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

[mosker]

Udhaav

Letting himself exhale, keenly aware of his own potential for faux pas, their new companion's loquaciousness, he pats Tintagel's shoulder, as in:

Well, done.
Keep quiet.
Let's see how this plays out.

Hand still on Tintagel's shoulder, he then gestures to Will--specifically flesh exposed for feeding--asks Tintagel softly, "Did they happen to teach you any healing magics?"

Actions:
1. After exchange with Tintagel--barring other narrative events--approaches staff. Looks at it, but visibly maintains distance. No touching.

OOC:
1. By third level I hope have some consistency in when I use 1st and 3rd person.

2. Chaos magic pt.1: Lots of thoughts more questions, all unformed. I want to keep it within the game fiction so I'm not going to ask too many questions OOC until we see what happens with the ship, learn about the captain.

3. Chaos magic pt. 2: However, I can definitely see it tying into Udhaav's backstory. There's a natural revulsion/fascination element in play, and I think (going really OOC here) it's good for the rule set to see additional players test it. (Are you the only one running characters who use it, apn ?) ....[Closer to character again] But again player and character are both--justifiably--scared.

4. Time to think about AP, may have questions. Again, much will depend on the immediate debriefing, developments.

[nialldubh]

Klarrrrchur Deathaxe:

The Dwarf also relaxes, but at the intense stare of the vampyre pirate he apprehensively looks to Will to charm the creature or start another war?!

“Hey Wizard, the pirate captain dropped his staff?!”

Action:

Action of Dwarf: Wait patiently... Thinking it foolish to reach for silver dagger with hundreds of lesser vampyres flying through the skies.

[apn]

The Vampire Pirate grimaces. Standing, he pokes about in the fleshy hole in his torso and grunts.

"I will heal, given time and rest. The temptation is strong to partake of the blood but..."

OOC Cha check for Will... apn rolls 2d6 = 4 +3=7 (24)

Pass
L1) The Vampire is 'on the fence' right now.

To improve that will need a L2Sr or better and getting the same again may trigger some unpleasantness...

"This is a Pirate Vessel. One such as I might have sailed on an age ago. She who sired me made my remit clear. Parley with Merchant vessels, eradicate their crews if blows are exchanged. For Pirates there is to be no quarter given."

"So." he glowers with red eyes. Behind him various men, women and adolescents in rags and bare footed crouch on the rail. The Delvers feel the eyes on them, see the swirling bats about in the night.

"We have lost newborns. Those that performed service sufficiently to be given the 'dark gift'. You travel on a Pirate vessel and my remit is clear. No quarter, but you mention a name of one of the noble houses and now explanation is required. Were we the... monsters... that most think us to be, we would not be now speaking thus. We certainly would not have been fighting alongside but something dark and evil is afoot."

"This is not the only vessel our seers have sensed with something darkly amiss. Tell me, is there a good reason that I do not have you hefted overboard to take your chances in the sea and take this vessel as a prize?" asks the Vampire, clutching the hole in his torso.

[apn]

Udhaav sees the intricately carved and moulded staff and feels the magic about it. This was a prize.

A dangerous one.

Licking his lips in anticipation he also knows such devices are sentient and evil in their own way. This may require some thought.

OOC To address the questions...

That was the first time Chaos Magic has been used 'in game'. Our previous mage Firdle the Adequate may well have tested the theory and we might have expanded on the rules but since his departure it was shelved. Now 'in character' Udhaav will have seen the potential that playing about with such a dangerous way of casting spells brings.

Whether he wants to go down that rabbit hole is another thing, but the Captain was a Wizard, so who knows what books, scrolls and trinkets await in his cabin?

[gringnr]

Akki

Akki is exhausted, confused. The events of this last battle unfolded as if he watched himself acting under the power of another. Such was the extent of his weariness. Or perhaps he distanced himself from what was happening all around him, out of horror, out of fear. "Perhaps it is so," Akki thinks to himself, "but I'll not allow myself to feel any shame over it. Such things, no Kindred should ever see. The most depraved expressions of inhumanity, cruelty and wantonness. Not to mention disrespecting the dead so. I am eager to leave this ship. It stinks of death."

Head clearing somewhat , Akki looks around, taking stock of the carnage around him, as if for the first time. The presence of... what seem, unbelievably, to be "good", or at least less "evil" than the bloodthirsty crew, Vampires, is the straw that breaks the camel's back. He sinks to the deck, sits cross-legged, and hangs his head. He feels as though he might weep.

