Aboard the Marsh Treader [Sam 26th, finished]

[Ranhild Pheldroppe]

It is often hard to tell the time in the Aether. Night mingles with day, evening with morning, sometimes the sky and earth melt into a bulky grey mass. That was precisely what had happened now, except the iron clouds had merged with an equally colourless sea. A dusky light prevailed, illuminating the scene but offering no warmth.

A ship bobbed up and down in the middle of the waves. The sails were hanging limply from the mast, empty and slack. There was a gentle, cool breeze, yet it was not strong enough to propel even a small sailboat forward, much less the Marsh Treader. It was an old-fashioned wooden ship, keeping to the traditional design and without any newfangled decorations or carvings. The sides were dark and weary from years of being dipped in saltwater, but still in good condition. The submerged part of the boat was covered in seaweeds.

This solemn sight, floating in the middle of nowhere, was far from deserted. Around two dozens of seamen moved around their home, the floorboards squeaking and rocking under their feet with each step. A gathering seemed to take place close to the bow, near the entrance to the captain's cabin. There was some shouting - perhaps a member of the crew was being told off, or the captain simply had a choleric character. He looked like a very bitter and short-tempered person indeed.

OOC: This thread is open for everyone, and it's also a continuation of Aurael's adventure. It's timestamped the last few marks of Samheen 26th, GT, and might extend to Samheen 27th, MT. However, I think time's relative in the Aether. You can always wake up at dawn of the 27th and still be here for the whole story. Dream world

[Guest]

Aurael drifted in and out of sleep, he was half conscious and half asleep; the shouting drifted into his mind and became a mixed sound of shouting and sloshing seawater. The gentle rocking and creaking of the boat made the scene seem serene, but it was far from that. Aurael returned to a deep disturbed sleep, at first images of his drowned friends flashed vividly in his mind, each image was still with each aspect exaggerated to seem overly horrific. The image of the undead pirates made his mouth dry and his flesh crawl.

He opened his eyes and looked over at the dungeon door, he then sat up and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Being saved by these pirates had not done him any favours and in a way he wished that he’d been left in the sea’s cold grip. He sighed and fell into another troubled sleep.

[Turi]

As Aurael slumbered, a short, black-clad figure appeared, glaring balefully over him, trying to decide whether or not he was a cabin boy. Turelie was aggravated. This was not her ship, but she damn well was not about to carry on being scared, and helpless, and confused. She was wearing her pirate-kickin' boots, and she intended to use them until she got some answers.

With her right foot, Turi nudged the sleeping achadiel uncomfortably, but not painfully, in the ribs. "Up," she ordered undiplomatically. "Who are you, where are we and what's going on?"

Perhaps it was not the best of starts, but into every man's life comes a cranky woman. It was just Aurael's bad luck to come across two of them in succession.

[Guest]

Aurael grimaced in his sleep as Turelie nudged him in the ribs. He growled and then opened his eyes sleepily, above him stood a woman clad in black clothing. He got up off the bed and scratched his head; a few strands of his hair fell over his face and into his eyes.


"Who are you, where are we and what's going on?"

For a moment he didn’t say anything, part of him wanted just go back to sleep and ignore her, another part of him knew that he may as well just answer her questions, “My name is Aurael, and we’re on a pirate ship with a bunch of undead pirates and an old man who barely has a pulse”.

[Turi]

"Oh. Well. I see." Turi's irritated demeanour lessened somewhat upon hearing Aurael's explanation.

It described a patently absurd scenario with no objective basis for existence in the physical reality of the Tether. There was no way for her to get it wrong this time. Therefore, if she closed her eyes and thought about frolicking through wildflowers...

... she would find herself remaining right where she was.

You have got to be joking.

"Ah, Aurael, was it?" Turi said blandly. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but are we trapped on this pirate ship, with the undead pirates and the old man who barely has a pulse? And, you know, why?"

