Day 41: On the Open Sea

[Stix]

Four days have passed at sea. The heady Arborean air leaves a traveler restless from the moment he awakens... and while the frustration of spending every minute in a cramped keelboat has yet to become overbearing, it has crept into the corners of everyone's minds.

As the midday sun burns ever-hotter overhead, the Maundrells' boat begins to slow, allowing everyone else to catch up. Robert pokes his head out from a canopy at the stern, waving across the thin gap between crafts. "Hey, cutters!" he calls jovially, apparently coping very well with the epidemic cabin fever. "Anyone fancy a gamble? Before you say no, it's all our own money, and you still get to keep what you win." The younger brother grins, knowing it's an offer that most can't -- or at least won't -- turn down.

(I'm just skipping ahead to the next planned scene, but if anyone would like to backlog some time on the boats for days 38 through 40 -- hell, even some time in Thrassos for days three through 36 -- feel free.)

[john]

"Hm? I do like to gamble. But I think... hm. Gambling with an employer. I'm not sure of the professional ethics of that." John looks extremely discomfited. Also sun-burned, and still green from what has been a nigh-epic case of seasickness. He's been striding around in his vest, pants, and sword, and not much else lately, and his somewhat unused to the sun body, despite his brown skin, is turning a lobster red.

[feq]

[First a little back drop for 38-40]
Vatndir, like his companions, could not help but be affected by the Arborean air. Most notibly, he could not keep well to the advise of NOT swimming daily. At first it was just a dive, perhaps a full submersion while holidng onto the boat, but by day 40, he was swimming between boats. Vat was at least smart enought to ensure his wounds weren't bleading, and had the bandages checked regularly, but he simply could not resist the water long eough to avoid swimming with his injured arm.

The other affect seemed worse when he wasn't swimming. Vatndir talked. And Talked. And Talked. And Talked. Every so often he stopped to talk. He talked about the sea. He talked about Ysgard. He talked about John. He talked about Wraith. He talked about Nilou. He talked about Holgar. He talked about places he'd been, and places he imagined he would go. When he ate, he talked about the food, and comparing it to food he imagined and food e thought he had eaten. Only swimming seemed to quell this need to talk, and even a five minute dip could calm his tongue for an hour.

[Back to present time]
Vatndir dove over, and swam to Roberts side, even before the boats caught up. He listed to the offer, and responded "I'm not much of a gambler, but i imagine you have a reason for asking us to do so I think it would be best if I joined your game. What are the stakes, and what is the gamble?"

[Stix]

"It looks like the Bacchae must've nicked a lapidary. We found this in one of the pouches," Robert says, hoisting up a fist-sized black bag. "It's full of precious stones from a few different planes. We'd have mentioned it sooner, but Piers wanted to finish appraising everything and consulting the field guides and all that rot.

"I wondered if anyone might be interested in a couple of blind picks from the bag!" he says with a grin. "There are forty-some stones, all of them worth gold at the very least -- some even worth hundreds. We've got no real need for them... except the couple that Piers didn't recognize; he took those. So long as it's free sparkle, who's interested?"

[feq]

Curiosity. On any other plane, it would be a weakness Vatndir suffered from greatly. Here? Inusfferable. Pulling himself up alongside the boat, Vatndir volunteered "I'm very interested. I'd be happy to help you out as well Piers. I know a bit about gems, and might be able to identify something you couldn't."

[Stix]

"I wouldn't worry about hearing back from Piers just yet," Robert says. He glances to a boatman and gives a sideways nod, signaling to move in closer to the other vessel. "Poor bastard's been asleep for hours -- he was working all night to fix the things the petitioners broke.

"He's, ah... very protective of his ego," he adds with a softer voice as the boats drift closer together. "It might pike him off if you try to be too helpful -- he tries to be the self-sufficient sort. Me, I'm a sodding idiot, so I'll take all the help I can get."

Jump
[dice=20+7]
Balance
[dice=20+8]

The young aristocrat attempts to leap between the boats, but a clumsy footing before his push instead drops him into the water a few feet out of oars' reach.

Swim
[dice=20+8]

Caught up in laughing at his own misfortune, Robert is caught unawares by a rougher sea than he had expected, and begins to struggle to keep himself afloat.[rand=252825334606893051714408985110104693000389094324805518372306433028]

[feq]

Vatndir immediately dives back to his employer's aid, attempting to assist him and pull him back to the boat.

"I shall have to think of you a bit more carefully in the future Robert." Vatndir says before he dives down. "And I imagine this is one of the reasons you hired me." he adds as he surfaces next to his boss, and attempts to pull him back.



Swim:
[dice=20+14]
Swim:
[dice=20+14][rand=5451287041020785151088067625678449495690328560527397068691854676]

[Stix]

Even as he's pulled away from a watery grave with relative ease, Robert can't help but laugh the entire time he's hauled to the boat. He rolls onto the deck, choking out the last of the impeding water. Recovering his breath slowly, he rises to a seated position and tosses the bag of stones onto the genasi's foot.

"Vatndir picks first," he says with a grin and more pained, sputtering laughter.

[feq]

"I imagine this world is playing strange tricks on you. You really should calm down." Vatndir says decidedly. He reaches into the pouch and says "how many should I draw out?"

[Stix]

"You're right," Robert confesses, still unable to help but laugh. "This plane just... well, it gets into you. Makes you just a little bit barmier. Brings out the risk-taking addle-cove in me.

"Let's say each turn gets you... four draws," he continues, changing the subject. "Whenever you're ready."

