"Yes" she agrees with relief. "Bad sex demons. All their fault." she smiles a little unsure.
After a brief pause, Polli's other hand slips into Donomsail's other and turns her bright blue eyes behind round glass up to hers. "I am scared" she admits "Of losing you to the hordes of sharp things thrown at us. Or in the best case to Time, like everyone else I've been close to. Or in the WORST, to my stupid brain and even stupider mouth... but... " she leans into the other woman trapping her between sylph and door, rising on her toes she pauses with their faces a fraction of an inch apart "... I'll be brave... if you will?"
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Donomsail closes the distance between her lips and Polli's. "We will be brave tagether." Her lips brush against Polli's as she talks, feeling like delicate kisses with every spoken word. "Ye be brave so that Ah can learn how, 'n' Ah'll be brave 'n' admit ta who Ah am fer real. Ah am no fighter, Ah have ye to pertect me. Ah canna swim, climb, or do many things of a physical nature, 'stead ye are there ta make sure Ah donna drown, fall, or fail at the many tasks of which Ah needs help. But tagether we make incredible magic, both fer others 'n' ourselves." Donomsail presses herself against Polli, the difference in their height allowing their bodies to fit as if stitched for each other, each of them filling a hollow space in the others being. These two truly appear to be made for each other, their bodies flow into and around each other, creating the illusion of one person sharing the space where two used to be.
True to her word Donomsail starts taking Polli's wet clothes off, breaking the kiss as she does so. "As fer time, mebbe we kin find a way ta add years ta ma life." Finally she turns so that Polli is lying on her back on the bed, neither of them worried about Polli being cold as her body is covered by Domonsail's "As fer yer very capable brain and your lovely, delicious mouth it canna ever drive me away. Never." At that Donomsail stops her end of the conversation, preferring instead to show the truth of her words. "Damnit! Ah meant ta have candles." Are her last words for the night, but not her last sounds.
Tessa is about to protest when Val steps up. She turns to her and nods once silently, making a note to thank her later. As she takes Harmony's hand and heads towards their cabin, she whispers "You're not allowed to do that again. I'm coming with you next time. I was this close to coming after you."
Shutting the door behind them, she helps her wet girlfriend strip off her clothes and get under the blanket. She leans against the wall and says with a telling smirk, "You know what will warm you up faster than a blanket?"
She lets a moment of silence pass before she answers "Some tea. I can go have Ambrose get a pot-" she furrows her brow and looks confused "Oh? Were you thinking something else?" She feigns innocence for another moment before laughing and leaping on top of the cold captain and pinning her beneath the blanket.
Staring down at Harmony she waggles her finger, "I am the one that gets to do the stupid and dangerous stunts from now on."
She releases the bard and fall in beside her, stripping off her own clothes as she comments "You did a really good job though, I'm proud of you."
The next day passes with no sign of the Dominator to everyone's relief and the crew's spirits are on the rise after the showdown with the succubi. Over the next few days you encounter two more small merchant vessels that fall prey to your growing skills.
Midway through the morning, the lookout spies a ship off to starboard. You approach a little closer. A fishing trawler rides low in the water, heeling several degrees to port. It is obviously taking on water. The sails flap loosely from the yards and a fishing net drags in the water over the starboard side.
As the distance between the ships is reduced, you can see a breach in the hull on the port side just above the waterline, and the waves are slowly swamping the ship. The davits that held a small dinghy at the stern are empty, indicating that the crew abandoned ship. There are no signs of damage or battle other than the breach in the hull.
Polli spends the morning inspecting the ship's hull, lovingly running her hand across the planks to detect any excess wetness or swelling, thumping here or there to detect proper firmness, so on.
She's just finished the initial portion when she arrives out on deck for the spectacle. Adjusting her glasses, she tries to help...
"It's a boat, I beleive" she states with some certainty.
"It looks like it's been rammed by something." Harmony concurs, unable to look away from the massive hole in the port side. "They do say that there's always a bigger fish..."
Donomsail stands next to Polli staring at the reminder of just how dangerous the life they've chosen is and puts her glasses on her face.
"There be a dinghy, down there unner tha water." She is pointing down then looks towards Harmony. "Someone needs ta make sure there's no folks on it."
Val frowns and replies, ”that’s pretty deep... I’ll swim down and check it out, but if anyone’s got a spell to help me stay under water longer that would make this easier... and, keep your eyes out... it’s sinking slowly, but still it can’t be that long since it started going down- whatever sank it might still be around...”
