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Socraties will take a cup of rum and drink it down quite quick, but just like Jack, try to nurse a second for the rest of the night without drawing attention to it. Also similar to Jack he will try to find the crewmember seeming to enjoy the festivities least and will try to make friends with them. Normally happy to bring the music to a party Socraties wants to let Jaspin have his round and enjoy the way the crew celebrates this time around.
You don't seem to be enjoying yourself as much as the others, is something the matter?
"YOU'D THINK IT BE AAARRRR BUT IT'S THE C!!!!" Coatl roars with laughter, growling out the punchline with his best throaty accent.
"Hey, where you guys going? Ok ok, now we done laughing, maybe we have some fun? Someone race me. We each carry one of those big barrels across deck and back. You beat me, I take your turn cleaning poop deck. I beat you, Patzmiqui eat you for snack. Fair? Ha! Kidding. Patzmiqui not eat you. I win you help flush rats for Patzmiqui to eat. I promise not to turn into gorilla." Coatl flashes a toothy smile.
A bespectacled Halfling leans back against the rail as Socrates comes close to her. In her hands she holds a heavy tome... "Surgery and it's applications in preventing gangrenous death."
Not really my thing.
She says as she sips at her portion of the rum.
They call me Doc Imogene. Glad that you haven't had to come to me yet.
She shakes his hand politely. The little Halfling has the air of higher education around her as she carefully places a bookmark in the book.
That, and one of the idjets down in the hold has come down with a absolutely LOVELY case of something, and I'm playing the waiting game to find out how long we're gonna be down a sailor. Blotchy skin and weakness probably means it's the red ache... unlikely to be fatal, and more importantly, not contagious. Not even sure HOW he got it... mostly find it in the Mwangi expanse...
She sighs.
And of course, as usual, I'm low on any supplies that might actually help the poor bastard. But that's the life of a ship's doctor.
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Lovely to meet you Doc Imogene. It is wonderful to have a fellow academic on board. I personally am not too skilled with healing unless you count my trusty "Happy Stick" while speaking he pulls his wand of CLW from his bag and shows it. But I do have a wide array of knowledge stashed in this old cranium {Insert factoids of Mwangi Exspanse especially anything relevant to the Red Ache that my knowledge check can get}. Maybe I can help out eith things when we aren't on task, or even then if we go ashore I can keep an eye out for any useful herbs or other supplies.
uurrrgggnnnn... Why... *huff huff* you... *huff* talk about... *urrrggnn* Mwangi? That where... *wheeze* Coatl is from!" Coatl gasps and grunts, overhearing bits and pieces of the conversation as he passes by. He seems to lift the barrel with ease, but his opponent handily out paces him.
Eventually the druid drops the barrel to the deck, admitting defeat.
Ok, you win. he smiles.
Doc Imogene gives a raised eyebrow at the idea of a "Happy stick" and mutters something about "Adventurers" under her breath when Coatl makes himself known.
One of the sailors got himself a nasty case of Red Ache from doing who knows what it Lilyport. Don't suppose you have any tricks that might help patch him up?
"This is not strange to Coatl. Chief Machak of Cat Claw tribe, used to be my tribe, used to banish from tribe if you catch Red Ache. He call it Red Devil. Machak stupid and selfish though, he know nothing. Elders from my druid circle fix this before, show me how."
Coatl takes a closer look at the infected flesh, subtly leaving out that he has, in fact, never actually healed the infection himself.
"You not gonna like this." Coatl points and motions for the dagger on the doctor's belt while talking to the unfortunate patient. "I think we gonna need to carve it out..."
After Socrates helpfully points out that they just need to lance the infected boil, not cut the whole thing out, Coatl jams a bit of rag in the sailor's mouth to cut down the screams as he and the Doc get to work. Coatl's advice of "Special mud" doesn't seem to help at first, but with some more description, Socrates is able to whip up a close approximation of the special swamp mud that Coatl's people use to help prevent infection.
With the man already looking a little less pained, though splotchy with mud, Doc gives the two a smile.
Good work there. Coatl, I'll have to talk to you later about any other medical practices your people might know... not all of us can afford to throw around magic at every problem, and out here some of the injuries and sickness's we get can't be helped with magic, at least, not without very powerful magic.
