CH. 6: Clockwork Horrors

[HorizonsDream]

"Before I started following Octhanus, I spent some of my time on a ship. I didn't get much past swabbing the deck, but every ship needs someone that can do that."

[Nuke]

Val boards, pausing at the Captain, glad to see she is a female. She extends her hand. "Pleasure, don't worry, mere flesh wounds."

Looking over the rail, she indicates Mist, "She is mine, no harm. I'd like to stow gear and go for a swim before we leave."

[JadedDM]

"Well, there's that then," the captain replies. At Val's comment, she peers out at the horizon. "The whale? It's yours? Well, @#$% me sideways! That's gotta be an interesting story, to be sure."

She shakes her head. "Alright, enough chitchat, though. Let me make something very clear here. This ship is my kingdom, and I'm the godsdamned king here. I say jump, you ask how high. I don't care who you are, I don't take sh--"

She is interrupted by a faint giggle from above. Furrowing her brow, she pauses, then tries to continue. "I don't take shit from--"

Again, the giggle comes. The captain looks around, clearly annoyed. She then looks up, and quickly shields her eyes from the sun. "Damn it, Terra, what are you doing up there?" she demands.

Anyone who looks up will spot another dwarf sitting in the rigging, legs crossed, with a black cloak pulled over her head and a large crossbow on her back.

Terra Bullring.jpg (50.05 KiB) Viewed 9430 times

Demurely, the new dwarf says, "Why, dear sister, I am only watching as you perform your speech for the new recruits."

Sierra scowls. "Perform?"

Terra grins mischievously. "She recites it in front of a mirror, you know. Wait until she gets to the part where she calls you maggots; it's pure gold, really."

"This is not behavior becoming of a first mate!" Sierra shouts out, stomping her foot for emphasis. "Get your lazy ass down here and make yourself useful, since you've gone and ruined my speech!"

With a giggle, Terra hops down from the rigging, landing right before the party gracefully on her feet.

"Give 'em the tour," Sierra says with authority, "then show 'em to the barracks. The mage'll be working with Thaddeus, so introduce 'em. Oh, and stick the fat one in the kitchen. Give the cook orders not to let him eat any of the potatoes he's peeling."

"Uh, what?" Noah interjects. "Hold on, I'm not...I'm Jocelyn's mentor, but no legal charges were brought against me. I'm just a passenger, not a crewman."

"You want passage on my ship? Then you work. Otherwise, you can get off. Don't like it? Watch how little I care," Sierra replies, crossing her arms and looking down at the halfling. Noah lowers his head, cowed, and says nothing further.

Turning to the women, she adds, "We set off in a couple of hours. Until then, you're free to do what you like--including taking swims," she says with a nod to the half-orc. "Just be ready to go by noon." She then stalks off.

Terra shrugs and shakes her head. "Alright then," she says, pulling back her hood. Like her sister, she has sharp features, but hers are more relaxed. Her hair is blonde and much shorter. Large gold hoop earrings dangle from her ears. Although stout and muscular, like Sierra, there's a grace and nimbleness to her; a certain femininity in her walk and gestures that Sierra lacks. "Any questions before we get started?"

[Breila]

Terra's vivacity brought a wide smile on Ouragana's face, hidden behind a fold of shawl as long as Sierra was present.

At Terra's question, she shakes her head, grinning. "No questions now, thank you. Nice to meet you, though." She extends her hand.

[Jenara]

Arei keeps her face impassive throughout the display, a Captain was to be respected, or else all hell would break loose.

"Are the crew mostly dwarves?" She finally asks Terra after standing silently, "In the seven years I have sailed, I haven't worked a Dwarven vessel before, there is usually a sense of, well..." She trails off, remembering the reaction when she boarded. "A slight sense of disagreement, but I have no issues with any race."

[HorizonsDream]

Jocelyn can't help but snicker lightly at Terra, before she finally ends up rolling her eyes at Areilon. "That sounded reassuring," she said sarcastically. "Anyway, I don't have any questions, and it is nice to meet you too."

[JadedDM]

Terra cocks her head at Ouragana's extended hand, but after a moment's hesitation, she clasps hands with the mage and shakes.

