Eryn carried many scars from the claws of wild animals and bandits that had felt just a bit too lucky. She - and all other mercenaries for that matter - knew the standard rates by heart.

"Usually the pay is 20 coins per day for protection on dangerous roads, though up to 50 or higher if it's monsters they want us to go after," she said. As she did, she quickly weighed the pros and cons in her head. They really needed this cargo stopped. On the other hand, a mutiny wasn't necessarily the best way of doing it. Brigg could likely afford to pay extra for the service. "Wading straight into the potential end of the road and poking all the monsters in the belly, though?" she continued, "I'll need to see 400 coin up front, but I'll give you back half of it if the whole thing goes smoothly without much of a fight."

She thought it over for a moment longer, then shrugged and looked out of the alley towards the ship. "Of course, if the mutiny fails and we have to make a run for it, we'll still stop your captain somehow. We would just be forced to do it in a much more permanent way - both for her and the ship. That is why I'd want the guards with us - strong arms and a disarming presence. Let's hope it goes well."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:16, Mon 24 Sept 2018.

Officer Brigg pursed his lips as he thought the arrangement over.  "400 for you and whoever you put on your crew?  It'll be tight on the coin purse, but I think I can swing it."  He nodded, mostly to himself. "Yeah, that should work.  I may need a few hours to scrounge everything together, but I'm good for it."  Brigg reached into the lining of his uniform's jacket and produced a pouch.  "I've got 100 on me right now, but I'll get you the rest from my room on the ship before tonight.  Here.  Let my put this in your pack for you."

Officer Brigg reached out to put the coin pouch into one of the side compartments of Eryn's pack, but the stitching had come loose and its contents fell out onto the street.  Luckily there was only one thing in that compartment, but unfortunately that one thing was made of glass. It was the jar containing the seahorse.  Somehow the jar had managed to survive intact through everything thus far, but when it landed on the cobblestones, glass and water splattered.

Even as Brigg instinctively stepped back as the jar broke, a figure rose up from the little puddle.  In place of the tiny little seahorse there now stood an elvish woman sporting a crown of antlers.  Antlers that were strangely reminiscent of the seahorse's own head ornamentation, now that you thought about it.

What do you do?

---

Skarlet
You're up!  Here are a few things to consider for your introduction:
* How did you first get trapped in a jar by the three sea witches.
* How long have you been trapped? (at least three days, but beyond that, you decide)
* How did it feel being able to hear everything going on without being able to communicate?
* How does it feel to finally be in your natural form again?
* How did it look visually as you transformed?
* Do you have any strong opinions about the things you have witnessed the adventuring party do over the last couple of days?

Eryn and Ilura
That seahorse you guys have been carrying around all this time turned out to be a person. How does that make you feel?

Also, add 100 coins to one of your inventories. You'll get the other 300 by nightfall.

Ilura continued to wait near the entrance of the ally, apparently not noticed by either Eryn or the fighter.  She'd have to talk to Eryn about maintaining better situational awareness.
 By this point she'd caught enough of the conversation to know that it wouldn't have been a good thing if someone had been listening in other than herself.

She was already primed for trouble and had an arrow nocked and aimed at the transforming figure before it'd even finished materializing.  She wasn't sure if the sight before her was a woman, a spirit or something else.  Whatever it was, it'd have an arrow in the back of its head if it did anything to Eryn...

From where Mouse was innocently minding their own business behind (or possibly within?) some of the crates in the alley, the thief suddenly found the deal being discussed was interrupted by the appearance of a new individual.  Around that same time, Ilura is noticed at the end of the alley as well, pointing an arrow at the new arrival.

At least one of the three women in the alley is a familiar face to Mouse, and their presence in the current predicament prompts the little thief to break cover.  Whether it is to help, hinder, or merely diffuse the situation is known only to Mouse.

---

Mouse
You have overheard Eryn's deal in the alley. Do you have any opinions about it?

You recognize one, two, or three of the other party members.  How do you know them?

