Summer 52nd 516 -- Sailor Fright

[Net]

Eve of the 51st of Summer 516

Old Mathews Bay was teeming with life, excitement, and whispers. The smell of the salty sea clung to the warm air giving it a heavy humid that most Zeltivans were use to, but with it came the bloat of despair and the smell of rotting fish. There were sailors in the bars and they were muttering among themselves of plagues and death. The dock workers were going home to their wives and children and speaking of deadly curses. To the everyday person it was frightening and the Wave Guard was quarentining a section of the Bay, sending hopeful children away from the waters. As day faded to night though, the whispers became louder, they became stretched tales of truth and fiction.

Yet, the Bay still remained blocked to people, scholars, and boats alike. There was an eerie feeling of death hanging in the air as the smell of three schools of fish lay rotting on the sands of the Bay's coast. The waters smeared red as far as the Wave Guards could see. “We need to speak with the Council.” one muttered. The other nodded, “Aye. I will send a messenger and return.” As he set off the other looked at the red waters and the deep blue skies above. There was a sign, and it wasn't a good one.

“He won't return.” The remaining guard sighed as he sat on the sand. Leth has settled in for the night and the bars were still a ruckus. A boat at anchor rested out to the sea, the red streak flowing towards it.


---

52nd of Summer, 516

The next day the guard sat shivering on the beach front as the water coasted over his leather boots, red waters soaked the soft leather, giving the man a feeling of Dira's cold touch. Around him, piled three fish deep was a rather large school of dead fish, their scales blood red, lesions crossing their body in rivers.

Guards were knocking on people's doors, trying to get anyone that was willing to aid in figuring out this problem.

OOCFirst off, sorry this took so long to get to you guys. I hope you guys enjoy it.!

[Minnim]

OOCI used a generic NPC guard. I hope that's okay. If not, I'll fix it right away. Just PM me.

Knock, knock.

Minnim paused for a tick, his expression blank as he froze in his work. He waited, and waited, until eventually he assumed they had gone away. Satisfied with his avoidance skills, Minnim returned to his work, running his thin, bony fingers up and down the loom as he wove. He pushed the fabric back quickly with the petal, compressing his most recent line into the rest of the rug. With that completed, Minnim finally rose and moved to the door.

Upon opening that door, Minnim had not expected anyone to be there. He had assumed they were children playing pranks who had already run off, or a courier man at the wrong door. However, there was someone on the other side of that door, and the Nuit's presence did not go unnoticed.

"Excuse me, Sir." The closest guard chirped.

Minnim almost closed the door in his face then and there, but he held back. He had to give them a chance. After all, what if they really did have something interesting to say, and he missed out on it? Why, he would never forgive himself! So he simply nodded to the man with a face that said "go on".

The guard continued quickly. "Would you happen to have time to help out the city?"

That was the last straw. Minnim began to shut the door, its old hinges creaking as he shoved it. But even as the door was shutting, the guard continued. "We have some trouble on the beach. Dead things."

Minnim's ears would've perked up, had they been able. Dead things were quite an interest to him. Begrudgingly, he left the door open- just ajar- so the man could explain.

"Dead fish, all along the shore. They're ankle-deep, and all blood-red. The ocean, too. Everything is stained."

Minnim hummed aloud. "Could it have to do with a potent poison? Oh! Our perhaps it is a magic? They could be powerful suggestions, or illusions..." As Minnim talked, the door slowly reopened without him really noticing. The guard nodded. He would encourage whatever the volunteers wanted to think; they just needed the people.

"Very well. Take me to the site and I shall figure this out for the... city's sake ". His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but the guard gave no heed. And they were off.

[Net]

The guards spoke nothing of the reason why, for they had no reasoning. Escorting the man to the Bay was no easy task, people were getting perturbed with the lack of access to the waters, yet the guards had no problems knocking civilians aside as they made a path. It was getting awful warm as they approached the waters, the smell of rotting fish was hanging heavily in the air as they neared the bay. It wasn't longer before the reddish color of blood could be seen staining the beachfront, the nearby driftwood , or the docks where the water splashed amongst the wooden structures.