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I am glad we could help out the patient Doctor, I wish I was of more assistance, it would seem I need to expand my expertise wider to be useful in more situations. Do let me know if there are any supplies I can keep an eye out for.
Coatl, thank you for pulling that out, even a know-it-all like me doesn't always know Eeevery thing, glad to know I can count on you and the others to cover my gaps. Maybe I can join in you and Imogene's conversation about what your druid friends taught you.
Well Anatoly, its always a pleasure. I'm gonna go mingle a bit - don't worry, I'll come take over for you so you can join the festivities in a bit.
With that, Jack grabs a rope and executes an impressive swing down to the deck.
Once down there, Jack finds a group of sailors engaged in trading old war stories from on the open seas, and joins in.
Did I ever tell you the story of the first time I was stranded on an island? Treacherous crew abandoned me and left me for dead on some island back when I was a lad of 17. I’d been pirating for half a decade already. I had just signed on to a new ship - the Exsanguinated Knave. Yea, you heard me right. Dumb name for a ship, I know. Captain was a weird fellow. Fancied himself a necromancer or blood mage or some such nonsense. I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a magic bone in his body.
Anyways, we stopped off at an out of the way island, south west of Raptor Island. We had buried some plunder there that we wanted to recover before heading back to port. We weighed anchor off shore and boarded the jolly boats to travel to shore. While the landing party was digging up the treasure, we caught site of some natives of the island. We hadn’t realized the island was occupied, and drew steel ready to face their attack. Our captain approached them and parlayed with their leader. Luckily for us, we happened upon what must be the only friendly tribe in the entire shackles. They spoke a broken, out of date version of polyglot, but it was enough to get by. Ended up doing a bit of trade with em’. Rum and good steel for gold and gems and exotic hides from their island. Turned out pretty well.
They invited us for a feast at their village, and threw quite the party. Fish, fruits, some sort of exotic meat from their island. Me, being a lad of 17 with more bravado than sense noticed an enchanting young woman there. Caught my eye. Beauty like you wouldn’t believe. And she had the most spectacular medallion – a gold spider inlaid with rubies. Gorgeous. Haven’t seen the like of it ever again. For which I suppose I should be thankful. We enjoyed a brief courtship over the next few hours, before retiring to her hut while the party raged outside.
I woke in the morning with the worst hangover I’ve ever experienced before or since. I was alone in the bed, so I arose to take a look around when I heard whispering outside. I heard hushed whispering outside. Couldn’t hear much of what they were saying, but I caught a few words.
‘Sacrifice’.
‘Appease’.
‘Outsider’.
‘Destroyer’.
I listened a bit longer as my predicament became clear, I looked around the hut again, in the light of day and sober and realized what a mistake I had made. These natives worshipped some bastardized version of Rovagug, and they meant to sacrifice me to their god.
I’ve never run into that no good captain again, but I’m certain he bartered my life away make peace with the natives. I quietly slipped out the window, and made my way into the jungle. Made it to the beach as the last jolly boat as the made it’s way back to the ship.
I called for help, but the bastards just laughed and waved as they docked with the ship and raised anchor. I hid out on that island for two weeks before I found an opportunity to steal one of the native’s fishing boats and get off of that cursed island… but that’s a story for another day.
Ortun guffaws as Jack recounts his tale of woe. "Perilous to say the least. You are lucky that they only intended to sacrifice you. I remember a time I took a comely lass to bed and woke up not alone, but with her five brothers pointing sharp spears at an area nothing sharp should ever be pointed. By the grace of Gozreh I was able to escape with all my parts still working.
"That was well devised Coatl. If you were to try that trick in Taldor and you might find yourself with jeses on both legs.
"So who is up for another game of knuckles?" Ortun asks the crew as he sips his drink. As he throws bones with Xosrov and his new friends. As he gambles the hours away, he cannot help but frequently gaze over at Belina.
I wonder how mushrooms are doing? I should go check...
When the frivolity starts to die down a bit, Coatl heads below to check on his little garden, then eventually back up to the galley.
