Blood n' Vinegar IC [Invite Only]

[souldoubt]

Billum's digging claw crushes the rat's throat; a sickening wet gurgle escapes him before his head lolls aside and his face goes still.

Is the rat's body simply lying in plain view of the stairs? Can anybody upstairs just look down the stairwell and see a body laying down there?

The "stairs" are extremely steep, almost to the point of being a ladder, and with the ship listing forward as it is a the moment, it effectively is a ladder. The searat's carcass is lying directly below the open hatch, having fallen straight down after being struck by Cardith's driftwood staff.

[K-9]

Okay, if it is my turn, (as it seems to be?) I will move the corpse out of sight of the hatch as a full-round action. Then I will use Dedicated Focus as a Free Action with a -10 penalty.

Dedicated Focus: (d20-1)[16](15)

[K-9]

Okay, I get 1 dedicate point from that

"Status" spoiler

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Init 25
AC 16
HP 34
Reserve Points 34
Dedicate Tokens 1

[Animegoat]

Aelric is currently waiting for the next rat to show his ugly head.

Aelric's status in spoiler.

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Init 21
AC 17
HP 35
Opportunism Points 2

[BDEYE]

Billum waits patiently at the bottom of the ladder.

[souldoubt]

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I'm going to assume that Billum is taking a Delay action, and can act on whatever Initiative count he chooses (though he can't interrupt someone else's action -- not that that's really possible in pbp).

A creaking of ship timbers announces the arrival of the heavy-pawed slave driver, who pokes his head into the hatch. "What the bloody hell--!"

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Aelric may now resolve his readied attack action. The slavedriver is not flanked, but he's flatfooted (allowing sneak attack damage), and has cover relative to you.

After this, Aelric's Initiative will be 20 (just before the slavedriver)

[Animegoat]

Aelric lunges at the Rat, attempting to drive the dagger deep into his ribs.

Attack:
+3 on agility, +4 BAB, searat is flatfooted.
Attack - (1d20+7)[21]
[roll=Critical Conformation (if needed)]1d20+7[/roll]

Damage:
+2 from strength. Using 2 opportunism points to add +1d6 sneak attack damage.
Dagger - (1d4+2)[5]
Sneak Attack - (2d6)[6]

Status in Spoiler

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Init 20
AC 17
HP 35
Opportunism Points 0

Edit: messed up the critical confirmation, but I guess it doesn't matter.

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[BDEYE]

Billum climbs up the ladder after Aelric and attempts to take a swipe at the rat (space allowing).

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((If Billum is able to attack-
Attack- (1d20+5)[3](8)
Damage- (1d4+2)[2](4)
Sneak Attack- (2d6)[2][2](4)

Init. 21, 2 Executioner points against the slavemaster, 2 Executioner points undeclared for starting combat.))

[souldoubt]

Aelric's dagger thrust strikes the unsuspecting slavedriver in the left shoulder and grates against bone. The slavedriver looses a scream of pain and anger and strikes out with his whip at the paw holding the dagger.

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DR roll for the slavedriver (he's wearing studded cloth armor): (1d3)[1]

Disarm attempt against Aelric; you don't get an AoO because he has cover relative to you. In this instance neither of you gain a modifier from cover since I figure it evens out since you both have cover against each other. However, the slavedriver is using a whip (+2 disarm) and is on higher ground (+1).
Disarm - (1d20+9)[28]

I'll roll your opposed check too, to speed things up.
Opposed - (1d20+3)[8] (-4 because the dagger is a light weapon)

The slavedriver wrenches the dagger out of Aelric's paw and it clatters back down the ladder.

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Billum can take his action now but couldn't before, because Aelric interrupted the slavedriver's turn, which wasn't complete. You make your action as you posted above, but you don't get sneak attack (not that it matters, since you missed). Also, it's cramped (attack penalty for future rounds if you two don't move). Your Init count will be 18 now.

After jamming himself in beside Aelric, Billum takes a swipe at the slavedriver, but misses.

You all here the harsh and ominous sound of somebeast cranking a crossbow.

[K-9]

Who's turn is it now?

[K-9]

Cardith moves to pick up the dagger as a move action. As a standard action, he tries Dedicated Focus.

(d20+9)[11](20)

[K-9]

Sweet, I get 2 Dedicate Tokens from that.

I end my turn next to the bottom of the hatch, but not directly under it (i.e five feet or so from the bottom of the ladder).

I will declare my Dodge Bonus against the Slavedriver

"Status" spoiler:

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Init 25
AC 16 (17 vs. Slavedriver)
HP 34
Reserve 34
Dedicate Tokens: 3

[Animegoat]

I'll use my turn to drop off the ladder and back away from the hatch. I don't want to be in that close quarters without a weapon.

[souldoubt]

With a swipe of his claw, the slavedriver slams the hatch shut in your faces.

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FYI, for anyone who takes a quick look at the hatch, you can see that there is a hook on the inside for securing it during inclement weather, but as far as you know the slavedriver has no method of locking the hatch shut from the outside.

[K-9]

(assuming combat is over)

"Well, we're back where we started," says Cardith. "There must be some sort of ventilation shaft, or a cargo hatch somewhere else. That can't be the only door to the deck. Maybe we can even climb up the side of the hull if it comes to that."

"Also," I say, "There is a crossbow up there. Keep your wits about you."

I start Searching the ceiling in the entire room. Again, I'll use the Take 20 rule, even though it may take for ever. I'll start by the hatch and work my way up toward the front of the ship.

[BDEYE]

Billum starts on the opposite end of the ship and also starts searching.

[Animegoat]

Aelric quickly relieves the rat of all usable equipment (armor, finesse weapons, and such. DM may post all Aelric finds), and then proceeds to search all the underwater areas. "There may be a breach we can swim out of, or maybe I could swim out on me own and attack the rats from the top while you come from the bottom."

