Decadents and Dropouts IC

[Belinda35]

Phyliss Ovida

Finally, the gorgon reached the cog. She could see the shape of Gryph and Tronfur on the boat, but no sign of Relic. She could not see the sailors, probably they went to sleep because Gryph was on guard. She hoped so, at least. She wished she would knew more about being a captain. She climbed on board, and put the crossbow dwon. Just before her, she saw the naiad close to Zaehn, who was still uncoscnious, and was partly stripped.
"What is that? And why hasn't someone put dry clothes on the halfelf? And whats about Relic?"

 

[DeathsKnight]

Gryph

"She had snuck aboard somehow, I only heard her when she spoke to him and found her busy stripping off the wet clothing. Seems like she cares for him."

He silently wished that the little water creature would not state that she owns the doppelganger as that would just enrage Phyliss.

"I have not seen Relic again, should ask Trunfor what happened there."

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss Ovida

"Well, what did happen; Tronfur?" she asked. She noticed that Colin was sleeping in one corner, while Skandölf was nowhere to be seen. She stamped on the deck, and the dwarf woke up. "Go and get the halfelf some dry clothes, will you?"

 

[Belinda35]

The Narrator - Skandölf

Skandöl was sleeping in the bow, after he had finished the rest of the wine and food on the table, or rather the tub with the tablecloth. Somebody shook him, and he came to life. It was Colin, who was excited and gestured madly. "Did something happen? Well, hmm, the gorgon, yes...wet..lying..."
He wondered what the dwarf meant, as he pulled out one of his pants and a shirt and shook it.
"Oh, now I see! We forgot to get that halfelf or whatever some dry clothes... hell!" he jumped up. Of course, the dwarf could not take some of his own small clothes, so he had to wake him up. Skandölf pulled out some of his own rags and handed them over to Colin, who ran at deck. Skandölf followed, hoping that the halfelf hadn't died yet. As he climbed the ladder up onto the deck, he spotted the mermaid. "All gods of the sea! A mermaid!" this was the horror of each seaman. He didn't mind the snakehaired girlie playing captain and her odd-looking friends. After all, they showed more humanity then most "humans" he had met in his life before. But a mermaid dragged the men under water, not only killing them, but far worse, stealing their soul for an eternal underwater prisonment, serving as slave for the seadevils.
"Have mercy upon us!" He wanted to jump down into the ships bowel, but she could slide behind him and grab him with slimy fingers. Jumping over board would be as bad. So he jumped to the mast and started climbing it up. Mermaids could not climb, this was the only safe place.

 

[Avellan13]

Trunfor Blackheart

Trunfor looked at Phyliss and sighed, "We don`t need Relic. Completly useless. When I approached she didn`t even look at me. Then she and her companion saw a bear in the distance and decided to chase after it. Now what I don`t understand is why they went after a bear."

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss Ovida

Phyliss could guess what bear it have been. So the bear ruined the capture of Relic and this bear run into their direction because...

"Well, so much for that. I hope they wont cut our throats in the night. It is the best to sail on in the morning, I don't think Skandölf wants to drive in the night..." The dwarf came and presented some shabby, but dry clothes. "Allright, put them on unto him." A short moment later skandölf appeared, got very excited, or rather frightened by the naiad (what Phyliss thought her to be) and climbed on the mast. She looked up to him. "Will you come down again. What do you expect her to do? Eat you up?" she looked down on the naiad.
"By the way, what are you doing here? Can you speak our language?"

 

[Nidhogg]

-Narrator-

Colin had spent his entire life on boats. He had encountered and heard of many creatures that would drag any sailor to a watery grave. There were many stories all with their own fantastic exaggerations. One thing they had in common though, was that the sea creatures would never come on to the boat. He was more concerned about that weird half-elf's health than any sort of evil mermaid.

He walked over to the sea lady and looked at the man he had been told was 'Zahn.' While his sister had no shortage of boy-toys, she seemed to have taken a shine to this fellow much quicker than usual. Whether he was a doppelganger or not wasn't an issue.

The young dwarf leaned over the half-elf and gently poked him in the eye. Zahn groaned slightly, so that was a good sign. Colin looked at the sea lady and smiled. She didn't seem that bad, really. Most evil sea ladies disguised themselves as voluptuous and sultry women. This one was certainly pretty, but more in an adorable sort of way.

