[Game Thread] Shipwrecked on the Shiv!

[arguilios]

Welter wheels about breathlessly in search of additional opposition, appears a bit disappointed to find none, and stands lost in personal contemplation for a moment. The human swordsman grins suddenly and looks to greet his newfound companions instead.

“Yeah, thanks there,” he nods to the halfling before turning amiably to the rest of the confused castaways as opportunity presents itself. “Nice t’ meet y’all. So, are introductions in order?” he inquires sagely with a cautious eye to the plant-encrusted fellow. “Seems we’ve landed … so to speak. Any clues as to where we are? Smuggler’s Shiv you say? Quaint.”

“So then, it’s a wee tombolo somewhere off the coast of nowhere, eh?” He turns his attention to the sandbar of an island spit the group’s found itself marooned on. His brow furrows as he looks around for what utility might be found in the meager provisions at hand. “Let’s not run amok; no reason to panic – yet.”

“The name’s Welter,” he identifies himself to anyone who cares as he continues his survey of the environs. “I’ve seen worse. So…. We’ve got that going for us.”

“Bingo!” he concurs with Bingus as he spots the grounded Jenivere. “Salvage mission?” Without waiting for an answer, the swarthy human tosses remaining weapons from their containers to size things up for flotation – obviously planning to return to the ship, regardless of others’ goals. “Don’t suppose we’ve any water-breathing natives, eh? No?” He looks about with a hopeful expression but returns dejectedly to his task soon enough. He makes preparations to retake the ship ... or retake what he can from the ship.

“Swimming,” he acknowledges Al's call. “Here!”

"Well, sure," Welter sheepishly acknowledges the later insight that the ship might be reentered from a point not requiring the stranded travelers risk death among the breaking waves. "If you want to do it the easy way. I'm good with that too; I suppose."

[Aldra]

Gardrel is silent as he looks out towards the horizon and the Jenivere, but his grin speaks volumes. Despite the danger and apparent hopelessness of their situation, the halfling had bounced back and was thoroughly enjoying himself once again. A mysterious poisoning and a shipwreck to start off an adventure... you don't do anything by halves, do you Desna? The cleric chuckled to himself, Well, you've never led me wrong before, and I don't see why you would start now. So... ""Let's get started," he says as he turns to face the others.

He continues before anyone has the chance to ask what he means, "If we can't get there by sea, we'll have to get there by land or air, right? Well, we're not going to do that by standing around here, so we might as well start heading that way. I think I might have an idea as well, so we should all search for driftwood or some more of those vines on the way. Couldn't hurt." With that said, he starts walking down the coastline at a pace that would rival that of any of the larger races, even though he appears to be doing no more than taking a leisurely stroll.

[Peter172]

Bingus tried to quell the smile that threatened to force its way onto his face as Aerys smack Gelik a good one, then spoke, "I didn't notice how close that cliff was to the ship before...I guess it would be best to explore all the options, since Aerys has so kindly pointed out the dangers of travel in the water. The idea of being smashed up against the rocks does not appeal to me at all, besides, the easy way is my personal favorite on most occasions." Bingus said the last cheerily, with a wink at Welter, and set about perception

Dice Roll:

d20+6

(16)+6

Total = 22

looking into the jungle for more of the vines that they could make into a, hopefully, sturdy rope on the way.

[Cherubaddon]

Being neither a seaman nor an engineer himself, Koril silently defers to the others' expertise in those matters, shouldering some of the more promising planks he has found - whatever purpose the halfling may have in mind for them - and stoically following the group along the beach. So we've come here on a ship, have we? I wonder where it was going... or where we are, for that matter. But that is to him more the musings of an idle mind than any kind of pressingly important question. Koril is where he is - a beach by the sea - and although some clear spring water would certainly be welcome, overall, the dark Chelish is content. He takes a deep breath, letting a longing gaze wander over the edge of the jungle. Far away, he hears the chanting. It is muffled, quiet, contemplative. Oddly foreign, yet so very familiar. As if he did not know the voices, yet knew every intricacy of their song. They are only waiting for him. Waiting to greet him. To welcome him home. For a heartbeat, Koril feels the powerful urge to drop what he is carrying, turn his back on the group, leave the hostile sea for the emerald embrace.

