Summary 14: Forming the Expedition
The teachings of Hextor state that one must stand strong in the face of terror. But no terror, like that of Glaive’s desiccated body could have kept any man or woman’s knees from shaking. His fate was what could have been mine, had my mind not have been clouded with irrational fear, caused by the clerics magic. And yet, had I been able to steel myself to the magical compulsion, might Glaive be alive? Moreover, if Gustav and Garland had been nearby with the Blue Nixie, would there have even been an attack? Garland gave to the Sea Wyvern only the barest of bones to serve as a crew. The great captain then had abandoned us to our fates as he sailed back to Sasserine to rescue a wench that I have long said, is not worth our time.
And so it was that Garland saved Lavinia, at the cost of his brother’s life.
I wonder how Garland could have so easily gathered up the remains of Glaive’s corpse? I wonder how Gustav could feel so much love for Lavinia after sacrificing his friend? I wonder how neither of them felt any guilt whatsoever over Glaive’s murder? My heart was like a furnace over my inability to help. An emotion that Hextor teaches to be kept warm, but never burning. He is the God of Judgment, and the true criminal is the dark priestess, whom I WILL execute personally. For I cannot, in good conscience, place Garland and Gustav on trial. If I were to do so, then I would have to place myself on the stand with them. We three are all partially responsible for the crime. To bring Glaive back to life, would be for us, like raising the shadows of our crime to forever walk with us. It was a concept that none of us would admit openly. Yet the most guilty of us three seemed willing to bring that shadow back at a time when he felt he could deal with it.
For that was Garland’s intention.
Upon reaching Sasserine, the last Gangsworth had his brother’s body sewn up. He declared that the corpse wound be placed in the hold, and that Glaive would indeed be sailing with us to the Isle of Dread. He would then be resurrected when the entire Gangsworth family was finally safe. Indeed the voyage to the land of pearls was to go on as scheduled. Riding the rigging would be the approaching tide that would crash down upon those that had wronged us. Garland, Gustav, Lavinia, and myself would be the hands that would destroy all of our enemies.
Word of our voyage spread far and wide throughout the city, creating a lineup of potential workers and passengers that would be the envy of a king. Though not a captain myself, I was asked nonetheless to be a part of the voting council. Along with the normal rift-raft of people, there are some of interest that are worth noting. Upon the Sea Wyvern that was re-named to The Glaive on Gustav’s suggestion, would be Meravanchi, his horse, and his two mates-in-waiting. Isabella, a priestess sent from Kara’s temple. Amella, a ship captain. Skald, an explorer. Lirith, a warrior. Lefty, the black-eyed sailor. Jasper, a bounty hunter. Lavinia and Gustav
On the Blue Nixie would be Sindorei, a fortuneteller and geographer. Tavey, Garland’s captain pet. Gavin, a merchant. Urol, the gnome archeologist we were told to look for. Blasius, an engineer-artificer. Garland, and me.
There was another passenger wanabe who was willing to pay 300 gold if we agreed to stop off at a Heironeous temple on our way. He said he was a paid messenger of that false god, and was dressed the part. There was something about him though that I did not trust. It was not simply that he was a worshipper to the enemy of my patron deity. It was what I read in his soul that I despised. This did I voice to the voting committee of Lavinia, Gustav, and Garland. But they dismissed my opinion as that of a child who insists the neighbor is a vampire. It seemed that the interviews were simply for show then, with the offers of money being the only needed boarding credentials. By the end of the day, both ships had a descent crew compliment. All of them would meet up by the docks in three days, when the Blue Nixie and the Glaive would leave for adventure.
The day before we were to set sail, something tragic happened. As I left the dance hall for the last time, I spotted smoke on the horizon. Arriving at the scene, I saw that someone had burned Lux Seoni’s cabin to the ground. The authorities were picking through the rubble, carrying out two bodies burned to near unidentification. At the time, I feared the worst. I was able to rouse Lavinia and Gustav from their morning tryst, in order to accompany me to the temple of Palor. For it was there that I had asked the bodies to be transferred.
I suspected there was something a little more to the event than murder.
The appearance of the corpses, at this juncture of the voyage, just seemed suspect in my eyes. Priestess Kara agreed with my assessment and granted us two divination. The first question was whether Garland was indeed dead? The second one was whether we should continue on to the Isle of Dread? The first inquiry confirmed what I suspected; Captain Garland had faked his own death. The second divination indicated that we should indeed continue on, with or without a captain. Not wanting to let such an important matter drop, I had Kara message Garland on my behalf, asking him why he had done this? He answered that lives were at stake, but that he would be on the Blue Nixie the following day under a secret identity. Had it not been for his “stupid polldancer” comment at the end of the spell, my opinion of him might have been one of bravery and not the stupidity that I felt for him.
That same day, I took advantage if the free funeral service offered by the town to bury the entire Gangsworth family. Glaive, Garland, and Lux, were all interred side by side. To all eyes, it was the last of the family line. And to all creditors, any debts owed by the family, were to be forgotten. This meant that the Glaive was left without an owner. And the 330 gold I owed to Garland, would now be a forgotten memory.
