Return of the Emblem Chapter Ten: Converging Destinies

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"Oh all right. Well, whenever you feel like it really, no pressure," he said to Gabbie.

Nadya

Nadya noticed them bringing the mage from earlier up the ramp- an act she found rather suspicious. Since most everyone seemed to be on board by now she got on board herself and put Luca below decks with the other horses.

Veronika

Veronika eventually found the infirmary- Bert seemed to have an arrow stuck in him which was rather unfortunate, but he wasn't who she was looking for.

"So...how is she?" she asked Reign simply.

[roymbrog]

Following Veronika down to the brig, Katrina carefully laid Lia down next to the dead cleric. John was placed down next and she just took a few moments to stare. So, this was it then? The end of their lives, and they were going to be left in the brig for weeks frozen like pieces of meat. That was disgusting.

“I’m joining,” Katrina replied, following the other two out. Mercy knows she needed that right now.

[ReformBlade]

"Hmmmm.... Two Neviskotians as my competition then, eh? Ha! Again I say ha! I ain't gonna lose to the likes of you two!" Is that the best I could come up with? Oh well, hopefully it works out or someshit... Just really hope I won't regret this in the morning...

[Eail]

For the moment at least Zach seemed to be the defacto leader of the little drinking group, and his one bottle of whiskey wasn't going to suffice for the adults. Especially not for how much drinking they were going to be doing on this night. Not exactly knowing where it might be possible to get more of the sauce on the ship he stopped the first sailor he came across.

"Can you tell us where we might be able to pick up some liquor on this ship? We've had a hard night and just need to forget for a little while...."

[Phoenix]

Infirmary

Was that Veronika over there? Yep, it was. "Yeah, for now," Reign answered. He then made a strange series of gestures, starting with zipping his lips, and then shaking his head and waving his hands. There was something he didn't want brought up right now, likely the full list of casualties.

Well this wasn't going to help things along much. The doctor quickly stood up from Bert, planning to address the room. "Please. My patient requires arrow removal and subsequent treatments to prevent infection. Too crowded right now. Anyone not helping with procedure, please wait outside. Only require one extra, but two should suffice," he explained.

"Well, Robin apparently knows what she's doing, so I'll leave it to you three, then," Reign replied before turning to Raquel. "Try to relax. I'll be back in a little while."

Raquel nodded back and closed her eyes. Reign made for the door after that.

Galley

"Why would the captain send you to me?" Silas asked, raising up from the table to sit normally before turning around to face Gytha.

"Tour guide," Anna wagered.

Main Deck

"Alroight, fair enough," Gabbie replied. She noticed the sailors really getting busy now, and squinted at all the activity. "... think we're about to set out."

Once Delan had the gold, he pocketed it, and pointed toward the stairs leading below decks. "Go down three flights and then head aft-ward. If you get lost, ask again, and someone' will point you the rest of the way," he explained. With that, he made for the aft deck, near the wheel. Once he was there, he made eye contact with his quartermaster.

"We ready, sir?"

"Indeed," Delan replied. "Gangway, up! Anchors, up! Full sail! We're getting out of here! Signal the War Monger and hope Daniella can keep up~" he ordered, with the quartermaster relaying everything but the mention of the War Monger's captain.

Finding A Place

"It's mostly just cots around here; let's put her somewhere where no one will bother looking," Shadrak suggested. "Maybe a ... dark corner somewhere, or something."

"If it's going to be that much of an issue, maybe I should just stay down in the holds," Suzume noted with a grimace.

Somewhere In the Ship

"Liquor?" the sailor echoed. "Oh boy, lemme think, uhhh ..." These boys had been raiding the stores for weeks and so if there was anything left, it might be with ... the captain. "Damn that storm. We never got a chance to restock, and this is gonna be a long trip. Should ask the captain if he's got anything left. Otherwise, you'll have to settle for beer, kiddies."

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Awww, the mage-girl got on board without any further difficulties. Gar stared at her as she and her escort disappeared into the ship. He was trying that thing that sometimes happens when you look at them long enough where they'd get a weird feeling and try and look for you but it didn't work. Thankfully not long after that the ship was getting way. Yay, for that, watching other people was kinda boring.

