Friday, February 4th, 402 (4:01 a.m.) [14]:
[Ydoran finds that he has not improved much at all since the last time he was awake. He still has trouble even sitting up, and struggles to get out of bed]
“I can try,” Caleb answers, speeding towards the door while the others [presumably] rise and follow him. By the time the rest of the party reaches the cabin door the sprightly gnome has ventured out onto the main deck and is gazing slowly around him, as though to try to relocate his quarry while trying to look composed under the watchful eyes of the two ship watchmen on duty, sitting on the poop deck [sixty or seventy feet away]*. “I don’t think he’s down here,” he whispers to his friends,” I don’t see it any more. Either it went down there [pointing to the hatch ahead of him**], or it’s up there [pointing up the stairs to the forecastle at the front of the ship] or it’s a lot faster than we are. Sorry, I should have kept better track when he went through the door but the moonlight threw me***.”
What will the party do here? Considering they were asleep, will they take the time to properly arm and armor themselves before setting out****?
J
* The men don’t appear to have seen anything, as they seem more bored than anything else. Caleb’s sudden presence on the main deck has piqued their interest, but only mildly so.
** Note that in the center of the ship’s main deck, there’s an open rectangular entry to the lower decks, about 10′ long and 5′ wide, and about 5′ away from the party’s cabin door. It is used to easily load and unload cargo.
*** While it’s still cloudy and spitting rain, there is still enough moonlight shining through at this point to make it difficult to use infravision.
**** Grabbing a primary weapon will take little time (presumably following the first attack it will be close by!), but it will take time to put armour on. Note that light, non-metallic armour can be slept in without too many problems (although it will be uncomfortable and its user may require a little extra sleep as a result), while the standard rule with metallic armour is that the heavier it is, the harder it is to sleep in, and the heaviest armour types (plate mail, for example) can’t be slept in at all. Also, I’m not sure if anyone has stipulated that they will wear armour to bed. This of course, needs to be mentioned ahead of time, so if you’ve mentioned it and I’ve forgotten let me know! But for the moment I’ll assume no one has armour on (unless you’ve mentioned it already), in which case it will take time to get into it. Once again, the heavier the armour the longer it takes, with plate mail taking upwards of 10 minutes (possibly more for field plate or full plate) to assemble. Please keep this in mind when considering what your character does in this situation!
Also, a note to Ryan: Although he’s in a weakened state, Ydoran is still able to get around and, for example, wield a weapon, although he’ll be slower in doing so because of his affliction.
The doctor listens to Caleb’s back story feeling a mixture of sadness and anger from time to time. Once the gnome has finished the doctor politely thanks him for sharing.
When none of the rest of the group shares their stories the doctor nods understandingly, however when none of them advise what kind of training they received he frowns in annoyance but says nothing more.
When Caleb wakes the party and then, at Ydoran’s suggestion, starts to follow the shadow the doctor won’t follow. He will suggest the group wait for their friend to return. Even if the rest of the party joins the little man the doctor will stay in the cabin. At any suggestion of searching the ship for the shadow the doctor will advise against it, “We can’t all be traipsing about the ship at night as it will be very suspicious. I suggest we remain here and continue to keep a watch.”
S