Donomsail turns to Valeria and smiles "Ah've got two spells which Ah'd saved for jist such an occasion." She reaches out and puts a hand on Valeria's shoulder. "Gozreh, hoor my pleidooi. As daar mense daar onder is wat hulp nodig het, gebruik hierdie dapper dames dan hul hulp. Gee jou seën in die water sodat sy beter kan swem. Gee ook 'n bietjie ekstra ekstra om seker te maak dat sy veilig daar terug is." Donomsail casts both prayer and air bubble on Valeria.
With that done she smiles, happy to be able to contribute in a noncombat setting. "Go rescue 'em, if'n ye run inta trouble we be ready ta come ta yer aid."
Polli pulls her eyes off the boat, "Is Violet or Val? Well, either way, I can make your hands and feet webbed, should help a little." she waits until the decisions have been made and then casts as Donomsail does.
With magical assistance, Valeria dives down into the calm water. In only a few short strokes, she's reached the sinking dinghy. There isn't any sign of any of the crew about it and she can't see any damage on the small boat. It either overturned or was purposefully scuttled.
Val hurries back to the surface and calls out, "no signs of anyone, and the dinghy looks like its in one piece, which I think is bad news... either something swamped it, and it might still be nearby, or someone sank it on purpose, maybe as a distraction for whatever damaged the ship or possibly for us?"
Glancing over at the seemingly crippled ship, she asks, "Do you want me to get a closer look at the trawler from the outside, Cap'n?"
Harmony shoots a glance at Tessa and the two captains seem to exchange a moment of non-verbal communication before the dark haired woman nods.
"See what you can. But stay safe. My bet is some sort of large sea creature did this, so be on your guard."
Valeria takes a swim about the slowly sinking trawler, but is unable to determine anything else of note from a distance.
"Polli, Donomsail. Can either of you sense anything?" Harmony asks, invoking her own spell of magic detection. "I don't want anyone boarding without being sure that its the last resort."
With the captains’ blessing, and still wrapped in Polli and Donm’s magic, Val drops below the waves and swims over to the sinking trawler to see if any additional information can be learned from examining its hull or peering through the crack.
Tessa dives in after Valeria without saying a word and begins swimming alongside her. When she reaches she looks around, but she can't see hardly anything. She asks "What do you see?"
Assuming she doesn't see anything either, Tessa will board the ship and look around.
Can cast detect magic but I'm on my phone so it's difficult. Magic and technology don't mi.
Donomsail steps close to the other ship, closing her eyes to help her focus on the potential magical energies she is hoping to find. "Gozreh, Ah wil weet of daar 'n magiese aard is daar 'as' daar magie is, help my om te verstaan watter tipe dit is." Once the incantation is finished she opens her eyes to reveal that they have turned solid black. Slowly she looks over the ship to see if any magical auras are revealed.
Donomsail turns to the rest of the group. "Nothing is registering as magical." She says as her eyes return to their normal color.ind. [B][smaller]
Val turns and swims to cut Tessa off before the captain reaches the deck. "Hold on, Cap'n, I think it might be a trap," she reports as quietly as she confidently can, "there's signs of a recent battle on the deck, but somebody's tried to cover it up... whoever won may be hiding somewhere... maybe hoping we'll sail by, but maybe waiting to ambush us when we check it out..."
"Trap? Hmmm." she says, pulling Wayfinder into her hand and looking around for signs of hidden trouble.
Tessa notices the same thing that Valeria did. Tessa and Valeria can also tell that within fifteen minutes or so, the trawler will slip below the surface.
Assuming nothing else of not, Tessa suggests they get back to the group and let them know what they found.
Unable to derive any other information about the slowly floundering fishing trawler without boarding it and perhaps examining the small hold, Tessa and Valeria return to the Siren.
Marisan taps her foot impatiently. "So, what? Do we explore the ship or ignore it? We should decide quickly. It will sink soon."
"I doubt there's much of interest left." Harmony says. "If it's already been fought over then everything valuable has been taken so anything left is dangerous, not valuable, or too difficult to move to be worth the effort. Let the ship sink."
The decision made, the crew watches as the small fishing boat slowly sinks beneath the waves. Twenty minutes later and there's no sign that it ever existed. The mystery vanishing beneath the blue waters of the Fever Sea.
The Siren continues her quest for prey as the day lengthens but there is nothing to be found today. Night falls and the rhythm of the ship continues.
Early in the morning hours, Tessa and Harmony are on the stern castle watching the waves play under the stars when Tessa hears what sounds like a cry cut short from the main deck.
Alarmed, Tessa leaps to her feet and says "Trouble!" to her fellow captain as she draws Wayfinder and dashes off towards the sound of the cry.
As Tessa moves down to the main deck, she can see figures moving in the dim light - and they're not crew members. Fish-like humanoids with tridents turn on her and bare sharp teeth in defiance.
Combat Begins!
