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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 2817740" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Eleven, “Taking the Ship”, August 6th, 1018 1:00 P.M. Meanwhile, back in Gotham City, the Penguin has glued Batman and Robin onto a giant…ops, wrong story. Back on the ship Molly III, in the ship's hold, the human guard assigned to watch the kids is also fairly intolerant of children, and demands complete silence. An hour later he is replaced by another human. This human is much friendlier, which annoys thirteen-year-old Henry Junior even more. Henry demands "diapers, food, and bandages" which the man, who calls himself Craig, leaves to get. Young Horatio is sent back out the door, to the ladder down to the bilge deck, where is opens up the rear bilge doors (to both slow the ship and leave a trail of bilge water). The others use the time to complete the weapon, which is hidden before Craig returns. Back above deck, prisoner and crew member Fritz manages to adjust the bow sail in such a way that it flies loose, and scrapes along the ship. He and his ally Richard pull it up, telling their guards that it is ruined, and that they need to get it's replacement, from the bow storage locker. They check with the Mage, the only enemy aboard who appears to know anything about ships, who allows them to retrieve it. While in the compartment, Fritz pulls out the new sail, and opens it up, throwing the ends to Richard and their two bugbear guards. Shielded by the sail, Fritz opens the door to the weapons locker within the storage locker and grabs four daggers, which he stuffs into his boots and his belt under his shirt. They exit the room, and replace the sail, Fritz stashing the daggers on deck. They head back to the locker to put away the damaged sail, Fritz using the same technique to obtain four more daggers. During the next few hours he manages to distribute a dagger to each of his crew on deck so that all six are now armed (Fritz and Gorski each keeping two). Lothar signals Vincenzo that they are now all armed. After a while, two of the six bugbear guards are sent below. In the other cabin below, the Silver Moon crewmembers Bruce (the human), Jonathan and Toshiro had been placed in a rear windowless cabin, and had been told by a human enemy to "get some sleep, you'll be working on deck all night". An alert and well-armed bugbear guard was locked into the room with them. After six hours later this guard is now replaced by a bugbear that is far less attentive. Seeing this as an opportunity, the three launch an attack. Toshio uses the "waste bucket" provided to them, then flings it and its contents into the bugbear's face. The other two tackle the monster, grabbing his longsword as Toshiro throws a hammock cord around the monster's neck, and begins to garrote him. The three soon kill the guard, but find he has no key to unlock the door. They spend the next hour using the sword to quietly carve away the doorframe where the lock mechanism is mounted. They stop when a pair of bugbear approach, the bugbears entering the adjacent cabin to them, which they then hear the previously seen human say "get to sleep", and soon silence. The three crewmembers, Bruce (the human), Jonathan and Toshiro, eventually exit the room, going into the hallway and finding a ladder up, ladder down, and doors to both the adjacent room and ship's hold. They head down to the bilge deck, finding the two rear upper bilge doors open, and decide they could escape out them in an emergency. They then hear movement above, so remain quiet. They hear footsteps entering the hold, then leaving a few rounds later. Meanwhile, in the hold, a bugbear shows up and orders Craig topside. The bugbear is then locked into the room with the kids. The three escaped crewmembers head back up from the bilge deck, taking with them two of the four wooden bars holding open the aft bilge doors, to use as clubs. They decide to first check out the other aft cabin, finding three sleeping enemies, a human and two bugbears. Up on top of the ship, the Mage calls Craig over to take over with the ship's wheel. The mage then polymorphs himself into a seagull, and flies away. Vincenzo is signaled to this, and concurs with Fritz to launch an attack soon with the mage is well away and the odds are even (seven enemies to seven allies on the top deck). In the cabin below, Toshiro uses the commandeered longsword to stab into the sleeping human, as Jonathan and Bruce throw the other hammocks atop the faces of the two sleeping bugbears. Jonathan