Dear Jveddek,

Once in the cargo hold, we all bedded down as Kariya reviewed aloud what we wanted to learn from the ghosts the next time we saw them. We wanted to know where they were buried and if they were buried properly, she reminded us.
"I don't think Charlotte will be much help," Nikita said.
"Oh, c'mon, she's been a great help," Kariya disagreed.
"We tried to question her before," Rhavin pointed out.
"Well, we're not going to ask her how she died. She knows she's dead..." Kariya responded.
About that time, Nikita finished the prayer to invoke the nap spell, abruptly ending the conversation. An hour later, we awoke to the sound of Rhavin pouncing on Ester to practice wresting. A moment's assessment told me that a prudent priestess would get out of their way as soon as humanly possible. Besides, it was nearly time for the sunset navigation check, so I slipped off.
In spite of my concern that there might be something unnatural about Peregrine's new confidence, I found myself hoping that he'd be able to sustain it for his own sake. Things seemed to go well enough when we took our measurements, although I was a bit distracted for the usual reasons. Unfortunately, my calculations suffered, and I was about fifteen degrees off from Peregrine's work. We exchanged alarmed looks.
"A-A-Are you sure?" he asked, self-doubt flooding back into his tone. "P-Perhaps we should measure again."
"Yes," I sighed glumly. "Why don't we do that."
Great. Taking stock of the day, I'd made an ass of myself over the seaweed business, nearly caused the destruction of the precious astrolabe, and now I'd trampled our navigator's first sign of self-esteem into the dust. There's a day a loyal servant of Jvelto can be proud of.
When we repeated our work, we each got different numbers than before. Our results were only eight degrees apart this time, but that was still a substantial difference-if we were only a couple degrees off from the location of Madeleine's corpse, we'd never find her remains!
"Um...um...all right," Peregrine took a deep breath and tried to remain calm. I did no such thing, as I was entirely horrified by the prospect that on top of everything else, I might contribute to getting us lost, too. I suddenly felt too warm.
We agreed to make one more measurement. This time, our numbers were much closer to each other, but they were substantially different than our other attempts.
"Well, maybe we could average," Peregrine suggested. "That's usually the wisest course when the numbers don't match."
I wasn't too sure, since our last numbers were awfully different from the others.
"Okay," I agreed. "But let's average all of the numbers, as opposed to just the last two."
Naturally, that approach guaranteed that we'd be off. However, it would probably make for a smaller course correction in the morning than if we picked the wrong set of measurements to trust-and there was no way to be sure which set of measurements was more correct. We were losing the light, so we were stuck with the numbers we had.
"That's a very good idea," Peregrine concurred. Unable to bear the sight of us struggling with our measurements, the sun had finally fled the horizon. I wouldn't have been surprised if it hadn't set a few minutes early out of embarrassment for me that day. It left the unusually clear evening sky with a flash of green.
Peregrine pointed out the green flash to me, saying, "Th-th-that's a good luck sign."
I'd never heard of that particular superstition.
"Well," I replied. "we all could use some luck."
I suggested getting our rum rations. A nice bracing slug of rum would have done my spirit a lot of good, but I was willing to settle for the swill in Basil's stores instead.
"B-but we have to do calculations first," Peregrine protested.
"Well, sure," I said. "We'll get the rum after."
"Oh...I suppose."
Our routine with the calculations did make that rum an awfully long time in coming. At last, Peregrine put down his compass and we went to find Basil for the alcohol. Basil must have seen the look on my face because he was a bit generous with my ration that evening. Either that, or he'd witnessed my struggle to sip my rum with Peregrine before.
We had barely sat down with our drinks when Madeleine's nightly screaming commenced. I sighed and tossed back my rum before leaving to find her.
Up on deck, the ghost had interrupted Rhavin and Ester at wrestling practice (apparently the cargo hold had insufficient space). When I got there, Nikita was finishing up a blessing on the screaming woman. Ester was asking Madeleine something. I found out later she was questioning why someone would dig up her body.
"I DON'T KNOW!! I DON'T KNOW!! WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?! WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?!" came the answer.
Canliss had emerged from below decks, cross expression on his face and muttering to himself. At least the supernatural screaming spared us from hearing him.
"WHY WOULD THEY TAKE ME FROM MY FAMILY PLOT?!" Madeleine continued.
Ester screamed another question to her, this time asking where her family plot was.
"WHY DID THEY TAKE ME?! WHY?!...WHY?!...WHYYYYYYY?!!"
