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Story Hour
The Dark Squad in the Secrets of Saltmarsh #136 Into the Mere of the Dead Men.
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<blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 9291702" data-attributes="member: 16069"><p style="text-align: center"><strong><span style="font-size: 26px">Dark Squad in the Secrets of Saltmarsh</span></strong></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">Session #129: EXTERMINATE!</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Dark Squad (in alphabetical order, no egos here).</span></strong></p><p>Daktari/Dak (played by Haggis) Male Human Uthgardt Sky Pony Barbarian Lvl 9</p><p>Fellowyn Silverstream (played by George) Male Eladrin Wizard Bladesinger Lvl 9</p><p>New Tricks/Newt (played by Bear) Male Tabaxi Warlock Lvl 9</p><p>Ramshambo/Ram (played by Kev) Male Half-Elf Rogue/Fighter Lvl 7/2</p><p>Vincenzo/Vinnie (played by Haggis) Male Shifter (Wildhunt) Druid Lvl 9</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">DEAD PCs</span></strong></p><p><s>Nicholai Barbaros Kostyiev/Nicky (played by George) Male Dhampir Cleric of Twilight Lvl 8 </s>RIP</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">NPCs</span></strong></p><p><s>Inverna Nightbreeze (played by George) Female Wood Elf Fighter Lvl 8 (Sidekick) </s>RETIRED</p><p><s>Garumn Male Mountain Dwarf Paladin of Moradin Lvl 5 </s>RIP*</p><p><s>Tarbin Tul (played by goonalan) Male Human Bard </s>RETIRED</p><p><s>Ubmo (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 1</s> EXPLODED</p><p>Ubdug (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 2 (When we remember)</p><p>*Trapped in the Land of the Bad Dead Ancestors.</p><p></p><p><strong>Servants/Familiars</strong></p><p>Gerald (Bat/Giant Bat) servant/mount of New Tricks</p><p>Owly (Owl) Vinnie’s familiar</p><p></p><p><strong>The Dark Squad’s to-do list-</strong></p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The smuggler's ship will be turning up sometime between the 14th and 17th of Flamerule, the Dark Squad (and particularly Ram) are keen to meet the vessel, particularly Ram- why, because as the rogue said- “I'm getting a boat.”</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Find the other four Symbols of Ub, one was left in Deepbridge (Duergar fortress in the Underdark). The others need to be found, they belonged to- Rambles 'Shambles' Bowspirit (halfling killer from Lowhill), Antonio De La Crane (posh kid druid alchemist) & Giggles (crazy wood elf). All of these folk lived in the Saltmarsh region, the Dark Squad have found the De La Crane Manse (in the Dreadwood) and the De La Crane Crypt (in Saltmarsh Cemetery).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Nightshade is in the Deep Dreadwood- except she's not there anymore, but a big red dragon is?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Blackedge and the Goblin Stair?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">To join the Pact of the Wild Flame prepare the Witch's Tor for the coming of the starfall, the Witch's Tor is in the Drowned Forest, in the Mere of the Dead Men.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">To join the Pact of the Wild Flame track down the last member of the Pact, a wild elf adventurer called Giggles- and finally put her spirit to rest, and also recover her maze button. Location unknown. SEE 2. ABOVE.</li> </ol><p></p><p>This is session 129, and here we go again…</p><p></p><p>But first a note from the author- these are getting shorter, it’s because I just don’t have the time these days, for some strange reason work has gone and got really busy, and so… apologies, and I don’t usually get a second run through these before posting.</p><p></p><p>So, the quality has definitely dipped.</p><p></p><p>Sozza.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]352087[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>What do we have here? That’s chez Dark Squad, and the Squad are in a huddle- yes, they huddle, even in the house. Mrs. Badcrumble (the lady wot does for them- cooks, cleans, gets Mr. N’s fish from the market etc.) has just delivered some very interesting news.</strong></p><p></p><p>Note Mrs Badcrumble is obviously Mrs Miggins from Black Adder (via Eddie Izzard), and she talks the same (as the former).</p><p></p><p>“Oh, he was a lovely man Mr. R, a real ‘andsome man, and so polite- attentive even.” Mrs Badcrumble finishes with a giggle- girlish, of course.</p><p></p><p>“And what did he say again?” Ram enquires once more.