Jammers:Chapter 2, Turn 26 Summary

Comments, criticism, and flames always welcome and in fact are requested. I
crave feedback:)

Past turns and further information can be found at the Jammer's webpage:
http://lucas.dfl.doc.ca/emoo/jammers.htm

IC:
On the STAR:
Grigree almost falls down after his not so graceful landing on the deck of
the 'Star.  As soon as he regains his balance, he looks out over the water
to where Jamila may have fallen.

Deigatt stops intimidating his prisoners long enough to call over to the
newly alit hadozee from the GHOST's deck: "Comrade Grigree, what hof
Comrade Jamila? Did you see her fall has well?"

Grigree looks over at Deigatt and shrugs.  "She fell there," he calls,
pointing out over the dark waves.  "Tried to, grrh, catch her. She had,
hrrr, head start."  After a quick look around, as if noticing that the ship
has landed for the first time, the hadozee asks, "What, rrr, happened up
there?"

"We suffered from conflicting horders," Deigatt calls in reply from the
GHOST. "Har you well enough to climb to the crow's nest?" he says,
beckoning to the Flowghost's mast. "Hif we har to rescue Comrade Jamila, we
must start hout quickly, has soon has Comrade Talus returns with that
cursed Chalice."

Grigree nods and glides over to the GHOST, then up the mast to the nest.
From there he looks around for any signs of movement under the moonlight.

On hearing the news, Billy sniffs once and then a large tear rolls down his
left cheek. He wipes it off with the back of his hand and turns, head
downcast, towards the fallen Periander, with more tears staining the deck.

"Celestian's Mercy," Raken says after finishing praying and finds Periander
dead.  He sighs deeply, and brushes his hand over the dead man's eyes,
closing them for the last time.  He then takes stock of the actions on
deck.  After a few minutes of listening quietly to the crewmen's comments
he signs again.  "Poor Jamila.  At least your soul is now at peace."

Kain pales as Grigree lands without Jamila, then shakes his head once Raken
says that Periander's dead.  "Not exactly the.. ah.. outcome I'd envisioned
when we were, well, planning our raid," he sighs as he rubs his temples.

Kneeling next to Periander's body, Kain shakes his head again, and runs his
fingers over his leather headband.  "Raken," he says softly, "what kind of
burial should we give him?  What's the custom with the spacefaring peoples?
A true burial in the earth, one at sea, or maybe a funeral pyre of some
sort?  Or maybe we should just take him belowdecks for now?" he asks with
uncertainty in his voice.

Billy, with tears unashamedly running down his face, brushes Periander's
hair with one hand, and amid sobs answers Kain softly. "Burial at sea would
be proper."

Ferric grabs a rope and throws the loose end over to the galleon. He yells,
"Hey Deiggat, pull us over."

Ferric holds the rope and braces himself  as the minotaur draws the ships
close.  In a voice slightly strained from the effort he grunts "Someone
take care of Holland.  We don't need to lose anymore of our lot to Pate's
stupidity."

With a sudden look of determination, Billy walks over to where Holland is
lying and orders,"Someone help me take him to his bunk. We can't just leave
him lying here on the deck!"

"Sure Billy, lets get Holland below," Kain says as he walks over and helps
Billy lift the unconscious mage.  "Okay, I'll lift under his arms, you..
ah.. mind getting his legs Billy?  My, that's a nasty bump on his head,"
Kain grimaces when he sees the goose egg on Holland's skull.  Favoring his
injured leg, Kain helps Billy get Holland to his bunk.

Billy helps carry Holland to the bunks and, once arriving down there,
proceeds to loosen Holland's shirt so that he may breath easier. Billy
carefully probes Holland's head for injuries. After finding the nasty
bruise, Billy dashes off to the galley and gets clean cloths and a pitcher
of water and applies the cold compresses to the bump. Every once and a
while, Billy whispers, "Wake up, Holland... Wake up...", tapping him gently
on the hand.

On the GHOST:

When the ships are alongside one another Ferric ties the railings together
with a quick simple knot  and says "Keep a sharp eye out for that other
ship.  I'm going to go keep mine on our good captain there."  Hopping over
the railings brings a slight grimmace to his face as some of his burn
wounds are opened back up but Ferric draws his blade and heads to the
helmsroom.

