The Savage Tide, Part 2 (IC)

[Swami Monsoon]

Tom reaches out to pull the stranger aboard. The first face she will see is an unusual one... although there are quite a few unusual faces on this ship.

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Tom is very short and stocky. His gray skin is covered with thick white fur, which grows out into a long beard, mustache and topknot. The skin and fur are patterned with leopard-like spots that are dark blue-gray in color. His eyes are yellow and resemble a cat's eyes. He has catlike ears, two small horns growing from his forehead and a long, catlike tail. The claws on his hands and toes are sharp and partially retractable.

[MikelaC1]

In the moment before the woman falls to her knees, the party gets the briefest of views of a very strange woman. Undoubtably a woman but clearly not human, the best guess someone could venture would be some sort of snake/human hybrid, but at the same time, not a yuan-ti.

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I will leave it to Russ if he wants to give a know chance on her race

Her hair is black, and her eyes are blue, but with a snake's pupil. Waterlogged beyond belief, the party sees few items of note on her, although two daggers can be seen, although a warrior might note that they are not located in an easy draw position for the woman. And although they retract quickly, were those serpent fangs in her mouth?

[PSinger]

The captain is a very solid 5'10" 177 lbs. He wears a black, classic tricorne hat, though a little worse for wear. You might be able to notice that even with the hat he is bald. He might pass for human but for three things. First are the dark scales that cover his body. Second, his primary skin is matte black with only the little bit of glistening, but there are large swaths of very dark grey marks that nonetheless are still dark. Finally, you may notice that at the base of his neck he has a small set of gills.

He has several daggers here and there, and there is a short sword at his side that might be easy to overlook; it's not just the scabbard, but the pommel that is of an extremely dark, non-reflective metal. He wears a chain shirt of light links and an exceptional shine; where the metal shows through; right now, tough, he sports signifcant wounds where some blood shows through the bandages, meaning they were recent; there is also considerable veggie muck At his right calf is a high quality hand crossbow with two cases, and at his back is a heavy shield of very high quality and a very dark colored wood.

Three strange things are his boots, gloves, and lenses, all the color of blue, and a torc of dark green. There is the vague sense of a glow, and the lenses he wears are not actually physically attached in any way; they block the view of his eyes.

Spoiler: What the--?!

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Rus, here is a d20 for any knowledge that may apply to the primary of what she is. (1d20)[3]. Here is another in case there is a need for a secondary roll. (1d20)[5].

"Welcome aboard, Miss. Welcome to my ship, the Sea Wyvern. These are my hardy-eyed crew. Captain Darrius Wavebreaker, a votre service."

Despite the gallant introduction, there is no effort to help you up, and there is still a good standoff between you and the rest of the crew.

[MikelaC1]

With as much dignity as she can summon, Eshalyn pulls herself back to her feet.

My name isss Essshalyn D'Hisssta, I am a Nessssian by birth and an arcanissst by trade. To what ssship do I owe thanksss for my ressscue?

Every S that she pronounces has a sibilant hiss to it.

[PSinger]

"Welcome aboard, Miss. Welcome to my ship, the Sea Wyvern. These are my hardy-eyed crew. Captain Darrius Wavebreaker, a votre service."

He looks to his comrades and laughs heartily, "Doesn't hear to well, though, eh, mates? Ears musts be waterlogged. Oh, wait, she doesn't have ears!" He is likely followed by a rousing round of the same good-natured laughter.

"This is the Sea Wyvern. What is a Nessian? Your race (for I've never seen one like you before)? Your vassalage? Your country? or some obscure religion? What brings you splashing helpless in the big drink, though by our recent travails I can guess."

[MikelaC1]

Nessssian is my race, sssnakesss the humansss call usss. My former ssship wasss the Procansss Cry, but we were caught by the sssargassso weedsss. The ssship wasss dessstroyed and myssself and ssseveral crewmen were the only onesss able to sssurvive. When the sssargassso collapsssed, all of the other sssailorsss were unable to ssswim. I tried to sssave one, but eventually my ssstrength wasss not enough. After he ssslipped from me, I ssswan in sssearch of ressscue, which I hope I have found.