[houndle]

Will Darness
Will bows to the vampire. He wishes he had got some sort of certificate from the previous lot.

 "As you say, something very wrong is brewing on the high seas, " he notes. "We boarded this vessel with the sole aim of eradicating that evil - then tracing it to its source and destroying that also. Somewhere ahead of us is a trading fleet which may be infected with the same ill. Our next objective (by your will) is to steer this fine vessel towards that fleet and once again root out the evil with which it is afflicted. That includes both defeating the evil doers - and rescuing the innocent victims forced to do their bidding." His eyes rest briefly on Meggins and the other assorted cut-throats.

"A final word, if I may. I know that you belong to a proud people, quick to anger because of what you have suffered in the past. My brief acquaintance with your kin suggests you have much to offer Trollworld, and much benefit to reap from a friendship with the other Kindred which populate this world. It is for you to decide whether we take a step along that path today."

He steps back awaiting the vampire's response.

[apn]

OOC The old character sheet for Will is gone. Not sure why I couldn't do that before but it's been deleted now so confusion should not reign!

As houndle says, Will has 19 Charisma and so the last check was a success (scrapes over the line at 26 vs 25 Target Number) and so...

The Vampire grunts with the pain and effort of moving with several inches of hole in his side.

"Magic." he spits. "Armour won't stop it, steel barely slows it down... I have faced sorcery before... but not like that." he looked at the staff and where Udhaav was stood a few feet away, crouched and admiring the carvings. Deaths heads, souls in torment, scenes of torture and war, carved in its 'wood but not like any you've seen before' as it was more like marble. White and grey with veins of black, grey and occasionally gold.

He turns to Will. "You know what? I like you young fellow. You have pluck, and an excellent barber as far as I can tell."

"I can't come back empty handed though, not with the deaths we've suffered. When we go on these raids the usual way of things is that we kill a few Pirates, drain them and the rest take their chances with the sharks. Ghouls though..."

"Pah." he spits.

"Abominations. They were a 'freebie' let's say. They will eat any - even dead, or undead - flesh and are a foul stain on the world. So what have you got to offer me as recompense for having..." he waved a hand about at the ship "Saved your lives and handed you a sailing vessel..." he said, before leaning in and added "Do not use it for Piracy. Consider this fair warning!"

[houndle]

Will Darness
Will spreads his hands.

 "It is for you to say what would be suitable recompense," he suggests. " I would not insult you by presuming to second guess what you value. Besides which, as fighters dedicated to the cause of justice we own little beyond the tools for survival. Our weapons, a few magic trinkets. Our blood. And a certain amount of goodwill among many of the Kindred of this world. "

Once again Will pauses for the vampire's response.

[apn]

Tintagel coughs and holds up a nervous, shakey hand. "Ummm, If I may? I'm sorry to interrupt and all that but ah, um, ah."

Running his hand through thinning fair hair and adjusting his glasses, he speaks up. "I thought I might be able to help with medicinal matters and surgery but ah..." he peers through the hole int he Vampire to the deck beyond "You don't seem unduly troubled by the, ah, hole in your body."

"What do you want human?" sighed the Vampire. Will, closer, noted the Vampire seemed to be drooling, as if anticipating a much needed meal. Come to think of it all the Vampires around them on the rails and in the rigging appeared to be salivating with that 'Here I am starving after days and there's a roast beef yorkshire pudding sunday dinner on the table. With gallons of gravy.' type of look.

OOC For our American players, Big Mac and fries

Tintagel turned and fished about, then lifted the bucket up. He grinned. "This. We need it away from the ship and you may be able to dispose of it better than we can."

"A bucket?" asked the Vampire, sneering. Then its face changed, becoming a frown. "What's in it? What IS that?"

Gingerly Tintagel took out the bundle then unpicked it, struggling with the sticky tar to reveal the gummed up box. Licking dry lips the scholar prized the tiny box open and revealed the small black coal like lump of rock. For the Delvers it was uncomfortable to look at.

"This is, I believe, a..."

"Deathstone." said the Vampire, finishing the sentence. "Some of our ancients have spoken of them, studied ancient scrolls and the like. Many thought them legends, myth. Flights of fancy."

"Why have you got a deathstone?" asked the Vampire. Then he looked about at some of the piles of smashed up Ghouls that littered the deck. Some were still being 'put down' by groups of Vampires who were not being gentle.

