"Knit one, pearl two..." :P
Pari was moderately unamused. Considering that she'd been overlooked to assist the chef, even after volunteering first, then stuck doing a job, and doing it very badly. Exhausted and dirty, she decided to go ahead and look around, seeing if she couldn't find her coat - it had to be somewhere on the vessel. Perhaps even her prized pearl earrings.
While working the rigging that day, Ajani decides to buddy up with one of the other riggers who seem uncaring of his presence, rather than those who seem openly hostile to him. Believing himself to at least have a more open line of communication with Samms, he approaches her while they are both on the rigging and comments on the fact that neither of them wear shoes. Genuinely curious, he asks her why she chooses to move about the rigging barefoot.
You seem to have really gotten some good attention by how effortlessly you climb, especially by the other barefoot among the riggers. That certainly can be the only explanation for your great success. Or maybe the lady just has a thing for folks who make the officers look like idiots in their overly complex tests.
Regardless, though, you do get answers from Samms. "Pa and Gran always said I shouldn't, but back home, you ruin too many shoes and boots in the Sodden mud, so I just started goin' without. Now, I probably couldn't even stand proper in anythin' other than me bare feet."
Her grin widens as she looks at the monkey's feets, as they grip the rope. "M'name's Samms, by the by. What's your's?"
Your frustration at being overlooked for the job that you wanted is only made worse by the heckling in the bilges of a haggard looking man shackled to the bulkhead. "Ooh?! Did they send me a lass to make me last few hours worth it?" His comments get more risque until he sees the peg leg and then it truly becomes true heckling. "A gimp?! They sent me a damned gimp! Oh, now they're just being sadistic little s~!@s! Well you can go tell ol' Harrigan he can shove that warped piece of driftwood you got right up his s&%+ter!" And this goes on the rest of your shift.
The haggard sailor seems to have been beaten and bruised a series of time and is in quite rough shape. Because of the beard he is currently sporting, it is hard to tell his current age, beyond the obvious "past puberty".
It certainly doesn't help that you are having to fight through brackish water which smells like all manner of salt, death, and bodily fluids, as well as a horrendously large cobwebs.
Either the heckling or the unexpected amount of hard work or both seem to leave you quite tired and distracted, and you can't seem to make heads or tails of where you might find your missing gear.
Your talents at your profession seem to be quite obvious to those around you, getting you some eye-daggers for your effort, but in the same token, you are extremely tired. You could easily attribute it to taggit oil or maybe just them making the task overly hard on you and your...cohorts?
Sadly, you suffer a similar fate to Pari, in that your tiredness gets in the way of your search, as hunger and thirst tear at you.
All of your cleaning and talking seems to be doing a great deal of good. Kroop begins to tell a great tale, beginning in his youth, where he was apprenticed to a great Varisian chef much farther north, though where you can't quite tell, thanks to his drunkenness. It seems that, once his apprenticeship was over, Kroop wanted to make his own place in the world, and so came to the Shackles. Shortly after setting up a small restaurant of his own, Kroop met a similar fate to you and your fellow "recruits", though years prior.
It’s poison, this ship, but don’t let anyone hear you say it
aloud. The hull listens, see, and the cap’n hears it all. Poison
the Wormwood is, though, rotten to the core. You’ll not meet a
more nasty, sour piece of work than Cap’n Harrigan in all your
days at sea, and his crew’s the same, ’specially the first mate,
Mr. Plugg. Vicious little sod, he is. He’d take his own mother’s
liver to the butcher to make pies with, he would. But they
leave me alone, mostly. They know I can’t ’arm ’em.”
Figuring that, if you were sent to him, you'd have met Harrigan, Scourge, and Plugg, he moves on to the other members of the crew. "And then there's Habbly, he's our s-surgeon...*hic*; and Pepp'ry, a salty lass with magic in her blood and more tie to Harrigan th'n his own skin." He laughs and grins, going through the bootlickers of Kipper & Patch, gunnery mate & boatswain's mate, as well as Riaris the gunner, and Caulky, Harrigan's personal playtoy.
He is about to continue, when a rough, croaking voice of a woman booms into the room, and Kroop attempts to stand. "Hey! Hey, hey, hey! ....Thas, thas meh friend Grok! She helps me drink the rum!" And all the while, the slob of a cook falls back into the chair after pointing in the direction of Grok.
At which point, she just laughs. "Don't listen to him, lass. He's sauced, like most days. I drink that s&!# only because we don't have proper booze. I'm the quartermaster, during the day, at least. At night...I DRINK!" And it seems, today, that Grok has spent too much time below deck, because she seems to start drinking: it must be night time.
You still with us?
You seem to have been staring too hard at the sun for too long, because the whole experience of being on the ship and working seems to overwhelm you, and you fail quite horribly. So bad that others are required to pick up the slack and actually work HARDER because of your failure.
Pari hardly feels the insult about her stump - she's lived with it for nearly two decades now, and has received far worse descriptions. "To be fair, I told him I would be better in the kitchen," She comments, wincing at the foul stench of the brackish waters. "But apparently the first mate doesn't like me for some reason."
