Sharice sets her Anger over her general situation temporarily aside. Clearing vermin may not be particularly fun, but it's not a job that can be left undone -- and it's best done before the rats chew their way into the food stores.
Besides, this is an outstanding opportunity and excuse to explore the main hold while she's there...
She looks up at Turniphead as they're both abovedecks for a moment to dispose of rat corpses into the ocean. "I can't help but wonder how many other crewmen were 'hired' the same way we were..." she murmurs to him under her breath. "Might be worth looking into."
Turniphead finishes drinking the dipper of water he had just purified before drinking. "Humphf... Probably most of'em". "Sorry lot".
Taize starts a low conversation with her new partner on the way to the galley.
"I'm Taize Vesper. Call me Tai. Have you cooked before?"
Locke continues to work the bilge, and though he won't stray from his duties he does look around the room he's in, looking for anything out of the ordinary, or at least making sure he knows it inside and out.
Jensen stops looking, and turns to Taize with a smile. "Didn't quite expect the recruiters to pick up a lass such as you. My name is Jensen, and to answer your question no I have not. Might be learning to real quick here though. Not quite what I had planned for my great adventure on the sea."
He will look Taize up and down for a second.
"What kind of talents do you hide behind your pretty face?"
Sharice nods. "Sorry, perhaps... But possibly, useful. We'll have to talk to them once we get a chance..."
1)Quartermaster Cut-Throat Grok (female half-orc)
2)Boatswain's mate Patch Patchsalt (female Gnome)
3)Sandra Quinn (One of the four new recruits with you, the hot one)
4)Rosie Cusswell (One of the four new recruits with you, the halfling female)
5)Conchobhar Turlach Shortstone (One of the four new recruits with you, the male gnome with the purple hat)
6)Barefoot Samms Toppin (female human)
7)Giffer Tibbs (Female Gnome)
8)Tilly Brackett (female human)
9)“Badger” Medlar (female half-elf)-Old woman
10)Shivikah (female human)-tall Mwangi
11)Aretta Bansion (female human)
12)Slippery Syl Lonegan (female human)
"Hey-ya there!" She chirps to the Half-ling lass, even as she looks to see what it is the crew-folk is doing and working on lending a hand.
Brendan after atttempting his tasks wonders What is my next task.
Taize looks at Jensen. "I can heal and call on Gozreh when needed. Have you ever heard of this Captan Harrigan and why he'd be -recruiting- in this fashion?"
Taize, Jensen
As you arrive at the galley, a plump, bloodstained figure throws open the door. "Ah, there ye are! My new assistants! Good, someone to help with the tasks. I'm Ambrose Kroop, though most 'ere call me 'Fishguts,' and I'm the cook. Now, I know scourge doesn' like it when yer all lazin around and such, and I don' like my assistants all bloodied on the mainmast, so I'll get down to work right now: One of you needs ta' catch some fish for the soup tonight, the other needs ta' help me peel the patatooooz..." He swoons for a second, but catches himself. "Sorry, guess I had a spot too many o' whiskey jus' now. Well.... er.... get to it!"
Sharice
As you inspect the main hold looking for rats, you see that its surprisingly empty. The most surprising find is a large hulking brute chained to the mainmast, but he appears to be asleep at the moment. There are stairs going up to the officer's quarters, another going up to the Captain's quarters, and another leading down into the hold below. In terms of goods, there are about a dozen barrels of cooking oil, about a dozen loud noisy swine in rickety cages, two dissembled ballistae and a light catapult.
Sharice frowns as she observes the sleeping brute.
... They're hurting for crew badly enough to press-gang likely prospects in the tavern, so why did they keep this guy tied down? And if he's too much of a danger to be let free, why'd they keep him around rather than toss him overboard or leave him ashore?
More questions, and no answers. Untying the brute is tempting, but right now she just doesn't know enough about what's going on on the ship to guess at the results. She makes a mental note to bring it up with her fellow prisoners later tonight, and perhaps bring the subject up in casual conversation with a crewmember tomorrow.
"I'll see what I can catch."
[Note: My Child of Gozreh trait adds a +2 trait bonus to Survival to find food & water. I'll add it into my roll, if it doan't apply, just deduct 2 from the roll.]
[note 2: If you're not using my Cooking roll, add the +4 for diligence to the Survival roll. That would bring it to 17.]
Tiberius
The bilges are a dark, slimy place, with brackish, knee-deep water. In the front are several shackles, and a man, currently beaten into unconsciousness, is held in the foremost one. In the rear is a bilge pump, and above there are numerous cobwebs in which several large spiders scurry. Thankfully they don't seem too interested in you.