[lostsole31]

You look around you and see a motley crew at that. One of them, an olive-skinned humanoid with a black topknot (but otherwise bald) smirks to the captain. "You know, captain, snakes are good eating."

A short (5' 5") fireplug of a man with a bardiche grins, "I have to disagree Mr. Kahir. As a cook, I've always had to find a way to cover the taste."

A savage man with crude brow and thick jaw holds a spear towards with fetishes at the socket and tips his head, seeming unaware of the humor and asks seemingly honestly. "You don't molt, do you?"

[MikelaC1]

I do not molt no, I am not that much of a sssnake.
And I would have to agree with the cook, covering the tassste isss too much of a ssstruggle to be worth it.

[Swami Monsoon]

In his years as a sailor, Tom has heard many stories about ships that were extraordinarily lucky... or extraordinarily not. Ships that attracted rats. Ships that attracted storms. This particular ship seems to attract... unusual people.
He offer the newcomer a toothy smile...

"Welcome aboard. I think you'll, uh, fit in just fine here."

[lostsole31]

"I'm First Mate Kahir," says the olive-skinned man with the topknot. "Welcome to the Sea Wyvern. We are heading to a colony - Farshore - on the Isle of Dread to resupply a colony there and drop off those who want to start a new life. There are no more stops until we get there, Miss Eshalyn, so that would make it your next stop as well. I saw the sorcery that you used. Anything you might bring to help us? We've had some attrition ..... recently. Do you sail?"

[MikelaC1]

I ssspent sssome time on the Procansss Cry, and picked up a few thingsss, but I would not classssify myself as a sssailor. I am, however, an arcanissst of sssome ssskill. Human coloniesss usssually do not receive my kind well, ssso if you will have me on thisss ssship, I would like to ssstay on even after.

[lostsole31]

A kindly looking, and rather surprisingly handsome, dwarf with a hammer looks to the captain. "Well, captain, what do you say?"

He looks to Eshalyn. "I'm the ship's doctor, and now once again the prelate. You should know that we have a poor track record of keeping our arcanists alive."

[PSinger]

"Eshalyn," says Darrius. "We have a place for you to sleep with the passengers. I will want to speak with you in the morning."

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We ready to move forward. Sorry for the delay ...

[MikelaC1]

Eshalyn nods her head in agreement, and will follow the lead to the sleeping quarters. If she was in any way worried about the life expectancy of a Sea Wyvern arcanist, she gave no sign of it.

[PSinger]

After breakfast (we have a really good cook named Sadi Fleggins), Darrius calls Eshalyn to his cabin.

"I won't lie to you. This trip has been rough, especially for what arcanists we've had. We've lost many good souls; in one place we lost four crewmen. But we need to have an arcanist that learns to work with our crew, knowing the ship and what team work we have to trust each other. I'd like to offer you a position on the crew. There's a lot of work to be done, but you'd get a run of the ships other passengers don't get. As the only focused arcanist, you'd have to be on every away team, but because of this you share in the spoils.

"What do you say?"

[MikelaC1]

ESHALYN

Trusst isss not usssually sssomething Nessssiansss hear from othersss. But then, from what I have ssseen, humansss are only a sssmall part of thisss crew. I appreciate the trussst you have ssshown me, and I accept your offer.

[PSinger]

"Do you know how to sail?"

[MikelaC1]

I had sssome limited dutiesss on my lassst ssship, but I would not consssider myssself a sssailor

[PSinger]

The captain asks pointedly, "Are you an able-bodied seaman? or a nub? It's important to know how to place you in your duties."

[MikelaC1]

Able-bodied, yesss. But a ssseawoman, no.

[lostsole31]

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I am pushing this forward since Paul is wicked busy right now.