Anchored out in the bay was still the ship, a deep red streak following towards it. The crew of the ship could be seen pulling dripping nets from the waters, the sun's rays revealed a glint of red scattered among the scales of their catch. It was an odd color to see glinting, especially from a far. The red was pretty prevelant then. There sat the guard that was on duty, now up to his waist in red stained clothing. He was muttering something about feeling ill, as if the water was seeping into his pores and making him sick.

“He was found by 'imself. Apparently his buddy ran off ta sleep or 'get help', left da bugga all by 'imself.” It was look of sorrow, “He is all yours.” And the guard hurried away.

Leaving Minnim alone with the guard, the red stained beachfront, and the reddish water, reddened docks... Just all the red. Something was not normal about this water, something was afoul about it.

OOCSorry for the wait Minnim, As Kestral has not replied to my PM yet and it is beyond the waiting period I issued her we will be continuing this on together.

[Minnim]

OOCNo worries on the wait.

"He’s all yours, sir.”

The words were music to Minnim’s ears.

As the guard drifted away, Minnim paced closer to the water’s edge. He took in the color red
surrounding him at all angles­ from the reflection of the water to the stain of the bloody fish on
the shore. The ship in the distance was glinting red, just as the evening sky and the clothes of
the man in the water. The man’s stained clothes gave Minnim pause. He halted just before
touching the water, suddenly concerned for his vessel’s health. Could it really be poison?
He wondered. How exciting!

Instead of venturing in to talk to the old sailor, Minnim held his place at the shore. ”Sir?”
He called politely in his raspy, aged voice. ”Why are you still out there in that mess? Come on
to the shore, boy, and we will talk.”

He did not attempt to hypnotise the man, although the
urge was present. If the man had gone insane­ as he very well appeared to be­ Minnim wasn’t
sure what mixing their Djed would do to his own mind. He certainly didn’t feel like risking it
either; he wouldn’t want to miss out on the fun.

Minnim then turned to address the guard out amongst the water, too. Still, he kept back, his toes
flinching away from the water each time it came in. ”And you! The water­ you say it is sickly?
Why don’t you come sit with us, and we will all try to figure out this mess together.”

[Net]

Minnim's words went deaf to the sailors out in the bay, their concern was hauling their catch onto the deck. The nets straining and landing with a cacophony of noises – hollers to work faster and the fish tumbling free of their woven cage. As his words were snatched by the bay's hungering breezes the guard continued to mutter. Not phased by Minnim's request for him to come ashore.

“The waters be red. Death lurks among the scales of Laviku.” The guard sputtered and looked up at the man, “Heh I am not even bleeding but the waters be red.” He chuckled some before the chuckle became a rumbling snicker. It wasn't very much longer until the wave guard started laughing uncontrollably.

He rose though, pulling his soaked body out of the waters were he had been sitting for sometime. As he moved forward to land the guard's movements displaced gallons of the crimson tide across the bay, just inches from splashing on the civilian's foot. Once his feet hit semi-dry ground the wave guard shuddered, some in the cold and some from an unknown ailment. “It is so cold... Cold.” He grimaced as he sat back down, this time on the shore.

“As red as the waters be. They are warmer.”

[Minnim]

Minnim took a seat next to the guard, hoping to offer comfort by being on the same level.

"Warm waters?" Minnim asked. How warm? Blood warm? Or just Summer warm?"

Despite the fact that it was a question, Minnim did not expect a comprehensible answer in the least. It was clear that something- the water or another underlying cause- had driven the man insane. Questions wouldn't solve anything, so long as the witnesses were still under its affects.

So, Minnim took the matter into his own hands.

He reached forward and procured a piece of fabric from his cloacloak pocket. It was a strip no longer than a half foot, something he usually saved as an emergency bandage, but it would be enough for his intentions. Carefully, he dipped one end into the quickly approaching waves. Then, taking a step back, he held it up for examination.

Part of him almost hoped that the fabric would dissolve into nothing, or animate itself and begin talking nonsense while the other, more sane part of him prayed that nothing would happen at all.

