In the Heart of Anvard (My Kingdom For a Horse): Free RP

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#.@. Siawn .@.# (etc.)

OOC: Tsk, tsk. What did we say about NPCs? :rolleyes:

Siawn heads for the cabin assigned to him and to Locrian for the duration of the voyage. He is, truth be told, unable to stomach more of the crew's company.

As if I did not know my way around a ship.

He gathers quill and parchment from his satchel and begins to scribble a note. When this is completed, he hides it under a loose floorboard of his cabin.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Arlis's lackeys eventually return to collect the appropriate paperwork from the marsh wiggle captain. It is scrutinized closely to make sure that each blank space is filled out correctly on all three copies.

Meanwhile, his paid whisperers soon inform the Steward of the rumors spreading amongst the military. Being the career politician that he is, Arlis is owed quite a few favors. It takes only the bureaucrat's signature, and both soldier and superior find themselves transferred to a nice, dilapidated barracks far north of the city, where they will spend their time defending the walls against rats and dive bombing pigeons.

Arlis finally returns to Woefulgut. "All of the forms seem to be in order. We'll certainly do what we can to look into this distressing matter. You'll be notified once your petition has be addressed.
 
~ ~ You said there could be _some_ NPC's; and it was perfectly logical that the castle would not be empty. As for Arlis, he could not be serving Jadis better if she were paying him....which makes me wonder.


Seeing that he was thwarted from seeing anyone with a brain, Woefulgut hurried back to where the "Forlorn Hope" was docked, pausing only to buy a few loaves of bread on the way--and to get word to Tarnod to tell the refugees they were on their own. Finding Gareth and three other men with his vessel, plus the newly-recruited brothers and the Cat, he told them: "We have to get out of here at once. The King of Archenland is being kept blinded to the true situation, either by the stupidest imbeciles ever born to Adam's race, or by the most despicable villains who ever _betrayed_ Adam's race. I've brought bread; I can catch fish for us, and we can fill the water casks, as we sail back down the river. As quickly as you can without _looking_ anxious, hoist the sails and cast off."
 
'Yes!' Flower heard a voice inside her yell.
Unsure exactly what to do without getting in the way, Flower jumps on the ship and sits on the rail, her tail swishing back and forth imaptiently.
 
As First Mate Gareth was carrying out his Captain's orders, Woefulgut approached the Cat. "Furry friend, you see that we're shorthanded. All must contribute what they can. For the most part, you will be contributing enough if you serve as lookout aloft; but I may be asking you to perform other tasks at times, such as going below and examining the hull for leaks."
 
Watching out carefully for the movements of any other watercraft, lest he be accused of violating river-traffic rules, Woefulgut got the "Forlorn Hope" underway and headed downstream. At least this was less labor-intensive than sailing upstream.

As soon as work permitted, Gareth asked his Captain, "Isn't this making a waste of all the time you spent in the castle to make your information known?"

The Marshwiggle grunted in a bullfrog-like manner. "I'm convinced now that it was _already_ a waste from the start. That scoundrel Arlis won't help us, and as far as it's in his power he'll prevent _anyone_ from helping us. I set sail for two reasons. One, I wouldn't put it past Arlis to invent some excuse to arrest us. Two, whether we have help or not, the humans still inside Narnia are quickly running out of time."
 
Flower scurried up the mast and perched on top of it. She looked back at the slowly dimishing shore.

'Bye friends, don't worry about me, I'll be back, and when I'm back I'll have Middy with me.' she thinks, half of her is happy that she's headed back to Narnia to find her brother, the other is sad that she's leaving her friends.

"Anyway it goes I'm supposed to be keeping watch," she says to herself, "But what am I watching for anyway? I guess anyone who looks hostile." she shruggs and procedes to watch for anyone 'looking hostile'.
 
Taking on himself the job of steering the ship, Woefulgut called out to Flower to inform him of any ships or boats on the river, anyone swimming in the river, and any sign of obstacles. "If something's in front of us, you simply say that it's ahead; if alongside, say it's abeam; if behind, say it's astern. Left side is port, right side is starboard. Any object that's getting nearer to us, you say is closing. It may sound silly to use these separate terms, but by using them, your hearer knows that you're talking about things which affect the ship."
 
'Oh great, now I gotta learn names of stuff.' Flower remebers a time when she was little that she and her siblings were playing a game using code-words.... which she failed at.
 
Woefulgut

"Here, Flower, I'll help you. Watch Gareth. Gareth, tell me what you see to starboard."

The First Mate, in the middle of inspecting the rigging from deck level, replied, "I see a cluster of six or seven houses on the south bank of the river, with shingled roofs." These were, of course, a feature which would be plainly visible to Flower.

