Polly's instruction to behead the zombies troubles Pugwash. Partly because he had been on good turns with the ship's Doctor, but mostly due to the realisation that a crossbow of piercing would be no good at beyeading anyone.

What it can do is interrupt a zombie's movement by pinning it to the deck. Readying an ordinary bolt, Pugwash cocks the crossbow and aims it (using his glass eye) at the one of the zombie doctor's feet.

After apologising under his breath, Pugwash fires the bolt/

Pugwash doesn't believe there is the opportunity to reload and fire again without the risk of hitting a non-zombie crewmate, so he returns to watch the horizon for disturbances, as best he can using the glass eye. If the Vampirates on the Denuvo heard the commotion, the surviving crew would need to know before they approached within firing range.

Bellandra shuddered at the sight of the shambling shipmates. Things coming to life, she thought wondrous. People coming to undeath, quite the opposite. She pulled out her cutlass, readying it to defend those on the Forecastle, or to deflect daggers thrown their way.

She whispered to Gilius and Polly, "I be carrying a rope that could bind these rotters, but that only helps if they won't saw it through with their daggers." She pondered their options. "I could try to disarm them with me cutlass in combat - fast though they may be, methinks they be boozed still as well as zombie'd, so they're not likely at their best in a fight yet, especially if Pugwash there succeeds in pinning down or hobbling the good doctor." Then she glanced at the cursed weapon the dwarf was carrying, remembering what Polly had spoken of it. "But what of yer Ship's Mast Staff, Gilius? Could that entangle them both if we lure them close to each other?"

"Me staff could only entangle 'em if there was seaweeds nearby. Let's try to overrun 'em so ye can tie 'em up good !"

If Pugwash succeeds in immobilizing the doctor, Gilius will move around him at a safe distance out of his reach in order to get close to the cook, and then he'll try to swipe him in the legs with the Ship's Mast Staff to make him fall.

If Pugwash didn't succeed to pin him down, Gilius will simply attack the nearest one in the legs in the same way.

ooc : from now on I will simply use the term "cudgel" in place of "Ship's Mast Staff" as it's shorter and easier to write, for simplicity.

As Cap'n Rummyfangs stood in the Crow's Nest glaring into the night abyss ahead of them, in the hopes that his Felinoid eyes would detect something, once again it was his ears that were alerted! The distant screech of Mighty's parrot and the howl of Mighty's monkey told Cap'n Rummyfangs that something wild was brewing with the other mission crew, though he could only see darkness ahead.

He was about to turn to Pugwash who was next to him in the Crow's Nest, when another sound dangerously closer distracted him. The look on Pugwash's face confirmed everything: that most of his crewmates, if not all, had heard this last sound too, not just his Felinoid hearing. There was an uninvited danger aboard ship!

"We needs t' maintain the quiet 'n silence these intruders afore they be creatin' a ruckus onboard ship." Cap'n Rummyfangs spoke in a lowered tone to Pugwash. "I be goin' t' descend down t' the Fightin' Top t' get a better look at wha''s goin' on..."

The Felinoid pirate left the Crow's Nest and discretely descended down the Main Mast about halfway down, past the Main Top Yard, and quietly settled himself at the Fighting Top for a better view of the situation. Right away, he spotted Bhrigu, Larissa, and Count Karnstein, who were on the Main Deck and Captain Baldbeard who stood near where the Longboat is usually stowed. The crew were staring in the direction of the intruder and Cap'n Rummyfangs followed their gaze, to finally spot the Ship's Doctor who had just climbed up to the Main Deck appearing like Death itself.

"Why be the Ship's Doctor undead?" Cap'n Rummyfangs thought to himself. "Thought me heard a second intruder earlier. But where be they hidin'?"

Cap'n Rummyfangs resisted the urge to communicate with his crewmates below. That would only create unwanted noise. At his height, he had the advantage of not yet being seen by the Zombie Doctor. His plan was to incapacitate the undead medic in some way. Cap'n Rummyfangs unraveled the rope he carried and quietly created a noose. Perhaps if he were to lower the rope and attempt to catch the Zombie Doctor unawares and wrap the noose around that dead neck, he could keep the intruder in one spot and hope the nearby crewmates would take action while the Zombie Doctor was momentarily incapacitated.

Naturally, the plan was to dangle the noose at the very last moment, preferably from behind the Zombie Doctor's head and then yank it up to choke the undead medic and keep it in one spot. If the rope proved not to be long enough, Cap'n Rummyfangs could descend even lower down the Main Mast and perch himself on Main Yard for a better chance at catching that dead head.

"Shall Zombie Doctor be too strong 'n I lose me balance 'n fall t' the Main Deck, well, then I shall rely on me trusty Rapier 'n off t' Davy Jones' Locker they be!"


