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Story Hour
The Dark Squad in the Secrets of Saltmarsh #136 Into the Mere of the Dead Men.
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<blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 9297674" data-attributes="member: 16069"><p style="text-align: center"><strong><span style="font-size: 26px">Dark Squad in the Secrets of Saltmarsh</span></strong></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">Session #130: Pirates Vs Dark Squad.</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Dark Squad (in alphabetical order, no egos here).</span></strong></p><p>Daktari/Dak (played by Haggis) Male Human Uthgardt Sky Pony Barbarian Lvl 9</p><p>Fellowyn Silverstream (played by George) Male Eladrin Wizard Bladesinger Lvl 9</p><p>New Tricks/Newt (played by Bear) Male Tabaxi Warlock Lvl 9</p><p>Ramshambo/Ram (played by Kev) Male Half-Elf Rogue/Fighter Lvl 7/2</p><p>Vincenzo/Vinnie (played by Haggis) Male Shifter (Wildhunt) Druid Lvl 9</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">DEAD PCs</span></strong></p><p><s>Nicholai Barbaros Kostyiev/Nicky (played by George) Male Dhampir Cleric of Twilight Lvl 8 </s>RIP</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">NPCs</span></strong></p><p><s>Inverna Nightbreeze (played by George) Female Wood Elf Fighter Lvl 8 (Sidekick) </s>RETIRED</p><p><s>Garumn Male Mountain Dwarf Paladin of Moradin Lvl 5 </s>RIP*</p><p><s>Tarbin Tul (played by goonalan) Male Human Bard </s>RETIRED</p><p><s>Ubmo (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 1</s> EXPLODED</p><p>Ubdug (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 2 (When we remember)</p><p>*Trapped in the Land of the Bad Dead Ancestors.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Servants/Familiars</span></strong></p><p>Gerald (Bat/Giant Bat) servant/mount of New Tricks</p><p>Owly (Owl) Vinnie’s familiar</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">The Dark Squad’s to-do list-</span></strong></p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The smuggler's ship will be turning up sometime between the 14th and 17th of Flamerule, the Dark Squad (and particularly Ram) are keen to meet the vessel, particularly Ram- why, because as the rogue said- “I'm getting a boat.”</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Find the other four Symbols of Ub, one was left in Deepbridge (Duergar fortress in the Underdark). The others need to be found, they belonged to- Rambles 'Shambles' Bowspirit (halfling killer from Lowhill), Antonio De La Crane (posh kid druid alchemist) & Giggles (crazy wood elf). All of these folk lived in the Saltmarsh region, the Dark Squad have found the De La Crane Manse (in the Dreadwood) and the De La Crane Crypt (in Saltmarsh Cemetery).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Nightshade is in the Deep Dreadwood- except she's not there anymore, but a big red dragon is?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Blackedge and the Goblin Stair?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">To join the Pact of the Wild Flame prepare the Witch's Tor for the coming of the starfall, the Witch's Tor is in the Drowned Forest, in the Mere of the Dead Men.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">To join the Pact of the Wild Flame track down the last member of the Pact, a wild elf adventurer called Giggles- and finally put her spirit to rest, and also recover her maze button. Location unknown. SEE 2. ABOVE.</li> </ol><p></p><p>This is session 130, and guess what, that’s right- fighting, fighting, fighting.</p><p></p><p>We started at 7.30-ish, the fight concluded at 10.56 PM, so just four minutes left in the session for the PCs to crow, and that’s your cracker.</p><p></p><p>Oh, and that’s right- the Dark Squad won, so- suspense over.</p><p></p><p>But for a good long while… I had ‘em on the ropes (maybe).</p><p></p><p>Here are the pictures, and just a few words- there’s only so much you can say about fighting, fighting, fighting.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353469[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Where are we at- the Dark Squad are on the pirate/smuggler’s ship- let’s go top to bottom and left to right with the image above. Top left(ish) a pirate in the water- thrown there by Gaspar, no doubt. Next row down there’s a cabin here with lizardfolk in it- the PCs have no idea why. Note, one of the lizardfolk seems to be a caster of some sort.