In the cabin Yana had claimed as her own, the false Eídisi was seated at her desk, a bottle of old scotch to the side, next to an inkwell and quill she'd managed to find. The tall ship –or so she believed it was called-- had absolutely everything aboard those summoned could possibly need. Food, pots and pans, cleaning tools, writing utensils, brandy and hammocks. Beds too, and medicine jars and vials, bandages and compresses. Someone had prepared for this journey, making sure everything was there. Not one thing had been overlooked. Well, except entertainment. The people did their best, singing and playing instruments, doling out dull tasks and seeking volunteers to do what needed to be done. Some cooked, others aided the crew with the sails and the ropes of the ship. Those who could do neither, like Yana, were pushed into the role of janitors, cleaning up after meals, or swiping the cabins if they were too dusty.
Needless to say, Yana wasn't really enjoying the voyage so far. Perhaps a couple seasons ago she would have wasted time by gambling with the crew, but her fascination with chance had fled in Saun. Chance came down to probability, and that could easily be calculated with mathematics. Being lucky meant you could roll a number that did not show up often, sometimes twenty times fewer than other combinations. If you rolled enough dice, it was bound to happen. She did not know when or where, but it would happen eventually. What was far more interesting was luck itself, but she wasn't too sure what it actually was. It was typical she would find a new research subject when she was on a damn boat, sailing away from any sort of library or educational institutes.
As it was a subject for another time, Yana had resigned herself to writing a log of their journey. For posterity. She'd left her own notebook back in the barracks, hidden between some beams near the ceiling, wrapped in parchment to protect it from possible rain that might seep through leaks. It wasn't like she'd be able to openly observe people and write down her findings in this form anyway, and she had not been keep on losing a second notebook, so she'd left it in Rynmere. The problem that she would be unable to write was soon circumvented when she found a journal with plenty of blank pages. She hadn't read the old entries just yet, but she might one trail, if she really had nothing better to do.
Log of Journey to Ne'haer she wrote as title, placing her (fake) name and occupation underneath to indicate who she was if she were to perish and the journal was found after her death. It would also nicely serve as concrete evidence of her exploits if she were to be court marshalled upon her return. She'd seen an airman on the ship, and though she was not sure if he would support her, if he did confirm the events in the log, he would also prove her word to be true. The others could also testify this exploit was not a trivial one.
14th trial of Vhalar 716
We boarded the ship at dawn. It rose from the depths of the ocean, healing itself and becoming as good as new. I have heard it be called “Tall ship”. As I understand it, it is an important part of Rynmere's history. I find it hard to believe it to be the very same vessel, but in light of the events that transpired, it is quite normal and plausible.
Our helmsman is there and yet he is not. The helm moves, but there is no-one there to be seen. Touch revealed no body either. Furthermore, our captain moves the ship with unbelievable speed. He stands on the deck, arms raised at the heavens. He does not flinch, and rarely does he speak. He walked on water before, and lifted the ship out of the sea with the sheer force of his will. As he seems too powerful even for a mage, he might be an immortal, though I cannot be certain.
The sea around us behaves most oddly as well. Any and all that fall overboard are thrown back onto the deck by the waves.
For a moment Yana wondered if she should write down her … experiment... where she “accidentally” bumped into a member of the crew hard enough to cause him to fall into the sea. Better not, she decided, just in case.
Otherwise our journey is unremarkable. We have enough food and water to last for many trials, and accommodations have been made for all those who were summoned. We have all the comfort we need and more, even though the voyage will only take –by my estimation-- ten trials tops. In actuality it might be even less. I cannot be sure, as I am no expert on marine navigation.
The Yludih leaned back in her chair and stretched her limbs, gently she placed the pen on the desk and closed the inkwell. She blew softly on the freshly written words, then took the book and shook it carefully, trying to speed up the drying of the ink just a tad bit faster. Then she went to bed.
- - -
Yanahalqah was awoken by a bellowing voice, booming through the ship like thunder. A call to arms. There was no chance pirates or other scoundrels could keep up with the Tall Ship's speed, let alone come aboard. She doubted the sea would let them get close. Then what? She dressed quickly, donning her padded tunic and strapping her blades to her hip. Her bow she left alone, it wasn't a good idea to try to fight with ranged weapons in closed quarters. Her eye fell on the book on her desk, and she quickly wrote an entry for Vhalar 15th, only stating they were under attack and that she was joining the fray. Nothing more, nothing less. The Yludih strapped her shield to her arm and left.
The deck itself was filled with people fighting shadow beasts. Of course. What else could it have been? They formed from black smoke rolling over the wooden boards of the floor, swirling into a solid shape. Yana swung her blade at the nearest one, shield up to protect her from a possible counterattack. She wasn't too sure how much it would help. Last season she'd seen a fellow squire almost being torn to shreds by a shadow monster. It had torn right through his tower shield and armor, inflicting enough damage on his flesh to keep him in the infirmary still.
However, there was no need to worry, the beasts were weak, vanishing from one blow. However, they were numerous, flooding the deck and respawning immediately after being killed. Sure, there were a lot of combatants present to suppress the attack, but they would not last. Running all over the place to slay the beasts was going to tire them out sooner rather than later. This was not an attack to kill them yet, this was merely to soften them up before the true enemy appeared. Hell, with these numbers the beasts would only have to wait for all summoned to be too exhausted to move, then kill them one by one. But was that truly their aim? Perhaps the goal was to destroy the ship, landing all people in the water. Yana didn't fear drowning as she simply did not need to breathe, but without a doubt she would starve in the water, or be crushed by the pressure if she went too deep. Not to mention the sealife that might try to eat her. Either way, the shadow beasts were bad news. But if she did not know what they were after, she could not come up with a good strategy to take advantage of it and hold them off without overexerting everyone aboard. Damn.
Someone yelled to use fire, but that would probably mean playing in the enemy's cards. Another said to protect the captain. Was it necessary though? If the man truly was an immortal, did he not have enough power to defend himself? Or did commandeering the ship already prove too taxing to do anything else? Perhaps it was that. Else he'd probably gotten rid of the shadow creatures himself. If it was him they were after, it was indeed best to protect him, but Yana couldn't be sure that that was truly the goal of this attack. In the end, she decided to save her strength and observe, merely standing still in a location she could see most of the deck. Around her the shadow beasts ran amok, but they did not seem to see her. It allowed her to relax somewhat, her tense posture getting a little less rigid. Now, to observe closely and discover the aim of the beasts, then formulate a strategy and get the others to work with her.
It wasn't going to be easy.
Off Topic
Side challenge thread
here (with Padraig)
