Kozibi still found it very odd and more than a little alarming at the talk of how 'common' various types of lycanthropy were in the area. It made him seriously consider taking his leave of the place as soon as possible.

But alas he had an engagement scheduled.

"Well. I suppose I shall accompany you three lovebite recipients. I just need to back in a few days."

He leaned towards Bellinha and lowered his voice, "And then maybe we should find a less lycanthropic place to be after that."

Tilting his cup towards Bellinha, Zekk shrugged,

"I've been asked on worse dates before." he said, tilting his head back towards Orus, "Besides, I wouldn't want that to happen. Then I'd have the blood of an entire village on my hands." he said flatly, with no mistaking exactly how he felt them trying to 'kill him so it didn't spread' would go. His voice held no animosity... to him, it was simply factual, and he almost seemed bored about it.

Throwing more of the ale back as they continued discussing, he figured they were all in this, one way or another, so no reason for him to speak further. They already knew he was comfortable with it.

"Gee, thanks!"  Breya responded sarcastically to the request to not be as ugly.  As promised, she didn't break his legs.  But she did spike him down hard on her knee, right in the toodles.  It was a small target, but Breya was good.

She was just going to nail him in the temple and put him out, but she was so tired of him and felt like he needed to retch and vomit on the floor for a while.

"Yeah, so that's... for the sheriff or whatever you have here.  All right we have a plan.  What about you Shortstack?"

  “Oh you’re stuck with me, for a little longer at least. Besides if this curse removal doesn’t work out, I do want to see you with eight bouncing boarish breasts, the snout and tusks, the curled up tail and all the rest!”

 The little wizard was ready to embark as soon as they were, but added for Lori:
  “There was a young gnome with us at the Manor, I think we’ve mentioned him before. He probably would have laid traps and things around the place, as safety measures. Be careful thus, and make sure to talk to him and bring him back.”

 She made sure to pick up Alfie’s spellbook, and told him if asked: “Well that’s for our troubles, and for the whole poisoning us to take advantage of us.”

 “Belinha, we can take turns on this one while we sail to Smythers.”

Bellinhas face went a little white as Cassandre spoke of seeing them with boarish breasts and snouts and tusks.  Her eyes widened at that image and she almost felt sick.  "I really don't want to see that." she said softly.  How were the others able tone so cavalier about this curse?  Even Orus was talking like this was a natural occurrence, like some odd fish that got caught in the nets of one of the villagers, a fish that just happened to turn into a monster under certain moons.

Bellinha shuddered at that thought.  Could she get used to things like this?  Shrugging off lycanthrope curses like they were just a bad meal?

Bells looked over at Kozibi.  "Maybe we should find someplace else to stay." she mused.

The subject needed to be changed, otherwise Bellinha was just going to get more and more depressed about the situation.  "Let's get Flea over into Norvis' custody, and warn him about Fleas....quirks.  Then we can get ready to travel.  I'd also like to take a look at the Brangham place again.  We didn't see anyone else there, and I'd like to see if we can find some sign of Lanna, as you mentioned Orus.  Flea must have done something with that family."

"All right, it's not like we can go this minute."  Breya lifted the cadaver (technically he was still alive, Breya didn't care) in a most undignified way that was convenient for Breya but not him.

  "Kapranthropy!" Cassandre suddenly shouted, with a raised finger and an epiphany.
  "It was going to keep me up all night. Lycanthropy is for were-wolves, Arktanthropy is were-bears, and Kapranthropy for were-boars." she further explained.

  "From Ancient infernal Kaprôs... wild-boar..."

 "Shall we go back to the farm, see what we've missed?"
 "And make a plan to ambush the pirates when they turn up?"

Kozibi gave a visible start when Cassandre just yelled out a strange word, looking over at her with wide eyes. "...the hell?" She kept talking and muttering about lycanthropy for a moment before moving on to something less...were-related. Which was all well and good for him. He'd had enough were-talk for a while.

He thought about her question a moment and then glanced at the others, shrugging. "If that's the plan...I have other things I could be doing, but if you want my help, I will accompany you."

In reply to Kozibi Januson (msg # 63):

After depositing Alfie/Flea and Morty into jail, you trek back to the farmstead.

A search of the farmhouse and barn doesn't turn up a trace of the family.  But scratched onto the wall of a storeroom in the barn are the words they gon take us out to sea plez help us

So everyone is headed for Smythers, huh?  Pity.  I was hoping for even more party separation.  Oh well.  I'll just have to kill you all there.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:57, Thu 29 Dec 2022.

"There's a distinct possibility they're already gone.  There's no sign of them here."  Breya commented grimly.

In reply to Breya (msg # 65):

Orus is a man of his word.  He hires out a trawler named She Nibbles My Toes to take you to Smythers.  It's only a three man crew.  The captain is a rough looking half elf named Getsby.  He smells like ale and burps a lot.  So he's not much different from most of the fellas you've met in Salt Lick.  The two crew members just nod at you and go about their work.

