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A moment later Horemheb storm into the cabin with a saber clutched tightly in his hand. He takes in the scene slowly, his gaze finally settling on the slain tengu.
"I knew that sod Hyrix would strike again. By Besmara's t%&+, I warned the captain she should have keelhauled him the first time he tried to take the Magpie Princess. You did well. I think the whole crew will sleep better knowing the bird's dead." He pauses to consider the mess up above. "Should I assume he was responsible for the fire on the deck too? He always was showing off those magic tricks of his."
"I'm late?" the first mate snarls at Balooo's blame passing. "You lot were supposed to be on watch. How do I know you weren't in league with this sod from the beginning?"
"Men! Arrest this bastard. We'll get to the bottom of this yet."
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"Hold on just a second. You see me covered in my own blood here. Of course we aren't in on it. I just got ran through with a magical sword and I still smell of burnt hair from all the electricity they shot through me. We've all sacrificed for this boat. Of course, they set the fire. Our alchemist did every ting possible to keep it from spreading and taking the whole ship!"
Fahd's plea falls on deaf ears as frustrated members of the crew storm the ruined captain's cabin to put Balooo in irons.
"The rest of you stay here. Nobody leaves the ship until I figure out what happened here tonight."
Eventually it is determined, based on correspondence found on Hyrix, that the party was not responsible for the attack. It appears Hyrix got in touch with Mother Grund, a former ally of Captain Lanteri's late husband, to get revenge against his killer. Horemheb spares the party chains or time in the ship's makeshift brig but not further scrutiny and has other more trustworthy members of the crew watch them closely. Balooo isn't so lucky and spends several days in chains.
A week later, after the damage from the fire has been repaired and the figure/masthead has been installed, Captain Lanteri returns along with the rest of the ship's crew.
"Are you're certain Hyrix has no more allies in Lilywhite", Lanteri says while she paces her now sparsely decorated cabin while Horemheb and the party (including a haggard Balooo) watches.
"It looks that way Captain", Horemheb says. "Assuming your new recruits are as clean as they say they are. They might not be in league with Hyrix but I don't trust them. They didn't sound the alarm when the Princess was under attack and that one must have a touch of the scurvy already because he thought it was wise to blame me for his failure to keep watch."
Captain Lanteri looks to the party for an explanation.
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"Come now, Balooo. We may both be new to the seaways, but I think even pirates respect the chain of command. Master Horemheb has every reason to test and doubt us - some of the less enlightened haven't even found our sea legs, and we're naught but fresh faces."
"By the way, Master Horemheb, it seemed clear at the time that the explosive the Tengu and witch were pitching at use would be warning enough that the ship was under assault. Still, the heat of battle can make one think strange things, struth."
The captain casts a glance at Balooo and Melina and then sighs.
"Horemheb half of this lot haven't even seen a ship before let alone how to keep watch and sound an alarm. You should have known better than to put them on first watch alone. I'm satisfied that they were able to save the ship and kill Hyrix... though I am going to miss that armoire. In any case, nothing that happened here has cast doubt on my trust in them. Take the chains off Fozzie and get the crew ready to set sail. We leave first thing tomorrow morning."
Horemheb scowls and then, begrudgingly, does as he's told.
"Make it your priority to show your associates the ropes as soon as we're at sea", she says to Ushaka once Horemheb has left the cabin. "I can't afford to lose any more crew and I definitely can't afford another sodding mutiny because my men don't trust the new blood. We're in this together, remember? Nobody gets paid if we can't reach the treasure."
"And you", she says to Melina. "Sweep the deck of the ship before we leave the cove. Make sure Hyrix didn't leave any more explosives behind."
The last of the supplies are moved into the ship's hold, the final preparations are made, and after one last night camping on the beach, the Magpie Princess weighs anchor and sets sail.
The crew is abuzz with excitement but nobody seems to know where they're headed.
Balooo finds that Belina is friendly and charming, a welcome reprieve from the more hardcore pirates aboard the Magpie Princess.
Iulia, on the other hand, is clearly annoyed by Fahd and doesn't hesitate to let him know it while she goes about her duties.
Fozzie spends an afternoon with Belina while she's studying a sea chart. She seems grateful for the company but she's disappointed when Balooo can't identify a distant mountain range the ship is passing.
After a day and a half at sea, Captain Lanteri summons the entire crew to the deck of the Magpie Princess for an announcement.
Once everyone's assembled she produces a rolled a piece of parchment which she passes to the crew closest to her. When it gets to Hinsin, he reads it aloud.
Varossa,
If you’re reading this, then I am most likely already winking at Pharasma. Never before you did I find my equal in greed and love of the sea, and I don’t regret any of the scars you’ve given me. Since it seems likely I’m a dead man, I bequeath to you the last of my possessions of any worth. This odd little horn may seem broken and useless, but it’s the key to the lost treasure of Jemma Redclaw. For safekeeping, I secured it with the guardian of winds on this isle where I find myself marooned. It’s part of a greater instrument. If you desire incredible wealth, retrieve it and then speak with Stormeyes or Harkalm. You’ll have to knock some heads to get at the gold, but that’s far from new to you.
If I ever loved anyone, you were it.
