As Avaria catches her breath, Ula helps the quartermaster with Jeras the cook. Bigge nods his thanks to Ula and then takes note of his own injuries, sighing before getting to his feet and getting the rest of the crew about their tasks swabbing the decks and and getting the sails squared away properly.

Four of the passengers, all but Hammerdasher, quickly move off the main deck and go below to clean up. Hammerdasher on the other hand struts about the deck with his hammer, quite proud of himself.

The captain relinquishes control of the ship to his first mate and comes down to the party.

"Well done. My ship has your thanks." The captain says. "We'll celebrate this evening."

He then heads to his cabin, Godrick Hargrove slipping in behind him before the captain has a chance to close the door. The captain just takes a deep breath and nods when he realizes Godrick is accompanying him inside. The door closes quickly behind the pair.

"Did you see that?" Hammerdasher asks to anyone and everyone. "Knocked that squid right off the ship."

Bigge goes to the captain's cabin and knocks. He sticks his head inside and after a quick exchange of words he comes back to the group.

"The captain agrees" the quartermaster begins. "You've more than worked off the full price of your passage. And I think the old man is going to break out the good stuff so we can properly celebrate this evening. Not every day the Rose Marie survives a storm and a slew of giant squid."

From what you can tell you have an hour or two to yourselves before food and drink and the captain make an appearance again.

Ethlehyn gives a courteous nod to Hammerdasher as she pulls her hood back up over her head.  "Indeed.  You rose to the occasion... as did others.  I would say the crew and passengers of the Rose Marie earned a passing grade on tonight's examination,"  she says, turning to give an appreciative glance towards the others... Avaria; a curious one with her beast-like abilities... Jan; quick with a crossbow, and accurate with it as well... Marrin; sharp-toungued, and were those words laced with a bit of magic?... Ula; fearlessly charging into battle with her hammer.  Ethel commits to memory the groups assorted skills, before noticing how tired she feels. 

Tired, and vulnerable, with her spells depleted.  It was a tactical error, wasting her last spell to frighten a half-dead squid.  

Marrin smiles at Hammerdasher and responds,

"I saw! Great swinging!"

Nods in agreement with Bigge, clearly they are the day's heroines.

She head over to Ava, seeing that Ula is helping the cook.

Sitting down next to the shifter she says,

"Good work spotting those things. Would have been ugly had the got the drop on us."

She inspects Ava's injuries and says,

"I got hit too, just took a bit for me to catch my breath. I'm sure you'll recover faster than I did!"

On the word recover Ava feels 8 better.

Standing she adds,

"I'm going to go lay down and try to get in the right head space, I'm going to be playing for a full audience tonight!"

Jan is sorely tempted to dip into Hargrove's cabin, but she's wondering if she's in danger of overplaying her hand, and decides to slow her approach. There's always the 'oh, your beard is so lush and your bald head so smooth' approach, should it come to it.

Feeling battered and depleted herself, Ula makes peasant small talk with those she passes, “Yes, good strike!… Nice hammer you have there… They'll be telling stories about this for a while!…”. But she is feeling the cut and bruising on the back of her head and heading gingerly back the the party’s room to maybe take a few deep breaths on her bunk before the celebrations.

Jan ponders what sort of magic Godrick Hargrove is slinging (Arcana: 7), but whether she can tell or not, she'll ask Ethel's opinion once they get back their cabin.

"Ethel, you seem a practiced user of magics, did you see Hargrove casting that blue spell against the squid? I, for one, did not know he was a magic user... that has certainly given me a bit of pause."

Sitting down on her bunk and trying to clear her thoughts, Ethel looks up when prompted by Jan’s question.

”Hmmm?  Oh, just a simple cantrip.  A first year apprentice could cast that, given a little practice.  He may certainly be capable of more powerful spells, but his ability to cast that spell in particular is by no means a sign he is some sort of dangerous archmage.”

”However… we should talk more about that book you saw in his quarters.  If you got the title right… that particular book has just two known copies in all the Realm.  One is kept in the protected stacks at Candlekeep under lock and key, or so they say.  Such a book… if he really holds the other copy… it would be near to priceless.  The text itself is supposed to be prophecies about future events in and concerning Faerun.  But I’m less concerned about what the book says than about why he is in possession of it.”

”Your quarry is either fabulously wealthy… incredibly well connected… or a master thief.”

Avaria grins at Marrin as she joins her.  "You're a good climber, thanks for helping with the sails.  Yeah, luckily we were up there so I could see those things.  That was a bit much for the ship, glad she's still afloat."

