Chapter 6:
The Party Animal and the Forgetful Inventor
"I don't even know where to begin with this," Brynn said, gazing wide- eyed at the mess that the courtyard had become. Stacks of planking, rough- hammered sheets of metal and bits and bobs of all manner of other items, some of which Brynn couldn't even hope to begin to identify littered the area, leaned up against the stone walls and blocked half of the gate.
Jan Jansen turned his knobby face toward her. The gnome's dark eyes were magnified to three or four times their normal size by the lenses of the insanely complex pair of work goggles he wore over his eyes. In his hands he clutched a device the size of a squash. It was the product of six weeks of intense labor, and the only thing that had come out of the mess in the courtyard. "What d'you mean?" Jan asked.
"I mean this!" Brynn said, waving her hands around to indicate the chaos that surrounded them. "All of this, for that? It's tiny!"
Jan took his goggles off, and his bushy brows came together, forming one big hairy caterpillar over his eyes. "Well if you don't like it I guess I'll just be going. And I'm taking this," he clutched the device to his chest possessively, "with me!"
"That's not what I meant," Brynn said to him. "It's just, well, couldn't you have done that," she pointed at the device, "without doing that?" her finger moved to the largest pile of odds and ends in the courtyard.
"Hey! This is a work of art here!" Jan protested. "You wouldn't go up to an painter and demand an answer like that from him would you?"
"I would if he, in the process of making his masterpiece, had splattered the courtyard with paints and left brushes and palettes all over the ground," Brynn answered back. "Look at this place! Didn't your mother ever teach you to clean up after yourself?"
"Of course she did," Jan replied. "But, when you're creating a... a work of fine craftsmanship, with the most brilliant design ever before dreamed of by man or gnome, you're entitled to a little creative leeway."
Brynn sighed. "Okay, okay, I give in. Your mess has won. Now please, would you tell me how that misshapen lump of gears and whatnot does?"
Jan shrugged and splayed his hands. "I don't know. I know that it does something, but I'm not quite sure what."
"What?" Brynn demanded, her voice rising in pitch and volume so much that Jan winced and the guards on duty on the castle walls looked down into the courtyard to see what was wrong. Brynn took a moment to calm herself and then said, "If you don't know what it does how in the world are you going to make it work so that we don't drowned on the way into Wa?"
Jan frowned, his caterpillar eyebrows pulling together again. "Well you don't need to get so shrill, you know," he said. "My uncle Jorgen had a wife that did that, and after a month the only time he saw her was when he got caught sneaking in and out of the house hoping to avoid..."
"Jan please, please, please," Brynn said, rubbing her temples in hopes of staving of the headache she knew was coming, "no stories right now. Uncle Jorgen can wait until my brain stops hurting."
"I'll tell you all about it later," Jan said with a smile and a nod. "You know, I've always found that the best thing for a headache is a turnip. When I was a young gnome my mother..."
Brynn made a noise that sounded almost like a whimper -if it was a whimper she never would have admitted it- and for the umpteenth time wondered if Jan had been the right gnome for the job. "Jan, you remember what I asked you to build, right?" she asked.
Jan said, "Oh yes, a submersible craft for a stealthy and swift invasion of this Wa place. I remember very well."
"Okay," Brynn said, letting some of the stress bleed out of her. At least he knew what he was doing, that was plus. "So, can you tell me how such a craft can be built if you have spent the last six weeks working on one part of it, and you don't even know what that part does?"
Jan blinked. "Oh, this has nothing at all to do with that," he said, his fingers absently stroking his creation with the same sort of affection a mother might stroke her child's hair. "This is of a pet project of mine that I wanted to work on."
"What!?"
This time Brynn's cry of dismay caused a small flock of pigeons that had been perching on the castle roof to take flight in a pandemonium of dismayed cooing and flapping wings.
Jan shook his head as if to get his ears to stop ringing. "Well you see..."
"Jan, you were supposed to be working on that submerwhatever," Brynn said through clenched teeth. "How are we going to get into Wa without it?"
"Oh don't worry, I've had that done for weeks," Jan said proudly. "My cousin Jens had one already designed, all I had to do was alter a few things." Jan reached into one of his many pockets and withdrew a tiny model. "It becomes full-sized when the activation word it spoken."
"Why... why didn't you tell me sooner?" Brynn wanted to know, her voice tense with irritation.
"I forgot," Jan said. "I got busy working on my masterpiece and forgot."
Brynn let out a sigh of dismay and shook her head. There was no point in getting angry at Jan, she decided, and so she let her irritation flow of her like water off a duck's back. "Well, you remembered it now, and I suppose that's all that matters," she said after a moment. "Since you've finished your 'masterpiece' why don't you start getting this place cleaned up and then go help out Nalia, Aerie, Imoen and Dynaheir with what they're doing. As soon as that's done with, and Haer'Dalis gets back with Havarian we can go."
***
Meanwhile, somewhere out to sea, on a sleek, beautiful sailing ship of the martial design, Saemon Havarian and Haer'Dalis sat on deck in the company of two lovely ladies and enjoyed a bottle of fine wine and a lovely sunset.