"WHERE?!" screamed Ester, barely audible over the din.
"WHY?!"
"WHERE?!"
Nikita was casting again, a bless spell judging from the gesture. The resulting reduction in vibration at least assured that I would only have a terrible headache after Madeleine disappeared, rather than having my head shake right off my neck. In the meantime, Kariya joined the shouting.
"Madeleine!" she shouted, "We want to return you to your rightful burial place!"
"WHERE WERE YOU BURIED?! WHERE?!...WHERE?!" Ester continued to scream.
"IN MY FAMILY PLOT!!" Madeleine answered. Well, duh. For a ghost who wanted to be laid to rest, she certainly wasn't being very helpful.
"WHAT IS YOUR FAMILY NAME?!" Ester shouted.
"WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?!"
"Where is your family plot?" Kariya yelled. "What island? Where are you buried?"
"IN THE STERN FAMILY PLOT!!" came the screamed reply. Now that was something we could use. "IN THE STERN FAMILY PLOT!!...IN THE STERN FAMILY PLOT!!..."
"ARE YOU CHARLOTTE'S MOTHER?!" Ester screamed, forgetting that we'd already learned that the little girl's mother was named Louisa.
"No!" Kariya and I shouted a reminder to Ester, who couldn't hear us while Madeleine continued screaming.
"IN THE STERN FAMILY PLOT!"
"ARE YOU CHARLOTTE'S MOTHER?!"
"Ester, no!" Kariya repeated.
In the meantime, Nikita had collapsed on the deck with laughter at the scene. Just beyond, Canliss had hidden his head in his hands, shoulders shaking. I was sure he was laughing, too. Ester suddenly remembered that we had already discovered the name of Charlotte's mother, so she abruptly stopped screaming at the ghost.
"Did the Grabens disturb your grave?" Kariya shouted one last question, but Madeleine was disappearing.
I left my friends (including Nikita, still helpless with laughter) to create ale in the galley for the sailors. After all, it was getting late, and Basil had gone to the trouble of getting a barrel for me. That, and the fact that I really need a good draft of ale to wash Madeleine out of my ears and the dreadful rum out of my mouth.
The barrel was already waiting for me.
"Evening, fellas," I greeted the handful of sailors already waiting with their tin cups. I had to speak up, since everyone's ears were still ringing.
"Is it time?" Jolly asked eagerly.
Ester wasn't long in joining us around the barrel, and the sailors greeted her loudly. The fun-loving giantess has become a great favorite with them. As much as they like her, however, no one took up her friendly challenge to a wrestling match-I hadn't created enough ale for that offer to seem like a good idea to the much smaller men.
"Kariya!" Ester shouted cheerfully to the mage as she entered. The sailors echoed her greeting heartily.
More sailors piled into the galley behind Kariya. Kariya had to push through the crush when she left again with two tin cups brimming with ale-I didn't think she drank much, but perhaps the Madeleine encounters take more out of her than I thought.
Before long, the barrel was empty, and I began bidding the men good night. I spied Peregrine out of the corner of my eye, still nursing his rum. Had he been in the galley the entire time? I made my way over to him.
"Good night, Peregrine," I said. "I, um, I'm going to go to bed."
"G-Good night," he answered. After a moment, he added, "W-Would you like to finish this?"
I looked at the proffered rum. Two-thirds of his ration remained.
"Are you sure you don't want it?"
"That's quite alright."
It would have been a shame to waste rum, even below-average rum, so I gratefully accepted the drink.
"Here's to accurate calculations," I toasted before quaffing the contents of the cup. I didn't add "let's hope we make some tomorrow," although I was definitely thinking it.
"Oh!" he smiled, "Very good!"
I told myself that I was choosing not to invite him back to my cabin because he might be lost forever in Nikita's heaping mass of junk, but really I just lacked the nerve. It would be so much easier if he weren't quite so shy. Instead, I excused myself and walked back to my cabin alone.
When I arrived, I heard my friends talking in Kariya's cabin. At first I thought they were talking about our plans for the next day,
but then I heard Ester say she'd see Rhavin his five candles and raise him two...I guess they finally found a use for all those candles we'd hoarded from Madreus' apartments in Firestorm Peak. I joined them, and while Kariya dealt me in, she and Rhavin told me about their encounter with Jacob that evening.
They'd learned that Jacob's last name was Cooper, and that he had been a barrel-maker. Horst Graben had killed Jacob with his own cooper's tools, and the man's ghost believed that one of the Grabens had buried him on Graben Island. Jacob didn't know of any relation to the Stern family.
