Jorune: Strange Allies Sequence 1.2

The Jaspian considers the two diminutive muadra with irritation, shoving someone who is waving documents in his face away from him, and you can see clearly that he's about to growl a refusal. But then he seems to remember something. He takes a second glance at the muadra, appraisingly. Then he looks and sees Vordenir looming nearby. He murmurs to himself. "Ye-e-esss...Daroou is out with the crudge blight..." Then a boccord slams down a head-sized chunk of durlig on the little table in front of him, and they begin to argue loudly about excises.

You can tell that he's on the brink of accepting the offer. If a couple more PCs with bargain or Fast Talk at Familiar - or just one with Fast Talk at Experienced or better - can chime in, he will likely be convinced. If none have that, then two others need to role-play it with successful SOCIAL checks (as Marik did). Other tactics are welcome, too, if you think of something else to try...

The Jaspian swells up with self-importance. Of course he had the good idea - he's a veritable good idea factory! He quickly signs bits of paperwork for each of you and you find yourselves climbing the docking tower to board the Champion of Tra.

The ship looked huge from below, but when you step on deck, it feels like just another city block: a small square in the center, surrounded by some low buildings. The only things that break the illusion are the wind whipping past you in gusts, the masts with sails, and the large crane on the tower that is still hoisting up crates and cages of cargo. Another Jaspian meets you at the top of the tower and escorts you on board. "Sailor!!!!" he calls out, and a woffen clambers down the rigging, drops to the deck and lopes up, panting slightly. "Take these new hands to the crew quarters, find them cabins, and then bring them back on deck to assist with the cargo!"

The woffen leads you through a maze of various stacks of cargo (some stacks hiss and warble at you as you pass) to one of the low buildings. "I'm Renno!" the woffen huffs to you. He's clearly grateful to get a break from his normal duties to this soft work of showing you around, but he's still slightly out of breath. Within the building are a few floors of crew cabins; each cabin is a large open hall with rows of rope cots lining each wall. He finds you open cots several rows down on the second floor. Each cot has a footlocker. Renno says "Leave your things here" as he grabs an armful of mats and starts flinging the mats down onto a cot for each of you.

Having finished with the mats, Renno grunts "Follow me" and leads you back downstairs and out into the street...er, onto the deck. Some of you who've heard of crystal schooners before had always heard how they were modeled on the salu chausis: sleek, aerodynamic hulls dominated by vast sails. This does have the sails, but the rest of the ship? It's like someone lifted a quay from Ardoth and hoisted it into the sky...

The wind ruffles the fur of the various Iscin races in sporadic gusts. You reach a spot not far from where you entered: close to a mast and fairly close to the edge where a crane is depositing cargo net loads. Renno, his ears swiveling to follow different sounds, asks for volunteers for different jobs: "I need people aloft to help with the sails, and I need people working to set and secure the cargo. Who wants what?"

Renno gives a brief, piercing howl (woffen jaws are not made for whistling) to get the attention of some others working the cargo. A giant, scaled humanoid lumbers over after swinging the boom arm of the crane back out into the open space above Kaigon. Ten feet tall at the shoulder, its long toothy jaws curved into an easy smile, he growls "YYYAHH?"

Renno looks up at the corastin and says, really loudly: "Lej, these are new deckhands, here to help you with the boxes!" Then he turns to Ullis, Miniri, and Gythaar and says in a more normal volume "Lej will show you what to do. I've gotta make sure none of them break their necks! See you later!" The woffen runs and jumps, grabbing onto the mast already climbing, to catch up with Marik, Yongap, Barragar, and Vordenir.

Those on the mast, do Climbing checks to get up there (or something else, if you can explain how its applicable).

Lej stares down at you with small black eyes like stones. You realize that the smiling expression is just the angle of its very long jaws; it can't really have another expression. But you prefer to interpret all those very long teeth as smiling. It turns and rumbles "KKAAAAAHH!" while beckoning with its large, clawed hand. Arriving at a small open space between stacked piles of cargo, it points to one side: "KKRAAATESSSS" and then to the other: "KKAAATCHISSSS" Then it stomps off to the crane, where a team of boccord are struggling mightily with a winch to haul up another net full of cargo. Lej hauls on the boom as soon as the net clears the deck, and the huge mass of netted cargo swings towards you.

Those on deck that are working cargo: do checks to avoid the massive bulk, using whichever characteristic or skill makes sense to you.

Vordenir and Barragar race each other up the mast. Neither they nor Marik are able to make much headway, though they do struggle upwards slowly. Clearly they need practice. Yongap, on the other hand, takes to the ropes like a monkey and is quickly scampering around with Renno, who gives delighted little yips in between shouted directions to the sailors who are unfurling the vast swathes of canvas.

Ullis ducks under the crates as they pass overhead, then stands on the other side and catches the rope, helping to guide it to a stop along with Gythaar, who stepped to the side to avoid the swinging mass. Miniri attempts to dodge the ponderous collection of crates, boxes, chests and other containers piled up in the cargo net, but she's smack in the middle of its path, so she instead leaps and catches the net with all fours. The impact takes her breath away for a moment, and she rides the swinging items for a few yards until it comes to a stop...mostly from the efforts of Lej, rather than from any effect Gythaar or Ullis had. Lej stomps over and waits politely while Miniri extracts her claws from the rope and steps down. He then reaches up and unhooks one end of the rope from the hook on the boom, and the crates thump to the deck. He begins to move the crates and boxes to one side, and then putting the containers containing living creatures - the cages - to the other side.