September 1, 349

Kelene wakes up and through the splitting headache she looks around to see that she is in a room. In the room are two other beds occupied by persons. The one person looks to be a human female wearing robes and the other appears to be a dwarf.

Her stomach is turning over and she feels like she is going to throw up. The floor feels like it won't stop moving, which only aggrivates her stomach.

In between Kelene's stomach growling, she realizes that the people on the bed are none other than Tabrina II and Angus. She quickly arouses them and all wonder what they are doing here.

The room is an odd-shaped room 40'x55'. The walls go south for 40', east for 55', north for 30', then close it up. Along the west wall is a door in the 10-20' section from the south. There is a round window in the diagonal north wall. The floor, walls, and ceiling are all made of wood. In the room are crates and barrels made of wood.

The last thing they all remember is sitting in a bar with some other people. Everyone was having a good time celebrating. There was talk of adventure and fame and fortune. How they came to be here is anyone's guess.

As Kelene, Tabrina, and Angus search the room, they find their equipment in a cupboard. Everything can be accounted for. When they go to look at the barrels and crates, a cloud of smoke appears where Kelene is. After the smoke dissipates, Kelene is no longer there. Tabrina and Angus shake their heads, wishing they didn't drink so much.

The crates and barrels have writing on them in a language that can't be understood. The crates contain salted meats, grains, and vegetables. The barrels contain a dark red liquid that has a delicious aroma.

Looking out the window, they see nothing but water. The sky is a deep azure blue with no signs of clouds. The water is moving in a steady motion to the right.

Angus realizes that the liquid is a dry red wine which is very strong to the taste. After stocking up on rations, Angus opens the door. Ahead is a large and dimly lit room. The walls extend for 20' on the right and 50' to the left, after which the walls go straight for over 100'. On the wall to the left is a door in the 20 to 30' section.

As the two of them move about, realizing that the length of the room is 130', the little light in here shows that this is a cargo hold. In front of the two doors is a large hatchway to the deck below. The area below seems to run the full length of the ship as no bulkheads are in view. The floor below is covered with sand, covered by a thin layer of water. They don't see anything else down there. Through the centre runs a section of the main mast, behind it a set of stairs leading up. Against the aft bulkhead are stacked bolts of cloth and a large number of casks stacked up together. The room for walking is restricted as the room is filled, but it is well organized.

As Tabrina fills her wineskin, Angus looks at the contents of the cargo hold. The bolts of cloth look to be of average quality that might get a bit on the open market. They are on average 20' in length, so Angus decides to leave them be. The barrels sound full when they are tapped against. Searching around, you find nothing more of value.

Opening the door to the left reveals a room that, in its dimensions, is a mirror image of the room they woke up in. In the centre of the room is a table on which stands a pewter pitcher and two mugs. Beside the table are two chairs. Above the table is an unlit lantern. Alongside the wall with the window, one on each side of it, are a couple of unoccupied cots with a chest at the end of each one. At the back of the room, hanging from the ceiling, is a piece of fabric covering something which is cylindrical in shape with a dome-shaped roof. The fabric hangs down a few feet.

While Angus keeps watch, Tabrina looks under the fabric, which is made of a coarse wool. Revealed is a bird cage which contains a blue and green parrot which is asleep.

Searching the cots and under them reveals nothing. When the chests are opened, the parrot suddenly wakes up and starts talking very loudly, "INTRUDERS, INTRUDERS". The bird continues this action ad nauseum.

At the sound of the parrot's alarm, Angus and Tabrina try to hide in case anyone arrives. They watch for awhile, but don't see anyone.

After awhile, the parrot stops and they cautiously come out of hiding to investigate. Tabrina wonders why nobody showed up. Going back to the room to search the chests, she finds that it contained old clothes.

As the stairs are ascended, noise can be heard, in the form of metal clashing, from the other side of the hatchway. Peeking to see what is causing the sound, Angus sees a battle going on. Engaged are men, wearing leather armor, that look scruffy and men that are neatly dressed, but not wearing any armor. A fast count shows about 50 men. Angus quickly closes the hatchway, in hopes that nobody noticed.

Even though Angus had a quick look, he was able to surmise that the attckers were the ones wearing leather armour. Neither side seemed to have the advantage.

Going back into the room where they both woke up in, Tabrina's look out of the porthole reveals the same view as before. Looking out the porthole in the room with the parrot, however, she sees what appears to be a large merchant ship. It has a single mast and three sails. At the top of the mast is a flag with a skull and crossbones.

