Swamped

"You know what doesn't make sense to me?" one sailor says to another. "If this pirate ship's been out all the way here, how did it handle the storm earlier? We only got through because of our wizard. Barely, at that."

"What's it matter? There's not going to be another storm soon, so I don't see how that's going to help us out here. In case you hadn't noticed, their shots are getting pretty damned close."

Close? Not hitting?

"It's just, the whole thing is weird. Why would there be pirates this far from the mainland in the first place? You'd have to sail quite a ways to ever see a ship."

"Let the officers worry about that," the other sailor grumbles. "You and I, we don't get paid enough to be thinkin' that hard when there's a firefight going on."

"But we're not on the cannons," the first protests.

"No, but in case you ain't noticed, they've been gettin' closer with each volley. Not hard to think their real plan might be to board us. Which means you and I are probably gonna have to fight, and unless you got some reason why figurin' out how they dealt with the storm is gonna help us fight 'em, it's a waste of our time to think about it."

A storm? That immediately makes you think of the rain back in the swamp. It takes you a moment to remember that other places don't deal with bizarre monsters when it rains, just water and lightning and maybe strong winds.

Still, on a ship, that alone would be extra serious. And you'd be content not to deal with any more rain while you're here. You've got enough unpleasant memories of it.

Regardless, it seems that the fight hasn't gone decisively in either side's favor so far. But the pirates seem to be moving towards boarding the ship. Seems a bit odd given the way Carma was talking, though. You got the sense she expected them to sink this one.

Well. You've got a little more information, at least. You wonder if you should listen and try to learn more, or head upwards and see what you find there.

Upward and wizward!

You're certainly curious, but you can't help but feel it's safest to just find a way back to your own time and let fate settle what happens to the people here. And that means finding the wizard. So you continue upwards.

There's a large doorway here that leads out to the deck. You see a bunch of sailors running around carrying piles of arrows and crossbow bolts. Must be fighting back with archers, and they're probably firing a lot if they need that much ammunition.

If you go looking around outside, you might get a sense of where the bridge is. But you've also got no idea how dangerous it is out there. Are the pirates shooting back?

Well, nobody's rushing back or calling for help, so maybe not. Still, you feel a little uneasy about going outside. You're not sure why; maybe it's just a gut feeling.

You suppose the bridge could be up above you. But on the other hand, if it isn't it's likely on the other side of the ship. You don't know enough about how ships of this size are usually laid out to say for sure.

You suppose you could listen in again. But everyone's busy here. If you don't look busy yourself, that may draw suspicion.

So what's your next move?

It'd be good if you could scope out the situation out there, but if your gut is telling you to be cautious you'd better trust it. Maybe there's a porthole you can look out. Go the direction the ammunition is coming from and keep your eyes and ears open!

You can't see much from here, even through the doorway. You could get closer, but that might draw suspicion.

Easiest way to avoid attention is to go towards the ammunition. Since you're not carrying anything, it'll be assumed that you're going to grab some. Maybe you'll overhear something or find a chance to look outside on the way.

You walk towards a couple of ammunition-carriers, and keep going the way they came from, walking as quickly as you can.

Maybe you can even carry this charade far enough to bring a handful of this stuff outside... but you get a real bad feeling at the thought of that. You opt to listen to your gut, at least for now.

You turn a corner and spot a window in a dead end - or do sailors call it something else? Well, it might be good for grabbing a glance. You walk over; if anyone asks you'll just say you thought you spotted something and wanted to check on it.

You look out the window, and see something very surprising.

A grebling?

There's a grebling out there, or at least you think that's a grebling. You can't exactly see their face under all that gear, which at a glance seems to put your own to shame in terms of water protection. But there aren't many humans of that height, and the way they're climbing around the rigging suggests grebling claws.

Then they get close to a human sailor and start shouting. Yeah, that's definitely a grebling voice.

"We've taken a hit! Three levels below deck, port side, about two-thirds of the way to the stern! No hole yet, but there might be one if we take another hit there!"

"Right. I'll send a runner. Evacuate down there and have a squad waiting outside in case they use it to board." The human pauses. "Hold on, what's over there exactly?"

"Don't know. Don't spend much time inside. I'm sure you can figure it out."

