(ooc: this will be interesting…
Here's some general info about Admiral Reiker. He'll be like an NPC, anyone can play as him. He won't be going on with our gang
Name: Heiko Reiker
Origin: Sacrus
Warrior Type: Admiral - but is generally good at anything
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Asexual
Race: (mostly) Human. (mother is half-elf, his father human)
Appearance: Dark skin, shaggy black hair, scars and burns everywhere, long nose, black eyes
Personality: Straight-forward, strict, determined, confident)
"I sure hope not," said a deep voice. Admiral Reiker approached the group. "I need more than somebody who can only fight with their hands. Now, I am sure you would like further instructions.
"I will not be accompanying you on this journey. You only will have each other, and the crew. That is the ship you will be taking to your next location." He gestured to the largest ship. "Everything you need is on it. The captain knows where you need to go first. It is off the map; I cannot give you the exact place. Talk to him if you are curious.
"Find the beast who stole the book and return it to me. The safety of Dartmis depends on you."
And with that, before anybody could ask any questions, he left, disappearing into the crowd.
"Oh, great. What could be just a few days or a few months stuck on a large ship with strangers. No potential for murder or anything of the type there. Not at all," Ophira mumbled, tapping a heeled boot loudly against the wood of the boardwalk.
She'd been agitated by conditions of quests before, but being stuck on a ship with no way out was new to her. Having a fear of deep waters seemed to run in her family, and oh boy was that fear beginning to kick in.
"Maybe I can just keep my eyes closed the entire journey. Swinging a sword in random directions isn't that difficult," she continued, a worried look crossing her face.
"Then you might hit the mast, sails, rope, food supply, helmsman, trimmer, and generally anything on the ship," Tiergan remarked as he studied the ship. The front was reinforced with metal sheets, and he thought he could see a ram just below the hull. He could also see cannons. "It'll do."
He glanced back at Ophira. "I'm a Ranger of Wyke. Archer, tracker, stealth, saxe knife work. I'm also half-dragon shifter."
Ryin raised an eyebrow at the Admiral, shifting his weight on his booted feet and popping out a knee, resting a hand on one of his hips. His head was hung lower now, and his hat covered the top of his face as he shook his head back and forth.
“Offa one ship ‘n onto ‘nother,” he muttered, clicking his tongue. “For a book.”
He glanced up at the ship for a brief moment, then at those around him, finally residing back to the ground he scuffed with a boot.
He gave a gesture toward Ophira.
“Imma gunslinger,” he mumbled, nodding to the guns at his side. “‘s ‘nough said.”
Ace glanced at the others. "Imma swordswomen, Circe here, well she may be small but she gave me hell when I was tryin to patch 'er up. I also dabble in healing, and black smithery. " She glances down at her handmade cutlass, and sighs deeply.
"Well, what are we waitin for? Less go, the sooner we do this, the sooner I can get back home." Her voice is a little gruff as she says this, she had never been a people person. She glances at the others, still not knowing their names, and trudges toward the gangplank resting on the docks.
"Ah, very interesting," Ophira said, not attempting to hide her disinterest.
Upon inspection, the exterior of the ship looked as she'd expected it to, spare for a few details. She'd a few questions about how they'd be boarding the ship, but among her biggest concerns was where they would be going.
"Let's see, if we go that way. . ." Ophira mumbled to herself, trying to remember what they could reach off of this port.
After a few minutes of useless thought, Ophira concluded that no matter where they were going, they'd be passing over an abyss. Turning her head to the ground, she brought a hand to her mouth, deciding that if she just looked down until they reached land everything would be fine.
"We better be getting dropped in a nice area as compensation for this," she said, gesturing vaguely to the boat and open water with her other hand.
“‘s the sea, love!” Ryin exclaimed, throwing his open arms toward the ocean. “Ev’ry minute ‘n that thing is heaven.”
The ship certainly was larger than the one he had arrived on, which Ryin was clearly happy about. Fortune was his drive, what could’e say? A giant ship all to himself—with a few… exceptions— was about as close to the palace in the clouds as he could get.
He had to resist the urge to jump up onto the boat already. So he just shot a sly grin at Ophira, raising an eyebrow.
