The Savage Tide [IC]

[lostsole31]

Hefestus

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Blacksmithing is about making tools and mundane objects made of metal. However, your "dagger" is fine. It is really a larger working knife, but so common it is a tool/object and not a weapon.

I say "not a weapon" because weaponsmithing is a separate skill ... Craft: Weapons, just as any armor (leather, metal, or other) is Craft: Armor. But sure, things like the metal hooks you mentioned, various pinions, the many pulleys that service rigging (there are many), and more ... this is the province of the humble, not-usually-adventuring-coolness blacksmith.

The Smithson Secrets manual actual has guidelines for training in a linear fashion instead of the haphazard way (adventurers) others might. First, one must become a blacksmith (like you), then there is a whole section on the making of weapons (meaning if you want to pick up that skill you could), and finally to armor. There are plenty of other things listed in there that are probably well beyond your desire to pursue in game (such as some of the "mundane" crafting feats for magical armor/weapons). Still, it stresses the importance of at least a mundane understanding of weapons crafting by a smith before it goes into a very intense treatise on armor.

At the end of the book, however, there is a section with all manner of bizarre letter-number-symbol combinations in different configurations that are utterly mind-boggling. You've seen arcane sigils and runes, such as the ones found on the attractive woman who just left the table for the pier, but this final chapter definitely seems more like a code.

You can choose to not care, or to pursue the secrets of the book.

The Captain looks at you as the very attractive robed woman walks away. "Well, at least that answers the question of what. But it seems that who ... as in a name ... is something that people, like that woman that just left, fail to give right off the tree. So, I'll be needing that.

"As far as a blacksmith, that's useful anywhere as long as you don't burn the ship down to the keel. Just give me your name, sign here on the manifest, and follow that woman down the pier to the gangplank."

Desiria
None of the longshoremen helping with the last of the stores load have any clue what a darfellan is, so it must be special to the ship. You start to head up the gangplank when behind you, right behind your head, your hear an ominous click-clack sound. Your gut tells you that this is not a friendly noise.

A voice from behind you, "Not a step. My fault I was given me orders for the load, but no one strolls up the gangplank without asking the quarterdeck watch first. That would be me, dearie. Now, if you don't put your hands inna' air and turn round nice and slow, I'll put a hole so large in your head that the rest'll just be a thin, circle-shaped ribbon on a neck."

[DJDeMiko]

Hifestus

Hifestus blushes a deep red that almost seems to shimmer on his face.

"Hifestus Smithson," he says and reaches out a hand to shake before putting his name down and heading aboard the ship with his goods.

[MikelaC1]

DESIRIA

Desiria freezes instantly, raises her hands and turns very slowly to face the speaker.

My apologies, the Captain just told me to go on board the ship. My name is Desiria Tynalon, priestess of Myhriss, Mr. Cohen recruited me to be a colonist in the new colony, to serve the religious needs of the new community. I just signed in with the Captain, and he told me to see the darfellan at the quarterdeck to get admitted on board.

[lostsole31]

Hifestus
"Trust me," says Captain Wavebreaker with a wry smile without extending his clawed (slightly webbed) hands with the strange blue gauntlets with crackles of electricity, "you don't want to shake my hand."

As the teamster you hired brings you down the pier, you'll see the end result of below ...

Desiria
You turn around to see a strange humanoid the likes of which you've neither seen nor even heard descriptions of before. He is 5' 5" tall, 176 pounds, and dresses sparsely beyond his sharkskin armor. His skin is absolutely black, but incudes irregular stark white markings. He also carries a finely wrought rapier that has a bow engraved on the blade, and the figure of a woman as the grip. Despite the rapier, he belies his savage nature with several animal horns at his belt - probably trophies of previous kills. He completes the classic vision of the seafarer with a patch on his left eye and a blue bandana. On his shoulder is a parrot.

Pointed right at your nose is some type of clockwork device of an almost cylindrical nature. It is primarily made of wood, with signifant brass overlays. The wooden cylinder curves downward to better fit his palm - much better than any wand - which is good because this thing must easily weigh as much as a light mace. The end of this device towards your nose is hollowed out, and you can't see how far down it goes.

You have no idea what this mechanical or arcane device might happen to be, but you definitely have the feeling that if he ... triggers it? like a wand? .... it would be very, very painful.

