Nodding to Brisco, Oliandra quickly departed, leaving the older sailor to watch over Ludo. As she made her way back out to the deck and towards the captain's quarters, the healer found herself quickly running through the orc's symptoms again. She wanted her assessment to be wrong. Oh, how she dearly hoped she was wrong! If she was right, then she had no idea how to cure Ludo. There were no herbs that she knew of that would reverse undeath. Hell, not even most priests knew how to reverse that, as far as she knew. Every priest she had ever talked to only spoke of destroying the undead.

Reaching the captain's quarters, she rapped on the door and waited.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:47, Wed 07 July 2021.

"Come," the captain's voice, which always sounded as if she had just drowned a bottle of rum, called. "I hope it is not any more bad news."

Afraid I'm going to have to disappoint, Oliandra thought sourly as she pushed the door open. Taking a deep breath, she closed the door behind her and stepped further into the cabin.

"We have a problem," she said, her tone grim. She didn't waste time pussyfooting around. "Ludo is sick and the symptoms he has are like nothing I have seen before. At first blush, it looked like simple food poisoning, but that's not the case. Nothing is adding up. On top of that, I don't think he's going to last long. He's fading fast."

"But, here's the really crazy thing," she shook her head, a hint of incredulousness slipping into her voice. "I don't think he's actually sick, like with a natural disease. Chubbs has commented that he smells like the dead things that ya'll fought last summer. And, Ludo has an amulet that is supposed to protect him from undead. He has a rash on his chest, where that amulet touches... and nowhere else on his body that I can find. So, that amulet is reacting to him."

She shook her head, "I know it sounds far-fetched and I seriously hope that I am wrong but... it seems to me that maybe Ludo is becoming undead. If he was just plain, ol' dying, there would be no reason for that amulet to suddenly react. And, he's had that amulet forever. The rash is new."

"I asked Chubbs to find see if he can find a smell like Ludo's here on the ship, but to not do anything if he found anything. I'm hoping that he finds nothing. If he finds no smell, then that probably means that I'm wrong."

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, shaking her head, "I'm still going to assume that I am wrong and keep trying to figure out something else. But, nothing fits. The black rash doesn't fit any rotting disease that I know (which would account for the dead smell.) He's not running a fever. In fact, he feels cold. He's lost some feeling in his limbs, he's weak, he's got some muscle twitches..."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:50, Wed 07 July 2021.

The tall, dark skinned,wiry  woman with the graying black hair and piercing green eyes looked up from a set of maps and books spread out on a table bolted to the planks. On a small brass plate there were writing utensils and parchment. On an altar to Mhyess, goddess of the seas, an everburning candle illuminated a statue of the goddess, and a bit of incense was filling the room with a sweetly scent.

Captain Karr though about the new information fora moment. "I was told Ludo was sick," she said thoughtfully. "But the rest of the crew is fine?"

Her eyes went to the chart on the wall where the cargo and its destination and estimated arrival times were pinned up. "I can divert us to the Jahar if necessary, but I'd rather not jeopardize our deliveries."

Jahar, one of the City of Temples, would accept even quarantined ships,as they all did,and they would certainly be equipped o deal with undead problems,

"Yes, as far as I can tell, everyone else seems okay. No one else has been vomiting or feeling bad. Or, at least, no one else has come to me. It's possible that someone is ill and is just being a stubborn ass, trying to tough it out," Oliandra replied.

"I don't know if that's necessary, yet," Oliandra said, regarding the diversion. She walked over to look at the map, standing before it with her arms crossed. She heaved a deep sigh and turned to look at the captain. "I don't know if I'm right. But, I wanted you to know my fears, just in case. We'll see what Chubbs turns up."

She shook her head, shoulders slumped, "At any rate, I don't think Ludo is going to live. I'm going to keep trying to do everything I can for him but... " Oliandra's voice was soft and sad. She never liked losing someone, but it was inevitable, as a healer. It was a lesson that she had to learn, just as all healers do. You can't save everyone, every time. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try or how much you want to help, they are simply beyond your help.

Lifting her head, the healer squared her shoulders, "I should get back to him. There could be some symptom I missed, a piece of the puzzle that I haven't found."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:33, Thu 08 July 2021.

Captain Karr tapped her chin in thought. "If Ludo's life is in danger and the priests could help him... it would take us a week to Jahar, a few days less if we use up all our stored magic." Her eyes went to the shrine in the corner. "I'll ask Mhyess, but as I am not one of her clerics, I doubt I will get an answer." Then she turned around and reminded the healer. "Chubbo is a kobold, a good-natured one,sure, but he's easy to distract, and on the other hand quick to follow his own tail instead of a trail. Her sees shadows where they are none, and ignores the darkness in front of him. But i have to admit, his nose was always good."

