The great whirlpool has choked the Bay of Thrax for nearly the full spring season. Among the myriad difficulties raised by this are a food shortage in the continent's largest city, and a large number of stir crazy sailors. Those two problems are being addressed at least in part with a whaling venture out of Brighthold. Ten cogs of the Tyde merchant fleet have set out with a host of smaller boats to catch, kill, and butcher a pod of whales, before the great fish are pulled into the maelstrom to drown un-eaten.

Back at port, the Laveer family has provided a small army of carts, draft horses, and teamsters to receive the day's catch and transport it to Arx, but first the whales must be caught. The call went up at mid morning of a sizable pod of Blackfish: thirty smallish whales, stretched out over two miles of sea, and the small boats had rowed out to intercept.

Whaling is bloody and dangerous work, in which small boats must row near enough to throw a harpoon into a beast, and wait for the wounded whale to tire out, before finishing it with a lance, then towing the prize to a cog where sailors with flensing knives the size of small polearms butcher the carcass for its meat and blubber. Swathes of the sea are soon dyed red by the process.

For those without the desire for such hazardous and gory occupation, fine drinks and delicacies are prepared atop the shaded aftcastle of the largest cog, where gentlefolk of quality can take their leisure on cushioned lounges, and enjoy the fresh sea air. There's even a minstrel.

Zoey may have learned to become more at home on ships since marrying into House Kennex, but she is neither a sailor nor a hunter. She came in the hopes that the ship would come close enough to observe the whirlpool once more, so for now she stays out of the way while the whalers get to work. She dressed sensibly for the trip though, in case something goes wrong and her hands end up dirtied by more than the charcoal of her writing implements.

Archeron has come along - largely because apparently hanging around the whirlpool is his latest in fashion thing to do. And perhaps because certain Duchesses always tell him he needs to take more of an interest in boaty things. And this is a boaty thing. And helpfully, Whales have eyes and he has a bow. It's a marriage made in a very warped and deeply conflicted heaven. But thankfully, that seems unnecessary on the nice cog so he can simply rest his forearms against the railings with a glass of some joice or another and watch affairs, the ranger's cowl pooled around his neck to let the spray hit his face. "A slightly less troubling form of bloodwater I suppose."

There's something tragi-comical about how Ian Kennex, famous sailor and pirate hunter, can barely stay on his feet on a ship without one hand on a railing or a line or a mast. Even so, he seems to know his way around a ship and has taken one of the more dangerous jobs on the smaller vessels, where harpooning and lancing will be done.

One of those lady types is Rey, sitting comfortably on a cushion, watching the waves as the mission gets underway. For her part, she's likely come along in order to administer aid should it be that certain events take place and medical attention is needed. She has no weapons, but she is dressed more for the sea than for more 'civilised' events, skin guarded from the sun and seaspray by simple leathers and linen in seafarer's fashion.

Wash doesn't trust himself enough around horses to ride one all the way to Brighthold, and lacking a carriage, he rides in the back of a cart the whole way, alternating between sleeping and complaining. Once aboard a vessel however, he is all smiles and enthusiasm. When the cutters are launched, he's among the first to volunteer to pull an oar rather than throw a harpoon.

Sir Floppington the soulful hound is here. He wags up to hang out near Zoey, doing so whilst Scout Rowenova has come aboard for the whale hunt, doing so with an ulu knife (the broad blade covered up by a leather holder) on her alchemy belt among many other odd items there. She apparently wears not only her wolfy headdress but also a double-breasted doublet and matching pants, plus diamondplate gauntlets and similar sabatons. With her are a few harpoons that she double checks to be sure they are ready to go.

The cogs had turned back toward Brighthold one at a time as their holds filled with whale meat, until by mid afternoon, only one of the large vessels remained. Most of the small whaling boats had returned as well, with only a scant few still on the water, hoping for one more catch (Haakon among these, of course). The voyage has been a resounding success, and thoughts begin to turn toward an overnight run to Stormward, when eyes catch on a curious sight.

