Krynt’s Logbook – Part 2

Krynt’s Log – Part 2 (August 2, 2014)

Day 4, cont. (Gozran 8, 4712)

Captain Harrigan rewards us with 100 gold sails and a word of praise. Courage and valor, he says, are what’s needed aboard. Afterward I work alongside Barefoot Samms Toppin. For a pirate wench she’s a peaceable sort, and she loves the sea. She goes without boots so she can get up the rigging faster. Clever lass! Gush works with Shivikah today, a Mwangi sailor. She shoots down his clumsy advances, though. On a little detour through the middle deck I find two hidden gold sails some amateur left lying around. Trouble is, these riches and my chat with Samms Toppin probably distract me from my work, and I make a few mistakes. That earns me three lashes from Mr. Plugg’s cat-o'-nine-tails at the Bloody Hour. Hurts like hell – but I don’t let it show.

In spite of the pain, or maybe because of it, I humiliate Maheem at arm wrestling over broken glass after the rum ration, much to the amusement of many – though not Maheem’s. He just can’t beat me. Outrageously, the dwarf Tam Tate later claims I’ve been pouring out my rum and rats me out to Mr. Scourge on the spot. Damn my luck, a puddle on the deck gives me away, and I have to down 3 tankards to make up for it. Mr. Scourge acknowledges this heroic feat of drinking, but I soon turn green, and a while later the thunder-brew shoots into my veins and knocks my good sense flat. I start a brawl with Tam, who’s to blame for all of it, after all. But thanks to the lashing, I’m already wobbling. In my folly I pull a knife, whereupon Tam sends me to the hereafter with his dagger. Thanks to VanZan, I wake up a short while later in my hammock, where Tantakatan ties me down just to be safe. Damn that rum!

Day 5 (Gozran 9, 4712)

I spend the next day in the sweatbox, a cramped wooden crate forward of the quarterdeck. It’s damn tight and gets hotter by the hour. My bones and joints suffer in the squeeze, and I nearly croak in the heat. For the first few hours I keep my spirits up with a few sea shanties, but soon I don’t even have the strength for that. In the evening the ship’s bell delivers me from my misery, but I’m at the end of my rope.

Today Ratline Rattsburger, my halfling rigger mate, gets the whip from Plugg for sloppy work. Tantakatan faces Owlbear in a boxing match staged by Mr. Scourge and once again shows a real talent for throwing fists. Probably not Tan’s first time. Owlbear goes down, and I win 6 gold sails on my bet. Tantakatan gets a generous reward, too. Seems Owlbear doesn’t lose all that often. Afterward I give Owlbear a few crabs and collapse into my hammock, exhausted.

Day 6 (Gozran 10, 4712)

I’m back on my feet and working the upper rigging. My climbing is steady enough, but sadly some of my knots are too loose and crooked, which earns me the rope’s end.

Gush predicts foul weather, and as a reward he gets to go up to the crow’s nest, and on top of that replace five dragon’s teeth on the figurehead. Despite heavy swells and slippery wood, he pulls it off on the fourth try and gets away with just three lashes from Scourge.

In the afternoon Gush spots a ship heading our way, and fog rolls in.

In the evening Tilly Bracket talks me into a drinking contest, even though all I did was kindly top off her rum a little. Tantakatan rescues me from my rum-soaked fate, under protest.

Day 7 (Gozran 11, 4712)

Tropical rain greets us in the morning. The other ship is still about three hours off. By noon it turns out to be the Thrasher. Supposedly it’s Isabella Inkskin’s ship, and she does cross over by jolly boat after bidding Harrigan farewell.

Working the yards of the mainmast in heavy tropical rain, I fall victim to a dirty ambush by Slippery Sly and Tam Tate, who throw me off the topgallant yard from 50 feet up. I tumble through the rigging and slam hard onto the deck, where VanZan patches me up. After a quick visit to Sandara down in the bilge, I defiantly climb back up and keep working. During the day Gush makes friends with the parrot Plugg and takes him to the galley.

In the evening I talk with the halfling Ratline Rattsburger, who tells me how he lost three fingers in a boarding action and had three gold teeth made from the loot. I also bring a few more crabs down to the middle deck, and Owlbear rewards my gift with a smile.

At night we get a terrifying visit from the witch Sennabar, who stubbornly insists she’s Tessa Fairwind. With her voodoo she forces us to let our hands be cut, whereupon she tastes our blood with her long tongue. Rosie, Cog, Conchobar, and Sandara don’t seem worthy of her and leave this nightmare. To the rest of us she babbles something about a pact – about Whalbone Pilg and Bonewrack Isle, where not only Aaron Ivy but also our destiny awaits. Her prophecies, she says, are a gift to us. Overwhelmed by her voodoo, we draw a few of her symbol stones, whereupon she carves marks into our bodies that will supposedly help us soon. All except Gush. As a third gift she answers some of our questions, which only makes the confusion worse.

Day 8 (Gozran 12, 4712)

Just as Gush predicted, a tropical storm hits the Wormwood the next day. All hands to the rigging. Conchobar goes overboard. Fearless and heroic, I save him with a bold headfirst dive off the quarterdeck into the towering waves, and Gush and Tantakatan haul me back on deck after I’ve swallowed a good deal of seawater. Meanwhile the Crow shows off some interesting acrobatic skills, dancing ON the waves.

Utterly exhausted, we all drop into our bunks that night when the storm finally dies down.

Day 9 (Gozran 13, 4712)

The next morning a drifting rowboat with a superstructure is sighted. My four new mates and I are picked to investigate it. The crew of nine is dead – but the many giant fleas aboard are all the more alive and hopping. My daggers are sharp; together with Tan, Gush, and Mael I flank the fleas and kill three of them, plus the mother below deck. We take a chest with assorted contents, which we get to keep as a reward. On top of that, two barrels of whiskey are loaded aboard – fish-oil whiskey and good gnomish Throatburn. The price of the prize, though, is flea sickness.

Afterward I work in the crow’s nest for the first time.

Day 10 (Gozran 14, 4712)

My legs are weak, and the flea bite has swollen up (-1 CON, another save tomorrow). Luckily I only have to do rope work today, which leaves time for a chat with the scruffy, one-eyed Giffer Tipps. Tantakatan spends the day in the hammock, nursed by Mr. Stitch. In the evening I play Hog Lob with Ratline.