[-Cynthia-]

I wonder if Raquel knows about the deaths we've suffered...probably not, she went down pretty early. This isn't the best time to share the news I think. "Get some rest. we'll talk later," Veronika said to Raquel, heading out of the infirmary as well.

[Snike]

"Well, I don't see anything that's obviously not going to be checked here, so, if you don't mind, I think you probably should reside in the hold, at least for now," Blake said, as he stopped. "I was going to originally see if better lodgings could be obtained, but that will have to wait a few days."

***

"Three flights down, on the aft, got it," Grant said, repeating the directions to himself as he turned away and began his trek to the brig. Well, all in all, not a bad evening, the death-witnessing aside. He had exercised his magical talents, gained passage onto a ship for a relatively decent rate, and it wasn't even on a run-down dingy or because the rebels were attacking. Things were looking up.

[roymbrog]

Luka may not have formally introduced his pegasus before, but Synthia had picked up on the name already. She patted Rika’s neck as they walked down into the stables. Hmm… “How do you take care of a pegasus? I would assume like horses except with wings, I guess. Do you groom her wings?” she asked. Birds took care of their own feathers. Maybe pegasi did that too?

-----

After retrieving Rizen, Valter had taken both equines to the stables below deck. He tied the two of them up, Rizen with a chain he had found after remembering Bert’s earlier comment. He hoped the pegasus didn’t resent him for it. It would just be a bad idea in general for her to get loose and cause trouble. That done, he removed both of their tack and started combing down Phyllis.

Really, with the way the night had gone it was nice to have some time to himself to sort things out. Several party members were now dead, and it had taken a while for that fact to sink in. Maybe he was handling the news better than others, but to be fair he hadn’t known any of them personally or yet seen the bodies. The other thing that was bothering him, however, was the actions of Bert near the end of the fight. As far as Valter knew, he was the only one to witness all of it. He planned on keeping it that way at the moment.

Synthia and Luka entered as he was switching to one of the harder brushes, and he merely waved before getting back to work.

-----

Aneda’s cheerful attitude was really all that was keeping Katrina out of depression at the moment. She knew the girl cared, she had seen it earlier. She could only conclude that the pegasus knight was being happy for their sake. “Oh, you might be surprised,” Katrina replied, forcing a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “It might be easier to win than you think~” Katrina may have been Skotian, but that didn’t mean she could hold her liquor.

Zach saw about getting more by asking a sailor, but it seemed through unfortunate circumstances they were probably out of anything decent. “I’m willing to take just about anything at this point,” she said, shrugging.

[Eail]

Zach

'Beer, why does it always come down to beer? That stuff tastes so bad.... to hell with it, I'm not staying sober tonight.'

"Right, thanks for the help anyways. Beer it is in that case, I don't want to deal with anything else tonight." Zach said with a sigh, running his hand through his hair. He'd make a quick stop into the kitchen, grab as much beer as he could reasonably take and then some and start downing it.

______

Within a short amount of time he had done just that, a decent amount of the booze was with them back on deck. Popping the top off of one of the bottles Zach gave a short nod to Katrina and Aneda. "Ladies" and with that the flood gate had been unleashed as his head came back with the bottle.....

Luka

"Well, I suppose it kinda is like taking care of a normal horse in some ways. But a Pegasus is a lot more complicated than the normal equine, but to put it simply I guess what you're saying is right." Luka admitted with a shrug. Taking out a brush he did start to groom the flying pony. "I do have to take care of her wings as well, she can't really reach them that well like a bird can. You wanna try brushing? I'm sure Rika wouldn't mind."

Rika gave a bob of her head that seemed to be her affirmation that it was okay

[roymbrog]

So Zach left for a bit and returned astoundingly soon with a crapload of beer. He’d obviously done this before. Katrina took one of the bottles as Zach started on his first. She cringed a bit at the taste, but that wasn’t what she was drinking it for anyway. Finishing her first bottle, she placed it next to her and grabbed a second. Momentum was key, or... something.

Having seen her rider come back out on deck, Volga crawled over to investigate. So she was hanging out with the other humans drinking foul smelling liquid, huh? The wyvern just laid down behind her and grunted. Katrina paused to pat her head.

