Ghosts of Gauntcliff: Chapter Six

[ewancummins]

Everline-

Salt stings her raw hands as she attempts to pull herself along the rope, still submerged. Something bumps against her back, something big.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Even drowning, Everline can only be Everline. She lashes out and grabs the thing that just bumped her, every line of her face blazing defiance even if her eyes and voice cannot. If at all possible, she uses the thing to claw or roll her way back into breathable air!

[ewancummins]

Even drowning, Everline can only be Everline. She lashes out and grabs the thing that just bumped her, every line of her face blazing defiance even if her eyes and voice cannot. If at all possible, she uses the thing to claw or roll her way back into breathable air!

She claws at the hard surface, but her fingers slip.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

'Never surrender, never back down!' Everline shouts at herself in her mind. She draws a dagger, kicks out toards the big object with all her strength, and stabs...!

[ewancummins]

EVERLINE

Hauling herself with the last bits of strength left in her battered body, she rolls out of the water and onto a large hunk of floating wood.


After she catches her breath and her eyes clear, Everline gets a look at the big piece of flotsam that saved her life: a varnished and carved figurehead in the shape of a monster that combines stag and eagle in one.
One end of the rope around her waist is snagged in the wooden effigy's antlers.
There's something eerily familiar about this carving...

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Shivers run over Everline's back, but she shakes it off, snarling at herself in anger.

"Pull me in!" she roars at the people on the beach. "Put your backs into it, I'm snagged on the bleedin' figurehead! Pull!"

She braces herself so the pull will be on the wood, and not so much on her...

[ewancummins]

Workers on the beach haul Everline and the figurehead through teh foggy sea, past the dim bulk of the wrecked ship.

After a few minutes of towing, the wood scrapes against rock and sand. The fogs thins as little, and Everline finds herself surrounded by sailors and servants.

One of the tars inquires,

''Ye okay, lass?"

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Embarrassed ta me bones, aye, but alive," Everline grumbles as she loosens the rope. "Bleedin' luck, comin' out here ta help folk an' needin' ta be saved, me own sel'!" Still grumbling, Everline clambers down off the figurehead. "Hell of a thing ta make," she says, and janks her dagger out of the figurehead's wooden bulk. "Any a'ye hear anyaught people alive out there?"

[ewancummins]

" Dunno yet how many are still missing. A few poor souls were taken. "

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Taken?" Everline repeats. "Taken by what? An' have any a'the sloops washed up? We could use 'em ta look fer survivors better."

[ewancummins]

"Taken?" Everline repeats. "Taken by what? An' have any a' the sloops washed up? We could use 'em ta look fer survivors better."

''The sloop? You mean the Peryton? Girl, you're sitting on the figurehead. "

A familiar figure in a blue jacket steps forward. Even soaked in seawater, Captain Griffith is an impressive man.

''She means did any skiffs make it ashore. Girl's not a sailor. Doesn't know the jargon."

The ruggedly handsome, if rather bedraggled, captain turns to Everline and bows.

''Good to have you aboard my ship again, or what's left of her. And thanks for helping with the rescue. Now you run along and get warmed up before you catch your death of cold or get yerself drowned. I’m thankful for your help, but Sancerre will kill me if I let you get yourself killed. The rocks an’ the tide’ll kill you if you don’t know ‘em, or maybe even if you do.."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Sod, 's you!" Everline says, surprised, recognizing the captain who brought the party to the island. "Ah, righ'. Sancerre got ye on retainer ta be his ferry-man, did he? Curse the luck, this ship runnin' aground! We needed ta get people off this rock, there's terrible danger 'ere, come crawlin' outta the dark! There were supposed ta be a warnin' sign fer ye not ta approach the place, but ta send yer... skiffs? Yer skiffs, an' fetch folk! Wha' happened?"

She turns to the sailor who just addressed her and says: "Aye'n all, skiffs, dinghies, whate'er ye call 'em: the little boats what hang on the big'uns in case they sink, so's people can survive. Did any'a them wash up fer us ta use ta save more people? An' what in da name a'Resftul Dark didya mean by sayin' folks were taken?"

[ewancummins]

Captain Griffith answers for the sailor.


''He just means the poor folks are dead, taken by the sea."

The captain squats down and stretches his arms over his head till something pops in his back or shoulders.

"'Ahhh... Now, then- A small ship like the Peryton doesn't carry too many boats. We just had a couple of wee ones. Sancerre has a bigger boat, but it seems as that one aint available. Now, I've got both ship's boats out there lookin' for anyone left on the water. They tell me the boy, the little Lamordian chap, is out there too. Just let the men do their tasks, girl. You ought to help with nursin' the sick and the hurt- before you end up among them. This here is man's work.'

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Everline stares at captain Griffiths for a moment - and then laughs in his face. It is only for a moment, but still.

"I'm righ' grateful ta ye lads fer pullin' me outta tha drink," she says to the servants and sailors who pulled her out. "But I got bad news fer ya: ye ain't safe yet. There's some bastard monster what attacks in nightmare an' no, 's not a 'dainty girl havin' her fancies after a tipple'a sherry an' too many Dead Travel Fast novels'. There's one girl dead a'ready, an' we've all fought tha beast. It looks like a shadow, an' it runs like a coward once it's hurt."

Turning back to Griffiths, Everline asks: "Did ye not see any warnin' beacon? Ye were supposed ta wait out at sea, so's the sconner couldn't get ta the kiddies on yer ship."

(OOC: I wouldn't wish Everline on anyone as a nurse. Then again, it occurs to me now that her wand of CLW might be useful... Still, she couldn't just let Griffiths get away with that comment, could she? Not and still be Everline. )

[ewancummins]

The sailors look aghast. They begin to mutter amongst themselves. Several reach for charms or make the sign against the evil eye.


Griffith stands, laughing. He turns to his men and bawls out, ''Stow that chatter and get your soggy arses back to work! Move along, do the next section, you know the drill, boys."

The men move further down the beach.

The Captain steps up to Everline and grabs her by the right arm, hard.
His voice comes out as an angry hiss.

''You listen to me, willful girl. I don't give a damn if you are Sancerre’s guest, don't go scarin' my crew with haunt stories. You want to see men panic, leaving the sick and injured and the women and children behind, while they grab everything that can float and flee the island? That's what's goin’ to happen if you don't shut your stupid gob, now. Those men have just survived a freak storm and a shipwreck. The last thing the need is fear of the boogie-man added to that. I'll brief my own crew after Sancerre gives me more information from his own mouth. Got it? Good, now go!"