"Don't they have someone who does all the work with the wood and the nails?" Clara asks mostly herself.
Then she starts asking around.
"Don't saw a hole in the ship." Clara tells.
With no luck finding anything useful as a tool in the galley Jewel leaves and heads down to meet up with Tarjun and Clara.
There's some crates open with partially pulled nails right over here. But why do you need nails?
Clara drops everything in hand straightens up and says "Nothing."
Jewel accepts the piece of candy, examining it and removing a little bit of lint before popping it in her mouth. "Thanks! There's a tool box over there. Hammer, nails, and some other stuff."
"You mean like open locks? That's hard to do with a nail. Is there any way to get the key?"
"You feeling like asking Cutthroat Grok fo rit?" Clara inquires from Jewel. Clara finds being only four inches away from Jewels face and holding herself at a post fo rnot tipping over is a good idea.
Jewel looks into Clara's eyes. She doesn't recall Clara ever being this close to her before. "Cutthroat Grok? Hmm.... I don't really know him, but by name I assume he isn't a pleasant person. He'd probably deny any request. So I guess another option would have to be considered. Is that why you wanted a nail? Going to try and pick the lock? Pity we don't have magic to open it."
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Tarjun notices the girl's embarrassment, but it doesn't really register beyond the distinct impression that Clara is being weird - again. Boy, she has a problem with personal space.
"Grok's a woman," he corrects Jewel. "And she's got the key on her at all times! Not sure I can take it without her noticing. So," he examines the tool box. "I went looking for plan B!"
"Who needs magic!" Clara takes a nail and bends it two times to get roughly a Z shape but with right angles. It ends up as crooked as her attempt at standing striaght.
"Let's go and find out." she states far too loud for a covert operation. But stealth and subtlety are not her strong suits when properly hammered.
She takes the nail with her walking straight - only figuratively - to the quartermaster's.
Jewel follows along behind Tarjun and Clara. "Are you sure there's something behind the lock worth risking whatever the punishment is for stealing? They might throw us overboard...."
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"Who says we're stealing anything? I just wanna have a look around, that's all!" Tarjun whispers back urgently. "I mean, it's a locked room that's filled with stolen stuff, it's bound to be somewhat interesting!"
"Wait," he slaps his forehead, struck by an epiphany. "Clara! How we gonna lock the door back from the outside? You need another nail? "
The quartermaster's store entrance is in plain sight of this deck, right where the stairs come down into the open sleeping/gambling/multipupose deck that is now full of pirates.
Jewel looks around, at the door, then gets in front of her brother. "Another nail to lock it? How are you planning on getting it open in front of the whole crew? Do you have some invisibility now? Or an illusion that'll hide you while you work the lock? We need a better plan."
She turns away, looking around the area to see if anyone appears to be watching them. "Actually we need information. Are we heading the right direction? Are we going to be allowed off of the ship if we even get where we need to go? Or are we prisoners here?"
Jewel is too slow to catch Clara before the door.
Once dragged back to Tarjun she complains "B%$!$%$s. What kind of lock is that? the nail doesn't even fit it."
One could assume that this is an environment where one would expect people to break into that room and proper precautions were taken.
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"SHHHH! Not so loud..."
"Guess we have to do this the hard way," Tarjun lifts his head up, staring at the stairs leading to the deck. He can hear loud laughter from where the pirates are playing. "We could go in there and ask a few questions. Not you," he adds hastily, to Clara alone. "You're pissed drunk!"
"Hihi. I am! How are you hot?"
Jewel watches and listens to her friends, realizing that Tarjun is correct. Clara drunk? Who knows how much trouble she could get in with her powers and being out of control drunk? "Maybe we should all find a quiet place to bed down? None of us should be alone on this boat, especially at night when the sailors are drinking and gaming? Somebody might forget that we are kids and try something that shouldn't be done...."
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"We're not alone - we're together!" Tarjun protests. "And they seem to forget we're kids all the time anyhoo. Can't we just scare 'em with some more insects of something goes wrong? "
Amidst his complaining, he still takes some time to check which pirates are currently gambling - and their general state of ebriety.
The other pirates are used to their evening drink and despite no one being really sober, they are all more or less their usual self. The kinds of entertainment haven't changed, only the participants rotate over time. Someone losing too hard tries his luck somewhere else. And those who lost in the drinking game are lying around on the floor.
Tarjun notices one pirate who seems to be better prepared for a visit to the quartermaster's store. With a quick look around he determines that no one is watching and opens the hatch with a key. He grabs something, locks the hatch again and moves on.
"We need to invent our own game. One that is played without money. Because I'm friggin bored." Clara complains.
"Like who can climb the highest on the main mast before falling off!"
"Tarjun! I mean to say that we need to stay together. You wouldn't want me or Clara getting in to trouble if we got split up, maybe having one or more of the men thinking that we are adult 'women'...."
Hearing Clara's complaint and idea she almost laughs. "Just remember that Tarjun and I aren't any good at climbing, and we don't featherfall like you! I've watched a couple of the sailors climb like monkeys!"
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"I'm pretty good at climbing," Tarjun protests, raising his voice as the girls start talking more freely. He suddenly gestures at something happening behind Clara and Jewel's backs, and his voice drops low again: "Look! Look! Guy's got a spare key..."
He raises his voice, and calls out to the man, feigning perfect, wide-eyed innocence: "Hey! Everyone's gotta key to this place? I thought Grok had the only one. Do you take turns guarding it? I can't exactly be a rigger," he pats his stiff leg.
"Shut up you noisy brat." the pirate hisses at Tarjun, but it is too late.
Grok turns around and sees Jakes Magpie. She is quickly at the place and grabs Jakes at the neck. "Who has a key to what?" She quickly goes through the pocket of the struggling man and finds the key replica and the item he grabbed from the store.
