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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 3535849" data-attributes="member: 11">Session #7 – “Negotiations & Love Songs” (Part 1 of 3) (1)Ralem, the 22nd of Sek – 566 H.E. (637 M.Y.)Timotheus stirred and made his way up onto the deck where Victoria was keeping watch. Laarus, always an early riser, was quietly praying to Ra for his spells.  The priest of Ra faced east on his knees, arms stretched out before him.“Hey Victoria! Wanna lay those healing hands on me?” Timotheus asked the militant, sounding lascivious.  She scowled at him, but soon curing spells were doled out all the way around, except for Markos who had recovered remarkably well.Telémahkos and Timotheus praised Ra and Anhur as a way of thanking their priestly companions, and the former gave Laarus a couple of coins to bring to the church in his name.The priest was surprised.“Look!” Laarus pointed to the southwest.  At the edge of their vision a glint of red became the billow of a sail, and then the distant blurred form turned to the east and hovered for a while like a mirage.“Are those oars?” Victoria asked.“I think so,” Markos replied. “That is a big ship… A lot bigger than us… Is it safe to assume we don’t want to be seen if we can avoid it?”“Can you see their colors?  Who do you think they are?” Victoria asked.“I don’t know,” Markos said.“Pirates?” Timotheus speculated.“I don’t know,” Markos said.  “They could be anybody…”“But we should be able to tell who they are by their colors, correct?” Victoria asked.“I do not know who they are,” Markos said, with exasperation.  “We have no way of guessing who they are unless they were closer, but we don’t want them closer.  So can we please stop talking about ‘who they are’ and move on to ‘what are we going to do’?  And if everybody agrees that we want to avoid contact, I’d like to set sail right away…” “Can we avoid them?” Victoria asked.“We can certainly try,” Markos replied with condescension. “Does anybody object…? No? Good.”  He set to getting the sloop ready to go.“But we don’t want to look like we’re running away,” Timotheus complained.  “If they’re looking for trouble a sign of weakness will certainly attract them…”“Don’t worry,” Markos replied, rolling his eyes. “I’ll sail casual…” He turned the sloop north for some time, until the other ship was way out of sight. As he took down the sail with Tymon’s help, Markos frowned at the gaudy and obvious markings on it, and called to the others.  “We’re going to want to change this sail at first opportunity… Uh, it’s of poor quality, and the hull needs some work, so when that is done, might as well repaint it, too.”“I’m sorry, have we decided what we plan to do with this vessel?” Victoria asked.  “Are we keeping it?”“We’re gonna sell it,” Timotheus said.“Yes, if we plan to keep it and sell it, then we should probably change the sail and re-paint the hull,” Markos said.“We can sail it back to Schiereiland and then go fight hobgoblins,” Timotheus suggested with his usual smile.“At this point, hobgoblins sounds good to me,” Telémahkos sighed.“That’s two votes for hobgoblins!” Tim cheered.“This ship may have a rightful owner,” Victoria said.  “And if that can be determined then it will need to be returned to them.  We should not be premature.”“It would be impossible to ever determine this ship’s rightful owner, even if there is one,” Markos said.“Are there not registries for such things?” Victoria asked.  Markos sneered, as he’d hoped she might not know of such things because of her unfamiliarity with sea travel.  “Ships are costly…” She turned to the priest of Ra, “Brother Laarus, where is your mind on this matter?”“Well…” Laarus began, but Markos jumped in. “Think about where we found this ship!  In a smuggler’s cover and everybody was dead!”“If we should return to Kraken’s Cove and find the owners dead or pirates, it is within the law for us to claim this as booty,” Laarus of Ra said.  “But if we can find out who really owns this sloop then justice will be served one way or another.”“And like I said, it will be near impossible to determine,” Markos said.“Jozef Winter is the Harbormaster of Sluetelot,” Bleys the Aubergine said, speaking up on the subject for the first time.  “I am certain he would allow me to peruse the registries there…”Markos Ackers threw his hands up in the air in defeat.“Should we not be heading back to the Cove to finish our work there?” Bleys asked, changing the subject of the conversation.  As Timotheus Smith was still injured and the priests had used all their daily granted spells to heal the others, it was agreed to wait another full day before returning to the cove, despite Bleys’ desire otherwise.  Telémahkos suggested returning to Tribunisport and altogether forgetting the cove, but no one took his suggestion seriously.