"That's two gold, eight silver and 30 copper. Clara declares without looking. Because she can count and add. And that saussage seller had no chance of cheating her. Maybe with overpriced sausages, but not with the sum and the change.
Jewel hears the count. She could count as well but hadn't been focusing on the coin. It was all so.... strange to their way of life! "Tarjun! Just think about when we get home and can tell Mom and Dad. Maybe they'll want us all to learn to sing and play an instrument. We could earn money and help out with things around the farm. Dad could use a new and better plow. And there's lots of other things." Her voice stops as she realizes what she's saying. They couldn't get gold with music in their home town. And they couldn't seriously consider traveling to strange cities! They were just kids!
All of a sudden she is very home-sick. "Let's get to the ship. Don't want it to leave without us!"
As you enter the ship you are greeted by the same guy again. "Ah, you're back early. Let me show you your place on the ship."[//b]
You are taken under deck and there you find out that ships are very cramped. Some of the seamen have hammocks stored to hang between walls and masts, but you get two bunk beds on the sides of a narrow corridor to share. [b]"Make yourself comfortable. You're called to deck once we're on the way. You landlubers wouldn't be any help in getting the ship underway anyhow."
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"It sure sounds more interesting than ploughing the land and all," Tarjun ponders over actually making a living of his music. He can just about imagine him in the future, touring the world with nothing but a backpack and his flute. He's pretty pleased at the image of himself he can see in his head. "Maybe I'll even have a ship!" A musician and a pirate. Now that would be so cool even his father would have to admit that you couldn't really blame his son for turning his back on farming.
His reveries are rather shattered by the cramped up space that will have to be called his bedroom. "Right. How long until we get to Annesley?" -
Jewel looked at the cramped space, for once glad she wasn't an adult. She sits on the edge of one bunk. "Let's just stay out of the way until we are called."
"I think they said a week, unless they aren't headed directly there?"
The kids are left alone for a while but then the crew becomes busy. Commands are shouted, sailors running around here and there, the anchor is lifted as can be heard by the typical noise of the chain. And then the ship moves. Slowly at first, only by pushing it off with long poles, but once it is turned and the first sail is set the offshore wind pushes the ship away from the quay.
Soon the sails are all set and the ship is underway to on the open sea rocking back and forth with the waves.
Jewel feels the ship start moving. The back-and-forth, then side-to-side movement is strange but she is able to take it. At least for now. "Somebody should come soon to tell us what we are doing."
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"Oh, woah. This feels weird," Tarjun chuckles nervously, gripping the sides of his bed as the ship sails off.
The more time passes as the kids wait to be called on deck, the more pale Tarjun becomes -even if he tries to put on a brave face. About an hour in, he suddenly says in a small voice: [b]"I'm going to get sick."
Before anyone can stop him, he jumps on his feet, and starts making his way on deck as fast as he can with his limp, covering his mouth all the while in a desperate attempt not to vomit on the floor.
As he throws up his breakfast into the sea, he promises himself never to become a pirate.
Clara surprisingly doesn't feel sick from the rocking boat. But it is funny to walk with that.
As the evening comes all are called on deck. The boat is moored in the open sea and only one guy in the crow's nest still is on duty. All others stand in line for their daily ration of grog.
Mr. Plugg oversees the distribution and controls that everyone drinks their share.
As the kids arrive at the front of the row Plugg greets them "Ha, now you're finally getting something real drink. Drink up!"
Type ingested; Addiction minor, Fortitude DC 5
Price 2 sp
Effect variable; +1d4 alchemical bonus to Charisma and
fatigued for 1d8 hours
Damage 1d3 Con
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Tarjun takes one sip from his tankard... And grimaces. "Yuck. Don't drink that," he says in Jewel's ear.
Still sick from the rocking of the boat, he heads off hesitantly to toss his grog into the sea, and fills his tankard with fresh water, which he drinks. "Pass me your tankards," he offers Jewel and Clara. "This doesn't taste good."
As Tarjun pours the grog out he learns how life is on a pirate ship.
"Hey, you drink that. Take him to the mast that's six leashes!"
Two of the pirates grab Tarjun, drag him to the mast and hold him in place, face to the wood. Plugg takes out his whip and administers the punishment.
