CAMPAIGN: Queen Arkwyn's Crown (D&D5e)

Back on the street, it seems that the funeral has ended and the crowds are scattering. This makes it hard to move without being seen, and hard to blend in, since almost everyone is going away from the harbord, rather than towards it.

Overhearing other people talking, it sounds like quite a lot of people are having just about the same ideas; to grab some lunch-- and a few cheap drinks-- before heading to the castle for the new Queen's coronation.

Upon reaching the docks, there only a moderate activity there. Not everyone is going to the coronation, but enough people are going that most of the ships are empty, with only a few sailors and swabbies left behind the guard the bigger ones.

Hyne reaches the ship with the sky-blue sails without incident. It is a heavy-looking ship with some armor plating on its sides. It has a figurehead of a beholder, and a lot of conspicuous gun-ports. On the side are the words "Flying Eye Goddess"

Next to it is a smaller sleek looking ship with "Yanorin" emblazoned on its side. It also has gun-ports, but they are more fewer, and painted more subtly. Its figurehead is two mermaidens back-to-back, one surveying the sea, the other staring into the sky.

Both ships are flying the same two flags. The lower one is the simple red yellow and gray stripes of the easily recognizable Srappan flag. The upper one is a blue field with a star-eyed skull in the center. Beneath it are two crossed wands.

Two people are re-painting the beholder figure-head. They have rope harnesses on, and each is carrying a bucket and brush. No other people are currently visible on either ship.

Hyne calls out to the painters refinishing their mast decoration, "Is your captain away at the moment?"

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<TheGiz> oh hai doggy, oh no that's the straw that broke tjhe came baclsb

"Huh!?" exclaims one of the swabbies, a curly-bearded halfling. He drops his paintbrush and it splashes into the water below.

"Got it!" chimes the other swabbie, a waifish half-elf. She drops her own brush carelessly on top of the wooden beholder's head and dives into the water. She splashes less than the brush did.

"Tip!..." the halfling begins, then trails off and looks at Hyne. "Bah, whatever. You looking for the Captain? He's off seeing the Queen be Crowned."

"'There anyone important around I might be able to talk to then?"

---

<TheGiz> oh hai doggy, oh no that's the straw that broke tjhe came baclsb

"Eh? Right, right. Important. Let me fetch the quartermaster for you"

The halfling clambers off of the figurehead and back onto the deck. He disappears for just a moment and a bell is heard clanging from the back end of the ship.

He reappears right away. "Go right up the ramp there, and head for the poop deck. His name is Mr Skoth..." the halfling leans over the railing and whispers "...and don't worry about the way he talks, nothin's ever half as bad as he says it is."

The half-elf pops her head above the surface of the water. "Got it!" she calls, holding up an oyster. The fallen paintbrush continues to float further away from the ship.

The halfling glares at her and just shakes his head.

Hyne nods and complies, allowing the men and women to get back to their work.

It had been sometime since he had walked aboard the deck of a ship. The almost vertigo feeling of hollow space below the flooring on a floating vessel rushing back a somewhat disorienting but not quite so feeling that hasn't been familiar for years.

The ship seems well kept, but somehow not as meticulously tidy as one run by a military unit. For Liontribe, cleaning was both a discipline and a training: if it was clean, you are not doing a good enough job; clean every corner with a small brush until you can make a coal diamond. Strict routine and heavy labor helped keep the men busy and avoid the need of cabin boys.

He heads for the poop deck as instructed. If there is a door in the way, he'll knock on it and await a response.

---

<TheGiz> oh hai doggy, oh no that's the straw that broke tjhe came baclsb

As Hyne approaches the rear of the ship, a smallish door in the elevated poop deck opens and a man emerges.

He is only an inch or two taller than Hyne but he has to stoop to get through the small door. When he stands to his full height, his presence is large. He has big broad shoulders, and bulging neck muscles.

His skin is a vivid blue that one might normally associate with tattoo ink, but it is uniformly and smoothly blue, without any patch of any other color showing.

His clothing, like the ship itself, is well enough kept, but not meticulously clean. He has a small black goatee on his chin, and whatever hair might be on his head is completely covered with a bright floral-patterned headscarf that looks incongruous compared to the rest of his drab and faintly stained clothing. He moves across the deck with the perfect balance of a seasoned sailor. The expression on his face is hard, and he makes immediate eye contact with Hyne, but offers no greeting. He just stands and waits, arms folded.

Hyne is almost taken aback by the commanding presence of the man's build and the implied stern confidence that needs no words. This was a natural leader accustomed to only the utmost respect and likely has little interest in what Hyne has to ask. He almost feels like a cadet in boot camp again, where words are scrutinized and excuses are punished.

When silently prompted to speak, Hyne does his best to compose himself, "I was told this ship could sailing on journeys. I was wondering if it was possible to pay or work to arrange passage?"

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<TheGiz> oh hai doggy, oh no that's the straw that broke tjhe came baclsb

Mr Skoth doesn't bother with pleasantries or introductions. The moment he understand's Hyne's intent, he launches right into the job interview.

"Can you work hard?"

"Can you follow orders?"

"Can you keep your stomach in a storm?"

"Are you afraid of death?"

"Are you willing to kill, if need be?"

"I have a background in working on a ship under a strict captain- and I've gotten good at gutting a fish since then. I used to be in the army once, once I grab my other weapons I can more than readily kill if need be."

When asked about being afraid of death, he answers, "I've already come to grips that my desired destination may have me killed, if the stories are true."

---

<TheGiz> oh hai doggy, oh no that's the straw that broke tjhe came baclsb

Mr Skoth nods, apparently pleased by Hyne's background and experience.

"That's fine then. We could use an experienced man."

He then frowns a little.

"The captain... The captain likes to hire people who known magic. You know any magic?" He seems tired and deflated when he says this, as if he has resigned himself to a thing he has no control over.

"Just some spells from an non-particular deity, but nothing arcane."

---

<TheGiz> oh hai doggy, oh no that's the straw that broke tjhe came baclsb

"Oh? Good then." Mr Skoth cracks his first hint of a smile.

"I can arrange for you to speak for the Captain tonight." he says. Come back after sundown.

"I'll be sure to be there."

When it is time for Hyne to leave, he considers finding a weapon shop. He will need to stock up on arrows if he's going on a ship trip where he might have to participate in long distance combat frequently.

---

<TheGiz> oh hai doggy, oh no that's the straw that broke tjhe came baclsb

Hyne makes his way back along the docks towards the market (where there had been several weapon shops among the other vendors)

His keen senses spot:

"This takes forever!" complains the voice of Scorpion LeBleu. "He's got to be close, Flumphy."

In the space between two ships, Hyne can see LeBleu and her hovering companion. They are standing on one of the dock's many floating wooden catwalks, similar to the one Hyne was walking on. Neither of them is facing towards Hyne

LeBleu is holding her small dowsing gem on its golden string and watching it spin with a look of impatience and frustration on her face. The Flumph reaches towards it with one noodley appendage

"Stop that," she barks, "I'll have to start over if you touch it."