He laughs.  "The trick is to stand on the dock after departing and stare around you, looking tall and menacing the entire time, until the solid world stops swaying.  Trust me... works every time."

And Jarrun would nod at her next words.  "Roger.  You have just given me permission to sweep you off your feet at any time.  Gotcha.  I'll be sure to remember."  The big blond seems in a good mood as they were leaving the ship on their errands.

"I wonder what fresh fruits this town has?"  Jarrun idly voiced out loud his typical craving whenever he entered a new town.

Upon reaching the chandlery--not a candle-making business, but a ship's supply shop, Alicia and Jarrun find the usual merchandise for sell: nets, ropes, floats, buoys, lobster traps, gaffs, belaying pins, figureheads, barrels (ale, grog, salt pork, etc.), ship's wheel, soap, candles, perfume, anchors, varnish, tools, lanterns, etc.

Since there were only two other ships in port, there wasn't much business going on in the chandlery at the moment. A woman was buying soap, candles and perfume, while two fisherman were haggling over the price of nets.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:22, Mon 30 Oct 2017.

Since he had no duties on Ship, Vasily heads into town to try to make a little coin. As he feels they will not be in port too long, he figures he may be able to convince some old money to part ways with a sliver of their wealth. He attempts to do so by finding a likely target and wooing her to lend him some support in exchange for his attentions.

OOC: Using Tempt to earn wealth as a "profession."

Alicia didn't mind a little byplay from Jarrun. "Perhaps not at any time, please.

If I should lose credibility among the high sticklers, it will not improve our chances to get information from certain individuals." She softened her criticism with a rueful smile.

In entering the Chandlery Shop, she looked around, then began some verbal nonsense with Jarrun to confuse the fishermen, the woman, and the clerk in charge. "I wonder if there is soap with an interesting fragrance for sale? I need something new for a change."

She looked to the woman. "What do you think of the soaps for sale here? I like lavender, but would like to try something new. What would you suggest, Ma'am?"

She gave the clerk a knowing look and smiled, "What do you recommend? I'd like something to tempt the men, of course; but I'd like to feel clean as well."

She tried not to look at Jarrun, both to keep her own composure, and not to trigger a laugh from him.

At this time of year, apples and pears are in season, as are raspberries and blackberries. It's a bit early for peaches and strawberries, and citrus fruits don't grow well in this climate, so they have to be imported. Jarrun might find some, but they will be expensive.


The shopkeeper at the chandlery replies to Alicia: "Ah, mademoiselle, if lavender is not to your liking, we have lavanilla, neroli portofino and peach blossom."

Although he doesn't actually say it, these are the fairly ordinary low-priced soaps. Alicia can clearly see half a dozen other ones. There's jasmine, oleander and something called flowerbomb. There's also gardenia and Lily-Rose.


Vasily tries to Tempt a few ladies of prominence with his Panache, and actually gets two that seem to be competing for his favors: Lady Rozanna and Lady Mirielle.

16:03, Today: Dread Pirate Robert, on behalf of Vasily Pavlychenko, rolled 39 using 6d10 ((9,6,7,8,5,4)). Generates 3 raises.

Vasily now has 6 Wealth points. Of course, they'll go away once he leaves DeChaine.

While Alicia is busy with the clerk, Jarrun will wander around looking a little bored.  He'll wander up and see what the two fishermen are going on about.  "I wonder if prices here are high all the time, or if something happened."

He voiced this to nobody in particular but close enough to the fishermen so that both would overhear as he looks at the things most likely lost in a brief ship-to-ship ranged engagement.  "Seems like someone else already got some of the good stuff."

He'll finally turn to address the fishermen directly.  "What's in season these days?  Anything good?  I need to find something entertaining because she'll likely take forever..."  He'll flick his head in the direction of Alicia.

"This late in the season," one of the fishermen replies to Jarrun, "perch is about all that's out there."

"Normally, yeah, that would be the catch of the day," replies the other one, "but if you head westward, you might still catch some cod."

"If you're just going to drop a line off the pier, pollock is your likely catch."

Alicia looked from the woman, to the shopkeeper, and back. Well.

