Ekubus's page

Ekubus perks up at Darvesch's words and picks up a stick with a checkered stick full of bulky objects knotted to one end.

"Dat be mighty big o' ye. The Salty Strumpet don't look likely to e'er sail ag'in and these here extra-low tides 'ave done a number on 'er bulwarks..."

He flaps up into the air to land on the ship's railing before looking back down. "I jes need a few moments to say some words to me crew. If'n ye'll be bunkin' by them stones what stand on that bluff then I'll be seein' ya shortly."

With that, he begins addressing the crew in a tongue that only Alis seems to understand, judging by her amused (or perhaps concerned) expression.

"Sooo..." Ekubus scratches his head before replacing his ridiculously over-sized bicorn. "I don't be supposin' yer strange new friend what's got the tail be havin' a ship o' her own, now does she?"

Alis raises an eyebrow at the little mephit.

"Well jus' 'at now that ol' Cap'n Ekubus 'as the good Admiral's sextant and 'is revenge 'as been seen to, mayhap it be time to weigh anchor an' set sail..."

"Well g'night and smooth sailin' to ya, so's ta speak."

With that, the good 'captain' flies back to The Salty Strumpet and begins performing what can only be a uniform inspection... on the barnacles.

Ekubus' eyes go wide and he reaches up eagerly to grasp the well-crafted instrument. He turns it over in his hands a few times until he finds what he was looking for.

"To Captain Farrell, love Molly," he reads. With a sniff, he wipes away a tear. "Ye've a heart as gold as your head, lass. Aye, that be the one..."

After a moment, he looks up and exclaims, "Billy!"

He then flies off into the wreck and you hear a commotion as he reprimands a crew-member for attacking a superior officer and to "stand down!"

About a minute later, her returns with a new hole in his hat and a coil of seemingly brand new rope in his hands. "Billy here's not much for a life at sea, but he does an honest day's work if'n ye ask nice. Don't figure what with havin' wings n' all that you'll be workin' together ere long, but if ye could help him to find a new port ta call home, ye seem good at findin' things..."

With that, he flies up and droops the coil of rope around the succubus' shoulders. You note that at one end it has a gold fist holding what appears to be a small, black anchor. On instinct, Lureene casts detect magic and discovers that "Billy" radiates an aura of faint transmutation — a rope of climbing!

"Don't know that I'd be callin' a lass with a tail instead of legs a lady," he takes off his hat and scratches his bald pate before blowing some more bubbles out of his pipe. "Anyhows, she came down that gulch with a big old brute behind her, giant of some kind with red tattoos all over 'im. That's when he showed up, the scaly bastard with wings what carried off the Admiral an' his prize sextant..."

The mephit takes a seat on a turtle that begins crawling along like some walking stool. "Oh I know the good Admiral gave that demon what-for, but 'at was the laaast I seen of 'im, gods bless 'is heart..."

"Been stuck here ever since, run aground on these rocks, no instruments to guide the lads and I home."

He pats the hull of The Salty Strumpet and one of the board gives way, obviously turned to mush from countless years of rot.

"Where was I?" He looks around from one woman to the next, seemingly not paying any attention to the men, "Oh right, the girl! Anyhows, when I seen that she cast some sort of spell on the demon that left it addled, then bled that giant brute dry, I reckoned she weren't no more a lady than me mum and figured it best not to hail her. Never much cared for gals with scales anyhows..."

Suddenly, Ekubus looks toward Darvesch and starts shaking his pipe at him, clearly agitated. "Well don't you think they're scary then? Oh no, not you in all that fine armor, no course not. Well I don't like it, not one bit! Who in the bloody hell builds doors under the sea anyway an' then covers 'em with carvings of bloody vampires?! Real head case I tell you that!"

For some time the mephit wanders about calling a uniform inspection for a group of crabs edging their way away from the ship and its mad little captain.

The little Captain's bright yellow eyes go wide upon hearing familiar jargon from the slightly shorter blonde. He flies up before Lureene and sweeps his hat off is smooth little head in a grandiose bow.

"Captain Ekubus of The Salty Strumpet. Hope you weren't takin' no offense, your sister's a fine piece of work and I do like the wings. Now then Miss Ellie," he kisses Lureene's hand before he situates his oversized hat back on his head, "what was it you were askin' ag'in?"

He furrows his brow, gaze drifting down from her face for a moment. "Mmm... Oh that's right! Lookers you said! Well, ain't nobody come along in some time that I'd call a looker, least not compared to present company, but now that you mention it, you're not the first folks to pass this way recently. Not the first extra-low tide the crew have seen lately either for that matter... Anyhows, a funny-lookin' lass came thru here just last night actually and went thru those big scary doors. Ain't seen 'er since."

When you look up, those of you who have any knowledge of planar creatures immediately recognize the little fellow as a water mephit. The impish looking thing sighs and shakes his head sadly. "Just like the old admiral said, women are for lookin' not sailin'. Well at least you're all a bunch of lookers even if you don't know port from starboard. Er–" he spies Mal and Darvesch still near the edge, "well the ladies are lookers least ways..."

He flaps down and puts the anemone in a puddle before rapping his pipe sharply on the broken mast. "Now then, what are all you lasses strutting around The Salty Strumpet for? Don't go getting any funny ideas 'bout seducin' my crew out from under me. Shore leave is one thing but I'll brook no deserters!"

You are in the midst of drying yourselves out when you hear a high-pitched, nasal voice coming from atop the wreck.

"Gadzooks, we've got men overboard in shark infested... rocks?!"

Looking up, you see a small, blue-skinned humanoid with long ears, leathery wings, and about half his teeth missing. He points you out with his pipe to a squirming anemone he holds in his left hand while a jaunty, albeit soggy, bicorn threatens to fall down over his eyes.

"You there landlubbers, report on this damnable low tide!"

MAP: Y-The Tide Stone, (Round 226)