Two weeks out of Magnimar, on course for Sargova...
*Wanders happily about the boat lookin' at all'a stuffs and talkin' ta' all'a peoples.* (^_^)
SKULL & SHACKLES: The Sails are Raised
You remember coming aboard in Magnimar, up a wobbly gangplank from a shabby boardwalk. The barks of the sailors as they hurried to make ready for sea surround you.
Nhati is a Mwangi woman, dressed in loose clothing and a headband that would look at home on a buccaneer's ship in the tropical south. Here, were the weather is not quite so warm, she also has a cloak covering her, in which she huddles. On her shoulder is a parrot.
"The North is fascinating, yes, but I'm ready to get back home!" she says quietly... speaking polyglot, so it's possible that those nearby do not understand her.
The parrot squawks in the same language, "Me too."
She looks around. "Tai, keep your eyes open," she says to the parrot. "I'm pretty sure at least one of this Varisians were actually members of the Sczarni, and they're not going to be to happy with me at the moment. Once we're clear of this city, we might be able to relax a bit."
A young couple saunter along the docks, the smaller female almost completely hidden within the folds of the man's dark cloak. When the pair reaches the gangplank leading onto the deck of the Throaty Mermaid, the smallish female disengages and lightly darts halfway up the wooden ramp. She's a pretty teenager with curly black hair, with a slight frame encased in a snug suit of black studded leather armor. Halfway up the gangplank, she stops to wave goodbye to her escort...making a series of sharp yet subtle movements with her left arm, hand, and fingers even as her right hand waves a farewell. Then she scoots up the rest of the plank and, with suspicious glances this way and that, immediately disappears belowdecks, out of sight.
Nhati says quietly to Tai in polyglot, "Was that girl signing Sczarni sign language?"
Her parrot responds in the same language, "I don't know. I don't understand you humans and your hands."
Nhati says, "Great. Hopefully she's not from the same... what do they call them? Band? Troop?"
Tai says again. "Do I look like I know? I'm just a bird."
A grim yet handsome figure of a well-tanned sailor comes aboard soon after. Perhaps of mixed Varisian and Ulfen heritage, his lean muscular build stands at just under six feet in height. Piercing blue eyes seem to penetrate right to the soul as they dart and squint around at his fellow passengers. He bears a few notable scars on his face, evidence of a lifetime of hard times. And one of his eyes has been recently blackened, as if he'd taken a solid punch. A billard-shaped pipe rests lazily to the side of his mouth.
The grim sailor dons a brown cotton shirt and matching pants. A dark blue vest, a striped handkerchief around his neck, looped earrings of brass, and a red sash around his waist all add an odd sort of elegance to his motley attire. But perhaps his tall black leather boots for seafaring mark him most of all as being no land lubber. Hanging from his sturdy belt and buckled bandolier, his personal arsenal most notably includes a cutlass, an axe, and a few daggers.
Like most of his kind, Zakgrob is short, standing exactly three feet tall, and to put it bluntly is, well, ugly. His beady little eyes are red, and and he has no hair to speak of. His oversized head sits atop a scrawny body, agile but not strong. His skin is a grayish-green in color, and marked with scars, boils, pustules, and other grossness. He has a wicked smile full of jagged teeth and a love of small pointy things. He wears clothing that is mismatched, mis-sized in some places, and colorful (also, easy to hide things in).
As he is making his way through the docks area, he moves through the crowded walkways with ease born of years dealing with being smaller than most others and natural ability to stealth in between legs, around carts, avoiding horses and dogs with a wide berth. He is distracted by someone with a shiny. He deftly swipes it and pockets it to look at in more detail later but soon hears a squawk behind him as the person starts saying that he has been robbed.
Zakgrob sees two city guardsmen, one injured, coming his way and looking for something...or someone. He panics, scrambles around a couple, and waits for the guardsmen to not be looking in the direction of the ship. He darts up the gangplank to the ship in one smooth fast maneuver and ducks behind the railing out of sight. Perhaps a change of scenery will be good, as he has the thieves guild looking for him as well. Besides, he likes sailing and is good at cooking as well.
He is excited to find that when he pulls the 'shiny' out of his pocket to see what he 'borrowed', it is a small glass marble. He examines it for several moments, smiling and even rolling it around a bit on the deck. Then he quickly puts it away in case anyone might want to take it from him.
