Jammers:Turn 4, Chapter 7 Summary pt 1

The Ongoing adventures of my Spelljammer PBEM game.

Here's the Jammers web address:

http://jammers.s5.com/

Comments, questions always welcome:)

----------- = Meanwhile, elsewhere...
*********** = Later...

IC:

And so the NIGHTWIND begins her journey into this strange new sphere
with her odd stars (the stars are all colored a light blue and seem
to be scattered by the thousands throughout the sphere, though no one
can see exactly what they are, none are particularly close to the
ship).

As she does so, Italapate stands silently by the rail, still lost in
his own thoughts and separate from the rest of the company, as he has
been the whole voyage.

Billy has a sad look on his face as he looks upon his friend. He approaches
Italapate and seems to want to say something, but Billy balks. Billy pats
Italapate comfortingly on the hand.

Pate looks down at Billy. He sighs, then asks. "Something on your mind?"

"No, Pate," replies Billy. "It's just that lately you seem to be sad. It makes
me sad to see you sad." Billy looks his friend in the eye. "Is
everything alright, Pate?"

"Yes," Pate says. "No. Maybe. Probably not." He sighs. "Just a small
crisis of faith. I wish Deigatt was here."

"Is there anything I can help you with, Pate?" asks Billy.

Pate stares at the stars (or rainbow ocean as it flows past), then
shakes his head "no", but answers. "I don't know. I'm confused and I
don't know what to do. I spent quite a bit of time setting up Dougal,
and trying to throw him off the trail... try to get him in deep, hot
water with his boss. I was close... I know I was, but I made a slight
error and it threw off the whole scam."

"I don't know what I'm doing here. I didn't choose to worship Coyote,
the spirits don't work that way. He chose me. So he must have seen
something in me right?  Or maybe he just picked me cause I'm an
asshole."

"You know," Pate says, "There is a story of Coyote and Rabbit Boy.
Coyote had a garden in which he grew many great melons. But, there
was a thief, and the thief was eating his melons. Coyote, being a
thief, figured that he could trap the thief, and being a Coyote,
figured he might get a good meal from the trap himself. He searched
and found some scratches under the fence, and knew that was where the
thief had entered his garden. So, he gathered a jar full of pine gum,
and fashioned a baby out of it. That night, Rabbit Boy entered the
garden and saw his way blocked by Gum Baby.  Rabbit Boy asked to
pass, but Gum Baby was silent.  So, Rabbit Boy pushed at Gum Baby,
but his paw stuck fast. Rabbit Boy became more and more agitated, and
managed to get himself good and stuck to Gum Baby.  The next day,
Coyote comes out and sees what he has caught.  'Aha,' he says, 'I
have caught you and now I will eat you for stealing my melons.'  'You
don't want to eat me,' Rabbit Boy says.  'I won't taste good, I am
all sticky.'  Coyote thinks about this, and agrees. 'I will take you
to the river, and clean you up'. After he cleans Rabbit Boy, Coyote
says, 'Now, I will eat you up.'  'Please don't eat me here,' Rabbit
Boy pleads.  'My body will wash down the river and my family will
find me, and they will be devestated.'  'Okay,' Coyote
says, 'Where can I eat you then?'  'Put me down and let me think',
Rabbit Boy says.  So, Coyote puts him down, Rabbit Boy runs away, and
Coyote never sees him again."

Pate lets the story sink in for a second, then he says, "My Guardian
Spirit is an Idiot!  Oh, wait, maybe that is why he chose me... I'm a
failure too!"

Billy frowns and things for a second or two. "Pate, remember when
those two scro ships attacked us and destroyed the Silent Star? Did
that make us losers? No! Even though we were in dire straits, we took
charge of the situation and did the best that we could. We escaped
with our lives, which is the least anyone can ask for. Just because
you fail once it doesn't mean you're a failure... As long as you can
draw breath there is always hope for success, Pate. Don't give up
because all the time and effort you invested were for naught. I'm
sure that Seguld has experienced or has seen someone who invested
their life's savings in
a business venture that ended up in failure. That doesn't make them
failures. You have to get yourself up off the ground, dust yourself
off, and take your next step... Don't lose hope, Pate..."

