Voyage of the Empress

[Ria Hawk]

Ellie stood up as the crewman approached.  "She became hysterical and tried to run away from the table.  Her foot tangled in her purse strap, and she fell.  Her ankle seems to be broken, monsieur."  After an attack like that, someone should probably stay with Vivica, but Ellie couldn't do it.  The episode had already made her nervous enough, and the last thing she needed was to be confined in a small space with an already hysterical woman.  Best to let someone else handle it.

[Murometz]

"Lady Ilsa is right of course! Where are my manners! I will stay close to Lady Cameron, I insist! It is the least a gentleman can do, dont you think?  Well...if there are no objections, I shall escort you to your room now madame...now, now..I wont hear any of it. It is the least I can do!"

"My good man, or monsieur whichever you prefer", Henri turned to the newly-arrived authority in the room. "Dont just stand there, help me lift her, and lets get going! Which room number is it now madame?"

[Scrasamax]

"They were crying, the faces in the cards were crying..." Vivica stammered. "Room 14A...first class..."

[Ria Hawk]

Ellie frowned.  Normally, she didn't really believe in that sort of thing, despite what she did for a living.  But something had scared Vivica, badly.  She supposed it just could have been a hallucination, but those didn't happen without cause.  As she trailed along behind the others, she reached into her purse, feeling for a tissue.  Her hand found a crumpled piece of paper, and she pulled it out.  It was from the small tablet she habitually carried around.  She smoothed it out and looked.  There was a short message scrawled across it with the pencil she also carried.  The trouble was, she didn't remember picking the note up, and she had no idea how it had gotten in there.  She frowned as she read it, then crumpled it back up and shoved it into her bag.  She suddenly had a feeling this wasn't going to be a good voyage.

[Ancient Gamer]

Ed rubbed his right hand fingers through his beard, deep in thought. Obviously the woman had nerve problems of some sort, but it was a matter better solved discreetly. These men and women played at being rich folk, but everyone knew that was but an illusion. There were no men of power and stature that would sail with the Dragon Empress. Most likely they were upper middle class. The bourgeois as those germans Marx and Engels called them.

Well, I have little use for revolutionary authors and even less use for these troubling thoughts of mine. There is a very disturbed woman here and she could use my help

"Please, let us help her to her cabin. Could you two gentlemen please help the lady, and you seem to be friendly enough... could you help her too!" it was more of a demand than any actual question. He had pointed at the Frederic and Henri, then at Ellie. Ed then helped the group find the quickest route to cabin 14 A on first class.

[manfred]

Well, Henry seemed to be helpful to all ladies tonight anyway. And this son of a decent family could not just stand by.

"Of course. Please, my Lady, we will be right there."

Well, well, a simple sailor that has the manners of a true doctor. Who would believe that. thought Frederic, and didn't even bothered to look at the cards. Of course they were fine. Pictures don't cry, even if panicked women tell otherwise. A drop of sherry and words of comfort have helped in worse cases.

[Ria Hawk]

"But of course, Monsieur."  Ellie picked up Vivica's things, and followed along.  She was deep in thought.  By now, the act was second nature to her, and needed little in the way of concentration to maintain, but she was still shaken.  Crying cards?  Foolishness, of course.  Wasn't it?

[Scrasamax]

"Alas, alas for the living..." Vivica said as she was helped into her bed in her cabin. "I really dont know what came over me, I think I must have taken a strange air..." Vivi said as Ed was again examining her broken ankle.

"Mr. Lamorak, you seem to be bleeding..." Vivi said, noticing the spreading crimson stain on the front of his thigh.

*****
Ed stomach grumbled menacingly, and it felt like there was something uncomfortably heavy in his stomach, or to be more precise somewhere along in his intestines...then a flitting thought occured to him...Knuckles' ring...

*****
Ilsa felt a cold sensation grip her by the base of the spine, sending waves of gooseflesh across her arms and chills up her back. A distant sound rose, it was a wailing noise, a cumbersome and dissonant sound that pressed her away from the window of Vivi's cabin. "Alas, alas for the living..." she said in a voice that was not quite her own...

*****
As he bent to pick up one of Vivi's shoes from an untidy spot on the floor, a $20 gold eagle fell out of Brandford's pocket, the coin making a sweet ringing tone as it bounced twice on the floor before glancing off of Vivi's bedpost and picking up a frantic spin. Heads tails heads tails, the coin spun, blurring the light from the porthole into a streak. Heads for luck, tails for disaster, heads for fortune, tails for morning after... the coin spun in an increasingly erratic loop as it slowed... the old rhyme of his father echoing in his head, Brandford saw the coin come to a halt...tails it was.