She addressed the shopkeeper. "I'll try the oleander and the lily-rose. And, how can I pass up something called flowerbomb!?" She winked at Jarrun so that none other might see. She would try to decide whether to ask for information shortly.

The two ladies let Vasily escort them to the local chandlery, as they insist that he has exotic imported perfumes, and they want his opinion on which he likes the best.

Without too many ships in the harbor, the chandlery isn't all that busy, but there are a few people in there, including another woman that's buying perfume.

Suddenly, there's a tremendous crash from the back wall which explodes inward as a large beast smashes through the wall.

Not sure what this beast was or why it would be crashing through a wall uninvited, Vasily whips out his sword and uses his off hand to wave the ladies (that he came with) behind him.

He looks around to see if there is anyone else who is girding themselves, or if the others present are mere bystanders. If he spots someone who is an obvious swordsman, he'll "back them up". In other words, he'll watch them to see what he can learn. If not, then he'll have at the beast himself.

OOC:
10:17, Today: Vasily Pavlychenko rolled 40 using 6d10 with rolls of 4,8,10,2,10,6.  Wits + Weaponry: Studying combat.

4 raises exactly. I understand that actually trying to hit the thing will be "changing my approach", so I'll have to drop an extra raise to do it. I
m assuming, though, that it will become pretty obvious pretty quickly that the other two heroes are, indeed, heroic. ;) And, if it gets me in a bit of trouble sitting back to study them, rather than bashing at the thing, so much the better.

Other than the crash and the exploding splinters of wood that fly everywhere, you now have a moment to look at what has done the crashing!

It is a huge alligator-like creature. In fact, it looks like an alligator standing on its hind legs... only the legs (and arms) are longer than a regular alligator. It has a huge jaw lined with many sharp teeth. It also has a massive long tail that it lashes out with.

It's not completely through the wall yet, and it seems to be looking around for targets to attack. You can't really tell if there is any intelligence behind its eyes, or if it has any purpose.

Jarrun had always been quick on his feet to react to danger.  Such moves are part and parcel of being a successful pugilist.  When the creature burst through the wall of the chandlery, the big man's response was purely reactive.

He had left his sword on the ship, but he hadn't used that in a long time.  No... some things were best handled by the tools his trainig had given him.

Jarrun stepped up into the creature's face, narrowly avoiding the massive jaws and jumping over the thing's swinging tail as it tried to wreck the place.  The blonde wrapped his big arms around the scaly torso in a solid grip learned from his time outside the ring and manhandled the beast to the floor so that someone who knew better what how to deal with this could do so.

"I don't think this thing wants any soap!"  Jarrun shouted to nobody in particular.


5 raises rolled including rerolls.  1 raise to grapple.  2 raises to dodge the snapping jaw and to skip over the flailing tail (Consequences).  Spending 1 raise to provide an Opportunity to someone with a weapon by holding it down.  1 unused raise.

I think I wrote this correctly.  Still learning the rules.

Alicia had no intention of engaging this huge creature in combat, let alone get in Jarrun's way(!) Being quite knowledgeable about animals, even strange ones such as this, she determined to try to figure out how to assist Jarrun and Vasily.

Alicia de Larrocha rolled 7 using 1d10.  reroll (1).
Alicia de Larrocha rolled 26 using 7d10 with rolls of 7,1,2,1,5,8,2.  Wits+Notice+Flair (w/university/reroll+1).

Just three raises.

The creature being only half-way through the hole, she decided that it might make sense to go around to see what she could see from its rear, at the outside of the building. It might be vulnerable from the rear. This also might show that the creature was not alone(!) or that there might be a human along, behind it. "I'm going to go outside to see what I can see from there!"

One raise to decide to go outside, one to run outside to get a better look, three to see if there were something important that she should know.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:35, Thu 16 Nov 2017.

Jarrun's grapple doesn't take it to the floor unless he spends a Raise. He doesn't need to spend a Raise, though, to avoid the tail, as the tail isn't fully inside the store yet. But, it thrashes around, back and forth, slamming into the outside wall, making the opening larger.

Grappling it to the floor isn't as hard as it might look because the beast, though standing on two hind legs, is not all that steady on its feet, as it is clearly top-heavy, and it was either not designed for that or has not had a lot of practice. This upright posture is what allows it to smash through the wall. Even it had been on all fours, it wouldn't have been able to do that; it would have had to smash through with its tail, then turn around to run through on its four feet.

