Jammers Summary: Chapter 3, Turn 3

----------- = Meanwhile, elsewhere...
*********** = Later...

Italapate leads his companions through the streets of Bral, claiming to know a short cut to the Forest from the Docks. They travel the back roads and side alleys, and they do manage to save all of two or three minutes of travel time. He avoids the bustle of the Marketplace, and approaches the edge of the forest straight down Armada Street, openly, giving no indication of subterfuge. "The elves are very protective of their forest, here," he explains. "They have seen us coming long before we could even hope to see them, and they don't take kindly to those attempting to infiltrate."

"These helves sound like capable scouts hand soldiers," Deigatt comments. "Master Parthan said they har honorable but not halways friendly to hother races."

Italapate takes the lead, approaching close, but only to be within distance to talk normally so he doesn't have to shout his identity for all to hear. "Hallo, the forest! I am Italapate, son of De'ne' and Michabo, friend of Valiss of the Broken Arrow. I have been gone for a long time and wish to greet my friend and ask of his advice. Is he present in the forest or the Rock in general?"

Seguld calls out, "I'm Seguld Guilderholme...... and Big Guy is Deigatt." He taps Deigatt's leg and looks up at him and smiles.

As the three stand just outside the forest, an elf in brown leathers, appearing to be unarmed, steps from around a tree and motions them to follow the path in. As they approach he smiles, "Follow me." he says. He leads the trio through the forest, the sounds and smells of the city seem to fade as they follow the forest path.

After about 20 minutes of walking, yet somehow still deep in the forest, he leads them to a large, silver-leafed oak tree where a small repast of food and wine is laid out on a blanket. A slight, brown haired elf in white tunic and trousers rises. "Greetings, 'Pate! I see you've brought friends."

Pate grins widely and genuinely. He reaches forward to clasp hands with the familiar elf. When Valiss does so, he pulls him closer into a friendly hug. "Spirits, it is good to see you again, Valiss."

"Well met. I am Valiss of the Broken Arrow." He smiles warmly, "Come, sit and dine with me as you tell me what you need."

Pate slugs him gently in the arm, "I was getting to that." He smiles broadly. "Guys, this is Valiss, as he said, one of my family's closest friends and allies on the Rock and elsewhere. Valiss, the big guy is my best friend on the Silent Star, Deigatt ors-Karasivin. The _woge_ is Seguld Guilderholme, the craftiest, silver-lver-tongued merchant ya ever would want to meet."

Deigatt nods respectfully as he's introduced.

Seguld juts out his chest proudly. "Pleasure'sallmine. Yessir, nicet' makeyer' quaintance."

Everyone sits and is soon eating a light lunch of honeyed wheatcakes and sweatmeats washed down with a light wine.

Pate pulls out the slip of paper from his pouch. "I know you are not in the Fleet, at least you never told us if you had any associations, but.... I was hoping you could take a look at this." He hands over the paper. While Valiss quickly reads the short message, Pate continues. "I have been double crossed enough times in the past year, with all that has happened, I want to be wary. Most of us in the Star's Company have similar experiences. We," he looks around furtively, "we found that in the possession of a group of nasty pirates out of Shipwrecker. The Company wanted to see if we could verify it before we attempted to turn it in. Is it safe? Would we garner any good will, should we turn it in and decline the reward? My friends are counting on me for the right move here."

As the paper is produced Seguld sets his food aside, lets a small belch escape and then taps the fingers of one hand against his other palm. The sound of a drum roll rushes forth, though it disappears quickly as Seguld smiles at his little cantrip fun.

Valiss smiles at the gnomes magic, then glances again at the paper. "It was wise you brought this to me. I will forward it to the fleet and have the funds delivered to you. Such vouchers are sometimes exchanged as payments, it is not dishonorable to collect such a debt."

Italapate falteringly reaches for the paper, then indecisively places his hand back in his lap. The small look of surprise on his face disappears quickly, and a broad grin appears in its stead. "Sure, Valiss, save me some walking!" He laughs at himself. "I am curious about that little thing though," he indicates the paper. "If there is nothing wrong with it.... if it is genuine, why was it wise to bring it to you first? I would have thought it was wise, and proposed so to my mates, to bring it to you if it was false or a trap. Is there something about it we should know?" then he takes on a knowing look, and winks, "Or something I would like to know?"

