GURPS Banestorm PBBB narrative thread

games
102

Blue Hawk

Hawk, already looking much whiter than usual, attains a new level of pallor as the ship casts off and begins to rock in new and interesting ways. He starts to get up, then thinks better off it and slumps back down onto the barrel.

The tribesman focuses on speaking slowly but correctly in order to take his mind off of the rocking.

“I… have not… seen Lord Arron, but he… must be on ship… on the ship… somewhere.”

Hawk swallows, an acidic taste in his mouth. “If you see Lord Arron, please… tell him that I… will not work more than… the day paid for without… an explanation.”

Seemingly exhausted by the correct use of articles in his speech (but actually just trying not to decorate the inside of the cargo hold with an interesting melange of partially-suggested food), Hawk falls silent and stares at the floor as if trying to look through it into the depths of the river.

103

Thwip

A pointy smile comes across his face as he traces the lines of the ships construction with a finger. Magic. Thwip holds no hatred of magic. He has many magic friends. But in his dreams he can see goblins in front of a giant metal box. Wood and metal come out of it in long straight lines. If only he could get close enough to see how. If only. God showed him the machines. It’s up to him to see through God’s will.

From outside the ship, you hear a voice cry “Stop in the name of St Michael!”

Thwip looks towards the stairs up as the ship lurches from the dock. He’s no adventurer of poem and song but he knows running from the authorities. Is there a criminal on board? Wait. Ship. Docks. Sailors. Adventurers. Rich Pinkies. Of course there is. A better question would be asking how many.

He looks at his rifle, wrapped in its protective cloths. If Tin Pinkies are looking for a criminal drawing the weapon would certainly make him a suspect. Best to not bring it out and hope there isn’t a fight. Yet hiding it too obviously would also draw questions if found in a search. He decides to simply have it leaning against the wall near his hammock as if it was always there.

With that he pats himself down to make sure his gizmos are in the pockets he left them in and walks towards the stairs to the deck to get a grasp of the situation. A thought occurs as he places his foot on the first step. He turns to his new coworkers.

“Uh. You wanna see what hap’nin’?”

Not sure what they’re doing - Is that one going to vomit? - Thwip heads up to the deck.

104

Ranar Bolijyr

Ranar was a bit wary walking up the gangplank, it seemed to sag and creak under his weight. But the men loading the ship were carrying even more weight across it without flinching. On deck, he felt as though he were surrounded by cliffs - exposed, nowhere to run to or hide. Down below, even with the rocking and swaying and bobbing, he felt a lot more comfortable. It was a bit like being in a cave, albeit a cave made of wood. He found a clear spot and sat down, wondering how long he’d have to wait to find out what was going on.

He watched Jibril stow his pack and leave, and Blue Hawk take a brief walk through the ship as well. Good to have somebody scouting it out, but for now he’d sit here and guard their things. He gazed curiously at the goblin, who seemed to be fascinated by the construction of the ship. Well, at least he didn’t seem to be a threat. He didn’t sneak off after the others, or do anything suspicious. Maybe he was just another merc and would be okay.

Ranar heard a commotion up above and felt the ship begin to move. He stood and started to head up to the deck, but from the yelling, it sounded as though they were being pursued by guards again. He’d had quite enough of that for one day. He had no idea what mischief Aronn had gotten up to earlier, who had been pissed off by it, or whether they might have contacts in this part of town. Better to not be seen. (Also better to not be out on an exposed deck with watery death all around.) He drew his pick and sat back down.

Ranar shook his head. “Nay, nothing yet. Jibril went looking for him. It’s a small enough ship, he should be back soon. I hope.”

“I - I’ll stay here and guard the hold. Go ahead, check it out and holler for us if you need backup. Just - just find out what’s going on and let us know. Don’t get too tangled up. Probably better that we stay out of sight for now.” Thwip hadn’t been with them earlier, so if he was seen, that wouldn’t reveal their presence.

Ranar looked over at Blue Hawk, who had returned and appeared none too well. He looked the way Ranar had felt up on deck. “Are you alright, spirit man?”