If it didn't react dramatically, he would hold it out to the guard, offering it as though it were a gift. This step was designed to check if it could be a drug, causing delerium in the affected. If so, he hoped that the man would react positively to even the water in the cloth. When it came to addictive substances, it was usually true that some was better than none.

[Net]

“Not the water old man. The fish. The fish be warmer.” The guard pointed at the carcass of a fish being pushed to shore by the tide. “They be warm. And red. Blood red. Dead. But not by harpoon or hook.” The guard settled back on the ground, this time allowing the soot of the Zeltivan coastline debris coat his soaked boots and clothing.

As the Nuit dipped his strip of cloth into the water he quickly would notice that the water moved as if it normally would within the cloth, saturating the linen and quickly rising up the woven material until it was removed from its source. Once removed the water would drip off in deep red tears. There was a distinctly dark red strip the lined the cloth, it seemed speckled as if made of dirt or plant material. Above the red division was wet from the water seeping upward into the material, below the stripe was the saturated location. The heavy scent of decay came from the cloth, but it hinted of something extra, a watery plantlike smell.

As the Nuit was busy spending his time with the cloth, and trying not to get ill the guard had shifted from sitting to being on his hands and knees and vomiting quite strongly. At first it was just the yellowish bile of stomach acid, but that soon switched to the reddish tint of fresh blood as his throat tore from the repetitive flexing of his body and the revolting of materials from within.

It wasn't much longer though that this guard was vomiting up straight blood, or what appeared to be blood. It surely smelled of copper and life.

[Minnim]

OOCThis took actually forever. I'm super sorry. If you don't want to drag this on any longer, let me know. You know where to find me.

Minnim watched the fabric with interest. It behaved such as water, but left a residual sight not unlike specks of dirt, or sand. Neither would be unusual in ocean water, but it wasn't either. It resembled to Minnim finely crushed leaves, or small seeds. The scent of decay surely hinted at something crushed, but there was something more beneath it. He lifted the fabric gingerly to his face and gave it another sniff. Beyond the immediate whiff of death, there was also the subtle undertones of plant life.

Could it be mere algae that was tainting the waters? If the man had said the fish were warm...couldn't an allergy cause a fever? But then, surely an entire population was not allergic to one plant. No being would design anything as such. No, plant blooms happened every year. If this were the doings of nature, it wouldn't happen on such an instantaneous timeframe.

He was so deep in thought that it took him a moment to register the distress of the Zeltivan guard. By the time Minnim shifted his attention, the guard had already begun to cough up red. Minnim dropped his piece of fabric mindlessly, and skirted around the man to stand by his back.

The guard's whole body convulsed as he tried to expunge his stomach's contents again and again. Soon enough, the air began to smell of the vomit and blood, overwhelming any lingering earthy smells that may have been. Minnim wrinkled his nose. How he hated the ill. They always acted so weak and helpless, as if they hadn't done it to themselves. Filthy. There was really only one reason the body chose to vomit and that was if something was inside that shouldn't have been.

"Did you ingest the water or the fish recently?" Minnim asked accusatorily. He crossed his arms across his chest defensively and took a step back, eyeing the man up and down as if he could spot the illness and avoid it. "Perhaps you should remove those tainted clothes, before you infect the rest of the city." He suggested, no kinder.

[Karyk]

 

Minnim

Skills
Socialization: 1
Observation: 1
Investigation: 2
Lores
Zeltiva: Occasionally recruits citizens to aid with large problems
Hypnotism: Not really a good idea against insane people
Investigation: Using cloth to test liquids
Miscellaneous

 

Notes and Comments

CS Checkmarked: ✓
CS Reviewed by Me: ✓
Season Request was Submitted for Grade: Spring 517
Season of last IC post: Summer 517
Season of last Paid Seasonal Expense: Spring 517
Eligible for grade? Yes

Again, a shame that it went unfinished. Gotta like how smart (and smartass) Minnim seems to be. Well done. Please mark your post in the Grade Queue as Graded.