Over the Waves Part 9 (The Island of Wisdom)

Morning showed no obvious place to seek harbor.  Binggongchang skirted beneath the rocky cliffs of the new continent, close enough to enjoy fragrant breezes but without finding a place to put the boat ashore.  After a few hours, the tantalizing cruise seemed to offer something better-- a verdant island with a deepwater harbor with a channel that was navigable into its interior-- a huge flooded cave. 

Shoji and Bo Jing who had improved on their rudimentary knowledge of sailing during the course of the voyage were able to bring the Binggongchang to a natural dock.  Artful placement of the gangplank allowed the passengers to walk down to a gravel beach without getting their feet wet.  The dripping water sounded like music.  Or maybe that was music, even singing.

Was this Party Island at last?

No,  it was her older, wiser older sister.  About half the sailors refused to get off the ship.

The leaders of the expedition, however, were intrigued and after disembarking made their way eagerly toward a gentle light.  They met a man there who introduced himself as Saridan and invited them to join him in meditation. 

Weeks passed.  Those who weren't familiar with seaweed salad learned to love it.

And then it was time for The Tests.

Hyamsam was brought into a small room and told to sit at a table and watch a rock until it jumped.  It seemed boring and pointless but (with some meta-game encouragement from White Bear) he persisted.  Saridan reward him with this lesson-- moderation in all things including patience, especially when someone asks you to wait for a rock to jump.

Shoji was brought a shrine dedicated to The Path of the Red Mountain and invited to re-dedicate it to his own School.  Although he found the practitioners of The Path of the Red Mountain to be insufferable busybodies, he allowed that their beliefs affirmed goodness in thought, word, and action, and that he refused to treat his faith as a tribal affinity.  He declined to disturb the rival shrine.  Saridan congratulated him.

Next, Saridan invited Bo Jing into a cave lined with swords and asked him a provoking question.  "What would you do if I tried to kill you?"  Bo Jing laughed off the piece of hypothetical sophistry.  When Saridan picked upa fiery sword, Bo Jing drew his katana and fended off a flurry of attacks without seeking to strike Saridan.  Saridan congratulated Bo Jing on his ability to defend himself without excessive force and gifted him with the fiery sword.

Finally, Saridan led Bangqiu and Bayan to a cave with a seemingly bottomless pit in the center.  He told them that they would be leaving the island soon but that he would answer a call for help if they were willing to sacrifice their most valuable possession.  After some debate between the two of them Bayan cast her magical sword-- a gift from her mentor Beatriss-- into the pit.  Bangqiu, reasoning that even though he didn't see much use in the Blood Gem Crucible, he had fought a dragon to get it and assassins to keep it, and thus it was, objectively, the most valuable.  He cast it away with little reluctance.  Saridan scolded them for their lack of confidence in their own abilities but promised that he would honor his promise.

Shoji and Bo Jing were each presented with an additional gift, a glowing pearl, that when dissolved in saltwater, resulted in a bubbling ruby-red drink that was sweeter than honey.

Everyone else-- except those sailors who had refused to leave the ship-- got a vial of holy water.

Over the Waves Part 8 (Another Blind Captain)

In the tense days after the ghost ship encounter, Shoji tended to Bayan and the most shaken sohei, many of whom had suffered spiritual or mental trauma from their contact with the crate. As their minds cleared, Bayan requested to see the contents again.

Bangqiu claimed the mirror — the most obviously magical item. Bayan identified a functional astrolabe and chronometer among the odd metal pieces, intuiting their purpose. Bo-Jing quietly pocketed a set of intricate keys, believing they must unlock something important. The jar of dark liquid, too strange to keep and too dangerous to discard, was entrusted to Shoji.

The remaining contents — oddly-shaped metals and rotting books — were given to Bangqiu for future study.

But the real threat was hunger. Hyamsam shared his food with the sailors, and Captain Won asked Bangqiu to requisition rations from the sohei. Bangqiu agreed — enforcing shared rations across the ship. The crew’s mood improved, and with long oars, they rowed day and night, trying to escape the stillness of the sea.

Then things broke.

During sparring with Bo-Jing, a sailor hurled a hammer at Captain Won. It missed — but signaled a mutiny. More than a dozen sailors attacked. Won cut down several, even as Hyamsam turned against him, firing magic missiles. The rest overwhelmed him. Bangqiu appeared on deck, commanding them to stop.

