Zivilyn's Reach IC

[Gorgon_Heap]

Leaf Guild (October) 13, 423 AC


A chill wind gusts over the deck of the Gull’s Wing, temporarily sucking air from the northeast facing sails. This close to shore the air carries hints of earth and decaying plant life.

Some of your fellow travelers press together for warmth, but Capt. Taris raises his head and exalts in the breeze even as he has to clamp a hand on his head to keep his broad-brimmed hat from flying off. Only in his early thirties, the captain is fairly ordinary in appearance but dresses well enough to stand out. At this moment, he’s rather blatantly cutting a dashing figure for his audience.

The Gull’s Wing currently carries fifteen passengers, and all of you are gathered on deck at Taris’ request. You set sail from the last port only two days earlier, but the young captain has a penchant for theatricality and has been helpfully open and informative. “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll be making our final eastward turn toward the Foxtail River shortly. We’ll be going upriver and the winds die once we’ve breached the mouth, so it’ll take us about an hour to reach the city and dock.”

The small city of Staughton is undergoing a golden age. The current peace and stabilization of governments beyond Abanasinia has increased trade and revitalized the city’s economy. With that and its proximity to the religious conclave on the island of Schallsea, there are now countless reasons to visit Staughton.

Taris directs his sailors to furl the mainsail and raise the two small lateen sheets on the ship’s fore. He turns his attention back to you. “As we’ll be making landfall soon, I remind you to double-check your berths for belongings-“

He’s cut off by a horrible, sudden shriek from below deck. Stricken, his head snaps toward the nearest staircase. He waves for his passengers to stay put and dashes off as shouts of fear and dismay erupt from below.

Most of your fellow passengers are rooted in place through concern or confusion…

[King Tius]

Delina Sparrow

Gods above, that wind feels good! Delina has always loved sailing but has so rarely had a chance to be out on open waters in her travels. When her rambles did find her near a port or harbor, the blue phoenix painted on her shield and the blue kingfisher medallion she wore around her neck usually earned her free passage. Even the least superstitious Captains (of which there are few) knew better than to pass up the chance to have a priestess of the Fisher King on board.

At the sound of the shriek Delina turns to watch the Captain slip below deck, taking several steps in that direction but not following. As she turns her head the wind catches her auburn hair and blows it sideways, revealing her slightly pointed ears. Reflexively she reaches half way up to cover her ear before catching herself and letting it show. She had nothing to fear here.

After a moment of internal struggle she decides to follow the Captain after all. Someone might be hurt, and her magics would more than make up for intrusion.

[Toliudar]

Lorak

Lorak stood a bit apart from the other passengers, gripping the railing with both hands. Most of the small races tended to give minotaurs a bit of extra space anyway, especially when they had a seven foot axe strapped to their back. You know, just in case.

Unlike many of her countrymen, Lorak didn't feel especially at home out on the water. Salt was devilishly hard to get out of hair, and the deck kept tipping and slanting in unpredictable ways. Still, she'd heard enough stories about Staunton as a new centre of learning, wealth and intellectual progress that it made her days aboard the Gull's Wing well worth it.

When the shriek comes, Lorak's hand was already reaching up for the handle of her axe when she realized that it was coming from below. Her concerns about the responsiveness of the crew were confirmed when only the Captain darted below. Well. It had been a while since she'd done any field medic work, but Lorak thought that she could remember a bit. And if there was an ongoing threat, perhaps her axe could be of some use.

Heedless of the ongoing pitch of the deck, Lorak dashed from the railing towards the narrow (by minotaur standards) stairwell.

[SalmonOfDoubt]

Bookhead hated sailing. Absolutely despised it. It made him sick to his stomach. It was a necessary evil if he wished to reach Staughton though. He had heard tales of powerful wizards defending the city during the Chaos War, so it seemed as good a place to search for magic as any. At this moment, though, he wished that he had chosen another city instead, one that wasn't across any large bodies of water. It was a good thing that he had Reduce Seasickness in his spellbook, although it didn't entirely negate the churning of his stomach.

When he heard a shriek he stiffened, snapping his attention to what the captain was actually saying. Which, now, was nothing. The captain was dashing below decks, quickly followed by a pretty elf and burly minotaur. Bookhead's first instinct was to follow, but he paused momentarily. If he was to unleash his wizardry below decks, it could cause problems. But he had to help. Who knows what kind of trouble three non-wizards could get into. At least, he assumed none of them were wizards. None of them were wearing wizard's robes.

