"Sounds like a fine plan, mate. Something else we need to...deal with, though. And this time, I have a better plan. Before we go to the handoff, we need to rest up so Dingus and Corliss can get their mojo back. We need to be ready for another real fight."
"Aye," Corliss chimes in. "Iff'n I remembers the deal correctly, we were to steal a specific item--some orchid elixir--from Clincher's crew in return fer the return o' our crewmates and yer weapons. Seems there weren't no elixir here, so sweet Lixi's outta luck. Iff'n she was expectin' the Aqua Vitae instead, well...she be outta luck there, too. Not what we were supposed to steal, so we used it on Kaul--quite reasonable, in me opinion. Somehow, methinks neither Lixi's likely to see things that way, so we should go inta our next meetin' ready fer a fight."
"Oh yeah--I'd bet me last gold coin that Kaul's not gonna want ta have any more negotiatin' what doesn't include a great deal o' blood an' violence."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Corliss gives Kaul a closer look and reckons payback may be a little time coming. The thug looks much worse for wear after his brief round trip to the afterlife. His eyes are sunken and his scarred flesh more closely matches a shark's pale underbelly than the ominous dark sea gray of its dorsal fin. The gouged flesh near his claw bears ugly bruises that hint at cracked bone and the multiple stab wounds are red and raw. He is going to need all of Corliss' skill and a bit of time to restore him to full health after his brief journey beyond.
Jim prowls the rotting deck assured that Corliss can do more for Kaul than he can at the moment. The afternoon has grown hazy but the sun has only slipped slightly from its zenith. Nevertheless, no sign of Svetesky is seen. Jim can only guess whether he's hightailed it back to town or taken cover in one of the many wrecks littering the marshland.
"Dingus, is there a way you can get word to Cap'n Belinna? I'm worried Svetesky might get some official attention turned Fortune's way."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Aye Aye Captain. I'll let her know".
Dingus picks up the hem of his robe, and begins to high step through the swamp... the wrong way.
"Dingus, is there a way you can get word to Cap'n Belinna?"
After a night's rest, Corliss uses all his healing ability to get his mates back to full health. Once that task's taken care of, the Besmaran gets an unusually hard expression across his face. "So...anyone got a plan fer dealin' with the Lixi twins? Think she knows we're comin'?"
Corliss catches up with Dingus and directs him back out of the marsh leaving Jim to half carry their battered bosun after them. The going is much slower than before and the sun is getting low by the time they return to the city gate. Dingus takes the form of an elderly woman again and Jim keeps his face buried in Kaul's armpit as he assists his stumbling companion through town. No one tries to delay them and they make it safely to the ship.
Belinna has nothing unusual to report other than the usual unusual condition of the away party upon return, but the watch is doubled and the four itinerant officers collapse exhausted into their berths.
Clouds roll in during the night and the weather turns bitter cold as snow flakes drift down the next morning. Corliss lays some healing on his mates as they gather around the stove in the galley for breakfast. The Black Lady's blessings burn like raw rum but reinvigorate the crew though Kaul is still looking kinda ghostly. Corliss then turns the conversation to revenge.
"Oh, unless Svetesky blabbed everything they probably don't know all of what happened. Strikes me as a mite foolish, though--and I were in their shoes, I'd've followed us to the rendezvous. They had to know how competent Jaravo and his pupils were; if Jaravo took us down, we'd weaken him enough in the process to be easy pickings, and vice versa.
"What troubles me is the ties between Lixy and the Calistrians. That lot holds a grudge past the Boneyard, I'm told, so we'll have to be careful. I'm thinking we all go to meet them, and if everything goes well we get our gear and put Riddleport in our wake. The only small hitch will be that the Aqua Vitae isn't in the original container. Now, our intent is still to bring what there is of it to the Lixys, so hopefully their divination magic won't tell them we're breaking the contract. If they take exception to the method of delivery, well. This time I won't hold back, and we'll have Dingus and Corliss with us."
Kaul listens intently, beady eyes sunken and looking more like a revenant than a belligerent.
When Jim mentions a parley with the Lixy's, the bosun's pallid brow furrows and he speaks with a hoarse whisper;
"Ain't the Stingers that hold a grudge past death Jimmer... That would be me."
He leans forward, grinding his tusks;
"Them Lixys? They're dead... Just don't know it yet. Seen things when I was... adrift. Heard things. Said things. Oaths an' such."
Kaul mugs a weak grin;
"Once I get meself back proper then they'll be a reckonin'... A bloody one. Then debts'll be paid an' I'll be whole, not hollow like I is now."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Corliss nods at Kaul but is actually giving the half-orc bosun a quick examination.
Somethin' not quite right 'bout Kaulie.... Don't think I've ever heard 'im talk in a whisper before.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Corliss can't claim much experience with a returned soul, but he's heard that sometimes a soul is depleted or altered by the experience. Certainly, the Groom seemed to bear some marks from his experience. Corliss hopes that a ritual of restoration might bolster Kaul's connection to his corporeal form again but that still remains to be seen.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
For a moment Kaul is worried that his little buddy has died and is joining him on the final journey. But this albatross is different and as he focuses on it, it no longer resembles an albatross but more like a fierce woman’s face quite close to Kaul. Her long ghostly tresses spread out from either side of her face so that they resemble long wings. The plumes of hair shift color to shades of cerulean and then stormy gray and then black. Her eyes, which also constantly shift colors that seem to whirl around the pupils, regard Kaul with intense scrutiny and he senses her ransacking his memories of his life.
