[Adventure] Serpent's Skull: Souls for Smuggler's Shiv (DM: Mewness; Judge: THB)

"Lie still," Hú Lí says to Gelik, "and the poison will flow less quickly. I shall sing of the sun on the blossoming trees after the rainstorm. I hope it will help calm you, as we tend to our wounds."

She taps softly, rhythmically on her drum as she sings in a tone less high-pitched than she has before. The music does not quite match the words, and it is clear it is a translation of some sort, but the smooth beat and flowing tune are indeed calming.

[sblock=ooc]Song of Rest: at the end of a short rest, each ally may spend a healing surge and regain 4 extra hit points.[/sblock][sblock=Hú Lí]The Black Fox Fox Spirit (Changeling) Bard 1
Initiative: +1, Passive Perception: 16, Passive Insight: 18
AC:17, Fort:11, Reflex:15, Will:16

+2 vs. AC, 1d6-1 damage

HP:24/24, Bloodied:12, Surge Value:6, Surges left:6/8
Action Points: 1, Second Wind: unused
Powers: Fox Spirit Disguise, Wild Shape, Staggering Note, Vicious Mockery
Blunder, Fox Spirit Trick, Grasping Claws, Majestic Word x2, Words of Friendship
Stirring Shout

Virtue of Cunning: Once per round, when an enemy misses an ally within 9 squares of the Black Fox, the Fox may slide the ally 1 square as a free action.

Conditions:
none
[/sblock]

Noriaki begins to remark, "We'll dunk you in the water as soon as we find it. Just be thankful the spider didn't realize it could have swallowed you whole." he looks about to launch a finishing line at Gelik, but notices the gnome's wounds were worse than he had realized. Noriaki digs through his satchel, pulling out some cloth scraps that had previously held riceballs. He ties them together into a crude bandage and pours a little wine onto them. Noriaki leans down and ties the makeshift bandage around Gelik's wound, the gnome's small size letting the scraps go further than one might think. "There, that should hold you in one piece for now."

Noriaki looks back to Sasha, thinking a similar treatment is probably in order for her legs. He checks his satchel but though more rations are tied with more cloths, they'll spill all over without them. Bracing himself, Noriaki puts his hand on his left shoulder, his fingers feeling the hole the spider's fangs tore in the silk. With an audible whimper, he tears the silk sleeve free, leaving his alabaster arm bare, and tears it in two. He takes the silk, dabs it in wine and leans in to wipe Sasha's spider bites before tying the makeshift bandages around them. "There. My master used to use this trick, with the wine. Headstrong old fool that he was, he always knew what to do." With the sleeve gone from his arm, Noriaki's own spider bite is revealed. It's mostly healed up from the potion's magic, but blood and poison still mar his otherwise pale arm. Noriaki himself doesn't seem to notice it, though.

While Noriaki and Hu Li tend to the wounds of the less fortunate companions, Takahaan stands, holding the long strands of webbing in his large hands. Sensing their toughness and durability, the dragonborn ties a skillful knot in a large strand and tries to snap it, but fails.

Takahaan speaks, unsure of who is listening to him between all the fray. "Hmm. This webbing from the spiders could be used as a form of armor. Let me give this a try..."

Hastily weaving it into a roughly-patterned circular shape, Takahaan creates a crude form of a sash out of the webbing, and wraps it around his waste-line. Laying over a slight weak spot in his chainmail, Takahaan draws a half-smile as he admires his work. Gathering the rest of the usable webbing that came off of the bundled cocoon of spider silk, Takahaan crafts it in the same fashion, tying it off at the end to make another crude sash of a smaller size.

"Nori! Catch!" he yells, as he tosses the light, silky sash in his ally's direction.

Noriaki catches the makeshift sash without looking up. He unwinds his own sash, putting his sword and sheath down for a moment to tie the new one on. "A fitting trophy. It feels good to wear silk not tarnished by sea water again." After thrusting his sheath into his new sash and his sword into the sheath, he holds his old sash for a moment, contemplating what to do with it.

A few of the Piskies note the work being done by Takahaan and Noriaki and rush in to help, feeling the call of some brownie ancestor. If allowed, their tiny deft hands aid the work remarkably. They seem to have a knack for avoiding the sticky threads.

John Michael William Fred Fitzpatrick approaches the captain and gives a situation report. "We're running shy on water, sir. The new weapons are working out splendidly. My cousin, Jennifer Sara Lynn Fitzpatrick has gone missing. No one is sure if she was a casualty or a deserter. The men are searching the webs now. We've acquired a good ammount of that silk, it may be useful for later. Carol James feels that he may be able to make some fabric out of it."

The Captain nods and approaches Kane. As he walks he pulls a longsword out of some webbing with a surprising ammount of ease. He calls out, "It looks like Alkas is in a bit of shock from this whole situation. A shame. Can you handle a blade? We could use some people a bit quicker on their toes." The Captain offers the sword to Kane. The scene looks a bit absurd, given the size of the piskie holding the sword. The Captain says with a smile and a bow, "Valentine Dartmoor, Captain of the Dartmoor Irregulars."

OOC: [MENTION=75065]jbear[/MENTION], I hope the handing off of a sword meshes alright with you. I thought it seemed a bit cinematic.

Kane's eyes, as wide as his smile, look from one of his rescuers to the other.

"Th-thanks. R-r-really ... th-thanks alot!"

Still quite a sight, black unruly hair and clothes still tangled with webbing Kane is quite a sight. He stretches his hand towards the sword being offered by the captain, a gleam of recognition in his eye. It suddenly flies from the captain's hand into kane's.

"Th-thanks ag-gain C-captain. Th-th-this is T-touché" he stammers hoisting the longsword. "I'm K-Kane. Me and T-touché are old f-friends. " he adds with a cheeky wink and a flourish of the blade.

