"Why Pierce, that sounds lovely," Lilabeth says with a throaty laugh. "You know how I love looking at...stars." Her smile is almost innocent.
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After Pierce's announcement, Lilabeth catches his eye and smiles broadly. When some of the crew break out some instruments and start playing, Lilabeth stands and moves to Pierce's side. "Shall we dance a bit, my Captain?", she whispers in his ear, a bright light in her eyes.
The next day, Lilabeth inspects the ship's weapons after breakfast to insure that they have been cleaned properly. Depending on what she finds, the drills for the morning will be light or more strenuous. She will take her turn counting coins in between these two tasks. At noon, Lilabeth calls a halt to drills and dismisses the crew for lunch. She returns to her cabin to clean up a bit before joining Pierce for the meal. A fresh shirt, combed hair, and little water, and she is ready to eat.
"I don't know anything about Mediogalti," confesses Lilabeth. "What is it like? She looks at Eldon expectantly. Even looking at the map upside down, the island does not look familiar to Lilabeth.
Lilabeth looks over the documents carefully. She spends more time pondering the picture of the armor. "Aye, this would be real handy to have if we can find it. Eldon, could we duplicate it if we were to find it? Can we duplicate it without finding it?" Lilabeth asks. "I assume you have a plan, my love? I see that look in your eyes." Lilabeth smiles at Pierce and hands him back the drawing of the armor. Lilabeth is dressed a bit differently today. Her hair is pulled back and tied with a blue scarf, but instead of her customary braid it is falling loose down her back. She is wearing a white shirt with lace at the cuffs and neck. Over her customary black pants she has a skirt the colors of the sea. She has fasteners on either side to pull up her skirt should she need to. She appears more relaxed than she has been recently, but her eyes belie this appearance. They are still as keen as ever, taking in as much information as possible.
Lilabeth laughs as Pierce kisses her cheek. "Thank you, dear. As for the weapons on my person, you will just have to find out later." She gives Pierce a seductive smile as he leads her to the chair. When he asks her what she would like to drink, Lilabeth says, "Some wine, please." She takes the cup offered to her and takes a sip. It is a very nice red wine. She smiles in appreciation. The bread and cheese are excellent as is the conversation. Lilabeth occasionally looks out at the view as darkness falls. It has been an exhausting few days. She listens to the tales of the others and offers a few of her own about hard to open shells and clams that were very much alive to the point of sucking a few crew members into its shell. But as night truly falls, Lilabeth tries unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn.
Lilabeth checks the weapons to be sure they are ready. All looks in good order except one sword is showing a little sign of rust. She makes note to inspect all the weapons and have them cleaned tomorrow. A little rust is not going to hurt the effectiveness of the weapon tonight. After that is done, Lilabeth decides to change into a dress for the celebration. She chooses a beautiful red silk dress. She puts her hair up in a simple style as she has no lady's maid to assist her, hasn't for a long while now. Checking her appearance in the glass, she is satisfied with the results and makes her way to the quarterdeck for dinner.
Lilabeth's hands itch to get that clam open.
She is obviously more tired than she thought she was.
Lilabeth assists in opening the clams.
Lilabeth, realizing that there is about an hour left, is going to try to keep going as long as she can.
She really wants a go at the gargantuan clam, if she can get others to help her with that.
Lilabeth signals to Fergie that they could use his help with the one clam that refuses to budge.
"Hey, Jerse, Crabface, and Lefty. I have 2 clams over here that I want another go at. Lend me a hand will ya?" says Lilabeth. She is saving the biggest one yet until these two are taken care of.
Lilabeth goes over to help Ruddy Robby and the others.
Lilabeth keeps an eye open for more clams during this rotation. She is available to assist in opening any clams that have been already found if needed.
After seeing the 2 injured pirates safely out of the water, Lilabeth joins Eldon and Crabface in packing up more coins and getting them ready for transport to the ship. She is keeping an eye out for any more clams that might need opening.
Lilabeth ushers the two injured sailors towards the boat so that they can be taken back to the ship. She keeps her rapier out and her eyes peeled for predators.
Lilabeth signals the others to join her on her side of the clam. She continues to break the coral as they approach. When they get close enough to her, she says, "The clam has spit them out, but they are caught in the coral. Someone is bleeding so keep an eye out for sharks. The rest of you help me to break this coral."