As they finished telling me about this Jacob encounter, Nikita wrapped up her spell. She'd been casting personal reading. Apparently, Nikita learned that Lucretia Graben was a novice midwife who was mistrusted. She also learned that Horst Graben was a skilled, successful and highly respected jewelry dealer. Horst was violent, a loyal servant, and a perfect liar. Those revelations spawned more questions and speculation.
"A loyal servant of whom?" I wondered aloud.
Kariya raised an eyebrow. "A perfect liar?"
"He fits several of Canliss' personality traits," Rhavin teased.
"Canliss is not violent," Nikita spoke up in the mage's defense. "Canliss is not respected."
Hmm. Maybe she wasn't exactly defending him after all.
"Why would a jewelry dealer be running around killing people?" Nikita asked of the group. Now that was a worthy question. What possible motivation could a jewelry dealer have for killing a cooper?
"He's somebody's servant," I pointed out. See, Old Man? Sometimes I pay attention.
"Probably the head of the Graben family," Kariya speculated.
There started to be more discussion than poker, and my head starts to hurt whenever they discuss the finer points of Nikita's divinations and what they might mean. Therefore, I will simply summarize the ensuing "what's in a name discussion" by saying that Kariya asked the excellent question of how Madeleine knows her son's name if she died in childbirth. From there, we brought up other questions, like how long ago the ghosts died.
I took off to start this letter and pray for the wisdom to reconcile my faith with the theological meaning of what I'd seen in Ravenloft so far-despite evidence that even I must acknowledge, I am shaken by the idea that burial at sea did not put these souls to rest.
The discussion about the ghosts continued in my absence, culminating in another discussion about what sort of question would be most useful for a genius spell. After a great deal more talk (I don't know this for sure, but it's a reasonable assumption), Nikita cast the spell to ask "why are the Grabens digging up bodies and having them moved to their mausoleum?" The answer her spell yielded raised the hair on the back of my neck when they told me about it later: "self-preservation."
Of course, that answer only begat more questions about what "self-preservation" meant. Are the Grabens ghouls (whatever those are)? Were they using some sort of necromantic magic to extend their lives? Is there some sort of threat posed by the presence of the bodies in the Stern family plot? If so, what could that be? The only real conclusion my friends could reach is that we can't take the bodies to Graben mausoleum: we needed to take the corpses back to their family plot.
By the time I rejoined them, the game had changed to "go fish" and the topic of discussion had changed to how to keep the bodies, upon return to their graves, from being simply exhumed again. Presumably, there were still Grabens on the island with the Stern family plot, and we had no reason to believe that they wouldn't remove the corpses again.
"Maybe we could enlist some help from the surviving Grabens," someone suggested.
Nikita wanted to show Ester some of the Torodinite card games, like thieving jack or the black queen's intrigue, but they were all much to complicated for someone who couldn't master "go fish". Ester had been asking me for a two on each of her turns, and her large hands were clutching something like a dozen and a half cards-there had to be a pair of something in there. The game had long since lost its appeal for Kariya, who took Ulfie up on deck to play. Clearly, she didn't want to explain the finer points of "go fish" to Ester, either.
Weary of rehashing the same questions, we broke up the card game for a non-magical catnap in our respective cabins. I think I'd just drifted off when I awakened suddenly to Nikita's screams.
"Nikita!" I jumped up to shake my friend free of her nightmare. My friend has been plagued by nightmares for some time now, so I was certain that was the cause of her screams.
The others came rushing into our cabin about the time Nikita awakened with a look of terror on her face.
"Nikita!" cried Kariya. "What happened?"
My friend shuddered and swallowed hard before answering. "It-it was just a dream. I'm sorry."
I exchanged looks with everyone else present. We all knew that Torodinites never had anything they would describe as "just" a dream.
"I-I had a dream about my family," Nikita said. "But it's alright now."
"I'd hate to see what happens when you had a bad dream," Ester yawned.
Rhavin gave Nikita a sympathetic look, and I heard him whisper, "We'll talk later."
Nikita allowed as how she needed to pray. I offered to pray with her, and to my relief, she readily agreed. Even after our prayers, she seemed shaken. I could tell that she didn't want to discuss it, so I didn't press her for details as to why a dream about her family would upset her. Besides, Rhavin was clearly on the case.
