IceAndWave/NecessaryRepairs

Necessary Repairs

In which water breathing is explained, more cephalopods arrive, and company is announced...

The 6th Day of Descending Wood, Realm Year 763

Sian watches from the shadows of the door leading down to the crew section of the Jaunty Rose as Cassia and Venia head down the side and onto the island. Cassia's reasons for going are fairly obvious, but Venia was on her feet even before the girl when asked. Rook requested that Sian stay behind, his ability to operate underwater could speed the repairs noticeably. He agreed to this, as he wants to get out of here as soon as possible, but he still worries about the women.

Inside the barge, the lower deck is still filled with almost a foot of water, teams of sailors manning the pumps night and day prevent the bottom of the vessel sinking any further than it already has, while other teams work on patching the large hole that was torn in the bottom of the ship.

Sian hrms a bit, turning back from the doorway and pondering. He should probably get back to helping fix the ship...

Ealene bumps into Sian as she comes out on deck, "Oh, sorry!"

"Oof... hey. It's fine."

"I thought you were going out to look for food or... those things?"

"The others have. I'm staying to help with the repairs."

"Oh... I can see why the Captain would ask you." She smiles, "What's it like, breathing water?"

"Sorta weird the first time you do it. After a while, it feels like breathing normally, except the air is a lot heavier."

Ealene blinks and grins, "So that's why fish always look out of breath?"

"Heh. Guess so." He grins back.

"I need to get back to work. Even like this, there's always something to do..." She squeezes past Sian, "See you later?"

"Yeah, sure." He waves as she goes.

The proreus, a foul-mouthed little man who calls himself Stone taps Sian on the shoulder, "Cap'n Rook said you were going to help us?"

"Yes, I'm on my way down now."

Sweating sailors work around the hole, cutting the torn wood with poor tools to make a more-or-less square shape that is far easier to patch. Planks and beams of wood lie in waterproof canvas on top of crates all around, ready for when the patching can finally begin.

Sian waits patiently for his part of the job to begin, as he is rather bad at this sort of woodworking.

Stone nods as temporary beams are nailed into place over the hole, providing a bridge for the repair to hold on to. "Right," he turns to Sian, "We need you to get underneath and hold the planks up against the beams, so they can nail them into place."

"Mhmm." He considers whether or not to remove his jacket, then decides that leaving it on is best; he can always dry his clothing out, but hypothermia is a bit more difficult to get rid of.

One of the sailors passes Sian a plank just cut to size and a couple of others make ready with the nails and hammers.

Sian nods to the man, taking a deep (if unneeded breath) and hops down into the hole.

The water is, as yesterday, freezing cold, but Sian's anima wraps around him protecting him from the worst. The water is murky, suspended sand and dirt reducing visibility to approximately ten feet, at best.

Sian sighs, which would be rather worrying if he wasn't a Water aspect, and gets to work.

The plank shudders in Sian's grasp as the nails are hammered through the beams and into it, then a small hammer is passed into the water for Sian to knock the ends of the nails down. Just then, in the murk surrounding him, Sian sees... something moving, a fuzzy shape visible more through the disturbance it creates in the water than anything else.

Sian pauses just as he was about to strike the nail, frowning at the shape. Hrm. Should have brought my javelins.

Whatever it is disappears a minute or so after Sian sees it, the sand-filled water returning to its usual apparent emptiness.

Sian hrms again, then pokes his head up through the hole. "Would someone mind grabbing my javelins for me? Just to be safe."

One sailor runs off to Sian's cabin, while Stone says, "Something wrong?"

"Not yet. But its better to be careful." He sinks back down, returning to his work whilst he waits.

The javelins in their black and blue sheath are soon delivered to Sian through the hole in the bottom of the boat, during which time a few more planks have been nailed into place. Then, away in the murk, the shape is back, drifting lazily around...

Sian eyes it carefully after shouldering the sheath, but doesn't stop hitting in nails. Provoking whatever it is probably isn't smart, and maybe it'll just get bored and leave.