As Italapate looks up he sees Argonui watching the pair with an odd
expression on his face. He has obviously been eaves dropping on the
conversation. Seeing himself notice, he gives Pate a quick smile and
turns to walk away, whistling a bawdy tune.

Date/Time: 9th day to the 29th day of the 9th Month, 5049 OC

***********

The odd sphere with the three small suns and light blue stars is
uncomfortably warm, the temperature about that of a typical summer
day in Waterdeep (OOC: 80 degrees). Tempers fray a little as a result
of that plus the long voyage, though the excitement of finally
reaching the ship's destination helps to keep irritability down.

About half way through this leg of the trip the crew gets a close
look at the stars, they seem to be huge clusters of glowing blue
crystals. The crystal star the ship passes closest to looks to be
perhaps 5 miles long.

Pushing his hair back out of his eyes, Kain hurries to gather his
writing utensils.  As the NIGHTWIND passes near the crystal stars,
Kain's hands stay busy moving a quill between the inkwell and an open
page of his sketchbook.  Muttering under his breath and chewing his
bottom lip, Kain draws until the blue
crystals begin to shrink with the passing by of the NIGHTWIND.

"Hmmm," muses Billy. "I wonder what happens if you get close enough
to one of those stars and shoot our catapult at it? Can we collect
some of the crystals? Are they valuable? I wonder..."

"Dhebun," Sekeht says, "what do you think of those? Do you think we
might scavenge something from them that we could sell back in
Bralspace? They don't look like anything I've ever seen before, and I
can't imagine our taking a chip or two off 'em would hurt."

"I would be interested in having a bit of one myself," says Billy.

Dhebun raises a bushy brow and regards Sekeht with a puzzled frown.
"Indeed Sekeht, they are beautiful and fashioned by a cunning much
beyond my ken. I am sure that even a small chip would be a treasure
worthy of the dwarf sires of old... but I have no wish to explain to
the one who wrought these wondrous crystals why we thought he would
not mind if we marred his creation." Chuckling for just a moment, the
dwarf takes a pull on his pipe and blows a smoke ring into space.

"Even if that were so," Sekeht says, "I don't think taking a small
bit of one would be any worse that taking an apple from a tree. But
if you think it's too risky, there's no point in trying."

Turning to look at Sekeht the dwarf nods quietly. "Have patience
Sekeht, for soon my friend, if Mahl is with us, there shall be
treasure enough for all and risk enough to share."

Allagan says, "We have catapult shot we could use from a safe
distance. Let's ask Vais."

Allagan goes to Vais and asks, "Do you know anything about the blue
crystal suns?  Could we safely chip off some of the crystals?"

Vais looks to Allagan from his position at the railings, watching the
crystal stars. He turns slowly to Allagan, and his voice has an awed
tone. "No, I am new to this sphere like you, and they resemble little
I've seen before... but I must agree with Dhebun. To harm something
so wonderful... can you not see the play of lightening through the
crystals? Oh, my..." Vais turns back to staring in rapt attention at
the crystals.

"Lightening, huh?" Billy looks back at the crystals. "I hadn't
noticed..." Billy elbows Dhebun and whispers loudly, "I bet if Vais
could salivate he would be slobbering right now! Hey, Vais, you
hungry? Need an extra charge?" Billy winks at Vais' when the
mechanical man turns and gives him a neutral face...

Raken busily makes sketches of the stars in his journal, noting their
color, shape, composition, and location.  He also attempts to make a
general chart of star position.  He sketches out some constellations
and names them for his shipmates (Billy's Spoon, the Hand of Holland,
the Hadozee among others).

Date/Time: 29th day of the 9th Month to the 4th day of the 11th Month, 5049 OC

[continued in part 2]
--
"We sleep safely in our beds, only because rough men stand guard in
the night, ready to visit violence upon those who would do us harm."
H.G. Wells.

Paul Westermeyer,  westermeyer.3@???.edu
Phd Candidate, History, Ohio State University
Instructor, Humanities, Columbus State Community College