Entering the helmsroom Ferric sees Crynar, Talus, Nilaroo, and the
helmsman.  "So then, Crynar what shall we do first?  Negotiate or loot?"
Looking at the helmsman he smiles, "Speaking of booty, we're in the market
for a cup.  Would you care to show us where it is?"

Crynar smiles mercilessly, "Well, seeing has how beat up your group is, I
think negotiating will be quite in my favor."  Before Ferric or the others
can interrupt, however, he continues.  "I don't like leaving enemies, or
killing weakened foes unless they force me too, however.  That Chalice is
valuable both financially and politically,  which is the kind of attention
I don't want. So that's yours along with any loose change.  Then,  you take
this crate to Bral and sell it. We'll follow and collect the big end of a
70/30 split from the proceeds of the sale.  I hope you can live with that,
because I doubt you can live with your counter offer."

As Crynar finishes,  the pirate helmsman says, "The Chalice'll be somewhere
in the sterncastle.  I'm not sure where.  Me lads an I'll be happy to point
out the valuables, to help inspire you to keep the bargain you made above."

Nilaroo makes eye contact with the members of his crew and nods resignedly.

Ferric sheathes his blade, "Crynar you drive a hard bargain, I respect that
in a man.  How about meeting us at House Moune.  Perhaps you would even do
Lady Moune, the company,  and myself the honor of dining with us."

"Very well. We'll sail with you to Bral and a pair of my crew will help you
crew this tub till we get there.  Once there, you sell this and send word
to our berth when the sale is complete, then we'll meet at House Moune to
collect our share." Crynar smiles.  "Shame it's a furnace helm,  don't like
being cooped up in one sphere, myself."

Ferric turns to the helmsman, "Alright take my friends here and start
showing them where everything is stashed.  Give it _all_ to us and we'll
give you a few gold when you go.  Crynar, shall we go back above decks?  We
still need to get some people over here to crew this scow before we make a
run for Bral."

Talus heads off with the pirate helmsman to find the hiding spots he knows of.

Nilaroo nods and follows, one massive hand on his belt knife, bow once
again in carriage across his broad back.

Coming back above decks Ferric shouts  "Raken you will need to come over
and helm this scow after you fix up Holland."   Ferric then leaves Crynar
and walks over to where the pirates are being guarded by the minotaur.
Walking up next to the Taurian he says quietly, "Jamilia's dead, there's no
way she could have survived a fall like that and we'll never find her body
in the dark.  This being the case we need to get off this planetoid post
haste and get back to Bral before that deadline for the chalice is up.  I
was thinking that you, Talus and I should crew this ship with Raken at the
helm.  Nilaroo can go back to the Star and take charge there. If Holland's
alive and well enough to assume command we could even have Nilaroo use some
of his shipwrighting skills to patch up the Star.  She won't survive
another encounter like this one.  In a few hours we can shift personel
around after our priests do some healing and we're sitting in space.  Does
this sound acceptable?"

"No, Agent Ferric, hit does not," the minotaur replies curtly. "Comrade
Jamila his a member hof the company, hand hit his hour duty to try to  find
her. We cannot habandon her hif she lives. Perhaps Comrade Raken has some
power left to look for her, hor perhaps we can hask hour new hallies, but
we must make what hefforts we can to find her. I hunderstand hour need for
haste."

"I understand your sense of honor,  Diegatt. We look for an hour then we
declare her dead.  If the gods saved her from the fall we'll either find
her by then or they'll take care of her but either way we need to get
spaceborne while it is still dark. We are too beat up to risk running into
a couple of vengeful pirate ships."

Crynar steps on deck, "Phil, Garril! Come aboard. You'll be sailing to Bral
aboard this tub."

Two young lads, one in padded armor and carrying a crossbow, descend from
the dragonfly and walk across the beach to the GHOST.  Wading out into the
water they climb aboard.

Ferric approaches the two sailors from Crynar's vessel, "Welcome aboard
gents, I'm Ferric and I'll be your sailmaster for the next few days."
Ferric holds out his hand to shake with the two new crewmen.

Smiling roguishly, they each shake Ferric's hand and then smile at Crynar.
"So I guess this means we don't kill 'em, eh boss?" the one in the padded
armor says.

"Not as long as we stay honest partners." Crynar responds giving Ferric an
unsettling smile.  "Just don't let 'em wreck this ship."

Deigatt asks Ferric, "What his to be done with these prisoners? Har we
taking them to Wrighters before we return to Bral?"

