Swamped

They'll feel better if they have something productive to do, and if they know you have a plan for dealing with the problem. Kill two birds with one stone by enlisting a few of the big ones to help you with the gunpowder.

Morale isn't really a problem you're equipped for. Luckily, you have a direct line to someone who understands it better than you.

Mr. Resk, I'm afraid I let something slip about your ghost ship to some of the crew. I need to do a little damage control.

You can almost hear him sighing deeply, despite the fact the link doesn't really allow for that.

Well, you have a plan for it, don't you? You told me you did. So bring them in on it. Keep them busy and let them see it's under control, or as under control as it's going to be. Not much more you can do than that.

"And I was on my way to get ready for that, so I'd best get to the quartermaster." you continue, as quickly as you can. "I'll need someone to carry a barrel of fire powder for me. And I'll need the gunners to be informed that it's going to be more potent than usual, so they can take whatever precautions they need. As for you, Ms. Colleen, you really should get some rest."

She just stares at you for a bit. Finally, she settles on "Well, what do I do about this chicken?"

You hand it off to another sailor.

"I'll be examining that if we ever get another calm moment again. Take care of it for me until then."

Defeated, she walks back, just as two sailors approach you. One's big and burly, the other's thin and scrawny. You think you could probably beat him in an arm-wrestling contest, and you're hardly in the best of shape yourself.

"What're you plannin' on doing to the fire powder?" the thin sailor asks. "That stuff's pretty dangerous, you know."

"I'm going to make it burn faster with magic," you reply. "Easier than making a fireball myself that's big enough to burn up a whole ship."

"Hmm. So you're adding an accelerant, basically. Now, magic's not my specialty, but the principle's the same. Only question I have is, how strong is it going to be?"

"I can strengthen it once it's in motion, but I need to do some preparations first. So it will be slightly more reactive."

He nods.

"Yeah, okay. I'll round up the experienced artillery crew, then. Best not to take chances. Harold, you can handle the barrel, right?"

"Yup," says the larger sailor. "Let's go."

"Now, I'm going to stop by and make sure you know what you're doing, Wiz," the thin sailor says. "Just because you know magic doesn't mean you know powders."

You don't argue the point. The whole idea is to calm them down, after all. And time is short. You continue to the quartermaster's, with Harold following behind. He doesn't say a word the whole time.

Until, that is, you draw near the quartermaster's. Then he surprises you when he suddenly shouts something.

Kelp!

"Kelp!"

You're a bit confused for a moment, but then you see what he's talking about - a strand of kelp sitting in front of the door.

"How did that get there?" you ask, baffled.

"No clue," Harold says. He remains not much of a conversationalist.

"Well, there's not much we can do besides picking it up. Wouldn't want someone slipping on it."

You pick up the kelp and, not really having a place to put it, sling it around your shoulder. Then you go in. The quartermaster is flipping through a book and making notes. Probably keeping track of stock.

"Quartermaster, I need a barrel of fire powder. It's very important," you say.

"We don't keep the fire powder here," she says. "Too dangerous. If a barrel were to go off, it could destroy a month's supply of stores." She glances up from her book. "Why's there kelp on your shoulder?"

"I didn't have another place to put it. It was just outside the door."

"Give it here. I'll check if our friend the botanist wants it, and if she doesn't, I'll just toss it overboard. Anyhow, we keep the fire powder in its own storeroom, next to the armory."

"I don't know where the armory is. Never had occasion to go there."

"I do," says Harold. He really keeps surprising you.

"Who are you?" the quartermaster asks. Seems he was so quiet that, despite his size, she didn't notice him.

"His name is Harold. He volunteered to carry the barrel for me."

"Now hang on there," the quartermaster says. "I have to let Wiz get a barrel because he's technically an officer. You, on the other hand, aren't, so you need my express permission to touch a barrel. Can you prove you're fit to handle fire powder?"

Technically. You can hear the resentment when she says it.

"Done it before," Harold says. You don't think he's going to be very persuasive at the rate he talks.

"On land or at sea? The motion of the ship makes a difference."

"Done both."

She seems even more frustrated.

"Could you give me some details on that?"

He looks thoughtful for a moment, then answers.

The Battle of Oarspur Gulf. Boarded a Kandrian fireboat. Kept it from blowing.

"Oarspur Gulf. Fireboat was gonna blow. Grabbed a couple barrels before it did."

She gives him an odd look.

"You were in the Battle of Oarspur Gulf? Which side?"

"Lansor. Merc. Quit after."

"Since when does Lansor have fireboats?" she asks.

"Kandria's. Stopped big explosion." He's got a strained expression; you think it's hurting him to talk even this much.