She tries to be upbeat about all of this - yes, it's a dirty and filthy job, staining her linen shirt and making it stick to her curves. She glances over at the man, thinking for a moment. "You look beaten up...I can take care of that..."
Sliding up to him, she slips her holy symbol out where it was tucked away in her boot, holding onto the spiral as she concentrated, letting off a burst of positive energy to heal his injuries.
"Feel better?" She asks him with a smile. "My name is Parivesa Alohawahu...but I prefer to be just called Pari."
After being assigned to his job he looks about the ship. "Welp guess it time to get a snack then i guess i could try my hand at knotting again.." The good ol man would turn around and walk back into the darker under belly's of the ship.
(Option chosen lets find the quarter master.)
If needed. And sorry i was a little busy.
The first day aboard the new vessel was draining on Thorn's body, more than it should have been. The more they marked orders, the more agitated he became at his misfortune, and the more he wondered how long he would have to endure.
Every time he stopped to think about it, what killed off any thought of open rebellion was his common sense and his newfound companions. Sure, they may have only been drinking partners for a night, but now they were the same: slaves in a ship run by a cutthroat captain. That thought alone was enough to tell him that he would be needed in the coming days.
And when they aren't watching, we'll strike as sudden as the tides of the ocean.
You manage to get free from work without anyone initially seeing you, and since you really have more time on your hands, what with having completely forgone the job, you seem to find the store with no problems. Well, minus one major one. The door seems to be locked and despite any knocking, no one seems to answer. So the question is...what will you do?
Eloise spends her time chatting up her new friends, especially Grok.
As exhausting and disgusting at the day's job had been, Pari is not one to be inactive despite that. While she doesn't have the energy for gambling or dancing, she does have one good thing going for her - the ability to make friends.
So she looks for her opportunity when she sees it, finding someone who's nursing some rather bad bruises, cuts and scrapes, and attending to their side. She was able to wash herself off a little thanks to creating some fresh water down below, and her shirt clings suggestively to her curves.
"You look awful, now...let Peg-Leg Pari take good care of you," She comments, praying to her goddess and mending whomever she's targeted.
Having had a terrible day where nothing seemed to go right, Sunny eats whatever meal has been prepared before gratefully climbing into her hammock and sleeping off the last of what ever drug brought her here and the aches and pains her first day delivered.
Eloise listens top the quartermaster and the cook talk as she works.
Sheis being very thorough and searches as she cleans.
and
"Pleased to meet you, but I'd rather it were under different circumstances. Anything you can tell me about how to keep everyone sweet towards me, I'd appreciate. I don't want to start on anyone's bad side, at least more than can be avoided." she adds, thoughtfully.
A little upset without finding the quarter master he would slide back into the interior of the ship. As he walks the vessel slowly working his way back top side he would gaze about all the few people he would see under deck people working or lounging about for what ever reasons. At this time the mans Stomach would rumble. Since the night at tavern he hasn't eaten much he was rather poor. That night he was only able to get an ale and some bread. That ale... that unlucky ale brought him right back to hell on sea but this time he wont let it break him so easily this time.
Doc would work his way to the Kitchen after feeling his stomach rumbling. Arriving at the kitchen he would walk in seeing the cook and his new found assistant cleaning/cooking.
"Oie. You lot got some grub i can munch on? Doesn't have to be alot just a little something to tie me till supper." As he is saying this he would hold his stomach from hunger pains. Man the spirits must be laughing at him right now they seem to take joy in his suffering now a days. But they do tend to help him at his times of need... i mean he did swear upon the death of his crew he would find the man who enslaved them and kept doc as a pet for years... He will kill that bastard and make a new little accessory out of that man.
if needed.:p
*huff puff huff puff* Man! That's a lotta runnin' around!
GM Olmek, could you also see if Paizo will shut down the other thread for you? No need to have it on the campaigns page if it's going to be inactive.
Before the evening meal, all the members of the crew are summoned to the deck for a bit of "entertainment." It would seem that a member of the crew, a man named Jakes Magpie was caught stealing from the quartermaster a second time. You all are made to bear witness to his punishment.
He is brought from below decks, all skin and bones and it looks like he's in rough shape; his interrogation seemed to be especially brutal. His hands are tied behind his back.
The normally rowdy crowd of pirates silences as he confesses to his crimes. With an evil grin, Mr. Plugg sentences him to keelhauling. Any confusion about what punishment is is dispelled when Jakes Magpie is tied by the wrists and then thrown over the bow. A group of hand-selected pirates, including Plugg and Scourge, then pull him slowly under the Wormwood, along the keel of the ship. This continues for a little over a minute, but to the hushed pirate crowd, it seems like an eternity. What is eventually pulled up from the stern bears little resemblance to the man that was thrown into the water. The water-logged corpse has been shredded into a mass of bloody ribbons and is unceremoniously dumped over the railing to the sharks.
The lesson is clear. Don't steal and get caught. Any mistake could cost one their life.