And with that, the grebling scrambles up the ropes again. Hmm. That was strange, but it doesn't seem to have told you much. Except that this ship must be pretty resilient.

Well, you were never an expert on shipwood. You don't know if it can usually take a cannonball hit or not. And you're not sure it really matters right now. Especially not as someone's taken notice of you.

"Hey! Who said you could be lollygagging?" the sailor shouts.

"Sorry, sorry! Just having trouble getting my bearings," you say. "I was just going to fetch some ammunition... I'll get on that now."

"No you won't, because I've got something more important that needs doing. And since you seem to have enough free time for gazing out windows, you ought to have enough time to do it."

"Sure," you say. Best to be cooperative. "What is it?"

Man the screw pumps in the diving chamber!

"One of the screw pumps is stuck. Only way we can keep it going is if someone operates it manually, and we need all of 'em right now. You handle that and I'll check the others."

Uh-oh. That sounds very time-consuming. And considering the number of ways you could get in trouble, being in one place for an extended period of time doesn't sound like what you want to do. For one thing, how long is Carma's illusion spell going to last?

Well. You can probably raise that issue in-character.

"Hold on. How long are we talking? I know I've been slacking a bit, but I do still have other work to do. Can't just go off and man the pumps for an hour without telling anybody."

The sailor looks annoyed.

"Of course it's never that easy," he grumbles. "Look, just tell me your name and I'll inform the officers. They can decide whether to grab someone else, in which case you'll only be pumping for five minutes or so, or whether to get someone to swap in on your other duties."

Uh-oh. You don't have a name here, or actual duties for that matter. Which means someone looking into either of those things could get you in a lot of trouble.

How should you handle this?

Be petulant! Why don't you do it?

You don't think being cooperative is going to help you here.

"Why can't you do it yourself? I've never used the pumps before, you'd just end up having to show me what to do."

"Bah! It's easy enough to learn."

"Maybe for you. But I've messed up plenty of stuff on my first try. And if we need the pump running that badly, I don't have time to work on getting it right. I can pass a message on to the officers for you instead while you make sure the pump gets going properly."

The sailor seems a bit conflicted. He clearly doesn't want to do the work himself, but he's definitely willing to entertain the idea you might be as clumsy as you say.

"No time to waste arguing," he finally concludes. "Just tell 'em ol' Salty needs someone to run one of the pumps. Hopefully none of the others breaks while I'm workin' that one."

And without another word, he leaves. Hells, you were still trying to figure out how to ask him where the bridge was without arousing suspicion.

Well, at least you've got a legitimate reason to go to the bridge now. So you can focus on figuring out where it is.

It's probably by the rudder, so head toward the back of the ship

Now, it's not like you don't know anything at all about ships. The bridge is usually towards the back. You think you might have read or heard the reason why once, something about being near the rudder, but you don't recall it very well.

The problem is, you aren't too sure about where you are right now. You glance out the window again, but nothing strikes you as a clear indicator of which way the ship's facing. Maybe you'd notice something if you knew a bit more about ships, but you've never been on one like this. Only the Bogknights' barge occasionally, and of course that flying one you were on before getting stuck in this mess...

Bah! You should have asked Carma, your cover story with her would explain why you don't know where the bridge is. You were just too fixated on getting out of there. But it's such a stupid question to ask for someone who's supposedly been on a ship for six months, you'd give yourself away.

Someone pats you on the arm.

"Don't let old Salty get to you," they say. "He just gets irritable when things don't work the way they should."

Right, you've been just standing around. Must look upset, too.

"It's fine, I'm not doing so good either. With all that's happening, I'm so stressed I have trouble remembering where everything is."

"I know what you mean. It's a big ship. Sometimes I take a wrong turn on the way to the galley for dinner and it's half over by the time I realize it. You said you were going to talk to the officers on his behalf?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Well, they'll be on the bridge. And it'd be a real embarrassment to miss the last turn and walk into one of our special guests' rooms, so I bet you're worried about doing something silly like that, hmm?"

You nod.

"Well, fortunately the path up to that point is pretty clear, just got to keep headin' upstairs," they laugh. "And then the last turn is to the right."

"What if I forget where the stairs are?" you say, laughing nervously.

