"Why does this feel like a trap?" Polli asks as they head down there. "All of us who conscripted together sent done to kill a rat? Didn't Donomsail and Marisan spend the last two days catching rats alone?" still saying no meant being whipped...
"Oh you are an awfully large rodent aren't you? These have been known to carry - SHIT!" yelps as a quick f#~!ing ray bites her legs, spoiling her lesson. Falling back quickly she unleashes a spray of spastic horde of clashing colors at the foul beast (catching any other rodents she can in it without hitting her fellow bilge divers.
Harmony steps back, trying to stay out of the way as Tessa runs her blade through the one that was attempting to follow her. Donomsail fires an icicle at the one that displays its fangs, wet with her blood, at her, but she misses. Marisan also misses the one she was attempting to smash.
Polli pours forth a vomit of colors and the rats in front her and Marisan roll over in the water.
Azadi's ray of cold finishes off his rat.
Round 2
The rat near Tessa leaps at the red-headed woman, but she deftly interposes her rapier and the creature promptly impales itself upon it. She slides it off, twitching, into the foul water.
With a snapping of bloody teeth, the beast near Donomsail attempts to add to its collection of her devilish blood but she moves out of the way.
Marisan dashes to the rat menacing Donomsail and punts it across the room!
Tessa sees Donomsail is in trouble and quickly moves around opposite her and thrusts her rapier into the rat, but Marisan beats her to the punch as the rat goes flying into the wall with a splat.
Tessa finishes off the unconscious rats with two quick strokes with her blade.
"Huh, we actually seem to work well together. I would have never imagined" Polli says with amused and relived mutterings. Looking down at her bleeding leg, "I should bandage and clean this one I think. Anyone else needs a doctoring?"
"I am not hurt," Marisan asserts. She gestures to the crates. "I looked around briefly when I was down here the other day, but didn't find anything valuable. The rest of you might have sharper eyes than I do."
Tessa puts her rapier away and turns to Marisan. "Marisan! My dear! Someone hear may have sharper eyes, but none as deadly as a foot as ours! I swear, your foot snapped the bones in that rat's body in half long before it met its unfortunate end on the hull. Excellent form and well done." Sweeping her hand across the entire group she cncludes "Well done all!"
She wipes the sweat from her forehead again and shakes her head at Polli's question and responding "I'm fine, thank you Polli." before turning to Donomsail. She crouches down next to the injury to take a look. "Vicious little rodents. You okay? Sorry I couldn't get there fast enough."
The bilges are still for a moment, with just the dripping of water and the creaking of the ship - the dire rats dead.
Combat Ends!
You spend some time searching through the boxes and crates. Obvious is a crate with a huge gnawed hole in it with dodgy grain spilling out. Along with that, you find a suit of leather armor, three heavy maces, a buckler and 12 sp.
You head back up to the relative comfort of the sun boiling down on the main deck. Mister Plugg's only response to the display of huge dead rats is a cold, "Then that means you're done playing around - get back to work."
~~~~~
~~~~~
During a break from rat-catching, Marisan visits Cut-Throat Grok in the quartermaster's shop. "Hello, friend. We spoke last night about getting Rosie Cusswell's fiddle back. You mentioned working out some sort of deal?"
The Quartermaster's Stores are in the galley behind a sturdy door with a large window that can be opened in the top of the door. The half-orc looks out through the window at Marisan as Ambrose looks on from one of the kitchen tables where he's finishing up butchering pig. The sounds of his cleaver pause as his attention focuses on the conversation.
"You mind your own business, old man!" Cut-Throat says, leaning out to shout at the cook. There doesn't seem to be any real hostility there, though. "Hey, I gets my entertainment where's I can gets it. Me mate wandered off so's I gots no one to talk to but the goats."
"Yeah, like you 'talk' to the goats. Sure'n I believe that." She shakes her head and leans farther out of the window, conveniently pressing her small breasts together, creating some visible cleavage on her muscular chest. "So you wanna talk about Cusswell's fiddle, eh? Like I told you last night, Long Legs. It all 'officially' belongs to Harrigan. What's it worth to ya?"
~~~~~
”Why don’t we head up out of the bilge,” Azadi suggests from the ladder he’s already climbing, ”once we’re out of the muck I can wash this stuff off us, and maybe cool us off a bit.”