A number of discarded crates and boxes packed with straw lie in the bilges, among which you find a suit of leather armor, three heavy maces, and 12 sp. Amid the dark churning waters, you see a buckler, a masterwork handaxe, and two tindertwigs.
Aula
From all you can tell, the Wormwood is heading north across Jeopardy Bay.
Jensen, Taize
After Taize finishes the fishing duties and returns to the Galley, Kroop opens up a bit more. He readily describes all the tasks that you'll be helping with in his drunken, yet still understandable, slurr. You both notice the spatter upon his shirt , and understand how it can be horribly stained: It looks filthy as if it had not been washed in weeks. However, he continues on his drunken rambling, until at the end he suddenly grows silent, and whispers out in a grim tone, “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.”
He remains silent for another moment, but then regains his composure, and instructs you two on the finishing touches to the fish stew that's the normal dinner aboard the ship.
Everyone (Finally)
After your day's tiring, but surprisingly successful, work, the crew all gather for the "Bloody Hour," where punishments are to be dealt out. After Tilly Brackett is given three lashes for not working up to her standards that day (especially poignant as the 'fersh fish' did even better than her), a sodden human shape is brought up from below. "JAKES MAGPIE," Mr. Plugg bellows, "YOU ARE TO BE KEELHAULED FOR STEALING FROM THE QUARTERMASTER'S STORE. Just earlier you confessed this crime before myself and Master Scourge as a witness. Captain Harrigan, by your authority, shall we commence with Pirate Justice?" Harrigan nods, and Jake is tied to a rope that has already been looped under the ship at the bow. For just over a minute, Jakes is submerged while Mr. Plugg tugs ever so greedily and slowly at the rope, savoring its grasp in his hands. The bloody humanoid mass that appears over the stern is unrecognizeable from a series of steaks strewn together over bones, and is quickly tossed overboard for the sharks to cheers from the crew. Afterwards, they disperse for entertainment.
Tiberius
-Sleep: Go to bed early, auto-recover from fatigue
-Gamble: Gamble on games of chance or other pirate entertainment
-Entertain: Make a perform check to entertain the crew
-Influence*: Try to influence an NPC with a diplomacy check.
-Sneak*: Take Time exploring one area of the ship.
-Steal*: Attempt to break in and steal something
Sunny does little more than watch with some interest as 'Magpie' is summarily punished.
So...who be havin' some acceptable looks fer a friend? (^_~)
Influence:
Sharice scowls at the spectacle in front of her. Liar. He was in no condition to confess to anything you didn't beat out of him first. You're not doing this for "justice", you want to intimidate us into being properly heeled little dogs for you and the only thing you understand is fear..
She wisely keeps her mouth shut, however, and instead heads off with the rest to see what kind of entertainment the crew makes for itself during their off hours.
Brendan mostly wants to watch the games of chance but not bet anything.
Lucia tries hard not to throw up at the results of the keelhauling. While she manages to keep it down, that's mostly due to a lack of anything in her stomach to begin with. Clearly I'll need to put together a new script - this man needs a nice, long, tragic death scene. Maybe drag him behind the ship.
But now isn't the time for that. Turning the crew on Plugg and Scourge to that extent will take friends, probably lots of them. While a nice, soft aria might be a good introduction to more sophisticated work at the end of the evening, she decides the proper opener (and the first several sets, in truth) will probably best be confined to traditional sea chanties.
That man needs removed from the wheel of life before he damages his soul any further Taize thinks as she watches Mr. Plugg enjoying himself.
That task will take more than me to complete, though. Hm. She looks around and tries to decide who might be helpful.
She goes over to Tilly and asks, quietly, "Are we allowed to help you with that?"
If Tilly allows her to, she will try to treat the welts.
The card game Sharice joined breaks up fairly quickly when Lucia starts to sing as the players are paying far too much attention to the singing woman and not enough to the cards.
Sharice herself joins the listening crowd, her mind still working even while she enjoys the song.
I'll need allies, and she was in the inn with the rest of us when we were pressganged... And especially after this the crew will be far more likely to speak to her than they'll ever be to me. I'll have to see about getting on her good side..
After Lucia's performance is done she walks over. "You're good," she compliments the woman. "How've you been holding up on the trip so far?"
Lucia blinks, actually slightly startled as Sharice approaches her. "Well, to be honest, I wished to complain about the accommodations. I suspect that it would be useless, so I'll keep those to myself." More seriously, she continues with "Something's off about the way the ship's being run. Who would press-gang pirates in Port Peril?"
Brendan says"I think complaining will just give you lashes."
Brendan says"I think complaining will just give you lashes."
"That seems about the size of it." Lucia smirks, but still keeps her voice down. "We're going to need our stuff back, or most of us will. But more important is that we're going to need friends, and not just the press-ganged crew. Which of those do you guys feel comfortable working on?"