“Salty air driftin’ through yer fur? The sound of the waves crashin’ underneath?” he asked. “What’s not to love, eh?”
Mae was a bit too excited. She had never been on a ship like this before.
"Well, what are you all waiting for?" Mae grinned at the group. "I just met one of the crew. Wasn't too friendly, though." She shook her head, her hair swinging softly. "Anyway, the entrance is somewhere 'round here."
Mae walked onto the ship-the starboard side-but frankly, she had no idea where she would go. She didn't care; she was thrilled to be here. Not waiting for anyone else, she ran off, exploring the boat.
(One instance of cursing ahead)
"Well, the potential of drowning and never being seen again isn't something to be loved," Ophira replied, beginning to make her way to the entrance of the boat. "I'm gonna miss my horse."
She found herself hesitant as she approached the entrance, and rather than stalling any longer, dashed onto the boat, where her body met with two large crates hidden by the shadows.
"Damnit," her voice echoed, accompanied by the sound of her luggage hitting the floor (she was definitely going feel achy in a few hours).
Getting up had been a bit of a chore, her left side giving-slightly-painful protests to her movement as she hoisted herself up using one of the crates. After relocating her luggage, she looked for the nearest crew member to inquire about where she'd be sleeping.
Ace rolls her eyes. She walks towards the nearest trap door and heads down the stairs. If she was gonna have to be at sea for some undetermined amount of time, the least she could get out of it is having the first pick at sleeping quarters. Circe had gone back to sleeping in her knapsack, so she really was alone while the others explored the ship. She was nearing the aft when she came across the first bout of sleeping areas and deciding that this would have to do, she chooses the largest of the four, the last one off the starboard side and closed the door.
Ophira hadn't received an answer from the crew member, just a grunt and a vague nod in a random direction. She assumed this meant she'd have to take matters into her own hands, which she was fine with.
Upon further exploration of the ship, she discovered she would often have to duck so as to avoid hitting her head on any lanterns, low-hanging objects and doorways. This ship was clearly not made for someone her height, which she understood, having seen several members of the crew by the time she found what looked like a sleeping area. She went into the first room and practically threw her luggage against the wall, which landed with a large thud.
Tiergan walked aboard calmly and went down various corridors before choosing a room that had a window, not too far from the bed, but in a place where it would be difficult to shoot through the window into the bed. Outside there was a nearby stairwell and also a metal tube with a handle and lever clamped on the wall by a strange contraption. He examined the tag, explaining that in the case of a fire, you just had to unclamp the tube from the wall and press the lever, and pre-captured raincloud spirits would come forth, smothering the fire and also releasing rain to put it out. He could think of a few other uses for it and resolved to ask if he could borrow one or two.
He unpacked his bag and headed downstairs.
Ryin bounded through the corridors on the boat on all-fours, holding his hat in his curled tail as he leapt down the stairs. Where he was relative to the rest of the crew, he didn’t know. All he knew was that this cabin had a hammock, and he was taking it happily.
He didn’t have much luggage— just a heavy traveler’s pack mounted on his back. He took it off, hanging it on the side peg of the desk in the room, then kicked off his boots and swung into the hanging hammock. He rested his hat over his eyes with his tail, letting out a sigh and propping his hands behind his head.
The rocking waves lulled him into a light sleep, not even waiting for further instruction. He’d figure it out later.
The night went quickly, but Mae didn't sleep. Morning came, and she went searching for breakfast. She found herself the only person in the dining room, overcome by the smells of eggs and biscuits and meat. Mae selected an assortment of sausages and muffins and sat at a rounded table. The food was delicious, even for basic meats. But she put too much salt on it so that it tasted like home. Wow, home. It hadn't even been two days and she was already homesick. She felt terrible for leaving Iar with her parents. They would take out their anger on him. If Mae wasn't back soon, who knows what could happen to him. So she sat straight and ate her food properly, just like her mother taught her to. She felt that if maybe her mother was watching her, behaving properly would keep her anger at bay. Iar could be safe. But, she knew that there was nothing she could do about it, so she kept eating, making sure to chew with her mouth closed.
