View source for Midnight, Somewhere off Rogaland's Coast

'''Continued From [[The River Tunnel]]'''

==Summary==

The party continues to lose strength. After resting, Engelhart is able to provide some healing, bringing all in the party back to consciousness but doing nothing to improve their diminishing strength. After some more hours, suddenly a pyrotechnic display brightens the dark sky, seemingly coming from a ship. Engelhart casts <i>light</i> as a beacon and the party is rescued .

==[https://juvenis-campaign.blogspot.com/2018/02/midnight-somewhere-off-rogalands-coast.html Original Page]==

<i>Just past midnight, Friday, May 6, 16<s>50</s>49.  Weather, brisk.  Moderate breeze, cloudy skies, no rain.  The moon is a waxing crescent, two days from the first quarter.</i>

'''The DM:''' As Engelhart awakes, everyone on board is down 10% of their stats.  All those who are in the negatives, including Fjall, drop a point of damage as well ~ this is very hard on Fjall, who doesn't have the strength or discipline of the leveled characters.  In effect, physically, he's suddenly dropped to what would be, for the player characters, minus 6.67.

Everyone should make a constitution check at this time to see if they are down another 5%.  This includes the unconscious characters.  I've rolled for Fjall already; his stats are minus 72%.

The shore is a dim shadow, anywhere from 2 to 4 miles away.  Engelhart, even if he fails his constitution check, is well above the 12 wisdom that makes spell failure possible.  He can patiently pray until his spells are returned to him.

You can dispense the food around; most things I've read about starvation suggest you can string yourselves along with as little as 3 ounces of food a day.  6 lbs is 72 ounces; you can't really feed the unconscious, so the four of you who are conscious can eat 12 oz. on the 5th, after settling in the boat, and save the rest until noon to afternoon tomorrow.

Engelhart's move, I believe.

'''[[Embla Strand|Embla]]:''' That's a 6 for Embla and a 7 for Willa.

'''The DM:''' I think Embla finished the combat at -5. I know that Pandred did.

Embla makes her constitution check, as she has an 18 con. Willa does also.

Checking my notes, Bergthora ended the combat at -1 also. Checking her consciousness, she also falls into unconsciousness and fails her con check; she's in the same straits as Fjall

Willa alone is in good shape.

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' I roll a 6 for the CON check.

Once possible, I cast, in quick succession, Aid on Embla (for 18 points!), Cure Light Wounds between us (total of 8 points: 4 for Pandred, 2 for Bergthora, 2 for Fjall, assuming this is enough to rouse them) and Bless to bolster everyone's spirits.

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' I mean, this all assuming that they still gain Hp from resting.

'''The DM:''' Because everyone is hungry and thirsty, no one gains any hit points from resting.

The NPCs are conscious ... but they're so tired, they'll probably go back to sleep again. Pandred is at -1, so I'll need a wisdom check from her.

'''[[Lothar Svensson|Lothar]]:''' Constitution check for Lothar is a 10.

'''[[Pandred]]:''' WIS check is 5 for Ms. Pan.

You asked for CON earlier as well, which is 4.

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' It's funny, when you think about it, that if these rolls had been a combat turn, what these six d20 rolls would have amounted to: 6,7,6,10,5,4 (!!)

'''The DM:''' You mean, average.

Pandered is awake. I'll be home in 40 minutes.

'''The DM:''' [home]

You're all in various degrees of distress. I'd like to assume you have no more actions for the present, at least until the sun rises. True?

Everyone is awake now, so everyone can comment.

'''[[Embla Strand|Embla]]:''' Ok. What are our options for getting to shore? Do we have any idea where we are in reference to it Stavanger or Mimmarudla?

'''The DM:''' You think you might be drifting in a generally northern direction; Engelhart believes that is the sea currents. Having sailed a boat in these waters, the current will either eventually take you out into the North Sea, or drift you north past Bergen.

The good news is that you're probably on a sea lane, though the larger ships will be further out to sea than you are just now.

I should mention that before midnight, the moon will have gone to bed after the sun. With the sky overcast, you can't navigate at all.

'''[[Embla Strand|Embla]]:''' Bergen is a fair distance from where we are now, and I don't think we want to be in the North Sea in this boat. What are our options for heading to shore?

'''[[Lothar Svensson|Lothar]]:''' I think we can start paddling once the sun comes up. Until then, I think the only thing we can do is pray.

'''[[Pandred]]:''' So be it. No further action from me.