"Hey, you have any berries? Coatl has nice spell you might like, bet Anatoly like it too up in Magpie's nest. What, they still call it crow's nest? Huh. Missed opportunity." Coatl smiles again, his gold tooth glinting.
Coatl finds his mushrooms growing nicely. Plucking a few, he gives them to Cobb to taste. He bites into it and frowns.
S'not bad I suppose. What I wouldn't give for a nice juicy steak, or some spice to go with it. Oh well, maybe it will get people to stop complaining about the stew.
Xosrov claps ortun on the back as he fails once again to win anything for the night and lose every copper he bet.
Matey, your better than a jinx eater to play dice with! What terrible luck!
He gives a hearty laugh and smiles.
The next day or two of sailing is smooth and uneventful. On the third day though, the captain stands by the wheel with Belina with a frown, staring out into the distance. While nothing is visible yet, a few of the old hand sailors, Ortun included can feel it.
Storm's coming... bad one by the looks of it.
She shouts to everyone.
ALL HANDS ON DECK! THIS ONE IS GONNA BE A HARSH MISTRESS! GET THIS SHIP READY FOR A GALE!
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{b]I don't see anything, but I am not nearly as one with the sea as all of you. I will help however I can.[/b]
Socraties wracks his brain for a few moments before deciding he doesn't have anything particularly useful for a storm on the ocean, then just tries to help wherever he can with preparations.
(Use 1 point of inspiration)
"Captain. Ok if I pray for a bit? Maybe Gozreh give us a hand. Plus I have this." Coatl pulls a feather token from his pack in the shape of an anchor. "Not sure if anchor is good thing, but you take it and decide." the druid hands the magical item to the captain.
"Captain. I keep watch for man overboard. Coatl will help make sure we keep all men on ship. Patzmiqui. You better go below decks. Gotta stay safe. Coatl come get you later."
The druid is confident, excited even, until it comes to his companion and friend. At least the snake could swim, but there was still some worry in his voice.
Ortun can feel the familiar tingle in his left shoulder. That cool, radiating numbness that he gets anytime the pressure drops, the winds pick up, and a storms brewing. He turns to see the captain and Belina talking and approaches the women.
"Captain, Belina." he shows respect to the captain but his greeting lingers a bit long on the beautiful helmswoman. "Know what coming, and I can help secure the rigging. I have ... experience in these kinds of storms and know I will be wherever you need." he rubs his shoulder as he speaks.
He lingers for a moment before turning his attention to assisting the crew. He tries to work alongside Xosrov. "Take a care my friend. This is going to be a bad one. I need you around to lighten my coin purse. It wouldn't be fun to lose to someone else." he laughs as he hauls supplies down.
Hoist and stow those sails! Don't want em' braking loose in the storm! Clear the deck! Don't want to be tripping in the dark! Look lively men, time's precious here!.
Jack begins shouting advice to the rest of the crew, making preparations for the coming storm.
Coatl, I plan to be spending me time in the rigging - any chance ye can memorize a Spider Climb to help me out up there? I'd be most grateful.
"Monkey fish is better." the druid smiles. "Lets you climb and swim. You know, just in case. I know Jack not gunna fall overboard, but if rigging goes overboard then you be all set. That sound ok?"
Soon enough, the rain begins to pour and the wind begins to howl as the storm begins to whip into frenzy. The Captain called it, it’s a powerful storm, and she and Belina lash themselves to the wheel, both hauling against the storm waves to keep the ship in line as the Captain screams out orders. Luckily the crew are all skilled sailors, working hard in the rain and wind, though Doc Imogen and a few other smaller crew members are forced below as the wind picks up so bad it nearly knocks them off their feet.
Suddenly, a lightning strike lashes out, striking the topmost spar! Anatoley drags Jack down flat as the debris flies out, peppering the riggers with shrapnel. Xonros ducks below the edge of the crow’s nest to avoid the shrapnel himself, while Yamtisy is caught by some of the now freely waving rope and sail, entangling her as she swears loudly.
As Anatoley and Jack stand up, a flickering violet mass of pure energy blazes out of the topmost spar. It’s mouth is a gaping wide terror of bright white energy, and it’s eyes are hollow pools of lightning. Jack swears, taking a step back.