Ophira hadn't slept a wink. Her night had been spent lurking outside of her room and wandering down hallways-anything to distract her from the waves rocking the boat, which would occasionally cause her to lose balance and stumble.
The scent of food around dawn was enough to bring Ophira out of her tired state, and she moved quickly to the dining room. Upon entering, she noticed Mae sitting at a round table and tossed a quick wave before grabbing a plate. Ophira piled her plate with some of everything, even going so far as to use salt, butter, and jam on whatever she felt like. By the time Ophira sat two seats away from Mae, her plate was a colorful mess, utensils lazily stuck into a muffin.
"Ah," Ophira said, a sudden look of bashfulness crossing her face as she remembered Mae's presence, "Grabbing all that food probably looked mighty rude of me. Back at home, I've 3 siblings, so it's usually a bit of a competition to get a full breakfast. Bad habit, sorry."
Ryin yawned, stretching out his arms as he made his way into the mess, across from the gallery. Though, both of the rooms smelled like breakfast, but Ryin knew his way around a ship.
He had lost his overcoat- hung it on the side of his desk. It just left him now with his slacks and stained cream button-up, loosely tucked into his belt. His fur was askew, his large ears twitching as his tail swayed.
“G’mornin’ idlers,” he greeted, giving a slight bow to the women before heading to the counters to serve himself. “How are you two?”
"Tired and quite possibly ready to die," Ophira deadpanned.
Just before Ryin had entered, she'd discovered that eating while tired was quite a difficult task. Ophira kept eating, though, because she needed any sort of energy she could get. The only reason she'd ever sleep on this ship was if she passed out from exhaustion.
"Anyone got an idea on how much longer we'll be on this ship?" she asked, twirling her fork in the air.
Ace walks into the small galley. Her feet trace a path that she's walked many times before. Almost on auto-pilot, she finds the plates and glasses. Filling her plate, she grabs a small bowl of fruit for Circe.
"I talked to the crew, they said that we need to travel for another 2,000 nautical miles, something about fuel and restocking the supplies on the ship. Then they gave me an estimate of about 5 days till we reach wherever it is that we're going." She answers.
Mae chewed on a small piece of sausage. "What are we going to do here for five days?" She wondered out loud. Quickly, she covered her mouth, aware that it was full. "Sorry…" she mumbled. Five days? Mae seriously had underestimated the length of the trip. She thought she'd go insane…
Mae went to refill her plate; the buffet of food never seemed to have a dent in it. Well, she thought. A whole crew for five or something people; better make the best of it.
"Has anyone found a storage room, or maybe a medical ward where I can find supplies?" She asked.
Tiergan walks down the stairs quickly, head buzzing. He had grabbed a few canisters at night and had let the rain pour out into his own bottle, and then had started testing the limits of the canisters. He took a right turn into the galley and quickly filled his plate with food. He made a cup of coffee and then headed straight back out the door. After a moment, he decided that the experiments would go better if he had someone to help, so he poked his head around. "Anyone want to help me with an experiment I have in mind?"
"Why not?" Ophira responded, pushing herself out of her chair, "No promises I'll be of any use, though."
She moved sluggishly, boots scuffing the wooden floor as she moved towards the door. It really wasn't like she had anything better to do on the ship, spare for the coming meals.
"So uh, what exactly will I be helping with?" she asked, leaning against the door where Tiergan stood.
"You need to help me try to destroy some metal tubes." Tiergan started to walk back to his room, where there were three empty canisters and some equipment he had managed to secure and rig for the experiment. "I'm trying to see if we can bottle up the fire to create a flamethrower. To do that, we need to test if the canisters can withstand the heat and pressure."
"Ah," Ophira replied, pretending she thought of this as totally normal, "Are we going to be using anything to beat up said tubes or are we just gonna use our fists?"
She took a second to look at the canisters, then something clicked about what Tiergan just said.
"Ehm. Flamethrower? Like, something that emits flames? You do realize this boat has a ton of wood on it, yea?"
"It'll be fine." Tiergan walked up the stairs. "We'll do it in a controlled environment. And if it does work, then we can bottle up dragonfire and release it without expending too much energy. It'll give us a big advantage."
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