Chapter 19: Endless Nights

[Darren]

"This isn't good," Kal says, observing the floating items. Where is the other ship? Asperii's mate?" Kal calls up to the crow's nest, "Shorak! I want immediate notification of ANY movement from Asperii. Can you see if that stuff is floating down the river towards us, or coming from them? Captain, might be best to slow down. We don't know if there's wreckage ahead."

Kal moves forward to the bird, taking the scroll from its leg...

________________
Jeff, is it possible to tell if the stuff in the water is floating down from ahead, or if it's coming from the side?

[Jeff]

Kal can't see far on account of the fog, but looking each direction, he can see the floating debris is floating slowly on the current downriver. From south (ahead of the Dragonfly) to north (behind).

When his fingers uncurl the tiny scroll, it dissolved like last time. But he hears the Sanne d'Vadalis at his ear.

"Our Medani scout said there is something ahead of us in water, some obstacle. We don't know what it is. Cogship didn't see it and had to turn. We don't think its their work.

Like last time, Kal knows he can respond to her with a brief message of his own.

[Brian]

EDIT

The debris in the water unsettles Melethos. It looks like items one would expect to see in a shipwreck. They can see the Asperii, but where is their sister ship?

He turns his eyes to the river in front of him, searching for sign of survivors... or those who didn't.

[Darren]

"There's an obstacle ahead in the river!" Kal says. "Slow the ship, Captain!"

"We are slowing down," Kal responds to Sanne. "Proceed with caution. Stay in contact with me. Watch for an ambush." Kal says this aloud so that everyone on board the Dragonfly can hear him.

[Joe]

"Gods above and below! Now what's happened?" Streko continues to keep watch, both in the water and up above, although the fog makes any visuals limited at best.

[Dave B.]

Shorak uses the spyglass to look over to the Asperii, without much hope. "I'll try, but the fog is making it almost impossible to see anything right now." He calls down to Kal.

[Jeff]

"Aye," Brack says, and the Dragonfly slows nearly to a stop. Another object thuds against the deck. More floating wooden things. Nothing that sounds damaging.

Melethos tries to see any sign of movement, or bodies...but so far just sees...things. More barrels. Crates. Things that would have emptied from a cargo.

With Kal's response, Mischief flies off again. Perhaps Sanne keeps a ready supply of little Message scrolls.

[Ken]

"Keep your eyes open," says Belarin, moving to the bow. "I wouldn't put it past the cogship's crew to add a dangerous surprise or two for us in the 'innocent' wreckage.

___________________

If Belarin sees anything that doesn't look like a crate or table or isn't otherwise readily identifiable as wreckage, he's going to blast it.

[Brian]

Melethos grabs his crystal and feels the new power flow through him, dark and bitter. He stares out, searching for anything unusual or threatening to the ship.

______________________________________________

Melethos will also keep his eyes open for anything suspicious and is ready to Eldritch Blast it.

[Jeff]

The river is quiet. There is only the gentle slap of the water against the Dragonfly; no sounds issue from far away, not even in the fog, which all but swallows even the outline of the Asperii.

And it's a good thing the Dragonfly has come to a halt. Belarin and Melethos are the first to see the "obstacle" some fifty feet away from the hull of your ship. Shorak above can only vaguely spy the thing: another ship, wrecked, mostly beneath the waterline, with only a mast and its bowsprit jutting into the moist air. It's hard to say whether it's anchored or actually in the process of sinking. But both men can see it doesn't look as elegant or sleek or well-cared-for as the wind galleons they've seen. This one looks old, though it is still larger than the Dragonfly...

If it's even whole. It's hard to be sure, as they can't see the stern at all.

No signs of life yet.

[Darren]

Kal sees the edgy look in Melethos' posture. "Remember," he says to those on board, "no magic. Unless it's absolutely unavoidable."

