Post by David on Jun 2, 2006 11:00:14 GMT -5
Short on able-bodied crewmen after the battle with the sahuaghin, the Destiny turned back to Muluk. Py!ota and Su managed to pick up the slack for the missing men, but ideally, these 'marines' should be ready for battle, not tired out from sailing.
On the 7th, the crow's nest spotted a large convoy of ships in the early morning hours. Unsure of the fleet's intentions, the Destiny moved out of their way to avoid an interception course. A couple of smaller ships broke off from the main group, shadowed the Destiny for a short time, and then returned to their convoy. On the afternoon of the 8th, the Destiny arrived in port at Muluk.
During the time the officers sought replacement crew, the other members of the vessel took a little bit of shore leave. One evening, just after sunset Jamal, Arthur, Asha, Py!ota, Abdul, and Shazir were wandering the suq when they heard a boy crying for help. Moving to investigate, the group saw one young boy being beaten by six older thugs. A seventh told the heroes to "move along". Meanwhile, Asha spied a group of men-at-arms moving in to trap the party in the alleyway. One stinking cloud took most of them out, but a second group came around the other side. As the party met this challenge, the street thugs pulled knives and attacked the party's rear, JOINED by the young boy!
Asha's stinking clouds seriously hampered the attackers, taking out half of them. Arthur was seriously hurt, but using his magic missiles and web took out a couple of foes. Although the heroes were not in their armor, Py!ota did quite well, nimbly avoiding many blows and taking out several enemies. In the end, the group captured one thug and brought him back to the Destiny for questioning.
There, Su discovered that the thugs had been hired separately from the men-at-arms by a man known as Yodfah. It turns out, this was the same man who owned the wine-making operation behind the waterfall on the al-Zalim river. The thug didn't know the man personally, only by reputation. The heroes spared him, gave him his compatriots copper, and told him to make sure everyone knew how tough and magnanimous they were.
The Destiny set sail again on the 14th. In the afternoon of the 18th, again the greener group was on watch. This time, Asha clearly saw a group of four merrow climbing up the sides of the ship while she was moving slowly in a calm. A lightning bolt followed by one of Arthur's magic missiles took out one. Meanwhile, however, the other two climbed aboard. Shazir managed to reach his scimitars, but before he could act, two crew members were dead. Abdul went for his weapons and to get Py!ota from below decks. Meanwhile, Jamal engaged one, being savaged in the process. Arthur used a web to entangle one sea-ogre, but the other avoided the spell. The heroes used the time to move in. Unfortunately, the merrow were too tough and slaughtered Shazir. They were about to finish Abdul too when Su ran onto the deck in the form of a sahuaghin!
The heroes continued to fight the merrow, killing one, then another, only to see more tailing the ship and slowly catching up. Two more began to climb aboard, but were taken out by Asha's scare. After finally killing seven and driving off the two, Py!ota managed to change the ship's course a little, pick up some speed and escape pursuit. Unfortunately, the cost was three more crew members, which despite having hired two extra, leaves the Destiny one sailor shy (although Py!ota, Abdul, or Su could fill in, as needed).
On the 7th, the crow's nest spotted a large convoy of ships in the early morning hours. Unsure of the fleet's intentions, the Destiny moved out of their way to avoid an interception course. A couple of smaller ships broke off from the main group, shadowed the Destiny for a short time, and then returned to their convoy. On the afternoon of the 8th, the Destiny arrived in port at Muluk.
During the time the officers sought replacement crew, the other members of the vessel took a little bit of shore leave. One evening, just after sunset Jamal, Arthur, Asha, Py!ota, Abdul, and Shazir were wandering the suq when they heard a boy crying for help. Moving to investigate, the group saw one young boy being beaten by six older thugs. A seventh told the heroes to "move along". Meanwhile, Asha spied a group of men-at-arms moving in to trap the party in the alleyway. One stinking cloud took most of them out, but a second group came around the other side. As the party met this challenge, the street thugs pulled knives and attacked the party's rear, JOINED by the young boy!
Asha's stinking clouds seriously hampered the attackers, taking out half of them. Arthur was seriously hurt, but using his magic missiles and web took out a couple of foes. Although the heroes were not in their armor, Py!ota did quite well, nimbly avoiding many blows and taking out several enemies. In the end, the group captured one thug and brought him back to the Destiny for questioning.
There, Su discovered that the thugs had been hired separately from the men-at-arms by a man known as Yodfah. It turns out, this was the same man who owned the wine-making operation behind the waterfall on the al-Zalim river. The thug didn't know the man personally, only by reputation. The heroes spared him, gave him his compatriots copper, and told him to make sure everyone knew how tough and magnanimous they were.
The Destiny set sail again on the 14th. In the afternoon of the 18th, again the greener group was on watch. This time, Asha clearly saw a group of four merrow climbing up the sides of the ship while she was moving slowly in a calm. A lightning bolt followed by one of Arthur's magic missiles took out one. Meanwhile, however, the other two climbed aboard. Shazir managed to reach his scimitars, but before he could act, two crew members were dead. Abdul went for his weapons and to get Py!ota from below decks. Meanwhile, Jamal engaged one, being savaged in the process. Arthur used a web to entangle one sea-ogre, but the other avoided the spell. The heroes used the time to move in. Unfortunately, the merrow were too tough and slaughtered Shazir. They were about to finish Abdul too when Su ran onto the deck in the form of a sahuaghin!
The heroes continued to fight the merrow, killing one, then another, only to see more tailing the ship and slowly catching up. Two more began to climb aboard, but were taken out by Asha's scare. After finally killing seven and driving off the two, Py!ota managed to change the ship's course a little, pick up some speed and escape pursuit. Unfortunately, the cost was three more crew members, which despite having hired two extra, leaves the Destiny one sailor shy (although Py!ota, Abdul, or Su could fill in, as needed).