Mariner Medicine

October the 1th 5000
In the quiet morning of the fifth day the companions slowly woke up, each one tending to his own activities, Griselda was training her combat skills in a quiet corner in the cargo-hold, Erleothir was attending to the dogs, Gustavius and Alast were on deck and Mulchanor and Lightning were at the infirmary. Due to one more episode of sudden sickness Ligthning had to change clothes and wash himself as much as possible and decided it was time to have a talk with the doctor on-board.

While feeding the dog Erleothir suddenly noticed the noise of quick steps right behind him. Upon turning around he noticed two blond mariners rushing up the stairs, slightly intrigued he decided to go after them. On the deck Gustavius was about to have a chat with Franklin when suddenly a loud explosion was to be heard. Alast, Erleothir (who was now on deck) and Gustavius immediately turned around to scan the deck but there was no apparent damage. On the second deck Griselda could hear the that the sound of the explosion was very intense and coming form the first deck just below her. In the infirmary all hell broke loose. While Lightning tried to hide in a corner, behind Mulchanor, who gladly shook him to get him out of his panic. Running naked to the door, the magician forgot it was closed. And smashed into it, soundly. Unsuccessful the dwarf rushed to the door to see what happened but was intercepted by the doctor "sorry master dwarf, none leaves my infirmary without authorization" - "but something is going on out there, we need to check!" - "I'm the one deciding if you may leave or not and for now i decide you need some medicine" quickly he waved at one of his assistant. A second explosion shook the boat. "leave me alone with you medicine you quacksalber" roared Mulchanor and pushed the assistant away "I will..." his sentence cam to an abrupt end as another assistant took the easiest way to calm a dwarf and knocked him out from behind. Finally Lightning reacted "what are you doing to...." - "that one needs medicine too!" yelled the doctor. and suddenly unconsciousness engulfed Lightning as well. The ship was starting to sink.

On the deck the two suspicious mariners were rushing for the main mast and climbing up to the crow's nest. "Make sure they don't come down" ordered Erleothir quickly to Gustavius and ran off to the back of the ship to warn the captain. he was quickly followed by Alast as a second explosion was also to be heard. "captain, I just saw those two blond mariners..." - "we don't have blond crew members on board, if you excuse me for a second; all available men under deck ! check for breaches and man the pumps, I want regular damage reports; you were saying, knight ?" - "those two over there surely have something to do with the explosions, we need to make sure that they don't..." his sentence was interrupted by the noise of a body crashing on deck. one of the mariners had just fall from the crow's nest- without any scream. Even the loud noise of broken bones couldn't attract Alast attention.

Below deck Griselda was on her way to find the cause of the first explosion when she suddenly heard a mechanical clicking sound and instinctively thrown herself aside. This saved her life, as the second, much louder explosion shook the boat. Griselda ran down to find the dogs and set them free, sadly three of them drowned before. Nine of them were now saved and running wild on the deck above. Meanwhile on the bridge Erleothir suddenly remembered the other party members and sent Alast to find Griselda. Seeing now the damage and the mariner fixing the breaches, pumping out the constant coming water she immediately helped them. Pumping harder than any man she sang to boost their morale. Which she did pretty well in fact. As unusual as a women can be in a boat, this one was helping them and proved to be worth to be one of them.

On the main deck Erleothir received an harsh complaint from the captain as he should start investigating the ship for further devices or at least arrest the remaining saboteurs. Meanwhile Gustavius, who guarded the crow's nest from below rushed for the dead corpse to look for any evidences on the dead body. Sadly, not only he could not recognize anything due to condition of the corpse but he managed to stuck his clothes in a broken bone. A growing shadow hovering over him was the advanced warning of an incoming close encounter with the second saboteur who had jumped as well. Luckily for him the body did not him him but crashed on the ground directly next to him with a disgusting noise covering him with guts and blood. Alast was about to curse when Erleothir promptly asked him to search for the other team-members. But things were far from being over.

Griselda was still pumping and chanting while the mariners were filling the breaches in the hull when another crew member entered the cargo-hold holding a ticking mechanical device in his hands. "Hey, look guys, I found some...." his sentence was interrupted as the device exploded in his hands killing him and filling the room with debris and acrid smoke. Full of blood but safe the mariners and Griselda continued to pump and fix the boat. Her singing could take the thought of the possibility of another exploding device nearby as much as the fear of water could do it. While Erleothir ordered some sailors on deck to carry down the bodies of the saboteurs to the infirmary for autopsy, Gustavius rushed to grab his gun in the cabin.

