CAMPAIGN: Queen Arkwyn's Crown (D&D5e)

[Newbie Newtype]

Hyne nods, "Yes, he agreed to take me to the eastern landmass."

For a moment he returns to discussion of the golem's talents, "So sailors are hesitant to buy your wares because.. they're too expensive?"

[Bob the Hamster]

Meleander's hands abruptly put down both quills. In a flash, the canvas is unpinned from the desktop, and being carefully rolled up.

"I will be accompanying you, Mister Stormeel."

As soon as the canvas is packed up, Meleander immediately begins folding up the drafting table with a series of sharp clicks.

"It has been distressing me that I would not be able to add sufficient detail to the coastline of this eastern continent. Your Captain's journey will solve my problem nicely."

Meleander snaps closed the four books, and lightning quick, folds up the wire lecterns. In a moment, all of this is tucked under his arms and he seems ready to follow Hyne out the door.

"As to your other query, Yes, I imagine my standard prices are somewhat high for the average sailor... Also, it seems, that some persons are unnerved by my mannerisms."

[Newbie Newtype]

He wonders aloud, "What about the shop? You're not worried about what might happen to it on such a long trip?" Then asks, "And, well.. do I still owe you for the maps I planned on purchasing?"

[Bob the Hamster]

"The shop will be safe. It is full of deadly traps" says Meleander. "And yes you must still pay me for the map, but there will be no extra charge for my company"

[Newbie Newtype]

Hyne quickly looks around, alarm expressive on his features and movement, "I was walking around a trapped building this whole time?" He says, "I still have the money for the map I wanted, the map of the eastern sea was requested by the captain so he might be able to pay you."

[Bob the Hamster]

Meleander makes no clarifications to his claim of deadly traps.

"You can pay me when it is done, and it will be done when it is done."

Arms laden with the folded table and several bags of supplies, books and papers tucked into waterproof folios, Meleander stands ready to follow Hyne.

You can skip right back to the boat and he will follow you, unless there is anything else Hyne wants to do before embarking

[Newbie Newtype]

Hyne allows Meleander to lead to have a path to avoid the traps. Once he is back at the ship he'll look for either the captain or his shipmate to announce that he found a cartographer to help with mapping out the Eastern regions.

[Bob the Hamster]

A small crowd of grumbling pirates is gathered on the docks between the Flying Eye Goddess and the Yanorin

"Mister Hammondre said he quits, so we are down one First Mate, and this is all the crew I could round up on short notice". Mr Skoth is explaining to Captain Crawford.

When Crawford sees that Hyne is accompanied by Meleander, he seems thrilled. "Welcome aboard!" he says to the warforged cartographer. He orders one of the crewmen to help carry the drafting table.

After Meleander has climbed the boarding ramp to the Yanorin, Crawford claps Hyne on the shoulder, and says "I knew I was going to be glad I hired you, I just didn't know I would be glad so soon!"

"We're still short-handed," Complains Skoth, as he directs other crewmen to make ready.

The elf named Tip abruptly flops out of the water without so much as a gasp for air and wriggles, sopping wet up on to the dock. A dozen silver-scaled grim-faced mer-folk emerge from the water behind her, with considerably more grace.

"No, we aren't" smiles Captain Crawford.

The storm has now blotted out the whole sky, and the rain is falling harder by the moment.

[Newbie Newtype]

Hyne gives a grin and continues speaking with his best piratey voice, "What can I say? Some luck to be had this dreadful day, I suppose."

When the two spring out of the water onto the dock he gives a wave and a smile to them both. He had never seen a merfolk man before, but he remembers the training and lecture involved in preparation of possible merfolk bandits should they attempt to board a ship.

[Bob the Hamster]

Tip smiles and waves back at Hyne.

The mer-man slowly and gracefully stands up on his webbed feet. His eyes are jet black, and his beard looks like kelp. He walks hunched, but if he were to stand straight, he would be quite tall. His skin is covered in glistening tiny silver scales, and he is wearing strange ropey clothing that looks like it is made out of sea-weed and shark's leather. As more mer-folk come out of the water, the hunched bearded one approaches Captain Crawford, and begins to converse with him in a strange language. The Captain seems not to speak it, and Tip cheerfully translates. When she speaks the language, it sounds like blowing bubbles in milk with a straw.

12 mer-folk in all come out of the water. They are both men and women, of various sizes and colorations. All share the first one's strange style of clothing and lank kelpy hair. The Captain gestures them all towards the Yanorin

Skoth stares at them for a moment, and sighs deeply.