105

@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel

GM SCENE

While the rest of you settle in, Thwip and de Courcy head back on deck in search of Lord Aronn.

North Tredroy lies to the left, East Tredroy is on your right and Council Island is rapidly diminishing behind you.

On deck, the chaos of the departure has begun to settle into the smooth rhythm of a working ship. A fresh wind blows from almost directly astern, and the ship is moving briskly downriver, already almost clear of the city. This is somewhat peculiar, as the progress of other craft on the river makes it clear that at least some of them are sailing “downwind” in the opposite direction.

The crew are entirely human, apparently drawn from both Catholic and Muslim lands. At the bows of the ship, some of the sailors are still tightening sails and tying down ropes.

On the quarterdeck at the stern, a small group of people stand gathered around the wheel. One of these is the man who directed you below decks when you came aboard; another is recognizable from his dress as an apprentice from the Tredroy Mage’s Guild. The apprentice is staring at the sails and apparently concentrating deeply, occasionally making small gestures with his hands.

As you approach the quarterdeck, one of the sailors intercepts you. “Ain’t a good idea to interrupt the XO when he’s busy, gents. Would you be needin’ help with something?”

After hearing your request as to the whereabouts of Lord Aronn, he replies “The Elvish gentleman? Oh, yes, he’s aboard, to be sure, although God only knows if he’ll survive the journey. I’ve never seen one of his kind looking so poorly. So you’re working for the gent, are ye? I hope you’ve a healer amongst you; aye, maybe a priest too.”

“He’s taken to his cabin, and he’s not to be disturbed. I can take a message for him if you like, though. Just you sit tight and everything will be fine; just stay off the quarterdeck, stay out of officer’s country and stay clear of the crew while they’re working the ship. We’ll have you downriver in a jiffy.”

106

Thwip

Knowing a polite “eff off” when he hears one, Twhip nods and walks towards the side of the ship to get a view of the docks they had just left.

He knows that he heard someone shout “Stop in the name of Saint Michael!” The crew acting as if nothing happened is suspicious. “It may not be related to us”, he thinks. “May not. Hope not. Yet we have a very important pinkie with us about whom it is claimed is sick and that we cannot see with our own eyes. It wouldn’t be good if we’ve fallen into some sort of kidnapping plot. They very obviously want us to sit down below and stay quiet. Or maybe my questioning mind is leading me down the wrong path. Do not act until all the information is gathered. Measure twice, hammer once.”

Thwip pulls out his spy-glass from one of his many pockets and peers back towards where they departed from, looking for signs of angry authority.

107

@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel

GM SCENE

Looking back towards the East Tredroy Docks, Thwip can see several armoured men struggling to cast off in a small boat. Given the speed of the ship it does not seem that they have any chance of catching up.

108

Thwip

“I think I want to call a meeting.”

(see meta thread)

109

Nicholas de Courcy

De Courcy’s eyes narrow at the news Lord Arron was not to be disturbed.

“If you could inform Lord Arron the help is getting restless. If he’s not more forthcoming, tonight, he’s going to find he has a few less employees than he thinks,” he says in clipped tone.

He scrutinizes the sailor’s face to see if he’d got the message; Whether the offer had been a polite brush off or not, the sailor had better actually deliver.

Just as he’s about to head back below decks, Thwip hands de Courcy a spyglass, and points out the Hand of St Michael struggling with a small boat.

“Well, at least they’re not going to catch us,” he says handing back the spyglass.

“No argument on my part.”

De Courcy heads back below, to where he’d last seen most of the group.

110

Blue Hawk

Hawk is still clearly uncomfortable, but has regained some of his colour by the time those who went on deck come back below. Once out into the main current, and with a steady wind behind them, the boat has steadied out somewhat, and Hawk has become somewhat used to the floor being not-entirely-stable beneath his feet.

He sees the other mercenaries gathering, rises, and moves forward to join the group.

111

Ranar Bolijyr

Seeing the others returning calmly, Ranar stands and slides his pick back into its loop.

