"Uhmmm... what are those ships here for? Shouldn't there be warehouses and people loading and unloading the ships?"
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"But we all survived those things. Would you rather be stuck on a ship with some creepy chicks? It's possible you know! Remember that in nature the females are usually the most dangerous...."
"I'm just sayin' we shouldn't push our luck," Tarjun replies grimly -though a smile tugs at his mouth at the mention of the inherent dangerousness of the female sex. "Unless you wanna be on the front line, for a change!" He jokes, not thinking one word of it. He'd sooner face another dark elf than let his sister get in the way of danger.
"Uhmmm... what are those ships here for? Shouldn't there be warehouses and people loading and unloading the ships?"
"Maybe... They're just used to transport people?" he says, not quite convinced by his own explanation. He peers at the ships to see if there is anyone onboard.
Jewel thinks about Clara's words, and the people that they've met so far in this town. Putting that together with the buildings that they've seen and the name of the town. The pieces of the puzzle come together with a chilling clarity.
"Ships that don't need warehouses aren't used to transport things. They're pirates. And this town is a pirate town. I don't want to walk more, or swim. But I don't think we're going to get any help on a pirate ship...."
"I want a parrot!" Clara states.
"First we'd need to find a ship that goes the right direction."
After a while of thinking she adds "I've never been on a ship. How well can you hide there? And where do you go to the toilet?"
All the right questions? "How would we know if they are sailing in the right direction? We still don't know where Annesley is."
She considers the comments, parrot?, wooden leg?, but the practical matter of hiding on a ship or where to go to the toilet? "There doesn't look like there'd be any real place to hide. The bigger ships will have more crew. The smaller boats have even less space." Looking around on the waterfront area she points to an area that looks somewhat sheltered toward either end of the docks. "Let's go over there and find a quiet spot. I can ask Erastil for a spell to detect evil. Then we can walk along the shore within 60' of the ships. If I sense strong evil we know that we don't want to approach that ship!"
On the stroll along the ships the kids turn the heads. And many of them make jokes at their expense or even lewd comments that makes the kids blush with embarassment.
The ships are the Albatross, Bonifere, Call of the Sea, Dellingham and Enterprise . All of them brigs.
Checking for evil alignment Jewel detects a faint aura only on a few. Characters where you can tell at the first look, that you wouldn't want to meet them in a dark alley - or at all. But despite the lot not detecting as evil* it is a rough and rude folk busying themselves in this place.
Jewel barely notices the jeering from the crews. Once the group makes it past all of the ships she stops to tell them of what she detected. "Well, we pretty well knew creepy guy was evil. And knowing it wouldn't have helped us get away."
"Anyway, the spell only warned against a few, and those guys seem creepy enough that I don't think we really needed the spell to warn us. I think maybe we could approach that one" " and ask if anyone has heard of Annesley? They all look busy but maybe somebody could spare a couple of seconds to answer."
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Each time sailors joke at the expense of the kids, Tarjun shares a knowing look with the girls and mutters to himself "Not this one", slowly ruling out ship after ship. When the three children attract lewd comments from the workers, Tarjun turns around to glare at them and call out very loudly: "The f!!*?! Gross!"
The whole process takes a while, but by the time they reach the end of the docks, Tarjun only stares at Jewel with amazement. "Gosh, Jewie, that spell of yours is really great! See how they called us bad names there? And they didn't even look one bit embarrassed about it! That makes spotting evil easy."
"I could try and ask about Annesley." Tarjun walks to one of the nearest dockers working on the non-evil ship. "'Scuse me. Where's this ship going? You stopping at Annesley?"
"Nah. We're not leaving anytime soon, and tha captain hasn't made a decision yet. But tha Dellingham 's going there - that's what I've heard." the random guy Tarjun chose tells.
Jewel smiles at hearing the name of the ship. She hadn't detected any nastiness from the Dellingham. That didn't mean they'd be helpful, but they could try. Leading the group closer to that ship she looks for someone looking at them, possibly showing interest. "Excuse me. We're try to find a way to Annesley. Does anyone here know where it is? How far and what direction?"
"Aaah, if this isn't that group of rich kids, who didn't want a free meal." the man laughs. "The trip by ship lasts a week if the winds are good. Wanna pay for the passage?"
"Hahahaha - I thought you could pay for yourself? Now you don't even have enough to buy a meal anymore? Looks like someone has to work for their fare. You're lucky we're short on hands to scrub the deck."
Jewel looks at Tarjun, wondering where he had any copper, then to the speaker.
"Pretty obvious that we're not rich kids. Farmer kids is more like it, so if we can work for a fare maybe that'll do good. I think I can can scrub the deck if that's the only option. I don't know about sailing so I'd just be in the way with the ropes and sails...."
"Unless you were just kidding about taking kids?"
"Ok then, come back once you earned two gold for the fare and have enough food for a week."
The man turns and walks away to order some people around on the deck.
"Hrmpf." Clara turns to walk away. "Great. Shit offer on the ship, and now no offer at all. And we still don't know where to go." She angrily kicks a pebble, that jumps several times, before dropping into the water.
"Dried saussages?" Clara asks with a shrug. "Why would you eat something different on a ship than elsewhere?"
Jewel stares at Tarjun, obviously angry. "Two gold coins? Probably for each of us. AND a week's food for each of us. And this town doesn't seem very friendly. What sort of work are we going to do to earn that sort of money? We haven't earned gold ever in our lives!"
"That ship is going to Annesley. We can get home from there! I think we need to talk with him again. This time maybe let him know that we can do more than scrub a deck. As a Priestess of Erastil I can cure wounds if anyone gets hurt. What could we suggest for each of you? Something simple but useful for the men of the ship. Clara? Maybe your ability in the water? To rescue if someone fell over the side? Or something else? And Tarjun?"