-----

Pegasi were more complicated how? As far as Synthia could tell they just had wings… And apparently Rika couldn’t groom hers on her own. Luka offered to let her brush, which was an interesting opportunity in itself. “Yeah, sure,” she replied. She started undoing the straps of the saddle in preparation to move it. “Here, you can take this and I’ll start.”

[ReformBlade]

Beer? Eh... as long as everyone is OK with it, I can't complain I suppose. "That'll work juuuuust fine!" She took one from Zach as well, chugging it so fast she almost spat some of it up but managing to swallow it all with a small coughing fit. "Ow... Ahahaha, nothing to it!" That just about destroyed my throat for the time being... The things I do for these people!

[Eail]

Zach

By the time Katrina had started downing her first beer Zach was already working on his second. The Golden Rule of trying to get blackout drunk, don't stop drinking, keep going until you can't remember what your name is and then go a bit further just for the hell of it. Before this thought was even finished the third beer was being opened, was Zach doing incredible harm to his body? Yes, did he give a Wrath-damn? Not a chance at this point.

Seeing that Aneda was having a bit of trouble with emulating his actions Zach stopped for a moment. "Don't hurt yourself over this, same goes for you Kat."

Luka

Giving a nod the pinky went about taking off the saddle that was still on Rika's back, hanging it onto a nearby rack to stay until it was needed again. Digging out another brush for his own use he talked as the grooming started. "Well, it's really all about the flight of the Pegasus. They were blessed by Mercy with flight and other abilities, so that already makes them unique. But there also seems to be some latent magic in them as well, stuff like being able to withstand a really bad blow and protect their rider. Really I've never heard of anything like it aside from the Pegasus."

Rika meanwhile had a happy look on her face, slightly rocking from side to side at the pleasure of being brushed.

[Balcerzak]

"Mmmhmmm, sure thang. I don't see why I wouldn't be able to help work with anybody," Sinbad concluded. Mentally he was doing the equivalent of gulping, but... surgery couldn't be that much worse than helping a mare deliver a foal, right? Well, except the fact that if he screwed up he might kill a man... Any time now that vodka should kick in and start calming the nerves, right? Right? Stop taking your damn time, liquor!

When the doc made the move to shoo the others out, that was a huge sigh of relief. Performing for an audience would have only made things worse. "Weell, looks like it's just you an me an the sawbones then, miss. Excluding both patients, of course. I guess I'm ready whenever the fella here finally falls asleep."

[Phoenix]

Into the Night

The Prometheus set out, unleashing the full length and width of her sails and sailing out into the darkness. The War Monger was right on her tail and kept pace throughout the first leg of the journey. Eventually their nighttime travel would be blessed with some direct moonlight as the clouds faded into the distance. Sailing at night was rather boring for all the hands present, but Delan seemed to be enjoying himself for the moment as he manned the wheel.

Bert's operation had been dealt with, with great success despite the disturbances, and the doctor advised him to remain in bed to give himself time to heal fully. He also provided some painkillers to ease the pain and performed a few followup treatments just as he promised. He had a swig of vodka as well before all was said and done and went back to sleep in his chair. Raquel eventually fell asleep while resting but was beginning to come to.

Suzume found a comfortable spot down in the holds settled in, on top of a large crate of all things to avoid any rats that might be roaming about. She took off her scarf, let down her hair and used the former as a pillow since that was all she had for the moment. Once that was finished, she tried to get some sleep.

Several hours had passed and on the main deck, things were still boring as all get out until a scout called down. He was too high up for his voice to reach clearly, and so another man up on the mast relayed the message to the quartermaster. "Captain! Ship spotted to the north!"

"Oh?" Delan took out his spyglass and had a look, only to find that it was a bit dirtier than he expected. He wiped off the lens before trying again. "... hmm ... mmmmmm merchant ship I think? Could be a ruse. Keep an eye on her until we reach a safe distance, officer. If she starts tailing us, sound the alarm."

"Understood."

"And signal the War Monger. We don't want Daniella to go off and investigate. This may be our first trip together, but I know her reputation."

"As do I, sir."

[Parrhesia]

The ship was sinking.

"This ship is not sinking," said Rook, with infuriating calm. "We're just experiencing turbulence."

"THIS SHIP IS SINKING AND IT IS SINKING RIGHT NOW!" shouted Jorge Flaxen, loyal and faithful second-in-command.

