Dingus stops in place and stares at his new companion... "Never! talk about my mother".
Intimidate
"Sure. There's some bad things and luck that have followed me, but good luck as well. I've got a group of mates that I can count on for the first time in my life. But it's just a dagger. It doesn't tell me what to do I tell it what to do".
He then resumes following the man. "I certainly have no interest in destroying your... I mean our people. You'll have to tell me more".
K'stallo's expressionless face just stares at Dingus for a while and then he leads on through the narrow passages. Dingus can tell that they connect to the sewers by the tell-tale stink.
"Where are your mates? You may need them. You are in more danger than ever. Although Belle's murder remains unsolved, the man you threatened at the well this time is Mendor Maeorgan, the brother of Marilise Maeorgan, who has just taken the place of Marcus Roberts on the Captains' Council. He could be a dangerous enemy for you specifically and um, our people more broadly."
The icy pain of the shade's touch is mettled with Kaul's brow furrowing;
"Hur... That be cold... Feelin' weaker too.."
The brute bosun focusses and swings another strike at the umbral buccaneer;
"My Mates... They're... well last time I saw them". Dingus stops in his tracks. "I don't know where they are! I hope they're not in trouble. Perhaps we should delay this introduction until I find out if they need my help".
He starts to turn and walk away before realizing that he doesn't know where to begin to look. "I certainly don't want trouble with the captain's council... and I didn't hurt anybody. Perhaps I'll meet with our people, and they can help us to find my shipmates".
Dingus will follow K'Stallo for now, but be ready to flee if required.
Dingus realizes that he actually might not be able to get out of the statue by himself and that his previous experiences in the sewers have made him a little wary of wandering around by himself. In fact they pass through a couple sections of sewer and strange noises emanate from passages that they quietly pass. Dingus lifts his night gown's hem to try and spare it from the foul liquid that sloshes around his slippers.
Eventually K'stallo leads the way though a half-collapsed wall of the sewer and they enter a roughly hewn passage that intersects a far more alien hall. The floor is uneven and the walls covered in strange whorls and shapes that are somewhat disconcerting. Dingus loses track of time, but knows only that he is exhausted when the passage widens a little and there is the scent of brine. K'Stallo finally leads him to a pair of warped and water stained wooden doors that have been restored so that they open easily. K'stallo pulls on the newly installed bronze rings and the doors open to a strange curved hallway coiling clockwise with a smaller door on the opposite wall. K'Stallo immediately moves to the opposite door and opens it motioning Dingus inside.
The oddly shaped chamber is roughly 20 feet in diameter and ten feet high. A carpet woven in sinuous designs covers the floor and a the unadorned ceiling is ten feet overhead. In the center of the room is a marble pedestal holding a beautifully carved snake made of jade some two feet tall. Deep couches and cushions line the walls that bear poorly mended tapestries of a stylized representation of a powerfully built serpent man.
K'Stallo nods to the couches. "Please. You may rest here. When you are ready, we will proceed."
Corliss again tries to channel positive energy to put down Captain Cujo.
Corliss attempts another blast of channeled energy, but it is less effective this time. Still, Kaul follows up with a hack from Lopper and the shade starts to lose its definition and waver.
Jim continues to warily keep his distance.
Sensing its time back in the realm of the living drawing short, the shade lunges through Corliss and has cover from Lopper as the shade rushes toward Jim at the entrance. Corliss experiences a chill, but no dire effects as it passes through him.
Jim sees the darkness coming straight at him and moves as quickly as he can though treading across the sand feels almost like ankle deep mud in his weakened state. He stumbles aside just as the thing moves past and toward the shore. It continues forward circling the fire light heading toward the jolly boat of sailors fleeing the beach. "Catarro! I've come for your soul, you damned traitor!" it howls as it drifts across the narrow beach.
Corliss gives a yelp, attempts a stab, and then does a little jig replete with gestures to ward off evil spirits.