[Guest]

Aurael looked at her and quietly laughed to himself as it was still quite amazing to him that undead pirates roamed the sea. He looked up at Turi and began his explanation in an irritated manner, " The ship I was originally on sunk separating me from my friends, who're probably still out there or are dead, these undead pirates came along and picked me up..." He then stood up as and began to pace about, "At first I thought they'd help me get to some dry land but no nothing ever that simple, from what I've heard from the old man they've been cursed to wonder the sea's forever or something and they need someone to read out some magical words so they may leave our physical realm. The old man who is also trapped on the ship wants to escape...the only problem is that if the words are read whilst we're still on the boat we'll drown while the pirates move onto a peaceful afterlife". He lent on the cage and sighed, "I hope that answers your question".

[Turi]

Turi nodded. “I’m sorry about your friends,” she said quietly. “I understand what it feels like to… to lose… all we can do is pray.” She stopped abruptly, reluctant to dwell on the matter, and sat down on the bunk with a thoughtful look on her face as she analysed the situation.

“Why haven’t they asked you to read these words yet?” she mused. “I’d have thought these pirates would be eager to rid themselves of their curse as soon as they found you, and I doubt they’d have cared much whether you lived or died. But the old man would have. So, he’s hidden the words, then?” Turi looked questioningly at Aurael.

“Anyway,” she continued after the achadiel answered, “What are our options? If you’re the only person they could find to read these words, why don’t you just refuse until they take us to shallow water? Plus, I don’t think we’re still in the physical realm anymore, so what happens if you say the words while we’re… wherever we are?”

Turi wished she had some ink and paper as further questions entered her mind. Who was the old man, and why didn’t he read the words? He must be useful to the pirates somehow, if they were keeping him alive. Did the words have to be read, or just spoken? They would have a considerable advantage if they were able to commit the words to memory, and get rid of the written text.

How did she even get onto this tub? And if it had a connection to the Tether, what would happen to her when it went back?

[Guest]

Aurael sat down next to Turi and didn’t say anything. “Why haven’t they asked you to read these words yet?”, he stared down into the floorboards and began to answer her question, “Well I’m not sure, they may have other plans at moment”.

“What are our options? If you’re the only person they could find to read these words, why don’t you just refuse until they take us to shallow water? Plus, I don’t think we’re still in the physical realm anymore, so what happens if you say the words while we’re… wherever we are?”.

Aurael stood up and lent on the side of the prison bars, “I don’t think we have any options, even if I refused I’m sure they’d torture me until I read them. These are pirates they don’t care where the words are read, they’re only goal is to move on to their afterlife. I don’t understand the situation fully anyway, so I don’t know what’ll happen if I read the words while we’re where we are currently”. This whole situation bothered Aurael a great deal, the old sailor back at the Seamonster had made it seem as though the journey was easy but apparently he’d decided not to mention any of the dangers.

[Ranhild Pheldroppe]

OOC: Nice! Oh my, I've laden myself with inquisitive minds... Well, sorry for the grand delay, but I've been trying to postpone the inevitable failure in maths for a few weeks. All done and written now, tomorrow I'll find out if I'll have to retake any exams. Hope not!

IC:

During Turelie and Aurael's rapid discourse, the sounds from the deck gradually faded out. As the Achadhiel's last words were spoken, silence engulfed the two 'prisoners', save for an occasional squeak of a sail or the splash of water against the side of the ship. Other than that, everything was quiet. There didn't seem to be any gulls about, even though they usually stick to any floating object - especially if it shows promising signs of food.

Suddenly, a shadows passed over the wall of the Marsh Treader's prison. It was something small and light - was I perhaps mistaken about those gulls? Truly enough, a second later a small bird's head appeared - but there was something odd about it. It took Turelie and Aurael a flicker to register that the gull had poked its head right through the cabin wall. It was oddly funny in a way - imagine a smooth expanse of boards fitted together, without any nooks or crannies, and suddenly there's a gull's head emerging from the middle of the wall.

The gull looked around with beady eyes and croaked, its beak a bile-yellow colour. Then, without much difficulty, it seemed, the animal crawled right through the wall and suddenly was inside the cabin, flapping its wings and desperately trying to stay in the air. It gave up after a moment though, and alighted on the bunk bed. It stood still, regarding the pair. It cocked its head to one side and croaked again. It sounded almost - almost - like the sound of a human clearing their throat.