[Murometz]

"Alas for the Living?" Henri whispered to himself and blanched. Something beyond his comprehension was happening here. He felt the sharp pain of the Ibex horn, wriggling and burrowing itself into his leg, and tried to ignore it. "It...it is nothing madame", he managed to mumble, without sounding believable. Henri was scared now, and out of his element. He ignored Brandford's spinning coin, and stared at everyone in turn. Vivica's well-being was now forgotten, as well as his plans to rob her. He noticed Lady Ilsa in a seeming trance. The ship crewman, that pushy fellow, looked as though someone had just told him he had swallowed live worms, and Frederick Brandford was staring at his gold eagle, hypnotised.

"I shall absconce, if you would all excuse me, and tend to this wound". Henri glanced at Ilsa, sending her a silent message.

[Ancient Gamer]

Ed cursed silently. He was about to have a rather unexpected date with the toilet and all around him people were losing their mind. Looking at Henri he smiled and nodded. "Sir, I must ask that you wash your leg with this and then press this against the wound" he said as he handed Henri a piece of cotton soaked with alcohol and a strip of bandage. "Now, if you excuse me, there is an urgent matter that requires my attention in the crew quarters". Ed exited the cabin and half ran down to the crew cabin, where he planted his bottocks solidly on a bucket beside the toilet seat.

I need to get back there and quick. Who knows what those people have eaten that makes them all weird like that

[Scrasamax]

Perched expectantly on a bucket beside the faux-porcelain toilet, Ed felt no relief coming, no amount of straining seemed to move the weight in his bowels. It seemed that the harder he strained, the more firmly lodged it became...much to his dismay.

[Ancient Gamer]

Feeling rather unwell, Ed returned to the weird gathering in cabin 14 A. He was sweating heavily and shaking slightly as he entered the room.

[Ria Hawk]

Ellie blinked.  She suddenly felt light-headed.  She had the feeling she'd said something odd, but she wasn't quite sure what it had been.  Lamorak was giving her a significant glance.  She should probably leave before she went funny again, but she was suddenly afraid of being by herself.  "I am afraid I am not feeling well, myself.  I believe I shall go to my own cabin.  The sea air... doesn't agree with me."  She excused herself, feeling progressively more rattled.  She trailed along with Lamorak as he left, lacking direction to his cabin.  He at least, was someone she could likely speak honestly with.

[Scrasamax]

Henri and Ilsa came face to snout with a massive black dog, its eyes all but hidden within its dark coat. An attendant Peter Zimmerman trailed behind the beast, his armed pulled straight by the bulk of the dog straining against its leash. It's nose jammed into Henri's leg, snuffling around the spar of ibex horn, and the smell of blood.

"I say, is Vivi alright?" Peter asked. "We are over in 13 A, and have gotten to know her rather well in the last few hours. Parodon my boy here, he's just the curious sort, doesnt mean any harm."

[Ria Hawk]

Ellie nodded.  "An attack of the nerves, and her ankle is almost assuredly broken, but I believe she shall be fine."  She eyed the massive dog.  He shouldn't have such a large creature in the small passages of the ship, but it would do little good to tell him.

[Murometz]

Henri was confused, somewhat scared, in pain, and bleeding profusely. And if that wasnt bad enough, just as he had worked up the nerve to confess to Lady Ilsa as to the bizarre wound's nature, hoping she could shed some light on this mystery, Cerberus himself, that guardian of hell he once read about, was sniffing his bloody thigh! Agitated, Henri almost spat at the beast, but quickly thought better of it. "Get away from there!", he meekly chastised the dog.

Henri ignored Zimmerman, hoping that Lady Ilsa would deal with the man, until Peter mentioned his room number. *13A? well you are right next to the lady then arent you? that is useful to know...for later* he thought, despite his current state of distress.

"Well then, where's your other dog then, Mr. Zimmerman?" he attempted small talk, hoping Zimmerman wouldnt bother asking him about his leg. As he waited for a reply, looking past Ilsa and Peter farther down the corridor, he spied Abelard, that fearsome looking man who had spooked Henri earlier merely by glancing at him.

"We should go", he turned to Ilsa and blanched.

[Ria Hawk]

Ellie looked at him critically.  He looked like he was in bad shape.  "Indeed.  Good day, Monsieur Zimmerman."  She hurried Lamorak past the dog and down the corridor.  Once they were out of earshot, she muttered to her new friend in a low voice.  "Blasted great behemoth!  You could hitch a plow up to that thing!"  She glared inconspicously at the big dog and his master.  "What the devil is wrong with your leg, anyway?  I thought you'd gone to patch that up already."

[Murometz]

"I wish  that I knew Madame!", Henri lamented in a louder voice than he wanted to. "This is not the first time this has happened!..I..uh..would like to show you something back in my cabin." Henri looked at Ilsa, "No, no I dont mean it that way", he quickly continued, seeing the ladies reproaching glare. "I mean, there is something I would like your opinion on. I think you might have more experience in the..er..um..supernatural than I do."

