The adventures of the Whistling Wanderess - public RP thread

[AlexBnt]

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[Hoihe]

He'd be introduced to the crew quarters - a communal sleeping place for men, with a door seperating the female quarters and of course, the Captain's own. He'd find that the kitchen shares air with the hammocks and chests, causing the smell of food to always surround those seeking rest.

There's quite a lot of hammocks and chests, much more than there are sailors on the Wanderess.

[AlexBnt]

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[Hoihe]

"I'm around!" she would respond from lounging around beneath the second tower of the sterncastle, right beneath the helm.

Making her way to the main deck, she'd wave to Xela and respond. "Good to see you alive! For your brother, he's ought to be somewhere in the galley."l

[AlexBnt]

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[Hoihe]

Hoihe would be busy studying charts of the Nelanther isles, discussing with Kurt about odds. When approached, she responds thus



"We're waiting on Drake and getting the wheat. We're setting sail as soon as we are able. If you need it very fast, I can offer to teleport you to Baldur's Gate. Greater Teleport doesn't care about distance."

[AlexBnt]

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[kleomenes]

A letter is delivered to Captain Hoihe bearing the seal of the Ilmatari.

[TarnishedSoul]

A sealed missive addressed to "Captain Mealir Ostirel" arrives at The Whistling Wanderess.
The point of origin shows as "Guide's Office, Candlekeep."

[Hoihe]

On a whim to have the common crew do some sailing, the First Officer, Lafali'Atria Dacino is taking the vessel on a roundtrip between the Bilberry Island, Ulgoth's Beard and back to the Gate.

[Valefort]

Some ink stains on the captain's log ...

West of Baldur's Gate, Sea of Swords 8th of Ches

Blessed be that woman, Esvele, and that unexpected and very pleasant exploration expedition.

This morning, as the breeze was singing the dawn along the main sail, a pair of birds came to salute us. Two cheeky, unafraid volatiles who took some rest on the deck or the mizeen mast with dozen pairs of eyes on them. Smiles were decorating the lips, not that the voyage had been long or unpleasant (the contrary !), but we were reaching our goal. On all the usual maps we had not even a rock was indicated for a great number of miles around us.

Soon enough their surfaced on the horizon, floating points lighted by the grazing light : they shone. A string of islands was being unveiled from the night, for the deity's love and the rumours of silver I named the archipelago Selune's Bracelet.

We found these islands and we landed there. There was a shipwreck but no survivors in sight, it appeared they left the island on a raft to find water after having taken care of their deads. It was no surprise to find someone there but a surprise to find a shipwreck, we will sail with care, sandbanks abound in those parts.

On an impulse I named the largest island : Island of Jannath, in honor of the Duchess, and even though we did not find anything of monetary value there I trust she will appreciate the symbol. At the very least we shall bring back a large fragment of that strange underwater mineral tree whose vivid colours are so fascinating.

Vivid ... everything is, in those islands, and likewise the fauna is alert and alien. I wished we found hairless bears in that (moderate) heat but it was a giant lizard, that some name "Dinosaur", a Chultan word, who attacked us. The beast was tall as a Frost giant, its teeth the size of large daggers and assorted bladed feet. She struck as soon as she perceived us and therefore I do not think she met many humans, if any. Some of us were thinking of not harming it but lightning fast jaws and shrieking sounds halted any deliberation.

The fight went quickly in our favor, as big as it was the beast was not smart. Harassed from every side, harmed by spells, she collapsed, unable to fight and got promptly restricted .. and even healed, slightly. The meekness some of us showed for this beast baffled me, I am wholly unable to forgive anything that wanted to eat me moments ago.

Either way, we explored the island promptly, found unexpected bounty (I still hope we will be able to discern its provenance) and then went back to the Wanderess in order to find the survivors. We had an unplesant surprise on our way back as the dreadful beast escaped, not without leaving large amounts of blood in its wake : it swam away, horrible thought.

There are many islands left to explore, if the first one did not hold the famed riches I do not despair from finding some. In that matter finding the survivors of the shipwreck will prove useful on top of being a moral obligation. The maps did already exist, how ? Who, in which obscure period of the history found Selune's Bracelet ? Questions that will need answers soon as I do not like to dance on some unknown tune.

We shall spend enough time to explore the main features of the archipelago, the trip was short and this will have consequences for the most sharp fangs are at Baldur's Gate.