Oliandra nodded in agreement with the captain, "True. But, he's also worried about Ludo. I'm hoping that that worry keeps him on track, because gods know I don't have his nose. If I could sniff this thing out myself, I would."

"Even so... I may still take a look around, myself. I hate to leave Ludo alone but it might be good if I work with Chubbo on this. Maybe I can keep him focused."

"I will have people watch over Ludo,"the captain said. "Yes, better help Chubbo to stay on track and,even more important,to stay out of trouble." With that,the captain returned to her charts, grabbing chalk to redo course calculations, just in case.

"Thank you. Have them come find me if anything changes. I'll go find Chubbo," Oliandra nods to the captain before slipping out of the cabin and starting her search for the kobold. Fortunately, the ship is only so big. So, finding him shouldn't be too much of an ordeal.

She pauses and thinks for a second. She did tell Chubbo that what he was looking for would most likely be in the dark, hidden... So, the most logical place to start would probably be the hold. Thus, she sets off.

The crew, while pretending not to care too much, was throwing looks in Oliandra's direction as she proceeded back down into the hold. Here and there, sailors were whispering to one another.

In the main cargo hold, Ludo was half awake again, talking in an exhausted, but still rumbling voice with Brisco. Apparently, Brisco was interrogating the orc about what he had been doing before he got sick. But Ludo kept insisting he had not done anything he'd not normally do, and he sounded sincere enough.

"Chubbo's been here," Brisco called out as he saw the healer. "He says the whole hold smells like death sipping in, and he has gone to put on some sort of gear or the other. He claims to have been an adventurer once." The old man chuckled. "That, I cannot imagine."

"Ah! I was just looking for Chubbo. I'll wait for him to come back, then," Oliandra nodded and moved to sit beside Ludo.

"How ya feeling, big guy?" She had only been gone for a few minutes, but she still reached out to touch him again, her eyes flicking over his form, looking for any signs she may have missed.

"Could use some rum," Ludo said with a weak smile. "But the old fart here refuses to give me any."

"Not true," the old sailor shouted. "I just said I'd need to ask the healer first!"

Oliandra chuckled, despite herself. She patted Ludo's shoulder and shook her head, "I'm afraid rum would be no good for you, right now. The alcohol dehydrates you. It's why you wake up after drinking a bunch feeling like shit... thirsty and and headachey. With the way you've been throwing up, it's just water for you, for the time being."

Ludo looked crest fallen, but before he could try to persuade anyone, something came thundering down the ladder, Ludo's mouth fell open, and the old sailor seemed to want to force his eyes out of his head.

There was Chubbo, all dressed in well oiled, snug fitting leather armor  and too big helmet held up by a pair of pinkish glasses - also too large and fixed with leather bands to his head. His boots would have fit any of the sailors, and he had stuffed them with old clothes to make them not fall off - one could not really consider them fitting. The kobold was obviously not used to wearing them but not new to doing it,either. His hands had been fitted with artificial claws gleaming in the lamp light. In the same hands he held a small hammer, of the type used to tender meat in the kitchen, with him it looked almost comically oversized. He noticed the looks he was getting and tried to explain. "If it's skeletons, you need smashing, no scratching."

"Was more wond'ring what the smutje'll say you abusin' his hammer," Brisco said.

Chubbo knocked his tail on the planks, his way of shrugging. "He no complain we brake not-living things, yes?" He turned to Oliandra. "Be smelling non-dead stink here in hold all places. Got eye-window.Eye-window only show good stuff. So what you not see with eye-window is evil"


"So," Brisco said after a moment's pause, "you'd walk right into a necro 'tending ta kill ya. Ca't see how that's all helpful."

The kobold looked at the human with what might have been a condescending look, but the pink glasses negated any such effect. "That's why me peek over them so can see both."

Oliandra nodded at Chubbo's assessment of fighting skeletons, "Fair enough. Fortunately, I use a rod when I fight. Give me a minute to go grab it." She snorted softly and added, "I grew up in the slums. Tight quarters. You need short weapons if you are going to be fighting in alleys. My brother used to call it 'the beaty stick.'" The corners of her lips quirked up in a sad, wistful smile for a moment before fading to be replaced with grim determination.

Looking to Brisco, she said, "Chubbo isn't going alone. If there is something there, we'll fight together. If not, then he can help me track down the smell. I'm hoping that whatever we find will be able to help us heal Ludo. I just... I need answers."

