Whale's Tale
Fourth Day of the Eighth Month 293 AC
When one traveled the Sea of Fire as a raider captain beholden to none save one's own luck and skill, many a strange and wondrous happenings could be taken in stride, weighed in the balance of peril and profit. Still, even aboard the Golden Wind, even in a time of battle when the coiling waves roiled with the wrath of the Brazen Throne, there were limits.
"Capt'n, there's a whale wanting to talk to ye..." the harssaf rigger's words echoed into the surprised silence of Yrten Sword-Sunder's cabin, interrupting the three-tiered game of zargat he had been playing with the ship's mage as thoroughly as an announcement that they were about to be overtaken by a pair of Efreeti Shield Ships and ground between them, a prospect the Golden Wind unlike most raider ships had both faced and survived.
Unlike on that
memorable occasion the captain did not start cursing hard enough to blister the walls. Instead he turned to Siduri and asked: "I know whales are smarter than most beasts, but have you ever heard of one rising up for a chat?"
Instead of answering the tiefling mage moved one of the silver hexagonal pieces forward on the second level of the board with a satisfying clink: "That's your Second Gate fallen, are you sure you want to bet your
entire supply of lotus wine?"
"No time for games," Yrten waved his hand dismissively over the board. "There's a talking whale to be..."
"Put that piece back," the mage's smile grew. "Yes, the one you just slipped between your knuckles."
The captain flipped the piece out like a coin to land perfectly between its fellows without so much as touching them. "Fine then, let's see if this whale can pay for my losses to a cheering wizard who takes advantage of my good nature to cheat..."
"You don't have a good nature, Yrten," Siduri countered. She did not of course deny cheating. That was half the point of playing
zargat between friends.
***
The whale was the biggest of its kind Yrten had ever seen, twice as long as the entirety of the Golden Wind with eyes the size of a giant's shield, and somehow the mind behind those softly glowing eyes seemed to weigh just as much:
"Hail Yrten, foe of the Brazen Throne and friend of dragons. I have an offer for you. I am Baella."
"What sort of offer?" the raider captain asked, intrigued. 'Friend of dragons' could only mean one thing.
He made sense about being on good terms with an oddly articulate whale.
"The kind that glitters and gleams..." The great eye blinked once in concentration, and only then did those on board the Golden Wind notice a comically small satchel rising from the whale's back like a flake of ash in the wind. It landed at Yrten's feet with a familiar clinking sound and spilled out a dozen whale stones, though instead of being vivid red as most common whale-gems were they were a rich burgundy.
"Those were not taken from the butchered bodies of my kin, but safely harvested instead, wealth by which I and in time my fellows can pay for our protection."
The raider captain nodded. He could see how that would follow, and if you could indeed just carve out a few gems instead of cutting them open, well that meant they would grow back which meant steady pay instead of trusting the luck of the hunt. In fact, with the war distracting the Brazen Throne, these 'tame whales' could be bait for whalers. The captain of the Golden Wind liked what he heard, not least the part where this Baella had never made a deal or settled a trade in her life.
"Wonderful!" the whale enthused.
"Xor can handle the details while I watch the first time."
"Xor...?" Yrten wheeled around, hearing the hiss of translocation behind him... and then he froze seeing a beholder on his ship, a beholder
mage from all the rings and trinkets it was wearing.
He reached for his hammer, but before he could grasp it the Farspawn spoke cheerfully: "Would you prefer to be paid directly in gems, or would you rather deal in currency? Scepters, Notes, or Imperial Marks?"
"You really
must tell me your story before we talk trade," Siduri interjected, intrigued.
The rest of the crew, being less versed than Yrten in things that could drive strong men to madness, shrugged off the moment's surprise and went on with their tasks.
Yrten shrugged, lowered his hand along his side, and nodded affably. Madness it may be, but it still looked like profitable madness.
OOC: Since Xor rolled quite well on his research, he is done already and ready to be reassigned for the reminder of this month.
