Flashpoint: Death Hold

Well, we finally got out Monday game back on and it was certainly an interesting one. I chose those with the highest Constitution (Lhye and Archer) to awaken and made it so that everyone had managed to come back to 1 hit point, regardless of what they were on earlier (which was certainly below 1).

Lhye and Archer awoke stiff-limbed and sore in a lower deck that stank of spilled bowels, stale water, and broken rum barrels. They were surrounded by the corpses of those infected by the Lacedon who were slowly mutating, their skin coming loose from their bodies (not falling off, but loosening) and bony spines growing up beneath it in certain parts like fins. Lhye could see this (Darkvision) but Archer couldn't.

Archer was crumpled up in the most uncomfortable position and had been in that position for seven hours. Lhye was on his back with a leg hooked up onto a barrel with his cat familiar sitting on it (giving him a dead leg). They heard a noise and assumed it was each other. Archer asked "Who's there?" and Lhye, thinking he might be a lacedon, came over to 'help' with a Cure Light Wounds Hex that would either kill him (if he were undead) or help him. As Archer was perfectly alive, he felt much better briefly before his body flared up into pins and needles now that the numbness had died down. Archer had his hold out pistol and uniform (which in this game represents his armor) but Lhye had nothing but his cat.

Lhye went over to Lenny who was slung out across two hammocks and unbloodied (though without armor, she wore her under clothes which were breeches and a long-sleeved shirt to keep the chain shirt from chafing), and healed her but it took her a little time to disentangle himself.

Lhye noticed a man crouched in the corner of the lower deck, clutching a broken off piece of bloodied plank, and wanted to cast Light but lacked the Firefly (love Pathfinder for including the material components) and so cast Dancing Lights instead (no material component). So Lenny looked up and saw this horned figure standing over her surrounded by four points of candle flame ... then saw the lavender eyes and remembered it was Lhye and not an actual devil.

Lhye called out a threat to the crouching man (can't remember what it was now) and the man decided to take his chances and 'charged' (wasn't an actual charge as it was difficult ground, it was more stumbling forward but he made his Acrobatics roll) towards him. Lenny tried to strike him but missed but the man's wild swing also missed. Archer went to trip him, the man struck out at him and hit a terrific blow that shattered the wooden plank, and Archer slammed him into the back of the knee and dropped him to the ground. Lhye followed up by casting his Slumber Hex on the man. Archer noted that the man's clothing were too high quality for a regular soldier. He must have been an officer.

Then Lhye went to awaken the last two with his Healing Hex, giving them both a disturbing start due to the gloom and the lavender eyes. All this time the Admiral (the cat) remained on the water barrel and out of the muck. Proteus immediately looked to his monkey, who peeked around the edge of the doorway to forward hold but fled through a broken plank between the bilge and this deck (the missing plank was in the attacking sailor's hands) and it clung to the gap. Proteus calmed it down but it was only after the monkey bit his finger to ascertain that yes, he was bleeding and wasn't a monster, did the monkey climb out and hug him and nibble on his ears.

Lhye went around healing all of the transforming Lacedon, killing each one, and noted that five had already been quietly killed, likely by that other man who had cork screwed the wooden plank's edge through their eyes and into their brains. Lhye knew that the man would be awake by now but was pretending to sleep but Lhye was all right with this for now.

Archer checked up the companionway but found there was a heavy weight against the hatch and while it could be budged, it would be noisy. Archer and Proteus then went into the galley at the rear of the ship and found the ship's old knives which they then passed around. Proteus sent his monkey up the chimney and through his empathic connection sensed apprehension, nervousness, anxiety, curiosity, then excitement, followed by more nervousness and then satisfaction. The monkey scrambled down and produced ... a piece of bread! Proteus happily shared it with the monkey. The monkey's transit also dropped a page of Lunjun's spell book - Mage Armor - which Lunjun then set as all of his first level spells.

Lhye noticed that the so-called Sleeping Man had tried to move while he wasn't looking and he told the man: "We're not undead so how about you try to help us rather than attack us?"

The man opened his eyes and said: "I wasn't trying to attack you. I was trying to get away." Then he rose to his feet. "I'm Marxus. First Mate under the old Captain." He stood very officer-like with his hands clasped behind his back.

Lunjun went and took up some granite from the ballast so he could get the ground mica needed to cast his Mage Armor spells. Lenny pulled a few manacles from the wall and Marxus smashed a few more deck boards which he stripped and packed the long hunks through the manacles to create a banded club (Craft Improvised Weapon) and gave one to Lenny and kept one for himself.

Then Marxus suggested they all position themselves around the companionway in an ambush because his efforts were noisy and would've been heard. Archer suggested Lhye disguise himself to look like a Lacedon form of himself. Lenny slung herself across two hammocks with a knee on a barrel to help herself spring off of them. Marxus lay down behind the companionway ladder. Archer crouched in the galley behind the companionway with his holdout pistol in hand. Lhye stood in full view with the Dancing Lights around him. Proteus crouched behind a few barrels and Lunjun ducked around the corner in the forward hold.

The Lacedon pulled free the thing before the hatchway and expressed surprise that the tiefling became undead, which Lhye agreed was surprising. Lhye did a really stand up job of being quite dodgy and Lacedon-seeming and the enemy came down the companionway only to be shot by Archer and have his head knocked in by Lenny (who sprang off her hammocks).

Then Archer hurried up the companionway and got clawed by one of the final Lacedon. He grabbed the thing and jerked it back down on top of himself and landed on the deck. Proteus then hit it with his Silent Scream spell (can't remember its actual name) and it fell truly dead.

Then they heard a splash off the top deck as the final one fled. Proteus tried to follow it but dropped off the wrong side of the ship and then when he came around the right side he didn't spot it in the dark water. Coming up they found all of their equipment (barried one of Lunjun's spells ripped out of the book), all the sails reefed so that it was gently moving forward, and the anchor up (as the Lacedon had been waiting for their new crew to emerge).

Marxus then located the charts and they limped their way back to Diobel with a crew of four (as two had no Profession Sailor one manned the wheel with Knowledge Nature and the other manned the navigation equipment and later cast the lead to check they weren't going to run aground). Proteus and Marxus threw the corpses overboard. They hired a tug (at a great price) and a pilot to lead them into the docks only to find a Keleshite Slaver on the docks, eager to purchase from them. He'd heard rumors a slaver vessel was docking (as it took them awhile to get in) as the ship stunk of death and excrement.

There followed a conversation where slaves were referred to as 'labour' and where a deal was made to purchase 15 eager sailors and 5 veteran sailors for 250gp which seemed to be fair but one couldn't be too sure until they saw the slaves. Archer planned to set them free once purchased and hoped they would still elect to sail the ship. Lunjun did most of the actual negotiation as he actually spoke the Keleshite language.

Now they're at the docks and they all smell really bad in muck-covered clothing.

They're planning to kill the whore house Reincarnater and steal all of his gold, re-fit the ship, fill it with crew, and track down their old ship before returning to Augustana to get a teleport to Riddleport.