Anyone who follows him up gets doused with fresh water a few times and left wet.
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Marisan slips her hand into her pants pocket and presents the brass knuckles she reclaimed from Harmony. "This is all I have to offer of any value. Unless there is something else you want me to offer you?"
The brawler hesitates, then closes her eyes and purses her lips like Tessa instructed her, making kissy noises.
Tessa eyes both the leather armor and the buckler. Pointing to them she says "I'll lay claim to both of those if no one else wants them?" Without waiting very long at all, she walks over and snatches them both up and claims them.
After ensuring Harmony and Donomsail are both okay, she follows Azadi back up top and lets him wash the items off.
There's a clattering sound and Marsian turns to see Ambrose turned away from them, leaning against one of the tables, his shoulders shaking silently. Grok's face flushes a darker shade and her expression hardens. "I swear, Fishguts, If I hear a single sound outta you ..."
The man seems to shake harder. "Ya won't," he answers in a strangled voice as if the act of restraining himself is causing him physical pain.
Grok turns back to Marisan. "Are you offerin' to trade a single kiss fer that little terror's fiddle, Long-Legs?" she asks in a tight voice. A muffled sound escapes Ambrose's restraint. Grok ignores him.
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Marisan glances between Grok and Ambrose, unsure what is going on. She turns back to the half-orc. "How many kisses will it cost?"
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Ambrose is seized by a coughing fit. In the middle of it, he manages to sputter out something about needing some air and heads out of the galley, closing the door behind him.
Grok glares at the closed door for a moment before returning her attention to Marisan. She looks the woman over in silence. Sighing, she steps back away from the window. Muffled noises follow as she opens one of the storage lockers inside the tiny room and digs around in the contents.
Returning to the window, she holds out a small fiddle and bow. "Tell the little shit not to flaunt it, ok?" Once Marisan takes the instrument, Grok closes the window forcefully, ending the conversation.
Marisan blinks at the closed window for a few moments. Then she shrugs and goes back to work.
***
Are you talking about Conchobhar? That cocksure little c!@!@+~#~+?" the halfling exclaims. "That little t!*+ has been sniffing up my ass since I've been on this boat. He needs something to occupy him besides me. Like a case of ball rash. Or a belaying pin up his ass."
Her eyes light up.
"Interested in the job?" she asks and then laughs.
Marisan shakes her head. "No, thank you. Perhaps if you got to know him you might change your mind?" The Mwangi woman shrugs. "At any rate, I spoke to Cut-Throat Grok earlier. I got your fiddle back." She presents the instrument to Rosie. "Grok said not to flaunt it, okay?"
When Tessa asks Azadi to clean off the armor and buckler he answers, ”sure, I’ll clean these while you go grab the maces; we can probably trade those to Grok to get some more of our gear back.”
Once the armor and shield are cleaned he pulls out the small bit of silver hidden in the armor and announces, ”hey, this looks like two silver pieces for each of us... silver must still be worth something on board, right?”
As commanded, Azadi dutifully returns to the ropes. He resumes putting in the bare minimum amount of work and spending every moment he can spare drenching Syl, only this time he keeps the water as warm as he can.
When everyone is called to the deck for the bloody hour, Azadi pauses from his torment of Syl. When dinner is served he purifies the grog as quickly as possible and whispers to Tessa, ”I’m pretty busy this evening, could you please do me a favor? Can you trade in those maces and see what gear you can get back for the rest of us? Marisan probably had some kind of armor, and if you can get my cestus back that would be nice...”
Then he promptly returns to soaking Syl once or twice a minute, making sure the first splash soaks her food as well.
Harmony goes to try to speak to Crimson again, but is rapidly rebuffed as the man 'has work to do' and Ambrose appears on deck looking as though he's about to explode.
By the time she's calmed the cook down the moment is gone.
----------------------
That night she opts to entertain again, but this time focuses on slightly more inspirational messages - trading jokes for stories of courage, brave men and women working together against the odds.
Marisan shakes her head. "No, thank you. Perhaps if you got to know him you might change your mind?" The Mwangi woman shrugs. "At any rate, I spoke to Cut-Throat Grok earlier. I got your fiddle back." She presents the instrument to Rosie. "Grok said not to flaunt it, okay?"