He thinks about it, looks you over, and then puts the device in a leather carrier at his side, a carrier obviously designed for its unique shape.

"I be the darfellan. Names One-Eyed Willy though some just call me One-Eye, and I'm the cook and master-at-arms o' this hulk. Ye never go aboard ship until the quarterdeck watch ... the spot on the ship where the gangplank meets ... admits you. And by 'admits' I means you don't step on the plank. 'Permission to come a'board,' is what you ask. When you leave, you ask the watch, 'Permission to go ashore.'

"Now, me pleasure Miss Tynalon, and I'm so happy to meet yer acquaintance, but not half as happy as Jer'el and Skald are, as they would'a had ta clean up yer splatterbox off the deck should ya have taken another step. Me parrot here is Lucy. Amella up there will help you find yer bunk. Don't look for any fancy livin' here. Not much privacy, all hammocks, no 'rooms.' Well, none but that fancy bastard Avner Meravanchi gets in stealin' the cap'n's room."

[PSinger]

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Rusty's rolled for me and told me what I understand, which is why I post sometimes already knowing things.

Celiss has a very clear understanding of ifrits and their heritage and instantly recognizes the man unloading what looks like smithing implements. She flies up to the nest in half-celestial form to use the nest and sails to help conceal herself.

She watches him. He's alone, and daring this brave voyage. There are plenty of colonists, some 15 or so on this ship now, but she can't take her eyes off of him. There is something in him that even from here strikes her as quite capable. He seems weaker and more vulnerable it seems, but with a background in fire like herself. Maybe that's why ... ?

Why, what, Celiss? she asks herself. Why, what?

[lostsole31]

Hifestus, you notice as you board ... having heard One-Eye's speech to this Desiria-woman and giving due regard as instructed ... a woman in the crow's nest with classic angelic wings looking down at you. Even from here, you can tell that while she tries to hide it .... you have caught her eye as she looks longingly at you. You look up to her, and she is too fascinated to look away. She is quite attractive, as can be expected of an angel of some sort, and you, a humble smith and ifrit, have caught that heavenly eye from above.

Of course, what you do with that information is up to you.

Desiria is held at the upper deck to meet Amella Venkalie, when Hifestus and she are together.

Amella Venkalie

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A slight but powerful woman with fine blonde hair tied neatly back from her forehead. Amella dresses to fight and sail rather than to please the eye. A thin scar graces her right cheek. Amelia is rather foul-mouthed, fond of uttering oaths only heard in the worst dockside taverns. Confident, haughty, and astute, she does not suffer fools gladly. She has a poor opinion of gnomes, and seems not to care for one of the gnomish crewmembers. She makes friends slowly, but once someone has earned her trust, she's quite loyal despite her carefree attitude. She is armed with masterwork studded leather and rapier, and a light crossbow.

"Welcome aboard, lubbers," she says to the two of you. "Looks like yer the last o' em, aye? C'mon and I'll show you yer rags-for-rooms."

As she leads you down inside the ship, "I'm Amella Venkalie, the bo'sun of the Wyvern, responsible for the rigger and the deckhands in the actual operation of the ship. Wit'out me, this wooden witch would waste in the waters of this world. Here we are."

And there you are. Side by side, in fact, though it seems that there is a sheet put down the middle and space for about six persons. There are other spaces with equally crammed berthing, and this is no cruise liner.

Jer'el is busy with Skald and the rest of the crew - the officers supervise, and every other member of the crew is humping lines and sail. The maneuvering watch on both ships are set, and a large crowd is gathered to wish the ship's well. Women and men both sing songs and throw flowers, invoking Procan, Osprem, and Xerbo (of course), but also other gods to guide you and give you safe voyage. Music plays, as this is the most exciting, if short-lived, port call this town has seen in awhile.

The Farshore Expedition returns to the sea ...

[lostsole31]

Jer'el

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As you may have read above, under Korian's aegis (and the fact that he had more than enough money for you both) you both went carousing the night before on that expensive whiskey called Green Man, and having good food. It is still unsettling, especially with icky tavern floors, to be able to taste through your tentacles, but you can pull them up into a ball under you or hang them out when you are sitting in a chair.

When you get back to the ship, you have to put your trident firmly behind your rigging. (Every sailor has "his" rigging, a section of the ship that is his responsibility to maintain.) You have to keep from staring at it too much, as it seems to call you even while you are maneuvering watch.