She sighs.

"It sounds like relevant experience, but you're being very light on details. Do you know how to write?"

Harold shakes his head.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I can't approve things unless you can give me a more thorough explanation..."

"Link," you say, tapping both of them lightly on the shoulders. "There. I've created a link between our minds. All Harold has to do is think a message at us, rather than talking. He can even choose to only send it to one of us if he wishes. I'll close it when we're done here."

Thanks, Harold sends to you. Seems he's still not very wordy. But it's an improvement, judging by his expression.

Worked in merc unit, hired by Lansor. Sent to stop slave convoy passing through. Military couldn't, we could. We had three ships waiting for them. Thought it would be easy, didn't know about fireboat. Started sinking escorts, then we noticed. My ship got hit, we fired back, realized it'd blow. Might sink the transports. So, we boarded. Got fifteen barrels off before it blew. I was still on board. Transports were safe.

The quartermaster doesn't say a word, at least not audibly. She grabs a slip of paper and scribbles her signature on it. She hands it to Harold.

"You're approved," she says. Then you hear her in your head. Now close this thing already! And don't cast a spell on me without my permission again!

I apologize, but time is uncomfortably short. If you'd like, I can give you a fuller apology if we reach a point when it isn't. Closing the link.

You didn't want to leave it open too long, anyhow. You've already got Resk's link to maintain. You thank the quartermaster for her time, and walk out, asking Harold to lead the way to the armory.

He nods, and starts walking.

"Thanks," he says as he does.

"You're welcome," you say. You're not sure what else you even can say. But you soon reach the armory, and the fire powder storage. Someone's standing out in front of it. Presumably to guard it.

"You need fire powder, Wiz?" they ask. "What for? Gonna put on a victory celebration?"

"We haven't won yet. That's why I need some. And Harold here is going to help me carry it. One barrel should be enough."

Harold holds up his slip of paper.

"Well, everything seems to be in order. Go right on in."

They open the door, and you head inside. There's plenty of barrels, but you also notice something else.

Water, water, everywhere.

There's a thin layer of water all over the floor, and judging by the particularly salty scent, it's not because this place was mopped.

"Leak?" Harold suggests.

You suspect there's more to it than that. But you can't really investigate right now. You'll leave that to Mr. Resk; you send him a quick message.

I'll look into that when I get a chance, is all he sends back. Must be busy himself. Well, in the meantime you'll just have to focus.

"I don't know, but we can't really look into it right now. Do you think you can carry a barrel without slipping?"

Harold frowns.

"Maybe."

"Rather not risk it, then." You turn back to the door. "Could you come in for a moment? There's water all over the floor. I think it's going to work best if we pass the barrel along without actually walking."

The guard comes in.

"Water? How'd that get there?"

"I'm afraid I don't have time to investigate that. Just stand a little in front of Harold. I should be able to get a bit further, since I've got my staff for support."

You advance carefully, and wait for the guard to get in position between you and Harold. Then you put your staff down for a moment and grab a barrel - one from the top of a stack, so it won't be wet. You turn to the guard and pass the barrel on, and the guard passes it to Harold.

"Not sure it's safe to walk out," the guard mutters. "Not with a powder barrel, anyhow. We can continue the chain until we reach the hall, right?"

"Makes sense," you agree. "Again, I've got the staff, so I'll go first."

You grab your staff again and walk past Harold, carefully. The guard is next. Harold passes the barrel to them, they pass it to you, and you put it down. Then the guard leaves, and then Harold slips.

He doesn't fall hard, but you're relieved that he wasn't carrying the barrel.

"Does anyone have a rag so we can wipe our shoes?" you ask.

"Well, I'll be fine," said the guard. "Unless you need another barrel, I guess. But hang on, I think I've got something." They pull a small cloth from their pocket. "There you go. I don't need it back, it's just something I picked up off the floor."

You take it and hand it to Harold first. He takes off his shoes, wipes them dry, and hands it over to you. You've already slipped out of your sandals, so you can wipe them fairly quickly. Harold's already grabbed the barrel by the time you're done.

"Where?" he asks.

"To the deck, I suppose. So we don't have to carry it as far after I enchant it."

"Okay," Harold says. He starts walking off. You put down your sandals and slip them back on.

As you do, though, you notice something about the cloth.

Is that the monogram of the Flame family?

There's a faded impression of some kind of symbol. It seems vaguely familiar... oh, that's right.

You and the captain met with an inventor - you can't remember his name, it wasn't Fire but it was something along those lines - who wanted you to bring something along on the voyage. That meeting ended rather abruptly with a shouting match between the captain and the inventor. You left without any clue as to why you were supposed to be there in the first place.