"With how often we walk up 'em? You'd have to take a pretty strong blow to the head to forget that!" They chuckle and walk off. "Good luck, friend. I know things are rough right now, but I got a hunch we'll pull through it."

Well. You got the basic information. Now you just need to find your way upstairs.

Fortunately, it turns out not to be too hard to find the next staircase. But you're not really prepared for what you see when you reach the top of it.

Gross! A dead blubber beast.

It's a huge mass of dead... something. You can't tell what it used to be, because it's currently being chopped into tiny pieces.

"Waste of good meat," someone mutters. You glance over and see someone wearing an apron.

"Too much fat for me," one of the choppers replies. "Of course, that's what makes it so effective as a projectile, isn't it? Fat burns well."

"Besides, blubber beasts are so big we probably won't even need the whole carcass," another chopper chimes in. "You can use whatever's left in our victory feast."

Well, that explains why they're doing this while there's a pirate attack going on. But it seems to be taking up a good deal of the floor space. You carefully navigate around the meat choppers and try to find your way to the next staircase.

You're just about to climb up when you feel a rather large arm grab you. You're forcibly pulled into a nearby room, and find yourself face to face with the man in the apron.

"You've got some explaining to do," he says, in a very different voice. "The illusion spell is obvious enough, but I don't recognize the other enchantment on you. And I am not in the best of moods right now, so I would greatly prefer that you not stall on answering."

Oh hells. Now what?

You are all in grave danger and I may be the only thing that can save you. Are you the wizard? What kind of wizard wears an apron?

For a moment, you wonder if this guy is the wizard. He doesn't look it, though. More like a cook.

But then you remember that Carma mentioned someone else. Someone it was risky to contact. Maybe this is him? And since you never got in touch, he wouldn't know about the little bluff you pulled off.

Well, hells. If he's scheming with Carma, you can continue the charade, but if he actually is the wizard or something, then that would land you in deeper trouble. On the other hand, if you spill the beans on what you know and he's working with Carma, well, he's not going to find you very trustworthy.

So you've got a couple of approaches you could take here, but you've got no idea which will work. And he's looking pretty impatient, so whatever you're going to do, you'd best do it quickly.

Hedge your bets by telling the truth that matches your lies. You are not part of the crew but were sent here by forces beyond your comprehension.

Play it safe. Tell the truth but hold back in ways that might tip him off if he's working with Carma.

"I'm a bit in over my head here," you say. "Yeah, I'm faking it but I didn't get any say in whether to come here. Still don't even really understand how I got here, honestly."

He scowls.

"Illusion spells do not cast themselves. I can tell you're no mage, and I don't sense any enchanted items. I can believe this unknown ether is something that happened to you by chance, but the illusion is obviously deliberate. So who cast it on you, hmm?"

Hmm. You have an idea.

"Sorry, I can't betray their trust. Not even on principle, just it's the sort of thing that comes back to bite you. What goes around comes around, you know? Karma and all that."

His face only shifts for a moment when you say it, but the expression is clear enough. He's connecting some dots in his head.

"What is my name?" he asks you, without any further leadup. Same thing Carma did. Good thing she was careless enough to reveal it, though you don't quite get how to pronounce it.

"Azel?" you ask, a little doubtfully. "Sorry if I pronounced that a bit wrong."

"Ah. You must be an Aedran recruit, then," he says. He sounds more than a little dismissive. "They all get it wrong one way or another. Aedran has no vzu sound, so none of its derivative languages does either."

It stings a little to have your homeland just thrown under the name of a long-dead empire, but it's good enough for you that you haven't been caught yet. So you're not going to press the point.

"Sorry. I'm new and I haven't exactly been deeply involved. They only grabbed me because apparently they were desperate for a messenger. There was so much of a rush they didn't even tell me you were aboard, only that she was."

"Well, you may have arrived at a fortunate time," he says. "My recent actions have drawn some scrutiny from the officers. It has made it difficult to do what I need to do. But it will be considerably easier if you take care of one small part of the plan."

Great. You're doing another shady favor. Or at least saying you are. You stay quiet this time, just in case you end up having to improvise an excuse if it turns out to be a problem.

So what does he want you to do?

It involves the navigator somehow...