[Guest]

Aurael was finding the whole rather tiring, part of him was scared of what would happen to him as he’d had a close brush with death whilst floating out at sea and the fate of his friends was not known. A human-like croak broke the silence in the prison; Aurael swivelled round and saw a seagull that had walked through the wall. His eyebrow’s rose at the sight of the seagull and his mouth was partially hanging open in disbelief. “Did you just see that?” he said to Turi. He then approached the bird and attempted to poke its wing with his finger.

[Turi]

As the gull landed, Turi edged away from the bunk slowly, so as not to startle it. There was something about birds indoors that made her nervous. Perhaps it was the fluttering, or the beaks. In any case, she was more than happy to leave the harrassment of wildlife to Aurael.

"Yeah. Rather spectacular, wasn't it?" she noted through gritted teeth. "Tell you what, if you keep that thing occupied, I'll check out the wall."

She made her way carefully to the area where the gull had entered the room and reached her hand towards it. Perhaps they were not as trapped as they thought they were.

OOC: Good luck! Man, I do not miss those days...

[Ranhild Pheldroppe]

The poke was successful, as far as the bird was concerned. It had brought Aurael's finger close enough for a small reprimand. As the Achadhiel's nail touched the soft feathers, the bird's head twisted in a flash and quickly pecked. Quite painfully, too. Then, not taking any more chances, the gull took off and landed on the floor a few feet away, scowling. Some gulls have mimics that speak for lots of feelings.

"Cacasenno! Caca- caca- You moron! You - gah, there's not a right word for you!" the gull squeaked angrily, glaring at Aurael. It seemed to struggle with the famous expressions of World's Mouth, not being equipped correctly to pronounce it. The poor bird returned to ordinary language, and though the words still sounded a bit strange, they were understandable. "What d'you think you're doing, jabbing your bit fat sausage-finger at me?!"

It ruffled its feathers angrily, looking like a large, soft ball. "As for you, missy," it chided, spying Turelie. "That won't work. Gulls-only!"

It was right. Sadly enough, Turi's hand came sharply against the wood with a knocking sound.

"Knock, knock, who's there?" the gull screamed. It was hard to tell whether it was trying to be funny or if it was a little out of its mind. It hopped around on the floor, stopping occasionally to preen its feathers.

[Guest]

Aurael winced and drew his hand back quickly as the bird snipped at his finger. He looked at the bird in a mixture of surprise and shock, “ Sorry for poking you” he said with some confusion. He sat down on the bunk and stared intently at the bird waiting for it to say something else. He watched as Turi attempted to do what the bird had done but the hope of escaping was but a fantasy as her hand came against the would.

"Knock, knock, who's there?"

Looking at the bird he raised his eyebrows and watched it hop around the prison, “Things are just getting stranger and stranger”. Aurael, finding the silence uncomfortable, tried to begin a conversation with the gull, “So…do you…have a name and err…how did you walk through the wall?”

[Turi]

A few choice Mouthie expressions also came to Turi's mind when her hand rapped against the wall. Fortunately, the gull caught her attention before she had a chance to vent.

"I think it's asking us what our names are," she hazarded, trying not to giggle at the scene. "I'm Turelie. This is Aurael. Pleased to meet you."

The young lady's edginess decreased a little. If the bird could talk, it could reason, and therefore would be less unpredictable. If anything could be predicted in this place at all.

[Ranhild Pheldroppe]

"At least you have the manners for apologizing," the gull muttered, continuing to preen its feathers. "Well, you are forgiven - er - Aurael?" It fixed the Achadhiel with one large eye. "You two calmed down quite fast, faster than most humans anyway," it continued, scoffing. "The girl out there -" a wing was waved in the vague direction of the deck - "She actually brandished a knife and shouted something about skinning me and using the feathers for a cloak trim! Would you believe it? I was only trying to help! But they always think they know better..."

