Sailors on the Starless Sea

Narančasta, Siva

[sblock=Deuce Traveler]I think Happy died in the fight.[/sblock]

Narančasta finishes attending to the dead, including the fallen warriors. Stoppering the vial, he turns his attention to the living. Those that remain. Finally, they have found some more weapons, and more importantly, armour. But they have also lost both squires. They are going to have to think about how best to utilise what they have.

Deuce Traveler said:

Kurl grimaces and growls, "Enough! Narancasta is right. Let's make a quick search and get out of here before something else oozes forth." Kurl looks quickly at the iron coffer and checks its condition.

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Narančasta nods in the direction of Kurl. There is something a little unsettling about him, but he is not a fool.

"Gather up everything and take it outside. Once we have finished, we can decide who gets what."

Narančasta sets to work removing the armour from the warriors. He passes it one to the others to take outside.

Outside, Siva commences cleaning the armour and weapons with handfuls of grass and bits of rag. She moves with a simple economy of action suggesting familiarity with the task.

Once everything has been gathered a taken outside, Narančasta shuts the doors on the building and once more bars the entrance. "For the time being, this will have to serve."

Turning, he looks over the motley company of men, dwarves, hafling and cow.

"We need to choose three to wear the armour. These three will be the front line in a fight, in the thick of the fighting. So they will also need a decent weapon and some ability with it. I will take one set of mail. I already have my sword, so I don't need another weapon. The remaining weapons will be distributed to those who don't have a proper weapon.

"As for the anything else we find, we are not bandits. That which has an owner back in town will be returned to them. The rest will be divided sixteen ways, a share for everyone who volunteered to come. For those who have fallen, or fall, their share will be passed on to their next of kin, or failing that, the church.

"That is how I see it. Does anyone have any different ideas?"

[sblock=OOC Thoughts]You get to decide how your own character's equipment gets distributed obviously. But I think we need to think about how we manage the other stuff and try and be a little smart about it.

So I am thinking three front line fighters. They get the armour and a decent weapon. Characters with a few hit points and and either an attack or damage bonus in melee. Narančasta is going to be in the front line, so that's one. Brom is an obvious candidate. I am hoping that dwarves can wear the mail. It might be a bit big, but its not like they move very fast anyways

Anyone with a weapon doing less than 1d6 should get an upgrade. Given that we have a blacksmith and carpenter, I wonder if we could fashion spears out of staffs and daggers? Spears I think are 1d8 and can be thrown.

I think that we have only two characters with missile weapons, Siva and Fendrel. Would be nice to pick up one more. A couple of the characters have Agility bonuses. How many daggers and other throwing weapons can we muster?[/sblock]

The chainmail hauberks, while filthy with ash until Siva gets to working on it, are perfectly useable. Unfortunately, it will only fit the humans: even with the straps let out as far as they go the mail is too tight and way too long for the dwarves to wear and function. And on a halfling it would fit like a child wearing an adult's clothing and be way too encumbering.

The coffer is still in Brom's hands and has not yet been opened because of the lock.

[sblock=OOC]I can repost the gear picked up if you need a list again. Once you decide on distribution be sure you update your character sheet. I use those to look up AC. Also, those up fighting/within a few feet the ooze would have seen the gems in the toad fountain (we can probably assume everyone). It would take a bit of work to pry them out; are you leaving them behind?[/sblock]

When Narančasta drops the final bar into place to close up the burnt chapel there is a faint chorus of frogs that can be heard in the distance. It quickly fades, however, and the group is left to decide who should wear the armor and carry the weapons before they continue on.

[sblock=Kurl Sparkhaven]Kurl hears a chorus of frogs but the sound doesn't seem to come from any particular direction and no one else seems to notice it yet. Maybe he is imagining it or maybe he is going mad but Kurl realizes that the croaking is more than just the calls of separate frogs declaring their presence but the croaks make up a whole, a voice speaking to him, "Ah, finally listens... No deface likeness of Bobugbubilz and Bobugbubilz reward with great power. When ready." There is a croaking laughter that fades away until there are only the normal sounds of the courtyard remaining.[/sblock]

Kurl looks shaken at first, but noticing the others looking at him he says, "This place can play tricks on you. Let's move out before something else unfortunate happens." So saying he picks up a mace and readies it. He then cleans out Happy's corpse of any coin.

Boral is in agreement, and puts on both Happy's steel helmet and wears a suit of Chainmail. "Can't be too careful," he says as he blushes.

