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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 4721997" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Interludes #8] Boarding Party[/PLAIN]"Well I guess we go explore the deathspider, Del," Maleko said nervously. Held immobile by the length of chain, Del managed a single small nod."Sounds good," he croaked, looking sideways at the elf. "Let's do it.""See now, Shroud," Captain Grawl sneered. "All we needed to do was find the proper means of persuadin' our 'employers' and they jumped to right quick!" He signaled to the kyton and the chain holding Del dropped to the deck and slithered back to the devil like a snake. It wound its way up Shroud's leg and disappeared amongst the other links.Del, bent slightly with hands on knees, breathing heavily. "We'll need to collect our weapons and armor," he said after a moment and Grawl smiled, indicating the hatch to below decks with a flourish of false gentility."Of course you do," he said."I imagine that Grawl's happy to be rid of us," Del said as he tightened a strap on his chainmail. Maleko nodded without looking up from his packing."We went to the well once too often challenging Grawl," he sighed. "We gave him little choice by questioning his knowledge and decisions so many times."Del turned on the elf, tossing his scabbarded longsword onto Maleko's bed as he did so."Questioning his knowledge?" he snapped, incredulous. "He stopped his ship upon seeing the deathspider; no attack forced him to abandon his course. Then he suggests you and I take the risk of securing the ship - a ship they won't even approach? And for what? Nothing more than we could carry? That's trollsh*t. We did nothing more than press him for our gear - a reasonable thing given what he was suggesting we do." Maleko ignored his companion's outburst, and busied himself with his gear. Near the door, Cerrakean snorted."I am not one to turn down a potential fight but I have recently learned to be somewhat more humble," she observed and crossed her arms. "Seems to me that spidership is a bad ass trap waiting for some unsuspecting dolts and this "captain" is simply looking for a bit of amusement. If we die, he loses nothing and if we live, he gains.""I think that your assessment of the captain's motive is correct," Maleko told her. "He seeks maximum profit for the least risk. It is a common motivation among businessmen." Del snorted."So Grawl's a businessman, now?" he asked. "And if we opt to end the bargain now without that final payment, would he be that much more motivated to just kill us outright?""Perhaps," Maleko said. "Sometimes you can predict a man's actions by the actions of the ones surrounding him. But I'm not sure that will help us here.""Well then, do we pay him and let him go which probably means he drops out of the picture until there are spoils to commandeer?" Del asked. "Or do we explore the deathspider as he wants?""If the two of you want to explore that ship, I will fight with you. And I am quite sure we WILL be fighting," Cerrakean assured them, stretching like a lion. "But seems to me we are better off heading off this ship on our own." Del nodded, considering."We are where we needed to be, more or less. And I agree, we're better off without him," the half elf told them as he strapped on his longsword. "But, as much as I hate to say this, we probably shouldn't burn that bridge any more than it already is. Maybe Grawl would step in to assist us if it meant saving his investment.""Perhaps," Maleko said again. Then he lowered his voice and added. "I've been considering the possibility of taking the deathspider as our own to cruise the astral.""It's like no ship I've ever seen. Could you pilot such a thing?" Del asked, his own volume matching Maleko's. The elf shrugged easily, but the gleam in his eyes betrayed his underlying excitement with the possibility."I won't know until I see it," he said. "Up close." Del met the elf's eyes and grinned at his companion's barely-contained enthusiasm.Shaking his head ruefully he said, "I too would like to explore the deathspider, but I'm a little concerned that we'll have no cover while approaching it. Unless we have invisibility spells or something." He looked at Maleko and the elf shook his head. "Well we need to have a plan; rremember what the neogi are famous for. I don't want to end up like Jinissi. Any ideas?""Not to put too fine a point on it, Marshall," Cerrakean said as she dug in her ear with her pinkie finger. "But isn't that your job? You can point me at the bad guys an' be sure that I'll take 'em down, but I'm not much of one for planning." Del sighed."Well whatever the plan, we need be on our guard," he said. "if we decide to go ahead and explore that deathspider, you can be certain Grawl will attack us when we're through."Using Jinissi's knowledge of the deathspider's