The gull's lamentations died in an angry hiss. It hopped from one foot to another, then took to the air again and landed on Turelie's shoulder, craning its neck around to look into her face.

"I like people," it commented. "They're interesting. There are only three things an ordinary gull thinks about - food, sleep and mating. And, boy, they can talk hours about those three things! Impossible!"

"And I do have a name, young man!" the gull started again, hopping onto Aurael's shoulder to peer into his face in turn. A hint of uncertainty flashed across its eyes, but disappeared almost instantly. "I'm called Jonathan, after a famous, genial gull that could fly like lightning," it stated proudly, fluffing up its chest. "No stupid name like Fluffy or Codfish, my ma had some sense."

There was a strange sound, almost as if Jonathan was about to throw up. However, it turned out to be an imitation of someone clearing their throat. With Jonathan's love of humans, it was strange he hadn't taken to wearing clothes.

"So... You'd like to get out of here, eh?" he asked smugly. "You see, I belong to the Aetherial Gulls, who can pass through anything they want. I could even fly through you, if I didn't mind a close encounter with your intestines."

[Guest]

Aurael had calmed down considerably, it seemed that strange events no longer fazed him. His encounter with the fish men, the salamander, and now the undead pirates had all almost made it feel as though this new event was just like everyday events, which had no shock value. He watched the seagull hop around for a bit and then he answered its question “Yes we would like to get out of here”. Aurael lay down on the bunk and stared into the roof, “Is there a way to get off the ship and get to safety?

[Turi]

Every muscle in Turelie's body froze as she fought the urge to shriek like a fishwife and shake the bloody thing off. Beak! Beakbeakbeakbeakbeak... oh, so much for predictable... She knew it wasn't a rational reaction, but still managed to start breathing again only after Jonathan turned his attentions to Aurael.

After he stopped invading her personal space, however, Turi was surprised to find herself warming to the strange little bird. The One alone knew why she was so fond of eccentrics.

Her opinion of the achadiel, on the other hand, took a small dive after his question to the gull.

Hold on half-elf... have you forgotten there's a girl out there? She could be in trouble. She could be one of the friends you talked about earlier. And all you can think of is bailing?

...guess I'm not the only one then.

It would not be wise to give voice to these thoughts - it would only cause conflict, and Turi did not want to offend her allies. "With the girl too, if you please Jonathan sir," was all she added.

[Daithi Ar Avonford]

It was a common dream of Daithi's. It would start with her standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down on a lush green valley, with the sun about to rise. Behind her, people she cannot see, laugh and talk and walk up the slope. Suddenly, they're around her, jostling her. She panics, tries to turn around, tries to grab hold of someone, instead, she gets pushed off the cliff.

Before that moment, she never doubts the people are her friends.

As she falls, she watches the floor of the valley rushing up to meet her, strangely calm. Just when it seems the end has come, wings unfurl from somewhere and her path makes a sudden rapid turn. She swoops up, joyful, and revels in the freedom. She forgets the mysterious people in her moment of glory, never questioning the whys and wherefores of her dream.

After that, the dream usually consisted of her floating in the air, unable to change speed or direction, just flying in no direction in particular. She'd wake up in a pleasant mood, rarely remembering the dream for long.

This time, however, out of nowhere the valley became an ocean, in the middle of a grey moment in time, it was impossible to tell when. After her wings appeared, she heard the sound of another set of wings, bigger, stronger wings. Following her. As usual, however, Daithi had no control of her movement, so could only listen as the sound drew closer.

Ominously, she started feeling the air whooshing past her, driven by the beating of those monstrous wings. Buffeted, Daithi started to panic, searching the ocean below her for some source of help... to see, almost below her, a... ship? Close and possibly manned... She tried to head down, away from whatever was attached to those giant wings. She wondered to herself what was the use of wings that didn't listen to her, but just then, something hard, and scaly (a claw?) brushed her back, jostling her from her path.

It was distracting enough to make her forget what it felt like to fly. She couldn't work out whether the wings beat individually, or together...

Daithi fell.