Henri awaited a responce. As he did, he glanced around looking for either Abelard or Zimmerman's dog. He saw neither one. He was not about to show Lady Ilsa what he was going to show her, AND tell her that a man had spooked him and that for a second back there, Zimmerman's rottweiler, looked to Henri, as if he was crawling with worms. No, that would be a bit much for a corridor conversation. Henri grimaced, as the horn dug in. He was going to have to pull it out again, but this time it pierced him deeper.

[Ria Hawk]

She thought of the note crumpled up in her handbag.  "I suppose you might say that," she said, carefully.  "I don't mean to say I'm an expert, or that I even really believe it, despite my profession.  But... I am no stranger to odd things."  They were far enough away that she had dropped her accent again.  "I mean, I'm pretty sure that I said something kind of strange back there, but blast if I know what."  She glanced around, suddenly feeling a little claustrophobic.  "How far away is your cabin, again?"

[Murometz]

"I must say you spooked me needlessly, whatever it was you said..wait, I remember! I believe you uttered 'Alas for the Living', that is what it was."

"Ah. My cabin. I didnt have time to fenaigle myself  first class quarters, so this will have to do."

Henri fumbled the key with his bloody hands, both of which, he had previously kept clamped on his thigh. Finally opening the door, he stepped in, waited for Ilsa to enter, took one last paranoid glance left and right along the corridor, slammed the door shut, turned to Ilsa and dropped his pants.

"Help me get this out! You'll need tweezers."

[Ria Hawk]

If this had been any other situation, she'd have laughed until she fell over.  But she was out of sorts tonight, so she just dug into her handbag until she came up with a pair.  She didn't even remember why they were in there to begin with, but they would serve.  She examined the wound for a moment, then used the tweezers to dig the problem out.  It was unexpectedly difficult.  Every time she got hold of it, something would shift, and she'd lose her grip on it.  But finally she managed to hold onto it long enough to pull it out.  She looked at the bloody bit of horn.  "Is that little thing what caused all the fuss?"  She didn't touch it, and was, in fact, tempted to pitch it out of the porthole.

[Murometz]

Henri looked down to make sure she had gotten it out. Satisfied that the evil thing was no longer in his flesh, he just started talking.

"You must have done a thousand seances, cured palsy and gout, and exorcised countless demons throughout your career. Tell me then, is it all mularkey? Or is what Golden Dawn preaches true? Tell me, why I have been stabbed by a trinket, apparently acting of its own accord, twice today. And why did that dog seem...I dunno...different? And then there is Vivica, your eerie chanting, and the very SCENT of this ship! Am I losing it madame, tell me true!"

[Ria Hawk]

Ellie held up her hand.  "Calm down.  I don't do seances, and never have.  Nor faith cures nor excorcisms.  I just tell people what they want to hear, with so-called automatic writing, because it's different enough that people think that I'm the real thing when they get cynical about the rest of the field.  I never really believed in it, despite what my grandmother says."  She frowned.  "But things have been... different, recently."  She shuddered.  "I don't like this ship.  I believe you're right, there's something... I don't know, wrong about it." 

She pulled the note out of her handbag and smoothed it out, then handed it to him.  "I don't remember writing that, but I suppose I must have, because it wasn't in there earlier, and it hasn't been out of my sight long enough for someone to have put it in there."  It was written on a piece torn from a cheap tablet, with a bizzarre message scrawled across it in pencil, in the unsteady, large printing of a child.  "bAd mAn bAd mAn tAkE boAt to bAd pLAcE I cAnt swim"  "Something is definitely going on around here."

[manfred]

This all must have a logical explanation... thought Frederic bewildered, the lucky coin of his father safe in his pocket again.

The bad sign of the coin was easiest to dismiss. It was more of a memory, than a luck token, and money falls as it wills, it will surely fall in his direction again... provided this voyage ever ends. The good mood did not last long. Luckily, with the power of reason is the human mind able to solve all the mysteries of life.

So again:
 - apparently, everything started with Miss Vivica and her accident at the game table. Panicking, and breaking her ankle, all could be explained with hysteria that seems to get hold of the fragile women folk now and then.
 - but then, everyone who followed into this room started to behave strange - Miss Ilsa, Henry, and even the doctor were all out of their mind... if only for a moment
 - And I too feel strange., he tried to shake off the headache, but it didn't work.

An explanation... of course.

"Doctor? Would you mind a little talk, please?" Gathering himself, he felt better and clearer.
"I will be outside. Madam." nodding to the lady, he opened the door, and deeply inhaled the fresh marine air. Better. Much better.

[Scrasamax]

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Abelard nodded in agreement, and the crewman headed back the direction he had come. 'It would not be long now...' Abelard thought to himself, a slight smile crossing his usually blank features.