*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Cap'n Barfdeck Rummyfangs: Felinoid pirate / +1 agility, stealth / -1 constitution / permanent +1 hit (unless stunned or incapacitated) / Rapier +1 strike chance / 2 x rum concoctions for adrenaline rush / 2 x wooden stakes / 1 x holy water / 1 x rope / 1 x "harmless" disguise / weakness: loud noises (except roar of the sea & ship's cannons)

To help J and participants with managing our actions, maybe we could put information about our team and name of character at the top of our posts ?
Like this:
Tower team, Mighty The Mighty Matey

Mighty shields himself with the claw and proceeds carefully not wanting to obscure Grog'tial's field of view. He is moving in direction of guard captain, with clear intention to crack his skull with his cudgel.

=========================
+2 Mighty Cudgel of Crushing, a permanent +1 Strength, a parrot (Cracker), and a three-headed monkey
Crab claw - shield or strong pincer to grab and hold or crush

"Aye, that we shall," Bellandra whispered back. "See, the good doctor is near the mast. What say ye we both take one end of the rope, and run circles around him? We could tie him 'round with the rope and pull him tight against the mast. Methings our friends in the Crow's nest might help then too. Failing that, I'll do me best with me cutlass and ye with the staff."

Mission 1, Turn 4 - (Queen Origi, Tower team,)
Current Turn will end 7 PM UTC, 24 September unless actions posted allow update sooner.

Queen Origi crept stealthily down the dark stairs. The half-orc guards ahead of her were certainly making enough noise to cover her light footsteps. At the bottom of the rooftop set of stairs was a very small empty space, evidently only to access the stairway, with a door on the right. (roll dice) She opened the door carefully, revealing an open room with a row of bunks and chests with locks. A barracks room, she thought, but her gaze did not linger long. Below came the screech of a parrot and the howl of a monkey. One of the half-orc guards she had been following was already thundering down another set of stairs along the wall just ahead. (roll dice) However the other guard, the brute who had so visciously assaulted her prince, was lagging behind.

(Following action choice verified by PM - roll dice)
With a small tight smile Origi used the commotion downstairs to sneak up behind this thug and used her higher position on the stairs to handily bag the clueless guard. (roll dice) She ruthlessly wielded her rapier to hamstring him, sending the guard tumbling the rest of the way down the stairs. Queen Origi showed no mercy to the sprawled guard as she thrust her rapier straight into the back of his neck where his head met his spine, making sure that this was one guard who would never again abuse anyone ... and would definitely never know the taste of albatross!

-----
(Monkey aced the initiative roll over the entire team - LOL.)

(roll dice) Monkey hit the guard captain full in the face as the human reeled backwards. Before the captain could take a breath or try to scrape Monkey off without stabbing himself, Monkey had stuck both hind feet over his mouth, grabbed two handfuls of hair, and pushed off again leaping for the window where Cracker sat watching things unfold.

The Vampirate was still young as their kind went, and without much experience in her new role yet, but she tried to rectify her mistake by scrambling her way up Dakka to reach Durik's head. (roll dice)

Grog'tial shot the stake-bolt (roll dice) and had the satisfaction of seeing it hit the vampirate, but was it enough? Realizing that something had jumped on him, Durik threw himself back towards the nearest wall in an attempt to crush or stun the creature with the weight of Dakka. (roll dice) The stake-bolt entered the vampirate millimeters below the heart, but that didn't matter as Durik turned to his right and slammed backwards into the tower's south wall, driving the bolt upwards to pierce the heart after all.

(roll dice) Seeing the stake-bolt hit and Durik slamming it home, Aylar took the briefly open path to dash through the gate and descend upon the guard captain, still reeling from Monkey's attack and departure. Aylar didn't give the captain any chance to recover as his cutlass sang sweetly across his throat, silencing any possible outcry forever.

Mighty came right on Aylar's heels, crab claw held as a shield, his mighty cudgel ready, only to see Aylar cut the guard captain down. (roll dice) Thundering footsteps and a roar of challenge came from somewhere barely above him and inside the door and the next moment a bastard sword slammed down to glance off the crab claw as if it were a mere child's toy thrown peevishly against a mountain. (roll dice) Pleased with the new target, Mighty used the claw to effortlessly sweep aside the bastard sword and brought his mighty cudgel down to satisfyingly crush the guard's skull, much to Cracker's delight.

Argy had slipped through the gate right behind Mighty, brandishing her pan and watching for any comers from the other dimly lit towers or in case anyone from the town had heard them.