Rook Ironwill took stock of the situation. If the ship really was taking on water, then his cargo, something to the tune of thirty-four stolen tapestries and half again as many paintings, was already ruined; save for his favourite, The Time The Great Hero Marwold Spat In The Face Of The Great Prophets. He was particularly fond of that one.

With a workmanlike "hup" he leapt over an obstacle he could not possibly name and collected the tapestry from his room, calmly folding it and putting it under his arm.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING" said Flaxen, calmly.

"I'm preserving our assets." Rook carefully placed the tapestry in his personal chest, lit his cigar on the candle, then snuffed it out with his fingers. He sucked in the smoke deeply. "Guess it was about time to die anyway; we're nearly out of tabac."

[scorri]

Marella sighed. Grabbing her equipment, she wandered over to the ship's edge and started looking with a spyglass she grabbed from one of the men on the deck. "Hmm, oh there we go. Rook, it'll be fine. There's a ship over thataway. Perhaps we should signal to them that we would like their help? Otherwise this ship is going to sink and take us with it. And honestly I would really prefer to avoid that today."

[Parrhesia]

Rook glanced over at the ship. It seemed seaworthy enough.

"Right! Told you we'd be fine. Flaxen, fetch my personal chest and my horse."

"Your horse-" Flaxen sputtered, but Rook cut him off.

"I shall fire a flaming arrow their way! ... or we could wait for that idiot Andrei to come back, either or. We need that ship! Maybe we can even take the thing over..."

Edited December 12, 2012 by Furetchen

[scorri]

"... Lets not try and take over any ships. There aren't that many of us. Lets just see if they'll help us and then figure it out from there. Also, why don't you use the flaming arrow. We can't exactly depend on Andrei. Who knows when he'll get back here." She sighed. Hopefully he would listen to her this time.

[Parrhesia]

"Fire? Well..." Rook grins. "You'll never have to tell me twice."

It never occurred to Rook not to aim for the sails.

[Snike]

Once Suzume was properly settled in the holds, and Shadrak was relatively settled with his self-appointed duty of guarding the holds, Blake left the bottom deck to head to the infirmary, seeing as Raquel wasn't in the sleeping quarters. The door was closed, and it appeared that an operation was underway, so the swordsman decided to come back later, which in turn meant that he had some time to kill, before he could report to his employer, and, thereafter finally begin to deal with the shock of the casualties in private.

The blue-haired man chose to use that time to clean himself and his gear up. While he was aware that he had acquired some collection of blood on his person during the battle, it was only when he had stripped down to his black undershirt in the forecastle, that Blake had realized how much of a mess he must've looked like. His blue shirt was mostly red,much like the bottom of the front and sides of his black coat, sans sword. Between the two articles of clothing, it must've taken two and a half hours, by the Ursian's estimate, before they were scrubbed clean. He certainly wouldn't be wearing them for the rest of the night, so he then brought his clothing over to the 'sleeping quarters', where the man placed the drying clothing on top of an empty cot, for the time being. The swordsman wasn't really expecting anyone to come and take his clothing, but at least, if they did, they'd be caught immediately if they wore it. His weaponry and other assets, however, weren't so unique, so the man kept those on his person.

Now, time to check on Raquel. Blake returned to the infirmary hall, and, as luck would have it, the door was ajar. Well, it seemed that it was time to deal with his mistakes, after all. The swordsman stepped into the infirmary. Here goes.

***

Grant spent about an hour, making sure that the bodies of the three fallen mercenaries were properly preserved, with very-little to no extraneous ice. It wasn't a very pleasant task, but he had offered, and, really, he didn't want to deny these poor souls a proper burial. The lack of the smell of spoiled meat was a secondary boon. Regardless, once he had finished the spellcasting, the bodies wouldn't be rotting for a few days, give or take. He'd just have to come back every now and then to maintain the spell.

Now that that was out of the way, the duelist was just a little weary, what with the fight and the running around all day. He left the brig and wandered the ship for a little while, in an attempt to locate the private quarters. The Ursian ice magician was eventually directed to the correct area, where there were very few private rooms, but multiple cots. At this point in time, Grant didn't particularly care, and promptly claimed a cot of his own before laying himself down on the bed and falling asleep.

