Chapter 13: A Ghostly Glow

[Brian]

The rain lashes at Melethos as he listens to Kal. The human sorcerer, as headstrong as he may be, is also passionate: passionate about his friends, and equally passionate about his duty to lord and house. Unfortunately, this passion sometimes causes him to lead with his mouth and not his head.

"Fair enough," Melethos says, addressing Kal. "You made a deal. I will honor it, but I will not be party to it." The tiefling folds his arms across his chest, his armor creaking despite its wetness, and turns his back to the boats. His tail twitches irritably from beneath his cloak. "Do as you see fit, my lord."

[Jeff]

The sahuagin are watching from their perches nearby, but probably have only heard some scattered words here and there.

"Skiff for softskins is coming," one croaks out. "Wanted still? Bring the live one."

[Darren]

Kal frowns, then looks at the sahuagin. "Yes, the skiff is needed. Take that one," he points to the half orc guard, "on the skiff with you. We will take these," he points to the boats, "and go our own way. And our deal is thus concluded." Kal looks to Melethos, Belarin, Llash-Tava, and the sahuagin. "We are agreed?"

[Brian]

"Finish, Lord Kalarian," Melethos says, refusing to turn around. "Then we can leave. I wish off this island."

_______________________________________________

What Melethos said (above).

What he really wanted to say (below):

"Finish, Lord Kalarin," Melethos says, refusing to turn around. "Then we can get off this island and you can buy me a cookie. You owe me one. Big, with chocolate chips. And I want it to still be warm. If you are nice, I might even share it with you."

That silly tiefling can be such a diva!

[Ken]

Belarin nods soberly. "Agreed. Llash-Tava, can you please direct the guard? Then we can all proceed."

[Joe]

Streko clears his throat. "If I may, before we jump off into an abyss from which we cannot survive, might I suggest that the sahuagin asked for a live being, if I am to understand the situation, and we are only assuming it to be a sacrifice. May I suggest someone with some persuasion skills might be able to convince one of the sahuagin themselves act as a sacrifice, for wouldn't they LOVE to sacrifice themselves to The 'Sovereign of Whelm and Wave?'" It's just a suggestion, of course, but we aren't even sure this is about blood sacrifice, are we? Wouldn't we rather provide someone not so innocent in this endeavor?" He looks up at his friend, perhaps, truly, his brother. "Must not allow the ends to justify the means, Kal, when we might be able to do otherwise and still satisfy our end of the bargain?"

[Jeff]

When Streko finishes speaking, Llash-Tava looks back to Belarin. "Proceed where, and how?" the sphinx says, irritation creeping into her voice. "I have woven riddles for centuries, yet you could not be more unclear, or befuddling, nor more divided in what you will to occur."

Then the wooden skiff bobs up to the surface behind two of the sahuagin. "Room for all," one of them says, calling out as he pulls it over to the dock.. "Though not winging cat."

I, like her, have no idea what your actual intended course of action is here, nor am I sure each of you is thinking the same thing. If someone wishes to take charge here, be specific on where you're physically moving to, and into what means of transport.

It's also clear the sahuagin are intending the skiff for the party's use as well.

[Darren]

"Enough," Kal growls. "Enough. Streko, I appreciate your intentions. Melethos, I understand your concerns. We must have a plan and this is it. The sahuagin will take the guard with them on their skiff. I don't know what their plan is and I don't wish to know. Our bargain is complete. The rest of us will man those two boats. Llash-Tava, you will see us back to the city. We will land in some secluded spot where the fewest eyes can see us. Any who disagree can swim home." Kal looks to each of his companions with a sharp eye, daring them to speak in dissent. "Everyone about your business, then."

_______________________
I don't mean to issue orders, but like Jeff says, we need to move this along and while our characters disagree, I think we as players can probably just move forward with this. If I'm wrong, I guess now is the time to say so, but Kal's intention is to move forward with this plan. So....

Kal will move to one of the boats (I guess the one on the north side of the dock) and wait for the rest of the party and Llash-Tava. He will not do anything to prevent the sahuagin from taking the guard.

Jeff, I want our party to take both boats, anyway, but out of curiosity, is each boat big enough for all of us, or would we need to take both in order to get everyone back?

[Dave B.]

Shorak looks at Melethos. "Why don't we take this boat?" The look on Shorak's face clearly says he's not sure of this 'deal' either. He moves to climb into the south boat, leaving room for Melethos to join him if he so chooses.

[Ken]

Belarin moves to the same boat as Kalarian, his desire to leave clearly evident.

______________________________

No problem here, Darren. Sounds good.

[Joe]

Streko sighs. "This adventure we are on has taken more from us than we know, I fear." He makes his way toward the boat Kal is in and sits down. "May the Sovereign Host keep us."

