<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>THE SINKING OF THE DEARLY DEPARTED, CONT'D</strong></span><br/><br/>Whatever the equivalent of 'shit, shit, shit'<strong>Sacra</strong>could have thought of, it was running through her mind as she tried as best as she could to slice her way out of the ropes.  Her mind, normally quick and agile, could scarcely comprehend how she was still trapped beneath all of the rigging, but there she was, still slicing apart rope and sail.<em>Four more hit points, and you shall be free!</em><br/><br/>Just as Sacra prepared to give the ropes a good swipe,<strong>Thomas</strong>came through in a pinch.  The ropes began to disintegrate under his acid spell.<br/><br/><em>Both Sacra and Thomas are now free!</em><br/><br/>As both<strong>Katarina</strong>and<strong>Nessa</strong>struggled to keep their footing inside of the cabin, poor<strong>Jassa</strong>lost hers.  She tried to hold on to the door, but alas, she could not keep her grip.  She "fell" and...<strong>Katarina</strong>nearly leaped out of her boots to catch Jassa from falling to her watery doom!  Katarina, you successfully catch Jassa from, well, dying, the strain nearly pulling your arm out of your shoulder socket.<br/><br/>Nessa, you begin to retrieve things that you believe are yours when... you suddenly spot a card inside of a glass case.  You slowly approach it.  Nothing seems to matter any more, except for this card, for it pulls you, beckons you, desires for you to release it.<br/><br/>It is the THRONE from the DECK OF MANY THINGS, and it wants to be FREE and returned and to be whole.<br/><br/>Nessa, you now know that which is ineffable.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, Doxie continued her cackle, which now sounded haunting and awful within context, though it was nothing of the sort.  She scrambled along the boat to one of the rowboats, which had been covered and unprepped, as it had been unused in many weeks.  She even managed to unfurl a canvas tarp from its top, revealing a wooden boat that was in some disrepair, with two chipped wooden oars at the ready.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>KABOOM!</strong></span><br/><br/>SUNLIGHT hits the inside of the cabin as a cannonball soars through the hull of the ship, creating a hole about three feet in diameter on both sides of the room.<br/><br/><br/>