But the inventor had his family crest hanging up. It was a distinctive shape, and this looks like an outline of it. Not that you could say for sure that it's an exact match.

Well, maybe he sold washcloths to fund his inventions. Whatever the explanation is, it's unlikely to matter in the short term. What you need to do is get onto the deck and get the fire powder ready before the sun fully sets. You and Harold head for the deck. Fortunately, you don't run into any further distractions.

The thin sailor from before greets you when you're on the deck.

"So is the powder ready?" he asks. "I told the cannoneers it's coming."

"Not yet. I thought it would be safest to limit transport after I enchant it. So I'm going to do that here."

"Gotcha," he says, nodding. "You need anything taken care of before you get started?"

You take a moment to think about that. With all that's been on your mind today, you might have forgotten something.

Are the cannons clean?

"Have the cannons been cleaned? The spell might not work right if there's a sizable build-up of other substances. A few specks won't hurt it, but once you get a significant amount..."

"Aye, aye, already on it. Don't know how it works with spells, but keepin' fire powder from gettin' contaminated is real important. The barrels are airtight for just that reason. Got one clean already. You think we need more than one?"

"The more we fire at once, the faster the ship will burn," you reply. You note that the sun is fairly low on the horizon. "So as many as we reasonably can. I'll start the enchantment now; I'll give a signal when you can start loading, so I can enchant all the powder at once. But also... which cannon is ready?"

The sailor points out one of the cannons.

"Good. That will help me track the powder, just in case anything goes wrong."

You put your staff against the deck and close your eyes - not strictly necessary, but it's easier for people to understand that you're doing magic if you make a show of it. And it does help you focus.

You begin by focusing wind ether into speed, and channeling it into the fire powder. You need just a touch of fire to connect it to ignition, rather than simply velocity. Of course, that carries the risk of setting it off early, so you have to focus very carefully.

This would probably be easier with time magic. But your brief exposure to it wasn't enough to teach you how to actually use it, so you'll have to settle for what you can.

"Begin loading," you say, keeping your eyes closed. You need to monitor that little spark of fire ether. Make sure it doesn't go off early. As long as you're focused, it should be fine.

"The sun has set!" someone calls out.

"Ship ahoy!" someone else cries. "It's the Ship of the Dead! For real!"

You're slightly tempted to point out ghosts don't exist, but it's not going to matter soon enough. You can sense the powder being loaded into the other cannons, which have thankfully been cleaned. Everything else is up to the cannoneers.

But then you sense something strange. And large. It's almost certainly the ship... and it's not quite ether. It's similar enough to sense, but it's.... It's not flowing. It's stagnant.

For just a moment, you wonder if the legend could somehow be real. But not more than that. It doesn't even matter right now. What matters is making sure the powder doesn't ignite too soon. You have to wait until it's actually in the air.

Before anyone can fire a shot, though, something disturbing happens.

Mother... is that you?

Do not resist, child. We will be reunited.

The voice is speaking to you, and it sounds exactly like your late mother.

On the one hand, you are completely certain that ghosts don't exist. On the other, considering you haven't heard your mother's voice in forty years, it would be hard for anyone to magically simulate it.

And more than that, the voice is having a powerful effect on your body. It takes a great amount of effort to do anything at all. You can see that the crew on the cannons are doing even worse than you, probably because they're superstitious enough to believe it's real. Several have collapsed to the ground, others are screaming.

This kind of power is beyond any magic you know. Which means it's most likely the work of a god. You really hope Nual's still watching out for you, but that's more the Captain's area of expertise than yours.

You force yourself forward. Maybe you can fire one of the cannons yourself. You don't know much about it, but you don't have a lot of other ideas.

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Resk suddenly starts screaming at you through the mental link. Though it doesn't actually translate into volume, the added pressure of his mental state is more than you can handle, and you fall to your knees. The pain dulls just enough for you to think a little.

If you push yourself, you could probably break the link and relieve the pressure... but on the other hand, if you could calm Resk somehow, you might be able to get him to help.

Well, whatever you're going to try, best to do it soon. You doubt you can handle this for long.

Try to get Mr. Resk to focus by appealing to his sense of decorum. His duty demands that he instruct you on the operation of the cannon. Is he a man or is he a mouse?

...Say, are the greblings affected by this ghost ship, or are they immune?

The only thing you can think of that might calm Mr. Resk is giving him a job to do. And, as it turns out, you have a job that needs doing.

Mr. Resk! The cannon crew is incapacitated! I'm going to have to fire the cannons myself!

Your only response is another silent scream. That and some more mumblings from whatever's trying to sound like your mother.

