Day 24; about 2:00 in the afternoon.
Seemingly everyone is up on deck as the Peregrine passes out of the Inner Sea and into the full Arcadian Ocean. Portions of a few crumbling pillars of the Arch of Aroden still stand, while the sun shines brightly overhead.
With nothing currently to do the tall blue skinned elf had been prowling along the railings in his shorts and barbed vest as he looked over the side at the ruins and fish or other aquatic life that he could make out through the surf. The only weapon he carried with him was his boarding axe, which was more for if he fell over.
It had happened before.
Having left the claustrophobic bowels of the ship for a spot by the railings above deck, the small undine watches a couple dolphins play in the wave created by the bow of the ship. After several minutes, she takes a break to look up and and check out the fellow passengers on deck with her.
Ebirah stopped his pacing once he noticed Lorelei. Sea skinned like me. Can swim really good? Can breathe underwater? Cute. Awkwardly turning around the railings he then moved towards her, comign to a stop just a feet or two shy of her. "Hello, Miss."
Lorelei looks over at the sea-elf addressing her, trying to recall if she ever met this person before. "Good day to you. Are you enjoying a day above deck as well?"
Friendly. Polite. Ebby blinked at her. "Oh yes, the skies are clear and there's been no sign of pirates or slavers." he replied to the woman in a serene, if listless tone.
Gorglumch stomps onto deck, takes a look at the bright sun and smiling tall folk, and turns away in disgust. "Ugh, people." He finds the place as far away as possible on the cramped ship and takes a seat, staring out onto the ocean. It's too early for small talk.
"Huh, there's a Goblin on board." he thinks aloud as he sees Gorglumch stomp onto deck.. and promptly leave. Goblin... short... Goblin.
Kela leans against the railing and, using her control of the elements, idly makes figure eight currents in the water below them with one hand. The ship is moving too quickly for the currents to be visible, but she knows they are there. She smiles to herself as she does so and thinks about the water all around her. She was born for this, for the sea.
She reaches up one hand to brush a heavy braid of dark red hair out of her face and looks around. The boat is filled with all kinds of interesting people. A surprising amount of those on board seem to be blue. She turns to the woman next to her, she thinks her name might be Perrell, and says, "You are a historian, yes? Do you know much of this land we are going to?"
"An anti-social goblin it seems like. With so many other people all vying for a spot aboard the ship, it seems odd they'd give one to him. He must posses some skill or talent to make him valuable to our mission. I know that I was worried that I would get passed over again. I tried so hard to get a spot on the first boat."
A lone dwarf sits by himself out of the way of the sailors. While this isn't unusual in itself, it's more the fact that he seems to be in a conversation with someone. Yet, there is no one near him. "Se slutte å rope, jeg forstår ikke når du roper." He speaks in what appear to be Dwarven. "Å nei, du blir ikke sint på meg, jeg var helt fint hjemme igjen i smeden." He tilts his head, as if to concentrate on what the other "person" is saying. I understand you have to avenge what happened, but maybe someone better suited for fighting would have been better."[/b] Digging inside his backpack, he takes out a piece of dried meat and take a bite. "Hva betyr det selv, jeg var en bedre kanal?" He suddenly put both hands over his ears. "Argh !! Der går du igjen, skriking. Hvis det er alt du skal gjøre, skal jeg ignorere deg! Se hvordan du liker det!"
"Oh no, you don't get to be angry at me, I was perfectly fine back home in the forge."
"What does that even mean, I was a better conduit?"
"Argh!! There you go again, screaming. If that's all you are going to do, I'm going to ignore you! See how you like that!"
Ebirah nods at Lorelei's assessment before titling his head. "Oh, you tried to go the first time?"
"You are a historian, yes? Do you know much of this land we are going to?"
"Little enough,"Elia said, leaning comfortably against the rail, "But then, I'm not sure anybody does. The territories of Old Azlant are shrouded in mystery. That's a part of the attraction of this expedition - it's a chance to expand our knowledge."
Rather than expound at length, Elia gently reined herself in, waiting to see if she had found a receptive audience. There were a few other scholars aboard, but as if by mutual agreement, they hadn't really been spending much time in speculation. The competing theories and arguments about Azlant were all old territory, after all, and what would be the point of rehashing them when tomorrow held the potential for fresh and interesting clues?
Lorelei nods at Ebirah's question. "I did. My brother and I both did actually. He managed to get a spot and I didn't. Teased me about it right up until the moment he went aboard ship. I'm looking forward to showing him that I made it aboard this ship."
"I'm sure he'll be happy to see you." Ebirah replies.
Kela nods as the woman speaks. Azlant had not been part of the tales of her homeland so she knew almost nothing about it. It was important to the Pathfinder Society, however, so she was determined to learn more. "I would be interested in learning more of this Azlant," she says to the woman. "Perhaps we could discuss it more on our voyage."
Meanwhile, she turns and leans her back against the railing as she inspect the boat, wondering if the person she was interested in was anywhere aboard.
"It's a smaller island, and I believe it's mostly jungle. As far as I know there aren't any Azlanti ruins on the island, but if there were, we probably wouldn't know about them."
Kela sees Carver at the side of the boat, reading. Every so often he glances up at one of the pieces of the Arch.
"Excuse me," Kela says as she takes her leave.
She walks across the deck towards Carver. "Magnificent, isn't it?" she asks as he looks up towards the arch.
