Journal of Rollo Lavius 3

Entry #476 - Don't Fear the Reaper

(G476 29/01/2022 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR48

[Myself and Dak have been hired onto the crew of the 'The Reaper'. I was here to get revenge for the slaying of all my Lizardmen friends in the Vast Swamp.]

DAY 555 (10th Eleint) (September)

We spend the day onboard the Reaper, although the ship was still in port. Acting as guards while the other members of the crew went about their business.

They are:
Captain Bertram Cuttleberry - who has a big red beard and seems pretty tough.
Derek Chiles - the bosun
Omya Hemp - a human sailor
Jack Proudfoot - a hafling sailor
Thokk - a Half-orc sailor
George - the quartermaster

I talked to the crew whenever I got a chance. From Thokk I learned that they were not really a pirate ship as such, although they would snap up any easy meat on the seas if given half a chance, but rather mercenaries for hire, specialising in speed and stealth.

Thokk said he had only been on board for six months. I learned later on though that all the others had been part of the raid on the lost refuge.

We settled our bill at the Pickle Inn tonight as we are sailing tomorrow!

DAY 556 (11th Eleint) (September) (1st day at sea)

I love the sea and I love sailing ships. If it wasn't for the fact that I planned to kill all the crew at some point, sailing on the Reaper today would have been a lovely experience.

I managed to talk to Jack Proudfoot, who was chatty, but sharp-edged. I learned that we were headed north-east, not that it really mattered. Anything more detail than that, he told me was 'privileged info'.

At the mid-day meal I listened to them talk, and encouraged them to tell tales of their 'adventures.' They were fairly standard stories, and I felt they were keeping a lot of the details from me and Dak, perhaps waiting until they felt they trusted us more.

Anyway, I'd better get my head down for now. They just anchor in the evening, their is not enough crew to sail at night, so we only get a few hours sleep in the darkest part of the night.

DAY 557 (12th Eleint) (September) (2nd day at sea)

Well, as they say - 'That escalated quickly!'

I had wanted to do all of this more slowly, to get more of an idea of the lay of the land (as it were) before striking.

At the mid-day meal I told (a true) story about my time in Sasserine when we had defended a farm against a tribe of lizardmen, hoping that this would stir their own memories of recent encounters of their own.

This worked, and Jack told me;

''We had to clear out this settlement of lizardmen once. It paid a pretty penny as I recall! They were really vicious, we had to kill them all. They killed one our guys too. That's when Thokk joined - as a replacement.''

This was enough for me. I perhaps hadn't thought I'd be so lucky to get a full confession so early on. Still, my luck was going to change soon enough.

I had a plan to 'take them out' one by one, and at nightfall, shortly after Jack went to the forward bunks I turned into a mouse and followed him down.
As he took his socks off I cast Baleful Polymorph. It failed, which sometimes happens, unlucky, but not unrecoverable.

He was startled and threw his knife at me, which hit and hurt. I cast again, and it failed again! Drat the randomness of magic and the strong wills of halflings.

I only had two of those spells, so I scampered off, jumped out of a porthole and turned into a dolphin. Then I jumped out of the water on the other side of the ship and turned into a parrot, flew through another porthole and went back up onto deck.

It was all kicking off of course, with Jack telling them all about what had just happened to him. The Captain instantly suspected me and cried out to the crew,
'Secure that man! Take him below until we figure out what's going on!'

This was not going to plan at all.