At the sight of her fiddle, the halfling's eyes light up like a child on yule morning. Taking the instrument in her hands, she strokes it like a mother with a baby. In another instant she's thrown her strong arms around Marisan's waist, pulling her in for a hug. The woman can feel her own bones grind just a little under the halfling's strength. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she says before stepping away.
Showing the same restraint that most likely lost her the instrument in the first place, Rosie adjusts some of the tuning pegs and then immediately begins a quick paced jig in celebration. It very quickly generates a response from the other sailors in the form of foot-stomping, clapping, dancing, and dark looks from Master Scourge.
For whatever reason he chooses not to address the halfling and her ill-gotten instrument, Master Scourge approaches Azadi. Whatever annoyance and frustration he may feel at Rosie's performance he seems to direct at the undine. "I've had about enough of you and your splashing water everywhere on this ship and her crew," he says. The fact that the water has been carefully directed at a specific crew member doesn't seem to matter to the gold-toothed man. He sneers. "It ends. Now."
~~~~~
Harmony goes to try to speak to Crimson again, but is rapidly rebuffed as the man 'has work to do' and Ambrose appears on deck looking as though he's about to explode.
In fact it takes Harmony more time than she would have thought to calm Ambrose down. Whatever he found funny was enough to leave him guffawing and clutching at his side for the better part of ten minutes.
"You're welcome," Marisan says, smiling down at Rosie. She pats the halfling on the head.
She accompanies Rosie's performance with one of her own, dancing, spinning, and kicking to the beat. Along with Harmony's comedy, it leaves the crew thoroughly entertained.
Azadi frowns, nods to Scourge, and answers, ”yessir.”
Azadi rises during the middle watch and creeps over to the oddly placed staircase in the middle deck. He quietly begins to climb it to see where it leads...
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Durring supper Tessa takes her meal alongside Donomsail "You don't talk much, do ya? Tell me something about yourself. I'll start."
Tessa shifts her weight on her stool and turns to face the tiefling. "When I was a young girl my father was a big deal. I had all the fancy things growing up that I wanted and life was pretty fantastic for me. Yeah, I was a little spoiled. Anyway, the one thing I didn't have was real friends. My parents made me have these fake friends because of the people they worked with and socialized with, it was terrible. A bunch of spoiled, bratty rich kids."
She takes a sip of her grog and immediately regrets it. Looking over at Harmony she points to her cup and asks "Can't you make this shit taste better? This is literally piss. Gods what I would give for Besmara to wreck a cargo ship full of rum and for us to find it tomorrow just floating in the sea."
The redhead sighs heavily before continuing "Where was I? Oh right, rich kids. So one day I'm in this playgroup with all of the other brats and I like to make trouble with them because, you know, why not? So typically I do something, they get hurt, I get in trouble and they don't come back. Pretty nifty trick, right? So this one girl with funny eyes, she keeps on following me around all night and getting on my nerves. Finally, I had enough. I know how to get rid of them, done it a million times. I tell her she needs to balance on the end of the railing of the steps and I'd catch her if she falls. Most kids won't even do it or they fall before I could catch them, but this girl, she climbs up there and starts singing some silly song on one leg. It was great! Then she fell and twisted her wrist, I was so wrapped up in her song I totally forgot to catch her. I meant to catch her, I just get lost sometimes."
She stares off in the distance, losing focus on the conversation "What was the point of this story, anyway? Oh! Right! SO the girl's mother comes in and boy oh boy, is she PISSED! Now, this is where the girl tells her mother I made her fall and they leave and I get threatened to be switched by the guy father tasked to look at for me. Poor Roberto, boy he never stood a chance!"
"So, here's the kicker. The girl? She didn't tell her mother, she lied to protect me. She said it was an accident and she fell. Her mother didn't buy it worth shit though and I swear to the Pirate Queen herself that lady," Tessa taps her temple several times "got into my head! She just knew it was my fault somehow. But that little girl? She defended me when she didn't have to. It was something I'd not seen before."
Tessa turns to look over at Harmony and points out here "That's my little girl right there. I've never let her fall since."
"Okay. That's a lie. There was that time in the stable, but that was totally not my fault. Oh, and the thing on the roof was a total fluke. Shouldn't have happened." She waves her hands back and forth "Forget about those. The point is you want people to have your back. If you need help out here and are feeling lost, you can count on me. Just call me and I'll be there. Just like Harmony. Gahh-" She squeezes her eyes shut. "I mean. Nevermind. Yeah. You watch mine, I've got yours."
