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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 2815866" data-attributes="member: 5808">Part the One-Hundred Seventy-NinthIn which: we once again hoist sail.Manacled, and locked in the forecastle of The Fool’s Errand Kaykel is not pleased.  Standing guard outside, Thatch has been getting quite an earful.“And you’d best get off the Cap’n’s ship,” their petite prisoner continues.  “He’s got all manner of nasty surprises below decks…”Lira and Eva approach as Kaykel takes a pause for breath.“She said anything useful?” Eva asks.Thatch shrugs.  “Next time we need to curse someone, I’ve got some new ones to try out.”“Any Ehktian ones?”  Lira asks, then explains as Thatch and Eva eye her skeptically.  “What?  ‘Ehkt’s balls’ gets a little repetitive.”From within comes, “And if you think the Thanean navy is going to let this go, you’ve got another thought coming, I can tell you that!”“A couple.  She uh… doesn’t seem to hold to any god particularly,” Thatch replies.“Well,” Lira flexes her fingers just a tad theatrically, “if you could open the door and keep her distracted for a few seconds, I’ll see if I can make friends.”###Eva stands guard in the doorway, just in case of trouble, but under the influence of charm person, Kaykel proves to be a much more agreeable prisoner.  “You should be fine below decks,” she assures Lira.  “I mean, I might be a little careful around Jor’s stuff, but that’s really it.”A cursory exploration of the other ship has revealed no sign of any further crew, which is odd.  A ship of its size would normally require at least ten hands on deck at all times.  Still, the party also finds many locked doors.  A search of Maklim’s person for keys yields an abundance of candidates, as well as several weapons, of which he is divested before he can regain consciousness.Meanwhile, Lira asks Kaykel about the seeming lack of crew.“Oh, we’ve got all the crew we need.  More really.  You could sail The Tranquil Shore by yourself if you had to.”“How?”  Lira asks.“You just tell the ship what to do, and she’ll do it.”“We’ve tried that.  It doesn’t seem to work.”Kaykel grins and gives a little shake of her head.  “Well, you need the command words, silly.  Can’t have just anyone coming aboard and taking over.”“Right…  What were those words again?”Kaykel sobers.  “I’m not supposed to say.”“You can tell me though, right?”  Lira looks her most endearing.  “We’re friends.”Kaykel looks over at her commander, still unconscious on the other side of the small cabin.  “I think it’d be better if you just asked the Cap’n.  I mean, I’m sure he’ll tell you, but it’s his ship.”Lira shoots Eva a helpless look, and Eva shrugs.  While Lira remains to continue her efforts of persuasion, the rogue goes to explore the rest of their newly captured ship.###The aft castle, much like their own, has been made up as chart room, captain’s mess, and the captain’s quarters.  Eva finds several maps of the islands of the Darine Straights many of which have cryptic notes in the margins.  There is also a letter bearing the seal of Dar Thane, authorizing Captain Maklim Renott and his crew as privateers with a mandate to “harass all Ebisite commerce and seize as prizes all appropriate spoils.”The captain’s quarters are austere to the point of barrenness.  A few more fighting knives, a spare set of clothes, and an old quilt on the bed account for the majority of his possessions.  On one wall a map of a small island somewhere in the Straights hangs in pride of place.  On it is marked a small coastal town, neatly labeled “Tranquil Shore.”At the opposite end of the deck, the forecastle has been converted into a sumptuous set of guest quarters, no doubt—from the jewelry found within—formerly occupied by Lady Aurelia the “handmaiden.”Below decks is the ship’s galley and crew quarters.  Zokuth and Welk’s room is furnished simply, with many cutlasses… and even more carved wooden toys shaped into animals and monsters—many of which are even more fanciful than what the party members found in the Ketkath.Jor’s room is, as Kaykel hinted, trapped.  Fortunately the rig is as obvious to detect as it is deadly.  Eva disarms it, and she and Thatch proceed to poke around.  After digging through piles of empty wineskins and several stacks of obscene artwork of the cheapest kind, Thatch uncovers a cache of blackroot distillate at the bottom of a trunk.Eva wrinkles her nose.