Deep Water and Shoals - A Swashbuckling Campaign
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Bob Aberton
First Post
Jonah,
Although your shot feels like a miss as soon as you squeeze the trigger, Captain McCrenshaw, seeing you take aim, hurls one of his half-loaded pistols at the wolf's head. The wolf, though not hurt by the attack, makes a move toward Captain McCrenshaw...
...and steps right into your shot. A spreading bloodstain appears at the base of the wolf's neck.
Antheos, though hampered by his wounded shoulder, stabs at the wolf again, missing this time. The wolf turns on him and in a flash of fangs, rips out the shantyman's throat. Apparently loosing its frustration at being harried from three sides on Antheos, it lifts him up by the neck and shakes him, like "a split jib in a squall." A fine mist of blood sprays everywhere. The shantyman gives one last wide-eyed gurgle, and dies. Messily.
The wolf then turns, realizing that it is now outnumbered by its erstwhile prey, and dashes off into the still foggy woods, dragging Antheos's body with it.
An eery silence settles over the campsite. The dying fire illuminates the body of a Standishtowner, a wolf, and two grugach. The entire clearing is liberally spattered with blood, and smells a bit like a charnel-house. A trail of blood leading away into the dark forest shows where the wolf took Antheos' body.
Although your shot feels like a miss as soon as you squeeze the trigger, Captain McCrenshaw, seeing you take aim, hurls one of his half-loaded pistols at the wolf's head. The wolf, though not hurt by the attack, makes a move toward Captain McCrenshaw...
...and steps right into your shot. A spreading bloodstain appears at the base of the wolf's neck.
Antheos, though hampered by his wounded shoulder, stabs at the wolf again, missing this time. The wolf turns on him and in a flash of fangs, rips out the shantyman's throat. Apparently loosing its frustration at being harried from three sides on Antheos, it lifts him up by the neck and shakes him, like "a split jib in a squall." A fine mist of blood sprays everywhere. The shantyman gives one last wide-eyed gurgle, and dies. Messily.
The wolf then turns, realizing that it is now outnumbered by its erstwhile prey, and dashes off into the still foggy woods, dragging Antheos's body with it.
An eery silence settles over the campsite. The dying fire illuminates the body of a Standishtowner, a wolf, and two grugach. The entire clearing is liberally spattered with blood, and smells a bit like a charnel-house. A trail of blood leading away into the dark forest shows where the wolf took Antheos' body.
Xael
First Post
Jonah picks up hit own pistol (I've lost count on them) and gets up, breathing heavily and looking around. He starts to reaload the pistols and steers the light globes to search the forest the little time they still exist. He looks at the captain and says in a voice that is both silent but still too loud in the silence: "Captain... What do we do now?"
Bob Aberton
First Post
Jonah,
The Captain looks around as well. For a moment, he looks as lost and hopeless as you feel. Instinctively, however, he takes a deep breath and pulls himself together, with the air of a man who's been in a number of tight situations.
"I'm not sure, Jonah...but I'd give both arms an' a leg t' be at sea again..." He surveys the campsite once more. "Damn! Yellow bellies had our provisions an' our spare ammunition wi' them on th' raft. I've two more cartridges for each of my pistols; what about you?"
He digs in his pockets, and pulls out a small, ragged piece of paper, faded almost beyond recognition.
"What a hurrah's-nest this is," he mutters, squinting at it. "Them clamdiggers're as smart as they are brave, it seems...looks like we have two choices, though...town's 60 miles downriver, so our only choice is to try t' get t' th' plantation. Either way, it ain't goin' to be easy.
I'm not goin' to make a decision without y'r opinion, Jonah," the Captain says at last. "I don't want t' be responsible for leadin' you to y'r death against y'r better jedgement. We can either follow the river upriver t' th' plantation. We go that we, it'll be maybe 45, 50 miles; one hell of a walk. On t'other hand, we won't have to worry about grugach ambushin' us from all sides, just three sides, and th' goin'll be easier.
Or, we can strike out due East, right through the middle o' the forest. That'd be only 15 miles, 20 at most. But we don't have a compass, the goin'll be harder, and there'll be grugach doggin' our heels.
What do you think we should do?"
The Captain looks around as well. For a moment, he looks as lost and hopeless as you feel. Instinctively, however, he takes a deep breath and pulls himself together, with the air of a man who's been in a number of tight situations.
"I'm not sure, Jonah...but I'd give both arms an' a leg t' be at sea again..." He surveys the campsite once more. "Damn! Yellow bellies had our provisions an' our spare ammunition wi' them on th' raft. I've two more cartridges for each of my pistols; what about you?"