Mr. Resk! I've never used one of these cannons before! Tell me what to do!

The screaming slowly fades.

First thing you do... first thing... is make sure it's properly aimed. You said... you were using fire powder, right? We load that into... into a wooden shell. Much lighter than a cannonball... arcs a lot lower. Gotta be just a little bit higher than... higher than... what you're shooting at.

The nearest cannon looks like it's already aimed. Some of the others aren't. You crawl to the cannon.

I think this one's already in position. I just need to fire it.

There's a chain. Pull it back, hold it for about a second, and release. He seems to be gathering himself. That'll launch the ammo. With a powder shell, you definitely want maximum force, so it's sure to ignite on impact. 'Course, that means it's even more important to hit.

Well, right now you're just going to hope the woman nearby clutching her head in pain got those calculations right. You pull on the chain, do a quick count, and launch.

You watch the powder shell fly through the air, and for the first time, you actually see the target.

And it's terrifying. You knew the stories said it looked like a derelict, but that's selling short just how damaged it is. There's a huge crack on the front of the hull, the prow has broken off, and the back of the ship is missing entirely. The sails are so rotted they look like they're going to fall off, and there are inside-out bugs crawling over the whole mess.

And the mast isn't even connected to the ship. It's floating above it.

But you're not sensing any ether, just the same strange stagnancy you felt before. You also don't see any crew, ghosts or otherwise.

Then the powder shell hits, and the ship starts burning. Then the voice that sounds like your mother starts wailing, crying out.

That's probably a sign the fire is working. But not fast enough - the ship's still charging forward. You need to fire more shells. But if you fire them on your own...

A grebling walks up to you.

"You doin' okay, Wiz? Somethin' weird is going on with the humans."

You hear another screech.

"You aren't hearing any strange sounds, are you?" you ask.

"Well, I got this weird echo in my head that sounds like a seahawk. What, is that not just me?"

So it is magic after all. Spells are usually tailored to work on either humans or greblings. Though that doesn't explain the bird sounds, or why yours have stopped...

...no, they haven't. They're just quieter. Maybe that's the reason why you've still got some degree of autonomy.

"Are the other greblings all right?" you ask. "I need as many sailors as possible to work the cannons before that ship hits us!"

The grebling salutes, and raises his hands to his mouth. You don't hear anything as he does.

"Sent out the call. I'll get to aiming the ones that ain't already. You fire that one." He points to another cannon that already seems to be in position. You walk over, and fire it. Then you head to the next.

But someone's grabbed your leg, and someone else has grabbed your arms. Both are yelling incoherently. It seems that the voices have gotten bad enough for the other sailors that they're actively trying to stop you.

You need to do something about that.

Find out a way to amplify those bird sounds , the mental interference will either make everyone suffer more, or resist the compulsion. Either way, it will incapacitate them enough to get them off of you.

Whatever happened to the noisy chicken foot totem? Can the mysterious swamp hen be imbued for a similar effect?

You have one thought. The bird noises seem to be helping you resist. If you had the chicken's foot, you might be able to use that to spread them.

But you aren't sure where it is. You didn't think to pick it up, as you were more concerned with capturing the fly at the time. It's probably still amongst the mess of inside-out bugs.

In which case, Mr. Resk is probably closer. You ask him to grab it and toss it out onto the deck, but you don't hear a response. That's worrisome.

You do, however, hear something else. A squawking swamphen running around the deck. Your attackers look around, confused, but still keeping hold of you.

At least until Colleen pulls them off.

"It really is the goddamned Ship of the Dead," she mutters, staring at it.

"And if we don't fire those cannons, it's going to ram us. Even if it is a fake ghost ship," you reply.

A few greblings start to arrive, but only three more cannons are ready to fire. By the time you finish, a fourth and fifth have been aimed, but that's not a good enough pace to get the blaze as big as it needs to be in time. You ask about reloading the cannons that have already been used, but it turns out that takes about three times as long as aiming and firing. You doubt you'll be getting more than three more volleys to begin with.

It would be easier if you could fully free the crew, but it seems the chicken is only able to distract them. Well, at least that should keep them from interfering while you figure out what to do.

The first thought you have is if there's another way to move the powder, without the cannons.

Due to the spell you cast, you can sense where the powder is. It's all been loaded into shells, but only a few of the shells are in the cannons already. Still, making that many shells move, even with magic, would be tricky. It would be easier if you had some way to move them all at once.

And then you happen to catch a glimpse of the empty powder barrel.

It's probably big enough to fit the shells in. Still, that leaves you with two main problems.

