Jammers:Chapter 3, Turn 17 Summary

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

Past turns and further information (such as who's who) can be found at the
Jammer's webpage:
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Jungle/3001/jammers.htm
!!!!!Please note the website address has changed!!!!!!!!!


-------------- =storyline break
*************** =time break

IC:
<on the scorpion's deck>

While the others are exploring the captured scorpion, Raken and Vais stitch
up Galan and Ferric.  "Not bad," Raken comments. "We invaded a warship of
battle-ready scro and only took a couple of wounded.  Despite the damage
inflicted by the elves, I expected the scro to... well, tear us appart.
Celestan is smiling on us, to be sure," he says with a grim smile.  "Lets
hope our luck holds throughout the rest of the mission."

While stitching Ferric's buttocks up, Vais motions to the scro bodies
littering the deck.  "It appears over two thirds of the crew were killed by
the elves, and most of those we faced were wounded by them as well." Vais
returns to his sewing, "Orcs have changed much since I was last active."

"As I said," Raken replies, "luck was with us.  A score of deadly
warrriors, wounded or not, is still a score of deadly warriors." Raken
scans over the piles of dead scro.  "I do not believe these are eroz common
to most worlds.  They call themselves scro, and they have a serious chip on
their shoulders.  As far as portside rumors go, they intend to conqure
space by first taking out their most hated foes, the elves.  Everyone else
is sitting on the side, hoping that both fall."

Bracing himself against the rail with his good arm, Galan scowls darkly as
Raken continues. "I don't know,"Galan says quietly, "Seems the Scro came
fairly close to tearing SOME of us apart."

At this, Raken grimly smiles.  "Compared to our recent scrap fights, this
was a cakewalk.  Over half of our company is still under their own power,
which is a good sign.  Experience, I suppose."

Galan starts to pull back from Raken's touch as the man begins his spell,
but stops, swaying back and forth, the color draining from his face.

Raken's face scrawls with confusion at Galan's reaction.  "You seem
almost... afraid of the touch of deities?"

"I don't fear the gods!"Galan growls, pulling his healed arm free. He
glares at the other man for a moment, then sighs heavily. "Thank you"he
says, his face dark. He watches the other man silently, offering no further
explaination.

Billy looks at the approaching Man-o-war and checks that his crossbow is at
hand. He leans over the railing and shouts out to Raken, Vais, Galan and
Ferric, "If any of you still need healing, I would suggest you come over to
the Star and I can have a go at you... You better hurry up, though. I don't
know if we will be in need of your fighting talents shortly."

Flexing his arm, Galan returns his gaze to the Man-O-War. "Looks like the
Navy has decided to join us.  Should we return to the ship?  I realize
we're working with them, but we've left the eel undermanned."

Raken nods negative.  "You and Ferric go ahead.  Vais and I may still be
needed here.  Scro may still be hiding, and if one were to strike, we may
be needed quickly."  Once Vais is done with Ferric, he motions for the
golem to follow him below deck.

"Actully I believe it would be better were Vais to accompany us.  If there
were Scro we would have heard them.  You did say you were something of a
diplomat did you not?  I'd like you beside me when we hail the elves to
prevent 'misunderstandings' if you can.  Ferric says as he too moves to the
railing to watch the elven vessel approach.  "Get the STAR's weapons
readied.  No need to take any chances. Talus keep an eye on those two.
Remeber we only need one of them alive if they try to escape."  Ferric
stands on the deck....

Galan slips away as Raken talks with Vais, walking carefully to where the
eelship hangs next to the scorpion.  Leaping the rail, he joins Italapate
and the others, keeping his sword in hand.

---------------------
<on the SILENT STAR>

Seguld finishes loading the ballista and calls out to Raken. "HeyRaken,
PassAMesageT'TheBigGuy, ElvesAreComin'. BringEv'ryoneTopside."  As he
finishes his loading, he then begins reloading his pistol. "Ferric,
BringThemRiflesOverWit'Ya, If'nYaDon'tMind."

