Urol screws up his face and then studies the samples again in detail... he has to admit that Celene is right, these are likely small, polished pieces of the black pearl that Vanthus broken in Kraken's Cove.



OOC: Okay, is that an order? Each of the pieces is 3 mm in diameter, so it is going to be impossible to guarantee that a search will find all of them, but of course you can give it a shot.



"Oh, um..." Urol holds one of the little spheres up to the light and studies it closely. Celene has to put a restraining hand on the gnome to stop him licking it.

"Um, yes, definitely. They need to be consumed in order to trigger the effect," he says.

Logan is pretty sure that the alchemist has no idea if that is true or not.



Celene casts detect magic and then looks down at one of the mini-pearls - it gives off a strong light in her magical sight despite its small size...

...of course this light will be harder to spot when it is hidden in the middle of a sack of rice, or its in the middle of a slab of meat, or in the morning porridge, or...



OOC: Um... duh! You guys collect enemies like no-bodies business. Of course you tend to immediately kill those enemies as well. Who have you left alive that might do this? What to make a guess? :D



OOC: Hmm, I don't know about that. I mean, are you asking if someone on board is acting suspicious? They all are in a way!

Skald is scared of the light.
Lirith has been trying to smuggle things on board.
Amella spends too much time with the cabin 'boy'.
Shefton dumped those food scraps.
Father Feres didn't seem to know any clerical magic... actually, Father Feres has a pretty good alibi for not being the villain now!
Logan is a rogue and from Shadowshore.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:51, Thu 23 Feb 2017.

OOC: Hey, Logan! Did you make those two fort saves versus savage fever?!

Celene steps away from the pieces of pearl and approached Logan "Logan would you mind accompanying me for a moment." she says quietly and once she has the rogues attention she walks away from the assembled crew so they can speak more privately "Let us check the hold and bilge specifically. Perhaps we can find some kind of clue while the crew is occupied. If nothing else if someone sees us leave we may find that they will attempt to stop us." Celene takes a moment to cast as spell of protection on herself before heading below, hopefully with the rogue following close behind.

Logan nodded to Celene and followed her.  "That sounds like a good idea.  Maybe we can toss the bottom of the ship, poke into any crevices people might be hiding stuff in, and you can help with your ability to detect magic."

Back up in post #126.  I (luckily for me, unluckily for our evil GM) passed them both.

Luckily for Celene too who just dragged him down to a likely empty part of the ship.

The sorceress and the rogue head below decks to see what they can find, leaving the entire crew either assembled above or cleaning out the galley. None of the crew make any move to stop them.

Of course, there are still plenty of people below deck. Thirty men, women and children are milling around the main bunkroom in a panicky state with many of them having bumps and bruises from the rough treatment that the hydra had dished out.

Actually, not all of them are in the bunkroom. Celene and Logan find to their dismay that the dry goods hold which is on the same level of the bunkroom has been turned into a sort of 'day-room' by the colonists with many of the worst wounded now being treated out there.

They head down to the lower hold but can hardly get into it. It is a jumble of cargo with broken barrels and crates all over the place...

...honestly. If you want to do a proper search then you'll need to make landfall somewhere and unload everything, search, then reload - presumably with entirely fresh food.

Back up in post #126.  I (luckily for me, unluckily for our evil GM) passed them both.

OOC: Damn! Foiled again!

"Ok, Amella, I would like to speak with you and Tavey in private if you have a minute" said Angati getting out of the scene and taking Amelia to somewhere private.

Once they were there, she was quite blunt about it, talking to Tavey "Ok, girl, who is Amella to you ?".  Waiting for a minute for Tavey's reply, she  turned to Amelia saying "There is too much going on in the ship at the moment to leave things like this untacked... too much suspicion, and I want to clear out this... please appreciate that I do this with both of you together, and in private, that I don't profit Tavey's youngness to try to get her answers, and that I am kind enough to keep whatever you want to keep, in secret, among women.... but do be very clear and honest about your answers, because if I find any of you lying, I will not show any piety".

09:45, Today: Angati rolled 28 using 1d20+18.  Diplomacy Roll.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:46, Fri 24 Feb 2017.

'Tavey' begins to protest but sees the look on Angati's face. He...er... she, begins to sob gently.



Amella puts her hand around the cabin boy/person protectively and then answers. "Tavey is my niece Mistress Lidu. She was in a bad situation back in Sasserine so I decided to take her under my wing... I doubted the skipper would be into having a young girl as cabin boy so I told a little white lie in order to get her on board. I'm sure you understand."

Can we not access the bilge?