Ferric grimaces,  "In order to stay alive and find the treasure we cut a
deal with them.  They go free ashore when we leave."

Deigatt's frown makes very clear his opinion of the arrangement, but says
nothing.

Once the helmsmen has told all he knows, Talus and Nilaroo take him up to
join the other prisoners, then return below decks and begin a thorough
search.  It doesn't take Talus long to discover, in the captain's quarters,
a small trap door in the floor.  Inside, Talus finds a small, heavy steel
box.  He discovers it's defended by both a poison needle trap, and most
likely a warding spell of some sort.  This looks like the most likely place
for the Chalice to be kept.

Talus and Nilaroo quickly tally up the take; an ivory chest chess set and
board, 54 gp, 156 sp, 1 set of gold dice, a small golden acorn on a chain
tied to an owl feather,  30 blank parchment scrolls,  2 ledgers, 30 ivory
rings on a string, an IOU stating that the IEN will pay the bearer of the
note 200 gp,  2 shortswords, longbow, 80 arrows, 3 sets of leather Armour,
a two-handed sword, 3 daggers, a morningstar, a horseman's mace, a spear,
chainmail, and a shield.

Talus is suspicious conerning the lack of spellbooks or holy symbols,  "Are
you a mage or a priest?" he demands of the pirate bosun.

"Neither.  The priest of Ares, Froa, was are only spellcaster. The furnace
helm doesn't require a spellcaster to fly it.  There's a box in the helm
room which holds some small, black stones. Froa would feed one of those
into the opening in the back of the helm each day and that would power the
ship. Once powered, anyone could helm it."

Talus finds the stones, and checks the small door to the furnace helm's
burning chamber under its seat. Sure enough, a small black stone sits in
the middle of the mystical flames.  Talus counts 29 of the stones remaining
in the box.

Nilaroo and Talus transfer the loot across to the STAR, then force the
three pirate priosners to help get the GHOST ready to fly again.

On the STAR:

Leera remains on the helm of the STAR, exerting just enough effort to keep
the deck fairly level as the waves roll into this cove.  Fairly sure that
hostilities aren't imminent after seeing the two lads from the dragonfly
dispatched to help crew the GHOST,  she calls out to those on deck. "Raken!
Nilaroo! I need some assistance!"

Italapate gasps as he starts to an awakened state.  He jerks upright, then
relaxes when he sees that he is alone still with Leera.  He leans forward,
rubbing his eyes forcibly.  "I know I couldn't have been asleep long," he
mutters.  "Where are we?"He yawns as he clambers to his feet and stretches
languidly.

Leera speaks sharply, "Stay right where you are, master 'Pate." Calling
again to those on deck, she asks loudly "Raken! Kain! Grigree! I need some
help down here!"

"Excuse me?" Italapate says.  He blinks a couple of times, and tries to
stifle a yawn.

"What!  What's the matter," Kain says as he comes through the door, hand on
the hilt of his shortsword.

Nodding, Raken walks down to the helmroom.  "What is it you require?" he says.

Leera tells them "'Pate here is acting strangely, even for him. Perhaps it
would be a good idea to keep him supervised... for our protection and for
his. Would you see that Deigatt or Grigree keeps an eye on him?"

"I doubt there is much to worry about.  'Pate is extremely unpredictable at
the best of times, and in battle... who knows what he'll do."  Raken says.
"Please excuse me, M'lady, I've got to go and do my best to patch up the
crew.  I'll try to get Holland on his feet again and pack some wounds."
With that, he heads out and begins to attend to the wounded.

"Now wait a minute," Italapate says.  "There's nothing wrong with me that a
little rest won't cure.  I was on that damned helm for a long time.  It
<yawn> it really wiped me out.  I'm going to go take a quick nap... then I
can help with whatever needs to be done topside."  He shakes his head
tiredly then strides out of the helm room.

"That's.. ah.. probably for the best Italapate," Kain nods as he pats the
shaman on the back.  "You.. ah.. were on that helm for an awful long time.
But, we've.. ah.. got most everything taken care of up top, so just get
yourself rested is what I'm suggesting."

Italapate starts to talk, then  fails to fight back a yawn. "Thanks, Kain,"
he sighs. "I... I guess I'll try to get some sleep." He shuffles from the
helmroom to his bunk, head hung low.

