Chapter 25 Pirates!?!? Great Balls Of Fire!

My hopes that this voyage were going to be better than the last one were on the rise as I examined the meager crew of the ship. I didn't see anyone I recognized at all, and the civility of the crew was outstanding. I didn't have to worry about Aurane, as he had given me his word that he would behave. Honestly, I don't think he would have started trouble, as he knew what was at stake back in Cherwood.
Wed met the whole crew pretty quickly. There is the Elvish Captain, Velma Starmore. The Boatswain is a fire genasi names Ember, the halfling quarter master Margo Merwell, and the cook, a banjo playing sea elf by the name of Echo Southsea, make up the rest of the crew. A single Firbolg, Garleth Mossmoon, seems to know the whole crew already, but is not part of it herself. I”m not sure what role she plays, but she seems to be preparing herself for something.
As the first day of the voyage comes to a close, Fog starts to roll in from off the nearby coast. Some of the crew are giving us sidelong glances, and after a short time into the evening, they ask us all to go below decks. It seems they want to tell us more, but we all agree to go below, and not come up until we are called up. I ask if it would be OK to visit Mittens at this time, and they replied it was.
As I visit with Mittens I feel like the ship suddenly starts moving faster. I stay with Mittens to keep him from being too upset, but I am curious as to what is happening. And It seems to be helping me too. I had noticed that I seemed to be getting more and more irritable recently. Snapping at people, and really just wanting to solve more problems with my ax. I have been like this before, and it wasn't a good place. While patting down the mount, I feel the ship try to throw me to my left as it changes direction.
I do my level best trying to keep my snout out of other peoples business. Alone as I was, I went over all the new tricks I have been granted by Daja. I still feel odd that she would have picked me for anything. I wonder how Aurane felt when his god picked him. I guess I will have to ask him what he can do. I wonder if he can see in the dark like I can, although now that I think about it, he's never mentioned it when we were on watch together. Maybe it only works in the city? He does seem to perk up when we are closer to a more organized way of living. Now that I think about it, some of my abilities are very different from what I learned in my younger years. Those spells I learned from the druids and Rangers in the army require me to harness the very essence of the world around me to heal others or speed myself up. Now it feels like the inherent powers come from both within myself, and from a higher nature. Every time I can fire those blasts from my arm, I feel a sensation from the brand on my upper chest. Almost like the heat from my forge is flowing out of me through my arm, but it doesn't burn me. IT feels that way for most of my spells too, to one degree or another. I wonder what will happen if I need to summon the tool I saw.
Sitting here for as long as I have, I must have dozed off, or just been day dreaming, when a loud Thunk cut through the silence. Like an object hitting the side of a wooden wall. Or in this case, the hull of a boat. Wondering what is happening, and what the others are doing, I tell Mittens that I am going to go to our set of cabins. As I leave the area we are keeping the mounts, I can hear yelling above, and quickly move to the cabins to make sure everyone there is OK. As I open the door, I find everyone there engrossed in a myriad of tasks. Rorin for one is re reading the book on rocks, and I'm not sure if he is trying to memorize the information, or simply missing dry land. As it has only been a day, I'm going to guess at the information aspect.
I can still hear the yelling from above before I close the door, and the others look as if they are hearing it as well. Not sure what we want to do, we quickly discuss what our options are. We told the crew that we would wait for them to come get us. But we also don't want to just sit here doing nothing, so we decide to prepare ourselves in case the fighting comes to lower levels. Another option comes to us that we can send the wraith up to see what's going on, and we send it out. While I don't doubt the ability of the crew, I know I could be at least some help in a fight, and prepare myself to repel attackers. Then Melfina gets an odd look in her eye, and I know there is a hitch.