Quite a bind. He stood, pondering for a brief moment, then quickly pulled a reddish rock from a pocket inside his clothes. The kender stared at the rock intensely, then slipped it back into it's pocket, dashing after the others.

[RaggedAngel]

Perelias stood at the bow of the ship, watching the waves break against the hull. He was tall and thin, with clear grey eyes that belied the mind behind them. He rested his staff in the crook of his arm, and he seemed to be just another young traveler, though perhaps slightly better armed than most; a small crossbow was holstered at his hip, and there was a long knife on the other side of his belt.

At the sound of the cry he turns around, taking in the situation for a moment before acting. He watches three of the other passengers ignore the captain's order to say still, and the three follow the man down into the heart of the ship. They didn't seem to be with each other; just three people that couldn't stand by when someone else was in trouble.

Perelias smiles slightly. It was a cute idea, thinking that by dashing into the cramped confines of the ship that they would be able to do more than the captain and crew. After all, what could one person do that a half-dozen could not? The wisest move was to simply stay where he was and let the situation sort itself out. It was certainly the safest course of action, if nothing else.

And so the young wizard iss mildly surprised when he finds himself most of the way to the entrance to belowdecks by the time his thoughts conclude, staff in hand and the pulse of his power rising in his mind. "One day," he mutters before moving through the doorway, "I will listen to my own advice." And then he plunges after the others, too curious to stop himself.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Capt. Taris seems to glide down the steps into the darkened hull of the Gull’s Wing, his familiarity with his ship obvious.

Four strangers, however, none of whom being particularly interested in sea travel, clatter down the steps in a jumble of curiosity and excitement. They may only be passingly acquainted from their brief time aboard ship, but that becomes an awkwardness when they suddenly bounce into a cluster at the end of a hallway.

…This is past the small cabin many of you shared, and you know it is the main hold, where the cargo and animals are held and where the sailors typically sleep. But rather than entering the single largest open space in the ship, you’ve stopped just shy of the captain, who is himself blocking three frightened sailors from fleeing to the top deck.

Lying on the floor only a few feet into the hold is a fourth sailor. This man is remarkable from his scruffy, gangly shipmates only in that he’s unmoving. And he’s got what appears to be a black scorch visible on his chest under his singed tunic.

“-but ‘es released the likes of a demon on us, cap’n!” cringes one of the sailors, wearing a threadbare red cap. “We was about our own affairs when we hears us a snap! and Jonesey a’screamed and fell over. And somethin’ is loose in here – we heard it!” The man was doing his best to squeeze past Taris, and the others, closer to the body, push at red cap's back.

Angrily the captain holds them in place. “Devil or not, we’ve precious cargo, the lives of passengers, and a bloody city right up the river to worry about! Go and warn the others, Charles. Close all the doors out of this room and post guards. And seal off the bilge room – I can’t have whatever this is hiding down there to make mischief!”

He releases the scurrying sailors and steps closer to the body, clearly not wanting to touch it, when he finally notices the lot of you. He’s shocked and embarrassed. “This is under control, folks. Please go on back topside.”

[Toliudar]

Lorak

The captain's pronouncement draws an immediately snort of derision from Lorak. It was painfully obvious to everyone present how under control this situation was.

"Don't be an ass! You don't know what's down there, what it's doing or even where it is. If that's your definition of 'under control', it's a miracle you haven't run this boat aground yet. Sounds to me like you need all the help you can get."

The big minotaur squares her shoulders in a clear sign that she would not readily be moved by platitudes.

[RaggedAngel]

Perelias takes a risk, and he steps forward to stand beside the minotaur, placing a hand on her shoulder for a moment. He isn't dwarfed by the woman, but it's painfully obvious that she could break him over one of her legs if offended.

"To rephrase, slightly," the young man says in a calm, steady voice, "It seems that you have a situation at hand that might call for more expertise than the average sailor can be expected to have. It seems that the four of us consider ourselves competent in the fact of the unknown; and to be perfectly frank, captain, if whatever is down there was able to kill a man, you can hardly afford to let it run amok."

He looks down at the corpse for a moment, before looking back up with a raised brow. "Especially since it killed this man with fire, and as far as I know, wood is flammable. And this boat is made out of wood." He taps the wooden floor beneath him with his staff to illustrate his point.