That’s not good!
PATHFINDERS FIGHT! THE BOLD MAY ACT!
Setare
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Thing
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Socrates
Coatl
Jack
Ortun
The thing holds out it's hand... and suddenly, all 4 in the rigging, Jack included, are wreathed in halo's of sparks, glowing and pulsing in purple light. Jack sees sparks leap from his fingers and up and down his body.
DAMNIT, WHAT'S THE THING DOING?! Shouts Yan as she struggles in the rigging. Anatoley backs off closer to the end of the Spare as he swipes at the flicking cloud in front of him, though nothing happens.
Jack feels a pulse of emotion from the creature, a feeling of... curiosity perhaps? As it walks up to him, sparks of plasma skipping off of it's body and hissing in the rain...
PATHFINDERS FIGHT! THE BOLD MAY ACT!
Thing
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Socrates
Coatl
Jack
Ortun
Setare
Jack shouts to his fellow crew members over the howling storm.
Get down all of ye'! It doesn't seem hostile - don't provoke it!
Jack stays where he is, and raises one hand, indicating he posesses no weapons, while hanging on to the rain-slicked rigging for dear life with his other hand.
Whoa there buddy. We're all friends here. No need to hurt anyone here
"I don't know about purple star lights, but I trust Jack!" Coatl shouts, lending aid to his companion's efforts, for whatever weight his own might carry.
Coatl intends to take a non-threatening pose, but the jostling of the ship forces him to constantly work to keep his balance on the deck. Even still, he takes Jack at his word, and waits to see what happens next.
The creature walks closer to Jack and jack can feel tingling and sparks all over his body. The thing pulses in different colors for a second, and reaches out, almost touching jack, and little sparks jump from it to him, no more than small bits of static shock. The feeling of curiosity intensifies, then abates as it looks up at the storm, and a feeling of warmth and happiness fills Jack, like coming home after a long trip. It then pokes at the ship spar, and that feeling of curiosity comes back.
PATHFINDERS FIGHT! THE BOLD MAY ACT!
Thing
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Socrates
Coatl
Jack
Ortun
Setare
"Ohh, Maybe plaything playing with mast and ropes not great idea. Hey Sparky! Maybe you play with us?"
Coatl smiles. He loves shapeshifting. A gift that only a druid can enjoy to it's fullest. Feeling the familiar pulling and twisting, in moments the druid has taken the shape of an osprey. He spreads his wings and flaps lazily in the buffeting winds, lifting off and heading into a slow circle around the curious elemental creation.
Standing close to the helm, Ortun continually looks over to Belina. Seeing her battle the storm and keep the Magpie Princess tacking in the right direction only deepens his appreciation for her.
As the spar breaks, and Jack begins to converse with the benign plasma creature, Orturn readies himself in case things go from no so bad to terrible.
Jack first recalls a memory of sailing from port to port on a ship, trying to communicate the purpose of the ship. He then conjures an image of him working, singing, and joking with the rest of the party on the deck of the ship, and points to the deck of the ship, attempting to convince it to go to the deck of the ship so his companions can help him figure out what this thing wants.
If birds could smile, Coatl's beak would be grinning from wing tip to wing tip.
I am so clever! Look at meeeeAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!
"SCRAAAAAAWWWW!!!!" Coatl flaps his wings as if there were no storm raging around him and is completely unprepared for the wind buffet that hits him, ripping him from the deck and sending him flying into the maelstrom, a trail of feathers quickly disappearing in the wind behind his tumbling form.
The creature feels the emotional signal from Jack and Jack gets a return of the happy dancing feeling he sent it's way.
As he communicates, he feels another tingle electricity... just like before when the lightning struck! Before he can do so much as move, lightning pulses down from the sky and strike's jack!
As Jack is struck, most of the electricity is grounded into him, and the creature sends out waves of concern. Luckily, Jack is made of some of the stearnest stuff this side of the inner sea, and the lightning does not strike him down, though all the crew gapes with awe at the fact that he survived it. The thing pulses in concern again are followed by the thing pointing at the sky and sending a wave of fear followed by a feeling of questioning.
