After deciding on a plan, you put the Cat ashore in a small cove surrounded by rushes. It isn't necessarily hidden, but it is the best that could be found upriver of the stranded boat. You gear up with your weaponry in anticipation of a fight, but MacLynn insists that you bring several shovels in case it is just a matter of a stuck raft.
The slight breeze still rustles the leaves in the oaks in the surrounding forest, and the cottonwoods along the banks add to the gentle melody of the river sounds. The six crew members of the Blackwater Cat climb aboard three canoes, with the Captain of the Cat taking a place at the front of one canoe. He stands tall, so as to be recognized by the the crew of the stranded boat.
The trip downriver to Maeger's craft was relatively short, and as you approach, there doesn't seem to be anyone on board. When you have come within 30 yards of the other vessel, MacLynn shouts "Maeger, is everything alright?" There is a pause as you canoes drift closer to the stuck raft, but eventually there comes a reply.
"Yes, mostly. I wasn't sure it was you, Guidry. We have run into a little trouble on the river this trip, and this sandbar was not the start of it." MacLynn visibly relaxes when he hears the voice. As the man you assume to be Maeger speaks, you notice two red haired archers, obviously brothers, step from behind crates on the raft, easing the arrows in their bows. Another man with a scruffy beard and a notched sword stands up from behind another crate. Beside him, a middle aged man with a thick black beard rises from a crouch behind a stack of rolled carpets covered in a tarp. He is holding a crossbow, but it is pointed at the deck. All of them are quite muddy. "I lost three crewmen yesterday to bandits. We repelled them, but it left me a little short on deckhands. That is why we ran aground here on this sandbar. I could use some help getting off of it."
"We are here to help, and I would like to get you out before those bandits come back. We ran into them as well, just this morning. I am not eager to face them again. How can we help?" MacLynn is back to his usual brusk, businesslike manner.
[SBLOCK=OOC]This is intended to be a Skill Challenge, only we will be running it a little different than core rules. There will be three "rounds" to this Skill challenge. Each character is expected to act in each "round". In general, this challenge is physical in nature, and should mostly depend on the Acrobatics, Athletics, Endurance, and Thievery (for mechanics) skills. These skills can be used any number of times. Creative uses of Heal, any Social skill, or any Knowledge skill will be allowed, but only once per each character. Any creative use of any other skill may be used only once during this Skill challenge. I will decide what is creative after the check is made and description is written, and each of these may or may not count, depending on the effort that goes into making these non-standard skill uses believable. I will also add +2 to each skill check that is really well played.
The DC for each skill check is 18. Natural 20 is an automatic double success. Every character is expected to make a skill check on their turn. Choose a skill, make a roll, describe it how you like within reason and within the bounds of what the dice results are, add details to the world to help make the description interesting, and collect successes. I will not be counting failures, only successes, that way no one should be afraid to attempt to contribute. The stuck raft should only become free after you have gotten enough successes, and only after the third "round", so I will describe that. I will secretly be counting the number of successes, with success being the raft is freed, and failure being........[/SBLOCK]