"Now fill his mug again." Plugg demands. "Drink." he orders as the mug is hold out to Tarjun.
Jewel takes a sip of the vile stuff and staggers toward the mast and the pirate. "Wait! This stuff. You feed it to adults and it's disgusting. But," She chokes down another small swallow. "It's much worse for children. Especially magical children. I think I feel something.... crawling." With that she drops to her knees and falls to her hands, retching and growling some weird sounds. Suddenly a mass of spiders surges out of her and starts moving toward Plugg. "This drink! It hurts me!!! They're crawling out of me!"
She struggles back to her feet. "But I'll try to swallow the rest of it."
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Tarjun is almost too stunned to resist as two sailors grab him by the arms. "But it doesn't make sense- I just need an empty bowl! Why not have more grog for everyone else?!" he screams in protest as he is dragged to the mast.
Survival instinct finally kicks in halfway there, and one of the men has to either move out of the way, or take quite a nasty kick in the knee from Tarjun's one good leg.
In terms of horrible experiences, being flogged at a ship's mast in front of all the crew tops, by far, being threatened by a dridder, fighting off a group of duegars, and almost being tortured on the rack by a crazy aristocrat combined. But as he's left bloodied and shaking, his throat hurting almost as much as his back, the ordeal doesn't leave Tarjun cowering and terrified the way it would have done just a few months prior.
In fact, after having to deal with one of the worst days of his life so far and countless brutal experiences at the hands of unscrupulous adults ready to establish their authority for the most absurd of reasons, it just leaves him angry. Terribly, terribly angry. And petty.
As everyone's attention is momentarily drawn to Jewel, it provides him with a welcome opportunity to let Plugg taste some of the fear he so gleefully likes to inspire in others. A few whispered words that would turn the innocuous spiders into enlarged monsters treading the deck, and coming for him.
After she chokes down the last of the grog Jewel makes a face and turns the empty cup upside down to show that it is empty. "Erastil doesn't like this stuff, and we told you that I'm a healer. I'm a priestess of Erastil. I have magic that heals. If you'd like I can prove it? Your men have been working. They've probably got little cuts and rope burns? I can fix that easily with a simple prayer to Erastil."
"I won't do anything without your approval of course. We know that we aren't in charge. We're just passengers, paying with work."
Plug runs from the scene crying like a girl.
Clara downs the offered drink, no matter how disgusting it is. Then everything starts to rotate and the rocking of the ship seems to become worse. She can't hold herself on her feet without holding onto something.
As Jewel starts vomiting spiders Clara starts laughing. The stupefied faces of the pirates are too funny, and Plugg running like a flash is ridiculous.
After a while you hear Plugg shout from under deck "Lock that witch in a cage!"
Four sailors come with boat hooks pointy end directed at Jewel to push her under deck and into an iron cage. "Get up, you get a new place to sleep." one orders.
Jewel doesn't argue, especially against four pirates with weapons. "OK. OK. I'll go. No need for the weapons, I'm not fighting. But I'm not a witch. I'm a priestess of Erastil. I heal people. If you don't want me to heal your men that's fine, I won't! I don't know where those spiders came from. I assumed it was because of that foul drink."
She gets into the cage but calls back, "I thought you said I was to swab the deck? I can't do that in here."
Jewel is 'led' to the lowest deck where it is dark and into a metal cage. It is then locked and she is left alsone.
On deck things normalize. The spiders disperse as do the pirates after everyone got their rum. The pirates retreat under deck and entertain themselves. Some sit around talking. Others play games for money.
At one table they do arm wrestling, with the special perk that the glass of a broken bottle lies all over the table. Making losing especially painful.
At another two pirates have a drinking contest. And the cheering onlookers bet on who will faint first.
On a long stretch half a dozen pirates play hog lob. Which is a game where they throw something covered in greasy piglet skin as far as possible. The one throwing it the furthest wins.
The pirates around are of all kinds there are humans, elves, gnomes, halflings. No dwarfs though.
One of the pirates approaches Tarjun when the attention of the others is elsewhere. "Aye, mate. Are ya ok? Ya got a rough start on the ship."
"Ya better keep it on the low. Or if ya the type, try ta suck up ta Plugg. Name's Sandra Quinn."