Finally the maneuvering watch ends and Fort Blackwell is behind you. You'll have the dogwatch tonight, so you should get some sleep. There is an area topside where your "broken" bow is stored for you to work on. Before you try to get some sleep under a tarp topside in a shallow tub to keep moist, you bring yourself to really study the trident you were given. Yesterday you merely lumbered it around, but the distraction of the city and then the drinking kept you from really looking at it.

Now, however, you really study it. Once you do, you instantly know its power as Fell Point opens itself to you as if it was a long lost friend that merely waited for you, and only you, to find it once again.

Spoiler

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This is a campaign-variant form of Anderarchet that you had in Starfall. The major difference here is that instead of a falchion the melee weapon is a trident ... fitting for a Blessed of Procan. You may shift between trident and composite longbow in the same round without action penalty. For example, you get two attacks a round normally. The first attack might be a trident, while the second might be a bow. You may not use Rapid Shot in a round in which you use this function.

+1 Mithral Composite Longbow [per your strength]/ +1 Mithral Trident

It turns out, for all of the drama concerning the bow that you broke, the money you owe Korian for it, and the fact that you now have that bow but a far better version through Fell Point ... what do you want to do with the fixable? Scrap it and just owe Korian? or, fix it? or, fix it and improve upon the strength? The bow at its base is a non-masterwork composite longbow set for a strength of +3 modifier ... meaning someone with a 16 or higher Strength can shoot it without penalty.

Better question ... what does Jer'el want to accomplish during the voyage, or does he idly spend his days?

[MikelaC1]

DESIRIA

RET-CON
Before taking another step, Desiria softly and politely addresses Willy.
Permission to come aboard, One-Eyed Willy.
And Im sure the quarters will be more than enough for me. Myhriss teaches us to be humble and grateful, and as long as I can serve her, any lodging will be fine enough.

CURRENT
With no real belongings that she cant carry on her as it is, Desiria makes note of where her bunk is, silently mouthing a blessing of Myhriss on it. After that, she makes her way back on deck, careful to stay out of the way of the crew doing their work. She watches the dock as the ship pulls away, scanning the crowd for one last glimpse of her mother or sister.
Desiria has been to sea before and while it takes some time for her to get her sea-legs under her, at least she doesnt suffer from seasickness.

[DJDeMiko]

Hifestus

Hifestus gives a small friendly wave to the strange angel creature above him before following Amella down. He says a polite hello to Deseria.

Upon seeing the accommodations, he gives a small frown and a shrug. "Guess we all make do, right?"

If there is time before the festivities of setting sail. Hifestus will explore as much of the ship as reasonably possible (not breaking and entering). He will specifically be trying to say hello to all the crew, after all, mother Smithson said, the first step is a good start. He will also be trying to find if any blacksmith equipment exists on board or if there is any room to set up.

[lostsole31]

Desiria, at the last minute, sees her mother and sister push to the forward end of the crowd. Mother is crying mixed tears of joy and sadness - her family is honored but she has 'lost' her older daughter. Dory is an excited young priestess, but both cheer you on and throw a wreath of flowers into the water with many others throwing single or bouquets of flowers.

Shown to her "bunk" Desiria is given a hammock three feet off of the deck. There is no real privacy other than the sheet on a clothesline described before.

Hifestus, the angel creature turns to and flies to help with rigging. There is no real smithing equipment on board that you can see without giving a more rigorous search. You're asked if you want your equipment in the hold.

After the first attempt to say hello to a crew member, an ill-looking half-elf tells you to stay to the gunwale except where those pulleys are, to go up to the poop deck, or to remain below. He, and the crew, seem very busy as you didn't have much time.

As the festivities are occurring, you're boredom has you travelling about the ship, and invariably to the small scullery where there is a cabin boy peeling potatoes.

"Whoa! What are you?" he says in shock and wonderment as you turn the corner.

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DJDeMiko, I need your real E-mail via PM, please. I have handouts - pictures of people and deck plan of the Wyvern and other campaign materials as we go on - to pass out.

I have everyone else's E-mail, but once I have DJ's, I'll send out the 'stuff.'

[DJDeMiko]

Hifestus

Hifestus will agree to have his gear stowed in the hold, but ill grab a few small supplies first, enough gear to do minor metal work without a strong furnace needed.

To the cabin boy.

"My name is Hifestus, Pleasure to meet you! Need a hand?"

