Jory appreciated the wise speech of the one called Sal Warth. "Those are very wise words, master Warth. I think you're absolutely right. We don't gain anything by trying to break those manacles on our hands. We should escape at the earliest opportunity, but it has to be a good opportunity. Let fate come as it will and then we will grab our chances!"

Rebeccah looks over at Sal and gives a weak smile.  "That's kind of you to say.  I must admit to being fearful of my fate.  I can't imagine anything good coming of this."

Everyone seemed so chatty and in a general decent mood. It was hard for the boy to wrap his mind around. Even Daniv, who was younger than he, seemed to be dealing with being taken captive rather well. He knew that if he spoke he would probably loose whatever grip he had on himself. Just watching everyone talk amongst themselves was hard on him. He did manage to follow along with the conversation and was ready for whatever plan the others decided on. Even if it was to just sit and await their fate. For the time being his head swam and his ears were ringing. As such he was content to sit and watch.

Tugging on the chains to avail, Deniv finally sits down, closing his eyes in thought.  His body is tense, almost vibrating with anger.  Back at the tavern, he had always been so quiet, complacent, acquiescent, almost like he had no spirit or fire, like a whipped dog.
But not in this hold, with these other prisoners.  He falls thoughtfully silent, his fingers finding one of the fastenings of the manacles, trying to work it out though he knows he probably will be unable to get it free.

In reply to Jory Longarm (msg # 19):

He nods and grins. Well met, Jory Longarm!

In reply to Rebeccah (msg # 20):

He matches her weak smile with a sttong one. you don't, do you? Well we can sail the ocean blue or sell the ship, and the whole crew too.  he flourishes the song with a wink.

Rebeccah stared wide-eyed at the halfling.  "Uh, ok."  Maybe they hit him a little too hard.

A few days after you woke up, the ship was hit by a squall, which turned, after half a day of tossing and rolling, into a full-fledged storm which blasted spray and curses into the hold every time the hatch above was opened. Your jailer, a man named Hafkris, maybe a half-orc, it was hard to tell under all that grime and walrus ugliness, brought about half the shackled slaves abovedecks to man the oars vacated by sailors washed overboard The storm continued on another day, and Hafkris took another one-fourth of the slave cargo abovedecks He looked worried.

That was yesterday. You haven't seen any of the pirates or the slaves since then, and you haven't been fed. Early today, the shouting and cracking whips indicating that rowers were being kept in line finally faded away to nothing.

Right now, as you're waiting for some sign of life from abovedecks, there's an enormous crash, a grating, grinding noise and horrible shuddering of the ship around you as it runs aground. Abovedecks, there’s the sound of snapping spars and a great crash on the deck which you know must be the mast coming down.  You're all thrown toward the bow, but are still held fast by your shackles and suffer more bruises to your wrists.

The bow of the galley is shattered by the impact, and as the galley grinds to a halt, the bow is torn away entirely, letting in a ferocious blast of numbingly-cold air and ram; the port side of the galley is laid open by a huge boulder that the galley has ground against.

A moment later, there's once again only the sound of wind and pounding surf. Out the open bow, you can see a section of rain-pounded beach; you seem to have run aground where a cliff face meets a cove beach.

Jory had been shaken during the storm, but he had survived, so he rejoiced inwardly and said:
"I'm alive"
His wrists were still in the strong manacles, but at least he could stand up and wriggle a bit with the chains.
So he stood up and started pulling hither and tither on the chains, with all his strength and using his weight to the best advantage.
He was trying to get free.


Can we bend down to the floor and pick something up? What is the anchor to which my chains are fastened, a pole or a board or something else?
This message was last edited by the player at 10:46, Tue 19 Sept 2017.

The ordeal was horrendous and Einlian was thrilled to be alive. His whole life he had wanted to join up with a crew and sail out of his home port. Now he was just happy to see land. The half elven farmer had been lucky enough to have been freed by the crash. Looking at his shackles he was not so fortunate. Forgetting Jory for the time being he looked around to the others near him to see if anyone was hurt badly and if possibly any more had been freed in the crash, " Anyone hurt? " He yanked on his chains to try and at least free them from their mounting as the others were gathering themselves after the crash.