"So, Haer'Dalis, you wanted to ask a favor of me?" Saemon asked. He lifted his lady friend off of his lap and slapped her affectionately on the bottom. "Off you go, love, this is business talk." The woman pouted, her ruby lips pursing cutely and her green eyes sparkling like two moist emeralds. It took all of Saemon's willpower to say, "Go on, off you go I said. I have to talk business with the fellow. I'll spend time with you later." He flashed a charming smile and the woman gave him a brilliant smile of her own before walking off, her hips swaying in a pleasing manner. He watched her go with a pleased grin.
He turned to his tiefling companion and said, "Now of your friend would kindly depart..."
Haer'Dalis looked like he was going to protest for a moment, then said, "As you wish. Come, my golden rose," he said to the blonde who was snuggled into his arms, "it is time for you to leave me, though it pains my heart so." The blonde giggled, kissed him on the cheek, and left to go below deck.
"It is really most unfair, Saemon, to thrust into my arms such a lovely specimen of female flesh and then cruelly take her away so soon," Haer'Dalis told the corsair, his voice tinged with gentle rebuke.
Havarian chuckled. "You've been here on my ship for a tenday now, and Lelia has been hanging on you since you first set foot aboard."
"Ah, and what a splendid time it has been!" Haer'Dalis exclaimed wistfully. "Good food, good drink... good companionship. Is life always this pleasant for you?"
Saemon shrugged. "It has its moments," he said. "I'm between endeavors at the moment."
"Splendid!" Haer'Dalis said. "Splendid indeed! You of course remember Brynn Trueblade?"
Saemon swallowed hard. "Err... eh, who could forget her." He half- smiled and added. "Well made lady that one."
"It is at her request that I have journeyed and sought you out," Haer'Dalis said to Saemon. He paused and took a sip of wine. "She is in the market for a seaman of superlative skills, and her thought fell on you as a man who would fit the bill."
"Well, I am an excellent sailor and captain," Saemon preened.
"Very true," Haer'Dalis agreed. "So, would you be willing to assist Brynn in her quest?"
Havarian scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I can't very well do it for free... what is she willing to offer?"
"Rest assured, the pay will be sufficient," Haer'Dalis guaranteed. "We have a number of resources available to us, and Brynn told me that she would pay you any sum within reason."
Havarian grinned. "Well then, what are we waiting for!"
To Be Continued
____________________________________________________________________________ __ I hope I got Jan's personality right, I rarely had him in my party when I played the game so I'm not all that sure how he would act. I think I got his right, I'm just not real sure.
The Blue Sorceress
"I don't even know where to begin with this," Brynn said, gazing wide- eyed at the mess that the courtyard had become. Stacks of planking, rough- hammered sheets of metal and bits and bobs of all manner of other items, some of which Brynn couldn't even hope to begin to identify littered the area, leaned up against the stone walls and blocked half of the gate.
Jan Jansen turned his knobby face toward her. The gnome's dark eyes were magnified to three or four times their normal size by the lenses of the insanely complex pair of work goggles he wore over his eyes. In his hands he clutched a device the size of a squash. It was the product of six weeks of intense labor, and the only thing that had come out of the mess in the courtyard. "What d'you mean?" Jan asked.
"I mean this!" Brynn said, waving her hands around to indicate the chaos that surrounded them. "All of this, for that? It's tiny!"
Jan took his goggles off, and his bushy brows came together, forming one big hairy caterpillar over his eyes. "Well if you don't like it I guess I'll just be going. And I'm taking this," he clutched the device to his chest possessively, "with me!"
"That's not what I meant," Brynn said to him. "It's just, well, couldn't you have done that," she pointed at the device, "without doing that?" her finger moved to the largest pile of odds and ends in the courtyard.
"Hey! This is a work of art here!" Jan protested. "You wouldn't go up to an painter and demand an answer like that from him would you?"
"I would if he, in the process of making his masterpiece, had splattered the courtyard with paints and left brushes and palettes all over the ground," Brynn answered back. "Look at this place! Didn't your mother ever teach you to clean up after yourself?"
"Of course she did," Jan replied. "But, when you're creating a... a work of fine craftsmanship, with the most brilliant design ever before dreamed of by man or gnome, you're entitled to a little creative leeway."
Brynn sighed. "Okay, okay, I give in. Your mess has won. Now please, would you tell me how that misshapen lump of gears and whatnot does?"
Jan shrugged and splayed his hands. "I don't know. I know that it does something, but I'm not quite sure what."
"What?" Brynn demanded, her voice rising in pitch and volume so much that Jan winced and the guards on duty on the castle walls looked down into the courtyard to see what was wrong. Brynn took a moment to calm herself and then said, "If you don't know what it does how in the world are you going to make it work so that we don't drowned on the way into Wa?"
Jan frowned, his caterpillar eyebrows pulling together again. "Well you don't need to get so shrill, you know," he said. "My uncle Jorgen had a wife that did that, and after a month the only time he saw her was when he got caught sneaking in and out of the house hoping to avoid..."
