Kerwyn makes the best of it and battles the Golgothan as best as he can.  He cocks an eye toward Shavaris as he is doing the dirty work and nods when she suggests using the Auryn, says “That’s a great idea.  After I get cleaned up I’ll do it.”   Once the toilets are dealt with, he dangles on the rope overboard, thankful for the little things such as the cleaning action of the ocean water.  He goes down below deck to finish cleaning off and cleaning up, checking on Ironsides.  

As he nears his assigned cabin, he sees a shimmering, ethereal image, a ghost that looks somewhat like Shavaris, below deck.  After a sudden intake of breath and calming down for a few seconds, Kerwyn says “Hello?  Who are you?  What are you doing here?  My name is Kerwyn, can I help you?”

Shavaris shakes her head at Aoe, and mutters "Typical" though she isn't upset about how low their fare is now.  She joins Kerwyn when they clean up, but then looks forward to escaping to her room for a bit.  It's small, but it does the job and she enjoys getting a little time to herself.  She realizes how much she misses a little isolation at times, she sure isn't used to traveling with a party such as this.  But she'd be lying if she said she wasn't enjoying it.

The galley was busy that evening, even for the couple of dozen passengers who were taking the ride across the Narrow Sea to Eternia.  People were filing into the cramped quarters of the galley in a bustle of movement and roaring voices trying to talk over one another.  The deck swayed gently below their feet, and oil lamps heated the room to a balmy high.  Sitting at a table, it was easy to see how the lamps were stopped from pitching over; they were sitting in wooden holders in the center of each table that stopped them from sliding about.  The only moving they did was the side to side of the oil in the bottom.  

Supper that evening was the usual; some boiled rice, beans, and portioned up sections of pickled hares that had been brought up from casks in the bottom deck.  A bard, a rather crappy bard, strummed a loot in the back of the dining hall and sang a song about pouring sugar on someone he...what?  Loved?  Was fawning after?  Whatever it was, it wasn't good.  

An Orc who was working as a server for the galley staff sat a pitcher of stout in the center of the table before the Dawn Guard and said something gruffly about 'no getting drunk and getting rowdy' before stomping off, hating her existence.  

Shavaris settles herself into the galley and even with the eh, entertainment, she starts to enjoy herself.  The stout doesn't hurt that's for sure.  She watches as Aoe does his best to not interject with the bard's singing and she decides to help out.  To try and distract him, she asks "Aoe, tell me.  How did you become the most known bard in all the land?  The taste we had back on land was good, but I'd like to know more.  Also, how did you become a bard?  Do you mind enlightening us?"

Aoe sits back, trying to keep the distracting  pluck of the local variety out of his ears…

”years of training, a nack for turns of tongue and phrase, and an interest in the going ons of the world… one cannot sing of a land they have no travelled, though having travelled one, perhaps one can sing of a second or a third…” 

He looks over to the others in the cantina, chuckles, then turns back. “As for the fame, we’ll people will do as they may, and the powerful enjoy the company of the useful… and the most useful thing for those who can have anything!?! A bit of entertainment in their dull lives….” He gets darker for a moment siping a drink as he muses on… “life has a monotony… each day nearly the same… and yet we find meaning in the funniest of places… a game won, a lover held. A song sung… no”…. Aoe sits erect and back to his evenhanded ways…” no… it is not I who am the gift, is it the audience that graces me with their presence!”

he leans his elbows on the table, pristine gloves on his chin, pinky dangling off to the side... “Shavaris, Ralik. Johnathan… I must know…. Have you been to eternia?… And What do you know of the castle and the labyrinth?… The mushroom forest and the trident?… Has anyone a clue what we are walking into? I haven’t been back in over a decade… I wonder how much has changed…” Aoe sits back and sips his drink, smiling at each of you. 

Johnathan enjoys his drink and sits next to his band at the table. He has his hood down and seems somewhat happy. Johnathan listens to the bard sing, realising talented Aoe actually is, and just enjoys the atmosphere. It was then Aoe asked about the area. Well, I know a little I guess. I was …. there at the battle of the unicorn. Don’t know a lot about the local politics or such. Not really my thing. I know a bit of the Faron woods, but I doubt the unicorn is still there. Johnathan pauses for a moment before remembering something he wanted to ask Kerwyn. Johnathan turns to Kerwyn, oh, by the way. I heard you calling for someone earlier while I was in the quarters. You sounded shaken. Is everything alright? 

