"I'm awake!"
Rizz was feeling a bit sleepy, and was leaning against the mop to keep herself from falling over.
"What'sa matter?."
Esmarelda laughed a bit as Rizz jumped, or well as much as her exhausted state allowed her to. "Harmony was asking where you were from." She told their new friend. "Though maybe these are questions you would like to answer after some good rest?" She asked.
Rizz doesn't answer. After the panic of being woken up had subsided, the small gnome girl slumped over again, dozing away.
"I think it's best we let her rest until we're done here", Harmony says to Esmarelda. "Who knows how long she's been floating there on the ocean, burned by the sun and I don't know how low on supplies. When we get to turn in, we should have Cueta take a look at her."
It was a relief that the day was finally over and Esmarelda and Harmony were spared the lash. However, by the time I had clambered down to the main deck Scourge had already sent our newcomer down to the bilges to finish Harmony's task along with her and Esmarelda. Thus, I was unable to bid her a proper welcome aboard.
When a couple of the original crew from the Man's Promise started working on hauling the errant dinghy aboard, I lent a bit of assistance. Partly because it was the comradely thing to do, but mainly because I wanted to see if there was some clue about the mystery that Eriziel was bringing aboard with her.
When the dinghy provided me with no further information, I was forced to ask her directly. However, after her ordeal upon the seas, the poor thing was exhausted and in dire need of rest. Hence, I was forced to wait until the morning to speak with her.
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Cueta shrugged as the three women were told to go belowdecks, mouthing a message to her companions. Careful.
That evening was the first time she'd not been exhausted of late. The deckhand found herself wandering the open areas of the ship, unsure what to do. Eventually, with Harmony unavailable, Cueta decided the ship's crew needed some levity. She'd tell the story of the pirate with the wooden...
Standing on a barrel, Cueta stamped her feet, and yelled to those belowdecks carousing. Quit picking your tiny nose and pay attention! We begin in Bloodcove, where this poor sod, a common swab by the name of... we'll call him Pips Bumlet... spies a mighty fine hole in a bucket..."
Yep, it was a dirty story. And perhaps surprisingly, not a bad one.
Gall keeps an eye on his two friends and the new girl as they head belowdecks before he goes back to his cooking. He does his best to hide it, but it is not hard to see that the half-giant is a bit disgruntled. Shouts of raiding another boat had his blood boiling and all for nothing at all. It is nearly enough to drive a man wild.
Regardless, he heads back to his galley and returns to helping Fishguts with dinner. Which may or may not involve quite a bit of vigorous, overly aggressive chopping on his part.
Later, after dinner, he enjoys Cueta's raunchy tale and tries to get folks together for a game of hog lob. Assuming any of the crew is ready and willing to join him for the game.
You are all tired, hells the way that Plugg and Scourge work everyone who isn't! You dream of chaos, swirling rolling waves rocking the ship to and fro. Suddenly you start awake, this is no dream - the ship has been caught in a horrible storm!
Voices form all around you scream over the din of the crashing waves slamming into the Man's Promise. You hear Plugg's voice above all others, "The bloody anchor ripped right off! All hands on deck 'er there'll be no damn deck to man!" He roars.
As you stand up you see in the driving rain a few green figures grab at two sailors who you simply cannot clearly make out due to the heavy rain lashing the ship! It's too late for them, they are beyond help now as to chase them would likely mean your own dooms.
Somehow the ship has gotten off course that much is clear you collectively work through the wee hours of the morning lashing rigging, bailing water, even Plugg and Scourge are too disturbed by the potential for catastrophe to scowl or berate anyone.
As the sun begins to rise and the storm begins to subside the sound a of a large can be heard and the ship slams to a halt.
Rizz is glad to be on a larger vessel than her small dinghy in this storm. She's also happy that she'll get to die with other people instead of alone.
"Agh!!!!"
Esmarelda is thrown foreword with the forceful halt of the ship.
My hopes to learn in the morning what secret surprises our new guest brought with her were quite thoroughly dashed, for I was awoken to find out a storm had abruptly arose overnight. I had scarce time to pull my boots on and reach the deck to get started working to keep us all afloat. Thankfully unlike last time, I was not sent into the crow's nest, as we needed all hands working the lines to keep us from capsizing amongst the swells.
