---=== Dinner ===---
"I guess we really impressed the captain today!" Veronica says as the group sits down for dinner, after Grok brings Tempest her gear "I was half expecting Plugg to ignore the reefclaws and berate us for not bringing the full six buckets of crabs. It was a pretty good idea to bring them back Mac, well done. And we should thank you for an amazing dinner as well."
---=== Boarding Training ===---
Before starting, Veronica looks up at the crewmates on the deck as they prepare the thrash that will be thrown at her during her attempt.
Climbing up shouldn't be too hard - if I didn't have to dodge all that stuff as well. Should probably try to make it up as quickly as possible.
15
Fall?
Grab
Fall
Fall
Fall
15
30
Hoping to avoid as much of the incoming garbage as she can, Veronica tries to climb as fast as she's able.
On her first attempt, her reckless climbing almost makes her fall down, but she manages to hold on with some magical help. Her success is short lived however, as she's pelted with all the stuff thrown at her, landing her on the water.
Her second attempt goes even worse - she falls down even before making any real progress.
She sets off again for the last time, and manages to make it three quarters of the way up, but all the thrash being thrown at her again makes her lose balance and fall down into the water.
She joins the others after climbing back on the jolly boat, visibly frustrated at her failed attempts.
Rairis Krine lays into the entire lot of the group, ranting and raving about the poor performances that everyone displayed. Her profanity-laden tirade goes so far as to become entirely comprehensible with exotic insults and curses. By the time she is done, her voice is hoarse from screaming. Still, she doesn't make anyone repeat the exercise, seeming to assume that, at the very least, you have an idea of what the boarding process is SUPPOSED to look like, and if you fail during the real thing, then you won't be her problem anymore.
---=== Bloody Hour ===---
Every member of the group is subjected to six rope bashes for failing at the boarding exercise.
---=== Dinner ===---
Dinner tonight is comprised of one of Kroop's "famous" fish stews, much to the groans of the crew.
Bruised, wet, and dejected, Ellie takes her food without bothering to complain and finds a spot of deck to collapse onto. That Scourge seems to like nothing better than finding any excuse to punish her is certainly nothing new, but somehow it strikes differently when it's the result of her own failure-- and this was certainly her failure. Some pirate I turned out to be,she thinks sardonically. How hard is it to climb a stupid rope? "I guess the next time they need a boarding party, they'll have to ask someone else. None of us did very well at it."
---=== Days 15-18 ===---
Over the next few days, things take a turn for the worse. Every day, the members of the group are given tasks they least prefer, or are worst suited for. Ellie is consistently made to act as runner (giving Scourge ample opportunity to be a creep), Melli forced to do repairs, and Tempest tasked with activities requiring physical might she does not possess. Veronica does not escape, either, being assigned hard, tiring jobs each day. Compounding the issue, Plugg and Scourge start making frequent appearances throughout the day, ready to jump on any misstep or small error. As such, Bloody Hour starts to feature at least one of the group each night.
MacLaren is spared much of the abuse, but only because his work is separated from the others'.
---=== Day 19 ===---
Something is off, this morning, and everyone can feel it. When handing out job tasks, Scourge seems to take special care. Almost everyone in the crew is assigned tasks that will keep them above-decks, except for Ellie, who is assigned to the bilges, alone.
On her way down to the bilges, she is stopped by Scourge and Plugg, who briskly, and THOROUGHLY, search her for any weapons and confiscate them.
The bilges are, as always, hot and uncomfortably humid.
It's clear by now that the task assignments are deliberately cruel. Ellie is so exhausted at the end of each day that she stops entertaining the notion of doing anything in the evening hours; all she wants to do is rest. To make matters worse, Scourge gets the double-benefit of having more excuses to leer at Ellie in particular. Is no one else on this ship to his liking? His comments get more frequent and more overt, as though daring her to retaliate in some way. I'm going to enjoy cutting that lecherous tongue out of your mouth someday.