Why were you behind crates in this alley to start with?  And why did you reveal yourself at this moment?

"Thank you, but I would really prefer if you didn't..." Eryn's protests came too late. The damage was already done, and the warrior stooped to scoop up and move the little seahorse before it could suffocate in the muddy dust. She didn't get that far before the creature began to transform, however, and despite all the things she'd seen recently Eryn was still as bewildered as Brigg when it took the shape of a person.

A few seconds later it hit her: Fish. Shapeshifter. "Get back," she said in a grim tone, pushing Brigg away with the breadth of one arm while reaching for the hilt of the blue spirit sword with another. "She might be another sea witch." Eryn watched carefully to see if the strangely antlered woman in front of them seemed distressed by situation. If this was a captive of the witches rather than an enemy, they shouldn't act rashly or threaten her for no reason. Then again, one didn't grow old as a mercenary by being careless.

The thought of a person observing them all from the jar for the last three days was an unnerving idea. It had been covered by cloth among Eryn's other goods for the majority of each day, but even so it was impossible to tell if the little seahorse had been able to eavesdrop on their conversations. If so, this woman knew about the events of the cave, the wolf clan, the demon, the ship and the devil's bargain... Even if it couldn't hear anything, it had even been sitting on a shelf in the quiet evening hours, where it could watch Eryn practice magic and go through all her other routines. The former seahorse could have picked up some of her newfound secrets too then.

"Who are you?" she asked tentatively, not quite drawing the sword but not letting go of the hilt either. "And how did you end up in a witch's jar?" The second sentence was not so much a question as a demand.

She felt Brigg shift behind her, so she relaxed her shield-bearing arm and let him move freely.

---

I'll just go ahead and replace 'seahorse jar' with 'Skarlet' in my inventory list then. How much does she weigh? ;)

Since I'm the one recieving the money I have added them to my inventory. By adding 100 coins I am now overencumbered, but I will get rid of something else as soon as possible. I think I'll leave the Vorlag meat on the ship (or toss it) and maybe hand some coins over to Ilura. Sounds good?

"Holy shit!"

That half-shouted half-gasped and definitely surprised phrase had been said as Mouse suddenly stood up from where they had been waiting for nightfall inside a crate and keeping an eye out via a knothole. The lid of the crate had been loosely fixed to the crate so it now sat balanced on Mouse's head as they gaped at the group. Being a halfling, the top edge of the crate came up to their shoulders.

---

It sounds like a business deal to Mouse. Maybe with questionable ethics, but Mouse doesn't really care about questionable ethics of jobs other people are doing.

Mouse knows at least Eryn. They stole something from one of her past employers while Eryn was hired to guard it. Mouse is assuming that Eryn isn't entirely happy about that.

In a crate, waiting for nightfall to steal something out of a nearby warehouse because they had heard it had something valuable. The reveal was a whoops moment because Skarlet - to Mouse's eyes - appeared out of nowhere and it's a bit startling when an someone wearing a crown of antlers suddenly appears.

Ilura's bow shifted to the suddenly visible halfling, then back to the elf and finally picked a position somewhat between them, while trying not to point directly at the crewmember or Eryn.  The "quiet" alley was starting to look more than a little crowded - and the odds of keeping a rather sensitive conversation quiet seemed to be getting a bit more remote...

Like an eruption or a landslide, the unveiling of the elven druid's true nature was accompanied by the sounds of rushing water, sloshing mud and crackling lumber.  The regal figure draped in a green sleeveless dress with a brown mantle rose to a tremendous height, a full head and a half taller than those present in the alleyway.  Her left hand supported a fine semi-cylindrical shield that seemed to be carved whole and seamless from a single piece of wood, her right a modest spear with the fang of some great beast affixed as the spearhead.

The elf shook the last of the water off the tips of her ears with a flick of her chin, and smiled with soft, red lips that parted slightly, revealing rather pronounced buck teeth that were slightly rounder than normal incisors, much like a chipmunk or a squirrel.  It initially gave her a very youthful, childlike air.  However, all the teeth behind them were sharpened fangs like that of an alligator.

