At the old shrieking ship of Shriekpot...
"As you wish, Master Artiste," Morton says as he makes his way up the gangplank onto the shrieking ship of ghosts and whatnot. He walks a bit on the deck.
"Excuse me, captain? I'm here to make good on the deal, we can change the ship's look, and yours too I believe. They request looking the ship over though, a guided tour if you will, so that they may better know how it functions and how to change it better to suit what you wish."
"YOU ACTUALLY CAME BACK! THANK YOU! THANK YOU SO MUCH! YOU HAVE FREE REIGN OVER THE SHIP, DO WHAT YOU WILL! Just, for the love of the gods, MAKE IT DIFFERENT! It's been MADDENING it's the SAME DAMNED THING, DAY IN and DAY OUT! HERE, I'll guide you MYSELF!"
Suddenly, a solid black shape with glowing yellow eyes dives out of the bottom of the ship. It appears to be a tad asymmetrical, with three arms and two legs on the left side and five arms and only one leg on the right. In addition, it seems to have three heads.
"COME ABOARD! I'll show you EVERYTHING!"
Well, now Morton knows why the captain speaks so strangely - usually it's just the central head that speaks, but on occasion the other two chime in as well, screaming at the top of their ectoplasmic lungs as the captain speaks.
The call is not unheard by the people on the pier. Particularly Scott, who takes the time to propose the idea that his ship is totally better than this dinghy thing.
"But... the ship I picked was enchanted and had its own crew. I thought the luxury would be perfect for ones such as you, master."
"An enchanted one? And I thought you were hallucinating when you spoke of flying ships. We definitely should go to see that later."
"Actually, no time like the present. Tell you what - I, Art and Bernie will go with you to this enchanted ship. Couldn't hurt to take a look, no? It's not like we need to be here, since it'll all be redone shortly. You can take care of things, right, Erin?"
"Sure, no sweat."
"I will aid her, so you need not necessarily remain."
"Great! Be back soon."
"Sweet! Haven't seen one of those flying ships in more than fifteen years."
"Me neither! Awesome!"
"Take us to this ship, minion! Anyone else want to come along?"
As Erin and Evelyn head up to the ship to join Morton, Niklas asks the Artiste for his cat back. After all, he did obtain it for his own nefarious purposes.
"Hey, could I have that cat now?"
"Aw. I was beginning to like the little furball."
The Artiste reluctantly hands the unconscious cat back to Niklas, who joins in on the guided tour after tying his warm and extremely bloody bearskin around his neck, making a very disturbing-looking cloak (at least the inside part of it). The galley group head on a guided tour. Erin is a tad startled when she notices the captain.
"My. Y'must be a pretty ancient ghost."
"TWO HUNDRED SEVENTY-THREE YEARS and counting, thank you very much."
"That is a rather advanced age for a spectral being. No wonder there have been alterations. You have been largely isolated, I take it?"
"INDEED! The CREW used to talk to me, but THEY have gotten LAZY in the past CENTURY. FIGURE A VOYAGE SHOULD WAKE THEM UP."
"Ghost crew. Sweet!"
The captain's three heads nod, implying that it is indeed pretty sweet.
"NOW, this place is A BIT OF A MESS, to put it MILDLY. LET me SHOW you."
The captain takes the group to the captain's quarters, the door to which looks like it hasn't been opened in a long time.
[Captain telekinesis roll: 4+1]
The captain gestures with his eight arms, causing the door to tear itself out of the frame, yet remain on the hinges.
"LIKE I SAID, a BIT OF A MESS."
The group follows the captain inside. The room is rather disorderly, with the sordid remains of old, moldy books, furniture and bed-things strewn about. There is a picture frame on the wall, though whatever was in it seems to have been reduced to ribbons that now lie on the bed.
"Right, so THIS is WHERE I SLEPT WHEN I STILL NEEDED to sleep. WHEN I LOST that particular NEED, I PRACTICED MOVING THINGS HERE. After TWO HUNDRED OR SO years, I dare say I've GOTTEN PRETTY DAMN good at it."
"Ya did a pretty good job with the door from what I could see."
"THANK you. I try. SO, ON THAT picture frame used to be a MAP OF THE WORLD. NOW it's on the BED! I AM TOO LAZY to put it back together, even with the RELENTLESS BOREDOM AND UNENDING TERROR OF my existence."
"I think we've got the captain's quarters covered. What else?"
"There's THE LOWER DECKS, which contain the crew quarters on the mid-deck, and THE CARGO BAY ON THE LOWER DECK. I have not been to THE CARGO BAY ON THE LOWER DECK for longer than TEN SECONDS in two HUNDRED YEARS. THINGS LIVE THERE."
"That may be problematic."
"Oh yeah. What would these things be?"
"Why, the THINGS THAT LIVE BELOW. They are RESPONSIBLE FOR MY CURRENT CONDITION. THEY KILLED ME AND MY CREW! Their sheer terror is SUCH THAT I HAVE NOT DARED TO TRY AND FIGHT THEM. So I live up here instead."
"Well, anybody want to go down there and check if anything's still there?"
"DOUBTLESSLY THEY STILL LIVE. I hear them move when they THINK I AM NOT LISTENING!"