“I think at the very least it would be prudent for us to anchor closer to the cove so we might see if any ships arrive, or any that might have arrived in our absence, leave,” Bleys said.  Victoria and Laarus agreed, but Markos was against it, fearing that if a ship did come not only would they be able to see it, but it would be able to see them.  Telémahkos agreed, but was also curious about the activities of the frog-men themselves.“Smugliwugs,” Bleys said.“What?” asked Victoria.“I heard Timotheus refer to them as smugliwugs,” the watch-mage said, never breaking a smile while saying the silly word.Markos called for a vote, and the majority went with Bleys.  Once again, Markos made ready to move the sloop.By mid-morning the Sea Wyvern was within sight of the cove entrance, but just north of it.  The beach itself was obscured by the shadow of the bluff and the glare of the sun, but if anything of a reasonable size came or went, the signers of the Charter of Schiereiland would be able to see it.  Markos did most of the sailing himself, enlisting the aid of Tymon or Timotheus with terse instructions, while Telémahkos and Bleys were down in the hold, the latter having asked the former to talk privately.Meanwhile, Markos and Timotheus had a long detailed talk about tactics that left the former exasperated.  Markos wanted to develop an elaborate method for striking at opponents in a coordinated fashion, but Timotheus was skeptical.“Battle can be too chaotic for that,” Timotheus said.  “Better if we just have a tactical leader that can assess the situation and everybody listens to in those circumstances.”“True, but we should still have some sort of plan set up,” Markos found ways to disagree even when he agreed, and went on to bore the veteran soldier with the details of how he thought tactics should work.  Tim humored him.Below, Bleys the Aubergine pressed Telémahkos about the origins of his information about the plot against House Wetherwax, and Telie admitted that he might have been too hasty in making the connection between the rumor of the attack and coming from Kraken’s Cove. (2)  “Could the attack on the royal navy come from another venue?” Bleys asked.  “Could it not be the result of some political deceits and deceptions?  Some internal feud that would be more difficult to entangle than the mere motives of some pirates?”“It certainly could be,” Telémahkos replied. He went on to explain some of the on-going disagreements, machinations and struggles for power that happened in his own noble house.  “But what makes you think that it is…?”“I warn you, that what you hear from me now, I cannot further corroborate or attest to how I should have come upon its knowledge.  These are words shared only between us, but I can confirm reports of just such a threat." Bleys the Aubergine said, taking Telie by surprise.“On House Wetherwax?” Telie asked, in shock.“Yes,” said Bleys“And is it to be perpetrated by one of our member Houses?” Telémahkos asked.“Not Briareus or Ostrander, nor Raymer have any direct dealings in the matter,” Bleys replied with specificity.  “The Houses involved are further removed…”“Your secret is safe with me,” Telémahkos replied with a wink.There were raised voices from above and their conversation was interrupted, as the distant red-sailed ship had been spotted again.  A faultless bird had landed up on the mast, and Markos climbed up to see if it bore a message, he noticed the glint of growing red.  It was coming from the northwest now, cutting in such a way that they could see the change in light along its side as its many oars rose high into the air rhythmically.Markos had Timotheus raise the sail as he and Tymon, with Laarus’ help, got the sails ready to move the sloop again, to anchor in a position south of the cove entrance.“Telie and Bleys sure have been down there a long time,” Timotheus commented.“Maybe they are alleviating their loneliness with Thrician kissing,” Markos laughed. (3)“That happens at sea,” Tymon said without a hint of irony, which caused Markos and Tim to laugh even harder.  Even Laarus cracked a smile, but Victoria did not appreciate the humor.Telémahkos and Bleys only paused to listen to the commotion above.  Since no one called them and there was no sound of danger, they continued.“You know, talking with you now and thinking back to the times I met you when we were younger, I have to wonder what happened to the boy I knew…” Telémahkos said with growing familiarity.  “I just remember you playing at knights with us even though you were a little older… You just seemed carefree back then and full of joy…”“Do you think I wanted to become a watch-mage?” Bleys asked rhetorically.  “You, more than anyone here, should know that I only ever wanted to become the stalwart knight, like warriors of old, in defense of hearth, home and kingdom. Like Hogarth, my older brother, my father before him, and his father, but alas, as it was, my father had other plans for me.  And as it is, I know my duty, for we too are ‘Proud to Serve." (4)“You are a bigger man than me, but we are more alike than you think,” Telie replied with a sigh.  “Do you believe that by joining this Charter I am fulfilling my own desires and not the design of my father?  I do not know if I have the fortitude to always obey my father’s wishes as you do with yours…"“And what of your duty to Paulien and her children?” Bleys asked.  (5) “That is the most important duty you can fulfill in my eyes…”“Your sister, niece and nephew will have a place of honor second only to my own wife and children if I establish my own estate," Telémahkos replied.“She is your sister, they are your niece and nephew as well,” Bleys reminded his companion.  “She went to your  family and is the widow of  your brother…”Telémahkos nodded his understanding.  “And that is why I want to establish my own keep in the Disputed Territories and have my own means.  And it for that reason I have to pay the political game and keep aware of the dirt swirling around us…”“Long I have resisted opening my mind to the machinations of the noble houses and the others that would have power, but it would seem if I am to fulfill my role as watch-mage, I have no choice…”A little later as Telémahkos came back up onto the deck as they passed the cove entrance seeking a new anchoring spot, they heard a loud hammering echoing from the dark shadows within.  It had a quick violent rhythm, and it stopped suddenly, though a few of the young nobles thought they might have heard it more faintly and even more briefly.“Perhaps it is a survivor, devising a way to leave the cove,” Laarus suggested.“You think they’re building a ship?” Timotheus said with his typical broad smile and playful wink.  He ran his fingers across his cropped red hair, thinking it was growing out of its soldier’s length.“A raft!” Telémahkos replied.“Then we should go and deal with it,” Timotheus replied, getting serious. “We don’t want those things sailing away…”“And get killed on the beach before we have barely gotten off the sloop… Good idea,” Telémahkos replied with obvious sarcasm.Since the hammering had stopped and they knew they could see anything coming out of the cove they decided to continued to wait and spend their day resting.  Afternoon was growing long, as Ra’s Glory disappeared behind the tall bluff of the shore, and the hours stretched out into infinitesimal degrees of darkness that crept in from the east.  Bleys the Aubergine and Telémahkos Briareus took the first watch together, and continued their friendly talk in careful voices that never became the harsh hissing of whispers.  Some time in the middle of their watch their heard the echo of the hammering again.  It was longer this time, and not too long a silence passed before they heard it again.  They waited expectantly for the sound to come again, but it did not, and after a time they continued with their talk, Telémahkos telling Bleys about his ambitious cousins the Ethons. (6)Hours later as the second watch became the third, they heard some brief hammering that was stopped by a great roaring croak echo out of the cove.“Has that hammering and roaring been going on all night?” Laarus asked.“No, they heard the hammering on first watch, but the roar is something new,” Timotheus explained to the priest.Isilem, the 23rd of Sek – 566 H.E. (637 M.Y.)Sometime after dawn, the signers of the Charter of Schiereiland made ready to return to the cove.  Laarus and Victoria prayed for spells, while Timotheus prepared arrows with strips of cloth he had left steeped in oil overnight, hoping his makeshift incendiary arrows would help against the savage frog-men.  After some more healing was doled out, they all heard the croaking roar echo out of the dim cove once again.“What is that?” Timotheus asked.“More than likely it is the most lizard-like thing that Markos and I saw when we were standing watch the other night,” Bleys replied.  “It was some kind of two-legged reptilian beast, but like the smugliwugs its head was like a bloated savage frog, and its back was covered in the undulating tendrils and bursting boils…”“When we return we will go back in the way we did the other day,” Timotheus said, as they went over their plan.  “I think we should avoid the rail bridge if possible…”“And I don’t think anyone should assume that this roaring creature operates the same as the… ahem… smugliwugs did,” Victoria said, obviously annoyed with herself for using the silly term Tim had come up with and that Bleys had adopted.“Do you mean that it may have different abilities?” Tim asked.