The Voyage West RP

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Corth felt sick. Standing at the rear of the ship, he stared at the wake-trail that was slowly being carved into the sea. Watching the horizon made him feel better. But, there was nothing to look at. Just...Water.
In a way, it made him feel good. That, in all directions, there was nothing that could catch him. But, in that same instance, he also knew he was utterly alone.
The first person he had talked to in weeks had been that Trailer fellow...Corth shook his head. No, it was 'Trailen'. And, even then; That conversation was limited.
And the other night whilst listening to the bard Alandra - at least he could remember her - he had sat outside the main body of people. There were people everywhere having conversations, and Corth hadn't said a word the entire night.

Corth drew out his amulet again, and spoke to it; "When does it end?" and then, quite suddenly, he threw up over the side.

 

Kala quickly withdrew her hand from the rail and glanced down at the burn marks. Without saying a thing, she took the ring from her golden chain in hand and begin to softly mutter some strange words. Touching her free hand upon the scorched wood, a soft glow emerged from under it. After a few moments the glow disappeared and Kala removed her hand - the scorched wood seemed to have been removed, looking as good as new again.

Kala smiled. "The purpose of magic is to help, not to destroy. I know there are many in the order who do not understand that properly - I hope you are not like them."

 

Max watched curiously as Kala cast her spell. Oddly the ring seemed a foci of some sort, but spells requiring a foci were few, powerful and dangrous. A mistery for another time.

"I do believe magic should be used to aid others, I truly do, but it also has a destructive side and some natures can't be repressed. Magic especialy would resent part of itself being held back."

Haveing an intelectual conversation with someone was something Max had missed and never relised it untill that moment. It would have been an injoyable moment if not for the sudden burst of magic he felt. It was powerful, tightly focused and of a divine nature which added to the mistery. He wondered if Kala had felt it.

 

A large figure appeared behind Corth with an unmistakable "ogrey" smell.

"I feel the same about sailing at times. I hate sailing, but Urgeld love the sea so I get stuck out here. This will help calm your tummy, it taste bad, but work really well. Urgeld buy them for me on sea trips."

Mogrub offered Corth a potion of dubious contents, the potion itself looking like some rejected witch's brew and smelled even worse.

 

Corth took the foul-smelling brew into his hand.
"Mogrub, I'm not seasick. My sickness is because of..." Corth hesitated as he looked at the Ogre with a large grin on his face. "...Right. Seasickness. Thank you Mogrub."

Corth smiled his dubious grin. And then downed the contents of the bottle. It made his head spin, and it really did taste awful.

 

"U-huh, your tummy be good now. Mead always help get rid of the bad taste, trust me. Mead also help you forget you at sea, I like to forget about the sea."

The big ogre then sauntered off, seemingly happy with the "help" he had offered to his fellow crew men. Mogrub did not get far before becoming drenched in water.

"Argh! Who splash me! Things that splash Mogrub get smashed with club!"

A voice nearby laughed and something sounding like a tail slapped the water as it dove underwater.

 

Kala shook her head slightly. "No, even the wildest acts of nature can be repressed. The fact we are floating here, on this ocean - a liquid which we should by all means sink in - is in itself a step over nature. Much like controlling magic. All it takes is time, effort and learning." Kala smiled briefly before continuing. "With knowledge, they say, comes power. But more importantly, comes the ability to learn how to control such power and turn it into a gift instead of a curse."

 

"Yes. But so many people use that power for purposes that would be worse then magic uncontrolled."

Max paused for a time, staring out into the waves. After a while he spoke again.

"Do you know Kala that you are the first person I'v spoken to in years just for the pleasure of conversation? The only friend I'v had in the last three years is a tabby cat named Cello, and she left me just as I arived on this boat. Loneliness is something that I never expected in life, yet here I am. I hope you never suffer loneliness Kala, because loneliness is a curse that all the magic in the world can't cure."

With that Max turned around and walked off down the deck. Perhaps he should stay, but he had forgotten how to relate to people.

 

Urgeld walked over to the irrate ogre, reaching up with his arm to place it on Mogrub's shoulder.