"Incoming!" he yells to the pirates on the beach.
for
Still weakened, but seeing the shade fade, Kaul presses after their foe with another lop from his chopper;
"Thank you for letting me rest in this wonderful chamber. The excitement of the day has taken its toll. Perhaps a quick rest would be good".
Dingus finds a comfortable couch, and Richard lays out full length beside him for warmth. Just before taking his rest, he casts "Detect Magic" and scans the room and K'Stallo.
Corliss is caught off guard as the shade passes through him and out of the cave. He raises his blade belatedly and follows Kaul while shouting a warning to the sailors outside.
K'Stallo sighs at the doorway as Dingus casts a spell and starts ogling him. Dingus detects that the only unknown source of magic in the room is his serpentfolk host. As the auras become discernible, Dingus can see that K'Stallo possesses several magic items, but K'Stallo tells Dingus that he will return after his guest has had a chance to rest and shuts the door behind him, leaving before Dingus can identify what the magical gear might be.
Corliss swaps out dispel magic for a cure serious wounds spell. He casts the spell but holds the charge, pursuing Captain Cujo until he can get close enough to touch the undead menace.
for
Running across the sandy strand and not tripping on stray bottles proves a task for Corliss and Kaul who try to follow the gliding shadow to the edge of the surf. Both get close enough to strike, but their blows are awkward and off-target.
Jim limps towards the fire, struggling to keep his rapier held up.
The shade ignores the clumsy attacks from behind and heads out over the water toward Catarro as the rest of the sailors in the boat leap clear!
The ever-so-fickle Besmara continues to titter at her priest's combat ineptitude.
for
As the shade gets shady, Kaul has a last hack at its back;
Surf and shadows foil Corliss and Kaul as they attempt to strike at the shade. Corliss stumbles in the wet sand and Lopper whistles at the edge of the darkness that glides over the twenty feet of water to the rocking jolly boat where Catarro is yelling incoherently. With a howl, the shade reaches into the hapless sailor and sucks vitality. Catarro falls against the gunnel yelling for help.
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Corliss gets as close to the shade as possible before unleashing his finally positive energy channel at Captain Cujo. If the other pirates decide to turn on him, Jim, and Kaul now...things could get ugly.
Stumbling into the surf, Corliss lifts Besmara's sign high and unleashes her wrath against this abomination attacking her living followers. There is a sound like the clink and scrape of clashing rapiers and a green flash that pierces the shadow shredding it into fragments that disperse into the night!
Zzzzzzz!
"You're welcome!" Corliss peevishly shouts to Catarro as his magic finally puts down Captain Cujo. "So tell us--Why did Cujo call you a 'damned traitor?'"
A depleted Kaul gives Cujo a hard look;
"Iffin' yer worried, don' be. We done worse that anythin' you 'av. So spill or get spilled..."
Jim limps up, shaking with the effort. "Nah, mate. He admitted to killing Cujo already, and that Aesha convinced him to. I'm thinking that she called up Cujo's shade, like she did before with Tammeralt and his crew. Feck me...Corliss, mate, have you got magic to fix what Cujo did to me? I couldn't fight a feckin' ship's cat."
"Not 'til tomorrow," Corliss sighs. "Iff'n Bessie be willin'. I'll prep a slew o' lesser restoration spells fer you an' Kaulie. Mebbe I'll be back in her favor tomorrow an' it won't take a full day's complement o' spells to get you an' Kaul back to full strength...but I'll pray fer a few extras just in case."
Zzzzzzz!
Dingus awakens to a soft knocking on the door and K'Stallo enters and casts light upon the jade snake statue in the center of the room. He has a covered tray that he sets next to the couch Dingus lies upon and then stands patiently by the statue. "I hope that you were able to rest well. I brought some food for you to break your fast. I assumed that you do not eat small warm-blooded creatures raw and entire as is our custom, so I brought you some tea, bread and a poached egg that I was able to find. Please, eat while we speak."
"I know that you are somewhat sensitive about your upbringing so let me just ask, what do you know of the history of our people? The part of your family like me, that is?"