---

Ok I'm assuming here that I was not freed of anything as it did not directly say so. If I am wrong I will edit my post.

(The front of the ship is torn away, not the side.   Otherwise you would have been torn away, too.)


Everyone is manacled separately.  You can stand up with a little bit of wiggle room.  There are chunks of wood within reach.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:37, Tue 19 Sept 2017.

Bruised, battered, and soon to be aching, Deniv pulls himself from under another, unmoving prisoner.  He reaches dow to check the older man's breathing, and finds a a large splinter of wood protruding from his chest.  He staggers back, crab-walking slightly into the gunwale.  Ugh!
Leaning down, he inspects the chain and manacles.  The manacles are attached to a welded chain.  Following that to the gunwale, the chain is affixed to what appears to be a half-ring that goes into a plate bolted to the wall.  Picking up a piece of wood with an end broken close to a point, he shoves. As much of that end as he can into the half-ring.  When he can't push it in any further by hand, he grabs anothe rpiece of wood to hammer it.  Being barefoot at this time, having lost his sandals at some point, he decides he does not want to injure his feet by kicking it.
After about thirteen hits, he shatters his wooden hammer and has to find another to begin again.  However, two more hits pop the ring from the plate, at least freeing him from the wall.  He sits on the deck, tired and breathing heavily.  After a minute or three, he picks up the wood pieces he had used and tosses them to Jory.
Try this.  It worked for me.
I can at least move around, now.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
07:49, Today: Daniv Jensen rolled 1 using 1d100.  Yay! it worked!
07:48, Today: Daniv Jensen rolled 90 using 1d100.
07:48, Today: Daniv Jensen rolled 100 using 1d100.  This sucks....
07:48, Today: Daniv Jensen rolled 54 using 1d100.
07:48, Today: Daniv Jensen rolled 91 using 1d100.
07:48, Today: Daniv Jensen rolled 42 using 1d100.
07:48, Today: Daniv Jensen rolled 91 using 1d100.
07:48, Today: Daniv Jensen rolled 45 using 1d100.
07:48, Today: Daniv Jensen rolled 33 using 1d100.
07:48, Today: Daniv Jensen rolled 40 using 1d100.
07:48, Today: Daniv Jensen rolled 42 using 1d100.
07:48, Today: Daniv Jensen rolled 70 using 1d100.
07:48, Today: Daniv Jensen rolled 35 using 1d100.
07:48, Today: Daniv Jensen rolled 7 using 1d100.
07:48, Today: Daniv Jensen rolled 57 using 1d100.  Bend Bars.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 14:14, Tue 19 Sept 2017.

Thank you, that's an ingenious method of getting the ring out of the wall.

Jory tries to use one piece of wood as a hammer and follows the same steps as Daniv to get the half-ring, to which his chain appears to be fastened, out of the wallboard.

Sal, upon finding he was alive, first spared a somber thought to all those that had not been as fortunate as he. Then, rising to his feet, he looked first at the hole in the side of the ship and to the beach beyond. Then he looked at his fellow prisoners with the beginnings of a smile; there was hope, at least, until they could figure out how to break free. which, when Daniv invented freedom, was quite soon and cause his smile to break out. he grabbed himself some chunks of deck and wall and repeated the process.

Lam moaned as he tried to gain composure. His limbs were sore; his wrists and ankles more so. The tall man tugged at his chains, but freedom would not be immediate. He looked around at the chaos from the wreck. Were there others walking around? Lam squinted. Yes, others were up. He tugged at his shackles, growling with disappointment.

Picking up more pieces of wood, Deniv began handing them to other to use to get free.  Stopping at Lam, he shows him how to use it.
Stick the pointed end into the ring on the wall.  It's half a ring, with two flattened ends holding it in the plate there.  He points to each part as he speaks.  Then, hammer the wide end until it pops loose.  You'll still be shackled, but you can move around.
He turns it over to the taller man and begins looking around the wreckage, hoping to find the keys or something else to use to open the manacles on his wrists.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

18:19, Today: Lam Durus rolled 5 using 1d100.

18:19, Today: Lam Durus rolled 23 using 1d100.