The flotilla has lingered near edges of the great maelstrom all day, while carefully remaining outside its pull, so when a sail is spotted due north, on a western tack, it is curious, to say the least. Such a course will take the unknown vessel directly into the whirlpool's merciless grip.

Rey checked perception at difficulty 15, rolling 12 higher.

Rowenova checked perception at difficulty 15, rolling 5 higher.

Zoey checked perception at difficulty 15, rolling 3 lower.

Ian checked perception at difficulty 15, rolling 10 higher.

Wash checked perception at difficulty 15, rolling 2 lower.

Archeron checked perception at difficulty 15, rolling 8 lower.

Zoey lets her gaze wander out over the water while the minstrel plays and the wine does its work. As it has many times since the trip began it goes back toward the whirlpool in the hopes of spotting something, anything new about it. When she sees the ship she stands up and moves closer to the railing, shading her eyes with her hand. "That ship is getting awfully close to the whirlpool," she says loudly enough for others to hear her. "Do you think they might be in trouble?"

Archeron turns the glass of juice he has in his hands as he watches the events play out, the meat packed onto the cogs. Certainly less eventful than his last trip out to the whirlpool. At the call of Zoey, Archeron lifts his head to peer a little out, squinting "Mm. Can't really make anything out. But they will avoid it, or they will not."

Also game to bring in one last catch, Ian's in one of the smaller vessels, closer to the water. This means that he'll be one of the last people to see the ship on the horizon. He squints against the light playing off the surface of the water as the sun sets behind them while he tries to make out details from what he can see of the tops of the sails. "Row us back to the ship," he says after a moment. "That's an Arvani vessel, and I don't like its heading."

It takes a moment for Rey to look up from whatever it was that she was doing, occasionally glancing up to take in the surroundings quickly before returning to her idle studying of whatever tome she's pulled out of her satchel. She notices the craft just after many of the others do, her head tilting slightly to one side as keen pale eyes scan the vessel with some interest. "Oh dear..." She murmurs under her breath, standing from her comfortable place to move toward the railing of whichever ship she's found herself on.

When Zoey asks that question, Rey gives a shallow nod, "A portion of the railing is missing. I don't see anyone on deck... if they're in trouble, it might be of the sort we're too late to aid with. But," She squints, "We should try, right? It's possible we could catch up, but the risk ... well, someone more familiar with sailing than I would have to calculate that one."

"They have at least one sail up. That should be enough for them to change course." Wash says, focused more on the challenge ahead of them. Until that is Rey points out that the ship is damaged. "Do your sharp eyes see any away boats Lady LaVeer? Perhaps the ship is abandoned."

Wash checked intellect + sailing at difficulty 30, rolling 36 higher.

Nova pipes up, "They are flying a red flag! What does that mean?" And then, Rowenova moves to try to do as Ian has suggested, if there are oars here.

The sighted ship causes a bit of a stir among the cog's crew. After allz ships are valuable, and that could be a prize piece of salvage... *strokes captain beard*

"That definitely sounds like they are in trouble," Zoey says after Rey's description of the ship. "We need to at least try."

As everyone rushes to try to help this boat, Archeron lets out a small sigh and pushes back from the railing "Am I the only one who worries that this means something terrible, or that my cousin is behind this?" Archeron asks rhetorically, but he removes the rubicund bow from his back and begins to string it "Always presume everything is chock full of reavers until you have checked. Last thing you want is surprise reavers."

There is not a lot of transition between eager oarsman and Thrax Admiral. Wash hands off his line to the sailor behind him and starts calling out orders. "Helmsmen. Three points west Northwest! Captain! You're relieved of command by order of the Admiral of Thrax!" He's clambering up to the aftcastle without waiting for permission. He leans over the starboard rail and shields his eyes. "Ian! Signal that we are rendering assistance." This is what Wash lives for, that galvanizing moment where all action must be both simultaneous and instantaneous. "Ready grappling lines for boarding! Captain, dig out a spare sheet for that mizzen."