</p><p></p><p>“He said to leave a message for Mr. N, to say that- now let me get this right- he said, ‘they ‘ave not given up- they are arming to invade Saltmarsh. You are not safe’. Yes that was it- that’s exactly what he said.”</p><p></p><p>“And iz name again, Madame Mauvis-Crumb-bell?” Vinnie asks, again.</p><p></p><p>“Mr. Timpkins! I’ve told you this a dozen times- a real gennel-man he was. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got to go and tidy up Mr. D’s pomades and lotions, he’s got unguent on my mirror again.”</p><p></p><p>And off Mrs Badcrumble trots.</p><p></p><p>In short, Mr. Timpkins has been to the house, while the Dark Squad were out shopping and doing- and, well- see above.</p><p></p><p>Vinnie, very soon after (the huddle), heads off to the Town Council, and once there eventually gets a meeting with a pair of his fellow councilors, at which he (clumsily) explains that Saltmarsh is going to be invaded, possibly by crazed Talos worshippers. Possibly, sometime very soon.</p><p></p><p>Obviously, this news doesn’t go down well- there’s a lot of fingers pointing, all of the digits aimed at the Dark Squad, the accusation being that the Dark Squad have brought this on the town.</p><p></p><p>Remarkably Vinnie manages to turn this accusation around, his winning line, something like-</p><p></p><p>“I zink zis iz not ze case. After-all, if we were not ‘ere to save Saltmarsh, I zink zer town from zer ‘ow yoo say- Krack-un, zen Saltmarsh would already be gone, n’est pas?”</p><p></p><p>It’s not the winning point but it shuts Eda Oweland (head of the Council) and Gellen Primewater up. Needless to say, there’ll be more on this when the Dark Squad get back from securing Ram’s new boat.</p><p></p><p>Speaking of which.</p><p></p><p>The smuggler’s boat is arriving sometime between the 14th and 17th of Flamerule, that’s when the moon and tides are best aligned to get a bit of smuggling done- Ram determined this a while back.</p><p></p><p>The council meeting and intermission Talos/Kraken-related fracas, took place on the evening of the 10th of Flamerule.</p><p></p><p>The Dark Squad have been killing time since then.</p><p></p><p>Therefore, the Dark Squad move back into the manse on the cliffs, the old De La Crane place, the place that the smugglers were laired.</p><p></p><p>And on their first night there, on the 14th?</p><p></p><p>A boat, out to sea, signals the shore.</p><p></p><p>The Dark Squad have a copy of the signals, and besides- Ram has done this kind of thing before, they therefore send their signal back, and receive the all clear in reply- time to row out to meet the ship.</p><p></p><p>Or else to make their way to the target, and so-</p><p></p><p>Newt is the first to get eyes on the boat, he’s on his flying broom, and with Gerald his bat familiar in close proximity.</p><p></p><p>Next to arrive is Vinnie, who makes his way to the far side of the vessel in the guise of a very large Shark, the druid has also already summoned Gaspar (that’s his friendly air elemental).</p><p></p><p>Next to arrive is Ram, and again to the dark side of the ship- Ram is water walking, although he’s also water breathing enabled; in point of fact- all of the Dark Squad have water walking and water breathing cast upon them, they’re also communicating via telepathy (telepathic bond).</p><p></p><p>So, that’s nice.</p><p></p><p>Last to arrive, in the rowboat are Fellowyn (with disguise self to appear as Sanbalet aka The Master, the illusionist smuggler leader at the manse (RIP)) and with Daktari at the oars. The big barbarian is hooded and cloaked, and he sounds (not that he speaks much) a lot like Grayham (one of the bad guys from the manse that tried picking on Dak, Dak killed him).</p><p></p><p>Note, Ubdug is stashed in the pile of contraband in the rowboat.</p><p></p><p>The Supreme Being looks like a pair of shiny metal crates.</p><p></p><p>Anyway…</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]352088[/ATTACH]<strong>Top left, Newt on his broomstick hovering way above the pirate in the crow’s nest. On the deck below (bottom image) four members of the crew look to the shore- three more pirates and a very big (muscular) looking feller with long thick (and lustrous) hair. A leader type, no doubt.</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]352089[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Everyone’s here!</strong></p><p></p><p>Let the plan commence, and it goes like clockwork- everyone (that needs to be) stealthy is stealthy to this point, and ‘The Master’s’ hail to the ship is convincing- although why has the Wizard come out to the ship? That’s a little odd.