Shadow on the Sand – Attempt 1, Part 1

Shadow on the Sand – Attempt 1, Part 1

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Well, someone mentioned that the last instalment reminded them of an Errol Flynn classic.

I hope you’re a fan of Captain Blood because that comparison is about to become even more apt!

As I attempt to re-board the ship which carried me here, I note to my distress that the gangplank has [gasp!] already been drawn!  In true Flynn fashion, I attempt to leap the gap, but only make it halfway, landing literally on the oars protruding from the ship’s side!

Oarhanger!  Literally!

Aside : Did anyone else know that Errol Flynn originally wanted to call his autobiography ‘In Like Me’?  Awesome, and sleazy, all at the same time…

As I teeter on the (naturally) wet oars, I need to make an R10 check to keep my balance. Thanks to my skill in Hunting (?!)  I have an 80% chance of success…

My R10 of 4 means that I safely make the ship.

However, Mauok, the rapscallion, calls out a threat to all the (Vassagonian) crew that, if I am not handed over, their lives AND THE LIVES OF THEIR FAMILIES will be forfeit.

 

 

Low blow, sir.  Low blow.

As the only other option is to surrender, I take my chances and dive off the ship into the (no doubt) clear and pristine waters of the harbour.

As I repeatedly dive and swim further away from the ship, I attempt to steer away from the rubbish ‘decorating’ the floor of the harbour, and make my way to ships anchored at another part of the harbour.  Just as I thought Mr Dever was going to let me take a breath, a gigantic jellyfish, charmingly called a ‘Bloodlug’ (!) detaches itself from an anchor and propels itself towards me!

 

My skill in Animal Kinship (basically forgotten since Book 2) comes in handy for a change, as I direct the jellyfish into a fight with a squid, while I continue to swim past.

 

 

I surface near a covered skiff (small boat, for those of you who are not naval) and scramble into it, keen to avoid detection.

I seem to be less popular than hair bands after 1992, so I need to divert everyone’s attention.  My skill of Mind Over Matter is useful right about now, as I use the Force [ahem] my skill of Mind Over Matter to remotely topple an earthenware jug of spices, which manages to divert everyone’s attention.

As the soldiers’ are turn their collective attention toward my distraction….

 

 

 

WILL YOU GET YOUR MIND AWAY FROM MS DELPY!!!

 

…..I make my way quietly from boat to boat and then towards a maze of alleyways which I know (!!) leads to the Thieves’ Quarter.

I am less than 20 yards from my goal when I am spotted.  Sprinting up some stairs, I emerge breathlessly into a cobbled courtyard.  My Kai skill of Tracking immediately eliminates one of the three possible exits, leaving me to choose between a gate to my left and a path directly ahead.

Worried that the gate may prove an obstacle, I charge down the path straight ahead.

Aside : No comment as to whether I discard my, apparently, universally recognisable green cloak.

I make it into a market, where I note that everyone is wearing a black sash, in supposed mourning for the Zakhan.  Thinking quickly, I purchase one from a stall (spending 2 Gold Crowns, which appears to be acceptable currency here)

The ‘Happy Birthday’ monogram is obviously an optional extra (or its maybe just reversible, so the sash can be worn at funerals as well as at birthday parties).

I pause in a narrow passage, lined with the detritus of the square and various eating houses, to have a look at a poster, headed by “THE ZAKHAN IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE ZAKHAN’.

While I ponder if British monarchies have a copyright claim against such a headline, I briefly scan the text, noting that it is pure propaganda, extolling the future rule of Zakhan Kimah.

In the meantime, my pursuers enter the square, beheading a cart vendor (!!) whose fruit cart manages to be overturned in their path.

Aside : Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, movie critics extraordinaire, considered it almost compulsory in every city-based chase scene for a fruit cart to be overturned at some point

Thankful for the distraction, while doubtlessly upset by the collateral damage, I hasten along the foul-smelling passage.

I make to to a tree-lined plaza, where the text confirms that both my fair skin and my Kai ‘cloak and tunic’ set me out among the crowd (begging the questions of why I purchased the darn sash in the first place).

I pause for breath outside a tavern appropriately call the ‘Hunted Lord’, and this pause will need to last until my next entry.

 

Base Stats : CS : 17, E : 20, GC 48

Current Stats : CS : 29, E : 26

Weapons : Sommerswerd (+8 CS), Sword

Backpack : 2 Meals, 2 Laumspur potions (+4E),

Special Items : Map, Crystal Star, Shield (+2 CS), Sommerswerd, Padded Waistcoat (+2 E), Chainmail Waistcoat (+4 E) Blue Stone Triangle Pendant, Diamond, Ornate Silver Key, Dagger of Vashna, Black Sash

Kai Rank : Savant

Kai Disciplines : Camouflage, Animal Kinship, Tracking, Hunting, Sixth Sense, Healing, Mind Over Matter, Mindblast (+2CS), Mindshield

Paragraph : 113

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December 12, 2016 at 02:37AM