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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Taboo" data-source="post: 340264" data-attributes="member: 5912">The Voyage HomeOops...for anyone who already read this... reread it, I posted the newest section out of order, so I just corrected it. This is the important one, without it, nothing coming up makes sense!*********They opened the remaining door. What they found in there, really took their breath away! When they opened the door, they expected another dark hallway, but what they found was something completely the opposite!  It was a large room, covered in mosaic. In the center of the room, in a large canal filled with blue and green tiles was a boat, or more accurately perhaps, a small ship.They walked over to the ship and looked at it, amazed to find something like this inside of a large stone structure. There was a small metal plaque on the boat, which Thorin tried to read. There were symbols on it and they did kind of look like letters. As he stared at it words seemed to form and he read them aloud, and an amazing thing happened.  When he spoke the word “VOS”, the boat became a wooden box the size of a boot. It was small and light enough to carry or fit in a backpack!He promptly put it back down before speaking the next word. “KOS” turned it into a boat of moderate size.The final word “NOS” brought it back to the size of a small ship and fit for a voyage that they could fit on comfortably.  It had one main deck, with a small cabin.Finally, they had a way off of this island and hopefully to get back home if they could figure out where home was!  Of course, that was the question. Where were they!?Kierwin still hadn’t shared her doubts about being on the same plane anymore and without the creature that had brought them here, was there a way to get home? Maybe she was wrong? She didn’t know what to do, there was no sense in worrying everyone when she really didn’t have a clue if she was right. She’d hoped to explore more of the pyramid to find more answers.They discussed (briefly) whether to explore more of the pyramid or try to head home. The unanimous and almost instantaneous decision was to head home. They hoped that when they hit the sea that they’d be able to find their way home. It turned out that Geirmund knew quite a lot about sailing from his days as a slave aboard ship.While they talked amongst themselves the poor twisted creature that had helped them escape the slavers showed up.“You helped me escape, I helped you escape. Yes? You want to go home now?” It asked.  They did.“Good, I am done here and the time for leaving is good.” It hobbled over to the wall towards the back end of the boat and reached up to touch something on the wall above the water mosaic.  A gush of water began to cascade out of the wall and fill the ravine, while the far wall opened and revealed the hazy gray that waited outside. The water appeared to flow away from the pyramid and form a river to the beach.The creature hopped aboard ship and looked at them, ”Well lets us be going now.”The others all hopped aboard ship as well. They were quickly down to the shoreline and past the beach.The creature said it needed blood again, looking hopefully at Turk.Turk grimaced, remembering the first time and dutifully cut his hand. The creature happily licked up the blood. “Oh yes, such strong blood you have, works well.” The others tried not to look remembering the first time.Everything went black as before, and the next thing they knew, they were back on the ocean with blue skies and the sun above them.  The creature had disappeared again, the same as before.Geirmund worked to get his bearings, but with no land in sight and no idea what time it was, it was difficult to tell. He made his best guess by the position of the sun in the sky. “It’ll be easier to get an idea where we are tonight. We’ll get our position, and set our course. Do we all agree that we’re headed for Aguila?”That had been Turk’s wish, and the others had no argument. Kierwin and Minx wanted to go home, but they also wanted to see that justice was served in Aguila from the kidnapping of Turk and Snap. There was also the quest that Osa had been on, and they were concerned about Rowena. Kierwin still hadn’t really gotten to talk to Thorin, so she didn’t know much about what had been driving the dwarf towards his destination, but she hoped to talk to him about it soon.So, they all agreed to set course for Aguila and see where fate led them from there.  They had no idea how long they would be on the ship and decided to take account of all their food and water and divide it up. They might need to make their little last a long time.Geirmund spent time with each of them teaching them how to steer the ship. They would each need to be able to take turns since they would need to trade off while they slept and took watch.  That night, Geirmund also charted their course for Aguila and determined that their voyage would take about 5 days.For the most part, each watch was uneventful.  The voyage went well, although they were short on food and fresh water. They rationed it carefully and had enough.Geirmund had a terrible past. Kierwin finally had a chance to talk to him. He’d been born in Corvis, and was an orphan. At age 12 he’d stowed away on a ship and wound up in Freeport. Then, he stowed away on another ship, a Pantangean slave barge overran this one and he’d wound up a slave. That’s how he’d gotten the scars on his back, from their whips. Kierwin didn’t get to talk to him much more than that, they’d gotten interrupted and he seemed uneasy about talking about it. She’d need to talk to him again when they reached land.Kierwin and Minx always took the last watch together. One of them always at the wheel while the other took watch.  