</strong></p><p></p><p>Next up, that’s Were-Ram (he’s a wererat, and he speaks funny), the fat pirate boss to the left of Were-Ram has a hook for a hand, and the ability to hook/grab a PC and then pivot them on the spot- thereby delivering Ram to the waiting swords and blades of other pirates.</p><p></p><p>The Moonboar is just taking in the sights, while Gaspar (Vinnie’s Water Elemental friend) is kicking pirate backside- he keeps flinging my poor buggers off the boat.</p><p></p><p>Daktari has had enough of the pirate wizard, it’s a home invasion Daki-style, although the pirate wizard proves much harder to hit (with a little magical help he has an AC of 21).</p><p></p><p>Fellowyn is trying his best to stay out of the fracas, he’s down to his last 15-20 HP and at this point almost out of spells. Keep in mind he has successfully counterspelled all but one of the pirate wizard’s attacks (including at least two fourth level spells).</p><p></p><p>He’s very annoying.</p><p></p><p>The other pirate boss, just next to the ‘up’ is actually the captain of the ship, in reality he’s up on the poop deck (but it’s easier to have all combatants on just one map) and he’s firing poisoned crossbow bolts into anyone that gets too close- Newt has stopped a few of these already.</p><p></p><p>Speaking of which, Newt is north of this image, only a little way- but very much up, the warlock is still scooting around on his broom of flying.</p><p></p><p>Oh, but ignore Vinnie to the south of the ship, he’s not in play (the Moonboar is) but it’s handy to have his token in reach of proceedings.</p><p></p><p>So, here we all are again.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353470[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Ubdug has been having a rough time of it- it took him maybe five turns to climb up into the boat, and since then- well, he got off a great shatter spell but recently- Ubdug is pretty much getting killed every turn.</strong></p><p></p><p>And on the turns when he rematerializes, when he can take no other action other than to reassemble, well- Ubdug has been chatting a lot (still) with Ram.</p><p></p><p>Remember, Dalek voice.</p><p></p><p>“It is all so bleak, Ram!”</p><p></p><p>“Each time the end comes I am transported to an ashen plain, only zeroes as far as the eye can see, just… zeroes.”</p><p></p><p>Note, Ubdug (and Ubmo before him) are big fans of binary- they particularly like the ‘ones’, they’re not big fans of the ‘zeroes’ however, hence Ubdug’s lament.</p><p></p><p>Every time the modron dies he comes back with more tales from the dark/zero side.</p><p></p><p>“There is nothing, Ram! Many nothings- in all directions.”</p><p></p><p>“I am surrounded by nothings, Ram!”</p><p></p><p>Or else Ubdug just screams- “ZERO!” repeatedly, and at inconvenient moments.</p><p></p><p>It’s like the DM is trying to be funny/annoying.</p><p></p><p>Ubdug gets desperate.</p><p></p><p>More remarkably, now that Ubdug has been accepted by the Squad, then the other players are now much more sympathetic to the modron’s plight.</p><p></p><p>Spontaneously, towards the very end of the fight- at which point Ubdug has ‘died’ maybe half-a-dozen times (at least) Ram starts chanting- “One and one and one…</p><p></p><p>Incredibly all of the other players join in.</p><p></p><p>In a very odd way, it is delightful.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353471[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>We’ve moved on a bit- note the pirate wizard has joined the captain of the ship on the poop deck, how you ask- simples, the wizard seems able to teleport about the ship (or at least that’s initially what the PCs think), it’s actually just misty step he’s employing.</strong></p><p></p><p>The PCs figure this out about fifteen minutes from the end.</p><p></p><p>The Moonboar and Daktari have new targets as two more pirates emerge from their cabins and get into the fight, note the (stout) fellow positioned between the Moonboar and Dak is starkers- so, much easier to hit.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353472[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Gaspar gets into Whirlwind mode again; he’s actually positioned over the three targets shown.