"Evil work is afoot here." muttered the Vampire, somewhat rich coming from him.

Tintagel turned to the Delvers, as if to say 'are you ok with this?' just as the Vampire Pirate straightens up and nods. "We will take the stone as payment for the ship and your lives, which are now yours as you please though not to pirate. If we do this trade you can go in peace and we will... study the stone." the Vampire said, a troubled expression on his face.

"This is bad." he muttered.

[nialldubh]

Klarrrrchur Deathaxe:

The Dwarf nods, “the stone is yours!” He gestures to the Vampyre ex-pirate.

The Dwarf's notions of captaining this ship around Trollworld slump somewhat as the ship he now stood on seemed cursed and gained by the blessing of Vampyres, other than claimed as a prize of the sea as he first had set forth to do.

He stared at the Elf, who was still taller than him as he sat cross-legged on the deck. “Having a dilemma Master Elf?” he asked concerned.

Wondering why the crewmen were leaving the cabins and hoping the youthful vampyres can control their lust for blood and not drink their fill of the crew.

Action:

Action of Dwarf: Try not show fear in the presence of the foe and try not to complain that the ship is a bloody mess and who is going to be the one to clean it?

[houndle]

Will Darness
Will nods.

 "If you can make use of this deathstone, then accept it with our thanks," he says . "It seems to be the source of the evil which afflicted this ship, but equally it proved effective in combating the ghouls. But I for one fear its corrupting influence in the longer term. I would not willingly retain it, even were it yet mightier than experience suggests." He glares at Tintagel as if daring him to disagree.

 Will goes to slap Klarrrrchur on the back but thinks better of it.

 "Fear not, a little effort will soon make this vessel "shipshape" again. A little mess on the deck is nothing. We have a fine crew who will swiftly attend to such matters. "  Will can already picture himself in a fine uniform and fancy hat.

[mosker]

Udhaav

Udhaav takes some solace in in the vampire's discomfort: "Thinking about good and evil--I won't be condscending [about your upbringing]" the older wizard student who'd taken him under his arm had said. "Survival first. You know that. And an absence of cruelty."

The captain, the ghouls were cruel. The good--yes, good--guys won and more importantly, he and his comrades survived. And with the stone gone, there will be less impetus--magical and circumstantial--for cruelty.

"Yes, please," he says to the vampire, "take the stone." OOC: What's that line from Fiddler on the Roof? "May the lord bless and keep the Tsar....far away from us"

"The captain isn't dead, and even with its pirating days done, this ship will no doubt be a target for past actions. He'll be coming back, and I hope to find something in his records that will help us be ready."

Udhaave tries not to think about the sailors' expectations and lingering corruption, debt associated with whatever, cargo, and how they're going to make this work.

He's alive.

And ready to study, and help with the swabbing.

Actions:
1. Hide impatience to seek out books, scrolls, inventories.

[apn]

The Vampire glances at all the Delvers, Tintagel, then the bucket. "So be it. An accord. I need to go before I cannot control my thirst. You have no idea of the headache I have holding this lot back, who would normally fall on a Pirate vessel as if they've not fed for weeks."

With a flick of his head and the hissed whisper of a tongue the Delvers did not recognise, the Vampires transformed into bats and, as a flock, departed.

All save one. A maid, probably in her early twenties to look at, waited on the rail still in bare feet and wearing a raggedy once white now grey and several darker shades dress. Her hair bedraggled, eyes blood red and wild and fangs bared, she might be... trouble.

The Vampire Pirate sighed.

"Lucia. You have not long been with us, being newborn. Therefore I give you patience and benefit of the doubt. Be in no doubt however that should you not leave the vessel of your own will right now I shall grant these Delvers the right to fall upon you and smite you hip and thigh until you are finished." said the Vampire Pirate with infinite patience. "Besides, I would get back to the castle and the cells therein and drain a miscreant so as to fill this hole in my body."

She swayed on the rail, then hopped off, landing on the deck.

"I want to go." she said.

"Where?" sighed the Vampire Pirate.

"With them. I was like them. I still am, or was until I was... turned. I feel the need to wander, to adventure, to Delve. It was why I left home and..."

"...and ran foul the first time you entered Von Karricks crypt. That creature has no code, no honour and no morals. You were right as a Delver to want to end his existence, but woefully unprepared. The rest of your party were..."

"...slaughtered. And I was spared, made into ... this..."