[lostsole31]

Hifestus will 'agree' to have his things put in the hold, but One-Eye is the MAA (master-at-arms) with the key to the storage hold. (Which also makes sense because as the cook, he goes to the extra food stores there to restock the larder.) Hifestus will have to wait until the maneuvering watch is secured for normal ocean travel.

"I'm Tavey Nesk, sir! Cabin Boy of the Sea Wyvern!" he says quite proudly. He pops his head out into the passageway to look left and right as if looking for something and then pops back in. "Sure, I could use lots of help, sir! What kind of man are you? You look cool!"

[DJDeMiko]

Hifestus

Hifestus gives a small shrug as he tries to find a place to help witht he potatoes."I'm most likely whats called an Ifrit, mostly human, but a bit fire elemental. Say Tavey, am I going to get in trouble for helping? Or will you?"

[lostsole31]

"Why should it matter?" he shrugs a little hesitantly. "As long as the potatoes get peeled, right?"

[DJDeMiko]

Hifestus

With a small laugh Hifestus begins to help (either using tools in the kitchen or his own well crafted knife).

"Glad I can help then! So tell me, how do you like serving abord the ship? Tell me about the crew."

[MikelaC1]

With the ship seeming well under way, Desiria wanders the decks, making sure to keep out of the way of anyone working, and just watches the goings on. She also keeps an eye out for any accidents causing injuries, and if needed, will go to help out the injured crewman. She also watches for any crewman working despite having an existing injury and if she can, she will offer healing to them as well.

[lostsole31]

Desiria, on her wandering about - dodging other passengers in the very tight quarters - gets to the scullery just about the same time she sees a passenger (the flame-motifed one that came down the pier with a wagon just behind her) peeling potatoes with an adolescent boy. The boy is giving a rundown of the crew to the man.

"Well, I don't gossip about the crew to strangers, but this is the crew.

"There's Captain Wavebreaker. I don't know what he is, but he really knows his stuff about sailing, and I hear tell there be none can see him when he doesn't want them too. He's one of the heroes that earned a Spire of Sasserine medal.

"His first mate is Mr. Cohen. He's also the ship's surgeon. Winged dwarf is fascinating, sure, but I doubt he's a heaven-sent creature. He's just weird. Likeable, but weird. Another Spire hero.

"The ship's pilot is Mr. Kahir. Creepy guy with mud-green skin and long, black horse-tail comin' out of the top of his head. He gives me the creeps, and when he looks at you, I can't help but think that's he's figurin' when he'll kill you. Spire hero.

"Ms. Venkalie is the ship's boatswain [he pronounces it bo'sun]. She's in charge of the actual sailorly stuff of the deck seamen, the upkeep of the ship, the rigging and the sails, and the like. She's pretty, but she's got a temper and a mouth to match.

"That's the officers. One-Eyed Willy (sometimes he's just called One-Eye), in addition to being the ship's cook, is the master-at-arms. He's actually a damn good cook; really good. Oh, well, being a scullery boy is how I earn my stripes before I can start learning the ropes. But as a MAA, his job is to look out for the crew; on the other hand, he is also responsible for doling out discipline, like flogging anyone who commits a serious offense. He's really cool, though. He's a master with his firearms. [ooc]What are they?[/ooc] And none to shabby with a rapier, either.

"Our windsinger is Urol Forol, the old gnome. Windsinger's in charge of trying to figure out the weather and take what precautions are possible to get the elements in the ship's favor. Ms. Venkalie hates gnomes for some reason, and holds her tongue around him. Many of the others just don't care for his stories. I think he's amazing, though. He tells such wonderful tales; even if they aren't true, the things he says he experienced as a young adventurer. He's kind and knows stuff; he's my favorite. He reminds me of my gran-pappy.

"Our ship's mage is some type of demon or another, and that's obvious just looking at her. Name's Celiss Nightrom. She's supposed to be super-smart, and I don't know how the others manage her here. She's another Spire, but some say that she sold her soul to a devil to get extra powers; she did, I hear, but now she looks the part. I'd be wary of her, Mr. .... umm, Mr. ___? She'll be bad news.

"The prelate is Father Feres, a Heironean. He doesn't shout and stamp like a lot of priests of that faith. In fact, he acts just like a passenger, spending most of his time lazying in the bunk or strolling topside. Don't have much use for him.