Kal eyes the wreckage suspiciously. "Shorak, eyes on the shore," he calls up, cursing the fog around them, "Or as much as you can, anyway." Kalarian moves to stand next to Brack. "Captain, you have more experience in this than I do. How long would you say that ship has been there?"

[Ken]

Belarin nods at Kal's warning about using magic. He continues to keep his eyes forward.

[Joe]

Streko keeps his eyes close to the water, searching for any disturbances. He is limited by what he can see above, but trusts Shorak to handle that. Right now, he feels a surge of fear billowing inside him and is unhappy about it.

[Dave B.]

Shorak just shrugs and looks in every direction to see if there are any breaks in the fog that he can use the spyglass on.

[Dave W.]

Adamant, still Chanting, takes a step away from the crossbow... but only one step. Seeing the sunken ship, he waves both arms (the right hand firmly gripping the glaive) twice to try to get the attention of the Asperii. He then points with the glaive at the ship.

He weaves into the chant a new line:

And carry those lost in Darkness,
Along the river of our lives
To the Last Bright Light of the Sun

A prayer for those who sank with this vessel.

[Jeff]

Brack squints through the fog, trying to see the wrecked ship better.

Sept 21, 2020 13:59:41 GMT -4 Darren said:

Kal eyes the wreckage suspiciously. "Shorak, eyes on the shore," he calls up, cursing the fog around them, "Or as much as you can, anyway." Kalarian moves to stand next to Brack. "Captain, you have more experience in this than I do. How long would you say that ship has been there?"

"Can't be sure," the shifter answers. "But doesn't exactly look recent."

"This is the work of Long Shadows," Histra murmurs, "Not necessarily the Cogship."

No one can see the Asperii at all. Shorak can see what everyone else sees now, but less distinct through the fog, as though it was thicker higher in the air.

"Syndra," Thul says, and holds his hammer aloft. The flames of the elemental hungrily rustle. But Syndra's illumination is as dulled as every light is.

Melethos, Streko, and Belarin are the first to see some new shapes rising to the surface of the water. Bodies. But they are not floating like corpses; rather, heads bob up, hair spread around them or, in some cases, lacking hair at all. Gray as if bloated with murky water. Three such heads appear, and each turns until a face can be seen. Staring up with vacant eyes that look alive but don't express themselves like imperiled sailors.

On the port-side wing, the tauth stirs and looks down at the figures in the water. "Belarin, should I send it across to the ship of the Twelve?"

A hatch opens and Kurra's voice calls out from below deck. "We've got some floaters! What do you see?"

Map doesn't reflect Kal's movement, though.

[Brian]

"Kal!" Melethos calls out. "Bodies in the water, three of them, but they're not floaters! They're staring at us!"

[Darren]

"Shit," Kal mutters. "Undead?" He shakes his head. "Forget it. I don't intend to wait around to find out. Thul, Melethos, man the crossbows. Take them out. Adamant, give us more light."

[Brian]

Melethos doesn't hesitate. He hurries to the crossbow on the port side of the bow. Grabbing ahold the of the weapon, he loads a bolt, takes aim at the body nearest the ship, lets out his breath in a slow stream, and pulls the trigger.

____________________________________

Melethos fires at the body closest to the ship, the one a the tip of the triangle.

Melethos: 1D20+4 → 10(6 + 4)#crossbow attack I forgot to add the +1, so the roll is an 11.

Melethos: 1D10 → 4(4)#damage from the crossbow attack

[Dave W.]

Adamant weaves in a new verse,

Though we travel through Dark Places
We carry, always, Your Light

and turns on the Delver's Light to full daylight. He takes a look at the area of the stern before bringing the light further towards the bow.

---

So assuming the light helps at all, he'll take a look at where he is. If there's no threat there he'll move to midships to give the crossbowmen some light.

[Ken]

Belarin says to Histra, "Have the tauth watch our starboard side! They might go under the ship!"

[Dave B.]

"The fog actually seems thicker up here. I can barely see anything. If it gets any worse, I'll need to come down." Shorak calls down to the deck. He keeps trying to look around with and without the spyglass, but he's pretty sure he's not going to be much help up in the crow's nest this time.