While Aoe reminisces about how he got started, Shavaris smiles and thinks, he is definitely in his element.  The soft, candlelit atmosphere, the drinks, the company, even the offkey performance was lulling Shavaris into a state she was unfamiliar with.  Almost a relaxing, companionable state of mind.  Letting her internal guard down was something she never did, especially after what happened to Eloise.

"Eternia you say?  Unfortunately, that is a place I have never stepped foot on.  I am from Hylia, obviously I have been to Fantastia, and I've been to.. " she shudders and pauses slightly, "Hyperborea.  But that is it my fine friends.   I have however heard of the Graybeards that live at the South end of Eternia, though I doubt that will be of much use to us now."

When Johnathan questions Kerwyn, she turns to him and waits for a response.  She wonders what it could have been to make the fighter sound shaken.

“The grey beards… perhaps a fine detour if our hunt takes us close…” Aoe strokes his chin, pretending to have a long spindly guru beard…

“Shavaris if you please, tell us your story… hyperborea…. A place I have yet to travel…” Aoe puts a gentle gloved hand on her shoulder and casts guidance on her oration, ever wanting the best from his companions… he listens to every word, and is happy the group grows ever cohesive.

Shavaris gives Aoe a long look.  She knew this was coming, but was she ready for it?  Well, now was a better time than any and she took a deep breath.

“So you want to know about Hyperboria?  Well, I think we should start with my sister.  You know, it really should be her that is here with all of you?  She was the adventurer, she was the one yearning to do better, to have an exciting life, though,” a smile creeps across Shavaris’s lips, “I am better with the knives.” you catch a quick sparkle in her eyes then she turns pale, paler than normal.

“Eloise and I had spent our entire life in the Wandering Wood, and for me you know, that was good enough.  We helped those that needed it and robbed those that didn’t, it was a good life and I enjoyed it.  I don’t think it was enough for her though, and when you lie in waiting in those woods, you hear people talk, you hear a lot of things.  Most doesn’t even register, but when Eloise heard of how dragon scales made the most incredible armor?  Well, it was all she could talk about.  It eventually led to our.. well to our end.”

Shavaris takes a long drink of her ale, her mug shaking a bit as she lifts it up.  She sets it down and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.  Then looks up again to the rest of you and continues.

“It was our first passage across water, yeah, that is not my favorite.  Being here is uh, well, I’m glad I’m not alone,” she shrugs “we traveled West and landed in Fantasia without trouble.  We skirted around Castle Grayskull, traveled through the Shem Desert and headed toward the infamous Wall.” Turning to Kerwyn, “That was where we saw some of your Vader troops, yes, they are yours now, you’ve named them.

“The Night’s Watch are an interesting group of men.  They tried to warn us, to not let us cross the wall, but well, Eloise’s mind was made up, and over we went.  I wish they had injured me so that we were not able to go.  I wish…I wish a lot of things, but this is what happened.  Beyond the wall.. “ she all the sudden slams her hands down on the table and says “GIANTS!” a bit too loud, but she’s going now.. “So many freaking giants it is unbelievable.  And I’m not talking big friendly giants, I’m talking elf eating or whichever human available eating machines.  And boy are they messy, the amount of body parts we had to traverse and at times hide under?” she shudders at the memory.  “But we eventually made it to Cimmeria.  We thought we would be good for a bit, being in civilization, but of course, we were wrong.  I do not recommend this place, or any place beyond the Wall for that matter.  These Cimmerians were locked in some sort of tribal wars?  It was all very confusing and war torn, so we left that area as soon as we recovered from the Giants.”

She looks at her friends and makes sure they are still with her, she didn’t mean to go into such detail, but well, she guesses it was meant to be, may as well plow on, she’ll blame the stout.  The worst was yet to come and she needed to get through it.  “When we left Cimmeria, the most we got out of those people was a hint of which way to go to find dragonscales.  They thought we would be able to find some in Frostfang Mountains.” she starts crying now, she doesn’t know how that started but there was no way she was going to be able to stop.  Her voice gets quieter as she continues “I don’t know if we made it all the way there… we ran into Trolls.  Have you ever faced a Troll?”  She eyeballs each one of you and you see her eyes are open wider than you could have thought possible, she looks a bit crazy as she continues, voice increasing with intensity. “All they want to do is riiip you limb from limb and well, when you cut off one of theirs, do you know what it does??  It goes on living…the arm, the leg or whatever part it was tries to kill you too!  And if the troll picks it back up?  Well, the ****er just reattaches it back, and he’s whole again!  It was beyond maddening.  I know we survived them, but then things start getting hazy.”

