Over the Waves Part 7 (The Blind Captain)

As morning broke, everyone on board the Binggongchang. could clearly sea the ghost ship and its crew. Two dozen animated skeletons ambled about the deck. It means of propulsion seemed to be something below the surface that was pulling it across the water by three rusty chains. Bangqiu turned invisible,

As the ghost ship got closer, one of their number began the climb the tallest mast. He was dressed in the once-fine clothes of a merchant captain, with an elaborate hat and cloak. His face was completely wrapped in white bandages, but he climbed the rotten ropes of the mainmast without hesitation. Reaching the top, he – or it—metamorphisized into a flabby-winged, vaguely humanoid, pink thing that flew, clumsily from one ship to the other, landing in the crow’s nest of the BG. Immediately, Bangqiu appeared floating in the air beside it and, with a flurry of magic missiles, blasted away the soft pink flesh. The white skeletal creature inside turned to face Bangqiu and said almost gleefully, “Oh, a wizard, I’ve been looking for another wizard, I think we can help each other.”

Meanwhile, those on the deck, prepared to fight the skeleton crew. Bo Jing, in his eagerness, misjudged the distance between the two ships and in trying to leap from one to the other, landed in the sea. The three rusty chains were revealed to belong to three creatures with bodies like men, scales and fins like fish, and claws and fangs like hellspawn. All three attacked Bo Jing. With a special blessing from Shoji and a burst of his own ki power, Bo Jing grabbed one of the chains, and pulled himself out of the water. As the fish fiends lunged for him, Bo Jing, rappelled off the side of the ghost ship, leaping from side-to-side and slashing with his sword.

Captain Won ordered his sailors below decks to avoid the melee. Bangqiu, temporarily confused by the offer from the undead Captain, gave his response in the form of a trio of fiery shurikens. But before they could reach their mark, a gigantic skeletal hand appeared and deflected the missiles. Bangqiu called out to his friends for help. “Why am I fighting this one alone?”

Bayan started to climb up the best, but was both blocked and incapacitated by a giant spider’s web, cast down on her by the undead Captain. The sohei’s arrows passed harmlessly through his body. But Damai shot two magical arrows both of which found their mark. And a blast of steam from Bangqiu passed through the big skeletal hand and half-overcame the horrible invader. Bangqiu dropped to the deck and called out for Hyamsam. Coordinating their magic, the two living wizards, blasted the undead one out of the sky. He disappeared completely in a sudden burst of flame. By this time, Bo Jing had killed the underwater monsters that pulled the ghost ship. The skeletons on the deck simply crumbled to dust.

Shoji threw a rope down for Bo Jing. Bayan, after being cut free from the web, organized a boarding party. A gangplank was laid down and Bangqiu, Bo Jing, Shoji, and Bayan all boarded the ghost ship and found a flight of steps to take them below decks. The deck and mast were in bad shape, but the ships’s insides were nearly completely rotten. Bo Jing dropped from the bottom step into ankle-deep water. Sunshine, filtered through holes in the deck, and refracted by the surface of the water, created dancing patterns of light in the gloom. He stood half-dazed, waiting for his eyes to adjust when Shoji grabbed him, urging him to get back up the stairs! There was splashing, howls, and an unearthly scream. Bo Jing’s blade fended off an attack by a fish-zombie like those that had attacked him when he’d fallen in the sea. It was followed by two others, and a spectral form lurked behind the, in the deep shadows. He guarded the party’s retreat back up the stairs. Up on deck, the arty surrounded the top of the stairs, all prepared for a deadly battle. But the evil creatures cowered in the darkness. Shoji recommended that the others assist him in smashing more holes in the deck, and flooding the space below with sunshine. With axes and boots, they enlarged the gaps in the soft, rotten wooden, and in triumph as they watched the life-haters recoil in the vanishing darkness. Inevitably, the overzealous Bayan crashed all the way through. She fought her way into a large patch of light and called for the others to join her. Bangqiu found a beam solid enough to serve as a makeshift ladder, and everyone climbed down.

The undead monsters gnashed their teeth and cursed from the shadows, but Shoji chanted a soft, calming prayer so that his friends could take in their surroundings. A huge wooden box attracted their attention. Roughly cubical, it was taller than a man and the side that was fully illuminated was made of new-looking wood, much finer and more solid-looking than an ordinary crate or anything else on the ship. Bayan touched it and immediately regretted it, dropping her sword in a sudden mood of deep despondence to wander toward the shadowy bulkhead where the monsters lurked. The arrow design glowed wickedly on the side of the box. Bangqiu transfixed Bayan with hi magic and Bo Jing pulled her back into the light. Bangqiu went above desk and called for Kafka’s assistance. About a dozen sohei brought axes to chop their way into the box.

 It was gruelling work, physically and spiritually. The effort in chopping through a single plank reduced a discipline monk to tears. As the hole expanded. The monsters ben working on ehe other side, but they were not immune to the box’s terrifying psychic effects. When the hole was large enough, Bangqiu squeezed inside. The contents were strange and, except for a large, highly-reflective mirror, did not, at a glance, seem to deserve such protection. Nevertheless, he 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.