You bite back the anger that Eun put the girl in danger and force down the panic that nearly overtakes you. Emotions within you war for prominence, but you push them aside.
The disappointment and worry are more than enough.
"You checked on her after the ship crashed."
Eun nods.
"Where is she now?" Caihong asks. "She's not in medbay, I helped Han take Maia there…"
You consider. The
Cutting Dagger is not a very large ship. There are few places that one could hide anything, including a small child, and most of them are temporary at best. If Fan had chosen her hiding spot that could've meant anywhere; you don't know her well enough to guess at her thought process. But Eun knew about her and helped, and you know her well. The best place would be somewhere that few visit regularly that no one would be surprised to find Eun in. Preferably, somewhere that would only rarely be visited, and with numerous potential hiding spots.
And she'd need to be able to get food and water.
"Show me to her." You mutter. "The kitchen's storage area if I'm not mistaken."
Eun blinks. "How did you-"
You grab her by the shoulder and drag her along.
-
You eventually find Fan inside an empty barrel, surrounded by rotted corpses. Like the zombies, but they've fallen without evident damage. Hrm.
You pull her out and look her over. Fan's forehead is scraped. There's a small amount of blood, but nothing serious. She doesn't even
look in pain, and for such a small child that was a good sign.
Her eyes are wide, and she looks at you with a fear you're not used to seeing. That look screams of both fear and an expectation of pain.
You pull the small blonde into a hug, ignoring the revulsion that flares in you as you do so.
"I'm glad you're safe. Are you hurt?"
"N-no." She sniffles. "…You're not mad?"
"No. How did you stay out of sight for the entire trip?" you ask as you let go of her. However rare it might've been, people were guaranteed to come in and out of the kitchens. It's a good place to sneak food and water, and outside of meal times the kitchens are usually pretty empty, but it was never without someone for long.
She shakes her head. "No one sees me."
"I see you." You say, patiently. "Despite the fact that I wish you were back at Shang, where it's
safe."
She doesn't have an answer to that.
"Why did you come along? This is dangerous. We're going after the people who captured you and the others."
Something passes over Fan's face then; you're not sure whether it's anger, disgust, disapproval or even fear.
"… I wanted to bring them to justaste."
You raise an eyebrow. Fan is a terrible liar. You're sure that she does want "justaste" but that's not the reason why.
"It's bad to lie, you know." You say patiently. Unless it's you, then it's awesome and totally necessary.
"… I thought maybe I could help?" She offers instead even less convincingly.
"Fan." You place your hands on her shoulders. "Why did you sneak onto my ship?"
Her lip quivers. "I didn't wanna be left behind again."
"I wasn't going to be gone long. Maybe two months tops if absolutely everything went wrong."
She shakes her head, rapidly and violently, and she starts to yell. "I didn't want to stay! I wanted to go with you!"
You sigh. You like kids, but sometimes they're hard to talk to. "Why?"
"They don't want me there. Nobody wants me anywhere!"
"Fan-"
"I DON'T WANNA GO BACK!" She holds your leg, crying as she looks up at you. "Please don't leave me behind!"
You stare at her. She's crying.
Gods dammit.
"That…" you hesitate as she starts sobbing. "I need to discuss this with my crew, okay? Eun, get her an orange or something."
You leave the girl crying with Eun as she pulls the little one into a distant but well meaning hug.
-
Jiang Wei is looking over his maps, frowning at what he's looking at. You're sitting at your desk, now properly upright and not blocking the door (but there are scratches in the nice finish. Jerks). Jiang Wei is
supposed to be telling you which way to go.
"I don't like that look, navigator." You say. "It reminds me that we took you off of a slaver ship."
"Believe me," The scholar says quietly, "I remember that cursed vessel. It's this island that has me stumped."
You bristle at his words. "All of this and we're not even in the right place?!"
"We should be on the right island," Jiang Wei clarifies. "We were on the right heading before the attack and there's only a few in the storm. But I don't recognize this beach. If I could get some more landmarks, get my bearings properly-"
"You're stalling."
"With respect lord, I am not stupid enough to try to stall a pirate that openly dislikes me and my previous jailer whom he keelhauled."
"Don't call me lord." You spit. You're not sure why but the title is even more disgusting to you when said in respect.
He sighs, looking over his maps. "Look, I was never allowed off the ship. We just pulled into the dock loaded supplies, unloaded……" He hesitates.
You scowl, folding your arms. "Your slaves."
"… Not my slaves, but yes. I can find exactly what you need, I just need something to get my bearings."
You sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose. "We can explore until we find something, I guess."
"That would be perfect, thank you."
"Thanks from a slaver makes me want to shower."
"I was a prisoner!"
"A prisoner who helped them and did nothing to escape."
Jiang Wei throws his hands up. "What do you want me to say, that I was too much of a coward to fight a thousand men, abscond with witch slaves and dive into an ocean?! Fine. I'm a coward, and weak. All I could do is give them directions and hope it screwed them over and it did."
"What're you talking abou- wait." A slow grin spread across your face as you realize. "… you knew there'd be pirates on the red line."
He raises an eyebrow. "We call it the silken current."
"Well good for you, you're wrong and ugly. So you
did know there'd be someone there then."
"… Not for certain." He admits. "But, well… I'd hoped. I couldn't make it too obvious what I was doing, so I had the ship cross over a few trading routes. Preferably those that the Empress and the rebels would have a harder time guarding."