"Yes. When we found you, you drained rats. You still do. We used to keep cats about the Castle to sort them out until we found them drained dry as well." replied the Vampire Pirate, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not a very good Vampire..." she admitted.

"...and I was not a very good Pirate. I'm glad they took pity on me a hundred years or so ago and made me this, though my penance was to prey on those I would have once called comrades. I'm not proud of what I do, but I do it because that was the price."

"The price I paid was to lose the sun, my dreams, my friends, my family, my life!" Lucia declared. "Let me go. I'll keep the ship free of rats, reclaim some of my former life..."

The Vampire Pirate sighed and swept up the bucket by its handle. He strode, then limped, grunting with the pain of a several inch hole you could use to see through his torso and stopped at the rail, hopping on from a stand and balancing perfectly even though the ship rocked on the waves.

"The Sea Fox is theirs now. To do as they will though not for Piracy. If you Gentlemen come back this way again, be sure to bring finery with you. Clothes, dresses, trinkets, jewellery and the like. We're not fussed about food but a hold full of murderous ne'er do wells and criminals sentenced to the gallows would not go amiss. We don't torture anyone and they have a peaceful life working the gardens and keeping the place tidy..."

"...and donating blood." added Lucia.

"...and donating blood." scowled the Vampire Pirate. "We're not monsters. That's why we take strays like Lucia in from the monsters that make them indiscriminately and give Vampires a bad name. Unfortunately despite that they are safe, well fed and educated far beyond their past life, some still insist on clinging to it."

"Fare thee well Delvers. If you come back this way, know that whilst we may inspect the ship you have my word, that of Jacon Marquez, once Pirate, that my people will at least treat you with courtesy and respect."

He turned to look at Lucia. "Back to the Castle." he hissed.

"But..."

He sighed, then flicked a glance at the Delvers. "If you want another hand, she's yours. Other than that... go where you will." he added to the Vampire.

Marquez, hole in torso, bucket in hand and all, vanished and a bat flew off into the night...

That left Lucia on the deck, hands clasped, looking at the Delvers...

[nialldubh]

Klarrrrchur Deathaxe:

Klarrrrchur nods at Will, his empathic connection with the Dwarf complete and turns to the Wizard, “good thought Master Üdhaav, perhaps we should rename the ship as the Sea Fox might be known worldly and call it 'Cleansing Wave,' or something like that?!”

Edit: “Hmm, Lucia is it, well. Can you survive any form of sunlight or does it kill. If so, ya can work below decks while we sail or work the top decks at night!”

Actions:

Actions of Dwarf... Wait patently for the Vampyres to go. Organise the crew, get them to trim the sails and heave to and swab the decks. Make ready to sail after the Sonan Ie vessels and give some consideration to the two other pirates vessels adrift further north of their position.

Patrol the ship for more crew and any hiding Ghouls...

Edit: Concerning Lucia, perhaps there is some new clothing in the stores or a cabin. Perhaps he feels some sympathy for her as a delver who has suffered in life.

OOC: Double post with apn, edited.

[mosker]

Jan 4, 2023 23:41:50 GMT -5 gringnr said:

Akki

Akki is exhausted, confused. The events of this last battle unfolded as if he watched himself acting under the power of another. Such was the extent of his weariness. Or perhaps he distanced himself from what was happening all around him, out of horror, out of fear. "Perhaps it is so," Akki thinks to himself, "but I'll not allow myself to feel any shame over it. Such things, no Kindred should ever see. The most depraved expressions of inhumanity, cruelty and wantonness. Not to mention disrespecting the dead so. I am eager to leave this ship. It stinks of death."

Head clearing somewhat , Akki looks around, taking stock of the carnage around him, as if for the first time. The presence of... what seem, unbelievably, to be "good", or at least less "evil" than the bloodthirsty crew, Vampires, is the straw that breaks the camel's back. He sinks to the deck, sits cross-legged, and hangs his head. He feels as though he might weep.

Udhaav

Recovers from extended bout of solipsism, approaches Akki.

"Friend: we're alive and at least physically mostly unharmed. Think of where we were just a few hours ago...and frankly hazy memories might not be such a bad thing."

Actions:
1. Seeing the dwarf is beginning to organize ship, has a crewmember retrieve death stone tongs and a sack to put the staff in (which he takes with), asks for directions to the captain's library/offices/quarters--where ever there may be books, maps, ledgers, scrolls...

OOC: Time for a deep think, some more Q&A on chaos magic, a deeper read into others' posts, an AP spend...and less announcing and more doing.