* * * * *
The nineteenth day is different, though. Strange, even. Scourge gives up any chance of watching her or talking to her the rest of the day by assigning her to... the bilges. A terrible task by any measure, but at least it has a silver lining.
She should have known better, however; Scourge doesn't let her off the hook that easily but insists on stripping her of her weapons before she reports for duty. Defiant in her humiliation, Ellie flinches this way and that during Scourge's and Plugg's grope-search. Not enough to impede their progress or hide anything-- she knows better than to be insubordinate-- just enough to show them she isn't subdued. "Scourge you've already searched back there. I'm going, I'm going."
The bilges is as unpleasant as ever-- hot, stuffy, and miserable-- but at least it finally and completely gets her away from Scourge. Whatever they're up to above deck (and they certainly have something in mind, that much was written all over the man's dumb face during morning assignments) she'll just have to keep an ear out as much as she can so she can race back up if necessary. Perhaps I should take it as a compliment. Whatever they're planning, they need me out of the way.
Shortly after Ellie begins her work, her elf ears pick up a soft sound, almost imperceptible over the sloshing of water and creaking of planks; The sound of scraping of wood against wood, over the trapdoor overhead. Shockingly, she realizes that, based on where the sound stopped, something has been placed over the door, preventing it from opening. A moment later, she notices a new box in the bilge, that she has not seen in here before. In fact, it's less a box and more a cage. An empty cage. An empty, OPEN, cage.
A moment later, she spots movement in the water, moving towards her. A sleek, dark-scaled snake cuts through the shallow water with impressive ease, moving in for a strike!
In one horror-filled moment, all the pieces-- the change of assignment, the disarmament, the isolation-- come crashing together: The scheme isn't happening without her, it's happening to her. Ellie didn't get pushed out of the way, but rather pushed away from her allies so they could take her out alone. And I have no weapons!
she shouts at the top of her lungs, but has little hope of being heard. Above her is the crew quarters, and precious few would be in there mid-morning.
Wait. In her magic lessons with Veronica, the woman had taught her many things about spellcasting, but one thing Ellie had learned above all others was: Words have power. The right chants and gestures, combined with the caster's own will, can accomplish just about anything. Ellie had managed to get the hang of a few spells, and though none of them are of any use right now, she has an idea. I wonder if just anything will work.
She tries again, focusing her newfound magical abilities into her voice, unsure what will happen but figuring that just about any spell effect is better than being eaten by a snake. "HELP!" Then, with nothing else to attack with, she lunges at the snake with her fists.
Her hands glow faintly purple and crackle with energy. Her fist strikes true, much harder than she would otherwise be capable of doing. Whoa!
As Ellie punches the snake, she also remembers that Beryl once found a couple of heavy maces in the bilges. With any luck, there might be something else down here she could use.
The snake takes the blow and recoils back in surprise. Being an ambush hunter, it doesn't seem to be used to being attacked first. Still, it recovers quickly and lashes back out, fangs bared.
Ellie casts about in the murky water for anything that might help, but can't see anything she might use as a weapon. The light fades almost as quickly as it had sprung up, so she tries again. "HELP!"
Retcon: The snake lashes out at Ellie as she empowers herself, then retreats back to prepare for another strike, or to allow its venom to do its work. Being an ambush hunter, it isn't used to its prey fighting back so suddenly. Still, it presses the assault, lashing out again with its fangs.
This time, its attack only catches the air.
"HELP!"
Anger wells up within Ellie. Anger at Scourge, at the ship, at her father for leaving her, all of it combines together. And now she has a target. "Come on, then, bastard," she growls at the snake. "Let's find out which of us lives!"
There appears to be no response to her cries for help. The snake, certainly, doesn't seem inclined to offer mercy. It hisses at her as she punches it again, and rears back before lashing out for another attack.
Missing again, it retreats, diving under the murky water and attempting to hide again.