The sailors, afraid, obeyed. Bangqiu demanded answers. The crew confessed: Won had threatened that if they didn't obey, he was going to let Bangqiu eat them. As Won stood up and killed another crewman, Bangqiu struck him down with a blast of blue-green energy. The sailors finished him off.

They named Hyamsam their new captain, who promised to sail to “Party Island” — a myth Won had used to keep them in line.

That night, Bangqiu searched the captain’s cabin, uncovering the truth: Won had long since given up on escaping the doldrums. In his cabin, Bangqiu took out Sakatha’s ring. He turned it, imagining faraway places. The ring turned to lead and cracked.

A wind rose. The ship turned north. The current swept them east. In five days, they saw land: a vast continent.

That night, the crew danced. Shoji led meditations, joined by Bo-Jing and three students. But inside the ship, the jar of dark liquid boiled violently, shaking as if possessed. Shoji hurled it out the window.

It exploded.

From the steam and shattered glass, a man emerged, newborn and slick-skinned, but Shoji recognized the face — twisted, skeletal, now soft and blank — the undead captain reborn.

He hit the water and disappeared. Bayan, awake, saw the figure in the moonlight, clutching something to his chest as he sank beneath the waves.

Over the Waves Part 7 (The Blind Captain)

At dawn, the Binggongchang drifted through still waters when the lookout spotted a ghost ship approaching — silent, splintered, and crewed by a full complement of animated skeletons. It moved without wind or sail, dragged across the sea by three massive rusted chains, each pulled by something submerged.

As the ghost ship closed in, one of its crew climbed the mast — a skeletal figure dressed in the once-elegant cloak and hat of a merchant-captain, his face hidden behind tight, white bandages. When he reached the top, he transformed — soft, pink flesh bloomed into a clumsy, winged horror, which lurched into the air and landed in the crow’s nest of the Binggongchang.

There, Bangqiu appeared midair, invisible no more, and unleashed a barrage of magic missiles, ripping away the creature’s outer flesh to reveal a skeletal face grinning beneath.

“Oh, a wizard!” it said with glee. “I’ve been looking for another wizard. I think we can help each other.”

On the deck below, chaos stirred. Bo-Jing, eager to strike, misjudged the distance and fell into the sea. There, he found the chains belonged to three scaled and clawed monsters, fishlike and fiendish, pulling the ghost ship forward. They lunged for him — but he drew upon his ki and a blessing from Shoji, grabbing one of the chains and vaulting upward. He scaled the side of the ghost ship, dodging fangs and slashing as he climbed, leaping from wall to mast in a storm of blade and water.

Back in the sky, Bangqiu hesitated at the creature’s offer. He responded with a trio of flaming shurikens — but they were deflected by a giant skeletal hand conjured from nothing. The fight was on.

“Why am I fighting this one alone?” Bangqiu shouted.

Shoji called back calmly, already directing the crew to stay below. He called on sacred light, shielding Bangqiu from the worst of the lich’s magic. He moved through the fray, chanting prayers and guiding his allies — a steadying force amid the mayhem.

Bayan attempted to climb the mast but was caught in a web spell, dropped by the lich. Arrows passed harmlessly through the lich’s spectral body until Damai’s magical shots found purchase. Bangqiu and Hyamsam combined their power, launching a final wave of elemental fury that brought the creature down — it vanished in a burst of flame.

With the captain gone, the deck skeletons crumbled to dust. Meanwhile, Bo-Jing killed the sea monsters, severing the ghost ship’s means of propulsion.

The group crossed to the ghost ship and descended into its rotten interior. Beneath the deck, fish-zombies waited in the shadows, but sunlight piercing the hull held them at bay. Following Shoji’s advice, the party broke open more holes in the deck to let in the light.

Bayan crashed through the rotted floor into a pool of ankle-deep water and stood firm in a patch of sunlight. There they discovered a strangely pristine wooden crate, marked with a symbol they had seen before, glowing faintly and sealed tight. When Bayan touched it, she fell into despair and wandered toward the shadows. Shoji and Bangqiu worked together — one casting, the other grounding her spirit — and Bo-Jing dragged her back into the light.

Bangqiu went above desk and called for Kafka’s assistance in opening the crate. About a dozen sohei brought axes to chop their way into it.