Taking a sip and groaning she raises her right hand and pokes the tiefling's forehead. "Your turn."
In the evening after the meal, Tessa bumps into Skivikah. She is only as tall as his the middle of herchest, so she needs to look waaaayy up to meet her . "Hey there, big gal! I'm Tessa, but I'm sure you already knew that. Haven't heard much from you these last few days and I'm making my way around and trying to spend a few minutes with all of the crew."
She points to Marisan "You talked to her yet? She's a bit intimidating, I know. She was mentioning how well you were doing on your knot work and I was hoping maybe if you had time you could show me this knot, what she call it, the clove hitch? I keep messing it up. If you have time of course, I don't mean to intrude on your free time."
Standing in front of Azadi she gets cleaned of the muck, pockets the bit of change he hands her and gives him a brief hug. "Thank you." She continues to work for the rest of the day and at the nightly flogging and grogging sits next to him for him to cleanse her drink. After that she seeks out Tessa and Marisan. "I've heard that there's some trouble headed our way. Mayhap 'cause of we're newbies on tha ship or mayhap we've ticked 'em off somehow but those moederlose seuns van seekoeie have it in for us."
Donomsail stays for the evening's entertainment. Sitting near Marisol and the others she listens to the stories of heroic valor in the face of overwhelming odds as well the tales of ill-fated love, even shedding a few tears as the legend of Hagbard and Signy is recounted. "Tha's my fav'rite. Hagbard watching as his love burned and then bravely facing the gallows." She says to no one in particular which is good as she just gave away the end of the tale to anyone listening.
After the festivities end she sleeps once again making sure she wakes up early enough to offer her prayers to Gozreh and get her spells for the day.
My mum told me I was the result of a tryst with Asmodeus hisself. Told me I was only good for two things. These was the results of one of 'em. With that she slips her robes down her shoulders, showing off her breasts and the black scars that cross them and go further down into the shadows. "Yep it's the mark of Asmodeus ya seeing there, put there by me mum and her cronies. Anyways the second thing I was good fer was becoming his bride essentially marrying me Grandfather or some such. Welp I left as soon as I could 'n' was taken up by a half-elf, Veh was his name. He taught me the way o' Gozreh showed me that there was a balance to the depredations done upon me. Now I'm trying to find me way to that balance."
Searching and noticing has never been a particular strong suit of hers, so she stands and listens to the others banter and compliment while the goods are found.
At one point she interrupts, "Will taking these things be considered theft? Don't misunderstand, I believe we should take them. For that Moment if it ever comes. The maces even if they don't suit any of us as well, for those others the rest of you are courting each day and night. But wearing them out in the open, might raise eyebrows, get questions asked. Selling them to the quartermaster might get worse..." she thinks aloud. "You may have noticed, I don't know people well, so if you read them better, so be it."
She'll thank Azadi for the cleaning, casting her own spell at the end to remove her stains, then to her bunk to clean and tend her wound. Then back to work.
Moving through the mostly empty hold towards the galley, Azhadi reaches a narrow set of stairs that climb up toward the main deck and then turn towards the stern of the ship. Stepping quietly higher, he finds that the top of the stairs end at a closed - and locked - sturdy door. Running through the layout in his mind, his best guess is that this set of stairs is another way into the captain's cabin. With the assumption that both the captain and the cabin girl - Caulky Tarroon - are currently in there and sleeping, this might not be the best time to explore this particular location.
As he's making his way back through the hold, he realizes that the heavy snoring he's hearing is not - as he at first assumed - coming from the Cook and Quartermaster's cabin, but from off to the side in the darkness of the empty hold. Moving towards the sound, he finds a giant of a man sleeping on the wooden floor of the hold against the side of the ship. There is a heavy metal collar around his neck that has a chain attached. The other end of the chain is wrapped around one of the large support pillars. Other than the collar, the man is clad in only some tattered shorts. His skin bears the sticky remnants of tar with some chicken feathers still attached.
~~~~~~
"I could show you some good knots," Skivikah says with a grin as she looks down at Tessa. The grin isn't particularly friendly, but the animosity that was there just a moment ago is no longer present. "You might not like what I do with you once I got ya tied up in 'em, though." She laughs a full belly laugh and takes another look at the red-head. "But you never know - maybe you would."