As it turns out, there is another ship up next to us, and there is fighting happening, but it's not what we are thinking. Our whole crew is over on the Other ship, attacking the crew of a much nicer vessel. The cook casts some sort of spell and most of the other crew fall to the deck, unconscious. It seems like they are asleep. Well. This is just great. While most of the others don't even want to bring this up, Aurane isn't very happy with it. Neither am I. I spent a good part of my better years Fighting bandits and roving hordes of monsters. Sometimes it was the small town bandits that had grown to big for the guard to take care of. When you brought the prisoners back into town you could see the mothers crying over sons or daughters who would never be free to run in the town green again. Instead of growing old with grand kids, those mothers would have to watch their kids be hanged for theft and murder. Those were the worst. I almost preferred packs of gnolls to hunting down bandits.
Now that I think about it, we seem to be more monstrous than the things we can monsters sometimes.
As we debate as to what we want the group to do about this, the fighting stops. I want to bring this up with the captain. We did pay a good amount to get to town quickly, and the ship going off and hunting down others isn't really the quickest way to get there. The Rest of the group doesn't want any trouble, so I will stay quiet for now.
Soon after we made our decision, Garleth came down and told us we could all come up above again. It was late enough in the evening at that point that most of us, including myself, just decided to call it a day and go to sleep. Just like the last one, the voyage started well enough, and looks to be going downhill. Maybe the morning will be different.
The next day brought a storm that would chase us for the better part of the day, then finally catch up with us. We tried sailing out of the way of it to no avail, When the storm caught us, it was possibly one of the most brutal shows of nature's raw power I have seen in a while. I wanted to stay on deck in case my strength was needed in an emergency, but I didn't expect the ferocity of the storm that would keep me holding on for dear life. I see the crew helping my compatriots as wave after wave crashed into the ship, Melfina and Rorin having problems. I try to move from my spot, but time it poorly and a Crash of water hits the other side of the ship, knocking me around. I try to grab onto the side of the ship, but I am swept overboard. Well, I hadn't wanted to use it now, but it beats drowning. As the ship rocks from the waves, I see the deck where I had been standing moments before. I utter a single word. Krok.
The heat pulses out of the brand on my chest, and I feel it consume me, just as my feet hit the deck of the ship. A cloud of embers and soot fall away from me, quickly swept away in the wind and rain of the storm. Standing there awkwardly, it was a very odd sensation to teleport from one place to another, and it was so quick. To properly describe it, I would have to be thinking about it as I do it, almost as a test. I quickly grab onto the ship, and hold on for dear life until the storm passes. Not sure who noticed my quick step from one location to another, the rest of the day passes uneventful, and with no explanation of what the crew is planning for the rest of the voyage.
The next day I decided I never wanted to be on a boat again. Just as we were starting to make headway again, we were asked to go below again. With no explanation, or reason, just simply to go below. Simply wishing to voice my displeasure, I pull the ax off my back, and set it blade down on the deck, so my claws rest on the end of the handle. The very symbol of the point I was trying to make. A stubborn stance yes, but not a threatening one. Opening my mouth to state my case, I suddenly find my getting very drowsy. The next moment, my hands are trussed behind my back, and I am laying on my stomach. Apparently the crew didn't approve of my stance, and just used magic to put me to sleep. But they didn't block my mouth. Once more, with the simple word of “Krok”, I moved myself. Just like that bastard we had to chase down before, I left my bonds behind me as my body was moved. The embers and soot, much more impressive with no rain to wash it away. Well. So much for trying to just talk. Taking a quick look around, I spot Rorin dragging my ax, ready to go down to our cabin. Without another word, I leave him to carry it and turn to go down myself. Melfina is carrying Aurane down, who seems to have also been rendered unconscious. Time to spend more days cooped up inside a ship with nothing to do. What could go wrong.
As the rest of the group joins me in the cabin, Rorin sets my ax in a corner and Melfina and Marda deposit Aurane on the floor. He is still out cold, Marda and Rorin commenting on how the little Halfling had jumped on him with a rag of some sort. Rorin was sounding curious as to what it may have been, and started muttering to himself, as if trying to work out what it was. Like the last time, we spend several hours in the cabin, the Garleth comes to let us out.
I had spent some time trying to figure out what to say to the captain, or the crew. I needed that time because I wanted the conversation to go well, but as soon as I left the cabin, most of the words I had come up with left my mind. I approached her up on the back of the ship and steeling myself for a scathing reply attempted to apologize for my conduct. I wanted to explain the reason for my actions, but before I could I was cut off.