"Wise because it could have been a trap." Valiss smiles, "It is good to see you acting less rashly. Chaos and foolhardiness are not the same. As for the paper, it is genuine, likely payment for the shipment of some commodity the pirates also took. There is no easy way to determine what this is for or even if it was issued within this sphere, but that will not affect your payment."

"Hit his wise that we brought the note to someone who knows hits value, Comrade Hitalapate," Deigatt interjects. "You har not with the Helven navy?" he says to Valiss.

Valiss smiles, "Not every elf is with the Fleet, indeed most are not in much the same way most minotaurs of Taurus are not in your military. This forest is simply a place where those few elven visitors and citizens of Bral live."

When the meal is finished, Valiss stands. "It has been good eating with you, Sweet Water and light laughter until next!"

Seguld struggles to his feet. and rubs his belly. "Best <burp> businessmealever!" He says witha smile. "Beenapleasure." with a slight bow, 'C'mon, let'sgitbackb'fore CapHolland gitstoonervous." Seguld hobbles over to Deigatt and waits until Deigatt picks Seguld up.

Italapate embraces the elf once more, and says, "The two-hundred would be safest if delivered to House Moune. We have to meet up with her there anyway.... Thanks."

"Very well" Valiss answers smiling as he walks them to the forest's edge.

Happy with the results of their mission, the trio heads back towards the ships.

--------------

Holland asks, "Kain would you go with Leera please? Everyone else, we can stay here on the GHOST but please keep an eye on the STAR."

"Um... Actually, I have a few important errands to run... You know, things to do, people to see... I hope you don't mind terribly." Billy doesn't wait too long for any answers. He scampers off the GHOST and boards the STAR, going down to his bunk. He comes out carrying a large sack with a big rectangular lump inside. Billy debarks from the STAR and waves as he passes by his companions on the GHOST.

"Sure Holland," Kain nods. "D'you all want to eat lunch first, maybe give me a.. uh.. some time to work on a picture of the Chalice?"

Grigree says, "I, grr, go too. We eat first."

"Great!" Kain smiles. "We won't have, um, any trouble on the Rock with you along Grigree."

Grigree stands up to his full height and puffs out his chest. With a mean look and a deep voice, he says, "Who you wanna kill?" The hadozee then drops the angry face, slaps Kain on the arm, and lets out a growling laugh.

"The list is long, all of 'em on Toril," Kain frowns, before smiling at Grigree's false ferocity. "Not even you could slay all those I wish dead Grigree," Kain chuckles wryly.

"Hoom, I will only be over on the STAR, no further, " Nilaroo says. The heavy ape moves down the creaking gangplank and ambles over to the STAR. He emerges a few minutes later, and the sound of minor woodworking begins as Nilaroo remains on deck, working and watching.

Rearranging his gear by the best light in the room, Kain opens his book and begins a drawing of the Chalice. He gets up often to examine the Chalice more closely, returning to his book after a few minutes spent staring at the cup.

Grigree grabs some dried meat and biscuits from the galley and returns to watch Holland experiment with the copper man. As he passes Ferric, Grigree nudges the tall human with his elbow and offers him some of the strips of meat on his plate. He then sits down on a box to watch the wizard work.

Settling himself in place, Holland murmurs a few soft words while placing his thumbs together, his index fingers straight forming a "U", his other fingers clenched. Holland extends his arms out to their fullest length and looks though his "U" at the Statue. Holland grunts softly and then moves his "U" and looks at the Chalice. This time, Holland turns his head, his right hand moving up to his eyes, as if he is trying to shield himself from a bright light.

Holland says quietly, "Well, they are both very magical. The Chalice is priestly in nature, while the Statue is mage in nature."

"That would make sense if the statue is indeed a golem." Ferric observes as he looks the statue over.

"You know," Kain says from across the room, "when I was.. ah.. drawing the thing, I thought it looked a lot like those.. ah.. headpieces on seafaring ships. My father, he said they kept away the sea spirits. Yes," Kain nods, "that's what he believed, or at least.. ah.. followed the custom. None of them had legs, though," Kain shrugs, "so I doubt me that that's what this thing.. um.. is. It just reminded me of them, that's all," he smiles.

Holland frowns for a moment, saying to himself, "Headpieces.. Oh you mean Figureheads.."