"That's fine. We'll see what you know. Report to Amella Venkalie, the boatswain .... she's the one with a tricorne hat like mine and a scar on her face. She'll assign you your decking responsibilities. We can't afford to have someone on the crew untrained just because of magical skill. If we go through another problem, a larger crew will help take the load."

[I'll take it for now...]

Eshalyn, do you do anything else?

[MikelaC1]

Eshalyn reports to Amella to be assigned duties.

[lostsole31]

Spoiler: 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.

5' 5", 140 lbs, blue eyes, blonde hair. Rapier & leather armor, as well as light crossbow. Bright green cloak and gold ring on wedding finger.

Eshalyn reports to Amella and the boatswain rolls her eyes. "Alright, Scales, I want you to belay lines four and five crossed, then go to the aft boltrope to slacken them slightly, and finally go to the bow and tell me how much cordage is on the upper spiritsail, climb up to the royal mast, move to the aft mast from there, then down again by way of the side cordage - not directly down.

Lastly, bring me the whipstaff. I'll be monitoring your progress as you go, but from right here at midships. You'll be judged on time, but mainly on proper performance; slow is fast, fast is slow. If you run into any problems, approach some member of the crew to see if they can't help you.

Go."

Eshalyn? You know what it means to belay; you don't know which lines are "four and five," though you guess what it means to "cross;" you understand bow/ aft/ starboard/ larboard easily enough; you have no idea what the boltrope let alone any of the other terms. On top of that, you haven't a clue how to perform those taks, even if you knew the terms.

What do you tell Amella? (Tom, you are nearby with the holystone in hand, cleaning the deck, when you hear these orders from Amella to Eshalyn.)

[MikelaC1]

ESHALYN

I am not familiar with all the termsss you are usssing...and I didnt earn my keep on the lassst ssship with deck work. I can cook, I am an accomplissshed arcanissst, there are lotsss of other sssmall thingsss I can do, but I am not familiar with deck work.

[lostsole31]

Amella retorts, "Well, that's dandy. But the skipper didn't send you to Sadi to help him cook ... the cabin boy does that. No, Nanny Goat, he sent you to me. One look at you and one can see you can't sail a toothpick in a bath tub.

"Tom Underhill, show her where we keep buckets, and grab her a holystone. Eshalyn, the first few terms you'll learn will be 'swab', 'deck,' 'larboard/ starboard/ bow/ aft,' and ... 'holystone,' the sandstone we use here to scrub the surface of the ship. You don't get a free ride here because of any other skills; you have to learn how to be an ABS and have our trust. If all Hells breaks out, Miss Nyctalops, fireballs don't work with the rage of the sea .... fighting the ship does."

[MikelaC1]

Eshalyn follows Tom to fetch the buckets and other items.

[Swami Monsoon]

Tom shows the newcomer to the locker where the cleaning supplies are stored and finds her some equipment...

"'Larboard' means 'left' and 'starboard' means 'right'... that is your left and right when facing the front end of the ship. Which is the bow. And the back end is the stern. 'Deck,' 'swab' and 'holystone' we're going to learn about now. At some length, I'm afraid..."

Resuming his earlier work, he demonstrates the use of the holystone. He glances at Eshalyn's hands, which do not appear to have seen much manual labor. "Blister" will likely be part of today's curriculum as well...

[lostsole31]

The assumption (unless otherwise noted) is that Tom throws the bones in the morning and at night to read the signs of the sky.

The evening four days out from Journey's End (the way Captain Darrius has logged the Sargasso event, named for the many doomed ships there), Tom casts read weather and recognizes there will be a storm with gale force winds. The ship is going to get pounded the next day.

[Swami Monsoon]

Tom immediately reports the ominous forecast to the officer of the deck...

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...and does so in the proper thread this time.

[lostsole31]

Darrius, you happen to be the OOD when Tom brings word of the storm. Given the fact that the passengers were stuck below during the sargasso for their own safety, this news would not bode well if known now.

Most of all, with Avner Meravanchi, who has been giving you critique and grief for the past few days.

How do you handle this news .... seeing as Tom brought it directly to you without scuttlebutt?