Dexter's Gone Fishing! (side quest)

[OGRE MAGE]

Joe looks at Dex with obvious concern on his face and points to a short cut-off branch in the bottom of the boat.

"Club them fish so they quit flopping around so much. We don't need any more accidents out this far!"

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dexter immediately snatches up the homemade club and starts bashing the netted fish in their heads.

Not sure what or if I need to roll for this. They are already netted.

[OGRE MAGE]

No rolls necessary to club a netted fish.

As he is beating on the heads of the fish, Dexter again espies the strange leather straps that are also caught in the fishermen's net.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Once the fish are still, Dexter reaches into the net and pulls out the wet, leather straps and takes a closer look.

[OGRE MAGE]

Dexter violently puts the asphyxiating fish out of their misery, reaching next for the strange straps he sees stuck in the net. They appear to be made from some kind of leather that the cutpurse is not familiar with. They are decorated with sharp sea shells that are now badly tangled in the net. The whole thing looks like some kind of harness of sorts, complete with a decorative dagger sheath hanging from one side. There are a series of odd coral hooks along the straps as well, likely for attaching other items to it. The whole thing reeks of a foul briny odor and the buckles on the straps appear to have been cut open.

Joe keeps right on yelling at the other boat as they get closer to it. "DO YOU SEE HIM YET? GET HIM BACK INSIDE THE BOAT IF YOU DO!!!!"

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dexter, not in the rowing seats and without much to do at the moment, begins to untangle the harness from the netting. "A merman's, maybe?" he thinks. "Or some other kinda man-fish thingy? It'll make a nice souvenir for my first deep sea fishing trip." He holds it up to his chest to see if it would fit if he put it on.

[OGRE MAGE]

Dexter guesses that the ruined harness would fit a large humanoid, but the straps are cut at the buckles, making it unusable at the moment.

The three men with him are all looking in the direction of the other boat, so they don't see the halfling sizing up the stinky straps.

They also don't see the black clawed, webbed fingered hand reach up out of the water and grab onto the the back of the boat. But Dexter sure does.

41bc6f83a85f8cec5f5617beeb6133e5.jpg (43.47 KiB) Viewed 570 times

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

"Hey!!" yells Dexter. "Something's trying to board us!!" He takes out one of his daggers and hacks at the fingers.

Attack with Dagger [1d20-3]=15-3=12
Damage with Dagger, S/M [1d4]=1

[OGRE MAGE]

Dexter shouts and lunges for the clawed hand with his dagger, cutting off the tip of one black finger that falls into the bottom of the boat. As a black goo runs out of the fresh wound, the claw suddenly releases itself.

He sees something pretty horrible sinking back down into the sea when he chances a look into the water below the boat.

PZO9219-SoddenLands.jpg (95.6 KiB) Viewed 564 times

When the men spin around to see what the halfling is yelling about, they of course see nothing.

"Now is not the time for jokes Dex! We lost a man over here!!!"

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dex jabs the clawed fingertip with his dagger point. Holding it up for the others to see, he says, "No joke, fellas. A black, slimy hand with claws reached over the back of the boat. I chopped off a fingertip and it let go. Look!" Looking over to where the man fell out of the other boat, he adds, "We better get over there fast. If there's another one a' those critters, it might get him!"

[OGRE MAGE]

Joe takes his eyes off the other boat for a moment to see what Dex is going on about, his eyes widening noticeably when he spots the black digit on the end of his blade.

“ROW! BACK TO SHORE! NOW! WE NEED TA GET OUTTA THESE WATERS! FAST!!!”

Dex sees the three men in the other boat frantically watching the surface of the water, looking for their overboard friend to no avail. They appear to hear Joe’s commands as well, looking up at him with concern for the lost fisherman.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dexter decides that asking questions about the creature whose fingertip he took would only distract Joe from doing what he needs to do to save them all. Instead, he holds his curiosity and moves around the boat, dagger out, watching for any more of the creatures and ready to attack them if they try to board.

[OGRE MAGE]

Dexter watches the water as Joe and the 2 oarsmen eventually make it over to the other boat that now contains only 3 fishermen inside, but no nets.

The men frantically search the surface of the water for their lost comrade, yelling out to their friend to no avail. Joe abruptly calms them by explaining what Dex has just found, mentioning the the dangerous sea devils known as the sahuagin could be swimming under their boats right now.

After a brief argument, both boats start making their way back to shore and away from the area where they saw the underwater menace. With heads hung, little more is said as they start their long row back to the beach.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dex takes his turn on the oars. While he pulls, he asks Joe, "What do we know about these Sahuagin things? Does anyone know how big their territory might be? Where we could fish without them attacking?" He then listens and dedicates himself to pulling.

OK, so we only got four fish? We had to really fight to get them in, so I hope they are really big fish? Or was something pulling back?

[OGRE MAGE]

Joe starts to answer Dexters questions.

"Those sea devils could be anywhere out here. OR EVERYWHERE!"

"The one you saw might have been in a scouting group, but it's hard ta tell how many a them could be down there in total. Hundreds, maybe?"

"You did only see one of them......right?"

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

"Yes, sir!" Dexter says quickly. "Only one, and he left as soon as I took that finger. I saw his face..... ugly cuss."

[OGRE MAGE]

Joe nods solemnly.

"We may have gotten lucky then. That could have gone much worse fer us if there was several of them around. Poor William. At least he was alone here and I wont have to explian this to any of his family for a while."

"How is everyone else? Any injuries that I missed? Dex? You okay?"

"Now we know that the boats can take the waves out here, and I suppose it's a good thing that we still have one usable net left."

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dexter frowns deeply, thinking about William, the man they lost. "Yeah, Joe," he says. "I'm fine." He stares into the water off to his side, continuing to pull. "I'm beginning to think I know why Hobbits might live near rivers, but not the sea," he thinks. "Too dangerous."

[OGRE MAGE]

None of the men say much on the long row back to the beach, all of them thinking fondly about their missing friend Bill.

The 4 fish they caught are almost as big as Dexter. Joe continues to pour fresh water from the sea onto them periodically so they don't spoil in the hot sun.

After what seems like hours of this, Beachtown finally comes into view.

"I wonder ow the goodly constable is going to take the news of deadly sahuagin plaguing these waters."

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

"I honestly don't know, Joe," says Dexter. "But I don't mind being the bearer of bad news. I'll make sure the Constable and Mayor Daisy get the word."