~~~~~~
Tessa laughs uncomfortably Skivikah, the FEMALE. "Ah. Yes. We'll see. Why don't we start with the other knots and work our way up to that, shall we? I don't like to move too quickly, you know what I mean. Ha ha?" Tessa backs away and tips her hat "Evening Skivikah, nice chat." before getting away completely before she ties up the swashbuckler for whatever deviance she has planned.
Tessa grimaces at the sight of the scars on the woman's chest. "Ouch. That had to hurt." and pats the woman on the shoulder "Asmodeus is your father, eh? That sounds like a difficult childhood,, I'm sorry to hear that. I'm glad you got away, but I'm sorry you're stuck on this shitty ship, but I'm glad you're stuck with us."
"By the way, we need to work on your story telling abilities, bit of a downer there. You can tell those tales, but you should try to end on a lighter note?" she says, patting the woman's head twice.
"What is it you are good at by the way? Rope work? Sailing? Kicking peoples face in?"
For once Polli isn't exhausted, but since talking to people has lead to good, she decides to just look around the parts of the ship she's not seen that she is allowed to see without being beaten. Knowing one's battlefield, so to say. She'll even stop to listen to Vi's routine.
and decides maybe she should help out with a bit of magic, a jolt spell at the time in the story a lighting bolt would crash down.
Bad idea. The jolt spell fired into the air whizzed to the right to an iron bolt into the mask, shattering a lantern, hanging there, and for just a moment, the threat of a fiery death blossomed in the sylph's mind. Luckily their band of odd pushed together people had a water boy, and poof Polli is drenched in cold water instead of flaming oil.
She nods to Azadi in thanks, rigid in every other way in frustrated humiliation, and decides bed is just best after supper from now on.
She smiles at Tessa's engaging personality. "Maybe I could end with and then some jazz hands." She says this all with a smile and she actually does jazz hands. You hear no trace of bitterness in her voice. "As far as any actual skills I'm afraid I'm a little lackin', leastways fer those that help on a ship. Didn't pick up many jobs outside the temple. However Gozreh does give me a small amount o' weather manipulation spells 'n' abilities so I'm able to offer some aid once ta fightin' fer the ship begins."
Tessa grins at the cleric, clapping her hands together. "Yes! Perfect! That's what I'm talking about! That energy, what's what was missing! The hands made it, keep doing that."
"Temple jobs? Weather manipulation? Ah, I think you and I will become fast friends indeed. Let's say, just theorizing here, let's say that I take a blade to the cut and I'm bleeding like there's no tomorrow. Could you use some of your temple gifts to make me right?"
Azadi pauses and looks over the sleeping giant, quietly...
Then he slinks back to his hammock to grab some sleep before morning roll.
Looking close, Azadi can see that it's a strong-looking good quality lock that ties the chain to the man's collar. There's heavy scar tissue under the collar indicating that he's been wearing it for some time. There is an empty bowl nearby that looks like it contained the same stew that you all ate tonight.
~~~~~~
Most of you head off to bed, happy with your successful foray against the dire rats below deck. And hopeful that the two-legged versions that you share your living quarters with behave themselves.
13th of Gozran - Day 5
The chime of the deck clock heralds the beginning of another day aboard the Wyrmwood.
Azadi
Rope Work: Handling the ship’s ropes, including coiling them, stowing them, and securing them to cleats and single and double bollards.
Harmony
Turtle Hunting: Hunting leatherback sea turtles with harpoons, treble hooks, and nets. Kroop is completely passed out today, so Harmony is on her own.
Tessa
Rat Catcher: Catching rats and other vermin belowdecks.
Polli
Repairs: Things constantly tear or break aboard the ship and need repairs, whether sewing sails or splicing rope all day.
Donomsail
Repairs: Things constantly tear or break aboard the ship and need repairs, whether sewing sails or splicing rope all day.
Marisan
Swab the Decks: Backbreaking work mopping the decks and scrubbing them with sandstone blocks called holystones.
Marisan seems to be having a rough go of things, the tough work taking its toll despite her strength. To take her mind off things, she chats with Shivikah, swapping tales of the Mwangi Expanse and gauging just how far the other woman has come from her slaver's roots.