</p><p></p><p>But then a few performance and/or deception checks and Fellowyn and Dak are up and on the deck, and everything is hunky-dory.</p><p></p><p>In cod Russian if you please-</p><p></p><p>“Yes, I am Gray-hum! Pleasing to meet you.”</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]352090[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>That is until Fellowyn suggests to the pirate in charge that he takes a moment to discover how far down beneath the ship he can swim, and even with advantage on his save that’s not good enough.</strong></p><p></p><p>And so, seemingly apropos nothing much really, Bloody Bjorn Siggardsson, the saltiest (and meanest) bastard pirate on the Sword Sea (or else top 5) leaps over the rail and plunges into the ocean- grinning!</p><p></p><p>Daktari, a moment later, declares that- “I am not Gray-Hum! Ha-ha!”, and then tries to cut the nearest gawping pirate in half.</p><p></p><p>It kicks off.</p><p></p><p>So, fighting…</p><p></p><p>Although it’s probably worth noting that when this session ends (which is a while yet) Bloody Bjorn is still swimming down into the depths beneath the boat.</p><p></p><p>He had approx. 200 hit points and a big bag of tough love to dish out.</p><p></p><p>It never seems to work out for me, and I’ve upped the stats for all of these guys tremendously (including saves- all with advantage), I’m cheating massively here.</p><p></p><p>I think three of the bad fellers have 20+HD.</p><p></p><p>Anyway…</p><p></p><p>Fighting, fighting, fighting.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]352093[/ATTACH]<strong>Fellowyn kills a pirate, it happens so infrequently (Fellowyn killing anything) that someone (possibly George, who plays Fellowyn) saw fit to take a snap of it.</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]352094[/ATTACH]<strong>Vinnie sends Gaspar up to play with the pirate in the crow’s nest. Ram nearly guts another pirate, and soon after all is pretty much chaos and screaming, on deck. Note the pirates here have around 60-or so HP each, good ACs (and saves), multiple attacks, sneak attack damage- when it fits, and the ability to Dash, Disengage etc.</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]352095[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>One of the doors to the interior of the ship opens and this guy can be seen within the cabin, at least by the Moonboar who has just scurried up the side of the ship.</strong></p><p></p><p>That ain’t no ordinary pirate.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]352096[/ATTACH]<strong>Moments later a tidal wave smashes down onto the ship, slams the Moonboar hard, and then picks the transformed druid up and tosses him back into the sea.</strong></p><p></p><p>But again, all of the Dark Squad have water walking cast on them, so- a little hurt but no great harm.</p><p></p><p>The wizard steps back into his cabin and shuts the door.</p><p></p><p>Also, in the image above- Ubdug has failed for the last three turns to climb from the rowboat into the ship proper. He too is water walking, so- no great shakes but not optimal.</p><p></p><p>The hold is open- a fat pirate (boss) emerges and gets into Daktari’s face, a short while later this massively built (again, fat) pirate boss- with a hook in place of one hand, is- as it turns out- a proper fighter. He uses his hook hand to slice- catch- grab & restrain Daktari, and then spin the barbarian about him- positioning Dak before more attackers as and when they emerge from the hold.</p><p></p><p>Daktari is, of course, raging- he soaks up a lot of hurt.</p><p></p><p>This fat, hook hand fellow is very tough, and swears like a… well, a pirate.</p><p></p><p>You will also note in the image above… Ram has become Were-Ram. Keep in mind Ram is all the while hooded and crouched, usually in shadow, but every now and then Dak can hear Were-Ram mutter, and it sounds… odd.</p><p></p><p>“It tries to hurtss us! Yes, it does! We hurtss it back-first, we hurtss it bad! Real bad! Yesssss!”</p><p></p><p>So, just to say the moon is just short of full, and Ram failed his first save with a ‘1’, his inspiration point try again, was also a fail.</p><p></p><p>So, Were-Ram.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]352097[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Synaptic Static, or whatever it’s called- Newt’s spreading the love, and I am failing saving throws (even with advantage) all the while.