Mealir Ostirel, capitain of the Whistling Wanderess

[Hoihe]

The First Officer's report reads as such, although with added purpose of being given to Candlekeep

1353/03/08-1353/03/01

Expedition to Uncharted Isles, Arrival & First Island

Foreword

The Whistling Wanderess has finally reached the islands and we are now conducting mapping and other forms of exploration. Furthermore, we are looking for survivors of a shipwreck we stumbled upon. In this report, I will be describing the voyage and our experiences on the first Island

At the Docks

I have gathered the hired hands for the vessel, and have had an anomolous volunteer as well, one going by the name Palandar Wyrmblade, with Morwen and Sadie at his side. He was hired by a woman who has heard we were heading for an unknown archipelago to petition for a spot on my ship.

As it turns out, this woman's father had acquired a map to the location of these isles, and heard of great sources of natural riches there. He hired a crew, but he has not responded in many a tenday. Worried sick, the girl tried to petition for board but I was rather skeptical of the story. Where did he acquire the maps? Is this girl Samara, perhaps, or one of the Rats of the Docks? Eventually I decided to grant her permission to board, letting the Captain sort it out.

Sort out he did, by instructing Esvele and myself to check if indeed the isles her father found were the same as ours. And by Shandakul, within a reasonable margin of error of course, she pinpointed our isles! With no reason not to believe the girl, beyond the healthy paranoia of a grizzled sailor-adventurer fearing she's in fact a ghastly black dragon's puppet, we let her and her hirelings accompany us.

Wyrmblade did not take kindly to my "taskmaster" nature, despite his own underlings jumping for the occasion. Even the rich girl was not afraid to get her hands dirty after my speech on how we are all family while sailing together, and family must take care of their shared home, on how if everyone works equally, everyone gets to work less. After a long while and threats to not take him along, he caved*.

And so, we set sail.

* = Even if Ulraunt walks unto my ship, I'll make him work. Even if Oghma himself sends his avatar unto my ship, I'll make him work. My ship isn't a luxury liner, nor is it a millitary ship with "traditional strictness". It is a home, and all of a family must equally contribute to his or her mates. I get my own hands dirty and I'm the First Officer and a small woman at that for hells' sake!

The Voyage

The voyage would have been almost uneventful, if not for running into a rogue mast that decided to try and match our course. Big mistake there on their part, for we held course until night then I called General Quarters**.

I must say I was very proud of the crew. The regulars were, as always, fantastic and needed no instruction but even the hired hands, even Esvele and even Palandar worked with all their strength and genuine effort to follow exactly as Captain Mealir Ostirel and myself have commanded. Normally, we're lax on instructions, letting experience guide the lads and lasses on what needs doing, unless they're still growing their sea legs, but general quarters calls for a special consideration.

Naturally, we didn't even have to fire off a single fireball from my wands, for our clandestine maneuver of waiting until the night, turning off all the lights and bestowing all the crew with the vision of an elf in a moonlit night, then working through orders and practice to take to take our ship on the verge of close hauled, and yet still enjoying the marked advantage of reaching into the wind, tacking between broad and beam reach every now and then. We made this plan as result of our scout, Vendor Xon's observations and later Faelyns confirmation of what we were dancing the dance of navigators with. To simplify this report yet maintain fact as fact, in essence their ship, although altered for more speed, still lacked the characteristic maneuverability of the Whistling Wanderess***.

To put some jest to my report, for this voyage has made me giddy as if I was but a little girl, general quarters called to such a special consideration we even let the dirty minded Faelyn the bard waltz into the female quarters. Although it was for a honest duty, it still turned to be the topic of after-battle boisterousness.

**General Quarters: A term used on naval vessels to call all quarters**** of a ship to Duty, to their assigned stations. As a result, the active working personnel increases many fold and the number of idlers is reduced to the minimum caused by the marine complement. During General Quarters, disobedience and insubordination are punishable by death even in more Just Navies. The General Quarters we call on the Wanderess means about the same, except the marine complement also takes part in station work and we do not execute crew, merely assign bilge duty and reduced rations for endangering their mates. Exception is given if it is a Just disobedience, due misguided orders, so long an alternative is suggested

***Regarding why we picked this tactic: The Whistling Wanderess is a caravel with a hull that's deceptively graceful considering her width. We also run three masts plus the bowspirit, and use a mixed-sail configuration of lateen mizeen, square fore and main, with royals and gallants hoisted upon highly maneuverable yards. In essence, we are able to sail incredibly close to the wind without losing speed. Reaching into the wind is the ideal point of sail of most ships, and close hauled means you are dabbling into the no-go zone, causing slow down. It is interesting to note that running with the wind, as in, having it directly behind you is less effective than a 30 degree reach. I should note that the 0th degree is considered to be running parralel to the wind, and the one hundred eightieth is when you are "sailing" directly into the wind. Note the quotation marks: the most sailing you'll do that way is backwards if you have an oval hull shape, if not just fluttering sails.

