IC Area - Chapter Four and a Half - "High Seas Peril!"

[mosker]

Udhaav
"I want an unerring blade, something left in the tank if this goes wrong. Or to have something left if we need to try again...what we face next might not be the worst. "

Actions:
1.Do up to five applications--let the rest of the party decide the order--then we'll take it from there.

OOC: Go ahead and roll. If failures tap me out before I even get to five, so be it.

[apn]

Tintagel ran a hand through thinning hair, licked his lips nervously and tried to clean his spectacles on his seen better days grey shirt (which had been white once upon a time).

OOC Udhaav makes five IQ checks for casting the spell correctly. IQ20+...
apn rolls repeat 5
2d6+20 = 3 +2 + 20 (25)
3 +5 + 20 (28)
3 +1 + 20 (24)
6 +1 + 20 (27)
4 +4 + 20 (28 DARO apn rolls 2d6 = 2 +1=3 heh just missed out on a fumble on a 6th check. 31 total.)

Successfully repeating the words as spoken by Tintagel Udhaav waves the first recipient forward...

OOC No to the Delver Talent for looking for stuff in the hold of a ship, yes to the 'treatment' applying the Death Stone 'coating' to blades, maces, rolling pins, cleavers etc. The spell sort of does that. Tintagel doesn't know what the spell is, what it's called, but does know that he's written it out on scrolls quite a few times for this sort of thing to 'bless' weapons...

Klarrrrchur passes L3SR on Luck, his Dhesiri Sword is 'death coated' for three rounds...

Mace next? Anyone else? Akki? Will? Udhaav? A cleaver used by a Sailor? You have four applications left...

[apn]

The Thudding footsteps seemed to fade a little.

The creaking, groaning, clonking, sloshing and splashing sounds compete with the hushed whispers of the sailors who look up nervously at the hatch in the ceiling.

At the door Klarrrrchur keeps watch. Something is moving about. Something big.

He glances at the roof of the deck they are on. Akki needs to duck for this. It's probably six, maybe a touch over six feet high. An Ogre would not easily fit in these corridors, and by 'not easily' he figured on its knees shuffling along whilst its monstrous shoulders and body fill the width of the corridor.

If the Bosun Ogre was prowling about looking for the Delvers it would probably not come down this way. Klarrrrchur glanced at the ceiling and that hatch. The ropes looked secure, they seemed to be tied in several places to solid beams and heavy bundles/boxes/crates but... Ogres were big, mean and strong. That was before they'd been enhanced by dark sorcery...

Udhaav repeated the next phrase successfully and turned about to see who was next for the weapon 'death stone' coating...

[houndle]

Will Darness
 "No you go on," says Will courteously waving the others forward. He's probably even worse than the motley crew on the luck front.

 keeps an anxious eye out for ghouls, ogres and other unpleasant things.

[nialldubh]

Klarrrrchur Deathaxe:

Well put it on mi mace and Deathhacker if none else wish for it. I can and will be attacking the main bosses when they arrive!”

Actions:

Actions of Dwarf...

Dark Whetstone (Mace): Nialldubh rolls 2d6+21 = 6 +6 + 21 (DARO) +6 = 39.

Dark Whetstone (Deathhacker): Nialldubh rolls 2d6+21 = 5 +5 + 21 (DARO) +7 = 38.

[gringnr]

Akki

"I'll fight by your side!" Akki says, hefting the black blade...

ACTIONS
1. Gringnr rolls 4d6 5 +5 +6 +5 21 (+9=30)

[apn]

OOC Klarrrrchur now has:

Sword at 3 rounds of Deathstone
Mace at 4 rounds
Axe at 4 rounds

Akki might have gotten the wrong end of the stick as he waves his cutlass about. Need a luck roll rather than attack, so...

apn: akki luck
apn rolls 2d6+13 = 1 +1 + 13=15 (DARO) apn rolls 2d6 = 3 +3=6 (total 21) DARO
apn rolls 2d6 = 1 +3=4 (total 25)

After 2 DAROs only managed a L2 so Akki's cutlass is on 2 rounds of Deathstone

I presume Will hands his Vorpal sword over to Klarrrrchur seeing as he's likely to trip and throw it into somebody, pull it from its sheath and cut someones head off, stub it into something metal and hard and shatter it or go to draw it and the handle comes off in his hand leaving the blade in sheath.

(Somewhere the Gods are chuckling)

apn rolls 2d6+21 = 6 +2 + 21=29

Final Deathstone Tally:

Klarrrrchur:
Sword 3 rounds
Mace 4 rnds
Axe 4 rnds

Akki:
Cutlass 2 rounds

Will:
Vorpal sword 2 rounds

All the chanting and holding (with quivering hands) the Deathstone in tongs whilst a weapon is scraped along it and ensorcelled with a 'not found in any spell book or in shops' enchantment takes around ten minutes or so.