</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353473[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>The air elemental flings the enemies about.</strong></p><p></p><p>Alas Were-Ram is connected to the hook handed pirate boss, and so when the fat fellow is flung off the ship by Gaspar, Were-Ram is sent flying too.</p><p></p><p>Although he has water walking cast on him, and so he bounces (a bit, but still takes damage) when he lands on the water.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353474[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Were Ram is trying to get free (top left) of the hook handed pirate boss, he eventually succeeds, and also gets a few cuts in on the semi-submerged fat fellow.</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353475[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>But once Hooky is free of Were-Ram he dives down and swims away. Note, the PCs are really mopping up the pirates now.</strong></p><p></p><p>But here’s the thing- there were two flavours of pirate- the first a Thug-meets-Gladiator mash-up, the second variety a Spy meets Swashbuckler variant- with a nice sneak attack hit. They’re tough this mob, but… nowhere near as tough as pirate bosses here.</p><p></p><p>There are four pirate bosses, all of them with 20+ HD (the captain has 30+ HD). They all have good ACs, and each of them has two or three extra powers. The hook handed guy gets to restrain folk (with his hook) and then spin his target around (repeatedly) to reposition. The wizard- well, is a wizard. The captain of the ship makes speeches which dish out a bless like spell effect- only without the need for concentration checks; he also has the ability (every turn) to make his fellow pirates re-roll missed attacks.</p><p></p><p>Then there’s Bloody Bjorn- remember him, he went over the side in the opening moments of this fracas, well- I miss him. He has nearly as many HD as the captain- and he hits hard. Where’s he? Well, he’s not on any of the images seen so far- Fellowyn suggested he see how far he can swim down beneath the ship, but- he’ll be back.</p><p></p><p>Oh yes, he will.</p><p></p><p>Also note, the lizardfolk spellcaster (badly wounded) has also gone over the side of the ship- but of his own volition, he too is getting away.</p><p></p><p>In fact, it’s at this point that one or two of the PCs start to think- ‘I think we might want to capture one of these guy’s alive.”</p><p></p><p>That’s the chatter through what follows.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353476[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Here’s George’s giant screen-splay, and with the pirate captain and wizard seen on the poop deck.</strong></p><p></p><p>If you get in real close you should be able to see the following-</p><p></p><p>Ram has given up trying to get at the fat hook handed pirate boss, the wererat is heading back to the ship.</p><p></p><p>Daktari has taken a real beating- soon after the image the barbarian is reduced to just 3 hit points, in one turn he gets shot in the back by the pirate captain three times (with extra poison damage on all three hits).</p><p></p><p>Even the Moonboar has to dip inside the wizard pirate’s cabin to get out of the way of the artillery on the poop deck.</p><p></p><p>The pirate wizard about now is reduced to throwing out Ray’s of Frost, but they hurt too.</p><p></p><p>There’s a point here when several of the PCs are of the opinion that… we could lose this.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353477[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>And so Fellowyn makes a (very big) monkey out of Daktari again.</strong></p><p></p><p>Daky Kong!</p><p></p><p>The barbarian goes from having three hit points to having 159.</p><p></p><p>Bastard.</p><p></p><p>Note Fellowyn is down to less than ten hit points, he now has nothing but cantrips left, and so he spends most turns from hereon in hiding in the stinky lizardfolk’s former cabin. Stepping into the doorway only briefly to aim his firebolts (and the like).</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353478[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Bloody Bjorn climbs over the rail of the ship- dripping wet and very angry.</strong></p><p></p><p>“I’m BACK!”</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353479[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>And the next thing you know the Moonboar is down to just seven hit points left, and Vinnie doesn’t have another wildshape to use.