Warvil
"I found that message in my husbands things after his death", Lanteri explains while taking the parchment from Hinsin. "You see, years ago he was stranded on an island he called 'Warvil's Folly'. I imagine he thought he was going to die there but, somehow, he managed to escape and brought the goodbye note with him. I don't know when he was going to let me know about it but this message tells me, he wanted this crew and I to be the one to recover Jemma Redclaw's treasure. So that's what we're going to do!" she announces to the crew's approval. "Now that the Princess is back in fighting shape, we're going to recover this horn he mentioned in the message. Our first stop is Blackwarn's Gallows."
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Before the announcement, Mel is everywhere she feels useful... overcompensating, perhaps, for being utterly useless at tying knots, judging winds, finding her sea legs and other such nautical skills. She splits her time between Belina, Doc Imogene and Vancid Creed. She appears, however, rather lukewarm towards the steward's advances.
Belina
Doc Imogene
Vancid
After the big reveal, she steps aside to confer with her allies.
"Well this is interesting now. Guardian of the Winds? Blackwarn's Gallows? All of this strikes me as sounding rather exotic."
Belina is similarly friendly with Melina but seems disappointed when the tiefling fails her astrological trivia questions.
Melina does manage to win the approval of the ship's surgeon when she identifies an ailing crew mate's protein deficiency. The halfling offers her a small token of gratitude to sooth her stomach if drinking with the pirates gets out of hand.
The ship's taciturn artillerist is unimpressed by Melina's extensive knowledge of engineering. He seems to prefer maintaining the ship's weapons in silence.
***
'Guardian of the Winds' is too general of a term to remind Melina of any particular myths or legends but she has heard of Blackwarn's Gallows. It's a small isle off the western coast of Besmara's Throne known as a holy site by the Besmaran church.
Seemingly satisfied with the captain's words, the crew goes back to work.
***
A day later, the Magpie Princess approaches a rock spire that rises majestically out of the ocean — limestone spikes too steep to have beaches or allow a boat to safely dock with them. As the ship gets nearer, a haunting, melodic refrain echoes out across the water.
Most of the crew ignores the strange music but a few stop what they're doing to listen intently.
Balooo is confident that the sound is simply the sea breeze blowing through the rocks.
"Not unless they had wings. Ha! Can you imagine a person with wings?" the half-orc laughs. "What were their parents? Can you imagine a fish f##&ing a seagull? Ha!"
He nearly doubles over with laughter, completely missing noble Finkyudo's feathered appendages.
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"Or perhaps their parents were a simple man and a beauteous angel, with wings of spun gold and a heavenly voice?" Zinkyudo counters, surreptitiously tucking his wings snugly under his cloak. "Though I'm guessing that's not what the winged folk on this rock look like. Have you seen them? What are they?"
Antoly stops laughing long enough to furrow his heavy brow and stare up at the rocky spire. "I can't say I've actually seen anybody up there. Ask Xosrov. Keeping an eye out for trouble's his job."
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Melina cocks her head and listens closely. Random noises do concern her, naturally - even though it defies logic that she can hear anything at all after all the bombs.
Eavesdropping on Zinkyudo's conversation, the tiefling butts in.
"Keeping an eye on things isn't the problem - it's keeping an ear that is. And there are plenty of things under the sun that can fly and woudl be quite happy living on such a nice set of ledges."
(similar for arcana, a few points lower for other skills[/ooc]
Thinking on the subject briefly, Melina thinks that song could be a harpy, siren, or even a nixie.
As the ship draws closer the song becomes clearer.
Most of the crew, including Melina and Fahd, stops what they're doing to the stare up at the top of the spire, captivated by the haunting music.
A figure with the body of a hawk and the head of a beautiful woman with long shining hair steps out from a well-concealed cavern near the top of the spire. It continues its song and gestures toward one of the crew with a wing.
The rigger, a young chelish man, leaps from the deck of the Magpie Princess and begins swimming toward the rocky spire.
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Zinkyudo slips his bow off his shoulder, turning his head toward Melina at the same time to ask, "So which of those things you listed is this?" Realizing that Melina has other things on her mind, Zink mutters, "Well, hopefully this will stop the band from playing," and raises his bow, launching an arrow at the singing creature!
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Melina looks at the sky with empty eyes. "What? Listed what things? What are you talking about?"
When she sees the aasimar shooting at the singer she screams in fury. "Why would you try and harm such a beautiful thing? STOP!" She throws a bomb at the Zinkyudo.
plus dc 18 fortitude save or be nauseated for round after leaving cloud. Cloud lasts 1 rd and fills a 10' by 10' squate
The bomb goes astray, bouncing off the deck and landing at the feet of the archer. The flames still engulf and choke the aasimar, however.
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Zinkyudo's arrow grazes the strange bird-thing's wing eliciting a brief avian shriek of pain.
Melina's bomb once again sets the deck of the Magpie Princess aflame but the crew appears too captivated to care much.
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Ushaka shouts at Ziny "Keep up those arrows, I'll try and keep you free!"
Ushaka draws his taiaha as he moves between Melina and Zinky.
Ushaka then tries to Trip Melina to refocus her attention before Zinky or the ship catches fire.
"Focus man, Focus!" Ushaka shouts at Melina in the hopes his sudden assault snaps the tiefling out of it.
Confident that her supporters can handle the troublesome archer, the lady-headed bird flies closer to charm more of the crew.
Those enchanted by her song surround members of the party. With blank stares, they draw cutlasses and strike.