They needed less sleep time than the others and could see further in the night’s weak light. Kierwin took to wandering the deck to keep an eye out. One night early in the voyage, she noticed strange water spouts just off the port side.She quickly awoke Turk. He had her help him on with his part of his armor and they got Geirmund. He went to take a look and informed them they were just whales.  “Oh” Kierwin said a little embarrassed. “I’ve never seen whales ‘up close’. I was afraid it was something dangerous.” Geirmund laughed “Well if they are coming straight at the shipand mean it we are probably done for but heading off the port bow like that and pulling away at speed I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”Well, it was better safe than sorry. She helped Turk take his armor back off, and he went back to sleep.Kierwin went back to Minx and back on watch. “I’m going to pray now, then I’ll relieve you and you can study your spells.”The next night, on Kierwin and Minx’s watch, Kierwin noticed that Turk was missing. She told Minx that she couldn’t find him. Minx was worried also. Kierwin could only think of one thing, and wasn’t really even thinking or she wouldn’t have done it. Osa had taken the cabin, out of a need for some privacy, she was a Lady after all. With that being the only logical place to look, Kierwin knocked on the door. “Turk are you in their?!” Just as she did, she noticed there were sounds coming from inside, vigorous sounds, and realized that’s where Turk was and why. oops, “Never mind…..”Minx asked if everything was ok when Kierwin went back over to her looking flushed.  Kierwin said yes, never mind. Minx quickly figured it out.  Kierwin had hoped Minx wouldn’t figure it out, because she knew how Minx would react.  She did.“I can’t believe it!  Didn’t I hear somebody say that Osa was MARRIED? Besides that Turk and Osa barely know each other!  Ohhh!!!  I KNEW I didn’t like him for a reason!That Pig!” Minx was really mad. If there was one thing in this world that would set Minx off, this was it.  Her parents had brought her up this way, and this was all she knew. That’s why she’d reacted so strongly when she’d thought that the slavers were going to sell her into a harem or something like that. Kierwin tried to quiet her. “It’s not up to us to judge Osa, and it’s up to Turk what he does. He’s not hurting anybody. Well at least I don’t think he is, from the sounds of things in there I’m not too sure. But I know how you feel about it and also I shouldn’t have snooped, I wasn’t thinking. I was just worried when I couldn’t find him. Let’s just forget it.”“No!” Minx was stubborn. When she made up her mind, it was hard to change it. She was a good person, a great friend, and Kierwin was determined that she’d keep this from developing into a feud between Minx and Turk. Somehow Minx and Turk already knew they could work together, that was a plus. Now she just had to find a way through this. She’d have to talk to Turk. Soon.It wasn’t long until Kierwin HAD to talk to Turk. As soon as morning came, and Turk emerged from Osa’s cabin, Minx promptly started her tirade. Fortunately, she did it just out of earshot of Osa. Kierwin could see that Turk was getting angry, but holding himself back. She could also see that he was making sure that Osa and Rowena were out of earshot.Kierwin didn’t want to physically break up the two, but she was afraid that was what it was going to come to. She didn’t want it to come to a major problem in the group, there was enough of a problem trying to deal with whatever was going on with Snap.Speaking of Snap he was watching the heated exchange and muttered something about wishing he could cast fireball.Turk finally walked away from Minx, trying to keep himself under control. Kierwin decided to talk to him now, before things go any worse. She explained Minx’s past and tried to make him understand. She told him she knew it wasn’t anyone’s business what he did, especially theirs. He said he didn’t care what Minx said or thought about him, but if she insulted the women or said anything in front of them, that was different.Kierwin promised to talk to Minx about it and swore that it wouldn’t come to that. Minx would take care of her end of things in the group, and she wouldn’t be dishonorable to the women. Then she talked to Minx. Peace was on. For now, at least.The rest of the voyage was uneventful. Thorin proved himself indispensable, being a bit unusual for a dwarf by nimbly climbing the mast to keep lookout for land or possible trouble. Finally, after about a week, as predicted by Geirmund, Thorin spotted land in the distance.Geirmund headed for the docks at Aguila as the others gathered their few possessions and prepared for the city. They had no idea what they would face when they docked. Turk intended to turn in the guards who had drugged him and sold him to the pirates, and he certainly wanted his horse, Justice, back!  They were ready for whatever awaited them when they reached port, or at least they thought they were.As Geirmund pulled deftly into port, two guards met them at the docks. The guards hailed them, and asked their business in Aguila. They said they had business at ‘the Inn of the One Eyed Goat’ and with the City Guard about pirate activity. The guards were very surprised by the statement about pirate activity saying that they hadn’t had problems with pirates for over six months. They also said that there wasn’t an Inn of the One Eyed Goat anymore, it was now known as the Prancing Stallion.This was all very puzzling for our adventurers. Not wanting to get into anything here on the docks, they decided to head for the Prancing Stallion to find out what was going on. First of all, they had to deal with an apparent docking fee. Well, the dock guards thought so at least….