"First of all, would it kill you to poke some air holes?  Just because I'm above simple physical needs doesn't mean that water didn't get stale.  As for my name?"

"Skarlet, ma'am," she murmured with a slight drawl. She glanced over her shoulder to Ilura, noting the arrow no longer pointed directly at her.  "I'm glad to see your lap dog has shaken that habit of shooting first and asking questions later.  It's a shame you never showed Unglaw or Rishna such courtesy..."

Skarlet slowly brushed her damp hair behind one ear, the flowing red locks shimmering like a waterfall of blood.  "If I must be honest, it was the sea witches who rescued me.
I had a run-in with some ruffians I was hiding from who stuffed me in that jar a few weeks ago, and I couldn't change forms within that damned thing or else I would have just broken myself out.  They saw potential in me, and planned to surprise Mira with a new sister... But you cut those plans rather short.

I'll not insult your sensibilities with a debate on the ethics of your methods.  Mira has new disciples now, and I'm rather impressed that you convinced her to give the brother the same chance as his sister.   It seems you're rather short on help, and I wouldn't mind going out to sea.  I doubt I'll be able to cross paths with Mira again, but I still wish to observe the next stage of the training Rishna suggested to me...."

Today: Skarlet rolled 8 using 2d6 with rolls of 2,6.  Parley.  Trying to convince the others she's more useful than dangerous...

Ilura ignores the jibe and shifts her aim to the halfling.  The horned creature might be annoying, but didn't seem to be much of a threat.  The other was as-yet undetermined.  Though as she watched she wondered if they didn't seem a bit familiar...

Eryn narrowed her eyes at the halfling that had popped up. "Who's this then? One of your crew, Brigg? No... I've seen you somewhere before, I think." Wheels were churning in her head, trying to make sense of the situation. Why would this person be listening in on them? On the other hand, Skarlet's story checked out for the most part, but even so her tone left something to be desired.

Eryn found the young-looking elf odd. Pretty, but odd. She had antlers on her head! At the same time it was clear that Skarlet differed from the witches and the rest of the party - there was a certain air of grace around her that they all lacked. On the other hand Skarlet's wooden shield looked unblemished and there was no way a seasoned warrior would wear a dress into battle. Combined with the tone she addressed them with, Eryn felt some relation to past clients and could only conclude that the redhead must be yet another inexperienced traveler.

"To my ears what you've been through sounds more like an opportunistic kidnapping than a rescue," she said to the druid. She had to turn her head upwards to meet the tall elf's eyes, which felt quite jarring after just having looked at the much shorter halfing. Nevertheless, she continued without letting the woman's size intimidate her. "Those witches were planning to feed children to a monster. Had we not been saddled with the task of rescuing as many of the flock as possible, we would certainly have tried to slay the last witch as well. If you can help us dredge Mira up from the sea so we can accomplish that task, feel free to come with us on the ship right away."

---

Ilura: If you have room for it, you can grab 100 coins and a bundle of Smoked Vorlag Meat (rations) from me. Each is 1 weight.

Mouse: Eryn doesn't recognize you right off the bat, but she will in a minute once Skarlet's entrance stops distracting her.

Skarlet: I'm not sure we roll to parley with other players (GM?), but I decided to let your 8 guide my reaction to 'I am a bit sceptical' for now.

Yeah, no Parley roll is needed in this instance.

"What? No, I'm not part of anyone's crew. Don't mind me. I'll just be on my way now, having heard and seen nothing." Mouse said, clambering carefully out of the crate.

The halfling kept their hands away from the bow case slung across their back and the rapier hanging on their left hip. Instead of using a hand to untangle it from the lip of the crate and potentially being mistaken for reaching for a weapon they nudged it with a booted foot as they gracefully tumbled down out of it.

Mouse, where do I recognize you from?