"We need last month's navigation chart," Azel continues. "They enchanted a new one today. If all had gone as planned, we could have taken the old one without a problem, but unfortunately, there were a number of complications. Still, it should be somewhere in the navigator's room."

Enchanted? You're a bit confused by that, but you have a more immediate question.

"And how am I supposed to know which chart it is?" you ask.

"It should include a drawing of a rock shaped like a hook. And all of the enchanted charts should be in the same place. We only make one a month, so today's would be the seventh. Not that many to search."

Well, you suppose that would be enough instructions for you if you were actually going to do it. Before you head off, though, you might want to see if you can get any information out of him. You doubt you'll get much about their overall plan, but something might slip out if you ask about other things. Just have to make sure you don't let on about how little you really know.

(It might be useful if you can glean details about the enchantments on the maps.)

One: the enchantments on the maps won't react to the enchantments on me, will they? Some types of magic don't play well together, right? I don't want to turn into a chicken or something.

Two, this ship has me all confused. How do I safely reach the navigator's room? I don't want to accidentally walk into the bridge.

"Hold on a second. Enchanted maps? You sure it's okay for me to be looking at those when I've got spells on me? I know magic can do weird stuff, maybe they'll mix and turn me into a chicken or something."

"You need not worry. The spells on the maps are not very strong. Any reaction is likely to simply drain their ether without noticeable effect on the other enchantments. And it is the map itself we need, not the warding or pathfinding spells."

Warding? You're not entirely sure what he means by that. But you feel like it wouldn't be very productive to ask.

"Speaking of pathfinding," you say, "how exactly do I get there? I was brought here in a rush, so they didn't exactly give me a map of the ship. Wouldn't want to stumble into the wrong place and find their wizard, you know."

"The navigator is an officer. All of the officers' quarters are one level below the top." He pauses. "Though that does mean the wizard would be fairly close, as he is likely on the bridge. Regardless, you are only three levels down from the officers' quarters. As for the stairs leading to there..."

Thank the gods, actual directions. Looks like you got away with this, for now. You even ask him where the stairs up on that level are, so you can check if the wizard's coming down.

You're half-wondering if it might not be a bad idea to grab the map just to keep it out of their hands. But you can worry about that when you get there. For the moment, you just slip out and head up the stairs.

Of course, you soon get a reminder that having directions doesn't stop you from running into other kinds of trouble.

Cannonball!

You feel the ship shaking.

"Either they hit us real hard or they hit us close by!" someone shouts. "Find out where that hit! We're in real trouble if it struck the bridge!"

The sailors start running around. You opt to join them, just to avoid drawing suspicion. Maybe you can use the confusion to head up the stairs, even.

"Found it!" you hear someone say. "It hit the training room!"

"Not a high-priority target," someone near you mumbles. "We don't do a lot of combat training, it's mostly just to keep in shape.Think they're aiming higher to try and get the bridge."

Well. That's worrying.

"Wouldn't worry too much about the bridge," another sailor replies gruffly. "They've got a wizard to protect them, after all. I'm more worried about being hit by one of the shots that doesn't make it."

Hang on. If the bridge is up high... and they can't make direct shots... couldn't they knock out the floors beneath it until there's a collapse? You wonder if you should risk drawing attention to yourself by raising the idea, but fortunately, another sailor soon does it for you.

"Hold on, what if they just keep shooting at this floor until there isn't enough holding up the bridge? Do we have a plan for that?"

"Yeah," a large sailor replies as he approaches the group you're following. "The plan is, get the bastards off our tail before then, one way or another. In the meantime, if you have time to jabber, you have time to grab sandbags to soften the impact if they take another shot there."

Everyone starts running off, including you. You split off from the group when you reach an intersection in the hallway. No one seems to pay you much mind, fortunately.

But hells, that hit was worrying. And if the wizard's their main defense against those... well, you'd feel bad about distracting him. Still, it's not like you have another plan. You can't really trust Carma or Azel, and beyond that your best bet is hanging around near Bigfoot.

Maybe if it gets worse you'll run back down and try that. But you hope it doesn't come to that.

Your thoughts turn back to your immediate surroundings. It's not hard to reach the stairs, but two sailors are standing in front of them. Are they guarding the way to the bridge, or are they here for some other reason?

Well, it turns out another sailor is heading towards them, so maybe you can just watch and see what happens.