[LPF] Guard Duty

[sunshadow21]

Mister Dickens is able to harass the half elf, and his descent to be quite uncomfortable, but the halflings are able to get down unimpeded by anything other than the rock face itself, which is a significant enough challenge. They all arrive at the base of the cliff a bit battered, but are able to disappear into the forest that surrounds it. The pirate in the cave is just plain out of it at this point, staring off in space, and not really reacting to your presence. You doubt he was particularly mentally stable to begin with, and events of the last couple minutes seem to have completely unhinged him, at least temporarily.

 

[sunshadow21]

Searching the bodies of the dead, you find used wand of Cure Light Wounds and a variety of arms and armor. On the half-orc, you also find the beginnings of a map of, you guess, what was intended to be, eventually, a safe back door to the plateau and village.

[sblock=rewards]Experience
Pirate Scouts CR 5 1600 xp total/320 xp each

Treasure
MW Scimitar x2, Comp (+2 Str) Longbow, Comp (+3 Str) Longbow, MW Studded Leather x2, Leaf Armor, Wand of Cure Light Wounds (17 charges), Potion of Enlarge Person[/sblock]

 

[Systole]

Cavernous Hode prods the pirate experimentally, and when the man doesn't react, tries again. The dwarf seems flummoxed. "Cavernous Hode suspects that the hatches on the swabbie's crow's nest are perhaps battened a little too tightly."

Mister Dickens reappears over the edge, chittering at his inability to cause anyone to fall to their death. He angrily widdles on the corpse of the half-orc in frustration. Then the dire rat nips at the human pirate, moving him down the tunnel to town. Cavernous Hode sighs. "Ah, well. Be careful, Mister Dickens. The town will want to know all about his jolly rogering, after which Cavernous Hode suspects he'll be sentenced to belay the yardarm. Law of the briny deeps and all that."
[sblock=OOC]Will grab the wand unless anyone wants.[/sblock][sblock= Mini Stats]

Cavernous Hode
AC: 15 (13 flat-footed, 12 touch)
HP: 11/11
CMB: +1 CMD: 13
Fort: +4 Reflex: +2 Will: +6
Speed: 20'

Perception: +8
Initiative: +2

Current Weapon in Hand: Heavy Pick (+1, 1d6+1/x4), Wand of CLW
Current Conditions in Effect: None

0th level spells (DC 14): Create Water, Detect Magic, Read Magic, Stabilize
1st level spells (DC 15): Cure Light Wounds, Obscuring Mist


Mister Dickens
AC: 15 (11 flat-footed, 15 touch)
HP: 12/16
CMB: +0 CMD: 13 (17 vs. Trip)
Fort: +4 Reflex: +6 Will: +1
Speed: 40', 20' Swim, 20' Climb

Perception: +5
Initiative: +2

Current Weapon in Hand: Natural weapons (+1, 1d4/x2)
Current Conditions in Effect: None[/sblock]

 

[Satin Knights]

"We can tie up this one and he can ride back to the village slung over my back on the saddlebags. Then the authorities can deal with him. His toes might drag a bit, and he might bang his head on the rocks a couple times, but he should get there in one piece."

"The potion looks interesting to me. At least when I am not in a huggy cave like this it could work well."

 

[mazzoli]

Thiera looks impassively at the prisoner before shaking her head bemusedly at Cavernous Hode's antics. She then takes a look at the spoils while responding to Tasanto's suggestion, "I think that's a good idea. I don't think he'll mind a bump or two here and there considering what happened to his comrades. But we do need to get him and the information we've gathered to the authorities so they can try to figure out how much of a threat these pirates are."

She eyes some of the equipment, specifically one of the scimitars and the set of armor that the rat didn't urinate on, and inquires, "Would anyone mind if I claimed a sword and the unsoiled armor? I believe I can put these to good use."

 

[Satin Knights]

"Go ahead." Tasanto finishes putting on his things that he took off earlier and then ties up the prisoner.

 

[sunshadow21]

Gathering the equipment and tying the prisoner up, the party slowly makes their way back to town up top, the prisoner going unconscious almost immediately. As soon as they reach town, they report to the garrison commander, who hearing what they have to say chuckles a bit, "So the rumors of Old Greybeard's tunnel are true after all. Not only have you dealt with the pirates, but you just settled a lot of long running bets. A bit of a shame some of them escaped, but we can work with it. By all accounts Old Greybeard was a dwarf like your friend here, and had a penchant for being a bit crazy, so we can play on their natural superstitions for a bit of fun. They must truly be desperate to seek out legends as a means of attacking us. Talk to the quartermaster to get you pay, and you can catch a ride on the next boat back to Venza in a couple of days. In the meantime, I'm sure the locals will keep you busy telling your story over and over again and you probably won't have to worry about buying your drinks."

[sblock=The Legend of Old Greybeard]Several generations ago, when the village of Poisson was at most a couple of fishing huts huddled at the base of the cliff, Old Greybeard, a nasty dwarf with a reputation for dealing with the devil, terrorized the high seas. As he grew older, he started to look for a place to settle down, retire, and found a pirate settlement where young buccaneers could find training and safe haven, or so he claimed. Most believed he sought a place to more comfortably cavort with the devils. In any case, he settled upon this plateau, and not wanting to tip off the few local fisherman before they could warn the navy, he chose to create a "backdoor" so to speak. The work was hard, and it took all his efforts to keep his men in line as they first found a promising cave comparatively near the base of the cliff and than started to work their way up. Finally, though, he pushed his men too far, and the majority of them mutinied, leaving him and his few supporters for dead in the cave. What happened to them after that, no one knows for certain. Some say that the surviving pirates, Greybeard not among them, chose to forsake their past life and became some of the first settlers of Poisson; other stories are far more colorful and imaginative. Aside from the fact that Greybeard was never seen again, it's all speculation. There are stories of pirates over the years trying to relocate the cave and the rumored treasure left behind in the haste of the mutineer's departure. As happens with all such stories, curses of various kinds have been attributed to the lack of success in that department.[/sblock]

After a couple of busy evenings and only slightly less busy days, the party finds themselves once more on board one of the now empty supply ships and shortly back on the docks of Venza where the whole thing started, a bit richer and more experienced.

OOC: That's all folks. I'll get final numbers posted shortly, and you can start working on leveling your 1st level characters.

 

[sunshadow21]

[MENTION=6673727]Qik[/MENTION], the numbers are posted in the first thread, waiting your approval.

For those who haven't been through this before, if you want to claim any of the treasure found, you subtract it from your total gp and remove it from the list of treasure available. Any treasure left unclaimed will get ported to the Pearl to be available without having to roll, although it sounds like the magic stuff is already claimed, so that part should be easy.

 

[Systole]

Cavernous Hode selects the wand out of the treasures. "A fine adventure, if Cavernous Hode does say so himself, although he must confess that he is hardly an expert judge regarding such things. Certainly, there seemed to be no small amount of the doing of derring and the buckling of swashes, insofar as Cavernous Hode understands such things, although he must confess he is somewhat disappointed at the relative lack of bodices. In any event, Cavernous Hode considers it an honor to have been invited, and Mister Dickens is happy to have made so many new friends. Well, it seems that the time has come to heave-to and stow the gunwale. Ahoy, mateys!"

With that said, the dwarf trundles off, although Mister Dickens pauses to snarl viciously at everybody one last time before catching up to his master.

OOC: Grabbing the wand (255g) and taking the balance in cash (1585g).

 

[Qik]

Will try to double check things this afternoon.