Round 1
Tessa shouts loudly as she charges ahead towards the intruders and tries to get the jump on them. "Halt, fish-fiend!" she calls out, thrusting her rapier towards the fishman.
Tessa stabs the closest figure and it falls to the deck, gurgling blood.
One of the creatures lifts a heavy crossbow and fires at the swashbuckler, but the bolt slams into the wooden wall behind her. Another lopes forward and tries to spear her with its trident, but she deftly shifts the weapon aside and plunges her weapon into her second victim with the same results as the first. Two more crossbow bolts strike the deck near Tessa, but none find their mark.
There's a muffled cry as the last of the creatures closes its clawed hands around the neck of Simo Iulus.
Donomsail sleeps the sleep of the completely contented, her soft snores covering the cries from the deck.
Polli shifts in near awake for a moment, but settles back in without barely a pause.
Marisan awakens with a start. ”Valeria! We have company!” she shouts as she leaps out of bed and throws open the doors.
Harmony calls, her voice incredibly loud in the still morning air. The closest sahuagin claps one clawed hand to its head in apparent pain. Harmony hefts her harpoon, ready to throw if one of the evil shark-men gets any closer.
Tessa continues to press the attack as the bolts fly all around her. It doesn't matter to her that she is the only one on the deck fighting, in fact, she loves the thrill of it. So much so in fact, that she dashes forward in a tumble and comes in the middle of three of them. "Hello, salty! You are not welcome here!" she says, readying to parry their attacks.
At Harmony's supersonic scream, one of the creatures claps its hands over its ears and drops its crossbow. Marisan and Valeria burst out of the officers quarters to see the melee taking place.
Donomsail and Polli continue on in the their uninterrupted sleep.
Round 2
With a spinning roll and then thrust, Tessa vanquishes another of the fish-men.
The other two each drop their crossbows and stab at her with their tridents. The swashbuckler easily counters both attacks and when her stabbing is complete one is down and the other nearly so.
Still clutching one ear with one hand, the other remaining figure charges up the stairs to the stern castle where Harmony awaits with her harpoon.
Tessa shouts "I'm coming VI!" as she finishes off last one engaged with her and dashes towards her girlfriend.
Marisan charges the creature attacking Harmony.
Not to be outdone Harmony attacks with her harpoon, before stepping back to let the more capable fighters finish the job.
Round two: Donomsail continues to snore softly then rolls.on her side and starts to spoon with Polli.
As the sahuagin climbs the steps to the sterncastle, Harmony is waiting there with her magical harpoon and with a single thrust, ends the creature's life. Marisan and Valeria race across the deck just in time to see Tessa finish off the last of the creatures.
Combat Ends!
All in all, there were six of the fish-men. Each of them had a heavy crossbow and a trident. One of them (perhaps the leader?) wears a necklace of golden coral and strange, silvery metal with blue-black whorls . It appears to be an alloy of platinum.
Simo rubs his neck where one of the creatures was attempting to strangle him and looks across at the lifeless body of Anand Chawla.
Val frowns at the sight another crew member bloodied and unconscious at the hands of these fish men. ”I’ll go grab Donm and Polli... see if they can do anything for Anand...” she offers before hurrying below deck.
Harmony takes the necklace from the dead Sahuagin and hefts it, looking sadly at Anand. "A sad price for a life." She says. "We need to do something about this! How are they getting onboard? Climbing up the sides? Marisan, can you check for grappling hooks and so forth? We need to do something about this next time we're in port. Spikes, or some sort of enchantment to make sure the sides offer no grip. We can't just let this keep happening!"
She heads below to make a note on the charts of the exact position where the attack happened. If the sahuagin have a hunting ground she's going to figure it out so that this damn well doesn't happen again!
Marisan salutes Harmony and moves about the ship, looking to see if the creatures used hooks or just their claws to climb aboard.
Tessa is furious when she notices that one of her sailors have fallen. "No!" she cries, dropping Wayfinder and falling to her knees beside them. "Get Donomsail over here! Quick!" she screams useleslsy.
Donomsail is summoned from her cabin, but her efforts are fruitless - Anand is dead.
Examining the sides of the ship, Marisan determines that the creatures used their claws to climb the hull of the Siren. There is some muttering from the crew, but it fades as the day passes uneventfully and then draws to a close.
The mood of the crew improves significantly the next day when the Siren comes upon a Tianese merchant ship (the Kenkyona Otome) with fouled rigging. Unable to flee and without much in the way of marines to defend her, it's a simple matter to claim her cargo for your own. You also gain two volunteers to your crew.
The morning is calm and without incident or possible prey. As you approach midday, the watch from the crows nest calls out a sighting of two ships about a mile off the starboard bow. The larger of the vessels is being attacked by the smaller of the two. At this distance it's difficult to make out details or anyone's colors.