The ship is suspiciously quiet.

As it rocks gently from side to side the sailors stare up at the hatched entrance in the ceiling. Lashed by a number of ropes to hold it shut the heavy/solid door is strong enough to walk on by lots of people and dump heavy stuff onto.

"Careful with those." whispers Tintagel.

"Death Stones are... by definition, dangerous. A slip, trip, striking at the wrong time and you may infect your fellow combatant with its evil. It's a powerful one, that's for sure." he said, shaking his head and looking at the pebble sized black rock in the tongs. "I've heard the theories, read the papers and so on but never heard of anything that can infect from a range like this one can."

"That mean it's valuable?" asked Bort Meggins, leaning in.

"It means it's very dangerous." said Tintagel. Meggins shuffled back. "Concentrated evil formed into a solid shape by dark magic not seen on the world for... certainly not in our life times. Who knows what goes on out there? How did it get on this ship? Why? What was the purpose of leaving something so difficult to create, expensive in every way possible, dangerous to handle and devastating to life around it... and it was tossed into the hold of the Sea Fox. I can't fathom why." he said, shaking his head. "Who has the ability, the raw power and the knowledge, to make such a thing? What have we gotten caught up in?"

Meggins looked nervous. "It's just a rock though, right?" he chuckled, eyes wide with fear and sweat beading on his brow. "I mean, we could just toss it overboard right in the middle of the ocean..."

"...and the effects would be unknown. Fish, sharks, sea creatures of all kinds affected, a kind of evil sentient seaweed growing that traps ships, perpetual evil fog that causes the wind to drop to a dead calm and innocent sailors lost forever. Who knows what it could do?" mutters Tintagel. "It makes me feel sick just looking at it."

Shaking his head and wiping his glasses clean he turns to Udhaav. "My thanks for your excellent skill master mage. No slip ups thankfully and this can go back in the box to be used again when you have more magic." With almost steady hands he pops it back into the 'snuff box' and wraps it in canvas scraps again.

Then pops it into the bucket.

"The death stone effect won't last more than a few strikes." Tintagel warns. "Wasting them - so to speak - on Ghouls seems like a bad idea when Black Jack, the Bosun and the Captain are still about on the boat." said Tintagel.

"Ship." corrected Meggins.

"Indeed. So please don't consider this me telling you how to go about your business gentlemen but you may want to use alternate weapons from the locker on the top deck until such time as needs must." finished the scholar/once clergyman.

Meggins sighs as the stone goes in the box then the bundle then the bucket.

"What now? We wait fer them black 'earted devils ta come down an' get us?" he asks.

[houndle]

Will Darness
 "Thanks," mutters Will accepting the Vorpal sword back. He looks at it suspiciously as if expecting it to start crumbling away.

 "Other weapons, eh? What do we have in here?"

 ACTIONS
Searches the hold for something to wield temporarily in his off hand. Any spare belaying pins, boathooks or the like going spare. In the distant past he vaguely recalls a Dhesiri dagger but it's a long time since he last saw it.

[apn]

Tintagel adjusted his glasses.

"Best to use it on weapons that make a dent in the hide of those monsters. Larger weapons like swords and spears I suppose, but I'm not an expert. At one point I'd hoped to join the ranks of the Clerics who go out and smite their churches enemies with maces and warhammers and the like but mostly I was interested in chasing the Nuns." he added sheepishly. "I was younger then and looking back rather foolish."

Meggins raised an eyebrow. "Older you ain't makin' too many smart choices neither. Look where we are, what's 'untin us."

"Quite." muttered Tintagel. "Point is, using it on makeshift weapons might be a waste if the weapon breaks because its of poor quality and you waste the enchantment. The mage seems to have gotten the hang of the spell, we can more or less handle the rock without mishap so it seems best - to me - that we use it as a weapon against that which it spawned."

"Well, I reckon we is all..." started Meggins before he trailed off, looking up.

THUD THUD THUD THUD!

Big footsteps again, getting louder. This time they sounded like they were on the top deck...

OOC Top deck, main deck/galley/map room/quarters/guns deck next, then cargo deck and finally the half height steerage/bilge deck which is mostly sloshing with water anyway. I will get round to making a map. The Sea fox is a little unconventional because the Cargo deck has this 'funnel' going up to the top deck with the hatch on so part of the ceiling is 3 storeys high. I was going to use a standard ship map off the 'net but figured I'd do stuff differently then wondered how I was going to sketch it.

It'll only be an issue if you manage to take over the 'Fox as she might be your floating home for a while. Or, if you leave it up to Wills luck, she might end up crashing into the first reef you come across.