Ellie lets the magic fade from her hands and climbs the ladder, out of the water and away from the snake. It doesn't have many places to hide, but even still she just manages to see its glowing eyes from under a crate.
She reaches up to pound on the door above her, then thinks better of it. If they trapped me down here to die, they'll expect to find my body later. Better to wait until they check. There's no way to know how long that will take, but she figures that at worst, her absence at the evening meal would be noticed and someone would be sent down to check on her.
Still on the ladder, she turns back to where the snake is hiding and watches it warily.
The snake continues to swim, circling the ladder in the disgusting standing water of the bilges. Ellie is too high up on the ladder for it to launch any kind of reasonable attack, but it seems content to wait for her to return...
Now that she has a bit of a respite, Ellie casts one of the few spells she'd managed to master. She gestures and whispers into her hand. She's pretty sure MacLaren is closest to her at the moment, and she doesn't want to risk Scourge finding out too soon, so she limits her spell to one target.
At that moment, MacLaren hears Ellie's urgent whisper in his ear. "MacLaren! Need your help. I'm trapped in the bilges with a poisonous snake!"
"Kroop, I'll be back in a bit. Gotta go check on something."
Brother MacLaren will head down towards the bilges.
He'll try to avoid being seen by Plugg and Scourge.
MacLaren does see Scourge prowling about in the main hold, but is able to get past him easily. In the lower hold, he sees that someone seems to have moved a large crate over the trapdoor to the bilges. Considering the effort it takes to open the door normally, he is certain the extra weight would make it all but impossible to open from the inside.
In the bilges, Ellie can still see the snake swimming its way through the murky water, waiting for her to come back down...
MacLaren will move the crate off the trapdoor and open the hatch to the bilges.
The hatch above her head opens and Ellie sees MacLaren peek down. "Oh, thank Cayden you heard me! They disarmed me and sent me down here, it turns out, so I could get eaten by this snake! I'm okay right now, but have you got any weapons on you?" She turns to look down at the snake, still watching her from the water. "When I go back to Scourge I'm taking that with me."
MacLaren helps Ellie out and looks into the bilges.
"It would be great to get Scourge trapped down there... but if we don't disarm him then he could kill the snake. And if we do try to disarm him, he would scream and raise the alarm.
Beat him up, knock him out, throw him in the bilges and let the snake finish the job? No, again, I expect he'd scream for help before we knocked him out.
Maybe we have to bide our time.
Yeah, I've got some weapons. And I can make do without."
He hands Ellie his rapier.
"I don't know what you want to do about the snake. Leave it there are warn the crew? Or go back and finish it off?"
He will heal Ellie's wounds.
"I like how you think, my friend," Ellie says as she takes the rapier. "If he were here now, might be worth the risk. But he's probably above deck with everyone else, and attacking him would be outright mutiny."
With the rapier in hand, Ellie instantly feels better. "Now where were we!?" she challenges the snake. She focuses her magic into her words again. "HELP!"
In the time looking at MacLaren to speak, Ellie has lost sight of the snake. It must be somewhere down there, in the murky water...
"Let's do this."
Brother MacLaren will cast Bless (which mostly stacks with Inspire Courage) and Divine Favor.
He draws his tankard and prepares to follow Ellie down.
Ellie splashes back down into the water, but with no sight of the snake she yells in frustration. "Where are you, you stupid... HELP!" She stabs at the spot she last saw the thing.
Ellie strikes the water, but connects with nothing. There is a moment of calm stillness before the snake strikes again, this time lunging out of the water at MacLaren.
The snake's fangs sink into MacLaren's leg, only doing nominal damage, but enough to deliver its venom. It then slinks back away, into the water.
The snake's venom is painful, but Brother MacLaren lashes back with a swift blow from his tankard.
He spots the snake as it tries to slink away and hide.
Spotting the snake once again, Ellie stabs forward at it. "HELP!"