"Calm down before you put a hole in the boat. You where the victim of a merfolk playing a magic prank on you. Your shouting is going to scare them off and that anger me. We need to know what dwells in the deeps before us, these waters are uncharted by humans, remember? There's no reason to end a voyage simply because we weren't expecting a dragon turtle to ram the boat now is there?"

"No."

"The morning mist can't last much longer and then we can catch us a fish."

As Urgeld finished that sentence, a pile of rotting fish appeared at his feet.

"The skalds had better leave this part out of the saga."

 

Mead!? The ogre had given him mead to cure his sickness? Corth knew that ogres weren't too intelligent...But, in Corth's mind, 'not intelligent' and 'stupid' were two different things. Not knowing that a shark is a fish is 'not intelligent', and getting drunk at sea and giving someone who is sick Mead is most definately stupid.
Maybe this was all part of it? That, after all his running, after all his trials, Corth was going to spend his last days with morons as his superiors.

Corth could feel the rage inside him. The growing desire to just...Break something. But, at this thought, the amulet - Vailorath's Sigil - began to get warmer. Corth - at this sign - almost panicked. Then he remembered to breathe out. Clearing his thoughts, he closed his eyes and counted to three. The amulet grew cooler.
You almost had me that time. You're not going to get me...Never again. thought Corth.

Corth, behind Mogrub - the idiot ogre - overheard the Captain. He cleared his throat trying to get the Captain's attention.
"Uhh...Captain...Sir? You mentioned merfolk, and dragon turtles....And uncharted territory? Where exactly are we going?"

 

The bow was doing real good.It was almost complete.A couple of hours more maybe- he thought.In the background he heard voices, and laughter, but he let it all mix together and pass by him.The outside world didnt,no, couldnt exist while he was working,he was out of place and out of time.
He raised his head.The sun was high in the sky.
«Ah, yes» he said sadly.He reached for his belt and pulled out a long scroll of leaves.The odor was gone, the plant took in the smell.
He took of the leaves and carefully put the horse guts on the deck to dry out.
He hoped it wouldnt attract much attention and continued carving.

 

"The legendary Loex Grovisv Isle, an island never seen by man, elf, dwarf or gnome. The island was made known by a wyrm copper dragon in ages past to inspire humanoid curiosity by letting it be known there was a dragon graveyard on this isle. It is the perfect chance to acquire the left over wealth of dead dragons and find glory in defeating whatever strange beasts reside on the island.
"The waters to the west are indeed uncharted for all boats that travel into the west vanish, never to be seen again. This shouldn't worry you though for whatever has been destroying the boats that journey west has never encountered Urgeld Bearpaw, slayer of giants and dragons. It was I who slew the great frost giant king Fjazi Icehammer which broke the invasion he led into the Northlands. Whatever comes our way, be it dragon turtles, kraken or even a leviathan, rest assured, it will be no match for my berserker rage."

Urgeld began to finger the bear pelt he was wearing.

"Borgerix favors the bold and glorious and to spend the afterlife in his company surrounded by the three things every warrior desires, good mead, worthy foes and beautiful women, one must become a warrior of renown. My name is known through out most of the West, but a man can never be too famous so I am driven to pursue glory where ever it can be found and prove my strength whenever I can. I follow in the tracks of Algar Wolfkin, the greatest hero the North has known."
"If you act bravely, tales maybe told of you as well. The bards and skalds reward the brave."

 

Kala shook her head, with a slight look of pitty on her face as Max walked off. "But what about you?" she mutters quietly as soon as he was out of hearing range. "Would you use such a gift for good or turn it into a curse?" With a light sigh, she turned out to gaze out at the horizon.

 

Max was extreamly depressed. It wasn't often he thought about his position in life and his talk with Kala had left him remembering things that he had tried to forget.

Looking around he saw the cloked figure that had given him such a fealing of unease the previous day lying againced the mast. Trying to take his mind off his painful memories, he cast a detection spell, in an attempt to descover what about the figure gave him such a feeling of unease...

 

Trailen had been dozing against the mast, it was nice and quiet on the ship today, obviously the excitment had worn off and the sailors had settled into their well rehearsed routine. He watched two men checking the rigging.