Holland continues to study the statue for awhile, oblivious to the others, tracing his fingers along the drawings on its chest, finally Holland says softly, "Veneficus.. Aenus.. Imago.. Struo.." with a short pause in between each of the words. Nothing happens.

Eyes widening a little Ferric quickly backs away from the mage and searches his area of the hold for an object to use as a club. Picking up a stout 3 foot length of planking he watches as Holland says the final word.

Talus watches dubiously as Holland tries a few command words on the copper figure. The young half-elf keeps a good distance away in case it suddenly animates.

"I will go take the first watch up on deck over the two ships. If someone can relieve me in a few hours I will head over to the marketplace and see if I can find any rumours of this figure." Talus heads up to the deck of the galleon where his sits in a corner with a good view over both vessels.

When Holland finishes his pocking and prodding of the statue, Grigree asks, "Anyone want to prrr, practice with sword? Good warm-up if copper man wakes up."

Leaning on the plank like it was a cane and not taking his eyes off the copper man Ferric says, "I doubt my rapier would do too much against something like that. My blade is designed to pierce flesh not plated armor. Even if I could slip the blade into a joint and cause damage my rapier would likely snap in the process. Seguld's mace would be better but its in the helm room and this is handy."

Holland turns to Grigree and says, "Yes, I could use a little diversion right now. I think that I will have cast a spell of Identification to truly figure out how to activate this statue."

Holland picks the sword back up and starts to follow Grigree.

Before the two can exit the GHOST's cabin, however, Kain smiles broadly as he stands and stretches out his fingers. "There, I'm done," Kain says as he wipes his hands clean with a rag.

Leera examines Kain's drawing. "Good work, Kain. This should prove that we have the Chalice."

Leera then calls to Grigree, "Grigree, are you ready?"

Grigree nods and grunts an affirmative, "Need weapons. Wait by STAR." The hadozee then goes over to the SILENT STAR to get his swords.

"Good idea, I only.. ah.. have a couple daggers with me now," Kain agrees. He goes to his bunk, and is buckling his sword belt on as he returns to the dock. Kain slings his rucksack over his shoulder, adjusting his belted sword and dagger a bit as the bag hangs on the sword.

Leera, Kain and Grigree depart for Prince Aric's manor.

After the three leave, Holland studies his spellbook again and then says to those present, "I am going to try a spell of identification on the statue. Please make sure that I am not disturbed or the spell will fail. I may get results and I may not, regardless, it will take me eight hours to cast the spell."

Holland then shuts the secret door and begins his spell.

After everyone departs, Raken stands watch over the Ghost. He sits on the foredeck, whittling away at a chunk of wood. Though he appears bored, he keeps a close eye on the ship.

****************

The walk from the docks to the High City is long, but uneventful. The trio observes the daily ritual of life on Bral, and sees a mini-class on society unfold before their eyes as they pass from the roughest, poorest section of town to the most affluent, but are not hassled by anyone other then the odd street vendor hawking his, hers, or its wares.

Before arriving at the manor, Leera stops behind a shrub and transforms herself, altering her appearance in a highly favorable manner.

The secluded manor is, after the palace itself, the best piece of land on the Rock with a splendid view of the trailing edge. Standing by its wrought iron gate are a quartet of dwarves in chainmail carrying battleaxes and heavy crossbows.

"What's yer business?" the oldest looking of the four asks.

Leera smiles at the dwarf. "I'm here to arrange the collection of a reward. Our company has managed to find something the prince has been looking for."

"I'm afraid your going to have to tell me what this is about. No one goes inside without an appointment. Strict rule." the dwarf answers, unsmiling.

Leera motions for Kain to give his drawing to the guard. "Show this to the Prince or on of his advisors. They'll give us an appointment."

The dwarven guard looks at the drawing, "Another group claiming to have the Chalice." he mutters. Then he looks up at Leera, "Listen, you look to be pretty enough, I'll cut you a break. If this is a clever forgery, clear out. Two groups have already tried and got jettisoned to the scavvers. The Prince has ways of knowing. But if this is the real thing, be here with first thing in the morning."

Leera and her companions nod in understanding and head back to the STAR.

****************

The rest of the day is spent working on the STAR, trying to return her to working order and running a few errands on Bral. As darkness falls, the crew lounges about the decks of the two ships, resting from their work.

Date/time: 10:30 pm 11th day of the 5th Month, 5049 OC