'''The DM:''' If we're agreed on that point, I'll move on.

'''The DM:''' After an unknown period of time, certainly not less than hours, Embla, now the most healthy person aboard, is seated high on the bow. There are no benches, no prow, and little else to sit on; the boat is constructed like a somewhat enlongated bowl. For all you know, it was designed to be pulled by frogs.

The wind, still from the south, has freshened, and the waves batter the side of the boat. It is nearly pitch black, with no reflection of light from the clouds, the sea, or the now invisible land. Embla the half-orc stares into the darkness, listening to Engelhart pray, or Lothar and the others snore, when their stomachs are no audibly growling.

When suddenly there is a bright light ~ and it is close. No more that two or three hundred yards away.

And in moments, there is an astounding cascade of light, pouring out of the sky, it seems like. Balls of light, geysers of light, streaming and spinning ... and now and then, the silhouette of a ship can be seen in the middle of it.

Mind you, there is no sound. No sound at all ~ at least, no sound that can be heard above the high waves, with their white crests, as high as the sides of the boat, beating the boat along.

'''[[Pandred]]:''' Does this light awaken anyone else in our sleepy ship?

'''[[Embla Strand|Embla]]:''' I wake those who are asleep.

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' I rouse from prayer.

Is the ship moving relative to our boat? Does it even have sails, at all?

'''The DM:''' There's hardly time to tell. The light is done; Embla remembers that it did not seem to be under full sail. But it cannot be seen now in the darkness.

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' Welp, time to go obvious on this one.

I cast Light to the edge of range in the ship's general direction.

'''The DM:''' I hate to quibble, but light has to be cast ON something...says so in the rules. The non-specific air or water is not sufficient.

The only thing in your range, that you can see, is the boat.

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' Then onto the boat it goes, I can see no other way.

'''[[Lothar Svensson|Lothar]]:''' We've got arrows and sling bullets you might cast it on, then we could potentially move the light around or away if this ship turns out to be ill-intentioned.

'''[[Lothar Svensson|Lothar]]:''' Now that I've read the spell description on the wiki, "The spell is cast upon a specific point or location." To me that reads as though it could be cast on a general point in space. Something to clear up in the move to the new wiki?

Reading further, the light will do us no good except as a beacon, as the edge of the globe of light is a hard edge, so anyone on the ship will be able to see us, but we won't be able to see them until they get within 20 feet of the center of the light spell.

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' But that is just the ticket, mr. Svensson: we want to be found.

We could float an arrow on the current or somesuch, but we're desperate enough straits that the risk is good to take.

'''[[Lothar Svensson|Lothar]]:''' I suppose being taken prisoner aboard a ghost ship is better than slowly dehydrating to death. Very well - light us up, Mr. Askjellson.

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' I cast the spell on the boat.

'''The DM:''' After some long minutes, you hear a voice calling over the water. "AHOY! AHOY THERE!"

It's close, closer than the ship was when Embla saw it; but there's been time for it to move towards you.

"AHOY! WE'RE LOOKING FOR A LAY PREACHER FROM STAVANGER! HIS NAME IS FATHER ENGELHART ASKJELLSON. DO YOU KNOW HIM?"

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' !?

'''The DM:''' AHOY, I SAY!

'''[[Embla Strand|Embla]]:''' AHOY! HE'S ON BOARD.

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' I recover my jaw, make the sign of the cross and steady myself.

"A-AHOY, MARINER! WE HAVE INDEED HEARD OF THIS MAN YOU SEEK!"

"YOU FIND US HOWEVER IN A DIRE PREDICAMENT, HOIST US ABOARD THAT WE MAY COUNT OURSELVES AS RESCUED, AND IF YOU'LL BUT EXTEND US THE FURTHER BOON OF A STOUT MEAL, YOU MAY FIND YOURSELVES SPEAKING TO WHOM YOU SEEK, AND THAT RIGHT SOON!"

'''The DM:''' You are rescued. There's no issue. They really are looking for the cleric; all of you, really, it's only that the cleric is the only name they knew for sure.

Give me a bit and I will explain with a new post.

'''The DM:''' The next post is up.

[For the record; Lothar, you would not be able to "see" a point in space if it had no object attached to it. As you look in a direction, you see along the length of a two dimensional line, with an infinite number of points between you and the horizon; but you can't see any single point along that line. You need a three dimensional object to see a single 3-D point in space]

'''Continued on [[How It Happened]]'''