****Quarters: Except in General Quarters, only a certain number of people are actively working. Usually, their numbers equal that of the recommended watch for a ship where there is no loss of performance. For our ship, that is seven. A certain Watch composition is called a Quarter, and General Quarters comes from all quarters being on watch.

A copy of the chart and leagues I have used to sail from Baldur's Gate Harbour to the isles is attached.

The archipelago

We've been granted vision of the isles even before they appeared on the horizon, as a sea bird of unknown species resembling a familiar sea gull but with brown feathers came to land on our sterncastle and cawk hungrily at us*****. Not long after, Vendor saw them from the crow's nest and we made our approach.

As we came in, we had to bring in our sails except for the spirit topmast and the mizzensail. It was hard work, as we've had to turn the mizzen in co-operation with the spirit topmast and the helm, and believe me- it's hard work! But a good old shanty kept us merry and working without issue. The senior deckhands who sailed with us from the maiden voyage of our beloved vessel let the juniors work and grow their own sea legs, as they went and measured the depth and spotted rifts. At this point, I abandoned physical labor and commanding in favor of marking depth and charting the archipelago.

It is an ongoing process, for the thing is massive! Its shape reminded my dear captain of the patron of our ship, and so he named it Selune's Bracelet.. Finally, we approach an island and dropped anchor, where even now the ship is sitting, letting the client Esvele make her observations, and let the lads enjoy wild fruit.

***** - A sketch is included in the report folder.

The First Isle

Some three days into the voyage we finally dropped anchor and stepped onto solid land. Although I am filled with pride to sail upon one of the fastest and most graceful vessels of the Sword Coast, the short voyage still fills my heart with longing for more. I'll make it no secret that I wished the Archipelago was hidden far within the Trackless Sea, for a truly grand voyage with many leagues.

But the beauty of the Isle, which Captain Mealir immediately named Jannath, after Duchess Jiaa Jannath, one of the Dukes as the time of this report set up in Baldur's Gate. It was due to the sheer beauty of the Isle, I think he named it for, and as thanks for the Duchess' amiable dealings with our crew without threatening our independence in the process.

Upon the Isle we encountered many strange plants and colours so vivid, so alien and beautiful compared to what we witness on the war torn Sword Coast that one could live her whole life there and want for nothing, should the Isle have fresh water and people to share it with, that is.

We almost found people. Almost, for we came upon recently dug graves and the gaping cadaver of a fine ship. Picking through the remains, we came upon a journal which we must give special treatment to, for its owner may yet live, and his daughter definitely does! For we did indeed find the tracks of the Girl's father, and surprisingly for a silversmith, the journal contains valuable information regarding the archipelago due to his experiences.

The sole fauna we ran into wasn't exactly welcoming, for it was one of those great chultan lizards - a dinosaur I was told they're called stood as lone king of the Isle. We tried to avoid having to tango with him, but it could not pass up the opportunity to dance with the student of the Coast's greatest Dancer, myself. So we danced the deadly waltz with sword and spell, our hired hands and officers and crew participating to bring down this fell beast. Thanks to our bards, we could subdue it without slaying it. Later on, it returned to the sea - for it was an amphibian it turned out, with webbed feet!

I must admit the label of "sole fauna" is not exactly truthful, as in our explorations we did enter a cavern where a giant spider did beset us. And we did kill that one, for lack of ability to subdue a spider. There we found remnants of treasure once hidden - a pirate captain will be sure angry when he finds we plundered his booty. But such is the law of the seas, alas!

Since I am a scholar, I did take care not to let greed fully overtake me, and so I took a fine sampling of the treasure for purely research purposes, that is, until I managed to create an impression of the coin faces unto sheepskin with ink and force, and in a gypsum cast.

Sketches of the flora, impressions of the leaves in gypsum for preservation, impressions of the coins, sketches of the dinosaur and the corpse of the spider are attached for in-Candlekeep research. Furthermore, the incomplete map of the archipelago detailing Isle Jannath and her waters is also included.

What happens next

The Wanderess shall remain at the archipelago for the coming future to collect more data and explore the rest of the isles. We'll also look for the lost men described in the journal who have supposedly built a raft to look for an island with fresh water and more edible flora, maybe non-murderous fauna as well, if Ilmater grants them such mercies.