At long last, a new day arrived. Up on deck for my morning prayers, I hoped for a better day than the previous day had been. Although I faced the seaweed-choked ocean, I could hear Ester practicing her swordplay behind me. Afterward, I stopped by my cabin to ask Nikita if she was planning to come to breakfast. I was pleased when she said she would come.
The others were displeased with the presence of the kelp-like plant.
"Before, we were seeing fifty feet," Rhavin lamented. "Now we see five."
Definitely not ideal, but I groaned to myself as I felt the threat of a complete re-think of the dive plan coming on.
"Fish-Boy here," Ester said with a gesture at Canliss, "has been in the kelp twice, and he still doesn't know how far down it goes."
Fish-Boy (Basil's galley assistant, not our six-fingered mage) wheeled around upon hearing his name. "Need somethin'?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," Ester apologized as Fish-Boy sat down next to her with his own ration of oatmeal. "We call Canliss 'Fish-Boy' sometimes."
I looked at the others. I've called Canliss a lot of stuff, but never "Fish-Boy."
"He's not Fish-Boy!" replied Fish-Boy indignantly.
"You're right," Ester acquiesced, trying to smooth things over with the sailor.
Fish-Boy gave Canliss a hard look and moved to get up from the bench. "You challenge my 'Fish-Boy' title?"
Poor Canliss. To his credit, he didn't open his mouth-he must have had a flash of insight recognizing that when he opens his mouth, he just makes things worse.
"No!" cried Ester, still trying to be the diplomat. "He doesn't deserve the name 'Fish-Boy'."
"That's right!" the real Fish-Boy proclaimed.
"I was being thoughtless," Ester apologized. "You're ten times the Fish-Boy he'll ever be."
Somehow, things degenerated into an invitation for Ester to try bobbing for fish. Apparently, his keenly developed talent for this activity earned Fish-Boy his name.
"I never bobbed for fish before!" said Ester excitedly. Not surprisingly, she and Fish-Boy were the only two people at our table who expressed any interest in the game. I excused myself to do the morning navigation measurements.
"Wait, Jven!" Ester called after me. "What's the plan again?"
"How should I know?" I answered. As far as I knew, Canliss and I were doing the deep dive, and anyone else thinking of getting wet that day would probably still be arguing about it in the battered longboat on the way to the dive site.
Peregrine was already making his measurements with the astrolabe when I arrived on deck. Perhaps I was too hasty in my attempt to catch up, as my measurements were quite different from his.
"Shit," I cursed softly. Then I vaguely remembered Mom saying something about nice men not liking girls who used that sort of language. Oh well, too late.
Naturally, we repeated our readings, but our numbers still didn't agree.
"Um, well, that doesn't make any sense," Peregrine said, nervously running his fingers through his hair. His hair looks wonderfully soft and glossy. "Um...well...we probably still have some time to take another reading."
It would be our last reading of the morning, so I hoped we would be able to reconcile the numbers.
"I hate it when this happens," he admitted.
"Me too," I answered with a sigh and another expletive.
"Well, either we need to keep going due east...or, we need to go...northeast...depending on how you look at these," he gestured toward the data we'd scratched down. He paused for a moment. "Well, maybe that will change after we've done the calculations."
After a moment's additional thought, he pointed in the general direction of the sunrise. "Somewhere that way."
Oh boy. It was going to be a long morning. My disappointment must have been evident.
"We're close, though," Peregrine gave me a hopeful look. "Maybe at noon we'll know better."
I was beginning to think it just possible that he'd do better without my so-called help. We collected our gear and adjourned to the charts for the remainder of the morning's calculations.
"I-I wouldn't mention anything about this to anybody until we're sure...A-at noon, perhaps. I think we could just keep this between ourselves...y-you understand." He gave me a sheepish look.
Conscientious Peregrine was asking me to...to what? Do anything that navigators haven't done since the profession was born? I didn't know of any navigators who would mention a possible error to his captain until a course correction was clearly needed and calculated, ready to go. Why was I so shocked to hear this suggestion come from Peregrine? I didn't answer him because I didn't know what to say. I wasn't about to make a promise to him unless I thought I could fulfill it. In spite of all that, I'm ashamed to admit, some part of me was secretly pleased that he felt comfortable enough to ask something of me.
Instead of committing myself to a possible lie, I suggested that we study our figures, and he readily agreed. Unfortunately, our numbers once again disagreed. As usual, there was no way to know if either number was close to being correct.