"I'll be back," Oliandra said to Chubbo before quickly making her way to her quarters and grabbing her faithful stick o' beating. She hefted it in one hand, mentally preparing herself for what might lay ahead, and returned to the kobold's side.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:24, Mon 19 July 2021.

"Beaty Stick, me like." Chubbo looked at Ludo, who had fallen asleep again,and as soon as Oliandra was back, he led the way into the maze of crates, sacks, barrels, tools and tall, big bellied wooden jugs.

At the moment,the Falling Star was loaded to capacity,everything carefully stacked and roped so that while the ship was deep in the water, nothing would shift when the waves got high. Nothing except a small crate with chicken feed. That was the "luck crate" as the sailors called it. Superstition made them think that if they left one crate untied for any klabauterman or ghost to play with, such beings would not untie the load. Sailors had all sorts of superstitions,all the while faithfully praying to the gods. None of the gods would condone such behavior, but maybe such small traditions were important for a crew.

Chubbo, shoving his glasses around on his nose,stopped between barrels of wine, beer,rum, whiskey, gin and vodka. They were stacked in the middle of the loading dock, in the largest room, and when listening carefully, one could hear the liquids sloshing around inside. "This is where stink come from me think. Can see no evil. Yet." The place did smell like all the alcohol,soaked into the barrels during decades, if not centuries,of use. It also smelled slightly like Healer Banja's classroom about anatomy,where she had kept all the prepared body parts to show her students.

"Alright. Well, let's start looking closer, then," Oliandra's grip tightened upon her rod, her lips set into a grim line of determination. "I'm going to be depending on you to let me know if the smell seems stronger anyplace in particular. I can sort of smell the stink, but I can't pinpoint it. Especially not with the all this alcohol smell."

Carefully, the healer started moving through the crates. She tried her best to tell if the scent of death was getting stronger as she moved, but she knew that her senses were not up to the task. As she passed boxes, she tapped her rod against them, trying to get an idea of what they may contain. Were they filled with something solid? Liquid? Did any of them sound hollow, as though they were mostly empty?

Indeed, one of the large barrels sounded as if it was half empty. It was labeled "Rum."

Oliandra eyed the cask suspiciously. Surely, were the crew using this rum, the cask would've been moved to the galley. It wouldn't make any sense for the cooks to make trips down to the hold every time it was needed. Either something was fishy about this cask, or there were crew who were tapping it secretly... which, honestly, wouldn't surprise her. Still, it merited checking.

"Hey Chubbo... does this one smell any different from the others?" she turned to the kobold, pointing with her rod to the offending cask.

Chubbo jumped down from a crate he had been checking and came running over. His glasses were pushed back and he scratched his ears as he started sniffing. "Bit stronger here but also can smell more rum." He sniffed again and turned around a few times. "Is Ludo's barrel. that why he sick?"

"Maybe," Oliandra's brows furrowed. "Let's get this thing open and see what's inside."

Chubbo blinked."But all the rum will spill. Waste of rum."

"Not if we open it from the top. Let's see if we can find a crowbar or something to jimmy off the lid," Oliandra turns in a circle, looking around for something that might help. Surely, the crew has some tools like that stashed around somewhere.

A crowbar was easy to find,although the tool had seen better times it was very usable. As Chobbo considered himself the stron hero he tried to open it himself, but his skills really were in speed and maneuvers, not strength. Together, it was easy enough to open.

As the top came off, the smell was that of rum and... something rotten. There was some sloshing movement, and the two of them had just enough time to see the undead creature kept from rotting further by the alcohol rising up. It was a corpse with half the flesh fallen off, but the cause of death was still easy enough to see. Someone had carved his belly open and the intestines were still hanging out.

"Eeech!" Chuoobo screeched and fell backwards to avoid the grasping hands.

As a healer, Oliandra was no stranger to death. However, this was something else entirely different from a simple corpse. A dead body, no matter how mangled and grotesque, was not a danger (outside of possible disease and contaminants.) Seeing something like this moving around like a profane parody of life was stomach churning.

She stumbled back a step, lips and jaw clenched against the natural urge to vomit at the smell and sight. Still, she did not retreat. Despite the twisting in her gut and the fear that danced at the edges of her consciousness, Oliandra hefted her rod and swung at the creature. It could not be allowed to exist. It had to be destroyed, for the safety of everyone on the ship and she would not put anyone else in danger if it could be helped. with any luck, she and Chubbo could kill this thing...

OOC: 15:09, Today: Oliandra rolled 1 using 1d6.  Attack. (Brave but ineffective...)