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"Tik Tik," Kroop repeats, "Good simple name, and I hear you about this ship, it’s poison. 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.”
Kroop pats one of the barrels. "Now, to start your learnin' on being the cook's mate. This here barrel has the sacks of flour..."
Kroop continues his lesson, showing Tik Tik the basics of the job and what duties he'll have to tend to most days, before setting to actually cooking the night's meal.
Tik Tik, quickly figures out that he lucked out, and helps as best as he can.
Calah set about retrieving ropes from the rope locker and securing them to various places on deck.
Kila knows what he's doing with the ropes, but still seems to be feeling some lingering effects from whatever these pirates had used to knock him out, and the work makes him much more tired that it has any right to.
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The shanghaied crew members perform admirably for their first day, earning, if not the respect and trust, then at least the hope that they won't be the death of the rest of other press-ganged members.
As Kila makes his way belowdecks, an auburn-haired Taldan woman with a rapier at her hip bumps into him, passing a pair of light hammers to him. "Keep them hidden for now, I'll talk to the rest of you in days to come."
The woman then continues on as if nothing happened.
Calah decides she needs information if she's going to get out of this mess. Figuring the most important information is where they are and where they're going, she tries to surreptitiously pry that from the crew.
Tik Tik tries to talk to the Cook about the captain of the ship.
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While Tik Tik's efforts to discreetly learn more about Kroop are met mostly with complaints about the bread either being bone-dry or soggy most days, Calah's efforts are met with a bit more success.
Calah strikes up a conversation with Giffer Tibbs, a one-eyed gnome swab. The woman winces with her remaining eye as she talks to Calah. "Well, we've only been away from Port Peril a day, so it's a safe bet we're sailing north across Jeopardy Bay. Where we go once we leave these waters, the captain and his officers are keeping tight-lipped. I imagine it'll be somewhere with prospects of plunder though. If you pay attention in the next few days it shouldn't be too hard to figure out our bearing each day."
Kila raises an eyebrow, but tries not to draw attention to the exchange. He feels like he has a bit more agency now, though, with the ability to defend himself if he needs to. He's really curious about who that woman might be, and why she would want him armed, but for now he feels the best thing is to sleep off whatever lingering effects that grog in Port Peril had that have made him so worn out. There'll probably be plenty of time for asking questions in future nights, and the work will be much harder tomorrow if he's already tired to start with.
If Tik Tik notices Calah's efforts to learn where they are going, he'll update her with their exact heading every time he sees her over the course of the days and nights.
He was curious about his new home and ship. His family always said boats were almost like sentient beings, people if you will and that they had their own defining charectoristics and natures. He wanted to explore this ship, explore its nature and being. He started with the cargo hold.
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Rrruh is able to move up to the main hold of the ship in the wee hours of the night, the area dark and quiet save for the soft snoring of a rather large man chained to a post near the entrance to the officer's cabins. The man has some patches of tar and feathers on him.
Whilst scrounging the main hold, Rrruh is able to find a few sundry items that fell into various crevices around the main hold over the years, including a brass ring, a shark tooth necklace, and a single pearl earring.
For her first night aboard the Wormwood, Zalhar attempts a bit of socializing over some rum.
She ends up in an argument with the rigger, Samms Toppin, about whether or not tying a rope to a bow and arrow would be a good way to hunt sharks.
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The night passes without event, and in the morning the new crew members begin making their way up as the bell tolls for all crew to the deck for the assignment of their tasks. On the way up to the middle hold, three crewmen and a crew woman stand in the way.
"In a hurry?" one of the men asks, pushing Rrruh roughly in the chest as the group tries to pass.
He blinked at the man and tilted his head his ears immediately laying back.
Yes yes friend, I am on my way to do my work above please step aside.
He said completely friendly sounding. . . yet his tail was lashing back and forth in a very clear warning sign of annoyance.