MacLaren's blow lands true, and instead of swimming away, the snake's unconscious body floats to the surface. Without any way to dodge the blow, Ellie's rapier makes the sleep a permanent one.
Brother MacLaren's hardy constitution - and a bit of luck - enables him to shake off the venom.
He immediately heads up, to prevent Plugg or Scourge from trapping both he and Ellie in the bilges. Although hopefully they were as unable to hear the commotion as he had been prior to Ellie's spell.
Ellie wipes the rapier clean and shoves it, naked, into her belt for now. She grabs the dead snake with one hand and climbs up the ladder after the cleric. Once out of the bilges she returns the weapon, then-- when the blade is safely back in MacLaren's scabbard-- she wraps him in a tight hug."I... don't know what would've happened if you hadn't come. Thank you." She picks up the snake's body and carries it over her shoulder. "Now let's show everyone our souvenir."
Above, in full view of Scourge and all the crew, Ellie tosses the dead snake onto the deck. "Can anyone tell me what kind of snake this is? It attacked me down in the bilges." She looks directly at Scourge. "Just wondering how it got there."
MacLaren returns the embrace, then gives Ellie a smile.
"Hey. You had that snake beat. All I did was speed things along a bit. Better if they think you did this entirely single-handedly."
He slips back to the galley before he is too long gone and is not on deck for the big reveal.
Plugg and Scourge turn to look at Ellie as she walks up on deck. Scourge looks a little nervous at the sight of her, before his eyes track down to the snake, and his expression turns to one of almost...sadness?
Plugg is much more composed, giving her a scowl, "So you found some vermin in the bilges and killed it? What, you want a medal or something? That's part of the job. Go get back to work, before you earn yourself a lashing!"
The crew seems a little off-put by the dead snake, but no one seems to want to cross Plugg in this moment. Despite a few murmers, they all go back to their assigned tasks in pretty short order.
Of course. Now it makes sense why everyone else was assigned above deck. I should have picked up on it sooner!
She gives Plugg and Scourge a furious look before approaching Ellie and patting her in the back, while talking just loud enough to make herself heard by the obnoxious pair.
"Pretty good job taking care of it all by yourself. If it was anyone less skilled that was sent down there unarmed while everyone else was ordered to remain on deck, it could have gotten them killed."
"I'm sure the captain wouldn't be happy to hear about how that unusual set of coincidences could have cost him a crewmate, worried as he was about us being short-handed when we came aboard."
Veronica eyes Plugg and Scourge as she finishes her sentence, making sure her meaning was clear.
Melli shrugs at Ellie, a what can you do? expression on her face, then glares pointedly at Plugg and Scourge. "Maybe we should de-vermin the ship sometime, eh? Between the extra large rats and the poisonous snakes on board, it's no wonder the captain's concerned about his crew size staying reasonable."
Plugg gives a dismissive, almost challenging, sneer to Veronica's accusatory tone, "I said, get back to work. Unless you want to catch some lashings, too?" Almost absentmindedly, he adds, "And get that slimy thing off my deck."
The rest of the day and night go by without any additional surprises, though the snake does end up being the topic of discussion for the day. Spiders and rats seem to be the norm, but this appears to be the first snake that "found its way aboard."
---=== Day 20 ===---
The next day, work rotations return to normal, or at least as normal as they have become of late. Late in the afternoon, however, a new surprise is in store.
"Ship ahoy!"
The call comes from the crow's nest, and the ship suddenly all but explodes into activity. Captain Harrigan barks orders to the officers, who in turn start barking at the crew. The Wormwood turns to begin pursuing its prey, while the other ship attempts to flee. As the evening wears on, the Wormwood gradually closes the gap.
Down in the crew deck, after the evening meal, Ellie wraps her arms around Veronica and buries her face in the woman's shoulder. "Thank you," she says softly. "It was the magic you taught me that saved me today. Without it I... I would've died down there." The thought chills her. A sailor's life is dangerous, with every storm bringing the possibility of being swept overboard and drowned. But the knowledge that someone had planned and carried out an execution against her, and that only her own training and quick-thinking had kept her from dying alone trapped in the bilge... it unsettles her more than she would've expected. Perhaps it's the release of all the various emotions of the day.