[Joe]

Streko sees the undead bobbers. He calls Olladra's name and calls forth his spiritual weapon, a ghostly sickle. He sends it after the nearest bobbers.

His first attack seems to shave the lone hair left on the bobbers head. His second attack doesn't even clip a hair.

________________________________________________

Streko casts Spiritual Weapon. He attacks the first creature then moves the creature around as a bonus action to attack the one next to it.

First Attack: Melee Attack → 6...a WILD miss.
Second Attack: Second Melee Attack → 6...is even worse then the first.

[Jeff]

Melethos sees that the man in the water looking up at him does not flinch when he looses the heavy bolt from the crossbow. Nor does it try to dodge. The bolt passes right through the shoulder of his target as though the body were gelatinous in some way, or partially insubstantial. But there is also a small but bright flare of light at the moment of impact, which Melethos thinks must be Kurra's recent artificer's infusions at work.

Streko follows by conjuring Olladra's sickle; this time, it appears with the glow of bright silver instead of gold, appearing in a flurry of spiritual silver coins which quickly fade from view. But the sickle remains...yet it misses both targets as it hovers over the water.

Adamant comes down to be nearer his friends. When his Delver's Light blazes, he is dismayed to see that its strength is half of what it should be. Mabar presses back.

Histra looks at the tauth, and with the creak of its wings its leaps into the air and lands again on the opposite side of the ship. "Attack whatever presents itself anew," she says quietly, and Belarin knows she's just speaking aloud her command (though she doesn't need to).

Sept 22, 2020 21:42:15 GMT -4 Dave B. said:

"The fog actually seems thicker up here. I can barely see anything. If it gets any worse, I'll need to come down." Shorak calls down to the deck.

"So come down!" Brack calls out. "We've got moving bodies in the water."

Even as he says this, the three bodies in the water slide closer to the ship. They don't appear to swimming or treading water or flailing limbs to achieve this; they're just gliding toward you. Baleful eyes look up. More alarming, three more shapes rise up into view from beneath the water, again moving without actively swimming. The one Melethos struck with a crossbow bolt is now just below where he, Streko, and Adamant now stand (though Streko, being short, cannot see them where he's standing now this close to the ship; he'd have to move right up to the gunwale to target anything just below). 

Melethos's attack deals 5 piercing damage plus an additional 6 radiant damage, for 10 total.

Streko's attacks miss.

Adamant radiates bright light only 25 ft. (half his usual), but the whole land is mostly in dim light beyond it anyway.

I've treated your previous actions like a surprise round (even though it technically isn't), meaning all of your actions below are like the first round of combat in which the monsters cannot act (except for some slow movement). But now that battle has begun, they will have full actions.

Round 2

29 - Shorak
19 - NPCs
18 - Belarin
18 - figures in water
13 - Kal & Tangat
11 - Adamant
9 - Streko
5 - Melethos

[Ken]

Belarin moves to the bow and, for an instant, his dagger flickers with his trademark red-and-silver energy. Then he pauses, considering what he's learned. With a smile, he points the dagger at one of the undead and begins muttering some of the dark, arcane language he's learned from Histra. He reaches out with his other hand.

The darkness around the undead target begins to coalesce into black tendrils. At the same time, a grayish-green hand manifests from Belarin's own outstretched hand and swiftly moves toward the creature.

___________________

It's mix 'n' match time! Belarin moves to the railing and targets the undead due south of him on the map.
Bonus action: Belarin casts hex on it.
Attack: Belarin casts chill touch!
Roll: 1d20(20) + 6 = 26. CRIT!
Damage: 6d8 = 30 (crit damage for chill touch) plus 1d6 = 6 (for hex). Total: 36 points necrotic.
Target has disadvantage of Strength ability checks and, if it matters, on any attack rolls against Belarin until the end of Belarin's next turn.