She goes to take another swallow, realizes her mug is empty and slides it away in a huff. “My memories are spotty after that, I do see mountains, so we probably made it?  I..I...I see her, on the ground, dead. And then well, I was back home with no memory on how I got there.”  Shavaris is now completely deflated, tears streaming down her face silently.  After a moment of silence, she looks up at her friends and gives a half-hearted smile.

Kerwyn is enjoying the company and the ale, if not the music.  He interjects when Jonathan is talking and says "I grew up on the edge of the Faron Woods.  I heard about the evil deed when it happened, and arrived shortly thereafter.  It will be sort of like a homecoming when we arrive, an odd homecoming at that."  He looks down and concentrates on the pattern of foam in his mug.

When Shavaris tells her story, Kerwyn leans in close, jumps with each part, when he hears the word "Giants!" he nearly jumps out of his seat.  He murmurs to himself, "Then trolls?  How did she survive?"  He looks at her with awe, hanging on every word.  When she finishes, giving the details about her sister, a tear comes to his eye, quickly wiped away and covered with a turned head.  With his head hanging down, he begins to speak.  

"Do you ... do all of you believe in ghosts?"  His eyes meet with Jonathan's.  "That's what I heard below, it scared me, almost out of my skin.  I tried to talk to it, tried to get it to speak to me, but it wouldn't, it just turned and left."  He looks over to Shavaris.  "It looked just like you Shavaris.   It looked so close to you . . . it looked so much like you that it could be your ... sister."

Aoe grins, and sips the Ale from his personal tankard. “Identical Ghosts and regret-filled sisters…. Sounds like a story in need of a song… we shall see if that is what has been all along.” Aoe continues to listen to the others. 

The bard finishes his song, and no one in the galley claps for the crapfest other than a group of people at a nearby table who seem to be his friends or band or something.  The Dwarf said something crass as the Bard sat down, and then the Tiefling laughed, and there was another tiny voice amongst them, and then the Bard stood up, gesturing wildly over the group with his hands and proclaiming himself the greatest minstrel in all three of the united courts.  The room seemed to quiet as a natural lull fell, and then the Bard, addressing someone at the table.  

"Your mother is soo fat...I saw her the other day...and I thought she was a bumblebee."  Said the Bard, followed by a hoity laugh.  "Wait, wait, no.  Your mother is soo fat, that when she had her last portrait painted, it was on the ceiling of Hyrule Castle and they ran out of space."  

The Dwarf laughed, loud and idiotically, along with the rest of their group.  

Delphinium glares at the bard.  He was tactless in their song as well as their words.  Delph knows that they think they can get away with this insult because who would fear a tiny little fairy?  The fairy for their part takes a quick look around the galley to size up what is nearby.  They knew the bard was with their friends.   All claiming to be heroes of the empress but Delphinium know it isn't true now.  What heroes would insult their mother after all?

Delph looks at the bard's allies starting with the archer, in these tight quarters Delph wasn't too worried about the half-elf's shortbow.  The tortle had a tough defense and definitely favored druidic magic.  The hammer and shield wielding dwarf was geared up in armor.  The tiefling seemed to get a sense something was up but no one ever expects Delphinium.

The fairy floats above the table their long faded brown to blue hair fluttering slightly as their purple veined dragonfly like wings begin to flap with a slight and subtle rapid humming noise.  Delph flexes a bit to test their blue and green clothing won't catch as they pull a javelin into one hand and point it at the bard.

They make sure they are in the middle of the bard and their friends as they say in a small but angry voice "My momma could kick your ass!  She ain't here though, so I'll do it instead!"  The entire thing would be quite intimidating if not for one fact...  Delphinium was 6 inches tall.

