Duty Session 355: A Distant Voyage

     Pela Clarpuff had been wandering, somewhat lonely and missing her friends, most of which had moved on to the lands across the sea. This wasn't inherently a problem because she could just talk to them, but it did make helping directly a bit... troublesome. Which is why she was waiting on a dock for... the Scale Emblem of all things. She had opted to negotiate trade on their boat in trade for a load of her baked goods to be delivered to their base in the tower, which she had already contacted to get sent there.
     Depending on how well communication is among the scales, that might be a strange, random delivery of various sweets and breads, and even a few Mellowing Melonpan thrown in for good measure. Oh also there was some dubious bread labeled 'travel bread' that looks... less than appealing. But that was not what was important right now. Pela was waiting on the dock for the boat to be ready to go and ready for her to board, sitting on a convenient box and idly kicking her feet as she waited. Nibbling on a small bit of hard tack of some sort. Delicious, delicious hardtack. One could almost hear her teeth cracking on the stuff. Nutritious it was, good... that's debatable.

None of which seems to have made even the slightest impact on Robert. He may not be the Dread Pirate of his name. He hasn't got a peg-leg, a hook-hand, or a parrot. But there's a distinct wildness to his gaze. An obsessive, absorbed focus. This is not a man that sweets are likely to have an impact on. Not at the moment.

The crew, on the other hand, are a different story. The ship is nowhere near the dock. In its place is a rowboat, manned by a half-dozen sailors. Oars rising and dipping it makes its way towards the docks. Robert dismounts, vaulting easily up to the dock. Affecting an intimidating air, he cups his hands to his mouth, inhales, then belts. "One Miss Pela Clarpuuuuuuuufff!" he announces. As for the crew? They wait with glistening eyes and clasped hands. He notices, after a sidelong glance. "Oh, for Christ's sake, have some dignity."

One drools.

    Speaking of dignity Setsuna was sleeping in the lower deck, as he comes up above deck and ooks around. " So then , Mr. Robert what is our current mission?" Yep Setsuna is once again pretending to be the Captain again, despite having no qualificattions for the jobs.

    Merek will take the time to begin to put on his dark attire along with the beltcape and a hood. While he walks along the place, he will nod a little bit to Pela, "Alright. You need to be prepared, we are going to need enough made to support people during the trip, to fight monsters, as well as to heal the people," he will offer, while he begins to check on the mast and looks to one of the sailors on the ship. "Sea shanties!"

     Really it wasn't that she was intending to sway them. Well, she /was/ but it was more for trade than bribing or anything like that. Which is why Pela had offered it. When she hears her name called, Pela's ears perk and she hops up off of the crate, though rather than just going up onto the boat she... well. Helps carry the crate up with one of the crewmen. It was some sort of box of supplies or something.
     Rather than bring a huge amount of her /own/ supplies she had helped purchase supplies for the voyage and given input on things that she tended to cook. Which was mostly just... tasty relatively simple meals, things that travel well. ...Also the baked goods, though most of them were pre-baked for the actual trip. Things with thick crusts that tasted good but would also travel well so that they didn't rot quickly. As well as some various baking ingredients -- mostly kept in her inventory to keep them safe from the moisture of the ocean. "Coming." Pela replies, her voice calm, but carrying in spite of the lack of yelling back.
     The drooling sailors get a polite nod from Pela as she sets down the crate that had been carried on the boat alongside her. "...I will do my best to be helpful." The arrival of Setsuna gets a small smile from Pela. She vaguely recognized him, at the very least. "...Hello. ...We're going to the far off lands."
     Oh hey Merek was here too. And giving suggestions! Dun dun! "...I will probably be working with the cooks, yes." Pause. "There are other cooks, right? Just to make sure." She glances towards the other sailors. There /were/ other cooks, right? Because otherwise she's going to have her work cut out for her! Oh well. If she did, she did.
     Regardless, it likely wasn't long until they got going. The first day or so of travel was fairly boring. Mostly people getting acquainted with each other and settling in on the boat, making sure everything was ready to go and confirming their route and that they were going the right direction.
     It wasn't until the second day that the perils of open sea started to pour forth, that being well. There was a sudden scraping and a think of something being... struck. Maybe they hit some sort of underwater rock or something?
     Or some sort of underwater seamonster vessel. Oh look. Sea monsters! They're hauling up onto the boat and look... pretty hideous. Bulbous, tentacle-filled monsters. "...Well. That was faster than expected." Pela mumbles as she draws her blades, preparing for battle and imbuing her twin ninja-to with darkness as she goes in to start cutting into the sea monsters. No way she was going to fall into anime cliches, right?