My eyes saw some strange apparitions of green abductors when -- just as my mornings' hopes -- the Man's Promise itself was dashed upon some unseen shoals.
I stood firm amidst the crash, but poor Esmarelda was pitched into the briny! I wasted no time, rushing to the edge of the deck and hurling a line out to her. With our ship run aground, she was in dire peril of being swept out to sea.
Gall wakes from tumultuous dreams of the seas trying to swallow him only to face a reality that is practically identical. He does not bother with boots, instead simply rushing up to the deck with bare feet and little more than his night clothes on. He barely blinks at the sight of the green...things, instead staring wide-eyed in shock at them. When they are gone again, he shakes his head with a slight shiver and goes back to work. Right up until the crash.
Cueta's jaw dropped as she spied the green things grabbing some of the crew. "Oi! Green fookers starboard!" Grabbing her bow, the deckhand aimed but couldn't get a clear shot in the rain, and found herself cursing as the figures went overboard with their captives. Nothin' to do about it now. Poor sods is good as drowned.
So she got back to work. Tying, belaying, patching, and splitting, but the whole time, Cueta's head was on a swivel, looking about for more green bastards trying to haul everyone off.
And then the ship hit - something - right as Cueta turned, sure she'd seen one of those green bastards out the corner of her eye. Off balance, the swab pitched face first into the ship's railing, and then rolled over, gasping, as Arty yelled out.
Esmarelda. Fook me. Girl gets in more trouble than a satyr in a whorehouse.
Staggering to her feet, Cueta looked about for some rope to tie herself to, before the deckhand flung herself into the drink...
Harmony stumbles around but manages to catch herself with her hands on a bulkhead just in time. Briefly, the two green figures register in her mind, but then a more pressing emergency pulls her attention. "Esmarelda! *Woman overboard*!" the Chelaxian woman shouts at the top of her lungs, holding on for dear life with one hand and pointing in the direction where Esmarelda fell off. Artevious. Thank you, she sighs inwardly as the swashbuckler tries to do something about the situation. When Harmony sees the line being thrown, she tries to add to the chances of success by raising her free hand, purple magic sparkles flying off her fingers as she casts Mage Hand, and tries to use it to move the tip of the line closer to Esmarelda. "Esmarelda! Grab on! Grab on!"
Esmarelda saw Artevious toss her the rope. She twisted in the middle of her fall and her hands grabbed into the rope for dear life. She didn't care of she got rope burn, for her right now that rope was life or death. She could hear Harmony screaming to her and she thanked the gods her friend had magic. For she was pretty sure it was half the reason she her hands found the rope.
I'll need to thank them when this is over.
The moment he has his footing, Gall hurries over to Artevious to help the slimmer man reel Esmarelda in. With a broad grin and a nod, he seizes the rope just behind Arty and starts hauling for all he is worth. "Good aim, lad. Could snap the wings off a dragonfly like that, couldn't ye?"
Rizz see's Gall pulling at the rope and joins in as well, pulling for all she's worth.
"Hnnng!"
Esmarelda you slip over the side but with the rope in hand you likely avoided certain doom, still the force of the fall slams you into the side of the ship.
Your allies soon pull you up and over the railing.
Cueta unties the rope from her midsection as she sees Esmeralda being hauled up over the railing. The truth was, the swab was a little disappointed she'd not have the opportunity to prove herself to Besmara, but it was probably for the best. Cueta's vision was still blurry from the faceplant she took into the ship's railing.
Holding her hand to her face, the deckhand closes her eyes and whispers a quick supplication to the Pirate Queen. "Besmara, with your grace, heal this would so that I can prove my worth to you tomorrow.""
The whispers in the back of her mind are pleased; the gash on Cueta's forehead stanches and her vision returns to normal.
Making her way to Gall, Cueta helps with the last few feet of rope. Grabbing the soaked Esmarelda by her shirt, Cueta hauls her over the railing and dumps the girl onto the deck. "Gods, Es, though you were green bastard food. What were those things? And what the fook did we hit?"