Once the keelhauling is over, Mr. Plugg turns to the assembled pirates and raises his voice. "I hope all you learned a lesson today! Steal from the cap'n and you can bet you'll be swimming with ole Jakes. Now drink up, you pox-ridden dogs!"
Each crew member is handed a half-pint of rum. This is the infamous "rum ration", and the stuff is monstrously strong.
Eloise 'drinks' her ration, smacks her lips and heads off to see what is going on. Finding nothing, she yawns and heads for her hammock to sleep.
Ajani comes to the deck with the others before the evening meal after they were called up to watch the keelhauling of Jakes. The brutality of it, and Plugg's obvious enjoyment of the act, sends cold shudders up his spine. He made a mental note to do everything possible to avoid arousing the cruel man's ire...and not being drunk would be a fantastic start. That being said, he did his best to nonchalantly tip his ration over the side of the ship when he had a chance.
Afterward, having made friends with Samms, Ajani will approach "Ratline" and try to engage him in conversation by finding out how he came to be aboard the ship.
It's absolutely disgusting, Thorn thinks to himself. There's far better treatments that still leave a man, a man who deserves better.
Thorn is very silent, but doesn't strand himself from his new compatriots during the few hours they have. He manages to down the ration, and barely gets past the rough taste.
The first evening aboard the Wormwood goes by comfortably; that is to say, as comfortable as being on the open sea surrounded by thugs and murderers can be!
You are awoken by the harsh shouts of Master Scourge, the Boatswain and Master of Discipline, on the Wormwood. He stomps across the mid-deck shouting and clanging a naval bell. "Mr. Plugg's expecting ye all, so drag yer worthless carcasses topside to report fer duties!"
This rude wake-up call results in a flurry of action as the rest of the crew scramble out of hammocks and hurriedly dress: being late to assignments gets you three lashes for laziness.
As you are attempting to get to the main deck, the stairs are blocked by Fipps Chumlett, Jaundiced Jape, Slippery Sy Lonegan, and Aretta Bansion. Fipps, a large, fat man with a shaved head and mean face steps forward and shoves Thorn. "Oi! Where d'ya think you're going?" He grins maliciously while his friends chuckle behind him.
Fipps Chumlett
Slippery Sy Lonegan
Aretta Bansion
Jaundiced Jape
Sunny looks up at those gathered above. "Oh...we be awaitin' yerselfs. Then, when we's all turn up ta' gether...Well, you can be tha' one esplainin' tha' dawdlin'." (^_^)
With the morning slowly becoming another rush to the deck, Thorn dons his now-usual attire, dagger in his boot finely hidden.
Once he and his new allies are confronted, and Thorn is shoved by the fat man before him, he just frowns at the man's attempt to rile him further. He brushes it off, quite literally, and lifts a gloved hand to point at him, adopting a dueling stance.
"Tell you what, now - you should highly, highly consider allowin' us t' pass. It'd be in your... best interests, let us say that, and be done with it, eh?"
Eloise pads up from behind Sunny. "Is one of you Fipps? Master Scourge was asking for you."
Aretta gapes at Sunny for a moment, processing her words. She turns to Fipps. "'Ang on a tick, Fipps. She's got a point. Scourge'd have our hides for being late."
Fipps smug look screws up in disbelief. "See, Aretta? This is why you don't get to do the thinkin' round 'ere. Why are we 'ere in the first place? Who sent us?"
The lightbulb appears to turn on with the piratess. "Oh, right. I forgot."
Fipps narrows his eyes at Thorn. "Right. As I was sayin'... The lot of you are fresh bait on this ship. And fresh bait needs t' be taught a lesson. Today, that lesson is in punctuality." The fat man grins, baring a mouth full of yellow, rotten teeth.
Ajani stands at the back of the group with a slight frown on his face...but only for a moment, after which time he flashes his teeth at Fipps.
"If I may, good sir, your teeth are looking rather harsh. It seems to me they could do with a good washing. Allow me to assist!"
With that, he casts the spell Hydraulic Push, targeting the bully who is closest to the front. Given that all of them are trying to block their progress out the narrow doorway, Ajani is hoping that his blast of water will be enough to knock over the first of the thugs, who won't be able to help bowling over the ones behind him and allowing his group to get past them in the confusion.
Ajani's Hydraulic Push sends Fipps sprawling and he collides into Jaundiced Jape behind him. The two land in a heap ten feet away. The path to the stairs has been created, but there are still two pirates trying to stop you.
A gaggle of other pirates are loitering on the stairs, waiting to see the outcome of this scrum.
Sunny simply takes advantage of the slight confusion and the gap created, "Yaaaaa!" As she runs/scampers up the gang-way.
Eloise attempts to tumble after Sunny through the pack and to the upper deck.
Seeing that the enemies before him are quite the buffoons, and it is still a fight he could not win alone. Hopefully, the others would support him in the cause, but it was not something worth taking a chance on.
Seeing as they attempt to bypass those foes, he holds his stance, and walks by them and up the stairs, taking his time.