Brendan replies to Lucia "I haven't figured that out yet. I am not the best at making friends. "
While the keelhauling goes on, Aula tries to still herself against the likely result, remembering her last days in the chelaxian navy.
As the corpse in hauled back out, she cannot avoid her face to show profound disgust for the methods of her new captain. However, she still tries to see who of the crew is not at ease with the captain or Mister Plugg methods.
"...we can think of something," Lucia says after a bit of thought. "We may also need a place to stash the things we manage to steal. Also, if you're good at listening, keep an ear out among the crew. Anything you hear might be important, and there might be any number of ways to improve our position. If you see an opportunity, take it." She looks back to Sharice. "What about you? Any ideas about how you'd like to go about this?"
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Kestryl can't even attempt to hide how sickened she is at the fate of the keelhauled man. It's finally sinking in: She's been abducted by ruthless bastards. At first the whole thing had been a lark. She'd wanted to get away, and now she was away... into something far, far worse. At least the Chelish man after her, had some reason to want revenge, but this, this joy in another's suffering, had no reason but insanity. She clenched her shaking fists, yearning for her bow to put an arrow right in the eye of the viscious Plugg. But she was weaponless, helpless, and sick.
First thing, I've gotta get my bow back. Some of these others look like the can fight. Would they, if they had their weapons? Plugg and the captain look really strong, but maybe if there's enough of us...
Sunny wanders through the 'Regular' crew in the evening. She too tries to join in with the singing and the dancing but really does little more than clap hands and sway about. She is free with her smiles and grins that seem to offer an easy friendship.
Turniphead really could care less about the Keelhauled man. He is used to being alone even in a crowd, so he lurks at the edges of the camaraderie, listening...watching...observing.
Sharice nods at Lucia. "You've pretty much covered the main points -- right now we don't have enough information or anything else. So for now we play along like properly intimidated little crewmen, do our jobs... And explore the ship while we're at it. We need to know the layout of the ship, we need to figure out who we can co-opt, and we need know where they keep our weapons. Once we have all that, we can start planning..."
She trails off, then blinks as if remembering something. "... I'm Sharice, by the way."
Sunny wanders up behind Taize,
"Thank'e...fer whut ye did afore, th' helpin' me when I were feelin' low..." Sunny actually seems shy approaching the pale, exotic looking woman.
"You can call me Lucia," the blonde replies. "I'll leave the exploration to you guys. It's more dangerous, but it might be less important. If we can make friends with the right people, we can find out about the ship," she tries to point out.
Sharice nods. "We'll need to do both in any case," she replies. "See if you can find out why they felt the need to start press-ganging, or whether it's a regular habit of the captain's..."
She shrugs. "I guess it's going to depend on what we'll get assigned to do tomorrow. If it's another vermin hunt I'll have better luck exploring more of the ship; if I'm assigned to a crew I'll try and get them talking while we work."
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Checking around the room, Kestryl realizes where the "real" conversation is happening, she listens for a while before joining in. I don't have much chance to talk to folks. I'm up in the rigging with Aula and Brendan all day. But, I--I started looking for my stuff tonight. I'd feel a lot better if I knew where my bow was. What about you guys? Anything you want me to keep an eye out for while I'm looking?
Checking around the room, Kestryl realizes where the "real" conversation is happening, she listens for a while before joining in. I don't have much chance to talk to folks. I'm up in the rigging with Aula and Brendan all day. But, I--I started looking for my stuff tonight. I'd feel a lot better if I knew where my bow was. What about you guys? Anything you want me to keep an eye out for while I'm looking?
Finally overhearing a conversation that he might be interested in, Turniphead approaches the budding conversation. "Maybe I could go with you, and keep lookout"?
Lucia shakes her head at Kestryl "It's not all going to be rigging work, and even then you can take breaks and so on. Just avoid being too obvious about it." She looks to Turniphead. "You can probably best help by covering for other people's doing their jobs. You seem to have a strong back for it."
Sharice shakes her head at Turniphead. "Lucia is right. With your build, you'll probably get given mostly heavy lifting work. Cover for others when you can, strike up conversations, get to know them, help them out. Make them glad to have you around and they'll be more likely to talk to you... Or side with us when we're ready to make a move."
Turniphead looks at the two speakers with resignation, and bows his head returning to the edges of the group. "Ah". "I see". "Big dumb hobgoblin only good for helping others, and hard backbreaking work". "When you have lived trying to keep from being noticed as I have you learn tricks to keep you from being noticed...and I see in the darkness as well as any". "But it seems as though you have decided what I am best suited for". "I will bother you no more".
And with that the holy shaman, walks away, refusing to engage in conversation with any.