Ellie's embrace catches Veronica by surprise, but she quickly hugs her back and holds her tight for a moment, before replying.
"I'm glad I at least thaught you what you needed today, but I wish I could have done more, that I'd been there with you instead. I should have realised what was happening and done something. I'm sorry."
"Come now Ellie, don't say that. You figured out something was off, and managed to get yourself out of one of the deadliest situation any of us has been in aboard the ship. And you did it using magic, with only a couple weeks of practice!" It's clear from Veronica's tone how impressed she is with Ellie's actions today, as well as a bit of pride for her role in her arcane studies.
The Wormwood turns to begin pursuing its prey, while the other ship attempts to flee. As the evening wears on, the Wormwood gradually closes the gap.
The crew remains at the mast, working late and in shifts. Our hero's get to bed late and rise early to spell those who had sailed all night.
---=== Day 21 ===---
With an air of expectancy, the entire crew goes about their business, as Plug and Scourge attention is split between the crewmembers and the captain waiting for any commands. Around midday the call comes down from the 'crow's nest' "It's a three masted Galleon, looks Rahadoumi" The nervous energy of the crew is almost palatable as they continue working to inevitable catch their prey. In small groups the officers begin sending crewmembers down to their lockers to arm themselves.
Below decks while Brother MacLaren is preparing dinner, he's approached by 'Fishguts.' the fat cook gestures towards the hold, while he picks up a butcher knife from a table. "Come on lad, the cap'ain said we's ta butcher 'em piglets, slit 'air throats and toss 'em overboard fer tha sharks." As the two leave the galley to catch the pigs, Fishguts shakes his head, speaking softly "Biggest waste of pork-flesh I've seen."
As the Wormwood closes to within half an hour our hero's above deck are approached by Riaris Krine, the Wormwood master gunner. Pointing at Tempest, Melli, Veronica and Ellie, she orders, "You four lily-livered lack-lustered land-lubbers, get below decks and fetch yer weapons an' get back up here and report to me." As she starts to waive them off, Mac and Ambrose appear on deck, a dead pig in each hand, tossing the carcasses over the gunwale. She calls out to the ladies pointing towards MacLaren, "And bring ‘at bloody cook's mate with ya!"
MacLaren's spells for the day:
Guidance, Grasp, Create Water, Light
Bless, Divine Favor, Shield of Faith, Longstrider (D)
"Well that's pretty stupid," MacLaren comments to Kroop. "Is this some game to instill fear? That Captain Harrigan tries to make sure there are sharks around whenever he attacks a ship?"
He goes down to get his weapons. For a moment, Brother MacLaren debates putting his armor on. It helps a lot against weapons, but impairs his ability to climb. He reluctantly decides against it.
This is going to hurt.
Looking up towards Mac as he slits the throat of the piglet he caught, 'Fishguts' shrugs. "I ain't rightly sure lad." Wiping his bloody hand on his apron, "I jus think 'e likes ta watch men get ate by 'em sharks. His own swabs or tha other crews." As they come on deck carrying a dead pig in each hand, Ambrose nods towards the nearing ship, "You jus' make sure ya get over ta the deck o' that ship in one piece. I don't want ta be losin' me best mate."
Just in case she ends up being called to be part of the boarding party despite her lackluster performance at the training session, Veronica gets up early enough to refresh her spell selection, focusing on choices that might be useful in such a case.
As they make their way downstairs after getting their orders, Veronica looks worriedly at each her companions, especially Ellie. Just three weeks ago, Ellie could have easily been on the other side of this battle.
Up until now we've just been sailors on a ship - this will be our first act of piracy. This might be what I wanted, but everyone else is being forced into it.