</strong></p><p></p><p>It’s at this point I said- ‘you might be right; I could maybe win this…’</p><p></p><p>Note, the pirate wizard has also just misty stepped clear of Daky Kong.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353480[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>The Moonboar is gone- Vinnie is back, and Vinnie talks tough but he’s a very squishy PC- crap AC, not great hit points etc.</strong></p><p></p><p>Alas, just moments after the above image Gaspar and Daky Kong pulverises the pirate captain- dead.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353481[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>But now Daky Kong is beating on Bloody Bjorn- the big ape briefly tried throwing barrels (while George- who runs the sounds channel for our adventures/fights, played the Donkey Kong theme tune) but the big ape kept on missing.</strong></p><p></p><p>Also note Gaspar is gone, this after Vinnie took a hit a failed his concentration check.</p><p></p><p>Were Ram is going after the pirate wizard.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353482[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>The pirate wizard misty steps away again.</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353483[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>But Were Ram is not letting the fellow get away.</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353484[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>But moments later the pirate wizard dives into the briny and… he can breathe underwater.</strong></p><p></p><p>Fellowyn (water walking) and Newt (broom flying) are trying to blast the wizard to the surface.</p><p></p><p>Note, Vinnie has already had to disengage and retreat into a cabin- I told you he’s very squishy.</p><p></p><p>Keep in mind the PCs are still trying to secure a prisoner here.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]353485[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Bloody Bjorn has had enough- he too abandon’s ship.</strong></p><p></p><p>But Ubdug goes straight over the side- after the pirate, and moments later the modron makes only his second attack roll of the fight, he only made one attack (a devastating shatter spell) in the entire of the last session.</p><p></p><p>Ubdug (on just one hit point- his leap into the sea inflicted six points of damage, he has seven HP max) kills Bloody Bjorn.</p><p></p><p>And… there are no more pictures.</p><p></p><p>Were Ram ceases his water walking spell/ability, and then dives in and swims down to the pirate wizard (note Were Ram has water breathing already cast on him, he’s also wearing Mariner’s Armour)- the pair fight/flee/grab/grapple for about another three turns worth of action.</p><p></p><p>Descending deeper into the watery murk all the while.</p><p></p><p>Until eventually- the wizard (now down to only ten or so hit points) signals his surrender and points to the surface, Were Ram nods, and then lets the wizard swim up- at which point to cries of “Nooooooo!” from his colleagues around the VTT, Were Ram stabs the fellow in the back.</p><p></p><p>He’s dead Jim.</p><p></p><p>And that’s pretty much all we did last Tuesday night. I had a lot of fun- note, through the above, and on his every turn Were Ram was keeping up a creepy commentary of ongoing events. Remember all the PCs are telepathically linked.</p><p></p><p>“Us gonna stabby-stab him good, make ‘im bleed. Yes, sir. Bloody-bloody blood. Nice and red…”</p><p></p><p>Which was nice.</p><p></p><p>Stay safe and well you lovely people.</p><p></p><p>Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Goonalan, post: 9297674, member: 16069"] [CENTER][B][SIZE=7]Dark Squad in the Secrets of Saltmarsh[/SIZE][/B][/CENTER] [B][SIZE=6]Session #130: Pirates Vs Dark Squad.[/SIZE] [SIZE=5]Dark Squad (in alphabetical order, no egos here).