Cordelia helps scrounge for bolts.
Maia looks around in horror as everyone else starts searching for bolts and leaves her to collect them and screw them in. As people start bringing them to her, she kneels by the first hole and tries desperately to twist them in place.
Bukis has a look of surprised admiration on his face face as Maia very adroitly takes the bolts and starts screwing them in.
Estian kneels down opposite of Maia and lends her a hand and his useful insights. The latter are a waste as neither of them can hear, but it's the thought that counts.
If necessary, he'll use the pummel of the cutlass to give the bolts a smack, and since the weapon is a foul Chelish thing, the length of the blade as an improv screwdriver if the head needs a nudge.
"Oh wow, I think we did it!"
The group works fairly well together, given the gloom and the ringing in most of their ears. Cordelia and Bukis locate two of the missing bolts and between them Maia and Estian get one back in place in no time at all. Unfortunately there is still one missing and two holes to be filled. The motion of the ship is becoming more pronounced, even this deep in the ship.
Estian notices the discrepancy of there being three holes and only two bolts. "We need another one!", he says with a loud voice. There's still that blasted ringing in his ears. It isn't permanent, is it?!
"Found It!" Lillebeth exclaims, as she waves the bolt to the others. She tries to slam it into place, since Maia made it look so easy but it gets stuck with no amount of pounding from her making it budge. "Big guy!" she yells for help from Burkis.
Bukis, hears the call for aid and moves to the rudder to help put the bolts in place. Pushing Lily out of the way he takes over with a little man-splaining he attempts to put the bolt in. "Hold it wrong. More like this."
Estian attempts to help Bukis.
Grateful that others have come to work, Maia takes a step back from the holes and tries to just help Bukis instead.
Bukis, with a little help from his friends, manages to line up the bolts and hammer them home with blows of his fist. A faint cry comes from the main deck far above. "She steers!"
Then, for Lily and Bukis at least, a new sound permeates the air, the sound of shouting, angry cries thumps as though blows are being exchanged. Hurrying up from the hold reveals empty crew quarters, although they are in even more of a mess than before. The commotion is coming from the deck and as the group rushes up from the main deck the storm hits them full blast.
Rain lashes the deck and the wind howls through what remains of the rigging. The mainmast is half off the ship, acting like a huge and unwieldy anchor, but the greatest danger right now is the mob of prisoners surrounding four sailors, Trinan and three of the drunks from the cabins. The fourth is already sprawled on the deck, either dead or unconscious as the prisoners scream abuse.
"Hear us, Storm Father!" One prisoner bellows. "Take now this sacrifice of blood and avert your wrath from us!"
"Kill them!" The others respond, "Kill the slavers!"
If you want to prevent bloodshed you'll have to act fast!
”Wait!” Maia shouts as she rushes towards the angry mob. ”We need hands more than we need a sacrifice right now... and these men are sailors, which are in short supply right now! Please, let’s all work together, at least until we’re safe...”
Maia's appeal to common sense and necessity appears to be quite effective and some of the former prisoners start looking at each other sidelong. One, who has a long beard and is wielding a belaying pin like a club roars back.
"Sailors cannot help us now! Only Gozreh's will will save us. He demands sacrifice!"
Estian points his cutlass at old longbeard and addresses him with a loud booming voice that's equal parts temporary deafness and anger. "What are you, a priest? They might be slaver scum, but right now we need every sailor we have to make sure this sad old tub stays afloat. We can deal with them later, but that mast needs to be dealt with now!"
With that said, Estian points his cutlass the broken mast, hoping that the man sees the light.
"Gozreh is the God of the Storm. He loves the storm, no you. We are just ants beneath his notice or care. Sacrificing anyone won't change that. I am a priestess of Desna, Goddess of Travellers. She does care, and knows sailors are needed Now!" Lillebeth screams through the howling winds in hope that her words will be heeded.
Lilly's words are mostly lost in the storm but Estian overcomes his own deafness by booming so loud that even the storm has to give way. The grey beard scowls and lets Trinan go and the rest of the prisoners scatter - mostly to heave against the mast. The madness has passed, at least for now.
As you move to free the sailors there is finally a chance to take stock of events on the main deck. It is awash with sea water and blood as lightning crashes overhead and the wind howls above. At the stern, the door to the Captain’s cabin throws a beam of light onto the deck which is bisected by the wreckage of the main mast which is dragging dangerously over the side as two frantic sailors try to free the final ship’s boat from underneath it.
Having called out what to do, it's now up to Estian to follow up on it. And so he does. With cutlass in hand, he strikes at the last strands keeping the mast in place. If the mast isn't deal with soon, they'll have to start carving their epitaphs into its weathered wooden surface.
Estian lands a strong blow, cutting through one of the iron taunt ropes.
Having given away all the weapons, Maia watches helplessly as the others work to cut the mast free.