The merchant ship is adjacent to the ship they are on, near its bow. Upon closer examination, Angus sees men on board the other ship. They are wearing metallic armor and are watching the battle intently.

Going back up the stairs and cautiously peeking out, Angus sees that a few of the unarmored people are lying on the deck. There is a group off to the right, 2/3 of them wearing leather armor. Tabrina casts a sleep spell at the group. Ten armored people collapse, along with four unarmored people. The others on the deck show no reaction, as they appear to be preoccupied with their own battles.

Tabrina casts another sleep spell at the armored humans, causing six of them to fall. All of a sudden, the hatchway flies open. A couple of fierce looking humans in leather armor look down on her. The bigger one says "Ar matey. What have we got here. Surrender or die."

One of the humans confronting Angus is wearing chain mail and is carrying a long sword. The smaller one is wearing leather armor and is carrying a long sword.

Taking a swing with all his strength at the one in chain mail, Angus's sword bounces off the armor, not doing any damage. Both humans take a swing at Angus, the bigger one making contact for 3 hp af damage. The next round, they both try to hit Angus, both missing their target though. Angus takes another stab at the bigger human, injuring him for 5 hp. Continuing their battle with Angus, their swords pierce thogh thin air as Angus dodges their attacks. Returning the attack does a further 4 hp of damage. Angus misses on his next attempt. On the return attack, the smaller human does 7 hp of damage into Angus. On the next round, Angus does a further 7 hp of damage into the injured human. Both of their swords miss Angus. The injured human collapses in his own blood.

The uninjured human sees his mate fall and takes a running lunge at Angus. Angus deftly brushes the sword away, felling the human with one quick stab of the sword.

Looking around, the deck of the ship is crowded with men involved in fighting, along with many men laying on the deck, some covered in blood, and others apparently uninjured. On the port side of the ship, you see more men in leather armor coming from the other ship onto this ship. Angus notices that their battle has gone unnoticed by the others on deck, as they are engaged in their own battles still. It looks as though this ship's crew is managing to hold their own as there are over two dozen men on each side on the deck now.

After dispensing with the second attacker, Angus cleans his sword, and then the two of you duck back down into the hold, hoping to be undetected.

Tabrina whispers to Angus, then they go back to the doorway leading to the room where they first arrived here. Angus smashes at the door, to make it look as if they forced their way out of the room, while Tabrina watches for unexpected visitors.

Doing a good job on the door, Tabrina and Angus then go to the front of the hold and hide amidst the cargo. While Tabrina keeps an eye out for anyone, Angus unsuccessfully finds doors or hatches in the area.

After about 30 minutes, the hatchway is suddenly opened. Descending are some men dressed in chain mail, followed by men dressed in leather armor. They look around the place and start to open barrels to see what is in them. After one of them tastes the contents, they start carrying barrels up to the deck. They also inspect some of the bolts of cloth, but they soon leave them. The men go and look through the door that is smashed down. They are then seen carrying out the barrels and crates that were in the room. They check the other room out, but return without anything. They then proceed upstairs.

Making sure the coast is clear, Tabrina and Angus come out from behind the bolts of cloth. Looking in the rooms, they see that the rooms have been ransacked. In the one room, the parrot is dead. Looking out the porthole, Tabrina sees that there is activity occuring on the other ship's deck.

Angus and Tabrina decide to go back up to the deck to get a better view. Cautiously looking out, they see that the deck is covered with bodies of both armored and unarmored men covered in blood. There are no standing men on the deck. Looking over to where the ship is, they see the sails of the other ship starting to move away. Slowly opening the doorway, they proceed onto the deck.

Searching around the deck, they see that there is a raised bow section, along with a raised aft section. The main section is 130x80 feet in area, with stairs at all four corners going up to the raised areas. In the 80 foot wall at the bow end of the ship are doors in the 10-20, 30-40, 40-50, and 60-70 foot sections. The accessway to the loewr deck that you just came from is 30' from that wall. The aft wall has two doors, in the 20-30 and 50-60 foot sections.

The raised area of the bow is dominated by the ship's capstan. From it, the anchor chain runs down the chain vent to the port side of the ship. While they're searching the area, Tabrina notices that two bodies are still breathing. Checking upon the bodies, she finds that they have a shallow pulse. She bandages them up and makes them comfortable.

The raised area at the aft end holds the ship's tiller, rising from the deck and having a horizontal arm. There is nothing of interest up here.

From the motion of the sun, it is deduced that the ship is sailing in a general eastern direction. The sun is going down and Tabrina and Angus decide to bunk down for the night. They move the two men down to the room that they both woke up in. The night is uneventful.

Go to September 2,349.

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