In reply to Celene (msg # 156):

Hmm... I'm going to say no. Not without clearing out the entire contents of the lower hold and you'd need somewhere to put all that stuff. You need to make landfall to order to do a proper job of this.

The good news is that the bad guy(s) won't be able to access it either.

Celene frowned when she saw the mess that had been made of the hold. She attempted to climb over the debris but gave up quickly.

"Logan can you stand guard here? We're going to need to keep this area off limits and guarded until I can convince Alohan to find a port. We'll want one of us guarding the hold at all times. I don't think we can trust anyone else." Celene said to the rogue.

OOC: You'll need to take guard duty in ships because you're days away from any port. As I mentioned Sasserine is 1½ weeks back in the direction you've come from. Then there is Ravenskarp about 1½ weeks further along. But that is a Thyatian port - the Thyatians are the guys who occupied Sasserine for 100 years and are NOT on friendly terms with the city state after it managed to throw off the occupation.

OOC: Time to update the journey hazards list...

Journey Hazards List
Pirates                           [ ]
Sharks                            [X]
Severe Storms                     [ ]
Sargasso Sea / Journey's End      [ ]
Thunder Lizards                   [ ]
Dragon Turtles                    [ ]
Volcanoes                         [ ]
Horrific Monsters                 [X]

Hazards Encountered to date: 2/8

OOC: You know what? I am going to go ahead and tick the box for 'horrific monsters' on account of the shit demons that explode from your anus if you eat the wrong food. That is pretty horrific.

With the clean-up of the cabin underway and a few of the others of talking with passengers or going below decks, Alohan finds First Mate Amelia and the two retreat to the Captain's quarters...


But it isn't long before Alohan is back on deck, carrying a rolled parchment in one hand.  His dark walnut colored skin shimmers slightly, but it is the nearly ecstatic smile that probably catches the attention of anyone looking --- especially Kinstal, Logan, and Kassius who he promptly motions to gather together. He uses a nearby barrel as a makeshift table and spreads out a map.

OOC: Anyone is welcome. It just seemed like the others are already engaged.

The Nuari was just a few sentences into his idea, when Celene joined them.


"Yaa'ss!" he says with an exuberant laugh as two joyfulhands descend and give each of her shoulders a cheerful shake. "We be d-inking under de same moon! We needing new supplies. Looking here," he points to a sea map of their surrounding area, "dis be dey Wyvern's locating. We cannot be returning to sasserine, but..." he slides a finger to slightly to the northeast. "Dis be de island of D'wair. It being the southwestern edge of my Pearl Islands, and de port of Renkrue" he stomps his foot down on the deck as he says the name, "is de largest village on the island of Dwair. It is being...alone?... No, w'at dey word?" He looks at Kassius for a moment as if to read it on the half-orc's brow "....remote? Ya'ss. Remote of me Fadder's lands but having most all we be needing. Let us go to Renkrue!" and he stomps the deck again one time as a flashing smile of happiness explodes again across his face.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:07, Fri 24 Feb 2017.

Kassius looks quizzically at Alohan. The man had somehow gotten weirder since leaving on this journey. Probably being captain of a ship was driving the man insane. Who would voluntarily want to sail. Kassius was over his sea-sickness, but still vastly preferred solid earth beneath his feet.

He looks up again as Alohan stomps. Huh, what was that? Oh right, Alohan had suggested something. "Sounds fine." He grunts.

OOC: Just to point it out, Alohan has never told anyone in the party that he is the Crown Prince of the Pearl Islands - so this is his first slip up where he has mentioned his 'father's islands'. Also Dwair is technically also part of his father's kingdom, abet very far away from the capital and therefore control is weak.

It is at that point that a dark shape appears, cutting through the thick fog. Fortunately it is not more danger, but rather The Blue Nixie which Lavinia has ordered to circle back and search for the delayed Wyvern.

"Err, skipper?" asks Amella. "Should we hoist the 'plague flag'," she queries with dismay in her voice.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:25, Sat 25 Feb 2017.

Updated route map. The blue line is the planned route, the green line is the actual route.

The loin-clothed captain gently traces an intricate tattoo near his left pectoral as he lowers his head in thought.

An uncharacteristically long pause drifts into an awkward silence before Alohan responds, "Nay. Seeds are not being trees. De Wyvern has no afflicting. But no one is going betweenning them without me orders!" He turns to Amelia. "Be telling everyone. Anyone moving dey things or going dem'self to the Nixie without ME orders be joining dey Main Mast for dey rest of our sailing!"

He looks back at his closest compatriots. "D'at including any of us, too. We can be having no spreading."

OOC: Alohan will want to get with Celene or explore other  arcane options for using the Whisper spell or other ways to communicate with Lavinia about the situation.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:10, Mon 27 Feb 2017.