(There are forty gems in the bag; we'll handle it by random die roll. For each successive roll, reduce the variable by one -- so, for instance, Vatndir would be rolling "dice=40", "dice=39", "dice=38," and "dice=37". The person to whom he passes the bag (or the next person to take it, if he leaves it up for grabs) will pick up with "dice=36", and so on.)

[feq]

[whisper=stix,Feq][OOC: While not trying to be difficult, Vatndir will be trying to use appraisal and search to "feel out" anything more interesting. Not necessarily going for most valuabe, but more for most unique - something that draws him.
Skill rolls:
Results moved to rolls on personal board[/whisper]

"Well then, I imagine me just as addle-cove as you. I think I know what that means." Vatndir reached his hand around inside the bag, taking his time and letting his slender fingers enjoy the feal of the gems. "I do imagine there is few feelings better than running ones hands through gemstones." After a short Uncle-Scrooging moment, he withdraws his first gem.

[dice=40]
His second
[dice=39]
his third
[dice=38]
and with no pause at all, his fourth
[dice=37]

He examines his finds quickly before slipping them into his hidden pouches and stepping aside for the next draw.
[whisper= stix,Feq]Appraisal Results moved to personal board. [/whisper]

[john]

" as far as me, No, I'll not take them."

John shakes his head and looks away. Greedy he may be, but this smells of a handout to him. He sets about sharpening his now-blunted bastard sword, having been dulled on the flesh and bone of the Bacchae he so viciously cut down.

[TheGratefulNed]

[days 38-40]
Nuuko didn't come out of his bunk for the first two days. When he did finally venture onto the deck, in the late morning of the third day, he looked visibly shaken. Staring raptly at the endless horizons of water surrounding them, the desert-born elf forces a few deep breaths and cautiously approaches the railing. Can this really all be water!? Slowly he reaches down into the ocean and draws his hand back. Tasting the salty water, Nuuko seems to contemplate the flavor rather than the "normal" reaction to drinking from a salt sea. The first words he's spoken since leaving dock are directed at whomever might be in earshot, "this water will not do. It'll dry you out as much as it replenishes."


[back to the present]
The white-haired prime doesn't seem to mind or even notice the unrelenting sun as he walks about still wearing only the knee-length breeches and sandals. The only visible weapon on him is the bone long sword at his hip.

Nuuko replies to Robert's offer in his raspy, accented common, "I'm always up for a game...were you thinking skill or luck?" He lets out an amused snort as the human falls into the ocean and watches with a grin as 'Fishy' pulls him back out.

Not wanting to be left out of the freely given gemstones, Nuuko gauges the distance between the keelboat he's on and the one Robert and the others now occupy, pauses as a swell passes underneath and with a few long strides launches himself toward the other boat.

Balance
[dice=20+7]
Jump
[dice=20+3]
Balance
[dice=20+7][rand=1879375766939940231442471858931165422817853516303976917564040175327]

[TheGratefulNed]

((OOC: Umm...when I previewed that it was 12, 21, 23 WTF?))

[Stix]

(The preview function can be used to show that the dice code is working, but the real results won't show until after the post is made.)

Also unable to get a worthwhile running start, Nuuko makes a valiant effort at a standing jump, but only manages to catch the edge of the hull with the tip of one foot, which he promptly loses from under himself as he crashes into the water.

Swim for dear life
[dice=20-4]

The prime, submersed in water for the first time in his life, is so taken aback by the foreign sensation that his limbs fail him completely. The burning agony of the sea's salt in his eyes and his wounds costs him his breath as he struggles ineffectually, trying to claw his way out.

[whisper=feq]Timing-wise, this is just as Vatndir has begun to appraise his first stone.[/whisper][rand=5277410354319533270528895509484238323498587913018518089115567107]

[john]

"Stupid berks, jumping from boat to boat." Is all John has to say about it, and goes back to sharpening his sword, then says, "Hey Fishy, looks like you'll be saving another life now. Good luck." He almost-smiles, which has horrific effect on his ugly little face, then returns to ignoring the gambling and other foolishness, trusting his friend will sort things out with typical skill and panache

[feq]

"I know this is a new experience for you," Vatndir says diving back in, "but you shouldn't try to move like me just yet." He dives in swimming for Nuuko. While underwater he adds "Leave the swimming to me, until I can get to teach you all a little."

[whisper=TheGratefulNed](Not that you can make that out, 'cause talking underwater isn't effective at all.)[/whisper]

Attempting to pull the prime to the boat, he adds "Robert, I think some swimming lessons will be in order when we get to calmer waters.This has proven quite more dangerous that I think we imagined."

Swim
[dice=20+14]
[dice=20+14][rand=66552057260899561145599491424411685213295793405697902166407301823]

[edisoncarter]

Nilou's been so fascinated by the play of light on the water that she's only now just been shaken out of it.

"What is wrong with--oh, huh," she says, the anger whipturning into curiosity.

((OOG: Which boat am I on? Will I have to jump?))

[Stix]

(You're on whichever boat you like -- I've been assuming Nilou, John, and Vatndir are on this one and Nuuko and Holger are on the other, but if the bunk arrangements are different, it won't create any issues.)

[feq]

[ooc: As a note, the original plan was for it to be Me, Holgar and Nilou in one boat, and Nuuko, John and the other Bariur (I don't remember the name) in the other boat. Vatndir had said that since he and John would definatley end up at the destination together, this would ensure the boats wouldn't get separated. However, in the rush of the battle and what not, it may have changed.]