The moment he has his footing, Gall hurries over to Artevious to help the slimmer man reel Esmarelda in. With a broad grin and a nod, he seizes the rope just behind Arty and starts hauling for all he is worth. "Good aim, lad. Could snap the wings off a dragonfly like that, couldn't ye?"
"Quite so!" I responded proudly to what I had to assume was a compliment, although I was unaccustomed to such an odd turn of phrase.
With Esmarelda back on solid deck, I began to consider the plight our ship -- and in turn the rest of us -- was in. "It seems rather apparent that we've run aground. But I do not know if those strange greenish creatures we saw had anything to do with that. I think we can thank the storm for the grounding," I offered.
"I ain't rightly sure, lass. On both accounts. Them things were too quick, I couldn't get a proper look at 'em. They didn't look nothin' near to human, though. Any of you manage to eyeball the things?" Gall asks as he dusts Esmarelda off and then sets to coiling up the rope around one arm.
"Why don't ye go see what ye can spy off the bow. Maybe the damage ain't too bad." He does not sound particularly confident.
Rizz is sitting on deck, watching everyone's reactions.
"Soooo...Is this, like, a normal thing for you guys?"
Rizz wasn't a stranger to strange occurrences, but it really seemed like the crew was taking things in stride.
"Also, what the heck was that thing in the water?"
Harmony moves in to check Esmarelda's condition as well, like the others, and once she's satisfied that the woman is more or less all right, she looks around a little frantically. "I didn't get a good look, Gall. Were they after our crew members? Are they gone, or are they going to strike again? Haul us away, one by one, like the little gnomes in the children's story? Be sure to be on your guard, any of us could be the next ones." She makes a sweeping gesture of her hand, purple magic sparkles trailing off along the arc and then growing into four little glowing globes that orbit around each other, shedding a bright light that adds into the rising sun to provide further illumination. She sends the lights over the edge of the ship. "Someone, check over the railings. See what we hit. Are we on a sandbar? What tossed the ship so? Can anyone get a view of anything?"
"Yep, green bastards took some of us. We need a headcount, see who we lost."
Leaning over the railings, Cueta muses to the newfish as she looks down the side of the ship. "I've seen stranger, Rizz. A kraken took my ship, the Golden Pegasus, smashed it to pieces. I came eye to eye with it and as it squeezed the life from me, I said a prayer to the Queen of Sea Monsters, and it let me go."
"Then, our last ship had a ghost on it, and there was a keelhauling, and Es took a liking to a friendly plump rat named Geach that lived in the bilges."
"So, green bastards taking our crew ain't exactly normal, but it ain't so strange either. Anyways, I can tell you one thing, Rizz. That thing in the water weren't no kraken."
Esmarelda coughed up what water had found it's way into her mouth before nodding and thanking her friends. She looked to Artevious and giving him a far more caring smile.
Though she couldn't help but laugh a bit as her friends acted more like family. Maybe the worst of it is over...
When the topic of those strange green creatures came up, Esmarelda shook her head. "I didn't get a good look at them either. But then again I was being tossed into the sea..." She commented. She watched as Cueta looked over the side of the ship and her stomach turned. "No one would hold it against me if I... didn't go towards the railing no?" She asked as she looked from one friend to the next.
Rizz is sitting on deck, watching everyone's reactions.
"Soooo...Is this, like, a normal thing for you guys?"
"Running ships aground? I should hope not! Certainly not for a fierce pirate vessel!" I responded to the new refugee.
Despite the unpleasant circumstances, I felt the need to introduce myself properly to the gnomish lass. With a bow and flourish, I said, "Artevious de Poisson, at your service. I'm sorry we didn't get to meet earlier, you see, but I had been assigned duty in the crow's nest, and simply shouting 'hello' at the top of my lungs was hardly a fitting greeting.
"No, I daresay this is not a normal occurrence. In fact, I would call this a decidedly abnormal occurrence. I suggest we drop anchor and draw up the sails in order to keep this poor ship as intact as possible while the storm abates."
I stepped away from the railing, giving Esmarelda a wink and an knowing grin before calling out some instructions to the other crew to make sure the Man's Promise survives this predicament.
