taken from Ahoyhoy. To hear them talk I suspect it is tortle eggs and likely some tortles as well, if that's true, your dad is into some shady stuff, Krodhen. There were three watching the deck and at least three more below decks, although possibly more than that now since I sabotaged one of their ballistas. Given that there were likely tortles and their eggs on the ship, I didn't leave any of your alchemist's fire behind, Hun."
Yulmiath returns the two parcels back to Hun, "Maybe we can use them to start a fire elsewhere to draw attention, I don't know. Krodhen, what weapons does your daddy's ship have? They're down one ballista, but I assume there might be more below decks we need to watch out for?"
Rhogal, feeling his part of the scouting is done, scuttles his way back out of Ahoyhoy and rejoins with the party.
Stealth(if needed): 5
Once he's back with the rest of the Pack, he returns to his dwarven form and gives his report, "Seems like it'll be a while a'fore they start leaving. But, the sooner we strike, the better."
He takes out his bagpipes and starts inflating them to prepare for his part of the distraction plan.
Extended Signature
Rhogal soon rejoins the group, making the Snack Pack whole again. Yulmiath and him then deliver their debriefs, reporting on the pirates' lack of urgency, their prized loot of eggs and possibly tortles too, their loss of one ballista, and their estimated numbers (Rhogal and Yulmiath jointly saw/heard some 12-14 pirates, excluding the captain.)
Hun receives his vials of alchemist fire back.
Krodhen answers: "Yes, my father won't shy away from immoral acts... As for weapons, it is good to hear you sabotaged one out of four. The ship has another ballista on the forecastle, and two mangonels on the main deck. There are no cannons. The ship is also capable of ramming other ships, but I am not sure how that would be relevant here." Yul would have seen the large mangonels as well, at least with his peripheral vision.
Wishing he had forced himself to be a little bit braver back on deck of the ship, Yulmiath quickly silences those thoughts with the fact that he'll have plenty of time to rectify hs mistakes later.
"Ah, you aren't your dad, Krodhen. His black deeds don't mark your own name. Right, so best we get on with bashing some pirate skulls then? What's the plan?"
"My opinion did not change. 18 bandits who keep hostages is not something we can tackle head-on. Even if we lure some of the pirates away or wait until night and begin to cut them down one by one, at the first sign of danger they will begin to break the eggs and kill turtles. Glad you finally proved to yourself we can not burn down the ship either. We want the attention to be taken off the village. Challenging the captain is the only safe option here. And Krodhen is the only one who has the right to do it. I would assume claiming an untimely inheritance is not something unique among pirates. Krodhen got his crew - us - and now wants a ship. There is also always someone unhappy with the current leadership, they might join. The father would be forced to demonstrate his strength and prove his rights to the ship. Then we fight. And even if someone betrays us afterwards, it will be about Krodhen and his rights not about turtles and their eggs. So, they will be safe."
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
"The problem is if his father is as much of a bastard as he sounds, and given how he fell out of favor, they ain't as safe as you might think young blue." Hun chimes in, having spent the past few moments so deep in thought, that even the acceptance of his flask had been a more absent-minded venture. "Unfortunately... I can't think of any other assurances. It'a be one thing if the alarm wasn't somewhat sounded. But as things stand, they'd be too on alert. And hindsight is 20-20 on the whole passing along the shell for some prisoner shenanigans there." He confesses, then after a moment of looking pensive, he stares sternly up at Krodhen.
"You're gonna have to really sell it, you know. Really show that pop of yours and his crew how hard you are in spirit. 'cause if he even gets a hint that you're trying to free folk, and not merely trying to claim leadership, things are gonna go tits up! REAL. FAST. So, think you can do it? 'cause otherwise we'd be better off trying to go the knife in the dark way and hope for the bloody frick'n best." He says, eyeing the half-orc sternly.
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
Kairus's preference for a direct and formal challenge does not waver with the delivery of the scouts' debriefs. Hun, on the other hand, adjusts his way of thinking to the new information.
Krodhen chimes in: "Ay, I know how to get under his skin. He would love nothing more than to bash me down again." the half-orc thinks for a moment and asks: "Is the plan to walk in as a group and defy the captain or is Rhogal still going to try to lure a few of them away? Or both approaches simultaneously?"