 It was grueling work, physically and spiritually. The effort in chopping through a single plank reduced a disciplined monk to tears.  When the hole was large enough, Bangqiu squeezed inside. The contents were strange and-- except for a large, highly-reflective mirror and some spools of gold wire-- did not, at a glance, seem to deserve such protection. Nevertheless, Bangqiu called for baskets, sacks and ropes so that the entire contents of the crate could be removed from the ghost ship to the  Binggongchang. 

As the sun was setting, Bangqiu followed the last of the dubious treasures—a large jar filled with dark liquid—out of the hole and back to his own ship. Once everyone was accounted for, they cast off from the ghost ship, tossing an oil-soaked torch behind them. The sailors had brought up the long oars and those who had strength joined them in rowing the ship slowly forward through the seaweed-choked sea. All night, they watched the ghost ship burning. Those who slept pretended to forget their dreams.

Over the Waves Part 6 (Strange Sightings)

A few days later, the Binggongchang was attacked again, this time by denizens of the deep. Hyamsam spotted something moving toward them at high speed, just below the surface. This something turned out to be a group of about a dozen mermen, who, in surfacing, hurled iron javelins at the ship’s passengers. Hyamsam led the counter-attack—sling stones, arrows, and magic missiles broke up the mermen’s attack. Moments later however, more mermen surfaced, over one hundred, surrounding the ship on all sides. `More frightening, another group of mermen surfaced with what was later referred to as a “demonic eyeball” (Bayan) and “Billy” (Bo Jing). Billy Eyeball was restrained with thick ropes by seven or eight mermen. He struggled ferociously against his captors, but was not friendly to those on the ship either. A beam from his eye stunned several sailors and sohei. This combined with javelins from every direction threatened complete chaos on board the Binggongchang.

 Not all the javelins were hurled as weapons. About a dozen were hooked on one end, and trailed a rope on the other. The mermen were using the hooks to catch hold of the ship itself and pull it to a stop. Shoji chanted a prayer to maintain courage on board the ship abd Captain Won ordered full sails. Bayan and Bo-Jing coordinated the cutting of the tethers. Hyamsam hurled spells at the eyeball wranglers and as their numbers dwindled, they were forced to pull the Billy back under the waves. With the advantages of a strong wind, quick thinking, and sharp blades, the Binggongchang. escaped. The mermen pursued, as the BG passed over an extensive underwater city of stone houses and places, populated by merpeople. On a vast plain of seaweed, Hyamsam counted the wrecks of seven other ships. The mermen continued their pursuit until the Binggongchang had passed over their city.

Captain Won complimented Bo Jing for his bravery at the hostile island and against the fishmen. “If it had been your choice, you would have fought them with your sword, I believe.” And he challenged him to spar, bringing out a pair of wooden swords. He showed himself to be a skilled sword-fighter, more accomplished than Bo-Jing or Bayan. He offered to teach Bo Jing some advanced techniques in exchange for some of the trophies and treasure Bo-Jing had collected. Bo-Jing as reluctant; he did not like the Captain because of the way he treated his crew. But this seemed to be a special opportunity and timely It was likely that Bo-Jing would be pulled into another mortal combat before the voyage was over. A bargain was struck and in fact, Captain Won seemed to benefit from his new role, and was distracted from gratuitously beating his crew.  

And from the weather. A fierce storm overtook the ship, buffeting it from wave to wave for three days and blowing it from its easterly course due northwards. When the storm ended, they founded themselves in a dead calm, in a sea choked with seaweed. Captain Won punished his crew for his shame. And he became vicious in his sparring with Bo-Jing, one day suggesting hey fight with real swords-- to first blood. He won handily—and to relief of Bo-Jing’s friends, made a single slash across the young warriors chest before ending the duel with a smile and a bow. “You have learned much, but I’m still better!” His mood of happy triumph lasted another day in the doldrums, but then he returned to lashing his crew. Hyamsam shared his food with the starving crew members. Bangqiu directly demanded that Won treat his crew better. Captain Won flatly refused to take any advice regarding his methods for performing the job he’d been paid to do—crossing the Unknown Ocean to the land of gold! Bangqiu, after admitting did not wish to turn back, had no choice but to acquiesce.