You nod. You went with the red line because it was a good path for several different trade routes, but not well-patrolled. You'd initially expected to hit a quick ship with a daring captain, but found a ship-of-the-line with slaves.
"You did this for a year?"
"No. Just the last couple of months." He admits. "It took me a while to figure out what I could do about it."
"And how long did it take before you found out you were transporting slaves?"
He hesitates. "… three months."
So about 6 or 7 months before he found a way to trick the slavers. Or more likely, before he mustered up his courage. And all the time others were suffering. "You gonna tell me you fed and watered the slaves as best you could, too?" You ask.
"No." He says, going back to his maps. "I mean, I did, but it wasn't enough, and even if it were saying so doesn't help anyone."
He's right. But the fact that he's not making excuses or begging for his life is worth something, at least.
You turn to leave the cabin. "We'll take a look around."
He hesitates a moment. "… I have a request. For when you kill me."
You stop and turn to look at him, raising an eyebrow. "We offered your life in exchange for-"
"This won't matter if you keep your word, but I want to put it out there."
You raise an eyebrow. "… okay."
"If anyone comes asking after me, don't tell them what I helped the slavers do, or whatever you're going to do to me." He says quietly. "Say I was lost at sea or something."
You have no idea who Jiang Wei is thinking of, but you shrug and walk out the door. "I'll think about it."
-
Han is by Maia's bedside and has refused to leave. You could technically make him, but he's not thinking clearly so you give him a pass and bring those you trust (or at least rely on) into the room instead. Caihong, Ping, Han and Maia of course. Amaya, too, though as usual she's been quiet.
Mei's dead. Maia has been slipping in and out of consciousness, but everyone from your inner circle is here.
Except one.
"Where's Eun?" Han asks, glancing up. "She made it out, I know that."
"Looking after our stowaway," You say with a tone that adds 'don't ask any more'.
Han is apparently tone deaf. "We had a stowaway?"
Caihong sighs. "Yes, and she kept it secret from both me and the captain, apparently. I was going to ask what we plan to do about that."
"Shut up about Eun, okay?" you snap. "I'll deal with her later. For now she can keep an eye on Fan."
The groups falls silent, each considering.
"It may not be the worst thing," Caihong says slowly, "to have the child along."
You glare at Caihong. "Are you serious?"
"It's a cult that wants witches." She points out. "And she's got enough power to keep dozens of them quiet and compliant. Their zombies collapsed around her. And I can personally attest being in her presence in agony for a witch."
"You think I should bring a child into a potential warzone?"
"With respect sir," Amaya says, "She's already
in it. And if you're that worried about potential war, maybe we should go in more diplomatically."
"Diplomacy? With slavers?"
Caihong throws her hands up. "Maybe there's regular people here too. If nothing else there's slaves we can free."
"What about the
Dagger?" Han asks. "We leave it here? Someone could find it."
"We still have the rest of the crew." Caihong points out. "We could use the ship as a rallying point."
"Or we could affect repairs." Ping points out. "We might need to leave in a hurry."
They turn to you.
-
Let's try this category thing again shall we?
-
Regardless of what the crew does, there's every chance you'll run into someone on this island. What stance will they/you take when you do?
[] [Explore] – Aggressive
(Go in metaphorical guns blazing. Kick ass and take names.)
[] [Explore] – Stealthy
(Figure out exactly what you're dealing with here. No direct interaction, just observe and report back.)
[] [Explore] – Diplomatic
(You're willing to fight, but not looking to start one. Only fight if someone starts one.)
[] [Explore] – Write-in
-
The
Cutting Dagger's remaining crew can affect repairs with wood in the nearby forests, just past the beach. Or the crew can try and keep hidden and fortify, or just abandon the ship entirely. What should they do with the ship?
[] [Boat] – Attempt repairs immediately
(Don't explore, just get the boat ready to leave.)
[] [Boat] – Fortify the ship as a base camp for now
(Leave repairs for later; make it look there's no one here and fortify. The boat will be more defensible, but also a clearer target. If found, you can defend it.)
[] [Boat] – Abandon the ship for now, head into the island
(Leave repairs for later. You'll have nowhere to fall back to, but you'll be much harder to find. If the boat is found, you'll likely lose it.)
[] [Boat] – Write in
-
Magic doesn't affect Fan and the zombies that went near her died. She's also attached to you and doesn't want to be left behind, despite the danger. What do you do?
[] [Fan] Bring the child
(She wants to come with you, and she'll be an asset if the slavers deploy wizards. Besides, she'll be perfectly safe next to you.)
[] [Fan] Leave her in the back with someone
(You'll bring her along close by, but she'll be kept back where she'll be safe.)
[] [Fan] She stays with the boat
(You're not putting her in danger no matter how badly she wants to get herself killed.)
[] [Fan] Write-in
-
Eun kept Fan's presence secret from you the entire trip. This can't happen again, so punishment or some sort of remediation is called for.
Eun's someone you interact with regularly and she's been part of your crew for a while. She's important enough that her punishment is going to be noticed but not so important that you have to make allowances so she can keep working.
[] [Eun] Write-in
Suggested by
@Tabascoheath and
@ColonelRogers
[] [Eun] Half rations and a guard to watch her, leave her with a warning that the next time this happens it'll be a flogging,