Sleight of Hand:
Perception:
Stealth:
The stout form of a dwarf stomps it's way from below decks of a small ship. His thick grey beard is tucked into a stained apron tied around his torso over worn, stained leathers. His face is twisted in rage and after a few steps he whirls on the still open door.
'And ya shoulda told me I'd be cooking in the mop closet of a barnacle crusted colander of a dinghy. I'm surprised this hunk of flotsam made it all the way to this Besmara-blighted backwater. I hope your next cook burns everything he doesn't under-cook.' He continues to storm his way toward the gangplank.
A rotund man, matching in face-distorting rage, emerges from the door behind Thurden. The large man in tattered finery grips a cutlass in it's scabbard. 'You watch your mouth when talking about my ship, Salt.'
The dwarf growls something to himself and whirls, having apparently reached the end of his patience, and a gout of water bursts from his hands, striking the overweight ship's captain in the chest, blasting him off his feet and back into the ship. Thurden continues his march from employment and begins scanning the ships along the dock.
The first thing he notices about the ship is the name 'Throaty Mermaid.' Salt says to himself with a chuckle. He then takes a few moments to study the ship. Nodding with approval he approaches a sailor loading supplies who points him in the direction of the captain. Disappointed he won't be able to work his way aboard the ship, but satisfied that it's headed in the right direction, South, Thurden agrees to pay for passage.
Thurden takes up a spot along the rail next to the gangplank to attempt to keep to himself, and an eye on any foodstuffs or spices being brought aboard.
The two city guardsmen seem thoughtful for a moment as they now approach the Throaty Mermaid. Coming onboard, they start to scan its passengers...
With a notable glance back at the guards, the blue-eyed sailor casually blends in with a group of densely packed passengers. Someone emerges a moment later wearing a long brown coat, collars raised to partially conceal his head and face, and a striped doo-rag atop his head... someone whom only the very observant may notice is the very same sailor.
The blue-eyed man casually strides towards the ocean-facing side of the ship, looking over the edge, puffing his pipe. All a bit too casually...
From some where below there is a splash, then a soft 'Thunk' as a smallish dagger looking object impacts the ship's railing. (Rope dart)
And a lythe, tanned figure climbs said rope, seeming straight up out of the harbour's waters.
The naturally tanned Elf lass stands dripping, for a moment, as she looks all about with large blue eyes.
Then she proceeds to simply 'shake' herself some what dryer.
Once free of most of the harbour's waters she turns and undoes the rope tied about her waist....
The blue-eyed man squints down at the rippling ocean below. "What the bloody," he whispers darkly to himself in a gravelly voice.
"Oi!" he exclaims as the dart nearly takes out one of his fingers. In a flash, the man's cutlass and axe are in his hands.
But when the lovely tanned elf makes her appearance, he can do naught but stare in wonderment for a long moment.
The splashing cold ocean waters in his face snap him back to attention. Quickly scanning the other passengers and their surprised reactions and murmurs, he casts aside the notion that last night's drinking excursions are the cause for this vision before him.
"Well that's one way ta board a ship, love," he sarcastically remarks.
...
And the two city guardsmen make haste to approach the scene of the commotion...
From the side, Nhati watches the commotion, trying to remain inconspicuous.
When the lithe, naturally tanned, and shapely elf climbs aboard, her parrot Tai says to her in polyglot, "You should try that outfit."
Nahti grumbles, "Shut up. It's way too cold up here."
Belowdecks, Shaedeen misses out on the Sunny Show. When she sees a member of the crew, she asks to see the passengers' cabin(s) to see what the sleeping accommodations look like. She's hoping that hammocks are provided, as she fled from her former associates without taking a pillow, bedroll, or blanket with her. If she must, she's prepared to slip back into the city quickly to buy something rather than go without for the duration of her voyage.
Zakgrob saw the island elf make her dramatic entrance on to the deck. His eyes widened as he looked at her, well specifically one part of her. He muttered to himself, "Oooh, big ears like me. Approve!"
He then looked away as the bird on another too-tall's shoulder spoke. The goblin blinked a few times and then frowned. "Boo. Bird not for eating. Too smart. Be hard to catch."
Then the guardsmen began to head towards the ship and Zakgrob panicked a bit! He darted away from the rail and ducked under Nhati's clock and stood behind her, whispering up to her, "Please let Zakgrob hide until the guardy men go by? Zakgrob give you, uh, good meal later! Or he give you shiny small orb he, uh, borrowed."