“S-sounds quiet up there. I take it our rapid departure was rapid enough? What did Arron have to say?”

112

Thwip

(Assuming everyone is generally in the same spot) Waiting to make sure most of the ships crew are not nearby, Thwip eyes the Pinkies as they settle in. Conspiracies are everywhere. Thwip knows this because he has been involved in one for a few years now. He has no idea about the loyalties of his new partners but it’s best to make things clear as early as possible.

Screwing up his courage, Thwip takes a deep breath. He attempts to bring his accent closer to the Human pronunciation for the sake of clarity as he speaks.

“Tin Men’re chasin’ us.” he gestures at De Courcy, “Y’seem to know ‘bout it. Our employer’s suddenly sick and won’t see us. Crews kinda low level hostile. Sometin’ stinks. Maybe theresa kidnappin’? Annyayou know stuff? Please do some ‘splainin’.”

When done he thinks back on what he just said, “Did I get the inflection right? Pinkies are awful at Anglish.”

113

Nicholas de Courcy

"I don’t know why a Hand of St Michael is pursuing this ship, Thwip. But with this job surprises have become all too unsurprising."
de Courcy briefly recaps the nights events for Thwip’s benefit, detailing Arron’s shifting health and mysterious errand at the West Tredoy palace and the pursuit that resulted.
“I’m certain he would’ve left Ranar, if no one intervened. And he did leave us neck deep in his mess.
He’s holed up in his cabin now, I sent a message asking for an explanation of what exactly is going on. But if he won’t come out we’ll have to go in. I don’t know about the rest of you, but without answers or a lot more gold I know exactly where he can stick his contract.”

114

Blue Hawk

Hawk lets de Courcy speak his piece, and then chimes in.

“If he will not give us the truth about tonight, no amount of gold will make me to stay. I do not wish to join the spirits until my tasks in this world are done, and gold will not convince me.”

The shaman pauses, and then offers, “He has paid me for one week, and one week has not passed. I will honor my word, and stay with him until I am no longer in his debt. If I do not like his answers by then, I will leave.”

He gestures. “You are all welcome to come with me, but I do not know where I go yet if I leave.”

[Edit: Corrected time period]

115

Thwip

The goblin shakes his head vigorously at the idea of kicking in the door and demanding answers. “Too many shipmen, eh?”

Thwip rubs his bald green head. How to approach this without tipping off any possible conspirators? Or without killing a sick old pinkie from shock should everything be on the up and up? We need more information. How to communicate this need to do some sneaky investigative work? They don’t seem ones for subtlety…

“Hrmmmmm. Hrmmm. Step smart. Learn tings first. Y’know?”

116

Ranar Bolijyr

“Eh. Bustin’ into the cabin to get some answers sounds reasonable. But I think we’d just find more questions. None of us have seen 'im since he vanished from the carriage. Doubt he’s even aboard the ship.”

Ranar looked thoughtful and shook his head. “Ain’t easy to guard someone that ain’t around. Still, the crew did no seem hostile. Did they say where we’re goin’?” He looked around the hold at the cargo. “Or what’s goin’ there with us?”

117

Thwip

Thwip nods at Ranar. It looks closer to a nervous tremor than a nod. “Right. Right. Needta ask if anyone seen 'im coming a board.”

Thwip switches from rubbing his head to rubbing his chin and staring a goblin hand’s length from his nose. He has gotten his brain fired up and is switching to planning mode.

“Make a ruckus and the shipmen’ll drop on us. Wer not payin’ 'em, eh?”

Talking for this long is frustrating when there’s things to be done but Thwip breathes in to get the final push of words out.

“We split. Ask tings about t’boss like howee look’t and howee wus dress’t. Spot sum inconsistencies ifitsa cover story. Eavesdrop onte shipmen. Them not gossipin’ would be suspicious itself. T’guy wit the box openin’ skills can handle the box openin’, eh?”