Through the open door they could see it was some sort of low storage area, with stairs to the right going up approximately 1.75 meters to the first floor. To the left along the outside sea-facing tower wall were stairs going down into a cellar or possible dungeon. There had been the sound of a brief commotion above them, as if someone large had fallen, but it was quiet now.

With Cracker's warning screech and Monkey's howl, there was no telling if someone might come seeking answers. They were well aware they might have little time to find Queen Origi, rescue her prince and disable the harbor chain.

Loot currently available: 2 bastard swords (hand and a half), saber, dirk, bloody Harbor Watch leather armor & tabards (2 half-orc, 1 human), 1 bloody provocative buccaneer outfit (human female), bloody clothing (half-orc, human)

Tower team, Grog'tial

Grog'tial saunters up to the Guard captain's corpse, and takes possession of the dirk. "Nice quality - that might come in handy later!" he says, as he wipes it clean on the captain's armor. Noticing how well it's made, he swiftly and competently strips off that armor, clearly having done similar things before, and then puts it aside next to the gate. "We can pick this up later, and wash it on the ship with some of that soap that was handed out. Could make for a decent disguise on some future mission!"
He then takes a long and close look at the Vampirate to make certain she's dead, and to imprint distinguishing features of this type of being into his memory, before searching her corpse for anything useful which might give them an edge on the Denuvo.

"I think we should split up here, with two of three of us investigating what those sounds meant - though given the lack of the final guard storming down the stairs, I have good hopes that'll have been Origi taking care of him. Meanwhile I'll go disable the chain - Mighty or Durik, I'd appreciate one of you tagging along in case we need brute strength to disable the mechanism. Let's all meet up here at the gate afterward to head to the longboat and back to the ship. Unless anyone wants to press on over land to be able to approach the Denuvo from the quay instead?"

Grog'tial waits a moment to see if anyone has other suggestions, and then proceeds to put his stated intent into action, sticking to the shadows and listening carefully for potential other guards, but generally moving along at a brisk pace.

Searching the Vampirate, Grog'tial finds a small purse with a few pieces of eight and a small hand-crossbow and small bolts now thoroughly smashed and broken by Durik's slamming into the tower wall.

Bhrigu, Boarding Team

Bhrigu initially found it difficult to decide what to do about the Zombie Doctor appearing on the deck, followed by the cook. "Verily, me hopes ye didn't prepare today's lunch with that green goo oozing out of your eye socket!" murmured He. Bhrigu decided wait with his Sabre drawn, it has worked well against the undead in the past and he hoped it would help him this time too. Pugwash was up there on the Crow's Nest, so maybe he can shoot the zombies from there, and if his shot immobilizes any of them Bhrigu can run and strike with his sabre. Also he could see Gilius approaching with his ship's mast staff, while Bellandra suggested trying to get the undead tied up with rope and Cap'n Rummyfangs lowering a noose from up the ship's mast. If they succeed then Bhrigu could help disposing the tied up villains by helping the undead catch an anchor to the Davy Jones's Locker by seperating their head from their bodies.

Tower team, Durik

That went incredibly well for everyone! :O

If the half-orc armor was good and no other guards were incoming, Durik decided to put it on.
"Biggier shirt for Durik! And stronk! No more tiny humies clothes, me happy" :')
(still whispering, of course)
He wasn't sure about the bastard sword, though, since his cudgel felt quite nice.

"Me can join, but then Durik go back to ship. Me no like ground."
He begins to swing a bit to calm his starting landsickness
"Also Dakka be heavy now. Maybe misses ship too."

"Sorry Grog, Durik save Durik before loot."

Tower team, Argy

Argy advances and, smiling, shows one of the cupcakes to Gog'trial: "Tis will give ye all the brute strength ye need to d'sable the chain. But not right on the chain, ye fool. Brekin' a polley, lever or axis be 'nough to render the 'ole thin' useless. At least for a few 'ours, till they fix it, but we need no more."

If there are no footsteps or sounds of someone coming, Argy will ignore the loot and continue moving (stealthily).
She will try to figure out where the mechanism to operate the chain is located and head there. In case of doubt, she goes upstairs.

Foggy murmur "Matey Admiral Polly, me offer the freezin' trident t' cool zombies. I chose it 'cause it didn' give any limit regardin' the number o' times I can use it. If that's correct, I wait yer orders t' move closer t' the main deck t' pin zombies".

Durik accepted the cupcake and ate it.
"Oo thanks u tiny. Me feel better already." :)
"Wait, dis not carrot, no?" O_o

XD

Argy tries to snatch the cupcake back before Durik eats it. "Don't, ye fool, if ye appreciate yer teeth, and the rest of the head..."

If she fails... *facepalm and quickly step away from Durik*

"Ye... B'tter don't ye smoke nothing or eat nay legumes till tomorrow..."