However, since the beast isn't wielding a weapon, its peculiar anatomy makes it nearly impossible to restrain its 'arms' or legs.


Vasily sees that Jarrun's 'style' is more about brute force... using it to overcome his enemy. You'd guess that he's better with his fists than with the weapon he carries, since he didn't even try to draw his weapon to attack. Big men like Jarrun are seldom able to master the finesse of swordsmanship and dueling. The finesse is for those that don't have the strength to do what Jarrun is doing.


Alicia, realizing that fighting such a beast is not really her idea of 'shopping', hurries outside to try and gather information that might help her allies.

She sort of knew it, but hadn't really paid attention to the detail, but the chandlery faces the dock and has an alley behind it, formed by the buildings on the first street that parallels the docks. Without common sense or building regulations, buildings tend to get built where, how, and when it's convenient. Such is the construction of buildings along the shore and harbor of DeChaine. Farther inland, they have the room to spread out a bit more.

The store behind the chandlery is a pottery shop, and a shed for the kiln was built off the back of it, making the alley even narrower at that point. Due to the irregular construction of the buildings, including additions and such, the alley is a bit twisty, lined with debris and such. Common practice is to construct a new building using the wall of an already existing building. Such was the case here: next to the pottery shop is a bookseller, then a jeweler, and then a haberdashery... all using the common wall of the previous building.

The dock is busy enough that Alicia is fairly positive that beast could not have come from the sea, would not have come from the cross street without being seen and an alarm sounded, so it must have come down the alley. She immediately spots signs of its passing--a shattered water barrel whose contents have spilled onto the ground, crates pushed over, boards knocked to the ground, etc.

Too many shadows farther down the alley for her to get a glimpse of anything further.

The creature is still thrashing around. Jarrun has taken it down, but that tail gives it incredible leverage. Alicia can tell that it has little to no voluntary control over its tail--it thrashes in reaction. The tail is still not fully inside the chandlery yet, but enlarging the opening as it still thrashes.

Suddenly Alicia spots a glow from in the shadows... a good hundred feet down the alley. She quickly discerns that it is a man-like figure in dark clothes... wearing a mask! She can see this because he is hold some sort of 'wand' with a glowing orb on the end of it. She realizes that he was hiding behind a corner, but had to step out to find out what was happening with the beast.


No sooner does Jarrun get the creature to the floor than it goes into a death roll--thrashing around and rolling over and over to shake Jarrun loose. Jarrun will take one Wound this first round unless you negate it with that unspent Raise. Unless you do something else, you'll continue to take one Wound per round until you let go.

Seeing that there is little to learn about swordplay from this giant wrestler, Vasily decides the time is ripe to attempt to enter the fray. He prepares his blade and takes a quick slash at the beast during one of the moments when it rolls over onto the top of Jarrun.

OOC: Spending 2 raises on a slash. Weaponry, and, therefore, damage is 3.

Also, a question; these ladies of means; would coming to this place count as acting outside their defined social status? If so can I have the Hero point for that quirk? And a similar question about my other quirk; have I put myself in sufficient danger (by holding back, rather than going straight to the offensive, and therefore prolonging the fight with this beast) to justify that quirk?

The ladies might use the products that can be bought here at the chandlery, but they wouldn't actually visit the store and shop there themselves, so, sure, Vasily gets a Hero Point.

On the other hand, standing there and doing nothing hardly puts him in any danger. The danger is all Jarrun's.

However, his three Wounds to the beast causes it to thrash about even harder, which breaks Jarrun's grapple on it. Jarrun also lets go to avoid taking any more damage. (He's taken one Wound so far.)

Its thrashing and rolling finally brings it all the way into the store, though, its tail flailing about wildly, smashing counters and walls.

Even as it rolls to its feet and attempts to stand when Jarrun lets go, so, too, does Jarrun roll to his feet.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:33, Mon 04 Dec 2017.

It wasn't that Jarrun thought he was out of his league trying to brawl with this beast--he'd faced down and won brawls with large men before, but that was the problem: this thing wasn't a man. The usual tactics didn't seem to work.