Surprise reavers? Sir Floppington shifty eyes. Though, he mostly follows along after Nova who moves swiftly to take care of the grappling lines for boarding!

Once the launch Ian (and Rowenova?) are on pulls alongside the cog, Ian climbs aboard with the help of a couple of sailors, then turns to give Nova a hand up, as well. "Hand me the signal flags." He makes his way, stumbling but with surprising speed, towards the sheets, preparing to go up into the rigging to hoist the flags in place and to, climbing a bit higher, try to get a better look from above. His entire demeanor has changed now that he's following the orders that Wash snaps out, mixing an intensity of focus and efficiency with a preternatural sense of calm.

"Nothing that I can see!" Rey retorts in response to the question of away boats. As there's utterly nothing else that she understands at this point, she will go back to watching the ship and trying to spy incoming threats.

Sailors aren't inclined to argue with Wash in Admiral mode. Signals are sent, to no visible response.

Under expert guidance, the Tyde cog swiftly draws near the unknown vessel. The ship- a two-masted coaster- appears abandoned on approach, though how or why a ship is deserted without first drawing in all sail remains a mystery. Sailors stand ready to throw grappling lines across to being the ship's together for boarding, while a few bring out the boarding pikes, juuuuust in case.

Grappling irons must be well thrown, as it seems a portion of the waist railing that would normally be hooked has already been torn away, but in short order the ships are alongside, and the first grim clues appear: a dead sailor- perhaps a Lycene, by his complexion- lies on the deck with an arrow in his stomach and a mortal wound cutting into his shoulder at the base of his neck. He bled out quickly, at least. Overhead, one might not that the red "flag" the vessel flew is in fact a once-fine coat, strung up bloody from a pole at the pilot's station.

Ropes and timbers creak, the rush of the sea and the flapping of cloth in the wind are punctuated by the occasional clatter of the  door leading into the cabin at the stern. The stairs leading belowdecks stand open and vacant. No other movement greets them.

Rowenova checked perception + investigation at difficulty 15, rolling 50 higher.

Archeron checked perception + investigation at difficulty 15, rolling 29 higher.

Rey checked perception + economics at difficulty 15, rolling 39 higher.

Ian checked perception + sailing at difficulty 15, rolling 45 higher.

Zoey checked perception + economics at difficulty 15, rolling 35 higher.

Wash checked perception + sailing at difficulty 15, rolling 20 higher.

"Captain." Wash says, stepping over to the larger Tyde merchantman. "I won't command you to order men aboard her but if you have ten sturdy men to volunteer, send them after us. The helm is yours." And with that he waits until the earliest opportunity and then swings the gantry arm of the cog out over the starboard side and swings across the ocean gulf between them so that he can land on the far deck. As he scans the deck, he is primarily looking for how he can mitigate the damage done to the poor ship and most quickly rig up a second sail to change the ship's course more quickly.

After gratefully accepting the help up, Nova helpfully gathers desired flags, should there be any which still remain, swiftly climbing and happily providing those signal flags unto Ian (whilst taking note of anything else amiss here). When Wash joins the broken ship, Nova nods back his way and ultimately awaits further requests. She sure pays close attention, though, to the dead person, then anything else her cobalt-blue/kohl-lined gaze can potentially discern. "Shav arrows! After our Lycene here went down, everyone else ran and hid or jumped off. If any were captured (they most assuredly were) they were taken!"

The captain sends six of his men aboard with Wash and the others- ten is his full complement, and four sailors are held back to crew the cog.

As grappling hooks go across, Archeron seems quite happy to climb across - moving between wooden things is after all kind of his thing. Admitedly they are usually still alive wooden things, and largely verticle. But one takes the trees one gets. He carefully readies an arrow as he moves across to explore, gently nudging objects with his foot before he peers down into the belowdecks "Looks like a hell of afight." Arch observes "But, none of the bodies to go with it. Merchant that got pirated I'd guess. Left to drift into the bay. Given that the doors are chopped in, I'd guess at Thrax. Could be Port Defiance crews."

