Allende comes over. "Certainly, my friend." he replies.
What's going on? Asks Connor as he makes his way over.
What did Allie find in Fipps' locker?
gold in silver coins
the chest also holds
a Tanglefoot bag
a Thunderstone
"It's come to my attention that we have a very competent crew, minus a few individuals of course, and some not-so competent leadership aboard this ship. And I wanted to see if we are in agreement on this and also whether or not we should do something to rectify this situation. What are your thoughts?"
Allie grabs the thunderstone and the tangle foot bag and stashes them in her pockets. She leaves the fat bag of coins wrapped in the gunner's mate's blanket.
While the boys are off chatting, Allie goes to the bow and finds a spot to hide a short distance from the "head". She waits for one of Plugg and Scourge's cronies to go in for a sit-down.
As soon as one of them enters, she silently counts to twenty, then uses the cover of darkness to toss the tangle foot bag inside.
She waits for the chaos to ensue, then slips in among the throng of on lookers.
Ashrem, I agree with you, certain leadership on this boat is horrible and something needs to be done. My only concern is the Captain, which he obviously trusts Plugg for some reason, and I am not sure I want to tangle with the Cap.
"I agree with you. The question is what can we do to rectify the situation. Conner's right. What ever we do shouldn't involve the Captain. Mr. Plugg, however, needs to go." Allende says in a soft whisper.
"Maybe under the cover of the next storm that hits. I doubt any of his cronies would jump in after him to save his neck." Ashrem then pauses as he hears a ruckus being raised nearby.
"What the…" his voice trails off as he moves to see what happened.
He can't see much of what's going on though he notices Allie trying to see what happened as well.
"Did you see what happened, Calico?" he asks her.
"In a few days there will be trouble. I have seen it in the dreamtime. I know not the form it will take, but it will be a trial to all involved. What I do know is that every hardship is an opportunity for change, should we have the will to endure it."
"For now, we should rest and wait. We need to be ready to seize the moment when it comes..."
Then the chaos began hear the head. Sandman didn't know what had happened, but he did know these sorts of things tended to happen around Allie.
It was why he liked her. It also made is life more difficult. Perhaps another reason he liked her. He was a bizarre sort of masochist after all.
He smiled and sighed, waiting for the rest of the storm to hit.
Totally clueless, Allende looks on smiling. He mutters ot Ashrem. "We need to get whoever this trickster is to join us."
Allie comes down off tiptoe and turns away from the crush of crew members in front of her.
She shrugs at Ashrem's question. "I'm barely a head taller than Rosie, I can't see a thing from here," she says in her usual vapid tone. "Someone's yelping from somewhere up front, though."
The heads on the Wormwood are located under the carved dragon. The person who walked into the head is none other than Master Scourge. The tanglefoot back has trapped him in the head with his trousers around his ankles. He is furious and cursing up a storm. Promising dire retribution against whoever did it.
Allie watches the scene from the crowd of curious onlookers, interested to see how this situation resolves itself.
That's just a taste, you sadistic bastard.
caught unaware scourge is solidly trapped in the goo from the tanglefoot bag which landed right on his lap. understandably he is unwilling to allow anyone to try to cut him out. He is forced to sit there until the goo hards a few minutes later. He is furious and humiliated. When he is finally able to get free and leave the head he loudly vows that he will find the one that did it and skin them alive.
After the commotion calms down and Scourge storms off, Ashrem turns to Sandman.
"I can foresee trouble for us tomorrow, but obviously you seemed to be talking about something bigger. Did your dreams reveal anything else about what's ahead for us?"
"No. Dreams are always metaphors. Even if the images themselves made sense, they would not be literal. It is their nature."
"We should keep our heads down and our eyes on the horizon. We cannot afford to get tangled in the current trials. Things will change dramatically soon."
Allie makes her way down to her berth, wondering if Fipps will notice his locker has been ransacked, or if the gunner's mate appreciates the bag of silver coins wrapped in his blanket.