One of the people at the Gangsworth funeral was an apparent fan of Garland. Her tears seemed faked, but her garb spoke of that of a captain. After speaking with this mysterious young woman named Cindel Milan, we agreed that she would be perfect to replace the vacant captain position left by her idol. Garland had asked that his identity be kept secret, and Gustav and I decided that it would remain so.
The following day was when our grand expedition began. All the crew and passengers were accounted for. There was of course a new name on the list. When this man stepped forth, I couldn’t help but shake my head in disbelief. Stepping upon the deck of the Blue Nixie was a giant of a man named Baltar Stein, or rather the disguised Garland. His form-fitting outfit did nothing to hide the muscular physic beneath. With a bug-like mask and a needlessly flamboyant red cape, Garland stood out amongst the crowd, more he had done as a charred corpse being pulled from a burned out cabin. Not knowing what to do, I simply introduced “Baltar” as a new crew member who would be in charge of security, as well as filling in for crew members who were too sick to fill their posts at any particular time. Once everyone was aboard, we cast off.
In the first few days upon the waves, there was action on both ships. On the Glaive, Meravanchi was proving to be as pompus as his reputation had indicated. The main problem was his displeasure over Gustav’s cooking skills. Despite several send backs of plates, Gustav maintained his calm until the silly aristocrat came up to the deck to confront the Assassin. I only saw the tail end of the confrontation, but it ended up being a crew member, Meravanchi, and Gustav, all swimming and fighting in the water. It took the “legendary” Baltar to eventually dolphin dive into the brine and break it all up.
Strangely, upon the Nixie, we too had a minor problem with the cook. The charismatic Malerna decided on the first day at sea to woo Garland, stroking his muscles, and inviting him to her room for some bedtime manners. Being the lookout for the ship, I of coarse saw the exchange of words between the two. I feigned illness and called to Baltar to replace me. As he came to my nest, I immediately scolded him. In his original message, he had said that “lives were at stake” if he remained alive. But here he was, about to reveal his identity to a complete stranger, thus endangering us all. And so I offered to Garland, exclusivity to myself if he laid off the other woman. Naturally he eagerly agreed to the proposal. Not wanting to disappoint our cook, we asked Gavin Dusk to be Baltar’s replacement.
Thankfully, dinner was late being served that eve.
A few days later, I was asked to attend a meeting of the captains to discuss the problem of Meravanchi. Cindel and I agreed to take him off the Glaive, and onto our ship. Since this had effectively become Lavinia’s voyage, there really wasn’t much choice in the matter.
As Cindel made her way across the pulley back to the ship, the rope snapped, sending her crashing to the waters below. At the same time, the sound of broken glass echoed across the deck, and out of nowhere came a water mephit. We called to Baltar to rescue the captain, while Gustav, Lavinia, and I engaged the flying demon. The thing obviously had a clear goal in mind. For after spitting acid into Gustav’s face, it moved toward the crew quarters below. The Assassin did not let it move far before he ran it through with his rapier. I tried to help but my bad ankle again gave out on me. The mephit didn’t bother with us, and simply dodged through Gustav’s defenses to make its way down below deck to confront non other than Father Feres. The water demon launched a huge glob of acid into the clerics face just before Gustav and I arrived on the scene. Calling on the decadent energy of my connection to my deity, I reached out to send a surge of negative energy into the water mephit which brought an end to its existence. After healing up Feres, we began interrogating him, for it was truly he who the mephit had been sent to kill.
Through careful scrutiny of his character, he finally revealed that he was not a priest of Heironeous, but simply a messenger to deliver a tightly sealed package to the Heironeous temple. He offered all his gold and possessions if we allowed him to continue his mission. But this we could not allow. There was no place for criminals on our voyage and he had signed the contract whereby strict punishment would be dealt out to those who would break our rules. As the only paladine on board, I was the official judge and executioner. His actions though did want warrant death, but perhaps his previous actions in life might. After a quick message to my superiors, it was revealed that Feres was in fact a wanted criminal and a traitor. Their verdict was a painful death sentence. To my friends and Feres, I read the proclamation. And as the Laws of Sasserine still applied to us all, they consented to the judgment of Baron Zedrik and the Scarlet Brotherhood. Not wanting to do this task in front of the crew, it was decided that there would be a party upon the Nixie that eve, where everyone would celebrate. Garland meanwhile tied the condemned traitor to a hull support below, and then went above deck on the Glaive to allow for me to extend Feres’s suffering death to its maximum.
Hours later, I came to Garland, exhausted from the grizzly task that had been my duty. I also confessed to him that the gold I had borrowed had been to help to pay for the messenger raven that had been the harbinger of Feres’s doom. Garland then confessed that the noises he had heard from below had sparked a strange yearning in his loins and wondered if perhaps I had it in me to do what I did down below, upon him, though to a lesser degree of course. I smiled and brought him to a private room. Drawing forth my whip dagger, an easier to wield weapon that was also an accepted arm to Hextor, I did indeed have enough energy to rock the world of Garland.
The morning sun found us both side by, bloody, wounded, living, and almost wonderfully in love.
posted by Adimarchus | 6:00 PM
|
0 comments
