Seldom Spring

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry she said those horrible things. She's not herself. She's drunk, yes. But she's always drunk. She's never acted like this. Ever since she saw the flail, she's acted... meaner. Different. Do you think it's making her do this? Maybe it's Flindbar himself, through his remains? I could try to sneak the flail away from her to see what happens and what the flail's really like. Or maybe it'll stop when we're away from Flindbar's skeleton? I'm here if you want to talk."

Into Erric’s ear, between ‘sniffles,’ Jambiya says, “I’ve known her a long time, and something is definitely wrong. I‘m sure it’s the flail. We have to get it away from her before we land, or I’m worried she’ll slip away into the crowds to do whatever it wants her to do. Leave me here and go tell Maldorn, we have to subdue her and get it away and throw it in the ocean. Go, now.”

"Anafrey was just pretty vicious with Jambiya when she asked to help clean the blood off the flail, and Jambiya thinks the flail has taken over her mind or something. It's not the drinking, she's really acting very mean and terrible. Should we try to distract her and then maybe I could get the flail away and throw it overboard? I don't think she'll listen to reason, given how she's reacted to innocent questions."

"That’s quite a quick jump to a conclusion if you ask me. If she indeed had a nasty response to a question or two, maybe she is just moody. We were just betrayed after all. Going from a mood swing to cursed-by-a-flail sounds a bit of a stretch to me.”

Think about this carefully. You might lose a friend over a weapon if you throw it out to sea with no hard proof...”

"You might be right. You're better at this than me -- but will you keep an eye on her, please? If it is something sinister, she needs our help, or she might do something to hurt herself or others. If it's not something sinister, she really was awful to Jambiya for no reason, and if she keeps at it, I don't want to be around her."

"Maldorn thinks we might be overreacting about the weapon. Do you think she'll really run off into the crowd? Maybe we can wait? It's either the flail or it's that she was supremely awful to you and owes you an apology. Maybe once she's passed out we can see if it's the flail?"

"So I was hired to help that dwarf over there, Ebokk, find his dad's beard ring, paid with anything else we found on a salvage mission. Don't ask. Anyhow, he hired this ship, with Grout the twins, Gramps, and Scrub. They weren't unfriendly for the trip out, but they weren't friendly. We left the ship with Ebokk, went through a lot to get his beard ring back, and got back to the ship. Grout, the twins, and Scrub were all less friendly from then on. Then, within sight of land, they call us out in a group, weapons drawn, and they revealed they were the real villains, threatening our lives and wanting to take everything we'd found. I tried using an impressive illusion to scare them into giving up their vicious plan, but only Scrub bought it, and the others attacked us, including that poor, lovely girl over there." He points to Jambiya. Throughout this he's using minor illusion to build the story. He can't help himself. "We defended ourselves, and they kept attacking. We were able to limit the casualties to only the twins. Grout jumped overboard, though I could not see him resurface and I fear he drowned, though who knows. Scrub, though he was the least friendly on the voyage, surrendered. We found Gramps belowdecks, tied up and beaten by his crewmates. There was a disagreement about burial at sea... we're new to sailing... and one of the twins went overboard while the other didn't. I, well, I think that's it. Does this sort of thing happen often? I'm not sure I'm built for sailing."

"Aye, I'll can keep an eye on her. But before we leave, tell me this: did you not hold and admire that flail for a moment just after Icyquivers got it? Did you feel anything then?"

"Master Ebokk hired the four of us to accompany him on an adventure at sea. Despite some minor mishaps, we reached our destination, recovered some treasure, and begun our trip back to Waterdeep. The crew of the ship begun behaving a bit strangely on the way back but we couldn't quite put a pin on why. Earlier today, most of them refused their fair share of the proceeds and rebelled in an attempt to claim it all. They threatened our lives and we had no choice but defend ourselves. Grams is innocent, Grubs is a coward, the twins are dead, and the bosun is lost at sea somewhere. We only managed to bring one corpse back."

"Well, ma'am. My name is Jambiya Seldom-Kettlegrip, and I come from Seldom Spring. I'm a... well, I guess I'm an adventurer, now. Is that a job?"

"As you know by now, Master Ebokk employed us to help him find news of his father. Erric, Maldorn, and Anafrey, the four of us know each other from Seldom Spring, well, we're friends now, really, after that haunted house. In any case, I'm not much one for ships, so I stayed out of the way of the crew much on the trip out, except for Gramps. You see, I'm a barmaid, and a cook, back home. So I naturally spent time in the kitchen, and Gramps is nice people. But I never did spend any time with Bosun Grout, or the twins, or Scrub.