[Darren]

Sept 23, 2020 12:01:44 GMT -4 Ken said:

Belarin moves to the bow and, for an instant, his dagger flickers with his trademark red-and-silver energy. Then he pauses, considering what he's learned. With a smile, he points the dagger at one of the undead and begins muttering some of the dark, arcane language he's learned from Histra. He reaches out with his other hand.

The darkness around the undead target begins to coalesce into black tendrils. At the same time, a grayish-green hand manifests from Belarin's own outstretched hand and swiftly moves toward the creature.

___________________

It's mix 'n' match time! Belarin moves to the railing and targets the undead due south of him on the map.
Bonus action: Belarin casts hex on it.
Attack: Belarin casts chill touch!
Roll: 1d20(20) + 6 = 26. CRIT!
Damage: 6d8 = 30 (crit damage for chill touch) plus 1d6 = 6 (for hex). Total: 36 points necrotic.
Target has disadvantage of Strength ability checks and, if it matters, on any attack rolls against Belarin until the end of Belarin's next turn.

Kal frowns. "Belarin! Streko! Be careful of your magic!" he calls.

_______________
Just a quick out-of-turn reminder.

[Dave B.]

"Gladly!" Shorak calls to Brack and quickly climbs down to the deck. He stays by the mast, facing the port side of the ship and draws his tri-bladed boomerang. If a target presents itself, he will let loose with his weapon. "Can't we just sail past them?" He asks any who might hear.

Shorak climbs down to the deck, using Cunning Action if necessary.

Readied action: Attack the first foe that shows it self at the port rail.

[Jeff]

The rope ladder has already been replaced, so Shorak climbs down with speed and ease and readies himself.

Sept 23, 2020 20:54:48 GMT -4 Dave B. said:

"Can't we just sail past them?" He asks any who might hear. 

"I can try," Brack returns. "But I can't see a damned thing in the fog. I'm not for crashing into another wreck I can't see."

Starg produces his black orb and remains at the starboard side, watching the water. The tauth remains where it is, ready to fly at anything on the water on that same side. Sem has a wand ready, but holds his ground beside Kal. Thul keeps the Hammer of Sydra heft, but allows it to rest on his shoulder. He keeps one hand free.

Belarin moves as close as he can toward the bow, now standing side by side with the ghoul-harpy. Histra keeps with him, moving to the railing to look over. She scans the scene, puzzling it out. "They do not move like corporeal dead. They are phantoms of some kind. Belarin, let them attack me. They cannot hurt me . . . the same." She points a finger and a beam of crackling white-blue energy pierces the nearest of the approaching figures in the water, and also passes right through it without effect.

"They will resist most attacks," the necromancer calls out for all of you. "But magic weapons can dispatch them. Magic missiles or force energies will as well."

Belarin's hex takes hold, but the spectral hand that he flings at his chosen victim passes right through its body and dissipates in the water behind it. He feels a moment of cold frustration; that was a well-placed spell.

Histra reaches out and touches his shoulder. "They are spirits, not corpses; necromantic energies will not affect them at all." She turns toward Adamant and Streko. "Turn them with your power."

---

• Starg readies an attack.
• Sem readies an attack.
• Thul readies an action.
• The harpy-ghoul readies an attack.
• Histra's spell attack vs. approaching figure: 12 (hit) / no damage (immunity)
• Belarin's attack hits but deals no damage

---

The bodies in the water continue to glide forward. They do not float through the air, but when they reach the Dragonfly . . . some vanish altogether, while others rise right up the face of the hull as though contact with the damp wood allows them to levitate. More of them come into view from the direction of the sunken ship. 

Eight now hover upright, dripping and putrid, at least one limb making contact with the gunwale or edge of the ship in some way. They do look like water-swollen cadavers, and you can smell them, and each is a little different from the next . . . but now that they are upon you, you see their faces change; their features blur and reshape until they all resemble the same dead man, whose face of rage yawns open with a terrible cry of anguish. His abdomen, their abdomens, appear to have been rent open by great claws and water has fouled the exposes contents.

