At the shrieking ship of Shriekpot...Sigmund, realizing that
Scott has invariably gotten killed or made a great many things exponentially worse while left alone, decides to look for him. Not to mention that he's the one who's presumably spoken most to the good "captain".
It turns out that he is right! Scott has indeed failed to surprise anyone once again. This time, he appears to have killed a team member!
"What happened? Is he dead?" he asks of Scott, who fails to respond in a meaningful fashion, leading Sigmund to presume that the fellow is indeed rather dead. He looks at the corpse of Bernie with a somewhat indifferent eye.
"Well, that's a pity. But I don't really know if something can be done once his soul went to the afterlife. He was the necromancer, after all. Fortunately, there is another one the group, but I don't know if you want to tell him what you have done. I bet that you don't," he says, sure of his correct evaluation of Scott's character.
"I'll tell you something: if you want to pretend that you weren't responsible for his death, you should at least get away from the crime scene, and make it appear that it was his fault. You can come with us if you feel like, and discharge all your grief with that scum who cheated us all. I won't tell anything," he says, ever the helper and now potentially far richer in blackmail material.
However, Scott has a different opinion. He, completely ignoring Sigmund, immediately storms toward the ship. Sigmund attempts to stop the runaway zombie.
[Stopping: Sigmund vs. Scott: 2-
1 vs. 4]
Unfortunately, he, being weak as a kitten in daylight, hardly possesses the bulk needed for such an endeavor, and Scott easily pushes him aside. Well, better pick up the corpse anyway.
[Sigmund strength roll: 6-
1]
He picks the necromancer up and nonchalantly walks up to the ship, where Scott has already reached the Artiste.
"Uhhh... Master, Bernie is... well, dead. I knocked him into the water to have some fun with him, but when I pulled him out he was as cold as the grave. Pardon the expression. However, he doesn't appear to have actually died of water inhalation, I can't explain it. Also, I seem to be actually feeling pain, true agonizing pain! Could you help me understand that as well, please?"The Artiste nods and smiles at Scott.
"So, you inadvertently killed my minion while pursuing a rather stupid idea based on nothing but sheer pettiness? Well, good luck."Scott looks at the Artiste perplexedly as Sigmund arrives with Bernie's mortal remains. He feels a tad better now, though he can't really explain why.
"Ah, there he is! Hi, Bernie!"He walks up to Bernie and looks at his deadened features for a second, then looks at the sky, closing his eyes and shaking his head.
"Alas, poor Bernie. Taken from us before he could prove to be more than marginally useful! Why couldn't fate take Scott instead? Why, fate? What have I done to you to deserve such treatment?"He shakes his fist at the heavens, then looks at Sigmund.
"Empty his pockets and dump our dear departed friend overboard, will you, dear Sigmund? And then hand me his stuff as well, I have a story to listen to.""Maybe somebody should CRAFT A MOVING EULOGY?""Oh no, he's not nearly dear enough for that.""OKAY THEN! STORY TIME!"Morton, wisely deciding to stay out of this whole accidental murder business, gets into the discussion of story time.
"I must admit I'm rather fond of stories, being a captain of a galley must be quite the adventurous life.""Only when the CARGO is SUFFICIENTLY DANGEROUS! Which is, ADMITTEDLY, frequently. Still, I COULD TELL YOU about a PLACE. It's called KINGRAPE ISLAND, and it's ACTUALLY not too far from here. USED TO BE a mainstay in MARITIME STORIES, though now they DON'T SPEAK OF IT MUCH from what I know. Or I could relay a PERSONAL ADVENTURE, if you PREFER. Or a tale of THE HORRORS OF THE SEA OF DEATH. Which would YOU like?""No real preference, I'd say. What about you, Morton?"Back outside the ship,
Niklas expresses his terrible rage over the scammer's presumable choice of locale.
"A tavern?! I'll kill the sunuvabitch, stating at an establishment that serves drink but not food... or am I thinking of a bar? Taverns have kitchens."Mark, however, is in no position to answer him, as he is too busy leading the way to someplace he doesn't know the location of. Luckily, there is nothing about his looks that may betray such an ignorance. After all, how hard could it be to find an inn in a port town?
As it turns out, not very! Why, there's one scarcely half a kilometer away - the Feisty Jelly is its name, and it looks to be fairly full of people at the present time.