</strong></p><p></p><p>You’ll note to the south west(-ish) of the boat is the pirate from the crow’s nest, Gaspar threw him out to sea.</p><p></p><p>Bloody Bjorn is still swimming down beneath the ship.</p><p></p><p>Two hundred hit points- right there.</p><p></p><p>But here’s the latest arrival- in the synaptic static- positioned between Gaspar and Fellowyn, that’s the captain of the ship, who has plenty to say- mostly confidence boosting stuff to get his crew into action.</p><p></p><p>The captain has a lot of cool tricks, including casting the equivalent of a bless spell on all of his comrades in the fight. He also has a poisoned off-hand crossbow shot which thunks into Were-Ram’s cloaked back (and with extra sneak attack).</p><p></p><p>Note, there are more pirates emerging from the hold, and via other doors- some of these are big tough fellows. The fat blokes have over 100 HP each, multiple attacks, and a few extra tricks.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]352098[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>And from yet another cabin a pair of spiked shield and club wielding lizardfolk appear and get into the fight. Barking at each other, all the while, in their strange tongue.</strong></p><p></p><p>Hang on, lizardfolk?</p><p></p><p>What are they doing on a pirate ship?</p><p></p><p>Is the question that nobody says, but everyone was (most likely) thinking?</p><p></p><p>Right? Fellers?</p><p></p><p>Note, at this point the caster has tried and failed to cast a couple more spells- but Fellowyn keeps on counterspelling. Although the eladrin mage has already taking a good kicking, even the Moonboar has suffered a lot of hurt (for him) at this point.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]352099[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Just as the pirate to the south clambers up and back onto the vessel (having been thrown out of the crow’s nest by Gaspar) the air elemental arrives back on deck and sends yet another pirate up and over the side of the ship, and into the sea (top left).</strong></p><p></p><p>You’ll note we are around six or so turns in here. Ubdug has still not managed to climb up onto the deck of the ship.</p><p></p><p>And then… he does.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]352101[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Ubdug delivers a shatter spell to the pirate masses, and keep in mind it’s a random roll to see what Ubdug attacks with every turn.</strong></p><p></p><p>Dak is in the centre of the sprawling bevvy of pirates, so he takes a little bit of a beating. But Ubdug’s damage rolls are tremendous, and so pirates die and/or suffer.</p><p></p><p>We’re seven turns in (now, Ubdug pretty much always rolls below 3 on his initiative) and that was by far the biggest hit of the evening.</p><p></p><p>I AM THE SUPREME BEING!</p><p></p><p>Oh, and the Dark Squad have taught Ubdug a new word, the duodrone asked them for a little help earlier, before they embarked to the pirate ship. Ubdug wanted something new to shout at the enemies of the Dark Squad, something terrifying, and that would leave those that heard him in no doubt that death was coming for them…</p><p></p><p>EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!</p><p></p><p>You know the voice.</p><p></p><p>And that’s pretty much all we did last Tuesday night. I had a lot of fun- I could have had more fun, if Bloody Bjorn had made it to the fight.</p><p></p><p>Stay safe and well you lovely people.</p><p></p><p>Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Goonalan, post: 9291702, member: 16069"] [CENTER][B][SIZE=7]Dark Squad in the Secrets of Saltmarsh[/SIZE][/B][/CENTER] [B][SIZE=6]Session #129: EXTERMINATE![/SIZE] [SIZE=5]Dark Squad (in alphabetical order, no egos here).[/SIZE][/B] Daktari/Dak (played by Haggis) Male Human Uthgardt Sky Pony Barbarian Lvl 9 Fellowyn Silverstream (played by George) Male Eladrin Wizard Bladesinger Lvl 9 New Tricks/Newt (played by Bear) Male Tabaxi Warlock Lvl 9 Ramshambo/Ram (played by Kev) Male Half-Elf Rogue/Fighter Lvl 7/2 Vincenzo/Vinnie (played by Haggis) Male Shifter (Wildhunt) Druid Lvl 9 [B][SIZE=5]DEAD PCs[/SIZE][/B] [S]Nicholai Barbaros Kostyiev/Nicky (played by George) Male Dhampir Cleric of Twilight Lvl 8 [/S]RIP [B][SIZE=5]NPCs[/SIZE][/B] [S]Inverna Nightbreeze (played by George) Female Wood Elf Fighter Lvl 8 (Sidekick) [/S]RETIRED [S]Garumn Male Mountain Dwarf Paladin of Moradin Lvl 5 [/S]RIP* [S]Tarbin Tul (played by goonalan) Male Human Bard [/S]RETIRED [S]Ubmo (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 