Tender nods and says, "We have to survive this, though some acts be distasteful." So saying he takes Happy's sword from the corpse and puts his chisel onto his built.

DM
[sblock]
Kurl is going to keep that little secret for himself. The others would say something, but not Kurl.
[/sblock]

Narančasta

Naračansta slaps Boral on the shoulder. "Good man. Well done."

Taking up the other suit he hands it to Geoffrey. "You should wear this if you are going to carry a weapon."

Taking the last suit of mail, Naračansta pulls it on over his head. Despite the cleaning, it is still not clean, and Naračansta emerges with his face smeared and hair matted with filth. His pale eyes glitter from within the dark mask of char and blood.

After adjusting the straps on his mail to fit, he does the same for the other two, showing them how to do it.

"Right. Before we enter the keep, we need to ensure we have a way out. The gatehouse is denied to us, so that," he says, pointing at the collapsed tower in the north west corner, "is our best option."

"Lord knows why know one has come out to challenge us so far. We need to take advantage of it while we can. Boral, Geoffrey, you are with me. Siva, Zim, keep a eye out behind us."

"Take it slow, keep your eyes open and your weapon ready, watch each others backs."

[sblock=OOC]Lets see if the NW tower gives the characters a way out if they need to flee.[/sblock]

Moving towards the collapsed tower in the northwest of the keep Boral stumbles over a bit of raised earth in the weed-covered courtyard. Narančasta and Geoffrey take another couple of steps forward without realizing that Boral has paused where he tripped. They look at the remains of the tower: cyclopean stone blocks have spilled down the slope and now form a precarious stairway out of the keep. Although it isn't obvious to Geoffrey, Narančasta can see that it would be easy to trigger a collapse, either inadvertently or by design.

[sblock=Kurl Sparkhaven]Kurl hears a deep thrum like a continuous note of a bullfrog and feels a sense of satisfaction as the group turns away from the burned chapel. Kurl receives a +1 bonus to his Luck score.[/sblock][sblock=Narančasta]A leader among men! Narančasta receives a +1 bonus to his Luck score.[/sblock][sblock=Rolls]Narančasta: 1d20+2=15
Geoffrey: 1d20=7[/sblock]

Borok, Dudles and Xim gather their wits about them.

"He was a good man, that Alaric. We best avenge their deaths." The dwarf passes Dudles Alaric's sword and helps put his other belongings in the porter's sack.

"So where to now?" Zim says, fixing his gear and preparing to go into the dark below.

Narančasta and Geoffrey stand in the gap in the wall just above the gigantic tumbled stone of the collapsed wall and tower. Boral is just behind picking himself up off the ground where he tripped and bashed his knee on a sharp edge of raised stone. The others move around behind keeping watch and readying themselves to find a way into the other tower once the escape route is scouted.

And then there is movement. At first it is dark shadows skirting along the edge of the woods where the trail opens out into the clear space around the keep's hill. Four figures step out of the woods in almost the exact space that those in the keep came from earlier in the day. The faces of the four are still under the shadow of the forest and so it is hard to make out exactly who they are...

Those four from Krivstad, kept by fate from leaving the town at the same time as the others who set out earlier in the day to rescue the missing villagers believed taken to the keep over the past two weeks, follow the trail out of the forest. The trail now passes through an open space of tall grass and weeds that surrounds the keep that sits on a hill. Near the trail where they stand is a huge jumble of toppled stones massive in size and precariously tumbled one upon the other until they form a near perfect stair from the bottom of the hill to the gap in the keep's wall. Although standing in that gap is a man in dark armor with streaks of black on his face like a warlord from dark days in the past.

Narančasta

GlassEye said:

... Although it isn't obvious to Geoffrey, Narančasta can see that it would be easy to trigger a collapse, either inadvertently or by design.

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Narančasta holds out his arm to bring people to a halt.

"Stop here. Its not safe to go any further. Those blocks of stone could tumble at any time."

Narančasta considers the problem for a moment, then turns to Brom the Stonemason.

"What do you think Brom? Is there a safe way down? Or is there a way we could make the way down through there safe?"

The late comers

Franko "So, we are lost, or they are"

Jakob rolls his eyes, "We are not lost. See, there is the keep. Now the others who left before us, They may be lost. I do not see them any where."

Homar "Well where should we go from here? Those big blocks look quite . . . . .dangerous."

Hank "Hrmm, I recall reading of another entrance somewhere. That way I think." He points to a trail around to the side of the keep in the direction the first group went.