May Leth Smile on the West (Creeper Quest/Closed)

by **Creeper** on July 22nd, 2012, 10:27 pm

For what felt like centuries, Alea was clinging to that damned crate, attached to the boat by the rope that was trying to rip her hand off. The Vantha below deck had heard her cries and were now successfully freezing over the hole in the hull, rather than pulling her in to safety. As the ice filled the hold, there was an unexpected consequence. The growing shards of ice spread through the rope, and severed it with a loud SNAP! The hole in the boat closed up, and the ship was safe, thanks to the quick thinking of that silent girl and the loud mouth Alea. But now she was adrift at sea, clutching for dear life at the medical crate.

But luck was on this Denvali girl's side. The rope that had been severed still maintained some of the freezing properties of the Vantha's efforts to save the ship, and when Shadowfang through his length of rope, it met the other, and the two froze together in a temporary bind. The Zith had struggled and pulled, and soon found he wasn't alone in rescuing the woman. The man and woman he had saved moments before, were also hauling the rope in, using the last of their strength as they pulled the soaked woman and her cargo, all of them collapsing in a tired heap. Several of the other sailors quickly picked them, and the crate up, and got them below deck. Shadowfang's injuries only appeared to be in his back muscles, some strained, others sore, from supporting himself in the flight against the winds. He was given an herbal remedy to help him sleep and ease the pains.