As Marrin heals Avaria, she looks at her new friend in surprise, "Thank you!  That feels much better."  She stands to join her, placing her hand on Marrin's shoulder, "I'll come with you, would like a bit of a rest myself.  And I am very much looking forward to your performance!"

As they enter their room, she's happy to see the rest have made it back.  She catches some of what Ethel is saying about the other passenger, but just sits on her bunk, letting them discuss.  Prophecies about future events concerning Faerun?  Why would the man be carrying such a book?

A thought comes to her, and she turns to Jan, "Why is this man your quarry?"

Marrin gives Avaria a wink at the thanks,

"It is amazing what just words can do for someone!"

She smiles broadly at Ava's excitement to hear her play,

"I'll make sure you get a front row seat! It will probably be a bench, and you will probably be sitting between Bigge and Hammerdasher but still front row."

In their room she gives a wave to Jan and Ethel as she lays in her bunk and closes her eyes and starts humming a tune before switching to another then another, fingers twitching in the air. She spaces out all the talk not about her or the upcoming festivities.

While the group engages in chit chat, Ethlehyn will take time to rest, clear her mind, and try to recover one of her spell.

Taking a short rest, using arcane recovery to recover 1 level 1 spell slot, and spending her 1 hit die to recover 4HP.

Ula clatters back into the party’s room. She rests against the upright on her bunk catching her breath. She’s normally chatty but she’s uncommonly silent. She looks at everyone in turn, slowly as they speak. Not really listening. She takes off her shield and sets it down, and leans on her hammer. She takes a breath in, and looks like she might say something, but then just lets the breath out again.

She still looks seasick, she has a line of blood down her neck from behind her left ear, and the spark of life — and light — she’s had up until now seems to have gone. She looks spent. She looks around again and eventually manages a kind smile to anyone who catches her eye.

”I’m okay.. I’ll be okay… That was… a lot!…”.

Marrin pops open a eye and looks at Ula,

"Take a break! A nap will help with the sea sickness and..."

She stops air thrumming to prestidigate Ula clean.

"There, I always rest better when I'm not smeared with squid juices!"

She then returns to her internal training.

Ula raises her chin a little and closes her eyes as the cleansing magic washes over her and does it’s job. “Thank you!… I will… I’ll rest!..…”. And she basically chin-ups herself using her impressive upper body strength to just hoist herself up onto her top bunk, where she collapses in all her gear… but now, thankfully, clean.

When the group have managed to get some rest, and feel more like themselves after what has been an eventful day you step out on to the main deck. The sky appears to have cleared, stars shine brightly from above, and if you had to make a guess, it would appear the ship is heading more northerly now.

They see Slick, the energetic goblin, at the helm, standing on a box to be able to see over the wheel. When she sees you, she gives you all a small, quick salute, followed by an exaggerated curtsy and then roars with laughter.

You can hear sounds of shouting and laughing coming from down below. Light spills out from the stairs down to the lower deck.

Going down the narrow stairs you see that space has been cleared, with some of the crates pushed back and stacked to the ceiling. From the galley you can hear pots banging and Jeras cursing then laughing. The other passengers and rest of the crew are milling about, and all smiles. Dodging the storm and avoiding becoming squid food has left everyone feeling a bit elated.

As the group arrives, Hammerdasher cheers.

“Ah here are the rest of your saviours. I couldn’t have done it nearly as well without them.” He declares.

He then goes back to telling the other passengers about his exploits on deck again.

Quartermaster Bigge comes out of the galley, talking over his shoulder.

“Fine. Fine. You’re in charge. I won’t remind you that you just about died a few hours ago.” Bigge says.

Turning to see the five of you, he smiles. He opens his mouth to speak but before he can, two more figures come down the stairs from the main deck: Captain Percival and Godrick Hargrove 

The captain looks around, and frowns a little.

“I'm sure I ordered that this was to be a celebration. We’ve out run the storm and the squid are gone. So where’re the rum and ale barrels?” The captain asks, looking over at Bigge. “Bring them out so we can properly toast.”

Bigge hesitates for a moment but then signals to the big half-orc, Tammer. She laughs and quickly wheels out a couple of barrels and taps into both.

Smells of food come from the galley, cups and mugs are handed out, the crew and passengers laugh. Tammer brings each of you a mug and then finally takes one to the Captain.

Godrick Hargrove makes no effort to join in, but he also doesn’t make any effort to leave.

“The Rose Marie thanks you for your service today. With this collection of layabouts we’d never have made it through that storm and those squid would have had the better of us.” The captain says, toasting all those that helped out, meaning the five of you, Hargrove and Hammerdasher. "Cheers to the slayers of squid."