    Merek will lift up a hand while he swings along into the enemies, then he takes the time to use the flame magic to try and keep them away. He doesn't do all of that, although the party does seem to manage all the same between the other three. He's not trying to use all his tricks at the moment, until needed probably.

    Oh yes the tradiional tentacle monster fare well ritual. The sea creatures with tentacles would often wave farewell to the sailors as they left the territory. It is completely safe and no harm can come to anyone from it as long as someone doesn't attack the...oh there it is. Setsuna sighs heavily as he rubs at the bridge of his nose, " Guess we are having calamari for dinner." With a large ball of black flames appearing in his hand he launches it at the creature. Now to just fish it out of the sea.

What better way to fight tentacles than with....yes, other tentacles! Looking a trifle miffed and more than a little crazed--though whether due to the attack or Merek's sea shanties is debatable--Robert storms up on deck.

"Man the cannons!" he bellows, though there aren't any.

"Steady as she goes, and don't let 'em win just because you're wee beasties! Gnomes rule, hurrah!"

Not, perhaps, the best set of instructions. Mercifully the crew has adopted an attitude of general disregard. By the second day, he's already more of a mascot than a Captain. And rightfully so. But the thorned vines that soar upwards, binding and slapping at the opposing tentacles are more than potent enough.

     The deck of the boat breaks out in combat, the crew and heroes alike fighting hard against the bulbous invaders of the base. Pela with her blades slicing through tentacles and stabbing eyes with an almost graceful dance through the battlefield, and in the wake of her battle it seemed almost as if the deck remained spotless. Wait was she sneaking in cleaning while she was fighting too somehow?! ... No she was just being that neat and careful.
     Meanwhile, Merek's fire makes several of the monsters recoil, hissing and clicking angrily, even if he doesn't strike, it's enough to create an opening for a pair of the crew members to attack one of the monsters from behind, followed immediately by it being consumed by that ball of black flames that drives it back and over the edge with an unholy screeching noise.
     And one of the others is held down and gripping one of the tentacle monsters, binding it tightly. The crew, having known Robert already and how the effect works, immediately takes advantage of the Thorn Bind Hostage, attacking the beasty with several attacks, chipping it down until it was at low enough health that they can burst the vines and finish off the monster, causing it to burst into experience and loot. Delicious, delicious loot.

     As the combat ebbs the boat is able to able to be quickly unstuck by a couple of the crew members -- wisely, a couple of Undine who could swim and release them to let them continue forward on their way, leaving them a day or so's peace where they can enjoy the fruits of their battle. A nice meal made from the beasts, making use of some of the vegetables for a delicious soup.

    "WEIGH, HEY, ROLL AND GO! THE ANCHORS ON BOARD, AND THE CABLE'S ALL STORED, TO BE ROLLICKING RANDY DANDY, OH!" o/¯ Merek will sing the sea shanty with the sailors as well as anyone that will join in with the song. He doesn't do all that great at it, but it looks like he is improving with the music. The man lifts up a hand while he begins to draw a shield about landers to protect them while he watches the party, "Alright! Everyone find people to chain partner!" It looks like traveling this place before made it easier for him with the party while he works along.

The sea-creatures continue to chip away at the voyagers, though no attack group is as large as that initial one. They are fended off easily enough until, at last, there seems to be peace.

A temporary peace that only serves to emphasize that even the sea monsters have decided that maybe the oncoming storm isn't one to be trifled with.

It starts quickly, clouds building from mere puffs to towering cumulonimbus within the space of a couple hours. The heavens darken, wind shrieks as it tears through the rigging. Lightning flashes overhead, racing through those billowing clouds in glittering sheets that set the heavens alight, and occasionally striking downwards into the seething seas that toss the suddenly too-small vessel this way and that.

Robert is a bit more helpful now, having abandoned his haranguing of the crew in favor of darting to and fro across the deck, making sure nothing, or no-one, falls overboard. Just ignore the muttering about harnessing lightning into a really cool tower-mounted energy gun.

    Setsuna doesn't hesitate to do his best to shield the boat from the lighning. He can only do his though by summoning the biggest , baddest, shield of bones raised from the sea , mixed with dark energy to provide cover for as many as possible. Yeah lighning would poke holes hrough i bu would las long enough hopefully. " Shiver me imbers and all that, try o get us out of this storm. "

     "...Merek. ...I think you're the only one actually singing the shanties." Pela comments idly. "...You're not doing poorly. I just think. Maybe this boat might be mostly adventurers." She ... giggles? She actually seems to be pretty high spirits on this voyage. Maybe it's just the concept of it. Voyaging across the sea to a mostly-unknown, un-explored(For them) land. One she didn't know much about already. She'd spent a lot of her time on the deck when not cooking, looking out over the water for islands or other landmarks.
     Which is why when that storm ran in, she was among the first springing into action. Helping crew members struck by the lightning to immediately start helping draw people back to safety and pull them out of the water. She's not the best help. She's not actually all that strong, being somewhat of a jill of all trades. Not weak, but not strong. Which meant... she was struggling just a little! But she helped. Kind of. Sort of. At least, she wasn't completely useless. ... ... Okay she was pretty useless for this. But she was doing her best!