Nhati looks down at the goblin. "Um, OK," she says quietly. "But you know my parrot is not for eating, and if that's what you planned as a meal, you'd better think again."
She tries to stand unobtrusively to the side as the guard comes on to the ship.
Tai doesn't comment. Nhati briefly worries that he's not OK, but he's just decided to be quiet for a moment.
Sunny smiles at the fellows walking closer... and generally every one else standing around on feck with herslf. (^_^)
"Son ov'a ballless bugbear," the salty sailor sternly decries a hypothetical yet rather ironic fellow under his breath as he spots the guards approaching. With no time to gracefully escape, they converge on the scene... and happen to end up flanking the unlucky sailor.
Luckily, however, all three of their eyes immediately focus on the naturally tanned and dripping wet elf instead of him.
For now, the blue-eyed sailor nonchalantly stands still, letting the rather distracting elf's figure work to his advantage. He sheathed his weapons just before their arrival, though his hands still touch their hilts beneath the cover of his long coat...
...
Both guards, both armed and armored Varisian men, now begin to scan the passengers around the nekkid elf. The one without a bandaged head addresses the passengers in a gruff but slightly confused voice, "What's... um, going on here?"
Finishing pulling up what ever is attached to the end of the rope, a large oiled canvas bag splots wettly onto the timbers. Crouching quickly the tanned Elf simply ties off the loose end of the rope to said item before standing and looping the now 'carry handle' over her shoulder, wet 'Duffle' bag at her hip.
Both guards, both armed and armored Varisian men, now begin to scan the passengers around the nekkid elf. The one without a bandaged head addresses the passengers in a gruff but slightly confused voice, "What's... um, going on here?"
The tanned Elf smiles brightly at the fellow who's adressed her, indirectly. She takes a step forwards and sticks out a hand at him.
"I am bein' named 'Sunny' in'a speakin' of tha' peoples." She declairs by way of introduction.
"I heard tha' ship were bein' ready ta' sail South. So I come aboard an' am seekin' ta' make tha' journey also." She smiles and looks from one fellow to the other, then glances about at every one else gathered on deck.
The one guardsman's gaze shifts to Sunny's canvas bag and then to her duffle bag as he replies to the cheery elf, "We've got not quarrel with anyone fitting your... description, miss."
As the bandaged guard remains standing beside the salty sailor, the lead guard begins to slowly step through the small crowd, scanning some of the passengers. He heads directly towards Nhati... and Zakgrob.
Looking up and down at Nhati while addressing no one in particular, "We're looking for a few particularly nasty low lives. Causin' lots of trouble. All up to no good in town. One of them gave Henric here a nasty black eye and a nasty headache." He motions to the eye-bandaged and head-bandaged guard, who now frowns and sadly shakes his head. A few passengers nod sympathetically.
"A drunkin' fool cheated at cards last night. And still lost! Guess he really didn't like loosing, so he started a fight and ran away with the prize." The observant among you may notice the blue-eyed sailor now grimaces, giving the solider a dirty look.
"Anyways, we think all these scum are lookin' to get out of town. And real fast. Scumbags think they don't have to pay the price for their misbehaving. So, I ask you, any of you law-abidin' folk seen anything... suspicious, on board this ship?"
As he speaks and walks about, the other guard continues to silently scan the passengers with his one good eye.
Thurden pays little notice to the other passengers until Sunny springs onto the deck. Equally surprised and impressed by the elfs entrance he takes note of her before turning back to the gangplank. He stiffens when he spots the guards making their way aboard. 'Did Captain Dralo send the watch after me? It was just a little water.[' The dwarf watches a gull on a nearby pile and breathes a quiet prayer when they pass.
He watches them approach the group gathered on the other side of the ship. He listens as the guard attempts to cow his fellow passengers. Having had enough of their attitude, Thurden scowls and turns to face the guard.
'Only suspicious thing I seen around here is a fool who lost bad in a shady game of cards. Maybe your friend shouldn't gamble in circles out of his depth? Besides, must have been some hulk of a man that smashed his face. Only brute like that I've seen was hauling barrels two slips over.' Thurden hopes the guards take the bait and stop slowing the Mermaid's departure.
Nhati looks back at the guard. "Nothing suspicious like what you talk about," she says. Her glance briefly turns to the direction of Sunny. "There have been some rather... unexpected surprises in the last few minutes, but you've doubtless noticed that."