It continues to swim around, out of clear visibility, but its shape becomes more distinct, long and wavy with a bulbous front end and about as long as two men. And then, behind it, a second one appears...

Sian continues to steadily hammer in more nails, casually letting the sheath swing into easy reach.

The shapes continue to move ever closer, a little at a time, until their long, bulbous shapes are clearly visible through the sandy water, strange octopus-like creatures. They stop moving for a moment, and then rush forwards to the attack, tentacles splayed out and ready!

Sian throws the hammer back through the hole so as not to lose it, doing a neat half-turn and pushing off of the bottom of the boat, heading into deeper water and sending a javelin at each creature as he goes.

The first javelin sinks deep into the flesh of the creature, leaving a trail of ice in the water behind it as it travels, while the second glances off the thick hide of its target, causing little more than irritation.

The second creature rushes forwards, water swirling behind it, as it attacks. It slams hard into the lower hull of the Jaunty Rose, its nest of tentacles trying to grab at Sian as well as thrusting up through the hole in the bottom of the vessel.

Sian performs a quick loop, spinning around and underneath the creature in an attempt to confuse it.

The creatures attacks against Sian are unsuccessful, its one strike glancing off his breastplate. It's attacks against the sailors are more successful, as evinced by the crimson cloud and strangled gurgling screams coming from nearby as an unfortunate crewman is pulled through into the water.

Sian is not pleased with this, coiling into a corkscrew dive upwards and slicing at the tentacles as he goes past.

The flailing tentacles of the creature deflect Sian's attacks, keeping the icy tips of his javelin away from the body of the beast, before it lunges forwards again, its tentacles trying to wrap around Sian and pull him into the vicious beak that has already shredded one unfortunate sailor.

Sian lets out a breath as the thing squeezes, long bruises appearing on his skin. He grimaces, and with great effort reaches back, grabbing another pair of javelin and flinging them straight into the thing's grasping beak, the thin lines of ice it leaves behind slowly sinking.

The thing shudders beneath the frigid assault, squealing and filling the water with its own greenish ichor. Its limbs go limp and release both Sian and the dead sailor as it floats upwards.

Its companion suddenly appears in the form of a second nest of rubbery limbs that lunge through the blood of its compatriot to attack Sian, its limbs wrapping around Sian to pull him in.

While the thing gets a good hold onto Sian its weakened limbs are unable to inflict more than minor injury on him, the rubbery suckers unable to affect his breastplate much.

Sian grimaces, wrenching the tentacles off of him with a vicious twist, arms out wide as he finishes and javelins flying from his hands.

The creature screams much like its companion, and freezes solid after the impact of Sian's first shot, the second impact shattering the creature into pieces which float up and begin to slowly melt, leaving Sian free in the murky, bloody water below the Rose.

Sian coughs, then tries to hold his breath as he surfaces, moving back to the hole.

The sailors stand at ready with their weapons when Sian's head emerges from the water, "Oh, thank the gods! We thought you were dead!"

Sian coughs again, hauling himself up, somewhat stiff. "Not quite."

"What were those things? They got Rabbit!"

"Dunno." He sits on the edge of the hole for a moment. "Sorry I couldn't get them fast enough."

"Are they... are they gone?"

"Those two, yes." He takes a deep breath, to make sure any ribs aren't cracked, then carefully sinks back in. "Just gimme a minute to find my weapons, and we can get going again."

"Are you sure?"

"Longer we hang around, the more of a chance we fight something like that again, or worse. I'm sure." He slides beneath the water, locating his wayward javelins.

The work continues for some time, planks being cut to fit the hole and then being hammered into place. It's two-thirds done when bells start ringing across the ship, and the sailors working in the hold rush to their feet and grab weapons.

Sian hears the muffled ringing, resurfacing quickly. "What's happening?"

"Something's happening topside. Alarms bells... oh..." the bells stop just as quickly as they started and Stone calls out from above, "The girls are back! And they might've brought company!"

"Wonderful..." He mutters to himself, and goes up to meet them.