Getsby pushes off shortly before sunset.  "I'll get ya to Smythers pretty quick like.  's only a bump and rough tuppa tup up the coast an' over westernly like.  You guys are all kapranthropes, right?"  He nods at you Cassandre.  "Thanks to ye young miss, I learned a new word today.  An' I never wanna stop learnin'.  It's what keeps a man young.

"Anyhoo.  We should have a quiet night like.  Not expectin' any trouble.  So why don'tcha all relax like?  What ca' possibly go wrong?"

She Nibbles sails along into the ocean.  The sun begins to dip below the horizon.  The stars pop out like little dew drops on the leaves of a poison oak bush.

It's just after the sliver of a moon makes it's appearance in the night sky that one of the sailors finally says something.

"Cap'n.  We got turtle sign."

About one hundred feet out in the water, cruising in a line that seems to parallel the ship, is the back of a large sea turtle, easily as big as the boat...

Bellinha, Breya, and Zekk...you start to feel a rage mounting up within you.

Bel, Breya, and Zekk...I will need a WIL save of 6- or you will fly in a murderous rage and want to rip the turtle into pieces.

As of now though, there's just a giant sea turtle swimming near the boat.  That's all.

As of now that is.

23:48, Today: Breya rolled 2 using 1d20.  Will Save.

Just as I'm about to go out of town for like 3 days.

Tell me you forgot to add your legendary wisdom bonus to this roll!
And resistance, surely you have a resistance bonus… what about luck?

Cassandre stays on deck, near the railing, and observed the turtle in awe. It was gigantic and she was mesmerised. She only hoped the unnatural hatred between shapeshifters and turtles was not about to be put to the test…

Kozibi was not unused to less-than-fancy accommodations. It was part of 'the job' when one traveled often and to less civilized corners of the world. A trawler was a new experience for him, however.

He made a small face that was a mix of acknowledgement of the captain's words and surprised shock. But that quickly changed to a glare when he uttered 'those words', the famous last words that adventurers knew better than to utter. What could go wrong, indeed.

He prayed for a quick, uneventful journey and was disappointed, as usual. He glanced at the turtle with an open mouth. Something promptly flew in to and he fell in to a coughing fit. "damnation!"

He spat and cleared his throat a couple times and then looked at the sea turtle once more. A bit hoarsely he said, "Impressive."

Bellinha looked visibly upset when Getsby said that they were all Kapranthropes.  "Please don't say that." she said in a quiet voice, more at Cassandre than at Getsby.  She knew that Cassandre was just being honest and open, but she really wished that her little companion would stop announcing their condition so readily.  This curse was a flaw that Bellinha did not want to have in the open.

How can people be so flippant about this were curse?  It made Bellinha want to hide away in the ships hold for the duration of the journey.

Of course when she wasn't distracted by the curse, she was thoroughly enjoying being on a boat on the water.  Bellinha would stand  on the deck, often with a big grin on her face like she was the Queen of the Seas.  She loved the water and it would show.

And then someone pointed out the turtle, and her enjoyment faded.  She could feel a part of her, the curse part, start to snarl and she fought back the urge to give in to it.  What about the others?  She looked around for Breya and Zekk.

OOC:
Bellinha Grunnel rolled 13 for Will Save.

In reply to Bellinha Grunnel (msg # 70):

I will move us forward while we wait to find out if Zekk is going mad from the turtle curse

Breya begins to curse and swear.  Her big hands ball into fists and she starts looking around, as if looking for something to throw at the turtle.

Getsby eyes her.  "Oh yeah.  Turtles.  Damnation.  I forgot about that.  Can you guys calm her down?  Them turtles'll leave us be long as we don't rile 'em up."

This was not good.  Bellinha shot Getsby a harsh look and then moved over to where Breya was starting to act up.  She'd need to have some words with the captain after calming down Breya.  Bells was sure that she could.  Pretty sure.  Optimistically sure.

"Breya." Belinha said slowly, approaching her companion with palms out.  "Breya.  Let's just calm down now, 'kay?  Focus on me, not on what's in the water.  Me.  Not water.  Me."  Bells closely watched Breyas body, trying to see if what she was doing was calming her and trying not to imagine those powerful looking arms lashing out.

OOC:
Bellinha Grunnel rolled 16 for Sense Motive.

Those damn turtles, carrying their homes with them.  It was indecent.  Breya was searching for the means to make turtle soup!

But Bellinha sure was nice.  Maybe she'd done better the other night than she'd thought?

Could one use the aid anothet action to help Breya with the will save?
 Also cast Resistance when the Turtle is in sight?
 Cass could use her Detect Thoughts to monitor her reactions...
 She also has a 1/day reroll of a failed save, which technically she can't use to help someone else, but Breya has been her bff since they were polishing the chapel benches together (so 4 days ago)

Zekk was relaxing. Things could have gone worse. The entire village could have blamed him, or somebody could have wondered why he was tagging along, but none of those things happened. He was relaxed, with all of that in mind.