[/SIZE][/B] Daktari/Dak (played by Haggis) Male Human Uthgardt Sky Pony Barbarian Lvl 9 Fellowyn Silverstream (played by George) Male Eladrin Wizard Bladesinger Lvl 9 New Tricks/Newt (played by Bear) Male Tabaxi Warlock Lvl 9 Ramshambo/Ram (played by Kev) Male Half-Elf Rogue/Fighter Lvl 7/2 Vincenzo/Vinnie (played by Haggis) Male Shifter (Wildhunt) Druid Lvl 9 [B][SIZE=5]DEAD PCs[/SIZE][/B] [S]Nicholai Barbaros Kostyiev/Nicky (played by George) Male Dhampir Cleric of Twilight Lvl 8 [/S]RIP [B][SIZE=5]NPCs[/SIZE][/B] [S]Inverna Nightbreeze (played by George) Female Wood Elf Fighter Lvl 8 (Sidekick) [/S]RETIRED [S]Garumn Male Mountain Dwarf Paladin of Moradin Lvl 5 [/S]RIP* [S]Tarbin Tul (played by goonalan) Male Human Bard [/S]RETIRED [S]Ubmo (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 1[/S] EXPLODED Ubdug (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 2 (When we remember) *Trapped in the Land of the Bad Dead Ancestors. [B][SIZE=5]Servants/Familiars[/SIZE][/B] Gerald (Bat/Giant Bat) servant/mount of New Tricks Owly (Owl) Vinnie’s familiar [B][SIZE=5]The Dark Squad’s to-do list-[/SIZE][/B] [LIST=1] [*]The smuggler's ship will be turning up sometime between the 14th and 17th of Flamerule, the Dark Squad (and particularly Ram) are keen to meet the vessel, particularly Ram- why, because as the rogue said- “I'm getting a boat.” [*]Find the other four Symbols of Ub, one was left in Deepbridge (Duergar fortress in the Underdark). The others need to be found, they belonged to- Rambles 'Shambles' Bowspirit (halfling killer from Lowhill), Antonio De La Crane (posh kid druid alchemist) & Giggles (crazy wood elf). All of these folk lived in the Saltmarsh region, the Dark Squad have found the De La Crane Manse (in the Dreadwood) and the De La Crane Crypt (in Saltmarsh Cemetery). [*]Nightshade is in the Deep Dreadwood- except she's not there anymore, but a big red dragon is? [*]Blackedge and the Goblin Stair? [*]To join the Pact of the Wild Flame prepare the Witch's Tor for the coming of the starfall, the Witch's Tor is in the Drowned Forest, in the Mere of the Dead Men. [*]To join the Pact of the Wild Flame track down the last member of the Pact, a wild elf adventurer called Giggles- and finally put her spirit to rest, and also recover her maze button. Location unknown. SEE 2. ABOVE. [/LIST] This is session 130, and guess what, that’s right- fighting, fighting, fighting. We started at 7.30-ish, the fight concluded at 10.56 PM, so just four minutes left in the session for the PCs to crow, and that’s your cracker. Oh, and that’s right- the Dark Squad won, so- suspense over. But for a good long while… I had ‘em on the ropes (maybe). Here are the pictures, and just a few words- there’s only so much you can say about fighting, fighting, fighting. [ATTACH type="full"]353469[/ATTACH] [B]Where are we at- the Dark Squad are on the pirate/smuggler’s ship- let’s go top to bottom and left to right with the image above. Top left(ish) a pirate in the water- thrown there by Gaspar, no doubt. Next row down there’s a cabin here with lizardfolk in it- the PCs have no idea why. Note, one of the lizardfolk seems to be a caster of some sort.[/B] Next up, that’s Were-Ram (he’s a wererat, and he speaks funny), the fat pirate boss to the left of Were-Ram has a hook for a hand, and the ability to hook/grab a PC and then pivot them on the spot- thereby delivering Ram to the waiting swords and blades of other pirates. The Moonboar is just taking in the sights, while Gaspar (Vinnie’s Water Elemental friend) is kicking pirate backside- he keeps flinging my poor buggers off the boat. Daktari has had enough of the pirate wizard, it’s a home invasion Daki-style, although the pirate wizard proves much harder to hit (with a little magical help he has an AC of 21). Fellowyn is trying his best to stay out of the fracas, he’s down to his last 15-20 HP and at this point almost out of spells. Keep in mind he has successfully counterspelled all but one of the pirate wizard’s attacks (including at least two fourth level spells). He’s very annoying. The other pirate boss, just next to the ‘up’ is actually the captain of the ship, in reality he’s up on the poop deck (but it’s easier to have all combatants on just one map) and he’s firing poisoned crossbow bolts into anyone that gets too close- Newt has stopped a few of these already. Speaking of which, Newt is north of this image, only a little way- but very much up, the warlock is still scooting around on his broom of flying. Oh, but ignore Vinnie to the south of the ship, he’s not in play (the Moonboar is) but it’s handy to have his token in reach of proceedings. So, here we all are again. [ATTACH type="full"]353470[/ATTACH] [B]Ubdug has been having a rough time of it- it took him maybe five turns to climb up into the boat, and since then- well, he got off a great shatter spell but recently- Ubdug is pretty much getting killed every turn.