He digs in his pockets, and pulls out a small, ragged piece of paper, faded almost beyond recognition.
"What a hurrah's-nest this is," he mutters, squinting at it. "Them clamdiggers're as smart as they are brave, it seems...looks like we have two choices, though...town's 60 miles downriver, so our only choice is to try t' get t' th' plantation. Either way, it ain't goin' to be easy.
I'm not goin' to make a decision without y'r opinion, Jonah," the Captain says at last. "I don't want t' be responsible for leadin' you to y'r death against y'r better jedgement. We can either follow the river upriver t' th' plantation. We go that we, it'll be maybe 45, 50 miles; one hell of a walk. On t'other hand, we won't have to worry about grugach ambushin' us from all sides, just three sides, and th' goin'll be easier.
Or, we can strike out due East, right through the middle o' the forest. That'd be only 15 miles, 20 at most. But we don't have a compass, the goin'll be harder, and there'll be grugach doggin' our heels.
What do you think we should do?"
Xael
First Post
"I should have some...", Jonah says while he digs some bullets from his pouches and hands them to the captain. He then proceeds to secure all the weaponry lying at the ground (I remember there being at least one musket). Hearing the options, he sighs and says: "I don't know captain, I'm not really familiar with forests. If we went towards the plantation by the river, we could still get done what we came here to do. I'd hate have come here for nothing. I think I vote for going towards the plantation."
He then digs his pouches some more, and proceeds to give a dark potion bottle to the captain. "You're hurt, and I owe you one."
"You think the grugach might have carried anything useful?"
OOC: Gave the captain 6 bullets and a Cure Light Wounds Potion. And just how many guns are there?
Note to self: Pick up Intuit Direction, Wilderness Lore and Deflect Arrows.
He then digs his pouches some more, and proceeds to give a dark potion bottle to the captain. "You're hurt, and I owe you one."
"You think the grugach might have carried anything useful?"
OOC: Gave the captain 6 bullets and a Cure Light Wounds Potion. And just how many guns are there?
Note to self: Pick up Intuit Direction, Wilderness Lore and Deflect Arrows.
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Bob Aberton
First Post
Jonah,
The captain takes a deep draught of your potion, and he stops bleeding quite so much; all of his arrow grazes heal up, but he still limps where the wolf bit his leg.
"Thank you kindly, Jonah," he says gratefully. "An' I'm glad you want t' press on...we shan't let some arrow happy cutlass-eared mangy wolf-lovin' bastards cheat us out o' our cargo..."
The grugach are all fairly barbaric in appearance, clad in some kind of shining, almost metallic furs, and carrying beautifully crafted bows and flint daggers almost too sharp to be mundane knives.
One of the elves, the spellcaster you shot, is wearing an odd silver pendant. It is fashioned in the shape of a gleaming wolf's head, with some kind of gems - emeralds or some such - for eyes. You almost feel as though the eyes were watching you.
The elves also carry more mundane items; fruit and bread wrapped in leaves, leather water flasks, flint and steel, and some sort of herbs, probably for healing.
They must have been a hunting party, as they are lightly equipped and certainly not up to facing determined, armed resistance without suffering heavy losses.
The captain, meanwhile, takes two of your bullets and hands back the rest.
"Keep these close at hand; you don't know when you'll need 'em next...you'd better take the musket, too; there's only 2 bullets for thet, though..."
(OOC: Knowledge Arcana check or Use Magic Device check, please...and the final tally of the firearms is:
4 pistols (2 of Capt. McCrenshaw's, 1 of Antheo's, 1 of yours)
1 musket (only 2 more bullets for the musket) )
The captain takes a deep draught of your potion, and he stops bleeding quite so much; all of his arrow grazes heal up, but he still limps where the wolf bit his leg.
"Thank you kindly, Jonah," he says gratefully. "An' I'm glad you want t' press on...we shan't let some arrow happy cutlass-eared mangy wolf-lovin' bastards cheat us out o' our cargo..."
The grugach are all fairly barbaric in appearance, clad in some kind of shining, almost metallic furs, and carrying beautifully crafted bows and flint daggers almost too sharp to be mundane knives.
One of the elves, the spellcaster you shot, is wearing an odd silver pendant. It is fashioned in the shape of a gleaming wolf's head, with some kind of gems - emeralds or some such - for eyes. You almost feel as though the eyes were watching you.
The elves also carry more mundane items; fruit and bread wrapped in leaves, leather water flasks, flint and steel, and some sort of herbs, probably for healing.