"Um, um, this is why I always like to check multiple times," Peregrine stammered as he began double-checking his work. How could he be so good-natured about all the recalculating? I was becoming frustrated.
I sighed and picked up my quill again. "I'm afraid I'm coming around to your way of thinking."
This time, we pointed in the same direction and said, "That way!" in unison. We exchanged relieved smiles and prepared the course adjustment needed. Then he began to brief me on just how large an area we would need to consider in our search.
"At least, this is about as close as we can figure, given the size of the circle" said Peregrine. He pointed to an unpleasantly large circle designated as our search area. "We're somewhere in this circle. At least, I think so...I hope so."
"Have faith," I said as much to myself as to the navigator.
"I-I won't say 'if' to the captain, of course...I always say 'are' and 'will'..." he stammered to me, "A-and you sh-should t-tell y-I'll tell the captain t-to stop the ship here, and you should tell your friends...and...and you should tell them that this is the place...because it...it's the code of navigators."
Well, I didn't have any reason to believe that we couldn't be in the right place, I rationalized. I felt strongly that we had to look here, even if we weren't one hundred percent sure where in the projected search area we were. However, if things got bad, I wanted to be able to tell my friends to consider moving to a different site within the search area without breaking a promise to Peregrine.
I said simply, "I understand."
At my request, Peregrine walked me back to my cabin. I've noticed that he never offers, but he's always willing to do it if I ask.

Finally, it was time for my friends and I to pile into the longboat with the usual "volunteers". As we prepared to cast off from the Ship of Horrors (I'll never be able to think of it as the Endeavor again), I could see Garvyn barking orders and sailors trimming the sails. I watched their movements as long as I could, drawing comfort from the sight of such familiar chores.
Once away from the ship, Rhavin reminded me that I'd once conjectured that each chart in Peregrine's collection might represent a different Ravenloft plane. He wanted to know how many charts we'd covered since boarding. Unfortunately, I couldn't recall a precise number.
"Definitely more than one, though," I responded after giving it some thought. He seemed satisfied with that answer, although he didn't mention why he wanted to know.
The planning continued until we pulled up our oars and started casting the spells needed. I cast water-breathing and protection from cold on Nikita, Ester, Rhavin and Kariya. Even though Rhavin, Ester and Kariya were planning to stay in the boat, we wanted them to be able to get wet in an emergency.
At Kariya's suggestion, one of the sailors tied a frayed rope to the longboat, knotted the other end, and threw it over. The knot was to serve as an indication of the limit to which Nikita could safely descend before the pressure began to take its toll-that is, deeper than one hundred feet.
I tipped over the side and shapeshifted as I hit the water. I paused just long enough for Canliss the Octopus to attach a couple of tentacles and check that Nikita was okay-she'd let out a scream when she got a load of our eight-armed friend. I guess she'd never been to Walleye Pete's when they had fresh octopi.
We dove through the patches of kelp-like, bubbling seaweed swaying gently in the current. Because of the telepathic link Nikita had created before we began our descent, I could hear her describing what she saw to our friends in the longboat. By virtue of that spell, I also found out that she'd been under the impression that an octopus was a kind of crab.
At one hundred feet, I told Nikita not to dive any further. The three of us stuck together, swimming at that level while Nikita had her "locate object" spell going. Silvery fish passed by, darting in and out of the seaweed as we followed Nikita in the direction she'd picked up. Nikita could swim unnaturally fast with the pearl of deep diving, so we covered a great deal of territory. At nearly an hour and a half, Nikita found the body.
"Nikita, you should head up soon," I warned.
She insisted that she wanted to triangulate the position on the body. She managed to lead us to a position directly over Madeleine's remains, and we all encouraged her to began ascending to the surface.
"Great," thought Canliss to Nikita, "go up."
Our friend finally began to swim toward the surface. I was worried about how long she'd pushed it with the cold protection spell. Perhaps I should have pushed her a bit more to head up sooner, but there was nothing to be done about it now. Our telepathic link gradually faded with her ascent, so now Canliss and I could only communicate with gesture.
Now that I had a fix on where the corpse had come to lie, Canliss used a tentacle to shield the light rock somewhat. With the others, he held on and allowed me to ferry him to the ocean floor. At this point, he trusted my echolocation to remain trained on our quarry.