Did he get what he wanted across? He didn’t anger them with his forcefulness did he? This is like running with daggers. Wishing he was in a small room adding pulleys and levers to a map of the cosmos, Thwip looks around expectantly.

118

Ranar Bolijyr

Ranar looked at Twhip appraisingly. [What does he look like? What is he wearing/carrying?] He’d heard stories and legends of goblins, but never had to meet and deal with one up close.

He thought back to the tales he’d heard as a child of the Goblin wizard who always screwed up his spells, but always ended up ok through pure luck. (He had never picked up on the key story point that the wizard intentionally messed up his spells in just the right way and made it look like an accident in order to outsmart others and get what he wanted without them knowing.) He thought of the tales his Dwarven merchant friends had told, after coming back from a caravan, of their rival Goblin merchants, who always sold things for less than they could have gotten, and often overpaid for things. (It did not occur to him that the reason his merchant friends talked bad about their rivals was envy of the Goblins’ success and discomfort at their own failures to outdeal the Goblins.)

He had believed that goblins were dumb as dirt. But this one seemed quite smart. Smarter even than many dwarves he’d known.

“Aye. Let’s d-d-do it then.”

He didn’t know who Thwip meant by “t’guy with the box openin’ skills”, but he could open a box and he didn’t want to have to deal with the crew. He nodded to the group, hunched down a bit, and stepped back into the cargo area. So much stuff. He grabbed the first crate he could reach and pried the lid open to see what was inside.

[Edit: Justified Ranar’s belief based on background, rather than treating it as a general belief.]

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119

@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel

GM SCENE

Taking a look around the ship, a few things are clear. Firstly, ships of this type are specifically designed to isolate “officer’s country” from the foremast crew; it’s a protection against mutiny. There is only one entrance to the poop deck cabins, and it is always guarded.

However, this is a merchant vessel, not a ship of war. The crew is sufficient to work the ship, but this is a small fraction of the manpower that a warship would carry. Warships need the ability to raise and lower sails instantly while simultaneously fighting; merchant ships can generally plan ahead and take their time.

One benefit of this is that there are moments of relative privacy below decks. Taking such a chance, Ranar pries open one of the crates on the mess deck. Inside, you see stacked bushwolf hides, long tailed and still carrying their fine striped fur. Looking around further, you note that most of the cargo appears to be a mix of animal products (hide, horn, wool, etc) and timber. Jibrīl notes that the hides are a fairly typical selection of the non-perishable produce of western Al-Wazif. The timber presumably came from the Great Forest in Caithness.

As you’re poking around, the sailor who Thwip and de Courcy spoke to earlier descends the ladder to your deck. As you hurriedly conceal the signs of your exploration, he says “the Lord Aronn’s asked for you; follow me, please”.

With this, he heads up the rear companion ladder into the poop deck, leading you through the narrow doorway past the sailor standing on watch. At the top of the ladder is a room about ten foot to a side, with a six foot ceiling; it is an extremely crowded space once all of you pile in. The panelwork is slightly fancier than seen on the mess deck, without being extravagant.

Leading off from this space are a pair of doors on each side as well as the stern bulkhead; six doors in total. One of the side doors stands open, and behind the door is a small cabin. Inside that cabin, Aronn lies on a small cot, propped up on pillows to a semi-seated position.

He appears extremely ill; his face is gaunt and lined with pain. He is visibly sweating, but also appears to shiver occasionally. If anything, he looks worse than he did when you first met him.

“Gentlemen…I…must apologise…for our hasty…departure. I believed…that the Cardien border…would provide sufficient…protection. But it appears that the Hazi…authorities…were more…offended…than I expected…and prevailed upon the Cardiens for assistance.”

He then breaks into a sharp coughing fit, bending double in the process. As he eventually straightens, gasping for breath, you see that droplets of blood speckle the sheet that covers his knees.

“I suspect…that…you are also…curious…about my apparent…health…earlier. My…condition…is not a plague. You…are in no…danger…from me.”

Again, his speech is interrupted by a coughing fit. When he looks up again, he is clearly exhausted and fading fast.

