Steve's Game: Skulls and Shackles 1

[Steve-a-Saur]

Drex

You slip a little on the rope ladder in your haste to be done early, but all your experience working on sailing vessels and you completed your task admirably. You now have one ship action to spend.

[North_Ranger]

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I suppose we still need to do the actual roll, yes? Kal's got his bucket full, Cho-Tak is just on the cusp ;)

Cho-Tak quorks and rubs his chin at the new information. Well, that didn't make their job any easier... then again, if this were easy to begin with, this Cog fellow would have surely found the treasure by himself.

"Fair enough. Still, we needs make this due and proper. Swear that whoever finds the treasure lets the other two know so we can divvy it, or be condemned to Besmara's locker. You got a knife there on ya, Cog? Scourge took all of ours, and I reckon he ain't giving them back for a while."

[Athaleon]

"Sounds fair to me." After a brief pause to mull it over, Kal continues, "I don't intend to try to intimidate a man who's already been broken. Maybe some positive persuasion might work — I'll bet he has business to take care of before he buys the farm."

[Starbin]

Bizkut nodded to the cook, then nodded to Drex. "I still have to learn how to cook ... you wanna check and see what it will take to get our stuff back?"

Turning back to Kroop, he waved for the man to continue the lessons. As they worked, he tried to establish a rapport with the man. "So, how long you been on this ship? Was it voluntary?"

[Steve-a-Saur]

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Oh this is just awful of me. I sure hope you guys are still there. Just tough it out with me for just one more week, and we'll return to a regular posting schedule.

Cho-Tak and Kal

"Wha? Oh no I don't," he says, his sword and dagger in clear view, "I'll let ye in on this little treasure hunt, but that don't make us friends. This is only so's ye don't go runnin' yer mouth. If its weapon's ye want, then ye talk ta Grok, just through the galley, but don't go crawlin' ta me. Savvy?

"Persuadin's just what I was thinkin'. But the only persuadin' I do is with me right and me left. Hope one of youse is a silver tongued devil."

[Steve-a-Saur]

Bizkut

Kroop spent most of his time staring at the man who just walked into his galley, making it clear that he just wants him to go about his business. He turns back to his work once its clear that his new mate wants to continue working.

"So, how long you been on this ship? Was it voluntary?"

Kroop sighs, "Aye, at first. At first..."

[Thattaman]

Drex finds Grok on the ship and approaches her. "You are Grok, are you not?"Drex begins, "I have heard that you are the owner of both my equipment and all the other people who have been press-ganged. I was wondering if I can have my gun back, I don't need anything else, just my pistol. And yet I know that that alone isn't enough to persuade you. So I have a proposal to make: I am a trained surgeon on pirate ships and your ship may need my expertise to keep the people alive. However, your more interested in getting stuff for yourself, entirely understandable, I can be your personal surgeon or anything you see fit to make me, in return for my gun and maybe some bullets and black powder."

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Diplomacy roll: (1d20+6)[14]
As you can probably tell, I'm taking the influence action.

[North_Ranger]

Cho-Tak made a small clicking sound with his beak when Cog refused to take the oath. Better make sure we find the treasure first, then, the press-ganged tengu pondered. If he finds it first, we're not gonna get a bent copper penny out of it.

"We'll see", he spoke out loud. "We'll see indeed. Thankee about mentionin' Grok, though. If you happens ta see him, though, I trust you mentions how fine and upstanding fellas me and Kal here are. Who knows? Maybe one a' these days I's gonna save yer life. I'm a mean shot with a bow, I am", the birdman chuckles before he turns to his comrade-in-... buckets, at the moment.

"Shall we be off, then? And see how silvery your tongue is?"

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No problems, Steve. December's a busy month for everybody. One of my other games actually lost a DM because of it. But I already ranted about that in the OOC

[Starbin]

Once Drex departed, Bizkut returned to his work. The halfling nodded in response to Kroop's comments, with the appropriate "Mmm hmm ..." added in. He knows that silence will often draw people into speech more than prodding, so he waited, following the man's instructions as he went.

[Steve-a-Saur]

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I sure hope that everyone is actually still around. The good news is that this semester is now over, and I'm back for good, so you can now expect a good posting rate from me again. I can promise that this time. So lets get back to the game.

Bizkut

A long moment of silence pervaded the galley, interrupted only by clucking chickens, bleating goats, and the preparation of fish rowe. After preping and gutting another fish, Kroop decided to talk again.