"I can heal too. And I'm not telling them any of my other abilities." Clara states. "And if I'm hired as a healer, I for sure don't scrub decks."
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"Oooh. I thought it'd be two gold pieces total. Fine, fine." Tarjun trots to the man.
"Yeah, I think there was a misunderstanding. I meant we weren't going to take free food from a stranger back at the tavern, but we can work on your ship for a fare all right."
"Both girls are healers. I can do a bit of magic as well, and also kick some serious butt if we get in a pirate fight," he says flatly.
"Fine. See to it, that you're on board at 6 PM. The ship won't wait for you. Or if you want to start with the scrubbing right away...?"
Jewel follows Tarjun until they are out of hearing range of the ship then asks, "And where are we going to get 'a bit of a snack'? I still don't have any money. Do you?"
"You're going to sell flutes?" Clara inquires. "Or are you hoping to get money for making music?"
"Well.... I think people might be more inclined to toss some copper your way around suppertime. But, then we'd miss the boat. I guess it won't hurt to try, unless the town has laws against begging."
"We'll watch for anyone looking like they're coming to lock us up while you play?"
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"Yeah, that'd be a good idea, thanks! Guess all we have to do is find a busy street..." Tarjun sets off bravely, either oblivious to his solid chances of getting lost again, or choosing to ignore them.
Almost miraculously, he manages to pick his way to the commercial center of the city simply by heading in the direction where he can hear people talking the loudest. Confident that Jewel and Clara will watch his back, he settles to play his flute.
He can't help but think, weirdly enough, that he'd probably get more lucky if he had some kind of hat to place upside down before him.
Tarjun performs a rather catchy tune on the street corner and entertains some of the crowd. A few stop and some even start dancing.
Jewel watches the people with interest. The ones enjoying the music and even dancing can't be evil and mean, can they?
"Play another one Tarjun. They seem to be enjoying your music."
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"Do you think now is a good time to ask them for some money?" Tarjun whispers to his sister, before obliging and giving the crowd an encore.
The tune is catchier, almost hypnotic. Tarjun stomps out the beat as he plays his strange flute, encouraging the dancers to join in.
Clara approaches some of the bystanders "Got some copper for the boy?"
Tarjun's wonderful music and the puppy dog eyes of Clara work and some coins are offered for the performance. Some feel generous and spend more than copper.
Jewel is very surprised to see the coin. "Wow! Now you've got plenty of coin for a meal before we board the ship! Great job Tarjun!"
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"Thank you, ladies and sirs! Have a good day!" Tarjun beams at his newfound audience, and bows a couple times amidst the clapping. When the crowd has dispersed, he finally examines his earnings, and whistles.
"It's raining coins! Hallelujah, it's raining coins- Guess that worked better than at the tavern! Maybe we even have enough to pay for our fare to Annesley 'stead of scrubbing the deck."
"Sausages, everyone?"
"Have you seen a butcher?" Clara inquires while looking around to find one. Weasel emerges from her pocket to help on the outlook.
"It is heavy. Let's move then and exchange it for something edible."
Clara looks around the people who gave some money.
"Excuse me, where can we buy some dried saussages?"
The spectators look not too happy that the music ended after they gave money. Nonetheless one points to a shabby building some 120 feet away. "There, Smokey's."
Jewel watches as her friends gather up the coins and then ask for directions. "Tarjun, Maybe one more song as a thank you before we go and get the sausages? They were very generous...."
"They might remember you if we ever get back this way!"
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"Yeah, sure!" Tarjun noticed that people were reluctant to leave too, and though his stomach is gurgling, he doesn't mind paying back kindness with a bit of a rave. Besides, this was fun. He clears his throat. "Ladies and gents, your generosity will allow us poor kids who haven't eaten anything since the early hours of morning to finally get some food in our stomachs! Thank you! And before we have some lunch, here's a little parting gift..."
Generously, he improvises on the flute a very long piece, letting people enjoy their dance for over fifteen minutes. If he's starting to fumble due to hunger and plays a few bum notes here and there, he still manages to come up with a decent jig.
He's quite out of breath by the time he's finished. "Yeah, I'd love to stay, but I'm really too young to keep this up for an hour," he gasps amidst the applause, laughing off his mistakes. "Thank you, you've been lovely though! See you around!"
"Off to Smokey's now?" he asks the poor girls who've been waiting for him once they're alone.
Clara doesn't wait, walks over to 'Smokey's and buys a bunch of saussages and a bread. She is back before Tarjun is done with his performance and waits patiently until he stops. Then she hands him and
Clara three saussages each and cuts off bread as they like.
"Food is f&~*ing expensive! This cost 20 silvers." she tells exasperated.
Jewel enjoys one sausage, but then hears the cost from Clara and offers to split the other two with Clara and Tarjun. "We'll have food on the ship. Probably not good, but hopefully filling."
"We'll probably want to create water for us to drink. Anything they store in barrels or whatever will be stagnant and we won't want to get sick by drinking it...."
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"Wow, that's a lot of silvers!" Tarjun's eyes widen. He looks at the meagre meal with some disappointment. "And it's barely a snack as well," he munches on a sausage dejectedly. "Keep yours, Jewie. You're gonna need 'em." The meal takes on a slightly more fun turn as Tarjun creates little clouds with a snap of his fingers that can rain drinkable water directly into the kids' mouths, provided they tilt their head back and open wide.
"Anyone knows how much we've earned? Maybe we should count all of that," he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand to get rid of most of the grease.