“Living in the city must really change someone's attitude towards the rest of the world.”
“I am just a blacksmith who would like to be at his work, but things have pulled me away from said work.” I replied.
“Normal blacksmiths don't have the kind of powers you have shown off on my ship,” she counters, turning to me fully.
“What do you mean? I have just been granted divine powers, like our clerics. It's not different is it?” I ask, somewhat confused.”
“That power you are using is not a power clerics normally have. As if you were something different.”
Oh. Crap. I quickly dismiss myself from the captain, and go back to the cabin. Have I become one of those casters that is hunted down for their wicked deeds? My powers are divine in nature, and none of the others have said anything. Maybe I'm just a different kind of cleric than the others. Aurane and Melfina have different abilities. Maybe mine are just different too. Well, everyone on the ship knows already, if I need to use them I will, if just to keep my friends safe. But I may have to be more careful in towns. If I make it there. If the crew doesn't try to deal with me. I guess I will try to play nice with them and try to just keep out of the way. I just want to get back to my shop.
A few days after that truly wonderful experience, I was trying to stay as invisible as possible on the deck. Simply keeping watch over the rail of the ship. An odd shape, somewhat familiar appeared over the horizon of the water. A bird with some sort of small fish clutched in it's talons. As the bird grew closer, it also grew in size, and it soon became apparent that the bird was yet another Roc, with some sort of giant tusked fish in it's grasp. This wouldn't have been a major problem, but for the fact the the monstrous bird couldn't get any altitude. As it was flying, it would impact with the side of the ship if everyone involved kept going straight. These ships also don't just stop, but may float in the same direction for a bit. Either way, it looked like we were going to have to kill it, or scare it off, if that was even possible.
The rest of the group had picked up that Garleth was the expert on the giant ballistas that occupied the front and back of the ship. As Marda and Melfina went over what she could do with said ballistas, Aurane and I tried to figure out what We could do. I had the blasts I could throw from my arm, and Aurane could throw a lightning bolt about the same distance. We all decided we would strike at the same time, Marda firing the rear ballista, and Garleth on the front. One hundred fifty feet was the chosen firing range. As the Roc drew closer and closer, the memories of the first fight with one came back. I had thought then that it was going to just take one of us and fly away. Now I wondered how heavy one was, if it could simply fly through the ship.
At one hundred fifty feet, Aurane and I loose our spells, and the air reverberates with a heavy Thwang as the bolts are loosed from the giant bows. Our spells hit for the most part, but they do seemingly nothing. The Bolt from the front of the ship split open, and a net which would probably be used to tangle rigging or oars of ships hits the massive bird, partially wrapping the bird up in thick heavy cables. Marda's Bolt was slower, and it hit a glancing blow, wounding the floundering creature. As the ship glides by, we do feel a bit sad Such a majestic creature normally, if it had just gone to one side or the other, there wouldn't have been a problem. The ship now past it, the net breaks, a ghostly claw shredding the thick cabling of the net. The wraith did something after all.
After the Roc attack, we pull into port at the small town of Belladona Grove. The town could be described as a backwater village, with a single general store that is also the inn and pub. Not many other buildings stand above the swamp water, with most of the inhabitants being sea elves, but what buildings there are stand on long spindly stilts. Aurane and Rorin stay on board, as the Ladies go out to see what they can find. I stay on board, with mittens. I'm slightly worried that if I leave the boat here, they may not let me back on for the rest of the voyage back.
As I lay dozing against the vibrating side of Mittens, I hear a slight ruckus coming from the deck above. I go up to find that Melfina and Marda have come back from the outpost, and they are somewhat distraught. They ask for a few moments of time alone, before they talk to us. A thudding noise comes form their cabin as they bang on the wall to get our attention. Cramming us all into the small box, we learn what has them so bothered.