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Before even waiting for the lightning strike to dissipate, Socraties will activate his wrist sheath to get his wand of CLW out and move to directly under Jack in case falls.
Realizing Jack survived the ordeal Socraties yells out to him Jack, come down here, we don't need you getting struck again, and let me fix you up too, that looked nasty.
"...SCRAAAAWWWW!!!"
Coatl's avian body continues to whip around in the wicked winds. He sees the lightning strike, but barely registers as his mind fights to regain some level of focus.
Posting from my phone so it will be a bit short...
Jack tells out in anger and pain as lightning whacks his body.
Jack conjures images of previous storms and the feelings of fear and uncertainty he felt during those storms. He follows that up with images of past experiences where his ship came upon a ship dashed against a reef in a storm, and the sorrow he felt as they hauled bodies out of the water, frantically searching for any survivors.
As Jack conjures up the images, the thing sends back pulses of worry, apology, and raises it's arms into the air.
Meanwhile, Coatl finds himself flying and being battered about by storm and wave, and he finds himself splashing into a wave and taking off again. As he struggles to get into the air, he finds that the storm is... abating?
As precious seconds tick by, the storm rapidly lessons... in less than a minute, the storm has moved from a deadly gale to a heavy shower, and seems to be continuing to ease! Soon enough, even that rain is down to a soft spring shower, and the creature gives jack a... well, a "Smile" isn't correct, but the feeling conveyed is the same.
Weary and drenched, Coatl finds a way to lift his wind battered body out of the water, flapping with great effort to get back to the ship. As the avian form flops around on the deck, it slowly morphs back into a thoroughly soaked skinny human again. Coatl coughs up a proverbial bucketful of seawater before pushing himself back to his feet.
"Ok, Sparky, that was pretty cool trick. I know you Jack's friend now, but Coatl like to learn how you do that. Hey Jack, you ok buddy?"
Coatl moves to help heal his orc-blooded friend before turning to face the purple storm-spawn.
"You ok if I call you Sparky?" he asks, full of intrigue and wonder at the strange being.
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Jack, my boy, that was brilliant. It would seem you have made a new friend. Now come down here so we can fix you up.
Socraties will shift to wherever Jack would be climbing down to keeping his eyes keenly on both Jack and the creature, only observing the magnificent change in weather with his peripheral vision.
Such a performance deserves a reward, let me know if there is anything I can whip up for you with my lab.
The sparking creature let's out a sound that you think may be laughter. It moves to the edge of the ship and points out towards the storm and smiles... Jack gets that feeling of home again, but also a sad goodbye, the idea of waving goodbye to a friend.
With that the being steps off the ship and begins to float off, back into the worst of the rolling storm. The Captain and the rest of the crew stare at the pathfinders, mostly Jack.
You lot. Says the Captain in a dumbstruck voice. Are worth every bloody copper.
The entire crew lets up a rorous cheer for a moment before the Captain snaps back.
OYE! We aint in calm waters yet! Anatoley, Re-rig that, get us moving! Benny, hold that ship's wheel tight, and let's get clear!
The crew quickly gets back to work, but the fear of the storm is gone... and Jack catches looks of admiration from the rest of the crew when they think he isn't looking. Doc looks over Jack with a wince and shakes her head.
Hit by a blast of lightning and still standing... you are made of stern stuff my boy. You'll be sore as hell for a few days, but I don't see anything that doesn't make me think you won't recover just fine.
Jack blinks a few times, still a bit stunned from the lightning bolt before blinking a few times and clambering down from the rigging.
Dang straight I'm made of stern stuff. That ain't even the worst lightning bolt I've ever been struck by! That creature was something else - never seen its like. It communicates with its flames...
"That might be coolest critter I've seen. Maybe later I draw pictures of it. Jungle tribe not believe it..." Coatl trails off, waving goodbye to Sparky as it departs.
Eager to still help, Coatl chases several of the deck hands around, grabbing a rope to help coil, clambering up to help Anatoly re-rig the line.
"Hey, you think Sparky shows up in most storms? Maybe it a good thing if we don't see him again..."