As the cog draws closer to the deserted ship, Ian climbs down from the rigging again. "Nova, with me. Bring the dog. We're going to have to find whatever needs finding fast. I don't think we'll be able to turn the ship." Presumably he expects "the dog" to be able to help with this. Before going over, he rounds up the six "volunteers". "Get the blasted sails down. Cut them down if you have to." It probably won't save the ship, but it might buy them time to shift the cargo and hunt for survivors.

The diminutive frame of Rey disappears into the cabin for a more thorough examination of the scene that's unfolding. She's in there for a while before she can be seen slinking back out again, a ledger under her arm, a shake of her head offered before she speaks, "There was at least one child on board, and the door that protected those within was chopped open ... for such violence, there seems to be very little sign of actual wounding, or killing here..." She stops as Rowenova speaks, confirming her earlier suspicions without her having to actually speak them. "They look to have taken the valuables, or at least done their best to find them, but I did find this." She holds up the ledger, before bringing it back to herself to open it up in order to take a quick scan over it as she paces toward the cargo hold.

Wash didn't even bother checking the tiller, from a glance he could see that it was swinging too loosely to still be connected to the rudder. He sees Ian go below decks to check on the steering systems while he clears the lines so that the new sail can be drawn up quickly. Ian's news that the rudder hinge has been completely nailed down actually gives him pause. His mind races as he looks at the reasons why. He casts his eyes to the ridgeline. "This is a nationless ship." He says thoughtfully. "Belay that order!" Wash cries. "We're sending her through unmanned. Take down that bloody rag. You have five minutes to collect anything of value and then return to the whaler." He starts doing the mental calculation to figure out how to ensure that the craft makes it through the maelstrom alive. He can't change the direction, but he can adjust the sails to give it the right speed.

Zoey spends a few minutes looking around in the cargo hold before convening with the others in her group once more. "Well, the saying goes that beggars cannot be choosers, and whomever went through the cargo was definitely a chooser. Water, beer, and some of the food was left behind, as well as more common types of cloth and dye. They took the finer things that were aboard though; wine, brocade, velvet."

The stricken coaster's mainsail is drawn in by four of the six volunteers, while the remaining pair of Tyde men get to work in vain trying to jar the rudder free. The stricken merchant vessel slows to a drift, though any efforts to craft a sea anchor with more canvas are thwarted: the canvas in the water is drawn ahead and past the ship by the first subtle pull of the still-distant maelstrom. Wash's 'five minutes' estimate is conservative, but wisely erring on the side of caution.

With Ian's help, Nova gets Sir Flop over to the ship and then they move to do what they need to do and do it fast after what Wash just explained to them. "Should we alchemy the nails in the rudder, you thi-." Though, she hears out what Wash just said. "Alright, we go find whatever we can find then go back?"

Wash descends from the quarterdeck to aid in getting new sheets in place, "We have here a singular opportunity Lords and Ladies. An experiment that costs no lives, and no value from anyone present. We know that the whirlpool will take and ship flying an Arvani flag or with an Arvani captain. But this ship has no captain, and flies no flag. Let us send it through the whirlpool, as the saboteurs intended, and see if whatever picks and chooses there will attack a masterless ship of this sort. Then we will take the whaler and find the motherless swine that pirated it."

Archeron turning to grab a few of the arrows left, Archeron puts them back into his quiver before moving back to the grapples and across to the Tyde ship, stowing his bow onto his back "All's aboard that's coming aboard, as I believe they say. Or someone says. I've already done my whirlpool experience for this little bit of my life, and I don't think Wash's luck is good enough to try it twice."