[Brian]

"No need for two boats," Melethos says to Shorak. "We will all fit into one. Come, let us finally leave."

Melethos leads Shorak to the northern boat and climbs into it.

_____________________________________

It's all good, Darren.

[Jeff]

Jul 18, 2017 22:33:16 GMT -4 Darren said:

Jeff, I want our party to take both boats, anyway, but out of curiosity, is each boat big enough for all of us, or would we need to take both in order to get everyone back?

The entire party could fit into one rowboat, if snugly. Again, don't be deceived by the map. The grid and character icons are really more for combat purposes, indicating that each character "dominates" one square, but their physical body doesn't take up the full space. Same reason why you can move through ally spaces in combat; there's room, you just need a friendly person to allow it.

Do refresh the page to see the map update.

As you begin to move toward the boats, the sahuagin make puzzled croaking sounds and look to each other.

Llash-Tava hangs her head lower and regards the charmed half-orc guard. She speaks in the Orcish tongue, which none of you can understand, and somehow the gynosphinx makes the normally brutish syllables sound lovely. The guard shrugs and says something back, but Llash-Tava's follow-up seems to satisfy her. The half-orc woman turns and walks over to the sahuagin. Llash-Tava doesn't move from where she sits, looking on.

As the guard steps off the dock and onto the skiff, the sahuagin closest to the northern boat turns to those going in. "No return with Blue Fin? Why softskin boats?" He turns and points with a webbed claw toward the north-boat, then at the skiff. "More room on raft. Faster with Blue Fin arms. No?"

Inside the boats, you do see oars. Each boat is tethered to two pilings, but you see no knots. They've just been wound around them enough times to prevent the boats from drifting away.

[Darren]

Kal scowls at the sahuagin. "We will be fine. Thank you for your service, but we will make our own way back." Kal then looks to his companions. "As for us, Melethos, go with Shorak in the other boat. We should take both. It reduces the chance of pursuit, and gives us a backup in case something should happen to one of the boats. Avoids putting all of our eggs in one basket, so to speak."

Finally, Kal looks down at the now dormant gem on his collar. "I don't know if you can still hear us," he says into the device, "but if we ever speak again, it will be by your desire and not ours. No one will know of what transpired here. You have our thanks for your assistance." He removes the gem and tosses it to the ground near the dock.

Once Melethos is in the other boat (assuming he gets in the other boat), Kal signals for Belarin to undo the rope and then picks up an oar. "Let's be away from this place."

[Brian]

Melethos pauses, then sighs. "All right," he says. "We take both. Shorak, back to the boat."

Careful not to slip on the wet wood, Melethos climbs out of the northern boat and, with Shorak, climbs into the southern one. After untying the mooring ropes, he waits for the sphinx to tell him what to do next.

[Jeff]

The sahuagin make some rasping and clicking noises as they look to one another, then the one Kal looked at merely nods his head at the human. The half-orc woman on the skiff looks questioningly to the sphinx.

"Go with them, if you will," Llash-Tava says. "All will be made clear soon."

Then, before the sahuagin can push off from the dock, the sphinx prowls over and takes the ropes from the first of the two boats, hurrying the process along. She seizes it with a paw first, then with her teeth, and you see the ropes begin to unwind of their own accord, or possibly with some prestidigitation on her part. When the ropes are loose (they are still tied to the boat itself), she casts that into the water and with one foot pushes the boat roughly away from the dock, forcing everyone inside it to catch themselves at the rim to keep balance. "Do not touch the rope," she orders those inside.

Then she hurries over to the boat where Melethos and Shorak have gone in, and repeats the process until both are unmoored and with their ropes.

With a leap and a snap of her wings, Llash-Tava leaps over the skiff and splashes gracefully into the water. Then she speaks words of magic...and turns invisible. Ropes from both of the boats, which have just been floating loosely, are suddenly grabbed...and as the water churns by the unseen sphinx, both boats are suddenly pulled out further into the water.

The three sahuagin just stare after you for a moment before you lose sight of them.

The fog is thick right now, and can only see a glimmer of lights for the city. Llash-Tava is pulling you southwest. both boats come closer together now, moving at the same pace. The oars seem like they'd only make her work difficult.

[Darren]

Kalarian settles back on the bench, his face grim. He feels the wind moving through his hair and he rests his sharrash into the crook of his left arm, his right hand absently scratching Tangat's ears. He is quiet and stares off only into the distance, towards the city, and never at his friends.

[Brian]

Melethos grabs the gunwales as the boat rockets ahead, pulled by the invisible sphinx. Soon they are away from the island and headed for Stormreach proper.

Once he has his bearing back, Melethos releases the gunwales. "We have experienced many odd ways of traveling," he tells Shorak. "But this is the oddest by far."