In the infirmary Erleothir used all his presence to get the truth from the medic. As now his friends had head injuries. Threatening the doctor he made him respect the group more, or at least, take care of them differently. Out of fear probably. He even traded with him to clean up the naked mage as he got sea sick. Two gold coins for an uncertain amount of work. A shit load of it actually. Jack was the man up to do it, reluctantly. Alast couldn't resist and said smiling at the medic:
-"you could have a good carrier has a Buccaneer"
Meanwhile some mariners cleaned the remains of the bodies, allowing a better inspection. Nevertheless, nothing were found. In his epic quest to retrieve Griselda, Alast kept asking the busy mariners till he got enough information to found her. Instead he ran twice in circle around the ship and finally missed a step on a flight of stairs. Mulchanor woke up, trying to find a fight instead of an explanation. Thankfully, the Knight could calm down the situation before it got out of hand.

- JAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKK!

Once again the mage got his bowels cleaned. Poor jack grumbled but executed himself cursing both doctor and mage. Meanwhile Gustavius prepared to encounter a third saboteur was rushing for the cargo-hold were the bombs exploded when he suddenly heard growling and chewing behind him. The dogs were eating parts of the wares loaded on board and freely running around, he cursed and closed the door to make sure the dogs couldn't do more damage in other parts of the ship. The pumping and the moaning of the hurt mariners started to annoy Griselda, but not as much as the fact she was alone in that cargo hold, full of dead bodies, smoke and floating debris. "where are they all, what is going on ? why is none coming down here to help us?" were her thoughts. On the first deck, sleeping naked in the sick bay Lightning's will was off and let go all his fears.

- JACCCKKKK! Called the doctor.

Quickly assessing the damages around her, she saw with relief that the breaches were successfully repaired and the water level was going down. Satisfied she made a sign at a young mariner to replace her at the pump and decided to go upstairs. On her way up she met Gustavius they briefly exchanged some words but the language barrier was too wide, while Gustavius had a hard time understanding she was annoyed none helped her, Griselda managed to understand the problem with the dogs int he cargo-hold. She entered the room were the dogs were still feasting upon the wares loaded in the boxes they had scratched open. Her innate ability to master animals helped her in grouping all the dogs and tying them to a nearby post, thus preventing them doing more damage and being out of the way of the crew running up and down the decks.

On the lowest deck, Gustavius successfully managed to make a fool of himself as he entered the room where the devices exploded, stared at the now repaired breaches in the hull and casually asked the people in the room were the bombs exploded. It was a relief for the mariners to have a good laugh at the strange blood covered dwarf. "Ok guys, very funny... point is, I see two breaches, but I heard three explosions. where did the third bomb detonated and why is there no apparent damage?" - "A fellow mariner found it" - "where was he coming from ?" - "that way..." said the mariners while pointing at the stern side of the ship. Gustavius cautiously advanced in the dark corridor. After a few meters a dead body fell down on him, burying him almost completely. "definitely not my day..." He managed to free himself after a while but noticed that his trusty rifle was now broken and could not be used anymore... He investigated the body and the area. It was the first officer. Killed with a dagger. Professionally back-stabbed in his heart. also a disabled bomb could be found nearby.

By the advanced stage of decomposition Gustavius could tell he was dead for a couple of days. Maybe three. For him it meant that they were preparing this sabotages to happen in a right timing. Why would they had waited if they were found? Griselda was not to encounter Alast there, as she went up, willing to check on her friends or injured people whom could have information for her. Gustavius requested to lock the door with the mariner body, it may contains clue about all of this. As they were summoned by the captain in his cabin, Lightning was still in black out. The captain was now grave but sure of his saying.
- Fellow companions, The two man were zealots of the religion of the dark spawn. The doctor could find some residues of the drugs they take. They are meant to die for their cause if needed. Franklin made the boat checked, twice for enemies and more surprises. But neither were found. This mess had his boat partially damaged, seven men were killed. Two he never met before. His second was one of the victims. Now he had a crew of ninety five men and fifteen armed guards.
While diner was served in a frugal way, the name Jack echoed once again. Surely Lightning was about to wake up soon. Otherwise he would die dried from dysentery. While all those new information were tolling Griselda mind, she went to see how Lightning was doing.

A few days of rests allowed Gustavius to learn how to salt fish. Meanwhile he also spotted a dolphin. Bringing good luck to the crew. As least they though so. In the midday of the eleventh day Lightning woke up, hitting Griselda out of his coma. He released himself again, spoiling on Griselda this time. Anyway the kindness from the Telchos didn't dropped and she gave him some food. Lightning didn't even notice he was naked under his cover. Neither the death looks from Jack seemed to perturb him.

Outside, the rhythm seemed to change. The captain screamed loud enough for them to listen:
-GIAK SHIP AHEAD!
-PREPARE TO FIGHT BOYS!

Now they understood why the blonds went to the crow's nest. They expected this boat to be there.