"Limited hold space," Ian theorizes to Zoey and Rey, on the subject of the cargo. "Maybe limited time. They took what they thought was valuable. I'd like to follow the heading of this ship back, though, and see if we can't figure out where the attack took place. I want to get those people back." The last sentence has the slightest edge to it, not anger exactly, but still something that burns. He's focused enough on this objective that he's not especially interested in the ship into the maelstrom experiment.

"Sending it across empty to see what happens would be enlightening," Zoey agrees.

"They probably thought the maelstrom would destroy any evidence of their piracy." Wash agrees. "Doubt that shavs had any interest in empirical study of the maelstrom." He is still doing mental math to make sure the empty ship will have enough speed to coast directly into the harbor past the maelstrom. "The experiment goes to waste if it just wrecks on the rocks though."

"Lord Wash, I am not dealing with an upset Lady Catalana. Might I suggest that the experiment is interesting, but that it will take the course it takes, and we should take a course that we should take. Namely away from the ship heading into the maelstrom?" Archeron stands on the Tyde ship, his axe out and ready to set the raided ship free once everyone is back on board.

Ian is willing to go along with whatever Wash wants to do to make sure the ship goes right into the whirlpool, but probably only out of an irrational need to follow orders. As soon as his part in the affair is done, he goes back to the Tyde ship.

Much like Ian, Nova seems good with what Wash decides and moves back to their Tyde ship with Sir Floppington across the back of her shoulders before then carefully setting him back down once more. "Good boy!"

"In a minute." Wash intends to be the last one off the ship, making last minute adjustments and checking to see that the lines won't come free.

The Tyde sailors are less inclined to chop away their own grappling irons, and instead take heavy rope from the derelict to bind the ships together long enough to free their hooks and irons and carry them back aboard the whaler. Grappling irons cost money, and not all of us are nobles! Notably, it looks like the same process had been carried out on the merchant at least once before. When the admiral is ready, the ships can part paths.

Zoey follows Ian back to the Tyde ship. She refills her wine glass while she waits for the others to return, watching from her place near the minstrel.

The minstrel plays, plays, plays for the nice rich people.

Wash leaps back to the Tyde ship after the sailors begin chopping away the ties. "Thank you Captain. Your service will be noted the next time I play stones with Duchess Margot." He casually calls to the master of the Tyde cog.

"A minute then, Lord Wash." Archeron confirms, leaning back on the rail - his axe refastened back onto his back. And with Wash coming back, Archeron nods "Captain, take us free from this and back to safety. I would rather not lose a ship. They are expensive, and we probably will need them all soon."

Even as the Tyde ship pulls away from the unmanned vessel, Ian is already going in search of charts to try and track back the course and heading, in preparation for going after the reavers. Whatever will or won't happen with the whirlpool is clearly of no interest to him.

After petting down Sir Floppington, Nova moves to help Ian get his maps, and since she is a scribe when in Arx, she helpfully provides any quill he needs, having preinked ones in vials on her alchemy belt, even, pulled from corks.

The Tyde cog breaks away from the stricken coaster, and tacks swiftly south east to put distance between them and the maeltrom's watery grasp. Of little interest to some and profound interest to others, the solitary sail of the doomed freighter shrinks in the growing distance, until it it pulled down and out of sight by the spiraling power of the deep that has swallowed the Bay of Thrax, and now adds one more wooden morsel to its meals.

Wash is clearly disappointed by the results. "So... maybe this thing identifies ships based on smell."

"I told you my theory, did I not?" Zoey asks Wash.

"The Eurusi and the Cardians probably know how to get past it," Ian remarks to Wash in a distracted tone. "I don't think it's really targeting anything."

Nova hmms quietly, "I wonder if it will ever get full? And yeah, the UE ships are able to move from the harbor to the river and back again in some way." Though, she side eyes the crew here and just skips saying it might be magic.

"I think so, yes." Wash says. "But short of learning to breathe water. Neither of us can confirm anything."

"Actually, Ian has the right of it. The whirlpool does not target, the other nations just know something we do not," says Zoey.