As Raken is heading to the hatches on the scorpion, he spins around, his
cloak snapping around, and gives the gnome a quizzical look.  "Huh?" is the
expression on his face, his mind trying to catch up with the fast-talking
gnome.  "Elvis who?  Oh, right, the elves," he shouts and heads down below,
seeking out fellow crewmen.

Talus holds his bow ready, with an arrow nocked to the string.  The young
half-elf keeps an eye on the scro ship, but he frequently glances at the
approaching elf ship.

----------------------
<On the scorpion's bridge>

As the rain falls in the bridge, and Deigatt has disappeared in the wake of
destroying the lifejammer, Grigree turns around at the flash, for the first
time noticing where Deigatt moved to.  "Drrgh, Deigatt?" he asks to the air
around him.

"What the...?!" the minotaur's familiar voice bellows. Then he mutters,
"Evil magic..." His large feet slosh through the water on the wooden floor
as he heads toward the door.

Raken enters the helmroom, "Hey guys, the elves are on the move.  We need
some more troops topside," he says.  He looks down on the naked elf.
"Murder helm?" he asks as he removes his cloak and offers it to the elf.
"Any more... prisoners?  They may need medicial assistance."

Deigatt says, "I'm returning to the STAR. We should transport the helf to
the STAR before we meet hup with the helven ship." Then a trail of wet
footprints leads to the starboard ladder.

As he reaches for the ladder, the minotaur realizes that his hand and arm
is transparent. A quick survey reveals that the rest of his body is
invisible as well. "Hillusions!" he curses. Slowly, being sure that his
invisible feet are securely on each rung, he climbs up to the top deck.

Leera scurries to catch up with the footprints. She calls out the door to
the departing minotaur, "Don't worry, Deigatt! The wild magical effects
aren't permanent.... at least not usually..." Those in the helm room hear
Leera giggle.

As Deigatt leaves, Grigree and Raken help the ex-prisoner get out unto the
topdeck.

--------------------

Kain carefully tucks the keyring behind his belt, then slips out of the
cell and hurries to climb the two ladders that lead topside. Calling
"Raken!  Vais!" as he climbs the ladder from the galley, Kain reaches the
top deck and looks around.

When he sees the  Raken and Vais, Kain tries unsuccessfully to tell them
something, in his excitement making a jumble of his words.  After taking a
calming breath, Kain says, "Nilaroo and I, we found some prisoners below,
some of 'em look pretty beat up.  Don't know if there's anything you could
do for 'em now but if it's all clear we're going to start bringing them
up!"

Raken nods.  "Grigree, please see our friend to the STAR while I check out
those down below.  Once I'm sure they can be moved, I want to get them off
this ship.  And if it's at all possible, get Holland or the elves on the
Man-O-War to get a meal prepared quickly.  Undoubtedly the scro didn't feed
them all that well, and a full stomach is the first step towards recovery.
Light, easy to digest, if at all possible," Raken then heads down below.

Turning to Grigree, Kain asks, "Find any more of those big orcs?"

Grigree shakes his head.  "No more orcs.  Just him," he points with his
thumb towards the elf coming up the ladder.  "We found him in jetatin'
soulburner on bridge."  He back up to make room for Raken and catches a
glimpse of the two unconcious scro. "Hate stinkin' pigs," he mumbles before
going back to helping
the elf.

"Good, glad they're all dead, except for those two" Kain says as he points
to the two unconscious Scro. "Hmm...guess we'd better get them hog-tied,"
Kain grins.

Robert calls to Kain, as he notices him grab the rope to tie up the
sleepers, "Try not to get in the way of 'Hummer' here Kain," as he  pats
his crossbow, "If they wake up as your tying them up, I'd like a  clean
shot, rather than one with you init." he adds with a smile.

