FLUFF: Jammers: Turn 11 Chapter 8

The Adventures of my Jammers PBEM game.

I hope folks are enjoying these, if there is a consensus that they 
suck I will be happy to stop posting them. Let me know what you folks 
think. (My players should feel free to comment as well:))

Website: http://lost.spelljammer.org/Jammers/

----------- = Meanwhile, elsewhere...
*********** = Later...
{} = Actions and descriptions within these brackets take place within 
the psionic mindscape and are OOC knowledge for all accept the 
parties directly involved.

Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,
And their masts fell down piecemeal; as they dropped
They slept on the abyss without a surge -
The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,
The Moon, their mistress, had expired before;
The winds were withered in the stagnant air,
And the clouds perished! Darkness had no need
Of aid from them -She was the Universe!

last 8 lines, 'Darkness', Lord Byron

IC:

Nothing but the company moves as the NIGHTWIND drifts slowly in the 
wreckage of the galleon, burning brightly in the starry void...

Ferric smiles as he sheathes the elven blade and puts his foot under 
the rapier lying on the deck.  With a quick upward motion he kicks 
the blade up into his hand and gives it an experimental swipe. 
"Finally, a blade worth having." he says as he turns to the rest of 
the group.

"Ah the ship!" shouts Kain. His veins still pumped from the combat 
Kain turns and dropping his sword rushes towards the stacked powder 
barrels and attempts to move them away from the fire and hurl them 
overboard.

Seeing Kain's frantic dash Ferric follows quick on his heels, "No, 
Kain!  We can deal with this without loosing to the void what little 
we have gained." he shouts.  Seeing his companion stop Ferric turns 
his attention to the fires and begins stomping them out with little 
apparent regard for his personal health.

Heading Ferric's words Kain restrains himself from jettisoning the 
powder but continues to move barrels away from any spreading flames.

Dhebun does his best to help, offering Ferric one of the two buckets 
of water he procures from the hold, soaking any fire he sees and 
stamping with his dwarf boots.  "Hammer and anvil!" he curses to 
himself  as he covers his mouth and nose with his wetted cloak as the 
smoke billows around the deck." I know there was a rune to quell such 
fires,  know to my people of old. Now I wish I'd paid more attention!"

Allagan tells his dust devil, "Help put out the fires, stay away from 
the other dust devil."

Raken helps put out the fires, directing his dust devil to help out 
wherever possible.

Nilaroo quickly sheathes his two handed blade.  Drawing his belt 
knife, he cuts a length of canvas from spare furled sailcloth. 
Beater in hand, he then moves to damp out the deck flames, beginning 
with those nearest the powder kegs.

Allagan then goes to Talus and then Holland. treating their wounds as 
best as possible, "Sorry, no more healing for today, but I can at 
least bandage you up."
OOC: Healing NWP

Holland assists with putting out the flames.

Talus also helps put out the fires on deck and then flies up into the 
rigging to put out any final fires up there.

It takes some time, but eventually the last of the fires are put out. 
The air is smoky, and the NIGHTWIND looks scorched and beaten, her 
sails hanging in burnt tatters and her rigging mostly gone.

Of course, the galleon is completely gone, just hunks of wreckage 
sitting in the enlarged  air envelope the two vessels once shared. 
None of the hunks looks any bigger than a door.

After the fires are put out Kain appears to relax a little some of 
the tension draining from his muscles, but as he looks around the 
ravaged deck saddens shows clearly on his face.

"The poor ship, but perhaps I should help the wounded" Kain mutters 
as he collects his dropped sword and moves over to Sekeht's side. 
Kneeling he lays his hands over some of the worst injuries, and 
concentrates briefly.

After a moment Sekeht coughs and wakes up, his wounds somewhat healed.

"Thank you, Kain," Sekeht says. "I'm glad to see I haven't been barbecued."

Allagan says, "We might as well go back to the wreckage, we might be 
able to salvage something out of it.  At least some sails or 
something to help get us to Bral."

Holland says, "We can go look, but that was a big explosion."

Allagan asks, "What was that undead creature thinking?  If we 
wouldn't have moved the ship away from that galleon, we both would 
have been blown up.  What good would that have done him?  And how did 
they appear on our ship?"

Freneth, his visible face smudged with soot from the fires, scowls at 
the rigging.  "Will this ship be able to return to Bral with those 
sails?" he asks those that have been in the skies longer than he.

Allagan replies, "We'll move like a big rock, but we should make it."

Nilaroo throws down his length of cloth, singled from its duties 
beating out the flames.  "Sails?  I know exactly what we will use to 
get us home!  Holland,  I am going to use your guts for rigging and 
your beknighted skin to catch the space winds!  What in the void were 
you thinking, fireballing your own ship?!"

Leera grimaces and then says out loud, to no one in particular (but 
so that Holland can hear), "Another example of why a touch of 
subtlety in Art is better than all the flash in the worlds." Shaking 
her head, she heads down to check on Oquid.