[houndle]

Will Darness
 "Indeed," says Will . "What I meant was, an ordinary weapon to avoid wasting this fine blade on an ignoble foe."

" Are we all ready then? Off to the weapon locker, and then... Cheer up my lads, 'tis to glory we steer (I hope somebody knows how to steer).

[mosker]

Udhaav

"Weapons locker, definitely. We may have only one good shot with what we've done, and risking all of this again..." I shudder.turn to Meggins: "If we survive, there will be profit, or freedom, or best yet, both. But this thing is just a means to the end. Not our goal. Not what we want. Not worth the risk of decay...old teacher used to warn us, 'Do you think abominations look, act the way they do because they're happy? Comfortable in their skin?'"


OOC: Tables desire and discussion of how much of my future utility--pending survival--depends on opportunity and funds for spell learning. 'Death stone handler' is no way for a wizard to spend his adventure--or moments still breathing.

[nialldubh]

Klarrrrchur Deathaxe:

“If someone want to start a war with Khazan and Sonan Ie, then this artefact might not be such a waste of coin,” he says to those listening.

“Death Axe it is,” the Dwarf muttered to himself and he covers the Dhesiri blade in it scabbard and places it in the magical sack. He gripped Deathsmasher (new name for mace) and Deathhacker in gleeful joy.

“If that is the Ogre up there, let find him and end him quickly. He might be on our way to Armoury!”

Actions:

Actions of Dwarf...

OOC: Uncertain of this 'Death,' effect, but if we saving effects. The Dwarf will use Mace on Ogre-Ghoul and just his spare normal hatchet to save power.

@ Mosker: I gave you a Holy water flask, you can use that to hurl at a major boss undead?

[gringnr]

Akki

ACTIONS
1. Akki tucks the black blade into his belt and draws his terbutje. He can feel the draining effect of the blade, and though he is glad of its usefulness, he wishes to recuperate as much as he can. No telling if he will have need of its aid again.

[apn]

OOC Akki using Terbutje for now. Noted.

Unless I've missed mosker and gringnr spending Ap, the current totals are:



Sometimes posts get lost/passed by in the flurry of play by post but rest assured if I make a boo boo with any numbers you will get them back in the next round (usually in combat with so many moving pieces). Might be an idea to tweak those characters before the next hurdle. Which is coming up...

Klarrrrchur, Will, Udhaav and Akki turned to leave the hold with the other sailors - and the two paralysed still carried - in tow.

The dead sailors had been wrapped in spare canvas sheet and would be given a burial at sea but were bound by tight rope in case they decided to get up and walk about again. Given what had happened so far on the ill fated 'Sea Fox' this was perhaps a sensible precaution.

THUD THUD THUD.

THUD.

THUD.



The monstrous head peered over the hold hatch in the ceiling casting a large shadow on those below.

Whatever the Ogre had looked like before the Death Stones effect had been a contestant in a beauty pageant compared to the now...

"You lads been mis behavin' " said the Ogre with a 'gargle gravel' sound to its voice. It was monstrous. Too big to fit most places below decks without seriously trashing the ship there were probably only a few points - like the hold hatch - where it could access anywhere other than the main deck.

"Cap'n says I not ta smash up owt but yer eds. Been cuttin' up th' lads ant ya? Black Jack come in all whiny sayin' some Dwarf an' some idjut wi nice 'air gave 'im a right choppin' up. All 'is tentacles is comin' back but they is like lil worms right now. I thought it were funny."

"What int funny is you lot thinkin' ya can come on th' Sea Fox an' strut about like yer in charge. I told me boys I'd sort ya out. Told cap'n it might need me ta break more'n just yer eds if I 'as ta come down there. So you come up. Cap'n says he's busy figgurin' things out. Me? I'm all figured."

He waved his frankly quite huge and monstrous right arm. More like disfigured...

"This? This is gonna sort you lads right out. Come quiet or get smushed. No skin off my nose."

With that the rest of the ogres nose fell off with a wet, rubbery splat onto the grill, then it slowly slid off the slat to tumble and splat onto the hold floor with sailors scrambling away from the fist size lump of grey/blue/rotting flesh...

"That's it. All I gotta say." grinned the Ogre. You can smell its foul breath from here. Some of the sailors are gagging and turning away and it may be a very real problem up close!

[houndle]

Will Darness
 "I never strut," says Will with emphasis. "Well there was that one time at a barn dance, but never mind. What I mean is, you saw what we did to Happy Jack and if you don't mend your ideas it won't be your tentacles that get cut off. You're obviously used to taking orders, why don't you join our side and find out how real men (and Dwarves, Elves etc) fight?"

 "If only we'd saved some of that evil stone for the arrow heads," murmurs Will to himself. "We could have gone right up to the grating and shot him in the eye." Hindsight is a wonderful thing.