[Adventure] Serpent's Skull: Souls for Smuggler's Shiv (DM: Mewness; Judge: THB)

Kane wakes at first light and rubs his bleary eyes. He stretches his arms up arcing his back giving a deeply satified yawn after what is the best night's sleep he has had since being on the island. His dreams of seahorses and piles of treasure fade into forgotten as his stomach grumbles meanacingly and his mind instantly turns to breakfast. He digs into his pack to retrieve the mushrooms he had gathered before meeting the group but stops as the scraps of what looks to be meat near the embers of the fire catch his eye.

He can't stuff his face fast enough with the left overs, his mouth looking not dissimalar to a squirrel's face full of nuts.

"Ffranku!" he mutters to the group in general, unsure who provided this delicious boon, and almost almost choking himself in doing so. Once he finally swallows it back and washes it down with the rain water in his water skin, and lets rip a deeply satisfied burp, he grins: "Mmmmmmmm, ch-chic-ken!"
 
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With a shout, Noriaki seems to wake up, his arms reaching out in front of him.

"Noriaki! Hey! the dragonborn says, running the last distance up to Noriaki, who is lying amongst his bedding. "Did you have a nightmare? Tell me, friend, while your memories of it are still fresh."

Noriaki looks up to Takahaan, and replies, his voice faint, as if he's paying only half attention. "It was...I awoke on the Jenivere, to my...to the crew, telling me it was time for dinner. The soup, it was poisoned." Noriaki shakes his head. Tossing aside his cover, he stands and grabs his robes and jacket. As he puts them on, "But that's neither here nor there."

Dressed, Noriaki approaches the group at the campfire, and clears his throat for attention. "Good morning, I trust everyone slept well? Good. I have finished reading the captain's logbook. Most of it was droll, but there seems to be a lot about this woman called Ieana. Captain Kovack was painfully unskilled at verse and exposition, but from his writings, the two seemed to be romantically involved. I'm afraid his head for the woman got in the way of his captaining, as he seems to have left out any mention of picking us up, or the Masked One, or the cargo, or anything that happened in Daunton, really. From his logs, the only thing you'd know happened these past few days was another inspired, yet terribly uncreative love poem writing session."
 

During the second watch, the Pict watches the sky with a frown. He grunts a bit and Jeremy says cheerfully, "I saw it too. How big do you think it was?" At that the Pict grins. He turn to Hu Li, "Did you see it?"
OOC: Jade's on watch at this time, not Hú Lí. He doesn't see it.

The Captain is, of course, on duty for the shift the Irregulars share with Sasha. He regales her with the story of the time the Irregulars faced a squad of minotaurs working for a Fomorian King. From the way he tells it, the battle was quite the thing to behold.
Sasha is very entertained by the story and asks a lot of questions about fomorians, sometimes interrupting in her haste to have some detail explained.

"Ffranku!" he mutters to the group in general, unsure who provided this delicious boon, and almost almost choking himself in doing so. Once he finally swallows it back and washes it down with the rain water in his water skin, and lets rip a deeply satisfied burp, he grins: "Mmmmmmmm, ch-chic-ken!"
OOC: Eek Kane's gone orange!
 

OOC: Doh! Sorry, i'm so used to orange being my colour ... it seems habits are hard to break! Fixed.


Wiping the 'chicken' from his chin, Kane brings forth his magical coin and begins flicking it into the air, listening attentively as Noriaki speaks.

"Who is c-captain Kovack? M-masked one? W-what cargo? W-what happened in D-daunton?"
 

"Captain Kovack was the master of the ship on which we sailed," Hú Lí explains. "We boarded the ship in Daunton, many of us bound for a festival in the Valley of Bone. The festival was to be for the marriage of a daughter of a king, and there was to be competitions in fighting," she taps her drum for emphasis, "athletics," *tap*, "and music!" *tap*

"The Masked One that Noriaki speaks of was a dwarf named Tlacamatli, gaunt and withered in his appearance. It was he who told us of this competition, and he who guided us to the ship.

"We boarded the ship soon before it set sail. All of us were passengers on deck, except for Jade, whom we did not discover until later. There was another passenger, a woman named Ieana, who appeared to be a scholar. I can not say what else happened in Daunton, for before I boarded the ship, I had met only those of us who were bound for the wedding festival."
[sblock=Hú Lí]The Black Fox Fox Spirit (Changeling) Bard 2
Initiative: +2, Passive Perception: 17, Passive Insight: 19
AC:18, Fort:12, Reflex:16, Will:17

:bmelee: +3 vs. AC, 1d6-1 damage

HP:29/29, Bloodied:14, Surge Value:7, Surges left:8/8
Action Points: 2, Second Wind: unused
Powers: Fox Spirit Disguise, Wild Shape, Staggering Note, Vicious Mockery
Blunder, Fox Spirit Trick, Grasping Claws, Majestic Word x2, Words of Friendship
Stirring Shout, Canon of Avoidance

Virtue of Cunning: Once per round, when an enemy misses an ally within 9 squares of the Black Fox, the Fox may slide the ally 1 square as a free action.