Then Kaul’s movement slows in regards to all the other pale shapes and he stops and begins floating against the flow. The face stays with him as he slips backwards and the pale forms stream past him thinning as their numbers decrease until he is alone in the silver mist aside from the face. Then he moves as if sinking and the face slowly recedes. It gives a hearty laugh like a crashing wave. A voice reverberates in his head, What? Heading back. Just as well. Not sure you’d rate one of the Queen’s Hands yet. YOU Need more seasoning!
Just before all goes black again, Kaul makes out that the face is attached to a tall, powerfully built woman sitting in a jolly boat alone with four set of oars pulling strongly by some unseen means. In an instant the boat and its passenger dart beyond sight and then Kaul is back among the living.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As Corliss mends his companions' wounds, he gets a closer look at Kaul and notes some peculiarities. His pale skin is strangely cool to the touch and his amber eyes are now streaked with traces of other colors that seem to swirl around the pupil like a vortex.
Additionally, his red metal claw looks mottled. Closer inspection reveals that the metal has changed: a patina of rust flakes off in spots revealing iron beneath. The rust doesn't appear to affect the claw's function though. A couple small iron spurs are also visible erupting from Kaul's flesh above the claw as if the iron has alloyed with his arm bones and grown out in spots. Weirder still, Corliss finds a couple living barnacles on the claw that occasionally emit iridescent feathery tendrils into the air.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Dingus senses that Kaul has... changed... somehow... but he likes him even more now.
"Let's go dispense some justice".
Corliss privately points out some of the changes he's noted in Kaul, mental and physical to Jim, Dingus, and Capt. Belinna (if she's present). He asks for their opinions as to how best to proceed. Then he also shrugs and asks if they think it wise that he actually ask Kaul if he's feeling different. "After all, Kaul be the one who went through this ordeal; he'd have firsthand experience, mayhaps, iff'n he wants to share it. 'Tis usually the patient 'imself who has the best understandin' o' the symptoms he may be showin'."
Belinna sighs. "I didn't think Kaul could possible show up looking worse than last time. What ever you all want to do, we best be quick about it. We've been docked a couple weeks now and most of the crew have blown through their shares and are getting antsy. And I thought we were wanting to get on to the Queen's business. I don't how long she ought to be put off. I hope you are keeping us on the good side of the Sailor's Doom, Corliss."
Rafe chirps up. "May I help? I didn't want to disturb your rest last night. But if I can do anything for Master Kaul, I'd like to try."
"You certainly helped me out after the shadow captain, Rafe. Anything you could do for Kaul would be most welcome--right, Corliss?"
"Right ye are, Jimmer," Corliss replies as he starts to prepare for the restoration ritual he's never actually performed before. He gives Rafe a smile and a nod before ordering him to help gather all the items he'll need for the casting. Finally, he turns and addresses his patient.
"How're ye feelin', Kaulie?" he asks the scowling half-orc. "Can ye recall anything unusual 'bout yer ordeal...anythin' out o' place or the like? Will help me with the castin' iff'n I know as much as possible 'bout what ye went through after ye fell...."
Kaul sits, scowling into space whilst grinding his tusky jaw.
At Corliss' question, his beady eyes shift their maelstrom pupils toward the priest;
"Hurrrr. Kauly didn't measure up fir 'er crew... Got cast adrift... found me way back to shore. Here I be."
The brute bosun shifts his gaze toward his claw;
"Let 'er mark like a Jigsaw bite. Reminder tae me that I ain't fit for shift jus' yet. Need to get bloodier. Sos next time I ain't comin' back. .."
He emits a hacksaw chuckle;
"I ain't better than ever, but better than never. Feel cold like... like... revenge. Aye. That's the right o' it... Hurrrrr."
"Well, let's see iff'n I can't get dear Bessie to warm ya up some fer what's to come!" Corliss replies with a chuckle. "While I've heard o' the ol' adage that 'revenge be a dish best served cold,' I ain't sure I buy into that...not completely, at least. A little fire in the belly be better, methinks, an' them Lixies--pretty though they be--have earned their taste o' hellfire an' brimstone fer what they pulled. Besides, iff'n we're all to be near full power when we pay them gals a visit, maybe I ought not use all me lowest level spells to keep us warm: vengeance will burn in our hearts an' sword arms!"
Rafe gives a nervous little laugh at Kaul's weird looks and demeanor. "That's certainly not blue whinnis this time." He goes about helping Corliss with an ear twitching to catch anything Kaul adds.
Corliss believes he may have a bit of insight into what happened to Kaul while his soul was in limbo. Not sure how it'll affect his attempt at restoring Kaul to "normal," he keeps his thoughts to himself for now and concentrates on the ritual.