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High Int, high Cha, low Wis is always a fun combination of stats for me to play. In this case, it involves making a smooth, well-thought argument; and entering the personal space of an angry minotaur to do so.

[Gorgon_Heap]

The young captain grasps the hilt of his very fine cutlass but doesn't unsheath it. He also doesn't back down despite the hot, angry breath Lorak is breathing into his face.

"All those aboard are expected and in some cases required to lend assistance to the crew when they are able," he says, talking quickly and in a strange cadence, as though he were repeating lines he'd memorized. "But you are hereby notified I'm under no legal obligation to your next of kin if you're injured or killed.

"Also," he juts a thumb behind him, "Jonesey is still breathing."

The four of you lean around the captain see for yourselves, but from ten feet away and in the dark, you can't tell for certain.

Delina

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Only your elven ears catch the sound of something running quickly through the dark hold. A dog, maybe, free from the animal stowage?

[RaggedAngel]

Perelias nods to the captain, grateful, and he glances to the other three before continuing. "Thank you for understanding that we just want to help; and I'm happy to hear that he is still alive. Can I take this as permission to go down there and find out what caused this? Again, if it can shoot out flames I'd rather confront it than let it burn the ship. Swimming to shore is something we could all live without."

He looks to the others again, nodding politely. "My name's Perelias, by the way. Conjure by it at your own risk. I should be able to tell what this thing is, if I can get a look at it."

[SalmonOfDoubt]

Bookhead glanced uncertainly around the cabin when he rushed in, momentarily forgetting about the three others who had accompanied him, as well as the pressing matter at hand. He was only vaguely aware of the back-and-forth occurring between the captain and his fellow passengers, but he immediately snapped back to attention upon hearing the word "conjure."

Conjuration? Mayhaps this 'demon' is one. One that shoots fire. Would take a mighty powerful wizard to summon a conjuration-demon. Luckily, you folks have a powerful wizard on your side as well. Bokkhead puffed out his chest, looking each other man in the hold straight in the eyes, one by one. Bookhead Trapspringer. At your service.

[RaggedAngel]

Perelias opens his mouth, about to say something in response to the kinder's words, but after a moment of deliberation he closes it again, shaking his head slowly. He seems, if anything, faintly amused.

[Toliudar]

Lorak hefts an eyebrow at the powerful kender wizard. She tried to ignore her peoples teachings about the uselessness of some of the less disciplined races. Tried. Well. At least the human seemed to be talking sense.

"Lorak de'Sarf. Now. We're not going to find this whatever by chatting here."

Grimacing as she brushes past the captain, who seemed more concerned with his legal protections than in actually helping the ship, Lorak drew her axe and pushed forward into the room that the sailors had fled.

[SalmonOfDoubt]

Bookhead springs forward after Lorak. It is lucky for you that I prepared Bull's Strength this morning. The nasties won't know what hit 'em. With a huge grin, Bookhead lightly places a finger on Lorak's armor and starts to chant in total gibberish. After a moment of this, the armor becomes slightly warmer, and Bookhead steps back, still smiling.

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Casting Prestidigitation to heat the armor slightly.

Rolling Bluff to make people think he actually cast it (And to confuse the heck out of Perelias, as any wizard worth his salt would know that wasn't anywhere near the right spell): (1d20+7)[16]

[King Tius]

Delina brushes past all the bravado and kneels to help the wounded man. If the Captain moves to stop her she gives him a hard stare and points at the holy symbol around her neck.

She quickly looks the man over specifically trying to decide if he'll pull through on his own or if she needs to administer a healing spell to save his life (If so, she converts Comprehend Languages). If she can simply bandage his wounds, she'll do that, too.

Heal Check: (1d20+5)[8]

As she works she glances towards the hold nervously. "I can hear it."

Once she's dealt with the man on the floor she grabs him under the arms and drags him out of the way, showing a surprising amount of strength for a middle-aged half-elf woman. Standing, she straps on her shield and draws her scimitar.

"Name's Delina, though many just call me Sparrow." She casts Light on Lorak's axe and moves to follow.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Delina is quite nervous, working in the dark on a rocking ship with some ... thing crawling around nearby. Fortunately, Crewman Jones' injury doesn't appear life-threatening. The burn is apparent but it didn't blister or blacken the skin more than superficially.

How he survived or what could have done this you don't know, but dabbing the wound with an ointment to keep it from festering seems adequate.