then notices a scimitar on the floor, beside the enemy human, and grabs for it. As he raises the weapon to attack, the room fills up with light from the scimitar, so Bruce shut the cabin door. Toshiro continues to stab into the now awake and very wounded human. The bugbear Bruce is attacking lashes out at him, knocking him back. Toshiro and Jonathan both slash into the human, killing him, but also leaving Jonathan vulnerable to an attack by the other bugbear, which knocks him unconscious. As Jonathan falls, he drops the magic scimitar, causing the light to go out. Toshiro tries to grab where he saw the scimitar fall, but is then attacked by one of the bugbears, knocking him unconscious. Bruce and one of the bugbears manage to grab the scimitar simultaneous. After a struggle, Bruce manages to hit the bugbear with it and get him to release the weapon. The room once again erupts in light, with Bruce now seeing himself alone against two bugbears. He opens the door to exit the room. He quickly throws open the hatchway to the bilge deck, as the first bugbear catches up to him. Bruce strikes this already wounded bugbear, dropping him, and continues down to the ladder to the bilge deck, slashing into the other bugbear and then closes the bilge door behind him, locking it. As this bugbear then heads topside, Bruce makes his way aft, and exits the ship via the bilge doors, managing to hold on to the rear of the ship along a thin railing. In the hold, alerted to the sounds of battle outside the door, the Bugbear guarding the kids approaches the door and bangs on it, asking what is going on. With his back to the children, thirteen-year olds Henry Junior and Janet attack him. Henry uses a bucket to attack, and Janet their improvised cat-of-nine-tails weapon. The bugbear turns, and draws his sword, slashing Henry across the chest. Henry falls back, very wounded. Janet completes three successful attacks with the cat-o-nine tales. Having inherited exceptional strength from both of her parents (Buella and Phuddipeduzh) these three successive attacks are enough to bring the bugbear down. The kids grab up his weapons, as Vincenzo Junior uses the bandages on Henry's wound. They soon find the other dead enemies and the unconscious bodies of Toshiro and Richard, who Vincenzo Junior starts to bind the wounds of. The wounded bugbear from below wakes the up three bugbears and an enemy adventurer sleeping in the captain's cabin, and continues out above deck. Those above deck had been waiting until the enemy mage had flow completely out of sight to launch their own attack, but take the appearance of the wounded bugbear calling an alert as the signal to begin their attack. This is due in part to this bugbear's screaming catching the attention of all of the enemies, who turn their backs to the party to hear what the bugbear is yelling about. Vincenzo casts a "Prayer" spell as Fritz tosses a dagger into the half-orc fighter near him. Gorski, Albert, and Lothar each charge into their own bugbear guards. Michael tackles the enemy cleric to prevent him from getting off a spell. Richard charges the half-orc fighter. As the enemies turn to retaliate, Vincenzo successfully casts a Hold Person spell on the half-orc fighter. Fritz and Richard move on to the Bugbear fighting Gorski, which is good as Gorski is nearly unconscious at this point. Gorski retreats once the reinforcements arrive. Albert has sprung a trap he laid out with ship's rope and rigging, catching his bugbear foe. The cleric manages to toss Michael off of him and overboard, Michael grabbing onto the ship's railing at the last minute. Albert throws his dagger into the Cleric to prevent a spell from getting off. Vincenzo has now climbed on board, and throws a Silence onto the enemy cleric. The cleric retreats into the captain's cabin, with both Albert and Michael following right behind him. Vincenzo's next Hold Person successfully takes out the enemy Craig, who is piloting the ship. Lothar manages to drop his foe, after first taking fifteen points of damage. He grabs the bugbear's sword, and finishes off both the bugbear that Albert had tangled up and the wounded one. By now, Richard and Fritz have eliminated the other two bugbears. Vincenzo pulls himself aboard and casts his last Dispel Magic to transform himself back into human form, then casts an Aid spell on himself. Shield and mace in hand, the now naked Chaotic Good cleric charges towards the Captain's cabin. Below, Janet has been holding back the doorway to above, while having the other children retreat to the rear cabin. She