1[/S] EXPLODED Ubdug (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 2 (When we remember) *Trapped in the Land of the Bad Dead Ancestors. [B]Servants/Familiars[/B] Gerald (Bat/Giant Bat) servant/mount of New Tricks Owly (Owl) Vinnie’s familiar [B]The Dark Squad’s to-do list-[/B] [LIST=1] [*]The smuggler's ship will be turning up sometime between the 14th and 17th of Flamerule, the Dark Squad (and particularly Ram) are keen to meet the vessel, particularly Ram- why, because as the rogue said- “I'm getting a boat.” [*]Find the other four Symbols of Ub, one was left in Deepbridge (Duergar fortress in the Underdark). The others need to be found, they belonged to- Rambles 'Shambles' Bowspirit (halfling killer from Lowhill), Antonio De La Crane (posh kid druid alchemist) & Giggles (crazy wood elf). All of these folk lived in the Saltmarsh region, the Dark Squad have found the De La Crane Manse (in the Dreadwood) and the De La Crane Crypt (in Saltmarsh Cemetery). [*]Nightshade is in the Deep Dreadwood- except she's not there anymore, but a big red dragon is? [*]Blackedge and the Goblin Stair? [*]To join the Pact of the Wild Flame prepare the Witch's Tor for the coming of the starfall, the Witch's Tor is in the Drowned Forest, in the Mere of the Dead Men. [*]To join the Pact of the Wild Flame track down the last member of the Pact, a wild elf adventurer called Giggles- and finally put her spirit to rest, and also recover her maze button. Location unknown. SEE 2. ABOVE. [/LIST] This is session 129, and here we go again… But first a note from the author- these are getting shorter, it’s because I just don’t have the time these days, for some strange reason work has gone and got really busy, and so… apologies, and I don’t usually get a second run through these before posting. So, the quality has definitely dipped. Sozza. [ATTACH type="full"]352087[/ATTACH] [B]What do we have here? That’s chez Dark Squad, and the Squad are in a huddle- yes, they huddle, even in the house. Mrs. Badcrumble (the lady wot does for them- cooks, cleans, gets Mr. N’s fish from the market etc.) has just delivered some very interesting news.[/B] Note Mrs Badcrumble is obviously Mrs Miggins from Black Adder (via Eddie Izzard), and she talks the same (as the former). “Oh, he was a lovely man Mr. R, a real ‘andsome man, and so polite- attentive even.” Mrs Badcrumble finishes with a giggle- girlish, of course. “And what did he say again?” Ram enquires once more. “He said to leave a message for Mr. N, to say that- now let me get this right- he said, ‘they ‘ave not given up- they are arming to invade Saltmarsh. You are not safe’. Yes that was it- that’s exactly what he said.” “And iz name again, Madame Mauvis-Crumb-bell?” Vinnie asks, again. “Mr. Timpkins! I’ve told you this a dozen times- a real gennel-man he was. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got to go and tidy up Mr. D’s pomades and lotions, he’s got unguent on my mirror again.” And off Mrs Badcrumble trots. In short, Mr. Timpkins has been to the house, while the Dark Squad were out shopping and doing- and, well- see above. Vinnie, very soon after (the huddle), heads off to the Town Council, and once there eventually gets a meeting with a pair of his fellow councilors, at which he (clumsily) explains that Saltmarsh is going to be invaded, possibly by crazed Talos worshippers. Possibly, sometime very soon. Obviously, this news doesn’t go down well- there’s a lot of fingers pointing, all of the digits aimed at the Dark Squad, the accusation being that the Dark Squad have brought this on the town. Remarkably Vinnie manages to turn this accusation around, his winning line, something like- “I zink zis iz not ze case. After-all, if we were not ‘ere to save Saltmarsh, I zink zer town from zer ‘ow yoo say- Krack-un, zen Saltmarsh would already be gone, n’est pas?” It’s not the winning point but it shuts Eda Oweland (head of the Council) and Gellen Primewater up. Needless to say, there’ll be more on this when the Dark Squad get back from securing Ram’s new boat. Speaking of which. The smuggler’s boat is arriving sometime between the 14th and 17th of Flamerule, that’s when the moon and tides are best aligned to get a bit of smuggling done- Ram determined this a while back. The council meeting and intermission Talos/Kraken-related fracas, took place on the evening of the 10th of Flamerule. The Dark Squad have been killing time since then. Therefore, the Dark Squad move back into the manse on the cliffs, the old De La Crane place, the place