Randomly, Daithi thought at least this part of the dream seemed a little bit familiar, before continuing her fall towards the ship. The dream wings seemed to have vanished again, anyway.

OOC: Edited to read better.

[Ranhild Pheldroppe]

OOC: Welcome, Daithi

"The knife-waving one? You actually want to go near her?" Jonathan couldn't believe his ears. He pouted a little, then ruffled up the feathers around his neck, the closest he could get to a shrug. "You'll have to do that alone. I'm letting you out of here and then I'm gone. An Aetherial Gull has lots of work to do. I can't afford to lose a whole day with you, can I?"

Jonathan cawed smugly and then took to the air, diving straight into the wall of the cabin. He passed through without struggle and then disappeared from their sight. In a few flickers, the latch clicked and the door swung open. The gull clung to the boards, squeaking.

"I knew I could do it!" he panted. "This thing - what's-it-called - the thing that you push back and forth to open the door - it's quite easy to open, really. For me, at least!"

He let go of the latch and alighted in front of the door, landing squarely on his feet and squatting down. Now, at this particular moment, the weather was still gray. No blue sky, no sun - and no shadows either. Had the shining orb not neglected its duties and risen, Turelie and Aurael would have noticed a small round shadow fall over their feathery saviour and grow larger and larger with every split flicker.

As it was, Jonathan just puffed and preened his feathers, with no idea of the fate that was about to (literally) fall on his head. However, thankfully enough he happened to look up at the last moment and scramble out of the way with a shriek of fear. Just in time too. With a loud thud!, the body of a young halfling met the boards where he had been sitting just a moment earlier.

"Darling, people can't fly," the gull winced.

[Guest]

A large grin appeared on Aurael’s face as the door swung open. He stepped out of the prison and began to look around the immediate area so they weren’t caught by one of the pirates. Seeing that no one was around he relaxed slightly and turned his attention to Jonathan, “Thanks for letting us out”. He smiled at Turi, as being freed from the prison was the best thing that’d happened to him in awhile, and was about to survey the area further when suddenly he noticed that something had almost landed on Jonathan. He walked over to the mass, which was on the floor, and crouched down beside it, he soon realized that they now had a half-ling in their presence. Not sure what to say to someone who’d just fallen out of nowhere Aurael patted her shoulder gently, “Are you alright? It look’s like you took quite a fall”.

[Daithi Ar Avonford]

There's a reason why you wake up before you hit the ground in dreams.


IT REALLY, REALLY HURT.


Luckily, being small, solid and pretty well padded (even for a halfling), Daithi was able to land without breaking anything. The fall had knocked the wind out of her, though, and she was feeling more than a bit dizzy. She may have hit her head at some point.

"....can't fly..."

"..alright?.... fall..."

She heard the words, and could feel the concerned patting, but they didn't really mean anything to her just yet. Slowly, slowly, she concentrated on figuring out how things worked again. A far away part of her mind wondered at the level of detail in this dream.. the bruised shoulder was a remarkable touch...

When Daithi could open her eyes, and could carefully roll over on to her back, she searched the sky, blinking a bit as her eyes had some trouble focussing. She couldn't remember what had happened. Why was everything so grey? It felt dreamlike..

Moving gingerly, Daithi sat up.

Her eyes fell upon the dark haired achadiel nearby, and then upon the gull, who was watching with one beady eye fixed upon her. She seemed to be upon a boat, in any case, facing a cabin with the door ajar. She wondered if she'd imagined the flicker of movement within.

She couldn't trust herself to speak just yet, the pain making her wonder whether this really could be a dream, after all.

But.... a gull?

[Turi]

OOC: Sorry. Spank me if I’m being naughty, but the idea was too fun not to play with.

The Halfling. It – no, she – had just fallen out of the... up. You couldn't really call it a sky, Turi decided as she looked outside. There was no sun. There were no shadows, and no horizon. Interesting, but not as interesting as the fact that the Halfling was merely winded, rather than spattered all over the deck.



They were in the Aether...

