Winter's Grasp
Thirteenth Day of Ashinu-hamba (Ashinu Descendant) 1348 A. L. (After Landfall)
By the time the ships make sail out of Stormhaven clouds already cloud the northern skies, a threat that goes for three days unfulfilled. Yet on the night of that third day Inge wakes from a black dream with news for the captain. "Storm is coming, crowned in lightning and wreathed in frost," this is her warning and it is well made for that night the wind begins to whistle sharp and cutting across the ship, sinking the chill of winter into the very bones. Then at some dark hour you cannot name rain begins to fall down all at once as though God had taken his warding hand from the world. Lightning reaches out across the sky like skeletal fingers illuminating faces filled with fear or grim resolve, each by their own measure.
Sailors tie themselves with lifelines to hold fast against the tempest, and at times find ropes where there had been none before, none question their good fortune. As you rush across the wildly tilting deck to save a crate of fresh supplies which had been affixed there so as to make more room for trade goods in the hold you feel one of those same ropes slither past your foot like a serpent and cling fast to your ankle. Tom and Nico join you but it seems too little too late as the uppermost crate smashes down, narrowly missing you only to smash open and reveal a silvery pile of dead fish that would at last see their graves in the sea.
"Push!" you call out desperately, the pile of crates too large, the angle of the deck too steep.
Just then the ship swings a little straighter, the weight on your back a little less and you thank Providence for the good fortune, though your relief is short lived.
Inge is scrambling across the deck, her eyes aflame with cold light as she calls down the favor of fickle Ikomi with abandon and from her right hand spinning bone white webs to keep men safe in the rigging, paying little heed to her own safety. A swell washes over the gunwale and washes the girl away under your horrified gaze.
Just before she is about to go over Ziku grabs the trailing rope and pulls her back with all his might.
Though you can see the pain on her face from the jostling as she smashes against the southerner's chest the girl does not say anything more. There is a flash of healing light and then she is off again, offering good fortune and healing both.
Dawn finds a ragged crew three sailors short of what it had been the night before, though the ship is eerily unharmed, snapped rope and torn sail all mended. According to Antonio there wasn't any water in the bilges, which is a thing unheard of after a storm of such fury. Thankfully the other ships had fared almost as well, with the Penitenza's sleek hull cutting over the tops of waves that might have drowned a more broad seemed ship and the Pride of Koire making due with skill, luck and perhaps the hand of Inoko through the hand of his servant Moru for the fact theirs had never been a ship meant for these waters.
13 sailors from the are washed overboard and lost (3 from the Marcella, 4 from the Penitenza, 6 from the Pride of Koire)
"She's taking on water fast, not sure if we can fix her without going ashore and the land is wild here..." Antonio sighs.
To your surprise though Esha smiles. "And here I thought I would not find a use for the Invocation of the First Principle. Get me to that ship and I will sea it fixed." She is as good as her words, using a spell Ipsit had made use of to mend the hurts of his macabre servants to pull together wood that had been broken and warped.
"Strangest thing I ever saw, she healed wood like it was flesh," Antonio would later exclaim, seemingly forgetting in the moment that ten months ago healing flesh with a touch would have seemed a miracle.
Esha learns Repair Light Damage
Who do you spend the most time with to on the journey back to Apuku?
Choose Three:
[] Antonio, to learn more of the life and journeys of the man you followed into these cold unforgiving waters
[] Zaia, most of his time is taken up by study, but he is more than willing to expound on what he had learned to any who might listen
[] Inge, the girl has been showing more and more reckless courage these past few weeks and while you are proud of her you worry just the same
[] Esha, now that she has a weapon she has expressed interest in sparring with you, though making use of weapon and spell alike so that she might make a good showing
[] Tom, over the past season he has grown to be more than just the head of your men at arms, yet both of you act around the other as though you were still on a journey with Verley and its fields at the end. The men follow you by their vows, perhaps it is time to establish more formal pay
[] Pebble in Swift Rushing Waters, or Swift Pebble for short, the otter-kin you unwittingly dragged into a battle. You could certainly use more os her help as an interpreter, if she is willing to give it
[] Moru, tell him of the lady you saw in a dream in Oromo of the Hundred Towers and ask for his judgement if this is the hand of the same evil that infected Ulf.
[] Ziku, he has known what it is like to be a man with a four hoofed friend and companion for far longer than you, perhaps he has some pointers, or if not at least some interesting stories
[] Wanderer, see what he thinks of your service so far and do your best to get him some better equipment and training in it
[] Write in
OOC: Approval vote, not a plan this time around, there is really not that much synergy to social votes. Not yet edited.