"The one who works as our bo'sun's assistant is the rigger, Lirith Veldirose. She is a super-great acrobat. She pretty much zips about the rigging as if she were born to be a sailor, or at least a circus acrobat. I know that Ms. Venkalie is crazy beautiful, but I actually think Lirith - even for trying to talk ough - seems to have a lot more class and is really cute. Except for all of the other non-officers (and One-Eye), she makes up the watchbill and assigns the duties.

"Skald is our primary deckhand. He's that grim-looking half-elf. Everyone knows he's one of the Unlucky Ones; the ones who have such a bad aura about them that bad luck follows wherever they go. Either that, or he really does cause mischief when no one can see. Lady Vanderboren picked him anyway. He calls himself an archer, but when the ship was attacked a few days ago by some deathcloud or something, he couldn't hit it.

"Two days ago, we picked up a survivor. His name is Jer'el. He's supposed to be a former half-elf who was in a boatwreck and survived for some time in a lifeboat. Now he's some ugly wreck of a monster. If you've seen him, you've probably turned your head in horror or disgust. He looks like this ungodly mix of scaly man-thing with octopus bottom. One of the fellow passengers that saw the crew fish him out of the sea said he had this tongue that flicked out a god-awful length. But, the Captain thinks that this octo-man is some type of blessed, or at least a blessing for the ship, that he was kept aboard. He proved to be good at doing a sailor's duties, something to do with him being a fisherman. I think he should be tossed back into the sea. He's hideous, and anything that ugly usually hides as foul a mind, and several of the passengers have said as much."

As Tavey finishes his rundown, outside in the passageway (not seen by Tavey or Hifestus, but seen by Desiria who is looking in), is Jer'el.

Jer'el, the maneuvering watch had finished, and you were one of the first of the crew to make it down - ahead of One-Eye - to get some water. You managed to hear Tavey in the scullery talking about Skald and ... you.

You heard what a young cabin boy said about you, and who knows what other members of the crew think and feel about you, even if they did allow you to stay. He also mentioned that some passengers feel that way about you.

There is a beautiful woman in front of the door, who is unable to stifle a shriek from the shock of seeing you. It seems that while you were standing there, you naturally blended (camouflaged) into the wood of the passageway.

What do you do?

Desiria, the very ... thing ... that Tavey mentioned seemed to come out of the woodwork as he was discussed. The surprise overcame your strong mind as you let out a shout.

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This was actually a monstrous stealth check on his part vs. a very poor Will save on yours, modified by the fact he showed up at just the 'dramatic' moment. Normally, screams are RP'ed as a player deems, but this was practically autonomic. How you come out of the scream is entirely up to you.

*SHRIEK* Oh, it's you ..... *SHRIEK* Kill it! To arms! To arms!

Or, somewhere in-between.

What do you do?

Hifestus, Tavey finishes his verbal dossier, when the woman in the doorway shrieks and turns towards the bow-side of the passageway. What do you do?

No initiative. First to post, first to act or speak.

[MikelaC1]

DESIRIA

Desiria shrieks, but it is purely reflex, from a young priestess who has not experienced these sorts of things in her life. Seconds after the shriek, her training as a follower of Myhriss takes over.

You gave me quite a fright there, Mr.Jer'el is it? My name is Desiria and Im a priestess of Myhriss. She extends her hand.

[DJDeMiko]

Hifestus

Hifestus starts at the scream, his right hand (the one holding the blade skinning a potato) suddenly flips the cooking blade into something close to a weapon stance while his left hand reaches for one of his maces.

For a moment, just a moment before he realizes their is no danger, his hair begins to wave, appearing almost like a crackling fire and his eyes spark, moving from a dull red of a dyeing ember to the color of an active blaze.

He lets out a short embarrassed laugh. He puts down the weapons and also extends his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," he says, "My name is Hifestus Smithson."

[lostsole31]

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Happy, my nephew, has Internet issues at his Army training. He told me that if he doesn't post within a day then I should gratis his term. The only computer he can really work on is for training.

Jer'el, kind of shocked to find the new townies so eager to shake his hand, unwittingly puts up a tentacle before realizing what he's doing. He actually pushes his hand against it (he's still new to this) and then extends his hand as the other(s) is/are given. Even with his strange, scaly skin, the experience of shaking his hand is not soon forgotten, regardless of good intentions. Meanwhile, another tentacle - seemingly acting of its own accord, massages against the back of Jer'el's ear, like a person scratching himself.