Temporarily defeated, Bagqiu used his magic to become invisible and hover high above the ship, tethered to the highest mast. From this vantage point, towards dusk, he spotted a ship on the horizon. He shared the news with his friends and Shoji watched the ship with interest. A slight wind had filled the sails of the Binggongchang. The other ship followed behind them throughout the night. By moonlight, Shoji caught the occasional glimpse of the other ship’s sails—its masts were crooked and its sails so badly torn that rather than catch the wind, they fluttered in tatters. Nevertheless, it was moving, in unnatural lurches and gradually closing the distance.

Over the Waves Part 5 (Not Party Island) with guest editor Rainbow Monkey Sock!

Bo-Jing: 

“After a few more days sailing, we found an island that the crew thought was party island. Party island was supposed to be a place where there were going to be food and wine and welcoming women. We discovered instead that there were hostiles. They welcomed us by try to kill us Using spears. They were along  half the beach  in numbers about a 100.  Bangqiu  commanded  a retret. We shot are connons at the the hostile men. There were moaning cause they wanted party island.”

Over the Waves Part 4 (Oil and Water)

The good ship Binggongchang sailed out from Akari and by the end of the day had left behind all sight of land. Captain Won revealed himself to be a harsh taskmaster, stalking the decks with a whip and addressing his crew in tones that ranged from disdainful to explicitly life-threatening. He was, however, very respectful to his passengers, and to the spirits of the sea. On the first morning on the open ocean, he produced an exquisitely-detailed model of the Binggongchang with gold fittings. He asked Shoji to pray over it and then tossed a silver coin to the water, a ritual that he would perform every morning.

Nevertheless, all aboard were awakened the next morning by a ferocious storm. The ship lost her course and the clouds so obscured the sun, that the passengers lost all sense of direction. The Captain ordered all passengers off the deck. After two days of fitful sleep, Bayan was awaked by an odd sound, that of small waves crashing on a beach. The storm had cleared but they were about to hit land. She went above deck and alerted Captain Won. After assuring her that he had already seen the hazard ahead, he made slight adjustments to their course. All the passengers came up to see what first looked the corpse of an enormous whale, pinned by the current on a coral reef just below the surface of the waves.

The ship dropped anchor. Except that it was suspended in the water, the object resembled a long, smooth stone. Much of it was under the water—its full size was at least ten times as long as the ship. The boat was dropped and a small party approach for a closer look. The object was made of dark metal, battered, and badly rusted at the water line. Paddling their boat around it, the party deduced that the object was the hull of a capsized metal ship. Hyamsam sensed a magical aura and detected an eldritch symbol etched into the metal at the center of the hull—that of a burning eye surrounded by arrows pointing in every direction.

The water around the metal ship was covered with an iridescent sheen and the coral was covered with a black sticky substance. Hyamsam experimented a little and learned that the substance burned easily and with great heat. Great quantities of the black oily substance were found inside the metal ship. At Bayan’s suggestion a barrel was ordered from the Binggongchang and filled with the black oil.

The Captain congratulated them on the discovery suggesting that it could be fed to the crew.

After several more days at sea, the voyagers spotted an island just big enough to offer resources. Bo Jing offer to go ashore in the boat, accompanied by Shoji, and two of the sohei. He was oddly unnerved by what he found. Circling the island, he noted a likely landing place, a sandbar connecting the two rocky islets that composed the island. Drawing closer, he noticed the bodies of four sharks on the beach. The circling birds swooped down over the rotting bodies, but each one recoiled before it got close enough to eat. Seeking another place to land, Bo-Jing found another beach, this one bisected by a shallow stream of water. The boat landed. Shoji tested the water and found it good. They followed it upstream to a cave. There was a rusting inside and Bo-Jing decided than rather than entering alone, they should seek reinforcements.

The next day, a much larger group that added Bangqiu, Bayan, and Hyamsam entered the cave. They were attacked by odd, blood-sucking birds, but these were killed or driven off. In following the stream through the cave, they came upon a locked door. When Kafka tried to open the door, he was nearly overcome by intense pain. A symbol glowed on the door—the same symbol that they’d seem on the bottom of the metal ship. Bayan steeled herself and shouldered the door open. Immediately a half-dozen starving giant shrews charged out. The explorers fended them off with swords, spells, and scraps of food. Inside the guarded chamber, they found little that seemed to justify the magical protection—some unfamiliar metal objects that seemed worthless and did not hold any magic dweomer, plus some mouldering tomes in an unknown language. There was a small sack of gold coins and uncut gemstones. But the greatest treasure found in the caves was water-- a large pool that was the source of the stream. The party filled their water barrels with good, clean water.