However, Madeleine's bones weren't the only shapes of interest in the water. I could hear two large forms off in the distance. They were closing on us, but I judged that we could still outdistance them if we had to. I hesitated to continue the dive. I didn't feel comfortable inviting combat when only Canliss and I were present, particularly given that Canliss' senses were not adapted for the sea. I'd nearly gotten myself killed with the golden dolphins just off that accursed tropical island, so I didn't like the idea of being the only one in top fighting form down here. The shapes continued to close on us, and I decided to abort the dive.
As I began to ascend, I felt Canliss take one tentacle off my fin, and a tiny glow appeared beneath me. I realized what he'd done moments before it faded into the depth: he'd dropped the light rock! He'd realized that I was breaking off the dive and wanted to mark the spot. However, the rock wouldn't be able to give off so much illumination that we'd save ourselves any spells in locating the site again. Instead, we simply risked losing the one light source we had that worked under water.
Alarmed, I dove after it at top speed, Canliss the Octopus poking and tugging at me frantically to stop all the way. I'd explain later. Below us, I could finally see the large creatures that had come to investigate our presence. They were large, crab-like men...or human-like crabs...and they were fascinated by the light source. They scuttled along the ocean bottom until they had reached the edge of the light from the rock. I was counting on them to be too fearful of it to approach right away, but they'd soon get over that. I swooped down to snatch up the rock in my mouth and bolted for the surface.
At first, the crab-men attempted pursuit, but they were unable to catch us. I thanked Jvelto for allowing me a swift shapeshift animal and kept swimming until at last we reached the longboat. We both shifted back into human form as the sailors helped us into the boat. Our disappointed friends could see immediately that we hadn't recovered so much as a single bone, so I explained what I'd seen. Canliss was strangely quiet, which meant either he was angry with my judgment, or he was up to something. Perhaps both.
Meanwhile, Nikita looked terrible-well, as much as she ever does-with blue lips and gooseflesh despite Kariya and Rhavin's attempts to warm her. Kariya had magically dried and warmed her clothes. Rhavin looked like a man struggling with some anger as he fussed over Nikita. After all, we'd all said it was too dangerous for the paladin, but we'd encouraged Nikita to dive. I guess I couldn't blame him.
We spoke little as the sailors rowed us back to the ship. Tired and disappointed, we each went our own way once on deck. As for me, I knew by the setting sun where I was expected to be.
Peregrine was just finishing up by the time I joined him, so there was little for me to do. I tried to make some conversation and not let on how disappointed I was in the dive. Finally, I got up to perform my one other "duty" for the day.
"The boys in the galley will be expecting me," I said to the handsome navigator. "Do you want to drop by?"
He hesitated. "I-I suppose. I-I don't really d-drink ale."
I rolled my eyes before I remembered Mom telling me that it was an unladylike habit. "Well, just come for the company, then."
He agreed to do that, so we headed to the galley, where the usual sailors were loitering around the barrel. I had to smile to myself at the thought that I was attracting "regulars" just like Barnacle Joe's. I greeted them and cast the spell to create ale. I helped myself to a draft, too, and talked with Peregrine as the drinking party commenced. My friends filed in with some other sailors later.
"Okay!" announced Fish-Boy as he plunked down a barrel in front of Ester. "I got a barrel!"
The barrel was full of seawater and writhing fish. I looked over at Peregrine, whose face faintly registered a look of refined disgust. I supposed he'd seen the act before, but I could hardly leave without cheering Fish-Boy on.
Nikita looked over the top of her mug uncertainly. I was sure she was hoping not to be invited to try Fish-Boy's act. Nearby, Ester was shifting excitedly as she awaited her turn.
Fish-Boy took a deep breath and plunged his head into the water. The sailors looking on began banging their metal cups on the galley table and chanting "Fish-Boy! Fish-Boy!" until he emerged with the tail of a fish in his mouth. Water sprayed all of those around him as he shook his head in victory. I laughed as the men cheered for his accomplishment. They'd love this game back at Barnacle Joe's!...not that I planned to demonstrate.
Ester looked into the barrel to...well...to take aim, I guess.
"Ester! Ester!" the sailors cheered as the giantess gleefully dunked her head into the seawater. After a moment, she pulled her head out with not one fish, but two! She had one by the head and the other by the tail. Fish-Boy looked thunderstruck, his title and status threatened by the large woman.
"Ester!" the men cheered.
"I love you!" Fish-Boy shouted as he threw his arms around Ester. Well, I guess common interests are the basis for most successful relationships, but I had to laugh anyway as he clung to her with the blissful expression of one who has found a soulmate.
