Ships Quartermaster, Silas Ironfeet

Small Humanoid (halfling)

    A sturdy little fellow with air of no nonsense about him. He seems to be counting how many folk are eating at dinner, how much they each eat, and shaking his head worriedly.

    If you need to know how many apples are left aboard The Windscreamer, just ask Silas. He will answer quickly, with the exact number. Nobody worries that the ship will run out of stores with him in charge. Well, nobody but him.
    He is paranoid that the ship will require something, or more of it than he prepared, and it will not be found. Deep in the seas of the Spice Islands, there are few freindly ports of call to re-supply. So Silas counts, calculates, and worries for the entire trip. 

Lab Assistant, Grit Longtooth

Medium Humanoid (half-orc)

    This half-orc dresses like a fine young gentleman of letters and always seems to have a book and his research journal in his hand. When he speaks, he shows a marked lack of brains for the work of a scholar, however.

    Grit has always wanted to be a scholar and discover some grand secret. He thinks that doing so will break some of the prejudices of the Vinci that he has suffered from, and "make something of himself" as the headmaster at the orphanage wherre he was raised ordered him to do when he left it.
    He is well aware that he comes across as (and, in turth, is) not very bright, but is too stubborn to back away from his dreams. So he moves heavy items and listens as carefully as he can to the scientists and learned folk he works for, taking notes in a cramped little journal and trying as hard as he can to emulate their scholarly ways. 

Sailor, Sally 'Slinky' Drubbins

Medium Humanoid (half-orc)

    A tough-looking half-orc sailor that has a glint to her eyes.

    Sally was raised in Umberto by her vinci mother and taught all about Vinci culture. She has been shocked to discover that at most Vinci ports she is not accepted, but her mother warned her that it would be so. Her reading of romantic tales from the founding of Umberto made her hope that her mother was just exagerating.
    Still, it doesn't bother her too much, as her first love is the sea. She loves being a sailor and feeling the wind in her face. The work and the other sailors are rough but that is fine - so is she. Still, in her heart of heart, she hopes to someday find love...

Professor of Arcane Studies, Dr. Elara Whisperwind

Small Humanoid (gnome)

    A mature gnome scholar who looks like she is very much confident of her choosen domain of study.

    Dr. Whisperwind is an expert in the study and history of arcane magic who is on sabbatical from Tarnoa University. She is a bit nervous to be 'in the field', but also exicted. So far, she has not gotten to use her experrtise as much as Tundor promised her, which has put her in a foul mood.
    In addition, things on board The Windscreamer has turned her thought to regrets and she hass been very sad about not being able to reconcile with her late great-grandmother. She has been heard to be weeeping in her cabin more than once.

Ships Rat Catcher, Whiskers

 Tiny Magical Beast

    The cat looks decidedly odd with dark green fur. Then it opens it's mouth with a laguid yawn and starts talking to you! "Have you seen any rats? I'm bored - and a triffle hungry."

    The crew considers Whiskers something of a ships mascot, but they would never let her hear them say so. Whiskers simply showed up on board on day at port in Umberto and informed the Captain that she was now a part of the crew! Captain Tranio took it with good grace, knowing what cats are like and has let Whiskers have the run of the ship. 
    This was a wise choice as it turned out, because the feline, talking cat or no, is a very good mouser. There are not many rats or vermin abord The Windscreamer. Whiskers is arrogant and very aware of her value to the ship.
    No one is sure how such a strange creature came to be or what her story is and she just stares silently if asked, before meowing regally and stalking away with a disdainful sniff. Being a talking cat has made her no less of a cat.

Apprentice Ships Cook, Timmy Maldaro

Medium Hunamoid (vinci)

    A chubby little fellow who obviously enjoys eating, yet he wears a sour and sad expression while working in the galley.

    Timmy is jealous of Old Mother Griggs and all the power she weilds in the ship's kitchen. More than anything, he wants to be the one to recieve praise from the crew for a delightful meal, instead of just doing the dishes. He works hard, but feels like he will never be as good as she is - nor will she let him cook in "her kitchen".
    Being in the shadow of an almost legendary chef has left Timmy wavering between despair and fury for so long that he isn't sure what to do.