Delph doesn't even wait for the normal response of laughter.  Instead, they focus inwardly and their entire body begins to glow with a blue light that encompasses them in a sphere of light.  Outside that sphere of blue light  a burst of several blue flashes streak out and 5 large spectral fists fly outward and at each of them.  The bard and their 4 friends made the wrong fairy mad.  (DEX save DC 16 all 5 of them 4 damage on fail) This burst of Delphinium's force of self is immediately followed by one of those spectral fists flying at the bard's face (25 for 7) as Delph says "You are weak, and you certainly are not the heroes I seek!"

Kerwyn shouts out "Oh yeah?  Well your momma's butt is so big that when she backs up it beeps!  Like a flumph!"  

Johnathan listens in on Shavaris story with complete focus. He watches as Shavaris is struggling to recall all the detail. Clearly this was a difficult for her to tell. Shavaris, I… I don't know what to say. He remains silent for bit. I’m sorry that you went through that. It was then Kerwyn mentioned the ghost. A ghost? Was that what I saw? He turns to Kerwyn, That makes sense. A few days ago I thought I saw something like a ghost while hunting. It was only for a sec and I didn’t get a good look, but if you saw something as well then it must be true. Shavaris, is it possible that this ghost is your sister? They didn’t even have time to answer each other when the “other bard” starts insulting another passenger on the crew, a fairy of all things. Johnathan turns to the other group.

Can you stop! We’re just trying to have a drink. He looks at the other group. Clearly they see themselves as some sort of elite band. That’s when Johnathan sees the bards instrument, a loot. The source of so much pain. Bard, you clearly had one too many. And your song was c***. I suggest that you give me that instrument. Wouldn’t want to lose it would you.

Action: cast suggestion.

The Bard, having had his world rocked by the six inch ball of fury behind him, backs up, blinking, one hand flying to his face.  

"I can't see!  Oh dear Goddesses I can't see!"  

Johnathan's suggestion doesn't even seem to phase him.  

The Dwarf leaps to his feet, throwing himself between the Fairy and the Bard, one arm stretching out across the Bard's stomach as he eases the man backwards, imposing his impressive Dwarven stature between the Fairy and the singer.  

"No one hits Uricai except me!"  He announces, rearing back with his other hand and swinging at the Fairy and missing miserably.  

Aoe rolls his eyes… “do i have to do all the barding around here?”  He remarks sarcastically with a smile…

He seesaws his bandore from his back onto his lap in one gliding motion, and begins to tickle the stings, “oh how songs of traveling, do touch our hearts entangling…” as he plays and grins,  entangleing vines sprout forth from the wooden planks of the ship gripping the region around the other band…

“May force be with you, FireFlight,” Aoe adds quickly to inspire (d6) the fairy, not that he believes they needed it…

Kerwyn walks over to the table and angles himself so that the fairy is not in the area of effect, but he waves his arms and begins to cast a spell on the faux Dawn Guard, words coming out of his mouth as a spray of color covers the ersatz adventurers in a shimmering glow of colors.

”Yo mama's so ugly, she threw a boomerang and it refused to come back.”

The situation escalated quickly for the impersonators.  Aoe's words conjured ephemeral plants from the floor, and they quickly ensnared Uricai and the Dwarf, but their companions were able to pull themselves away before getting completely ensnared.

Things only got worse for the Dwarf as he was suddenly blinded by the flashing of Kerwyn's words.  

"I don't think so!"  The Archer said as she sprang over the table, forgetting the Fairy and seeking to put a stop to Kerwyn's intrusion.  Both of her boots were aimed for his chest and planted firm, sending him backwards onto his bottom, prone.  

Once Shavaris has finished with her tale, Kerwyn and Johnathan tell her they have possibly seen her sisters ghost?!  She looks at them incredulously, trying to understand if they are honestly trying to fool her and she can see in their face they are not.  But it is too much, just too much for her right now and she pushes back her chair to stand up and leave.

As chaos breaks out around her, it takes her a moment to realize what is going on.  In a normal state of mind (which she clearly was not after coming undone and the mention of the ghost) she would gladly take this opportunity to lighten some of the imposters pockets.  Why not?  They were here impersonating us and picking on a fairy.  But in this emotional state and then when Kerwynn gets knocked on his butt, well....

"Imposters!!  That is what you are!"  she shouts as she storms to retaliate against the archer that hit Kerwyn.  She brings back her fist and goes to strike her across the face:

Attack: 5 Damage: 3