While I was chuckling, I caught sight of Canliss backing out of the room. I guess he wasn't taking any chances that Fish-Boy might challenge him. In a different direction, Nikita was trying to pull Rhavin away from the action. Meanwhile, Ulfie jumped up to congratulate a fish-flavored Ester.
"Rhavin!" cried dripping, smiling Ester, "It's your turn!"
"Rhavin! Rhavin!" the sailors now called. The paladin hesitated, looking at Nikita. My Torodinite friend looked frustrated-she'd been so close to making good their escape. Rhavin took a big breath, ran over to the barrel and plunged his head into the water while Nikita looked positively disgusted. The sailors cheered and banged their cups on the tables, calling for more.
Well, I supposed I'd seen enough. I wasn't about to be next, so I turned to Peregrine to ask him to walk me back to my cabin. He was only too happy to leave this scene behind-at least he found me more appealing than a barrel of fish. I guess that's something.
Once we reached the door, I thanked Peregrine, but then, on impulse, I reached up and planted a chaste kiss on his cheek-and dove to close the door behind me before he could issue any kind of rejection. Just as the door closed, I glimpsed the deep blush I had known would come into his handsome face. Palms sweating, I leaned against the door breathlessly listening for a reaction.
I heard his muffled voice say, "Um...um...oooh?"
I thought I heard him walk away, so I opened the door a fraction to check. Jacob was there, fist raised as if about to knock. The ghost was precisely not who I wanted to see, so I shrieked.
The specter seemed stunned for a moment, then he said, "It's not Jacob."
Unable to deal with Jacob under the best of circumstances, I slammed the door shut without another word.

I was to have more visitors that evening. Ester came to my cabin looking for someone with whom to play "go fish". I sighed and let the giantess in. I hoped she had the cards because there was no way I would be able to find a deck in Nikita's mess.
"Jacob stopped by," I said as I closed the door behind her, "but he didn't really say anything."
"Do you have any twos?" she asked, almost before I finished dealing.
Just then, Madeleine's nightly screams commenced. The two of us threw dwown our cards and went off to look for the ghost. Ester seemed to be looking forward to screaming with her. She wasn't on deck, so we went to the hold in search of her.
Naturally, we found Madeleine there, screaming her ghostly little head off as usual. I was more interested to see that a dripping wet Canliss (who doesn't look half bad in soaked black silk) rummaging through the contents of a very full sack just beyond her.
"HI, MADELEINE!" Ester screamed in greeting, but the ghost was staring at Canliss. I didn't think dead people would notice something like a soaking wet member of the opposite sex. But then, I was still new to Ravenloft.
"DID YOU KNOW JACOB COOPER?" the giantess asked. Madeleine ignored her. It seems that only people who are directly in front of the ghosts can hold their attention, so Ester stepped between the screaming woman and Canliss, moving Canliss aside.
"WHAT HAVE YOU GOT, CANLISS?!" Kariya yelled to the mage, who looked like the proverbial cat after a canary luncheon. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
Canliss continued arranging the bones in one of the coffins with a self-satisfied expression. "WE CAN SET SAIL AGAIN!"
I looked into the coffin, where an adult skeleton, scraps of a red velvet gown and a shroud clung to some of the bones. Dear stupid Canliss. His recklessness had finally paid off, and we'd never hear the end of it. I couldn't decide whether to hug him or scold him, so I did neither. I just stared.
"HEY MADELEINE!" Ester turned back to the ghost. "DID HE GET ALL OF YOU?!"
Kariya, not one to waste time, stepped up to help Canliss arrange the bones. I stood by, ready to bless the remains. Madeleine simply continued screaming, so I did bless her. Her screaming diminished to merely skull-shaking. At least half an hour passed while Kariya and Canliss worked at ordering Madeleine's remains. The ghost herself screamed the entire time. When Kariya and Canliss finally looked up at me, I cast a blessing on the remains. Madeleine disappeared when I finished the blessing.
"Thank the gods," Kariya said, just loud enough to be heard over the ringing in our ears.
I went on to perform a brief funeral ceremony for completion's sake, although I could scarcely hear myself, thanks to the ringing in my ears, until I was nearly two-thirds done.
"Canliss," Kariya said as I wrapped up my prayer for the dead, "please explain. Just give us the story."
She was tapping her foot impatiently. I looked at Canliss, thinking that Kariya was about to turn him over her knee.
"So, you dove over the side and went down and got it," she said matter-of-factly, prompting him to pick up from there.