Ilura moved into the alley.  She'd lost the element of surprise, so she might as well avoid drawing further attention to what was going on.  She kept her bow leveled at the halfling.

"I'm afraid I must insist that you stay.  We haven't been properly introduced, after all..."

"No need for names." Mouse said with a friendly smile and spread hands. "I'm happy to stay out of your business. I wasn't here so I could not have possibly seen or heard anything and none of you saw me pop out of a crate."

Ilura glanced over at Eryn and quirked an eyebrow.  She was the one who'd been talking mutiny, so the ranger guessed that she may as well let the fighter make the call.

As the four adventurers eye each other up with potential risk assessments, Officer Brigg leans in to Eryn. "I still have tasks to complete, so I'll just leave these two to you..." And with that, the officer slipped down the alley toward the end opposite Ilura.

Before Brigg had made it very far, he paused as if listening to something.  Faintly, in the distance, gasps of awe and cries of concern could be heard.  They quickly rose in volume and a moment later shadows of creatures could be seen overhead.  A large flock of pelicans flew across the gap between the warehouses.  Which in and of itself was not very strange, but these pelicans had jet black feathers and beaks with serrated edges.  Additionally, in the middle of the flock was a bird that stood out from the rest.  It had the same basic form, but was about the size of a horse-drawn carriage.

Brigg's eyes went wide and he looked to the adventurers. "I'll... I'll see you on the ship."  He then redoubled his speed and continued heading away from the birds.

By now the cries of alarm were replaced by cries of outright fear.  The flock could be seen circling the market area just outside the alley.  Anyone who decided to take a peek could see that the pelicans were using their serrated beaks to cut the nets that hung over the market to keep the seagulls away from the food.  Then, the monstrous pelican got impatient and plopped itself down in the middle of the square, causing what was left of the net in the area to rip away from its moorings.

A nearby guard approached it shakily, sword drawn, but the dark pelican reached out its enormous beak, grabbed the man on his armored chest, and flung him away like a twig.  He landed hard in a melon cart.  The huge bird then lifted its head to the sky, beak open, and let out a cry.  The rest of the flock began raiding the nearby food vendors, scooping up beak-fulls of fish and crabs and such, then flapping over to drop them down the gullet of their huge leader.

"My business!  No!" one of the vendor yelled as he ran for cover from the aggressive flock.

What do you do?

---

Everyone
A huge pelican with a serrated beak and black feathers is having its tinier friends dump food down its throat in the marketplace. Anyone can feel free to name the species.

Mouse
Someone or something you care about is in that marketplace.  What would that be?

Ilura sighed and and let our a curse under her breath.  "Sea buzzards"  They were generally scavengers, adapted to consuming corpses of larger animals such as whales and certain sea monsters, though they were perfectly capable of scooping up fish like their white-feathered breatheren.  They didn't often come this close to civilization though.  And they *certainly* didn't grow to the size of the monstrosity they were serving.  Some sort of ill-magic was likely afoot.

[Stay out of this for now.  Don't want you getting eaten]

Thomas didn't look like he needed much convincing.  <green[Filthy]</green>

The ranger prayed quietly to Lusiny as she moved into position to target the big one with one of her new arrows from the cover of the alley.  She remembered her mentor had taught her something about these birds.  Every creature had a weakness of some sort...

quote:

22:56, Today: Ilura rolled 11 using 2d6+3.  Cast Blessing - on me.
22:57, Today: Ilura rolled 15 using 2d6+3.  Spout Lore on pelicans.
22:58, Today: Ilura rolled 7 using 2d6+4.  Called shot - no Thomas.

I presume I'm going after the head unless my lore suggests something else would be better.  No damage, but it's stunned.

"You are in our business already, like it or not," Eryn said to Mouse, and that was all she had time to say too before the situation began unraveling before them. Suddenly birds were potentially ruining the mutiny plans, Brigg was leaving, Mouse was trying to leave, and Skarlet was a witch. Obviously. Black birds from the sea? What is this, are you the fourth sister after all? she said, more as a statement confirming what she already suspected than as any sort of surprised exclamation. "Would you kindly ask them to grab Captain Frost for us, and try their best not to dismantle or poop on the whole town in the process?"