The crew members all raise their cups and then drain them quickly.

“Now I understand one of you is a traveling minstrel,” the captain says. “How’s about a song?”

Geffroi Desbiens, the skittish bookworm of a man who told you about seeing the undead, looks up when the captain mentions a song. He uses that as his opportunity to disengage from Ithleviur Hammerdasher and find a chair closer to the open space that has been made in the center of the deck. The other passengers fail to use their disengage action and continue to be roped into conversation with Hammerdasher. Besides seeing them on the dock early in the morning when you left, you've only really spotted them when they were huddled around the mast, trying not to cut themselves with the daggers they were given.

You can hear them saying their names again to Hammerdasher who must have asked for them but even as they speak he seems to have lost interest in actually listening. "Adelysia Demai," the human woman says. Ula, you're sure you've seen her before. One of the merchant suppliers to your parent's inn most likely. "Jaroo Durim" the male gnome says. "Elbereth Snowreign" the dark elf says through narrowed eyes. To all of you, even Avaria who hasn't traveled, you can tell the quality of the clothing the drow wears. 

Snowreign does at least manage to turn his chair from Hammerdasher in anticipation of some sort of entertainment.

Marrin accepts the praise with a wide smile and a slight nod of her head to the Captain.

When he asks about a song she pulls her lute case around and finds a space to take it out. Once she is ready she takes a position where everyone, or most everyone, can see her and gestures with her chin to a spot up front for Ava to sit.

"I'd like to thank you all for such an eventful voyage, I'd thought I'd have nothing to do!"

She strums softly and hums before saying,

"I'd like to play one of my favorite traveling songs to start out - The Road is Long, the Beer is Good, the Company is Marvelous. You probably know it as the Road."

She proceeds to play that song and then a few other camp songs before switching to "Vayorine's Lament" the current favorite ballad among the moneyed classes, with a smile at Snowreign.

Performance: 22

Ethel will try to grab a seat next to Geffroi.  She has heard others mention his strange stories and has a few questions.  She is primarily interested in this idea of the dead rising, but she doesn’t want to push too hard on that point and just wants to get the man talking.

”I am studying certain aspects of arcane magic and I’m wondering if what you describe is something I should be looking into.”

Anticipation at Marrin's performance soon leads to raised eyebrows and then several cringes as the crew and passengers have trouble following where the bard's performance is going. Thankfully a broken lute string stops the music for a few moments. Once Marrin gets it restrung she continues. While it's not a set that will get her invited to play at the Pink Flumph in Waterdeep anytime soon, to a group who escaped death twice today and have dived liberally into the ale, she still gets several cheers.

Geffroi almost jumps out of his seat when Ehel sits next to him and starts speaking to him. His eyes are drawn to her scars and deformed flesh but he looks into her eyes when she asks about what he had said earlier and at mention of her own studies into the arcane, his face lights up.

"What are you studying?" Geffroi asks. "I've been on an acquisition trip for the Vault in Silverymoon. I was hoping this would be the expedition that finally allowed me to be a full professor at the Conclave but before I could really begin they came."

Geffroi pauses as he watches Marrin for a moment then he continues. "No. Stay away from Mulhorand. It's not worth the risk."

As Marrin gets ready to perform, Avaria finds a seat right up front as promised.  If Bigge or the captain are there, she'll sit right next to them, anticipating the performance.  Taking the mug from Tammer, she enjoys the flavor and drinks heartily.  As they wait, she raises her mug to whoever is sitting next to her, to "cheers" their successes.

When Marrin plays, Avaria's ears instinctively lay flat against her head and she cocks her head to one side wondering if this was the type of music that was played where she was from?  She stays and listens, wondering if the music will grow on her, until the string pops and she gets up to mingle a bit.

Taking the opportunity, she heads over to where the male gnome was sitting.  Not having a lot of exposure to others, seeing another gnome like her friend back home, really lifted her spirits.  She takes a seat by him, "Hello, my name is Avaria.  I think I overheard your name is Jaroo Durim?  It is such a pleasure to meet you!"  

Marrin plays but she does notice that her playing, and chosen songs, fail to capture the audience. When the string breaks she keeps a smile plastered on and mutters to herself, repeating and old saying,

"Don't chase the audience, make them chase you."

She finishes what she knows wasn't her best set, gods knows it was probably one of her worst, and gives a bow.

She'll then grab her beer, add a healthy dose of rum, and down it. She looks around and decides that Hammerdasher would probably fill the air so she doesn't need to speak and heads over to take Geff's empty seat.