eventually lets go, dropping down and through the open door to the bilge deck, as an enemy bugbear climbs down the ladder after her. As the other two wait to go down the ladder, the enemy cleric charges into that room, and orders a bugbear to attack Albert and Michael behind him. The bugbear does as told, lashing out much damage into those behind him. The cleric heads below, followed by one of the bugbears, with Michael close behind. Vincenzo arrives and helps Albert drop his bugbear foe. Janet climbs back up from the bilge deck, on a ladder on the opposite side of the ship, rejoining the other children. Armed with their enemies' weapons, the children Janet, Oblong, Tanya and Silas Junior now charge at the bugbear and the cleric. Michael knocks the last bugbear heading down the ladder off, causing him to fall and lodge his shoulder into the doorway to the bilge deck. Michael drops on him, and stabs into the monster. The remaining bugbear strikes Silas Junior with a massive slash in the chest, dropping him. Vincenzo Junior rushes to him, and quickly concludes that his friend is dying. Picking his friend up, Vincenzo Junior walks towards the battle in the next room, catching his father's attention. Vincenzo breaks off from his attack on the cleric, leaving Tanya and Janet to continue the fight, and manages to cast a Cure Serious Wounds spell on the boy to keep him from being dead. Albert charges in to assist the two young girls, as Janet gets struck. The bugbear now takes on all three foes, as the cleric decides to retreat, and makes his way back up the ladder to the Captain's cabin, as the silence spell on him ends. The bugbear soon falls under the onslaught and Vincenzo charges back upstairs after the cleric, catching him and another enemy adventurer in the midst of a Plane Shift spell. Vinnie throws a Dispel Magic at them, but is not able to get it off into to stop the Plane Shift, and the two enemies disappear. The party spends the next ten minutes gathering themselves together. Vinnie casting his remaining Cures on Toshio and Michael. The bodies of the bugbears and dead enemy are stripped and tossed overboard. The two enemies who were held are stripped, tied up, and brought to the hold. Fritz turns the ship around. Vincenzo tells the kids that "You've earned your Silver Moon rings today." Gorski is sent below deck to close the bilge doors. Outside of the doors, Bruce the Human is still clinging onto the ship, and assumes that this hand closing the doors is the enemy, and prepares to strike him with the magical scimitar. Vincenzo Junior points out to his father all of the healing work that he did during the battles, to which Vinnie replies “Atsa my boy!” Junior reminds his father of the two prisoners the kids are watching down in the ship’s hold. Vincenzo and Michael head down below to question them. They speak to Craig, the human who had been nicer to the children, finding him to be rather elusive, and giving answers that appear to be lies. Vincenzo Junior cautions him “It is a bad thing to lie to my father, you end up having to stand in the corner for an hour.” Vincenzo informs the man that he actually faces consequences for lying that are worse than a time out.” When asked why they attack the island and kidnapped the children, Craig says that they were trying to actually protect the children by taking them out of the way so that they wouldn’t inadvertently get in the line of fire of other battles now taking place on the island. Vinnie sarcastically answers “Outta the way huh, like they weren’t hostages or anything?” Craig continues to give “I don’t know” as the answer to most questions, claiming that only his leader, a 15th level mage named Etronne, knows what is really going on. Craig does reveal that he and Etronne were the only two of the sixteen enemies on board with prior ship experience. The group decides to keep a rotating two-person guard on these prisoners. Vincenzo heads off to sleep in the Captain’s cabin. The party passes out the armor and magical weapons obtained from the prisoners, giving them to Vincenzo, Fritz, Michael and Lothar. Janet, Tanya and Alicia cook supper for everyone. The other kids assist the crew at watching out for the mage (which is actually too late, as the mage is already back on board, now hiding in the crow’s nest). Fritz steers the ship, and Gorski now takes a lookout up position in the crow’s nest (where Etronne immediately puts him to sleep, and then changes his own appearance to match that of Gorski).</blockquote>

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