"Just Jer'el," he says hesitantly, "not Mister. I'm a seaman, not an officer. I actually do real work on the ship. Nice to meet you both."

He speaks relatively clearly, but his mouth is a little wider than usual, to accomodate a long, thick tongue.

[MikelaC1]

DESIRIA

Desiria is a priestess of Myhriss, and thus kindness, mercy...and tolerance...are to her what food and drink are to any other person. Until Jer'el does something that would mark him as an enemy, she will treat him as she would any other person.

Well, at least you're a seaman, which means you outrank me. I'm only a colonist, although I do hope to earn the trust of the crew to help out, at least with my healing arts.

[lostsole31]

Is that a smile?

"No, ma'am. You don't outrank me. We're the Sea Wyvern crew, and we work for you. If you excuse me, I need to check bilge levels."

At that he ... shuffles (would that be the word?) past, nodding to you both, disappearing down the passageway towards the aft.

Tromping down the hallway from the bow end comes the darfellan, his parrot flapping in front of him and nearly taking out Hifestus' and Desiria's eyes with its wings as it scoots past, into the scullery, and rests on a wooden peg set into the wall with a wooden dish underneath - obviously Lucy's perch.

The darfellan pushes past the two of you, "'scuse me, but I haves me work t'do!

He gets into the scullery and stares at the cabin boy with mouth agape. "Tavey! A black spot upon ye, ye scurvy-infested aardvark .... Arrgh! Me thought I tol' ye to be done the spuds and not be watchin' the pier-shows, ye landlubber."

He stops, then sees where the 'other' peeling knife is with a much smaller set of peelings. "What 'tater-peeler came in here to help you out, y' swamp-smelling kleptomaniac?!? Out with it, or I'll have that Visigoth Skald show you how to splice the main brace!"

[DJDeMiko]

Hifestus

Hifestus speaks up immediately.

"That would be me," he says. "I don't like having nothing to do and saw the boy could use a hand. I hope I didn't violate any rules."

[lostsole31]

One-Eye, (one-)eyes Hifestus up and down and his manner softens. "He'll be learnin' teamwork soon enough, but fer now he's t' be learnin' the meaning of hard work."

[DJDeMiko]

Hifesus

Hifestus gives a small bow of his head.

"I apologize, I did not mean to interfere with his lessons," he says as he puts the blade down and turns to the boy. "Sorry, looks like you are on your own with this job."

[MikelaC1]

DESIRIA

Not wanting to get drawn in to this situation, Desiria heads off to explore other parts of the ship.

[lostsole31]

Four days out of Ft. Blackwell, Richfest (the 7-day between-month Summer Festival) has ended and it is the 1st of Reaping (High Summer).

Knowing that untold dangers may lie ahead and that all colonist's lives may be in danger - now or at Farshore - Captain Wavebreaker has asked that any colonist that wishes to step forth to learn anything that the crew may have to teach that may be useful in defending the ship or the colony, or even defending the ship should the Sea Wyvern harbor anywhere along the way.

He has not made this mandatory, of course.

His own crew, he motivates to push themselves in their own studies.

Of course, this means that Celiss and Jer'el are pushed to continue to excel themselves as well as train the colonists in what might be useful (as well as the rest of the crew and officers).

For Hifestus and Desiria, obviously, they would be just the sort of outstanding colonists to come forth.

Today is important for another reason other than a new month ...

The alarm bell rings, stirring you from your hammocks (Jer'el and Celiss are off-watch: "MURDER! MURDER! MURDER! SOMEBODY MURDERED ONE-EYED WILLY!"

Assuming you hero types pop up to investigate ... (the colonists huddle at the portals but not daring to go into the main passageway) ... you pass the scullery where a teary-eyed Tavey was ringing the bell in the kitchen.

Getting aft to the hold, outside the hold Captain Wavebreaker is there. He orders, "Celiss, keep everyone out. Jer'el, come help me look around for clues. Desiria, if you don't mind, Mr. Cohen will be down in a minute; please assist him. No doubt he'll be relieved by Mr. Kahir at the helm."

Hifestus

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The captain doesn't know that you are good at searching ...