“It may be the thing that turned all the others into those frog-creatures,” Markos said.  “It may be a cursed creature that broke free…”“In that case we need to be prepared to kill it as fast as possible without it getting a chance to bite any of us,” Timotheus replied.“Oh, that’s really smart,” Markos replied sarcastically. “You go first…”Timotheus smirked with his typical good humor.  He continued his tactical planning.  “I want the wizards to use all their magics on it right away.  Don’t hold back.”Markos and Bleys nodded.They drove the Sea Wyvern onto the shore, and it was decided that Telémahkos and Tymon would wait with the sloop to make sure that if anyone did survive they did not steal the ship while the party explored the caverns.  Telie stood at the prow of the boat with his heavy crossbow in hand, while Tymon was on the beach itself, ready to push the boat out and jump on if trouble arrived.The beach seemed even more littered before, and they could see the obvious signs of someone having scavenged, dragged and gathered the largest planks of wood they could find into a pile.  A hammer and a sack of nails were beside the incomplete frame of a raft.  What appeared to be the most recent plank added was cracked near the middle, but the raft did not look large enough to hold more than two, or perhaps three people.  There were some sacks of oats and three large casks of fresh water nearby as well.Meanwhile Timotheus and Victoria led the way into the cavern, with Laarus right behind, followed by Bleys and Markos.  Past the cavern that served as a mess hall (7) they took the dark narrow passage to the right, which opened into a large chamber obviously once used as a place to display and trade wares.  Along the southern wall (which was the side they entered on) were wooden racks set with bolts of silk, trailed out and pinned to a lower piece of wood to show the quality of the material.  There was somewhere about a dozen thick rolls of silk, but most were splattered with blood and gore, or burned by the acidic ichor of dying frog-men.  In one corner was a large set of scales, and across from the silks was a wooden stage reached by three small steps, and three large rugs were piled next to it, though one was unfurled and stained.  Near the center of the chamber where several smashed crates and barrels of water, wine and beer, though some looked salvageable.   Lanterns hung at various places on the walls, and some were taken to help light the way.A loud croaking reverberated from a hall across from where they had entered.  Out on the beach, Telémahkos heard it emanating in from the enclosed beach on the other side of the rail bridge, and growing scared, he had Tymon push the sloop into the water and hop on.  Soon the two were scrambling to keep the boat from spinning slowing out of the cove with a long hooked pole.The rest of the signers of the Charter of Schiereiland moved towards that stony corridor to makes sure they were not snuck up on by any of the creatures.  Markos held everyone up as he noted a crate by the scales there in there corner, where rectangular stains told the tale of something that had been set out to dry there, but had been removed.“Looks like it was books,” Victoria Ostrander said, as she was covering the group’s rear.   She turned to Bleys.  “Could they have been spellbooks?”The watch-mage shrugged his shoulders.  They had not gone far down the narrow corridor, when two of the savage frog-men came hopping at them.  These looked slightly different than the one they had fought two days before.  They were naked, and one of them clearly had been a human woman in her previous life, as she still had one human breast lined with rubbery and blistered frog hide.  The other’s twisted human genitalia dripped the caustic ichor that seemed to permeate the flesh of these creatures.. . .to be continued…--------------------------------------------------------------Notes:(1) This session was played on April 15, 2007.(2) Telémahkos actually had no reason to believe this was the case except that Lavinia told him her brother might be involved in an attack and later Telie found out that Vanthus had gone to Kraken’s Cove.(3) ‘Thrician Kissing’ is, of course, tongue-kissing.(4) ‘Proud to Serve’ are the words of <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/House+Devenpeck" target="_blank">House Devenpeck</a> and are on their coat of arms. Bleys’ branch of the Winter Family serves the Devenpecks.(5) Paulien is Bleys’ older sister, widow of Telémahkos’ older brother, Jason.(6) The Ethons are one of the lesser families of House Briareus, and are usually very much involved in mercantile trade.(7) This is the room where the signers of the Charter of Schiereiland fought the transformed lizardfolk in Session #6.</blockquote>

Verification