that the smugglers were laired. And on their first night there, on the 14th? A boat, out to sea, signals the shore. The Dark Squad have a copy of the signals, and besides- Ram has done this kind of thing before, they therefore send their signal back, and receive the all clear in reply- time to row out to meet the ship. Or else to make their way to the target, and so- Newt is the first to get eyes on the boat, he’s on his flying broom, and with Gerald his bat familiar in close proximity. Next to arrive is Vinnie, who makes his way to the far side of the vessel in the guise of a very large Shark, the druid has also already summoned Gaspar (that’s his friendly air elemental). Next to arrive is Ram, and again to the dark side of the ship- Ram is water walking, although he’s also water breathing enabled; in point of fact- all of the Dark Squad have water walking and water breathing cast upon them, they’re also communicating via telepathy (telepathic bond). So, that’s nice. Last to arrive, in the rowboat are Fellowyn (with disguise self to appear as Sanbalet aka The Master, the illusionist smuggler leader at the manse (RIP)) and with Daktari at the oars. The big barbarian is hooded and cloaked, and he sounds (not that he speaks much) a lot like Grayham (one of the bad guys from the manse that tried picking on Dak, Dak killed him). Note, Ubdug is stashed in the pile of contraband in the rowboat. The Supreme Being looks like a pair of shiny metal crates. Anyway… [ATTACH type="full"]352088[/ATTACH][B]Top left, Newt on his broomstick hovering way above the pirate in the crow’s nest. On the deck below (bottom image) four members of the crew look to the shore- three more pirates and a very big (muscular) looking feller with long thick (and lustrous) hair. A leader type, no doubt.[/B] [ATTACH type="full"]352089[/ATTACH] [B]Everyone’s here![/B] Let the plan commence, and it goes like clockwork- everyone (that needs to be) stealthy is stealthy to this point, and ‘The Master’s’ hail to the ship is convincing- although why has the Wizard come out to the ship? That’s a little odd. But then a few performance and/or deception checks and Fellowyn and Dak are up and on the deck, and everything is hunky-dory. In cod Russian if you please- “Yes, I am Gray-hum! Pleasing to meet you.” [ATTACH type="full"]352090[/ATTACH] [B]That is until Fellowyn suggests to the pirate in charge that he takes a moment to discover how far down beneath the ship he can swim, and even with advantage on his save that’s not good enough.[/B] And so, seemingly apropos nothing much really, Bloody Bjorn Siggardsson, the saltiest (and meanest) bastard pirate on the Sword Sea (or else top 5) leaps over the rail and plunges into the ocean- grinning! Daktari, a moment later, declares that- “I am not Gray-Hum! Ha-ha!”, and then tries to cut the nearest gawping pirate in half. It kicks off. So, fighting… Although it’s probably worth noting that when this session ends (which is a while yet) Bloody Bjorn is still swimming down into the depths beneath the boat. He had approx. 200 hit points and a big bag of tough love to dish out. It never seems to work out for me, and I’ve upped the stats for all of these guys tremendously (including saves- all with advantage), I’m cheating massively here. I think three of the bad fellers have 20+HD. Anyway… Fighting, fighting, fighting. [ATTACH type="full"]352093[/ATTACH][B]Fellowyn kills a pirate, it happens so infrequently (Fellowyn killing anything) that someone (possibly George, who plays Fellowyn) saw fit to take a snap of it.[/B] [ATTACH type="full"]352094[/ATTACH][B]Vinnie sends Gaspar up to play with the pirate in the crow’s nest. Ram nearly guts another pirate, and soon after all is pretty much chaos and screaming, on deck. Note the pirates here have around 60-or so HP each, good ACs (and saves), multiple attacks, sneak attack damage- when it fits, and the ability to Dash, Disengage etc.[/B] [ATTACH type="full"]352095[/ATTACH] [B]One of the doors to the interior of the ship opens and this guy can be seen within the cabin, at least by the Moonboar who has just scurried up the side of the ship.[/B] That ain’t no ordinary pirate. [ATTACH type="full"]352096[/ATTACH][B]Moments later a tidal wave smashes down onto the ship, slams the Moonboar hard, and then picks the transformed druid up and tosses him back into the sea.