He suddenly felt something in the back of his skull, a twinge, he shook his head but it was still there. He knew it wasn't natural, it just had a sort of 'presence' about it, as if it were a someone rather than a something...in an attempt to take his mind off it he glanced around the ship and his eyes met with the man from the front of the ship, he was staring in Trailens direction. Trailen panicked he felt a small pressure build up along side the twinge, there was a brief shock and the twinge was gone...the pressure receeded...

Trailen shook his head again to clear it, what had just happened?...He stood and moved towards the side rail of the ship, away from the man...

 

Ah.. so he was the innate mage. It explaned a lot, but mad him uneasy, for it was clear the man had had little or no training. It made him more then uneasy realy, it worried him... quiet a bit.

Max thought about saying something, but what would he say? "I know your an innate mage" wasn't exactly the best greeting line in the world. No, he knew what it was like to be mistrusted. He would keep this to himself for now.

He turned back to the waves and the spray of the sea. Yes... he would keep this to himself.

 

The morning fog began to lift, revealing the relatively calm ocean beneath the longboat. With the disappearance of the fog, Aewilar sprang into action. Aewilar approached Alandra who quickly put away the strange object she was looking at when Aewilar approached.

"I need you to use your skills as a bard to lure one of those merfolk over to the boat."

"I'm a storyteller, not a musician, but I'll see what I can do."

Alandra turned her focus to the ocean.

"A little bardic magic I suppose could compel one of the merfolk to come into our hands."

"So long as you don't hurt them, whatever method you take that leads to the capture of one of the merfolk is acceptable."

 

Silandris held the bow in his hands.He could feel its power and was surpised by its good balance.
He raised it towards the sky with his eyes revealing hope.He held it for a minute but nothing happend.He shook his shoulders and said.
"Nothing new" with the rough voice
He took the processed horseguts and tied it around the bow edges.He immidiately grabbed an arrow and stringed the bow up as hard as he could.
He nodded his head in approval, and released it.
He followed the arrow as it traveled incredibly fast and a couple of seconds later it lost itself in the depts of the ocean.He stood there looking in the distance guessing the range the weapon made.He stood there peacufully and then his face muscles gave a little twitch.He suddenly clutched his hands around the weapon and started shaking in rage.His emotions just went out of control
"I just cant take it anymore..."
He started grebbing arrows one by one, blasting them into the air,cursing and screaming.
"You ****in bitch,you took the last friend I ever had"
He took his knife and fiercely cut off camois symbols of his bow and throw in somewhere on the deck.
He started striking the wooden floor with his fists until they bled,and a minute later he fell on his knees ,exausted, covering his face in shame with acheing, bleeding hands.
"Everybody ,gone..." he weped
He stood up and whent towards the storehouse to
get away from everything.

 

Corth swiveled to face the man with the bow. Corth widened his eyes in surprise at the up-until-now calm man's sudden explosive outburst.
Is it just me, or does everyone on this ship seem to have deep-seeded problems? thought Corth to himself.

Corth breathed out heavily. That was it. There was self-pity, and there was stupidity. And Corth would have none of it from himself. They were coming. Corth couldn't change that. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week. But, Corth knew - eventually - everyone had to face Him.

Hopefully, when that time came, Corth would have some friends to back him up. Corth rubbed his hand along his scraggly beard I'll have to shave, he thought. I never got anywhere by hiding who I was. I shouldn'tve tried. When the time comes, it comes.

Corth wandered over to Aewilar and Alandra, still a little bit dizzy from the draught of mead he'd been given by the Ogre. Isn't there a proverb about ogres and gifts? Something about dying fast, or dying slow? I'll figure it out.

"Well, what exactly do we need one of the Merfolk for?" Corth seemed to pause "Or...Do we not actually know where we're going?"

 

Aewilar turned to Corth.

"We know where we're going and that's part of the problem. As I'm sure you already know or have already been told, ships traveling that travel into the far west never return. I don't doubt Urgeld and Mogrub's ability to protect us, they're much more powerful then past adventurers that have set off in search of the dragon graveyard that we seek, but no ship has returned, it doesn't hurt to know what you can. Merfolk, be they mischievous and uninterested in the affairs of other races, which some might say about elves like me, merfolk tend to be well aware of the dangers that lurk beneath the waves. I have to assume that they are aware of, at least on some level, of what has been causing ships to disappear, assuming the ships still aren't rotting on the beaches of the isle we seek."