“Docking fees are 2 gold pieces a day, if you’d like to dock your boat here.” Thorin smiled and said “That won’t be a problem, we don’t need to dock it.” The guards were very puzzled about that one. Thorin promptly said “VOS” and picked up the small box, stuck it in his pack, and the party was ready to go. The guards stood looking at them speechlessly as they left.They were wondering amongst themselves all the way to the inn just what could be going on, they’d only been gone for a week and a half or so. How could the inn have changed names? And what was this about there not being any pirate activity for months, maybe they had no idea about the racket that was apparently getting started here. The guards must be mistaken, either that or covering something up.When they arrived at the place that Turk remembered as the One Eyed Goat, it did indeed say the Prancing Stallion. They went inside, and Turk recognized the young man that he had entrusted with the care of his mare, Justice. The strange thing was, the young man didn’t look quite so young anymore.The young man looked up and saw Turk, recognizing him right away. “Turk, is it you? It’s been such a long time!” “Oh sir, I feared you were gone for good!”Turk wanted to know just how long it had been since the young man, Joseph, had seen him.Joseph replied, “Over 2 years sir, don’t you know?!”“2 years! We’ve only been away less than 2 weeks!” Turk said with shock and disbelief although his eyes told him that it had to be the truth. “What of my horse, Justice?”  “With the generous tip you gave me, I was able to take good care of her when you disappeared. She is well, and with her I have been able to start a strong bloodline of horses that has enabled me to prosper and buy this place. I’ve cleaned it up, and made it reputable. Justice is out at my home in the country side with plenty of pasture and well taken care of. I’ll take you out there myself. Of course you shall have her back, along with all of the equipment you left with her. If you’d rather you are welcome to choose one of her offspring, they are all magnificent animals.”Turk was relieved to hear that she was so well taken care of, and would not hear of having any horse but her. He wanted to ride out to get her right away. He asked Kierwin to watch over Rowena for him while he went out to get Justice. Of course, she said she would take care of her.While Turk was gone, everyone else bought dinner at the inn and then split up and got rooms and retired for the evening. Minx and Kierwin had offered to share with Snap, hoping to spend some time with him, but he refused, preferring to be alone. They still couldn’t get anything more out of him. The mystery still remained. Thorin and Giermund shared a room also, but first Thorin bought a round of ale.When they talked to Turk the next morning he explained that he’d found out that while they’d been gone all of the piracy had been rooted out and abolished from Aguila and the town was quite different than when they’d been here last. Apparently all that was left for them to do was sell their goods and stock up for their trip to Oakhurst since they had decided to help Osa on with her quest for the red apple.Kierwin remained with Rowena, since Turk trusted her most to take care of her. They gave him everything they’d found to sell, and Minx asked him if he’d take the strange dagger they’d found and have it’s blade honed for her since it seemed a bit dull.Turk set off through town looking for shops that looked promising. There weren’t many places in Aguila that bought and sold the supplies they needed, but they were told they should be able to find most of it.Turk found a likely place to sell the jewelry they’d found. In the process, he even gained a little information. The jade earrings looked like the kind of jewelry that a people who had once long ago conquered the continent had worn. They had finally been overthrown and run off about 200 years ago. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find out more than that from the shop owner, but he thought that information might be useful.He stopped by a weapon smith’s and asked about having the dagger reworked. He was told it just needed polish and a good honing. But, when he went into a “magic shop”, the owner saw the dagger and was fascinated by it. He liked it because it was so unusual. He couldn’t just trade Minx’s dagger without asking her, but he really wanted the potion of Bull’s Strength the owner was offering, so he told the owner he’d be back.Turk went back to the Inn and Minx agreed, but only if he got her a Mage Armor Scroll and to see what else he could manage. While he was there, Kierwin asked him to see if there were any clerical scrolls available if they had the money for them. After he’d left, she wished she had specified “healing”, but she hadn’t.Turk came back with his potion of Bull’s Strength, Minx’s Mage Armor Scroll, and a scroll of Command for Kierwin. They hadn’t had any healing scrolls anyway, so it wouldn’t have mattered if she’d asked. She was disappointed.He also remembered to buy trail rations and water.Well, it looks like they were ready to set sail for Oakhurst.</blockquote>

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