Meanwhile Capt. Taris looks worried from the hold to the minotaur to the magic kender, completely unsure if allowing this to proceed might not be worse than a devil loose on his ship.

Two very nervous sailors arrive with belaying pins and knives, ready to guard the door as Taris orders them to pull Jonesey to safety and waves the rest of you through the portal. "Let's find this damned thing."

[Gorgon_Heap]

None of you are overly familiar with the intricacies of shipbuilding or sailing, but you certainly recognize Gull's Wing is not a large ship. It lacks the extra masts, huge billowing sails and skinny, deep hull of popular Ergothian vessels and is dwarfed by the massive war galleys favored by the minotaurs.

The main hold takes up most of her interior but likely measures only 20 feet by 50. In that space, however, currently lit only by a few carefully-secured lamps, is more stuff than you'd think possible. Boxes, bags, and barrels are stacked and stashed in every concievable manner, secured with repoes and netting and leather straps. Several pens hold live animals, bleating and grunting and stinking. Seemingly every available nook holds some odd item and dozens of hammocks made of hemp netting or cheap, worn cloth hang everywhere with sacks or trunks containing sailors' belongings nearby.

With some consternation you all realize moving about in here will be a chore, and nearly impossible for the minotaur. The captain stations his men at the door and enters the hold with an easy grace, seemingly unhindered by the chaos as he squints in the darkness ...


Everyone

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Please give me Spot, Search, Listen and Dex or Climb checks, whichever you prefer, and describe what you are doing.

[King Tius]

Delina keeps near the door, her scimitar at the ready. She is most concerned with whatever is in here trying to escape.

"Keep a weather eye. If it's small it's probably fast. I'll try not to let it get through the door."

Rolls

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Spot: (1d20+5)[11]
Search: (1d20+1)[12]
Listen: (1d20+5)[10]
Climb: (1d20-2)[1]

[RaggedAngel]

Perelias peers into the murky room, trying to see if there is anything inside that seems threatening. He considers a few different spells, but he would hate to waste some of his power on what might be an empty cargo hold. Instead, he merely gathers his power in his mind, and he waits for something to move from the hold.

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Is the room dark enough to hamper vision, or is it just thematically gloomy?

Spot: (1d20+1)[14]
Listen: (1d20+1)[7]

[Toliudar]

Lorak

Looking around in the crowded hold, Lorak grunts unhappily.

"Right. Well, obviously, they don't load this stuff in through this skinny door, so there must be doors topside. I'll go up and try to spot something from above."

Grunting, she turns and works her way back up on deck and looks for the hatch for the hold. Once she's hauled it open, Lorak murmurs a prayer to all-mighty Sargas, and the end of her axe begins to glow brightly, illuminating the room below.

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Spot: (1d20+2)[21] Listen: (1d20+2)[19]
Climb: (1d20+5)[14]

[RaggedAngel]

Perelias nods to the minotaur as she leaves to find a larger entrance, glad that at least one person around has a good head on her shoulders. A large, dangerous head, at that; something that the young man had never minded having on his side.

He looks back into the shadows, and after a moment he speaks, his voice quiet. "I can send lights into the hold, enough to illuminate the entire room, but I'd rather not if there isn't anything in here to be seen. Can anyone spot any movement?"

[Gorgon_Heap]

The captain, who'd just been eking his way between two large crates and a heavy net bulging with what looks like poorly-made cubes of stone, stops and shouts over his shoulder. "Wai-belay that! I want it trapped, you can't open the ... dammit!"


As the minotaur’s heavy hooffalls recede up the stairs behind the closed door, the rest of you spread out and continue to search in vain. Perelias, still near the entrance, is in no danger of getting entangled, but also can’t see far into the room.

Capt. Taris is moving about rapidly and loudly, though you’re unsure if the noise he’s making is intentional. "Hey. Open crate over here. Kind of small."

Just then there’s a clatter from above as a heavy bolt is moved and a shaft of bright sunlight erupts into the center of the hold. Lorak’s horned and frustrated face appears, as does that of an angry and foul-mouthed Mister Jeffers, the ship’s first officer. “-nothing for no passenger to be countermanding captain’s orders, I care what blasted god you pray to!” he’s shouting.