Participants (All on Duty/Candlekeep, Whistling Wanderess)

• Captain Mealir Ostirel
• Seeker, First Mate Lafali'Atria-Hoihe Dacino
• Scout Vendor Xon
• Deckhand Junior Tasia
• Client Esvele
• Sailor Tella Erling
• Culinary-Officer Lorrain Lackland
• Sailor Kurt Armstrong
• Sailor Arto Quickdraw
• Sailor Larry
• Hired-hand Sadie
• Hired-hand Delilah Silversmithy (Daughter of Harmon SilverSmithy, the woman from the docks
• Hired-hand Paladar Wyrmblade
• Hired-hand Sadie Ironfaar
• Hired hand Galaran
• Hired-hand Elyssa Symbaern
• Hired-hand Faelyn
• Hired-hand Fenor Ironfort

Wages to be paid

• Officer-grade/Marine-grade is to be paid 500 gold (scout counts as officer)
• Sailor-grade, Deckhand-grade is to be paid 400 gold
• Hired-hand-grade is to be paid 300 gold
  
  They were told to come to Candlekeep for their wages. No need to seek them out. If they forgot, their fault.

• To be paid special attention to

• The Archipelago is hereby named Selune's Bracelet.
• The marked island in the archipelago chart is hereby named Isle Jannath

-Seeker Lafali'Atria-Hoihe Dacino

[aaron22]

A tel'quessir woman in royal blue and gold has been asking around the Balder's Gate docks about the whereabouts of a Cillian. She believes him a member of a crew of a "deep sea boat" named The Whistling Wandress. Only speaking her native tongue makes this task harder, but her affinity to pay well for the information might make her information gathering a bit easier. She does seem persistent. She spreads only that her name is Lunulata and her reasons are private.

[Valefort]

West of Baldur's Gate, Sea of Swords 15th of Ches

As I reach the end of these journals I wonder what to do. Some vicious apes nearby, smart enough to sabotage ships and adept at butchering horribly people like us, to feed upon them. Orcish cookpots, similar enough.

But back to the perils of the day. We located the island with fresh water easily enough, a waterfall was even visible, it must have been an hellish sight for those people struck by thirst. Nearby the shores where we landed we spotted a camp but this time again it was desert, with traces and remains suggesting another very hasty departure, towards the forest this island holds.

In her haste of discovery, as this island holds treasures unseen before, Esvele drifted towards the lake and stepped on mushrooms. Almost as soon as she did she fell unconscious ! Those mushrooms were of a particularly deadly nature, poisonous ! Hopefully a one of a kind potion I keep for such situations helped her back up, I don't have more of those however. We have to be incredibly cautious in our every day habits it's almost unnerving, peeing in the bushes is an adventure of sorts.

That said nature was not the worst this day, we were near the lake and admiring the view while letting Esvele recuperate a bit when I noticed the lake was overseen by a skull-shaped rock as tall as three men ! The skull looked human enough, except for thorns on the forehead, and was definitely ominous. Intrigued but unabated we were about to head for the forest where the tracks lead when we heard a moan coming from the mouth of a cave nearby the lake. Unsure of its nature we headed in, chances were that wounded shipwrecked found a shelter inside after all ...

Alas it was only a shelter for foul undead creatures, zombies, former sailors held captive by an unholy magic. With fire and swords we put them down for good, even though one managed to almost drown me, right when we reached an unholy altar I could sense my lungs filled with water as I was fighting ! Falling back and puking water uncontrollably while gasping for air my companions hopefully fended off the rest of the cursed creatures without my help and I was able to stand back after a bit, I felt pathetic but for my defense these cursed creatures all went for me first.

Either way, with no other immediate danger we were able to stand back and observe where we were exactly. A natural cavern it seemed, waterfalls on both sides of the uneven room made for an impressive sight, giving the altar in the center the importance it deserved. While loads of riches could be seen behind it we had a fit of cautiousness, Esvele was able to tell that the altar was responsible for the zombies but that the riches were without risk, we plundered.

Leaving behind such an accursed and dangerous altar was a possibility, condemning the cave could have been enough ... however it was also responsible for poisoning the fresh water. Magic against magic,
Elyssa cast a Mordenkainen's disjunction on the altar, hoping to severe its connection to the Weave and thus break it. A wave of undead creatures poured from the sides while she was preparing but too little too late ! The creatures fell to the floor, truely lifeless and, at last : motionless. The altar crumbled and I unearthed a potent scimitar from the rubble, maybe fit for Lafali.

With that good deed done and danger set aside we headed out of the cavern, the water was cleaned and, marvel the ominous skull was gone ! No rubble could be seen, it must have been a complex illusion.
Taking into account that the water was enchanted and that the altar fueled necromantic magic I am rather impressed and worried ... not to mention it could be an altar to the Bitch Queen, something I only considered afterwards and told my companions to kept quiet about. May Valkur help us if the she wants to torment us on the way back.