Alea was having her wrist and forearm treated by one of the ship's medics. Much of the skin on her wrist had been ripped off by the rope, and the entire forearm was severely bruised and sore. The medic tutted at her, saying that it would make an ugly scar on such a pretty girl, as she wrapped it up in bandages. She was given a similar, but stronger, herbal remedy as Shadowfang had received, and the pair quickly fell into a deep sleep as the ship finally sailed out of the storm.

~~~~Nearly Ten Days Later~~~~

After the storm had passed, the ships workers put most of their efforts towards the repairing of boat and crew. The whole in the ship was patched by the shipwrights. It was no permanent fix, but it would last for the journey, they hoped. Sails needed stitched up, wounds needed to heal, supplies needed checked. Captain Leif was topside and had just sent out summons to Alea and Shadowfang, as well as a few others whose jobs weren't in use at the moment. They would find the captain sitting atop the coil of rope for the anchor, a broad grin on his face. He looked right at Alea, "I hope that wrist of yours is doing better, because it's time to put you people to work. Our food supplies are getting dangerously low, and they are still working on making and repairing our nets. Gregor up in the crow's nest spotted a pod of creatures that look quite edible. Shadowfang, why don't you see if you can get us a few of them? Do well and I'll even give you first choice on meals."

The captain then reached down behind the coil, and pulled out a sturdy fishing pole. It was a dark, earthy wooden shade, and looked quite strong, but still maintained the necessary flexibility. The line was wrapped around what looked to be a coil made of bone, and held several hundred yards of the taut, white string. It was adorned by several hooks, and at the base of the handle was the head of a harpoon, turning the fishing tool into a deadly weapon as well. "The crew got together and made you a gift Alea. I'm sure you'll know how to use it, and you just might recognize that harpoon, or so I'm told from the stories spreading around the ship."

"Your duties for the rest of the day is to collect food for the ship. Alea, there's bait available in that barrel of soil over there by the rail. We should be nearing Denval soon, so I suggest practicing those stories of yours, survivors and refugees will need them to cope."

by **Alea Davenport** on July 27th, 2012, 4:25 am

Alea stared at her wrist, fascinated by the ugly scar pattern it now sported. She had little memory of the pain; she'd been pretty numb at the time, and had more important things to think about. Now, the scar was a reminder of how totally awesome she was, diving into the middle of a gods damned petching ocean storm! She felt fearless, unstoppable. The wound had healed, and she wore the scar as a badge of pride.

When she received the epic fishing pole, she was stunned. They had made this for her? Had she ever received a gift like this before? She could only think of one thing to compare, but that had been from just one person, one friend who was as outcast as she had felt. This gift was from the whole ship. She felt a sudden sense of community welling up in her, something she had never felt before this moment. She had never really belonged anywhere, never felt like she was important to the whole group.

Trying to hide the slight misting of her eyes, Alea nodded and moved immediately to the bait barrel. Her new fishing line had more hooks than she was used to, but she assumed the principle was the same. It was convenient; she wouldn't have to re-bait the hook every time she caught a fish, since there were extras. She dug through the barrel finding worms and attaching them to hooks more by habit than thought. She was busy reflecting on what the captain had said. Stories? A feeling of dread formed in her stomach. She didn't know how to tell stories...

On this leg of the trip she hadn't had much time to explore the ship, between chores and disasters and whatnot. Fortunately, she had found a decent fishing spot during the journey from Avanthal, near the stern of the ship. She settled herself comfortably in a pile of rope, and cast the line out into the sea. Or, tried to. Habit failed her, as her new line was longer and slightly heavier than what she was used to. Paying closer attention to what she was doing, she tested the weight and swishy-ness of the rod a few times, trying to judge how much force to put into casting the line. Finally, she gave the rod a strong flick, sending the multi-hooked line sailing out into the water.

Satisfied with the sight of the multiple hooks trailing through the ocean behind the boat, Alea leaned back and waited. The thing she loved most about fishing was that it gave her time to relax, and think about things. She frowned over her newest puzzle. Stories, huh? She'd never tried telling a story before. The only story she really knew was that one a Jamoura told her once, about Myri, but she wasn't sure she remembered enough of the details to do it justice. "There was this goddess... who killed a god... no wait, she started out as a woman who killed a god because she didn't want to marry him, and then she became a goddess, and all her daughters are warriors." Petch, she was bad at this.

But what else could she tell stories about? Maybe some of the things that had happened to her in her life? Let's see... the story of how she left Denval? Well, she just kind of packed her bags and left... kind of boring really. She'd had some pretty fun times in Avanthal, despite it being cold as Laviku's balls most of the time (was it just her or was she picking up some phrases from the sailors?). Anything that had happened since then, the sailors already knew about... unless she wanted to tell them about Yuros... but that was sort of private, and they probably wouldn't understand anyway.

Then there were stories of Denval. Which would be oddly appropriate, now that she thought about it. Maybe she would tell them about the time she fell down a cliff; she'd gotten scars out of that, which sort of made it exciting. But really, she couldn't think of much that would be worth telling a story about. She'd just have to find some other way to keep up morale...

Her thoughts were distracted by a tug on the line. She gripped the harpoon-tipped rod and focused. The timing had to be just right, or she would lose whatever was biting. She peered out toward the hooks, and when there was a stronger tug on the line, she quickly yanked back on the pole, catching the fish on her hook. She reeled the line back in steadily, not wanting to give this fish a chance to escape. She managed to get the fish onto the boat without incident, where it flopped around for a bit before going still. She wondered briefly if she would have found a bucket with water or something to keep the fish alive and fresh, but she reasoned that the fish she caught today would be eaten too soon for them to go bad.

She cast her line again into the water, spending the rest of the day catching fish. She successfully caught about half of the fish that nibbled at the bait. Sometimes she would yank too soon, before the fish had bitten yet. Occasionally, the fish would be strong enough to wriggle off the hook while she was reeling it in. Even so, by the end of the day, she was fairly satisfied with her catch.

by **Shadowfang** on August 13th, 2012, 9:40 am

Shadowfang yawned and stretched, still groggy from being awakened from sleep. He squinted in the piercing sunlight, looking at the captain. He did not like being woken up, nor did e enjoy being awake in the sunlight, but he had been issued an order, so he followed it. At the description of his new chore, he perked up, quickly waking up and growing excited. He was being told to hunt something. Not only that, he had just been told to hunt something he had never seen before; an added bonus. Plus, he would get first choice of the meal if he did well. In a matter of a few seconds his day went from bad to great!

He stood in the middle of the deck and began to stretch more, reaching his arms toward the sky and pointing his wings out to either side, his entire body shaking and shivering as he did so. Ready to go, he drew his dagger and readied himself to fly for the first time in a few days. His wings moved and waved, the velvety fur waving like windblown grass on a wide plain, the tough, powerful muscles bending and shifting under his skin. He took two steps toward the edge of the ship and broke out into a dead run. When he reached the railing, he hopped over it and spread his wings wide. He glided over the shining, rippling silver-blue sea, happy that he was finally of the confines of being unable to fly.

There they were, strange long shouted things with fins jumping over and under the cresting waves. They did look tasty. Instantly, Shadowfang brought himself over the one in front, readied his dagger, and divebombed the thing. Having not hunted in what seemed like years, he was a bit rusty. Instead of slicing through the fish thing like he wanted to, they quickly dispersed, having seen him approaching. He had to flap his wings hard to keep from plunging into the salty water below. He had made a novice mistake. A good hunter does not attack a pack from the front, he attacks from behind. That and he had forgotten to secure himself to the ship with a rope.

He flew back to the ship and found the same length of rope he had used to save Alea and the two sailors. He tied one end around his waist, and the other around the ship's railing, then flew out again. The pod of creatures had regrouped, making them easy for Shadowfang to find. Remember, always approach from behind. He flew up behind the pod, and singled out a straggler in the group. He positioned himself right over it, readied his dagger, and divebombed once more. This time was a success, though more out of luck than skill. He managed to stab through the creature's thick, flabby hide and into its neck, effectively killing it. Now soaked to the bone and swimming as hard as he could just to stay above water, he grabbed his kill and pulled on the rope, slowly hoisting himself back towards the ship.

With the help of the other sailors, he managed to clime back on board with his quarry. Pulling his dagger out of the dying thing's flesh, he shook himself like a dog and prepared to fly again. He would need maybe two more of the beasts to fully feed the crew. He spread his wings and jumped out into the sea air once more.

In the end, he never managed to hunt any more of the creatures. Being weighted down by water threw off his flying method. Sometimes he would only wound one with his dagger, sometimes he would miss completely, splashing into the sea and having ti hoist himself back on board again, and other times they would scatter before he got the chance to attack. After a good bell or two of trying to harvest more of the creatures he finally gave up, seeing as the things had mostly dispersed, and flew back to the ship. He looked at his single kill, frowning intensely. It seemed that he would not get the first choice of the meal after all.

by **Valkyrie** on April 10th, 2013, 4:19 pm

Alea Davenport :

Shadowfang :

You Will Be Collected if Worthy

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.