Kane seems to notice the swarm of pixies-like creatures buzzing about and his jaw falls slack.

"W-w-w ... w-w-w ..." but the words seem stuck with amazement. Kane's brows furrows with frustration and suddenly begins flicking a gold coin into the air that appeared from nowhere. Visibly relaxing by the moment he takes a deep breath and gets an entire sentence out all in one go.

"Wow, That is inc-credible, I'm speechless. Aye, I've been b-blessed and c-cursed, Netari drown me! S-stuck on the Shiv! B-but alive still and by the looks I'v f-found some f-fine company. Or it's f-found me anyway. Don't worry about w-water, little f-friend. It rains. Every late after-n-noon. Alot."

His annoyance fades as he manages to express himself and his grin splits his face once more. Kane sheathes his blade and the coin disappears in mid air and then turns back to the webbing and begins hauling out his now rather sticky gear. He starts getting nervous after a few minutes as though he can't find something important. Finally his body relaxes as he pulls free an old turqouise leather strap tangled in the webs with a sigh of relief. He uses it to hastily tie back his hair.

"W-what a m-mess!"

His hand glows as he passes it over his body from head to toes, the sticky webs disappearing in its wake. He spends a longer time cleaning his boots which when clean of webbing are revealed to be made of very turquoise turquoise leather. He treats his gear in a similar fashion and moments later stands grinning, now completely clean.

"S-so, ready when you are. N-never heard of anyone to g-get off the Shiv. B-but there's always a f-first t-time for anything."




[sblock=Kane Arcane]
Kane Arcane Male Human Swordmage|Wizard 1
Initiative: +0, Passive Perception: 12, Passive Insight: 12, Senses: Normal
AC:19, Fort:14, Reflex:15, Will:15
HP:28/28, Bloodied:14, Surge Value:7, Surges left:8/10
Action Points: 1

Cantrips
Sword Burst
Freezing Burst
Phantasmal Assault
Aegis of Shielding
Grasping Shadows
Second Wind
Flaming Sphere

Conditions:

Full sheet: PC:Kane Arcane (jbear1979) - L4W Wiki
[/sblock]

twilsemail said:

John Michael William Fred Fitzpatrick approaches the captain and gives a situation report. "We're running shy on water, sir. The new weapons are working out splendidly. My cousin, Jennifer Sara Lynn Fitzpatrick has gone missing. No one is sure if she was a casualty or a deserter. The men are searching the webs now. We've acquired a good ammount of that silk, it may be useful for later. Carol James feels that he may be able to make some fabric out of it."

Click to expand...

"Someone's missing?!" cries Sasha. "That's terrible--should I help you look? How tall is she?" She grabs a long stick and starts poking carefully through webs and peering into the undergrowth.

jbear said:

"Wow, That is inc-credible, I'm speechless. Aye, I've been b-blessed and c-cursed, Netari drown me! S-stuck on the Shiv! B-but alive still and by the looks I'v f-found some f-fine company. Or it's f-found me anyway. Don't worry about w-water, little f-friend. It rains. Every late after-n-noon. Alot."

Click to expand...

"No one ever said that Netari don't have a sense of humor," says Aerys dryly. "I'm Aerys, by the way." Moving off to the side, she takes off her hat and unbuckles most of her armor. "This stuff is stifling," she mutters. "Should've dropped it down a deep hole hours ago." (Without the hat and the shapeless armor, she is startlingly lovely, despite the wan face and sweaty limbs. Or perhaps because of them.) "A bit of rain will be a relief. Although I suspect our fastidious friend there"--she nods toward Noriaki--"will still want a real bath."

[sblock=various OOC stuff]The Pict is of the opinion that you'll bump into the water source you were looking for if you continue following the ridge southish. Although the need for water is not as desperate as you first thought.

Kane has his own map of the places he's been. If the characters spend some time discussing each others' travels, I'll consolidate these maps (I won't require everyone to attempt to describe every last detail IC).

jbear: I'm happy to find items to give Kane. You can still create a list later if you find something you really want him to have. Remember to tell me if you plan to change his proficiencies.

Also, if you're having trouble keeping track of the NPCs, there's a list of them in the first post in this thread.[/sblock]

Kane swallows hard as Aerys unbuckles her armour, staring with open admiration, seemingly completely unaware that he is doing so. His stutter returns worse than ever.

"A-ae-ae ... A-ae ... y-ye-yes, a b-b-bath. Y-you n-n-need a b-b-bath."

Kane turns a quite alarming red that borders on purple as though air had ceased to reach his lungs. He spins on his heels and walks straight back into the webs he was just freed from, covering himself from head to foot with the sticky webs once more. He struggles with them with a complete lack of dignity, completely flustered before breaking free and finding a conveniantly distant place to remain near the group but hidden from Aerys' line of sight, where he waits to get moving.

If asked he willingly shares any knowledge he has about what he has seen of the island so far. it takes him a moment to get going, but once he begins flicking his magical coin in the air for a few moments he calms down and the words stutter out at a less frustrating pace.

[sblock=OOC] Mewness, that's grand. By proficiencies I guess you mean skills Kane is trained in right? Well, I imagine Arcana is probably covered by our Bard but it's hard to imagine a wizard that isn't trained in arcana. If you think it will benefit the group maybe I could swap Nature fro Dungeoneering or Religion. I like for my characters to be able to climb their own wall, so Athletics has to stay. Endurance ... hmm ... I prefer to keep that as well, to be honest. I may or may not retrain it at lvl 2 depending on how useful it has proved to be or not. So, nature would be the one, if I were to change anything, I think. I'm guessing we have nature well covered having a swarm druid in the group. Alright, good call, let's change nature for religion. [/sblock]