“Well, it is <a href="https://www.enworld.org/index.php?posts/966780/" target="_blank">legal</a> in Dar Thane,” Thatch points out.“How do you know that?”  Eva asks.Thatch ducks his head and mutters something about conversations overheard in a tavern.  Eva lets it go.Kaykel’s room is decorated with pretty seashells nailed to the walls, and a trunk full of coins tucked away under her bunk.The other lifeboat “refugees” appear to have been staying in a single large room to forward, divided by hanging curtains.Anvil finds Kettenite holy texts from the Sovereignty that he can only assume once belonged to Brother Bradley, along with Sakeem’s spell book and several scrolls.  Annika identifies the scrolls as resilient sphere and wall of force.  She also finds that he appeared to be working on a magic item, almost like a periapt of health, but with some interesting alterations.She shows it to Anvil.  “He was probably working on it to try to help his sister.”Anvil nods.  “It is true that even the Unjust sometimes act Justly.”Annika blinks, pretty sure that pronouncement didn’t make any sense.  After thinking about it for a few seconds, she’s almost positive it doesn’t.  But Anvil sounds so sure when he says things like that, it makes her want to believe him anyway.“Look at this.”  His voice pulls her out of her reverie.Anvil has found a doll by the third hammock.  Her eyes are ripped off, and her hands have been tied to the sides of her head with a piece of paper and a bit of string.  Anvil removes the paper and uncoils it.  A childish, unsteady hand has written: “Beware the snakes, they crawl into your ears when you sleep.”Eva has come up behind the pair and reads over Anvil shoulder.  “See,” she says, “that’s why I don’t like the woods.”“I think it’s a metaphor,” Annika tells her.  “At least, I hope it is.”###Above decks again, the party consults.  Annika has found that the ship’s wheel and nine other points around the deck radiate faint conjuration magic.  “From what Kaykel said,” Annika theorizes, “they’re probably all Unseen Servant.  The wheel would be the lynch-pin.  Stand there, speak the command words, and you can run the whole ship by yourself.”Lira shakes her head.  “I still haven’t been able to convince Kaykel to tell me the command words.”Reyu considers.  “Could you attempt to charm the captain after he regains consciousness and learn the commands from him?”“Maybe?”“Don’t worry about it,” Annika suggests.  “Tomorrow I can prepare Identify and find out myself.”Lira shrugs.  “Fine with me.”“Excellent,” Anvil declares.  “Do so.”It is then that Captain Elsuki brings up a rather unpleasant subject.  “If’n there’s nothing more ye be wanting with the prisoners, it be best we get on with it.”“Get on with what?” Kiara asks.“Hanging them.”“Hang them?” Kiara squeaks.  “We’re supposed to hang them?”“They’re pirates,” Elsuki explains, speaking slowly, in deference to Kiara’s youth and apparent naïveté.It’s a bit of a conversation stopper.Finally, Thatch breaks the silence.  “Umm…  Didn’t they have that letter thing from Dar Thane?”Captain Elsuki snorts.  “Aye, and I could ha’ a letter from th’ Imperial Admiral for all that it matters.”“We are not in Dar Thane,” Anvil points out.  “And until the cause of Universal Law has triumphed, it holds no power on the high seas.”Yasmine looks at the Justicar somewhat askance.  “Are you quoting something?”“I have conducted extensive research,” he informs her.###The business is at least mercifully brief for all concerned.  Maklim has regained consciousness and retains a grim composure throughout.  Kaykel is less sanguine about her fate, but Captain Elsuki is firm in his resolve and aboard the ship, his word is law.Yasmine proves to be an able hangman, and both surviving prisoners die instantly.  Their bodies are given to the sea, and before the sun has twice set on their pitched battle, The Fool’s Errand and The Tranquil Shores are hoisting sail.###Since only one person is really required to sail The Tranquil Shores, there is just enough surviving crew on the Errand to maintain both ships.  Thatch, Eva, and Kiara all take crash sailing lessons and lend a hand where and as they can.Within a week, the ships have arrived in sight of the fabled Islands of Mirage.</blockquote>

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