[MikelaC1]

RET-CON

When Captain Wavebreaker makes his announcement, Desiria is more than willing to step forward.
I, for one, would be glad to learn anything I can to help the ship and the colonists. While my physical strength limits the sort of tasks I can take on, I am willing to try. And not only am I versed in the priestly arts, I have arcane talents that I can lend to the defense of the ship.

MURDER SCENE

Captain, can I enter the room now, and check on the patient. If the Captain permits, Desiria will quickly move to Willy and check him for vitals. If he was only recently murdered (i.e. not past -10 in HP), she will use her Rebuke Death (Domain ability) to attempt to stabilize him.
(1d4+2)[5]
(1d4+2)[6]
(1d4+2)[3] (Using the spell 3 times because I dont know how many each one heals, and if he is at -9, I want to bring him up)

[DJDeMiko]

Hifestus

"Captain sir," Hifestus calls out, "If you would please, I think I could be of assistance, a blacksmith has a keen eye, I may be of use."

[lostsole31]

The captain nods his head to Hifestus. "Alright, Mr. Smithson, go in and help Jer'el look at the hold and One-Eye's body. Try not to do much kicking around."

Mr. Cohen comes down now as well. It was strange enough to have a winged dwarf, but for some reason it now seems strange that he doesn't have those wings right now. He looks at the captain and Celiss as he passes by into the hold and spots Desiria over the corpse, moving in about half a minute since Desiria went in.

GENERAL MURDER SCENE

One-Eye suffered many wounds on his body as he faces somewhat upwards on his back. His own rapier, Pickwing, was stabbed through his good eye and into the deck of the ship.

Desiria dares against hope to try to see if he somehow can't be saved. She had never seen anything so horrible. All her time as a priestess with healing powers never dealt with marriages, the sick, the poor, even animals ... but she was never called upon to deal with a murdered body, especially one with such a dramatic finishing stroke. The strange brass-wood wand-club lies loosely on the deck a few feet from him. In his hand, still partially-grasped with rigor, is a dagger.

After the third time trying, each attempt more frantic than the last, a comforting hand is on her shoulder. She hears Mr. Cohen's voice. "I don't know the magic you're attempting, Sister Desiria, but poor One-Eye (of blessed memory) is well gone."

DESIRIA & MR. COHEN

With the basic clues given, time of death is somewhere between four to six hours.

His weapons belt is secured, but his breeches are partially loosened. It is as if they were down and he pulled them up hastily. The head is on the opposite side of the ship at the bow.

There's an incredibly powerful or debilitating piercing wound in his left knee.

Brutal stab in his belly. Nick in his neck. Stab in his lower left shoulder.

As above, Pickwing thrust through his good eye/ socket/ through the back of his head, and stapled into the deck. Mr. Cohen happens to notice that the level of the rapier in the deck plus some stripping of the wood underneath (he seeks Jer'el's tentacled help to gingerly lift the head upward of the sword) indicates to him that while the assassin was not without some physical strength, after the coup de gras (for that is what he figures it is ... still a little bleeding rather than post-mortem) the murderer "screwed" the rapier further into the deck to keep its position. That, and the rapier sticking straight up would be hard for anyone, given the leverage required. "No, the assassin gives brutal strikes, but by skill, not strength. We'll know more once we do a full autopsy."

HIFESTUS & JER'EL

What you determine (Hifestus aids Jer'el):
One-Eye is 10' from the hold's hatch, and likely faced it when he died.
* It appeared, other than the stab through the eye, that he died fighting facing the hatch.

One-Eye is covered in blood from all the wounds the doctors point out.

Two major pools of blood. The first is all around the area of One-Eye's legs. The second is a smaller pool of blood on the deck between himself and the hatch adjacent to both. Another smaller pool of blood is sort of adjacent and overlapping with the larger.

Not sure what the club thing is, Mr. Cohen says, "It's a pistol, an alchemically-based missile weapon. Very powerful."

That pistol seems to have been dropped on purpose based on its position.

All splatter marks indicate piercing weapons with one exception: the larger puddle of blood that you now figure was the assailant is not the "drawn back" type of a piercing weapon when it's pulled out of a target. No, the splatter marks include quite a wide path, as if it hit into an assailant with enough force to cause blood to spatter in a good 45-degree-ish angle from both sides of the possible point of impact towards the side of One-Eye. Neither of the two of you have ever seen anything like it.

Mr. Cohen, looking over from where he is with Desiria, frowns. "Gunshot. The assassin was hit by a bullet."