Taking a length of coil from the deck, Kain ties the hands and feet of the
scro together.  After looking at the size of their arms, he adds a few
extra loops around their bonds.

"Nice work Kain." Robert calls over to the scorpion.

Leera emerges onto the deck in time to see Kain finish up tying up the scro
prisoners. She walks over beside him and, laying her hand on his shoulder,
tells him "Kain...  Deigatt's had a bit of an accident in the helm room.
There are some star charts down there, and I'm afraid he's going to get
them a bit damp. Could you go check on them? They might be worth while."

Eyeing his handiwork, Kain's startled by Leera's touch.  "What?  Oh, okay,"
Kain nods as he looks up to where Leera's voice is coming from.  Giving the
knots one last tug, Kain stands and brushes the dust from his breeches
before heading back down to the maindeck and onto the bridge. Once in the
helmroom, Kain quickly finds the navigation table. Examining the charts,
Kain frowns, the rain has left them a sodden, worthless mess.

Leera climbs aboard the STAR. She moves over to where Talus stands with his
bow ready. She moves close to him and then tells him "Talus, I'm afraid
you're needed in the helmroom of the scorpionship. There's a locked
strongbox down there, and Deigatt's caused a bit of a rainstorm, so I'm
afraid the contents might get waterlogged. Could you go down and take a
look?

With a final glance at the approaching elven vessel, Talus shoulders he bow
and replies to the stop where Leera's voice came from, "Sure."

With a nimble jump over the gunwales of the two ships, Talus makes his way
below decks of the scorpionship, looking around the vessel with curiosity.
Eventually finding his way to the helmroom, he stares at the magical
rainstorm for a long moment, before turning to the locked strongbox and
begins examining it.

When Raken gets to the hold with the prisoners, he pauses a moment in
silent reflection.  "Is there no end to the suffering in the cosmos?" he
quietly says to no one in particular, and then gets to work checking out
the former prisoners.  "Nilaroo, would you please escort these people," he
motions to those
that check out 'ok' and under their own power "to the top deck and get them
to the Star.  I want them out of this...hole."

Nilaroo nods and starts leading the prisoners (8 elves, 5 humans, 2
dwarves) up onto the maindeck.

Deigatt takes a deep breath and jumps from the scorpion ship to the STAR.
He lands on his feet briefly, then tumbles to the deck with a thud. As
those nearby turn to investigate the noise, Leera calls: "That's probably
Deigatt!"

"That's correct," the invisible minotaur replies. He looks out to the elven
ship and guesses that he has a few minutes before it reaches the STAR.
"I'll be belowdeck a moment," he says. Quickly he descends to the cargo
hold and then to the galley, looking for something to help him dry off.
Soon he returns to the deck. As Ferric stands ready to meet with the elven
man-o-war, he can smell the damp minotaur nearby.

"Ahhh...  AHHH... AAAAHCHOOOO!" Billy looks around and scratches his nose
vigourously. "<sniff> Deigatt... AACHOOO! I think I may be ah ahhh
ahhlergic
to you..." The halfling pinches his nose shut and wipes his watering eyes  with
his other hand.

Italapate looks over his shoulder at all the company.  "Come to help me
greet our new friends," he asks. He leans on the shaft of his makeshift
signal flag as
he waits for the ship to come within speaking distance.

Watching the approaching elven vessel, Galan leans on his bared blade.

"Put it away Galan." Ferric says softly.  "The last thing we want is to get
into a fight with our employers."

Billy nods emphatically at Ferrics suggestion. "Mind you, keep it handy..."

Seguld looks at Ferric as he stands aboard the STAR, and grumbles under his
breath, but loud enough for most to hear it. "Gosh, CouldaGrabbedThe
RifleLikeIAsked... IMean,
Wasn'tLikeIWantedHimToUnloadTheWholeShipOrNothin'...."
Shaking his head Seguld gets into position at the ballista, he maintains
the ballista aimed at front portion of the Man-O-War's hull.