Holland replies sheepishly, "I made sure not to get the deck and 
masts, I just forgot about the rigging.  Oops?"

"OOPS!?!?!  OOPS!??!?"  Teeth bared, for a moment Nilaroo looks as if 
he would regress to the ways of his feral ancestors as his massive 
hands grasp and release, grasp and release.  "IF we have enough in 
the holds, I expect you to be up in the masts with me until every 
knot that we can rig is tied off."

Holland replies, "Ah, yeah, of course," as he backs away to the 
ladder well and slides down into the safety of below decks.

Freneth turns toward the angry simian, and then approaches softly. 
"Brother?" he says, indicating Nilaroo.  "This one understands the 
anger at the destruction of one's work. Although warranted, one 
believes that ones brother should take into consideration the 
situation.  In the heat of battle, I'm sure Master Holland did his 
best, and would be happy to assist in reconstructing Brother 
Nilaroo's ship."

Nilaroo slyly turns his head towards Freneth and winks.

Freneth's eyes widen at Nilaroo's action, and then, as comprehension 
seems to come to him, he chuckles.

"That's the problem, though, isn't it?" Sekeht says, wincing from his 
wounds. "His best all but destroyed our ship and left us stranded. 
And he doesn't seem interested in taking responsibility for what he's 
done, running off like he did."

"Perhaps, Master Sekeht," agrees Freneth.  "However, it is likely 
that Master Holland felt shame, and was unable to bear the 
embarrassment, and so attempted to cover it in jest. One is sure 
Master Holland will assist in the repairs."

Attempting to brush the soot and ash from his clothing, Lellyn says. 
"Now, be not overly harsh on poor Holland. I am in his debt as a 
matter of fact. Thanks to this episode I shall compose a new drinking 
song that will be famous throughout the realms. Especially with those 
who are NOT fond of the company of those who use the arcane arts. Per 
the muse of the Lady I shall call this veritable masterpiece "Fools 
and Fireballs". Perhaps you could suggest a few lines for one or 
another of the stanzas.

Allagan frowns, "We support each other, even when one makes a 
mistake.  We don't make a mockery of them, especially to those 
outside our company."

Leera laughs. "Unless they're fireball-happy evokers who hurl spells 
without regards for the consequences and are probably compensating 
for something or other."

Turning to Lellyn, Leera asks, "How about this...." In a clear, 
ringing voice she sings, (OOC: to the tune of It's a Small World) 
"He's got a ball of fire, in his hands; he's gonna burn the rigging, 
with a blast; He doesn't think, no, no, no; Fire in his hands, none 
in his pants!" She laughs aloud before continuing below decks.

After doing his best for Sekeht, Kain seeks out Raken; he reaches for 
the elven sword at his waist, and reversing it proffers the hilt. "It 
was fortunate that you chose to loan me this today, thank you. It is 
a very fine blade but I should not keep it any longer."

Talus says, "I'll fly around in the wreckage and see if there is 
anything, but don't hold your breath."  Talus then flies back and 
searches through the ship wreckage for anything of value or that can 
be salvaged.

Talus finds nothing of value in the wreckage, the wood and ropes were 
old and suffering dry rot even before the explosion.  Otherwise, 
nothing valuable seems to have survived.

Allagan gathers up the effects from the destroyed wights and puts 
them in a big pile, "We can cast a spell of detection on this stuff 
and anything else we find from the wreckage."

Much of the wight's gear is obviously rotted and worthless, but a few 
items stand out:
an ivory staff top with a skull
a a bright, shiny rectangular shield, polished to a mirror brightness 
with a gold frame
a clear glass nose ring
a finely wrought long sword with a dark green emerald in the hilt and 
writing etched into the blade
a gold medallion set with a green emerald which matches the long 
sword's pommel stone (found on the staff wielder, not the sword 
wielder), writing is etched on the back of the medallion

Talus returns to the ship and says, "Nothing of value out there, good 
thing we already transferred all of those things from the galleon 
beforehand.

Talus then helps get the ship back into a suitable shape for moving.

Nilaroo descends into the hold to scour for spare rope and sailcloth.

As what few repairs could be made are worked, Freneth lends what help 
he can, willingly moving onto burned and weakened spars, and tying 
down and slipping ropes where ever he can.

Whistling snatches of one of the more famous drinking songs sung on 
docksides in all spheres, Lellyn accompanies Nilaroo below helping 
carry the materials back up onto the deck. Lellyn then assists with 
the re-rigging of the ship to the best of his abilities.

Date/Time: 6:50 pm, 7th day of the 1st Month, 5050 OC

-- 
"'If they valued what they stole, if they knew what they were 
destroying,' says the old Vadhagh in the story, The Only Autumn 
Flower, 'Then I would be consoled.'"  Michael Moorcock, _The Books of 
Corum_.

Paul Westermeyer, westermeyer@???????.net