     Between the efforts of the adventurers and more put together crew mates, even as the ship is bashed about by the rolling waves and the strong winds, they manage to weather the storm. Sure, their mast is kind of patchwork and barely standing still, but it's still working. For now at least. And in the aftermath... well.
     People were injured. They were tired. They were hungry. And Pela... was ready for this. She broke out her secret weapon for the boyage, a small wrapped up bit of food that would help in the wake of this minor emergency.

     Melonpan. Delicious, delicious, heavily enchanted and filled with herbs melonpan. Each crewmate is given one and made to eat it. Forcefed if need be. "Eat. It will help." She says simply. Those that were still up and running would have their minds and bodies focused, those who were down and injured were helped to relax and a small amount of healing to help them with their recovery. At least until others could do proper healing, which Pela had no access to.

    Merek lifts up a hand, while he takes a moment to begin making the sigils to begin the spell 'Sanctuary'. Although it looks like it begins to extend along the entire ship, the healing coming into a field wave that extends upon everyone. "Healing Force Field!" With that, he will nod a little bit along to the party.

    tSetsuna really needs to learn some form of healing technique. Why is he thinking about this now , well these poor sailors were in need of medical attention and he couldn't even manage a basic band-aid spell to stabilize anyone. The best he does is send out a bright light and it just makes some poor sailors see spots. Not really the most useful technique.

Unlike Pela, Sprites is...not particularly productive when it comes to tending to the tired, or the injured. Oh, it's not for lack of trying. He makes his way amongst the crew rather than just locking himself up in his quarters. But the fact of the matter is that he's no great shakes at this sort of thing even on the best of days? And today? With him wiped out by the storm, and conceivably non compos mentis (though this seems to be more of a lingering affliction)? Nope. He's completely useless, and eventually settles for getting the heck out of his way and gnawing at his lip.

Luckily, others take up his slack. Pela's melonpan is a miracle in baked form. Merek's relic-infused magical healing turns the entire ship into a pulsing font of healing. Setsuna...well, he does better than Sprites, at any rate. One sailor flashes him a thumbs-up, for some mysterious, but perhaps substance-associated reason

But then the winds, winds which had raged so passionately mere hours before, disappears. The sails hang limp from their yardarms, the sun bakes down. Even the sea creatures have vanished off to their wet, cooler hidey-holes, leaving the ship and the crew becalmed in that scorching heat. It's perfect for repairs. Not so perfect after the repairs have finished, and everyone is still going nowhere whatsoever.

    Merek lifts up both of the hands of his to begin forming the magic, then he sends a wave of wind magic into the ship to assist in getting it to move with the party, combining his magic with their own while he takes the time to nod along to the party, "We are making wonderful progress. Though, this week has been taking a while. We are still a few days away from Seeker's Landing."

    Setsuna could finally put all that ho air and arrogance ha he carries wih him to good use finally. He was the captain after all, he should put it to use. With a large gust of hot air added to the sails it would definately help get the damn boat moving. However at the end of the day without better coordinates who knows if they are going in the right direction.

     Oh good, the actual healer stepped in. Thank goodness for Merek and his relic that is extremely good for this kind of situation. And the Melonpan actually seems to boost that /even more/ in effectiveness. That's kind of the point of it, after all. And eventually things... settle down. Sure, Pela spends the next bit of time making a proper hearty meal of beef curry to help raise spirits further afterwards... but the real healing is definitely done by others. Yes. Yes she did, in fact, make curry. Because Pela has access to the secrets of certain spices.
     As the winds start, Pela rides along with them with a cheerful hum, standing at the front of the ship. This was her element, and she was happy to be in it. Which is why when the winds started to die down she seemed to just... deflate a little, frowning as she looks around. And then things continued like that. No wind means ... no progress. And no progress meant Pela was not thrilled with that. She lifted her hands to the wind, feeling what little wind currents there were... closing her eyes. Hmm. "...Nothing... the wind's just... off." She shakes her head, and joins in Setsuna's efforts, sending another gust of wind towards their destination. Her wind was less hot, and seemed to blow across the deck as well, cooling sailors. Which made it a little less effective since she split it, but honestly it was some much needed air conditioning at this point with the lack of breeze and beating sun.

SpritesHero joins the other two hot-wind bros in the rigging, where he too slowly fills the sails with gusts of air from his...