Lilabeth doubles her endeavors to break Sardie and now Davey out of the coral.
Lilabeth spies Sardie and moves to assist her out of the coral. She tries to break off some of the coral with the butt of her rapier so Sardie can get out.
Lilabeth is perpared to attack if she deems it necessary to start now and not wait for the others.
Lilabeth is going to hold her action until others can join her. She wants to avoid getting sucked in if she can help it. Maybe a rope tied to her waist and held by two or three people will help stabilize her while she tears apart the clam.
"Crabface, get to the watch team and tell them what has happened. We need help with piercing weapons. I'm going to see if I can take on that clam." Lilabeth draws her rapier and prepares to take on the clam. She will approach the clam from the side.
Lilabeth heads of to the gigantic clam to figure out what is going on. She signals to the watch team that there might be trouble. She turns towards Crabface waiting for an explanation.
Lilabeth looks around to see if she can see Sardie or any clue as to what happened to her. She pays particular attention to any large live clams.
The shoreside team looks for more clams and will need some help with the gargantuan ones they already found.
For the large clam
Lilabeth and the shore side team open one of the large clams, but are having trouble with the second one. She signals the watch team that they need some help.
Lilabeth suggests that she and Eldon go help the ocean-side team.
Flora's roll -
Lilabeth heads to the first clam so see if she can open it.
Lilabeth moves to pick up one of the small wooden chests, first making sure it will stay intact when she moves it. She will then swim with it to the drop off point and come back to help load up the loose coppers. Unless they plan to open the chest right away at the drop off point, then she will stick around to see what is in it.
And the clam comes open! Lilabeth sends up a hearty cheer.
Lilabeth signals to Fergie that they need still more help with the clam.
Lilabeth signals the watch team to come help by wildly waving her arms around.
Lilabeth wants to try her hand at that large crab. She snags the oceanside team to join her. They line up along the edge that will open and go at it.
Lilabeth gets into the water with the watch team and scans the area for anything unusual or out of place.
Lilabeth, feeling more like herself after her visit to the ship's physician, is eager to get underway. She will sit in the boat with the watch team, a bit agitated as she would really like to be in the water again. Still, she keeps her eyes peeled for any suspicious activity.
As Rory leaves the chamber, Lilabeth holds out her hand to Pierce. "I have an idea of how you can take care of me," she says with a smile on her face.
Lilabeth lays down gratefully. I will never take my strength for granted again, she thinks. "One thing is bothering me. While the clam beds are yielding up some copper coins, where are the jewels and other treasure from the ship?" Lilabeth asks. "Are we really in the right place?"
"We found some large, really large oysters. They have Undine markings on them which Eldon thinks are dates. A mermaid and some dolphins appeared when I touched one of the oysters. That is when I starting feeling unwell. The mermaid says the oysters are some sort of project of the Master of Gales. She wouldn't say what the project was. She warned us off the area. Eldon is trying to discern as much as he can from a distance." "I don't know where to search next since the oyster beds are off limits." Lilabeth would dearly love to lay down for a bit, but she continues to stand after giving her report.
"See what you can learn about the oysters. If the treasure is there, Pierce will need to decide whether or not to go up against the Master of Gales for it. I need more preparation and some time with a cleric if we are to have a fight on our hands. "I will send the boat back for you all. I will see where Pierce wants us to go from here."
"Let's head back to the ship and see what is going. And if I can get to feeling better."
"My lady, could you tell us what sort of project the Master of Gales is running? We hope we haven't ruined anything for him, that was not our intent. We can certainly avoid the area if that is your wish. What we seek is apparently not here."
Lilabeth leans over to Eldon and whispers, "Did you get any information from the markings on the oysters?"
Lilabeth pulls herself up as best she can in her present condition. She squares her shoulders and says, "Greetings, my lady. I am Lilabeth and these are my companions. We did not mean to disturb you. We were merely diving in the area and noticed these unusual oysters. I was merely checking to see if it was still alive. I have never seen the likes of these before." She gives the mermaid her best smile and hopes she can diffuse the situation before the others get there.
"I'm not sure I'm going to be much help at this point. I'm not feeling so good. Maybe I should go back to the ship." Lilabeth says. "I wonder if the cleric can help me." |