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Search check - (1d20+8)[20]
Swim check - (1d20+17)[23]

[souldoubt]

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Taking 20 on your Search check is overkill -- this isn't a dungeon with concealed/hidden doors after all. Taking 10 should suffice, and doesn't take 20 times as long.

Also, the vast majority of the water has drained out and no part of the hold is submerged beneath water more than paw-deep, so a Swim check isn't needed at this point.

Aelric removes the scimitar and scabbard from the rat's crude rope belt, and swings strap of the rat's light crossbow over his shoulder. He also finds a finely-made kukri concealed beneath the rat's jerkin.

With your combined efforts to search the hold, the only other likely exit you can find is the breach in the hull. After shifting aside debris and bloated corpses to get at it, and clearing the edges of any dangerous splinters, it looks like the hole is indeed completely above the waterline and might be just wide enough to squeeze through. Peering out through the breach, you can see open ocean, the forward anchor rope trailing from above to dip into the blue water just a short paddle away.

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DC 10 to Swim in the calm waters, but you suffer -2 if you swim while manacled.

DC 5 to Climb the anchor rope at normal climb speed (on-quarter your land speed), but you can choose to climb faster: DC 10 to climb at half-speed, or DC 15 to climb at full-speed. If you want to climb quietly you need to roll a Move Silently check (opposed by the searats' Listen, of course), and you climb at half the speed listed for the DC you choose.

Edit: To make sure it's perfectly clear, you would have to swim in order to get to the rope.

[K-9]

"If one of us climbs up the side of the ship," Cardith says, "the other two can burst out of the hatch they just closed on us. We'd catch them between us." He looks at Billum. "Maybe you can climb the rope and take care of the crossbowman for us? Without making much noise?"

[Animegoat]

Aelric frowns at Billum a moment before saying, "If you're worried 'bout the swimmin', I can step in for ya. I'm not as subtle but I could out swim a land lubber any day, 'specially a dirtnose... I 'spose you're more used to swimming in earth." He glances up at the hatch, and adds "but whichever beast first pokes his outta that hatch will get it lopped off. Guess, you are the best beast for coming around their backs, Bill. This is the first time you've heard him use one of you're names, generally just being "Dirtnose" and "lad."

Aelric also offers the *kukri* to whomever may want it, but keeps the *crossbow* and *scimitar* for himself.

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Is the scimitar Aelric's scimitar (looted by the rat), or is it a different scimitar.

[BDEYE]

Billum extends his manacled hands.

"I swim. Gimmeout."

If someone helps remove the manacles, he swims through the breach and attempts to reach the rope. He does his best to avoid being seen or spotted by any of the rats.

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Swim check: (1d20+5)[18](23)
Climb check: (1d20+5)[4](9)
Hide check: (1d20+10)[5](15)
Move Silently check: (1d20+10)[20](30)

[K-9]

Because I no longer care about about not making noise, I take the mallet and chisel I found in the navigation room and attack Billum's manacles with maniacal glee. I'll try to simply cut the chains off the individual wrist-bands, as that will cause them to make no noise when they move; I'll worry about doing a better job getting the entire apparatus off when we have more time on our hands.

[Animegoat]

Aelric offers up his manacles to be broken, and then helps Cardith out of his.

[souldoubt]

Inspecting the manacles, Cardith sees that the easiest way to get them off is to remove them entirely, as the chisel seems to be meant to break through the pins that hold the manacles shut.

After this noisy work is complete, Cardith and Aelric wait beneath the hatch while Billum swims quickly to the rope and climbs up with careful, excruciating slowness to peak onto the deck.

What Billum sees:

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The slavedriver stands beside the hatch, the sleeve of his stained brown shirt torn away to make a quick binding for the wound on his shoulder. He manages to grip a sturdy square shield in that paw without much evident difficulty, and his other paw holds a cutlass ready.

The other rat stands further away, training a heavy crossbow on the hatch.

[Animegoat]

Aelric climbs quietly up to the hatch, and waits for the first sounds of Billum's attack before opening the hatch and charging through, scimitar in hand.

[K-9]

I quickly follow Aelric up the hatch.

If the steep stairway requires it, I'll make a Climb check:

(d20+9)[8](17)

I presume we reroll initiative and all that fun stuff?

[K-9]

Just to make it clear, I have the dagger in my right paw and have ditched the driftwood club.

[Animegoat]

Just in case I need to make a listen check:

Listen Check - (1d20+9)[27]

[souldoubt]

Glancing up, the slavedriver catches sight of Billum. Pointing with his cutlass, he shouts, "Watchit, Regdar! There's a bleedin' mole on the gunwales!"

Poised on the ladder belowdecks, Cardith and Aelric hear the slavedriver's bellow.

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Slavedriver rolled a lucky 19 on his Spot.

Init for everyone:
Cardith - (1d20+6)[23]
Aelric - (1d20+7)[19]
Searat - (1d20+1)[14]
Slavedriver - (1d20+4)[10]
Billum - (1d20+3)[8]

[K-9]

Okay, I'm not sure if we started combat above or below the ladder.

If we started below the ladder: I'll Climb the ladder and run to the slavedriver (which probably takes two move actions, one to Climb up the ladder and the other to run up to the slavedriver). If for some reason that only takes one move action, I'll attack the Slavedriver too:

Attack: (d20+6)[5](11)
Crit Confirm (if needed): (d20+6)[10](16)

Damage: (d4+2)[2](4)

In any event I want to position myself in such a way that I have Cover from the crossbowman by using the Slavedriver as a human shield, if this is at all possible.

I also declare my Dodge bonus on the Slavedriver.

Dedicate Focus as a Free Action: (d20-1)[18](17)