"What do you see to port?"

Gareth strode across to the opposite rail. "To the port, right abeam of us in the water, there are some fallen tree branches floating alongside."

"What is astern of us?"

"The city of Anvard."

"And what is ahead of us?"

"Eventually, the Eastern Ocean."
 
OOC: lol this reminds me of a time when I had to say how far to back a hay wagon into a barn and I kept getting it wrong.:p

IC: Flower tries to remeber the names and directions, but thankfully nothing seems to be happening around the ship.

'Wonder how long it'll be till we get to the sea. I've only seen the sea once, then barely.' she thinks.
 
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Woefulgut

~ ~ Actually, Flower HAS seen the sea before: on the very first day she made the mail flight with Retaw. They were carrying a letter to the wealthy merchant called Squire Spalik, who proved friendly. This should come to Flower's mind once she hears what Woefulgut will now say.


"If we had more hands aboard, we would be able to hoist more sail, and make it to the seaport maybe as quickly as tomorrow sunrise. As it is, we're not moving very much faster than the river's own flow, so I would guess our arrival at the ocean as no sooner than tomorrow night. I wish we could identify someone influential who was more helpful than that toad Arlis, who could provide us at least two or three more sailors to handle this ship on the open sea."
 
Copperfox said:
~ ~ Actually, Flower HAS seen the sea before: on the very first day she made the mail flight with Retaw. They were carrying a letter to the wealthy merchant called Squire Spalik, who proved friendly. This should come to Flower's mind once she hears what Woefulgut will now say.
Click to expand...

OOC: sorry, I'm a bit absent minded today. I edited my before post.

IC: 'Ok good news; I get on the one ship thats headed back to Narnia. Bad news; we're going slower than a loaded rowboat on the Great River thats going against the flow.' thinks Flower, but the image of a loaded rowboat trying to go aganist the flow of a river makes her giggle.
 
A moment later, the wind direction shifted so that it was coming from straight behind them. "Running before the wind is simpler than tacking and reaching," remarked the Marshwiggle Captain. "Gareth! We'll take a small chance, and unfurl the topsails--just for as long as we have the wind astern."

The few men on board performed the procedure of unrolling the topsails from their yardarms and securing them in the open position, catching additional wind. Soon the "Forlorn Hope" had visibly increased its speed.
 
When sail-handling allowed it, a crewman asked Flower to come to where Woefulgut still stood handling the steering oar. "Friend Cat," said the Marshwiggle, "I suppose it is too much to hope for that you might have made some friends in the seaport during the short while that you were assisting that Gryphon to deliver mail?"


(The answer should be yes, the prosperous merchant Squire Spalik.)
 
Copperfox said:
When sail-handling allowed it, a crewman asked Flower to come to where Woefulgut still stood handling the steering oar. "Friend Cat," said the Marshwiggle, "I suppose it is too much to hope for that you might have made some friends in the seaport during the short while that you were assisting that Gryphon to deliver mail?"


(The answer should be yes, the prosperous merchant Squire Spalik.)
Click to expand...

OOC: Flower never told anyone on the ship about the mail delivery with Retaw as I recall......:confused:
 
~ ~ But Woefulgut had time to speak with locals before his attempt to ask help from Steward Arlis, and the novelty of the new mail service was being talked about all over Anvard from its outset. The owner of the Northaway Inn saw to that from day one, in order to increase business; and Retaw never made a secret of his taking off with a mail pouch.
 
OOC: mkay. by the way, is it logical for some of Flowers friends to be looking for her by now?

IC: 'Firstly how did anyone find out I took part in the mail delivery? And second of all....' Flower thinks to her zig-zagish mail route.

"In fact I guess we did." she says aloud, "Why do you ask?"
 
~ ~ The fact of a Cat being in the activity with the Gryphon is another thing which was never kept secret. Pindra, Goewyn and the one daughter of Goewyn's who is old enough to know the difference, would certainly wonder what had become of Flower. But however slowly this RP is going for us, for the characters it has been less than eight hours since Flower would have seen her human friends at the inn; and they would be aware of the go-it-alone tendencies of cats.


"The reason I speak of this," Captain Woefulgut explained, "Is that we desperately need more sailors. Counting myself and the two brothers who joined us today, we have only seven men to handle everything on board. There could be weather conditions on the way back north which would require every effort all seven of us can make to keep the ship steady; but we can't all stay awake twenty-four hours a day for three or four days in a row. If you know anyone of any influence in the port, someone who isn't under the thumb of that pig Arlis, he might be able to find us two or three new volunteers--enough men to give us TWO shifts for the trip."
 
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