[/B] And on the turns when he rematerializes, when he can take no other action other than to reassemble, well- Ubdug has been chatting a lot (still) with Ram. Remember, Dalek voice. “It is all so bleak, Ram!” “Each time the end comes I am transported to an ashen plain, only zeroes as far as the eye can see, just… zeroes.” Note, Ubdug (and Ubmo before him) are big fans of binary- they particularly like the ‘ones’, they’re not big fans of the ‘zeroes’ however, hence Ubdug’s lament. Every time the modron dies he comes back with more tales from the dark/zero side. “There is nothing, Ram! Many nothings- in all directions.” “I am surrounded by nothings, Ram!” Or else Ubdug just screams- “ZERO!” repeatedly, and at inconvenient moments. It’s like the DM is trying to be funny/annoying. Ubdug gets desperate. More remarkably, now that Ubdug has been accepted by the Squad, then the other players are now much more sympathetic to the modron’s plight. Spontaneously, towards the very end of the fight- at which point Ubdug has ‘died’ maybe half-a-dozen times (at least) Ram starts chanting- “One and one and one… Incredibly all of the other players join in. In a very odd way, it is delightful. [ATTACH type="full"]353471[/ATTACH] [B]We’ve moved on a bit- note the pirate wizard has joined the captain of the ship on the poop deck, how you ask- simples, the wizard seems able to teleport about the ship (or at least that’s initially what the PCs think), it’s actually just misty step he’s employing.[/B] The PCs figure this out about fifteen minutes from the end. The Moonboar and Daktari have new targets as two more pirates emerge from their cabins and get into the fight, note the (stout) fellow positioned between the Moonboar and Dak is starkers- so, much easier to hit. [ATTACH type="full"]353472[/ATTACH] [B]Gaspar gets into Whirlwind mode again; he’s actually positioned over the three targets shown.[/B] [ATTACH type="full"]353473[/ATTACH] [B]The air elemental flings the enemies about.[/B] Alas Were-Ram is connected to the hook handed pirate boss, and so when the fat fellow is flung off the ship by Gaspar, Were-Ram is sent flying too. Although he has water walking cast on him, and so he bounces (a bit, but still takes damage) when he lands on the water. [ATTACH type="full"]353474[/ATTACH] [B]Were Ram is trying to get free (top left) of the hook handed pirate boss, he eventually succeeds, and also gets a few cuts in on the semi-submerged fat fellow.[/B] [ATTACH type="full"]353475[/ATTACH] [B]But once Hooky is free of Were-Ram he dives down and swims away. Note, the PCs are really mopping up the pirates now.[/B] But here’s the thing- there were two flavours of pirate- the first a Thug-meets-Gladiator mash-up, the second variety a Spy meets Swashbuckler variant- with a nice sneak attack hit. They’re tough this mob, but… nowhere near as tough as pirate bosses here. There are four pirate bosses, all of them with 20+ HD (the captain has 30+ HD). They all have good ACs, and each of them has two or three extra powers. The hook handed guy gets to restrain folk (with his hook) and then spin his target around (repeatedly) to reposition. The wizard- well, is a wizard. The captain of the ship makes speeches which dish out a bless like spell effect- only without the need for concentration checks; he also has the ability (every turn) to make his fellow pirates re-roll missed attacks. Then there’s Bloody Bjorn- remember him, he went over the side in the opening moments of this fracas, well- I miss him. He has nearly as many HD as the captain- and he hits hard. Where’s he? Well, he’s not on any of the images seen so far- Fellowyn suggested he see how far he can swim down beneath the ship, but- he’ll be back. Oh yes, he will. Also note, the lizardfolk spellcaster (badly wounded) has also gone over the side of the ship- but of his own volition, he too is getting away. In fact, it’s at this point that one or two of the PCs start to think- ‘I think we might want to capture one of these guy’s alive.” That’s the chatter through what follows. [ATTACH type="full"]353476[/ATTACH] [B]Here’s George’s giant screen-splay, and with the pirate captain and wizard seen on the poop deck.