Lillebeth is also weaponless, she calls out to see if anyone of the prisoners can help, if they have a blade.
Unfortunately the prisoners were armed solely with belaying pins and driftwood planks (all bludgeoning).
Although neither of them has much skill with the blades, Maia hands a cutlass to Lilly and grips the last one herself. Charging forward, she joins the effort to hack free the broken mast.
"Hmmm..." she takes the heavy blade with a frown but gets to hacking with the others.
Despite her well aimed blow, the blade bounces off the rope.
Taking sword in hand Bukis swings at the rope holding the mainmast in place.
Frustrated Bukis swings again trying to bring down the mainmast.
With a mighty heave Bukis cuts through three ropes in a single slice and the mast slides free of the ship. The difference is immediately apparent.
"Stay those ropes you fools!" Maia calls out to the sailors, "Look out into sea... do you see the other boats? No, because they've all been swamped or dashed against the ship! If you want to kill yourselves, find a dagger or grab some rope and hang yourselves, but don't destroy the last boat!"
The sailors looks shocked and one of them starts to yell back, but then his partner puts a hand on his arm and says something you can't hear over the howling of the storm. The first sailor looks out across the sea and sighs. They both nod to Maia and then turn to relashing the boat down and clearing the remaining wreckage from the deck.
Estian was about to burst into a tangent about how rats make poor sailors, since they scurry off and abandon both ship and crew when things get tough, but he did meet some amazing ratfolk people before. The whole process occupies the esquire's mind too much for him to actively contribute to Maia's exchange with the two sailors.
They do say that it is the thought that counts.
Seeing everything else is in hand, and not wanting to waste too much time, Lilly heads into the quartermaster's stores
"Careful. Don't know what's there." Bukis is looking directly at Lily when he says this but as he doesn't use her name he hopes that no one realizes who he is expressing concern about. Once he knows that the mainmast is secure Bukis will follow Lily and Maia.
Estian falls in behind the others. His eyes dart from left to right, betraying his antsiness. With the mast gone, the lot of them being stuck in a killer storm, surely there could still be worse yet to come.
You're THAT unlucky, after all, Es.
As Maia berates the sailors, the rest of the group heads to the peak and the quartermasters stores. This relatively cramped triangular area of the forepeak is lined with shelves and a huge selection of labelled boxes, most of which now lie scattered on the floor, among three larger chests, as others teeter precariously. A porthole on the starboard side flaps open, letting in wild sprays of water with every pitch of the ship. Two terrified cats crouch beneath an overhang of boxes, their fur standing on end as they hiss wildly. As Lilly leads the way into the storeroom the cats lash out at her!
Bukis looks in the room, sees the cats and realizes the importance of protecting them. "Black cats lucky. Protect them. Calm them. " He says to Lily as he moves to close the window.
However fighting against the storm proves more difficult than he anticipated.
"Calm them?!?" Lilly looks at Burkis in surprised worry, but tries.
"here kitty kitty, its okay, we might die but it is okay"
The cats do not seem reassured. Bosun (the black one) lashes out at Lilli and Scourge (a ginger tabby) scratches at Bukis's ankles, impeding his attempts to make it through the room.
When the cat jumps on Lili and goes to town on the poor woman with teeth and claw, Estian can't take it anymore. He steps up and does what one shouldn't. Like a proud Andoran punting a football to win his hometown the game, Estian kicks the cat with admirable skill and technique. "Bugger off, fleabag!"
Bosun goes flying across the room, hits the bulkhead and disappears into a box. It does not emerge.
"Hells!" Lilly stumbles back as she starts to bleed badly.
She swings her cutlass at the remaining one, an overhand chop meant for chopping wood. Which is actually all she chops into, the floor.
Bukis watches as Estian takes care of one of the cats with a withering glance. "Doesn't know cats lucky. " He says to himself but he doesn't say anything aloud as he won't fault anyone for just not knowing. Seeing the cats being taken care of he turns back to the porthole, trying once again to close it.
Trying not to hurt Scourge makes Bukis's job harder but he manages to brute force the porthole closed, stopping any more seawater getting into the store room.
With that done it is a simple matter to pop an empty crate over Scourge and solve the problem of the cats - for now at least. Maia arrives just as the excitement is dying down.
"Are these the quartermaster's stores?" Maia asks as she looks over the boxes, "I wonder if the stuff they took from us is here... I had a chainmail shirt with me that was a gift from a young captain friend of mine, and it would be nice to have it back..."
Maia rummages through the boxes and soon finds a variety of items, including her chain shirt, a pair of beautifully embroidered boots sized for a halfling or gnome and a prosthetic hand.
"Captin's quarters?" Lilly suggests, as she feels the warmth of her goddess cover her once she slips the butterfly pendant over her head to rest on her chest.
”That sounds like a good plan,” Maia answers. Grabbing the boots and hand for the other freed slaves, she lets her armed companions go first and then follows them towards the back of the ship.