Catarro's face is pale in the dying light of the campfire. "He was a terror and deserved killing. Siccing those two big mastiffs on people when we were raiding was really uncalled for and he done it to his own crew a few times. I had the chance to trap him and those beasts in the drowning cave and I took it. Aesha just gave me a bit more motivation. I can't believe that she was behind his rising. He was so mean even the Pit wouldn't take him and the veil between the living and dead is thin this night. I do owe you all my life an' maybe my soul, too. Let's get off this beach anyway."
He calls out to a couple pirates that had dived into the sea and haven't swum too far, "Come back, mates. This crew has done away with Cujo's ghost and I need help rowing back."
Kaul hears the tale of Cujo's method and mugs a wistful grin;
"Sounds like my kind'o' Cap'n... Pity we never sailed together when 'e was drawin' breath. Reckon we could o' made our names turnin' the tides red... Hur-hur-hur..."
The sailors from the beach spread out making sure both Catarro's boat and the crew's own have enough muscle to row to their respective ships. Any thoughts of recovering any rum or sundries from the cove cave is put off for later.
Back aboard the Bloody Fortune the tale of the vengeful shade and the effect of its enervating touch on Jim and Kaul spreads quickly. It is clear that Jim is suffering far more than Kaul as he struggles even to pull himself aboard. Belinna shows an extreme amount of concern for Jim. She orders the shadow-touched mates to their quarters to rest in the hope that they make a full recovery on the morrow.
********
The fog thins as the sun rises higher the next morning, but unfortunately, neither Jim or Kaul have regained their strength. Nor does even Corliss' most fervid prayers have any restorative effect.
Zzzzzzz!
Dingus awakens to a soft knocking on the door and K'Stallo enters and casts light upon the jade snake statue in the center of the room. He has a covered tray that he sets next to the couch Dingus lies upon and then stands patiently by the statue. "I hope that you were able to rest well. I brought some food for you to break your fast. I assumed that you do not eat small warm-blooded creatures raw and entire as is our custom, so I brought you some tea, bread and a poached egg that I was able to find. Please, eat while we speak."
"I know that you are somewhat sensitive about your upbringing so let me just ask, what do you know of the history of our people? The part of your family like me, that is?"
Dingus seems a bit disappointed that he is served nothing stronger than tea but is grateful as always for food.
"Ah! Thank you. I must admit that I've heard many stories of our kin but am never sure which are true, and which are myth. I would relish the opportunity to hear your side of things. Stories are often recanted from the side of the victor".
K'Stallo nods, "Few know of the time when we were in our ascension because it was so long ago. Millennia before the Age of Destiny and the rise of Osirion, which most humans think of as the oldest human empire, there was an Age of Serpents when we ruled, challenged only by the rise of Azlant. That truly first and greatest of human empires wielded unparalleled magical power and drove us back. Their champion, Savith,even decapitated our patron God, Ydersius, in his hallowed sanctum of Ilmurea. However, their supreme arrogance led to their downfall and the cataclysm which nearly destroyed this entire world."
"The serpentfolk retreated to enclaves deep below the surface and into magical slumber until the magical wards ebbed away over the millennia and the scattered few awoke into the darkness again. Most of us have forgotten our history and degenerated into savagery, but precious few recall our glory and seek to restore our empire again."
"Trust me, it is a futile and dangerous dream. We are too few and slow breeding to ever succeed at mundane warfare with the humans and our magical powers too depleted to present an arcane threat. Ydersius abides, it is true, but headless and raving. And the Others that some of my people pray to are far worse..." K'Stallo lets out a faint hiss and falls silent in thought.
At mess that morning there are concerned looks all around. "What can we do? Is it a curse?" she asks Corliss. Estabo shrugs at the breakfast of porridge and molasses and dried pork he's prepared. "We zhould find a fat calf, no? Make ze beev steak or blood pudding to put ze color back in heez cheeks!"
"Well, feck. Figure I'm going to be fair useless for a mite 'less one of you comes up with something."