First, you need a way to move it. You can't use a flight spell, because the one affecting the ship would overpower it. A separate problem is that a lot of sailors might fall overboard if that spell activates again while they're incapacitated, which you have no thoughts on how to solve beyond destroying the opposing ship and hoping that stops the effect. You could lighten the barrel and throw it, but even if you got enough distance, it wouldn't have the necessary speed to ignite on impact.

Second, by doing it that way you'd be concentrating the powder in one place. That wouldn't be as effective as setting several smaller fires in different places on the ship. On the other hand, the damage to the spot where you did hit it would be more severe - perhaps it's just a matter of picking the right target.

Well, under the circumstances, it seems like a good enough idea to get started on it. You tell the greblings to put the shells they won't have time to use in the barrel. Now you just need to figure out where you're trying to move the barrel, and how you're going to get it there fast enough.

Throw it to the place where the bugs are more prominent, where the fire will hopefully spread much faster due to the bugs catching, using a force spell (which should be different from a flight spell due to being focused on a powerful, concentrated push, rather than a constant upwards push). If you can, try to make it explode in mid-air with a fireball, to disperse the powder.

You're not sure there's any place on the ship that's crucial to its movement. With how badly broken it is, it shouldn't be able to move at all, so whatever's moving it must be something like magic.

So hitting any specific structure would be no better than a wild guess. Maybe you can instead think about how to make the fire spread as much as possible.

And then it strikes you. The bugs. They're crawling all over. They could spread the powder for you. You see a large mass of them near the base of the mast.

Now there's the matter of traversing the distance. Sustained flight is out, but you might be able to get away with a momentary push from a strong concentration of wind ether. You're fairly sure that wouldn't interfere with the flight spell on the ship, but you also have no real experience using that sort of spell. You can't be sure of how far the barrel will go.

Well, you're trying to spread the fire as much as you can. So perhaps, with the right preparations, it's good enough to just pass over the ship. You ask for an empty shell, and cast a small enchantment on it so that you can channel force through it later. Then you mix it into the middle of the shells in the barrel.

Then, you tap the barrel and whisper "Lightweight." You pick it up easily, and get ready to throw it.

But then Colleen grabs it from you.

"Not sure how you're planning to get it all the way over, but I'd wager I can throw farther than you," she says.

"Fair enough. Aim as best you can for that pile of bugs near the mast. Don't worry about distance or trajectory, just the direction. I'll handle the rest."

You wish you'd thought to ask. The push you'll need will be a lot easier to calculate if you're not also trying to throw the barrel. In fact, you can begin focusing on it now.

Colleen throws the barrel, and just as it starts to fall, you move it with a burst of wind, angled upwards to give the barrel a little bit of extra momentum on the way down. It jumps a little bit closer to the ship, but you can see that it won't make it. Desperately, you try to summon another gust.

You manage, but just barely. Now the barrel's too far away to do that again in time... and it still isn't quite reaching the ship.

But it's close! If you set off the prepared shell, some of the powder would hit, at least. But much of it would fall uselessly in the ocean, and you aren't entirely certain your own ship is out of range.

Still, you only have a few seconds to think of a better plan, so you might have to settle for that one.

Risk casting a flight spell.

Well. If you're taking chances anyways, why not go for flight?

You'll have to get closer to use it on the barrel, but you know just how to do that.

"Lightweight," you say, tapping yourself. "Colleen, throw me towards the barrel. Quickly."

Fortunately, she doesn't ask questions or otherwise delay. You soon find yourself rushing towards the barrel.

Then you start flying, and you catch it just before it reaches the water.

It's hard to carry, since the lightening spell gives you both similar weight, and removing the effect on yourself is difficult without removing the flight spell. And you don't have time for manuevers like that. You just use another wind spell to carry yourself up, before dropping the barrel towards the deck.

Then you detonate the prepared shell. The barrel cracks and shells go flying, though many still strike at the mass of bugs. It's enough, though, especially as the next wave of cannons strikes the hull. Every inch of the so-called Ship of the Dead is ablaze.

And it's not stopping. But at this range, and with how weakened it is, it's fairly easy for you to conjure up a fireball with enough force to blow the damn thing apart. The pieces fall in the water, some still ablaze.

You still feel the strange ethereal stagnancy, though. You aren't sure this is over, even if the immediate threat is gone.

Still, the loud cheering from the deck - louder than Colleen and a few greblings could manage on their own - suggests that the sailors have been released from the strange influence. Just in time, as the ship takes off into the air, and descends a few seconds later. Luckily, as you get closer, you can see that everyone on-deck has caught themselves.

There's just one problem. How do you get back to the ship safely?

Maybe this friendly kraken can help you!