Some of the regular crew seem very uncomfortable about the mer-folk. Others seem indifferent, and go about preparations as if nothing strange is happening. Captain Crawford and Tip seem to be the only ones really excited about the Mer-folk's presence. Even the mer-folk themselves have expressions that range from reserved to sour to grim.

To Hyne, Skoth says, "Stormeel, Did the Captain tell you which ship you will be working aboard?"

[Newbie Newtype]

When the elven girl waves back, he nods and asks, "I'm guessing you're a deep sea swimmer of some sort?" Hyne watches the mermen approach, then glances to everyone's concern-filled reaction. As strange as it might be if they are working with the mermen then there isn't any reason to assume they're enemies, therefore no reason to act in such a way to make them want to be your enemy. Plus.. the flying pasta monster still remains the strangest thing he's seen today. He smiles and nods to the merfolk passing by.

Once asked about where he'll be tasked, he answers, "Not yet." He flashes a grin, "I suppose I'm already slackin', aren't I?"

[Bob the Hamster]

Tip cheerfully replies to Hyne's question; "Yeah, the deepest!", as she hurries off to help organize the new mer-folk crew members on the deck of the Yanorin.

Skoth shakes his head. "There will be plenty of work to do. I think the Captain likes you, and I think he'll give you whatever position you ask him for."

"If you want to sail right out into that..." Skoth points out to the black heart of the storm-clouds, "...you should go with the Yanorin. The Captain is taking her out immediately." Indeed, the sails of the Yanorin are already half-unfurled, and the wind is tugging at the smaller ship, making it creak loudly against its mooring-ropes.

"If you want to spend all night carrying crates of food and supplies through the rain, stay here with me. Apparently I am acting First Mate now," he frowns as he says this, "And I will be resupplying the Flying Eye Goddess, and taking her out to follow the Captain as soon as the storm has cleared." The Flying Eye Goddess's sails are still tightly rolled, and some crewmen are working on moving boxes from the deck down into the larger ships's hold.

[Newbie Newtype]

Hyne looks ahead then nods. The storm looks nasty, but it'll be a place the Jenns can't fly into, and he trusts that the Captain is equipped to deal with the turbulence. "I'll head out to the Yandorin right away then and I'll see what duties are available there." When available he begins heading off to the Yandorin.

[Bob the Hamster]

No sooner than Hyne has reached the top of the Yanorin's boarding ramp, a crewmember is already pulling the ramp up. Another is furiously loosening the knots on the mooring ropes that bind the Yanorin to the dock. It seems the ship will be disembarking within mere moments.

Neither Captain Crawford, nor Meleander is currently visible on the deck. An ornate door under the ship's wheel might lead to the Captain's quarters.

There are two openings in the deck that lead down below, one aft, and one stern. Both are equipped with very steep ladders going down. Nobody is using them right now. Perhaps the whole crew is on deck right now.

Some of the crewmembers are readying long oars. Although not adequate to propel the ship at sea, they are probably important for getting clear of the maze of docks into the open water where their sail can tack.

Other crewmembers are getting the ropes ready in the rigging so they deploy the sails quickly, into a wind that is slowly growing with intensity.

Some of the merfolk have already joined in the work, and some are crowded around the bearded merfolk elder and Tip, who seem to be organizing them.

A woman with an eye-patch calls down from the rigging above Hyne's head. "You there! How are your eyes? We're short one lookout in the crows-nest!"

[Newbie Newtype]

Hyne quickly steps aboard and aside once he is onto the deck to make room for the stepping plank to be pulled in. The sudden feeling from stepping from a thin, airy surface to one that is thicker yet is constantly shifting is still a feeling that will take remembering.

There is little time for him to take in the sights of the ship before he is asked to perform crew duty as a sight seer. He yells up to confirm, "Yar! I can be a real hawkeye!," before pulling himself up to get to the top. He decides to take off his blue jacket and toss it over the railing to make himself less noticeable from a distance while they're still at dock but sheer distance and being atop a surface that gives cover should be enough to make him hard to notice without having to act sneaky.

He first glances to the storm. He honestly isn't sure he would be more use than a blind person once they're inside. He is familiar enough with storms that have appeared in his travels through the wilderness, however, that he might find himself use in a different way. He gazes into the clouds for a moment to discern whether it would be safe to remain in the crow's nest.

Hyne's Survival Roll - 1d20+3+3: 14

My rolling format changed because I found this neat site called anydice.com which is a tool that lets you "script" dice rolls and it saves them for easier access later. I found that it'll be really easy to manufacture rolls that I'll need to use repeatedly especially for DM'ing fights with lots of monsters.

EDIT:

I had forgotten this site had on-site rolling, I'm too used to using an external site for forum rolls. I don't want to cheat and re-roll a 14 though.