Hands. Yes. Hands. Any temptation for a different source was abruptly quashed. Pela's fault entirely, obviously. Feel free to thank her later.

At any rate, the combined winds from all four Adventurers send the sails billowing outwards, and provide a comforting cooling to the by-now sunburned members of the crew. It's not long before the ship is moving along, once more, at a steady clip.

Days pass. Robert has retreated below-decks to his quarters, from which the occasionally disturbing noises can be heard. Eventually, one Saturday morning, a sailor nervously approaches with cap in hand. "Excuse me," he mutters, eyes fixed on the deck. "Sorry to be botherin' yeh. But the supplies was damaged in the storm. We only got a coupla days more."

Right. One more dilemma to solve.

    Merek takes the time to watch the party and will relax. When they come to needing supplies, well he's not that great at that, he isn't able to really find anything of note that will assist with the sailors. All the same, he will try with the people.

    Setsuna is oddly profecient at this as he seems to be managing to perform some spear fishing by throwing his dagger into the water and tthen retrieving it wih a rope tied to it. Every few throws he does manage to pull up a fish. If nohing else people would at least have fish to eat for the next few days.

     "...Limited rations aren't a huge issue. You just have to know how to use your surroundings. ...We are on the ocean. ...The water is our rations." Pela says simply, shaking her head. "Go. Catch fish. Put out nets. Hunt larger game." Pela says. "I will handle the cooking. I know how to make things stretch far. I'm used to being out on my own. I'm a Solo Player." She pauses. "...Push comes to shove, we have soup and hard tack. It won't be as tasty, but it will get us through this." Pela says simply with a nod.
     And yet. Somehow. Something goes wrong. Some of the cooking implements also ended up falling overboard, and while Pela did her best to make do but it... well. They ended up resorting to hard tack and soups by the end. They were boring. Very, very boring meals. Which resulted in the next problem.

     The crew was starting to get bored, and morale was starting to drop. Murmurs of this being a fool's errand and that they were going to be one of the unlucky crews. One of the ones that wasn't going to make it. Sure, the adventurers could just die and revive at their homes.

     But the landers? The landers wouldn't be so well off. If they died? They'd be dead for good. Pela's ears twitch as she overhears this, going over to the other adventurers and gathering them. "...Morale is low. ...We should raise it, we don't want a mutiny. I ... am not good at this. I will do what I can." Pela says. And then she goes off to do the first thing she can think of. Singing.
     She tried to think of one of her more musical friends. And tries to emulate their singing. Unfortunately, all that can come to mind is Merek's sea shanties. And honestly, the crew seems even /less/ enthused with the little cait sith trying to sing than when Merek did. Because Merek had been practicing.

            Pela hadn't. In fact. She's kind of bad at it.

    Merek will take the time to try and assist with making alcohol. Well, he isn't too wonderful at that kind of thing. All the same, he will assist the party while they make a way to Seeker's Landing.

SpritesHero doesn't do anything at all, really, other than stick his head outside his window and yell something about fishing being easier with a gun. He returns to his solitude quickly enough, though. The bad news is he's being completely useless. The good news is he's not eating his way through the crew's rapidly diminishing stores. Of food, anyhow. Sanity is another matter completely.

And sanity prooves to be the critical element of this final stage of the voyage. For yes, the crew appears to be going slowly insane. Maybe it's from diminishing rations. Maybe it's from watching the water levels steadily diminish to almost nothing, while the seas spread out around them. There's a good chance that Robert's caterwauling is a fairly hefty component. It doesn't stop. It never stops. Not even when the lookout calls 'Land ho!' Not when the smudge of their destination darkens the horizon. Not even when the anchor drops, and the crew joyously begins to row for shore. For safety, for fresh water, for food. And for the love of god to get out of range of Robert's Broadway musical numbers.

    Setsuna does his best to entertain tthe sailors with stories , but as he himself had started to driftt off mid way hrough the stories he was telling you can tell how boring whaever story he was telling hem was.

     Ah yes. Failed booze. Bad singing. Stories they'd heard before and made them extremely bored. The crew was, in fact, slowly starting to go insane. But that gave them a different kind of motivation: Getting the /hell/ away from these crazy ass adventurers and their ideas of improving morale because holy crap that was awful.
     So when land was called for, the boat seemed to go three times as fast as before as the crew worked overtime to get off of that thing. Pela, also, quickly was off the boat and alongside the crew, rowing for the shore. But for a different reason.
     There were who knows what kind of herbs all over the world, a new CONTINENT of herbs to learn and explore on. And she was excited to see them. Soon, she was off to the boats and off, disappearing into the wilderness. Not even the threat of stronger monsters was enough to even slow her down. After all, she was a solo player. Exploring dangerous lands where you could die at a moment's notice? That was half the fun.