Sunny blinks inquisitivly at every one in return. She points back the way she came,
"I bin swimmin'." She nods, (^_^)
"In'a water." Seems to be her aliby.... which she will probably stick to as way of explaining where she was at the time of anything.
Zakgrow went very still, playing a game in his head that he was pretending to be a statue. He tried not to disturb the woman who was letting him hide under her cloak, but he kept his eyes peeled for any movement from her so he could try and match it. He mentally sent out thoughts to the guards to go away quickly!
"Oh!" Sunny exclaims and skips over to Nhati and peers at the avain upon the other woman's shoulder, only a few drops of water flick onto Nhati's clothes as Sunny comes to a stop.
"Ye has a lil' critter there!" Sunny exclaims brightly, leaning forwards and looking closer. (^_^)
Both guards give the salty dwarf a dirty look. And from the blue-eyed man in the long coat beside the wounded guard, he might spot a smirk beneath his raised collar.
When the lead guard hears Nhati's words, he nods and gives her a pass. As he walks away from her and towards the salty dwarf, Zakgrob may wonder if he has the power to mentally control others...
Before the guard can harass the dwarf however, the wounded one does a double-take at the blue-eyed man standing next to him the whole time. His one good eye squints in recognition...
"THAT'S HIM!" the wounded guard exclaims. The lead guard swiftly approaches and flanks the man as they both now draw weapons...
That blue-eyed sailor standing between the guards, he now calmly turns his head to meet the gaze of the wounded guard. A grin comes over his face...
Suddenly from the sailor's pipe, a blob of hot tar and ash jets right into the lead guard's face! Crying out in surprise, the guard quickly tries to rub the sticky tar from his eyes with his sleeve.
Nearly simultaneously, the sailor's fist lands right in the wounded guard's very same bandaged eye! Also crying out, the guard winces in extreme pain and reels from that cheap shot.
Before the lead guard clears his eyes and the wounded guard recovers from his throbbing head, the blue-eyed scoundrel's darted away from them. Finding an open hatch in the Throaty Mermaid's deck, he swiftly drops right down to below deck and out of sight...
Above deck, the gathered passengers "Oooh!" and "Aaah!" at the excitement. The two guards waste no further time, and hustle after the fleeing scoundrel.
...
Below deck, Shae suddenly hears a thud while on her way to see the passenger cabin. Turning to see the source, she spots a man in a long brown coat with blue-eyes perform a ground somersault and swiftly come to his feet, as if he'd just jumped from the hatch in the ceiling above. She can hear the sounds of muffled commotion and the thuds of hustling boots above deck.
"Watchit love," the blue-eyed man gruffly warns Shae as he wastes no time from his acrobatic stunt to run right past her. And past some of the other passengers in his way, a couple of whom he even pushes to the floor!
Sunny spins around at the noise and commotion, "Oooo! Whut'd I miss?" She looks around.
"Here? Where'd that feller go?"
The parrot looks right back at Sunny. It says something to her in Polyglot.
Sunny spins back around at the new voive
"Huh?" She tilts her head and looks inquisitivly at Nhatii.
"Oh! You be speakin' tha' way of them other island peoples!" She exclaims brightly.
Shaedeen scowls a bit as the sailor rudely pushes past her, panics a bit when she hears sounds of pursuit, and then relaxes (perhaps for the first time ever!) when she sees it's 'just' a pair of city guards and not the Tower Girls or some of their Sczarni allies coming to pull her off the ship. Having a fondness for scoundrels in her heart, Shaedeen initially considers attempting a bit of misdirection on the guards, but the bodies laid out on the floor are a pretty strong indication of the scalawag's passage.
"He went that way!" Shae calls to the guards, loud enough that their prey will hear her words, too. "Be careful, though--I think he had a throwing dagger in his hand! Don't just rush in blindly!"
Feeling certain that the guards will pursue a bit more carefully (and slowly) upon hearing her (false) warning, Shaedeen silently congratulates herself for having done her good/bad deed for the day and returns to scoping out the passenger cabins.
Thurden, temporarily taken aback by the sudden flurry of activity, allows the wounded guard to pass before stepping between the head guard and the fleeing figure. 'You and your boys are going to need the captain's say-so to search below-decks. Besides, you going to trust a one eyed, concussed man to finger a suspect?' The dwarf does his best to impede the remaining guards path to the hatch.
Zakgrob stiffened in dread when the island elf came over and mentioned a "lil' critter". Had he spotted? And then she pointed him out to the guards? Curses!