"It just never ends here, does it?" asks Kila, rhetorically. "Whether we're in a hurry or not, ya best stand aside else we're gonna have a problem. And when all ya have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail." With a great deal of quickness, both of the light hammers that the mystery woman had passed to him are in his hands and ready to go. "So, ya miscreants want t'get out of the way, or are ya in the mood t'get nailed?"
Why must we struggle, wouldn't you rather take a rat nap? . Tik Tik begins casting sleep.
"This is ridiculous. Why don't you lot just be on your way?"
Calah quickly stepped around the column and tried to hit the dagger-wielding pirate with a gout of water.
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Before even Kila and the rival pirate can come to blows, a glut of water splashes into the armed pirate's face, leading to a comical gargling as several mouthfuls of water get forced down his gullet and buffet his head.
The pirate staggers back, sputtering and hacking, as one of the others approaches to slap him on the back.
With a wet gag, and upchucking of a little bit more water, the pirate glares between Calah and Kila. "Alright, that's how it is."
He inclines his head towards the stares, and withdraws with the rest of the pirates that sought to block the group's way.
Kila stares for a moment, dumbfounded by the sudden and unexpected torrent of water before breaking out into riotous laughter.
"Thank ya fer that," he says putting the hammers away and clapping Calah on the back. "That just broke all th' tension an' totally made my day! Where'd ya learn a neat trick like that?"
Yes, well done Blue lady! He definitely could have used a bath! Come let us see what new and exciting things our current leadership has in store for us.
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The group is able to get to the top deck in time for roll call. As duties are handed out for the day, it's not difficult to miss the waterlogged pirate reporting to Mr. Plugg atop the poop deck early on, working his jaw, and the snarl creeping onto Mr. Plugg's face.
Rrruh is assigned to fix some rope netting leading up to the Crow's Nest for the day.
You arrive at the galley to find the Kroop has maintained a level of sobriety you would not have expected, and he's quite capable on his own for preparing the meals. Tik Tik more or less has free run of the ship for the day, save for a few tasks that would only take mere minutes.
For their daily tasks, Calah is assigned with keeping control of the vermin on the ship, killing rats, roaches and the like as she finds them.
Kila and Zalhar, meanwhile, are assigned to man the bilges, wretched work down in the bottom of the ship, cleaning it out.
Being more familiar with the ship than they were at first, the crew can try to get in a few extra tasks in for the day.
Tik Tik will spend his time in the galley doing what he can to help. Then he will use his mending to fix every < 1 pound item he can in the galley, concentrating on knives and utensils used to cook. He will also surreptitiously go over the food stores casting detect poison just to make sure he doesn't "accidentally" poison anyone on board.
He will then take the Sneak option to check out the navigators quarters and if caught offer his map making and direction finding skills.
At some point during the day, Tik Tik approaches Calah and begs her to avoid killing the rats if possible, offering to take care of them himself, in a cage of his making.
Kilah is feeling quite a bit better today. It seems he's worked the drugs out of his system, and his morale is at an all-time high after the amusing end to the potential altercation earlier. He's not thrilled to work the bilges, but while it's stinking work, it isn't difficult. If this ship is anything like the Karaboudjan, then there's probably some interesting stuff that's gotten lost down here over time, and he tries to keep an eye out for anything of interest while he goes about it.
Unfortunately, the stench is really quite distracting.
The feline quickly scampered about his assigned tasks, his little pink tongue half sticking out as he concentrated the whole day on the jobs assigned. Most of the day he hummed a little tune and occasionaly sang to himself the pirate song... which seemed to mostly consist of humming and repeating the word pirate in tune with the humming's beat.
Acquiescing to Tik Tik's wishes, Calah attempts to catch the rats alive.
While Zalhar works diligently through her work alongside Kila, she is winded by the experience. While she goes to get a head start on bedrest to recover, she is able to have a pleasant, albeit yawn-filled conversation with fellow swab Jack Scrimshaw.