 

[Dizzyfish]

Naunet

Eying the creature before her, Naunet cocked her head to the side as an animal does when a sound is of some interest. Slavery? She understood what that meant, to some small degree if only from reading human tales of misery. She did not wish to make the weird being a slave to her cause. Perhaps the varying differences between being handed gifts and slavery were drawn by a very thin line. Naunet was glad that the river was her home. For on land every gift she received would have made her a slave and that was not okay with her. For the moment however, she decided to heed the warning upon Gryph's face. This was land creature territory, though their customs differed from her own, she wasn't going to challenge them. However, if they were under water, the rules would apply then. "Yes land creature...."

Naunet took a few steps back as the strange sailor man climbed up the great stick on the boat screaming about mermaids. "Mermaids? Where?" Naunet looked both ways, turning in full circles in search of the mermaids that were some where near them. She would chase them away if need be. Those pesky women were always ruining good parties with their scantily clad clothing and beautiful music that only posed death for land creatures traveling by boat. "I don't see any mermaids." She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at the land man cowering on the giant stick.

It was then she realized, he was talking about her and she glared in contempt. A mermaid? HA! That was rich. "I am NOT a mermaid! Do you see a tail sir?" Folding her arms she turned in a huff and felt the water melting from her body at the heat of her anger. How dare they assume she was such a foul-some creature.

The snake lady turned her attention to Naunet and she froze her pupils dilating as they had before. "I was following my pe-- I mean friend. My friend." The Sea Ghost pointed towards the sleeping Z with an outstretched finger, the only movement she had made since the snake lady had addressed her. "I fished him from the river after he fell on top of me. He is not doing so goodly. So I wanted to ensure he was not taken to death's door. And yes, I speak your Common. I also speak other languages too." She smiled happily at the snake woman as if proud of her doings. Of course, when she realized the sailor was still hiding up the mast she stomped her bare foot on the ship's floor. "And I am NOT a mermaid!"

"I am not a slimy, sneak of a half fish." Grumbling to herself she turned to watch the strange little short man go to work on fixing her sleeping friend. When he poked his eye with his finger, she giggled. She could have poked his eye, if that was what it took. When the creature smiled at her, the short one that is, she felt better about being aboard this boat. For a while she was feeling like a freak amongst the odd.

 

[Nidhogg]

-Z-

The poison was supposed to be a copy of the Magister's own poison designed to battle any rebellious doppelgangers. It was designed not just to incapacitate a doppelganger, but keep him stuck in his current form. The wound was the worst kind of acid, that actually repelled magical healing. It even rendered the subject incredibly susceptible to interrogation. A poison that strong would take a minimum of two days before the subject would show any signs of recovery. What coursed through Z's veins was not that strong. It had all the effects of the Magister's poison, but it didn't have the duration. Whoever mixed it must not have known exactly what they were doing.

Still dead to the world around him, Z was unaware of anything in his body. His instinctive abilities took over, and the defense mechanism he had trained so long to develop finally triggered. Z took a deep breath, and his muscles visibly relaxed. As he exhaled, the change happened. The form of Zahn the half-elf softened, and shifted in to a generic, featureless, light gray humanoid shape. He looked like a statue of flesh before the artist applied any details. More akin to an outline than an actual creature. As he turned gray, Z grew several inches and increased slightly in mass. He was now the size and shape of an average human male, still featureless though. The wounds on his body were still there, but they were considerably more healed. The gray featureless body quickly grew standard human features as the skin turned to a pale, pinkish hue. In the span of two seconds, Zahn the half-elf was gone and a very average, very generic and hairless human male was lying on the deck. The black lines that snaked under his skin were gone, and the bones in his body had all mended. His wounds were still there, but they looked like they had been healing naturally for a month.

Z's eyes struggled to open, but they never managed. All he could do was whisper in a harsh and rasped voice. "Ish...kar...konal..." As soon as the strange words left his lips, he rolled his head to the side. He was breathing normally now, and looked to be in a simple and peaceful sleep.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Gryph

Gryph watched the transformation with fascination, now that just had to be very interesting magic right there. He noticed that a large amount of healing have occurred during the transformation and when -Z-'s head fell to the side, he leaned down and pulled the eyelid upwards, looking at the eye. He grinned that very fangy grin of his and stood back up,

"Seems like the stuff you gave actually gave him a fighting chance, he is now just sleeping. How far he is from recovery I do not know at all."

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss Ovida

Phyliss completely forgot Skandölf and the seacreature for a moment, as she saw the halfelf transforming. Now he was a standard human she had not seen before. "You are getting better." she said. "Colin, give him the dry clothes. Any you Skandölf, come down now. The seawoman hasn't harmed us yet, did she?" Phylis turned over to Naunet. "So what are you, exactly? a naiad?"
Skandölf hadn't come down yet, but he seemed calmer and looked down, just waiting carefully what would happen.