Shivikah is happy to chat with Marisan.
At one point she gestures towards Azhadi. "So is the green-haired one yours as well?" she asks with a grin. "I saw you kissing red-hair, but wasn't sure if you claimed both of them. Her and the black-haired one would fetch a high price." Her eyes turn back to watch Azhadi with a predatory gleem.
Polli finds herself humming at the repair work. It wasn't lacing skin back together, or digging out a particularly bad spot of black rot out of a poor fisherman's toe, but it was better than spending the day untying knots. She really didn't understand why people couldn't just untie their knots. You tie it, you untie it... sigh.
But friendship. The others seems to think this is important but the stern glances of Tessa have told her NO, Never, SHUT THE F#$+ UP Polli.
She's sewing a torn sail together when Marisan rolls up to Shivikah talking about the value of someone's body on the slave market. Interested, she stands and squints through her glasses and smiles to see the wagging tail of Tessa herself as the topic of the conversation.
So she starts listing the anatomical value of each of her features, and suggestions on how each could increase or lower the value. Debating back and forth with the slaver on the overall amount. "The posterior, yes I agree, is nice, and would warrant the inflated price, but can you imagine listening to the constant prattle from her mouth?... removing her tongue might... oh yes you are correct, the tongue has its uses... hmmm"
"Tessa, talk. Polli, uhm, not talk." the wizard is muttering. "I speak five languages! Common, Elven, Dwarven, Gnomish-" suddenly she is interrupted by the whimsical banter of the very language she was listing off. A dandy of a gnome is looking at her with a grin and soon the two chatting away in words NO one can understand, but the names Rosie and Tessa both can be heard over and over.
More rats.
Tessa is so efficient at killing rats below deck that is assigned to finish the job she thought she finished yesterday. Seriously? How many rats can a ship have that's not even in port! With her rapier in hand she diligently skewers another half-dozen rats throughout the day, feeling confident that there can't possibly be any more.
During her time below she runs into Mr. Unfriendly Jack Scrimshaw. As has quickly become her job, Tessa takes the time to speak to the disgruntled crew members and sway them to her side. When she runs into Jack she had just spotted a rather plump specimen heading his way. She shouts "Lookout!" as she puts the end of rapier through it's body, killing it.
As she pulls out her blade she offers "That was a close call. Last thing you want is a bout of filth fever out here. Names Tessa, you're Jack, right?" Extending her hand she walks with him for awhile asking what she could do to help him out.
She then asks him if he's interested in an air genie sylph who supposedly has magical powers. While she's never actually seen her do anything useful on this ship except piss people off and get in the way, she's sure that she's actually good at something. Perhaps if Tessa were to tie her up and leave her in his hammock tonight he would consider that a sign of peace?
As she comes above deck she catches Polli talking to herself. "Hey Polli, you speak five languages? Why is it you are having such trouble with Taldane then? Or do you just naturally piss people off?"
At one point she gestures towards Azhadi. "So is the green-haired one yours as well?" she asks with a grin. "I saw you kissing red-hair, but wasn't sure if you claimed both of them. Her and the black-haired one would fetch a high price." Her eyes turn back to watch Azhadi with a predatory gleem.
Marisan frowns as she sees the look in Shivikah's eyes. Her distaste for the ex-slaver is evident, but she needs her on her side. Still, she wants to protect her new friends.
"Yes. They all belong to me. They are off-limits," she says sternly.
"Thanks," Jack says as Tessa spears the rat that was near him. "Those things creep me out," he continues. "When those huge ones came out of the water, it was like my worst nightmare."
Once she comes back up on deck as sees Polli and the gnome talking, Conchobhar's reaction to her comment isn't what she was expecting. The gnome simply turns to the wizard and laughs with her as if sharing a secret joke. He then bows to the swashbuckler and walks away smiling.
Polli's rare smile from the conversation with the gnome, goes back to her normal frown at being left with Tessa. Getting back to mending the sails, she asks her most frequent tormentor, "Is there something you want, Tessa, or are you just here to rub my lack of social graces in my face ?"
Azadi lingers long enough to internally debate leaving water for the brute, but decides discretion is the order of the day and creeps back to bed, for now.
Azadi frowns a little when he learns that he’s on ropes again.
the crows nest is so much nicer...