"He should be. Plus I have some letters for him that I know he will be happy to receive. Did you know anyone who went on ahead?"
"Letters are nice." he replies before pausing, and then blinking. "Oh, did I know anyone on the first trip? No. I didn't really know there was a first trip until this one. I'm here on behalf of the Gray Corsairs."
He beams for a moment before adding "Okay, not really but kinda? I'm just a recruit, but they wanted someone to come investigate the colony and make sure everything was okay."
Carver looks up.
"Indeed it is. Impressive Any of it is visible, Most of it is over 2000 years old."
"Amazing," Kela says and moves in closer. When she is next to the man, she quietly says "Sorry for saying so, but I did not expect to see someone like you here. The Company did not seem to want to involve the Society."
A bluish skinned undine comes above decks after the others, trying to stifle a yawn.
"Morning all. Bhookaaj is my name. I'm a scout. In and out of water."
He says to Carver: "I'm handy at scouting underwater, if you need me to nearer the island there."
"Oh, hello, Mister Bhookaaj." Ebirah replies to the second Undine introducing himself. Cute. Friendly. Introduces by name... underwater scout, so can breath and swim underwater like me? Like Miss? If he can she probably can too.
Well, that had been a brief conversation, Elia reflected, quietly filing away the woman's interest in Carver. The Arch seemed to have brought people out on deck to mingle. Well, some of them at least. A couple seemed a tad stand-offish.
She was withholding judgement on the goblin. He hadn't burned the ship down yet, and she doubted any of the less-than-civilised goblins of her homeland could have gone an hour unsupervised without making a serious attempt at it.
Otherwise, time would tell how the relationships between the expedition's members would develop. Sea travel and enforced proximity didn't agree with everyone, of course.
"I think the ship travels faster than you can swim, but thanks for the offer."
Valdern gets up from his sitting spot and start moving around the deck. After a while the voice in his head calms down and he is able to enjoy the sights. When he notices the arch, he can't help but let out a whistle in appreciation. Walking toward the group of humans that are also looking at the arch, he starts talking without taking his eyes off of it. "It's a shame that it's missing the center part. Anyone ever planned to put the thing back together?" Then, looking at them he presents a hand. "The name is Valdern DeepIron, Weaponsmith."
Weaponsmith? Ebirah blinks and cranes his head around to the dwarf when he mentions that. Valuable. Also introduces by name.
"You're right, I probably can't as fast as this ship under sail."
"Even though I can swim very fast indeed, if I may say so."
"But if you need someone to scout for safe areas for a ship to get in and out of reefs and shallows, I'm experienced."
"I also have experience checking the bottoms of ship for damage while still in water."
"Bhookaaj is the only name I've ever known."
"Spent most of my life as a Chelish slave."
"They don't bother giving slaves more than one name."
"Some slaves in Cheliax don't even get that much."
"Well, I might as well get a better view of the island."
"And get to know the rigging here as well."
Bhookaaj then tries testing his skill to get up the rigging, without interfering with any crew:
… but slips and falls on his backside on his first try.
"Hmmph! Been below decks too long, I reckon"
And he tries it again
"That's much better!"
"What?! You were a slave?" Ebirah lets out with some concern, his eyes dilating, though the latter part was said in a more reserved tone. "I'm so sorry to hear that, but I am glad to see you a free man now."
"I managed to smuggle myself out on a smuggling ship. Kind of ironic, actually."
"Neat." Ebirah says before adding "My dads found me on a slaving ship, but I was just a baby. You are a very brave man."
"At the time I saw it as more desperation than bravery."
"Bravery born out of desperation is still bravery, and no less noble. And look where you are now."
Carver waits until noone is particulrarly closebefore replying to Kela. "They don't. The company is not aware of my soceity membership."
Kela nods. "Let me know if you require any assistance."
A crew member approaches your small group. "Excuse me, but Ramona would like to speak with you."
She leads you to a room in which Ramona Avandth, the colony's leader, sits at a desk. She looks up once you enter, smiling brightly.
"Greetings! Have a seat if you like." Her face turns more serious.
"I'm sure you're aware that most of you were not selected for your skill at farming. Given the unexplored nature and potential dangers of where we're going, there's a good likelihood that problems may arise, and standard soldiers are not always able to deal with all kinds of problems. That's where you come in. I'd like for you to act as... troubleshooters, in a sense, to investigate and deal with nonstandard issues."
"I'm good at exploring underwater", Bhookaaj ventures.
"Me too," Ebirah adds while standing at attention.
Lorelei shrugs indifferently. "I'm comfortable on either land or water and can investigate issues on or in both of them. Though what I really want to do is the explore the history of where we are going."
Looking at the first three that answer, then turn to the colony's leader. "I might not be able to explore underwater as well as those ones, but I did acquire some skills that might be useful." He stops talking for a second, tilting his head, looking at something that isn't there. "Yes, yes... Depending on how deep the water is, I might be able to assist without getting into. But now you have me curious, are you expecting trouble over there? I mean, aside from wildlife and slightly more exotic creatures?"
"It's always prudent to be ready for trouble, I should think."
Elia nodded, "Especially in a new and untamed land. I'm a scholar at heart, but then, that's often very helpful in dealing with the unexpected."
Kela nods again. Though she had done her best to avoid it, it seemed that she might not be able to escape the violence of this world. "I will be ready to help however is needed," she says simply.
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