"Shit!" Kurra's voice calls from the open hatch though none of you can see her. "They're coming right through! A little help?"

Sem flicks his wand, and three magic missiles burst out and slam hard into the nearest deadman-spirit which has closed in by the port-side wing. It's a solid hit. With his free hand, Thul slides his warknife from his belt and hurls it at the same spirit: this, too, connects as if the corpse were indeed solid. The body convulses and then appears to lose its power of levitation; it drops down to the water, becoming utterly transparent as it does. It makes no splash as it vanishes alotgether. Thul is unconcerned when his knife drops out of sight as well.

Shorak, too, was ready, and his triple-bladed boomerang sinks solidly into the neck of the next one in line, nearly decapitating it. The body is pushed backward, and it falls without a cry. The boomerang wobbles as it dislodges mid-fall and returns perfectly to Shorak's grasp.

Six of the spirits now remain, but they appear only to be the front line. With them so close now, the harpy-ghoul hisses and lunches up at the nearest one that deigns to approach Histra. Her raking claws pass through the spirit but seem to catch hold partially, and its body jerks from the assault.

Then spirits press their attack. Two lunge at Adamant, as though seeking to quiet his singing. Their outstretched fingers are rebuffed by his armor plating, but he can feel a coldness in their proximity. Another two go for Melethos, one of which manages to reach a hand right through his chest and an unsettling chill passes through him. Belarin and the ghoul are each troubled only by one each, though the warlock dodges his.

Yet more are coming.

---

• Deadmen move.
→ Sem's reaction: Magic missile vs. deadman: 11 force damage to the northmost one
→ Thul's reaction: Ranged warknife attack vs. deadman: 14 (hit) / 8 piercing damage
• Deadman is "slain"
→ Shorak's reaction: Boomerang vs. deadman: 26 (hit) / 8 slashing damage and 18 (sneak attack) slashing damage
• Deadman is "slain"
→ Harpy-ghoul's reaction: Three attacks (claw/claw/talons) vs. nearest spirit: 6 (miss); 20 (hit); 13 (hit) / 16 slashing damage (halved to 8) to the deadman
• Deadmen attack!
• Deadman's attack vs. Adamant: 16 (miss)
• Deadman's attack vs. Adamant: 6 (miss)
• Deadman's attack vs. Melethos: 23 (hit) / 10 necrotic damage to Melethos
• Deadman's attack vs. Melethos: 12 (miss) 
• Deadman's attack vs. Belarin: 8
• Deadman's attack vs. harpy-ghoul: 25 (hit) /  10 necrotic damage to harpy-ghoul

Round 2

29 - Shorak
19 - NPCs
18 - Belarin
18 - figures in water
13 - Kal & Tangat
11 - Adamant
9 - Streko
5 - Melethos

The map preview thumbnail isn't working at the moment (no idea why), but you can click the link below to see it full-sized anyway.

Attachments:

[Brian]

Melethos doesn't recoil at the deadman's attack. He shrugs off the cold as a matter of battle. But the second strike misses, and leaves the creature open.

Drawing his sword, Melethos hacks at the deadman, his magical blade biting deep into it.

__________________________________________

Melethos uses his reaction on the miss to spend a superiority die on a Riposte Maneuver

Melethos: 1D20+9 → 21(12 + 9)#attack from Riposte maneuver
Melethos: 1D8+5 → 8(3 + 5)#damage from Riposte maneuver
Melethos: 1D10 → 6(6)#extra damage from Riposte maneuver

His displacement armor is now trigger and in effect until the end of his next turn.

[Jeff]

It's hard to tell one from another, now that they all bear the same visage, but Melethos thinks the one his blade plunges through is the same one he shot in the water with the crossbow. Either way, the spirit falls backward down toward the water and vanishes before it hits the water.

Deadman spirit is dispatched by Melethos.

Attachments: