Bonfire in the Darkness (IC)

[Randel]

http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq185/Randelite/Seterland.jpg

As the ship sails west through the waters of the Titans Ocean, a somewhat large group of people are inside the captains quarters. In front of them lies the closest thing to a map they have of their destination... most of it drawn up by themselves or some of the younger people aboard the ship after carefully recalling all they know of Seterlands geography.

It is night time and the Moon burns brightly overhead, its light proving a vital asset to the man up in the crows nest as he watches the horizon at night.

Captain Amelia Seawood, the ships warforged captain looks down at the map in front of her. Even in life she was one of the best seafaring captains around and having died and been rebuilt as a construct hasn't slowed her down, in fact her mostly wooden composition has made her resilient, tireless, immune to drowning, and hopefully inedible to whatever they will be facing soon. All of which could be valuable assets in the upcoming mission.

"Alright... I hasn't been able to find any decent maps of Seterland, but what we've come up with so far should give us a good start on setting up a base. We'll be coming in from the east obviously and I would recommend taking anchor off the side of one of these islands... might want to go for a smaller one until we can get an idea of what we are up against."

She looks up at the group, her face and head one of the few human parts remaining, but a rune-bearing metal plate covers her left eye like an eyepatch.

[Eldmor]

Ceris listens to the captain as she twiddles around her wand, modifying runes on it in a seemingly random pattern. Her red hair slightly covers her face as she works. She stows the implement to take a look of the map.
On a hunch, Sanabel looks the best place to go right now. Larger, and has a less deadly name.
Passive History about the three islands. 22

[Meshakhad]

"I don't remember why Sahuaginsland was so called, but geographically, it looks to be the better choice. More isolated from the mainland, probably fewer undead."

[Jokes]

Yuri

Yuri points at the map, "What about there, at that bay on the north of Sanabel Isle? It should give our ship protection, and it's only a short hop over to Sahuagin Island."

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh111/jokersmods/Seterland-1.jpg

[Meshakhad]

Everran* shrugged.

"Not a bad idea. Less likely for there to be undead that far from the major cities."

*(OOC: Everran currently appears as an attractive young human woman.)

[Randel]

Result of passive history check


Sahuaginsland was named such because on the northern shore there are many Sahuaginsland shore settlements which existed long before humans came to the island. The landbound races and aquatic races have been ill at ease in most places but on this island it was decided to leave the waters primarily to the Sahuagin. Land races have farms and a few mines on the island and the city of Sealand Meet is the official trading hub between the land people and ocean people. The only harbor on the island is on the west side and shipping is limited to Seterland and Sanabel Isle. Sahuagins are rumored to be very fond of beef and alchohol which they deem as an exotic delicacy.


Not much is known about Fiends Isle except that its decidedly a bad place to be. The rulers are rumored to be a family of insane humans who had made a pact with devils to become tieflings... which ironically made them less dangerous to the world than they were before. The citizens of the island if they could be called such are either monsterous humanoids, goblins, crimminals thrown onto the shore by other nations, or... things ... who are seen lurking around the shores of the island to prevent the inhabitants from escaping. The city of Rapture is its capitol and home to the royal family, they communcate little with other nations and seem much too occupied with their own problems to interfere with others. During the disaster of the undead plague, some blamed it on the Fiends but then again they get blamed for many things from stormes to droughts. People on the other islands during the disaster were often torn between thoughts of retreating to Fiends Isle or just taking their chances with the undead. Nobody on the ship recalls being on or near Fiends Isle during the attack.

Sanabel Isle was a relatively peaceful island kingdom with lots of fishing towns. There are a great many drakes and griffons that make their homes in the mountains and cliffs who feed mostly on fish, though have been known to attack people and lifestock. As a result, the people of Sanabel are famed to know two things: how to fish, how to fight, and how to drink. The island was named after the young daughter of Sir Rodney the explorer who was said to have slain a dozen drakes when she was 15... by smashing their teeth in with her forehead. The undead plague went badly on many coastal cities when the inhabitants either failed to notice anything different in their zombified neighbors or tried taking the undead on bare-handed... only to find that a dead Sanabelan still knew how to fight dirty.


Amelia looks at the spot on the map and nods. "That sounds reasonable. We can take anchor in the bay there. Keep anchor and take a look around."

[Jokes]

Haymar

"Oh thank Tordar." Despite his tanned skin, he seemed to look very green. "I'll be glad to get off this floating chuck factory..." He looked at his brother, who seemed to begin swaying slightly, off motion with the boat. "You aren't helping..." He runs out of the room, hand over his mouth, as Yuri bursts into laughter.

[Naleh]

Nystara

The tattooed elfwoman nods. "Ah central location, yet sheltered," she agrees in her graceful accent. "And if we needs make an escape, it is the shortest distance to the open seah."

She watches Haymar plunge from the room with some amusement. "When will people learn that the seah is not a foe?"

[bue52]

Genut smiled, this trip to the unknown and unexpected was going well, everyone seemed enthusiastic and all were willing to contribute, he liked Yuri's insight, it was a very logical move. "I believe that should be our first destination, how long would it take us to reach there?" Genut inquired.

[OnnaOtaku]

Lofe Forgesmasher, Dwarven Fighter for Avandra

Lofe turns to Ceris while flipping a copper piece out of boredom."Ceris, you know a fair bit about history, don't you? What should we be expecting? Will there be ale?"

[Eldmor]

I doubt the living dead would be interested in serving alcohol. There are still some towns left but there are also griffons and drakes to deal with.

[Randel]

DM

Amelia nods and does some quick calculations. "Not sure with what we have to go on, but we should be getting close."

The ship sails its course, and around noon of the next day you hear the cry of "Land Ho!" from the crowsnest. Sailing by, you can see the sliver of land which Amelia suspects is Sanabel Isle and with the telescope one can just barely make out a little nub that might be the towering buildings of Silverlock.

As the ship gets closer and veers to the bay between Sanabel Isle and Sahugainsland, someone notices something in the water... it looks like a group of five human bodies adrift in the water, all dressed in civilian clothing. One looking bloated and larger than the others with its shirt torn to shreds, just a bit of cloth hangs from its arms, while the other four look torn up as if they were attacked by sharks. They all drift in the water and it looks like they may drift just past the starboard (right) side of the ship.

[OnnaOtaku]

"What creature could have done this?" Lofe mumbles to herself.

[roll0]

[bue52]

"Should we bring them onboard?" Genut inquires.

[Jokes]

Haymar

From his usual position of leaning over the side of the boat, Haymar is one of the first to spot the bodies. He calls people over to help bring them aboard.


If they bring them aboard, Haymar investigates them.
perception [roll0]

[Randel]

DM

Lofe
Looking closely at the dead bodies as they drift toward the boat, you notice that their blood hasn't washed away in the seawater as much as you would expect and that its taken on a blackish green oily color.

The large one is bloated, but uniformly so with its arms and legs lengthened to make it large sized, though some signs of its underlying muscle showing through overstretched skin imply that the muscle itself has somehow swollen instead of this merely being bad gas expansion in the digestive tract (which is often the cases with corpses)

The four other bodies have terribly torn skin and flesh, many obviously made by some shark-like jaws attacking them. Some particularly black and rotten looking blotches can be seen on the inner depths of some of the wounds and one of the corpse that you see has its mouth hanging open... its tongue completely black and rotten. As they get closer, you see two prongs poking out the back of one of them, it looks like it might have been impaled by a trident.

None of the four corpses show any signs of movement other than drifting in the water.



Amelia clunks across the deck as she gets to the edge, closing her exposed eye as she turns to look at the four bodies. "Look a bit nasty... I wouldn't be too fond of dragging potentially plague carrying bodies on board." she turns to the others, reopening her human eye. "But then again, if they are some sort of undead then it would be an act of kindness to destroy them and free whoevers trapped in there." she flashes a smile "Plus we can check their pockets for change."

The crew rotates a crane towards the side and quickly hook up a net to scoop up the bodies as they drift by.

"We'll scoop em up, and if there's any trouble then me an my men..." she hears a cough from the side "and women..." another cough "...and whatever's left." she says, a bit exasperated. "will get out of your way and let you handle it." the crew work the crane to scoop the bodies onto the deck.

[OnnaOtaku]

Lofe Forgesmasher, Dwarven Fighter for Avandra

"Hey, Captain, what kind of creatures inhabit these waters? Looks like one of our corpses have seen the business end of a trident or something similar."

[Randel]

"Well, from what I've heard it has the usual sea life... small fish and crabs for fishing. Then there are sharks and eels and some sea monsters. But if there's a trident in one I would say it ran into a Sahuagin." She points toward Sahuaginsland. "The occupy the northern and western sides of that island and generally deal trade with the humans on the island for land food."

As the the bodies are being hoisted out of the water and brought over onto the ships deck, she spots the pointy end of the trident... but the handle of the weapon was snapped clean off!

"Weird, Sahuagin tridents are known for their durability and they wouldn't abuse their weapons. Wonder what."

Suddently the mass of bodies shakes and and the larger one lets out a stomach churning gurgle before it spits out a mass off blackis seawater and bile. The bodies begin gaspings and smelling the air, some opening their mouthes and licking at the air.

"Oh bugger, all non combatants below deck and lock the door!" Amelia commands her crew as those sailors head below deck.

There is a terrible ripping sound as the larger zombie struggles in the net and with freakishly strong and almost boneless limbs it tears the netting in half! The undead land in a pile on the deck.

Battle Start:
The five undead all start prone on the deck and you have one round to hit at them as they try to get up. Roll initiative and state your first round action. Also try to avoid setting the ship on fire or destroying it too much. All the npcs are either hiding below deck or doing other things while you fight, no need to worry about them.

Enemy Initiative: 15

[Jokes]

Haymar

"Abominations." Haymar draws his scimitar and charges at the undead.


[roll0]

Minor: divine challenge on whichever I attack.
Move: draw Scimitar
Free: activate sword property (all damage radiant)
Standard: Charge
[roll1] vs AC
[roll2] radiant damage
*edit: forgot to add enhancement, so add +1 to both*

[Meshakhad]

"D'Arvit!"

Initiative: [roll0]
[SPOILER]
Move action: Draw pact blade
Minor action: Warlock's curse on the nearest zombie
Major action: Witchfire on same (Charisma v. Ref)
Witchfire attack: [roll1]
Witchfire damage: [roll2] and target takes -5 penalty on attacks until my next turn.

[OnnaOtaku]

Lofe Forgesmasher, Dwarven Fighter For Avandra

Lofe grabs her warhammer and launches an attack at one of the undead. "Burn in the name of my lady Avandra, you accursed beings!"

[roll0]
Move Action: Draws Warhammer
Free: Activates flaming properties.
Major Action: Cleaves nearest undead (Strength vs. AC)
Cleave Attack: [roll1]
Cleave Damage: [roll2] Since my Warhammer is a Flaming Warhammer, all damage is fire damage. And by using Cleave, an adjacent undead will take damage equal to my strength mod. :smallbiggrin:

[Naleh]

Nystara

Wordlessly, the elfwoman leaps forward, striking one of the corpses with a battleaxe that glows electric blue.

HP 47/47 - AC 19, Fort 17, Ref 17, Will 16 - speed 7

Very like Haymar...
[roll0]
Minor: Hunter's Quarry on one corpse.
Minor: draw battleaxe.
Free: activate weapon property.
Standard: charge.
[roll1] vs AC (including combat advantage, charge, Prime Shot)
[roll2] plus [roll3] lightning

[Eldmor]

Time to break her out... Ceris retrieves the wand from her pack and twists and turns it rapidly. She then points it at Lofe, as a screaming blast of noise emits from the armor at the undead just stricken.

[roll0]
Minor: Withdraw wand.
Standard: [roll1]vsFORT [roll2] Push 1 on hit.
+1 to Lofe's AC until end of turn.
Move: Within 10sq of Lofe, but away from the undead.

OOC: Can we get a map? I have some AoE abilities, and not having one cripples me on where to place it. :smallfrown:

[bue52]

Genut unsheathes his sword, getting ready for the battle, he calmly moves towards the undead, with enough luck, he would be able to obstruct them from getting near the crew members.

[roll0]Initiative
Minor Action: Unsheathe sword
Move Action: 6 squares towards nearest undead
Standard action: Mark that one undead with Divine Challenge