[/B] If you get in real close you should be able to see the following- Ram has given up trying to get at the fat hook handed pirate boss, the wererat is heading back to the ship. Daktari has taken a real beating- soon after the image the barbarian is reduced to just 3 hit points, in one turn he gets shot in the back by the pirate captain three times (with extra poison damage on all three hits). Even the Moonboar has to dip inside the wizard pirate’s cabin to get out of the way of the artillery on the poop deck. The pirate wizard about now is reduced to throwing out Ray’s of Frost, but they hurt too. There’s a point here when several of the PCs are of the opinion that… we could lose this. [ATTACH type="full"]353477[/ATTACH] [B]And so Fellowyn makes a (very big) monkey out of Daktari again.[/B] Daky Kong! The barbarian goes from having three hit points to having 159. Bastard. Note Fellowyn is down to less than ten hit points, he now has nothing but cantrips left, and so he spends most turns from hereon in hiding in the stinky lizardfolk’s former cabin. Stepping into the doorway only briefly to aim his firebolts (and the like). [ATTACH type="full"]353478[/ATTACH] [B]Bloody Bjorn climbs over the rail of the ship- dripping wet and very angry.[/B] “I’m BACK!” [ATTACH type="full"]353479[/ATTACH] [B]And the next thing you know the Moonboar is down to just seven hit points left, and Vinnie doesn’t have another wildshape to use.[/B] It’s at this point I said- ‘you might be right; I could maybe win this…’ Note, the pirate wizard has also just misty stepped clear of Daky Kong. [ATTACH type="full"]353480[/ATTACH] [B]The Moonboar is gone- Vinnie is back, and Vinnie talks tough but he’s a very squishy PC- crap AC, not great hit points etc.[/B] Alas, just moments after the above image Gaspar and Daky Kong pulverises the pirate captain- dead. [ATTACH type="full"]353481[/ATTACH] [B]But now Daky Kong is beating on Bloody Bjorn- the big ape briefly tried throwing barrels (while George- who runs the sounds channel for our adventures/fights, played the Donkey Kong theme tune) but the big ape kept on missing.[/B] Also note Gaspar is gone, this after Vinnie took a hit a failed his concentration check. Were Ram is going after the pirate wizard. [ATTACH type="full"]353482[/ATTACH] [B]The pirate wizard misty steps away again.[/B] [ATTACH type="full"]353483[/ATTACH] [B]But Were Ram is not letting the fellow get away.[/B] [ATTACH type="full"]353484[/ATTACH] [B]But moments later the pirate wizard dives into the briny and… he can breathe underwater.[/B] Fellowyn (water walking) and Newt (broom flying) are trying to blast the wizard to the surface. Note, Vinnie has already had to disengage and retreat into a cabin- I told you he’s very squishy. Keep in mind the PCs are still trying to secure a prisoner here. [ATTACH type="full"]353485[/ATTACH] [B]Bloody Bjorn has had enough- he too abandon’s ship.[/B] But Ubdug goes straight over the side- after the pirate, and moments later the modron makes only his second attack roll of the fight, he only made one attack (a devastating shatter spell) in the entire of the last session. Ubdug (on just one hit point- his leap into the sea inflicted six points of damage, he has seven HP max) kills Bloody Bjorn. And… there are no more pictures. Were Ram ceases his water walking spell/ability, and then dives in and swims down to the pirate wizard (note Were Ram has water breathing already cast on him, he’s also wearing Mariner’s Armour)- the pair fight/flee/grab/grapple for about another three turns worth of action. Descending deeper into the watery murk all the while. Until eventually- the wizard (now down to only ten or so hit points) signals his surrender and points to the surface, Were Ram nods, and then lets the wizard swim up- at which point to cries of “Nooooooo!” from his colleagues around the VTT, Were Ram stabs the fellow in the back. He’s dead Jim. And that’s pretty much all we did last Tuesday night. I had a lot of fun- note, through the above, and on his every turn Were Ram was keeping up a creepy commentary of ongoing events. Remember all the PCs are telepathically linked. “Us gonna stabby-stab him good, make ‘im bleed. Yes, sir. Bloody-bloody blood. Nice and red…” Which was nice. Stay safe and well you lovely people. Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan. [/QUOTE]
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The Dark Squad in the Secrets of Saltmarsh #136 Into the Mere of the Dead Men.
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