But the feeling only lasts for a moment, and subsides as quickly as it has come. As much as he hates to admit it, he himself cannot subsist on sunlight alone, and gathering some supplies does have priority. Besides, he thinks to himself with a mischievous smile at the jungle running along the entire length of the beach, it's not like we won't be heading there at some point. The trees are patient, after all.

[Finder of Paths]

Current time: Morning...ish?

After half an hour or so of gathering vines and braiding them together, it seems like you finally have enough. All the castaways follow the coastline in a group, as the risk of being alone far outweighs any current distrust or anger. Over half a mile the terrain changes very quickly, the sand gives way to hard rock, which inclines pretty rapidly to form a cliff face. Standing at the edge of the cliff face looking down at the Jenivere you quickly take stock of the situation. She's wedged between the cliff face and a number of sharp rocks with large waves battering her a few times per minute. Other than slowly doing more and more damage to the ship, these waves are filling the lowerdecks with water. This will make navigating them difficult, and possibly dangerous...but its also where most the food and supplies are stored.

But the first challenge will be getting onto the decks some 50ft below. With the 75ft of braided vines you've created this shouldn't be too much trouble, but the crow's nest only 20ft away, and the riggings below that provide another option. Looking down over the edge Gelik snorts and says "No thanks, nothing in my room I'm desperate to get back...how about I stay up here and make sure things are okay?" Though quick to rebuke and quick to lead before, Aerys is now standing on the cliff's edge gazing wistfully down at the Jenivere, chewing her lip nervously.

 

OOC: So that's 50ft from the top of the cliff to the highest point of the deck, and a 20ft horizontal distance to the crow's nest (the nest is LOWER than the cliff face, and this will help any attempts to jump across). Also, if one tried to jump from cliff face to crow's nest and missed, there's a good chance to catch yourself on the riggings, or at least slow your fall on the main sail. Anything unclear? Just ask me!

[Peter172]

"So it would seem that the best way to do this, would be for two or three of us to go down and gather what we can, tie it to the rope using our shirts, and the rest can haul it up while the one's on the ship gather more," Bingus said, quickly assessing the situation. "The only problem with that plan is that if the ship goes down and the rope isn't around, whoever's on the ship will go down with it. Since it was my suggestion, I'll be one of the one's who'll go down to the ship," he said with a courtly bow and a flourish of his hands.

"Of course, if anyone has a better idea, or sees a problem with that, it would be best to speak quickly. We may not have much time..."

[HenryLockwood]

Al dithers for a few moments, muttering under his breath. "Can swim, can't breathe water. Don't like water. Yuck."

Eventually, he brings his voice to a more audible level. "I'll go."

OOC As soon as he reaches the water level, Al will drink his extract of touch of the sea, granting him a swim speed of 30' for one minute. He's got another extract on hand in case things turn nasty.

[Aldra]

Gardrel nodded as Bingus spoke, "I was going to suggest making some sort of lift, like the type used in construction, but I suppose a closed container would work better, as long as we limit ourselves to smaller objects. Would certainly be quicker, which is definitely a good thing at this point. As for who should go..." the halfling shrugs, "I'm smaller and lighter, so I might be able to get into damaged areas of the ship easier than you guys. But I'm not all that strong, truth be told. I'm not going to be able to carry all that much on my own. I'd personally like to help out, but if you think I'd be better off staying back, I'd be happy to try and help with the hauling."

[arguilios]

“Well, if that’s the way it’s gotta be….” Welter listens to Bingus volunteering to brave the recovery mission, which based on the appreciative facial expressions and nodding, clearly resonates agreeably with the human swordsman. “Good luck, and I hope all goes well,” he adds, nodding after Al when he offers to join the away team. “I’ll help … this guy haul things and people back to safety,” he declares, jerking a thumb in Gardrel’s direction to explain to which this guy he was referring.