[Rothene]

On the Prometheus, an armoured figure leaning onto the edge of the deck stirred. On one hand she held onto a lance with a grip worthy or making death proud. On another, was a simple pouch opened slightly with various notes about to pour out.

Mireille opened her eyes to listen to any sounds of activity. What happened? Thought the Ursian knight as she picked herself up. Apparently, her bulky armour prevented her from tumbling overboard. She gave a silent prayer to Mercy for keeping her safe while she slowly reflected on what had transpired and why was she unconscious.

She recalled dutifully scribbling into her notebook every single word spoken between Zachary and Fyodor on the rising technique. Then she rushed back with the thunder mage, only to have to quickly prepare for battle. Last she remembered was her trying to find a safe place to put her pouch and her notes before the ship rocked suddenly causing her to lose grip onto the pouch while she grabbed onto support. She then leaped for the pouch while discarding her shield...leading her to fall on her lance while she accidentally channeled magic in panic.

"So that was what happened..." Mireille muttered to herself. It was dark, and she still felt some numbness throughout her muscles as she has apparently shocked herself with enough power to knock her out for a long while. At least I still have my pouch and notes on how to work to creating the lightning shield, thought the Ursian knight while she looked around for her shield.

While searching for her shield, Mireille noticed a lot of commotion happening and followed excited gestures by the sailors and saw a ship far in the distance. Any questions on the battle she missed would have to wait while she mentally prepared herself from a potential new threat. But first, she had to find her shield...

OOC: Due to laziness on my part, anyone can pick up her shield.

[roymbrog]

Katrina had been the first to lose the drinking contest, also failing to see how it ended because she dozed off against Volga before either remaining had quit. For now she was quietly sleeping until whatever disturbance woke her into a world of pain. Volga had curled around in an impromptu nest, indiscriminate of who was actually sleeping there. The morning would be horrible for all of them anyway.

After helping with Rika, Synthia had stayed in the stables to assist grooming Rizen with her newfound pegasus care abilities. Once all the equines were sparkly and clean she retired to the sleeping quarters. Valter stayed up a while longer to take care of his bloodied clothes before also going to sleep.

So yeah, nothing much happened to anybody.

[Eail]

Zach had pretty much won the drinking contest after Katrin had passed out, thought considering that both and Aneda conked out themselves about the same time it might just be easier to call it a tie. With a near mountain of bottles near the trio plus one Wyvern anyone could see that some serious binge drinking had just happened. None of that really concerned Zach at the moment though, he was too busy currently clinging to Katrina like she was his teddy bear, nightmares plaguing his mind while the sage slept.

[Phoenix]

Upon Further Inspection

"Hey, come here for a second," Delan ordered while he continued to look at the ship in the distance through his spyglass.

"Sir?"

Delan handed his officer the spyglass. "Do you see anything odd about that ship?"

The officer had a look and though he couldn't quite put his finger on it, something did seem off. Were they sinking? "Hmm, they might be in trouble."

"Agreed. Did you see to it that the War Monger was signaled?"

"That I did, sir," the quartermaster replied with a nod.

"Alright, we should confirm the situation, but we don't have any fliers on the crew. See if anyone from Raquel's group is willing to go over and investigate. Not the most popular job after what they went through earlier, but lives could be at stake for all we know and I want to know what's happening over there."

"On it, captain." And with that, the quartermaster marched off planning to recruit one of the party's fliers.

Scouting for Scouts

"Hey," the quartermaster spoke up as he approached the alcohol ravaged remains of Aneda, Zachary and Katrina. "A ship's been spotted out on the water, but somethin's wrong with her. I need a flier to ... check ..." he paused to sigh quite heavily. "You have got to be pullin' my leg here. What on earth possessed you people to drink so damn much?! We're two weeks out from Ursium and you're well into our stores, ya crazed binge-festers!"

Infirmary

Raquel didn't hear any noteworthy sounds when she woke up, and so decided to just stay in bed for the moment. She wasn't quite in the mood to talk after what had happened to her and was hoping that she could just start again fresh tomorrow. Having decided to try and go back to sleep, she kept her eyes closed and rolled over onto her side, facing away from the door.