Cherwood is under Martial law. The temple of Zits has finally reached the point where it wants to take over the city as the prime temple. Cherwood of course had never had a prime temple, all the various houses of worship had existed together without a dominant one, and that had made what the city is now. The worshipers of Zits however, with the god of war behind them,had decided that Zits should be in power here, and had made a move. Several council members have also come forward to claim credit for this. The heads of the accounting, parks, and tinkers guild have aided in the upheaval in the city. Magic users are being taken away, and the sanctum are trying to save those it can. Opposition is happening, and the Ashforge estate is somehow involved in it. Melfina, biting her thumb to draw blood across her lips, uses her magic to talk to someone once again. It must be someone in the Sanctum who she had talked to before, who tells us that the followers of the new gods are mostly OK to come back into the city, which includes all of us.
With that news out of the way, Melfina looks a little bothered by something, and eventually asks us if she can borrow some of the party funds. An item was found in the general store, but it will cost most of the funds we have to get. We all agree, Rorin and Melfina making a deal between them, and she quickly goes to get whatever it is she wanted. When she comes back, a parcel under her arms seems to be slightly seeping with blood. I guess we will find out later.
As we progress through the next couple of days, we find ourselves coming up along side some sort of strange island. I can hardly see under the water but some sort of strange vessel seems to have sunken under the water, long enough ago to have grown full trees on the top. As the crew of the ship decides to stop and take a look, I guess we are going to do the same. I don't know the slightest thing about boats.
Taking a row boat over, we climb onto the top of the ship. With the help of the wraith we find that a part of the ship has been sealed away which contained a few interesting baubles. Not really wanting to get into the water myself, for fear of sinking and or damaging my arm, I wait up above as the group bubbles their way trying to get into this area. A circular room, just below the deck has apparently been warded and sealed off well enough that nothing can get into it. Aurane is able to remove the ward, but an actual entrance hasn't been found yet. After over a week at sea, nothing going right, and not being able to actually work on anything, I may have been a little frustrated. Walking up to the spot above the chamber, I look around and take out the piece of coal I had purchased. Blowing a little soot off the top, I add some of my own spark to it and light the dust on fire. As a small puff of fire blossoms into existence in front of my face, I breathe a bit more into it, slowly building it bigger. Soon enough a giant sphere, five feet across floats above the ground, and the chamber. Pushing it down with my power, it sizzles and burns off the growth on the ship, down to the material of the old ship itself. Again, I blow out soot, light it, and with a second sphere, I burn away the remaining ship until I hit water, instantly boiling it before I let go of the spell. A wave of exhaustion goes over me, as I have never tried something so hard before.
With the chamber open, Platinum coins gleam in the sunlight, a full suit of Platemail rests majestically in the water, untouched by the heat or the corrosive salt. A chest rests next to the armor, and a small stand contains papers long turned to sludge. With Rorin and Marda in the water after it cools, we start getting all the items up. A morningstar is buried in the pile of coins, and we set that aside. It too is untouched by time or water. As Marda brings the armor up, she starts putting it on immediately for some reason. The armor, when on the stand, looked to have been made for someone just short of myself, yet when Marda gets it on, it is her size. Curious. Getting the chest out of the water, it is rather heavy to get out and we have a bit of trouble. While it is nice armor, I don't think Marda should really keep it on right now, and she starts acting a little odd. Others are noticing too, and Rorin tries to remove one of the gauntlets, and gets a magical shock from it as a reward. Acting quickly, Aurane casts a spell, saying there is a curse on the armor. Marda, no longer wanting to wear the armor, needs help getting it off, and anywhere the armor or straps had touched her, acid burns have appeared on her skin. With all the stuff out of the chamber, we look at what we have found, and Aurane casts some more spells seemingly to himself. The morningstar is indeed magical, along with a spell scroll and a couple of books, one of which was in the chest. The suit of armor was cursed, and the platinum pieces were sadly copper pieces that were magically disguised as platinum. The book we found in the chest has a humanoid with arms both spread up and out, and also straight out. Same with the legs. Spread and straight down.
Not sure what to do with most of what we found, we head back to the ship, and decide that we are going to have to discuss what magical items we have, just to make sure none of the rest are possessed. Hopefully we will get all that sorted out, and get back to Cherwood to see what we can salvage.