I think I’m through the worst of it. The sweating’s about done and I’m not shaking quite so badly. The room quit spinning a couple of days ago and I think the nausea is just from my own smell. It’s been two weeks since we shoved out of port and now I’ve been told that we’re to be making a short stop in Spiral Space to use the portal to the Cage and pick up a few specialists for the crew while we search for a portal into the Ethereal. We need a guide to get us from where we can activate the sails in the Prime Material. (Read extraplanar here.) At least the next time we hit Greyhawk I’ll have somebody to keep me company outside that bigoted wizard’s shop.

• * * * * * * * * * * * *

I might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but even I can see the problems we might face in sailing through the Ethereal. If our sails won’t work, we’ll have to buy a ship made in the Ethereal out of Protoplasm, which we can’t take back to the Prime, and the sails won’t fit our ship. I just hope that whatever guide they procure for us at the welcome center, he knows how to get us moving if the normal means won’t work. Maybe I’m just being paranoid. It’s not like I’m an expert on the subject of traveling the Ethereal. That’s what the damn guide is FOR.

• * * * * * * * * * * * *

What a smooth operator our guide is. First thing he does is to kiss my hand. Maybe this Captain thing isn’t so bad. As long as my first mate knows what he’s about, my job is a cakewalk. I certainly like the attention I’m getting!

He didn’t like the fact that our ship was haunted, though. After all the haggling was done with, (Kenari sure likes to talk about money) he had to up his price. He calls it hazard pay, I call it extortion, but we’re not likely to find another guide who knows how to get where we’re going and I’m not about to tell Lenata’s giant, glowy Archon ancestor that we had to give up because of petty financial concerns. Thanks to the sale of my ‘present’ I could pay the difference myself if it came to it. Thankfully, Ef Utan has assured me that we’re still in the black so whatever the Ethereal has in store for us, we have some leeway to play with.

The cagers are acting cagey, if you’ll pardon the pun. Looks like we blew out of there just before something truly nasty went down. It was truly funny to watch our guide gawk after walking through the portals to get back to our ship, though. Let’s hope this journey will see us intact on the other end.

• * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ethereal. Storms. Are. Bloodyfuckingterrifying. That is all.

Honestly, that’s really all that’s happened. The girls and I are going to have a seance in my giant cabin to see if we can contact the haunters of the haunted ship. They’ve been suspiciously absent since the whole bleeding wall thing. I thought the Ethereal was supposed to be where ghosts ‘lived,’ for goodness sakes!

Either way, it’ll be nice to bond with the girls over some candles, wine, and maybe a little silliness. Who knows what might turn up if we give them something entertaining to interact with?