Farrel Sea

[AdamZero]

"Oh well, I guess you're in on it then. Waste of breath that...." I mumbled, lifting Jamie up a bit and resting her against the side of the cabin. "Right then..."

I looked around, watching the land shrink into the horizon. "I'm off for a piss..." I commented, before looking for the appropriate part of the boat for that particular bodily function.

===

ooc: Ah the dullness of being on a BOAT.

[Graybeard]

OOC: How would people feel about a fast-forward at least to the east end of the Waldhaxen Channel, the better to synch up with the trolls and start having some fun and games against the Birdkeepers? Anything happening on the way will be just sort of random, compared to a fairly clear job to do on arrival. On the down side, it would presumably take a couple of days on the high seas to get there, and we'll lose synchronization with the other threads -- but that probably doesn't matter much. Opinions?

[AdamZero]

ooc: a good point...

[Sareth]

[OOC]Sounds fine.[/OOC]

[Graybeard]

[OOC: OK, so fast-forward it is...]

An indeterminate but considerable time later, one of the crewmen went down to the bunks, swearing quietly to himself. It had been so quiet... but the customers needed to be awakened.

"Okay, you lot, we're entering the Channel."

[OOC: As I understand the geography, the Island of Thralls is somewhere generally toward the middle of the trans-continental channel, which is still at least one day's voyage from where they are now. Surely something entertaining, or mortifying, can be found along the way, though...]

[Sareth]

"Five more minutes..." I muttered, rolling over and pulling the sheets up... Then sat up abruptly. "Are those... WEBS?"

The sailor rolled his eyes. "I did say there would be side effects."

I glowered. "If I lower these sheets, and my lower half is scaled, conjoined, and missing certain bits I love using, I am so... so..."

Without a word the sailor walked over and slapped my hand. Hard.

"OW!"

I balled up my fists to hit him back, and the webs fell off.

"I also said the side effects wear off."

... "Right."

[Graybeard]

The three trolls kept their vigil over the Island of Thralls. Not much seemed to be happening on the island itself. On the water between the island and their perch, however, it was a different story.

"Look," Grope pointed. "There's another of those under-sea-boats like we saw back close to the village. This one is a lot bigger, though."

Harzh'biah nodded. "That is like the boat that came and took away the survivors of the Dwarven Forge. I wonder what it's doing?"

"Going out on a raid, probably," Scrobian chimed in. Several forms were visible moving around on deck: a number of Small Ones (more or less), two or three pinguimhos, one of the strange blue Small-One-like beings, and ... a chained troll that made the watchers' blood run cold. "I know him," Harzh'biah said through clenched teeth. "He was one of the villagers who escaped from the fires of the Forge. We must sink that boat and save him."

"I wish it was that easy," Grope cautioned. "They have firepower beyond our means to counter." There were two large Thundering Metal Things on the deck, large enough to kill a troll if a projectile hit him. One of the Small Ones wore robes that Grope recognized as those of a magic user, possibly from the island-country where he'd spent the last few years (and lost his mate). All of the others were armed to the teeth. "No, I think we must only watch this one, and learn. When my friend Lucas and the other Small Ones get back to us --" the other trolls snorted at the prospect, but Grope was pretty sure they'd be back -- "perhaps we can take on a boat like this. But not now."

They watched in silence as the weird vessel sailed east, toward the mouth of Growf's Drainpipe, a day's journey away.

[AdamZero]

It had been a relatively dull ride. Nothing to interesting. Jasmine was trying to convince the captain to preform a wedding ceremony of some sort on Jamie and me. He wasn't having anything to do with it.

Besides that, and Jamie's responses toward her mother's ventures, the trip had been delightfully dull.

I contemplated jumping overboard. Just for the hell of it. After a moment I realized I wouldn't last long in these sorts of currents... maybe that's why I thought of it in the first place...

I shook my head, feeling a bit clogged upstairs.

We'd been sailing for a while, and ahead there seemed to be something. I wasn't sure what. It was just... something.

[Sareth]

"So, are we there yet?" I asked, stepping on deck.

"No," mother replied.

I waited a minute. "Are we there yet?"

"Noooooo..."

"Are we there..."

"JAMIE!"

I laughed.

[Graybeard]

"Raft off the port bow," the Seeadler lookout shouted down from the crow's nest, interrupting Jamie's reveries.