"My, my, the captain will not be happy when he hears of that." Grok states, pockets the items and drops Magpie. She then returns to her entertainment.
"Snitch." Magpie hisses at Tarjun, before leaving muttering another dozen of curses.
As Grok and Jakes Magpie leave the area Jewel whispers to the others. "That could've gone better. Remember that they hauled me down to that cage just for supposedly being a witch? Who knows what the Captain will demand for a thief? Thievery is bad for morale.... Maybe you should have asked quieter!" She thinks for a minute. "But.... Maybe you should talk to Grok, tomorrow, and mention that you deliberately spoke loud to alert Grok about the key?"
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"I honestly hadn't planned it to go that way," Tarjun answers Jewel with a sheepish shrug -and she knows her brother well enough to tell he's not lying. Still, he ponders other what Jewel said.
"Maybe I can convince her not to punish Magpie. [i]Pssst![/irl]" he calls Grok from the hallway, beckoning her to come over. If she moves over to him, he immediately asks: "What's gonna happen to Magpie? Is he gonna get lashes if the captain knows? 'Cause I think you've scared him enough -and anyway, I can tell you if I see 'im try again."
"I don't think he will get away with lashes." Grok replies. "Stealing from the captain is a bad idea."
Jewel grabs and pulls at Tarjun. "Tarjun! Stop! It's not our place to get involved. And I'm sure he knew that stealing was wrong.... And he was stealing from the Captain! Let's just stay out of the way or there might be a misunderstanding and you might join him in whatever the punishment is!"
Jewel thinks a minute and then almost whispers, "He might be keelhauled!"
With still no money to gamble and Clara being shitfaced Jewel drags all to bed to keep them out of further trouble.
The next morning before the work for the day is distributed, the case of Jake Magpie is tried. It is no real trial, the case is clear - it is just a show for the crew to make the others stay in line.
After stating the crime - stealing from the quartermaster's store - Magpie faces a keel hauling. Mr. Plugg executes that. Magpie is tied at hands and fett and to a rope that runs under the ship. Then he is kicked off the ship at backboard and very slowly pulled under the ship. After over a minute that feels like eternity something emerges and is pulled up on deck. What lies on the deck has been cut to shreds and void of all life.
Mr. Plugg distributes the work and last he assigns Clara and Tarjun. "You scrub the deck. I want no spots from that scum's blood. Throw the corpse to the sharks."
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Tarjun's face drains of colour- but there's no way he can voice what he really thinks without facing some horrible fate. Something tells him he's already lucky Grok hasn't mentioned him to the captain. He's left stupid, standing stiff on the deck with a mop in his hand and a bucket.
He creates some water to wash off some of the blood. It doesn't make him feel better.
"That's awful," he says in a soft voice to Clara.
"Plugg made sure that one is dead." Clara states while pondering how to get the corpse off deck without having to touch it.
After thinking for a while and not coming up with a solution, she suggests "I take it by the hands and you by the feet?"
Jewel watches from a distance, especially once the body is dragged back on deck. Even though she didn't know the man she can't stop her tears realizing this mutilated corpse was a living man before being scraped along the barnacle encrusted ship. She turns away from the scene, moving back toward the galley. Work wouldn't take that image from her mind, but maybe thinking about it would allow her to stop focusing on it and stop crying about it....
"He should have not stolen from the quartermaster. Imagine if it wasn't him that got caught!" Clara pales thinking back to her drunken shenanigans that luckily failed.
Jewel gets to the galley and starts preparing for the salmon steak meal for the crew. She considers using one of the horrible spells from her witch listing to putrify the food.... but it wasn't prepared, and it wasn't the kind of thing that she really wanted to do.
She gets the big pot on for the rice and vegetables, and uses her magic to fill it. She starts preparing the vegetables.... and stops. Her tears blind her and she has to stop chopping, fearing that she might cut off part of a finger.
Pushing the pot back so it won't boil dry she casts her spell again to top it off then turns to exit. She doesn't even know if FishGuts is in yet but calls out, "Mr. Kroop? Ambrose? I'm going down for some more vegetables. A couple of these don't look so good and I want this to be really good. Something you can present directly to the Captain perhaps?" She runs then for the hatch to go down and try to find Remy.
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"I know, but still -ain't right killing someone for that." A wave of exhaustion overcomes Tarjun, and he suspects it's not entirely because he has just spent quite some time moving a body around.
As Clara and Tarjun take some rest, he suggests: "We need to get outta here quick. Jewie was right, we should ask some questions around."
Not sure he'll manage to talk to Grok without bringing up the subject of Magpie's death, Tarjun goes to seek Sandara or Conchobhar.
"Better wait with that until evening. We have scrubbing duty, and other than in the bilges, everyone will see if we leave!"
"You do you. I'll try it once you're done." Fishguts tells and opens a bottle of cheap wine.
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"It sucks," Tarjun complains to Clara after only a couple of minutes scrubbing the bridge clean. "We can't talk to anyone. We can't get anywhere. Pirates have a lot less fun than I thought! They don't even look for any treasure or teach parrots bad words. They just get drunk, work around a bit, and wait! I'm never becoming a pirate."
At least whining seems to motivate him again. He scrubs that deck as if it had personally insulted him.
While Tarjun is rage scrubbing the deck, the pirate in the crows nest shouts "Ship ahoy."
At first not much happens. The captain gets on deck and with some of the officers walks to the bow. They hand a telescope around to check on the ship. Finally the captain nods and walks back to stern to address the crew.
"This is a fat Rahadoumi Merchant. It is so deep in the water you wonder it doesn't sink. We need to help those poor guys and lighten their load. Clap on all sails. Hunting season is opened!"
The crew cheers and all riggers go up the masts to set sails and get them into the wind.