I must spread some references to the Tian practice of waxing the hair from their naughty bits. That'll earn a few more chuckles at Scourge's expense.
She settles into her hammock, and stifles a giggle.
A new day comes, and again the weather is good. As you arrive on deck the next morning you see the captain standing on the Poop deck. A short while later the order is given to change course. Everyone scrambles to turn the ship and reset the sails for the new tack. By the time the manuever is completed the ship is turned almost completely about.
Plugg hands out the days assignments. Allende, Amamer, and Ashrem are assigned to
decks and scrubbing them with sandstone blocks
called holystones, requiring a DC 10 Strength or
Constitution check. Failing either check results in the
PC being fatigued at the end of the shift
Bull Session: Drinking with Ambrose Kroop and
listening to his stories. The cook’s mate must
drink an additional rum ration, but is able to take
an additional ship action during the day.
It is apparent that Fipps has discovered that his locker was ransacked. He is furious and keeps looking at Allie as though he suspects something. The gunners mate though seems to be in an unusually good mood this morning.
Swabbing the deck was hard, but Sandman sang quietly while he worked as usual, found his rhythm and was sweating at the end of the day but not exhausted.
Really want a useless idiot, taking off two riggers to punish us for being friends with others, he will get what's coming to him.
Connor works hard all day swabbing the deck, making every effort to show Plugg he isn't bothered by the work.
working diligently
Allende knows exactly what the change in tack means. And although he hates to admit it, he feels a thrill of excitement. As he works scrubbing the deck with the others he tells them. "The Captain is hunting for prey now. Be ready, I think we'll be fighting soon."
He works diligently, wanting to be ready when the time comes.
Allie's head swims, unaccustomed to the unwatered rum Kroop and Grok were so fond of.
"So why'z evvrybody runn'n round crazy t'dayy? Zzit have some'n t' do with Scourge's pants popp'n las' night?" she asks Grok and Kroop.
Amamer is so busy swabbing the deck, she hardly notices the ship has changed tack.
Sandman was very good with boats. He'd spent most of his life on them. When the tac changed he could feel it.
So this is what the dreams portent. We will find our first prey soon.
On his belt the terrible mask ever so slowly smiled.
On his belt the terrible mask ever so slowly smiled.
On his belt the terrible mask ever so slowly smiled.
Scary :)
Ashrem smiles as he realizes that the ship has finally come to it's destination. He worked hard scrubbing the deck clean but was careful not to do too much.
If I do too good of a job on the decks, they may just make me stay. I'd rather be in the ropes up above... he thinks to himself.
"It's about time." He replies to Allende. "You can feel the tension in the air. We're ready for it." He grins, thinking of ill fates that could befall Mr Plugg or Scourge during the combat with another ship.
That evening before supper everyone is ordered to stand by their bunks. Plugg and scourge come through the crew space and search everyones lockers. They especially thorough searching your lockers and bunks. They give no explanation of why the search was made. After the search everyone is sent to dinner.
Still buzzing from her bull session with Kroop and Grok, Allie decides to, once again, feign pouring rum for herself; drinking from an empty cup.
She sways a bit as she wanders the deck, trying not to openly giggle at the dirty look coming from Fipps Chumlett.
Not sure why he suspects me - thought I covered my tracks better. That sweaty bald head of his must hide a cunning little brain. Fine, fat boy. You wanna try your hand at The Game? Let's play!
She sways her hips in time to the rocking of the ship, flips her hair, and sudectively wipes the sweat from her neck and chest. She slowly walks back to her comrades, and greets them with a friendly smile.
"Hello Kitten." Sandman says from his usual place near the prow. "Causing trouble again?"
"I think that fat old Fipps is still wounded in his...pride. He keeps looking at me like I stole his supper...greasy pig..." she replies, shooting a glance at Fipps from the corner of her eye.