Spotting that damnable sea turtle, however...

Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs, Zekk knew better than to rage out over a turtle. It must have been part of the curse, right? Certainly nobody else was...

He glanced to his side, and saw Breya. A kindred spirit. She looked pissed.

Can't leave a kindred spirit alone, can we? he thought to himself, shaking his head,

"Hey, I can see you hate that little bastard too. I say we both jump his floaty ass, and teach him a lesson! he said, starting to strip off his armor to leave it on the boat for a deadly little swim! He was standing near the edge, ready if he saw Breya's support, to leap out at the turtle and grapple the little bastard!


13 for will save, thank goodness!

...oh wait, I'm playing up my character's low wisdom. Die turtle, die!
This message was last edited by the player at 19:47, Mon 02 Jan 2023.

"Zeeeeeekk...." Bellinha turned to look at their latest travelling companion.  Her tone was a warning.  "....You are not helping here...."  Just when it looked like she might be getting through to Breya, Zekk had to come along and enable the urges of the curse.  Cassandre and Kozibi were admiring the turtles and Getsby was pretty blaise about the whole thing so it looked like it was up to her to take charge and calm things down.

Hopefully calm things down.  Just don't think of the turtles....nasty little hard shelled...no...focus on the others....

Bellinha reached out and put a hand on Breyas shoulder and spoke calmingly.  "Stay with me, Breya.  You are stronger than the curse.  Stronger than me and I really don't want to wrestle you to the deck."

She turned to look at Zekk over her shoulder.  "And Zekk.  No one is jumping into the water.  Just come over here and let's talk a bit.  Everyone likes to talk, right?  Come talk to me."

When she turned to Getsby, she was commanding.  "Getsby!  Get us away from those Turt...those things in the water.  Now!  I don't need my crew getting funny ideas."

In reply to Bellinha Grunnel (msg # 76):

Getsby orders his crew to put their backs into it.

Cass, you can try any of those options except using letting Breya use your reroll.

You guys can either help man the oars to put some distance (STR check please.  Once we get a combined total of 35+ in STR roll totals, the ship would be far enough away that Breya is no longer bothered by Mr. Turtle)

You can try a Social Skill of some variety vs. Breya's CHA of 12 to get her to settle down (Aid Another or other types of assists allowed here). Bell, I liked your last post.  If you want to try a Social Skills roll of some kind on her, give yourself a +2 bonus.

There's good ol' magic.  Charm Person or Sleep anyone?

Or anything else you guys can think of.  I will give you a round to do what you can.

Thanks

Kozibi rolled his eyes and let out a loud sigh. Then he began, unexpectedly, to loudly sing. Acapella even. He wasn't trying to drown out Bellinha's attempts at talking to Breya. He just wasn't sure of her possible success as he'd seen Breya be a bit...stubborn.

"I tear my heart open, I sew myself shut.
My weakness is that I care too much.
And my scars remind me that the past is real
I tear my heart open just to feel."

FASCINATE: Targeting only Breya.

  Each creature within range receives a Will save (DC 16) to negate the effect. If a creature's saving throw succeeds, the bard cannot attempt to fascinate that creature again for 24 hours. If its saving throw fails, the creature sits quietly and observes the performance for as long as the bard continues to maintain it. While fascinated, a target takes a –4 penalty on all skill checks made as reactions, such as Perception checks. Any potential threat to the target allows the target to make a new saving throw against the effect. Any obvious threat, such as someone drawing a weapon, casting a spell, or aiming a weapon at the target, automatically breaks the effect.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:59, Tue 03 Jan 2023.

Okay, Kozibi is singing.  That should help distract Breya and Zekk, Bellinha thought, casting a quick glance over at Kozibi.  Now she just needed to try and talk down two larger, warrior types who seemed anxious to jump over the side and kill turtles.  Not that the turtles didn't deserve it, those uncouth....no...focus...Breya and Zekk.

Bellinha focussed on Breya, lowering her voice.  "Breya.  I can't do this alone.  This curse is...I am barely holding on here.  But you....you are stronger than I am and I need you to show me that we can beat this curse, that it won't overwhelm us and turn us into something that we are not.  Show me that you are stronger than the curse.  Please, Breya.  I know that you can do this."

With her free hand, Bellinha reached over and tried to grab hold of Zekk.  It was a little difficult as she did not want to break her eye contact with Breya and just swung her hand around trying to find a grip on the man. If she could just pull him over and away from the edge then maybe she could talk some sense into the man.  Or distract him.

OOC:
Bellinha Grunnel rolled 17 for Diplomacy.

Breya took a long, deep breath and looked up at Bellinha.  "I swear if he keeps singing, I am going to tie his eyelashes to his ass hairs."

She then became fixated on that idea, fascinated by it actually, and started laughing at the idea of Kozibi trying to separate his eyelashes from his asshairs once they were tied together.