As the others speak with the harbor master, Westin proceeds to board the ship. He had been on the ship before, but only for a short time in port. Now that they were intending to set sail, he wanted to better familiarize himself with the aspects of the ship.

He sets Jade down warning her, "if you climb up the mast and get stuck up there in a middle of a storm, I'm not rescuing you until after it subsides." He then starts walking along the ship from aft to stern, inspecting it, checking it, verifying its seaworthiness. The Ananke was much bigger than any ship he had crewed before and if there was a need or opportunity to lend a hand, he wanted to be prepared.

Jade emits a plaintive "Meow" in response to Westin's warning. The elf could be protective to the point of being annoying.

She proceeds to walk around the deck and then scampers up on the quarterdeck. There she stays for a time, looking at the main deck below and uttering a "Meow" when anyone below passes nearby.

Storm boards the boat. He looks at his treasure and thinks he should send a portion to the church when he returns. "Shall we go?" he asks as he approaches his fruebds,

"Meow"

PM

"I'd say it's time," Lenelle answered Storm, making her way onboard the ship herself.   Having done so, she glanced betwixt Westin and his familiar, the mage's caring of his feline familiar not lost on her.

Though she did her best to hide it, she was fully half-elvish.  Yet, she did not speak their language, had only basic knowledge of their culture.  Had spent much of her life mistrusting them...but, Westin had given her some reasons to rethink on that mistrust.  Most of which came from the sort of man her elvish father had been.

"Did you choose a cat, for your familiar?" she asked of Westin. "Or is that choice out of a mage's hands?"

"There's some disagreement on that point," Westin says, looking at Lenelle. "In my mind, I cast the spell without any expectation of what might come and Jade responded to the summons. Jade's view is that she had already been looking for a way off the small island where we are from and decided to respond. Back then, she said she was going to leave once we arrived at a bigger island. She never left though and I don't think she ever will. We're best of buddies now and I think, too, she likes going to new places."

Jade comes down from the quarterdeck and walks over to Lenelle.

"Meow," she utters. She then moves walk past one of Lenelle's leg, brushing up against, turning around and repeating, doing that for several times.

"I'm really glad to see you doing so well. When that evil man stabbed and almost ran you through with that sword, I really thought...," Westin struggles a bit, a difficult expression on his face, "I really thought it was over for you." He gives her a wry smile. "You are obviously one tough lady. If I had gotten stabbed like that, I would have died."

"However did you come to be a warrior, priest?" he asks her curiously.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:06, Sat 07 Nov 2020.

She bent to rub Jade's back, "Hello sweet one," while considering what to say in response to Westin's question.  She began by commenting on the bit that was easier to answer:

"It was a serious wound.  I've never known pain like that before. I came close enough to departing for Atu's Kingdom.  But, apparently it wasn't my time."    She paused, still petting Jade.

She wasn't going to lie; her faith decried falsehood.   But how much would she say?    The shame she felt about her origins began to seep back in.

"I was an orphan," she said, simplifying it, "and ended up at a shrine of St. Audris. My first night there, there was an omen, and they sent me to Calandria's main temple.  And asked me if I wanted to stay there.   I was barely five, and alone - and the temple was clean, safe, warm.  More, it felt like home. More than any place I'd known.   Learning the faith came naturally, felt right.  For years, I believed I was training to be a nun.   But from the beginning, they were grooming me to be a full cleric.  And, a part of it is learning skill at arms.  Atu's creed teaches peace and compassion, as always the first choice.  But also to fight for what is right, when evil leaves no choice." 

Telemachus, heads to the hold and strips off his armour. Returning to the deck, he calls out, "I suggest you remove your armour, even on a short trip the possibility of ending up in the water exists.

Let's get ready to cast off as soon as everyone is ready."

---

Mu real life knowledge of sailing and ships is zero...so I will try to be super-generic when acting like the captain! :-)

Wick feels the need to check out the hold and their accumulated wealth before he returns back to the deck.  He doffs his shoes, finding bare feet gives him better purchase on the deck.  "Want me on the sails, or the rudder?" he asks Telemachus.

"Take charge of the sails, once we are free of the harbour.

We'll have to row out from the wharf."

---

The picture of the ship shows that it has a steering wheel, and oars so I hope I am on track with this!

Was Wick on the ship when they sailed from the island?

If so, he can be first mate!

Vendavel boarded the Ananke with a broad smile on her face. She had arrived on this island on a ship not too dissimilar to this one, and she was content thinking that she could turn the page on this not so proud chapter of her life.

Her parrot was quick to take off and perch in the rig, from where he could get a good commanding view of the ship and possibly make snarky comments at regular intervals.

She thought her help would be more needed in manoeuvring the sails and ropes, so she took position.
“I’m ready Captain,” she simply said.
“When we get near the cave entrance, I can give you some pointers.”

She had been bossed around a lot on her previous ships, but she knew this was the only way sailors learn and get things done fast. She was ready to give some tough love if it was needed.

”Aye, Captain.”. Wick replies to Telemachus.

OOC:  yes Mac, Wick’s an original character from the start of the game on the slaver ship.

"Vendavel, Westin - you both said you are sailors. I need you to get the rest of the crew on the oars, to get us out of the harbour.

Then I need you working with Wick to man the ropes and sails.

I have the wheel.

Oh! And we have to make sure we don't lose any of landlubber friends, overboard!" he adds with a laugh.

The druid's mood had improved immensely once they were on ship!

"Everyone should divest themselves of heavy armour if necessary. Of course our ship is excellent but we will need to be lightly clad in case we need to swim," Storm says grimly. ALthough he had sailed in the ship and trusts his friends, he is still uncommfortable with sailing.

PM

---

---

The group maneuvered the Ananke from the place in the harbor, and from there into the bay -- away from the larger, open waters where folk were fishing, and toward the cliff where they could see the house at the top, until they had drawn near enough that they could no longer see the house at the top.  However, they also did not see the opening that they knew was their from their earlier excursion and exploration of the old house and the caverns below it.

"Vendavel! I don't see the cave entrance...is it disguised?

Lenelle! Storm! Teodoin! Keep a sharp lookout for the cave."

Westin will join the others in looking with his sharp eyes for the cave entrance.

"I bet it's hidden by an illusion," Westin calls out as he fails to spot the entrance he knows is there. "Eliphas was a master of illusion, remember? That's probably how he kept this docking place hidden. Try disbelieving the cliff."

Westin will attempt to disbelieve the cliff, in particular where he recalls, as best he can, where the opening should be.

"Brilliant, Westin! I am sure you're right. Is there any way to see past an illusion?"

Telemachus, stares at the coastline, looking for any sign of incongruity that might indicate the location of the cave.

Wick scans the cliff face.  I”if we can find a place where I can get ashore, I could come back through the house, wave a torch or something for you guys to spot the cave.”. If Panatix is okay, and free, and able to give a signal, that would be best, but that’s a lot of ifs and if there’s nothing to see, then one of those if, maybe more, aren’t true.

Storm assists in looking for the cave. He stands at the side and scans the horizon with his hand above his eyes to shield his eyes from the bright lights.

"Let us hope we find the cave sooner rather than later,"he cries to his friends.

 Vendavel seemed more embarrassed than anyone else to not find the entrance to the cave.
 "I must admit... I've never approached by sea. I just assumed it would be easier to find my bearing!"

 She tries to disbelief that the rock face was a rock face, but she struggled to even see where the entrance should be...

 

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Vendavel rolled 31 using 2d20 with rolls of 17,14.  intelligence check / disbelief illusion.
 Success on Intelligence check (barely!) and success on spell save vs illusions.