layout, Del was able to formulate a quick plan of approach that left them exposed to enemy fire for the least amount of time. Short of magic that they didn't have, however, there was no way to traverse the distance between the two ships without any exposure at all, so it was a tense "sprint" across the void for all of them. The lizard woman went first, followed by Del, Maleko, and Cerrakean. Jinissi was slow even in flight, and Del was obliged to slow his own pace lest their ranks bunch up and present too tempting a target to any area of effect spells. He'd seen Flame Strikes and Cloudkills take out entire units of troops on the battlefield and although the astral sea required that he think in an entirely new set of dimensions, he knew that the same risk from spellcasters would apply.They made the rush from ship to ship without incident, alighting on a balcony that ran along the middle of the swollen "belly" of the spider ship. There was a nearly invisible door set in the hull and Jinissi crouched down beside it and unfurled a leather bundle of shiny metal tools. Using these she quickly went to work on a lock that was cunningly concealed in the hull beside the door.While she worked Del had a few moments to study the hull closer and he was amazed. The entire ship appeared to be made of some sort of smooth ceramic material... or perhaps it really was the carapace of a gargantuan spider. Whatever the case, it looked to be without seam that he could spot. Even the balcony on which they stood seemed to grow directly from the main hull itself without a break. He couldn't even begin to imagine the feat of shipbuilding necessary to construct such a vessel.A soft click from the door drew him back to the task at hand and he look at Jinissi just as the lizard woman was rolling up her bundle of tools. She stood and her tongue flicked the air."I disabled the trap on this door," she told them in a sibilant whisper. "The inner doors should be clean apart from the officers' quarters on the middle deck. Beware opening one unless I've checked it first." Cerrakean chuckled softly."Lizard girl, any desire to explore beyond this ship?" the hobgoblin said quietly. "You would be welcome to join us, in my opinion." Jinissi turned her one eye on Cerrakean and a transparent eyelid blinked quickly across it."No," she said with simple finality and the hobgoblin shrugged."Be ready," Del said. "Remember that these neogi can dominate your mind. But focus on the task at hand and I'm sure that you'll find the Force of Will to resist them.""Oh, I'll focus on the task at hand all right," Cerrakean grinned and drew her scimitars.Del looked at Maleko and the elf nervously licked his thin lips once then nodded. The wand he gripped in one hand was steady; the longsword in his other was not but Del did not mention it. Instead he nodded to Jinissi and the lizard woman pressed a hidden catch causing the door to spring open.It slammed forcibly into Del, almost sending him toppling backward over the balcony's railing. Maleko lashed out a steadying arm, righting the half-elf before he fell. A massive creature flopped out through the door and Cerrakean darted forward, stabbing with her scimitar so quickly that Del didn't even see the sword move. It was just suddenly buried half-a-foot into the head of what Del assumed was an umber hulk. It was large and covered with chitinous armor and stiff, bristling hair. Its head bore a pair of mandibles that were the equal of Cerrakean's scimitars in size. Two pairs of eyes, one small and humanoid, the other large and multi-facetted like an insect, dominated the rest of the skull. The hobgoblin's blade had sunk into the rightmost eye, shattering it in the process.The blow would have killed it if it hadn't been already dead.The shell of its armored chest was covered with cracks and bore a rent on one side from which ichor-slicked meat protruded. There were half a dozen scorched holes pock-marking its breast and shoulder."Magic Missile strikes," Maleko assessed with a glance."It hasn't been dead long," Cerrakean told them and started to move through the hatchway to the ship's interior, but Jinissi managed to slither through ahead of her.The only warning of the attack was nine musical notes whistled from the darkness. Then a flying kick sent Jinissi staggering backward onto the balcony. She collided with Cerrakean and the hobgoblin kept her on her feet.Her attacker appeared in the doorway, a point of sudden stillness amidst a swirl of black fabric. His face was pale as milk, and strangely formed with only the barest suggestion of a nose and eyes like liquid night. He smiled and extended one hand in a beckoning gesture.Behind him those whistled notes came again, this time followed by a man's voice singing, "Everybody was Kung-Fu fighting!"</blockquote>

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