Ships Cook, Old Mother Griggs

Medium Humanoid (vinci)

    This woman looks like a queen in her palace, even though she stands in the ship's galley holding a long-handled wooden spoon instead of a secpter.

    Captain Tranio likes to joke that Old Mother Griggs came with the ship when he won her - that she is part of the vessel. The grumpy woman dosen't correct himwhen he says this in her hearing, but does start tapping the wooden spoon against the side of her dress in annoyance. That's when the room clears. The Captain and the crew all find important things to do when she begins to get in a temper.
    She is very skilled as a ships cook and can make tasty and healthy meals with seemingly little more than some flour and water. Her biscuits are magical in terms of how good they taste, how long they keep, and how soft and flaky they are - even months after she cooks them!

Tundors Cohort, Bianca Kettletosser

Small Humanoid (gnome): Weapon Adept 4, Clockwork Commander 8

    This young gnome has shaved the sides of her head and has a shock of dark blue hair in the middle that she either wears in a braid, or more often, done up as a mohawk. She has a double-barrelled T-force cannon, with impressive bores straped to her back that is easily as tall as she is.

    Bianca swaggers around like she has the biggest chip in the world on her shoulder instead of a firearm that would stagger most Vinci men. She is quick to anger and takes offense at anything she sees as an insult to her height. When her mohawk is 'done up', it adds another 2 feet to her height, making her the same size as some tall folk are.
    The gnome loves weapons. The larger and the longer-ranged the better. She can handle any weapon that the tall folk can - and better than them, too, she likes to claim.
    She is a near constant shadow to Tundor Milli, acting as his bodyguard, lab assistent, and production specialist. Lately, she has been thinking about expanding her knowledge to more than just experimental mount weapons and working on mounts to carry them. She has been tinkering with a design for an alchemical engine, but hasn't yet perfected it.
    Alchemy is a passion that she and Tundor both share. It is common for them to start talking using almost nothing but alchemical references and it sounds like gibberish to everyone around them. ("This is as silly as adding powered oak sap to troll blood." ... "Do you think so? I feel like the situation is more like sulfer mixed with pine nut ash." ... "Oh! Could be. Could be." ... etc.)

Combat
    Bianca will whip her large-bore, double-barelled T-force cannon off her back and into your face before you can blink. The weapon is devastating as she has demonstrated when some undead sharks attacked the ship last week. Turned them into chum with one amazing dual-blast. She also wears a collapsible longspear for tight quarters or "quiet work".

Expedition Leader, Tundor Milli

 Medium Humanoid (vinci): Archaeologist 3, Adroit Inventor 11

    This bookish-looking fellow has slicked back hair with a short ponytail. His eyes are alert and his nose seems to quiver with excitement.

    The man is a odd mixture of absent-minded professor and suave adventurer. He dresses in fine clothes that are quite tasteful, but seems to talk through people - not to them. It is well known that adroit inventors get a little... strange... as they develop their intellect, so maybe that's all this is.
    Although...
    There was that incident just after he came aboard the ship. He entered the kitchen and went beserk - screaming about filth in the room and heathens eating unspeakable things. He smashed the room to splinters while throwing most of the food and kitchenware off the side of the boat before calming down. Now he acts like nothing of the sort ever happened. He did replace all the pots and pans he threw overboard, but never confessed that he had anything to do with it. None of the crew seems to know what set the man off, but they hold their breath each time he enters the galley or the kitchen.
    It is said that Tundor has a secret benefactor - one that provides him with all the funding and resources he might need in his studies and strange tinkering. He certainly has spared no expense in obtaining the services of Captain Tranio and The Windscreamer. Nor is he stingy with how much he pays for his assistants and their equipment. There is a full-blown labrotory on board the ship with people doing all sorts of strange experiments and others writing notes around the clock.
    Not all of his workers seem to just be hired hands and minds, either. He has a devoted following of people who listen to his every word as if it were defining reality itself. These followers are lead by Binaca - a tough customer and brillant scholar in her own right.
    Tundor considers himself to be a man of logic and learning. He is very smart and seems to have studied more topics than most folk have even heard of, including "the mysteries of the planes", whatever those might be. He has been rather vauge about what he is searching for out amoung the Spice Islands, but whispers, "We are getting close now," to himself when he thinks no one can hear him.