"Plugg and Scourge are all in a tizzy, huh? What do you think's going on, apart for Scourge giving himself a Tian nether-waxing in the head, last night?" she asks in a conspiratorial whisper.
Sandman chuckles, but keeps his thoughts to himself.
"Whatever is happening, I think the people responsible should put their antics on hold. We are hunting now. When we find our prey it would be best if everyone is focused and crew morale is high."
"When it comes, it will come swiftly and be very bloody."
"If all of us could work together, that would be so great," Allie replies. "Some folks are pretty thick, though, and can't figure out why kicking the hornet's nest ends up getting them stung." She rolls her eyes in the direction of Fipps and his gang.
She tosses her hair and sighs, then her brain abruptly changes tack.
"Say, does anyone know any good pirate songs?"
"I may have one or two for the occasion. If Rosie doesn't mind playing a tune on her fiddle for me." He smiles as the halfling brings out her instrument and starts a fine tune.
You pass the rest of the evening singing and laughing. Scourge and his faction do not join in and spend the evening glaring towards the group.
Another night passes uneventfully. The sunrises and brings with it another beautiful day. All of you are again ordered to swab the deck. Allie is even pulled from duty in the galley and set to swabing the deck with the rest. Fipps Chumlett is sent to the galley as her replacement. Halfway through the mornig Mr. Plugg come to examine your work and orders you to do the whole thing again.
After Plugg inspects their work and demands that they start over, Allie bends her back to the work. Unfortunately for her, she was already tried at the end of the first swabbing, and she falters toward the end of the second scrub.
Amamer doesn't do quite as well today as yesterday, but she manages to stay on top of things.
Allende really enjoys the singing and even adds a few of the songs he learned. He works diligently the next day.
He glares at Mr. Plugg but continues working
He notices Allie faltering and tries to help her.
Sandman starts a low, droning sea chanty that carries his rumbling baritone across the deck, giving a cadence for the crew to work to. He doesn't let up. He barely shows that he's tired.
Ashrem grins as he is told that he is assigned to swabbing duty again with his friends. Putting his back into it, he works hard and dillegently in cleaning the deck. And when ordered to do it again, he heartily shouts "Aye aye, Mr. Plugg!! I'll clean her even better than before!"
During the re-swab, Ashrem notices Allie struggling to keep pace with the others. Stopping her for a minute to offer her a drink of water from a flask, he takes a few seconds to cast guidance.
"It certainly is a great day to be a pirate, wouldn't you say?" Ashrem asks quietly, traces of sarcasm and belligerency creeping into his voice. He drops the facade for a moment, frowning with concern as he asks Allie if she's alright.
With Sandman and Ashrem leading the way and lightening the burden. You manage to complete swabbing the decks twice. It is late in the evening when you finish and Allie and Amamer are both exhausted. The evening meal is a disgusting mess, and Fishguts Kroop is short tempered. Plugg ignore the crews complaints about the food, telling most of the crew that they will eat what they are given. Plugg and his cronies don't eat what the rest of the crew is given. They sit in another part of the ship and eat fried fish.
"Thank you," Allie whispers gratefully to her comrades. Each of them picked up her slack so that she would not face the lash. I will not forget this; neither their kindness, nor Plugg's cruelty.
That evening, she watches Plugg and his sycophants dining on fried fish, as she tried to choke down the foul-tasting stew.
"Even sloshed, Kroop cooks better than this," she mutters. She discards the rest of the stew, deciding she didn't care to know just what Fipps did to it.
She makes sure to dump her rum, as well; just in case they tampered with it.
"Good call," she says. "Sounds like our friend Fipps is trying to kill us."
Amamer pushes her stew aside as well.
Sandman brings all his friends together and leads them in a fisherman's prayer, all in a circle with their meals on their knees, each reaching out to touch bowls like an elaborate toast. When he finishes, the meals taste fine. Not great, but pallatable.