"I don't think I needs ta tell ye what kinda ship this is. I'd-ah left this ship long before now if'n I could, but Cap'n Harrigan ain't keen on lettin' me leave. I'm his now, ye see? All cause ah one night when I was drunk an' brave.

"It's poison, this ship, but don't let anyone hear ye say it out loud. The hull has ears, ye see, and the Cap'n hears all. Poison the Wormwood is, rotten to the core. Harrigan's the meanest man ye'll ever meet in all yer days at sea, an' his crew's the same, specially his first mate Mr. Plugg. It's like he ain't got a soul. He'd sell his own mother to the butcher to make pies of he would, an I wouldn't be surprised if he'd done it already. They leaves me alone, mostly. They knows I can't 'arm em."

[Starbin]

Bizkut nodded sagely, but deep down he was somewhat disturbed. Was this just sea-talk mumbo-jumbo, or was there really a curse on this ship? What had Kroop done that locked him here?

And what was really in those pies?

Clearing his throat, the halfling asked a number of questions about his role in the kitchen, focusing on the tasks at hand for a bit. After awhile, he returned to a more self-focused discussion. "So, your mate ... how'd she land her job? And what do we have to do to earn our things back? I don't like being at the mercy of the crew ..."

[Steve-a-Saur]

Drex

The store was slightly less chaotic than the galley, if only because it did not have a wall of clucking chickens. Barrels, boxes, and chests lay scattered haphazardly around this tiny room causing you to stumble a bit as you stub your toe on one clumsily laid crate.

You also see Grok there leaning against her makeshift service counter, her cheek propped up against the palm of her hand. She's a very thin half-orc with an angry red gash across her throat spreading from ear to ear. The battle-axe strapped to her back looks like it had seen a lot of action over the years, though you can scarcely believe that she had the strength in her arms to lift the thing.

She was also busy digging her finger inside of her nose. She looks at you out of the corner of her eye, never hesitating for a moment.

"Hey, how's it goin'?" She greets you out of sheer obligation.

She only looks to be half paying attention to your proposal, and it was only at the end that she pulled her finger out, examining it for a moment before trying to flick it off her finger.

"Does it look like I need a surgeon to you, lad?" She rasps.

[Steve-a-Saur]

Cho-Tak and Kal

Cog opens the hatch to the bilges, and you can hear a conversation between a man and a woman down there. You recognize the woman as the one Cho-Tak woke up to this morning, the same one who was sent to work there as "punishment".

"Ye know, it gets aweful hot workin' the bilges," says the man, "hot, wet, nasty sweaty work... if'n ye want ta take some of yer clothes off, ain't no one here that would mind."

"I usually charge for that, just so you know."

"Oh don't be like that, ye beautiful wench. Consider it a favor for a dying man."

"Who's down there," Cog whispers to you. "I haven't heard anyone workin the bilges today. Find a way to get rid of her. I already lost two thirds of my treasure to ye, I ain't plannin on losin more."

[North_Ranger]

"Easy, Cog, we know who this is", Cho-Tak replies self-assuredly as he slips into the bilges. The splash of filthy water around his ankles is enough to make the tengu grimace; like in any ship, the bilges is where all the water that a ship takes in eventually ends up - along with everything else. Including anything sweated, pissed or crapped out by the crew.

"Halloo there!" the tengu calls out, sloshing towards the sounds - and nabbing every drowned rat from the water, should he be so lucky to come across one. After all, he had a bucket to fill. "Who is in here? Is that you, priestess?" he calls out again, trying to see in the darkness.

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Perception: (1d20+8)[13]

[Athaleon]

The reek of the bilge caused Kal to be overcome with nausea, and it was all he could do to keep his stomach down. How the others could stand it, he had no idea.

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Sorry, but for the longest time I've been unable to come up with anything to say or do besides "...very good, what he said."

[Steve-a-Saur]

Cho-Tak and Kal

Cog isn't happy, but that seems to be a default mode for him.

"Fine," he grumbles, "But if you're thinking of bringing her in on this too, just know that its coming out of your share. Not mine."

The bilges are every bit as nasty as you'd thought they'd be, the black murkish water coming up nearly to your knees. You see a man chained up by his wrists on the far wall. One Jakes Magpie you presume, or at least whats left of the man. He's covered in fresh scars, burns and bruises and looks to be emaciated and the blisters and boils on his skin seem to suggest that he was put through an oven. You also note that he's missing his middle fingers.