"Jan please, please, please," Brynn said, rubbing her temples in hopes of staving of the headache she knew was coming, "no stories right now. Uncle Jorgen can wait until my brain stops hurting."
"I'll tell you all about it later," Jan said with a smile and a nod. "You know, I've always found that the best thing for a headache is a turnip. When I was a young gnome my mother..."
Brynn made a noise that sounded almost like a whimper -if it was a whimper she never would have admitted it- and for the umpteenth time wondered if Jan had been the right gnome for the job. "Jan, you remember what I asked you to build, right?" she asked.
Jan said, "Oh yes, a submersible craft for a stealthy and swift invasion of this Wa place. I remember very well."
"Okay," Brynn said, letting some of the stress bleed out of her. At least he knew what he was doing, that was plus. "So, can you tell me how such a craft can be built if you have spent the last six weeks working on one part of it, and you don't even know what that part does?"
Jan blinked. "Oh, this has nothing at all to do with that," he said, his fingers absently stroking his creation with the same sort of affection a mother might stroke her child's hair. "This is of a pet project of mine that I wanted to work on."
"What!?"
This time Brynn's cry of dismay caused a small flock of pigeons that had been perching on the castle roof to take flight in a pandemonium of dismayed cooing and flapping wings.
Jan shook his head as if to get his ears to stop ringing. "Well you see..."
"Jan, you were supposed to be working on that submerwhatever," Brynn said through clenched teeth. "How are we going to get into Wa without it?"
"Oh don't worry, I've had that done for weeks," Jan said proudly. "My cousin Jens had one already designed, all I had to do was alter a few things." Jan reached into one of his many pockets and withdrew a tiny model. "It becomes full-sized when the activation word it spoken."
"Why... why didn't you tell me sooner?" Brynn wanted to know, her voice tense with irritation.
"I forgot," Jan said. "I got busy working on my masterpiece and forgot."
Brynn let out a sigh of dismay and shook her head. There was no point in getting angry at Jan, she decided, and so she let her irritation flow of her like water off a duck's back. "Well, you remembered it now, and I suppose that's all that matters," she said after a moment. "Since you've finished your 'masterpiece' why don't you start getting this place cleaned up and then go help out Nalia, Aerie, Imoen and Dynaheir with what they're doing. As soon as that's done with, and Haer'Dalis gets back with Havarian we can go."
***
Meanwhile, somewhere out to sea, on a sleek, beautiful sailing ship of the martial design, Saemon Havarian and Haer'Dalis sat on deck in the company of two lovely ladies and enjoyed a bottle of fine wine and a lovely sunset.
"So, Haer'Dalis, you wanted to ask a favor of me?" Saemon asked. He lifted his lady friend off of his lap and slapped her affectionately on the bottom. "Off you go, love, this is business talk." The woman pouted, her ruby lips pursing cutely and her green eyes sparkling like two moist emeralds. It took all of Saemon's willpower to say, "Go on, off you go I said. I have to talk business with the fellow. I'll spend time with you later." He flashed a charming smile and the woman gave him a brilliant smile of her own before walking off, her hips swaying in a pleasing manner. He watched her go with a pleased grin.
He turned to his tiefling companion and said, "Now of your friend would kindly depart..."
Haer'Dalis looked like he was going to protest for a moment, then said, "As you wish. Come, my golden rose," he said to the blonde who was snuggled into his arms, "it is time for you to leave me, though it pains my heart so." The blonde giggled, kissed him on the cheek, and left to go below deck.
"It is really most unfair, Saemon, to thrust into my arms such a lovely specimen of female flesh and then cruelly take her away so soon," Haer'Dalis told the corsair, his voice tinged with gentle rebuke.
Havarian chuckled. "You've been here on my ship for a tenday now, and Lelia has been hanging on you since you first set foot aboard."
"Ah, and what a splendid time it has been!" Haer'Dalis exclaimed wistfully. "Good food, good drink... good companionship. Is life always this pleasant for you?"
Saemon shrugged. "It has its moments," he said. "I'm between endeavors at the moment."
"Splendid!" Haer'Dalis said. "Splendid indeed! You of course remember Brynn Trueblade?"
Saemon swallowed hard. "Err... eh, who could forget her." He half- smiled and added. "Well made lady that one."
"It is at her request that I have journeyed and sought you out," Haer'Dalis said to Saemon. He paused and took a sip of wine. "She is in the market for a seaman of superlative skills, and her thought fell on you as a man who would fit the bill."
"Well, I am an excellent sailor and captain," Saemon preened.
"Very true," Haer'Dalis agreed. "So, would you be willing to assist Brynn in her quest?"
Havarian scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I can't very well do it for free... what is she willing to offer?"
"Rest assured, the pay will be sufficient," Haer'Dalis guaranteed. "We have a number of resources available to us, and Brynn told me that she would pay you any sum within reason."
Havarian grinned. "Well then, what are we waiting for!"
To Be Continued
____________________________________________________________________________ __ I hope I got Jan's personality right, I rarely had him in my party when I played the game so I'm not all that sure how he would act. I think I got his right, I'm just not real sure.
The Blue Sorceress