18:18, Today: Lam Durus rolled 47 using 1d100.

18:18, Today: Lam Durus rolled 69 using 1d100.

18:18, Today: Lam Durus rolled 75 using 1d100.

18:18, Today: Lam Durus rolled 66 using 1d100.

18:18, Today: Lam Durus rolled 67 using 1d100.

18:18, Today: Lam Durus rolled 34 using 1d100.

18:18, Today: Lam Durus rolled 50 using 1d100.

18:18, Today: Lam Durus rolled 87 using 1d100.

18:18, Today: Lam Durus rolled 29 using 1d100.  bend bars.

---

Lam was still not lucid, but he understood that the other man wanted to help.

"Thanks" the tall man hoarsely stated as he accepted the wood. He did his best to repeat what he was shown. Initial attempts failed. Lam growled under his breath as he kept trying. What if someone on deck survived and came down below? What if there were unfriendly beings upon the beach? Lam hurried his progress.

The farmer let out a deep breath as he finally succeeded in removing the ring from its mount. Now what? He was still shackled. Lam looked at the others to see how they were progressing.

Einlian took the chunk of wood with a slight smile. He had spent his whole working life on the docks and a combination of muscle and knowledge of ships allowed him to make quick work of his bindings, " Thank the gods! " The youth looked around to the others to see if anyone was having trouble with their escape. He was in a rather good mood at the moment despite their predicament and was looking forward to freeing the others.

---

I have no idea how many shots we get, but it took me four to get out.

22:31, Today: Einlian rolled 2 using 1d100.  Bend Bars.
22:31, Today: Einlian rolled 100 using 1d100.  Bend Bars.
22:31, Today: Einlian rolled 55 using 1d100.  Bend Bars.
22:31, Today: Einlian rolled 28 using 1d100.  Bend Bars.

Daniv shuffles through some of the debris and comes up with the key that had fallen off the hook in the crash.  The key easily frees all the surviving slaves in the hold.

Jory had given up after several fruitless attempts to give himself, but then, fortunately, Daniv found the keys and he was freed.

"Thank you Daniv! Let's get out of this hell hole. But I'm trying to find a weapon first."

Jory looks at all the larger pieces of wood in the slave hold to see if one of them can be used as a kind of club (weapon).

"Thanks much" Lam happily stated as his shackles were unlocked. He rubbed at the bruised spots where the metal had rubbed. He grit his teeth when he discovered that some skin had been torn away. He looked up at the hole at the ship's bow.

"Better not be any more pirates around" he muttered. Leaning over, he picked up a stiff piece of cot wood, the perfect length for a club. He stood. Lam's legs were weakened from days down, but he was sure that they would be back to strength soon. He swung the makeshift club.

"No pirates" he repeated to himself.

There are several pieces of wood that have the size to be clubs but would be slightly difficult to handle.  (-1 to hit)

A captive woman who had kept quiet during the days at sea rubs her wrists and gives thanks for her freedom.  "By the gods, I feared that there would be no release.  My father is a wwalthy merchant.  If you can get me home, I'm sure my father will reward you."

Jory picks up one of the woodpieces to use as a makeshift club.
He answers the woman: "You're welcome to stay with us. I'm not sure if we can find a ship to get you back to your island. The only thing I'm thinking about right now is survival. We can't assume that this island is safe for us. We had better be able to defend ourselves. Yes, even you, madam, should try to help in an emergency! Secondly, we need food and water. I suggest we look on deck if there's any food and water of the pirates left.

Einlian is just as thrilled as the rest to be freed from his bindings. He notices people grabbing up clubs and does the same. He gives the club a few swings as Jory outlines the need for food and water. As if the words brought it to being his stomach suddenly rumbled powerfully as he remembered he had not eaten in some time, " Food and water. On it. " With that he looked about to see if they were luck enough to still have stairs leading above deck and if not to see if he could find a way to climb up.

The slave hold runs about two-thirds of the length of the galley, from the bow to about one-third of the way to the stern. One hatch leads to the deck. When tried, the hatch is immovable.  Something heavy must be on it.  The only other exit is the huge hole torn open at the bow.  Cold wind and rain are coming through the gaping hole.