"So, we got to the island and did some adventuring, I don't think you're really interested that, and found what Master Ebokk was looking for. We had some trouble, of course, as you do on adventures, but all was well when we got back to the ship. We'd found a fair bit of treasure, I imagine you've inventoried it? We even agreed to split it five ways, with one share for the ship's crew, although they were hired and paid for the job. But they were acting funny, especially Scrub, who was avoiding us on the trip home. Then, just in sight of Waterdeep, Grout and the twins, and Scrub, jumped us, demanding all the treasure. We were trying to stop them, but the fight got out of hand, and some of them were killed, and Grout went overboard. I found Gramps tied up down below, and I'll vouch for him. I'd know if he were bad.

"That's really all there is to it. What? Oh, the other body? Yes, we wrapped them up, and then Anafrey thought the tradition was to bury them at sea, so she got one of them over the rails before we noticed what she was doing. We stopped her from, um, honoring the other one, though. And you can see by the stains on the planks where the fight too k place. There wasn't any... any skullduggery going on, it was a face up fight, honest. We did our best to spare them.

"One thing, ma'am. You'll want to check Anafrey's flail, for sure, for evidence. You'll see it's got a fair bit of blood on it still, all she's done is swish it in water. But she's pretty attached to it, you'll maybe want your guards with you if you want to take a look. Um, oh, why? Well. Um. No reason in particular. You know, but if you want evidence, she's the one did most of the killing."

"I am glad you are here... I hope you can help get this whole mess figured out." Anafrey would say with a look of concern.. leaning forward towards the woman and lowering her voice to make sure that no one else can hear. "OK... So I agreed to help the dwarf Ebokk find his beard ring.. apparently the jewelry is important to his family or something....But anyway.. we make our way to this island.. and end up getting attacked by sharks and giant crabs...." She would say as she opens up her pack and places a broken rapier on the table. "This is all that was left of my weapon after making it off that damn beach." She would then slide the destroyed blade towards the woman. "So then... we get off the beach and find Ebokk's dead father. The only two things that hadn't turned to dust on that old corpse was the beard ring.. and this flail." Anafrey would add as she taps the weapon on her hip. "Now since my weapon was destroyed trying to recover that beard piece for the dwarf, he told me I could have the flail. Not long after that, we find a whole chest full of treasure left behind by Ebokks father in that damn cave. After taking the time to collect the treasure, we go to leave and wouldn't you know it... we get attacked AGAIN." Anafrey will lean in a little closer still. "Now.. at this point.. I am using my new flail and the others start to see me using it... and I can see the gears turning in their heads but I ignore the signs because we are all good friends." She would say as she taps the side of her head with her index finger. "Then.. when we all get aboard ship and the loot is divided up... the ONLY thing I ask to keep is this flail and my share of coin. A woman needs to be able to defend herself and I thought that was fair given the amount of other magical items and valuable pieces of treasure we managed to recover.. I mean what is wrong with me keeping this simple weapon." She would then let out a deep sigh and lean backwards in her chair. "But then... not long after we leave... they start trying to take my weapon... essentially trying to disarm me. First it was Erric trying to get me to hand over my weapon.. and THEN when the fighting started, me and Ebokk were the only two really trying to deal with the mutinous traitors.. the other three were going EASY on them. Those four traitors wanted all the treasure for themselves after they decided that their share wasn't good enough. They tried to kill us for it and we defended ourselves. After we took care of the threat, someone mentioned a burial at sea. When I agreed and proceeded to do as instructed, I was stopped. Not only was I stopped, but this time Jambiya was trying to take my weapon... once again my crew was trying to disarm me. And for what?"

Anafrey would lean forward once more.. this time becoming a bit agitated and looking around once again looking around. "The reason why they wanted to take my weapon away was because they were in on it... They tried to take away my weapon BEFORE the fight... So that I would be easy pickings when the mutiny began. The only reason it wasn't seven against me two.. Me and Ebokk... Was because they couldn't convince me to disarm myself. The fight that happened was supposed to be an act... a SHOW given by Jambiya, Erric, and Maldorn. The other four were trying their best to kill Ebokk and myself.. While my three So-called-friends only pretended to fight them... The fact that I killed them before they could kill me seemed to upset them. Why would they get mad at me for protecting myself and protecting them? Because they didn't need protection and because I wasn't supposed to protect myself. They wanted me to be a victim just like Gramps. All I want to do is finish this job and go home." The white haired woman would take a few deep breaths and lean back in her chair. "Look, you are a strong smart woman. You didn't get to where you are without reading between the lines. I can tell you are someone that knows bullshit when she hears it and doesn't take shit form anyone... Why would they repeatedly try to take away my ability to protect myself.. and them.. my ability to  protect them the same way I did multiple times when trying to get to the island.." She would pause again, looking the woman up and down. "The reason they want my weapon.. is that they don't want me to be able to protect myself from them. All I want is to just go home"