Who Wants to be a Wayfinder? The New Class

[jkason]

Midian was relieved beyond measure to discover Talbot free of his paralysis when he returned. His humanoid crewmen tended to, Midian turned his attentions to his animal companion, returning him to health using his own skills as the voyage continued.

At the question of Ashal, Midian could only roll his eyes and smile. The crewman had proved next to useless in the assault, but there Johan was, looking out for the weak again, even when they were also objects of his own special form of hunting. The intricacies of nature--human and otherwise--were clearly convoluted.

Once on a regular ship, Talbot, while still a bit uneasy with the rocking, seemed much less uneasy. Midian, his own guilt assuaged, spent time above decks, taking in the sea air, looking to the water for signs of exotic species.

He overhears Vhir's question on the undead, and moves a little closer but doesn't barge in on the conversation. He's interested to hear what the more traditional religious members of the party think, as he finds his own views might not be as undead-friendly as they once were.

 

[Shayuri]

Midian notices Whisper hovering within earshot as well. Her masked visage nods to him, confirming that she too is curious on the subject, and is listening unobtrusively in.

 

[Bront]

"I am well, should be running around in no time," says Johan, who seems determined not to let them bother him. "Doesn't stop me from feeling useless though."

Johan listens to the story, and then relates his. "It was a pair of zombies that came out of no where. I think that perhaps the fog is haunted, or cursed. I've heard legends of ghost pirate ships at sea, raiding for the sheer fun of it. Perhaps that was some sort of ghost airship. I did not see a master, for most undead of that kind have one, but perhaps the cause and the ship was their master, for they did take bodies and supplies with them."

 

[Shayuri]

"I saw their master," comes Whisper's quiet voice.

"As their ship bore down on us, there was a great figure standing on the bow, dressed in black. If he was living or dead, I could not tell...but he saw me seeing him, and smiled. He was no mindless shade."

 

[ShaggySpellsword]

Tel walks down into the room in time to hear the last bit of Johan's story.

"Mastuh? I think I saw a mastuh. Big scary jolly felluh, all in a big black coat and hat. He wus all fer rammin' us outta th'sky before they vanished. Def'nitly sum ghos' pirate we ran into. I jus' wish I coulda' givn'm bettuh than I did. How bout y'all? You give as good as ya' got?"

 

[jkason]

Midian

"With Talbot's help, I managed to take down one, but I wasn't much help to Johan other than providing another target. Luckily, they disappeared as suddenly as they appeared."

 

[Bront]

"Nay Midian, you saved my life, tis nothing to be ashamed of," Johan says. "So they had a master? I wonder what his will was other than to wreak havok? Those that tap into evil such as that rarely have simple motives."

 

[SelcSilverhand]

"I heard tell they stole some of the cargo we were carrying, food no less. I thought the dead had no more need to eat, so why take it? Perhaps they are not mindless and rather are directed by some yet unseen force. Maybe they use servents like that ghost ship to collect resources for a larger, living force. An army perhaps?"

 

[jkason]

Midian

Midian shrugs shyly at Johan's praise, then jumps in at the news of the goods.

"An army of dead sent to feed the living. There's a thought to wrap your head around. Seems odd, though, that someone with so much invested in necromantic arts would value the living enough to feed them. I would think a being capable of maintaining a pirate ship full of undead would just dig up more bodies when he needed more servants. But then, I suppose I have a hard enough time wrapping my head around the kind of person who enjoys creating undead; I'm hardly qualified to assess their motivations."

 

[Shayuri]

"There are several possibilities," Whisper noted, ticking off gloved fingers.

"One, if their master is flesh, he may need the food for himself."

"Two, their master may himself be working for someone. The Karnathi, for example, are known for their mastery of undeath."

"And finally, they may be 'naturally occurring undead,' and be forever trapped in the activities they once carried out in life...no matter how senseless those activities are now."