You also see the priestess manning the pumps, sweaty and panting hard in the hot sweltering confines of the ships bilges. She turns towards you as soon as she hears your voice.

"Oh, it's you Jinx-Eater. I never had the chance before, but I just wanted to appologize for this morning. I-I'm sure your a perfectly fine Tengu, its just that I'm not into... well... birds. No offense. You understand right?"

Jakes seems to perk up at this.

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I wish that there was a way to involve you more in this Kal. The first part of this AP is very RP intensive, and interactive skills still come in handy further down the line when you get into the plunder and infamy rules. Seems like something that I should have mentioned when I started this campaign. Hind sight is a real pain sometimes.

[Steve-a-Saur]

Bizkut

"Hmm?" Kroop looks up from his cooking pot.

"Don't let Grok scare ye none. She's a bit of a hardnose, but when she starts drinkin she loosin's up. Why don'cha come drinkin with us? If yer on yer best behavior, you'll git yer weapons whatever good they'll do ya. If yer lucky, ye'll probably stab someone in the foot and cook in the sweat box. Or maybe ye'll git unlucky, and I'll lose a cooks mate. Either way..."

Kroop looks around for a minute, muttering to himself.

"Now where is that..."

His hand reaches up to his head, nudging the cooking pot on his head.

"Huh? There it is. How'd that git there?"

He takes the pot off his head, puts it on the stove, and begins filling it with fish rowe and rum.

[North_Ranger]

Cho-Tak lets out a squawking laughter and shakes his head. "Ain't no need to apologize for something that wasn't your fault, miss. And aye, I understand, and take no offense. I am into birds, though", he answers the priestess with a chuckle. "But strange things happen. If some sea witch turns you into a tengu... I might come a-courting. I bet you'd look lovely with an ebon beak and blue-black down, if you don't mind me saying so" he adds with a smile and a wink of his black eye. Cho-Tak was no more into humans than the priestess might be into birds, but he knew enough about human tastes to tell that the Besmaran was more than easy on the eyes. Besides, it would be useful to be on good terms with one of the Pirate Queen's own. It might spare his life or limb one day...

"Are you alright here, though? Them bilges are a pain to work by your lonesome." Cho-Tak deliberately avoids talking to Jakes just yet, hoping to keep the Besmaran lass's attention on himself... and the suggestion he has in mind.

[Thattaman]

"I didn't mean to offend, but I think that my skills could be put to better use if I was both given my gun and allowed to become a surgeon rather than a rigger."

[Starbin]

Bizkut glanced at the cook to see if he was kidding. He hadn't felt like a part of a group since Kaer Maga; and that had its own price. What would be the price of familiarity here on the ship? Was there strength in numbers, regardless of their composition, or would he be letting his guard down so he could get a knife in the back? Perhaps only time would tell.

For now, trust would be a valued currency, and only handed out when absolutely necessary. Nodding to the big cook, he smiled wanly. "Sure, we can drink. Looks I'll need it to kill the taste and germs, anyway.

When I came into town, I heard one of the sailors mention scurvy ... what's that?"

[Steve-a-Saur]

Drex

Grox decided to wipe it off on the side of her crate after failing to flick it from her finger. She still stares at you from the corner of her eye with a look of utter apathy on her face. 'Oh, you're still here?' it seemed to say.

"This ships already got a surgeon, so we hardly need another one. If you want to be one so very badly, I suggest you arrange the old one's death and try not to get caught.

"I haven't got your gun either. The Cap'n took an interest in it. He put it up in his cabin. If you really want your gun, you'll just have to take it up with him."

[Steve-a-Saur]

Kal and Cho-Tak

The besmaran smiles and laughs a little. Her laugh was nice enough, for a human anyway.

"If that were to happen, maybe I'll take you up on that," she says. She looks relieved, perhaps narrowly avoiding some Tengu Curse that came from decking one in the face.

"The bilges are alright," she says, exhausted and wiping the sweat from her face, "The company is the real pain though. Oh, present company excluded of course! So why exactly are you here anyway? I doubt the three of you all came down to entertain little ol' me."

"Please say ye are!" cries Jakes.

Cog folds his arms across his chest, an ever present scowl over his face. The man hardly seemed to make any other expression.

"He owes me money," he glowers.

"Oh?"

[North_Ranger]

Cho-Tak stifled the urge to swing his bucket in Cog's face. Gods, why must all humans be so bloody stupid? Might as well have told the priestess to join the group for the treasure hunt.