Conditions:
none
[/sblock]
 


Smuggler's Shiv, Day 2, dawn

"He was in love with her?" says Aerys. "Odd. I had assumed that she got on in Daunton, the same morning the rest of us did. I suppose that explains why Kovack seemed so cheerful. From his reputation, I'd have thought him a very severe man." Despite the earliness of the hour, Aerys already has a cup of wine in her hand. She hesitates, looking around at the group, then asks, "Hú Lí, could I speak to you for a moment?"
 

Hú Lí looks a little surprised by this.
"Yes," she says, "If you wish, we shall speak."
She takes a few steps away from the camp so that they can speak without being overheard.
 

While Aerys is talking to Hú Lí, Ishirou steps out of a shelter and looks over the group, first at Noriaki and Takahaan, then towards Kane, whom he approaches.

“I thank you for your words last night, though you cannot understand,” he says. “I wish to give you something.” He smiles very faintly. “I collect maps. They are mostly useless, as you see; I keep them because they are beautiful. But perhaps you will find one of them interesting.” He hands Kane a sheaf of maps, and without waiting for the man’s reply, turns and approaches Noriaki and Takahaan.

[sblock=Ishirou’s Maps]As Ishirou said, these are most likely worthless. Many of them are only partly completed, apparently abandoned because of mistakes. Some of them seem to have been constructed entirely from fancy--at least, they don’t depict any place you’ve ever heard of. But they are all quite skillfully drawn, and it is easy to see why Ishirou might treasure them.

But one of them is definitely of particular interest. It isn’t so much a map, as two pictures, both prettily rendered. The first shows a distinctive-looking hill. It is surrounded by jungle, but the top of the hill is bare. The sun is shown setting in the background. The picture is labeled, “SHIV EAST.”

The second picture shows a view from a high vantage point of the sun rising exactly between two spike-shaped rocks that stick up out of the ocean.[/sblock]

Reaching Noriaki and Takahaan, Ishirou bows and addresses slender young man. “I must speak,” he says. “You were mistaken when you spoke last night, though the fault was mine: you are a man of nobility and honor, and have no reason to suspect deceit in others. I am a commoner. When I was a boy, I wanted nothing more than to bear a sword and win honor, but I was not born to that station. One day a merchant ship arrived in the port. The people that owned it wished to hire guards and mercenaries. They would pay me to carry a sword. I was young and did not know any better than to agree. I thought that the sword was everything. After many years I longed to see my home again, but I knew that if I returned I would be known for what I was--a peasant, playing at being a warrior, in the service of anyone who would pay.

“Now I want nothing more than to see my home again. This”
--he unfastens the shoulder strap that holds his katana--“is a lie.” He hands the weapon, sheathed and with the strap attached, to Noriaki. “It is you who must decide: If I am worthy of this weapon, then give it to me, and I shall bear it for the first time with honor, and do your bidding, even should you require me to take my own life. If I am not worthy, then let me wander the jungle until I perish. I cannot fight to escape this island if I dishonor the weapon I carry.”

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

Meanwhile, Aerys speaks to Hú Lí in a manner uncharacteristically nervous. “I have a problem,” she says. “I--drink. Too much. Not that it’s so bad when there’s plenty of it to be had, of course. Well--it is bad. I--I’ve tried to quit before, but.... Anyway, I’m going to have to stop, obviously, because we’re going to run out. And ... I won’t be good for much when we do, I can tell you.” She takes a deep breath. Her hands are shaking slightly.

“I--need help. I’m going to be a mess. When I tried last time, there was something that helped--viper nettle berries. They grow on some of these islands, supposedly. If we can find some....”

Hú Lí has heard of viper nettles, although they aren’t found in the Kingdom of Jade and she has never seen them.
 

Noriaki holds Ishirou's katana, one hand on the scabbard, the other passing lightly over the sheathed blade. He feels the tiny spirit within the blade. It holds years of shame and pain from misuse. Noriaki takes a deep breath, and looks to the sky. "Father won't like this." he thinks, "But it is my birthright. And on this island, I may need every blade I can get."

"This blade confirms your tale." he says, looking up, and into Ishirou's eyes. "It is a shameful thing you did, in your youth. But you know that, and by consigning your fate to me, by having learned that it is better to leave a blade sheathed than to draw it in dishonor, even in defense of one's life, you have proven yourself worthy." A hint of his normal smile shows. "I can't honorably hand this sword back to a peasant. But I can swear you into my service, and then you will be a peasant no longer. Lucky for you, I know the ceremony. Not many do, these days. What do you say?"
 

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