[Ken]

Belarin feels the spray of the sea on his face, and then he reaches down and picks up a rag on the bottom of the rowboat. He wipes Demise's blood from his face; his blood-matted hair will have to wait under they're back in their rooms. He lifts the red cap off his head, marveling at how the cap has grown to better fit him. His eyes drift for a few seconds, then he puts it back on his head with a decisive tug and tap.

The voices in his head, seemingly reawakened by his killing of Tremys, cackle with delight.

He leans back in the boat, suddenly recalling a song that one of the Merrow Down's sailors had sung. The warlock begins to softly sing:

There's a place I dream about
Where the sun never goes out.
And the sky is deep and blue.
Won't you take me there with you.

Ohhh, we can begin again
Shed our skin, let the sun shine in
At the edge of the ocean
We can start over again...

[Jeff]

After a few minutes of this, the boats both stop abruptly and just drift. You hear some splashing ahead, but cannot see Llash-Tava. The fog is still heavy.

[Brian]

When the boats suddenly stop, Melethos grabs one of the mooring ropes and starts to gently pull on it. If that sphinx has abandoned them in the middle of the water....

[Joe]

"Have we arrived, or are we stuck in the middle of the bay with hungry sahuagin waiting to have us for dinner?" Streko stays centered in the boat, not willing to check the sides.

[Ken]

"As I suspected," answers Belarin. "She promised she'd get us off the island -- not back to Stormreach. At least she's consistent."

He calls out, "Llash-Tava? We're alone now. What information do you have to share?"

[Jeff]

HUSH! The sphinx's voice rings through your minds telepathically. Unless you crave more bloodshed.

A few seconds later, another boat looms out of the fog before you—surprisingly quiet. It's a fishing vessel, given the array of nets on both its starboard and port sides, and even though it's large compared to your boats, it's no galleon, and it doesn't look like it's intended for the open sea. Some sort of local trawling vessel, drifting only thirty feet in front of both your boats. Only now do you hear the creaking ropes and some sort of muffled bell you can't even see.

You see sailors at the gunwales, and there are even two helmeted members of the Stormreach Guards among them. Shielding their eyes from the rain as best they can, they're looking here and there and...

...right through you.

They don't seem to see you at all, though you should be plain as day.

"Aye, I heard a voice!" someone on the ship calls out. "D'ya see anythin'!?"

[Ken]

Belarin holds his breath for a long moment, then he makes a couple of quick hand gestures. Thirty feet behind their rowboat, there's the barking sound of a seal-like creature - "Rralsh!" - followed by a splash.

_________________

Belarin casts minor illusion 30 feet behind their rowboat.

[Brian]

At Llash-Tava's silent command, Melethos stops pulling on the mooring rope. He doesn't drop it...yet. The noise could draw the attention of those in the boat.

They cannot see us, he thinks. By the gods, they cannot see us!

[Jeff]

Belarin's spell requires no sound, only a gesture and sweep of his pact dagger.

You see the faces of several seamen look beyond you at the sound it produces. "Aye, just a slickfur, sounds like," one of them says.

One of the Stormreach Guards scowls, while the other aims a loaded crossbow out over the gunwale and grins. "Good sport, then."

They have only to look down and see you all; you know you're not invisible, so you're not sure why they don't see you yet.

Both the trawler and your little boats are merely drifting slowly at the moment, but it's clear your boats are about to bump into the hull of the larger vessel. Both of them, one after the other. Melethos and Shorak's boat, and then the other. Given their drifting speed you're fairly sure it's not going to be quiet...

What, if anything, do you do in the next few seconds?

[Brian]

As the bow of his boat approaches the hull of the bigger ship, Melethos shift to the front of his skiff and attempts to push to smaller vessel away from the larger, hoping to prevent a noisy collision.

_________________________________________

Melethos:1D20+3 → 7(4 + 3)#Athletics Check

[Darren]

Kal looks to Melethos, then puts a finger in front of his lips and points down at the oars in front of him. Taking one up, he quickly removes a spare shirt from his pack and wraps it around the end of the oar to muffle any sound. He carefully reaches out with the oar towards the ship, motioning for Shorak and Melethos to do the same. Then, as gently as possible, he places the padded oar against the edge of the other ship to prevent their small boat from ramming into the larger vessel.

________________________
I actually read a lot of nautical historical fiction (Patrick O'Brien and the like). This is something pirates actually used to do....

[Jeff]

Darren, that's a sound thing to do (and I wondered if anyone would try), but time is lacking. Give me an ability check, a straight-up Dexterity roll, to see if Kal can pull this off in a matter of seconds. He's being gentle and careful, and those are not things he has a luxury of time for now. Then I'll post a result for both his and Melethos's efforts.