Growing up, tales he'd heard had always ended with such a beast being killed, but Jarrun wasn't a killer. On the other hand, he didn't saw any sensible solution of what to do with the beast if he'd just render it unconscious.

First things first. Stop the beast. It was that tail that posed the major threat and biggest problem. Rope!

Lots of rope here in the chandlery! He could immobilize the tail and the legs at the same time!

Approach: Brawl (grapple its legs to take it off its feet again, then grab the tail and wrap legs and tail up in the rope): Brawn 4 + Brawl 3 + Large (1) + Quick Reflexes.

17:51, Today: Jarrun rolled 38 using 8d10 ((1,6,10,3,6,2,4,6)). 10, 4+6, 6+3+1... 6+2. 3 raises + 1 for Quick Reflexes.

Vasily, having recognized the fact that there was nothing to learn, changed his approach to one of more straight-forward swordplay. Given the power-differential, however, he decided to utilize what he hoped was his advantage of mobility; darting in and out, just staying within reach of the maw long enough to get a slash or pommel strike in with his sword before jumping to the side to try to give himself room to deflect any attempt by the beast to use its powerful jaws or upsettingly large tail to lay him low.


OOC:
Approach: standard weaponry + finesse, result (but for the first time!): 4 raises, 1 unused die
13:14, Today: Vasily Pavlychenko rolled 47 using 7d10 ((3,9,6,10,8,1,10)).

First action will be a bash maneuver (1 wound, plus the next time the croc/gator thing deals wounds (in this round), it deals 3 less)

That is, unless it goes before Vasily and hits him; in that case I'll parry to reduce the wounds.

Once the beast crashes through the wall, the two ladies with Vasily run screaming from the store, but just to where they think they are safe and can still watch to see what happens to Vasily.

Even as the grappling big man is forced to release his grip to avoid the thrashing, Vasily makes his move. Not trying to kill the creature yet, his tactic seems directed more at distracting the beast... or at least dividing its attention between the two of them.

It appears to work, as the wounds Vasily delivers draws its attention toward him.

That gives the other man an opportunity.


Jarrun grabs up a coil of rope and attempts to grapple the creature again--this time with the intent of entangling it in the rope.

The creature appears to fight on instinct and brute rage; it doesn't seem to have learned anything from Jarrun's earlier take-down, so once again, Jarrun takes it off its feet. Jarrun, however, has learned about the tail and the thrashing it can do, mostly driven by its legs and tail, so he quickly gets a couple of loops or rope around the tail and then when it tries to thrash, he adds its legs to the loops.

Jarrun smiles as he rolls back to his feet, still holding one end of the rope, because the beast starts thrashing again, but as it does so, it tightens the rope, pulling its tail and legs together, stifling its thrashing. The more it tries to thrash, the tighter the rope gets. Soon, the beast is nearly incapable of thrashing. It can still do so slightly by spasming its body and neck, and its arms are still free, but aren't particularly useful.

Jarrun soon has it trussed up so tightly that it can barely move.


Alicia continues to observe the obvious sorcerer down the alley while remaining out of sight herself. Mostly this works because the man is focused on what is going on in the shop. When the noise seems to stop, he shakes the wand once or twice, seems to swear in frustration, and then turns quickly moves farther down the alley.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:10, Sat 23 Dec 2017.

"Aha, good trick!" Seeing that the beast has been handled well by the quick thinking Vesten, Vasily smiles back at his patronesses. "Would you ladies care to examine the beast more closely? He is quite the brute, but our fellow here has tied him up quite well!"

See the continued thrashing of the beast, Vasily considers what would be most appropriate here; for sure, now that it is bound, he could poke at it until such time as it gave up on life, however that did seem to be a bit of a waste of life unless the beast was likely to repeat its performance. Of course that conundrum could only be answered by discovering how this thing happened to get up on the docks. The answer to that was through the hole in the wall. Vasily considered how best to handle this, and decided that, while this may not be the best part of town, surely a shopkeeper would have enough interest in his livelihood that he would probably not let evil befall the ladies, if they were placed under his temporary protection.

Vasily turned to the shopkeep; "Sir, I must investigate from whence this beast came for a moment. Please look out for these fine ladies while I'm distracted thus."