“I…am not…ill. I am…cursed. But I can…relieve…this curse for a time, through…medicine…and magic. However, as you see…”

Again, a coughing fit, longer and more violent than the previous one. Falling back onto the bed and wiping his bloody mouth, he gasps “…there is a price to be paid afterwards.”

Closing his eyes, he quietly croaks out “I…must rest. We should be…downriver…in a few days.”

With this, the sailor who brought you up quietly pulls closed the door to Aronn’s cabin, and leads you back to the mess deck. “Aye, I should’ve known; a curse! It’s always something magic with the elves. Anyway; you lot just bunk down here for the night.” He glances meaningfully at Hawk’s greenish face and grins. “There’ll be grub for ye in the morning if you’re hungry”.

With that, he returns abovedeck, leaving you on the mess deck. It’s probably about one in the morning; the ship appears to be progressing smoothly downriver.

[PLAYER CUE: settle down for the night, or keep poking about? Aronn might be rested enough for more questions later, but he looked insensible and more than half dead when you left him]

120

Thwip

After his great plan is unfurled, Thwip watches as the others wander off to do as he suggested.No arguments or attempts at stabbing has put him in a strange mood. “Uh. Okay then.” Respect isn’t what he thought it would feel like. He then wanders off to do his own snooping.

[there is a meeting]

Thwip’s depression begins to settle in more deeply. Climbing into his hammock he begins his nightly obsession over his day.

He had been gearing up to unravel a plot and it turned out that everything was on the up and up. What would become of his plans? Plan B could be reused. Plan C and D required the ship not being powered by magic winds. Plan E wasn’t very good, he had to admit to himself, but it could be combined with Plans F through H. Plans I through Z were just variations on “Shoot it” He was slightly embarrassed about how often that was used…

With this bubbling through his mind, Thwip nods off.

121

Blue Hawk
As Hawk starts to go above deck to fake the need to vomit over the side of the boat and spy on the sailors (although, if they’re downstream of Tredroy, the stench might make pretending unnecessary), they are summoned to the audience with Lord Arron.

Hawk notes the Lord’s condition. Whatever happened in West Tredroy, it did not cure the tree-man, so perhaps it was not so dire a deed as he had initially feared. As the Lord dismisses them, Hawk thinks about bringing up the question of what has irked the Hazi-men so much, but decides against it, given the man’s weakness. None of them are getting off the boat this evening; the questions can wait.

There is one thing, when the mercenaries are alone, that he wants to bring up to the others.

“In a village where I lived,” the tribesman begins, “there was a guest staying with a great hunter, he was husband of great hunter’s sister. One day, guest went into another tribe’s land and steals a goat. This goat not belongs to hunter’s tribe, and not guest’s tribe, so hunter’s tribe thinks it clever, and when owner of goat comes to ask for guest to be punished, owner is laughed at and sent away.”

Hawk clears his throat, bringing up the taste of river water again with a grimace, and continues. “Guest later goes to tribe where his own sister lives, gets drunk, and breaks leg of a warrior. Guest then runs back to great hunter’s village, and when brother of injured warrior comes to ask for guest to be punished, he is not laughed at, but is still turned away.”

Hawk’s expression grows dour. "Later, guest is out in the woods, on another tribe’s land, and sees deer, sitting there, and throws a spear at it. He kills deer, but when he goes to body, other tribe’s shaman is lying there, not deer. Guest is spotted and chased back to great hunter’s tribe, and chief of shaman’s tribe asks great hunter’s tribe for guest to be punished.

“This time, guest is turned over, for killing a shaman is great wrong, and spirits will be angered. Guest-protection is not enough to save the hunter’s sister’s husband this time.”

Hawk rubs his temples wearily. “It takes great wrong for a leader to involve warriors in a trouble not his own. We will get no more answers tonight, but we must learn what Lord Arron did to anger the Hazi-men enough that Christ-men also wished him punished.”

Hawk wants to sleep, but he waits to see if anyone else will speak their piece first.