Galan's expression hardens as he sheathes his blade.  He continues to watch
the Man-O-War's approach as he says quietly, "Right.  We wouldn't want to
give them the wrong idea, what with the ship's weapons pointed their
direction."

The badly damaged man-o-war enters the scorpion/STAR air envelope and slows
to a crawl as she advances to tie alongside the STAR.

"Hail the ship!" Italapate calls.  "I am Italapate of the Kayenerenh
Manito.  We are the Company of the Silent Star and bid you good will."

"Captain Adrin Willowleaf of the SORO'NUME!" comes the answering call,
"Your arrival is most fortuitous! May we come alongside?"

Italapate nods and answers, "Certainly!"

As the ship's dock it is clear the elven man-o-war took as much of a
beating as the scro vessel.  Perhaps two dozen elven and hadozee bodies
litter the vessels deck. Her catapult is obviously destroyed, as the main
arm is dangling and bent at an unatural angle.  Three elves, and five
hadozee work together to tie the craft off.  Then, as the others return to
repsectfully laying the bodies side by side along the deck, a tall,
dignified elf in the silver chainmail of the elven fleet climbs aboard.

"Hail and well met indeed! But for your intervention, I fear all my crew
would be long dead now.  Many thanks for your aid." He glances at the
former slaves being lead topside on the scorpion, and frowns, "They have
much to answer for." Adrin then shakes his head and looks around the group,
"I hope you took no great losses? Your vessel appears to be intact?  Good!
We must not let this misadventure distract us from our mission. Let us go
about the task of caring for the wounded and former prisoners.  Once we've
dealt with the scro hulk and transfered the goods, we'll be making for
Numeliador, I don't doubt they will be able to care for those unfortunates
there."

Billy looks at the bodies on the Elven ship. "Captain, are any of your crew
in desparate need of healing? I can provide my meager services to help
those who need it most."

"If you wouldn't mind another to help Billy" Robert gestures to the
halfling, "I have some slight knowledge of healing, and would like to
help."

"Thank you! Our healers are working below." Adrin turns to the man-o-war
and calls to one of the hadozee, "Jergree! These two are healers, please
show him where the priests are aiding the wounded below."

"Well met, Captain Willowleaf, I am Ferric Gundson.  If you'll give us but
a couple of minutes to finish securing the prisoners and regroup everyone
we'll take your cargo off your hands for you in short order."

"Excellent! Now, if you folks will be so kind as to loot that scro
abomination, I'm afraid my crew will be need to continue clearing our decks
after the battle.  I'd like to see any papers you find on her." Adrin
glances back at his ship and a frown instantly appears on his face, "Yes,
they've much to answer for.  Have you identified the scorpion's helm?"

Ferric shrugs, "I believe my invisible Tauran friend here could tell you
more about it than I.  Diegatt?"  he says to the air next to him.

The invisible minotaur quickly relates his destruction of the lifejammer.

The elven captain nods, "I thought as much. That's the only reason scro
vessels carry slaves.  We'll need to destroy the scorpion ship, neither of
us can tow her."

"Ferric," Deigatt says, "I fear I ham not much help hin this state. Hit
would hupset the rescued prisoners hif I were to try to help them to the
man-o-war, hand hothers har likely to run hinto me while I'm hinvisible, so
I'll just stand hout hof the way until the transfer his complete. I'll be
hat the ballista with Seguld hif I ham needed.  A little foresight would
have prevented this," the minotaur mutters to himself as he climbs to the
ballista platform.

----------------------

After spending ten minutes examining the chest, Talus sits back and looks at
it thoughtfully.   Then Talus gets up and goes to the helm room of the STAR
to speak with Holland.  Finding the mage he asks, "Holland, there is a cast
iron strongbox with a fire trap spell cast on it. Do you have a dispel
magic spell to disarm it? Our only other options would be to take it with
us, and hire someone on Bral to open it, or to try and open it from a
distance of more than five feet to set it off, however that may damage the
contents, not to mention the ship."  Talus frowns and asks, "Would Vais be
harmed by fire?"