He then turns to the giant man from the North; "I trust that you will maintain your truss for a bit while I look out the hole?" Vasily winks.

Assuming no one declines the duties he's suggested for them, Vasily makes haste to the hole in the wall and peers out, looking for any likely way that the reptile managed to get onto the docks or why it decided to make entry where it did.

It would be hard to call the hole in the back wall of the chandlery a 'hole' as most of the wall has been demolished. It leads out onto an alley that runs behind the chandlery, though being on the corner, the alley can only go one way.

Vasily spots two people at the street end looking down the alley, and when he looks at where they are looking, he catches a glimpse of a figure a ways down the alley, moving away, keeping to the shadows, and casting a glance backwards now and then.

The alley isn't straight; it conforms to the back so of the buildings, which, in turn, conform to the shoreline and the road.

Having hustled the remaining crew off the Southern Wind, it was all Jacob could do to watch helplessly as the ship took another volley and sank into the water. It was doubtful the water was so deep here that the ship couldn't be salvaged or even raised; fortunately, the magazine hadn't been hit.

The pirate ship that had attacked was now passing by another ship. Jacob was sure the other ship had been docked when the short battle started. It did not look like any other battle would commence, though, so he turned back to the surviving crew, who were already scattering through the town, no doubt looking for their comrades who'd been ashore.

There was some commotion going on in the store on the corner... a chandlery by the look of things. Then he noticed a woman standing at the opening to an alley behind the chandlery.

Intrigued at why her attention was focused down the alley and not on the spectacle of the sea battle, he sauntered up to her.

"Pardon me, m'lady, but may I be of assistance to  you?" he said.

Vasily did not spare even a glance back into the Chandlery, nor a second one towards the onlookers; clearly this figure sneaking off with furtive glances back at for possible pursuit must have been, somehow, involved in the sudden appearance of the beast that had made a cave from what was once a building. Ideally he should be questioned. Vasily took off immediately to try to catch the shadowy figure before he lost sight of him. At very least he hoped to get a clear description of the person, so he needed to get closer to get a clear view.

The figure Vasily was chasing wasn't actually running at first because he didn't seem to be aware that he was being pursued, but he was moving quickly, as if in a hurry, clearly trying to distance himself from the events in the chandlery.

It's not dark, but the sky was cloudy, and the various overhangs on the buildings did cast shadows in the alley. The figure wasn't slinking between the shadows, but he was making it a point to keep to them whenever he could.

By the time Vasily closed half the distance to the figure, he'd been able to see that the man wore a mask and carried a stick, possibly a cane, in his hand. It was about then that the man (his stature, build, silhouette and movement pretty much said that) became aware of Vasily, and started running. It now appeared he had an objective in mind. Two buildings later, the man disappeared.

As Vasily reached that spot, he realized the man must have entered the back door of the building. Quickly following, Vasily finds himself in a tavern. He sees about 20 patrons in there. There's no immediate indication that the man continued on through and went out the front; Vasily doesn't think he had time for that.


Back in the chandlery, now that the action is over, Jarrun has a chance to actually examine the creature. While there are many animals in the world that have yet to be discovered, and certainly many that Jarrun has never seen or even heard of, this one is clearly not natural. It smacks of some sort of sorcery of the darkest kind. So far, it has demonstrated a lack of any of the traits of a natural animal. While it's eyes may not 'glare with evil' at Jarrun, they also don't show any signs of intelligence or passivity. Its fierceness rages unabated. It shows no signs of tiring.

"I cannot believe my eyes!" the owner says as he reluctantly returns to his shop. "You've caught the Beast of DeChaine!"

"It's been terrorizing the town for six months now. It normally only comes out at night. It's killed a dozen people, ripping them to shreds and eating most of them."

"Oh, my poor shop!" he wails at sight of the gaping hole in his back wall.

"Most strange--it's never entered a building before, never even damaged a building. I wonder what caused it to do so this time?"

"Maybe I'll repair the hole... maybe I won't. It'll be good for business! Everyone will want to see where the Beast of DeChaine was captured!"

"My, but you're a big fellow! May I ask, sir, what is your name? Great tales will be told of this day and your defeating the Beast."