The normal rules of time and distance didn't apply…
To the sky…
To the gulls…
T o t h e w a l l s …



The flicker of movement increased as Turelie emerged from the cabin, a slightly bewildered frown on her face. Threads of thought were coming together in her mind, and weaving themselves into a Theory.



no day no night no tides no burns

…a Marker might as well be a Pace, a Midweek a Span…

cracks between two boards large enough for a bird to fit through
cracks between the grains of wood in the board



She reeled back from the thought. Don't be stupid, if that were true you'd fall right through the floor, she scolded herself. There was obviously more to the trick, but there were other things to worry about at the moment.

The achadiel was tending to the new arrival as she recovered, and Turelie saw no reason to interfere. She grinned at Jonathan. "My thanks as well," she said to the gull. "Are you sure we can't persuade you to stay for a little longer?"

[Ranhild Pheldroppe]

"Well, ahem," Jonathan coughed again, trying to mask the fact that he was really pleased with himself. There was actually someone asking him to stay a bit more. She just does it because I might be useful, flashed through his mind, but the bird easily persuaded itself that that wasn't the real reason at all. In Jonathan's fancy mind, a Theory was beginning to sizzle, bubble and take shape as well, though it was completely different from that of Turi's. It could all be different... I could go with them and stay with this Turi forever.

"Perhaps I'll stay a bit longer," the gull puffed finally, feeling very important. "Whatever would you do without me?"

"Hey, young lady!" he commanded, hopping over to Daithi. "Wake up! You don't want to stay here all day, do you?"

His words echoed around the boat. The air was silent.
Then there was a sound. A small rap, a knock, coming from somewhere under the humans' feet.

The knocking continued, growing feverish and echoing from the boards on the floor. Was Turelie's theory perhaps not too far from the truth? A muffled cry joined the rapping, a cry on the verge of tears. The voice sounded human enough, but there were no articulated sounds.

"It's coming from there." Jonathan pointed with his wing. Its feathery tip barely touched a small line in the wooden floor, which formed an oddly-shaped form, a pentangle. It looked like a trapdoor, though why someone would choose such a strange shape for a door was beyond anyone's idea.

[Daithi Ar Avonford]

Slowly, slowly, Daithi regained her senses. Sky that was a whole heap of grey, on a boat in the middle of what she'd assumed was water, but was really just more greyness... and somehow she had landed, undignified, in a heap, right in the midst of it all.

Daithi pushed back a niggling thought about where she was. It was a ridiculous thing to suggest. But then again... she still couldn't tell whether this was all real or not.

Ignoring the matter for now, she decided she might be steady enough to try and get to her feet. Not that it really makes much difference, height-wise... Why was it that even in her dreams (if this was a dream) everyone was taller than her? Except for the gull...

The gull that spoke to her just then.

"Hey, young lady!" he commanded, hopping over to Daithi. "Wake up! You don't want to stay here all day, do you?"

Daithi blinked. Had the blow been harder than she'd first imagined? Neither of the other two (for she had noticed the human woman standing in the doorway by now) seemed surprised by the talking gull.

Just at that moment, while Daithi tried to think of an answer that was not a confused 'Buhh?' sound, knocking began from underneath them. And a voice, crying. The gull (speaking again) identified where it was coming from, and Daithi at first couldn't tell what he was pointing at.

With her head still aching, along with ribs (and most of her body) that just felt like one massive bruise, she struggled to her feet and walked a few steps towards the trapdoor, to examine it better. She looked for a way to open it. Focussing on finding out what was underneath them momentarily distracted her from the other two on board with her.

One thing she had to admit to herself, wherever here was, it was still good to feel ship planks under her feet again, and feel the gentle rolling as the ship moved with the waves.

[Guest]

OOC:sorry about the short post.

Leaving the Halfling to recover he quickly approached the trapdoor.”Should I open it? What if there’s something in there that’ll alert the pirates?” Aurael’s imagination began to run wild with all sorts of crazy and impossible scenarios he ignored them and let his curiosity take over. He crouched down and placed his hands around the door. He lifted the door and stumbled backwards, leaving the door he quickly crawled around to the gap in the floor and peered into gap to see who or what was inside.