"The other lass, the witch, was contesting for my job. But calling out for Erastil, will make ya no friends. If any of those" she nods over to the other pirates "know who that is anyway. That's a god for lanlubbers. Some are joking the lass shrunk Plugg's dick. He will get back at her for that. Good thing is, no one's making a pyre on a ship."
Once Jewel is in the cage and it gets locked she speaks a low prayer and creates a light attached to one of the bars of the cage. She looks around for any chance to get somewhat comfortable.... "I guess they don't want the deck 'swabbed' anyway. But I thought they'd want any wounds cared for. One quick prayer to channel Erastil's power and everyone on this ship would've been healed of whatever minor wounds they had...."
Once she is alone she examines the cage. Since it is made for adults maybe she could squeeze through? But she isn't looking to escape, now. Just considering options.
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Tarjun visibly relaxes as his spell works, and can't hold back a few giggles as Plugg ridicules himself in front of his crew. His smile quickly fades, replaced with an expression of alarm, when everyone mistakes Jewel for the one who cast the spell.
If there's no other way out of this situation:
"Hey, I'm the one who did it," he croaks-obviously not loud enough, since the sailors take Jewel away anyway. He thinks about fighting them off, but a quick look around is enough for him to realize that there's about fifteen men ready to take their place -and he's clearly not strong enough to hold his ground against them all. He deflates. "Oh, f!*+."
Just as he's thinking furiously about a way to break Jewel out of her cage, he gets approached by someone who- thankfully- isn't Plugg or one of his brutes, but Tarjun's not really in the right mindset for civil conversation. "No, of course I'm not okay!" he explodes. "I got sick, then hurt, and now they think my sister's a witch, and everything is awful!" He makes a visible effort to cool down and think of a plan. "I gotta go see how she is."
"She is ok. They put her in a cage on the lower deck. It's not great, but ya can't do anything about it. Ye better make some friends on the ship. Ta know whom ta ask to look the other way, or sneak some food down to her the next days."
"If ye get caught now by the wrong guy, ya'll take the cage next ta her. But hey, don't listen ta me - yar a pirate now and pirates do as they like, right?" She pats Tarjun on the back and leaves to join the the ones doing arm wrestling. There is always someone willing to pay a coin for healing if the bleeding from losing is too bad.
"She seems nice." a familiar voice from the darkness behind tells Tarjun. "And you're not good at sneaking with your leg. Shall we check on the little pirates?" Clara inquires a little too loud. She is obviously drunk.
A pirate that had a few extra rounds of grog almost stumbles over a halfling woman.
"Watch yer step, or next time I hack off yer legs so yer on my hight and won't eva miss me again."
Another height challanged person is standing on a crate next to the drinking contest, singing a verse of an encouraging drinking song every now and then.
Currently winning at hog lob is a woman with large teeth, almost looking like tusks who has green skin.
A normal human guy who is not winning at the hog lob game looks rather grumpy.
Below deck is another pirate, that wasn't seen on deck when the grog was dispensed. A very muscular but a bit dimwitted looking fellow.
After calling out nonsensical stuff that got him a few laughs, he sits alone and ignored on a chest in the corner chewing soething.
Clara walks over to the halfling woman.
"Hello. I'm Clara. I'm already your size. Nice to meet someone where looking them in the eyes doesn't make my neck hurt." Clara offers a hand for introduction.
"Just because you're short doesn't make us friends. Get lost."
Jewel's cage is properly locked, and without some special tools it is near impossible to open that. The bars and crossbars are tight enough for her not to get through, but it might be nice if they were even tighter, to keep the rats out. They come in and sniff and keep their distance as long as Jewel moves, but what will be once she sleeps?
In another cage are two pigs, there are sacks with grain, baskets with potatoes, barrels with probably water or rum. And some other crates that are stored here. Not too far away is a trapdoor leading even further down.
The key to the cages is hanging on a nail at a post just 8 feet away from her cage.
There is no guard, but the stairs down to the lower deck are in the middle of the ship. And this deck is pretty crowded at this time. Getting down unnoticed would need some serious skill, or some invisibility magic.
After a while Jewel realizes that she is being ignored by the sailors. She wonders if they plan to starve her. While she can't conjure food she can handle the effects of starving. She clears her mind and prays to Erastil, asking to fill the open slot that she had left that morning with magic that would help her stave off hunger if they did decide to not feed her.