Veronica takes all her weapons with her, giving a slight and discreet pull on her grandmother's sword - hoping the current situation might somehow let her finally get it out of its scabbard, but it remains unmoved.
She considers taking her armor for a bit, before reluctantly leaving it behind.
"I'll try to get there as fast as I can to help clear the path for you all. Can't say I'm comfortable going into a fight unarmoured, but I have some magic to help me out with that."
Melli tosses her chain shirt over her head, letting it drape over her before cinching it into place with some leather straps. "You'll need to race me over there. I'm going to find me a good half-orc to climb. Half-orcs are the best for climbing!" There's no real nerves in Melli, or at least none she's willing to show.
She loops her scabbard around her belt, securing her rapier, then stares at the rest of her fellow recruits. "You're going in with no armor? I'll gamble that I won't be climbing from a rowboat this time. Just stay near me and we'll fight over anyone who tries to stop us together."
Tempest raises an eyebrow at the command, taking a moment to look down at herself. She shrugs and steps forward, already ready to go.
I AM a weapon. She allows herself a smirk at the thought, and flexes her right hand instinctively, a coruscating ball of lightning forming between her fingers and palm. While she waits, she looks over the railing at the fleeing ship as they approach.
Almost like old times. Almost.
Ellie runs below deck to grab her rapier, normally kept in her foot locker for being too unwieldy during normal ship's tasks. She checks that her pistol is loose in its holster, and secures her ammunition pouch to her belt. I don't love the thought of killing innocent sailors, she muses. But I can only imagine what they'd do to me if I refuse the fight or surrender. And if it's some Rahadoumis or me... I choose me.
Returning above deck, she notices that most of the others have opted out of their armor. "Next time we find a port," she tells them, "we're going shopping." She knocks her knuckles against the wood of her armor. "This stuff doesn't weigh you down. It's a must for sailors."
Watching three of the four women begin to head below decks. Riaris Krine turned and looked at Tempest. Raising an eyebrow at Tempest's display but saying nothing, She continues moving across the deck giving orders to other crewmembers. When she sees the other women have returned and the cook's mate had joined them, she walks past nodding her head towards poop deck Telling the group. "You lubbers follow me."
Once everyone has joined her, she looks them over, head to toe, her eyes resting on their choice of weapons. Shaking her head, she nods towards MacLaren's copper mug. "You lubbers really are a floggin' sad lot." Turing towards Tempest, she asks, "You sure that little spark is enough for what we bloody well have to do?" She gestures towards the hatch, "I'd recommend you fetch yourself a real bloody weapon." She shrugs, "But it's your blasted life right?"
Finally her eyes fall on Veronica's cutlass. "One real weapon amongst the bloody lot of ya." She looks Veronica in the eye, "Well Red that cutlass of yours has earned you the floggin' responsibility of leading these swabs." She gestures the general direction of the fleeing ship. "The Bloody ship’s wheel is on the aft deck, just below the sterncastle. You lubbers are going to grapple over, kill the floggin' guards on the sterncastle take the bloody wheel, and guard the blasted ship’s boats. Kill anyone who tries to get away on one of the boats. Don’t move from the blasted wheel until the fighting’s done, or you’ll have to bloody well answer to me. Oh yeah, as we get close, it’s going to get foggy, pea-soup thick, foggy. Just stick to what I told you to do.”
Her eyes move from crew member to crew member. "Is that simple enough for you lubbers or do you have any questions."
Veronica grins at Melli's challenge. "You want to see who boards the ship first? You're on!"
"And I guess you're right, we're not going to be climbing along the whole hull of the ship from a row boat this time. Some extra protection should prove useful." Veronica comments as she goes back and dons her armor before returning upstairs. "Plus, our race wouldn't be exactly fair if you're weighing your self down and I'm not."
-------
Back on deck, she listens closely to Krine's instructions.
"No questions from me. We'll get it done. I know everyone here can handle themselves pretty well in a fight."