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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7562125" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 256Bredan had decided that maybe collapsing right there on the edge of the deck was a good idea when he saw Sond appear along the rail on the upper deck.  She grabbed hold of one of the stay ropes and leaned out over the edge, heedless of risk as she examined the side of her ship.Kosk noticed it too.  “Looks like we may not be clear yet,” he said.“Damage control party below!” Sond yelled, stirring sailors who were still able to respond to her orders.  After barking a series of quick commands to her helmsman and to Torrin, who had remained safely at their stations during the brief but intense clash with the dragon turtle, the halfling captain rushed down to the lower deck and hurried toward the aft hatch leading below.Bredan followed her, curious despite his burns, which now that the fight was over were really starting to hurt.Even after weeks at sea he still knew next to nothing about ships, but Bredan thought he could feel something wrong with the Gull.  It was similar to the way that the ship had felt after the storm, wounded and limping.  He followed Sond down past the crew deck, down to the cargo holds situated in the bowels of the ship.  Bredan had gone down here to work the pumps that removed the seepage from the bilge.  It had been difficult and exhausting work, but it was much preferred to the seamen who had actually had to crawl into the cramped and filthy bilge spaces to patch some of the holes that the storm had created.This time, however, they didn’t get that far.  He caught up to Sond on the steps that led down into the cargo hold.  The space was already awash with water.  Empty barrels that hadn’t been lashed down sufficiently were bobbing in the flood.“That doesn’t look good,” he said.“No,” Sond said.  “We need light.  Bring a lamp,” she ordered one of her crewmen.  But even as the man started to hurry off, a bright glow filled the compartment.  Bredan hadn’t realized that the others had followed him until he saw Quellan step forward, the glow of his light spell shining from his holy symbol.“There were not many we could help,” the cleric said by way of explanation.Bredan made room for the big half-orc to make his way down the steps.  Sond, crouched at the edge of the water, quickly pointed across the hold.  “There,” she said, pointing to a spot along the hull where a plume of water was just visible.“Can we plug it?” Bredan asked.“I won’t know until I can get a look at it,” Sond said.  She started forward into the water, which was clearly already over her head, but paused as Quellan took hold of her shoulder.  “I have a spell that may be able to help,” he said.“All right,” Sond said.The cleric closed his eyes and concentrated on his holy symbol.  The glow that surrounded the sigil of the book flickered, but then it steadied and brightened.  As it did the water that filled the cargo hold began to swirl and roil, as if caught in a whirlpool.  Sond stepped up from the water in alarm, but she and the others watching could quickly see that the cleric’s spell was quickly lowering the level of the water that flooded the space.  As it retreated, they could see that the source of the flooding was from a big hole in the side of the ship, right about at the level of the floor of the hold.  The breach was big enough that even Quellan would have been able to squeeze through it without difficulty.  From the jagged edges that surrounded the opening, it was obvious what had wrought the damage, even if the fight with the dragon turtle hadn’t been fresh on everyone’s minds.Sond hurried over there even as the water continued to drain.  Bredan was quick to follow her in case the flow caught her up, but she grabbed hold of some of the ropes that tied down the pallets of cargo and had no difficulty managing the awkward approach.  Behind her, a few of her sailors came into the hold bearing tools and lengths of wood.“Can you patch it?” Bredan asked.Sond shook her head.  “A hole this big, it won’t be fast,” she said.  “If the patch isn’t anchored correctly the pressure will just blow it out again.  How long can you maintain your spell?” she asked Quellan.“Another seven or eight minutes,” the cleric replied.Sond met Bredan’s eyes and shook her head.“Do you have any stone?” Glori asked.  Bredan turned to see the bard coming down the steps.  She looked as ragged as the rest of them, but she still commanded the room.  “It doesn’t have to be that thick, but it should be about the size of the hole.”The sailors looked at each other and shook their heads, but after a moment Sond said, “The stove plate.  In the galley.”  She pointed to several of the sailors.  “Get it, now!”“But it’s attached to the floor,” one began to protest, but Sond said, “Get it here in five minutes, or the lot of you are going overboard!”The sailors dropped their burdens and hurried out.  “I’ll go with them,” Kosk said, pausing to pick up a claw-headed hammer.Sond turned back toward the hole in her hull.  The water was still flowing out, but she could see the rest of the ocean now, just waiting to rush back in.  She reached out and ran a hand along the edge of the breach with a look of wonder on her face.  “This is a magic I must master someday,” she said.It could not have been more than the allotted five minutes before the sailors reappeared, but to those waiting it felt like hours.  They were struggling with the weight of a stone circle about five feet across and a few inches thick.  They’d been able to roll it along the deck above, but they all had to work together to get it down the stairs without shattering it.  Kosk was in the center of the pack, directing them via sharp commands.Quellan had stepped over to the side of the hold, his brow tight with the effort of maintaining the concentration on his spell.  It was clear that he would fight to extract every second he could, but they all felt the inexorable passage of time as they maneuvered the slab to the breach in the hull.  Glori directed them to lay it over the opening.“We’ll never get it nailed over in time,” one of the men began to protest, but she gestured him back and then began to play her lyre.Glori felt the magic gather around her as she played.  This was a new spell for her, one of those that was part of the enchantment within Majerion’s lyre.  She had practiced it a few times before they had sent out on this journey, but she had no idea if it would accomplish what she needed in this instance.  But with Quellan’s spell already starting to fade, and the wall of water just waiting to surge back into the wounded ship, she cast herself entirely into the working of the spell.The stone block began to ripple, then it started to swell outwards.  It flowed into the breach, merging with the shattered boards that remained, binding them to itself and each other, reforming the hull of the ship.  It did not take long, maybe ten, fifteen seconds, but when it was done the slab had become the patch, and the side of the ship was whole again.“Okay, that one I need to learn,” Sond said.  “Will it hold?”Glori wasn’t sure herself, and it wasn’t until Quellan’s spell ended and he came forward to join her that she finally spoke.  “It should be reinforced as soon as possible,” she said.Sond nodded with a small smile that said she understood exactly the reason for the delay in her response.  “A wise precaution,” she said.  She gestured to her crew, who picked up their discarded materials and came over to the repaired breach.“A creative application of that spell,” Quellan said to Glori.“You too,” she said.  “You’re still hurt.”“Others are hurt worse,” he said.“What about the rest of the ship?” Bredan asked.“I’ll have to go over every inch of her,” Sond said.  “I suspect that was the worst of it, but we still have a long way to go.”“And hope that monster doesn’t come back,” Kosk said.“I think we’ll outpace it,” Sond said.  “But there are worse things in the Blue Deep.”She hurried back above, but the adventurers lingered a moment, looking at each other.  They didn’t say anything, but they all had the same thought on their minds.  Worse than that?</blockquote>

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