 

[Avellan13]

Trunfor Blackheart

Looking around, Trunfor took in all that was going on. He glanced at Phyliss and asked, "So what now?"

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss Ovida

Phyliss turned back to Tronfur. "I think... it is to late to drive on now, even if SKANDÖLF WILL COME DOWN NOW. But I still do not trust Relic. I think we must put on guards for the night. And we should see what our wet friend here is up to."

 

[Avellan13]

Trunfor agreed with Phyliss saying, "I'll stay guard, not much sleep in me tonight."

 

[Dizzyfish]

Naunet

"No naiad. I am a Naunet. Naiad's are very mean and they treat my kind with contempt and hate. They are not nice ladies." The Sea Ghost realized that that had failed to answer the question, though what she was, she didn't have a name in Common they could understand. All she had to go off of was what sailors called her and her kind when out at sea, or down rivers in this case. "The sailors of all ships call us different names. Some Sea Ghosts, others Ghosts of the Sea, some even call us Guardian Angels." Naunet shook water out of her ear as her skin quickly dried in the night air.

"We do not lead sailors to their deaths." She looked up at the weird man still hiding from her in fear. "We help sailors, lead them away from rocks that would bring them to our murky depths. We love our sailing friends. We would not wish any harm to come to him. Your treasures are too lovely to see abandoned on the ocean floor." She fished for a pearl necklace that from its string sat the most beautiful red ruby that Naunet had ever laid eyes on. It was one of her favorite possessions. Given to her by an elder maiden with salt and pepper hair, whose life Naunet had saved when her ship had been downed by a tyrannical storm.

After placing it back into her bag, Naunet smiled kindheartedly at the small man who had saved her sleeping friend's life. He was really quiet, when sailors were usually pretty loud. She liked their boisterous laughter and hearty tales of fighting monsters, beautiful maidens and far away places. But not this one. This one hadn't spoken a word. The Sea Ghost liked that.

 

[Nidhogg]

-Narrator-

"Ish...kar...konal..."

Colin wasn't sure if anyone else had heard those whispered words. He'd love to repeat them to everyone, but that was problematic. He'd write them down if he could, but between the lack of writing utensils and Colin only knowing some of the basic dwarven alphabet, that wouldn't help. As far as actual languages the young sailor knew, that was a long list. Just a byproduct of growing up on oceanic ships.

He didn't directly recognize the words, but they had a familiar ring to them. Something of a mix between deep speak, elder tongue, and gnomish. The only thing that made Colin even remotely sure that he was guessing right, was that all three words would be a color.

"Ish"

The subtle downward inflection on that word applied more of a meaning than anything else. Provided Z wasn't just too delirious to give the right meaning, Ish was green. Or possibly a cat. Colin dug through the bottles and jars of stuff Z had in his bag, and lined up 4 green items. 2 were liquids, one a light olive green, and the other a dark forest green. 1 was some sort of bright green goo. The other was a pale green powder.

"Kar"

If that wasn't red, the Colin had no idea. But there were 2 red items in the bag. A deep red liquid that looked like blood. Then a bright rose red vial of powder.

"Konal"

That, hopefully, was purple. There was only one purple item in all of Z's gear. It was a bottle of bright purple liquid. There were little bubbles in the purple liquid, that seemed to show up every time the liquid shifted. It might have just been Colin's eyes, or the small amount of light, but the bubbly purple liquid seemed to glow a little. It didn't look healthy at all, but Colin wasn't an alchemist.

With the three piles of colored items set out on the deck, Colin did his best to tell Captain Phyliss what he was thinking. He pointed to the passed out Z and raised one finger, then two fingers, then three fingers. Then he pointed to the green items with one finger, the red items with two fingers and the purple liquid with three fingers.

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss Ovida

The gorgon noticed that the dumb dwarf had picked out three items from the shapeshifters bag, and it was obvious what he wanted to to with them. Did he have some alchemic knowledge? She doubted it, but who knew.
"Allright." she said. "Mix them up. We give him a litte of it, iy you know what you are doing."

Skandölf peeked down, looking less frightened. He climbed down some steps, but not all the way to the deck now.
Phyliss saw him, and walked over to the Naunet. She smiled and stretched her hand out, and gently slided over her hair and her shoulder.
"See? Does she bite me?"
Skandölf came down very slowly and careful.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Gryph

He watched as the little dwarf picked out things from the changeling's pack, then he chuckled. Seems like the language was something that the dwarf understood, he turned to face Trunfor.

"You go rest, you seem to need it. I have had enough rest and I'm sure that our Sea Ghost friend will stay with the doppelganger so there will be enough eyes to keep watch."