Raken enters his cabin and leans over Holland, his first patient, and casts
a spell. "Celestian heal thee so ye might fight again," he says, his hands
glowing a soft bluish color.  Holland awakens with a start and starts to
rise but grows dizzy and falls back into his bunk.  "Rest still," Raken
says, sleep for several hours. There is no rush."

After helping with Periander, Kain wanders about the deck of the STAR,
straightening up somewhat half-heartedly.  He pauses in thought for a
while, then leans on the railing nearest the FLOW GHOST.  When Talus comes
up to the main deck, Kain whistles to catch his attention.  "Hey, Talus,"
he calls to his half-elven friend. "Check.. ah.. their blasted food stores,
it'd be nice not to have to use up all ours on the trip back to that
blasted hunk of rock."

Talus calls back, "Good point, I would hate for us to leave and find
nothing in the larder for the trip back."  The young half-elf heads back
down below to check of what stores are stowed onboard.  The ship has a very
full larder,  easily enough to support 15 crewmen for three months.

Seeing Kain, the minotaur calls out, "Comrade Kain, his the  SILENT STAR
travel worthy? Will we need repairs before we sail to Bral?"

"I think she'll be alright to make it back to Bral," Kain answers. "She's..
ah.. holding together now, and we're not taking on any water, so we'll,
well, probably be alright.  Maybe Nilaroo could look at her once we're away
from Shipwrecker though!"

As the company goes about moving the injured below, readying the ships for
departure and preparing the bodies for burial Seguld is unusually quiet and
somber.  He simply works tediously at reloading the ballista, then his
arquebus and often he rests in between rubbing his left leg and wincing.
His balance is never steady and occasionally he pauses and grabs hold of
his forehead as well. A large lump his now grown nearly matching the size
of his gnome nose.

As Raken prepares to change vessels Seguld simply speaks, "If you have
time...." he then turns and moves on to cleaning up the deck.

After doing what he can for those still on the Star, Raken heads over to
the GHOST to take command of her helm.  "This is going to be one
interesting trip," he mutters to himself when he sees the crew of the
dragonfly.  He pulls Ferric aside after he comes aboard.  "I'll try to
patch us up between shifts, Ferric.  We should give our fallen comrades a
proper burial at sea, then depart this world."

"As long as its you and not that bloody priest of a wild dog sending them
to the next realm. " Ferric growls, "I don't want that cur saying words
over those he killed with his stupidity.  Do it now and lets get off of
this world before another storm whips up.  The Star can't take any more
pounding else she'll start coming to pieces on us."

Seguld hears the comments between Raken and Ferric, and begins mumbling
aloud, "Shipwrecker.... wrongname..wrongname..wrongname .... shouldbecalled
... lifestealer ... won'tbeseeingmeagain .... nope ... nevercomingback ....
toomuchdeath ... cursethisplace."  Suddenly Seguld turns and looks towards
the two, "Let'sget outtaherealready!!!!!" he screams. "Soonerweleavethis
*$%*#*$& rock thebetter - getmeoutta here."  He spits over the side as if
intentionally spitting at something or someone, then he turns and resumes
his silence.

Everyone on deck stares at Billy for a moment, then quickly moves about
their tasks.  Once finished,  Crynar and the mage with him return to their
dragonfly, "We'll follow at the rear.  My crewman will just wander off
after you dock at Bral, they're very good at staying inconspicous." Crynar
says as he leaves.

Ferric replies, "We'll be circling the ocean and such for an hour,  trying
to find our lost crewman, before heading to Bral."  Crynar nods in reply.

For an hour the three vessels circle the seas beneath battle, keeping a
sharp eye out for pirate vessels and Jamila.  Unfortunately, the search is
mostly unfruitful.  The bodies of two pirates are found, but Jamila is not
discovered.

Raken holds a short memorial service for Jamila, and a burial for
Periander.  Once the religious observances are completed the three vessels
climb through the atmosphere, struggle through the upper winds of
Shipwrecker, and escape into the stillness of space.

Date/time: 2:00 am 3rd day of the 5th Month, 5049 OC

"We look on the same stars,  the sky is common,  the same world surrounds
us.  What difference does it make by what pains each seeks the truth?  We
can not attain to so great a secret by one road..."
Symmachus,  "Memorial on the Occasion of the Removal of the Altar of
Victory from the Senate House" (392 AD)

Paul Westermeyer,  westermeyer.3@???.edu
Phd Candidate, History, Ohio State
Adjunct Faculty, Humanities Department, Columbus State Community College