Holland replies, "I don't have any dispel magic spells.  Can you attempt to
disarm it using mundane methods?"

Talus shakes his head, "The only way to disarm it is to use a dispel magic
spell.  I have run across these things before."

Holland continues after Talus answers, "We should destroy the scorpionship
to ensure the scro do not retrieve it.  The flame trap would be useful in
helping set it ablaze.  I am not sure if Vais would be harmed by fire.  You
could ask him.  If he is immune, then he could open the chest with impunity
and gather the items.  Also, you could also try an unlocking cantrip from a
distance.  The cantrip probably won't work, but it should set off the trap.
You could then gather the items and make a quick retreat.  Another idea
would be to use some of the ripped up wooden planks as a shield to deflect
the flames.  You make the decision, though you should definately search the
rest of the ship and check any other chests/footlockers, etc before messing
with this one.  How does that sound?"

Talsu shrugs.

Holland then asks, "Talus, if you would, could you make sure that a small
supply of salvagable wood, from the shattered hull and decks, is transfered
over to the Star?  During the last leg of our voyage to Spiral I would like
to construct turrets for our two crew-served weapons and will need the raw
materials."

Talus nods, "I will talk to Nilaroo, he will know what you need and how to
get it." With that the half-elf goes off in search of Nilaroo and Vais.

Finding the construct, Talus asks, "Vais, are you harmed by flame?  We have
found a chest trapped by at fire trap spell.  With no dispel magic spell
available, we can only try and set it off safely to remove the trap."

"Yes, fire can damage me." Vais answers as he helps a wounded slave to the
man-o-war.

Ferric, carrying a barrel of smokepowder by himself hears the thief as he
passes by where Vais and Raken are tending to the wounded.  Pausing he
says, "As soon as I get this crate stowed I'll go take a look at that trap
as well.  Perhaps I can think of something on closer examination.  Let me
know if you find any others likewise trapped."  Ferric takes the barrel
below in the STAR and then crosses over to the scorpions hatch and makes
his way below.

Catching up with the gromman, Talus relays Hollands orders, "Nilaroo,
Holland wants to salvage some wood from the scorpionship.  On the way to
Spiral he wants to construct turrets for the catapult and ballista.  Will
you see to it?"

Nilaroo nods and crosses back to the eelship, disappearing into his
quarters.  He quickly reemerges with a crowbar, large mallet, and hand saw.
Leaping back across the railings, Nilaroo begins to strip various
mechanisms off of the scorpion ship.  Soon, a pile of gears is liberated
from the arm mechanisms, including a pair nearly five feet across.  Deck
planking also falls victim to the grom's prybar.  Nilaroo also scavenges
parts from the scorpion catapult.  With Deigatt's help, the salvage is
transferred and secured.

Ferric walks into the bridge with his arms full of ratty blankets
apparently taken from the crew quarters abaord the scorpion.  The tall man
sets the blankets down near the doorway and removes his shirt.  Once he's
covered himself with blankets (now sopping wet from the steady rain on the
bridge) he jams his dagger into the lock and starts prying away at it.  The
fire trap goes off at once, releasing a quick burst of steam.

Talus, searching the crew quarters, comes rushing in and sees ferric
unharmed, but the chest still locked.

Talus and Ferric drag it into the galley, out of the rain and Talus quickly
picks the lock.  Inside are  2 potion vials (one Clear & Light Purple the
other Phosphorescent & Apricot),2 rolled tanned, parchment scrolls,
starcharts for Bralspace, and a large book.

After about 2 hours of work, the cargo is transfered to the STAR, the
former slaves have been cared for and the scorpionship has been thoroughly
ransacked.

Adrin Willowleaf stands on the scorpions maindeck with the company and
looks at the assorted items discovered.

Date/time: 1:30 am 7th day of the 6th 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