He attacks the mound of ropes needing to be coiled and stowed, handling them quickly. Once he’s dealt with all those he disappears below deck to visit the quartermaster, before returning to work through whatever built up in his absence.
”Afternoon, Grok,” he greets the half-orc, ”I’ve recently come into possession of these maces and I was wondering if maybe I could trade them for anything? Like maybe some of the equipment we... lost when we came aboard?”
Tessa tilts her head at Polli, confused. "Oh, did I offend you? I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention. I apologize. See how easy that was? I'm sorry! Hey, how's the nose? No hard feelings, right?"
Tessa grins widely before continuing "So, yes. I wanted to say that I've been watching you the last few days interact with the crew and well, if you don't mind me being honest here, I think perhaps you are being a bit brusque with them. Maybe if you try to smile like you just were were Conchobhar? That was executed perfectly."
"Here, why don't we try it out? Who's someone you've had a problem with? I'll play them. Hmmmm? How about Crimson Cog? You had problems with them?"
Polli looks up and listens, the corner of her lip quirking up in thought. "Conchobhar spoke with such lyrical fevor about a crewmember named Rosie, do you know her? He is 'deeply in his cups' for the young lady. It was... nice to hear about I guess."
Sighing she puts down her mending, and looks at the other woman, wondering if this is one of her tricks or those times she seems genuine. "Yes, you were there if you recall. He overheard me telling you that he was wearing a Varisian woman's scarf, which he took offense to. Luckily I left off the part where that particular style of scarf is used mainly to soak up the monthly... but that is beside the point. Okay, what should I have said?"
Marisan frowns as she sees the look in Shivikah's eyes. Her distaste for the ex-slaver is evident, but she needs her on her side. Still, she wants to protect her new friends.
"Yes. They all belong to me. They are off-limits," she says sternly.
The woman turns to grin at Marisan, showing teeth stained amber. "For everything?" she asks.
”Afternoon, Grok,” he greets the half-orc, ”I’ve recently come into possession of these maces and I was wondering if maybe I could trade them for anything? Like maybe some of the equipment we... lost when we came aboard?”
"The cap'n always appreciates weapons," Grok says with a smile. She raises an eyebrow at the undine. "I won't ask where these came from, but I know they're not from the armory, so ..." she shrugs.
She spends some time digging around in her stores before producing the following gear.
A cestus, a silver ring(arcane bond), leather armor, two suits of studded leather armor, a buckler, and a banjo.
She shrugs again. "I know that some o' yer mates weapons are in here, but it would cost me more'n m' job to give out weapons."
Tessa's smile slowly starts to become more uncomfortable the more Polli keeps talking. By the time she's finished and talking about what the scarf should be used for, her eyes are closed and smile has faded into a wince.
She places her palms and fingers together, steepling them. "Alright. Not bad. Good start. We can work with this."
Clearing her throat, she explains "You picked up his scarf, excellent observation. Well done. However. When you told him that it was for the opposite sex, well, imagine that you are a sylph and someone calls you an elf? That doesn't sit well with you, no? It's sort of the same for clothing for most people, especially men. If someone is generally used by a female and you imply that he's using his cultural item incorrectly, well that could be construed as offensive? Right?"
She turns her head slightly an tries to see if she has a light bulb moment. "Do you see that Polli? If so, those awkward situations can be avoided by recognizing them and just avoiding them altogether. Instead you could just complement how nice and Varisian it looks. It's okay to lie. Lying is good actually. Whatever they want to hear, that's what you should be saying."
Tessa nods. "Make sense?"
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Polli listens "Yes, but wouldn't you want to know if you were using a monthly protection garment as a head wrap? If I ever make that clothing choice, I'd like you to tell me, and I certainly would tell you." the corner of her lips twitches, this time not in thought but in a genuine desire to smile "But testosterone laden sailors are sensitive, I believe is what you are telling me, and we need to soften the truth to stroke their confidence. Correct?"
”No, this is great, Grok,” Azadi answers, ”thank you.”
He gathers up all the stuff, and then quietly asks, ”Uh, just out of curiosity, what would it take for them to get their weapons back?”
After learning what he can from Grok he heads back towards his position above the deck, but he stops to pass gear out on the way...
”Hey, Vi, is this your banjo? What about the armor, this one looks like it might fit you?”
