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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 3002608" data-attributes="member: 1210">7/18/372 O.L.G., 3 p.m., at sea northeast of ZacradoseThe navigator, Queffe Quaffe, is yet a third halfling on board the vessel.*  She takes sighting in the morning, afternoon and evening, using the sun and stars for her measurements.  She smiles confidently as she gets the ship further and further off-course through a few minor mistakes that compound over the first few days of the journey.  But it proves not to matter, for in the afternoon of the third day of the journey, a pod of dolphins swims next to the ship, frolicking in the wake.  The merellin, Prikwikkakakak- who mostly just goes by “Prik”- jumps in with them for a while.  When she comes back, Nara asks, “Can you talk to them?”“No,” the merellin answers.  “I speak Merellin, Strogassian and Whale, but not Dolphin.”“They might know something about this sargasso,” Erasmuz suggests.  Nara nods.  “I could talk to them with the right spell, but I don’t have it prepared.  In the morning...”“If they stay that long,” Naomi says.  Fortunately for the party, the dolphins do stay with the ship until morning, for they prove to know quite a bit about the Mustard Sargasso.  The dolphins tell Nara (via her tongues spell) that their kind avoids the sargasso; the waters around it make them sick if they linger too close to it for too long.  Also, it smells and tastes funny.“But can you guide us to it?” Nara entreats them, and they agree to lead the ship most of the way.  When Nara tells Captain Tarth to follow the dolphins, the captain doesn’t even blink.  She just nods and shouts commands to her crew, who respond quickly.  The Promised Land swings slightly to the east and the journey continues.  The only threat is Tron’s unfortunate habit of pooping in the party’s cabins.  ***7/24/372 O.L.G., 11 a.m., at sea northeast of Dyshim“Captain!  Sargasso!” calls Raw Fish from the crow’s nest.“Well, that sounds promising,” murmurs Ari.“Aye,” nods Captain Tarth.  Nara hurries to the ship’s rail.  Several of the dolphins have gathered in the water below, chattering and clicking.  She casts tongues and calls out, “Thank you!  Thank you very much!”  “Be careful!” warns one of the dolphins.  “The waters here are no good.  Do not get caught- no ship can escape, once ensnared by a sargasso like this.”“We will be,” Nara promises.  “Thank you,” she says again, and moments later the dolphins depart.  “Now what?” asks Erasmuz.  “We should be careful about bringing the ship too close to the sargasso.”“Oh, we aren’t bringing the ship too close to the sargasso,” mutters the captain under her breath.  Louder, she adds, “We will send an away team in the launches.”“Hey, it’s our ship,” Nara says.  “If we are entangled, we’ll be stuck until we starve,” Captain Tarth snaps.  “We daren’t risk it.”  She sniffs the air.  There is a tang of rancid mustard on the wind.  “I can smell it,” she utters.Jawbreaker just snorts. “The launches sound like a good idea,” states Ari.The ship closes in until the sargasso is only about half a mile away.  By that time, the stench of the Mustard Sargasso has grown quite strong.  The seaweed that they can see is a mix of green, brown and yellow.  In several places, large clumps are visible, and along surface of the sargasso the party can see many different entangled ships, most no doubt merely rotting hulks.  “That’s a lot to check out,” Ari points out.“We find promised land,” Jawbreaker declares firmly. “Besides, we only have to search them until we find the Vast Explorer and whatever information might be aboard her.”  Erasmuz smiles.  “It’s not so bad, buddy.”“I’ll send one of the crew with you,” Captain Tarth says.  She scans the deck, then calls out to Queffe.  “You’ll be joining them when they go into the sargasso,” Tarth declares. “Aye, captain,” Queffe nods.Within twenty minutes all is ready, and our heroes take a pair of boats in towards the sargasso.  The closer they get the stronger the reek of spoiled mustard becomes.  Huge mats of rotting seaweed stained unnatural colors are everywhere.  As they approach, the party chooses a derelict vessel, almost at random, and begins heading towards it.As they approach, they can  see that they will have to clamber onto the seaweed mats to reach the ship.  They leap onto the thick vegetation, which doesn’t have any problem supporting their meager weight, and tie the boat to a thick clump of kelp-like tubes.  Then they proceed towards the vessel.As they approach, Naomi sniffs the air.  “Hey, is something cooking?” she asks.“There’s someone aboard!” exclaims Rock, pointing.  The others fix their gazes upon the ship’s deck, and indeed, what appears to be a gaunt human figure is standing up on the deck.  One of his arms is missing at the elbow, and a bloody bandage is tied tightly around it. “Hello!” calls Naomi.“Visitors?” croaks the man.  He stumbles back away from the edge of the ship.  “Come, please, come up!” he calls. Our heroes begin to ascend, climbing the slimy side of the vessel.  When they reach the top, they find more haggard, ragged folk there.  A brazier holds a small fire, over which a length of meat is roasting.Naomi does a double take.  It’s a human arm.Next Time: The Mustard Sargasso, part 2- the Cannibals!*Queffe kind of falls into a special category, as she is a new pc.</blockquote>

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