"He does?" he nonetheless managed to ask, feigning surprise. "But no, that's not what me and Kal are here for. Rats, mainly... Scourge put us to collectin' these vermin, hopefully not for supper."

"Speakin' of which... do you think you could swing by the galley an' see if the halfling can be persuaded to give us some choice morsels? We can watch over the bilges while you're there and catching a breather. Just be back quick-like, so Scourge don't see ya. Whaddaya say?"

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Bluff, I guess? (1d20+1)[20]

[Steve-a-Saur]

Cho-Tak and Kal

"So... go into the kitchen and bring the menfolk sandwiches, is that it?" The Besmaran priestess shakes her head and laughs a little, somewhere between being amused and wanting to deck you in the face again. Eventually, she just settled for shrugging her shoulders.

"Meh, I could use the break anyhow. Mind the pump boys, it tends to stick a little."

And with that, she heads up the ladder to the deck above. You catch Jakes and Cog's eyes lingering on her as she leaves. But once she's gone, Jakes turns his attention on you.

"I know why yer here. It's the only reason anyone comes down here, an' I'll tell ye what I've told everyone else. You ain't gettin' **** outta me, so do me a favor an' piss off!"

[Athaleon]

"No need to be so hostile," quips Kal as he moves closer to the stricken sailor. "We can help each other out. Now, I'll wager that you've got some unfinished business aboard this ship; Gods know, we'd all be better off with certain men out of the picture. To say nothing of our personal satisfaction."

Kal pauses to let the words sink in before continuing. "You're in no shape to make that happen, but you can make the risk worth our while." He draws closer and lowers his voice as he concludes, "Aren't there a few men you'd like to see suffer, as they have made you suffer? Wouldn't it feel good to have that satisfaction before the end? "

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Diplomacy: (1d20)[15]

[Thattaman]

"Well, I'd rather not kill anyone. The captain likes my gun, maybe I'd be better speaking to him." Drex goes off in search for cap'n Harrigan.

[North_Ranger]

"Sweet as pie, that's how I sees it", Cho-Tak continues on Kal's sales pitch. "Besides, if you tell us swift-like where to find something good... maybe there's something there that'll make the lass more willing to take her shirt off. She's no magpie, but I ain't yet met a lady who didn't like no shiny bits", the birdman adds, winking a black eye. "It's a sweet deal, ain't it? A li'l somethin' before having to take a trip to see Pharasma..."

If at any point Cog looks like he's going to open his trap and say something, Cho-Tak stomps hard on his foot in the filthy bilgewater. He needed no more help from the man, ruining the deal he and Kal were carving with Jakes Magpie.

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Aid another roll to Kal's Diplomacy: (1d20)[8]

Shoulda put some points in Charisma...

[Steve-a-Saur]

Cho-Tak and Kal

The man in shackles bursts out laughing. It was a coughing, wheezing sort of laughter that seemed to hurt, but he just couldn't help himself.

"Ha, yer funnier than that last bunch, that's fer certain," he manages between wheezes, "just who do you think you are? I don't know you swabs, but that don't really matter none. You ain't got what it takes to take down Plugg and Scourge, in one day, and live to enjoy it. This treasure is my only way of stickin' it to Harrigan, so what makes ye think I'm willin' to give it away to a bunch of no name swabbies like you?"

Cog opens his mouth to speak, but a swift kick to his leg shuts him up. He spends the moment scowling at you.

[North_Ranger]

"Every captain worth his salt began as a featherless swab", Cho-Tak offers. "You're a bird kind of a man, Magpie... ever heard tell of Horrock Bloodbeak, the tengu that made the isles cry tears o' blood and gold?" the tengu asks, sloshing closer to the half-dead man. Grabbing a handful of hair, he pulls the man's head closer to his beak. "I carry his blood in my veins, an' I intend to make the isles cry once more", he whispers into the man's ear. "Startin' with this here sorry ship. An' the things I do to Scourge will make him beg that I let him get keelhauled. What do you say, cuz? Ain't it worth the magpie's gold to make the men who killed ya meat for the crows?"

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I'm guessin' this is either Intimidate or Diplomacy...? Which one will I roll?

[Steve-a-Saur]

Cho-Tak

I'd say it looks more like diplomacy for me. But Magpie seems to be a tough nut to crack, and you are acting agressively, so I'll let you roll an intimidate check for your +5 even though you aren't actually threatening him.