Combat
    Tundor enjoys a good scrap and seems to be constantly looking to find one. He is very alert to threats and is always ready for a fight - even if it's just fisticufffs. He wears a fancy magical hand T-cannon on his hip and posseses an amazing quicksilver whip that seems to be made of liquid metal. Not only does he walk around armed no matter where he goes, but armored as well, wearing some glammered studded leather rubberized nickel armor that he brags he made himself - then paid a Maji to enchant it massively.

First Mate Venchenzo

Medium Humanoid (vinci): Fighter 8

    This hulking brute of a man stands almost six feet tall and must weigh at least 300 pounds - all of it dense muscle. His eyes watch you warily with a faint sneer on his face.

    Venchenzo hails from the mainland somewhere, but has never been clear as to where exactly. For the scars that criss-cross his body and the faint aura of menace that surrounds him, nobody has felt like pressing such questions.
    What is known is that he claims that his father was a man who spent his whole life dragging him, as a boy, to all sorts of strange places, including Vinci Grande. He claims that is where he got his weapon which he lavishes care on. It is a greatsword that can loosen the blade into a spiked chain with some kind of hidden switch and back into a solid sword in an instant. The metal it is made from has a shifting, almost oily-looking, sheen on it and glints with hints of blue in the metal. Not only is the blade an interesting bit of rare clockwork, it is also enchanted - he can make it disappear or turn into something an Ogre might use at his whim.
    The man is completely dedicated to Captain Tranio - obeying him with an attitude akin to worship. And it is said that the foul-faced fellow is not above doing dirty deeds for the Capptain when they need doing. He keeps tight order and disipline on the ship, softened by the diplomacy and silken words of his Captain.

    Combat
    Venchenzo is a terror in battle with his amazing strength and his ability to change the shape, length, and reach of his favored weapon as the situation needs. There is not a man or woman of the crew that is not convinced that he capable of killing anyone or anything he meets.

Captain Tranio

Medium Humanoid (vinci): Rogue 3, Expert 6, Facilitator 1

    Eye-watering shades of purple and yellow decorate this thin man's body. He has no sense of fashion or style at all! 

    Captain Tranio is a shrewd sailor and trader. He seems weak, until he begins to speak. His voice is a powerful thing and had he trained as a bard, he would be an incredible singer. He seems to have many hidden skills and it makes one wonder where he learned them all.
    He is the proud owner and master of The Windscreamer, a very large, if old, vessel. He takes delight in bragging about his exploits in the seas of the Spice Islands, but there are too many for him to actually have experieinced them all.
    The man has an air of command that is inspiring to his crew. His large and powerful First Mate is his right hand and is devoted to the small man. All of the other ships officers act as if they think Captain Tranio can walk upon the waves and they never seem to question him. The rest of the crew may grumble, but against such a unitied front of command, there is never any worry about mutiny aboard The Windscreamer.
    Captain Tranio and his First Mate, Venchenzo, both wear matching armor made of dense aluminum and enchanted to float. They also both weear a belt of office that is identical and obviousy a magic belt of strength. Without this belt, Captain Tranio would be an utter weakling, but with it he is about as strong as the average man.

    Combat
    The Captain is very skilled with his magically sharpened gutripper punching dagger. He also has a gold-handled Hand T-cannon and a brace of 4 hooked bolas when he is on deck. When angry, he will use the mechanical punching dagger to puntuate his orders - snapping the extending blades open and shut with a disturbing and intimidating >snik-snik< sound. If there is a real combat problem, he will call for Venchenzo, who usually settles things very quickly, then orders the men to swab the blood from the deck.