Eryn noticed that Skarlet didn't look like she had any control over the birds after all, and sighed. "Yeah, that was too much to hope for, I guess." She scanned the scene and concluded that the largest, most monstrous bird would be the best target. The smaller ones would hopefully scramble if they poked the big one enough. The well-trained warrior ignored Skarlet for the time being and expertly slipped her spear off her back and into her hand. Hunting prey like this was best done with a polearm rather than a sword.

"Ilura: Brigg wants us to help replace Frost as captain without bloodshed. He's willing to pay a fair bit of money for the favor, and if we can pull it off I think it'll help us a lot. Let's talk about it once we get rid of these pests."

With that, Eryn walked careful away from the others and headed towards the marketplace. All the noise made sure there was no need to sneak around, and with any luck her target would be too busy eating to notice her approach.

---

12:28, Today: Eryn rolled 8 using 2d6+1.  Discern Realites (Incoming flock of birds).
What is about to happen?
What should I be on the lookout for?
What here is useful or valuable to me?

Can I reach the large pelican before it flies off? If yes (and if it's stunned) I'll stab it, if not I'll probably cast a spell.


Edit: Spelling, formatting.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:46, Thu 04 Oct 2018.

Hands still held away from their weapons, Mouse slipped up beside Ilura as she loosed an arrow and cleared their throat politely. "I'm rather fond of this chowder stand just on the other side of this. Do you think your friend will be stabby if I go help? I'm going to go help, please don't shoot me. Thanks in advance~"

Then with that, Mouse drew their rapier as they stepped past Ilura and out into the marketplace. Instead of heading the direction Eryn had gone, Mouse angled away so they could move opposite her and they could flank the bird. Mouse figured that Eryn - being taller - would probably pop out and attack the bird first which meant that Mouse could then attempt to surprise it by popping out of a booth behind it once she had.

---

There's this booth run by a nice lady and her husband on the other side of the square. She makes a mean chowder and serves it in her husband's bread bowls which are nice and crusty on the outside and not prone to going overly mushy on the inside. Mouse really likes their chowder. Plus their booth is a pretty decent place to chill and listen to gossip about shipments and who's making good sales.

Mouse is attempting to sneak around so the big pelican can't see them and so they pincer maneuver the pelican. Let me know if you want some sort of stealth roll.

Mouse:

Mouse is attempting to sneak around so the big pelican can't see them and so they pincer maneuver the pelican. Let me know if you want some sort of stealth roll.

A Defy Danger +Dex seems appropriate for the sneaking in this instance.  You can go ahead and give me a roll for that.

16:10, Today: Mouse rolled 8 using 2d6+2.  Sneaking (Defy Danger via Dex).

As the huge bird sat in the middle of the square getting fed by its flock, Ilura took aim.  The 30-40 smaller birds flying all over the place made it difficult to find an opening, but eventually one presented itself.  The arrow was let loose and flew straight and true, directly at the large pelican's head as intended.

It would have hit too, but one of the smaller pelicans swerved unnaturally quickly in mid-air and found itself in the path of the arrow.  The hit pelican let out a surprises squawk before landing lifelessly in front of the larger one.  That was when Ilura recalled an important piece of information about these birds.  As the information flooded back into the ranger's mind, the large pelican picked up the smaller one in its beak and gulped it down.  It then motioned toward Ilura's general direction and said [Protect me.] (Only Ilura and Skarlet can understand the pelican.)

What Ilura recalled about the sea buzzards as a small cluster approached to investigate, was that the underlings would guard the queen with their lives.  And they had a sort of sixth sense that would allow them to do that against threats that approached from a distance (ranged attacks).  What's more, if their queen died, the flock would swarm whatever destroyed her in an effort to protect future generations from the same threat.  And the beaks designed to saw apart dead whales could be quite formidable if such a swarm caught one off guard. This queen may be bigger than normal (probably due to swallowing something magical that it shouldn't have) but its underlings seem just as loyal as ever.