"Oh, honestly. I didn't mean it like that, it's just that exploring the ship isn't a job for lots of people. No one's likely to go looking for someone who isn't immediately visible unless the work isn't getting done. But if too many of us are off doing it, even just acting as a lookout, it draws more attention. Covering for the others is an important job, especially for the next few days. Once we've got a better idea of what's what and who's who, we can re-evaluate all of this."
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Kestryl waits for the big guy to settle down a bit, and then approaches him. I was going to say, it would be great to have you as a lookout when I explore again tomorrow night. And since you can see in the dark too, that's even better. Neither one of us will need any light. I'd feel better knowing someone has my back. Will you help me?
Sharice rolls her eyes. "In case you've missed it, helping others and doing hard backbreaking work is what we're all going to be stuck doing for the immediate future. Besides, do you really think it wouldn't be to your advantage for Plugk and Scourge to see you as little more than a big dumb hobgoblin?"
She fixes Turniphead with a glare. "Right now, we need information, we need allies, and we need to not get caught at what we're doing. It's not that I doubt your ability to sneak around. It's that you, being a big hulking hobgoblin, stand out and would be missed rather quickly compared to just another human, especially a particularly small one. You want to show us how sneaky you can be? Prove it. Keep a low profile and make yourself useful anywhere you're sent to for the next few days until nobody is going to bat an eye at seeing you go wherever you want because they'll just assume someone else sent you."
"THAT's how you can help."
Sharice rolls her eyes. "In case you've missed it, helping others and doing hard backbreaking work is what we're all going to be stuck doing for the immediate future. Besides, do you really think it wouldn't be to your advantage for Plugk and Scourge to see you as little more than a big dumb hobgoblin?"
She fixes Turniphead with a glare. "Right now, we need information, we need allies, and we need to not get caught at what we're doing. It's not that I doubt your ability to sneak around. It's that you, being a big hulking hobgoblin, stand out and would be missed rather quickly compared to just another human, especially a particularly small one. You want to show us how sneaky you can be? Prove it. Keep a low profile and make yourself useful anywhere you're sent to for the next few days until nobody is going to bat an eye at seeing you go wherever you want because they'll just assume someone else sent you."
"THAT's how you can help."
Sunny drifts over to where some of the newer crew are gathered. She nods in greeting, grinning and smiling at them in turn as she meets their gaze. Though something about what Sharice has said causes a puzzled look to pass briefly over her features.
"Um...but whut would it be a bod be doin' than they need not get caught at?' She is obviously trying to ponder the meaning of Sharice's words....
"As fer whut they got folks doin'? There's not th' best ryume nor reason to it. Take m'self fer example, I weren't a slouch at scamperin' through th' riggin' an' they still passed me over t'put me on'a deck duties." Sunny shakes her head.
"T'is one o' th' things about learnin' a new ship, I s'pose. Gettin' t'know whut t'is those in charge think be th' best practice o' things an' doin' 'em in'a way they think it should be done..."
Sharice stares at the blonde elf for a moment, trying to decide whether she's playing the fool not, then gets up. "Nothing important. We should get some rest; I'm sure we'll all have a busy day tomorrow."
"You do that. I've got to get to work," Lucia smiles, then puts on her best face and heads out to approach what probably seems like one of the worst choices on the ship, the scowly Rahadoumi
Upon reaching him, she gives him her best smile and simply asks "You didn't seem too fond of my set. Was there something wrong?"
Brendan says "I agree rest would be nice."
Tiberius has been silent during all of the excitement with the keelhauling and the flogging and hasn't taken part in the socializing much at all. At night he takes the opportunity to explore the rooms nearest to the bilge, where he could easily go without arousing suspicion.
Earlier on he had pocketed the 12sp and the tindertwigs, and moved any of the combat gear he could to a more hidden location.
Sunny just nods, still smiling at Sharice and spins back to resume chatting to Taize Vesper. (^_^)
Taize looks up as Sunny speaks. "Glad to help, let me know if you need any more assistance."
Depending on how things go with Tilly, she will either remain to talk or move over to the group of fellow -recruits- and listen in on their plans.
She will say to Kestrel "I didn't have much, my armor, my trident, my pendant, and some odds and ends. I'm mainly concerned about my pendant, though."
Sunny nods at Taize's reply. She steps back slightly as Taize continues her chat with Tilly. When there's a break in their conversation Sunny again leans closer to Taize, blushing slightly.
"I dun't know whut it were that set me low. Somat I were dosed with in'a Pub, whut maybe put us all here." She whispers almost conspiratorially.
"So...whut d'ye think o' th' ship, then?" She asks, though talking to Taize, Sunny is glancing at all those around her.
Much cheers to you and yours.*Bows*