With the ship’s gentle rocking and sudden brilliance of daylight, Delina’s foot catching in a loop of rope and she falls atop a chest and spills onto the deck. A crisp ZAK! pops through the room, accompanied by a bright flash. Delina doesn’t see the creature, but it was close enough to send a massively painful jolt of electricity through her body, forcing her to shriek and gasp.

Lorak’s vision snaps directly toward Delina’s position, and though the view is blocked, the minotaur sees a small shape dart between several bundles of grain. More importantly, she can hear the thing continue running along the port wall toward the fore.

Aghast, Mister Jeffers, - still shouting – says, “What in the name of the Dark Queen’s tenth tit was that?!”

The captain emerges into the light below the hatch and is also shouting. “What is it? Where is it? Is the elf all right?”


Delina

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You’ve taken 7 points of subdual damage. You are prone on the floor.

[RaggedAngel]

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Clarification on the lighting here. Is the hull still dark other than the area under the trap door, or is it all lit by the bright sunlight now? Is the creature just hiding in the shadows, or actually hiding (as far as we can tell)?

[Toliudar]

Lorak

The light from above bobs as Lorak uses her axe to point to where she saw the - the whatever - go. The minotaur bellows down into the hold.

"Over there. Foreward port bulkhead. Beast gave off some kind of electrical discharge."

[Gorgon_Heap]

Capt. Taris draws his sword and tries standing on his tip-toes to see what Lorak is pointing out, but it's an almost comically useless action. He grimaces and moves forward and to his left, looking about for any company.

"Minotaur, how's the elf? Where's that other man? Move up here so we can corner it!" she shouts out to Perelias.

His yelling is cut short when a sudden scratching and scampering is heard. The creature seems to have lost its footing and tumbled from behind a crate. You are all moving closer or have a clear line of sight, and it appears to be a lizard of some sort, about 18-inches tall. "What is that?" Taris asks loudly. The animal shakes itself as it stands and dashes behind more netting, but it's position is now clear to you all.

Lizard

Delina and Perelias

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The sight of the little lizard and the terrible shock snaps to a logical conclusion in your mind. A shocker lizard. It's name pretty much says it all.

[RaggedAngel]

Perelias sighs, and he holds his crossbow up, pointing it at the place where the lizard was last. "It's a shocker lizard. Their jolt is nonlethal unless there's more than one of them, but if they gather in groups they can kill horses in seconds with the discharge. Hopefully there's just the one.

They can sense any kind of electric discharge near them, so I'm going to do something that should get this one's attention. Get ready to shoot it when it pops out."

He gives everyone a moment to ready a weapon, and then he mutters a few words under his breath, closing his eyes for a moment. He makes a single sharp gesture with his hand, and then snaps his fingers. There is no visible change for a moment, and then he holds his finger near the tip of his crossbow bolt, where small sparks and arcs of electricity jump to the metal bolt like miniature lightning bolts.

[King Tius]

Delina blinks and rubs her chest, dazed by the attack. She quickly scrambles to her feet, grabbing her rapier as she gets up.

"I..I..I'm alright. That SMARTS! If you'll excuse me, I need a minute to catch my breath." If possible she moves towards the entrance to the hold for some added protection.

[Gorgon_Heap]

The minotaur is silent, but Delina traces her steps clumsily backward toward the entry. When she stops, she can no longer see the lizard.

Long moments drag out in agonizing, silent boredom - except they don't, because while you're all simply waiting around, you are well aware the creature is dangerous and Capt. Taris continues to rant and growl and wack his saber against things as he nears the port wall.

Suddenly you catch a glimps of the small body, midship, tittering only five feet from Delina but eyeing Perelias with curiosity where he stands ten feet back near the door.

"Yahyahyahyah!" shouts the captain. Clack-klang! "What? Do you see it? Elf?" He's still fifteen feet from Delina.

[King Tius]

Delina slowly and steadily raises her scimitar to point at the lizard. She speaks in a soft, sing-song voice so she doesn't excite the creature further.

"There it is. Looks like it likes your lightning."

[Toliudar]

Lorak

Lorak carefully set her axe down so that the weight of its haft was holding it on deck while the glowing tip still shone down into the hold. She pulled out the strip of pighide that was her sling and loaded it with a bullet. She begins to whirl the sling in her hand to build up momentum.

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Lorak will ready an action to attack the lizard with her sling, triggered if either the lizard or anyone else down below attacks. Attack: (1d20-1)[18] Damage: (1d4+6)[8]