Your journey has been smooth sailing so far. You left the bustling port of Neverwinter a few days ago, heading for an island with the foreboding name of Stormwreck Isle. But you woke this morning to a blood-red sunrise, and dark clouds overhead threaten a violent storm.

As lightning flashes across the sky, a monster hauls itself up onto the deck!

"These waters belong to the Scaled Queen. I'm here to collect her tribute." A merrow growls at the group. 

I've just told you the situation you're in. What happens next is up to you. You're all trained for combat, so if you want to fight this monster, which is called a merrow, I can help you do that. But you can also try to negotiate with the merrow, or trick it, or anything else you can imagine.

Just about anything you can think of to try will require some combination of skill, natural ability, and luck to pull off. And the D&D game represents that by having you roll one of these 20-sided dice and add a number from your sheet. So... what do you want to do?

Angoroth (human paladin) carefully looks at the creature.  He then slowly pulls his shield onto his arm but leaves his axe straped to his back. Investigation check ? 17 ?

"What sort of 'tribute' does the Scaled Queen require?"

Flint (the Dwarf Cleric) stirs below deck, having been in deep prayer meditation, stressed over the last few years of his short but long life so far. He hears and feels everything around him. Rising to his feet, he groans, not in pain but rather, weariness.  He wraps  his robe around himself and climbs the stairs on stubby but firm, solid legs. He sees first the large Dragon Queen, scowling at his friend, the Human.. For their part, the Paladin doesn't back down... Flint smirks, listening

'Aye.. Angroth.. let us not anger the creature, be smart." But as the war weary Dwarf surveys the scene, he ponders to his god and clutches  his hand axe, readying the other hand with a spell in mind, if things get hairy quickly.

"The Scaled Queen requires 400 gp or the equivalent in goods." This large, tailed beast waves its hands, gesturing to emphasize its words. 

"Greedy bastard...." The Dwarf mutters to himself, even if they had that kind of gold on hand, there were only the two of us awake at the present. The two elves must be sleeping off the drink.

He looks over the human, and decides to calm his hand from his axe and try the gentle approach as well, albeit with a bit more flair. "Ahh fair lady Queen, I humbly apologize, but we really must be going. I have... we have something we're looking for and we simply cannot afford your generous offer... " A charming look but the Dwarf's eyes show a restrained anger. "I am sure however, that we can come to an agreement, on the way back, yes?"  Flint exposes his arms, the tattoos marking his large biceps on both arms. 

Intimidation check: 8

Erdan can recall that the Scaled Queen was blessed by a demon, but can't remember which. 

"The Scaled Queen demands her payment now, dwarf!" The merrow glares at Flint, un-affected by his efforts to persuade. 

*OOC: I realize life happens but the two other players on the party haven't made a post yet. 

Not everyone checks on the weekends

ooC: its all good, just didn’t want to go ahead without them

(I didn't have access to this thread until now, thanks for the link!)

Faris was one of the more quiet types and would be leaning against the ships main cabin entrance, he would be fully equipped with his gear like usual, his greatsword with a elather strap on his back of his making and a bow his father gifted him when young. He would look at the merrow with a shrug, if this greedy queen wanted to take all their coin, why not fight it off? He was used to tyrannical elf rulers due to being on the poorer side of wood elves. 

Flint the Dwarf cleric, weathered by war, looks around at his comrades, a tense feeling arises, he looks up at the Scaled Queen, raising his hands... "Fine.... we'll give you the gold if you want.. take the whole ship for all I care!" But slowly, Flint reaches in for his mace, exchanging quick glances at the rest who are topside. "God forgive me" The Dwarf whispers.

(DM, roll for initiative?)

Angoroth shifts uneasily, 400!  In that moment he knew it would come down to the sword. Hearing Flint's outburst seeing his hand on his mace told Angoroth he also knew.  We might as well get on with it then.  Angoroth pulls his axe from his back. "Let's get his over with shall we"

Initiative roll total:19 

Faris would gather near the cleric releasing a short breath-

initiative: 21

Flint relaxes his stocky body and takes one moment to pray.

Initiative: 7

@ModestKing3185, roll Cha (Deception) to trick the merrow for a surprise round. 

Flint sees that the Scaled Queen's attention is diverted  while the others pull out gold to give to the creature. He smiles

"We are blessed on this day." 

Deception roll for surprise:

16

The merrow sniffs the air, glancing at Angoroth as he pulls out his axe. "We're doing this the hard way, I see."

(Looks like Faris had best inti)

Flint curses his god but slows his heartbeat, knowing that in all things, there is a plan. The Dwarf glances at Faris, motioning with his thick arm. A cool, confident flow of words follows. “Lets go easy on the merrow, ah lad? Death without purpose is not the way.” Once the fight action was decided, the Dwarf had calmed his anger. In decades earlier, he let his rage loose and it cost him too much.