[/B] But again, all of the Dark Squad have water walking cast on them, so- a little hurt but no great harm. The wizard steps back into his cabin and shuts the door. Also, in the image above- Ubdug has failed for the last three turns to climb from the rowboat into the ship proper. He too is water walking, so- no great shakes but not optimal. The hold is open- a fat pirate (boss) emerges and gets into Daktari’s face, a short while later this massively built (again, fat) pirate boss- with a hook in place of one hand, is- as it turns out- a proper fighter. He uses his hook hand to slice- catch- grab & restrain Daktari, and then spin the barbarian about him- positioning Dak before more attackers as and when they emerge from the hold. Daktari is, of course, raging- he soaks up a lot of hurt. This fat, hook hand fellow is very tough, and swears like a… well, a pirate. You will also note in the image above… Ram has become Were-Ram. Keep in mind Ram is all the while hooded and crouched, usually in shadow, but every now and then Dak can hear Were-Ram mutter, and it sounds… odd. “It tries to hurtss us! Yes, it does! We hurtss it back-first, we hurtss it bad! Real bad! Yesssss!” So, just to say the moon is just short of full, and Ram failed his first save with a ‘1’, his inspiration point try again, was also a fail. So, Were-Ram. [ATTACH type="full"]352097[/ATTACH] [B]Synaptic Static, or whatever it’s called- Newt’s spreading the love, and I am failing saving throws (even with advantage) all the while.[/B] You’ll note to the south west(-ish) of the boat is the pirate from the crow’s nest, Gaspar threw him out to sea. Bloody Bjorn is still swimming down beneath the ship. Two hundred hit points- right there. But here’s the latest arrival- in the synaptic static- positioned between Gaspar and Fellowyn, that’s the captain of the ship, who has plenty to say- mostly confidence boosting stuff to get his crew into action. The captain has a lot of cool tricks, including casting the equivalent of a bless spell on all of his comrades in the fight. He also has a poisoned off-hand crossbow shot which thunks into Were-Ram’s cloaked back (and with extra sneak attack). Note, there are more pirates emerging from the hold, and via other doors- some of these are big tough fellows. The fat blokes have over 100 HP each, multiple attacks, and a few extra tricks. [ATTACH type="full"]352098[/ATTACH] [B]And from yet another cabin a pair of spiked shield and club wielding lizardfolk appear and get into the fight. Barking at each other, all the while, in their strange tongue.[/B] Hang on, lizardfolk? What are they doing on a pirate ship? Is the question that nobody says, but everyone was (most likely) thinking? Right? Fellers? Note, at this point the caster has tried and failed to cast a couple more spells- but Fellowyn keeps on counterspelling. Although the eladrin mage has already taking a good kicking, even the Moonboar has suffered a lot of hurt (for him) at this point. [ATTACH type="full"]352099[/ATTACH] [B]Just as the pirate to the south clambers up and back onto the vessel (having been thrown out of the crow’s nest by Gaspar) the air elemental arrives back on deck and sends yet another pirate up and over the side of the ship, and into the sea (top left).[/B] You’ll note we are around six or so turns in here. Ubdug has still not managed to climb up onto the deck of the ship. And then… he does. [ATTACH type="full"]352101[/ATTACH] [B]Ubdug delivers a shatter spell to the pirate masses, and keep in mind it’s a random roll to see what Ubdug attacks with every turn.[/B] Dak is in the centre of the sprawling bevvy of pirates, so he takes a little bit of a beating. But Ubdug’s damage rolls are tremendous, and so pirates die and/or suffer. We’re seven turns in (now, Ubdug pretty much always rolls below 3 on his initiative) and that was by far the biggest hit of the evening. I AM THE SUPREME BEING! Oh, and the Dark Squad have taught Ubdug a new word, the duodrone asked them for a little help earlier, before they embarked to the pirate ship. Ubdug wanted something new to shout at the enemies of the Dark Squad, something terrifying, and that would leave those that heard him in no doubt that death was coming for them… EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! You know the voice. And that’s pretty much all we did last Tuesday night. I had a lot of fun- I could have had more fun, if Bloody Bjorn had made it to the fight. Stay safe and well you lovely people. Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan. [/QUOTE]
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The Dark Squad in the Secrets of Saltmarsh #136 Into the Mere of the Dead Men.
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