Fellowship of the Dice

"Well done, crew! We escaped. If they had caught us, we would be hanging from their yards side by side. This is much better, I think. We are free to prey on unsuspecting ships here in the wide and endless seas." Rod says, putting his arm around Maggie. He takes in a deep breath, smelling the salty sea air, smiling suavely.

"I will check on the supplies needed to repair the ship. Let's get to work."

You are out to sea, and the threat is gone. You set your carpenters to work to repair the ship lead by Toruk and Maggie. Toruk leads the hull crew and Maggie the riggers in the sails. You spend days working on the repairs, there are old war wounds on the ship that have never been mended, but now you take the time to fix the whole ship up. Its re-tarred, sails are patched, rope made, holes fixed, and the masthead is even cleaned up. So it that a week later you are rounding the cap of Senghor and turning north by northwest out into wide open seas and toward the Tidewater Rock that the Banshee is fully repaired.

The captain gives out a second rum ration for all the hard work from the crew. You've left land behind now, and are turned west to the wide sea as the sun is fading on the horizon.

Without warning s ship suddenly comes into view, sailing across the setting sun. The glaring light behind it makes the details of the ship difficult to make out, but its lines suggest a whaler riding low in the water. As the last light of day disappears below the horizon, the distant ship also drops from sight in the gloom of twilight.

Day 70 at sea, 7 days after escaping the Dominator.

The captain is glad that quick progress is made with the repairs and stands besides Kroop as he hands out the rum. "Ye've all done good work t'day. Get yer bellies filled up with food and drink an' an extra cup of rum fer evryone!" It is then that she looks across the sea to spot the ship. "Looks like we got another easy prey!" She adds as she sees it riding low.

She rushes to the wheel unless Maggie's already there to put them on course again. "Smart fellas too with the setting sun our eyes."

"Smart folks tend to 'ave nice things." Gragol says with a big grin on his face. "Maybe we ought to relieve 'em of such nice things."

Aya rushes to the wheel at the sign of the ship, but as the sun fades, the ship drops out of sight as well. There is no ship there to attack, nothing on the horizon, perhaps the sun was just playing tricks on you.

"Well..." Aya says confused, not able to find the ship that just appeared and vanished again. "I can't see it anymore, can anyone else? Would be a bit too fast if it had just sunk."

Rod turns to Aya.
"A ship? What ship? I didn't see it. I was looking at..." he grins wickedly "Maggie's rear."

"Well, you do know how to make a woman feel wanted," Maggie says. "But there's time for that later. I saw it too. A ship disappearing into the twilight."

The lookouts report the same thing, they saw it, but it seemed to have set with the setting sun. It would seem that many sailors agree the ship had appeared to been sailing directly against the wind as well. No amount of searching reveals it and so you sail on through the night into the morning. You have now plotted a straight course for Tidewater Rock.

Another day at sea and another evening arrives. A thick bank of fog has rolled in with the evening, reducing visibility to only a few yards and navigation to guesswork. From the gloom comes the dull clanking of a rusted ship’s bell somewhere nearby, echoing eerily in the fog. Suddenly, the hulk of a ship looms in the fog off the port bow. Its hull is rotten and stained black with age and rot. Before the mists swallow the ship once more, the ship’s name can momentarily be seen on its worm-eaten bow—Deathknell.

"Well, lad, look at what ye see with yer own eyes!" The captain shouts as she sees the ship she only knew from tales by one of the most drunken man from her small home town. Ol' Patchy claimed to have been the only one of his ship that survived the encounter. "'Tis the Deathknell and her terrifyin' captain Whalebone Pilk. If we're unlucky we'll join his ghastly crew soon 'nough. Let us pray to the pirate queen that yer up fer a fight!"

The kitsune is certain that they will not fight tonight but tomorrow night though she's also uncertain what will happen if what she knows and tells is true and they will in a battle with a ghost ship.