"I went down, swam right to it, gathered it up and brought it back," he replied, as if there was nothing more to tell. Really, that was quite a detailed answer by Canliss' standards, so he must have sensed Kariya's ire.
"How did you swim 'right to it'?" she looked bewildered. It was a good question, and Canliss just gave one of those irritating, self-satisfied shrugs I've come to expect.
"And we have it all, do we?" I asked incredulously. I was answered with a nod.
"And those crab-things didn't come back?" Kariya questioned.
Canliss grinned. "I was very quiet."
"Wasn't it dark?"
"I couldn't see a thing."
See what I mean about him being reckless?
Apparently, he'd gone down as a crab, burrowing through the silt to find each bone. He took two hours to gather the remains carefully. Now you know as much about the recovery operation as anyone in the group except the six-fingered madman himself.

We'd adjourned to our cabins. After a brief stroll on deck to take in the night air, I returned to this letter. Kariya stayed behind in the hold to study, and I supposed Canliss was off congratulating himself somewhere-not without reason, of course, but the blow to his odds of developing either humility or caution somewhat colored my appreciation. I grudgingly had to admit to myself that I was glad we could move on.
Some time during the night, a tiny rapping on my cabin door startled me. I opened the door, ready to greet Jacob. Instead, Charlotte lay in a heap on the timbers, her legs at awkward angles and her eyes puffy from crying.
I started to remind myself that dead people don't cry, but then she looked up at me with those wide eyes and sobbed, "Clara!"
That was it. It was too sad. I reached over and picked the child up in spite of the inherent creepiness of the situation. I knew that Charlotte was cold to the touch because I'd seen the way Nikita shivers when she hugs her, but I hadn't expected it to effect me as much as it did. Every part of the girl chilled the skin: brow, hair, even her clothes. I held on to her even as the gooseflesh came-only the second time in my adult life I could claim to have goosebumps (the first, of course, was in the nightmare of Sailor's
End).
"Let's see if we can find your dolly," I soothed. "I'm going to get Kariya, and she can help us look."
I hadn't seen Nikita all night, and I had resolved in my letter to her that I was going to give her more space. I didn't suggest bringing her into this encounter because I didn't want to think about what she was doing.
Kariya's room was unoccupied, so I tried the cargo hold. We've been treating the hold almost like a lounge, so I thought there was a good chance someone would be there. Besides, that's where the child's bed and her doll routinely appear. I found Kariya and Ester, both of whom greeted Charlotte with the familiarity one might give to the neighbor's children...if the neighbor's children weren't dead.
Ester promptly picked her up and tossed the giggling girl.
"Bird?" she asked Ester. Kariya and I both looked at the child's wasted legs and then at each other.
"Careful!" Kariya said.
Meanwhile, Ulfie had taken off. Now that I think about it, he's never around when the ghosts make their appearances. I guess we wouldn't be introducing him to Charlotte, but she seemed not to mind, as Ester deftly tossed and spun the little girl. Ester was ignoring her own goosebumps just as mine were fading away.
The giantess and the child played while Kariya and I searched for Clara, the porcelain doll that someone in our party was called upon to find each night. As usual, it was under the pillow of the bed I knew was moments away from disappearing. Thankfully, the doll was now intact.
"Charlotte, what's polio?" Ester asked innocently while I was busy telling Kariya how I'd found the girl.
Charlotte was perfectly happy to explain, as if one child to another. "It's this sickness thing, and I never get better."
"Sick like coughing?"
Charlotte shook her head, sending her curly red ringlets everywhere. "Legs are sick."
"Oh."
Ester had a puzzled expression. "So, what happens when your legs get sick?"
"Can't play."
"But we're playing."
Charlotte had to giggle as the giantess tossed her again. Even I had to admit that they were quite a picture as playmates. It would have been entirely adorable if I'd just been able to get over the whole deadness thing. Finally, Charlotte began to yawn, and Ester gathered her up to tuck her in.
"Okee-dokee. Time for beddie-bye," Ester crooned.
Once the giantess and the mage got Charlotte tucked in, I started to tell her the creation of thunder story. She listened for a while, but her eyelids soon drooped into full closure. Before I could get up, the scene vanished, as we knew it would.
Yes, Old Man, we're slowly becoming accustomed to sailing on this rotting ship, playing with dead children and sleeping on a schedule that lets us scream conversationally all night. What else will we have to admit into our routine? And for how long? For now, we are just as trapped as any of the other souls aboard, living or dead.

May Jvelto cause our troubles to be blown away,

Jven