Rafe has been watching the discussion with concern, but speaks up. "Master Jim, um, maybe I can help. You know that my father was a pharmacist and I've been practicing some of the potions that I watched him making and maybe one could help you. He had one to help the longshoremen carry heavier loads. You could try it and at least you'd be able to wear your armor and not have trouble walking around," he offers with eyes full of hope.
The serpentman's expressionless face is nearly impossible to read and Dingus is left wondering what K'Stallo is pondering until he continues. "I refer specifically to the King in Yellow who wields the Yellow Sign. Some of the degenerate ones joined with His human cultists and nearly unleashed madness and destruction on Freeport not long ago. We thankfully avoided that fate, but some continue to worship him. I mentioned T'Lother earlier. He presents another option by seeking to lead our people back into the worship of Ydersius and declaring war on the humans. All humans," he emphasizes indicating Dingus should take heed. "It is folly in my opinion. I have come to see that that crusade will only end as it did before- with the downfall of us all. I see another way. It is time to find another Patron for the serpentfolk that would make use of our strengths and foster cooperation in rediscovering our past and charting a viable course for our future. It could not be one of the modern human gods mind you, but there are other powerful beings that might appreciate our worship."
"One I am considering is an Empyreal Lord named Soralyon. His portfolio includes protecting ancient sites and seeking knowledge. What are your thoughts on this? Would you help me save our people?"
Dingus looks down for a bit at his bright yellow robes thinking that he could easily be mistaken for a "King in Yellow".
"What you propose is both brave and dangerous. I am in agreement with you that if would be folly to take on the firmly entrenched rulers of the world. There is already enough animosity to our kind due to our unusual appearance and the inability to read our emotions".
The slight sorcerer then stands and absentmindedly fingers his prized venomous dagger. "I have had dreams and visions about this dagger and the ruling of the serpent folk... but until you explained it didn't know what it was".
Yes! I will help you. Perhaps if we can succeed, we can walk the streets uncovered and someday our children might play together".
He then frowns and pulls forth his dagger.
"I guess I need to start with getting rid of this".
"I'm sure if I could find my mates they would help as well".
K'Stallo sways and flicks his tongue in what might possibly be a display of joy. "That is excellent news, cousin. Yes, as I believe that you have now realized, this Fang of Ydersius is dangerous. It drives its possessor to murder human innocents. I was hoping that you were not too deeply influenced to see this. I can dispose of it deep in the yet molten heart of Mount A'Val if you wish."
"Certainly more allies would help, but be careful, as you say there is much animosity, not entirely unwarranted among the humans. I might be able to help you find your mates. Where did you see them last?"
Corliss follows the captain's orders but finds his lesser restoration spells do nothing for Jim or Kaul. "I can prep some bull's strength spells on the morrow, but...they only lasts 'bout seven minutes each," he tells his mates.
The officers are finishing up the last of their grub when Ed pops into the galley. He focuses on Belinna and avoids eye contact with Kaul as he reports. "Hey, those other captains are requesting a parley."
Belinna nods, "Thank you, Ed. We'll be right up."
Ed departs mumbling that he'd been hoping for a biscuit as Belinna turns to the others. "Shall we?"
Before heading out, Corliss channels positive energy to heal the crew's physical wounds from the battle with Captain Cujo.
Outside, the swabbies have lowered a rope ladder to their guest's boat and the captains climb up to the weather deck: tall, fair, and fearsome Alfhild is first; then short stout Capt. Clapp; and finally, rather than Catarro, a lean man in a vest that displays heavily tattooed arms. The man has olive skin and long, brown hair tied up with a very colorful scarf.
"Seems Catarro has lost the captaincy for the moment and Veric here will be serving as the captain of the Black Dog," Captain Clapp announces. He looks over Jim and Kaul. "I see that you two are also worse for wear after your encounter with the former captain of the Black Dog, now Black Goat. Glad to hear that Cujo won't be back in charge of a ship of undead. We thank you much for that. He was bad enough alive."
Jim is unusually (but unsurprisingly) subdued. He manages a brief smile at Captain Clapp's words, though. "Glad we managed to put him down, hey? It was closer than I'd like, though."