But then parrot spoke in polyglot. Wait, the not-dinner bird. He giggled madly at the parrot's response then quickly stifled it by slapping both hands over his mouth, and mentally cursed himself as he went dead still once more.
Nhati says to Sunny, "Garund is hardly an island. There are lots of folks on islands who speak polyglot, but most of them live deep in the Mwangi expanse. My parrot here is Tai... and he wants you to know that, yes, he has a critter, but that he suspects I don't want to be called a critter."
When she hears the goblin hiding in her cloak giggle, she clears her throat in an attempt to cover for him.
...a really obvious and lame attempt to cover...
Sunny starts to reply to Nhatiwhen the other lass gives out a very un-lady like sound....
Followed by Nhati making a completely different soumd.
"Here... is ye sick?" Sunny asks concerned, reaching ouit and placing a cool damp hand on Nhati's forehead.
"It's this northern weather," Nahti says.
Tai makes a raspberry.
Sunny nods, Aye. Tha' weather here be some thin' different ta' home." She blinks at the bird.
"Awe.. is ye birdy sick? Is makin' funny noises as well...." Sunny moves her now slightly dryer hand to the poor lil' birdy's head, twisting to look over a tanned shoulder.
"So. What ye think be goin' on over there?" She asks. "Seems ta' be a ruckus happenin' below, hey?"
Tai follows Sunny's eyes as she moves around, staring back at her.
Eventually, the bird makes a squawking sound.
Nhati says, "I have no idea what's going on. For all I know, they're looking for more than one recent boarder to this ship."
The tanned Elf tilts her head, looks from where the fellow's and she used to be standing.
Turns to where people are moving towards the hatch where people vanished into and turns to follow the lay of the ship towards where some one might end up and any hatches there.
Before happily skipping over in that general direction with a grin and a wave over her tanned shoulder back to Nhati. (^_^)
A woman and a man near Nhati give her a funny look after hearing the strange noise. The man seems to notice some odd movement beneath her cloak, judging by his particularly strange stare.
"Are you well, miss?" the woman asks Nhati.
...
With a glare at Thurden as he hustles after the dirty fighter, "There's room enough fer another in the dungeons, dwarf!"
Opting to take the ladder down, the two guards make their way down below deck and barely catch a glimpse of their fleeing target. They hustle through the wake cleared by the running sailor, equally as unconcerned with the fallen as the one who pushed them down.
Hearing the young girl's warning, the lead guard gruffly barks a quick thanks before bumping into her as he passes. As the one-good-eyed guard begins to slow down, the lead guard barks back at him, "Come on! Keep up!"
The salty sailor climbs up a ladder at the other end of the ship now, glancing back over his should to spot the two coming after him.
On the top deck once more, the sailor takes off his coat and wraps it around a confused man who seems to be looking for something. "This be yours mate? Yer welcome."
The confused man smiles back and waves at the departing blue-eyed sailor. "Oh, I was lookin' for that! Thanks!"
Heading back to the rear of the ship now, the man slows his pace, and moves in and out of another crowd of passengers. He's now wearing a tricorn hat atop his head, and looks rather nonchalant as he quickly cleans out and puts away his pipe.
Overhearing Nhati's last sentence, he gruffly remarks, "Aye. Seems ta be some ruckus alright. Wonder what's goin' on meself."
The man shrugs at Nhati innocently... and gives her a wink when he sees she's not fooled.
"Wha...?" The sailor's eyes squint as they peer downwards at the lower half of Nhati's cloak.
The two guards reach the top deck once more. Spotting the man with the coat from the rear, they immediately apprehend him. Turning him to see him confused once more, they release him and begin looking around the ship once more for their slippery prey...
Sunny grins as the fellow pops back up on deck at the fore of the ship where she's skipped to a halt.
She watches, large blue eyes seemig wide in amazement, as Reijo drapes the brown coat over some one elses' shoudlers in exchange for a hat as he saunters back towards the rear of the ship.
Sunny herself simply scampers up the rope lines higher into the rigging above.
(^_^)
The ship itself is an older style merchanter ship of four masts. It creaks alarmingly as you come up the gangplank, but otherwise seems adequate. With it's size, it can carry cargo and passengers with some comfort.
Off to one side, you see a uniformed man leaning against the railing and staring moodily out into the forest of masts around the docks here. His hair is unkempt and his jacket is unbuttoned. Every so often he takes a pull from a bottle of liquour.