“Look,” Welter opines to those going over, “the first thing you should do is find a few lengths of good rope to heave back up here. Food stuff and drink, light armor if you can find any.... Any floating containers, fling ‘em over the rail, and let the tides bring ‘em to shore for you.”

[Finder of Paths]

One by one, the four volunteers are lowered down onto the Jenivere, beginning with Gardrel, the lightest to test the rope. Aerys follows, and as soon as her feet touch the deck she's off, racing towards the guest cabins. Shortly after, Bingus and Al reach the safety of the deck and look over at Gardrel. The halfling is currently looking over the edge of the Jenivere closest to the sea. Moving over to him, you see the ship's solitary lifeboat. Instead of in its holding place on the deck, the prow of the lifeboat is floating in the water (the rest of it missing), tied to the ship's railing by a length of rope. Sure someone may have tried to use it to escape...but why does it look like someone has come to the ship and moored it?

Regardless, a quick scan of the rest of the Jenivere shows only a few narrow options. She is listing heavily to port, and you must walk carefully to avoid losing your footing on the wet, sloped surface. Only the upper two decks have been untouched by the waves, and most of the lower decks must be flooded or completely empty from the wave action. The only places easily accessible are the upper decks, including your cabins and the captain's cabin, and you assume the mid-decks, thankfully containing the larder and possibly a supply room (you can't be sure, you didn't spend much time below decks). Before any of you can comment on the lifeboat, there's a loud ruckus from below, as if something is thrashing around wildly.

OOC: Arg, you're helping the old warrior Ishirou, Gardrel is going down to the ship . All movement aboard the ship counts as difficult terrain, and you take a -2 on all to hit rolls. Also, if it wasn't clear the lifeboat is wrecked, as is the Jenivere, neither will sail again.

[HenryLockwood]

Al looks around, startled, his hair flying this way and that as he tries to identify the source of the noise.

"What was that? Who was it? Do we really want to meet it?"

The barrage of questions, more coherent and more rushed than his usual speech, indicates the alchemist's nervousness.

[Aldra]

Al's frantic question broke the halfling from his train of thought as he was staring at the lifeboat... or what remained of it, anyway. "What? Oh, right... My guess would be that Aerys found someone or something, and whatever or whoever it is wasn't particularly happy about it. Or it's a really big fish. But we'd better get down there in case it's the first; particularly if it happens to be whoever drugged us. C'mon!" The cleric picked his way across the deck, heading to the stairs(?) to the lower decks.

[Peter172]

Bingus hefted his hooked hammer in both hands, testing the weight for a moment, before rushing off to see what the commotion below decks was all about. He stopped short before rushing in though and took a moment to perception

Dice Roll:

d20+6

(17)+6

Total = 23

listen before he went in, to see if he could figure out what was going on before he entered.

[Finder of Paths]

Leading the way, Gardrel descends a set of stairs leading to the mid decks. Once below the maindeck, the amount of water damage increases dramatically. Walls are glistening with water, pools of it sit trapped in many places, and one must walk very carefully and slowly. Another staircase leading downwards sits close by, and you can see water lapping up the last few steps, the entire lower decks is flooded! But staying on the mid decks for now, you know the galley and the brig sit astern (rear of the ship, below the guest quarters), whilst the storeroom and larder are closer to the prow...but its from that direction you can still hear loud noises. Thumping, scraping, banging of something hitting wood...it could be Aerys, madly trying to find something, or maybe not.

OOC: To the 2 up on the cliff, sorry, we'll try and make this quick! You can roleplay amoungst yourselves and interact with the NPC castaways up there if you like. To those on the ship, from the main deck there's a staircase to mid decks, and a doorway to upper decks. On mid decks there's a stairway to main deck, a stairway to lower decks, and further astern a stairway to upper decks. You're standing roughly in the middle of the ship, with the galley and brig further astern, whilst the larder and storeroom are closer to the prow.

[HenryLockwood]

Al follows the others, uncomfortable at the noises, but more afraid of being left behind. He compulsively plays with various chemicals from his pockets, rolling a ball of something malleable between his fingers and thumb. Whatever it is leaves a stain, turning his digits dark grey, but he barely notices.