"Naw, lass, you've got more reason than most to avoid that edge," Gall replies to Esmarelda with a snort of amusement. The rope coiled, he tosses it back to the deck where no one will trip over it. "Arty's right, mostly. Better to figure out what condition we're in before we rip the hull to shreds tryin' to get free."
The half-giant promptly moves to grab fistfulls of ropes and rigging in an effort to help tack up the sails.
Rizz, actually decently knew to life on a ship that needed maintenance, waits for someone to tell her what to do. Should no instruction come, she'll follow around Esmeralda.
"You just catch your breath, Esmarelda", Harmony puts a hand onto the Varisian woman's shoulder for a brief squeeze, before pushing off and walking over to join Cueta at the railing. "Do we see anything?" she muses out loud while joining her in trying to peer to the waterline, moving her magic dancing lights around in the air, and sometimes dipping into the water, to try to best shed light along the side of the ship.
Plugg and Scourge head in your direction and begin looking over the railing with Cueta.
"Motherfooker, hit a damn sandbar!" snarls Plug.
"Aye, the damage is bad, we'll need ta fix that and fix it fast. You lot, start taking apart the deck at the stern. We'll need the wood". he directs some of his more loyal crew members
Scourge then begins to take a head count - Sandara Quinn and Conchobhar Shortstone are missing. Plugg shrugs and makes an announcement to the crew, "I suppose they were washed overboard during that storm. It happens. At least we picked up the gnome so we're only down one body. Once the ship is repaired we can set sail fer Port Peril once more".
When Plugg is making the announcement to the crew, Harmony raises a hand as a sign of a question. "So you don't believe the reports that they were taken by some sort of creatures? We're just going to leave them behind...sir?"
Fookers!
Of course, it was just like Plugg and Scourge to not give a rat's fart about Quinn and the dandy gnome. Cueta sneered, contempt easily readable on her face.
"Aye, Harmony's got it right! It was some green fookers climbed on board and took them, I saw it with my own eyes!"
"The captain of the Pegasus woulda never left a sailor behind. Nor would've Harrigan, I imagine."
The clouds clear up as the meeting wears on and in the distance you can see why you hit a sandbar, there is an island right here! No more than 100 yards away.
Plugg shakes his head vehemently, "I'll lose a few instead of losing twice as many! Numbers don't add up, 'sides, the Captain wants us on schedule!"
At that moment one of the sailors comes rushing up, "Captain, Captain. the water barrels all burst when we hit, we've no water sir".
Plugg appears steamed and turns to look at all of you, "Ya wanna' go to land so much? Fine! Take the Halflings' leaky vessel, yer lousy lubber friends, an' a couple o' empty barrels and find water on them islands. Repairs'll take a day and a half. Be here er you'll be sharin' that dinghy with yer new halfling friend 'till yer all skeletons!"
"I'm a gnome!"
Rizz does a small "hmph!" of displeasure as she jumps off the ship and waits for the others.
It was quite the whirlwind turn of events. Our good friends Conchobar and Sandara were lost -- most likely stolen away by those greenish figures we caught sight of during the storm. But instead of immediately mounting a rescue operation, Scourge and Plugg simply wanted to abandon them to their fates. I was incensed. That is hardly the mark of a good, or even average captain.
I was ready to gather together a number of stalwart worthies to venture after our crewmates regardless of Plugg's orders, but then we had a turn of luck. The water barrels had been smashed during the storm and we now had our opportunity to retrieve both a new supply of water as well as our missing comrades!
I eagerly set about gathering our supplies for a foray upon the island, and made sure my mother's novels were secure and dry. Once that was taken care of, I boarded our gnomish friend's dinghy.
Seeing her reminded me of my curiosity, since recent events had kept me from satisfying it. I took this opportunity while we were shoving off from the Man's Promise to inquire about her secret.
"So, Rizz, is it?" I began. "I have to ask -- since we're now away from the greedy and uncouth ears of Plugg and Scourge -- what's your secret? What had put you adrift in this very boat and upon destiny's high seas?"