Kila, much more alert tonight, tries to spend some time tonight to get more of an idea of who's on the ship with them. Specifically, he's most interested in finding out some more about that auburn-haired woman who seems to have his interests at heart. Unfortunately, his gruff demeanor can be extremely off-putting to others.
Tik Tik knows he may have another long day on the ship ahead of him, so he gets to sleep early.
Calah tries to learn more about Captain Harrigan that night. If she is to come out on top of this situation, she needs to know about the crew. Might as well start at the top then.
Looking for one of the others he recognized in the riggings the helpful feline just tried to swap stories and get to know his crewmates
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That night, the group's attempts at information yield merely a small amount on the captain of the ship. Harrigan is is a foul tempered captain, and Mr. Plugg serves as his right-hand man. The treatment and leniency proffered towards Plugg by the captain is something of an in-joke among the crew that Mr. Plugg is like a son to Harrigan, albeit still a bastard son.
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The night passes, but in the wee hours of the morning, just as the crew begins stirring, the group hears the trap door to the bilges clatter shut, and a few moments later the squelching sound of writhing flesh mingles with the brief sound of a muffled cry.
Soon thereafter, a scream sounds off in the hold where most of the crew is. Jaundiced Jape, one of the men that waylaid you the previous morning, scurries on his hands and knees beneath hammocks, fleeing a terrible sight.
One of the crew members stumbles about, a writhing red-streaked nautilus dangling off its head, producing a sickly squishing noise alongside an agitated moan.
Yet more crew members flee towards the stairs leading upwards on the deck, creating a line between yourselves and safety as crewmen clamber frantically to get away. Shouts and the clattering of personal effects dropping to the floor dominate the room, along with increasing amounts of swearing.
Zalhar is puzzled by this creature, what religious training she has she knows it to not be a conventional undead, and so opts to assist her allies for the coming fight, casting Bless.
The creature then stumbles towards Rrruh, albeit too sluggishly to follow up with any attack.
Round 1, Initiative Count 11
Kila, a bit bleary and confused, is mostly angry at having his rest interrupted. Both his hammers are quickly in his hands and he's ready to put this crazy thing down. He swings both his hammers in rapid succession, though he's not quite sure if he's supposed to hit the tentacled being or the moaning crewman, and his hesitance shows in the effectiveness of the second hammer.
"What the devil is that?" he demands of nobody in particular.
Round 1 Initiative Count 9
The panic of the sudden strange attack of the thing didnt stop the active eyes of the dark furred feline from finding a weapon, indeed he moved to the hammock and brandished the dagger found there skirting around the hammer wielding warrior Kila.
Its a tenticle thing monster hit it!
He cried out not, in fact, having a clue what it was.
That just is not right, flee if you wish, I'll attempt to slow it down!
He casts web bolt DC 15 reflex save or the creature is grappled by a one square web.
"This has got to be the second worst week of my entire life. Why do these things keep happening?"
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As the abomination lumbers towards Rrruh, and the few brave crewmates engage it gives out a haunting, garbled howl as the attacks bruise its flesh. ""Em pleh aramseb! Struh ti niap eht! !Hguuaaa!"
As a sticky mass of white threads erupts around the creature, it becomes anchored to the ground, though it still flails wildly.
Noticing that Rrruh has found a weapon, Zalhar moved in behind him, briefly touching the weapon as magic flows through the vanaran woman's hand.
Round 2, Initiative Count 11
Kila once again tries to thump the creature multiple times with his hammers, but it seems that the sudden addition of the webbing is hindering him rather than helping him at the moment. Or maybe it's just the interrupted sleep catching up with him. Regardless of the actual reason, the result general ineffectiveness, prompting a string of incoherent curses saltier than the sea outside the hull.
Round 2, Initiative count 9
He dove about the arm attempting to come beside the crazed monster putting it between him and Kila His hand moved quickly already darting for the mollusk monster on the man's head.
Tik Tik is out of useful spells, so will watch and see what happens from here.