They must have been a hunting party, as they are lightly equipped and certainly not up to facing determined, armed resistance without suffering heavy losses.
The captain, meanwhile, takes two of your bullets and hands back the rest.
"Keep these close at hand; you don't know when you'll need 'em next...you'd better take the musket, too; there's only 2 bullets for thet, though..."
(OOC: Knowledge Arcana check or Use Magic Device check, please...and the final tally of the firearms is:
4 pistols (2 of Capt. McCrenshaw's, 1 of Antheo's, 1 of yours)
1 musket (only 2 more bullets for the musket) )
Xael
First Post
Jonah nods to the captain and picks up the musket and Antheos's pistol, unless captain wants it. He also takes flint & steel from the bodies, as he doesn't have one and they might be of use, and two of their daggers as a memory. Two water flasks might come handy too. He also takes a look at the pendant, and takes it off the spellcaster-elf to see better. After all that, he fetches his backpack from their camp (well he certainly wouldn't have left it in the raft).
"I take it that we're leaving immediately, captain?"
OOC: Knowledge (Arcana) roll: 15 + 8 = 23
Question: Does the backpack (and the stuff inside) count as a one item. Just thinking about putting it to the glove of storing (it's heavy). And more importantly, would that couse a rift to astral space that would suck all close matter to the astral plane?
"I take it that we're leaving immediately, captain?"
OOC: Knowledge (Arcana) roll: 15 + 8 = 23
Question: Does the backpack (and the stuff inside) count as a one item. Just thinking about putting it to the glove of storing (it's heavy). And more importantly, would that couse a rift to astral space that would suck all close matter to the astral plane?
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Bob Aberton
First Post
Jonah,
The flint knives appear to have some minor magic on them to keep them sharp; the wolf's head pendant, on the other hand, has some kind of enchantment magic on it; it looks as though its function is to charm animals such as the wolves into acting as the retainers of the grugach.
"Don' want t' stay here longer'n's necessary," the captain says, looking around at the carnage. "Y' might want t' take one o' them branches from th' fire for light..."
The Captain puts away his map, muttering:
"Just criminal - don't they know men's lives depend on these maps..."
You push your way through the brush and undergrowth to the riverbank, and begin following, as best you can, the course of the lazily winding flow.
Meanwhile, in the east, over the forest and the distant green hills, the sun begins to rise.
(OOC: Make a Constitution check, please. Your overland movement rate, taking into account the terrain, is 12 miles/day. It will take you 22 hours to get to the plantation.
The backpack counts as one item, but because of its weight, it "fills up" the glove, in that nothing else can be put into the glove.)
Malachi, Malthas, Vemus, Bimzoole, Nicodemus, et al,
In the east, over the trackless forests that skirt Standishtown, the sun rises, attempting to peer through the wooly fog that veils the area.
A new day has begun.
The flint knives appear to have some minor magic on them to keep them sharp; the wolf's head pendant, on the other hand, has some kind of enchantment magic on it; it looks as though its function is to charm animals such as the wolves into acting as the retainers of the grugach.
"Don' want t' stay here longer'n's necessary," the captain says, looking around at the carnage. "Y' might want t' take one o' them branches from th' fire for light..."
The Captain puts away his map, muttering:
"Just criminal - don't they know men's lives depend on these maps..."
You push your way through the brush and undergrowth to the riverbank, and begin following, as best you can, the course of the lazily winding flow.
Meanwhile, in the east, over the forest and the distant green hills, the sun begins to rise.
(OOC: Make a Constitution check, please. Your overland movement rate, taking into account the terrain, is 12 miles/day. It will take you 22 hours to get to the plantation.
The backpack counts as one item, but because of its weight, it "fills up" the glove, in that nothing else can be put into the glove.)
Malachi, Malthas, Vemus, Bimzoole, Nicodemus, et al,
In the east, over the trackless forests that skirt Standishtown, the sun rises, attempting to peer through the wooly fog that veils the area.
A new day has begun.
Xael
First Post
Jonah puts the wolf pendant around his neck, hoping that it will keep wolves away. After that he follows the captain.
"Oh, great...", Jonah curses the sun, when it rises. He'd have preferred to march at night. Though that be harder to the captain... And why oh why did forests have to be so... forest-like?
OOC: Constitution check: 13
"Oh, great...", Jonah curses the sun, when it rises. He'd have preferred to march at night. Though that be harder to the captain... And why oh why did forests have to be so... forest-like?
OOC: Constitution check: 13
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