”Marisan, is any of this armor yours? I traded those maces to Grok for these things...”
”Hey I got back some of our stuff, Polli, is any of this yours?”
”Is this armor yours, Donomsail? I think maybe everyone else got theirs back already?”
Tessa fears she's lost the sylph when she continues talking about monthly protection garments. To her complete surprises however, she comes full circle and connects the dots. The swashbuckler's eyes widen as laughs in delight. "Yes! Polli! You got it! Excellent!"
She leans back against the side of the ship's railing and grins, "We're going to make something out of you yet, just you wait and see."
Looking over her shoulder she sees Azadi finishing up his rope work and preparing to head down below deck. "Hey, want to go help Azadi finish up rope work? I can show you another set of knots. Where are you going, the ropes are aft. Polli? Polli?" she calls as the sylph makes her way in the complete opposite direction. "Huh. Wonder what that's about."
She turns around to catch Azadi, but he's already disappeared too.
I wonder where Vi's gotten to, I feel like I've hardly seen her at all these last days.
As Azadi asks, Polli sees her ring, and pops up from her mending perch to his side, more gracefully than you'd expect the grumpy mage to do so. "My ring!" her normally glum face is bright, her deep blue eyes shining as they gaze on her second most treasured item, slipping it on her finger with a sigh.
Then remembering the bearer, she looks back up to Azadi giving him a deep nod of thanks, retreating back to her station before she's yelled at.
Azadi chuckles at the Sylph’s meek behavior. ”You’re welcome,” he says warmly. ”You know you’re allowed to talk to me, right? We geniekin ought to stick together...and I’ve had a misstep or two talking with the other crew members, too...”
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Donomsail looks at the duties for the day and swears quietly to herself. "Damn! Ek het amper vanoggend gekies om reg te maak!"
While mending some worn rope Domonsail sees Polli talking to the Gnome and she moves closer, not to eavesdrop but because Polli's tone is more relaxed and friendly than usual and she wants to hear more of that pretty voice. When Tessa and Jack come up for some fresh air and Tessa makes the comment about Polli's lack of social graces Donomsail can't help but join in. "It's not that you lack social graces but there is balance in all things, your introverted way balances out Tessa's extreme gregariousness. See it's not a bad thing."
Once Tessa leaves Domonsail moves the ropes closer so she and Polli can talk, not next to each other but close enough so they can speak at a normal volume.
"Now if'n ya wants ta git better ya needs ta practice. So I'm gonna tells ya somethin' 'bout me then I wants ya ta tell me somethin' 'bout you. Now'n I'm a gonna start off easy on account of I don't wanna scare ya off. For the first week in the temple I wouldn't go out o' me room. Tis true! 'N' the only one I'd let in was Veh. It wasn't 'til a little slip of a thing moved in with us that changed. Name of Hadi it was, means leader, and boy she certainly did lead me. Led me right out o' me room and into the lives of some o' the best folks I ever got ta know. Outside of you all of course. Now you tell me somethin' 'n' donna worry 'bout what 'tis ain't nothing gonna upset me."
Polli turns back to the undine, with a raised brow. She has the distinct impression (somehow since she is poop with reading people) that he has misread her demeanor somewhere down the line. In the past (as in ten minutes ago) she'd verbally snap his head off and then weather the resulting backlash.
She realizes at this time it is unwise, so she answers nicely... well as nicely as Polli can get.
"No matter what Someone may have told you, no one controls who I am 'allowed' to talk to. But... thank you for the ring and the offer further discussion. Truly, thank you." she nods again and then returns to her mending, to find the tiefling woman at her station. She had laughed, without meaning to when she mentioned that Polli balanced the strawberry, like such a thing was even possible, so instead of moving her stuff further away she sat down and listened.
"Hmm..." Polli has heard of this, Bonding it was called, she could just leave, run even. Or she could try it. "I have two hundred and thirty one living relatives, that I am aware of, all from my father's line. And I am older than them all. The elemental blood adopted from my mother makes me age at a decelerated rate to all those I lo-" she stopped, deciding this was probably took much to go into, so veers into another less personal subject, quickly "On second thought, I love honey. As the servant of the god of nature, if listening to your prayers of the morning is correct, I want to personally thank you for whatever part he might have played in the creation of the honey bee."