Angati shook her head "I understand, but I am sure Alohan will understand too, I will talk him into it... and it's best if he knows, if you want to make sure your niece is protected... now... tell me what bad situation was she in, who was she involved with ?"

After giving Amelia time to explain, she would go on "I have seen Lirith taking into sleeping with Avner... that man is dangerous... he tried to rape my aunt and has raped other girls and women I know off.... you" she said pointing at Tavey "keep well away from him... and keep away from Lirith too..... now... Amelia, where did you find Lirith ? and for how long have you known her ? "

OOC: I don't think its worth rolling diplomacy, but if you want... Angati is trying to build up favours with Amelia.

---

Angati went out in time to hear Alohan's speech. She had always suspected that he came from a good family, but never quite known that his father actually had islands and all... there was probably a story to be heard there, but she was sure he'd share when he was ready.

OOC: Moving us forward a little bit...

The Blue Nixie draws close, but at Alohan's insistence doesn't pull along side. Lavinia takes the Jade Ravens (I totally forgot to mention, but those guys are on the other boat) out in a row boat allowing her to get near enough talk to those on board The Sea Wyvern. The situation with the contaminated dates, Father Feres' death and the possibility of all the rest of the food being contaminated is discussed - it proves impossible to hide this possible contamination from the crew or colonists as the word of it has spread very quickly.

Lavinia arranges for a boat load of food from the Nixie to be transported over. This is kept in the forwards bunkroom and set under continuous guard (members of the party since the crew and colonists can't be 100% trusted).  Four of the strongest men among the colonists are selected and promoted to being sailors to replace the four who were killed in the battle. And with that the fleet sets sail for the Pearl Islands...

It only takes two days to reach the village of Renkrue. It is a small town of straw huts, dirt streets and about 1,000 inhabitants. Alohan is surprised by its primitiveness - the towns and villages on the main island of Nuar are certainly more prosperous.

The Sea Wyvern docks at the single wharf while the Blue Nixie drops anchor in the sheltered bay and the village elders come down the dock to greet them. The chieften is a gigantically rotund man with a broad nose and intricate black tattoos circling down his strong arms. In a deep baritone voice he bids them all welcome.

"I am chief Ixawhani, 'He who sleeps with sound' this means in this common tongue. I am the leader of the Dwair tribes. We are glad to meet those who will trade with us and not try to take what is ours by force."

Amella shrugs. "The usual story. Her family were trying to line her up for a young marriage and she would've rather died than be with that little royal frac. She choose a crazy life at sea with her Aunt instead."



"Lirith? I haven't known who that long. I met her in a tavern in the Azure district and she told me her story. She needed to get out of town since she'd just broken up with a boyfriend. The guy sounds like a real maniac. He and some of his friends broke into her place of business and trashed everything, he even killed some of her employees! Apparently the boyfriend just went totally bezerk. Anyway, she definitely knows her way around a ship, even if she does have a weakness for pretty men." Amella rolls her eyes, making it very clear what she thinks about this particular weakness.

Logan stood beside Alohan, more interested than ever in figuring out the strange islander, and how he would approach this conversation.  After all the time he had spent with Alohan, Logan never suspected the man was heir to a kingdom.  Logan still doubted the whole thing, actually.  Maybe "my father's land" was just a way of saying that all the Pearl Islanders collectively claimed their land?

Alohan stands broad-legged and fully naked (again!) on the deck. He raises both hands high in the air and answers in his native tongue [Language unknown: "Ingproyin ives Ombema ter Losewh. P ce Avehaslar, eauevende ac ofne usted beacli.  Ut esurfo lase are timetrfo no eeout Tedardbut onrut ev nd icesun.  Iou es unte ou ousdayine dayat bleset'setvor, nc a astul ho one acmi rihila."]


With a gesture to include everyone on board he switches to the Common Tongue, "I speaking for d'ese visit-dors, be offering peace and follow de way of de Nuari. We be at your friendship."

Ixawhani nods at Alohan's/Nahola's answer and steps forward, loosening his loin cloth. The little garment falls to the dock, revealing his manhood proudly. He likewise continues speaking in the common tongue.

"It is good that there is one of us among them. We have had problems with pirates over the last many years. Come Nahola, we will discuss trade and… the matter of what happened to your own food.”

It is clear that it is expected that the captain of the ship plus a fair number of other people are expected to come onshore and partake of the hospitality.

OOC: Okay, we are going to divide into two streams now. One more roleplaying, the other more combat focused. Please let me know which one you prefer, and no, you can’t all go in the combat one!