As Eryn circled around with her spear, searching for the best angle of approach, she noticed a curious detail.  The big bird had only just landed, but there were already several large eggs resting beneath it. As the big bird leaned forward and swallowed its fallen brethren, the warrior noticed another egg pop out right as it swallowed the other bird. If Eryn had to guess, the bird was laying eggs at the same speed it swallowed the equivalent body weight of one of its followers.  And to make matters worse, the eggs were already starting to hatch.  But on the plus side, the large bird seems to have no plans to fly away any time soon.

Mouse, being the expert thief they were, had no trouble finding enough hiding spots to remain out of direct sight of the flock.  The little halfling easily made their way around opposite to Eryn and had the perfect spot to launch a surprise ambush against the queen once Eryn made her move.

Unfortunately, Mouse's position also gave them a great view of their favorite chowder stand.  The old man was still there trying to shoo the birds away from his precious bread.  He seemed to be doing a decent job of it too, but there was a sea buzzard coming up behind him that he hadn't noticed yet.  Its serrated beak was aiming for the back of the old man's legs, and he would certainly be hobbled if Mouse didn't act fast!  But helping one of her favorite chowder servers would mean giving up the element of surprise.

What do you do?

---

Everyone
There are about 30-40 smaller sea buzzards in the flock, feeding the larger one.

Ilura
You remember that sea buzzards have a sort of sixth sense when defending their queen against ranged attacks.  And they are fiercely defensive of her, even after death.

Also, there are about five pelicans headed your direction to investigate the source of the arrow.

Eryn
What is about to happen?
The queen sea buzzard is about to hatch some chicks.  And judging by the size of the eggs, the chicks will be pretty much fully grown when they hatch.  The big bird doesn't seem like it will be moving from its spot any time soon.  Too much good food to eat.

Mouse
You successfully were able to sneak to an advantageous spot to flank the huge sea buzzard from, but you were presented with a difficult decision when you got there. You can either save the old man at the chowder stand from becoming crippled by a pelican attack and lose your hiding spot (no surprise attack against the big pelican), or you can save the man from injury (you can describe how).

Better deal with the source right away, Eryn thought, but hesitated before stabbing at the giant bird. The warrior knew that with such a big flock around it, at least some of them would be able to evade her weapon and shield, and with their combined weight they were likely to pin her down like a bee swarm choking a hornet.

She had really wanted to interrupt its feeding and egg-laying at the same time by attacking it directly, but perhaps she could accomplish the same goal by skewering the smaller ones and throwing them out of reach of the monster so it could not recycle them.

Once Eryn had made her decision, the warrior shot a glance behind her to avoid standing in the way of her companion's ranged attacks, then repeatedly jabbed her spear at the mass of feathers in an attempt to wing clip as many as possible. If they fell, they would at least not be immediately dangerous.

---

21:57, Today: Eryn rolled 9 using 2d6+2.  Hack and Slash (Flock of birds).
21:58, Today: Eryn rolled 4 using 1d10+1d4.  Deal damage to birds. (+2 piercing)

Deciding that the bow wasn't going to be much use, Ilura decided it was time to experiment with her bracelet.  She dropped her bow and grabbed the bag of meat Eryn had just dropped and started to run in a round-about fashion that didn't directly appear to immediately threaten the 'queen'.  As she ran she threw meat to either side.  <blue[Quick, get the meat before the others do]</blue>  Sea birds tended to be distractable, especially with food.  Hopefully these ones would be no different.  Her goal was clear though.  She needed to touch the queen - and preferably not be swallowed.

quote:

15:12, Today: Ilura rolled 9 using 2d6+2.  Defy danger - dex.

If anyone wants to Aid, that'd be welcome :)