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss Ovida

Phyliss saw that her goblet still stood on the railing were she had left it. She emptied it and turned back to the others. "I don't think Relic is a big danger for us, as long as we are not asleep all the same time. But I think of Baldie and her black knights. There is a fair chance that they have survived the blaze, and they might be out for revenge, even if they do not know we had found Zaehn." Phyliss turned to Naunet.
"You should know that we are not bad or evil. But we are those that are called monsters by most humans, and all of us had to suffer from abuse from them in some way. That's why we gather on this ship, to be free and safe, and to stay to together and search for a better place. Of course that will be dangerous."

 

[Avellan13]

Trunfor Blackheart

Trunfor walked away and went back below and back to his corner with his spellbook. He looked around for a spell that would help his keep watch on the ship.

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss Ovida

Phyliss suddenly felt very tired. She saw that Tronfur was on guard. "I will catch some sleep now, just take care that at least one person keeps guarding, the rest should get some sleep now. Good night everybody." She turned to Naunet. "And don't do nasty things with Skandölf, will you?" she grinned and went down under deck. Skandölf had made his bed in the tight bow, so she moved to the back of the ship. There were some boxes and barrels that could be used to make more private corners, but that could be done later. She put enough blankets and cushions in the back to make a nice cozy corner, big enough for several people.
"Chiffon today." she stripped an put her chiffon gown on. It was much longer then the taft one, flowing down over her feet, but although it covered everthing, it revealed all. It was emerald green and semi-transparent, or rather fully transparent. She snuggeled herself into the cushions and fell asleep.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Gryph

He grunted in anger, but said nothing, looking up at the skies he found the cluster of starts called the Dragon Heaven. He wondered if he would ever make it there, being a freak of nature and not a true dragon. Shrugging, he stripped off his armor and sat down on the railing, watching the Sea Ghost and keeping a vigil on the river bank.

 

[Belinda35]

The Narrator - Haerdon

Meanwhile, Haerdon came back to his senses, but he could not run and flee, because that darn drow had tied him up. He made himself no illusions. She would sell him to the gorgon-bitch and her collection of monsters. He tried to open the knots or to yell under the gag, but the cruel bitch took care of that. Bad enough, he soon heared the voice of that damn halfdragon who had doublecrossed him in the tavern.

 

[Nidhogg]

-Z-

The poison had worn off in a flash, allowing Z to unconsciously transform in to a neutral state to promote healing. Even though he wasn't paralyzed any longer, the shock to his system still had him knocked out. Though he might appear asleep, in fact he had been dragged in to a trance. The trance he was supposed to have learned as a child, but always found ways to get out of practicing it. The trance he should have learned as a teenager, but lied and tricked his way out of doing it. The trance that every member of the Cabal was supposed to be able to induce so they could stay in touch with the Magister and his Inner Circle.

Z had fallen in to the trance, but there should have been nothing for his mind to connect to. Nothing for his thoughts to speak to. There was something, though. A presence, a voice, and two holes in the darkness of the void. The holes weren't just black like the backdrop they sat upon, because even black is something that exists. The holes were simply nothingness. Two holes in to an empty, hollow nothingness that pierced through Z's very being.

He heard a silent noise that pulsated through his mind. Like silent thunder, like a war drum without sound. The sensation shook Z to his soul, and forced his eyes open.

The night sky was above Z. He felt the gentle sway of the surface he was laying upon. Slowly, and with tremendous effort, Z managed to sit up and look around. He couldn't process what he was seeing, but he knew there were people around him. He also knew he was damp and without clothes.

With a groan, Z's simple human voice came out. "Why am I wet and naked? Did I miss something fun?"

 

[Belinda35]

The narrator - Crew

SKandölf had come down finally, the seacreature seemed to mean no harm so far, although he did not trust her yet. But the others would keep an eye on her, and he needed some sleep now. After all, he was the only one able to get the boat moving next morning. Colin was a great help, but he doubt that he could match his experience. So he greeted silently and went down into the cargo load. He had made his bed in the bow. Some boxes and barrels gave some privacy, but there were still enough corners and gaps to take a peek at the place where the gorgon was. But it was to dark to see anything, so he just lied down and fell asleep. He had learned to find rest even after a battle, which helped him to survive that long.
Colin himself was to fascinated with all that had happened now that he even forgot to dress up the doppelgaenger, as the capatain has told him. He had put the clothes at his side, but the sudden transformation and the presens of the seaghost interrupted him, and he simply forgot afterwards. He found a corner on the elevated aft and fell asleep as well.