The way back .. we're not quite there yet. We took a quick rest and resumed the search for the shipwrecked, not without a deer approaching Elyssa without a hint of fear, a sight so unusual it seemed magic, Keira's stomach took control of her mind for a good while though, as she couldn't see anything but a marvelous piece of meat. Granted, it was tempting ! We pressed on in this land of plenty, between deadly mushrooms, suicidal boars and dinosaurs. Boars ! They felt forced to charge us and it was perfect for miss stomach, enough game for a couple of days for the crew. And way to come back here for more as there are more than a few of these animals around.

Another camp, another desert, so eerie and disturbing ! Looking in the remains I spotted another journal that hinted at what we feared after discovering the cursed cave : they drank from the lake and some of them turned mad, starting to kill each other like wild beasts. The journal of Silversmithy indicated he fled yet again, abandoning his fellows without much remorse from what I can tell.

However those fellows were indeed bloodthirsty, three of them attacked us fiercely and we had to defend ourselves, the last one was spared as it became clear for me they were not quite themselves. Breaking the curse proved possible with a wand, probably because the altar was destroyed in the first place and we managed to save one of those poor fellows, who confirmed what happened as much as his patchy memory could tell.

With no more chance of finding other survivors on the island we headed back to the Wanderess, where I write this entry on the eve of this very eventful day. The question remains, what to do ? I shall discuss it with everyone.

Mealir Ostirel, capitain of the Whistling Wanderess

[Valefort]

West of Baldur's Gate, Sea of Swords 8th of Ches

Magic can make some things very simple. Instead of brazenly facing hundreds of demonic flesh-eating apes our wizards located Silversmithy, then we teleported on top of his head in what happened to be a treasure room, we took a few things with us, notably Silversmithy with one leg less, and we .. teleported back to the Wanderess. Without seeing a single ape, arcane magic by Lafali'Atria, I hope these apes will be enraged and perplexed for the longest time. The reunited Silversmithy family was a sight to see, a few heartbeats ago the father was forced to work for the apes and fated to be eaten and killed slowly while now he was reunited with his daughter, two daring souls overall !

There were worries in the Wanderess before we left to try this however, especially as a "ghost ship" was sighted a few times at dusk, powered by oars and sails with an ominous cloud lagging behind it. In our absence the Wanderess was to sail slowly around the island of Jannath in order to not be found anchored and helpless. It turned out the ghost ship was not only an illusion as it showed itself soon after we saved Silversmithy. It came down on us quickly while we were slowly navigating through sandbanks and reefs to reach the high sea where such a war galley would lose its advantage. It was so close that we knew two things, first Esvele detected no undeads but ... it looked like the ship kept chained beholders on its deck. Needless to say fighting was the last thing I had in mind ! However it was looking like it would be on us before we reached the open sea as we had to navigate slowly to not risk a shipwreck. Fire started to rain from the war galley and I gave orders to turn around and face it, feeling cornered like a fox by large hound. My only hope was to break its oars on one side and escape, a mad gamble if anything.

Esvele saved us from this mad gamble, divination truely offers great possibilities : she was able to discern the path out of the reefs. When I heard her tell that I sent her running towards Kurt to guide the helmsman while everyone on board made everything they could for the Wanderess to gain some speed while putting out the most threatening fires. We made it, one of the last projectiles hurt badly Arto as well as Tella and outright killed Johnny, the first lad we managed to rescue.

We escaped, gut wrenched and cursing those people, whoever they were. At times like this I regret making the Wanderess a small ship unable to face such threats, fleeing is dishonorable but it would have been a slaughter. Even if in hindsight I wonder how much of what we saw was an illusion ... who would be able to actually keep chained beholders as pets after all ? It seems beyond reckless, even more than actually allying with such creatures. I for one plan to come back, and not alone, to make them pay if possible.

Diminished, damaged, we sailed directly towards the Gate and hopefully didn't have to face other perils. Our arrival in the Gate was more spectacular than I expected, word of mouth must have traveled fast as we were sailing up the Chionthar. We were greeted by nothing less than a crowd ! Considering the success of the expedition I put our mages to contribution another time, for some flashy lights this time.

I improvised a short speech while some of the exotic wares we came back with were unloaded on the dock and I dare say the sailors of the Wanderess will be listened to for a good tenday after this ! I hope to go back there soon, with other ships alongside the Wanderess, in order to map Selune's bracelet completely and who knows .. discover more uncharted lands ?!

Mealir Ostirel, capitain of the Whistling Wanderess