She then looks to Areilon and shrugs. "Mostly dwarven, but not fully. Heck, there may even be some elves among the crew. There are about 200 people on this boat, and not even I can keep track of them all," she admits.

"Anyway," she begins, "I'll make this quick. Here we have the main deck, of course," she says, gesturing around her. In the event of a battle, this is where most of the action takes place. Note the catapult on the forecastle deck, and two more on the aftcastle deck. We've also got six ballista, three on the port side and three on the starboard side of the main deck," she says, gesturing to them.

"Underneath the aftcastle deck is the captain's quarters, and my own, as well as the captain's study," she continues. "That's for officers only, of course. You can find stairs going further down, as well. Under the forecastle deck is the armory and supply rooms. Hofur's in charge of all that. More stairs down over there, too."

She gestures for the five to follow her. "Come on, let's go below deck to see the rest."

===============

(OOC: I'm having Terra glaze over a lot of stuff for brevity, but I have a map I'll post of the whole ship when I'm done, so don't worry much about finding things later.)

[Jenara]

"I won't let it worry me then." She giggles, "Great ship."

[Nuke]

Val struggles with the rapid exchange, but follows along for the grand tour.

At the proper moment, she asks, "Where do we stow our gear and bunk?"

[Breila]

Ouragana follows the tour with interest. She only glances at the weapons, but looks closely at what is needed to navigate and sail the ship, asking questions when things are not clear to her. After Val's question, she too ask: "Yes, where can we leave our things? And then I'm eager to meet your storm sorcerer. Thaddeus is it, right?"

[HorizonsDream]

Jocelyn falls behind the rest of the group to stick by Noah for the tour. "So, cook, huh?" she asks softly.

[JadedDM]

"Downstairs," Terra says in answer to both Val's and Ouragana's questions. "Be patient, this won't take much longer."

Noah simply frowns at Jocelyn's question. "This is not fair at all," he mutters.

Going down to the next deck, Terra brings them to the center, a large room with ten cannons (five on each side of the ship) pointing outward. Little windows sit open, letting in some sunlight, but mainly used to fire the cannons at enemy ships. There are quite a few crates filled with cannonballs. "This," she says, holding her arms out wide, "we call the bombard deck. This is our gunner's domain." She seems a bit proud of it.

"At the bow is the galley, the passenger quarters, and a secondary armory--most for cannonballs and such. In the aft are the officer quarters, including Thaddeus, our navigator," she says. "He's probably there now, plotting our course."

She leads them further downstairs, to an even lower deck. "Down here you'll find the powder magazine--don't light a match in there--another armory and supply room, and the head," she says, using the nautical term for bathroom. "But the vast majority of this deck is for the crew." She shows them a massive room filled with bunks. Right now, they're all empty, as the crew is working to get the ship going. "You can stow your stuff here. I'm sure there are some free beds somewhere around here," she says.

"This just leaves the cargo deck below," she says. "Come on."

Descending even deeper into the bowels of the ship, they find a massive room filled with crates, barrels, boxes and chests--as well as several smaller rooms off to the side. "This is where we store the cargo we're transporting; this ship is capable of carrying up to 500 tons of goods at any point in time. We also have some rooms for locking up the more valuable stuff. They make for a decent brig, as well, when needed."

She lets out a breath, putting her fists on her hips. "There, that's the bulk of things, at any rate. We've got plenty of people preparing everything, and any more would just get in our way. So you are all free to do what you want until we set sail. Any questions? Otherwise, I better get back up above."

[Breila]

"Yes, where exactly is Thaddeus's room?" Ouragana asks. "If you tell me now, I can find it on my own after finding myself a bed, and you can return to your post" she explains.

[JadedDM]

"Head back up to where I said the officers' quarters are," Terra explains, using hand motions to illustrate her description. "From the stairs, go right until you reach a door. That's Thaddeus' room."

[Jenara]

"Thank you." Arei stashed her backpack, crossbow and bolts in a corner and gives Terra a nod. "Nice ship, very nice ship." She says with a little whistle.

"I'm ready to work, when you are ready." She adds with a hint of urgency, "Sorry, the sea is in my blood."