Cueta smiled, big and toothy. Truth was, this was just the sort of thing she used to do on the Pegasus - leading groups of sailors ashore to look for water and when needed, food. And Cueta loved it. She was quite the decent scout. The swab wasn't about to tell Plugg that, though. Bastard would probably hold her back, just because. The deckhand forced the smile down and put her glaringest scowl on instead. "Yessir. Damnnit. Sir."
Jumping into the dinghy, Cueta yelled, intent on getting her companions in the boat before Plugg changed his mind. "Get in here, you heard the Captain! We can chat on the ride to the Isle!"
"Uh...no secrets. Just a gnome, in the ocean, about to die. Nothing suspicious. Its not like I escaped a prison of people who wanted to execute me."
She stops talking.
"I....mean....nothing of the sort! Hah hah!"
Nervous laughter.
Gall tosses down his rope work and makes for the lifeboat without a second thought, piling in with the others. "'Bout damned time we got away from this lot," he mutters mostly to himself, but his friends can likely hear it.
Either way, he starts untying their moorings to the ship and gets ready to lower the lot of them down into the sea. As soon as everyone else gets on board, of course.
"Uh...no secrets. Just a gnome, in the ocean, about to die. Nothing suspicious. Its not like I escaped a prison of people who wanted to execute me."
She stops talking.
"I....mean....nothing of the sort! Hah hah!"
Nervous laughter.
I laughed along with her confusing jest, though I couldn't help but be rather disappointed at her answer. How could I have found the only castaway in all the waters of the Shackles without a secret? Unless she was being coy?
I leaned in conspiratorially. "Perhaps asking directly was a mistake, but eagerness got the better of me. Forgive me. I suppose a more dramatic time for the reveal would be appropriate?" I gave her a knowing wink and then turned to help the others board the dinghy.
Esmarelda joined her friends in the boat, a slight smile on her face. She had to agree, this offered them a chance to get away from those who hated them... and Maheem. Far away from Maheem, and closer to Artevious.
She couldn't help but laugh at bit as Artevious said his eagerness got the better of him. "That seems to happen a lot." Esmarelda joked as she nudged Artevious playfully. Then she looked at Rizz and offered a slight smile. "A misunderstanding I'm sure?" She asked jokingly when Rizz spoke about an escaped execution.
Harmony climbs into the boat as well, more than eager to be out and free from Plugg and Scourge's auspices, however temporarily. As soon as they are out of earshot of the pirate taskmasters, Harmony looks over the rest of the group and asks, "So what did we see, exactly? I didn't catch a good glimpse myself. Sandara and Conchobhar were...taken by something? Multiple somethings? Green? Did any of you actually witness it yourself? We're not just putting Plugg and Scourge on here?"
"I was too busy screaming." Rizz admits.
"Before you lot picked me up, not much happened in my small boat."
"I saw 'em. Green fookers, at least two of. Green colored, I mean - not people wearing green. Sad to say I wish had I the idea to be putting Plugg and Scourge on, but this was all too real."
" Aye, Cueta's got the right of it. I ain't rightly certain what them things were, but they were green and, sure as the sky above, nowhere near human," Gall chimes in, nodding in agreement.
He sets to lowering their longboat down into the ocean hand over hand until the familiar feeling of waves underfoot buoys them up. Then he casts off the last few lines and takes up a pair of oars, not expecting anyone to help. That tends to be how it goes when one is nearly the size of two normal people. "Rizz, what'd ye do for a living before ye thought to take a voyage-for-one on the high seas?"
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Rizz smiles at as she remembers her old life. It was a simple one. One filled with fond memories.
"I hit people!" she says happily in her husky voice.
"Oh, aye?" Gall responds with a quirked brow and a bemused smile. "Ye some manner of gladiator or bodyguard for some lad? Maybe a sell-sword?"
As you get into the dinghy you can see the damage done more clearly, this is no sand bar, it's a coral reef that holed the Man's Promise.
With the skies clearing as fast as they came, you can see better what you are rowing towards. A huge ridge towers over the island’s western portion. A single raised tor glowers across the isle at the imposing ridge, with miles of jungle lying between the two.
The water is crystal clear, clear enough to see that the island is surrounded by coral reef, this is a deadly place to sail near. It's no wonder why no one has mentioned it, sailors likely only come here if they run aground!