Witch? Well, she was a witch, but she had told the angry man that she was a priestess of Erastil! Perhaps these sailors didn't know Erastil? Or maybe those that worshiped any God worshiped some other God? A God of the seas? Well, she had offered easy healing to any of the crew. Did that somehow decrease the man's power over the crew? Sometimes Jewel couldn't understand adults, especially men! Looking around the area she spots several other 'residents'. The caged pigs are probably planned for meals, possibly celebrations of some sort for the sailors.
Seeing the rats coming around sniffing she activates her Feral speech hex. "Hello. I'm glad to see you down here. Is one of you in charge of your whole nest? I seem to be stuck here in your home but I don't want to be in your way if I can avoid it. Are any of you hurt or needing help? I'm a healer. Normally I help people, but I see animals similar to people."
Clara writes a note. Need help? She puts it between weasel's teeth and sends weasel to look for Jewel.
Weasel does as told and quickly hurries down the stairs. Making some rats sqeal and run on its way with no respect to Jewel's attempt to befriend those rats. Weasel spits the note at Jewel's feet and looks at her waiting for a treat.
Jewel recognizes Weasel and takes a moment to introduce her. "Don't be upset about Weasel. She's Clara's friend. Clara is a human on the deck of this ship. We're all friendly, or at least we try to be."
Reading the note she digs out a small nib of charcoal. No help needed now. There was so much more that she'd like to say, but the little slip of paper wouldn't hold it. She rolls it up and puts it back in Weasels teeth. "Thank you Weasel"
Weasel loooks irritated. "Where treat?"
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Tarjun considers heading downstairs and fight his way to Jewel if he has too, but it strikes him that getting locked up in another cage if Plugg keeps the keys is going to be a problem.
Cursing under his breath, he goes to sit in a corner to think. Might as well, since everyone else seemed too busy cutting their arms open with broken glass or drinking themselves into a coma (Seriously, pirates were a lot more uncool than what he imagined. Where were the parrots? The treasure maps? The sea monsters?).
He needed to think of a plan - one that didn't involve charging in and whacking people on the head until the problem disappeared. Which sucked, because that was the only idea he had in mind.
In the hopes that it will help him concentrate, he gets his back fixed. The pain fades. The nausea doesn't. And he really can't think of anything else than flattening Pugg's tricorn on his stupid head before tossing him in the sea, so he can free Jewel from her cage in peace.
Get other pirates to cooperate, was that right?
He looks around the deck hesitantly, before deciding on who to approach. Standing up with some difficulty (gosh, that constant rocking was awful for his balance), he makes his way to the drinking contest and plops down at a safe distance from the table. He takes out his flute from his pocket, and starts improvising a melody to accompany the drinking song - taking care not to overpower the halfling's voice.
Jewel reaches down to scratch Weasel where she knows the little animal enjoys it. "I'm sorry Weasel. I don't have any treats. They've locked me up in this cage where I can't get any. Go back to Clara and I'm sure she'll give you a treat."
Weasel enjoys the scratching with eyes closed and then hurries to get back to Clara, because treats! Weasel delivers the note and then disappears into the pocket helping itself to some saussage.
Clara reads the note and passes it on to Tarjun.
Tarjun manages to hit the right notes and gives a nice emphasis to the gnome's song. Conchobhar isn't too fond of it at first but grows to like it.
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Tarjun reads the note, folds it, and puts it carefully in his pocket. "Thank you," he whispers to Clara.
He keeps on playing for a while to avoid making the same mistake as in the port town, before deciding that enough time has passed to attempt to start a conversation with the gnome without seeming rude. "Hey. Do you know if my sister's going to have something to eat tonight?" he asks.
"Probably not. But she is not gonna die from one skipped meal. You play the flute well. Where have you learned that?"
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"Far away from where I could puncture people's eardrums, mostly," Tarjun's unable to stop himself from joking, finding some comfort in humour even in the worst of situations. "But mostly on my own, yeah, so I try to stick to the melodies I know work, you know what I mean?"
"Can't blame me for worrying about my sister -besides, I kinda put her in this mess. You know who's allowed to go below deck?"
"All who got work there. So the poor suckers who have to operate the bilge pump. And the cook. If you go down without a duty, you'll get lashes for trying to steal food."